(1)
I was not a great believer in magic or supernatural powers, either. But I was a curious follower of such topics, for they were worth a chat or a story for that matter. But no more now. I have given this enough thought.
(2)
The day didn't possess any extra ordinary qualities to describe of. I was through with my evening walk, and when I reached the Maidan on my way back, I found myself gazing at a "Annual Convention of The Possessed" banner. Now this was very strange. There have been conventions of Sadhus, of Barbers, of Gardeners, of Plumbers, I have seen laughter clubs, joggers' clubs, but this bowled me over. "Annual Convention of The Possessed"! Wow, that was something.
Was I already possessed by this fact? I was not sure, but I changed my direction of my walk, and followed the arrow that took me towards the entrance. They had built up a huge pendal. Was I really eligible to enter? I was pondering on this, when I saw a few people making their enquiries at the registration desk.
When one does not know the directions, one should ask directions to at least a help-desk. I remembered my preaching, and walked towards the desk.
"Do I need to prove that I am possessed? What if I do not want to disclose my superpowers to you?", I heard the short fellow asking to the lady at the desk.
"well, sir, say one more sentence please", the lady was busy processing this request.
"I know what you are thinking!", the fellow shouted back.
After typing some keys on the computer in front, she politely said, "You are registered, sir, please follow these arrows to reach the convention centre".
I was amused at all this, still not ready to believe what I had just seen.
"Excuse me, I don't think I am eligible to register for the convention, yet I would like to know about all this business", I said.
"Well, Mr. Oke, I know that", (the pronunciation was just accurate), "In that case you need to register as a visitor", she smiled at me.
I was stunned.
"OK", was all that I managed to answer.
"Here, fill this agreement, and you could walk in...", she handed me a bunch of papers and a pen.
I guess it was some kind of NDA. Even if I would disclose everything I saw around here, nobody would have believed anyway. Yet, as a formality I filled in the form.
"Sir, please fill in your correct e-mail ID", she pointed out to the ID which I had deliberately filled incorrectly.
"Nah-nah. No cheating", she once again smiled at me.
I knew there was no point in hiding anything, and after this formality, I was ushered in with an escort, who suddenly seemed eager to show me around. I hoped he did not possess I-know-what-you-know powers. He looked at me curiously.
"A lot of our people visit the convention every year. This is the first time, a non-possessed person has shown such an interest. We keep it low-profile matter, you know", I didn't quite believe him.
"Yeah, I guess, but how do you know---"
"See there? He is Mrs Bharati. She is our telepathy specialist. She manages our world-wide communications team", he cut my sentence midway.
"Oh, I didn't know", I was really impressed. I was trying to gather any invisible waves of announcements, but to no avail.
"And Mr Smith, there, he is our security head", I was amused. I was trying to figure out why this name sounded to familiar.
"We need to keep so many secrets you know!", he added.
I could not figure out if they wanted to keep all this secret, why did they allow me in!
"So what do you do? I mean where do you work?", I asked a general question.
"Oh, I work for the organisation itself. As a matter of fact, here everybody work for the organisation", he said, before adding, "there is no choice as such".
"But how about your bread and butter?", I had my query.
"We are possessed. If one is possessed, one doesn't have to bother about food any more.", he smiled. "But now things may change. You'll find out soon" he added under his breath.
"But how?", I couldn't believe him.
"Let's go to the auditorium", he neglected my second question.
I had no choice but to follow him. In a way, I was possessed too. There was so much to grasp, and then to analyse, that I could hardly keep up with the facts. The auditorium was almost full when we walked in, and people were still coming in. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to have a conversation with anybody. The communications team apparently had set up a huge telepathy network.
I had my own doubts : should I believe in all this crap? What exactly is this community up to? Suddenly I found myself being stared at by my neighbours. I was not sure if the expressions on their faces were friendly.
The seminars began soon, or at least I could see the foils being changed rapidly. There was no question of anything being heard. I got bored soon, and was about to ask my escort if I could leave, when he snapped his finger,
"See, now you have to introduce yourself", he pointed to the next foil.
The foil read, in bold, black letters,
"New entry : Mr A N Oke"
"Education : so-and-so"
"Date of joining : today"
I was suddenly awake, and before I could think how to react, I heard people saying, "Welcome aboard Mr Oke". I was not sure if I heard them right.
I pinched myself, this couldn't possibly be true. I had my own life, and was least interested in all this possessed stuff. Neither did I believe in all that nor would I allow anybody to convince me in believing. I just wanted to shut down everything and walk away.
"No way now, you know as much as we know", I heard a female thought this time.
"And it is really fun. The community is a nice, calm place to be in." An older thought added.
"What do you think of all this?", someone asked.
"I don't know what to think. I just want to escape", I thought loudly.
"Well, it's too late for that. You are now connected. Wherever you go, the network will follow you", the tone was firm, almost threatening.
I needed a thought filter badly. I couldn't hear my thoughts in all this loud conversation. I seemed to be lost in thought.
The head-ache was so acute that I almost failed to notice that my escort was suddenly joyous and started following the arrows to the exit.
And that's how I was possessed too. This is my story. What I will not tell you is that how I escaped from all this.
Perhaps you will find it out, when you are possessed too. Now if you heard my thoughts clear and loud, you can see that there is no choice but to join the community. It is real : everything is real here.
