I was tagged in the office blog to write a story based on the below image (Padam-paarthu-kadhai-sol).
Here's my story:
The astrologer had told Sampath that the planets that revolve around his ‘sign’ are not doing any good for him. He had to be very careful or he’ll met with an accident – one that could even take his life. Sampath immediately went pale. The astrologer also told him that if he survives the next three days, with day three being the worst of all, he could survive this ‘Gandam’. Sampath felt relieved after that and had been very careful in each and every step that he made.
Day1:
Sampath was crossing a road and was very careful in watching both ways multiple time. He took three steps and suddenly an FZ appeared about a hundred feet from him on the right side. He felt as if it appeared just about 10 feet from him and froze. His ultra-motion reflexes told him to run forward, but he ignored that completely and ran back to the original place where he was standing. After what looked like an eternity, the FZ finally crossed him with the guy riding it giving him a weird look.
Day 2:
It was a national holiday and Sampath gets to stay home. He was never appreciative of an Independence Day, but this Independence Day meant a lot to him. He felt very safe inside his 2BHK apartment rather than crossing a dangerous road or a bike ride, which he used to love. Suddenly, there was a power cut and he felt irritated. The sun, which takes special care of Chennai, was taking additional special care now and he started to sweat. It was about 4 in the evening and Sampath was glad that the day is going very quickly. Just one more day and I’ll be out of this mess, he thought. After wiping down the sweat on his face and tasting the salty thingy, he decided to have a bath.
He stepped into the shower and turned into a stone until the water washed all the sweat and his fears. He stopped the shower and before he could get the towel, his eyes gazed upon the new bath tub. The image of Chon Wang and Roy O’Bannon having a bubble bath in the movie Shanghai Noon crossed his mind and a smile appeared on his face. He took a step towards the tub and the bad combination of soap foam, water and a wet foot on the tiles started moving his one leg without his permission or willingness. His brains immediately sent light speed commands to grab any nearest object and the reflexive hands desperately searched for a hold. Meanwhile his other foot, having to maintain a stronger balance, made the same mistake of stepping into the same bad combination and started travelling in the other direction. As he was on the way to pose a ‘karate-kid-Jaden-Smith-on-the-rail’, to his horror, the bath tub in front of him came much closer towards his face. The desperate reflexive hands, finally got a hold of the ends of the bath tub and both the legs obeyed his order and stopped moving. He felt the additional adrenaline pumping through his heart.
Day 3:
As soon as Sampath woke up on the third morning, he decided to take a leave. He felt so safe yesterday, baring the bath tub incident, he decided to feel the same today. He called in sick. Being superstitious, he decided to do exactly the same thing he did the previous day so nothing will happen to him today as well. He ordered pizza for lunch after skipping breakfast. He watched the same channels that he watched yesterday. As fate would have it, the power cut happened at the same time as the previous day. Sampath took that as a sign and decided to take a bath. He was so careful this time – watching each and every step.
As soon as he finished taking shower, he filled the tub and when he was just about to enter carefully inside the tub, his calling bell rang. The parrot-like calling bell sound, only much higher in decibels, made a terrible impact on him as he once again almost repeated the same incident, this time just enough alertness saving him from a slip. The adrenaline effect was back. With a long sigh, he took the floor-mat from the bathroom door and put it near the bath tub for a safe entry. He wrapped the towel around his waist and started walking towards the door. The sudden change in things worried his superstitious consciousness – things are changing and not happening as he planned. He peeped in through the hole and saw his neighbor’s son. He opened the door and Rahul barged in and ran towards the back of the house. Sampath knew why he was running – he’s in for the daily quota of his cigarette. Rahul stayed with his parents, so he could not smoke inside his house. He always used Sampath’s balcony for his one cigarette per day addiction and would spend some time with Sampath until the ‘smell’ wears off. He’s much earlier today, Sampath thought.
As Rahul sat on the railing and smoked his ten rupees Gold Flakes Kings, he felt relieved. He then, immediately felt the opposite of that reaction – an instant panic, as he saw his father walking out of the apartment building towards the main gate, casually passing a glance at Rahul’s side. As an instinctive reaction, Rahul stopped the smoke coming out of his mouth which caused him to start a violent cough, sending more smoke than he casually would have let it out and, drawing more attention towards him. He immediately started running towards the door, still coughing. In the hurriedness, he forgot that he still holds the cigarette in his hand. He realized that when he was halfway in Sampath’s 2BHK and saw the bathroom. Without much thought, he threw the cigarette inside and continued running as if he’s fleeing a crime scene. Sampath couldn’t even react until the front door slammed behind a maniacally running Rahul. Weird, he thought.
