It was the repetitive and irritating sound of a message alert that woke Yuvika up from her deep slumber. She rubbed her eyes and cursed the sender of the message as she unlocked her cell phone to check the message.
"Happy new year!. Happy new year! Happy new year! Happy new year 2017! Happy new year!" She kept muttering to herself as she scrolled through all those HNY messages replying to a few. She frowned seeing the message that read "Happy new year 2017." but brushed it off thinking that of it as a mistake by the sender. But as she scrolled through further messages her lazy frown turned into an expression of serious confusion as there were a huge number of messages wishing her a happy new year 2017.
"What in the world is this?!" There were some animated greetings send to her by her friends but even those were to wish 2017 as the new year. "Are they all half-asleep that they sent me the wrong messages?" she thought to herself. It made sense though, after all, normal people like her must be in bed right now, sleeping after partying late. So it all maybe a mistake.
Placing her phone on the side table she hopped out of the bed and went to open the main door of her apartment to pick up the newspaper. It was sheer coincidence that the first thing that she noticed on the newspaper was the date. Written in capital and bold letters was the date, "January 1, 2017"
The newspaper fell from her hands as her eyes widened in surprise, "Is this some kind of prank?" she looked around to see if any of her friends had pulled this stunt but after searching for few minutes when she found no one around, she went back inside and checked her phone for the date but was greeted by a message from Megha, that read, "Happy New Year 2018." she heaved a sigh of relief but that relief lasted for less than two seconds when got the message, "Oh sorry! I meant, Happy New Year 2017. Accidentally typed 8 instead of 7 :)"
"WHAT?!" Yuvika was really perplexed by now. This didn't look like a prank or a mistake now. It was getting serious.
She made a cup of coffee for herself and after drinking it she went to take bath and get ready. Though it was Sunday but she still had to report at office as today they will be setting up a new base plan and few targets.
Yuvika stood horrified as she stared at the banner hanging high above of her.
"India Forums wishes you all a happy New Year, 2017!!"
"What the heck is happening?" she muttered to herself as she entered the building. There she found Annie and Megha who were waiting for the lift as their department office was on the 13th floor. "Hey guys! Happy new year." Yuvika hugged both the girls and was greeted by the same wish.
Though she wanted to but she didn't ask them about what year they were celebrating, 2017 or 2018, because hey! that will sound utterly stupid, won't it?! So she decided to ask some questions indirectly, "Send me that 'Despacito' video from last night." she asked with a smile on her face.
Megha and Annie gave each confused looks. "Despo..?" "Eh, what?" they asked respectively.
"Des-pa-ci-to..." Yuvika sang it for them but only got confused stares in response, "Is that a song? I mean I only listen to bollywood music so I don't know about the one you are singing." Megha said with a sheepish smile on her face but Yuvika on the other hand looked stunned, scared almost.
"Are you okay Yuvi?" Annie asked, concerned for her friend.
"Ye..ah, yeah! I, I just need to go urgently so I'll take the stairs. See you later." she ran away from there leaving behind confused and concerned looking Annie and Megha.
Many of her fellow workers greeted her, wished her a happy 2017 making her feel more and more anxious and a whole lot scared. She just rushed upstairs as fast as she could. She went inside her cabin and locked the door close. Closing her eyes she sagged against the door and took in a deep breath.
"What are you doing Yuvika?" Yuvika's eyes widened hearing Jot's voice. She noticed that Jot's name plate on the desk and felt her head spinning. Wasn't she promoted to Jot's position the past year, in 2017?
"Are you okay Yuvika?"
Yuvika placed a hand over her mouth, unlocked the door and ran in the direction of her old cabin.
"What is happening? Why these people don't remember what happened in the past year? Why do they think that it is 2017 and not 2018?!" She felt like pulling her hair out as she googled about the major events that happened in 2017.
She searched for "Fidget Spinner" but found responses on "Midget Spinner" instead.
She looked for "Taimur" but google brought up results on "Timur".
She also searched for "Padmavati - The movie" but she found stories on "Queen Padmini".
"Aaarrrggghhh!!!!" yelled Yuvika , now scared to the bones.
"Pooo!!" Yuvika barged inside Pooja's cabin yelling out her name.
Pooja who was sitting with two new interns got a bit surprised as Yuvika came up and held her by her shoulders tightly;
"Don't you remember the 104 satellite launch by ISRO?"
"Bahubali-The Conclusion, Raees, Jagga Jasoos and not even Dangal?"
"You must remember the great achievement of Indian Women's Cricket Team in World Cup, they entered the finals damn!"
"Right to Privacy, Manushi Chillar, Taimur - Saif & Kareena's son! Nothing?"
"How can you even forget about Padmavati, the IF post reduction and the Virushka wedding?!"
"WHAT'S GOT INTO YOU?! You are talking about weird things Yuvika!" Pooja freed herself from Yuvika's grasp, "Are you alright?"
"N-NOOO!!" Yuvika ran away.
Seeing Yuvika sitting alone and stressed, her friends came and sat beside her. "Yuvi is everything alright?"
Yuvika raised her head and looked at her friends, "Don't you guys remember all those birthday parties that we had here? The Pet Contest that we organized this year?"
"No such thing happened Yuvika."
"What about the new recruits? Don't you remember any of them?"
When her friends gave her negative responses accompanied with looks of sympathy and concern. Yuvika just couldn't take it anymore so she dragged herself away and went back to home thinking about consulting a doctor.
"Did you hit your head with something?" the Doctor asked.
"No." Yuvika replied.
"Any kind of stress? Job related or something personal?"
"Any trauma?"
"I think this is all your imagination." the Doctor said.
"What?! You think I am mad?" Yuvika was appalled.
"No!" was the doctor's immediate response, "It may be a result of stress or just a the output of your brilliant brain that imagined all such things. You just need a relaxing vacation and everything will be fine."
But even doctor's advice proved to be fruitless. She took two weeks leave and tried to relax but every time she was reminded of the events that happened in the year 2017, things that only she seemed to be aware of while everybody else had forgotten everything. All those memories kept haunting her.
It was one lazy afternoon that she was strolling in a park that she came across a girl who was singing a very familiar song "Swag waali topi meri swag waali topi..."
Yuvika's eyes widened again but this time it was a happy surprise. She turned around and called the girl who was singing the song by the name, "Dhinchak Pooja! From 2017?!"
The said girl had a contemplating expression on her face as she said, "Dhinchak Pooja..hmm! That's one nice name. I'll start my YouTube Channel right away, thank you for the suggestion! The name does have a nice ring to it. Bye!" and then she walked away with a skip in her step leaving behind Yuvika who was now lying unconscious.
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