Is the Blind Man Deaf?

It was around 8 in the evening when the blackout happened. The entirety of Farsan was engulfed in darkness. There was no moon tonight, and even stars weren’t showering any light, given the dense cloud cover.

It was so dark that Arjun couldn’t even see his dinner plate, which was right before him on his desk.

‘Singh Sir?’ he shouted. But there was no response. His phone, his only available light source, was charging in the next room. He waited a few minutes for his eyes to adjust somewhat to this darkness.

When Arjun was transferred to Farsan yesterday, an inexplicable unease tinged him about this quiet, tranquil village. He even discussed it with the former in-charge of Farsan, Singh Sir, who was there for a few more days to show him the ropes before retiring.

‘Unease? How so?’

‘Sorry, Sir.’

‘No need to be sorry. Did something happen? Had anyone from the village done anything to make you feel like that?’

‘No, Sir. Nothing like that. I haven’t interacted much with the villagers.’

‘So, what’s wrong?’

‘I am not sure. It just feels as if something is… off.’

Singh Sir laughed. ‘I think I know what you mean. When you remove yourself from the loud city life, it takes some time to adjust to the quiet of such an isolated village.’

‘Haha. I think that must be it.’

‘Definitely. And don’t worry. You will get used to it pretty quickly. The villagers are very kind and cooperative, and there is hardly any trouble. In no time, you will get on a first-name basis with them and join their dinner parties.’

Arjun nodded, and that was the end of that discussion. Singh Sir had been posted at Farsan for over a decade and had even rejected promotions to stay at this village; he was leaving now only because of his retirement. So, maybe the peace was worth it? 

But he still couldn’t shake off this feeling. A feeling that the villagers were being a bit weird. Weird in what way? That he couldn’t say. And since Singh Sir was very close to everyone in Farsan, complaining about them in a nothing manner would have felt like a personal attack.

But he wanted to keep some distance between himself and the villagers. That’s why he was not keen on taking their help.

His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but he could still only see his surroundings as blurry outlines. He made his way to the other room to get his phone. Tracing his hands along the wall, he found the switchboard and his phone connected to the charger. He tried to open it, but it wouldn’t.

The switch was off. His phone hadn’t charged at all.

Did he forget to switch it on? That must be it. Even though he felt he did, he convinced himself he didn’t. What other explanation could there be?

But it was getting difficult now.

‘Singh Sir?’ Arjun yelled out his lungs. But still nothing but silence. And with no light source, he felt all alone.

He traced his way along the office walls back to his desk. He needed something to illuminate and figure out what was going on. Lighter, torch, lantern, anything! But there wasn’t anything like that in there. Not even matches.

He called out Singh Sir once again to a now familiar silence. 

Could it be that his superior was in some trouble? Why wasn’t he responding?

Arjun had never felt such helplessness before. And as if this wasn’t enough, that uneasiness was back. But he was aware of its origin this time – it was that quietness. Farsan wasn’t a busy village. But it was unnaturally quiet. And in this blackout, Arjun had realised that he was not only seeing nothing but also heard nothing. 

The night was covered in a dead silence. Not a cricket chirping. Not a television changing channels. Not a clank of utensils for serving dinner. Not even two people talking.

Absolute silence.

No, wait. The clock! It must be working. It must be making a ticking noise. He must be able to hear it. He must be, right?

But there was no tick-tock. Why? Why was there no tick-tock? The clock was on the wall behind Arjun’s desk. He immediately navigated his way through towards it. He picked it off the wall and brought it close to his ear. No, it wasn’t ticking. But he clearly remembered it showing 8 when he sat down to eat dinner.

Has he… has he gone deaf? 

What an outlandish thought! It didn’t make any sense. But could it be? It was too convenient that the clock stopped working right after the blackout. Arjun badly wanted to check the clock, but no matter how much he squinted his eyes, he couldn’t see the hands. There was, literally, no source of light.

But he realised a way. He smashed the clock against the wall to break its glass. Then, he felt the clock’s hands with his fingers to make out the time – a task that had become a little difficult owing to the circular shape of the clock. Yes, it had indeed stopped. And that too precisely at 8. 