(3)
I now clearly remember the joy and relief on my escort's face. I try not to hide a similar expression on my face and jog towards the exit in triumph.
The day didn't possess any extra ordinary qualities to describe of. I was through with my evening walk, and when I reached the Maidan on my way back, I found myself gazing at a "Annual Convention of The Possessed" banner. Now this was very strange. There have been conventions of Sadhus, of Barbers, of Gardeners, of Plumbers, I have seen laughter clubs, joggers' clubs, but this bowled me over. "Annual Convention of The Possessed"! Wow, that was something.
Was I already possessed by this fact? I was not sure, but I changed my direction of my walk, and followed the arrow that took me towards the entrance. They had built up a huge pendal. Was I really eligible to enter? I was pondering on this, when I saw a few people making their enquiries at the registration desk.
When one does not know the directions, one should ask directions to at least a help-desk. I remembered my preaching, and walked towards the desk.
"Do I need to prove that I am possessed? What if I do not want to disclose my superpowers to you?", I heard the short fellow asking to the lady at the desk.
"well, sir, say one more sentence please", the lady was busy processing this request.
"I know what you are thinking!", the fellow shouted back.
After typing some keys on the computer in front, she politely said, "You are registered, sir, please follow these arrows to reach the convention centre".
I was amused at all this, still not ready to believe what I had just seen.
"Excuse me, I don't think I am eligible to register for the convention, yet I would like to know about all this business", I said.
"Well, Mr. Oke, I know that", (the pronunciation was just accurate), "In that case you need to register as a visitor", she smiled at me.
I was stunned.
"OK", was all that I managed to answer.
"Here, fill this agreement, and you could walk in...", she handed me a bunch of papers and a pen.
I guess it was some kind of NDA. Even if I would disclose everything I saw around here, nobody would have believed anyway. Yet, as a formality I filled in the form.
"Sir, please fill in your correct e-mail ID", she pointed out to the ID which I had deliberately filled incorrectly.
"Nah-nah. No cheating", she once again smiled at me.
I knew there was no point in hiding anything, and after this formality, I was ushered in with an escort, who suddenly seemed eager to show me around. I hoped he did not possess I-know-what-you-know powers. He looked at me curiously.
"A lot of our people visit the convention every year. This is the first time, a non-possessed person has shown such an interest. We keep it low-profile matter, you know", I didn't quite believe him.
"Yeah, I guess, but how do you know---"
"See there? He is Mrs Bharati. She is our telepathy specialist. She manages our world-wide communications team", he cut my sentence midway.
"Oh, I didn't know", I was really impressed. I was trying to gather any invisible waves of announcements, but to no avail.
"And Mr Smith, there, he is our security head", I was amused. I was trying to figure out why this name sounded to familiar.
"We need to keep so many secrets you know!", he added.
I could not figure out if they wanted to keep all this secret, why did they allow me in!
"So what do you do? I mean where do you work?", I asked a general question.
"Oh, I work for the organisation itself. As a matter of fact, here everybody work for the organisation", he said, before adding, "there is no choice as such".
"But how about your bread and butter?", I had my query.
"We are possessed. If one is possessed, one doesn't have to bother about food any more.", he smiled. "But now things may change. You'll find out soon" he added under his breath.
"But how?", I couldn't believe him.
"Let's go to the auditorium", he neglected my second question.
I had no choice but to follow him. In a way, I was possessed too. There was so much to grasp, and then to analyse, that I could hardly keep up with the facts. The auditorium was almost full when we walked in, and people were still coming in. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to have a conversation with anybody. The communications team apparently had set up a huge telepathy network.
I had my own doubts : should I believe in all this crap? What exactly is this community up to? Suddenly I found myself being stared at by my neighbours. I was not sure if the expressions on their faces were friendly.
The seminars began soon, or at least I could see the foils being changed rapidly. There was no question of anything being heard. I got bored soon, and was about to ask my escort if I could leave, when he snapped his finger,
"See, now you have to introduce yourself", he pointed to the next foil.
The foil read, in bold, black letters,
"New entry : Mr A N Oke"
"Education : so-and-so"
"Date of joining : today"
I was suddenly awake, and before I could think how to react, I heard people saying, "Welcome aboard Mr Oke". I was not sure if I heard them right.
I pinched myself, this couldn't possibly be true. I had my own life, and was least interested in all this possessed stuff. Neither did I believe in all that nor would I allow anybody to convince me in believing. I just wanted to shut down everything and walk away.
"No way now, you know as much as we know", I heard a female thought this time.
"And it is really fun. The community is a nice, calm place to be in." An older thought added.
"What do you think of all this?", someone asked.
"I don't know what to think. I just want to escape", I thought loudly.
"Well, it's too late for that. You are now connected. Wherever you go, the network will follow you", the tone was firm, almost threatening.
I needed a thought filter badly. I couldn't hear my thoughts in all this loud conversation. I seemed to be lost in thought.
The head-ache was so acute that I almost failed to notice that my escort was suddenly joyous and started following the arrows to the exit.
And that's how I was possessed too. This is my story. What I will not tell you is that how I escaped from all this.
Perhaps you will find it out, when you are possessed too. Now if you heard my thoughts clear and loud, you can see that there is no choice but to join the community. It is real : everything is real here.
(3)
I now clearly remember the joy and relief on my escort's face. I try not to hide a similar expression on my face and jog towards the exit in triumph.
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