Author / Shiva Sharan

by Shiva Sharan

The Mind Man

It was dark and eerie in the privy confines of the laboratory. A feeble ray of light made its way through a tiny crack in the door. Dr. Regis White was in dire straits. He let his mind give way to exhaustion for a brief moment and let out a deep breath. He tried thinking of a heuristic way to make it through this tight spot. He wanted to focus. He couldn’t. He was holding on dearly to the only thing he had left – hope. As he slowly lost his senses to fatigue, he heard a loud thud against the door downstairs and the sound of it being knocked down. His heart was pounding against his chest. The sudden nausea and the muscles grappling at his stomach were only the least of his concerns…

1

Dr. Regis White, known by the hypocorism of ‘Mind Man’, was carving a niche for himself. Though people knew little about the cloak-and-dagger operations happening inside the small white building located in a corner of the city, they definitely knew something fishy was taking place there. But gradually, the word spread and pretty soon, people started making appointments in advance.

Dr. White was a meek little man in his late fifties. He started out as a psychiatrist who was madly obsessed with technology. But he wasn’t the smoothest when it came to dealing with people. He could not understand why they were so dumb and lost within their own petty worlds. He wanted to perfect mankind. After many years spent laboriously, he finally succeeded in developing an algorithm that could make any man supremely smarter and more goal-oriented. An elite coterie of engineers and scientists was brought in to put the plan together, and they were asked to give a ballpark figure. White had to spent all his money on it.

He had very few clients at first. People were naturally apprehensive about the whole thing. But a few years down the line, he was making millions. He’d had close to a hundred clients. Every procedure started with him explaining the process to the client, which included a lot of technical jargon. Most of this was all Greek to the naïve client, and hence the subtle warnings were overlooked.

2

Jessica Jones was an ambitious woman in her mid-thirties. But she constantly complained about how she always kept messing up and getting thown off-track. It was just plain bad luck that she happened to be Dr. White’s client on one fateful day – that day when something in the process malfunctioned and everything went haywire. That infamous day when the new technology backfired and a fatality occurred.

Her husband, Adam, was infuriated on hearing the news. It took him a while to take in the gravity of what had happened. He sued the company. He felt a bitter vengeance for Dr. White. The case went on for months. Dr. White lived in constant fear being sentenced to prison. But finally, he was left free on the condition that he was to stop his practice immediately, along with a heavy fine.

As he stepped out of the court, someone slipped him a note stealthily and went out of sight. The note said, “You’re gonna pay for what you did.” Dr. White felt a growing sense of doom as he looked around to find someone just look away from him and walk rapidly. He panicked. He felt a sudden urge to go pay a visit to his first lab, situated out in the countryside. He also thought he’d be safer there.

As he drove, he felt almost certain that he was being followed. He finally reached the place and frantically hurried up the stairs. He let his mind give way to exhaustion for a brief moment and let out a deep breath. He tried thinking of a heuristic way to make it through this tight spot. He wanted to focus. He couldn’t. He was holding on dearly to the only thing he had left – hope.

THE END

Hey guys, that was me digging into my pre-blogging archives to give you something I’d written more than a year back. My mind is refusing to come out with anything sensational at the moment, and for the reason of keeping this space up and running, I’ve resorted to posting just about anything. So I guess this’d have to do. Anyhoo, to whoever’s reading this, you keep being the awesome that you are and until next time, it’s ciao, mes amigos. Peace. 😀

 

by Shiva Sharan

So there’s this girl…

Caught between my own delusions and the thick veil of awkwardness that had come between us, what do I do? Do I just let you go? Or do I pursue my heart, to find out whether you are, in fact, what I’d imagined you to be?

Is it me? Is it someone less damaged you deserve? Someone a bit more balanced, perhaps? Someone with better looks? Surely, not ONLY that. You definitely seem way more than that. Do I have my head in the clouds? Am I caught up in a dream? You’ve held my fantasy from the word go. No, not just your charming looks. It goes more than that. A lot more than that. You’re not just pretty. You’re phenomenal. The company you choose to surround yourself with though, still boggles me. Surely, you’re way more sophisticated. I would love to have the opportunity to discover whether my fantasies would indeed be proven true. Would you welcome me with open arms, if at all, after all that’s happened?

Sure, this could be dismissed as the typical college crush. But it’s not often that you see the person you thought existed only in your dreams, in real life. Maybe our lifestyles wouldn’t match. Maybe we wouldn’t see eye to eye on everything. Maybe we would drive each other crazy. But I would just like to find all that out. I’d tried convincing myself you weren’t the right one, and had almost succeeded. But now, as I realize my days spent with you are drawing to an end, I would sure love to know that for a fact. Yeah, I’m not desperate for you. Life’s not gonna end without you. But, I sure as hell don’t wanna end up on one of those days, dwelling upon what could’ve been, as I listen to this…

by Shiva Sharan

A Promenade on the Beach

I see families chit-chatting, young couples holding hands, old couples fondly discussing tales of their youth, children playing animatedly – like I once used to, fathers playing actively with their kids, tourists having a gala time – easily noticeable from their liberal holiday attire, groups of friends effortlessly bonding, determined walkers, and finally people like me, who come just to reflect on their lives and have a relaxed evening.

