Pleased with himself, he had enquired around about the cheapest and the best Internet Service Provider, and after due deliberation had got a connection, and that was the start of another fascinating journey. If he was spending a few hours on the computer before, now he spend almost all his waking hours on the internet. He had just finished college, and there was nothing else for him to do.

He was supposed to be looking for a job, but he was in no rush. He knew he had the skills and the talent to get a job of his liking anytime he wished. Abhi was a little over confident, but the way life had treated him, he had every reason to feel that way.

However old a person might be, there are some people who will always treat him like a kid. And parents are some of those people. Though Abhi was 21, his father treated him like he was still in school. He kept an keen eye on Abhi’s activities, and when he saw that Abhi was spending most of his time on the computer, he decided it was time to step in.

“What is the deal with you and your computer?” asked Abhi’s father.

“Deal??? What do you mean?” Abhi feigned ignorance, and although he knew it irritated his father, he still did it.

“I mean, you have been spending too much time on it…don’t you have better things to do?”

“Not really,” Abhi replied.

His father was angry now, but Abhi continued, “ These days computers have become an important part of every office, and since I have not had any specialized training in computers, I am just trying to make up for the time I have lost.”

And since that day his father had never questioned his sitting on the computer. Like most fathers, Abhi’s father wanted the best for his son, and if sitting on the computer helped in that, he would not be the one to stop him.

And to be fair, Abhi was a good man, and he did not really like to waste all his time on the computer playing games and doing all the other frivolous things that can be done on the computer. While he surfed online, he did actually apply for jobs, and try to learn new things and he was quite good at most of the things he did.

But, Abhi had been a loner all his life. He had hardly any friends in school, and whenever he made any friends, sooner or later, he ended up having an argument with them, over one issue or another and the friendship soon turned sour. Eventually, he had accepted his fate, and led a lonely life, but it did not trouble him a lot.

He had developed a creative streak in him, and before he had got introduced to computers, he used to spend most of his time sculpting. Another thing that his parents, especially his father, did not like at all.

“I am telling you, this boy of ours will be the ruin of the family…sculptor…who does he think he is…M F Hussain?”

Abhi had never felt bad about his dad saying that and other similar things. Abhi really enjoyed sculpting, and when he was in his makeshift studio, it seemed to him that he was at a different place, and that the world outside his studio did not exist at all. Moreover his father, he knew, was not into anything creative and thought that M. F. Hussain was a sculptor. So, he did not mind his father’s comment at all. Abhi knew he did not have enough of the sculptor in him to actually make his money or name that way, yet it was something he did because he loved it.

But things had changed. Now, Abhi liked sitting on the computer more than he liked sculpting. In fact he had hardly sculpted anything, since he had had his initiation on the computer. He missed that sometimes, but his new friend more than made up for it.

Computer was his best friend now. He could do what he pleased with it, and if he was irritated he could just turn it off and walk away.

Abhi had recently found a new feature on his friend and he had loved it. He had begun to surf the Internet, and, like most people, the thing that got him hooked was chatting.

Internet is a great thing, it connects people worldwide. Two people with nothing in common, living in two completely different parts of the world can communicate with each other as if they are sitting right next to each other.

To Abhi, it was a whole new experience. He had never had a lot of friends in real life, but now the friend’s list on his messenger was overflowing with friends. When the sun sets in one part of the world it roses in another part. Suffice to say that there are almost three billion people that are awake at any given point of time. And, so one or the other of Abhi’s friend was always online and he had begun to sleep less and spend more and more time on the Internet every day.

It had come to the point where he himself had begun to realize that the Internet was proving to be a real disaster to his life. Sometimes he felt how he was, now, shying away from real life friends to be with online friends. People, he couldn’t even be sure existed.

Of course he knew that too, and yet he was not able to get away from the attraction of the Internet.

The other day, he was with a friend and they began talking about Chatting online.

