one morning of a procrastinated engineer - a short story

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I did not take up my pen , or ,rather i say keyboard all these months , not because my life was short of interesting incidents.Lot of things happened during all this time which was worth a couple of quotes. But one thing led to another and  i felt contented with sharing those stories with my friends personally. But i was thinking to pen down something in the form of a story these past few days, when yesterday my dear friend manu adams suddenly messaged me to blog something. Suddenly, a fancy thought, that passed my mind the previous morning felt perfect for a quote.I sat down to write this thing in a different way from what i was approaching for all other posts in this blog. My hand went over the keyboard furiously during the initial passages, but later on, i started encountering major bumps.I had serious doubts regarding its acceptability by you guys and whether you will get the idea that i was trying to convey.I nearly made up my mind many-a-time to quit.. But i did not feel easy in mind at quitting it either.So in these two days , after sitting for over 7 hours in 3 four hour sections, i came to a conclusion. Hope you all enjoy my work.

Thank you for your attention,

Stay awesome,

msk

ONE MORNING

Confused and mingled voices came floating to my ears as if  through a veil ...."one more time i will call...after that we will breakfast without you".A very familiar yet oddly tarnished female voice.Surely it is my mom's, but what happened to her voice over night...??.But that was n't my first concern right at the moment.I tried to move , but the legs and hands are feeling like jelly and movement felt very clumsy....the head was swimming .Eyes felt like tightly shut drapes and when i tried to open it , felt like a concrete wall.After like a straight hour, or it seemed , i opened my eyes, and small sparks of light erupted in front of the field of vision.When the vision was cleared,I was lying on my front in bed with a pillow beside me.....and got the first shock of the series of shocks to follow that morning.The sheet cover of the bed is bright red with flower embroidery.Normally i am not a person who observes his sheet before going to bed, but yesterday i was forced by father to put a newly washed blue sheet with check embroidery on my bed as a lesson(there is always a lesson) for me and mom...For me , it is the practice of necessary  neatness and orderliness required for a harmonious living , and for mom, it was not to spoil the son with too much help with the necessary  neatness and orderliness required for a harmonious living .Why did she change bed spread overnight ?Did i do something on bed...? That is impossible , or may be improbable, on second thought . Nevertheless , to verify that i looked down at myself ....and got the second shock.My stomach lurched at the sight.I immediately shut my eyes and sat upright in bed.This cannot be true.This should not be true.I slowly put myself to my feet , moved to the mirror .I even felt stupid to be doing  that.This cannot be right,what am i thinking?But for some reason,i felt really afraid to open my eyes.Then out of a sudden instinct , i opened it.... and let out an audible gasp.

A 6 foot tall,expanded version of myself looked bewildered back at me from the mirror.Never before i felt a fear of this kind in my life.Have you ever been in a situation when you know  it is  your situation,but you do not want to be in it.? That was were i was at the moment.What happened to me.?Yesterday was the final 12 th examination...we classmates grabbed a final parting lunch from the hotel at our way back from MATHA, our examination center....at evening , i had some thought(forcibly made to think actually) about getting started for the preparation for entrance and then booom...its the morning, dizziness , bed spreads changed and a 6 foot of myself in the bed and mirror, when yesterday i was 5 feet 6 before going to bed .I did not had the slightest clue of what was happening.I slowly looked around.The room looked as if  hit by a tornado.I slowly sat down, and asked myself to think about it reasonably...logically....But mind was jumping between "this is all stupid you should go back to bed " scale to "what the holy f**k " scale.In between all this confusion,i could not help but notice that i had grown a lot of facial hair,a feat i thought unattainable till yesterday night.But i was not in a mood to celebrate the occasion. I sat down,mustered my courage and start speaking to myself inside the head even if there was no logic whatever to reason about in this whole scenario..."OK..here is the crime scene...i am to find out who am i..ok...now do not panic...you are a logician...you will find answer to it...first...lets find out if we are still in 2008,although crazy as it seems...there also desperate times call for desperate measures...".I looked around for a calender...none.I looked at bed and saw it....a manorama newspaper.I dragged it out from between what looked like a dangled headset and a pears soap packet(!?).I smoothed it out with trembling hands,and looked at top left corner and stifled my second gasp of the morning....4 th september 2012...."oh my god....i am 4 years ahead and missed 2 football world cups...ya...that is the thing to focus on , jack ass ....I AM FOUR YEARS AHEADDD....!!!"Logic just went out of the window....legs felt shaky and suddenly very weak.I partly dragged myself to the edge of the bed and sat on its head.What is happening?.Numerous options were materializing on thin air by a hyper activated brain...

