??? Girl - The Beginning...

“Almost done now,” she muttered under her breath. She held 2 sheets of paper (both used printouts, of course, she wouldn’t waste two sheets of paper just for a once-in-1000-years-solar eclipse). One in which she had just made a tiny hole and one for projecting the image of the sun. She carefully positioned the two sheets till she could clearly see what looked like a nail clipping – but which was actually the crescent-shaped sun – almost completely obscured by the moon.

“Ahh!” this looks good. She comfortably sat down on the ground, under a tree, and continued to admire the spectacle, oblivious to the work that awaited her back at her cube. A slight creaking sound obscurely imposed itself upon her consciousness… and then it happened… the branch that had creaked gave way and fell right on her cranium with a “Thupuk!”

…

She opened her eyes to see 2 big brown ones staring directly into hers. And then woke up with a jolt as a cold nose brushed against her cheek. “Our office-pet-stray-dog!” Never having been the kind who would pass up a chance for some good old drama, she said, “Main kaun hoon? Kahaan hoon?” (“I who am? Where am?”) not expecting any reply in return, of course.

“Sheesh! Humans! Cut out the drama, will ya?”

“Wha?!?” She turned around. “Who said that?”

“Umm… ahem… ok… bhow bhow… that sounds better to you?”

She turned to the dog. “YOU said that??”

“You HEARD that???”

Okay this was definitely weird. “What’s happening? You’ve started talking. And that too in English!?! I thought you would speak in Kannada!”

“Actually, I haven’t started speaking at all. You’ve started LISTENING.”

“Oh wow! This was exactly what I’ve always wanted to experience in my life - a dog telling me I’m hearing things… Thanks,” She said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

“About time too, you know. You talk to everything that moves and anything that doesn’t. Aren’t you glad you can now hear us talking back? Oh, BTW, I wanted to thank you for that awesome head massage you gave me in the basement the other day. I was actually waiting for your ice cream, which you finished eating. But you almost made up for it with the massage. You really should become a professional masseuse!”

“Yep. I’ve heard that one before.” She said wryly.

“But only from humans right? Now you have the honour of hearing it from a dog!”

“Oh no!” she gasped, a sudden thought intruding into her mind.

“What? You don’t like the compliment?”

“No… it’s just that… you know… my friends keep making fun of my habit of talking to everything… they kind of told me that the day I hear things talking back... well, it will mean schizophrenia has finally caught up with me…”

“Nonsense! They meant when you IMAGINE things talking back to you.”

“So this is for real??”

“Duh! Of course it is! You were struck by a branch of an ancient Peepal tree… and that too during a once-in-1000-years solar eclipse. So now you can hear us talk. Oh dog this is awesome! Can you get some Chettinad chicken from your office cafeteria for me next time?”

“Hey wait a sec! So I have, like, superpowers now?”

“Yep. You could say that. Though most people might think you’ve just gone cuckoo…”

“So this was a genetically modified Peepal tree?” she said hopefully.

“I believe I said it was ancient.”

“So it’s from another planet, then?”

“Nope.”

“This has something to do with elves, wizards, hobbits or the Ministry of Magic?”

“Nope.”

“Oh! I know! You’re gonna offer me a blue or red pill?”

“NO!” said the dog, kind of exasperated by now. “You’ve been watching way too many movies!”

“Well, then… what is so great about this then? Stupid branch.” She said, disappointed. Her hand reached up to her head. “Ow!! There’s a bump here!”

“And that will always stay there.” Said the dog.

“Oh great. So now I will have a bump on my head all my life. And this stupid tree wasn’t even genetically modified.”

“Hey don’t insult me, okay! I didn’t do it on purpose you know!” echoed a voice.

“Alright. My head is spinning now - physically and metaphorically. Who said that?”

“I believe it was the ancient tree.”

Both of them looked up. “Sorry,” she said.

Silence.

“Well? Aren’t you going to say anything more?”

“No.” came the reply.

“Why not?”

“I’m going to maintain an air of mystery and suspense around me, like all stereotypical wise, magical and ancient characters. You can keep coming back to me as the story progresses and I may offer you ambiguous, hard-to-decipher and sometimes apparently ridiculous words of wisdom – like ‘there is no spoon’ for instance. Enough said.”

“So no words of wisdom right now?”

“Yes. Get back to office. Your supervisor is searching for you. And so are 2 others with messed up Bulk sheets.”

“Oh shoot! Thanks! Gotto go now!” said she, running back towards the elevator.

“Hey!” screamed/barked the dog. “Think of a nice name, will you? Every super-character has one.”

“What’s wrong with my name?” she said indignantly.

“Nothing. Just that a special name sounds kind of cool, you know.”

“Uh huh… okay, will think about it. Tada!”

“And don’t forget about the Chettinad chicken!!”

“Okay okay… I won’t…”

To be continued…

P.S.: In case you want to ascertain whether this really did happen, the “ancient Peepal tree” is located somewhere in Bagmane Tech Park, Bangalore. You may stand there after 1028 years, during an Annular solar eclipse and wait for a branch to fall on your head. And then you will know – “there IS no branch…”

And suggest a name please... she's supposed to be kind of a pro-environment super hero... :)