Mr. Right

Seated at her dressing table, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyelashes were ladled with mascara and outlined with eye liner. Pink colored blush adorned her cheeks, the exact shade of her flowy gown. “Wow! Saranya, you look gorgeous.” Chimed the lady behind her. The room was filled with giggles of her close friends who had come to celebrate her birthday. “Gorgeous is an understatement I would say.” Said the other. Saranya smiled at them, curling her hair locks. “Lucky guy, Eeshwar!” exclaimed the other. “Saranya is equally lucky! Cant you see the diamond rock he presented her? I wonder how many carats it is?” said the other. Saranya cut in, “Time for the party to begin!” and rose from her chair. Holding the frills of her gown, she descended towards the party hall of her house where the other guests were waiting for the party to begin. Her frame looked like an upturned lily.

The party hall already had the table set with 5 layered cake that laid waiting to be cut by the slender hands of the woman of the house. Saranya scanned the room for Eeshwar, but he was no where to be seen. The servants were busy serving snacks and wine to the guests. One of them came with a huge bouquet and handed it to Saranya. It had a card with it. She took the bouquet and the card which read, “Happy birthday! Sorry can’t come. Had to fly away on an emergency business meet. Enjoy your day. The servants will take care of the arrangements. Have a blast.” It was signed Eeshwar. Saranya’s smile faded as she read the card. “Where is Eeshwar?” asked one of her friends. She handed her the card silently. She called for everyone’s attention and cut the cake. The guests enjoyed the sumptuous dinner and returned home happy and contended.

Saranya, went to her room after the last of her friends left and changed into breathable clothes. Her cheeks glistened with flowing tears. She lay on the bed crying, her knees curled up to her chest. This was not the first time. He had always been busy with his work. True that he spent money on her and for her. He was very extravagant while gifting her. He had all the money in the world for her, but no time. He was filthy rich and she knew it while marrying him.  He married her though she was from a lower middle class family. Her family had nothing to boast of when compared to his. He came from the very first families to settle abroad and ran various businesses and are among the richest in the USA. Saranya had studied MS and had come to USA with the dream of finding a lucrative job in US. She was never bright at studies and it was not for the quest of knowledge that brought her here. But her greed for money did. She wanted to get liberated from the shackles of middle class life.

Saranya came to face the truth only after completion of her last semester at the US. She started looking for jobs. By then she already had a huge education loan and was finding it tough to find a decent job. After many jobless months, one day one of her relatives, came up with marriage proposal for one rich guy who was looking out for a beautiful bride. Saranya agreed instantly as he suited her needs. He was from the US, had a green card and was filthy rich. It all meant that her all monetary needs would be taken care of without much effort. She need not worry about all her debts that had piled up over all the time. Eeshwar was more than happy to marry Saranya. She was breathtakingly beautiful and that was all he wanted. They got married and for their honeymoon went on a holiday to a private island owned by Eeshwar. It was like dream come true for her. Her friends envied her and openly exclaimed as to how lucky she was. But their honeymoon was way different from what everyone else thought. Eeshwar was always busy with his work day and night and had very little time to spend with his wife. He seldom observed what she wore and how she looked. Saranya felt bad but thought it would change with time. She thought there will be days when he will have some leisure and would think of her. Almost everyday she waited for Eeshwar to reciprocate her feelings.

She liked to socialize and he never failed to take her to the high profile parties. He proudly introduced her to his business partners and friends and the remaining time at the party was only meant for him to build good rapport with other big shots. He flaunted her as a winning trophy in front of the world and cast her aside when the world wasn’t looking. Atleast that’s what Saranya felt. He never failed to gift her on the big days like anniversaries and birthdays and threw extravagant parties at all such occasions but would least attempt to be with her at such occasions. For the entire world, she was the luckiest woman in the world. But for her, she was leading the most miserable life. She was a lovelorn lady who was forced to put a smile in front of the world. Her true feelings were no one’s concerns.

She was once loved very dearly. Those were good old days she thought. She thought of Vijay, her boyfriend in India when she was doing her graduation. He was not rich but was always with her in times of need. He helped her with studies. Cared for her, supported her in every possible way. She could share gravest of her secrets with him without the fear of being judged. He would do silly things to bring a smile on her face. She felt quite secure and cared when with him. He added bliss to her life. But Saranya could not do with just bliss and true love for life. She wanted money. Vijay was placed in an MNC after graduation. He was not making a fortune but was making enough to run a household. Saranya, who couldn’t find a job decided to go abroad and do her MS. Vijay insisted her to stay back in India. But her greed wouldn’t listen. Vijay pleaded her to stay back and that they could get married right away as he was earning enough to take care of her needs. But she quit him. She kicked out the love from her life and was now left with money. She had everything money could buy but was starving of love. In her magnificent villa she was all alone with just the walls staring at her. She wanted to go back to Vijay. She wanted to cry on his shoulders. She knew he was her Mr. Right and she realized it a little too late.

