Here is the winning entry, by Dr. Sneha Mohan.
Start Line: Several years ago, back when I was old … End Line: Maybe it will happen in 2 years, or maybe it will happen in 197.3 years, but whenever it does, I shall be ready with my fork and knife. Content Pictures: The hands holding a person’ s iris
Several years ago, back when I was old … what I was is pretty boring. Things aren’ t that much different now, when I’ ve only become older. I bet you were expecting a Benjamin Button story and I do apologise for cheating you out of the cooler sci-fi story the opening line promised to deliver. You’ ll have to blame the reality of linear time for this one.
So if I was boring back then, and now, I guess there isn’ t much of a story to tell, but having taken upon the task to spin a tale before the stroke of midnight on the 21st of April, I’ ll recount the tale of a girl I knew several years ago, back when I was old, who was younger and had an infinitely more interesting life.
Let’ s call her Q, primarily because I am still questioning myself what to name her, and because it’ s quite a quaint alphabet, don ' t you think? So Q here wanted to look into the future to see what the world would be up to when she was older. Would we make it to Mars? Will she ever find‘ the one’? Will scientists discover a way to eat endlessly without growing fat and will we ever understand why people dance like epileptics at parties?
She went about reading books about the past trying to find the key to the future. She bought tarot cards, tea leaves and crystal balls and studied the planets and the stars searching for answers to questions about love, life and the universe. But she didn’ t have much luck, so finally, months after fruitless toil, she decided to give it up.
Considering how matters stood, it is unsurprising that it took her by surprise, when she found one of her old dusty crystal balls on the floor by the bed. Picking it up, she saw her reflection, distorted by the curvature of the glass. For a fraction of a second she saw her right eye enlarged, staring back at her. She held the crystal ball tightly in both hands as she stared at her eye. It wasn’ t just a reflection. It was really there inside the dusty glass. And her hands holding the crystal ball enveloped her eye, encasing her iris, the pupil dilated in excitement. And in that moment she knew what she’ d seen...
Years passed, finding Q in a profession preferring to deal with numbers that spelled out the future. Empirical and subjective probability gave concrete answers in such abstract ways and she was happy being uncertain, while certain of the degree of her uncertainty. The future could sort itself out without her help. She figured humans would find out about living on Mars eventually and searching for‘ the one’ was futile. There would be fewer broken hearts if love was altruistic instead of a misguided solution to their insecurities. Age had given her wisdom( not to mention wisdom teeth), and though she still couldn ' t binge eat like there was no tomorrow, she knew, that even with the movement of time, however far into the future, the mystery of epileptic dancing would probably never be explained.
Yet, every now and then she would pick up her old crystal ball and search for her eye, that singular moment in time when she had felt certain of something, a something that gave her hope for a brighter future. Q has told me that there was a flicker just a flicker, during one of her attempts, when she thought she saw the future. Not Mars or her future lover or the mystery of the unsolved epileptic chorea, but a glimpse of the future where bulimics could live free, with endless gustatory indulgence would have no consequences! Maybe it will happen in 2 years, or maybe it will happen in 197.3 years, but whenever it does, I shall be ready with my fork and knife.
Sneha Mohan 2982, Batch of‘ 12
Up next is a wildcard entry, by the Lit Secy, Satwik Pasani.