The Mad Man

Bruised and battered he gathered his being and slid to a side of the footpath to make room for the passerby and slipped into his dreams. Those who frowned upon a drunken sloth lying by roadside failed to see the utter calmness on his face. They could not hear the silence which screamed in joy, through the chaos of civilized and orderly world. Every voluntary and non voluntary gesture of their was meant to demean him, loath him. They cursed him, kicked him but not a single hand to reach him. While the sane people of orderly world insanely ran through their chaotic life, in early hours of day, he comfortably lived his lucid dream. He lied there while everyone ran in a mad rush; cars and buses honked, bike slid past toe nails, sweat ran down the temple, shoulder brushed, abuses hurled and people ran, they ran because that is what they were supposed to do. And all this while in his world the sun shone, the wind blew past his mane, birds perched on pavement, a squirrel ran down the tree to pick a nut which slid past the finger of a little girl sitting in a bus buried under a ton weight of her school bag. She did notice neither the bird nor squirrel. From side of his half open eyes he looked further, an ant passed his vision carrying a cube of sugar, and he could bet he had seen her smiling. He heard the bell of a temple tolling in a distance; he picked the scent of perfume of a passerby; everything around seem to made to please him. A kick and a volley of abuses by a Socrates who ran past him distract him a little before he slipped back into his lucid dreams, unaffected of the chaos that was building around him. Somehow he had averted it from growing on him. He slept there on the footpath while quite morning grew into chaotic day, he slept in peace; he was the Mad Man. 

Going Social!

In the beginning all people lived in two big rooms with a blackboard each. They lived happily in their own room unaware of the existence of the other room. They spent all their time talking, laughing and playing with each other.  Life was blissful. There were no rituals, rules and restrictions but one – no one to touch the black board!

One night when in room Alpha all were fast asleep, a girl woke up with a jolt. She had a scary dream. She could not get sleep again, so she walked around in the room and stopped by the board. She thought she saw a mild light inside the board. She got curious and drew a line on the board. Nothing happened but she liked doing it. She wanted to tell someone about her dream, she thought,” Since all are asleep why not tell the board”. She wrote on the board ‘Hi’ and then was taken aback, the board replied ‘Hi!’

The girl got scared and ran back to her mum, tucked herself under the blanket and went to sleep.

Writing on the board was forbidden, so when elders saw the word written on the board they got very angry, but at the same time they got curious about it. Immediately, a council of elders was called and they decided to explore further in it. With unanimous agreement it was decided that they should respond to the message.

The ‘Hi’ was responded with ‘Who are you?’ and the conversation began. Seeing that it was not a threat as always told more people took up writing on the board. They found out there was another room where more people lived and they started chatting with each other.

Soon, boards in both rooms were always full of people writing on it. They fought with each other to gain access to the board. Now, they did not talk with each other but with the board, they laughed at what was written on the board. Board was always thronged with people writing on it, but it was all public, everyone could see who was typing what and the reply. They had always shared everything with each other. But, since they had got social with the people on the other side of board they felt uncomfortable with others seeing what message they were sending and receiving.

One day a person got blinkers and put it on his part of the board; he had got his own piece - a personal board. Soon the whole board was divided in to blinkered parts, with everyone claiming a small piece of it. Yet a problem remained, to remain social they had to stand near the board. And even though there were blinkers put on the board, others could still peek in.

Somebody got an idea; he broke his piece of board out and walked away with it. He had his mobile board in his hand now. He could walk away from the board on the wall and can still remain social. How others would not follow him? They also took their pieces out and soon everyone had mobile board in their hands. They could chat all the time, anywhere; while they walked, played, ate or even slept.

Their world has changed, now nobody would talk to each other, nobody would laugh with each other, and nobody would play with each other. They would do all of that on the board with the people on the other side.

The girl scared of her night experience could never generate the courage to go close to the board again. She never used the board again. Now with everyone having their boards, she was left alone. She went to play with her best friend. She patted him, nudged him and pushed him, he snapped back “Idiot! Don’t you see, I am being social, don’t disturb me!”

The girl went away, sat alone in the corner, cried a bit and then she noticed there was something glittering at one corner where board used to be before. She walked to it, to find a small piece of board still there. She plucked it out, and wrote ‘Hi’ and response came promptly ‘Hi! ASL please?” She smiled broadly, even she had gone social now!