Remote Control

The day was a special day for Aniket and Maria. They were having “griha-prabesh” in their newly bought flat, that too in an up-market posh area in the city. They were doing quite well in their own professions and this flat was due for long time. Incidentally they had “arranged love” marriage after one year of courtship. They met up at shaadi.com and their story began from there. The day Aniket first saw Maria; he was not sure about her, but wanted give it a try. He was a little different guy since his childhood. He always liked the unusual things in every aspect of life. And for marriage also, that too an arranged one; while most of his friends were looking for some stunning beautiful girls, he was always looking for some other not so common qualities in his prospective bride. Maria fitted in his requirements. She was a quite girl and looked very untainted on the day Aniket first met her. Aniket quite liked her on day one and after speaking to her for some time, his interest grew on Maria. Maria also possessed same feelings for Aniket that day.

Aniket is working in a MNC while Maria is a lecturer in a college. The first impression of their families was also quite good and both of them wanted to know more of each other before making consent. As the days were passing by, their liking for each other was growing rapidly, and the next possible thing could happen was their engagement. They were madly in love by that time and the couple were truly looking made for each other.
Finally they got married after another eight months.

Life would fill with more colors after the marriage. They had managed everything from the stress of their own careers to household work so well, that their life looked like a complete package of a happy marriage. This new flat was long overdue for them. They had spent a lot for their new home and worked on each possible aspects of it and finally it looked like a perfect home for a perfect couple.

Life was going as usual for Aniket and Maria in their new home. On an ordinary Monday evening, Aniket came back from office and switched on the TV to watch the news. That was a regular habit of Aniket since they have shifted to the new flat and the 40 inch LCD was really a spectacular thing to watch. Though he was not a TV freak, but used to get regular updates by watching the news channels. He was viewing an English news channel, but suddenly the picture goes away and the sound was also muted. He thought there might be some problem in the connections as the remote was also not working at all. He was just about to check the wires, suddenly some smoky picture started to appear on the TV screen. He did not realized the picture as it was too hazy to see properly, but able to recognize that there were two very tall buildings and a thick layer of smoke was coming out from one of the buildings. After a while, the regular news channel feed resumed automatically without any intervention from him. Aniket thought he was too tired and his distracted mind saw all these silly things and nothing wrong with the TV. He even did not tell Maria about this in the night.

The next day evening, Aniket came back from office and switch on the TV as usual. He had totally forgotten about the incident last evening. He casually started to surf the news channels and after few minutes was shocked to see the breaking news; there was an attack on World Trade Center twin tower. He could not understand what is happening and started to switch all the news channels. All of them were beaming the same pictures and he realized that was the genuine news; he was not watching something silly on the TV. Suddenly a cold wave had passed through his spine. He remembered that he had seen something similar just last evening and was thought that as an illusion. He could remember the every details of that picture that he saw last evening on the TV. It seems that the day’s happenings were just the repeat telecast of the last evening. He had seen something last evening that was yet to happen. Aniket was very frightened and switched off the TV. He opened the fridge, took a beer can and sat on the floor. He was looking very restless.

Maria came after an hour. She was out to the library. While opening the door, she asked,
“Did you hear the news, honey?”
She was surprised to see Aniket sitting on the floor while the TV was switched off. Maria expected him to be glued to the TV.
“What happened? Why are you sitting there like this? Is everything ok?”
“No, nothing special, I am fine” Aniket replied “Just saw the news on TV, it’s horrible, and this is the worst form of terrorism”.
“Is any of your colleagues are in New York?” Maria enquired.
“No, I don’t have any update.”
“Ok, let me see what is happening there” Maria took the remote and switched on the TV.
Aniket left the hall and went to the bathroom. He desperately needed a long bath!

Few months had passed after the incident. Aniket didn’t tell anything about that incident to Maria. He thought it was just a bad dream that he had. He had stopped watching TV since then. Now he sat in front of TV only when Maria was there and she insists for a movie, watching together. She noticed the change in Aniket that he was not watching TV after coming from office, but was actually happy for the fact that they were spending more time together and she had total control over the remote. There was no room to complain for Maria.

Few months later, Maria went to Bangalore to attend her cousin’s wedding. Aniket could not able to manage leave for the event as his workload was high at that time. He used to came back late on weekdays in that period as Maria was also not in the home. He still didn’t switch on the TV but was tempting for the same. Since a lot of time had passed after the incident, one day he thought to watch TV after coming from office. It was quite normal for few days. Maria was coming back in the Sunday evening. Aniket enquired about the flight timings and found that the flight was an hour late. So he switched on the TV and was watching some music channel. He had almost forgotten about the old incident, but suddenly once again, the TV screen went black and the remote was not working as well. He quickly stood up and looked everywhere in the room but found nothing and the power and cables connections were also fine. He tried to switch off the TV and un-plugged the power cable. But suddenly a smoky and hazy picture appeared on the TV screen. What he managed to see is that there was a burning train coach and some people were running in the streets carrying some weapons like swords and big knives etc. After few seconds, the TV gets switched off. He didn’t understand what he just saw and straightaway went to the basement to take the car out. He was going to receive Maria from airport.
Maria and Aniket was busy in chatting when she came back to the home and this time also, Aniket didn’t tell anything about the incident to Maria. They had so much to talk about in night that he had totally forgotten last evening’s incident.

