SUICIDE

Story

                                                                       Amrik Singh Kanda (Dr)

SUICIDE

Ared light is glowing outside the laboratory. Dr. Kapoor is sitting in his lab. He is a very well-known scientist. This has been Jindal's fourth visit. He returns every time after seeing red light at the door. The glowing red light means Dr. Kapoor is busy in his research work. Nobody can enter the room, when this light is on. Surprisingly, he himself had asked for some important papers and now, he is not permitting him to enter the lab.Jindal thought of entering without permission, but the thought of red light restrained him. Dr. Kapoor has given strict directions that nobody should disturb him when the red light is on, not even his daughter.After considerable thought Jindal decided to return. Dr. Kapoor did not have any telephone with him. Jindal was about to go back when he heard loud noise of somebody laughing through the speaker installed outside the room. Has Romy started laughing also? Romy's language was like the nodes of music. Some time ago, these nodes were converted into words with the help of a computer. But now, by experience, Dr. Kapoor has been able to understand his language. He can understand what Romy says by listening to the music. Romy was laughing in a horrible way. But why? All of a sudden, Jindal turned towards the lab and pushed the door open. What was going on inside, was unbelievable. Dr. Kapoor was completely drenched from head to toe. He was looking at Romy. Romy was holding an empty bucket in his hand and was laughing loudly.

"What is this nonsense? How dare you enter the room?" said Dr. Kapoor to Jindal.

"Sir, I could not restrain myself after hearing this horrible noise

…..sorry"

"Wait. Now that you have entered the room, you can see what

is happening".

Holding his breath, Jindal looked at what

Romy was doing or saying.

"I have done whatever others used to do".

Romy said these words turning his hand made of iron towards the window. Dr. Kapoor reached the window. The entire town has been celebrating Holi since early morning. The window was tightly closed and in spite of the fact that it was air-tight, you could hear the noise made by the revellers. Dr. Kapoor paid no attention to all this but his "creation" Romy was looking at all that was happening around with his eyes made of photo-electric bulbs. Dr. Kapoor was feeling very happy. He immediately fed this message in Romy.

"Laboratory is not the place to play Holi."

Jindal drew near Dr. Kapoor and said,

"Sir, the "logic" that you have added to your experiment is

becoming more and more successful. Romy has become sensitive

very soon.' Dr. Kapoor patted Jindal's back. He did so whenever he felt very happy. While he was going to change his wet clothes, he looked at the Calendar of Lord Krishna at the opposite wall. This calendar was gifted by a student of Dr. Kapoor. Looking at the calendar seriously he said,

"See this miracle".

This had been the result of hard work by Dr. Kapoor for over ten years. The building of the internal structure of Romy's mind was very difficult and a challenging task for Dr. Kapoor. It was a brain which was working continuously, had memory, which could work according to logic. He designed Romy in such a way that it was able to see the outside world. He had worked very hard to feed language sense in him. Romy was also enabled to have the feelings like those of a human being. Its three meter long body made of iron was made to stand like a human being. If he had wanted he could have enabled it to walk also. But it was not appropriate to do so, according to him. Still a lot of other things remained to be taught to Romy. It could be given the power to walk only after learning all these things. So far it was able to only move its arms and upper part of body; not its legs

and feet. Romy was not a standstill Robot any more. Its body made of iron had started moving in a natural way. The photo-electric eyes were able to see all that was happening around. It could remember

everything. "Logic" fed in Romy's memory commanded it to do all this. Certain waves generated by sensation inside its body had starting coming out through the speaker attached to it.

"I want to walk", said Romy one day. "I am feeling bored

standing at one place."

"I am feeling bored! ", Kapoor Sahib repeated these words

happily.

"Did you hear Jindal, what is it saying? Come here and listen to

Romy. It is saying that it is feeling 'bored' standing at one place.

'Where did you hear this word?"

'People routinely say this. I have heard this word many times,'

replied Romy .

"But you never went outside. How did you come to know of

this".

"Shall I tell you honestly"?

"Yes, tell me everything, honestly", said Dr. Kapoor showing

his happiness.

'Your student used to say - Darling, I feel bored making love in

the laboratory. Let us go out somewhere. said Romy.'

Dr. Kapoor laughed loudly. Jindal was not able to understand anything. Perhaps Dr. Kapoor was laughing in this artificial manner to hide something. But Romy was praying like a beggar.

"Please ……… give me the power to walk".

"Please …….. wow!'

'Jindal, did you hear Romy saying "please" to me?' After this he

started laughing loudly again.

"Who used to say 'please'? Dr. Kapoor asked.

"Sir, once you caught hold of Fatto, the sweeper. It was then that

she had said "Please leave me".

"Sir, I am feeling surprised very much ". said Jindal.

"What do you think, Jindal? Should I give him the power to

walk", Said Dr. Kapoor.

"It is up to you, Sir".

After pondering over for a while, he turned to Romy and said,

"No, not just now".

"Why?" asked Romy.

"Because, according to me, you behave like a child at present. I

have to feed some more facts in your memory while you keep standing at one place. At least for some more time you cannot walk." Romy did not say anything, it kept staring at him. It was nearly after one month that Dr. Kapoor decided that it was time to give Romy the power to walk. Romy's pleading with Dr. Kapoor everyday had after all born fruit. Jindal felt that Romy had learnt the art of convincing people.

