Out Of Control

Vishal Karmakar was an eminent scientist. He lived in Goa with his wife Nalini and daughter Keerthi. He was an eccentric man full of weird ideas. He was forty- five years old and limped slightly on his right leg. He worked for nearly twelve hours per day in his lab. His wife Nalini was a school teacher. His daughter Keerthi loved Science just like her father. She was pursuing B.Sc from Carmel College for Women.

Vishal completed his dream project. He had designed a special remote control to manipulate human actions. He could use it to speed up his work. He could even get back into the past by pressing the rewind button. There was a fast-forward button to move into the future. He had designed two pause buttons on the remote. One was an ordinary pause button in red colour. Everything including himself would come to a standstill if he pressed it. The other one was a green one. He had to press this button to keep him moving while everything was frozen. There was a mute button to turn off the unwanted noise. He chuckled when he thought of using the mute button to cut off Nalini's ramblings. She was so talkative that he had to plead for her silence.

He came home at around 9.30 PM. Nalini was furious. She lashed out at him, " You are late for dinner again. Why don't you treat me like a human being? I am tired of waiting for you." She continued her tirade while he took out the remote from his pocket. " It's time to test this device, " he thought. He pointed the remote control towards his wife and pressed on the mute button. Nalini was shocked to find herself tongue-tied. She drank a glass of water and tried to speak unsuccessfully. Vishal laughed at her predicament. He thought, " If I launch this product in the market, the poor harassed husbands will recommend my name for Bharat Ratna." He pressed the green pause button. Nalini stood like a statue without blinking her eyes. He stuck out his tongue at her. " Now I can dine in peace, " said Vishal. He had a delicious meal. He cleared the table and put away the empty vessels in the sink.

He pressed the release button to restore Nalini's movements. She was too scared to speak. She wished him a good night and ran off to the bedroom. Vishal was delighted to find his remote control working. He put it in his briefcase and kept it in the closet. He slept soundly that night dreaming about his invention. He woke up at 5.30 AM. He finished his morning rituals. Nalini woke up shortly. She had a quick shower and entered the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

She spoke to him very politely in a subdued voice. Vishal was glad that he invented the remote. Keerthi joined them at the breakfast table. Vishal finished eating and went to fetch his briefcase from the closet. His remote control needed some minor modification. He went to his lab after dropping his wife and daughter to their respective destination.

He redesigned his remote control with new features. He added an electronic visual display with date month time and year option. He combined it with the rewind and fast-forward button to facilitate time travel. He attached an auto correct option to rectify errors in the past. There was an undo button to reverse any unwanted action. He kept a back button at the bottom to get back to the present. He gave a final touch to the remote by adding invisibility button. He wanted to check whether the remote worked only for humans or on inanimate objects as well. He had keys for changing human emotions in the centre of the remote control.

Vishal switched on the big TV screen cum computer. He pointed the remote towards the screen. He saw himself sitting in the lab. He entered the date month and year as 23rd January 2250 in the visual display. He pressed the fast-forward button.

The entire scenario changed immediately. Goa had a complete makeover. Dome-shaped houses had replaced tall skyscrapers. There was no sign of any vegetation. Roads and pavements could move on their own. Everything seemed dull as there were no birds or animals. People wore gizmo suits with a transparent helmet. They carried the oxygen cylinders on their back. A tube attached to the helmet supplied them oxygen. Their suit had an inbuilt processor for converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. This technique ensured them a continuous and never-ending supply of oxygen. They had small flaps below their waist in the front and the back to help them relieve themselves.

Vishal saw them entering the dome-shaped houses. He pressed one of the keys so that he could view the interior of the house. He was horrified to find that robots and electronic gadgets had taken over the reigns of the world. They treated humans as their slaves and cracked a whip on them. The humans always kept moving to obey their commands. They charged their masters and mobiles very often till their batteries were full. They had a robot dog and a robot cat. When the humans removed their helmets, Vishal almost cried on seeing their deformed features. They had no hair or eyebrows. Their cheeks were swollen and had cuts and abrasions on their lips.

He pressed the back button. He wanted to check out Nalini's dinner plans. He adjusted the time ahead by two hours.She ha d prepared bitter gourd stew and chappati for dinner. He felt like strangling her with his bare hands. He returned to the present and switched off the TV. He worked till 8 PM. He locked his laboratory and went to a restaurant. He ordered his favorite dish butter chicken and chappatis. He came home at his usual time. Nalini was fast asleep before his arrival. She had kept his dinner on the table. He was not at all surprised to find the bitter gourd stew and chappatis. He emptied them into two plastic containers. He locked the house and went out in search of a beggar. He saw a young lady with a baby in her arms begging for food. He gave the food to her and returned home.

He was grateful to God for saving him from Nalini's wrath. He picked up the newspaper lying on the coffee table. He went through the headlines before going to sleep. He felt a wave of sympathy for the Indian Soldiers who were martyred in the unprovoked firing by the enemy camp. He had an idea. He wanted to go back in the past and make himself invisible. He would infiltrate into the enemy camp and steal their plans to attack India. He would destroy their weapons and infect their computer system with a virus.

Vishal devised a plan to help the Indian Army. He rehearsed it several times mentally. He retired for the day and set his alarm at 5 AM. He thought of rectifying the avoidable errors of the past.

