I consider the stretch from Ulloor junction to my home to be the home stretch. Although it should actually be the one from Pongumoodu junction, I stick to this because Ulloor junction would be the last place where I get traffic block. From here it is a smooth drive. In the mornings after returning from dropping her at the department, I like to cruise this stretch at a sweet speed, soaking in the slight chillness in the air. In the evenings, Pongumoodu junction can get crowded.
There is no change in these roads. The crashed vehicles stay in their respective positions. The shops are all closed. The homes lining up the roads are all dark and silent. The eeriness that I had talked about is everywhere. It is growing day by day. In a way, I will get used to it if it persists. In a couple of minutes, I reach Pongumoodu junction. I take the left turn into my street and park my scooter near the pavement. I open the bag, take out the walkie talkie and get out of the scooter as I slide the bag onto my back.
I walk to the center of the road and look towards the Kollam direction. As far as I can see, there is no movement on the road. I take a cursory glance in the opposite direction. Nothing new here.
The volume is fully cranked up in the walkie-talkie. I bring it up close and send out another message.
‘To all the people out there. My name is David. I am a survivor, just like you. I have lost everyone I know in this disappearance. If you can hear me, I am here in Pongumoodu junction just like I said before. I will be here for half an hour. If you can come, please do come. We can figure out what to do together.’
I wait for a few seconds. I pick it up once again. I think of sending out a message declaring tomorrow's meet-up. I will send one on my way back home. I walk to the medical store near the waiting shed. There are a couple of steps leading to the shop. I sit on them with a view of the two ends of the road.
What will you do if you find yourself all alone? Most probably you would have woken up today at your home or some other place that is familiar to you - maybe your friend's house or a cousin's. In this case, you are not trapped. You have resources with you, just like in my case. Maybe you might not have a vehicle or you don't know how to drive one. What will you do then? You would obviously try to find out where the others are, the people who were with you when you went to bed last night. You would realize slowly that they are not in the house. Your communications are dead and you can’t call or text them. You will give some more time. Maybe they have gone out to get some milk. You will wait.
After a certain point, you will get worried. You will have to get out of the house and go out. You might try asking your neighbors if you are friends with them. But they won’t answer your knock on the door. It also depends on where you are living. In apartments, you can quickly check on your neighbors. But in villas or homes, you will have to go out and check on them. Only if they are very much close to you, like a family, would you know their whereabouts on a Thursday morning. Otherwise, it can be that they are not at home, or they left early. This will certainly seem fishy. Yet you can’t be sure because you just can’t confirm. Maybe you can, by figuring out if their vehicle is parked or not. A lot of factors come into play. The end result is you are getting worried when you are not able to find anyone or contact them.
The absence of the internet will have irked you if you are heavily internet dependent. This is something I went through, I am still going through. When your network is being shown and you can’t call or connect to the web, it becomes even more frustrating. You will check it every minute to see if the issue has been resolved. The frustration is not because you are waiting for a message or a mail to come in the morning. It is because it has become an essential part of your life, just like air or water. You find it difficult to live without it.
Since you are not accustomed to a life without the internet, you will initially take time to figure out what to do. If you were a bachelor living off Swiggy, you will need to find out a way to make your own food or source it for yourself. If you were dependent on autos or uber as your travel means, then you will have to get out and walk. Or brush up your cycling skills and maybe take your neighbor's kids' cycle.
A darker scenario comes to my head. What if you wake up without your partner beside you? That is something I can’t fathom. You might initially feel their absence as normal - maybe he gets up early and goes for a jog or hits the gym, is at the washroom, in the kitchen making tea or breakfast. When you wake up fully and still do not find him or her, you will be skeptical. It can be more mysterious if your door is closed from the inside. This eliminates the possibility of going out. And no matter how big the house is, one can’t hide in it forever. Panic will take over slowly. You will try calling him. Maybe your network works (if this scenario is happening before I woke up) and you call him, only to find his mobile lying on the bed table or on the floor beside the bed or anywhere he keeps it before going to bed. More panic!
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
What about the kids, if one has them? They are sure to be in their beds. Yet, they are nowhere in the house. This must be a ghastly scenario. I can’t imagine the horror creeping into the face of someone who wakes up to find their children disappeared without leaving any trace. It gets really frustrating and downright torturous when you can’t account for what has happened. I try dismissing this line of thought as it is getting to me. Initially, I was thinking of kids above seven years. If I think of babies and infants, it is even darker and more depressing.
