I am Legend

Last month I watched I am Legend, a futuristic movie placed in 2012 New York. Dr. Robert Neville, his dog, a lady and her son are apparently the only people alive to fit the definition of human being. A plague has spread throughout the globe and mutated most humans into zombies. The theme is almost the same as 28 weeks, 28 Days Later, Resident Evil and the like.

Scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the only human alive due to an immunity he possesses. He captures samples (read infected humans) and experiments on them to find a cure. It doesn’t matter that the sample mostly perishes and there is no lobby to protest his undertakings. His dog is his only companion. He transmits signals every day waiting against hope for a response from another human. He waits for what seems ages till he does get a response. It’s a lady and her son making their way to a protected enclave illustrated in a teen’s diary. In the meantime, the zombies have somehow become resistant to the sun’s rays and Robert has almost found the cure. But how will he ensure that the trio reach the enclave safely with the cure?

The desolate landscape is quite captivating and at times you can enjoy the total absence of rules and responsibilities or Big Brother is watching you. Now that is fun. However, the desperation that greets Robert once the sun sets, the slow dawning of yet another day gone by without seeing a human face (in spite of the mannequins) or hearing a human voice (in spite of Bob Marley), hits straight home.

When I read the synopsis of the movie I was stunned—not by its theme, though. Perhaps, in retrospect, many people do fantasize being the only one alive or dread it, but nevertheless imagine it.

In February 2004, I was travelling by an overcrowded Virar local. I had boarded the train at Borivali. When the train reached Dahisar, one lady got off and 15 ladies were trying to squeeze themselves into the already packed compartment. By the time the shouting and screaming reached a crescendo, the whistle blew and the train started. Ten managed to get in. Out of them, a 20-something girl, for reasons best know to her, bit a lady in front of her. The lady retaliated by grabbing hold of her hair. We only came to know of it when the din was pierced by a blood-curdling scream. Suddenly there was an empty circle in the middle of the gangway. Some ladies were trying to separate the two. A shiver went down by spine while I could actually see the roots of the girl’s hair. The lady had teeth marks on her forearm.

The situation was very tense. I felt that one would manage to throw the other out of the speeding train. Thankfully, the intervention by other passengers calmed the two. How could two strangers savage one another like that I could not even imagine. Was it the heat, or the crowd, or an accident? I’ll never know but the sheer inhumanity of it reminded me that at gut level we are all animals, no less. I got writing and here’s what I wrote—

Why did God create mankind? Was s/he feeling lonely? What would one do if one was the only being alive? What would I do?

What if I woke up one day in Mumbai and found it totally devoid of life? No human beings, no street dogs or cats or cattle or goats or pigeons or crows, no flies or mosquitoes or bugs, no spiders or lizards, no ants.

It would feel like time itself was frozen. Silence—no automobiles running, no trains chugging, no cycle bells tinkling, no buses honking, no rickshaws zipping by, no body brushing past you, no rat scurrying away, no sparrows chirping anywhere. What if there was no sound of industry, no hum or electricity, no buzz of connectivity, no babble or cackle of humanity? Just the sound of the breeze, the rush of the oceans, the boom of your heart beating and your body breathing.

What if every house, flat, duplex, bungalow, zopadpatti, chawl, factory, call centre, office, company, amusement park, zoo, garden, disco, restaurant was empty—like no one ever used them or inhabited them?

Would it be a dream or a nightmare? Would it be scary or peaceful? Would you feel lonely or come to terms with yourself? Would all the money earned, degrees obtained, friends won, success achieved matter anymore? With each move you make, would you feel intensely alive or numbly dead? Would your voice be yours or seem strange? Would you walk down the road dazed or walk in search of hope? Would you feel lucky or doomed? Would clothes and creams and powders matter anymore?

Would your memories replay the joy and sadness at a degree intense or would they cause you heart to constrict with no one to share them with?

God! Were you so alone?