Universe City

It was a city of the universe with many roads. All the roads leading to the same destination. The roads were named after many religion and gods and the destination was the universal brotherhood of man. Like any city roads, some roads were bumpy, some were smooth, some had too many traffic signals, some were congested, some were like broadway and some like an avenue. Traffic snarls leading to road rages became common, speed of traffic reduced considerably. The city counsellors tried as best as they could to improve the roads. But it seemed an impossible task. People got habituated and took certain roads for their daily commute or comfort.

Councillors felt that something must be done to uplift the sentiment of the masses. They decided to have a universal temple in the city ala Matrimandir at Auroville in India. A temple that would become the mascot for the masses cutting across all religion of the world. A conference was called to discuss the concept and reach a consensus. The architects of the modern world came. The religious seers came too. Leading artists from all disciplines were also there. The conference went on for 3 days. No consensus could be reached regarding what could be a symbol for the universal brotherhood. Then somebody thought why not build the world’s biggest question mark? It seemed like a brilliant idea in the absence of anything else. Then suggestions came pouring in. it must be built with soils from as many countries said one. It must also have metal and this too from all possible countries. It must have all the possible religious or motifs of god said another one. What about the language inscriptions from all over the world? Asked another one. Music remained the universe language said an artist and said her band would come up with an instrumental song. A dancer said she would compose a dance. A painter said he would commission some beautiful paintings. The sculptor said he would make a symbolic sculpture. So, it was agreed one year from now the question mark would be inaugurated and all would fulfil their commitment before itself.

The councillors had identified the land and the landscaping began. A team of architect was assigned the task of designing the question mark and its erection. A logistics team was tasked with the procurement of soils and metals required. The artists began their work in their respective countries. Google made a special page in commemoration of this event so that all could be updated about the progress of this event. People in the city went on with their life business as usual.

In an advanced seismology institution, a team of seismologists were monitoring earthquake occurrence across the globe. They were intrigued by a repeated signal being captured in their instrumentations. In their team discussion, one scientist pointed out that this signal could be because of a seismic rumble. Then it occurred to another seismologist that the seismic centre was very close to the Universe city as he had just visited the google page in the morning. They all got very excited and felt that they were due to witness some spectacle of unknown dimension.

Within a week the signals became louder and a warning was issued to the councillors of the Universal City. The earthquake struck a week later of the magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter’s scale. Universal City was flattened in a matter of minutes. Only rubbles remained of the city. Luckily no human death occurred. The big question remained un-erected and unanswered.