The prayers and the pinch...

Slowly it turned into night with a dim moon. 1935 hrs was what my digital watch displayed. I have been sitting here for around 12 hours now with my gun, my sandwich and with all the pain.

The silence of Drass was penetrated every time the heavy guns roared. There was not a single movement seen on the streets. July 2^nd India and Pakistan were at war over Kargil.

The only means of communication was through the rattling of bullets. The longer we asked the questions, the longer the answers we received.

I was on a rooftop probably a school, and at the elevation, I could easily see the bunkers through the periscope. It was the advantage of height they had, and thus were targeting us easily.

I was desperate may be because I was hungry, my eyes were pulling down. I had tried eating my sandwich but time and again someone from the other end answered,without even me asking the questions. I slowly pulled out the sandwich and took a bite. I started biting it from every possible side and making various shapes out of it, finished it in 4-5 bites.

I suddenly had an urge to smoke. I wanted it badly. It was dangerous. The flash might be seen in the darkness, and there were enemies watching, but I decided to take the risk.

I had a hand rolled cigarette, held it with my lips, I rolled my fingers over the lighter. I saw the cigarette meeting the flame and almost immediately came an answer. It hit the wall on which I was resting. I lied down parallel to the roof and checked the wall. It was alright until my fingers came through a hole. I knew something was wrong. The bullet had made it to the other side. I could feel the warmth of the blood oozing out.

I was hit in the spines and as I tried to get up, another one passed through my shoulder and I fell flat on the roof. Laying there I waited for my end. I prayed with a belief. A belief that I have always regarded my country as my mother, so she must also be praying to save her son. Slowly after half an hour or so, I started falling drowsy.

The next when I opened my eyes, they were illuminated with light. I was confused as I was alright, completely alright. There wasn’t a hint of pain. I checked, I wasn’t even in the same outfit. I was wearing a one piece cloth,something like a white gown. I felt something around my head covering it, sort of a crown.

I knew I wasn’t alive, this cannot be real. It had to be the afterlife. I felt bad and started feeling completely hollow. I was away from my family members and I knew there was no returning back. With all the thoughts in my mind, I finally broke down and started crying.

Just as I started crying I heard a voice.

“You are crying here, are you sure?”, the voice was loud, clear and bold.

I turned towards the voice and saw a man not old not young, in his early fifties, a vibrant face with a fixed smile and a prominent cut mark on his chin quite fit staring at me. I knew it had to be him, the one, and the almighty. I bent down and held his feet and kept holding it with my eyes closed.

“Are we going to talk like this, by the way what are you doing?”, he looked amused.

“I know you are God”, I said with my eyebrows raised.

”And what made you think so, about me being God?”, he asked.

“I know, you see you are in completely white clothes. It can’t be a mistake. You are the one”, I joined my hands and said.

“From which country are you?”

“India”

“Ohhh…India, so I think you have a lot of ‘me’ sitting in your parliament. I mean most of them are dressed in complete white”, he said.

“Aaahhh… you are actually…”, I scratched my head over this one.

“So who are you? What are you doing here? What is the place and what…”, I was interrupted in between.

“Now you are doing the right thing, I am here to answer questions. Ask me if you have any. Do not hesitate.”, he replied.

“What is this place and how am I here, I don’t remember anything after I got shot”, I asked hurriedly.

“Tell me something, what do you think happened to you?”, he asked me.

“I think I am dead. This is my after life and at present...I am in heaven.”

“It seems you know much than me. I think you last breathed... some 90 seconds back”, he told having a look at his watch.”And anything will seem a heaven when you compare it to the current condition of the place you live in.”, he chuckled.

“You see my mother told me a story when I was a child… ”, I interrupted in between with my query, “I am the only son of my parents, my father died when I was 4.My mother took all the pain and raised me. Now it was my turn, to serve and look after her. Instead I left one mother for the service of another. I joined army, because this was what my father did... and even his father did. They say it is in my genes. You know what genes are…?”,I asked him.

“Yes of course, I mean I have heard about them, some helical structured objects, we can only get to know the thing in detail once James and Frank are here. They still have their time left.”

