The potential energy stored in her invisible body was simply tremendous .

Billions of thoughts were kept under harness – but the situation was potentially explosive. The nucleotide bases were geared up for the battle ; that Gene knew was inevitable.

This little packet of bewilderment – this Gene called Jean- was waiting for her mate. She was waiting for her other half.

To kill the boredom, Jean decided to down her memory lane. Now those of you who are not familiar with the memory lane of Genes have to be told : that Genes have a very very long distance to traverse.

Jean’s thought journey was fascinating—to say the least ! As she was a seasoned Gene, she went back to the very dawn of the very first day—the time that we somehow call the Big Bang. But ask Jean if you can ; she might know better !

Jean could see that at the dawn of her life, she was an innocent and pure ‘thoughtless’ chemical. Then some thought, as if, were whispered in her invisible ears and the innocent little amino acid altered her form. She got entangled with the whispered thought-words and was converted into a ‘double-helix’. And lo ! then the chain grew larger and larger ! Very soon, the lovely little ‘double-helixed’ Jean was surrounded by a number of other Genes. Jean, now, had a large number of friends. And when young friends are together, as you know, they playfully indulge in some mischief. This happened with Jean and her billion young friends as well.

As a result of their pranks, which started with water games, many plants sprang up in the oceans and rivers.

( Now Jean was thoroughly engrossed and was enjoying her trip down ( or up ?) memory lane )

Gradually, genes became bolder and naughtier. They freely mixed with each other as well as with the water plants. As a result, very strange creatures arrived on the scene. These were weird things called insects, animals birds and reptiles.

Jean was mutating fast. She was one of the ‘originals’. And she was very proficient in storing different experiences in her nucleotide bases.

(… Now Jean was ready to go over the most fascinating part of her memory. She was pink with excitement !)

Jean’s boldness paid off. She had flirted with many birds, fishes and apes. And as if by some strange freak of genetic chemistry, a very special artefact was born. This artefact was christened as ‘man’.

But this silly creature, Jean remembered with a sly smile, was far too presumptuous. Man thought it was he himself who was intelligent. At first the Genes got a little upset with this mis placed arrogance in man. But the Genes realised : here is a great opportunity to play even more dangerous games ! Now they could use man, with his well developed frontal lobe, as an efficient helper !

So, somewhere during the middle ages, Jean and her friends decided to equip man’s brain with crazy ideas. Since that day, this silly artefact has been tinkering with this and that ; postulating theories and inventing ! (Jean laughed aloud at this thought )

Jean’s journey, back to the present was now nearing it’s end. Jean saw men doing even crazier things. Men were busy in isolating Genes in their laboratories. At first, Genes got scandalised ! But then they decided to go along with this little game, which men thought they were playing on their own.

Man, drunk on his success in genetic sciences, was making massive leaps on the laboratory table. And Genes were having a whale of a time ! Jumping and Mutating all the time !!

While man thought he was tinkering with the Genes, little did he realise that Genes, in fact, were tinkering with him all the time !
(At this thought, Jean could not help laughing aloud. She laughed and laughed till she had tears in her invisible eyes !)

As soon as her trip ‘down’ memory lane ended, Jean met her mate. She met the other half. They got busy, once again with their pranks.

But this time, something was not quite the same. The two had started creating a new man, as usual, but this time the messages  were not being followed with unquestioning fidelity. The new man  that was being formed, in it’s present unformed form, was playing games with the two Genes.

Jean and her mate were terrified. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Their toy, their very own artefact was no more prepared to listen to them. Genes had never been in this predicament before. They desperately looked for help. And once again, they heard a whisper in their invisible ears.

And then Jean realised : time had come to create a NEW MAN, not just a new man. At this moment, her feelings were akin to the ones she had when she was an innocent little amino acid.

The yet-to-be formed man gave her a meaningful smile. He winked at her ( Jean can swear this ) and putting his hands around her, whispered : “ Hi Jean ! Let us become friends forever. Let us not tinker with each other any more !”

Jean flushed and blushed. She had fallen in love with her new creation. She nodded at the new man.

“My journey has been worthwhile !” she thought and simply smiled.