Reality Check

Today morning I, woke up abruptly and found myself in a new surrounding, peculiar faces, everything around me appeared to me strange, and though there was a bit of chillness in the air I was feeling uneasy, the peaceful atmosphere was disturbed by the ding dong sound striking eight times giving an indication that it was 8.00 in the morning.

I tried getting up from the bed but felt something dragging me back; however hard I tried I could not move my limbs. Mustering all my courage I sat down but could not recollect any of those faces around me which made me wonder where were my family members whom I was habituated to see each day in the morning.

I was barely able to speak but the thought of seeing me in an unfamiliar area sent a chill down my spine. The more I was trying to recollect where I was the more it bothered me.  I wanted to somehow get away from that unfamiliar environment and was desperately yearning to meet my family members. I dragged myself to the edge of the room but the sight of everything new around me was dreadful. I realized this wasn’t my home, so gathering all my strength started walking out of the room. People inside the room tried stopping me but I was not the one who was to listen to what they were going to say.

 It was a very frightening morning, with all my might I started dragging myself and upon casual enquiry with bystanders I could not draw any response which further intrigued me.

However hard I was trying to recollect “where I was” I experienced more pain in my head, the sight of alien faces was both surprising and scary. The surrounding was completely new and so were the people around me. Plush shops bordering both side of the road made me wonder in which part of the world I was. In the hustle bustle of the city people were walking silently, had complete sense of road discipline,  no pan stains, no people smoking on the roads but the vehicles were zipping on the road with the usual honking sound missing as if I was in a completely foreign ashore.

On one hand my legs were moving unsteadily in a particular direction and on the other hand my mind was asking grim questions on what was happening around me? I did seek directions for my house from passerby’s only eliciting drawing blank responses. The horrifying thing was my hands were wrinkled and was trembling similar to what we see in Parkinson’ disease, walking a few feet further I could make out a tall watch tower as it resembled a similar tower near my house but then Ignored it as I knew this wasn’t what I was familiar with .

Huge Malls adorned both sides of the roads, the shops inside had fashionable accessories; it seemed to me that fashion was out of sync with what I was used to seeing. People were well behaved, following lane discipline, roads were squeaky clean which was not what we are used to observe on a daily basis.  The thought of not finding my house kept haunting me repeatedly, I was completely exhausted by now hardly able to stand on my legs, I was hallucinating as if I was travelling in an earthquake prone area. My mind was strong willed unwilling to rest but my physical body was not supporting, left with no option I decided to hunt for a place to rest but could not locate one. Everything around me looked unusual.

Exhausted I was, seeing a newly built temple I decided to take some rest but my mind was wandering all over. I was praying to find my house at the earliest but I was not able to recognize the roads. Suddenly I saw a ray of hope, could see light at the end of the dark tunnel journey that I had embarked. I sighted a familiar face of my friend Mahesh but he appeared to me at least 2 decades older, since he was the only flicker of hope the curiosity took over me and with all my strength I pulled myself towards him. I told him he resembles a friend of mine who must be of my age hence I thought of approaching him. He immediately recognized me and barged a few questions saying Hey Venkatesh what happened to you? Don’t you recognize me?  Why are you behaving as if he was a stranger? I am Mahesh; he had a hearty laugh saying old age has caught upon you. I couldn’t believe my eyes, he had an aged look, and his hair had turned complete grey. He later asked me whether I need any help in dropping me home. This is what I was waiting for; I was talking to a stranger intimidating as my friend and willing to drop me at my house which I was desperately yearning for.

Holding his hands I accompanied him, his hands were also completely wrinkled. He took me to a new place which had a complete new look. As I entered the house hesitatingly I could recognize a lady who also resembled my wife but was appearing older than her age and she was sitting besides two young handsome boys whom I could not immediately recognize. Sighting me she sighed relief and offered me a customary glass of water. I was completely dazed, traumatized and not ready to acknowledge anything. It really was terrifying experience as I could my body become cold, my wrinkled hands continued to trembling, reluctantly I took the water to drink but definitely not coming to terms on what was happening to me.

She made me comfortable and asked me why I was behaving unsympathetic to them? Both the boys also walked up to me and tried to reassure me. I was not relating to them but was startled when she called the names of both the boys as I could recollect it was both my son’s name but they appeared to have grown big.

My eyes simultaneously fell on the mirror and the calendar on the wall and I gave a shriek, I was not able to see eye to eye on the mirror, on the other side of the mirror was an elderly man who was nearly twice my weight with protruding stomach, wrinkled hands, dark complexioned and with receding hairline. The date showed the year as February 2030 and I felt the whole world twirling around me as l fell unconscious.

The shriek caught attention of my son who immediately shook me and said Appa please wakeup it is already eight in the morning. I woke up to realize it was a real nightmare and I have seen myself ten years ahead of me a time machine going forward.