1. Time travel...?.yaa..great...steven hawking just "booo.." ed at you...

2. Brain damage..?.then why am i not at hospital...??...

3. I am still asleep, and this is very bad dream....hmm..that is possible...slap yourself hard in the face...OUCCHHHH....nopee..not it....next option.

....and blankk....no next option....and my hyper activated brain screeched to a full stop.First bead of cold sweat burst in the forehead and rushed down the cheek..

"All things have gone cold,,,,what is the reason for my waking up at 5 , to walk , then come back at 7, get the breakfast at table by 8...."... Mom had not changed much.A feeling of hope rushed through the body.So may be i can still find a logic in all this mess."There is a way out of everything...may be i should further look and may be something will come up...".I reassured myself as I stood up and looked around the room.Firstly, i should know what i was doing for 4 years.I went across to the table.Books were strewn across the table.I slowly started to shuffle through it.My +2 computer textbooks that i was studying till previous morning for the exams.(it is still here!?),a java applications book,another cpp textbook.So i may be involved in a degree regarding cs.I went through remaining books in the table.An electromagnetic theory textbook of some "arun", another emt textbook of no label.and a robert ludlum novel "trevayne".It was the book dad used to read which i did not dare to read because of its standard.Now i took it up and saw page marked at about half the book.Wow,unless i am showing off to my 4 year junior myself,i am awesome...!!!I took the last item in my table...my school bag..(amazing, it is still there),and checked its contents.My research did not yield anything .I was slowly picking up at confidence level.I am studying something of computer science with electromagnetism and reading standard English novels.I looked at the bed.

It looked like a super market of junk.Everything starting from comb , clothes , soap cover , ear piece , clothes , news paper , oxford dictionary, pen, a kitchen knife..!?....so dad was not successful with his lessons.What would have happened..??.Suddenly a lump raised from my stomach, and choked my  throat....may be something happened to fathe....."IF YOU DO NOT COME DOWN IN 5 MINUTES , YOU WILL NEVER SEE THAT COMPUTER AGAIN IN YOUR LIFE .."Relief swept over me smoothly...dad's voice.Thank God.That could only mean that  i may not have been here that much around to change.Actually, looking around , i found that i have gone really bad than the badness in me should be proud of.I rallied myself and continued with my investigation.Then i noticed something odd.A sort of wrapping was made using sponge to the wooden plank at the foot of the bed.What would that be for ?.I lied down on bed , and immediately found out the reason. Because of my length,the wood at the foot of the bed was cutting at my ankle.And hence the arrangement with sponge.Good Gracious...!!!. So I was studying some degree , possibly B tech, staying at a hostel,and i may be be back for the vacations after completing the course.Do i have a job now..?..What is my future now..?.I knew the answers were in the ground floor at my disposal.But before presenting my crazy story to them,i must adapt myself to my crazy story.Now what was left of my room to investigate was my wardrobe.Things started to become pretty interesting.Ever since i was reading holmes, i wanted to investigate something  myself. But never had i thought that i would be in this bizarre situation, investigating my own room to build piece-by-piece my future self.So this is how time travel feels like.But now i need some time..."i am kindaa in middle of something dad..will be back in a moment" , and got the next shock.It was the first time i talked since the fiasco, and suddenly the ugly croak that escaped from my throat  startled me.Now i can definitely cross off singing from the  "what i am now list".I felt a little sad,but held myself together again and went for the wardrobe.