Sampath felt the cigarette smell inside his apartment as clear as a rotten egg smell in a college Chemistry laboratory. He gave a little thought about what would have caused Rahul to run like that. After a few seconds, he remembered that he didn’t care. He then had a dilemma – whether to dress up and finish watching ‘Real Steel’ for the umpteenth number of time in Star Movies or to continue entering the bath tub and slide into heaven. He choose the later as he remembered how he descended into heaven after he entered into the tub yesterday. His superstitious mind told him that the heaven still awaits – a similar incident before that tub entering yesterday, happened today too. Feeling good that things are back on track, he entered the bathroom, removed the towel and stepped into the floor-mat for a safe entry.
His superstitious consciousness didn’t know the one thing that changed from yesterday – the-still-burning-cigarette that Rahul thrown inside. Of all the places in the bathroom, it landed on the floor-mat and of all the places he could place his foot, he stepped his right foot directly on it and the instant fire-on-the-skin made him take it back. But, the left foot was unaware of this and had already started losing the balance, for the right foot should have gained it by now. This unbalance, sent him back, with his whole body weight running around his body to find a place. When his head hit the back wall, the body weight immediately shifted there, making the impact much harder and painful. Although his legs found the balance again after the impact, it was too late. Blood came rushing through the back of the skull and Sampath started losing his consciousness. The drowsy legs now, moved around the bathroom until it hit the side of the bath tub – the one which saved him the other day. The drowsiness had caused him take a hundred and eighty degree turn. His eyes were on the place of impact and he saw the blood spatter pattern and it looked like an art. By the time he was admiring the art, the impact on his leg made him bend back a little and the heartless gravity, constantly doing it’s work, pulled him inside the bath tub, back first. His desperate eyes, still observing the art until it automatically moved along with his head, from the wall to the window, where the sun was acting as an eyewitness to everything that happened inside the bathroom. The sad, colorless water, having found red in itself, jumped out of the tub in joy. He laid in the bloody bath tub, on the third day, his eyes wide open, his last vision – of the sunlight from his bathroom window.
Here's my story:
The astrologer had told Sampath that the planets that revolve around his ‘sign’ are not doing any good for him. He had to be very careful or he’ll met with an accident – one that could even take his life. Sampath immediately went pale. The astrologer also told him that if he survives the next three days, with day three being the worst of all, he could survive this ‘Gandam’. Sampath felt relieved after that and had been very careful in each and every step that he made.
Day1:
Sampath was crossing a road and was very careful in watching both ways multiple time. He took three steps and suddenly an FZ appeared about a hundred feet from him on the right side. He felt as if it appeared just about 10 feet from him and froze. His ultra-motion reflexes told him to run forward, but he ignored that completely and ran back to the original place where he was standing. After what looked like an eternity, the FZ finally crossed him with the guy riding it giving him a weird look.
Day 2:
It was a national holiday and Sampath gets to stay home. He was never appreciative of an Independence Day, but this Independence Day meant a lot to him. He felt very safe inside his 2BHK apartment rather than crossing a dangerous road or a bike ride, which he used to love. Suddenly, there was a power cut and he felt irritated. The sun, which takes special care of Chennai, was taking additional special care now and he started to sweat. It was about 4 in the evening and Sampath was glad that the day is going very quickly. Just one more day and I’ll be out of this mess, he thought. After wiping down the sweat on his face and tasting the salty thingy, he decided to have a bath.
He stepped into the shower and turned into a stone until the water washed all the sweat and his fears. He stopped the shower and before he could get the towel, his eyes gazed upon the new bath tub. The image of Chon Wang and Roy O’Bannon having a bubble bath in the movie Shanghai Noon crossed his mind and a smile appeared on his face. He took a step towards the tub and the bad combination of soap foam, water and a wet foot on the tiles started moving his one leg without his permission or willingness. His brains immediately sent light speed commands to grab any nearest object and the reflexive hands desperately searched for a hold. Meanwhile his other foot, having to maintain a stronger balance, made the same mistake of stepping into the same bad combination and started travelling in the other direction. As he was on the way to pose a ‘karate-kid-Jaden-Smith-on-the-rail’, to his horror, the bath tub in front of him came much closer towards his face. The desperate reflexive hands, finally got a hold of the ends of the bath tub and both the legs obeyed his order and stopped moving. He felt the additional adrenaline pumping through his heart.
