3 Days Later
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Om woke up quite early today to exercise a little. Although his physique was already wonderful and could be compared to an athlete, but it didn't mean that he would get lazy because of that. He wanted to increase his physical strength more so that if any situation arises which could only be solved by strength, like the one in the bazaar, at that time he could handle it properly.
Om was still afraid of being recognized, so he wore a mask on his face and then went out to run. Because of the high pollution levels in the Delhi NCR, no one would even suspect him for wearing a mask in the early morning.
[A.N- NCR means Near Capital Region and sometimes is also used for the National Capital Region. But here, I am using it for Near Capital Region. Indirapuram comes under NCR.]
Today, his goal was to run constantly and test out his limits. The last time, due to constant stopping and making use of other parts of the body, Om didn't know what his true limit was. And today he was going to find out just that.
Om saw that there were some 'training partners' here in the alley. So, he howled loudly. Yes, Om howled loudly. After howling, he had taken not even 5 steps when the stray dogs living in the alley started barking at him. They came in a group of 5 and surrounded Om.
Their eyes were glowing with a ferocious light. All of them were growling, showing Om their sharp canines. As they came in step by step, Om suddenly made a run for it.
Bow!! Bow!!!
The dogs were also in hot pursuit behind Om. Their eyes showed that they were not going to give up before they tear down the human in front of them. How dare he disturb their sleep. Let's see how he's going to survive today. Om also looked like he was not going to slow down any moment.
When they came out of the alley, 2 of the dogs stopped pursuing Om. 3 were still behind him, barking loudly. Om looked back and saw only three of them were left. He turned his head and purposely slowed down a little.
Dogs, seeing this, barked even more loudly. When they were about to bite onto Om's bum, Om speeded up instantly. This time, the dogs were not able to catch him. They could only stop and dumbfoundedly watch the silhouette of Om getting farther and farther until it disappeared.
At this time, Om was sprinting with all his might. The people, who were also out at this time for a morning walk, were also surprised to see someone run so fast. If you looked at Om closely at this time, you would see that he wasn't even breathing heavily.
His breathing was long and even. He ran like that for about 10 min and only then did he stop. When he stopped he was breathing very heavily and his whole T-Shirt was soaked with sweat. He could barely stand up at this moment. Although he was feeling very exhausted, more was he feeling doubtful.
The last time he did push-ups he could only do about 90 or something. At that time, after doing the push-ups, he was feeling numb in his arms. But in the bazaar, the strength he had shown was greater than what he felt while doing the push-ups. And now, the strength he showed was even greater than what he showed in the bazaar. After sprinting for a whole 10 min like crazy, he felt like if he did the push-ups again, then it would be like a walk in the garden.
He felt like his strength had risen by quite a large amount since the day he had eaten the [Strength Enhancing Magical Fruit]. Earlier, his strength could be compared to an athlete, but now his strength was slowly surpassing them one by one. He carefully thought about it, he realized one thing. This was definitely the work of the [Strength Enhancing Magical Fruit].
Why was that? Does it increase the strength slowly? Om thought carefully. But he still couldn't get the answer. So, he tossed this thought to the back of his head. He decided that he would exercise daily and then he would think about it again. Then, Om went back to his rented house.
This time, when Om entered the alley, all the dogs kept quiet all the time and stayed at their places.
The sixth sense of the animals is much sharper than the humans. So, the dogs realized that this man was very dangerous and must not be provoked. So, they obediently sat aside in the alley, not moving a bit. Om saw this and happily went home. He opened his gate with the key that he had hid inside the pot outside his home. He went in, changed his clothes, took a nice, refreshing bath, and then he cooked his breakfast.
All this took only around an hour. After he had his breakfast, Om started wearing some formal clothes. Why, you ask? Today was the day he performed in the Kamani Auditorium. So, it was normal for him to wear a nice set of formal clothes. He wore a grey T-shirt and blue jeans. He also wore a black blazer from outside.
He stood in front of the mirror and wondered narcissistically, 'how could some anyone be this handsome?'
He sprayed his new deodorant on himself and then locked his main gate and left quickly. It was not late, but getting there early meant that he could check if everything was alright with his mike and other equipment. He didn't want something like his mike stopping to work like what happened last time. That is not at all good for an entertainer as it causes all the built-up momentum to disrupt at once. This causes the audience to get dissatisfied and even the whole performance to become less hilarious for them.