Two days after, Aniket was shocked to see the news paper that some miscreants burn a train coach at Godhra in Gujarat and immediately after, there were riots across the state. He could not believe the news. It was the incident he saw on the TV two days back.

Aniket had stopped watching movies on TV even with Maria after that. Any time they wanted to watch a movie, he insisted to go to a multiplex. He even stopped watching the DVD videos also. He even didn’t sit in the room also. After coming from outside, he straightaway went to the bedroom every time. Maria noticed the change in Aniket’s behavior, but this time also avoided discussion.

Again some months were passed by. Aniket had recovered from the shock. But Aniket’s resolution of not watching TV would soon take back seat as the world cup cricket would start within a month and a die hard cricket fan like him, at least, could not ignore that event. So as soon as the games started, he again glued to the TV, especially for the India matches. Nothing like previous incidents happened this time for the last one month and he eventually forget those. He thought those were some weird incidents and may be his stress and fatigue caused them. On the semi-final match day of the world cup, one of his colleague suggested that if India would through to the final, then their office group would like to gather at Aniket’s home and cheer for India for the final match. Aniket readily accepted the proposal and eventually it was India verses Australia in the World Cup final, which surely expected to be a cracker.

The day before the final match, Maria and Aniket went to near by mall to prepare for the next days bash at their home. Like all other people in the country, they were also very confident that India would bring the world cup that time. After some shopping, they were back to the flat and Maria straightaway went to kitchen for preparing the dinner. Aniket switched on the TV and casually started to surf channels. There was no match that day as only the final match was scheduled on very next day. While surfing channels, once again, suddenly the screen goes blank. He thought he had pressed the power button by mistake. But repeated pressing of the power button didn’t bring the TV in normal condition. Aniket was waiting for the screen to go smoky as he knew what was going to happen. That was third time in a row; he was experiencing such a thing. Surely the happenings were very mysterious, but it at least not harmful for him or Maria. He merely saw some incidents in advance. This time he didn’t get afraid and was waiting to see the new picture. As expected the screen got smoky and hazy again after few seconds and this time, he saw some people in yellow dresses were jumping in a huddle. The TV was back to normal within few seconds. Aniket didn’t find anything relevant in the picture. But subconsciously he was trying to interpret it. He finally cracked it while he was sleeping that night.

The next day morning, all the friends were started to come to their home. Maria was very much exited about the house party. She didn’t bother about the result of the match, but meeting with all friends was something special for her. But she surprised to see that Aniket was also not taking too much interest in the match and when all his friends were cheering for India, he just continue to look at the TV, but he was not at all following the match. Anyways the match was one-sided and India lost that final, and all the euphoria of people who came to their home was drained. After all of them left, Aniket casually said to Maria, “I knew, India will loose today.”
“What? How did you know? Though Australia was very strong team, but we still had some chances. We were not able to capitalize on them” answered Maria.
“No, Yesterday only, I knew the result of the match” Aniket replied.
“Wait? How did you know the result yesterday? You guessed, Australia will win as its better team, that’s all, right?” Maria asked confusedly.
“Yesterday I saw them celebrating with the world cup” Aniket said.
“What kind of bad joke it is? You mean to say that you have seen them celebrating with World Cup yesterday, and where did you see that?” Maria questioned annoyingly guessing that Aniket was trying to confuse her.
“I saw it on TV, and this was not the first time, I also had seen the WTC attack and Gujarat riots in advance on TV. I just had not said these to you” Aniket replied.
“Are you not well Ani? What are you saying about?” Maria said while keeping her palm on his forehead, “I must say; this is one of the poorest jokes I have ever heard from you”.
“I am not joking, due to these unusual things only, I didn’t watched TV since last year and avoided even watching movies with you in the recent past” Aniket clarified.
“There you go; I was confused about it for the last one year but didn’t discuss it with you as yet. Now you solve the riddle for me. So you are afraid of watching TV because of it. Come on man, you were stressed out and need some sleep. Don’t ask me to believe all these crap stories. I am wondering; how a techie like you believes in such incidents? Now grow up and go to bed. I will talk to you tomorrow about it” Maria concluded.
Aniket was also feeling tired and go to sleep that night; he was also not in a mood to further discussing the issue.

Next day evening, when Aniket back from office, he straightaway went to the bedroom and after having bath, didn’t come out to the hall as usual. Maria was watching TV in the hall and she called him to join her. She wanted to help Aniket to overcome the fear and had arranged some movie DVDs to choose from for that evening. When he didn’t come after repeated calling, Maria literally dragged him out of the bedroom and they watched a movie together.
“Did you see something unusual tonight?” asked Maria.
“It didn’t show up everyday” answered Aniket.
“Come on Ani, there is nothing like you have experienced, you were stressed up honey. Let’s plan for a vacation, its long due for us” Maria said in anticipation.
Aniket agreed.

