Swan Song

You all would definitely be wondering, (I hope) what the hell happened to me? Well, this brief tale would hopefully answer your queries, take you on a short nostalgic trip, and might put a full stop on this blog.

The date, August 29, 2020. 

Someone called me from behind when I was walking downstairs.

"Siba, right?"

"Yeah, that would be me. Do I know you?" 

"I would say so. I am Siba Smarak Panigrahi" said he. I froze. Did he just repeat my name? As far as I remember, there is only one of me on Earth. Obviously, I had searched my name on Google.

"I am from 2030" Was that meant to give relief? I went into another deep shock.

"What? Time-travel comes around in 10 years?" said I.

"That's what you are worried about?" 

"Just wait." I looked down, took three deep breaths, gave a tight slap on my cheek, pinched myself, rubbed my hands, warmed my eyes, and said "well, he should be gone by now"

"Hello! I am real for God's sake!" he shouted.  

"No way! (A brief pause) Ok, then what the hell are you doing down in the timeline?" asked I feeling not at all comfortable with the encounter.

"I am here to save myself" and I was more puzzled.

"Save yourself? From what? (A moment's pause) Wait, am I going to die in 2030? Is it because of what I would be doing now?"  I had a lot of questions.

"Nah, it has nothing to do with today. I have to save myself from the stuff that is happening to me because I am still writing this blog" said he.

"That's utter and complete nonsense! First of all, a few folks read my stories. Everyone is pretty much busy with their lives, I am glad for them, and I don't blame them. But I do not understand how a little famous blog can lead to something so bad, that you have to come back 10 years!" I was not making any sense of his talks.

He said - "No one should know too much about their destiny. Just consider my proposal - 'Stop writing, create a new time-line, and we all would be happily ever after'".

"You mean, a tangent from this point, that would lead to a completely new timeline, where you would not be writing. Well, answer this, how do you know that the new timeline would be good enough for us? It might lead to something bad, could be as bad as in Back to The Future II!" asked I.

"I do not know for sure, but I can guarantee the timeline with you not writing would be absolutely fan-friggin-tastic compared to what I am going through" and he simply started walking away.

"Hey wait. You can't simply hop from the back and ask me to believe you!" and he said "I can't stay any longer here - 'The Butterfly Effect' stuff, we all have a period in which we can roam in past with a permit. I have to return to 2030. Consider my proposal. I'll be back!" and he disappeared.

A question popped, "why should I believe that he was me"? But the entire incident bugged me for days. After that, I had written one crazy sci-fi thriller and had published that - "Job at Flarencia".  Extremely poor number of views, people had to read twice or thrice to understand it - "That can be a sequel to Inception", some readers said that. Lol. Before that was "Skedale forest" and it didn't live up to the benchmark set by the "Manukae Forest", a gripping thriller on (well let me not spoil it, if you want to read). So frankly speaking, my last two were kind of disasters.

The date, November 14, 2020.

"You know, your 'Dear Crush' is the romantic go-to of your blog?" 

"Wut? Oh damn! Don't yell from the back!" shouted I.

"So, I see clearly that you did not understand the proposal."

"How can I believe that you are me? And why the hell did you come now? You could have reached me earlier this year, say sometime in January." I doubted him, I mean I doubted me, as he claimed to be me. Shit, too much confusion!

"Should I make you remember that the last two of the stories flunked, and there is no superior reason to stop the blog in the current state?" He took a brief pause.

"Now, to answer why I didn't come in January - there were some classics in your blog yet to come - the completion of 'Dear Series', I mean, after all, it was a real good rom-com. There were some wonderful thrillers too - 'Old Architecture Building', you did a good job on common entity perception. 'Manukae Forest'. The non-linear and overlapping timeline in 'Mission STS 192', good!. And what about feel-good plots, huh?  A trip to childhood in 'I Had to Leave Her Back Somewhere', the inspirational 'Take A Break- Mountaineering' and the obvious classic, that gave your blog the popularity it deserved after 'Dear, Crush' was 'Suicide, Should I?'. This single-story is the flame of your blog, and if you remember, it became too popular on the confessions page. Let me quote the last few lines, 'I looked back. A person was standing there, holding my hands, preventing me from falling. The person was none other than myself'. Classic!" he took a deep breath. After all, he himself was the author.

"But this can be told by some of my readers who have read all of them!" I stood my stance.

"Well, let me reveal then. You got the idea to start the blog and the first few stories, while you were in the bathroom of TIFR, with the exception of 'What Was That?', which you wrote back in the first year. To be specific, 'What If All My' came to you the day before you took the flight back to Bhubaneswar. 'Stuck, Will' occurred to you late at night, on the lift, while you were in a dilemma to spend the night in the Guest House or at your desk. Coming to the 'Dear Crush', it is a complete truth based on (her first name) ..."

"You stop there, I got it" I stopped him before he spoke her name completely. Nobody knew all these details, duh...

I took a deep breath. 

"Since you are me from the future, I believe myself. I promise I will stop writing after a final plot that came to me now - 'Swan Song'. And you definitely know that I keep promises to myself, no matter what happens." 

"That's my boy!" said he and started disappearing.

"Before you go, I have something special to ask..."

"No one should know too much about their destiny" came out of his mouth as he completely vanished in front of my eyes.

(Truman Burbank - The Truman Show)

So I take goodbye. We had really a thrilling and wonderful ride together. Ah! My readers! I'm gonna miss you all.

And, yes, as Truman Burbank says "Good morning, and in case I don't see ya: Good Afternoon, good evening, and good night!" 

Siba Smarak Panigrahi

    (Dedicated to Siba Smarak Panigrahi in 2030)

(P.S.: There are dialogues from The Terminator, Back To The Future, and The Truman Show, hopefully, you would find 'em and enjoy!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 2030, day of encounter:

"Ah! Finally, yes. The last story of the blog - 'Swan Song'". No more stories were available after that. Well, I had not written that back in 2020, but the story was there. So yay, I am in a new timeline!

In 2030, two days after the day of the encounter:

I randomly felt an urge to find ways to improvise 'Swan Song', if possible. I was shocked to see, it was different from what it was the last time I checked. 

These lines were added at the end -

Updates:

----------

Five days after he went back to the future, somebody got hold of my collar and pulled me aside to a corner, in the garage. The person said with a smirk "Hello! I am Siba Smarak Panigrahi from 2035, and I have something for you".