Lower part of the wardrobe had an assortment of clothes,half of them were familiar,which were bought at "my" time.There was a small box at the bottom of wardrobe along with some other bags.I took out the box,put my hand inside it and out came a cool gap jacket....woww..Now i noticed that some of the t shirts were gap too.Father definitely could not have any hand in it unless he had a serious head injury  in between these past 4 years and started a passion for gap products.Who could have brought me this..?Suddenly it hit me.In between all this mess, i was not thinking about my sister.Where would she be now?She would be freaking married by now.!!!.I continued exploring the wardrobe. On the top half of the wardrobe was an assortment of books.To my amazement , i found that apart from some novels of robert ludlum,frederick foresyth,agatha christi and some more computer books,it were all the same books that i kept in my shelf the previous evening..In other big bags inside the wardrobe were my plus two notebooks.A brown paper covered neat notebook caught my attention.Actually it was the neatness that captivated my attention.The name slip proclaimed "Remya venugopal,computer science notebook".She was the the top student of my class and i had no idea how her notebook came in to my possession.As far as i can remember,she would not lend , let alone give her books to anyone else.What caused her to give up her book to me..?.Finding Remya 's book in wardrobe is equivalent to seeing a tiger in bathroom.What would she be doing now..?? "...vo vo...son...you have soo much in plate now to think about that right now.."Still i am in an empty patch in identifying my "future me", or rather the "present me"...i corrected myself.Time is really an illusion created by memories.When memories fade, we get frozen in the axis of time..."philosophy should be your last priority now,when you have absolutely no job."...JOB....4 years had passed....I should be out of college....do i have a job.?.I looked once more around the room and gulped.It will be too hopeful to hope for a job.So how to find out about me by inquiring to others without creating a panic , or worse without making it look like a comedy...?.I can already see in my mind's eye the immediate reactions of parents - Fuss dad will make about "the problems you punctually create at regular intervals" and mom's theories about what could have happened to me(she always has a theory for everything.Latest of her achievements was when she explained to CERN people , the theory behind the production of a new particle at accelerator experiment ).As i was about to close the wardrobe, i noticed an unfamiliar bag.I took the bag and started exploring the contents.A small bundle of what appeared like printed photostat notes.I took it  and spread it out. It was small synopsis of different electrical subjects.That i noticed later.The item that got my first attention was a white record type book.My heart jumped to my mouth.This could be my project record. Finally the big mystery of my activity of four years was about to be unraveled. What would be my college?...NIT..!? My brain went in to an overdrive.With trembling hands, i took the book out and with a sudden movement , looked at the front cover.

Electrical and Electronics engineering at FISAT , Angamaly. My over driving brain put indicator to left , stopped driving and parked. So that is it...I passed out in electrical and electronics from a college called FISAT , at Angamaly. The last item on the bag was a black folder.I took the folder and opened it.Inside were my certificates.So what about all these computer books??.I took a book at random and opened the page.The answer was written in the form of  dried pen ink at upper right of the first page..."varsha s"...Of course , my sister was B tech CS.The realization of truth was followed by plunging sensation in stomach.So where are my freaking books?..It is September , and colleges normally close around at May.That meant i went through 4 years of my college without leaving behind any trace of what i was doing....?.."Good job bro"..i sarcastically said to myself...I had many dreams , ambitions and hopes till yesterday...and all of it came to this ? Now i was  pretty sure i did not have a job too.Depression engulfed me as i rifled aimlessly through the pages of the folder....certificates of failed exams, cleared papers...and a offer letter...OFFER LETTER..!?..I came again to the page and looked.I was shortlisted by TCS as software engineer trainee.My heart galloped like a race horse.So that explains the computer books.But what was their inspiration to shortlist me? I never thought I will be studying at Angamaly. And FISAT??.A small bell rang.I remembered hearing about FISAT from nirmal, my plus two mate , back at school. Is he there too..??.How was my college life?..Did i enjoy it..?What kind of a person did i become in these past years, a person who do not even have a note about his 4 years of study other than some synopsis photostat, and a couple of textbooks..?.Am i like that in friends department too?.I moodily swung  the bedroom door to a close.And hanging behind the bedroom door was the answer.

A shirt, probably a uniform shirt with scribbling was hanging behind the door. Lot of messages in different colored ink crisscrossed the shirt.A big writing was written in big font across the back of the shirt.."PROCRASTINATION MSK".I looked up the word in the dictionary...and smiled.Everything was falling in to place. Another message got my attention among the scribbling.."BHELPURI TINAN INIYUM AVASARAM UNDAAVATE...BEST OF LUCK NEXT TIME".I was confused.A girl issue?.naay...i am too awesome for that. Suddenly a beep sounded from under the pillow case.I moved it and saw a small red Samsung phone.So this is my mobile phone.I looked....2 messages...one  from a certain "karatekid"...."annapoorna hotel ine ambience illa alyaa..." ..another one from "endiravan"..."missing you all aliyaa....".I went through my phonebook looking for name of nirmal,or any of my former school mates.But the phonebook was filled with Weird  Names... "jerry,saku,xpelliars!?...."...."A loooot of catching up to do....", I thought , trying not to think about the emotions welling up inside as i went out of bedroom to go down and meet my parents from "after 4 years".

THE END





PROLOGUE                                                         
.

At living room , while  mother was arranging some books in the table ,  father made a sweeping declaration.."It is time that i should put a restriction to the computer.Film watching at night is going out of control". Mom smiled to herself.Another of the sweeping declarations,fifth in the week and two repeated declarations in that too.But she responded ."But i do not think it was the case yesterday...at 11 o clock when i went  to close the kitchen door, i heard some pounding as if he is dancing and then a crashing sound.I shouted whether he is okay,but no response came.I thought he broke something,but today morning when i went and looked ,  did not see anything."....