The doom that shall befall the land.

Heaving his weight up the waiting public bus, he immensely regretted spending any remnants of change on a tabloid, forty-two flimsy pages of photographs of scantily clad women and columns upon columns dissing the outcome of the general elections. But mostly the photographs of the scantily clad women.

The government, which many had expected to be miraculously ousted, has returned to power. The haze has also returned with a palpable vengeance. Internet shamans had predicted imminent calamity for the nation now that the incumbent had once again been returned to power. "Cursed are those who curse this land! They deserve this government and the doom that shall befall them! Woe!" The haze, bordering around hazardous levels, is the first of these calamities, they claimed.

The characteristically hypocritical  shamans, who had for many years prior to the election campaign been utterly vocal in criticising the ruling party, hide the indelible fact that they, too, had been among the whopping 69% of the population who had voted for the incumbent upon sight of the polling box.

Jostling with what seemed like an unholy communion of tired workers who are glued to their mobile handheld devices as if they are scriptures, he found himself satisfied that amidst the bacchanalia of entertainment at the disposal men and women of this generation due to the advent of smart devices, he found a little space to read. But mostly to secretly gawk at the photographs of scantily clad women.