prologue ...

When he was alone, he craved for company. When he was among people, he desired to be left alone. Change was what he always seemed to need, yet he dreaded it. So, maybe the best recourse for him would be to talk with people yet not be with them. Switch on and off capriciously. The way of the online chat. That was precisely what he was doing now. Late at night, chatting with a few friends, he realised how disconcerting silence could be. He could hear the voice of the characters on tv, though it was on mute. He could hear the wind howling, though it was just a breeze. He feared that his key strokes were making such a racuous noise that they would wake up the neighbours.

Ever felt your instincts so compelling, that you just had to do it though your conscious logical mind said that it was completely hopeless? Yet when you did it, it turned out to be fruitful! Happened often? Yeah with him too. Today was another such day. He had felt that there was no sense in booting the computer at this time in the night, but he found around 3 of his closests friends online! He hadnt talked with two among them for quite some time. There was a 4th too with whom he was chatting, but that was only customary. He was lonely yet amidst conversations. He felt glad and content.

While he was chatting fervently, his observant mind wandered over to think of how typing at this speed also presented him with some real good anagrams. He wanted to type 'hits' but got 'shit', 'how' became 'who', 'read' became 'dear' and so on. Yeah, he had to use backspace a great deal, but it was also so automatic that he didnt even notice it.