The chronicles of shanta bai ........

Dharavi. West entrance. Third house from the left. She had run away from her home when she was just 16. She was in search of fame in the beautiful city of Mumbai. Lady luck wasn’t in a giving mood I guess. She ended up being a bar dancer in “The Darling Bar “downtown. But even since the ban on dance bars she had no means of livelihood. This nihilistic world had taken away everything from her. Call it gods clemency she then got a job as a maid. Working for 10 hrs a day, moving from house to house, she still holds on to her credence and hopes that she might some day land the part of shakuntala in the favourite play of hers.

July, Friday the 13^th. It was raining more heavily than usual. May be god was trying hard to wash away Mumbai’s sins. Her latest job was at the BARC. BARC’s latest experiment had been all over the news. They were trying to join merge the properties of various inanimate objects using the results obtained from CERN’s successful experiment. Who knew dark matter was nothing but the psychic energy that some people were able to detect. The psychic phenomenon where they were able to hear voices from the grave was actually sound being transferred through time through dark matter. Using this dark matter the scientists were actually capable of creating a small gold ring which could literally absorb all light around it creating what they termed as the A - HOLE (Anionic hole of light emission)

First floor over. She was sweeping non stop for 2 hours. She now had just one more floor to go. But that night someone had other plans with the ring. Dr. Babumushai knew he could do much more with the technology. But the government was restricting him. They had putmanyrestrictions on his work. He believed that he could conquer time itself..... if given the freedom to conduct his experiments unperturbed. But even he underestimated the security at the facility. The alarms began to sing his doom as soon as he lifted the ring.

“ Trrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg........”, they went on and on. He panicked. He ran. Without knowing where he was heading. May be he saw his doom following him. So he threw the ring down the staircase. And as fate would have it, it fell right in her bucket. Shedid not notice the plop. She just went on with her work when she became aware of the alarm ringing upstairs. She did not want any more trouble in her life. She ran alongwith her bucket. Little did she know that her destiny was being changed with every step she was taking out of the facility. The doctor searched frantically to find the ring. But all in vain.

May be it was destiny. She then found the ring when she was just about to throw away the water. She thought of the one Shakuntala wears in the play. It made her smile. She held it in between her two fingers. And slided it down her finger. Uncanny silence enclosed her. Then came the darkness. All around her. She could not fathom the seriousness of her last action. She was happy though. She thought that it would all end. And that too without pain. What more could she ask for she thought. When she came back to her senses she was lying on the ground with the damn ring stuck to her finger. She could not take it off. Was it a curse ? or was it a blessing ? she could not decide. All she knew was that her life was about to change.

(the adventure continues.....)