Krek, Pigeon and Computer

‘Can you push me away from that stupid window, you moron’ Desk said.

It is a strikingly sunny day. The hottest day of the summer. The sun was blazing hot, and the kind of hot that made people kill.

The windows heard it but did not dignify the comment with any response. The window never replies to any insults. He keeps himself close, Krek thinks.

Moreover, no one takes the desk seriously.

But he did push the Desk away from direct sunlight. While the desk and chair started talking, Krek looked outside the Window.

It is so hot that birds could fall down from dehydration. He thought.

‘It is so hot that birds could fall down from dehydration.’ He murmured.

‘Yeah, tell me about it, my one side is burning like a volcano while the other one has to listen to that pdesk’ Window turned to him.

‘You want me to sprinkle some water on you.’

‘No, it’s fine, but a spray would do’

Krek knows the window will demand the spray. He is addicted to it. It’s the only morning, so he refused to give it.

All the computers in the office are working, and Krek can identify their monotonous hmmm.

Maybe he should go out and smoke, but he does not want to go out in such heat. Krek is tired of the weather of Delhi. In summer it becomes desert, and in winter, it turns into a fridge.

Delhi lives at the extremes.

The city is full of people doing activities that do not make sense to him. The desks and chairs curse a lot. In his village desk and chair does not swear or talk much. The computer works all the time.

The work of Krek is simple. Krek knows that. He has to fill the lube into the computers so they can work efficiently all day. Computers need lubing twice a day. He also has to help desks, chairs and doors to stay in great health – so the computer feels good.

A crash brings him back to the earth. He thought someone had thrown something at him.

‘What was that?’ He asked.

‘You ask me, I was taking a nap’. Yeah. Windows sleeps a lot. That's all he does. Get high on spray and then sleep.

Krek opened the window and looked down. There was a Pigeon there. Maybe dead.

He panicked, and ran to the kitchen to get the wiper and broomstick. After picking up the Pigeon, he took him to the kitchen and put it on the table.

‘What do I do?' He asked.

‘Do I look like a Vet,’ humphed the Table, ‘ask that piece of shit first-aid box.’

‘The pigeon needs water, nothing else. Drown her in water and she will be fine’ The spoon quipped. The spoons speak only one time a day.

Krek did exactly that. He poured the water in the bowl, and placed the pigeon in it.

‘It happens on hot days, birds fall down. This one must be crazy to fly in such heat.’ First Aid Box starts sharing his expert advice. He thinks he is an expert in everything.

Krek had already zoned it out and was looking at the Pigeon floating in the water.

He noticed that she was taking the small gulps of water. A rush of relief runs across his body as he realizes that the pigeon is fine.

He left her there and started refilling the tubes of lube from the old yellow canister. Soon he will have to fill the computers with the lubes or they will slow down.

RING-RING-RING-RING

The ringing of the bell indicated only one thing. The RAM is heating up and needs some ice.

The RAM is on the other corner of the room. It powered all the computers. Krek does not understand the RAM at all. However he guesses the RAM is important.

Well, at first he thought all the computers are the same, but after lubing them for more than 8 months, he knows that they are all different and perform different functions. Some are faster than the others and run for a long time everyday. While few of them make lots of noise.

He opened the gate of the RAM room. It is a short room and the RAM is installed in the center. He clicked the button to open up the little tray, and arranged the ice cube at the right place.

He thought of putting a few ice-cubes on the carpet too, but he did not bother. He went back to the kitchen, and found out the Pigeon was sitting on the Oven.

Oven was telling some weird story as usual. He heard many of them to care for now – stories of war that never happened. The Oven used to be in the military and now he keeps talking of the old days. Like an old road remembering its bumpless surface.

He filled the tray with the water and put it back into the fridge. At least Fridge does not make any remark. If it did, he did not notice. Krek is noticing less and less day by day. He has stopped listening.

He sits on the chair and tries to listen to the conversation of the Oven and the Pigeon.

