The Power Cut

“Wake up Amlan” “You can’t sleep so early, it’s just 2.00am”

I woke up drenched in sweat.  Who switched off the AC? I was utterly confused. Sristi could not have done this. 

“Why did you wake me up Sristi?” “I was sleeping so peacefully and now all of a sudden I am disgusted; don’t know who switched off the AC”

  

“Oh please Amlan, you can’t sleep off in the middle of a conversation. That is so rude. And you claimed that you were a nocturnal animal.” 

“I am sorry. I was very tired.” “All day I was working. Risabh was not home; hence I had to do all the chores. All thanks to you, else I would have been very bored.”

“Come on Amlan, you are one popular guy. These days I see you online always. Likes on your status, pictures. Don’t’ tell me that you get bored”

“Aree trust me Sristi, not only bored, I feel so lonely at times.”

“HEY AMLAN WHATS UP” All of a sudden Gargee jumped into the conversation.

 I don’t remember when I last met Gargee. And all of a sudden here she was. She looked very excited.

“Hello Gargee. How have you been? Such a long time”

“Yes man, I see our old Amlan is a busy man these days. No calls, no text. You forgot your old buddies huh. I see you making a lot of new friends”

“Abbe Gargee, sorry yaar. I got involved in so many activities. You know how college life is”

“Yes yes, I know. So how is your life? By your pictures it seems very happening huh?”

“Naa Naa, you know the grass is always green on the other side. Ha ha ha”

Suddenly Sristi shouted from the other end. “OH MR LONELY! YOU JUST FORGOT ME. SO BUSY YOU GOT WITH THIS OTHER CONVERSATION THAT YOU HAVE KEPT ME WAITING”

Shit shit shit! I completely ignored Sristi.  How could I do that?

“Hey Sristi, meet Gargee, my school friend. Actually we got along after a long time. Sorry”

“Hello Gargee, I am Sristi, Amlan I used to go coaching together.”

“Nice to meet you Sristi, this moron has really good looking friends I see”

“Hahahaha.. And I see he also has some really good old friends, and he was now complaining that he doesn’t have friends. And he feels lonely”

“Hello Girls, I introduced you guys not to bitch about me. Come on talk good things.”

All of a sudden there was Anmol and Anshul. Both of them shouted together. “Hey man, kaise ho?”

Very smartly I directed myself towards Gargee and Sristi. “Girls, this is really important, I will catch you guys in 5 mins”

Sristi shouted, “Next time you tell me that you are feeling lonely, I swear I will kill you”

 At this Gargee giggled.

Before I could turn myself towards Anshul to talk. My laptop screen went blank. There was a power cut. And my battery is dead. Unwillingly I had to walk out of my active virtual social life. A life which I prefer more than my real life.

I opened my front door and walked up to my balcony. It was 4.23 am. Empty road, clear sky. Once again I was pushed into a harsh reality. Yes I have failed to demarcate between the virtual and real life. I gave more preference to my life online that I did not even realize when I lost that emotional touch with my friends.

Today I have reached a stage, where a simple technical error like a power cut can put me into a black hole of loneliness.

I guess I should have learnt the difference between “Whats up” in real life and “Whatsapp”.