Future History

CHAPTER 1

A CHILDHOOD OF WOES

He his under his bed, finger nails clawing on the floor. A seven year old kid, with thick glasses and tear stained eyes.

"Open the door right now, you bastard!" His father was furious once again. He had gone outside to play with his friends. Sushant's mother had brought him a puppy and he really wanted to pet it. So he had left behind the smell of alcohol and the sound of his father snoring and stepped out into the open air.

"Srinivas! Open the door, or you will regret it!"

"I am sorry!" The child cried out. "I will never do it again. Please, I am sorry baba. Don't be mad."

The door to the bedroom made one desperate sound before caving in under the punches and kicks raining down on it. Mr.Rao had a belt coiled around his palm. He dragged the poor kid out by his shirt collar and it almost ripped. We can all guess what happened next.

CHAPTER 2

THE REBELLION'S IN HIS BLOOD

Some kids grow up before time. Stuff happens, the ones who are supposed to love them and cherish them fuck up at some point, they learnt to isolate themselves and make desperate attempts to run away.

 Srinivas Rao was a smart kid. His teachers were always amazed at his level of intellect. He was never without a book. He did not go to the lake behind the school building to secretly smoke cigarettes and drink beer with his classmates. 

He was fantastic in debate. At sixteen years of age, he had bagged countless prizes for himself and the school debate club. The boy was a natural. 

But no one knew where the bruises came from. The finger prints around his throat, the bloodied nose, the scrapes on his knees... And most recently, bruises were noticed on his knuckles. He was not the type of guy to pick up fights. He did not have friends, but he did not have enemies as well. 

No one knew about his monsters and demons. His classmates and teachers did not notice that no parents or relatives of Srini sat amongst the audience while he performed on stage. A lonely young man who never stood second in class, a desperate kid who drowned himself in studies to get away from home. 

He had started to fight back. He learnt to dodge the broken bottles, knew which parts of the floor creaked. He learnt to shut the door silently. And, he learnt to throw a punch. 

One thing that everyone at school knew about Srinivas was that he never stood and watched as injustice happened. He argued with teachers at times if he thought they were in the wrong. He stood up against bullies and fought on behalf of people who could not fight for themselves. 

Srinivas became the talk amongst students and faculty. The genius rebel with an air of mystery around him. 

CHAPTER 3

FROM CREAKING WOOD TO STARLIGHT 

"Baba, I took the entrance test at VNIT and got selected." Srini decided to approach the subject in a casual tone, but his heart was hammering at the speed of a running train. 

"Hmm." Mr. Rao was buried in his newspaper. "Where's that?"

"It's in Vallabh Nagar. It's one of the most reputable engineering colleges in the country. If you let me go, you will never have to see me again." His voice grew softer and more scared as he spoke. "The fees is not that high, and the hostels are cheap compared to other colleges."

"Hmm", his father replied, "You may go under certain conditions. You study, and you study hard. The faster you get a job, the better. You never come back under this roof again and you need to send me money the moment you get a job. Have I made myself clear?"

Tears rolled down his eyes. His lips trembled. "I understand."

"Good riddance."

And that is how Srinivas Rao ended up in Vallabh National Institute of Technology. All alone, with no adult to drive him around with a stick. Srini felt free for the very first time in his life. 

His room was in the fifth floor. He shared it with two other boys - Amit Sharma and Sanjiv Rajan. Both were friendly and it was amidst the thorny bushes of the first year boy's hostel that Srini learnt to smoke his first cigarette. He was too scared of becoming like his father.

Very soon, the first year engineering students learnt about Srini's habit of stopping injustice. A first year boy named Mohan was attacked by a gang of third years and his head was shoved inside the toilet bowl. Srini was furious on his behalf. 

The common room was packed that day as Mohan recalled what happened with humiliation and shame. 

"We need to do something about this immediately!", Srini cried out.

"There's little we can do", replied Rohit Gupta from Electronic engineering. "They have been in the college for longer. The professors choose to ignore such stuff. What the hell are we supposed to do?"

"If they punch, we punch back."

Srini organized a gang with the strongest first years he could find. And they began to fight back like crazy. An Anti-Ragging Committee was formed and Srini was made the Head of the Committee. 

For the first time, Srini had friends.

CHAPTER 4

THE LOVIN' FEELING

"Why are you all alone?" The female voice startled Srini out of his daydreams. The girl had long auburn hair, with hazel eyes and a gentle voice. He had seen her around the campus before. Rina? Rita? No, no. Ritu. That's right. Ritu.

She began to laugh at the lovestruck way he stared at her. Flabbergasted and speechless. This was the begining of something new, something real.

"You are staring. Say something", Ritu asked sweetly.

Srini, in his trance, could only utter a very quiet "Hi".

It happened really quick after that. Coffee shops and cinema halls and libraries. Both were studious and were not fans of fooling around. And she had childhood scars just like him. The first time they kissed, they both cried. None of them knew how simple it was to fall in love. 

Srini could feel Macchar (Rohit Gupta. "Macchar" was a nickname given to him for his mosquito-like voice) and Amit stare at him hopelessly as he doodled her name on his textbooks with arrow hearts around them. "Brother, there's some severe heartbreak written in your future. Don't fall in love so hard." They all laughed, and he laughed along with them.

CHAPTER 5

A STOLEN ELECTION

We all know about the fight that took place in the VNIT campus after the Student Committee Election night. The Fourth Year students fought against some local goons with metal rods and sandals and any form of weapon they could find. Macchar, Amit and Srini lost the elections unfairly.

That night, Ritu and Srini escaped from the chaos on someone's bike and went to the nearby bridge. It was late. Blood ran down a scar on his temple. 

"I promised myself that I would never get new bruises on my body."

"Heroes should not make promises they can't keep."

"They will evict me from the hostel. I won't have a place to go. I won't be able to sit for exams or have a job... I will have to see his face once again." Srini shuddered at the thought. 

"We will run away."