Unwilling, Shamal arrived at the cottage his father had asked him to clean out. His relative, Uncle Ping, whose cottage it was, had passed away the previous month and left it for them. He was a man of science and reasoning. Shamal was quite fond of his ‘Pingu Saab’ and was not ready to let go of his belongings just yet.

He had almost cleared out his uncle’s ‘think tank.’ The only space left was the blue-door cupboard, the cupboard that he was not allowed to touch. He could hear Uncle Ping saying, “That door is forbidden. Do not open it. The secrets behind it could ruin your life, if you do not think it wisely.” But it had to be emptied out so he opened it.

There it stood, in all its complex beauty, a time machine. He remembered how fondly Pingu Saab used to speak about his creations and wondered whether he ever got the chance to use it for himself. His immediate thought was to go back in time and bring his uncle back. But would that be what his uncle would want? He was very content with the life he had lived and passed away peacefully, without suffering. What if he was brought back and had to endure ill health ahead? Then, he got diverted to seeing what the future holds for him. He thought, ‘What if I can see how my life will be 5 years later and start working to change it if I don’t find it good enough?’ His next train of thought was to travel to Delhi in the 1800s, to relive colonial rule, its beauty and its revolution. But then he wondered whether he should go back in time to save his mother, who died while giving him birth. He decided to go home for the day and think about it. After sleeping on it, he decided to go ahead with it.

The next morning, he set out in his best pair of clothes to study the mechanics of the machine and go back to the day he was born. A couple of hours later, he was many years behind. He disguised himself as the local district doctor and suggested that his mother should not be allowed to give birth naturally. This was the first time he ever saw her. She lay there, praying for her unborn child, even though she was hardly conscious herself. He convinced his own father to take his mother to the hospital. He then had to hurry away as he could not have been born if his future self was already present there.

Cut to the present day, it was just his mother and him. He did not know that his father was to travel to Mumbai for work by train the night he was born. He did not go given those circumstances but in this new world that Shamal had built for himself, he did go and that train had met with an accident. He was heartbroken. His uncle was right. He had not thought this through. He did not know his mother, since he had never been with her. But he lost himself the parent he knew and loved. His rush and childish behaviour had cost him his father.