I was confused with the answer but stuck to my question and continued”…and now I stand here away...from both my country and my mother. My life is a complete failure then. I could neither serve my mother nor my country. You know what my last wish was ‘I have always regarded my country ……’”

“Yes I know, I have always regarded my country as my mother, so she must also be praying to save her son, I heard it."

“Still I am here; it means she didn’t pray for me.”, I asked folding my arms.

“Let me tell you something... As far as the definition goes, A mother is the greatest creation of nature. We can take nothing away from her. It is our duty to meet their prayers and demands before anything else...as they seldom ask anything for themselves. You know a mother is a mother; 'she is not even a woman once she is a mother'. So never again question the faithfulness of a mother”, he said convincingly.

“Ok I am sorry, then tell me if everything was right, why am I here? ”, I was sounding desperate.

“You see the man who deposited two iron pieces in your body had also been hurt badly by your bullet, and his mother was also praying continuously from the time he got wounded.”, he said.

“But they are infiltrators, terrorists; it is our land where they have their bunkers. I am not wrong. I am absolutely right. You are being partial. I was doing what I was supposed to do. I was serving my country.”,  I asked.

“And he was serving his, he was carrying out his commands from the superiors, both in the nation’s interests.”, he replied.

“But you know they are wrong, I am right.” I tried hard to justify my point.

“Tell me one thing; who decides your fate and tells you what is right and what is wrong,the group of people sitting in the cabinet do...the procedure is same on the other side. And I am not interested in supporting the views of the bachelor, poet who heads your country or his counterpart, the man who publicly appears with arms and heads the other side.”

“I will tell you a story about a case, the best part is, it’s from your country. You want to hear it.”, he asked.

“Do I have a choice?” , I asked raising my hands sideways.

“No, I don’t think so.”, he answered.

“You know we have a lady who headed your country once. And after her demise it was her son who filled in her shoes. It was not possible for anyone to actually replace her but the most obvious choice was her son. She loved him very much and always wanted him to stay out of the trade. He was too innocent for the post and not as strong as her.”

“Ok I got it, you are talking about Mrs…..”,I spoke in excitement.

“You know the name, even I do. Let us keep it to ourselves. ”, he said hurriedly and I decided to retreat.

He continued. “Every single day after she came here, she spoke to me , she was only worried about her son. She was concerned about his health. The dangers he was in. She was well aware of the troubles he might land himself in by listening to others. I asked her about his friends down there who could have supported him. After a long thought she spoke about one of his friends. She described him as the biggest phenomenon the nation has ever seen.”

“Of course the whole nation is the admirer of Mr….”

“Let us keep it between”, he said.

”…ourselves”, I replied with my thumbs up.

“The problem was...she was not confident about him too. She knew even he won’t be able to support him...due to his own problems, when he will need him the most. She was not ready to see any remorse in his son’s eyes. He was unaware of many things which were shortly about to follow. She worried a lot about him and almost cried every time she showed up.”

“So what did you do?”, I was into the story completely.

“I asked her, what do you want me to do for him. She said she just wanted to hug him tight and tell him everything will be alright. she told whenever he was in trouble, how he would come to her, keep his heads in her laps...tell her that he felt the safest here, she would pat him and he would sleep. She said she wanted to tap his head. Telling this she got up and began to move. Just before leaving she turned back and told, he has not slept properly for ages now it seems. I could clearly see tears rolling down her cheeks. She was not happy. I tried to tell her that even she did not know what she demanded and would later repent it, but her motive was very clear. We kept it.”

“I was in a great fix. All of a sudden we received another prayer from a mother who as been praying continuously. We had to verify why was she praying, what was her motive. It was related to her daughter and we were shocked when we learnt her motive. She was praying for her daughter’s death.”

“I don’t understand. This is a bit unusual. ”, I was surprised.

“A bit…let me tell you the whole part. Her daughter joined a terror outfit about which she come to know only a few days earlier. When she tried to stop her, she found out that she had already stepped out on her mission.”

“What was the mission?”, I asked.