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With the pleasant taste of caramel popcorn still lingering in my mouth, I consciously end my stroll as the soothing sound of the waves beckoned me towards it. I couldn’t hold it any longer; I went up to the rocks separating the sandy path from the sea and nimbly helped myself on one. The aura of familiarity instantly welcomed me and put my mind at ease. What magic is it that this unending stretch of water holds, with its ceaseless waves daring to attack me, its friendly breeze caressing me with its soft touch, and that ever so mild note of petrichor?

The gentle splashing sound of the waves gradually hit a crescendo as they lashed out with all their might against the rocks – from a baby’s feeble laughter to an opera singer’s majestic high, and then back again. I found myself totally giving in all my senses to this tryst with nature. As I traced the waves to their origin, all I could see was the soft moonlight glistening on the swaying water and the lonely lights of a few distant ships far, far away. As I continued to gaze at the sea, it seemed to be drawing me into some kind of a trance. I kept looking at it for a while before I reluctantly turned away to look at the source of light itself – the brilliant full moon, glowing in all its grandeur. The eerie clouds, looming all over, looked oddly spooky in this setting; they could almost be the spirits of all the dead people, for all. But they just had to be there to complete the most picture-perfect canvas. I marvelled for the first time in my life, how intensely bright the sun’s light had to be, to be reflected back from the moon. I tried drawing a picture of how far the moon would be. But it was an exercise in futility – I was only left to wonder.

Now, one thing was missing though – music. As I put on the track ‘Yellow‘ by Coldplay and the lyrics ‘Look at the stars, look how they shine for you…’ hit me, everything reached a whole new high. I was soaring high in the sky. It was the perfect moment. The result – gooseflesh and a heightened sense of inner calm – such a welcome distraction from this bourgeois life. I would almost go to the extent of calling this a spiritual experience, transcending all humanly emotions. As I turned to my right, a few dim lights exposed the jetty, jutting into the sea; I have vague childhood memories of collecting seashells with my dad here, on the sand nearby.

Taking a break from all this splendour, I turned behind only to witness my eyes being confronted with the usual sight of people going about their business, which dulled starkly in comparison. I looked again to my front and boom, I was redrawn into this magical world. Ah, life. You leave me speechless. As the first pangs of hunger began to take over me, I glanced above to see the spirits, I mean, the clouds, moving – they had covered the moon, shrouding all its untold mysteries. I guess it was time for me to go; the skies themselves had spoken. I had also promised Mom I would be back home for dinner; and heck, she even called at the same exact moment. I gave one last loving look at the sea as I bid adieu, and strolled to the parking, the aftermath still clinging tight to me and making me feel all light. The Promenade beach(aka Rock beach) will always be my favourite destination in Pondy, the place I go to for peace, and to draw inspiration from. One definitely has to experience this sensory treat at least once in their lives.

 

by Shiva Sharan

Punk tiger weds vulture chick

Once there was a tiger – a ferocious beast, an outlaw, the don of dons, who lived in a jungle not very far away. He was responsible for all the mayhem and mishap caused in the jungle. One time, when the tiger was out on another of its wrongdoings, it caught its sight on one of the most beautiful creatures it had ever seen, at least to it – a mighty vulture, which was mercilessly devouring a bird. Spellbound by its magnificence, the punk tiger immediately asked for the vulture’s hand, nay, claw, in marriage. “Oh dear vulture, how is it that you manage to be the perfect combination of cute and sexy? I’m truly swept off. Please do accept my proposal for marriage.” The vulture, dreaming about all the power it could have once in wedlock with the punk tiger, blushed and immediately said yes. The wedding was a gala event. No one dared to ridicule this marriage of sorts. After all, the tiger wasn’t called punk, for nothing. And thus, the punk tiger and the vulture chick happily started their wondrous journey together.

Here’s a photo out of their wedding album:

A peck on the cheek, literally?

A peck on the cheek, literally?

Ah, the ways I put my imagination to use. Hello and howdy to whoever is reading this now. Your interest in reading whatever I’m about to say is truly appreciated. Treat yourself to a cookie, go on. Okay, to those of you wondering what the title is about, it’s just one of the many acronyms I used, to remember stuff for exams. What is it doing here, you ask? Well, tell me it didn’t stir your curiosity even a wee bit :P. So yeah, just for the heck of that, and also, that thing’s been stuck on my mind(I personally felt rather proud I was able to come up with that in one go :D). So might as well make a story out of it. Okay, okay now, maybe a little too much right at the start? Oh what the hell, I can write about whatever I want to. To those of you who don’t know me, I am a …*yaawwnn*. Ah, dang it, I do not wish to put myself through pointless deep thinking.

Why not just assume you’d get to know me from whatever words of (un)wisdom I post here and we’re cool? Right. So some of you might be thinking, ‘What is this guy going to yap about anyway?’.

Well, the answer to that, my friends, is still unclear to me. You might get a slight insight into that from how this post has been (brilliantly) conceived by yours truly. But then again, I just might catch you off guard and surprise the bonkers out of you (not excluding myself). So hang on to your hinges, people. You have been warned..

To the inevitable ‘Why this blog?’ now.

Eh, let’s just start off with my longing to be a tiny part of the massive revolution that is the Internet; voicing my say amongst the million others.  I bet the haters be like:

#Aintnothingonnastopme

Next, selfishly hoping I would actually do something with my life just for the sake of posting stuff on this blog(I know, ‘wow!’, right?)

Aww, stop it, you.

And finally, you know, leave a memoir for people to know how I used to be like, when I become famous.

Like Zach over here. I mean, who would’ve known, right?

So that’s it, folks. Until we meet next, adios and au revoir. May the odds be ever in your favour. 🙂