THE ADVENTURE OF A BUBBLE (Chapter 2: The Transformation)

*continued from the ending of chapter 1

Rising from the depths of dark waters to the world of undefined shape and form, En, who was no longer a bubble now, was confused standing in the middle of nowhere, in the shape he didn’t expect and in the condition he never imagined himself to be. Well merged with the outside world, En could now easily understand the tiny details of his surrounding world, having accepted and realized that he is also a part of that world now. Although he was confused earlier, now he accepted what he became and decided to move on, unaware of what he will find on his way.

En continues to rise as vapour and with no aim in mind, makes a pointless and random decision – to rise up to the sky! He still misses the voice he used to hear in the dark waters that helped him make his decisions or choose his path, when he was down there living as a bubble. On the way to the ‘mystic clouds’, En finds something interesting but resisting. It was rain! Round droplets of water reminded him of the shape he was once into. He wanted to talk to those droplets, but all of them were in hurry. Just like En, their aim was also pointless but different – to reach the ground. En tried to stop many droplets to ask them some questions he had in mind. After a few minutes of tiring struggle, En was successful in stopping one of the droplets whose name was ‘Joy’.

En asked, “Hey wait! Where are you all going? Where did you come from? And why are all of you in so much hurry?”

Joy replied, “Hello stranger! We are all droplets of water and my name is Joy. We came from the city of clouds and we are moving towards the ground to nourish the life of millions who live there.”

En asked surprisingly, “You came from the city of clouds? I am going towards the sky and the city of clouds comes in my way. Can you tell me what’s up there? How does it feel to be there? How do you live there, and in what form?”

Joy smiled and said, “Haha! In what form! We don’t live there; we were there for only a while and felt the cold winds passing by and the roars of thunder piercing through our tiny ears. And now we are moving down.”

En said, “Can you help me? Can you show me the way where I should go? I was a bubble when I was in those dark waters, but then as I crossed the surface, I lost my shape and became this. I never imagined this would happen and now, I’m lost. I have no aim but just one way to go….UP!”

Joy replied, “Oh! I still remember the time when I was just like you, and I was also travelling towards the sky, shapeless as you are now. But then something happened…….and I became a droplet.”

En shouted excitingly, “You were like me? But then what happened that brought this change in you? Please tell me! I need to know!”

Joy sighed and said after a pause, “Sorry stranger! I can’t tell you that. You have to find it out yourself! Your experience may differ from mine. Go, have your own experience of situations.”

Saying these words, Joy smiled, turned away and continued his journey downwards.

En shouted in anger, “Hey! Where are you going? Please…..I want to know more! I need answers!”

Joy replied while walking away, “You will have your answers, just keep moving, and don’t stop!”

Joy’s tone reminded En of that old bubble whom he met in the dark waters. But now, En was quite familiar to this habit of ‘not telling the answers’; so he continued to move on. After hours of continuous rising, En reached the city of clouds. The sun was not visible there, and the place was all cold and noisy. En could clearly hear the thunder as if it was roaring inside his head. Distracted by the loud roar of thunder, En didn’t even notice that the intense cold surrounding air has started transforming his form. By the time he was in the middle of the city of clouds, a giant roar of thunder bumped his ears and a powerful wave of wind dragged him some distance away. En now turned into a droplet of water. Though it happened no as fast as it happened at the time when En crossed the surface, but it certainly was not expected this time too.

En, who was a shapeless mass of vapour, now in the giant noise of thunder and cold waves of wind, turned into a water droplet. It was just like his old shape of bubble, but this time, he possessed something he never did before, and that was GRAVITY. En was horrified at feeling something pulling him down towards the ground, and helpless, he was unable to get rid of it. Adding gravity to his new form, ‘En’ now became ‘Engy’.

Recalling the words of Joy, Engy now clearly understood what Joy meant! He murmured to himself, “Joy was right! I should have understood then what he meant.”

Engy started regretting about every wrong decision he made. Being pulled by gravity, Engy was now falling down with many others, as rain.

Now, visualize the whole scene by comparing it with your own life. As we enter the world of adulthood, things appear to be strange, unexpected, unguided and untrusted. We begin our search for answers and when after so many efforts, we don’t find them; we just walk in the pointless direction, we make random decisions, without thought. We proceed towards something of which we are not even sure whether it exists or not! And the worst thing is “we don’t want to be sure!” Well aware of the consequences, En still decided to enter the city of clouds, and turned himself into a droplet that possessed Gravity, so became Engy. Just like En, when we make decisions that we regret about, we are pulled down by the gravity of sadness and depression. And after that, just like Engy, we keep falling to the ground, helpless and unwilling to get rid of the situation.

When you aim for something, don’t aim blindly! Always keep in mind the purpose or the reason for selecting that aim and be aware of the consequences that you are about to face.

This was chapter 2 of the novel; the next chapter will soon be published on the blog.

©Varun K. Sharma