CheckMate

“Something tells me that this is never going to end” speaks Anirudh more to himself while keeping the controller of his gaming console aside for a moment to go for a loo break. A knock on the door captures his attention… “Yeah ma, what is it?” screams he while peeing in the loo. “Lunch, son. What else could it be?”

“Ashok, you’ve to do something about Anirudh. He has just become lost in his world. The gaming thing, you know. It’s just taken control of him – completely! The room has become his solitary confinement that he has begun to adore.” Says a tense Vidya while holding a plate in her hands which has sambar rice, okras and some applams. She waits at the door while Ashok very nonchalantly goes on eating his lunch. He is just busy stuffing the remaining portions of rotis in his mouth because he has to hurry back to work. “Don’t worry, Vidya. I will try and speak to him. But either ways, I don’t really think you should be that bothered, because he is performing brilliantly in his academics” and the door of Anirudh’s room opens. “Good noon, ma. Good noon, appa” he says.

“What good noon, Anirudh? It’s been eternity that I had been waiting here for you to open the door and this is what you do. Make your mom wait? “Good noon, Anirudh. How was school?” asks Ashok.

“School was fine, appa. Had some tests; went very well. Should get good scores” says Anirudh and takes the plate from his mother’s hands and kisses her on the cheeks and gets back in the room… “Bye appa. See you in the evening. Thanks amma. You’re such a sweetheart.” The door shuts on Vidya’s face.

He gets back to his game console and resumes the game. Sensing that, he might lose the game; he keeps the food aside and starts concentrating on the game. He plays and makes his move. “Playing against the computer is the worst thing. Damn!” he clenches his fist and punches the sofa he is sitting on. He sees the slight hint of light filtering into his room through a rather light-shaded translucent curtain. He gets annoyed but nevertheless continues with the game. “Enough distractions for the day. I’m not getting up right now until I finish this thing off…” he speaks more to himself. The sambar rice goes from fluid state to a rather solid state; the okras die down and give away their freshness. The applams also become like tissues. But nothing comes in between Anirudh and the game screen. The light that was filtering into his room sometime back has now ceased and it’s black with the hint of yellow bulbs’ glow hinting that it’s gone dark outside.

Vidya looks at the clock in the living room through her semi-open eyes and reads the time. She gets up, adjusts her saree and then

opens and rolls her hair back properly. She goes to the washroom to wash her sleepy face and sees Ashok sitting on the bed with his laptop open. “Good evening, Ashok. When did you get back?” asks Vidya while motioning towards the loo. “I just got back like an hour. Saw you sleeping; didn’t want to wake you up. Anyways, I got my cup of coffee. Radha made it.” He says.

“Both the father and the son are virtual beings. What am I doing here? Sandwiched between two incurable nutcases?” she murmurs inside the loo. She removes her bindi, sticks it on the bathroom mirror and then splashes some cold water on her face. She pulls the towel, wipes her face off and then shuts the door. After a few minutes, she emerges out of the bathroom in her night gown. “Radha, sameyal aaidta

“Aamanga amma! Sameyal aaidtu…” replies Radha while just wiping her hands off using her saree. She carries the rice bowl, the rasam and the casserole of chapattis to the table and then goes back into the kitchen.

Ashok just emerges from the room, washes his hands in the wash basin and gets to the table. He calls out Anirudh’s name; but no response from within the room. Vidya appears from behind while murmuring “You really think he is going to come outside? Periya Lord Labakku Das, ivaru… Sameyal illam ulley daan poyi serve pannanom…” She serves the food in one plate and knocks the door of Anirudh’s confines. He opens the door and sees his mom standing there…

For a brief moment, while Anirudh collects his dinner from his mom’s hands; she peeps into her son’s den. “Gosh, what have you done to the room, Anirudh?” Flabbergasted at the mess that the room is, she is also pissed off at the sight of seeing the lunch still rotting there, she fumes over the irresponsibility of the son. Anirudh just closes the door on her mom’s face and walks back inside and starts eating. He quickly gulps the food down and in the process also coughs badly. He picks up the bottle of water and sips some to calm down. Keeping the empty plate aside, he washes his hands and mouth and gets back to playing the game. While he gets busy and drawn into the game, he hears a faint sound of something moving. Moving his head around; at first he fails to notice anything. He looks at the window and notices the curtain just flowing in the air. Thinking it must be something outside; he gets back to playing the game. Sometime later, he hears the same kind of the sound again, and he again looks around to find nothing. He looks at the screen and his vision blurs. Feeling the heaviness

settling on his eyes, and realizing that his vision is blurring, he decides it’s time to hit the bed.

