OG Amma

“Shall I make some Dosa for you today?” asked Amma. Before I could give a reply, “But I made Dosa just yesterday and I know you would complain that I make the same stuff every day, so let me make some Poori but Poori might take some time. Oh! By the way, what’s the time Kanna?”, she said while simultaneously searching for the clock in my room. She noticed that I didn’t change the batteries in my wall clock even though she had been asking me to do so for 2 weeks.

In a hurry, I took a look at my cell phone and replied, “It’s 6:30 amma. You better hurry up if you want to make Poori”. She rushed into the kitchen. I breathed a sigh of relief and thought to myself, “MISSION SUCCESSFUL!” ignoring the wall clock once again.

Later that evening, after finishing up the wonderful Poori and curry that Amma made, I went back to my room and just sat on the bed in a relaxed posture losing myself in some random train of thought.

Suddenly, I heard the bell ring and rushed to the front door only to see that there was no one at the door but a delivery box on the ground. I looked to my right and also saw a man with a uniform entering the elevator. I picked up the box reluctantly and threw it onto our sofa and yelled, “The delivery has arrived!”.

I went back to my room and started watching the 8th episode of the 2nd season of Quantum Entanglement, a super popular romantic sitcom that all my friends watched. The 8th episode had a really good cliffhanger and I was about to click on the “Next Episode” button but the bell rang again.

I got myself out of the bed in frustration thinking who it was this time and to my utter surprise, it was the same box on the ground. I again looked to my right and saw the same man with the uniform entering the elevator. I thought to myself, maybe he forgot to deliver one of the 2 orders and turned back to throw this box onto the sofa too but to my surprise, the box I threw earlier was nowhere to be found. I went to Amma and asked, “Amma, did you move the box I earlier threw onto the sofa somewhere?”. Amma in a tone of surprise herself asked, “Which box are you talking about? You just threw one right? By the way, how many times did I tell you not to throw the delivery boxes? What if something gets damaged inside? You know how hard it is to earn every penny…” and continue to rant about all my misdoings. However, I only heard her ranting in a faint voice as I was thinking to myself, “What just happened?” and slowly walked towards my room in a daze. I thought to myself, “Deja Vu!”. I convinced myself that that’s the only answer. I went back to my laptop and wanted to watch the 9th episode and to my surprise when I clicked the play button on the streaming platform’s website. It started playing the 8th episode again. I thought that was bizarre too but just skipped to the 9th episode by clicking on the next episode button.

The 9th episode was a banger. I was about to click on the “Next Episode” button and again the bell rang. I was super frustrated this time and just ran to the door. I saw the delivery man just placing the box at our front door. I yelled at him, “Why are you delivering again and again bro?”. With a slightly frightened and mostly bewildered expression on his face, he replied “This is the first time that I have even been in this street sir.” I was very confused but I apologized to him for the confusion, took the box and closed the front door.

As I turned around, I saw that the earlier box was again nowhere to be found. This time I started to realize that I was probably stuck in a time loop similar to the one in the movies. I looked at the clock in the hall to confirm my suspicions that it was still 8:00. I again went to my mother and asked her about an earlier delivery and her reply reinforced my suspicions. I went back to the room and tried to play the episode and it was playing the 8th episode again and now I was sure that I am stuck in a time loop and that even earlier, it was not a bug in the streaming platform.

At first the thought of being stuck in a time loop frightened me but then I also realized that I remember the 8th and 9th episodes which means that while no one else realizes that they are in a time loop, I do and I preserve memories from every previous cycle, just like the movies. So, I thought to myself, “Maybe there are pros to this situation!”. I can binge watch through all the episodes of Quantum entanglement and it will still be 8:00. I did just that, quickly picked up the box everytime and kept skipping all the episodes I had already watched and it worked. I completed binge watching all of Quantum entanglement in a day. I was so excited to share and talk all about it with my best friend but then I realized that even if I told him, he would lose the memory of me talking to him once the loop resets. I thought maybe I will just watch all the other shows that I wanted to and at some point there the loop will stop by itself. I kept watching but the time loop did not end. Now, I started to get bored and frightened once again that this will never end.

I decided that I should try and do everything in my capacity to break this loop. I started searching online about how time loops can break and that started a series of attempts at breaking the loop.

Attempt 1: Someone on an online forum suggested that sometimes a time loop is also bound to a set of spatial coordinates. So, this time I took my scooter and rode as far away as I could from our house only to suddenly see myself lying on the bed. One moment I was at a junction on the road and then the other lying on the bed. Surreal!

Attempt 2: Do nothing. Bell rings, amma yells and the bell rings again. Useless.

Attempt 3: Try building an amateur ouija board. Conclusion: Ghosts don’t exist

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Attempt 34: Called the police and tried informing them that I am being held captive in a time loop. Before I could complete my explanation, they cut the call.

…

Attempt 45: Took a deep breath and meditated for some time. I realized that in every time loop movie there is a purpose. Something that the protagonist or antagonist did which started the loop and he has to fulfill that purpose. I contemplated deeply what the purpose could be. As I stared at the wall, I realized that the wall clock in my room was stuck at exactly 8:00. I checked the clock in the hall and it was 8:15. I now remembered Amma telling me how it feels like time hasn’t passed whenever she is in my room because the clock isn’t ticking. I thought maybe it’s the clock but on the other hand, I also thought to myself, “Why would the problem be so simple?”. Nevertheless, I was desperate and wanted to try anything to fix it. I changed the batteries and waited.

To my surprise, it worked. It was 8:31 and the clock continued to tick. I jumped in joy. I broke into tears, crying with a mixture of all the pent up sorrow and the new found joy.

I thought to myself, “Amma was right as usual. That’s why Amma is OG”.