Last time, he was lucky that it didn't stop working in the middle of his performance. But it still was not good either. He wanted to check everything twice and only then would he be relieved.
After 45 min of travel, a tired and exhausted Om reached outside the Kamani Auditorium. As for why he was tired and exhausted, then I would say that he chose the wrong time to travel by metro. Om reached the metro station at 8:30 A.M. This was the busiest time in the metro station. Many, many people would also choose this most cost-efficient, and the fastest way to reach their offices on time.
Sometimes, there would be so many people that the whole train would get filled to the brim. There wouldn't even be any place to sit on the ground. When the gate of the train opens at any station, everyone would pray for someone to get of there, but instead, more people would enter the metro, making it even more crowded.
And unfortunately, today was that day. Om had to stand the whole journey. But that was not the most exhausting thing for him. The most exhausting thing was when he had reached his station, he had to push the whole crowd to get out of the train before the doors close and the metro starts moving once again. He had to use the strength of his whole body to push aside the whole crowd and then get out of the metro quickly.
But soon, Om's breathing became calm and smooth again. He tidied his crumpled clothes and went inside the Kamani Auditorium with large strides. On his way to the Auditorium, he found many people pointing at him and talking to themselves. One of them even ran up to him and said, "Hello, Om! How are you? I saw your stand-up comedy on Youthube and I was immediately concurred by your sense of humor. I really loved it. I came today just to see you perform."
Om was feeling a bit uncomfortable when suddenly a stranger came up to him and started talking to him like that but he swallowed his uncomfortable feeling and replied with a stiff smile, "Thank you for supporting me. And in today's performance, I won't disappoint you."
After shaking hands with Om, the guy left. But seeing this, more and more people started rushing up to Om to shake hands with him and talk to him. Due to interacting with all the people, half an hour had already gone past. Now, Om had less time to double-check his mike and other things. So, he immediately made his run towards the Auditorium.
As Om entered the main gate of the Kamani Auditorium, he saw a nice little garden with lush, green small trees and grass growing. The trees and the grass were neatly trimmed. They gave off a sense of freshness and cleanliness to the place. Om hurriedly entered the building and saw many photo frames hung on the wall.
The people in the photo were different types of entertainers who had performed in the auditorium. But one thing was common between them; all of them were quite famous. And most of them were also singers. To be precise, they were people who performed Qawwalis'*. After all, it was quite popular nowadays. There were also statues of gods placed on high platforms.
[A.N- Qawwali is a style of Muslim devotional music now associated particularly with Sufis. These types of music are also very popular in India. They are also very great to hear(My thoughts).]
Om once again found a worker there and asked for the directions of the backstage. Then, he hurriedly went to the backstage and talked to the staff there. The staff agreed to his wishes for the double-checking the equipment before the audience comes and the show starts.
After checking for about 10 min, Om was assured that there would not be any problems with the equipment during the performance. Om relaxed immediately and went back to the backstage for make-up and other things.
After about 30 min, the whole Auditorium was filled with people. Today, too there would be 4 performers who would be going one after another on the stage to perform. But this time, Om was the last one to go on the stage. Why? It's because the main dish is always served the last.
After the whole audience became calm and quiet, the host called out for the name of the first performer. This time, neither Pratham nor Ghotak and Akash were there to perform. Instead, there were only above average stand-up comedians there today to perform. In the Celebrity ranking, they placed in the last ranks of the F grade.
As the first one went on the stage and started with his performance, the audience also started laughing. But, the laugh was not that loud and the claps were sparse. According to the audience, although the one on stage was a hilarious but as compared to Om and Pratham, the jokes and the 'punches lines' were not that great.
But the performer on the stage was not dissatisfied by the audience's reaction. Instead, he was very happy. Standing there and speaking in front of such a large crowd without any nervousness was a very great feeling. The feeling was almost like a superstar. Even if he was a small entertainer, at least people recognized him and liked his work. That was all he needed to work day and night to write something good for the people. Although he could not become like Pratham or Rhytham, but at least he could do things or perform with all his heart so that even if he stopped doing it one day, people would still remember him and say in their hearts, "He was a great guy". This was all he strived for. This was his goal.
But today, his life was going to change.