He left for his lab after finishing his breakfast. He had noted down the dates on which our neighbouring country had opened unprovoked firing along the border. Many Indian Soldiers were fatally wounded. Some of them had also died. He wanted to seek revenge from our backstabbing enemies. He pointed the remote towards himself and pressed the rewind button.

He landed outside the Army camp in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. He made himself invisible and crossed the border. He pressed the green pause button. Life had suddenly come to a standstill. He entered one of the tents containing lethal weapons and bombs. He put the remote in his pocket and began his mass destruction campaign. He took out all the bombs and threw them at the terrorist bases. He had killed all the terrorists with his bomb attacks. He turned his attention towards the enemy soldiers. He began his carnage as he pumped bullets into every single soldier. He wiped out their existence from this world. He was feeling happy. He placed all their weapons beside their bodies with their fingers clasped on them. He wanted to make their death look like a case of internal conflict. He had succeeded in his mission. He came back to India emerging victorious. He could feel the true patriotism that took over him. He pressed the release button to restore activity. He preferred to remain invisible and watch the proceedings. The news of their arch rivals killing themselves spread like wildfire amongst the Indian Soldiers. They heaved a sigh of relief and celebrated peace on that day.

Vishal had tears of joy in his eyes. Buoyed by the success of his plan, he decided to travel to the different time zones. He wanted to press the auto correct option to set things in order.

He executed his plan perfectly. The mortality rate dropped to zero. People became more health conscious. Autocorrection feature in Vishal's remote helped people in getting rid of their maladies.

Road accidents declined sharply. Vishal was delighted with the outcome of his action. He had no idea of its repercussions in the future. He pressed the back button to return to the present. He returned to his lab after an exciting adventure in the past. He was pleased with himself. His mobile started ringing incessantly. He came out of his reverie and attended the call. It was Nalini. She seemed to be scared. She said, "You may call this as a figment of my imagination. My dead mother called me to inform that she is coming over to stay with us during the weekend. I thought that someone was playing a cruel joke. I scolded the woman for pulling my leg. I told her that I had lost my parents and brothers in a boat tragedy in Kerala. She laughed at me for fabricating a story about her death.

She seemed to be surprised when I mentioned her Kerala trip. She said that they were indeed planning to go to Kerala next month. What do you have to say about this? I feel that I might be hallucinating."

Vishal listened to her patiently. He knew that it was real. He was responsible for bringing the dead people back to life. He couldn't admit that he was responsible for the confusion. He chose his words carefully before speaking, "I think it is time for us to go on a vacation. You have been working too hard. You must have thought about your mother in the subconscious mind. That is why you imagined that your mother called you. Ask Keerthi to take leave for a week. I have completed my project. We will go to Mahabaleshwar and Matheran."

Nalini was happy to hear this. She said, "You are right. I am going to apply for leave right away. I will ask Keerthi to do the same. Thank you for a wonderful suggestion."

She disconnected the call. Vishal rearranged his project reports and checked his lab equipment. He carried the new remote control in his pocket. He destroyed the ordinary remote so that no one could steal or misuse it. He locked up his lab and returned home. Nalini opened the door for him.

She had turned pale in fear. " What happened to you?" asked Vishal, " Have you seen a ghost?" She stood aside to let him in. Vishal's jaw dropped in shock when he saw his younger brother Prashant and his wife Asha with their son Aniket. Aniket had died last year due to cancer.

Prashant addressed him, "I know you must be wondering how Aniket came back to life. I was even more surprised than you as I had cremated him. We are so happy to have him back. I am hosting a party next week to celebrate his revival. You have to attend it with Nalini and Keerthi." Vishal smiled at him and looked at Aniket. The latter hugged him. Vishal replied, "Welcome back, dear Aniket. It's great to see you again." The family had their dinner. They had a lively discussion over the various topics. Prashant left with his family after an hour. Vishal switched on the TV to watch the news. The population of the country suddenly doubled from 125 crores to 250 crores. Dead people came back to life on a single day. There was a sudden shortage of food. People restored to cannibalism to satisfy their hunger. Water scarcity added to their woes. Oxygen level declined considerably after massive deforestation. The public queued outside the hospitals to buy oxygen cylinder.

Vishal suddenly realised that he was responsible for the tragic situation in 2250 as well. People were carrying oxygen cylinders on their backs because of his experiment to set things right. He had not anticipated this kind of reaction for his noble intention. He felt foolish for attempting to change everybody's destiny. He left for his lab quite early without having breakfast. He felt sorry for creating havoc. He didn't want to undo his good deed for the Indian Soldiers. However, it was necessary for him to do so for avoiding the destruction of the earth.

He entered his lab and took out his remote. He went back into the past and pressed the undo button. Things returned to normalcy after he returned to the present.

He called up Nalini and asked her, "Did you receive any call from your mother?" "Have you lost your mind?" answered Nalini, "She died with my father and brothers in a boat tragedy three months ago. How will I receive any call from her?"

He jumped with joy. The undo button had also erased her memories of the past twenty-four hours. He called Prashant to ensure that he had no memory of the last twenty-four hours. Vishal concluded that only God had the right to change anybody's destiny. He broke his remote control into several pieces. He thought of making robots to help the disabled people. It was much safer than a device that almost destroyed the world.