The "Asus Zen Time-Travel Phone S014" for the greater good !

On a pleasant winter morning I am under my rug having a deep slumber. The alarm had beeped thrice already and I was too lazy to wake up. The phone started ringing loud which gave a throbbing pain in my head. I held my head with both my hands and with extreme effort opened just one eye to see who is calling. I saw that it was an unknown number and instantly revised all the choicest abuses which I can dump on the caller and feel relieved as he destroyed my sleep. He sure must be some one who will speak in a husky tonne to make me buy a credit card or ask me to opt for an insurance. I checked the time. It is 7 A.M. Saturday

I cursed under the breath, "Who the hell is calling me at this God damn hour on Saturday!"

I spoke in a groggy voice, "Hello. Who is this?"

On the other side of the phone, "Madam Afshan. We are calling from Asus Zen Phone . In a lucky draw you have won our latest remarkable invention Asus Zen Time-Travel Phone S014 . You are the first lucky winner who can use this phone. If you can come tomorrow, we will give a demo of the phone and explain you its features. It can be viewed by every one all over the world on TV."

I rubbed my eyes and pinched my self to make sure that I was not dreaming.

"What! A time traveling phone? How come I have not heard of it till now? " I questioned.

"Because it was a highly confidential project madam. A big surprise is waiting for you tomorrow. Trust us and you and Asus both will be in limelight, " the lady spoke.

Even if I felt it was a phoney call I decided to take a chance and reached the location on time hoping it would be a MTV Bakra episode.

A huge crowd has already gathered there. Too many TV reporters , their vans and journalists were seated and some have already started interviewing Asus employees. The spot light was on me as soon as I stepped on to the dais.

"Myself Ram, manager of Asus branch Bangalore. Heartiest Congrats Afshan on winning the phone. With out much ado let us have the demo first."

Saying so he handed me the magical time traveling phone and explained various steps of time traveling. I can click on the Zen time travel app and enter source and target destinations with exact date time and day. It has one more tab where it gives a drop down of super power to be chosen , if at all I need it. Source should be entered carefully and correctly so that I properly come back to present. For now it doesn't have the feature to travel much in to future. I can still travel 1 year in to the future but not longer than that. I can travel to past where I didn't exist. I can see but I won't be a part of it. I listened to all this as if I was in a dream. I still hoped it to be a joke and some one comes from behind me and shouts, "MTV Bakraaaaaaaaaa," season 10 which is hosted by our very own lovable Cyrus Broacha.

But nothing of that sort happened. In-fact as and when I clicked the app a kind of whirling sound ringed in my ears. After all the instructions were disclosed to me, I entered the source carefully. I thought a lot to enter the target and then as if I am in a trans, gave the date when I was in seventh standard and I wrote a letter to one of my very good friends which was followed by a massive friend ship break up. I never bothered to hear her side of the story even after her endless trials. I thought I should try to mend the episode and avoid the heart breaks which followed. I found my self standing at our gossip adda, the bi-cycle stand. She hesitantly walked towards me. I must have had a bewildered look pasted on my face. 

She spoke to me, "Err. Can we talk Afshan? I need to explain to you."

This time I killed my ego and managed to say, "Yep. Go ahead."

She explained her side of story and the bitterness in me decreased. I was happy that the influence of third party was not that strong right now, I mean right then :) . I smiled by the end of the conversation and we went to canteen to have our favorite sweet paapad and ice candy. In a jiffy I traveled back to present, feeling a lot better. 

Every one was whistling and clapping. It was like I apparated in to thin air just like Harry Potter and re-appeared again. It was magical. I waited till the havoc subsided and spoke, " I am truly amazed. This is a fantastic invention. How do you do this?"

Ram: " Unfortunately we cannot reveal it Ma'm. It is our top trade secret. How ever we have a huge user manual which has a long list of do's and don'ts . We kindly inform you to read it thoroughly. You can go to any time zone you want to but your safety is in your own hands. You have a super power to choose to but Asus is not responsible if you enter a risky time zone and face any danger."

I shuddered at what he spoke. He continued, "But you do have an emergency exit button . You should grab your phone asap and click on the red button , where it is written "take me to the source destination". In seconds you can come back to present. Want to try a different location Afshan?" he questioned.

I tried many time zones. I traveled to Mughal Era to see how Akbar ruled. I was charmed. I traveled to 1930s to witness Gandhiji and his honesty and all the freedom fighters. I traveled to my mom dad's years of childhood and I can't explain how I felt. I was thrilled , sad and excited . Of course when ever I traveled to a timezone where I didn't exist I was just a viewer there. They can't see me and I can't change whatever happened in that era. After few interviews with ASUS folks , a grand lunch and a celebration I left that place.

