[ D day - 2 ] [ 30 H : 00 M : 00 S ] [ State Capital H ]
Vinod and Virat sat on the couch, drinking cola leisurely, while they watched the news with an unusual concentration. They usually skip all the generic news, and only come by when the cricket scores are reported.
Today though, the brothers sat on the couch, concentrating their all on the TV, while eating snacks and drinking cola.
Their mother sat with them in the same amount of focus on TV as news is reported. Probably, the scene is repeated in hundreds of thousands of households, as they waited eagerly to know how many lifestyle changes they need to do in order to facilitate these portals.
This is the most important six o'clock news. Once upon a time, even nine o'clock news did not have this much importance. However, nowadays, six o'clock, and nine o'clock in the evening compete for being called prime news time.
All the same, they watched eagerly.
" Now, the time for the news, everyone one of us is waiting for. Yesterday, at 2 pm in the afternoon, a bill was submitted by the national C party, calling for a lockdown of the nation till the portals could be investigated thoroughly by the army.
The bill was rejected by parliament with a minority vote of 45%.
At 9 am in the morning, ruling 'B' party proposed an act, amending section 144 to increase maximum imprisonment time and judiciary power of the army rather than police. In addition to this, the act proposed to transfer much of the state government's power to the central government.
The bill was rejected by parliament with a minority vote of 40%, while also being criticized by rajya sabha members as ruling party's grab for unmitigated power.
Following these developments, a national democratic alliance was formed once more, consisting of regional government parties and the national 'C' party, and introduced another act to impose a semi lockdown along with a section 144.
Though unconfirmed at the moment, It is believed that this comes at the encouragement of the president, who always had the authority to use executive power, however, no Indian president had ever chosen to use such power till date.
All the same, the bill for the semi lockdown has passed with a majority vote of 67%, allowing all states to be under section 144, starting from today midnight.
The lockdown rules would be decided by each state individually. The pandemic rules of every person needing to wear a mask, using sanitization are brought back into effect throughout the nation.
At the moment, all the state leaders are rushing to hold an emergency meeting, to discuss the boundaries of semi lockdown.
Our correspondent Lancer will report from the scene. "
" Hello Lavan ! Do you know what the leaders have decided ? "
" .....Ah! Hello Prathima! The discussions are going on hot inside the assembly. Though discussion is still going on, at this moment, we know two rules for certain.
The movie theatres will be banned. Pubs and nightclubs would be banned, and each religious establishment must provide a site, and maintain the crowd below twenty people at any time, including the ever popular Birla temple.
Ah….! Ah…! Screeeeee…!
Pratima! News hot out of the meeting. Food delivery will be allowed. More details are on the way.
It's here! Food delivery is allowed, while restaurants themselves are not allowed to accept customers in groups greater than five, nor can they accept more than four groups. Delivery companies would be allowed to use only delivery men working full time.
Good news for all of us Biryani lovers.
It's Lavan till now. Meet me at nine again for more details. Good bye, Prathima." The man finished.
The pretty news anchor on the TV stopped for a moment, and did the usual procedure of pressing in her ear to stop the live broadcast from showing.
"Thank you Lavan, for your dedication. It seems I can still get my biryani this weekend.
In preparation for the upcoming section 144, all police units in the state are meeting. It seems the upper brass of the judiciary is also meeting, in order to facilitate an online judiciary system.
As we speak, the citizens of H city rush to liquor stores to buy out alcohol. Many liquor shops are sold out, as are many convenience stores.
Major convenience chains are busy buying up vans for delivery once more, in order to prepare well for the upcoming semi lockdown.
The transport system reported a thirty percent increase in heavy vehicle usage over the past two days. Much of it is caused by the bulk retailers re-filling their supplies.
The pandemic articles are once more gaining in popularity, given how much time we are going to spend at home.
Many special interest groups, including labor, barber, teacher and move workers are leaving messages on the state government's official page hoping for a leeway for themselves.
Schools will remain open throughout the lockdown, however, every school is also advised to provide online courses.
The national college entrance examination will remain on sche… "
The anchor went on to list a thousand things that will remain open and the few things that would close down.
This is a more severe response than what the public expected, what's with all the people who entered the portals yesterday.
Virat looked at his brother, and Vinod looked back at him.
" Why does it sound and feel like there is more to this? " Vinod said all of a sudden.
First, their brother has this excessive reaction to what should be a curiosity. Then, all of his brother's instructions proved to be on the spot, as prices increased, public order got tightened in the wrong manner…
Then, only in the place where their brother stayed at, the portals keep vanishing.
All the portals in other places are just fine. Just what exactly is the matter with these portals ?
"Mom! Do you know if Rao uncle's wife returned yesterday ? " Virat asked all of a sudden.
"No. I don't think so. Not just her, none of the people who entered the portal returned. " their mother answered.
What ?!
They both retrieved their phones and checked for news.
'People who returned from the portal ' is what they searched for.
Only, there are hundreds of thousands of posts on the net. Finally, after a lot of searching, Vinod found one, and Virat found another.
" Here ! This man called Talin returned from a portal in south africa." Vinod said, starting the movie.
" Play it. " Virat added.
" I entered the portal, Yes! Oh! What's inside ? Why should I tell you? You are a f**king coward who doesn't even have enough guts to stare into my eyes. Why f*** Should I tell you what's in the portal or not? All you need to know is I F***ed what's inside the portal. look , with this … "
The man stopped filming Talin when Talin resorted to crude vulgarity.
All the same, the process of Talin coming out of the portal, and portal vanishing has been recorded clearly. By the second, the number of views are increasing.
Suddenly, banners on the news breaked.
" Breaking news!!! The American army succeeds in vanquishing a portal. The army has agreed to make the entire fight public in five days. "
" Breaking News !!! a portal vanishes in a remote chinese village, bordering on gobi desert and the mainland. The man reveals he has fought with a locust the size of a cat. He has the video to prove it. Concern rises amongst the public as a breaking out of insects is discussed. "
Vinod sighed once again ! Thank the gods he has bought those fly zappers of all sizes.
Together, they searched for more news.
However, along with the news about portals, the most favourite link to put along with them is the zombie apocalypse.
However, in the end, zombie apocalypse or beast apocalypse, it's very easy to see a greater problem has arrived.
As Vinod skimmed through apocalypse articles, he started to find the list is very very familiar to the list Vikram gave him.
Damn!
Is the apocalypse really coming?
In the time when the apocalypse is coming, did his brother cheat him out of ten thousand? Did he agree to give ten thousand for three days because he knew there was no way Vinod could go on that date ?
Damn it! The more he thinks about it, the more it feels like it was correct.
' Damn that stingy bastard, ' he scolded in his mind.
Fine. Since he wants me to spend money, he better send enough for me to spend. Let's see how he makes it through then! Vinod decided.
He skimmed the list left by one of the online bloggers against the list left by his brother.
He bought everything save for seeds and gardening materials.
However, they have no garden, so it's impossible to grow a garden. But! This is an apocalypse level event.
It's better to have than to have not.
Moreover, there are so many ways to grow plants even without soil. Moreover, he wanted to spend his brother's money on stuff his brother least cared about.
He would buy an apple pc, apple tv, ipad and a plasma television for himself. He would buy surveillance cameras, camera sticks, youtube broadcast sets and the tower garden thing that they bragged about so much. He would even buy those aquaponics and hydroponics aquariums.
It will be awesome.