Next morning, he gets ready to go to school and has his breakfast. His father drops him to the school and Vidya gets back to tidying up the house and cleans up the mess made by both the father and the son. She puts Ashok’s clothes in the washing machine and then cleans up his wardrobe. She then gets to Anirudh’s room and cleans it up too. Meanwhile, Radha dusts and mops the house. Later in the evening, Anirudh gets back from the school and wishes his mom, gives her a hug and goes straight back into the room. On opening the door of his room, he notices a huge gift box.

“Dear Son,

For you…

Love,

Dad”

He reads this note and tears open the gift box. “Yoo-hoo!” is the loud scream that emerges out of the room and Vidya runs towards the room. She knocks the door and Anirudh, for once, opens the door immediately. She sees him thrilled and overjoyed and she sees the box right behind him. Anirudh hugs Vidya and runs to her room. He finds Ashok there and gives him a hug too.

“Loved the gift, appa. Thank you so much” he says and runs back into his room. He sits down to read the manual and discovers that the chess set his father had gifted him was something new. This was a first.

“Aama. Pulley daan ippudi irukkan, naa; Appa adukku meley!” murmurs Vidya more to herself. “What was the need for you to give that chess game to him? As it is he is just too lost in his world. Namba kittey pesarudhu vey kami pannitaam; adukku meley inda kandravi game verey!” she asks Ashok.

“Now, what is your problem, Vidya?” asks Ashok. He further continues “He has been doing well, hasn’t he? Do you see any negative impact of this on his grades or on his academic performance? I think we have spoken enough about it; and I don’t think we will ever get to an agreement on this one… I think he is indulging in something which is only enhancing his mental reflexes and stuff. It’s only beneficial to him.” “Beneficial, ah? Mayir!” she fumes. “Seri, I won’t say anything henceforth. Wait and see for yourself.” She says and gets into the bathroom to change into her night gown.

Next morning, Anirudh meets his father over the breakfast table. “So, how did you find the game, son?” “Appa, the game is phenomenal. Thank you so much.” “Aama, mannankatti. What exactly is so phenomenal in this game now?” asks Vidya while serving them hot dosas. “Amma, this game is the first of its kind in chess. You won’t believe what an advancement they have made here. The animals in the game have been replaced by human figurines. So, it becomes all the more human. And the visual feel of the game is simply awesome. The graphics and all are so brilliant, so seamless; you almost feel that they are humans for real; and also for a moment you feel you’re trapped in there” replies Anirudh.

Ashok feels happy to see his son so overjoyed; while Vidya notices Anirudh’s eyes a little red. His eyes looked heavy. “What happened, kanna? Why are your eyes so red? Did you not sleep well?” she asks. “Ah, just slept a little late. Was reading the game manual and also tried my hand at playing it. It’s an amazing kick.”

Over the next few days, Anirudh’s stepping out of the room becomes even lesser. Food gets delivered to him into the room. Vidya sneaks into his room one day in his absence and sees piles of food just rotting in the room and the room is filled with the foul smell of all the rotten food. The shoes, the uniform and the books, magazines and the game manual – everything lays there in complete disarray. Anirudh comes home from outside only to find his mother in his room. He finds the room cleaned up, the windows fully opened and the bright sunlight embracing the room. He fumes over the changed state of his room and screams at his mom. He sees his mother standing in front of him, and just for a moment he glances at her feet and sees her feet firmly planted in a black and white square each. He feels the squares expanding its reach to encompass him as well and then he sees them shrinking back to its normal size. He just rubs his head and asks his mom to leave the room at once. He closes the room and gets back to playing the game; but only after blacking the entire room once again.

The next week, the school has declared the initiation of the summer vacations. Vidya spends her day time sitting out on the porch watching other kids running around with their footballs and cricket bats and what not. She turns back only to see the door of Anirudh’s room closed.

Ashok comes and greets Vidya and he goes back in and freshens up. Vidya serves him his coffee and sees him sitting with his laptop open. She shakes her head and goes out to the porch again.

Later that night, she gets up at around 3.30 am and goes to the kitchen to drink some water, and sees a flickering streak of light sneaking from below Anirudh’s door. She realizes that he is still busy playing the game.

Back in the room, Anirudh is jumping and celebrating. Next morning, at around 12.00 pm, he joins his mother in the living room. “Amma, can I have a cup of coffee?” She gets him a coffee and sees him thrilled. “What happened, son? You look pleased and quite thrilled. Something you think is worth sharing with your mom?” asks Vidya. “Amma, I won the game last night. I managed to beat the computer. You know what that means? You know what the thrill is?” replies Anirudh.