I came back home, still not able to believe the super-smart phone I am holding. After having a bath I settled down on my sofa and wondered why I won the first unique phone by Asus of all the people. I switched on the TV. I was there on all the channels. I became a celebrity overnight. I thought to myself, if I deserved all this attention. I wondered if I could use super powers and alter some disasters. I wondered if I could save lives. I was all charged up.

I opened the time travel app and entered source and with my heart racing  entered the target as Dec 16 , 2012 , Munirka South Delhi , the spot where Nirbhaya was picked up in a private bus and few demons gang raped her. I selected the super power as wonder woman. I was there in the flash of a second or may be nano second. The lechers laughed at the prospect of having two women in the bus. As soon as they started harassing Nirbhaya and her friend I pounced on them and punched them hard in the face. I used my indestructible bracelets, and blasted them . They obviously could not over power me and as they were severely injured they couldn't hurt Nirbhaya. I beat the driver to death and made him stop the bus . I called police using my Asus phone. I tied them all with my Lasso of Truth and they agreed in front of the police that they committed crime. In no time they were behind the bars. Even before the victims in the bus thanked me properly I was back to the present. I was extremely delighted. Whatever happened was still like a dream to me. To believe what I just did I browsed internet and checked the news for December 16th 2012. I was all over the news. It was magical .  " I can change the world for greater good." I thought to myself. I instantly made a mental note of places I need to visit in past and the nearing future.

I time traveled to the VIBGYOR school in Bangalore and beat the men who were about to rape a 6 year old kid. I turned to Hulk and smashed them with out any delay. I traveled to Guwahati  and broke the limbs of the goons who molested a teen girl and gave my piece of my mind to every one who was watching the drama by scaring the shit out of them.

Image source : here

I traveled to many other places where a crime or disaster happened or is about to happen and tried to curb it as much as possible. My daily routine started with office , reading news and traveling to as many places as possible in my attempts to eradicate heinous crimes. People looked up to me. Some treated me as a Goddess! I became invincible. I got the real zen like feeling.

I am a super heroine.That feeling made me happy and sad as well. I valued my existence. I started a website where people can lodge their complaints and I mostly try and close them. My enemies increased. I was on the hit list of many mobs and gangsters. I would be killed in no time if I lost my phone. I wondered at the prospects of starting a team just like in marvel comic books! The phone should not fall in the wrong hands. ASUS team should make sure that it reaches people who actually want to do some thing good which no others can do. I should take an immediate action and see that the time traveling phone is not misused. May be we can form an ASUS TEAM.

A - Adventurous

S- Smart

U - Ubiquitous

S- Super Heroe(in)s

I loved the idea. "Now I shouldn't be late in implementing this. " My head was buzzing with too many thoughts when my phone rang in full volume. I tried to lift the phone but I was not able to do so. "Was I in a different time zone ? " I questioned to myself. Then I heard a shrill voice. It sounded like my mother. I rubbed my eyes. I saw that I woke up from my deep slumber and was holding my Asus phone on which a reminder to carry some important documents was ringing in full volume from long. I woke up extremely disappointed. 

My mom : "Afshu , you said you have some important client meeting today. Don't you want to get ready?"

Me:  "Yes Mom. What else will I do in this life ?" I replied with out hiding my feelings.

Mom : "What happened lady? Early in the morning you are getting philosophical?," she inquired.

I said nothing and brushed my teeth , wore  a good dress as we had a client meeting. Had my toast, eggs and coffee. Opened the main sheet of the newspaper hoping to read some good head lines, but came across the news ->MH17 shot down by Ukraine rebels using a Russian supplied missile, claims US :  and Israel war updates. How I wish my dream came true ? How I wish I really had a super power which can curb the unrest in the world ?  How I wish I could time travel ? With these thoughts racing in my mind I started for office to spend another mundane day , only to share FB updates/ statuses and sign online petitions to protest against the crimes.

I have always marveled at the marvel comics and the super powers our super heroe(in)s possess. They can save the nation, mostly the USA from calamities and they always come out with flying colors. I mean they literally fly in those vibrant colors and amuse all of us. This post is just a crazy twist to my train of thoughts when I started thinking on what if we have similar super powers in a phone ?  Like a wonder woman, spider man, like all other avengers in marvel comics , it would be so cool to possess one or the other super power and rule the world. There are various super powers which are coming to my mind like flying , disappearing, possessing a weapon which can destroy the ones who should be destroyed. Of all the super powers I am really enchanted by the concept of time traveling, may be it is due to some time traveling movies I recently watched. If I possess an Asus Zen Phone using which I can time travel I would love to do so many things in so many time zones. The phone should act as a crystal ball and help me in divination as well. Explained above are just hypothetical scenarios of what I would do! Let us wait for some super hero/ heroine who can save the world. Till then let us do our bit by doing what we can to change life  from bitter to better.

This short fictional entry is written for the contest #INCREDIBLEZEN (Do What Others can't do) by indiblogger.in and  ASUS ZEN FONE