Translation: An Evening In the Bar

Anurag Sharma

- Anurag Sharma

Allen

Nowadays, when I go to bed each night, I wish the morning to come early, after God knows after how many years. I have restarted living my life. And this all happened because of Margaret. I regained my lost interest in life after meeting Margaret. My life after my marriage with Xena was like getting roasted in perpetual hell. It didn’t get any better even when we decided to get separated. The hurdles she created in the simple process of divorce … I can’t believe that I ever trusted her to be my life-partner. I just got blinded by her beauty.    

Margaret

Of course, he is old, bald, fat, pale and short. He colors his hair and can’t even see without glasses. He still attracts me. He is clever and rich. He has a good sense of humor. On top of all this, he loves me more than his own life. He is the perfect husband material. No doubt, I love him.   

Allen

I am very happy. Now I enjoy my food, get a good night’s sleep and stay fresh like a youngster. Margaret may not be an exotic beauty, she is kind and compassionate. I guess I am being humble. Actually, I am on top of the world now. She is taking the initiative to call me for last couple of days. And, she is coming to have dinner with me tonight

Margaret

I can’t believe how much my life has changed in the last couple of weeks. We came so close to each other. Tonight, he has invited me for special dinner. If he presents the ring to me tonight, I’m going to grab it right there like a wise girl.   

Allen 

I can’t call this evening anything but a disaster. It is the most expensive place in town. Margaret has never been to such a place ever before. How happy she was! My bad luck; such a beautiful evening got spoiled.

Margaret

He is well educated and civilized. Doesn’t he know that it’s bad manners to leave the table frequently to take phone calls when a girl is waiting?

Allen 

I don’t know who kept calling repeatedly last night. The caller didn’t say a word nor left any message. I generally don’t pick up a call from private numbers but the calls from my mother’s nursing home are without caller ID. Moreover, the signal gets so weak at these high rise buildings at times. All these considerations made me answer the phone every time it rang. But Margaret never sounded so fussy before. The way she left the restaurant without informing me … and now she is not even responding my phone calls, what does this mean? Is this dream over?   

Margaret

I could have never guessed it, I’m such a simple soul. God bless that kind senior lady who watched this drama quietly from a remote corner in the restaurant. When he left me alone fifth time, she approached me on her own and passed me some wisdom in the form of a note.

Xena

How can he live happily after kicking me out of his house? He cannot have fun with young girls. This rat can never be joyous after destroying my life. I’ll swear at him whenever I open my mouth. Had that Romeo identified my call, he’d have never picked up the phone. I told that lizard, “I overheard him. He is playing a game with many girls simultaneously. This ugly creature is below your dignity.” 

(Translated from Hindi)

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Setu, July 2022

Translation: Big Cloud 2068

Anurag Sharma

- Anurag Sharma

Year 2068: Scientific progress has turned the world into a well-connected global village.

The books were finished at the climax of the digital age with the last book printed in 2043. By then a few books were saved in digital format by some crazy computer-enthusiasts who preserved antiquated technology for sake of nostalgia. But now computers are not around at all. Everything revolves around extremely powerful yet tiny hand-held devices. These powerful devices connect us humans to the information that resides on a central big cloud.

Emergency, like never-before! Nobody imagined the sudden deterioration of the Big Cloud. No one knows exactly what happened to the Big Cloud that was designed as a fail-proof, ultra-reliable system to support entire world. Service crew got struck because the critical information needed for this kind of repair is now inaccessible because Big Cloud is partly unresponsive. All hope is not lost because Johnny Booker is still alive.

Johnny Booker is one of the original creators of the current Big Cloud universal system. He headed the Big Cloud project from the beginning to the completion. In fact, he was the father of the idea that the world needed only one big cloud. Due to his efforts, the United Nations put pressure on all the countries to put all the information of the whole world in a central cloud, which was named Big Cloud.

Following the worldwide success of Big Cloud, Booker was counted among the richest men in the world. But after retirement, he got a little deluded.

Lunatic old man Booker, who remained unmarried, began to speak about the dangers of the Big Cloud. Every event he was invited to, he started talking about going 'back to the book' from the digital world. Slowly, he gathered some people and started a 'back to the book' campaign. In every scientific and technical conference he attended, he delivered speeches on the need to go back to printed books. Initially, people listened but then later it got the label of a fanatic archaic. Due to the launch of the Save Books movement, his identity was established throughout the world as such a conservative old man who had no support except two or four old men like himself. Schools and the industry stopped inviting him since he insisted on the importance of the book over any other form of technological advancement. He tried hard, but his movement, far from growing, slowly started to break down as the aged members were not replaced by anyone new. One day, Booker was left alone in his campaign. For some time his statements appeared on the cloud, then he went into anonymity. There were rumors that using his immense wealth, he had built the world's largest library in a secret place by buying all the books that survived digital revolution.

Ray of Hope: All experts believed that Big Cloud could still be saved if Booker could be traced and convinced to provide the printed copies of the technical manuals that were published by his team decades ago.

Although with technological advancement, the location of a dead ant in a forest could be accurately traced, it took the police several days to locate Booker due to Big Cloud related problems.

Booker Traced: When the police reached the secret palatial Library-Bunker of Booker, the frustrated and desperate lonely man was seen burning his books in a huge incinerator. The last book caught flames in front of the police. The title read 'Big Cloud Troubleshooting - Final Volume' ...

(Translated from Hindi)

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Setu, June 2022