How Blue is my Sapphire

Research laboratory (Unknown to the world) 5 A.M. :

It was his last day of research at the lab. Yet, he was far from reaching his goal. He wanted to spend even the last second for his cause. Being the youngest brother, he was deemed to do his brothers’ bidding all these days. He had to tread the path they had laid for him and was neither given an option nor was asked for opinion. But the past 1 year was different. He was given his freedom -  freedom of thought and freedom of deed. He was left to himself. He now aimed to bring forth a medicine to counter all the viruses and also manipulate the human gene to adapt to the drastic climatic and atmospheric changes brought due to the viles of human activity. But his stipulated time for research was coming to an end today, after which he had to go back to his brothers.

His gloved hands reached for the vials rack which had close to 300 vials. Out of practice, he knew where exactly his 2 most important vials were placed. He pulled out the vials which were labeled “Demon” and “HS+”. 

HS+ (Homo Sapien +) is a human gene induced with the mutagen that would probably help the gene to evolve into a superior gene. If succeeded, HS+ could transform the human race into a more tolerable species towards UV radiations. With HS+, humans could adapt to extreme heat or cold, could survive at lower oxygen levels and require less water intake for the body. But his observation all these days showed that this gene wasn’t mutating. Its DNA remained the same with not even a 0.00001% deviation.

Demon is the most stubborn viruses of all the viruses present in the lab. He had mutated dangerous viruses together to get the Demon virus. According to him, the medicine that could kill Demon virus could hold any other virus at bay. The Demon virus mutated at an alarming rate. He had carefully studied the pattern of mutations and chromosomal changes of this Demon virus and came up with the medicine - “Elixir”. He had induced the Demon virus with considerable amount of Elixir and has been checking ever since. But the Elixir did not seem to have any effect on this virus. The Demon continued to mutate and replicate rapidly.

As he proceeded to recheck the RNA of Demon and the mutagenesis of HS+, he wiped the sweat off his brow and took out a stone from his pocket. It was pale blue in color without any lustre or radiance. He gave it a tired look and ruminated the past. His past, when he was Sahadeva, the youngest of the Pandavas. He had always found pleasure in brewing medicines and getting the right herbs for healing the sick. Curing the sick was his passion. It broke his heart to be part of the massive massacre of mankind in the form of Mahabharat war. His soul was restless in heaven. “One chance, just another chance, I want to serve the mankind. It kills me to see them suffer with so many diseases. I want to put an end to their agony and misery.” he thought. He went to Krishna and pleaded. “Krishna, you have heard this before. But please do pay heed to it now. Just this time. I wouldn’t ask you for anything else.”

Krishna gave his cross lipped smile and said, “The mankind is doing extremely well Sahadeva. Your concern for them is quiet baseless and unnecessary.”

Sahadeva retorted, “Doing well? Do you not see how they are affected by all these new cultures of viruses leading to various diseases? Do you not see how their so called modern civilization has crippled the earth’s conditions leading to drastic climatic changes? Given the present situation, mankind would come to extinct in a couple of years.”

“Believe me Sahadev, mankind is doing great and is capable enough to take care of its race.” replied Krishna.

“But, to please my conscience, please give me a chance to help them.”

“And how do you intend to help?”

“You know that I have the instincts of a scientist, I would like to study the latest viral patterns and come up with a medicine to counter its replication. Also, I want to bring a superior version of the human gene to enhance man’s tolerance towards the present climatic conditions.”

Krishna gave his all knowing smile and said, “Trust me Sahadev, they are doing well on their own and your indulgence is not required.”

“But give me one year. If I fail, the mankind has nothing to lose, but if I succeed, they will benefit and I will be happy.”

Sahadev pleaded until Krishna finally gave in. “I will give you a self equipped laboratory for your research at a secluded place from mankind and I forbid you from revealing your identity to anyone.” said Krishna. Krishna then showed Sahadev a deep blue sapphire. It caste its blue color on everything in vicinity and was of the same color as that of Krishna. He asked Sahadev, “Do you know what this depicts?”

“That’s a sapphire and it is a symbol of love and faith. Am I correct?” asked Sahadev. 

Krishna - “Yes and No.”

 

Sahadev - “Please elaborate.”

“Wisdom is required to show faith in the right things at right time. Similarly, wisdom is required to love something or someone who truly deserves it. The sapphire is often mistaken to be the symbol of faith and love. But it actually depicts wisdom. Wisdom, that lets you choose what to hold on to and what to give up. Wisdom also tells you when to hold on to and when to give up.”

After receiving a confused nod from Sahadev, Krishna handed over the sapphire to Sahadev. Strangely, the Sapphire lost its aura in Sahadev’s hand and looked more like a murkish crystal. Sahadev slid it into his pocket, crediting its previous color to be the reflection of Krishna’s complexion. Before descending to earth, his elder brother Yudhishtira volunteered to accompany him, for which Sahadev courteously refused. He was the only person to go as was deemed by Krishna. Yudhishtira gave him Dharma, the dog to accompany him to earth. 

