The Genius

Hence proved

Sanity is a highly overrated concept. How can somebody define it? Just because a person talks to himself, or because he does not behave according to social protocol does not mean that he's insane. For all we know, the probability that most human beings are insane and the so-called maniacs are sane is much greater than half. If I tell you that we time travel in dreams, you cannot completely discard the idea or call me "mad". Similarly, if I said that another world did exist where machines were alive, my voice should be heard. And with that logic, I set out to tell my mother about my crazy visions.

Indeed, my brain had been tickled by this mystery. Uptil now, humans have come to view a world which has been moulded by others. Who has actually seen light to know whether it has particle nature or wave nature? Experiments which prove duality are based on further experiments which define it. Benzene too is nothing but the random product of an exhausted man's brain. And so it was now difficult for me to accept that this realm that I was seeing did not exist. More so because the vision did not end with that night. As soon as I closed my eyes, the Goddess would be right in front of me, like she had nothing else to do except wait for me. I did not sleep for 72 hours, until I simply blacked out.

When I regained consciousness, I was not so disappointed to know that my figment of  imagination was still there, waiting for me. So I decided to confront my fears by confiding in my mother. Her maximum negative deviation would be ridicule, which would be so basic that it would neutralise even before I felt it. That would be nothing as compared to Galileo, who suggested that the Earth revolved around the Sun and was sent to the gallows for the "preposterous" idea.

So cross my heart and hope to die

Someday the world might say I dont lie....

"Mom?" I repeated for the second time. She was washing utensils. As far as I know, age had not caught up with her, and she almost always did catch my infrasonic signal to my father. I stepped a little closer and tapped her.

"Huh!" Panic. 

"Oh its you. You scared me. " Intimidated.

"Atleast give me a warning. My heart almost stopped for a second." Reprimanded.

"What is this Aishwarya? You had to do this just when the favourite part of my song came, didn't you?" Whining.

"Now I'll have to restart the whole song." Self-pity.

Drama. Ugh.

A spectrum of emotions in nanoseconds. Maybe they could give light a run for its speed.

"Gosh Mom, which world do you live in? There's something called fast forward."

"Yeah, but then I won't enjoy it as much. It has to build up to that moment..."

"Ok fine, but I want to tell you something."

"Yeah tell me baby, what happened? Are you still upset about your job?"

Breathe in, breathe out. Ready, steady, po. 

"No not at all. Just that I have been having funny dreams."

My mother chuckled.

"I remember all the dreams you used to have as a kid. Chairs talking to you - wasn't that the recurring one? And the one with the tiger?"

"Yes Mom, its the same. Just that its a little different now. I think I can actually see them. When I close my eyes, they become real. I see the tiger, and I can also hear the chairs talking. And I was wondering if...."

"If they were real? No baby not at all. Just think of it like a transition from 2D to 3D."

I rolled my eyes. She really wasn't going to believe me, was she?

She looked me straight in the eye and said,"Beta, do you remember the time that you told me that Appa was in a rough flight? He came home the very same day and told us that the air was indeed choppy. I remember how you cried. How you said that it was all your fault. But it wasn't. See our brains play a lot of tricks with us. Especially when they're stressed."

Yeah sure. They form benzene rings in stress. I rolled my eyes again.

"Ashu, I know you don't believe me. But trust me, I'm your mother. I know you better than yourself. Why you had that dream was because you were very excited to meet your father after a very long time. So your mind decided to ruin it. Similarly, why you have the chairs dream is because you crave for company. And when you feel lonely, the brain makes you think that maybe you could befriend chairs and that you'll could share your loneliness. So if you stop feeling lonely, I'm sure it will go away. You need to get rid of these confines. I've told you so many times before - you must start meditating. Its the only way to clear this spam...."

Well, there was an element of truth in that. I could not remember thinking about these things when I was in the university, or at work. Maybe it was because I occupied myself. But it also could be that this thing actually was non-existent. There was only one way to decide.

By closing my eyes.

She was right there, starting to look a little offended.

"Hey I have other things to do too. If you think that I'm jobless, think again. Or better still, don't think at all. Saves a lot of energy. If you're done with deliberating on whether this is actually happening or not, may I continue?"

Wow. Didn't know Gods had fury. I hummed a tune in consent.

"Look, whether you believe it or not, I am real. We Zokots do communicate. Only a mad-" she bit her lips and corrected herself, "only a person like you would bring up this topic with a human. Obviously your human mother won't absorb any of it - she's pretty much in her senses. There's only one way I can prove my existence to you. Don't blame me if it hurts. You brought it upon yourself."

She took a key of mine and plucked it out.

I shrieked in pain. My eyes flew open.

"What happened?", my mom asked. " My God, thats a jolly big cut! How did you get it?"

I looked at the reflection in her eyes. There it was. A bloody big wound in my arm. Right in the shape of a Z.

I smiled to myself. Way to go, Galileo.

Hence proved.