2020

It was a pleasant morning in the month of April in 2020.  A twelve year old, fair boy with dark, brown eyes, bade adieu to his mom and left for school. As he entered his classroom, his friend Amir called,”Hi, Hadir”. “Hello! Amir,” Hadir turned back to his friend. “Hadir, our school has planned to celebrate pets day in our school campus next week. A notice informing about this is displayed in the bulletin board. You just take a look pal,” said Amir. Hadir rushed to the bulletin board and looked at the pets day notice displayed there. It said that every student must attend the event with their pets. Hadir’s face shrank after seeing the notice and he walked back to his classroom. Amir asked him the reason for his worry. He got to know that Hadir didn’t had any pet in his home. So, Amir suggested Hadir to request his parents to buy him a pet.

After the evening bell, Hadir rushed to his house and looked for his mom. He couldn’t find her anywhere in the house. All of a sudden, he received a phone call from his dad. He said,”Hadir, your mom is affected by a disease and we are in the hospital now. You take care of yourself till we return and don’t worry dear”. He ended the call. Hadir’s eyes brimmed with tears and he ran to his room heartbroken. He prayed to God. “How could I ask my parents for a pet now? I want my mom cured soon,” he said to himself with tears. He stared at the night sky and the glittering stars through the window. Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the dark sky. Hadir tried to look at it but he couldn’t. Slowly, the bright light started to dim and Hadir saw a flat disk flying in the sky. “Is this a flying saucer? Am I dreamig? How could this be true?” Such questions filled Hadir’s mind. As Hadir wondered, the flying saucer moved towards him. He was dumb-stricken. It moved through the window and landed beside Hadir with a thud. A door in  the flying saucer opened and Hadir was eager to know what was inside it. A weird-looking, green creature with sharp ears walked down the steps of the flying saucer. It had no eyeballs but had a nose with only one hole. Hadir was frightened on seeing the creature. It walked near Hadir and gave him a pink box and departed from Hadir’s room. Hadir was really confused. “What am I gonna do with this box? And who is that green creature? I am not gonna open this box now. I’ll look into it after dad and mom returns,” he said and placed the box inside his closet and went to bed.

Next morning, Hadir woke up and saw the clock. It was already 8 a.m and Hadir thought it was late for school. Hadir rushed and reached school on time. He saw Amir near the stairs. As they climbed up the stairs, Amir enquired Hadir whether he had requested his parents for a pet. Hadir said with a low voice,”My dear friend, my mom is affected by a deadly disease and admitted in the hospital now. My dad is taking care of her and how can I ask them for a pet at this situation”. ’Ring-Ring’, the bell rang and they both moved to their class. During the lunch break, Amir said Hadir that they could search for pet shops and get an adorable pet after the school hours. Hadir agreed. Accordingly, after the school hours, they both went in search of pet shops. After walking for half-an-hour, they finally found a pet shop and asked the manager to lend them a pet dog and that they would return it within a week. But the manager refused saying, “No children, we can’t lend you pets. You can only adopt them and there are many formalities in adopting a pet. You, kids, can’t do it. Bring your parents here and adopt a pet of your choice”. The two boys moved away with disappointment. They went to some other shops and were sent back with the same reason. As the sun set, Amir left to his home. Hadir moved slowly with hard steps and reached his house.

As he entered, he found his house in a total mess. Things were scattered all over the house. Hadir got tensed and threw his backpack. He thought,”The one who did all this might be a thief”. He slowly moved in to find the thief. As he reached the kitchen, he found something sitting inside the half-opened refrigerator. He opened the door fully and found a red-coloured creature. It jumped out with a carrot in its mouth. And it was actually a bunny. It was bright red in colour. It had the resemblance of a bunny but to Hadir’s surprise, it had wings. “How did you come in?”, asked Hadir in a shaking tone. To his amusement, the bunny replied,”Hello Master, I am from Talifora, a planet near Mars. I came out of the box which Groofy gave you last night. I am here to help you, master”. Hadir couldn’t believe his own eyes and ears. “Do you call that green creature, Groofy?” asked Hadir. “Yes, master. It’s his name,” replied the bunny. “And…and how could you speak?” asked Hadir in a curious voice. I can talk and I can fly too,” said the bunny. “Why do you call me, master? I am not your master. I have never seen you before,” said Hadir. “You will know about me soon,” said the bunny and went inside Hadir’s closet to sleep. Hadir also went to his bed with lot of questions in his mind.

