Reins

 Friday word: Puppet

The gold fish in the crystal swims elegantly occasionally nibbling on to the morning titbits sprinkled in the serene water. Dr. Saxena tries to play with her by sprinkling the wormy crush at different points and watch the little aquatic life run towards the bait. How she is dancing to the unseen strings of food! Foolish Fishy puppet! 

"WAKE UP DUDE WAKE UP!! BEEP BEEP BEEP. I have beeped my lungs out and you are still in the lousy slumbers. Wake up you nerd, the gang has already begun the march. Now if you don't post an emoji or a forward you will be damn late. Then don't complain if they bully you by calling The Champu of the class. Not waking still? Wait I have another trick. Hey you the supercool Hitachi, just stop flapping your plastic wings. This Anuj Saxena must bring my social handles to life soon. Its been over five hours since midnight that he isn't on whatsapp. The last seen may create a scene." The apple i6 vibrates but to no avail. 

The air conditioner stops its luxurious flapping and Anuj rolls over in the bed. Unable to bear the slightest warmth, he is awake but lids still covering the vision. Who is conditioned to follow whom? Air conditioner has the remote to Anuj's funtioning.  His hands search for the apple and in a second lay its grip on the metal body. 

"Ahaaa... How I desperately missed that touch of yours! A. C. Bro, the trick worked!" the mobile gleams in pride as its addicted owner clears his vision to the sight of whatsapp and instagram pings. 

"Look what a birthday gift Tarun's father has bestowed upon him-Audi! And you drive to school in that old, poor Mercedes, that to an ancestral property. Where is your own muse?" The apple sets the orchard on fire. Anuj is unable to take the morning post of his friend's profile. Suddenly, the apple is snatched away from his hand and a tight slap sits on his aghast face. 

"Hey where you taking me, Uncle Ben!" fiddles the apple. 

"Your company has spoiled the child. Day-night he is glued to the screen like a chewing gum. Chewing regurgitated matter and forwarding it aimlessly, is all that he does these days. You better stay away from him." The Hitachi warning doesn't scare an app of the apple. 

"C'mon bro, you are jealous! That eco-green symbol of yours tells how green you are in envy. But I can sympathise with you oldie. When you were new and he was a baby, all he did was wait for your cool winds. Now you don't get even a spec of attention" The apple beeps its condolences. 

"Nothing like that I can still make him dance to my tunes. Wait and watch!" The puppet  show has began. 

The day goes in a remorseful flurry as Anuj is not allowed to hold, type and dive in the world of his fruits of past hardwork. After all apple came to him post that gold medal in Maths Olympiad. Since then an apple a day definitely keeps his doctor parents away. But today he is feeling hot in anger and baking in soaring temperature as the air conditioner too isn't working. He is restless and desperate, feeling of isolation creeping in with the apple too locked up in the confines of paternal territories. At night he twists and turns in agony cursing the soul of mechanic who has failed to repair his mini Himalaya.

"See how the puppet is dancing to my tunes." The cold pride though silent can't stop its boosting. 

"You have yet to see how a magnificent puppeteer I am!" The apple is secure in the insecurities of the teenager. 

No mobile for a month, is the prescription written for Anuj. A therapy to get the technological ghost out of the possessed boy. Food doesn't taste the same and water doesn't quench his thirst, for his all time companion and soulmate is still behind the locker bars. Anuj refrains from a conversation and school travels as friends may bring up the fruity topic. All he does is oscillate like a pendulum between begging and threatening for his apple. 

The gold fish is suffocating in the dirty waters as Dr. Saxena has forgotten to change it since the apple endeavors of his son have taken over regular survival. She is dancing to unseen threads of desperation, waiting for a fresh lease of life. 

"Hey boy, you no longer need me?" Hitachi has given up as Anuj has adapted to the raised temperatures at home. 

"See I told you, you are replaceable but I am his world. His friend, family, happiness, pride and even his God is just me. From the first light till the lights go off, only my screenlight holds his attention. I'm his undivided world." The apple wins to be the best puppeteer as Dr. Saxena loses the puppet show because he refuses to be his son's puppet. 

And today the doctor is very busy. He has to flush the dead gold fish along with the dirt waters. He has to see that the fan too will be requiring a repair now. In fact the fan will have to be replaced for its broken in the neck, unable to handle the dangling teenager's weight. The doctor will be also substantially busy writing a death certificate cause of which will be a new diagnosis 'Murder by the Mobile Puppeteer'.


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