My book .. still remains unfinished .. but Ive moved forward, Ive had many comments given privately over the prologue and excerpts from the first chapter are provided for want of more comments.
.... I lit a candle. There was no one. I thought I had heard some whispers. It must’ve been the wind playing tricks. I went back inside my “room” if you could call it that. More like a prison if you ask me, a prisoner by choice though so I couldn’t really complain. Its not like I had to do this, no one was forcing me, it had been a self conscious decision for me and its not like I had always been wanting to do this, but ever since I had heard about it, I had been fascinated about it. Its like a new world had been opened for me. The possibilities seemed endless and the road clear. But err... How do I bell the “CAT”..? This question had foxed a whole lot of “intellectuals” I had the good fortune to know. Some had suggested using Newton’s laws, some Einstein’s relativity, some even designed a model which could predict if the method I was going to use would be successful or not. Some “non-intellectuals” helped me in their own way... suggested watching “GUNDA” and do some soul searching. For those unfortunate souls who have not been exposed to the light of “GUNDA” ... its somewhat like 5 Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy combined into 1 motion picture. Its even better than an OSHO discourse in some ways. Its got a solution for everything you might want to know, but sadly enough it left out the one question I did want to ask, the way to bell the CAT. I went online to search up some google gyaan as they liked to call it. Instead found something really absurd. A Guru named Allwin who called himself “Pagalguy” for some weird reason or whim or whatever, had founded a community of his own. Lovingly called PG... it was like the mecca of CAT lovers; the ultimate gathering place for everything to do with it. The great thing about it was that everyone was there to help, but then that’s another story. Its not that I found it through some really good detective skills; i “stumbled” across it, in every manner of speaking. But it was like finding a whole bunch of guides, there were guys who had been there done that, there were guys, who had been there done that and lived to tell and then there were guys like me. I asked a few questions, got loads of answers, visited different rooms in the community and got friendly with a lot of great guys. I was well on the path to belling the “CAT”. It is said, that the “CAT” appears to all those who seek it, you do have to pay a princely sum to keep the appointment though, but if it clicks, you life is made. Armed with all the help, I managed to stumble across and finally faced CAT face to face. It wasn’t really as scary as it looked, just a little confusing, but within the short span of 1.5 hrs given for the appointment, I found myself facing my worst fears, feeling completely hopeless and yet finding enough in me to keep a straight mind. I had come to CAT for a purpose, a purpose of securing my future and I would get it. Or so I thought. CAT doesn’t give results straightaway, maybe its also a part of its tests. For all those who are wondering who the hell CAT is .. Its the gatekeeper to all the various hidden civilizations; only CAT can let you through the gates where the opportunities of our dreams lie. With the increasing number of smaller civilizations popping up among the “otherlowlies” race, it was only right that CAT delegate the work of gatekeeper to MAT,SNAP,XAT and the like, all siblings of the great CAT. You are simply not through by meeting up with CAT, you also have to contact the different civilizations if they are ready to take you based on CAT’s suggestions. I along with the few who had heard the Tales of MICA (not many have), knocked the doors of the mystical civilization. To our surprise.. it answered. Because it is hidden and it is very near to another huge civilization of the IIMites race, many people have missed it and even not heard of it. Even the so called “localites” who belong to neither race have at most heard of it existence and that number is at best a negligible minority. It could be called one of the “Management” World’s best kept secrets. I rushed back to the Puys and Pgals and they directed me to Chuck. I saw chuck and was instantly confused... His Hat read Deepak Gopalkrishnan and so did his ID tag, but everyone called him chuck. I tried calling him by Deepak out of respect... but he did not respond. I called out again ... “Deepak ... Deepak ..!!” still no reply, it looked like he was talking to some imaginary person, discussing something and suddenly he yelped with joy and disappeared. I was not surprised because he was said to have magical powers. I had an acceptance from the civilization of MICA but not idea how to get there. Noone as i mentioned before knew how to get in. I talked with a group of MICANs who called themselves “seniors” who assisted me through the road and eventually helped me get in. But they put a clause, I had to go out and come after 3 months. By which time they would get everything ready for us new batch of arrivals. By this time I had come to understand that Deepak answered only to the name of chuck, a self christened name, weird but true. I tried contacting the other members of our new fraternity and they responded enthusiastically. Seemingly they had come from all parts of the universe and the only way to contact them all was the ethereal medium; “the virtual world”, Internet. There was Jinxie, there was Utsav and the one and only Cooper. Every one of them had a unique identity and staked claim to the popularity vote. But no one quite knew how MICA would be, no one quite knew what adventures awaited us... And thus the story begins, the start of a brand new chapter... The way in..
Readers, please post some suggestions, any sort of help is highly appreciated... Just one last thing, I am never ever going to bad mouth an author, its tough work .. really tough work. I thought that I could definately better some authors out there. But the fact is they have written entire books, and Im still counting pages.. with lots to go and already tired. For that reason, I need something to help me go on.. something anything.. COMMENT!!!