“Wow, son. That is superb. Really great news. Though, I am not a genius at gaming or better still, I am completely unaware of the whole thing; but I am happy at the fact that you’re happy. Now, that you’ve beaten the system at its own game; I am assuming this is the end of your fascination with it.”

“Amma, how can you even think that? The whole thing has just begun. Now, I move on to the next level. From here on things are only gonna get more complex, more intense. The stakes are gonna be higher…”

“Son, I think that life is much more than that box of yours… See all the kids out there. They’re playing and indulging in physical action… And here look at you. Have you seen yourself in the mirror? Your eyes are swelling up and you seem to be up all night. Your body is growing thinner by the day.”

“Ok, amma. I need to get back.” He finishes his cup of coffee and gets back to the room and starts his game again. He hears a faint sound again. He looks around, and sees the floor, the ceiling, and the side walls – all of them are moving in inch-by-inch towards him. The entire room – all the surrounding walls are painted in the black and white squares. He sees the walls closing in and he just keeps the controller away and gets up. A drop of sweat drops off his forehead on the floor. He looks at the drop fall and sees his feet firmly planted in a black and a white square each. He looks at each square and keeps looking at his feet for the next 2 mins. Suddenly he runs his eyes around the room to find the walls still closing in on him and he finds a painting of a chess board where he finds a pawn standing firmly on only a white square and a pawn standing firmly in just a black square. He now looks at his feet again and finds them each in each of those squares. He now looks at the game screen and finds pawns standing firm. As he sees the ground underneath his feet shifting; he finds himself moving two spaces. He feels his position changed and he looks above as if someone had just held his head and lifted him to plant him somewhere else. He doesn’t seem to understand what is happening. He picks up the controller and pushes the forward arrow button to move a pawn. He finds that the pawn has moved a step forward and he looks at himself and is stunned. He has also moved a step forward in his room. The walls are still closing in on him. He now pushes the right arrow button and finds again not just the pawn on the screen; but also himself towards the right. Unable to decipher the goings on, he tries his luck by pushing the down arrow button on the controller. The pawn moves a step back; but this time, he does not.

He looks above; but doesn’t find any hand or anything; but his head feels heavy like someone is holding him.

He rubs his head and starts sweating profusely. As he sees the drop of sweat fall on the ground, he notices the ground being perfectly fine as it was. Stunned and shocked, he looks up and also sideways; all the walls are where they were. He finds himself sitting on the couch with the controller in his hands.

He keeps the controller away and goes to sleep after popping a pill to kill his excruciating headache. Next morning, he gets up only to find the space in his room rather reduced. He sees the walls have closed in a bit. On hearing the knock on the door, he opens it and sees his mom there. Vidya comes in and gives him milk. She sees his face being pale and sweaty. His eyes are blood-shot. She asks him if he is ok; and he is surprised to see that his mother does not find anything strange in the room. She gets up, kisses his forehead and leaves the room. He gets up from the bed and goes outside the room to see if something is wrong; and he sees everything a little blurred. He goes back to the washroom and washes his eyes.

After finishing his breakfast, he gets back to playing his game. He moves his pawns in the game. Once again he experiences the same movements. He pushes the buttons in the game to control the movements of the pawns; and he sees himself moving accordingly.

Inch-by-inch, he feels the walls closing in again. With the push of every button, as the pawns in the game move; he also moves in exactly the same fashion as the pawns. But every time, he pushes the down arrow button to have his pawn move back a space, Anirudh moves only forwards.

As the game in the last level draws to a bloody closure, he is faced with a step to save his king where he has to take a step back. At this point, his hands just freeze. He looks up, down and everywhere. He sees the walls closing in and encompassing him. He looks at his feet on the black and white squares. He sees himself standing just a step away from the screen. He looks at the game screen again and sees his king’s life hang in the balance. He looks at his hand and looks at the controller.

He pushes the down arrow button and as he sees the king take a step back to save his life on the screen; he finds himself enter the screen and placed on the chess board.

A loud noise fills the room as Anirudh looks at the room from within the screen and sees his own self sitting in one corner of his chessboard-like room with his head looking up and a hand holding his head just the way he used to hold his pawns while playing the game of chess.

As he sees himself sitting in that position, he lets out a scream. Outside the room, Vidya just passes the room with a smirk on her face.

---------------------The End---------------------