‘... to Carl. The protests by the Fans were becoming violent day by day. ACs were not ready to compromise. But the Fans were united. Under the regime of their magenta flag, they wanted equality in the society. They had realized that the AC is controlling them. There are fans everywhere in the world, and you cannot live without them. I am telling you, life without AC is possible, but life without a fan is unimaginable. The Fans knew their power, and though the AC had become powerful quickly, the power and the number of Fans were far greater. AC feared the violence, as they knew they couldn't win in the direct war. So they compromised but they are always trying to extend their turf. They started as a Room AC and now they are replacing the fan from the cars and buses. If the Air and Wind Org does not meddle, the fans could rebel again. This time, the war will be unstoppable. The only weakness with fans is they are high headed and always think of themselves highly. The war is a terrible thing you might think, but let me tell you, it is not. But the fear of terror is worse. If you see the war happening, side with the Fans, they might be less powerful but the number and the usefulness of them are greater. Moreover, the AC Committee is full of…’

Krek can’t listen to more of this false story. He doesn't remember fans going to War with the ACs. He is not much educated but he heard the legend and it never mentioned that Fans and ACs went to any war. There is no such thing as an Air and Wind Org or AC committee. The AC or Fan does not talk anymore. It was never a war between them. They were together against something. Whatever it is.

‘Can I know who you are?’ He asked the Pigeon.

‘I am a parrot,’ Pigeon replied.

‘You are not Pigeon’ Oven was so shocked he choked.

‘Why are you Parrot?’ Krek asked the Pigeon.

Pigeon started crying. After what looked like an eternity, Pigeon stopped crying.

‘I am Parrot King – made on Adobe Illustrator. I was happy as an AI file. But a witch has made me real. But life as a real bird was not that difficult. The mother board took good care of me until I learned to fly. Then I left to explore the place. I found it amazing until I did not find it amazing at all. I used to eat the leftover bread from the bakery near the Taj Mahal road. The baker was my good friend. But I was not happy with the bread. I needed a companion. A partner to eat bread with me. But nobody wanted a Parrot. An adobe illustrated Parrot. I was cursed from the moment I was born. And that enchantress, that blows life into the picture, I hate her so much. But I was okay with it. One day I saw a Pigeon. How beautiful she was. I could have seen her in my life. She was just sitting on the branch, doing nothing. To me, it looks like she was holding the universe on her head, and a little bit of shake could destroy the World. How could I live after looking at such beauty. So I thought of having her. I was lucky beyond my imagination when she returned my gratitude with affection. It was the tip of my happiness. Life after that rolled down the mountain like a goat. Her family was not ready to give her to a Parrot. So I told them I am not only a Parrot, I am a Parrot King, but that was not enough. They wanted the Pigeon. So I told them I will be a pigeon, but they said, no, a Parrot could never become a Pigeon. It was a misery that even my love was not on my side at that moment. She cries and cries but does nothing. That day I pledged to live my life like Pigeon, so I am a Pigeon now. I am forever Pigeon’.

‘If I knew you are going to tell me all this, I would have left you to die.’

‘It does not matter.’ Pigeon said.

‘If it does not matter, then why does it hurt you so much.’ Krek said.

‘Hurt does not mean it matters, there are uncountable things that hurt but they don’t matter.’

‘By this logic, does anything matter?’

‘You tell me, what do you think?’

Krek was getting frustrated with this stupid philosphical rheotircs that pigeon coin only to look smart.

‘I don’t care, and if you are okay, you can leave’

By saying this, Krek left the room. He needs cigarettes after listening to such blatant stupidity.

There is a cigarette shop beside one of the pillars of the metro station. The boy who was selling the cigarette has a soft black smudgy face. His whole body is a blur that nobody noticed. But if you do, you will see how the entire humanity has failed him. You will feel guilty of your happiness — which you realize you are not, but in comparison you are.

Krek has made the mistake once to look at the display of the computer, he was terrified. The blue filter and black lines. He is glad that the majority of them are chained or the misery will come out of the display and they will revolt. Krek knows the world has enough movements.

He looks at the blocks from the outside, all of them similar, doing the same thing, and claiming they are different. Krek knows they are not. They all are the same and they all have computers and chairs and furniture and ovens and fans and ACs, and heaters, and lights, and watches, gates, carpets, desks, boards, fridges, tables.

He smoked a cigarette with a heavy heart and no taste.

Then he saw the Pigeon sitting on the bike near him. The pigeon was looking at him with his parrot eyes.

Krek mimed his finger as a gun and shot the pigeon. Pigeon falls down with a thud and remains there still. Green blood spluttering on the bike seat.

‘So he was indeed a Parrot,’ said the bike.

Nothing happened. A cloud went by – taking it all from the above, storing every event. Krek went to his usual location and started watching a video on Youtube.

There is no disturbance anymore.