What if a kid or a baby has survived this phenomenon? What will happen to them? Will they survive the ordeal? Will they be found out and rescued? I can do that provided I know where they are. But how are they going to tell me? They are kids. They won’t be able to get out of their homes. I can’t go about every nook and corner of the city looking for survivors. I can’t do that. That's not how it works. I hope I don't come across such a scenario. Also, I don't want to end up finding someone who was able to survive the phenomenon but perishes owing to the unavailability of help or its delayed arrival. That would only hurt me. That has the capacity to destroy me. I pray to God to avoid such a scene.
Ten minutes have gone by. It is almost dusk. A few dogs came together on the road. They bark at me on seeing me. Since they can’t get a response out of me, they leave. A cool breeze was lingering around for a while. I was deep in thought when it blew. I get up and stretch myself. My bum feels a bit sore. I think it is because of all the driving I was doing.
I could do with some kind of comfort food. A laddoo, an ice cream, a cake or a pastry, a good chicken puff, or a meat roll. I am not hungry. It is just that I wish to find some sort of consolation, something that makes me feel good. I think these can. Behind the closed shutters of the various bakeries in the vicinity, I am sure to find all of these.
Just beside the bus stop, there are a couple of old shops. One of them is a small bakery. I had to visit it to buy something after I couldn’t find them in my regular shops. There were some laddoos on display at the counter. They looked okay. I bought half a dozen. I was surprised by its price. It was almost half of what was being charged at my regular shop. I brought it home without any expectations. When we ate it, we were surprised. It was actually good. It was soft and had a good consistency. It reminded me of the kind of laddoos I used to have during my matriculation days from the shop near where we stayed. I used to buy milk and snacks. Laddoos cost two rupees a piece. With the ten rupees I had to buy snacks, I might buy three and a small veg bun after putting in an extra rupee. This was my and my brother's evening snack on some days. He liked the veg bun more. I was happy to give him the whole bun and treat myself to the laddoos.
It is going to be half past six soon. The sky is turning all kinds of orangey shades. It is a beautiful evening. Sad I can’t enjoy it. I let out a smile. Skies like this always lift my spirits. They send a message of beauty and peace across the horizon. I have come to love, respect, and appreciate them from the time I started working.
My first posting was in a village. My days would stretch till late in the evening. I would get to see the sun set behind a thick patch of green cover. On some sites, the green cover would be absent. Instead, the vibrant paddy fields would be extending into the distance. The sun would set behind them, making the fields change colors.
Some days I would have to get up before the sun rises and be on my way to the work site. I open the window to be greeted by the chilly wind. It would awaken me from my sleepy state and make me ready for the day. I get to see the sunrise beyond these paddy fields draped in a blanket of mist.
Once our site was near the coastline. We were in the eastern part of the country. On one of these early morning visits, I saw an amazing sunrise take place from the sea. The horizon was clear and devoid of any cloud cover. The sky lit up initially followed by the slow rise of the sun. It was a beautiful moment. Since I have been living on the west coast for the major part of my life and having seen the sunset in the sea, witnessing it rise from it was a memorable experience.
The streets are getting darker and darker as time passes. By now the street lights would have come on. The vehicles on the road would have turned on their lights. The shops would have all lighted up. There would have been artificial lighting to delay the feeling of darkness. And when it comes, it wouldn’t seem so eerie.
The omniscient silence along with the onset of darkness does seem haunting. I look up into the sky. I can’t see the moon anywhere. A planet is all lit up bright in the sky. Without the presence of any lights in the city, I am sure you could see the stars much more clearly, more than you could ever see on a normal day.
I should have been excited by this prospect because I love stargazing. I love to capture them with my camera, especially the Milky Way. But I am in no mental state to do so. It is six thirty. The time has come to go back home. I take out the walkie-talkie from my pocket and send out one last message before I leave.
‘To anyone out there who can hear this, you are not alone.’ I take a brief pause to gather my thoughts. ‘Come and meet me at Ulloor junction tomorrow morning at ten in the morning. I will be waiting for you with food and water. Remember, you are not alone in this.’
I wonder if this is a futile exercise. I shrug my head. I can’t entertain these negative thoughts. This is something I must keep on doing. I walk back to my scooter to head back home. What a day this has been.