Chapter 2: The Mirror Doesn't Lie
January 2, 2009 – 6:11 AM, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
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Ram stared into the cracked mirror above the bathroom sink.
A boy's face stared back.
Round cheeks. Slightly crooked teeth. Messy hair.
Eyes wide and unblinking.
It had been twenty-six years since he'd seen this face in the mirror.
But it was him. No doubt.
He was nine again.
He touched his own cheeks, trembling.
The mirror fogged up slightly from his breath.
His heart thudded in disbelief.
"Is this… a dream?"
He turned toward the bathroom wall, where a fading Spider-Man sticker clung stubbornly to the tile.
"I remember that sticker. It peeled off by April."
His voice was high-pitched.
Childish.
He began shaking.
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The World Felt Smaller
Everything was… too big.
The doorknob reached his waist.
The ceiling fan looked miles away.
His father's slippers by the door were enormous.
The house was the same—old cement floors, yellowing paint, and a faint smell of masala tea drifting from the kitchen.
But he saw it all differently now.
Like a traveler returned from the future to a museum of his past.
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Reuniting With His Parents
"Ram, get ready for school!" his mother's voice rang out.
Soft. Familiar.
It hit him like a wave.
He rushed to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway.
There she was.
His mother, alive, younger, radiant in her cotton sari, humming an old Lata Mangeshkar song.
His throat tightened.
"Why are you staring like that?" she smiled, "Did you see a ghost?"
He wanted to hug her.
Tell her everything.
Beg her to never skip that doctor's appointment ten years from now.
But instead, he smiled.
"No, just… happy to see you."
She ruffled his hair.
"Go brush your teeth, silly boy."
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Memories Collide
As he sat down to eat a buttered paratha, a hundred thoughts fought inside his head:
He knew the full rise of Bitcoin
He knew Apple was about to release the iPhone 3G
He knew the swine flu pandemic would hit soon
He knew Facebook would go public
He knew how COVID would change the world
He knew who would win every cricket World Cup till 2023
He knew that ISRO would send a rover to the Moon
He knew… so much
But at that moment, all he wanted was another bite of his mother's paratha.
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The First Test
His father entered, buttoning his shirt, reading a newspaper.
"Recession in America. India might be affected," he muttered.
Ram peeked at the headline:
"SENSEX drops again as global fears mount"
He remembered this headline.
He remembered this exact moment.
This was when he first wished, in his original life, that he understood economics.
Now… he did.
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"Papa," Ram said cautiously, "Isn't this a good time to buy stocks?"
His father chuckled, "Who told you that, haan? Mr. Warren Buffet?"
Ram smiled. "Something like that."
His father ruffled his head and walked away, but the seed was planted.
He made a mental note:
Teach father about SIPs and stocks using fake newspaper clippings. Slowly. Carefully.
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School Uniform, Old Shoes, New Mission
He wore the same olive-green sweater, gray pants, and navy blue tie he always had.
Except this time, he wasn't just going to school.
He was beginning his second life.
He picked up his tattered school bag, still stitched with a Doraemon patch, and slid in a secret folded page titled:
> "2009–2025: World Timeline
Version 1.0"
He looked into the mirror again.
This time, he smiled.
The mirror didn't lie.
He was back.
And he would change everything.
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End of Chapter 2