“To assassinate the person who was leading your nation. You get the connection now. The lady has always admired the leader, but somehow could not convince her daughter to do the same. The terror group her daughter joined, convinced her to convert herself into a human bomb and she was on her way to end the life of the most loved leader of your nation.  ”

“Her mother constantly wanted her daughter to die, as she had a family after her, and she feared her involvement would only bring her family shame. In addition to this there would be many persons who would simply dye without any cause. Her prayer was noble and the motive unquestioned, one of the best we received. We let both the mother’s wish go through. There was an explosion. The place was such that least number of persons got injured.  ”

“What happened to the lady, did she come back to you the next evening?”, I asked curiously.

“No she did not, I went on to look after her and finally spotted her near the spring, with a man resting in her laps peacefully, and she was tapping his head. I understood he was here and she had no more reasons to come back to me.”

“Now I think your case is a bit similar to this. I received prayers from your mother as well. You would be surprised to know what she has demanded...she would only eat after she had heard from you. I feel it was a bit unfair on your part. For that person to live, it was not necessary for you to die...there could have been other measures as well...Also I feel you need to take care of your mother. She is alone and lonely and no one to take care of her. So son you are also wearing white. Just like me and when I was a kid we used to do ‘Same Pinch’”, he smiled.

“Yes , But I don’t understand…eeeeeeeee”, I almost screamed as he pinched me in my arms.

“It hurts boss…ohh”, and he did it again.

“I will pinch you once more son, take care.”, he pinched me for a third time.

And as I opened my eyes, I saw my face illuminated with light. I tried to restrict the light by covering my eyes with my hands, the light was switched off and I turned to my left, to see the windowpane. The reflection was clear. It was a hospital. I saw my reflection and looked the white gown I was wearing...I then quickly touched my head...I felt the skull cap they use for covering the head during operations, probably my crown.  I quickly realized the similarity.

I started asking the nurse. What happened to me, how long I have been here and she didn’t respond to any of the questions but instead directed me towards another man. A man not old not young, in his early fifties, a vibrant face with a fixed smile and a prominent cut mark on his chin , quite fit staring at me.

“I am here to answer….”

“…all my questions. I know”, I interrupted him in between.

“Oh Yes, exactly. You know we just had a miracle in your case. We had lost all hopes of getting you back. You were almost dead for five minutes. And then as a last measure we pumped this life saving drug in your body, not once but thrice through injections.”, I smiled.

“Can I make a call, my mother would not have not ate anything.”, I asked him.

“Use my phone.” , telling this he punched the digits as I directed.

“There’s the ring.”, he handed over the phone to me.

“Hello, Maa.”

“Beta, how are you and where are you. You don’t know how relieved I am to hear you.”

“But I am not, why have you not eaten.”

“How do you know this….”, she was surprised.

“Cook , my favorite stuffed tomato, I am coming back , we will have tomorrow’s dinner together.”

“Sure, I am dying to see you.”

“And Maa I love you.”, I hung up telling this and handed over the phone to the doctor. He turned back and started moving out.

“Doctor, will you please come here,”, I called him.

“Thank you and same pinch”, I pinched him in his arms. He smiled and left.

 [ I would like to expressly convey to you (the reader) that were I to accidentally defame, purge, humiliate and or hurt someone's person or feelings as a result of them reading and or acting upon any or all of the information and or advice found here at my blog, it is entirely unintentional of me to do so.This blog is a result of a creative thinking and nothing to do with  reality and is a comlete work of fiction...I repeat a complete work of fiction and it's only related to a perception.I believe in my country and thoroughly respect the leaders,who parted their lives to strengthen our democracy.]

Untouchable in day

I remember that was an extremely hot and humid period, temperature almost soaring to 45 and to add more substance the humidity level was 96 that day in Kolkata may be it was then when the almighty thought enough was enough and suddenly out of nowhere the clouds went overcast.

We looked up at the sky smiled and felt the cool breeze. There wasn't a single human complaining...everybody wanted this.

