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iView Author:
Arun Prakash (New Delhi, India)

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Mr W.Kumar travels to Bollywood,the year 2028

Picture abhi baki thi’
This the next part of the article Mr-wkumar-goes-to-bollywood ,published a few weeks ago.

Mr Writer Kumar,an aspiring Bollywood writer has just disembarked from the Rajdhani express at Mumbai Central.
As instructed by Suresh Kapadia,the Railway T.T.Examiner whom Kumar had befriended on the train,he slowly walks up the stairs leading up to the overhead bridge and further
onto the platform designated for local trains.
Kumar just about manages to clamber up into the last coach of the slow local train to Bandra.The coach is empty,the rush hour being over.He stares at the route map printed
above the open doors,trying to figure out how many stations are there till Bandra.
He sits down,gazes out of the windows,taking in his first glimpse of Mumbai.

W.Kumar does’nt notice that the train has picked up speed,infact its moving very fast. The seats ,the windows,the handle bars above are all rattling noisily.He gets up,wanting to stand but falls down immediately.He tries to look out of the window,but all he can see are objects whizzing past.
Feeling dizzy,he shuts his eyes………

“Ladies and gentlemen,welcome once again to the Mumbai underground Metro.The next station is Juhu Beach.We once again wish you all a very happy new years day two thousand and twenty eight”
W.Kumar gets up from his seat with a jolt.
“Hey,2028..?….where am I..?..is this the Delhi metro?
His heart sinks as he notices a display above which reads’JUHU BEACH..30 secs away’.
The train starts to slow down.Kumar realises that he is in Mumbai,and this the year 2028.
The train halts,the doors slide open,Kumar stumbles out.He walks rapidly,following the exit signs.He jumps onto an escalator and moments later he steps out of the station….facing him is the endless expanse of the Arabian sea.
“Seth,pehle baar sumandar dekha hai kya?”
A young boy is standing besides him.
The boy offers him a coconut”Seth,happy new year 2028…you drink nariyal pani…very fresh!”
“O.K, give me…and go”
Kumar brings out a few hundred rupee notes from his pocket.
“Seth,old notes…lekin chalega..give me one”
The boy takes the note and leaves.
W.Kumar walks down the few stairs from the station gates and steps onto the sandy beach.He sits down.
He talks to himself ‘ I know I’m not dreaming’.
He then realises that his laptop,his mobile and his baggage too are missing.
W.Kumar puts his hands on his face,his shoulders droop.

”Seth,entertainment chaiyee kya”
Its that hawker boy again.
“Seth,you alone on beach,want company”
“Get lost”
“Seth,you want to watch movie”
Kumar looks around.”Here..on the beach?”
The hawker boy thrusts a small device in Kumars hands.
“Seth,watch movie,TV channel,phone anyone,surf net…”
“Surf net…is this some sort of a ..er..mini-PC?”
“Yes,fifty rupees per hour”
Kumar fiddles with it.The controll keys are unfamiliar.He tells the boy to teach him to use it.
The hawker boy is shocked.”you don’t know how to use this?Hundred rupees charge,Seth,just to teach you”
A few minutes later Kumar is punching away at the mini-pc’s keyboard.
He first checks out the E-newspapers,then the news channels.
YES,IT IS 2028!

“O.K,I’ve travelled in time,might as well catch up with all that I’ve been missing”.
Kumar thinks for a moment and decides to check out passion for cinema.
“I hope its still around…”
The PFC website opens before he can finish his sentence.
Kumar peers into small screen,anxiously scanning the displayed text.
There is a home page,on its left side are titles of latest posts and on the right side the familiar comments column.In the centre are a large number of links.
Kumar clicks onto ‘latest posts’.
A person is saying something.
Oh, he’s reading out the article.Its a webcast. All blogs and comments too are in a webcast format.The option of reading the article in print also exists.
Kumar clicks onto another link - an extensive search engine on cinema from all over the world.
He clicks onto cinema history- the years 2008 to 2028.He scrolls through it quickly,the movies,the actors,the hits,the flops,but is unable to grasp the extensive information.
He goes through the list of directors,some familiar names of the film industry as he knew it in 2008,and some new names.But some of these new names are familiar too.Yes,these were people who used to post blogs or comments on PFC!
Kumar reads the list carefully.Oh,thats___,he’s a director now.There’s_____,she’s a top writer now.here’s_______,big time producer.Another guy_____, reviews for a leading E-newspaper now.
Kumar smiles.
Its the first time he’s smiled today.
He decides to look up his name at PFC.He clicks onto the archives link.
The few posts send by him appear,the last one dated December,2007.
He gets up,worried.Talks to himself “Is this because I’m travelling in time or is it because I NEVER WENT BACK?”