“You know most people are lying on the Internet,” his friend Rohit had said.

…Continued

(If you have read it till here, do take a few more moments to comment and tell me what you think of it. Since this is a work in progres, your comments can help me improve this.)

As Abhi walked home that day he did not know that soon his life was going to change forever. There was no way he could have known what was waiting for him at home. Even if he had known about the email in his inbox, he had no reason to think too much about it.

Abhi had got introduced to computers not long ago, and he had fallen in love with computers on the very first day.

At first, it was the simple pleasure of sitting at the computer, typing out his assignments and papers. Sometimes, he just sat there drawing something random on a software that had come pre-installed on his computer. The results of his efforts were always childish, but he derived immense pleasure from them.

Then, he had graduated to playing games. Starting from simple ones like Solitaire, he had become a full-blown games addict. At 21, sometimes, he felt that he had missed out on a lot in his earlier years and now it was a bit too late for him to be playing computer games, but then he would tell himself, ”Age is just a number.”

Soon, he had found out that his computer was not fully equipped to deal with the latest games that were available in the market. So, one day, he took a screwdriver and opened up his computer. He read a few books, consulted a few friends and soon he had learnt enough to build himself a fast computer, up to date, with the latest motherboard. He had successfully assembled for himself a lean thin, gaming machine. He had begun to spend more and more time on his computer and other things had begun to get neglected.

But, it had only been the tip of the iceberg. The real harm was still to be done.

One day in a coffee shop he was having a conversation with a friend, a bigger computer geek than him. As was not unusual, the conversation turned to things technical and computer related.

“Hey, I was trying to set up this new card on my computer, but I think I am not doing something right, because it doesn’t work?” Abhi said.

“Huh?” the other guy looked up from his laptop.

“Did you even listen to what I said?” Abhi said a bit irritated.

“Of course, but you have to tell me more before I can suggest anything.”

“Oh!” Abhi said, and explained his problem in detail.

“I think the problem is with the driver of your card, try to find one that is more suitable for your card. Maybe you can find one on the Internet.”

“Ok! Will do,” Abhi said.

The Internet. Abhi was no stranger to Internet but he had not got any Internet service at home. For some time now, he had been thinking of getting it, but his parents, whom he lived with, were dead set against the idea. They thought that the only thing the Internet was good for was Pornography, and Abhi did not want to start a fight with his parents. As it is, he was almost always at loggerheads with them. And being the guy he was, Abhi did not like to hurt their feelings. At least not more than what was absolutely necessary.

But now, living without the Internet was not an option and he had to find a way to get Internet at home, and if he had to do it behind his parents back, he decided he would do it. After making a careful study of what his options were, Abhi decided to get a wireless connection and not tell hi parents about it. There was no way they could ever find out, so there was no question of their objecting to it.

…Continued. 

Times keep changing and when times change, so do things. But there are some things that don’t change with times. Human emotions like happiness, sadness, tears, joy …and love are some of the things that have withstood the tides of time. Over the ages boys have fallen in love with girls, and girls have fallen in love with boys in an almost similar fashion. Circumstances, in one form or the other, have tried to prevent lovers from attaining their desired end; sometimes it is the lovers that beat all odds to unite in an eternal bond, and at other times the circumstances create a chasm that the lovers are not able to bridge in spite of their best efforts.

The story that follows is one such story of two people, and their journey on the path of love. They face many roadblocks, stumble, and yet they keep walking on this path, the end of which they have no control over.

Since the story was long, the obvious thing to do was break it up in parts and post it in serial form, which, I thought, was another great idea.

But my experience with the story I posted ( The Bank Robbery) tells me otherwise.

The reason could either be that the story I wrote was not good enough to compel the reader to go back to the start and follow the story to the end, or it could be that the idea of writing a story in serial form on a blog is not a good idea.

I think a better way to showcase your writing on your blog is to have a separate page for it. What do you think?