Ignoring the crazy thing that he just did, Arjun sighed in relief. He wasn’t deaf. Wait, he could have established that by clicking his fingers as well. There was no need to break the clock! He started laughing at this realisation.

‘Singh Sir! Help me!’ he laughed.

Silence.

He didn’t care anymore. Something must have happened to Singh Sir; perhaps he couldn’t do anything about it himself? He needed the villagers’ help.

He stepped out for the first time since the blackout. Strong winds blew past the trees silently and went away into the darkness. It was only 8 – no way everyone had already gone to bed. At least a few households should be using lanterns or torches to go about their business. And in this darkness, any source of light would stick out as a sore thumb.

There was not a thing in sight. As far as he could see, there was nothing but darkness.

‘Is anyone here? Anyone? There’s an emergency.’ he screamed at the void. ‘Singh Sir… Vishwas Singh, Farsan’s officer… has gone missing. He might be in danger, so I need your help. Can anyone hear me?’

He was familiar with the road from his office to the village. Soon, he could see blurry outlines of some houses. Without any consideration, he began to pound on the doors, begging whoever was inside to open up. Or at least answer. Or do something. Anything. He repeated this with every single house, but nothing. It almost felt like that no one was even there in this village.

Suddenly, he heard something. Something other than his own voice. Footsteps. No, someone was running. Running away from him.

‘Hey, wait. Stop!’ Arjun ran after the runner without a second thought. Someone was there. He wasn’t alone. Yes, someone was there.

He didn’t know what he was chasing. In fact, he might have been running wildly at a random noise. But there was a noise. That part was unmistakable. But before catching up to those ‘footsteps’, he slipped and fell down a ditch.

‘Aaghh.’ he let out a painful scream. He had probably sprained his ankle. ‘Help me.’

But again, nothing.

Through the piercing pain, Arjun tried to climb out. It was, however, too steep for him with a sprained ankle. He let out another cry for help before falling on his back. But he knew that no one would hear it. 

Why was this ditch here? In fact, where was here? He knew there wasn’t any road with a ditch this big in the village. Then, where was he now? Had he strayed into some unknown place following that voice? If that was the case, then there should be even less of a point to call for help than before. Did something like this happen to Singh Sir too?

He could feel a weakness creeping up his body. Perhaps he was losing consciousness. But in his hazy mind, he was sure of one thing. There was something wrong with the people of Farsan. Any normal person would respond to a sudden blackout by some kind of illumination, but there was none here. And how was it possible that an entire village didn’t make a single sound? It shouldn’t be possible, right? Even if every single person went to sleep before the blackout, they would wake up with the commotion he was making. Or at least he could have heard them snoring. Or making any sound in their sleep. 

But it was nothing. The night had been dead silent ever since the blackout. Honestly, he couldn’t even remember whether it was ever not silent or not. He had lost any sense of time in that ditch. Minutes? Hours? Maybe even days? Could it be that the whole world had ended and he was the only person left? Was there even anything left? If there was, how could he possibly know? Nothing in the world can be observed without seeing or hearing. So, that just means that there was nothing left. It was all over.

Arjun lost consciousness.

When Arjun opened his eyes, he was in his bed. Singh Sir was beside him, reading the newspaper.

‘Singh Sir?’

‘Oh, Arjun. You are awake!’

‘W-what happened? I don’t remember… blackout… a ditch…’

Singh Sir laughed. ‘Are you still dreaming? You fell asleep on your desk.’

‘Huh?’

‘Yeah. When I came to check on you after the blackout, you were sleeping on your desk. I had to take Mr. Verma’s help to put you to bed.’

Arjun couldn’t believe it – it was all a dream! Not real. A dream. He felt like jumping out of bed to share this nonsensical event with Singh Sir. But a sharp pain pulled him back. It was his ankle.

A thousand things went through Arjun’s head at once. 

‘My ankle hurts.’

‘Yeah? Did you fall somewhere?’ Singh Sir put down the newspaper, his eyes intently on him.

Arjun was horrified. He didn’t answer the question. He walked out of the bedroom into his office. The clock on the wall had a square shape.

‘Is there anything wrong?’ Singh Sir asked. ‘Could it be that you’re still uneasy about something?’