“Seth,are you all right?” The hawker boy reappears”can I take the pc back”.
He notices Kumar had been reading about cinema.
“Seth,you like cinema?.Across the road is the 54 screen multiplex.You can see a lot of movies there….Indian,English,Chinese,even Iranian,African and Burmese too”
W.Kumar is hooked .”Which are the Indian movies on today”
“Well,there’s Krish 6,Don 12,Munna bhai Mars chalo,Thodi kushi kafi gam,Beedi bhujado, Dil tumhara dhadkan hamari,….and ofcourse the all time favourite ‘ A million Sholays now’.
Seth,you can watch them on regular screens or even on 3D,4D…..any way you want”
So engrossed was Kumar in this conversation that he did not notice that a woman had come and stood next to him.
The hawker boy had walked away and now Kumar noticed the woman.He also noticed that she was very pretty and was carrying a camera in her hand.
“Dude”she addressed him confidently”we’ve observed that you were surfing cinema related sites for the past two hours”
“So…so what..how did you know?”
“Relax,dude.We’re no cops.We,like everyone else, keep a track of sites a user surfs…anyway we are the first to locate you and offer you a subscription to our multimedia channel SRK 60×24x7 at a ninety nine percent discount”
“What are you talking about…what kind of intrusive advertising is this…whats this channel you just spoke about?”
“Its a channel exclusively dedicated to minute by minute updates on Shahrukh Khans life….after all,he is number one”
“Shahrukh…he’s still the no.1 star..?”
“Dude,what do you mean by ’still no.1′.He’s been no.1 for over 25 years now”
The woman looked at Kumar suspiciously”What kind of a film buff are you.You don’t seem to know anything about shahrukh…or are you one of those ‘different sort of films’ fan?”
Kumar replied hastily” I’ve been out of touch with cinema for a few years…..thats why I was surfing these cinema related sites”
“Listen if you sign up now I’ll take to meet SRK …he’s shooting for an American movie at the JW Marriot hotel…right behind this beach…and you’ll have your ten seconds of fame on our channel too”
“I’d love to meet SRK.Whats his role?”
“He plays a young army captain”
Kumar is stumped.SRK must be sixty odd years old now.
Whats happened to the world?
“Mam…er…whats your name”
“Shanti Devi”
Kumar gulps.
“Shanti Devi….was this name given to you by your parents or was it given by Shahrukh?”
“Oh,dude…its my NET-NAME.Not my real name.”
“Net-name?”
“Every one has one. Don’t you?”
Kumar nods his head vigorously”Yes,I too have one…had it for 21 years now….its Writer Kumar”
“21 years! Dude, you started out on the net at a very young age”
Shanti Devi steps closer to Kumar.”You know what? I kind of like you.I’ll take you to meet Shahrukh,watch the shoot and we can go and audi-hop”
Kumar takes a step backwards. “AUDI-HOP?”
Shanti Devi wrings her hands in mock exasperation.
“Dude..Kumar…you really have been out of touch with things”
She smiles and steps upto Kumar again.This time he stays put.
“Audi-hop stands for auditorium hopping.We’ll go and check out the latest releases at the 54 screen multiplex.Get it,dude?”
Writer Kumar offers Shanti Devi his hand.
“Lets go”

‘Kahani abhi baki hai’