Day 3:
As soon as Sampath woke up on the third morning, he decided to take a leave. He felt so safe yesterday, baring the bath tub incident, he decided to feel the same today. He called in sick. Being superstitious, he decided to do exactly the same thing he did the previous day so nothing will happen to him today as well. He ordered pizza for lunch after skipping breakfast. He watched the same channels that he watched yesterday. As fate would have it, the power cut happened at the same time as the previous day. Sampath took that as a sign and decided to take a bath. He was so careful this time – watching each and every step.
As soon as he finished taking shower, he filled the tub and when he was just about to enter carefully inside the tub, his calling bell rang. The parrot-like calling bell sound, only much higher in decibels, made a terrible impact on him as he once again almost repeated the same incident, this time just enough alertness saving him from a slip. The adrenaline effect was back. With a long sigh, he took the floor-mat from the bathroom door and put it near the bath tub for a safe entry. He wrapped the towel around his waist and started walking towards the door. The sudden change in things worried his superstitious consciousness – things are changing and not happening as he planned. He peeped in through the hole and saw his neighbor’s son. He opened the door and Rahul barged in and ran towards the back of the house. Sampath knew why he was running – he’s in for the daily quota of his cigarette. Rahul stayed with his parents, so he could not smoke inside his house. He always used Sampath’s balcony for his one cigarette per day addiction and would spend some time with Sampath until the ‘smell’ wears off. He’s much earlier today, Sampath thought.
As Rahul sat on the railing and smoked his ten rupees Gold Flakes Kings, he felt relieved. He then, immediately felt the opposite of that reaction – an instant panic, as he saw his father walking out of the apartment building towards the main gate, casually passing a glance at Rahul’s side. As an instinctive reaction, Rahul stopped the smoke coming out of his mouth which caused him to start a violent cough, sending more smoke than he casually would have let it out and, drawing more attention towards him. He immediately started running towards the door, still coughing. In the hurriedness, he forgot that he still holds the cigarette in his hand. He realized that when he was halfway in Sampath’s 2BHK and saw the bathroom. Without much thought, he threw the cigarette inside and continued running as if he’s fleeing a crime scene. Sampath couldn’t even react until the front door slammed behind a maniacally running Rahul. Weird, he thought.
Sampath felt the cigarette smell inside his apartment as clear as a rotten egg smell in a college Chemistry laboratory. He gave a little thought about what would have caused Rahul to run like that. After a few seconds, he remembered that he didn’t care. He then had a dilemma – whether to dress up and finish watching ‘Real Steel’ for the umpteenth number of time in Star Movies or to continue entering the bath tub and slide into heaven. He choose the later as he remembered how he descended into heaven after he entered into the tub yesterday. His superstitious mind told him that the heaven still awaits – a similar incident before that tub entering yesterday, happened today too. Feeling good that things are back on track, he entered the bathroom, removed the towel and stepped into the floor-mat for a safe entry.
His superstitious consciousness didn’t know the one thing that changed from yesterday – the-still-burning-cigarette that Rahul thrown inside. Of all the places in the bathroom, it landed on the floor-mat and of all the places he could place his foot, he stepped his right foot directly on it and the instant fire-on-the-skin made him take it back. But, the left foot was unaware of this and had already started losing the balance, for the right foot should have gained it by now. This unbalance, sent him back, with his whole body weight running around his body to find a place. When his head hit the back wall, the body weight immediately shifted there, making the impact much harder and painful. Although his legs found the balance again after the impact, it was too late. Blood came rushing through the back of the skull and Sampath started losing his consciousness. The drowsy legs now, moved around the bathroom until it hit the side of the bath tub – the one which saved him the other day. The drowsiness had caused him take a hundred and eighty degree turn. His eyes were on the place of impact and he saw the blood spatter pattern and it looked like an art. By the time he was admiring the art, the impact on his leg made him bend back a little and the heartless gravity, constantly doing it’s work, pulled him inside the bath tub, back first. His desperate eyes, still observing the art until it automatically moved along with his head, from the wall to the window, where the sun was acting as an eyewitness to everything that happened inside the bathroom. The sad, colorless water, having found red in itself, jumped out of the tub in joy. He laid in the bloody bath tub, on the third day, his eyes wide open, his last vision – of the sunlight from his bathroom window.