After Romy started walking, his mind developed further. The iron structure had started creating trouble for Dr. Kapoor.

"I want to go outside"

"We will see" replied Dr Kapoor and continued doing his work.

"I want to walk freely".

"No, I cannot send you outside".

"Why"?

"I do not want you to walk".

"Do you feel, I am not intelligent enough ?", asked Romy

angrily.

"When did I say this?"

Romy said nothing for some time. Then it said humbly:

"I will not do anything wrong".

Dr. Kpoor liked Romy saying this and said

"Agreed you will not do anything wrong, but what will you do

when people start teasing you?"

Romy thought for some time and said,

"I …. I will break their heads."

"This is why I say that it is not yet time for you to go out". He

again got busy in his work.

Normally, Romy behaved like a servant or obedient student towards Dr. Kapoor. But sometimes, when it misbehaved , he changed its chip. One day Dr. Kapoor was busy doing his work, when Romy moved and stood behind Dr. Kapoor.

"I will go out today." he sounded rebellious.

"I told you that you will not go anywhere. Why did you leave

your place without my permission ? Do not say anything about your

going out again."

"But why?"

"Am I supposed to answer all your questions?"

"Yes".

"But Why?"

"Because there is an answer to every question, that is why."

Dr. Kapoor lost his patience.

"The Logic that I fed into the Robot needs more Logic now.' He

said to himself.

What should be done? He had no other alternative than to control

himself. He sat quietly in the chair and said,

"Your behaviour is getting stranger with every passing day. That

is why I get worried sometimes. I feel I could be in some trouble".

"How can it be"?

"This is what is going to happen to me".

"Why did you stop Jindal from entering the room by turning on the red light again and again? I had not asked you to do so. I had asked him to bring the data early. Tell me why did you turn on the red light?.

"I liked doing so.' Said Romy.

"What was it that you liked? Had you not seen the light turning

on and off earlier?".

"Yes, I had seen this earlier also but I wanted to puzzle Jindal. I

enjoyed it a lot".

"This is not a game".

"He was bringing in data which I had seen and heard about also.

Many people used to do so".

"OK, why did you break the window pane" Dr. Kapoor asked

him changing the subject.

"I wanted to experiment with breaking the glass".

"Then you kept on breaking window panes one after the other,

why"?

"I like the sound of glass-breaking".

"Breaking glass is not the right thing to do, do you know"?

"Yes, I know".

"Then?".

"You enjoy a lot doing something wrong".

"The other day, my daughter was standing in front of you. Why did you tear all her clothes all of a sudden?. She complained to me

against you".

"She had refused".

" Refused what"?

"I just touched her cheeks as you touch the cheeks of your

student Jyoti and do ……………. with her".

Dr. Kapoor's face turned crimson. He was full of anger. He said firmly after due thought,

"You will remain inside, till such time you talk like this."

Romy kept standing quietly for some time. Perhaps it was trying to search for something from memory. After some time, something stirred within Romy.

"You can do whatever you like to do but I cannot do anything on my own. Can I not go outside ever?' said he once again.

"Not without my permission", said Dr. Kapoor decisively. Then he busied himself in his work.

Romy's eye, photo-electric bulb stopped at one place but strong

feelings started rising inside. Dr. Kapoor could not notice this as he

was busy in his work.

"I have to go out today." Said Romy again angrily.

"Did you listen to me?" he repeated in a loud voice. Dr. Kapoor felt as if some bomb had exploded in his lab. Romy hit Dr. Sahab with his arm. Dr. Sahib was hurt. He got scared.

"You have defied me !" Romy said.

"Whatever I have done is for your good".

"I have now started understanding what is good for me and what

is bad".

Dr. Kapoor tried to stop Romy with the help of 'remote' but he broke the remote.

"What did you do? Perhaps you do not know that this can lead

to your destruction". Romy did not say anything. Its memory was perhaps searching

for something. Dr. Kapoor wanted to bring it back under his control.

"Why did you do this? What came to your mind"?

"I cannot reply. Perhaps I have no reply for this".

"OK then keep standing. I will bar your power of speaking too.

Why have you done this"?

"You cannot befool me, as you have fed all sorts of truth in my

memory; truthfulness, honesty, manner of speaking, to reply to

others in the same tone; all this you have fed in my memory".

Dr. Kapoor got scared all the more.

"You should not touch me, understand…………? I am your

creator. I have moulded you out of iron. I have given you this form.

You cannot dupe me."

"There is not an iota of truth in whatever you have fed in my memory. Whatever I have seen, does not tally with my memory. Both are dissimilar. Every truth or experience in memory fails the touchstone of logic."

'You are under a misapprehension. I have fed in you whatever is happening around and whatever should happen".

"You have opposed me a great deal. It is very important to remove the opponent from the way and if possible, to wipe him out. I have a reason to do so. You have fed wrong facts in my brain, my memory. You wanted to mislead me. You humans can mislead one another but not me…". Romy advanced towards the doctor.

Dr. Kapoor could see sure death facing him.

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