Saturday, March 6, 2010

Time Travel

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 8; the eighth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

"Time Machine, a device that has caught the imagination of the people for decades. One could go ahead in time, or back if one desired." I thought aloud sitting on my bed.
"Where is my bike key?" my elder brother ransacked the cupboards.
"If you had a time machine you could have gone back in time and..."
"Stop bugging me and help me find the key." he cut me. Every jeans pocket was checked and then was flung onto the bed, a huge pile of clothes sat comfortably on the bed, while my brother searched desperately for the bike key.
"Don't just sit there, help me or get out of the room." he pushed me away.


Sitting on the compound wall I looked around the road, my next door neighbor a fellow engineering student was busy on his mobile. The old couple who live a couple houses across where out sitting in their front yard sipping tea. A cricket match was in progress down the street, and just a few yards away five year olds played making weird sounds.
There was a sudden burst of a thought in my head and before the dust could settle my legs had sprang into action and I was across the road walking towards the old couple.

"Time Travel, eh" Swaminathan, the old man sipped his tea.
"Yes, so where do you think you would like to go if you could time travel." I sat back on the wooden chair that squeaked each time I changed my position.
"Radho where would like to go" he smiled at is wife and continued
"I would like to back to the 60s, back to black shining bike. Riding in the Agumbe ghats." he sat back.
"So you used to ride your bike a lot." I encouraged him forward.
"Radho you remember that overtake I did once" he asked his wife with bright eyes and a smile.
"How can I forget that." his wife replied turning to hand me a cup of tea.
"What happened?" I asked eager
"I would like to go back to that day, if I could time travel."

We were riding back from Agumbe; rain lashed on us, visibility was a clear zero. Radho held onto me tight, her face trying to hide behind my back. We were young, we were stupid, we rode in that heavy rain with a song in the heart.
I touched her shivering palm, the warmth I felt on her palm on that cold day will never leave me.

"What are you doing?" she interrupted and brought us back.
"I am just trying to hold my wife's hand" Swaminathan sir replied back
"Is there anything wrong with that young man?" he asked looking at me
"No sir, please continue with the story."

Now that I think, I was a maniac on that bike.
Riding in the ghats I countered corners with great speeds and seldom used the brakes.
Then came two lorries trying to overtake each other. I waited for them to tussle for a little time. Patience was running low, and there looked to be no space to overtake the lorries. Before my brain could realize, I had accelerated and was right between the two lorries. She shouted out in panic and hugged me tight. A few seconds and I had overtaken the two lorries cutting them right in the middle.

"Given a chance, I would go back to that exact moment when she hugged me tight." he looked at his wife.
He held her hand and tapped on the back of her palm gently.
"Those were the days, my son. We would silently escape into a theater without letting anyone back in the house know of it."
"Do you remember 'Abhi na jaao chhodkar'. he asked turning to his wife.
"I can never forget any of those days." she replied back.
Her wrinkled face was red with uncontrollable blushes. She got up and asked if we wanted another cup of tea. We both nodded 'No'. She walked away quickly from us with a bright smile on her face, and I mostly I saw a happy tear in her eyes.

"Swami, walking?" his friends interrupted us.
"Yes coming" he got and left with his walking stick and left me back a smile on my face.

I walked out to the road and stood there for a moment watching the kids play.
I walked up to them and asked them all
"Where would you like to go, if you could time travel?"
"Time travel?" they thought for a second and asked
"Anywhere we want?"
"Anywhere you want, it's a time machine it can take you anywhere you want."
One cute, chubby boy replied
"Jurassic Park."
Everyone shouted out their approval with joy and suddenly started moving and making growing.
"Watch out for that dino, anna" a kid screamed at him
"What dino, I looked at the empty road."
"We are in the Jurassic Park, look at all the dinos" another girl with a cute skirt and a mini mouse t-shirt pointed out to the empty road.
I growled out loud, lifted my arms and walked like a zombie.
"Run everyone the T-Rex is coming at us." the chubby kid shouted out
"Run to the base ship." another shouted out pointed to the parked auto.
I suddenly started running excited, a kid stopped me and said
"Anna you are the T-Rex why are you running away."
They all laughed, while I smiled and said
"No see the T-Rex is back there." and pointed to my neighbor still busy on his mobile.
They laughed again and some clapped with joy.
"Run quickly to the base ship." I shouted out and we all ran towards the auto.
Once inside the base ship I turned to them and asked
"Where are we going now?"
The chubby kid replied
"Remember it's a time machine. It can take you anywhere you want."

The evening slipped away with smiles and laughter. We traveled to meet bala Hanuman, Mickey Mouse and the gang, while busy with our time travel we also bumped into aliens and Superman.