I was at home and it was around 9 when it started. I am always mesmerized by rain fall. I get lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child come pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

The rain pattered and the wind rapped against all the windows in the entire area as long as my eyes swept. Although it was a chilly, dreary day, something pleasant could be felt in the air. The clouds shrouded the sky with an eerie, ominous blanket.

From my bedroom window, a couple could be seen walking against the unnerving storm. They were laughing and awfully cheerful, despite their umbrella had blown away, and their clothes were being soaked. Judging by how they had dressed, they were undoubtedly coming back from a restaurant, or some other occasion. Their faces were too far away to be closely described, yet their smiles could be seen from miles. The man had his arm around her; the rain was dripping down both of them.

I stretched out beneath my blanket, trying to catch some memories of childhood. I heard the rain hit the roof and drops hit my through the window. There wasn't enough money around to get actual glass, so we used plastic, but sometimes it came undone from the wind, today was no exception. I got up and pulled the plastic off entirely. I looked out, as rain hit my face, making me blink and turn away for only a moment. I always had loved rain... it meant father would stay inside and read to us or talk to us about his days and we were ever interested to hear him.

With all the thoughts in my mind I thought to step out as the rain slowly stopped it was around 11 if I could remember. The weather was amazing. There was a change the leaves looked much greener .I went to the foot bridge over one of the most busiest roads in the city. It was quiet almost no traffic and the lights were dull.I sat down at the steps when I saw a slim figure approaching me from the other side of the road,carrying a backpack, dressed casually walking on the steps she looked like a college girl, the only thing which did not permitted me of thinking that was the time.

I saw her going past me. She restlessly went to and fro on the foot bridge. It was not usual for a girl to be there this late at the first place. I was thinking the possible reasons of her being there and finally decided to speak her and as I approached her before even I could have uttered a word she said,"1500 bucks for the night. Please don't bargain.".

I compared my thoughts about her and the reality and then I could only smile nodding my head down.

"No Thanks",I replied.

"Ok come on now a 1000 is fine.",she told with her eyebrows raised.

"No,I said no", I replied immediately.

"800 Ok lets go.Which area?", she was desperate this time.

"I already said you no. Why don't you understand?", I almost lost it this time on her.

"You want it for free now, isn't it...first of all the weather and then customers like you...just".

"Excuse me, did I ask you anything, why you calling me a customer"...I cut her in the middle and spoke out.

"Then what are you doing at this time on the bridge...wait a minute are you just like me?",curiously she asked.

"Oh Please shut up will you.Just leave me alone.",i went down to the steps and sat there.

After some time she came and sat on the same step as far from me as she could. I saw her and started  to leave the place.

"I am not going to eat you...and please don't behave like a doodh ka dhula person.You would already had thought of nailing me when you first saw me. The only fact which stops you from doing so is the fact that I am a call girl. I tell you all the men are same. Nobody wants to pay.", she finished taking out all her frustration.

"You know everything don't you.",I replied with an annoying look and clapped.She looked away from me.

After a few moments of silence she searched something inside her bag,I tried not to look but couldn't help and looked through curiously and finally the activity stopped and her hands came out of the bag with a Classic Milds pack of 20 in one and a lighter in another.

I smiled as she took one out and lighted this. It was my brand. I looked at her with a tempting look and then she fired back.

"What now, here's have one now come on don't tell me that you don’t smoke...".I was more than happy to take one from the pack and light it. I thought may be I should have been a bit polite.

"So where you are from?", I enquired.

"Dohrighat, its a small village in UP you wouldn't have heard.",she replied.

"And how come you are in pro...I mean..."

"Prostitution" she intervened with a loud,clear and instant word.It was surprising how easily she uttered it.

"Yes ,whatever",I agreed.

"Forget it that's a long one...What do you do...where do you work or are you a student?".

"I work as Programmer in...".

"Wait, I see a potential customer coming.I can't waste the whole night chatting with you.",she told me looking at the person coming over the bridge.I saw her at some distance talking with the man.The man replying and then moving forward and she following him to some distance and then she gave up.

"Mothe******r you want me for 500 go and f*** your mother at home she is up for free.",she yelled.

