Monday, July 02, 2007

The Island

Where Am I? Those were the first words that came to his mind as he struggled to open his eyes. He saw a branch of a tree above his head.

The sudden rage of sunlight after a prolonged period of darkness seemed to blind him and he covered his eyes with his hands. He was wearing the same blue colored Indigo Nation shirt with white collar and Van Heusen Black pant that he wore yesterday.

Yesterday? Was it yesterday? Or was it Day before yesterday? How long had it been since he had blacked out? His watch was missing and so he had no clue if he had been at that place for a day long or 2. His mobile phone was missing as well along with his purse. As he searched for his mobile phone in his pant pocket he found a note which read “ENJOY YOURSELF”.

What does that mean?

The last thing he remembered was sitting in his car and listening to Bill Wither’s Aint no Sunshine and relaxing after a day’s hard work. The last thing he witnessed was an image of a gloved hand with a kerchief which was thrust on his face and he had left out a muffled scream. That was it. Then he blacked out and found himself alone a few minutes before.

What was this place?
Why was this done to him?
What did they want?
What was he going to do?

He walked around with lot of questions cropping up in his mind and wondered what he should do next. He felt hungry. Damn. Perhaps hunger is the only routine that happens irrespective of any emotional feeling of grief or anger or happiness.

For sure he was not going to find any Ponnusamy or Saravana Bhavan or Vasantha Bhavan in this wretched place. He looked at the coconut at the top of the tree and wished how good it could be if it were to fall down. Wow....if only wishes do come true....

He walked as far as his legs could take. He felt dizzy and nauseating. And that was when he saw it. HOLY COW!!!!! It could not have been possible. He was facing a beach that one gets to see only in the movies. The water looked invitingly blue and inspite of all the confusion in his head, he managed to smile.

He was unsure if the water was reflecting the color of the sky or if it was vice versa. He had always wanted to go to such a scenic island and drop dead on the beach. How wonderful it could be if he was going to be there with.....

Bang Bang.

He heard gunshots. He hesitated for only one second and then found himself running like a hare. His PT master would have been proud, had he seen him dash at such Olympian speed. Suddenly he felt like one of the characters of the hit drama LOST where they get stranded in an island. Just like them he didn't know why he was here and wondered how he was going to escape from here.

Why would someone try to kill him?
What harm had he done to anyone?
Why was this happening to him?

A barrage of questions and no answers. Confusion reigned over his mind and he seemed to have no answers. He dropped pace and started to walk amidst the trees. He tried to remind himself of the happy times of his life. His Birthday at home, his naughty school days, the college culturals, the Ooty trip with friends, first day at job, getting promoted, getting appreciation from the client.

When was the last time he had sat down and reminded himself about his happy times?
When did he last have a relaxed conversation with his parents?
When was the last time he had asked his father if he took his insulin dosage?
When was the last time he had had a banter with his mom or asked her about the fate of her favorite mega serial heroine?
When had he last called his jobless friend and asked him if he needed to know about any job openings?
How long was it since he went to any theatre and whistled shamelessly with his friends?

Not for quite some time.

He had become a victim of the fast paced life. Like most of the hapless souls on earth he had forgotten the past, ignored the present and worried constantly about the future. Perhaps this soliloquy was for good. With no work to do or deadline to meet, his mind seemed relaxed inspite of the peril hanging like a dagger above the head. He decided to walk again to the beach and take a dive into the divinely blue water.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........

What was that? A ferocious roar silenced his mind and made him feel numb. He glanced in the direction of the roar and trusting his instincts he began running in the opposite side of the forest. He ran as far as he could and didn’t care to look back. The roar seemed to follow him accompanied with a thud sound. He ran for his life.

Till that instant he had never known that he could run so fast. Well...it was not the very ideal time to make a discovery. The roar seemed to be nearing him and he ran faster...harder. Just then he entered into a section of forest with a different entrance to the beach. And then he saw....

Ending 1

There was a huge cake inside a hut built on the sand. Above the hut lay a HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY poster. He saw his friends looking expectedly at him and welcoming him with cheers and claps. Near the hut there was a giant screen which showed him running and entering into the beach.

It was a set up made just for fun. He went to his dearest pal standing near the cake and asked "So it was you? You almost had me killed. Do you realize that?" As those words left his mouth, he smiled instead of being angry.

"Well...you didn’t accept the proposal for the holiday on your birthday. We didn’t have much choice you see. So how do you feel?"
"Never felt so alive."
He hugged his friend and marched towards the cake amidst cheers. The cake structure reminded him of the company designation hierarchical tree.

He chose to ignore it.

Ending 2

He saw her standing facing the sea. He could only see her back with her hair flowing in the direction of the wind, but still he was left with little doubt that it was her. She was his fiancé. For 2 weeks she had been asking him to take a break from work after he had fainted one day at work place owing to work pressure.

He had ignored her for long. Perhaps…she had decided to take matters in her own hands….and done it spookily with style. He hugged her tightly from behind and said “I hope the idea was not to get me killed.”

She turned back, looked him eye in eye, smiled and said “How do you prefer it?”
He kissed her gently said “If you are planning to kill me with your eyes and lips…..lets do it now!!!!!!!!!!”