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33 comments:

MADHU RAO | (INDImag.COM) said...

Good one Harsha and good to see you did not make the protagonist sit in a contraption and 'time travel'. Thought travel and imagination is way more interesting..

Parth J Dave said...

This was a warm and nice, post! It brought a smile to my face and lifted my mood.. And that was because, I could easily connect and relate to your story! Wonderful screening, Harsha!

..And all the best for BATOM-8!

Saro said...

Adorable :) likey likey! the good old days of yore.

All the luck with BATOM!

swayambhu said...

all the best fr batom!

Unknown said...

gud read ..liked it :)

Er. said...

As Saro said, it was adorable and nice. All the best for BATOM!

PS: http://bit.ly/aliensandme

Siddhesh Kabe said...

ha ha...that was a nice post...good imagination...:D

Mural! said...

nice imaginative and a feel-good post..........all the best for BATOM!

pawan said...

You remind me of R.K.Narayan, the crisp, lucid and warm words truly belong to him, or I thought they did. But now you begin to fascinate me mate!
Cheers :)

Unknown said...

Heylo, I liked your post especially the story that was really cute and adorable, but I also saw typo's I would be better if you recheck and remove them. I certainly don't want to have this feeling that my dear friend wrote the post in a hurry. Overall, I enjoyed it. Good Luck !!

T F Carthick said...

Really unique perspective on time travel. I really loved the concept - what people of different ages would like to do if they had a time traveling machine. Neatly brought out the difference in thinking of the young and the old. The young are so full of hope and wild imaginations. The old on the other hand like to treasure the little memories of the past. Really nicely brought out.

T F Carthick said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nethra said...

Time traveling through words and ones imagination. Thats a nice concept.
All the best for blog-a-ton 8. :)

magiceye said...

wonderful! fascinatingly enjoyable!

Tavish Chadha(sensible-bakwas.com) said...

really nice one Harsha... was a very simple idea but put across splendidly... all the best for BAT8

Cheers!
Blog: Sensible Bakwas

Makk said...

Pleasing attempt.

Nice one.

Mahesh Aadhya Kalal said...

soothing and pretty cool......

Shilpa Garg said...

That was a very sweet and wonderful take on the topic with a great 'feel good' factor too.
Liked it!!
Cheers and all the best for BAT-8! :)

Anonymous said...

I agree with Pawan on that. Your writing did remind me of R.K.Narayan. Very simple and sweet post with great imagination :)

Someone is Special said...

Good One Harsha...
All the best for BATOM

Yours Frendly,
Saravana Kumar M

Harsha Chittar said...

@Madhu: Thank u sir, glad you liked it :)
@Parth: Thanks brother, best of luck to you too.
@Soro: Thank you :)
@swayambhu: u too
@prithvi: thanks a ton for giving it a read.

Harsha Chittar said...

@Virgin: Thanks you, hope you keep visiting.
Ravan: Glad you liked it :)
@Pawan: Has to be the best comment I have received, Thank you for your kind words, glad you like and read what I write :)
@Murli: Thanks bro, luck to you too

Harsha Chittar said...

@Vivek: Thanks sir, will look into it
@TheFool: Thank you brings a smile on my face when people like the posts :)
@Nethra: Thank you, super happy that you liked it :)
@magiceye: Thank you :)
@Tavish: Life is all about keeping things simple :)
@Makk: Thank you.
Mahesh: Thanks brother :)

Harsha Chittar said...

@Shilpa: It is all about bringing a smile on the readers face :)
@evernescentthoughts: Siper happy to read your comment, words like those keep me writing
@Someone: Thank you, do keep visiting :)

Karthik said...

Beautiful, Harsha. It's very touching. In the midst of all the time machine mumbo-jumbos, reading this story was like drinking a nice cup of tea. It was rejuvenating. And man, the second part of the story with kids! I so loved it. Very cute and adorable. Wonderful description. It's been ages since I played with kids. I'm yearning to do so.

Anonymous said...

Wow..Those are some wonderful thoughts and good imagination. I especially liked the old couple thoughts..
Very good..:)

Megha said...

tht was a different take...and the ending was cute :)

All the best!

Saurabh Panshikar said...

Nice one. Enjoyed it

Rachana Shakyawar said...

@ Harsha

Real fun in the journey in the Time Travel!

Keep the Spark Alive..

Prashant Mehta said...

Pretty Imaginative!!

Rocksa said...

Three words:

'Simple, sweet and refreshing'

Nice take on the topic :)

Good luck with BATOM!

Naina said...

Hey Harsha, super aagide!

Shruthi said...

Such a charming man Swaminathan is. lovely take on the theme.

can this time machine take me to the world of Hobbits? just checking :)