The person came back to her throwing all his stuff and slapped her as hard as he could and then grabbed her by neck.I immediately rushed to the scene and removed her from his grip.

"Take it easy man,it's ok. You may leave".,I said him covering her.

"I'll kill you bitch...It will just take a push from this bridge and you will be gone...Bloody slut.", he approached her shouting. I came in between and asked him to leave.

I took him by his arm and gave his belongings telling him to leave. Finally he left. I turned back to see her sitting at the steps smoking another piece. I went and sat beside her.

"Are you alright?", I enquired.

"Ya don't worry it's usual." she answered taking a deep puff and pushed the packet and lighter towards me.

"I think you should have probably chosen better words.",I said politely lighting my stick.

"Please now don't teach me manners. I have enough of them.", she said annoyingly.

"Ok Ok fine.",I raised both my hands and then we were silent for some more time. A chai wallah appeared passing with a kettle in his hands and cups in his bucket.

"Simmy,what happened no customer's tonight?",asked the chai wallah and poured a cup for her looking towards me.

She looked at him and asked her to give me a cup as well.I reached out to my wallet to pay but he refused.

"It's monthly account Sir.",he left picking his bucket.

"So your name is Simmy,Is that your real name?"

She finally broke her silence after a few puffs.

"My name is Jyoti.Jyoti means light that's what baba told me."

"Ok so tell me how did you come here? What happened?", I carefully asked the question. As she was sitting at the ends water droplets tricked through the shed of the foot bridge over her and she moved a bit towards her left and then started.

"I am an intermediate.It was the maximum my parents could have paid for.My father is a farmer.There was an advertisement in a paper about a job interview.There was a telephonic interview and then they told me I had come down to the city for the final round."

The water trickled from the other end and it was my turn this time to move a bit right.

"My father arranged me some money to stay here and take the interview.My mother gave me some extra from her savings.They had a hope that I would earn some good money here which would support my 2 sisters for their further studies."

We saw another person walking up the bridge.He came up and asked her "How much?".I looked towards her and she smiled for the first time."I am busy",she replied and moved a bit closer to me making way for him to move up.

"Can you light another one please?"

I quickly pulled out one,did light it and raised it towards her.She had a long puff.I quickly repeated the same for me.

She continued."I gave the interview and was asked to stay at a place provided by the company.Two of the officials one of whom was named Prasad turned up at night and asked me to follow them and you know what they did.I was pushed into this then and there."

"You know I was sold to a man in his 40's at 15000 for the night.They said a virgin fetched more.I was given 10000 after my first night.I did send all the money to my parents.It was sufficient for them If I would have earned at the same pace.I accepted it as it was the only left path after that night." She talked about everything, about life and dreams and her home situations.

"Three days later I was sold to another man for 15000 again I had to act like a virgin this time and then it continued."She spoke about how she was hesitant in the beginning, but Prasad advised her that many girls have sex before marriage. Also after girls sell their “first time” they can pretend to be virgins to make more money.

“I wanted to make more money so I agreed.”,she said lighting another one this was our fifth straight.Every time Jyoti slept with someone she got 30% and he would keep 70%. “Customers” were to be introduced by the broker Prasad; she only needed to go to the designated locations.She earned much initially.Later Prasad asked her to just go the locations and he would settle her share at the end of the month.

“Ever since then, I had to see 2 to 3 customers everyday each time the price was anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 per night” Jyoti said every time the customer was introduced by Prasad, she would go to the designated hotel and have sex with the stranger. Every time she gave all the money to Prasad, but Prasad never split the profit with her.

Jyoti recalled how she pretended to be a virgin every time. “Price was very high for virgins.” Prasad and this other guy would go the market and buy a duck, pigeon or other small animals. They killed the animal and collected the blood. When there was a customer, after negotiating the price, they would make her bring a piece of sponge soaked with blood and go to the designated hotels.

Every time before she had sex, she would put the piece of sponge soaked with blood in her, afterwards, if “customer” saw blood, they would think she was a virgin and gave substantial amount of money.

