In today's world wherein everything is dependent on internet, one always encounters a trepidation of what is to happen if suddenly, the internet services go on to break down one following day. Would it be possible to survive even till that day's afternoon? These queries were hovering around Devika's head.  However she assured herself with the notion that such disastrous events occur rarely. Time was flowing by and everything was happening normally until one day, her elder sister got to hear from a school that she had been shortlisted for the job of a Computer teacher there. Rashmi had appeared for the interview a week ago and her joining was to take place in two days. The school was located in another district and the elder child of the family had to relocate there. She had no issues with that as she knew it very well that waiting for getting a job in her native area would be same as sitting unemployed and wasting her time. 

To Devika, it appeared as a crude task but Rashmi knew it at the back of her mind that private schools would never pay you properly until they make you work your ass off, so she would be no different. Rashmi had to go by the train which would leave the Rishra Station by 5:06 am at dawn and would reach the destination by 9:00 am. Devika had decided to see her elder sister off. After her elder sister had left the station, Devika was experiencing a maelstrom. She did not think earlier that she will have to live without her elder sister for five days in a week which she had never done before. She tried to not pay much attention to those emotions and headed back home. To cheer her mood up, she plugged earphones in her phone which was her go-to activity in such kind of a mood. She noticed that her phone was taking too long to get connected to the Jio Fiber, so she switched the data of her phone on. Even then, she wasn't able to access any internet. WHAT WAS THE MATTER? She checked the notices in her messages. 

OH NO! The notice conveyed that internet services had been temporarily stopped in the locality because of the political turmoil that took place on Sunday. Even Devika knew that a case of violence had indeed occurred but she had not expected that internet facilities would be stopped for this. 

What would she do now apart from hoping that internet will be restored by evening? Devika's hope shattered and now, she was growing impatient. She had not messaged any of her friends on WhatsApp since morning. When she was surfing phone to see if anything interesting was left for her, her eyes fell on the ' messages' column. She discovered that she was left with 300 SMSes. As she had nothing to do, she messaged her good friend, Ayushi to inform her about the situation.

'I am living in the same chaos'- replied the girl.

'Since morning, I feel like I am living in a forest. Forget about entertainment, I am not even able to study anything because of this crisis'- added Devika.

' Even I am missing out on a good number of online lectures because of this issue. Do you have any idea as to when the internet will return?' 

'No, I even asked the uncle at the recharge shop and even he was clueless about it.'

'Oh God! Some jerks go on to spread violence unnecessarily in places and common people like you and me suffer. Bloody mutts!' 

Devika replied with a pensive emoji. Ayushi had a terrible class eleven and that's why she was focusing on studies seriously. In the process, she wasn't talking to her friends and somehow, Devika was missing her friend. The dank situation atleast gave her an opportunity to have a nice little chat with her bosom friend. 

The following day arrived but internet didn't. Devika kept checking the Jio Fiber every now and then but just received disappointment. Every hour seemed like a year. How would people live life before the twenty first century when nothing like internet existed? Devika posed this question to her mother. 

'We would watch movies when we were done with our studies'- replied her mother. 

Yes, she did have a few channels for movies but she didn't even remember the last time she had viewed in any channel. She started checking the channels one by one. For a long time, no appropriate movie was recognized by the two of them. Then suddenly, Devika's mother's eyes fell on a glimpse of Rekha and the movie seemed familiar. She asked her daughter to not change the channel. It was the movie' Silsila'( 1981). Mrs Dasgupta had a great liking for the movies of her time and after viewing a scene of one of them, what she experienced was pure nostalgia. Devika decided to see what the movie was about. The movie ended soon and she actually liked the concept of the film. It was probably much more serene than the movies of current times according to her.

It was Wednesday now but there was no betterment on the part of the internet services which continued to be totally absent. Now, the situation had reached a point when Devika no more hoped that internet will be restored soon. She was assuming the fact that they will be without internet for the entire week. Nothing interesting was left for her to do in the day and she eagerly waited for evening. As soon as it was evening, she started checking the channels which telecasted movies and another old Hindi movie was recognized by her mother and both of them sat for watching it. It was ' Bemisal'( 1982). Another entertaining evening came to an end when the movie concluded.

'Many actors have worked in Bollywood for a long time but Amitabh Bachchan and SRK just take acting to another level' - Mrs Dasgupta commented.

Devika was about to end another internet less day and go to sleep when she received an SMS of Ayushi.

'Internet is finally back yaar' 

Devika discovered that internet hadn't been restored in her area yet.

'It looks like my exile isn't over yet'- she texted back but after that SMS, a flame of hope had got rekindled in her heart that internet would be restored soon. 

'If internet is back in Sastitala, then it shouldn't take long to get restored in the NK Banerjee Street'- she thought to herself.

After a few minutes, she noticed that the blinking of the Jio Fiber had halted and it had turned yellow. She got her phone connected to it and saw for herself that she could finally access the internet now.

'So, I have come back to the 21st century. For Real!' 

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