P.S: Ending 1 dedicated to Nandoo, who completes Silver Jubilee on July 03 and Arun who becomes another year sweeter on July 06.
Ending 2 dedicated to
KK who crosses the ocean of bachelorhood and lands ashore Ms K's heart on July 09.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

I liked this one! :)

Anonymous said...

Btw, finally first comment from me too! :)

Aditi said...

nicely written
=)

Nivi said...

"Well...it was not the very ideal time to make a discover"
LOL very victorian kind funny!!
Loved it.Loved ending 1. U know me ;-)
It was beautifully concieved and written and it is soo true. We all need a damn break!!!
Kudos harish!!

Nithya said...

Soofer post :) Lovely (or rather typical Harish'ish') style of wishing your pals :)

Last line enna punchy-mushy dialogue ;)..Kalaks line thaan ;) Lol :D

nandoo said...

dai... happy birthday ellam aprom irukkattum.. :P

enna thitrathunaa thitidu... ipdi raapagalaa velai seirenu ellam solli avamana paduthaathaa :D

thanks buddy...

Ganesh Ranganathan said...

neatly written...:-)

Priya Iyer said...

as always, great! loved both endings! :-)

Ponnarasi Kothandaraman said...

Hahaha.. 2ending and the apt dedications are so good! :)

Ponnarasi Kothandaraman said...

even they are in ur own style! :) new and nice idea!

Dreamzz said...

lol! tha story is nice and the endings.. in ur style.. are super!

Anonymous said...

good one :-)
what abt taking ppl stranded on an island and giving them free job offers ?? that would be a happy ending for me ;-)

G3 said...

That was really so sweet.. really enjoyed reading it :-))

Anu said...

classic harish! beautiful. had us wondering what was going on until we came to the ending the part!

Good one!

Padma said...

hey i guess i have too many birthday mates.. Evne i'm a July 3rd born :)..

Good ones. Both endings.. Guess harish factor has finally worked :D.

Anonymous said...

As usual...
Amazing stuff dude....
Keep writing and keep rocking...

Gayathri said...

Epdi idhellam??? Anyways, I liked the first ending more. :-)

Arunkumar said...

Thank you so much man :)

Thanks to my blogger friends, I am facing a
never-before-experience
for my bday :)

Arunkumar said...

story as usual is classic Harish :)

//
He was unsure if the water was reflecting the color of the sky or if it was vice versa.
//
chumma adhuruthu !!!

Arunkumar said...

Belated wishes to Nandoo and Hearty Congrats to saga KK :)

Arunkumar said...

indha maathiri nadantha supera irukkum-nu think panna vachiteenga harish :)

Kumar said...

Hi. That's a nice one....two different endings...and dedicating them to different people!

D LordLabak said...

Is there anything else I can say apart from "Nice one"?

Serendipity said...

Ending one was awesome :)Very original:)

Swetha said...

Liked both the endings !

Guess should learn some tricks of this trade of story telling from you :-)

Swetha said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Janani said...

A typical Harish post...

And lots of info at the bottom too....

Harish said...

@Aparna
Great that U loved it :-)

@Aditi
Thanks a ton yaar

@Nivi
Hee hee...its nice to find humor in all situations. Yep...we all need a break :-)

@Nithya
I love punchlines. Make the impact stay forever.

Harish said...

@Nandoo
Anda kadhai la Nadoo mattum illa...anda charactera maaritta :-P

@Ganesh
I try my best buddy :-)

@Priya
Thanks yaar. I try my best :-)

@Pons
I dunno abt the style. If there is one...well...I love it :-)

Harish said...

@Dreamzz
ada ada asathudu isstylle... :-)

@Sangs
Apdi irunda I would love to change mine :-)

@G3
Its been a pleasure making everyone happy :-)

@Anu
The joy of keeping a reader engrossed is worth a million bucks. If you want to clarify this...ask Rowling or Dan Brown :-)

Harish said...

@Padma
If I had known earlier would have dedicated to you as well. There is always a next year :-)

@Heidi
Thanks yaar :-)

@TBNTB
Thanks pal. I will try my best :-)

@Gayatri
I liked the last line in first ending :-)

Harish said...

@Arun
I wish I had the resources to make this happen. Hmmm...edo namallala mudinjudu :-)

@Kumar
Yes pal. Its been a real pleasure :-)

@Serendipity
Thanks yaar.

Harish said...

@Dushti
Idellam over :-)

@Janani
Thanks yaar :-)

Anonymous said...

gosh i have been hibernating missing all these lovely posts of urs.. it was tooooooooooo gooooooooodddddddddddddddddd..... gr8888888888 work!!!!!!!!!

--Hell's Angel!!!!!

Anonymous said...

gosh i have been hibernating missing all these lovely posts of urs.. it was tooooooooooo gooooooooodddddddddddddddddd..... gr8888888888 work!!!!!!!!!

--Hell's Angel!!!!!

Anonymous said...

gosh i have been hibernating missing all these lovely posts of urs.. it was tooooooooooo gooooooooodddddddddddddddddd..... gr8888888888 work!!!!!!!!!

--Hell's Angel!!!!!

Anonymous said...

sorry by mistake commented thrice.. anyways its worth it.. isn't??;-)

Harish said...

@Brinda
Idellam romba over :-)

Nabeel said...

there's a movie by this name too with Ewan McGregor