A Monday evening descends on a fusty room on the rooftop, where hope has long left the inner chambers. A person can be seen chugging down a beer can while sweat stench lingers like a shadow. He keeps shaking his head in a rush, scrolling through the computer screen --- looking for someone.
Freud is Void: Hi.
Tuesday: Do you disagree with Freud?
Freud is Void: Only when I am down with two bottles.
Tuesday: *typing...*
Freud is Void: It's a Monday by the way.
Tuesday: Ha ha. Yes. I... I prefer to remain anonymous here.
Freud is Void: .... (No reply)
1 hour later
Tuesday: Where are you from?
Freud is Void: Bangladesh. And you?
Tuesday: That's cool. I am from India.
Freud is Void: Not bad.
Tuesday: *keeps the text on seen*
Freud is Void: Natore specifically.
Tuesday: Oh! That's fantastic!
Freud is Void: Yeahh... I guess.
Tuesday: You know one of my teachers had this weird theory that Banolata Sen's spirit still lingers around the paddy fields of Natore. I never crossed him. One must not disrespect somebody else's outlandish beliefs, right?
Freud is Void: (after some time) Yet you called his belief outlandish.
Tuesday: Well, he killed himself. So I guess that gave me some slack?..
Freud is Void: She is here.
Tuesday: Who?
Freud is Void: Banolata.
Tuesday: Oh?
Freud is Void: But you can see her only during the dying golden haze of the day.
Tuesday: That's adorable. I hate it that you stole her from us.
Freud is Void: And you stole the one who drew him in his words.
2 Hours later
Freud is Void: Damn that was a good sleep.
Tuesday: *No replies*
Freud is Void: Are you imitating Banolata? Slipping away? Disappearing?
Tuesday: *No replies*
30 minutes later
Tuesday: I thought I was dead.
Freud is Void: Why?
Tuesday: I don't know. I was dozing off on my desk and somehow I felt like that was it.
Freud is Void: So I am not the only person on Earth with bizarre thoughts.
Tuesday: I get visions, again and again. So... Yes I am often stranded between apparitions and death.
Freud is Void: What did saw now?
Freud is Void: *you
Tuesday: Banolata Sen.
Freud is Void: Strolling across the paddy fields?
Tuesday: Levitating, rather.
Freud is Void: (after some time) Ohhh! I laughed after so long, Banolata!
Tuesday: Outlandish?
Freud is Void: Almost.
Tuesday: Do you use Facebook?
Freud is Void: The Zuckerberg site? Not yet.
Tuesday: That's a relief then!
Freud is Void: But I assume this site will be the domain of social networking in 10 years.
Tuesday: You mean, we will eventually sell ourselves, succumbing to the digital illusion?
Freud is Void: Even worse. Our livelihoods will depend on it.
Tuesday: No way! Ha ha ha.
Freud is Void: Its almost midnight, Banolata. Why don't we talk about hope?
Tuesday: Well, yeah sure. I may have 15 minutes for that.
Freud is Void: Why? Am I delaying your sleep time? We can talk tomorrow then.
Tuesday: Oh, no. Please continue.
Freud is Void: Are you surw, Banolata?
Freud is Void: *sure
Tuesday: Yes sir! Please. Tell me about stars, paddy fields, saffron sunsets, fig trees, owls, Calcutta trams, pice hotels, ancient kings, lost cities and death.
Freud is Void: Can I keep talking about you Banolata?
Tuesday: Why?
Freud is Void: I think I am going to lose you soon
Tuesday: I am running out of time. You go ahead. I will tag along some other time.
Freud is Void: You still owe me 10 minutes.
Tuesday: I can't stay any longer.
Freud is Void: You are dying? Aren't you?
Tuesday: Like a poetry.
Freud is Void: This has to be some cheap melodrama or, I am just hallucinating.
Damn this site.
Damn this alien world, plunging into isolation.
I shat on this perished life.
Freud is Void: Banolata?
Tuesday: Yes?
Freud is Void: Are you my imagination?
Tuesday: Yes. But so is this ascending globalvillage. Soon we will given prompts to start a conversation. We won't be talking to each other flesh to flesh but a few programming languages will do the job.
Freud is Void: Should we die together then?
Tuesday: You are already within me. Ease and drift into slumber. From tomorrow onward, neither of us will be allowed to yearn...
Freud is Void: Alright. I will see you soon. Don't make me wander for another thousand years.
Tuesday: Trust me, if you survive this night, you won't be doing it again.
September 30th, 2014
Headlines that followed:
'Orkut logs out of networking space - Google shuts down one of the first social-connect websites'
'How Facebook Captured a Global Empire While Rivals Faded'
'Instagram Hits 500 Million Users As Growth Accelerates Under Facebook'
'How TikTok Overtook Facebook and Instagram to Become the Most Downloaded App on the Planet'
'How Discord Moved Beyond Gamers to Become the Internet's Living Room'
'Facebook to Buy WhatsApp for $19 Billion in Deal That Shocked Silicon Valley'
'Instagram Launches 'Stories,' a Feature Formatted Directly to Clone Snapchat'
'Facebook Rebrands as Meta to Emphasise 'Metaverse' Vision'
'Elon Musk Replaces Twitter's Blue Bird with an 'X'
'Meta Launches Threads, a Text-Based App Designed to Challenge Musk's X'
'WhatsApp Rolls Out Username Reservations for Over 3 Billion Profiles'
'The Swiping Burnout: Why Dating Apps Are Fueling a Generation's Loneliness Epidemic'
'The Rise of AI Companions: Why Isolated Users Are Choosing Chatbots Over Real Dating'
'Digital E-Waste: The Silent Environmental Footprint of Modern Mobile Connectivity'.....
..
.
-- Indira :)
(P.S. All the headlines are partially imaginary)
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