Truth

 

"So, how do you stick to your assumptions so strongly? I mean, how is it that you think you know everything?"

"Well, if you really want to know, it started long back, in the 11th grade. A classmate of mine confided in me that she dreamt of kissing a guy she had a crush on. 

I kept badgering her to reveal who it was but she refused. You could never guess she said. He's not even in our class. I said okay. Then I had a dream of her looking out of her window at another building. It was this guy from Electronics, who was looking at her from his window. See, this guy was never in our vicinity. We were Electrical Maintenance, lowly in grades and stature from the Tronics and Computer toppers. The next day, I told her, I know who your crush is. It's Avinash. She was shocked. Who told you? How do you know? I never revealed. Till this day, when she messages to wish me on my birthday, she addresses me as dayaan.

" Geez, that's a random coincidence man! So you think you have supernatural powers just because you're a good guesser? What about all the times you didn't get things right?"

"That has never happened."

"Okay, tell me more. Do you close your eyes and things come to you, like those old ladies with hands on the crystal ball?"

"No. See, there's a reason I decided to be a journalist. I love finding things out. It's a long drawn analytical process of researching information, it's like walking on a minefield. Some are live, some just dormant. Human beings put out a lot of information out there. Sometimes, they want the world to know, how they feel, what they eat, what they are reading. Then there are the false traps, the things they want you to believe because they are hiding other things."

"Do you realise you are prying into other people's lives? Don't you think it's deplorable to be so nosy?"

"No. It would be deplorable if I used that information against them. I don't."

"Then what do you do with all this useless information?"

"I use it to understand people better. And that helps me understand myself too. I love to know how the human mind works."

"You seem to have a lot of time on your hands. Why don't you get a job?"

"Oh, this is a job. I just don't get paid for it. Imagine how interesting it must be to figure everyone out? I should have been a detective. The amount of information out there to connect the dots is mind boggling."

"Surely, you couldn't be so detached? It must affect you at some level?"

"It does. You know, the other time, I was trying to figure out a big mystery. This name kept popping up in my head as a key, but I kept ignoring my intuition. I did the analytical bit but that wasn't giving me any answers. Then this song called 'Secret' kept playing in my head, on my phone, on the radio, and click, all the pieces of the jigsaw came into place."

"My baby's got a secret, that one?"

"Yeah, I get my answers from certain keywords that stand out in songs that keep playing randomly. The universe isn't without a sense of irony."

"So what did you discover?"

"Nothing new. Something I had predicted three years ago. That's the thing with intuition. It will keep rubbing itself in your face till you actually pay attention to it. Like an epiphany, boom, the murky waters clear and you see what really lies underneath."

"So are you happy you have it all figured out?"

"Not really. It only makes me feel stupid and sad. The truth does that. It can be pretty hurtful. One stab and all the dark blood flows out."

"Okay, last question. What if you actually got it all wrong?"

"I could. I mean, I do. But in the long run, even that works out. Because even in my wrong assumptions, I do something right. There's some amount of truth in it, always."

"So like a right truth and a wrong truth?"

"The truth is always true, it isn't right or wrong. It just is. It's either your truth or my truth. In any case, it's true."

"So now what? Does the truth set you free?"

"Mine does. As for the others, I honestly don't care. Everyone has to face their truth sooner or later."

"Even me?"

"Even you."

"So can I go now?"

"Yes, you may. Go sleep. Will talk to you tomorrow."