MFA Thesis Novel : Bharathi

SYNOPSIS :

A story set in a Dystopian India – the City of Hyderabad, India – in in the 3rd Millennium and present day Glen Burnie Maryland. Time Travel, the transposition of physical human beings in the continuum of existence, moments in what are known in the Hindu scripture and the Kabbalah as the “Three Fluctuations” in Time and Space all are elements that impact the heroine Bharathi’s search for her husband Arun in the future…and likewise Arun’s search for true love and the meaning of life in present day Glen Burnie, Maryland.

FIRST THREE CHAPTERS :

MINUS TWO

Look at the "Facts of Life" as explained by Bharathi's childhood friend Roopa, who had died due to the nuclear fallout shortly thereafter:

"It begins when a guy 'digs' a girl and lays on top of her. He somehow manages to get his 'seed' inside her and when lucky the combination of seed and the girl's egg conceive a new human..."

To Bharathi, this was utterly horrific. If it were indeed the case – then she was "conceived" the same way she saw Aryaraj molest older inmates in the encampment. As a result of this mischievous Roopa's revelation, Bharathi fell into a depression for (she had counted) forty days and forty nights. In her dreams she recalled a very ancient story Roopa had shared to her a year prior: about a Noah who bought two of every living thing on his arc when The World had been flooded in God's anger at human being's conduct on Earth. What would God think of now with the semi-robotic people that now inhabited Aryraraj's World? And worse: who was this God? Aryaraj often professed that he was eligible for this status or title.

The Story of Creation according to Aryaraj was required reading for all young inmates in his encampment: "In the beginning – there was '0' and '1.' These two life elements were combined and sequenced via a silicon "p-n junction" by an ancient saint who worked at a religious outfit in the ancient world now known as "Motorola."

MINUS ONE

It had been a known fact that clone-droid-humanoid hybrid Aryaraj was diabetic – at least the humanoid part was affected to the extent that he had to modify his hardware with an add-on embedded in his body. Bharathi had studied an ancient textbook, found half rotting in the desert outside the ancient Hi Tech City: Biomedical Instrumentation and Electronics written in 2016 by an obscure professor of electrical engineering. The add on was fueled by solar energy (heat) generated indigenously by Aryaraj's body and had an outlet for refilling the substance Aryaraj could barely produce: insulin. Aryaraj commended Bharathi:

"How utterly sweet...do you imagine how many lives could have been saved if this 'add on' was invented in 2015?"

"Millions..." Aryaraj continued while consuming the last of a sugary fruit cake.

Bharathi was sustained by the 'geekaboo’ and remained free from Aryaraj's sexual advances henceforth.

ONE

Arun Rao is a writer literally stuck in the present. His wife is a doctor, Reena Rao, who is “doing her residency” at Harbor General Hospital located in a not-so-good section of Baltimore City. One morning, after two consecutive days of being on call, she fails to come home to their minuscule apartment in an equally bad section of Charm City. After a frantic series of phone calls Arun is unable to locate his wife at the hospital or at any place she normally "hangs out." Upon searching her belongings he finds a small satchel with a white label affixed with lettering in what appeared to be Arabic or Greek. Luckily it was neither, just bad handwritten English he was reading upside down. But while inspecting it closer he did observe something strange – the cover bore the symbol of a swastika. A green powder fell out and then Anil broke out into a toothy grin and remarked to himself:

"Lucky me!"

In the next instant, after sniffing the contents now emptied on the counter before him – his grin turned to a frown as he once again remarked out loud:

"Shit! This is that fake shit that weirdo at the Vape Dojo keeps selling Tiff..."

What is Arun to do at this point? You guessed it, he stuffed the green leafy substance into his hookah and took several deep inhales and another journey in time space and whatever else dimension hence begins:

TWO

Y2080

"You must read before you write. Count to twelve and say ‘ah.’ Gibberish like this makes time fly when one denies sex, love, and destiny for a Convocation. Blessed Be The Meek For They Shall Inherit this Earth."

So wrote Bharathi in her journal in the present moment in time space and mind space. Chemical X was inhaled prior to entry into the time portal Ayahuasca – reminiscent of space ships from a 20th Century junkyard. This chemical "key to the city" enabled Bharathi's entry into Arun's dystopic version of India Y2080 where Hyderabad is a ghost town patrolled by droids programmed to enforce strict curfew laws set by Central – the Great Leader who it was theorized sat somewhere within Cyberabad's ancient but now abandoned Hi Tec City office buildings.

She had planned this raid on Central after many past failed attempts. For some reason she would hear the shrill voice of Central – thoroughly deluded after too much chemical – but only a dialog could be discerned. Nothing could be comprehended or concluded based on these 'hallucinations' – she did it for entertainment, which concurred precisely with her life agenda (which changed depending on her mood).

"It's not just hyperbole – but a trade off in an exaggeration of physics. You see in Quantum Mechanics and in Hindu scripture there is mention of 3 fluctuations in Time. Obviously they have something to do with the past, present, and future." Bharathi had explained to a (future) visitor.

Two droids. One on the left and another approaching from the back. Droid One asks in a shrill voice with running consonants streamed or pipelined out a small speaker inside its "head":

"Hello, just a friendly reminder," waving a laser pistol in her face, "you have exactly 5 minutes before I get to shoot and kill you on sight."

Bharathi winced at the droid and responded with an ironic smile:

"Thank you my metal footed friend..."

The droid turned abruptly around and rolled away within minutes it was out of sight. The second droid proceeded in the opposite direction. An explosion is suddenly heard and Bharathi turns her head to see a fire and the pieces of the droid as if after a grenade attack. Arun Rao, The Time Traveler from present day Baltimore, Maryland materializes shortly thereafter and his overturned time vehicle then becomes visible having collided with the droid. An alarm is sounded and the second droid reappears and opens fire upon Bharathi and Arun with his laser gun.

Bharathi turns to Arun who returns the stare and says: "Me too, I carry no instruments of violence."

Bharathi responds with a scowl and says: "Doofus! I left my gun in the car!" and grabs Arun to crawl to her car with him in tow.

Driving safely a while later, Arun awakes abruptly and then calms down upon recognizing Bharathi's attractive face. The car is passing in the twilight of the rebuilt city of Cyberabad – which in Y2020 was destroyed in a nuclear strike by North Korea. Cyberabad city was rebuilt 20 years ago by the Taiwanese Army and briefly named New Taipei but that didn't sit well with the non-Chinese majority, and it was changed back to New Hyderabad. The Chinese Communists had dreamed for years – now the locals all knew the Chinese greeting: "ni how."