ArHi FF!! Event Horizon - Ch 8(A), Sep 11, Pg 25 - Page 15

Chapter 6B:

"I'll walk you home," Arnav said as they stepped outside the cafe. "Is this the bus stop from where you board the bus every day?" He asked her pointing at the bus stop.

"My house is less than five minutes by walk. I think I can manage Arnav," she said not refusing him outright.

"Your home is this way?" He said pointing to the narrow road branching out of the main road. She nodded. They fell silent till they reached the neck of the alley. Crowd thinned and darkness deepened. Arnav slowed his pace which made Khushi slow hers, involuntarily. She suddenly stopped walking, turned and bowed her head, folding her hands and paid respect to the small Goddess shrine.

"You believe in God?" Arnav asked once she turned back and started walking again. They were probably setting a world record for slowest walk in the history of walks.

"I do believe in God actually." Her answer was definite.

"So you believe that all of this -" he waved his hand around him and said, "- all of this as creation of God," he asked her challenging her beliefs. In all honesty he simply wanted to have a conversation with her where she would pull out highly isolated and obfuscated theories which tickled him silly.

"Not really," she replied.

"So you believe in big bang theory and Darwin's theory of evolution," he surmised, a tad disappointed at her anti climatic response.

"Not really," she replied again. His ears perked at that. It wasn't all over yet.

"Care to share?" He asked pleasantly. She nodded happily.

"We are part of a science experiment." She said. He stopped in his tracks and stared at her.

"Should I explain further?" She asked taking in his puzzled expression. He nodded wordlessly. How could she expect anyone to understand what she meant?

"Okay, here is my theory. A science class is going on where one of the projects is to grow a universe in a beaker and report progress periodically for the rest of the term. A kid picks up all the required chemicals and other ingredients from the store and adds everything except for the catalyst into the beaker. At the end of the class the kid decides that its time – time to start the experiment. The catalyst is added which causes reaction between primary elements in the beaker and gives out a burst of light. The experiment is now in progress and the kid labels the beaker with experiment number and the time the universe began. The beaker is taken into a corner of the room where high precision microscopes of various shapes and sizes are present. The glass beaker shakes a bit when placed on table thus disturbing the integrity of the environment. The kid realizes the mistake and makes note of it. The beaker will be observed for anomalies from time to time."

Khushi stopped to take a breath and saw that Arnav was looking at her slack jawed.

"So we are all in a ginormous glass beaker." Arnav said biting his lip. She could see that he was avoiding the instinct to laugh loudly. But he was being a gentleman by trying to keeping his face straight.

"It's the only theory which explains everything." She said shrugging her shoulders.

"So the kid is God then?" Arnav asked wondering if it was all a metaphor to something else.

"Of course not," she replied pleasantly. He was surprised at the answer. "God is not in decision but in action," she said. Arnav's smile dropped at that. The words sounded vaguely familiar yet forever distant. Memories of his sister and his brother-in-law rushed through his mind rendering him blind momentarily.

"Which action are we talking about?" Arnav asked recovering as quickly as his mind allowed. He ignored the strange look Khushi was giving him. She looked at him for a moment wondering why he had suddenly gone quiet and eyes were glazed as if hit by sudden burst of light.

"The anomaly, of course," she said.

"I don't understand," he confessed.

"Hypothetically universes would have been created and destroyed as a part of class experiment over the years. Anomalies would have existed as a part of these universes because of various mistakes done in past. We are one such anomaly – life is the biggest anomaly. And in anomalies, God exists."

"Wait, wouldn't creating life constitute as a critical success factor? Why is it an anomaly?"

"Depends on how you view it."

"How can creation of life be anything other than success?"

"Why isn't anyone happy when a virus multiplies?"

"That's disgusting," Arnav said scrunching his nose.

"Life was created which technically can be considered as success but when life forms start overtaking the foundation on which creation is based on, then the experiment is anything but a failure."

"Unless the life created lives harmoniously with everything in universe without disrupting the fabric of the medium in which the experiment is going on," Arnav said cottoning on.

"That is correct," Khushi nodded.

"And since humanity is anything but harmonious, we are colossal failure," he said chuckling mirthlessly.

"The kid is probably going to get a 'D'. Poor thing," Khushi expressed sympathy. Arnav agreed silently and didn't contest.

"We are here," Khushi said standing in front of a rusted iron gate.

"Is that you Khushi?" She heard her aunt should from the verandah.

"That's my cue to leave," Arnav said. "This is for you," he said handing her the book of maps. "I thought this will bring back more of your childhood memories." He added.

"Because in those memories we are exactly who we dreamed to be," she finished his thought. He nodded gravely.

"Good night Arnav," she said turning away. He caught her arm stopping her mid-stride and yanked her back him. Before she could sprout one thousand questions about his actions, he pulled her into a hug and buried his face in the crook of her neck.