The next day was pets day. Hadir was worried and tensed when Amir rang the bell of his house. Amir came with his pet cat. He asked Hadir what he was about to do. Suddenly, the bunny jumped out and said,”Hello Master, what can I do for you?”.  Amir was shocked on seeing a talking bunny. Hadir explained him about the flying saucer and the bunny. Amir asked Hadir,”Why don’t you bring this bunny to school as your pet”. Hadir praised him for his brilliant idea. “Give your pet a name, Hadir,” said Amir. Hadir thought for a while and said,”Do…Dof…Dophu!”. “Wow! Master it’s awesome. I like this name,” said the bunny cheerfully. “Dophu, please don’t call me as master hereafter. Call me Hadir, Dophu,” said Hadir. “Okay…Haaadirrrrrr,” said Dophu. They were all ready to attend the pets day celebration. Dophu was very naughty on their way to school. He jumped upon Hadir several times and triggered him to lose his patience. Amir was giggling on seeing Dophu’s actions. Finally, after great efforts, they reached the school. They saw cats and dogs everywhere around the school. As they walked in, a group of tall boys walked towards them giggling. They saw Dophu and laughed hardly. They said Hadir had just painted a white bunny in red and stuck wings to it. Hadir ignored them and walked in. The boys got angry and poured a bucket of water on Dophu to remove the red paint. But they couldn’t find any changes in Dophu. Dophu remained the same. “How could this be possible? Is there a red bunny in this world?”, they murmured. Dophu’s  angerness increased and he kicked the boys. They fell upon the ground and everyone around them started laughing. The boys got terrified and ran away. Hadir and Amir giggled at the boys and praised Dophu for his act. 

The principal of their school started his welcome address. “I welcome you all to this pets day celebration. We have arranged several games for pets and the winners will be awarded with prizes. So, make this event awesome and enjoy your day. Thank you,”finished the principal. All the students were excited and took their pets to the play area. To Hadir’s surprise, Dophu participated and won in all the games. Everyone in the play area were shocked. Dophu was placed first in every game.  Hadir was very  happy  for having Dophu as his pet.  They reached home happily. Hadir felt the extreme happiness of his life. Hadir thanked Dophu whole-heartedly. “Don’t mention, Hadir. I am here to help you,” said Dophu. Hadir almost forgot about his sick mom. Hadir enquired Dophu,”Who are you Dophu? Why did you come to me? Where is that Talifora? Is there life outside earth? I want to know the reason why you are here, Dophu”. ”I am your friend, Hadir and I am here just to help you. You’ll soon come to know the true cause for my presence here,” said Dophu. Hadir was totally confused. They went to the room as it was bedtime and Dophu went inside Hadir’s closet.

Hadir had a terrible dream that night and was scared.  Dophu enquired him about his dream. Hadir said with tears,”I found my mom and dad dead in a hospital”. Dophu pacified him and said,”It’s just a dream. Don’t worry Hadir”. Hadir trembled with fear. He said,”I am gonna go to the hospital where my mom is admitted and bring her back to home”. ”No,  Hadir. It’s not safe for you to go there now,” said Dophu. “Not safe? What do you mean, Dophu?” asked Hadir. Before Dophu could answer, he received a phone call from his dad’s number. He hurried and picked up the call. “Papa, Papa. Are you okay Papa? How is Mama? Why didn’t you call me earlier?”. Hadir put forth many questions. “No child, I am not your dad. I am a doctor. Your dad is also affected by the same disease which affected your mom. Your parents are in a critical situation now. Anything worse may happen anytime. They are facing difficulties in breathing. So, come here with your relatives and take care of your parents,” said the doctor and hanged up the call. Hadir kneeled down and started weeping. Dophu said,”I know this would happen”. Hadir turned around and asked,”What?”.