Sahadev is brought back to the present with Dharma’s bark. He slides the stone back to his pocket and turns around to see Dharma with a package of fruits as usual. His term of one year on earth wouldn’t have been possible without Dharma. Dharma miraculously brought him food to eat every day. Thus, allowing Sahadev to concentrate completely on his research without deviations. Casting a grateful look at Dharma, Sahadev hastily took few quick bytes of the fruit and went back to his electron microscope. 

His peering eyes did not see anything different from what they saw the previous day. The replications of the Demon virus haven’t slowed down. He kept gazing at the results for quite some time, helplessly hoping for some miracle to happen. He then noticed the nucleotide, which wasn’t clearly visible. He increased the magnification from x100,1000 to x1000,1000 to get a clear view of the nucleotide, when the idea struck him. “The nucleotide that was once visible on x100,1000 is now visible on x1000,1000.” He mused brimming with joy. “It clearly meant that the nucleotide is diminishing and there would finally remain nothing of it.” He was so obsessed with impeding the replications that he hadn’t concentrated on the nucleotide. The elixir was working. Though, in a different way from how he had expected. According to the assumptions made based on his calculations, the elixir was supposed to stop the virus from replicating itself on the host. But strangely, it did not happen. Instead, the Elixir weakened the nucleotide and would slowly remove its traces from existence. Strange were the ways of nature he thought. He could create the Elixir but could neither program its reaction on the virus nor could quicken its pace. “May be nature has its own way of reacting to the disturbances and followed its own pace.” He thought.

He patted Dharma and now bent to check “HS+”. He saw no significant change in the gene. In the least, he had expected the mutagen to modify the DNA by 0.00001%. But it lay here without any reactions to the induced mutagen. His mind kept repeating his former thought, “Nature has its own way of reacting to the disturbances and followed its own pace.” But TIME is what he did not have. He had time till dusk after which he had to return to where he came from.  He remembered Krishna’s words and his mocking smile, “Mankind is doing great and is capable enough to take care of its race.” This kept overlapping with his thoughts, “Nature has its own way of reacting to the disturbances and followed its own pace.” 

“May be this is what Krishna meant when he said that mankind could take care of itself. Nature has designed man to evolve over time.” 

“Yes.” He thought. “Ever since the beginning of the ages, mankind has evolved to survive the atmospheric and climatic changes. Many living creatures came into existence and left the phase of earth losing their battle for survival. But man had survived under all conditions so far. He had evolved from a tree dwelling being to the more erect Ramapithecus. Following multiple series of evolution, he became the present Homo Sapien from Neanderthal. All this was  acheived without anyone’s indulgence. The creator had programmed man to adapt to changes unlike any other species. That is the reason man is said to be God’s best creation. But it took time. Yes! Mankind needed time to evolve; and as Krishna had told him, his indulgence wasn’t required.” He looked at the sapphire which gained its previous radiant deep blue hued version. Yes, he had gained the wisdom to bestow his faith in the right direction. He knew he had to give up his irrelevant apprehensions for the survival of mankind. He closed his eyes and thanked Krishna for giving him this opportunity to enlighten his disturbed soul. He prayed to Krishna, ascending his way towards heaven with Dharma at his tow, while the unknown laboratory vanished into nothingness.

The smart thief

He followed her everywhere she went, never leaving her side. He wanted to know the key to unlock the doors. Off late, this house seemed to be obsessed with locks. They kept every tiny object locked, irking him in every possible way. He stealthily looked at her hands as the unsuspecting woman of the house, turned the key and unlocked the door. His hungry eyes feasted on the treasures that lay inside. After closing the door, she turned the key to lock it but left the key at the key hole for unknown reasons. His heart chuckled silently at her stupidity. “This is going to be easy. Eh!” he thought.

He was loved dearly by everyone at home and he knew he could get away with it. He had no remorse or regret of fooling them. He was impatiently waiting for his chance. Finally, when his wait came to an end, he tried to unlock the door of known treasures. But to his dismay, he couldn’t reach the key as the keyhole was way above him. He tried to force open the door, but it did not budge. Grudgingly, he tip toed to the nearby cupboards. They had some sort of latches installed very recently. He had seen her, open the latch by sliding her finger on it and he tried to mimick the move without success. “It seemed to be easy when she opened it.” He thought. 

By now he was losing his patience and time. He knew she would come here any time. With all his might, he pulled the latch till the adhesives holding it to the cupboards gave away. Congratulating himself for this achievement, he opened the cupboard and took out his favorite toy – “Pressure Cooker” and started playing with it, clinging and clanging the cooker’s body with its lid. She came running to him, shouting at his dad, “Honey! The baby proofing isn’t working with our kid. After making futile efforts at opening the refrigerator, he pulled out this new latch.”