On the Anvil

Zeitgeist
Citius,Altius,Fortius
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Thursday, March 20, 2008

THE INTERVIEW - I

"Oh God!" my friend was nonplussed. I had just managed the biggest scoop of all - an interview with God. I count myself very fortunate. I just happened to run into him. Now close that mouth. As for the details about venue and time, well that's a trade secret. Content is what holds water as the fourth estate readily endorses. And I am sharing it all for free. No philanthropy or altruism. Plain self - preservation as you will soon discover. Here are excerpts from the talk:
Me :: Ok God. Can you provide a brief note about yourself by way of introduction? Just for good old technicality sake.
G :: “Well, I am an author.”
Me :: An author? You surprise me there.
G :: (chuckles) " As God, surprise ought be my USP. Yes, I am an author.”
Me :: Any work of substantial significance so far.
G :: “ No. Not really. But working on a book with a very interesting plot.”
Me :: Your masterpiece?
G :: “ Yep.Magnum Opus. Work in progress.”
On the move, he moves away seeking to avoid the tide of people coming his way. I get a whiff. The talk is heading for a premature end. So I hastily slip in this teaser of a question.
Me :: Any sneak peeks. . Any leaks about the plot?
G :: (swiftly moving away from me) “In fact, take this one page sample from the draft of one of my later chapters. It’s written in the first person- from the protagonist’s angle. It will provide just enough leaks to get you on your toes. But I’m holding back just enough to not compromise the end. I guess you will share it with your fellas.”

The Author gives me the page and escapes into invisibility. Here it is.

Us.

Homo sapiens

Wise man or knowing man.

Bipeds at the acme of biology yet still ambling at the abyss when its a question of our humanity. Entities surrounded by an aura of evolutionary glory but stalked by the shadow of in discriminatory gory. Creatures of perennial hope often being casualties of perpetual fears.

Why is it that in our hour of greatest progress on technology front.....we have greatest misery(hunger)......why in the most cutting edge medicinal times do we have the most casualties dying out of diseases with very simple causes.... why is that when we have the greatest protection(read: nuclear weapons) ......do we feel most vulnerable........why is that when we have the most money........that we feel the most poor, most deprived............why is that when we have global connectivity ........does every human experience a personal disconnect?

No rosy English or daisy prose this. Only the hard fact. The biting reality. The scary milieu. The gnawing truth. Hard as the hunger challenging the kid across the high rises and amidst the slums. Biting as the cold ambushing the scantily clad old man without a shelter. Scary as the terrorist tag we attach to strangers who seek to befriend us given these times. Gnawing as the emptiness eating away the vitals of a person not vaccinated by a dose of pure love. With money maybe you can overcome the hard part and bypass the biting section; adjust to the fact and accommodate the reality. But you need heart to confront the truth.

Here we are. Having come, yet not arrived. Having evolved but not developed. Having conquered but not yet soveriegn. Having advanced but not progressed. Having outthought, outlived, outsmarted, and outdone everyone and still what is the outcome - unable to avoid an existential outage. So there we go...

An existence in opposites.

A presence in paradoxes.

A creation in contradictions.

A potpourri of polarities

A amalgam of the extremes

An instance of ultimate irony

A mayhem of a mixture

That has been the story. Our story.

End of sample.

The Author it seems is bent on one helluva of a thriller and the above snippets is a sample of the draft of a chapter. I just hope the draft is not final nor this chapter his last. I pray you join me in praying for a turning point for this plot. And given the settings, our prayers better not be just lip service. We better act & act fast. Else snap thy finger & begin the countdown to apocalypse.

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