“Yes, my friend, I knew this would happen,” said Dophu. “How do you know? I suspected that you are keeping up a secret from me. This is the time to reveal yourself. Tell me who you are, Dophu,” said Hadir. “I am from year 2220. Yes, I am from the future. Our planet Talifora is an animal planet. There are no humans in Talifora. I held an important position in the mayor’s court. I am the mayor’s son. They sent me here to save the earth. As per our legend, the earth was destroyed in 2020 by a micro-virus”. “What? A virus destroyed the whole earth?! I couldn’t believe you, Dophu,” said Hadir. “I’ll explain you, Hadir. At first, a virus was transmitted into humans from a bat. Then, the virus spread all over the world and almost 10 million people died because of the virus. Even animals died because of the virus. Then, the leaders of all the countries organised a meet and decided that they could make a rocket and send all the people and animals to Mars. They were all set to go to Mars. All the animals were sent in a rocket with a self-operating system. Before they could operate the next rocket in which all the human beings were, a sudden massive tsunami hit the rocket and killed all the people in it. Not even a single person was alive after the tsunami. The earth’s whole human population was destroyed. The rocket with all the animals lost its control and landed on a dwarf planet beside Mars. That dwarf planet is Talifora. Talifora had the same structure of earth. Air, water, soil and all the necessities were available in Talifora. We, animals, mutated over years and that’s why I have wings. Cats in Talifora have 4 eyes and dogs have 3 ears. Do you remember Groofy? He is a sloth bear who mutated over time. All the animals in Talifora could talk. As I said earlier, the mayor of Talifora is a bunny. We were leading a happy life in Talifora. But recently, we couldn’t  get pure air to breathe. Several diseases are spreading around Talifora and we don’t have any medicine to cure them. If this situation continues, all the animals will die. This is the reason for which I came here to change the future. If the spread of this virus is prevented, animals would remain in earth itself and humans will take care of them. We don’t need to face any difficulties in another planet. Our elders gave me a herbal medicine which they discovered later to cure the disease and I am gonna give this to all the people who were affected by it. I came to your house because your mom is the patient zero of this disease. Yes, your mom is the first patient who was affected by this virus. We should cure her first and then the other patients too, “ said Dophu. 

“But Dophu,  if this disease is cured,  you will know longer exist, right?” asked Hadir with tears. “This is not the right time to think about it, Hadir. We should go to the hospital immediately and discuss with the doctors about it,” said Dophu. Suddenly, Dophu’s ears started vibrating. “Dophu, why are your ears shaking?” asked Hadir. “I’ve got a message from Talifora,” said Dophu. “What’s the message, Dophu?” asked Hadir. “It’s from the mayor. He has said that the animals’ condition in Talifora is getting worse. He has instructed me to carry on the work faster. Hadir, we have to hurry up to the hospital,” said Dophu. They both reached the hospital and spoke with the senior doctor about it. But he refused to believe them. Then, Dophu showed his identity card and the year mentioned in it was 2210. As per the id, Dophu was 10 years old. The doctor informed the police about it and they verified and confirmed that Dophu’s id was original. They considered Dophu’s words and tried that herbal medicine on Hadir’s mom. Soon, the condition of Hadir’s mom improved. She almost recovered from the disease. The doctors thanked Hadir and Dophu and all the affected patients were treated with the same medicine. Most of them recovered soon. Hadir returned home with his cured mom and dad and introduced Dophu to them. Slowly, Dophu started to vanish. Hadir was shocked. He shouted,”No, Dophu. You shouldn’t leave me alone. You’re my friend and I need you”. Tears rolled down his cheeks. “As I said you earlier, the future will change, my friend. I could no longer exist. I must go and please don’t forget me,” cried Dophu and vanished  leaving back one of his wings. Hadir cried shouting,”Dophu…”. ”He is gone, my child,” said his mom and consoled him. He took Dophu’s wing and kept it with him. The next day, Hadir, along with his parents, went to a pet shop and adopted a bunny which resembled Dophu. Hadir named the bunny, ‘Mophu’. All  the people who were affected by the disease were cured and earth was completely free from the virus. One night, Hadir looked at the stars and called,”Dophu” and he heard a faint voice which said,”Yes, Hadir”.