Fact scarier than fiction

You know we've erred, when your eyes frantically search for a word,
That could describe the opposite of a Utopian world,
Dsytopia, you learn, is a society strictly fictional,
That is in some important way frightening or undesirable.

You know we've erred, when dystopia as a word,
Fails miserably at describing what your society recently offered,
When it seems obsolete and disease-stricken,
When it doesn't grasp the graveness of the situation.

You know we've erred, when reading a story clenches your teeth,
When your lungs hold back a silent scream underneath,
When you watch your heart quietly grieve,
When you close your eyes in disbelief,
When neither the story leaves you long after,
Nor does the helplessness or the anger.

You know we've erred, when a girl is raped in the capital of our country,
When daylight seems feeble in protecting her dignity,
When she pays for nothing but her existence,
And when deeds performed with hands and feet,
Seem worse than those by bombs and guns.

As she battles for her life on that woeful hospital bed,
It wasn't really her who was to be dead,
As she was struck with that shameful iron rod, it can surely be said,
'Twas humanity that took a mighty blow on the head.

You know we've erred, when you can't possibly feel her unavoidable pain, her undeserved shame,
When any penalty seems a little too soft, a little too lame,
When peace loving eyes are filled with aggressive disappointment,
When they unflinchingly suggest a solution in capital punishment,
You know its time to not feign, but accept this predicament,
Yes we have erred and it is our responsibility,
Dystopia can no longer be a reality.          

SAVE ME - Volume 1 - "What a shoRt"

So. The situation is simple. An average day. Chirag, Shetty, Ankit and I hanging out at Chirag's place. Normal. Right? Think again.

"I'm bored dude, let's play cricket", said Chirag. Ankit lazily switched on Chirag's computer. Chirag even more lethargically said, "Not EA Sports Cricket dude....The real thing..."

As soon as Shetty heard Chirag utter those words, he sprung up from his half asleep state, wiped the drool off his face and whizzed passed us with a bat, ball and three stumps in his hands. The mention of sports changed Shetty's nonchalant, unassuming and forgetful personality to an agile, sharp and energetic self. Ankit and I followed him.

"Aren't you coming Chirag?", I asked.
"I'll join you guys in a minute. I'll change into something more comfortable. You go ahead", he said.

Even before Ankit and I reached downstairs, Shetty had rooted the stumps, placed the bat next to them, taken his run-up and was ready to bowl. Ankit took the bat in hand as I diligently stood behind the stumps. Shetty bowled the first ball and Ankit managed to beautifully place it back to Shetty. Shetty collected it, Ankit took his stance again as Chirag arrived on the scene, wearing something 'more comfortable'. The three of us looked at him at the same time, froze for 2 seconds and continued with the game. Chirag was  wearing shorts. Tight shorts. Short shorts. Shorts that moved up his thighs with every step he took. After 5 steps, they became really short shorts. Chirag as usual couldn't care less. To make things worse, his strides became longer. If only his shorts could do the same....

Chirag stood next to Shetty, so that they could bowl alternatively. I could see Shetty fighting to avoid eye-contact with the ever-shrinking piece of cloth and the glory that it was now struggling to cover. He bowled the next ball, obviously with a much disturbed concentration. Ankit swung hard, only to send the ball sailing over the 6 feet wall to his offside, to the next society.

As soon as Shetty saw the ball fly, he ran to the wall and in one swift motion, placed his left hand on it and jumped across to the other side like a samurai. Ankit and I followed him. Obviously, our jump was not as graceful. We used our left hand to catapult us to the top of the wall as well, but had to take support with one foot before jumping off of it. We started looking for the ball when Chirag decided to join the search committee.

Chirag lifted himself up using both hands, making Ankit and I look relatively heroic. The decisions that Chirag took from this moment on, made that day special enough to be included in this blog. One could see discomfort in Chirag's eyes as he lifted himself up that wall. Instead of jumping off of it right away, he decided to clumsily put his right leg across. Chirag was now riding the wall as if it were a horse. The thickness of the wall ensured a thorough stretch. For the first time in Chirag's life, his underwear, which was now unfortunately visible, was experiencing a superiority complex, because it was covering more of his skin than the then shamefully redundant shorts. He held the wall with both his hands and tightened his grip with his thighs for about 5 seconds. He then dismounted the wall, a little too slowly and a little too steadily. On reaching sea level, he looked at us with the anticipation of a standing ovation, but it was not to be. We continued our search for the ball, when we suddenly heard slapping noises.

We turned around. Chirag was frantically slapping his thighs while shouting at the top of his voice "GUYS!! SAVE ME!! SAVE ME GUYS!!". We ran towards him. Chirag was panting, sweating and slapping his thighs even more ruthlessly. "SAVE ME GUYS!", his voice cracking with fear. This was the first time we saw them. They were big. They were red. They were monstrous and biting RED ANTS. From the wall that Chirag should have chosen not to ride a few seconds ago. They were all over the area that his shorts should have covered, had the strides been shorter, had the jump been swifter and hang on, had the shorts been longer!! At the risk of losing all respect on this blog, I must confess that Ankit and I started laughing uncontrollably. We wanted to do something, but one can do very little when one is lying down on the ground paralysed with laughter. To make matters worse, Shetty ran off somewhere till we couldn't hear his laughter anymore! "GUYS!! SAVE ME!! SAAAVE ME GUYS!!!", Chirag yelled again, pleading with shock! Ankit and I seriously have issues, we started laughing convulsively.

Chirag might have been at the brink of shedding his 'comfortable wear', when from nowhere, we could hear Shetty's laughter again. We saw him. He was laughing alright, but his other bodily functions were working. He had a water pipe in his hand. He ran towards Chirag and hosed off the ants in true superhero fashion. "YES YES! SAVE ME! YES YES YES! SAAAAAVE ME!", Chirag exclaimed orgasmically! Then came the request, that was weirder than the word itself! "MAKE THE FORCE HARDER USING YOUR THUMB!! MAKE IT HARDER!!! PLEASE HARDER!!!", he begged Shetty. Shetty submitted to the demand. "YES!! HARDER! HARDER!! SHETTYYY HARDERRRR!", went Chirag.

Shetty could faintly hear Chirag's thank you's in the midst of our 'hard' laughter. I'm sure the experience of Chirag yelling the words 'Shetty', 'harder' and 'thank you' in one sentence contributed less towards Shetty feeling humbly acknowledged but more towards his worst nightmare coming true. Chirag didn't thank Ankit and me. I wonder what stopped him. As with every incident, a few things changed after. Ankit, the staunch atheist, started worshipping red ants. Shetty still has trouble looking at his thumb directly. And yes, Chirag started trusting Shetty. A little too much, as will be evident in the next post - "SAVE ME - Volume 2 - The ROLL reversal" :).