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Thursday, July 16, 2009

Elixir

At last, he found a place. It was dark,dingy and shabby, but it would do. He locked the door. The cubicle was air tight. Although he was sweating profusely and slightly out of breath, he couldn't care less. The release would come soon. He had been looking forward to it, all day long. His excitement was visible, like the child who enters an ice cream shop. He was palpitating .

With unhurried hands, he took it out gingerly, and put it into the conical chamber. It would be ready in a while. He let out a slightly impatient sigh, as he went over his day. It had been very long , and very hard. Grueling to the gills. The fact that he needed his fix every now and then didn't help at all. And to add to his woes, he was an asthmatic . But what is a man supposed to do ? How can you handle the dreariness of daily life , when you are so accustomed to it ? His brain craved for it. It almost shut down every now and then . His skin showed the signs as well .

The light had turned green. The vapour was ready to be inhaled. He decided to save some in his flask, for a later dose. And then, he dove in.

A few seconds later, he was on cloud nine, with a rainbow around his shoulders. Euphoric . Ecstatic . Elated. Pleased . Content . Relaxed . He could feel it in his head and heart . And his lungs too. So pure and pristine was the pleasure he experienced, that he almost passed out.

It was, an elixir. He stayed there for an hour. And then left, a relatively happier man. He knew he couldn't live without it , and looked forward to the next rendezvous.







It was 2049 , A.D. He came out of the roadside artificial oxygen booth.



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p.s. How many of you thought that my character was a drug addict ? :) And pardon the scientific inaccuracies , if any . And I guess , the moral of my story is clear enough . To those who didn't get it , what drug are you on ? ;)

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boss that post and this pic of yours...


I was pretty sure its an addict story... !! lol... !!!

earlier pic was more kinda patriotic... deshbhakt kind and ur comments used to be like that...

but this post had me thinking...

spooky... !!!

kanagu said...

Cool one kislay :)

Anonymous said...

a harsh truth told in your usual brilliant style..

.specially the way you have captured his desperation and furtiveness...


You know the scariest part?that it might happen in a few decades..and 2049 will sound like its never going to come..:/



for any other person's post I would have thought that this was a drug addict but you?
nah!I knew there had to soemthing more to it:)



ROFL@Dhiren's comment!!

OG said...

knowing you, i knew that it would not be a drug addict story!!!!

:P :P classic, well written as well................

but yes, maybe this is how the world is going to end up in the future :P

Unknown said...

Love your style...serious and pressing issues presented in such "short-fiction writer" style. Great work. Scary future no doubt.

Anonymous said...

Brilliant!

I must admit the story was about a drug addict...You have style, Kislay!

aShyCarnalKid said...

Thank you everyone .

@Bones
:D I got you ! The others aren't admitting that they were fooled as well . :)

aShyCarnalKid said...

@Dhiru Bhai
Do I look like a drug addict ? Or a peddler ? I am still a pukka desh bhakt though . :)

manju said...

Great post, Kislay!

2049 is not so far away...:(

Anonymous said...

The story is about a drug addict. The day is not far when oxygen will be contraband.

Great one, Kislay.

What is with all these techies and their deep, insightful stories? And they seem to look alike too.

No names!

Cheers,

Quirky Indian

Vinod_Sharma said...

Wow! You had me thinking that it was another drug story...the end was dramatic. Well written.

Arun.N.M. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
aShyCarnalKid said...

@Charakan

"Dont worry Kislay, most of the drug addicts are also Desh Bhakts."

Please clarify yourself .

Masood said...

Well, first thing I did was googled Elixir coz I had to freaking idea what that meant! :P

After which I realized I could not be a drug addict story ;)

But still had to think pretty hard to figure it out. So kudos.

Anonymous said...

:P:P:P:P

Had it been anyone else yeah sure I would have thought any other drug addict story:P
but since it was you..(not ordinary by any standard) so knew it had to be something more..so was waiting to read the end.

Why is it hard to believe that your friends know you so well?:P



QI has said it most succintly though:)

Doodleduck said...

It is the truth......It is just amazing how a particular species in it's selfish needs corrodes the very land which gave birth to it and the laughable part is - it calls itself'intelligent'.Ha!

Very well written story.

Child Of Adam said...

amongst all of your posts, I think I enjoyed this one the most... Great work..

Arun.N.M. said...

It was supposed to be a joke Kislay. I know you enough to know you do not use drugs. Sorry if you misunderstood.I apologise for that.Will delete the last sentence from my comment.

Arun.N.M. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arun.N.M. said...

I appreciate the concern behind this post. But I am always an optimist and want to believe that the distress felt by the man in the post is purely due to Asthma and not because of environmental degradation.

Anonymous said...

Nice post, which very much has a chance of becoming a reality. Oxygen, water, food - these things are also addictive right? We are not able to live without them!!

Destination Infinity

aShyCarnalKid said...

@Charakan
I am sorry Charakan , but that is not I am trying to say .

And the joke was a bit too much . And as a matter of fact , you can't judge a person completely by his blog .

BK Chowla, said...

It made great reading and interesting ending.

vimmuuu said...

"Euphoric . Ecstatic . Elated. Pleased . Content . Relaxed " -- MS Word Thesaurus. Hehehehe.

Nice one, but unfortunately, I happened to read the ending first in my attempts to check how long the post it ;)

Btw, when are YOU coming over to wordpress ???

aShyCarnalKid said...

@Vimmuu
Why man why ? You didn't enjoy the story then for sure ! Bad Vimmmuu ! Very bad !

Wordpress ? May be in a while . I am cool with blogger now . Plus , am lazy as well . :)

Anonymous said...

He he! You got me :)

venkatesh said...

I didnt catch oxygen booth.. but thought on the similar lines..

but, i think man will not survice till there.. he doesnt deserve it if he is looking forward to that..

Anonymous said...

I thought the guy was an addict :)
Agree with Chrysalis... serious issues presented in such short, fiction style!

Anonymous said...

oh boy.. you say so much with ease and in style ...way to go kislay. now i know whom to hire if i need a speechwriter

Anonymous said...

LOL! Great imagination, this. I definitely thought the guy was on drugs. But is this really where the world is heading to? Its a scary thought!!

Asha said...

Am new here. Came thru blogadda. Just could not resist commenting here. Brilliant post! Loved this one, as well as Cook and the Janitor. Now will go read the rest. :)

And i didnt think it was a drug addict story. Guessed that it was intentionally misleading. :) Though i must admit when i started reading it i was thinking more along the lines of coffee rather than oxygen! Again, brillantly written post.I think you present serious important issues in a way that really makes one think about it. Keep up the great work!

Winnie the poohi said...

Awesome! Awesome! You should dabble more into fiction!