It was the year 2154 A.D. The earth has suffered a biological disaster wherein the world has turned morbid. About three fourth of the total population have turned into zombies aka the living dead and the numbers are increasing by the day. Whole countries were decimated, governments collapsed and economies disintegrated. There was no such thing as law and order. The survivors left were exposed to a life that was dangerous and one that demanded to be vigilant at all times. Families lost their dear ones – wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, children etc and new families of survivors were formed that remained closely knit.
Anyone that was bitten or killed by the living dead turned into another zombie. So danger was present in the air at all times. Over time, the survivors learnt the dos and don’ts when they encountered a zombie such as, one of them can be truly killed only with a headshot and no where else.
India was no exception to this deadly disease. Infact it was the most affected. What was once the most populous democracy in the world was reduced to a population that lived in a city. Hardly a tenth of a billion were surviving in India now. The people lived in packs. Even with all the scientific advancements, there seemed to be no cure for this.
It was at this point when the action of one man changed the course of history of the world for good. Shiva and his family of ten were one of the packs that were constantly moving from place to place. Each place they stayed, was safe only for a week or a two. The zombies were too many, considering the population of India. It was like they were omnipresent and therefore hard to find a safe and secluded place. Shiva and his family had travelled across states from the south in a north easterly direction. After months, they reached Bengal. This state, too like other states wore a pathetic look. Zombies were roaming everywhere.
On the 5th of June, Shiva’s group reached a dilapidated manufacturing facility. There was no board outside. Only when they went inside, they realised it was one of those Dabur manufacturing facilities. Quietly but alertly, they passed through the entrance. Surprisingly all around them, the zombies were already dead. And there is no chance of one stumbling here, given its secluded location. However a few zombies were present inside. Apparently they were the scientists of the facility. All had turned. They soon found out that there was one man still alive, truly alive as a human.
“Who are you? What do you want?”, asked the young man afraid, pointing a rifle at them.
“Calm down, we are not here to hurt you. We just came by this place and thought this would be good for steering clear of the zombies. How the hell did you manage to stay alive for this long? We saw many scientists who had turned.”, asked Shiva.
“Well, I’m not a scientist but one of the guards. This place was overrun by zombies four months ago. But I managed to escape.”, said the guard.
“But how did you survive? I mean there is no food here. This is just a Dabur manufacturing facility”.
Moments of silence.
“Get out!”, the guard suddenly screamed and ran for the door of his room quickly.
But he was not quick enough. Shiva instinctively blocked the door and drew his axe and knife, placing one at the neck and the other at the abdomen, ready to stab.
“Answer me, now”, Shiva said in an unnerving tone.
“Alright, alright!!”, the guard said breathing hard. “But please don’t kill me.”
Shiva waited.
“I was also bit by one of the zombies when the place was overrun. But I managed to kill it and locked myself in this room. I knew it was a matter of time for myself to turn into one of them. But I didn’t want to get eaten by them. I wanted to kill myself, for I was getting weaker by the moment and my body was becoming hot like a furnace. But I was afraid to kill myself. So I waited. Suddenly my eyes fell on Dabur Chyawanprash tins all around me in the shelves, stacked. Unable to bear the temperature, I thought . . .maybe by having some of it. . . atleast my temperature could be brought down. . .”, the man paused.
“Then what happened?”, Shiva asked.
“When I had some, I turned back to normal. My fever went down and I stayed alive.This is my food daily for the past four months. Luckily there were more than thousand tins stacked.” said the guard.
“What!! Are you serious? How in the world did you know that this was the cure?”, asked Shiva shocked.
“Who told I knew? No, I didn’t know. None of the scientists knew either. But as soon as I had some, I became normal”
“Do you know the world outside? People are suffering by the day. The whole country is destroyed and you have stayed here alive and done nothing about it.”, screamed Shiva.
“How am I supposed to know? I am not a scientist. Also I was afraid to venture out. There are still zombies in the facility. I have been limiting myself to these tins.”, said the guard.
“You are one selfish man”, said Shiva in disgust, running inside.
“What are you doing??!!”, said the guard, his eyes wide.
And thus Shiva and his group successfully found the ingredients and the methodology to make the Chyawanprash, after killing the remaining zombies in the facility. They soon started to manufacture and spread word about the Chyawanprash. People flocked to supermarkets and gorged on the remaining bottles. Shiva also found astonishing results with the chyawanprash, Not only did it cure the disease but somehow it made the person go back to his youth.
The world was restored by the chyawanprash and the deaths came to a still. The zombies were eliminated gradually and the earth resumed its natural state.
This post was written for the Indiblogger happy hours contest given by Dabur .
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