This is a three part series of a futuristic dystopian world, where everything is public. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.
It has taken me some time to write this one again. Actually, it’s been quite long. Let me disclose what I was up to. Last time I told you how I was planning for something significant, and you would have, kind of, figured it was something to do with the lack of privacy our government has imposed on us.
So it took me quite some time to get it implemented, with Rishi, my boyfriend’s help. There’s something I haven’t told you and which was a big part of my plan. My boyfriend, is actually a hacker.
A Hacker, you ask?
Well, yes! He hacks for a living. He works for the government.
In case you were smart enough to wonder, the privacy rules for government officials is tad different. They don’t have to be public all the time. So as soon as my guy would enter his office premises, the watching capabilities of his watch are deactivated. After all they wouldn’t want their “top secret” information to be public.
Anyway, we both were against the government watching over us all the time which led to us planning for an escape. We felt, there’s got to be a better world. Because, this is just not good enough. I guess I have been a major influence on Rishi with this regard. He too wanted to break away from the watchful eyes, but not as much as I did. And I am not ashamed to take credit of being the brain behind the hacking of our watches.
And he did.
He hacked the God damned piece of hi-fi junk we all have to wear. Result- Now we have a lot of ‘We time’ (Plural of Me Time). I’m still wearing the watch though, but guess what! It has been looped to my previous activities.
You did not get it, did you?
It means, every time I want to take a day or two off, my previously recorded daily activities are automatically played to the rest of the world. How Rishi has made that possible, is his genius. That’s why he is employed by the government. He is fucking brilliant and I love him.
Okay, enough of the lovey dovey talks. So yeah, last weekend we had all the time in the world to be in our private little world without the interference of our watchful watches. Early Saturday morning, Rishi and I, made nice chicken rolls, our favorite go to snack, packed them up nicely in aluminum foil, put them in a basket along with some crisps, biscuits and beverages and drove over to a nice little park, almost outside the town. We spent the entire afternoon and evening playing, relaxing on the lawn and just talking about random stuff. It was nice to lean into his body without worrying about the eyes on us. There were very few people in the park who were minding their business, which meant we had a little haven to ourselves.
What we did not notice was the girl who was slowly creeping in on us from behind and before my instincts could warn me to look behind I felt something hard shoved at the small of my back. I have no clue how a gun feels like, have never even seen one. But at that moment I knew it was the barrel of a gun and to confirm my suspicions, the girl whispered roughly through her teeth, ‘Don’t move’. I did not dare to even put my hands up. Rishi too was frozen by the suddenness of the move. He however managed to ask, ‘What do you want?’
‘Gimme everything you have or I’ll shoot the girl’, she demanded. Rishi quietly handed his wallet to her and she took away the cards and whispered again, ‘Here, check them.’ That’s when I realized she had an accomplice. ‘Out with the security codes’, she barked at Rishi, ‘And don’t act smart. We have a machine here.’ Rishi again blurted the number and 30 seconds later I did not feel the gun at my back.
‘Don’t move. Don’t turn back or we’ll shoot you.’
After about 10 mins of complete silence did we dare to turn back to find the place empty. There was no one who came to our rescue. We were robbed in broad daylight. I broke down then into uncontrollable sobs.
Rishi put his arms around me and said, ‘Don’t cry. It’s alright now. Let’s leave from this place.’
We got up and started walking back to the car in silence, when he explained, ‘They are the outcasts who do not follow the government rules. Somehow they must have observed us for long and guessed that our watches are not watching us and they took the advantage of it.’
That got me in tears all over again. “It’s all my fault.’ I knew what they had done. They had digitally robbed his account of all the all the money, and I know it was quite a lot. Stealing was survival for the outcasts as they were shunned from getting a job.
‘This whole hacking thing was a bad idea. I put us in trouble I’m so sorry. Had the watch been active we would not have faced this.’ I cried and felt his comforting hand back around my shoulders. As Rishi dropped me back home, I knew I had already flushed down the plan of a rebellion. And honestly, I missed watching others and having others watch over me.
Alright, I can hear the beeps on my watch already. ‘Me Time’ running out and I got to go.
I guess, just like that watch, we too are attuned to follow the path we have been programmed into.
Diary of Rishi
I love Neha. But sometimes she gets overboard with her penchant for adventure. When she started her rants about how the watch was controlling her life and blah blah, I knew it was nothing but a passing phase. The government was doing everything for our safety and my girlfriend was rebelling against her savior, and to top that, she expected me to join in and devise a plan. I had to handle the situation in a way to kill her rebellion towards the government and instill respect for what it was doing.
Having my friends pretend to rob us was the easiest and a sure shot way to make Neha regret her wishful thinking.
Did she forget, I am part of the government?
***END***
Girl Who Had No Privacy-Part 1
Girl Who Had No Privacy-Part 2
Devleena Nath
Avishek Singha
Team Infornicle