They went for a week long trip of Kashmir and it was very memorable experience for them. City life did take a toll of everyone. After Aniket came back from the holiday, he was refreshed up and had left behind the past. The days were passing by as usual and nothing supernatural had happened to their TV yet.
Almost a year and a half had passed. They had been to another vacation at Singapore as Aniket had to go there for official visit. Aniket and Maria both used to watch TV together again. He had totally forgotten about the past incidents.

One day, after coming back from Singapore, Aniket took a leave from office as he was not feeling well. Maria wanted to stay back but he insisted her to go to the college. In the afternoon, Aniket was watching a movie alone on the TV. Suddenly the TV screen gone black again and the remote was not working also; he was about to experience that again. He didn’t give it much attention as he experienced it before. Anyways, after a while a hazy picture of an airplane appeared on the screen which was crashed and long flames of fire were coming out of it. Few second later, the movie resumed and the TV was working as usual. This happened to him after a long gap of almost two years. It didn’t bother him this time as he thought that it had no connection to him, it was just another stray incident that might happen in future.
In the evening, Maria came back early.
“Hi honey, how was the day at home? Feeling better?” Maria asked while entering the flat.
“Ya, nothing special, will resume work tomorrow. I was sleeping all day” answered Aniket, “You are early today”.
“Actually I have to go to Bangalore to attend a seminar tomorrow and have to catch an early morning flight. So I thought to come back early to spend some time with you” Maria replied.
“Oh, that’s great! When are you leaving?” asked Aniket.
“4.30 a.m. have to catch 5.45 a.m. flight to Bangalore” Maria answered as she was started preparing dinner in kitchen.

Aniket switched on the TV again and was watching some music channel. Suddenly the afternoon incident was refreshed in his mind. He was speechless for a while as a very horrific thought came to his mind. He straightaway went to the kitchen and asked “Can’t you postpone the Bangalore visit?”
“What? But why should I? Do you have any other plan tomorrow?” Maria asked in surprise.
“No, you just cancel that right now. You will not be going anywhere tomorrow” Aniket insisted.
“Are you all right? What happened? Why are you talking like this?” Maria exclaimed.
“I just can’t let you go, you please cancel the visit” Aniket replied.
“Don’t be silly Ani, tell me the problem you have” Maria insisted.
“I don’t know how you take it up, but this is a fact. Your flight might crash tomorrow” Aniket said.
“What?” Maria exclaimed, “Are you gone mad? Don’t be childish. You got the information from where? Did the captain of the flight tell you about this?”
“I knew that you wouldn’t believe it. I saw this in TV today afternoon. I have seen such a thing after a long while and previously none of it was wrong” Aniket said with a pale face.
“Come on Ani, sometimes you behaving like a five year old boy. You know all these things were crap, but still you insisted me not to go, and for a while let’s consider the fact that tomorrow one of the aero-plane will going to crash, but how do you know it will be the flight on which I will travel? Did that picture show you the flight no. also?” Maria asked in reply.
“I don’t know anything, you will not be going anywhere tomorrow” insisted Aniket.
“Enough is enough Ani. I am fed-up with this silly thing. Think whatever you can, I am going to Bangalore and that’s final, you understand” Maria replied strongly.
Aniket knew it’s useless to convince Maria now. She had already determined to go. Nothing could stop her now. The only thing he could do was to pray to God.
Aniket wished a happy journey to Maria next morning.

Six Months Later…

Six months had passed since Maria left Aniket. Her flight never reached Bangalore. Life had become a burden for him. He was still living in the same flat. He had started to spend most of his time in office, even in week-ends. Aniket’s life had become aimless and he started drinking heavily whenever he was alone in the home, which was unfortunately most of the time. His parents were staying with him after the tragic incident for few months and even tried to talk to him for second marriage, but he refused. His heart was full with memories of Maria. He could not thought of second marriage. He had sent his parents back to the native place as he wanted to stay alone for sometime. Aniket had stopped looking at the calendar. He simply didn’t want to keep track with the days as it would remind him, how long he was living without Maria. On a wet evening of July, after coming back from office, he sat in front of the TV with his drinks. He was casually surfing the channels when the TV screen went blank once again. As he was drunk, he kept on looking at the TV and a hazy picture started to appear. He could see that it was heavily raining and there was a car which met with an accident. The car was badly damaged and the driver’s hand was hanging out side the window as the blood coming from the body was diluting with the rain water on the road. After a while, the TV was back to the normal condition.
Aniket was thinking about the picture as it has appeared after a long time. He was trying to find out the inherent meaning of it. After almost an hour, suddenly he woke up and drank a glass of water; then he took the keys of his car and went down stairs.

Aniket had forgotten to switch of the TV, it kept on running and running…..