Rahul had no other option but to follow him and he did. For a while the road got worse and the vegetation became denser. Rahul was having a really hard time walking with the weight of the bag on his shoulders and avoiding tripping on the roots of the trees that were exposed, here and there. Vikas although seemed to have no problem in making his way among the dense vegetation. But after about fifteen minutes and another right turn, the road began to slope down and got easier to walk on. After about another twenty minute’s brisk walk, the main highway became visible again and the two men were soon on it.  

“ So, will we get a bus from here… and where are we?” Rahul asked.  

Vikas was still smiling and kept walking. Even I was intrigued now, and followed them with great curisoity. On the highway , Vikas got near the a car that had been covered with a tarpaulin sheet. Judging by the dust on the cover, it seemed that the car had been parked there since the last few weeks. Vikas uncovered it, and took out the keys to the car from his pocket, and with a smile he said, “ Here is our ride home.”  

Rahul’s face could not hide hisamazement. “How and when did you do this?” he asked.  

“Don’t worry about that, lets get out of here as soon as possible, the fewer people see the car the better it is, though I have made sure that it is a white color car with average tyres… the kind that can be found on a thousand different cars,” Vikas said as he bundled the bags into the car.  

“Whose car is this?”  Rahul asked, still unable to suppress his relief and excitement.  

“It’s mine” Vikas said, “this is the only weak link there is, though I have changed the number plate, and we will change it before we hit the city.”  

After that it was all smooth sailing. They got into the car and drove away. At some point they got out and changed the license plates, cleaned themselves and the car thoroughly of any remains of the robbery they had just committed. The money was transferred into a suitcase that was in the car for this very purpose. There was nothing that could be traced to either the car or its occupants.

“When did you think about the car?’ Rahul said.

“I never really thought we would use it, It was just in case things went horribly wrong, or, perhaps, really good, and since everything went according to plan, I thought we could use this as a getaway and reach home in time. The money can stay in the car for a bit, as I don’t think it will be safe to keep it anywhere else. Tomorrow when we come back, I will get the car along and we can share the loot and then every man to his own, ” Vikas said. He seemed relieved, and for the first time since the inception of the plan, I got to see any emotion on his face.  

“You are good, you know that.”  Rahul said.  

“I always thought I was. I just wanted to see if I really was that good, it never was for the money, Vikas replied, “ I always wanted to rob a bank, make the perfect plan and here we are.”  

“You pulled it off well.” Rahul said.  

“We cant be sure yet, we have to be sure that one of the men we tied breaks free and gets everyone lose and they are safe. I don’t want anyone dead or hurt.” Vikas said,  “and they will ask questions and I hope Ramesh does not make a silly mistake, I am afraid that he might. Every plan has a weak link and he is our weak link, though we have done our best.”  

“Do you think we can still be caught?”  

“Not really, even if he says something we can deny all knowledge of it, even he didn’t see our faces or hear our voices during the whole 20 minutes it happened, In fact we can say that it wasn’t us but someone else even to Ramesh and he will have no choice but to believe us,” Vikas said.  

“Are you suggesting we do that?”  

Vikas laughed out loudly and said, “No, not at all, I told you it was never about the money for me, so there is no reason we should do that. Don’t get too greedy now.”  

“I am not.” Rahul said with a smile.  

So, that was how I was a witness to a very well planned robbery ever committed. Vikas had tied the driver loosest of them all, and he was the first to break free and when the security guard saw him, he thought it was the ghost of the driver. It was a long while before they were convinced that he was no ghost but a man made of flesh, bones and blood. Then, they had reported the robbery to the police and the police were trying their best to nab the culprits. There were a lot of clues but they lead nowhere. This was all in the papers for a few weeks and then it died down. Every once in a while I went to check on Vikas, Rahul and Ramesh and the last I saw them, they were sitting, drinking tea on the verandah of Doctor Rahul. They were never caught.

(THE END)