“It was very disgusting. In the beginning I could not even eat. I always feel the animal’s blood was still in me.” Jyoti said, but because she needed to make money she still did it. And just like that, she pretended to be a virgin sold her body for 6 month.

“In order to pretend to be a virgin, every time I had unprotected sex” Jyoti said, she was always worried about catching sexual diseases. But for the money she could not refuse “customer’s” demands.

We could hear the bird's chirping.It was around 3:30 and the chai wallah returned.He poured another cup for us and left.

"This is it.",she smiled and looked at me.

"And what happen with Prasad and the money they owe you",I asked her.

"They never parted with it.I asked them once and got beaten up regularly.So I fled the area and changed my name.Don't know how long I would be able to?",She said sipping from her cup.

"Why don't you go to police. I mean they could help."

"And what would happen next. Let’s say they will help me with Prasad and what after that I am earning good for my family. Both my sisters are pursuing MBBS from Delhi.My parents think I work in an MNC.I don't want their dreams to shatter."

She continued "You see people love me at night and I suddenly turn untouchable in day.People fire weird remarks at me when I pass so I avoid getting out at daytime so better it's time for me to get some sleep.You may leave as well."

She collected her stuff and got up to leave and watched her descending the steps.

"Jyoti",I called her.She stopped and turned behind.I moved towards her and raised my hand.

"It was nice meeting you."

"Hey I forgot to ask what's your name?",she asked.

"Kabir...I am Kabir." shaking hands with her. She smiled and had a final look at the touch.

“I wished we would have met in other situations. ” , I said still holding her hands.

We walked in opposite directions.

“Kabir” she shouted and I turned back “Thanks” she said kissing her palms which I touched  .

Kabir...

My omega seamaster 3110 beeped as I looked on. It was 3:00 a.m.

My eyes were hurting, my body needed rest and most of all my mind needed to forget everything.

I pressed my eyes harder in order to get some sleep. As I closed my eyes I tried to recollect memories the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, the trip to The Alps and of course Jane my wife and our last conversation.

I was packing my last bag which contained all the required documents.

"Please Sean”, Jane said in a sad tone.

"It's alright we have discussed this”, I replied turning to her.

"You are doing absolutely fine here, we don't need that extra package, forget it Sean, we are just fine"

"It's not about the money Jane" "you know me, it’s once in a lifetime opportunity, they are sending the best guy available at THE TIMES for this assignment and that's me, you should be proud of me”, I assured her.

"I am proud of you but please that place is not safe, I have read about it”, she instantaneously answered.

"Don't worry the local authority will be at full help plus the police support will be 24 hours."

"Why can't you just listen to me" she broke into tears "Is your assignment more important than me, please don't Sean please”, she hugged me and started sobbing.

I cupped her face in my palms.

"I have to go Jane it's important, I have committed" "And I want you to prepare a long vacation list so that when I come back, we immediately fly to places with you like this”, saying this I lifted her in my arms and swung her. She smiled at last and I left.



My watch beeped again. It was 4:00a.m.

I touched the semicircular roof over my head as if touching her face.

I raised my head to notice it was still raining by the sound of gushing water but nothing was visible as it was dark outside.



"Get some more sleep, it’s impossible to move in these conditions”, said Comrade K adding some twigs to the fire with one hand while resting his other on AK-56.



It was hard to believe I was lying down in this hollow cemented pipe about 4 feet in diameter in a forest somewhere in Jharkhand for about 40 hours now and that too with a naxalite sitting next to me. why didn't I listened to Jane was the only question in my mind.



By every passing minute I was getting weak not only physically but mentally. In order to divert my mind I started thinking something else. I closely looked at Comrade K.There were some strange things about this man. He didn't spoke much. He never walked, ate or behaved like others in his team. In fact this was the first time he spoke to me but the most surprising thing was his name Comrade'K' just 'K'.



There were twists in my stomach due to hunger and now even water was limited around 300 ml. I crawled to the other end and tried to sneak out my head from the outlet of the pipe, came back wore my shoes and decided to go out in search of some food.



"That's not a good idea.”, said Comrade K.

I turned back to look. He was still in the same position adding twigs to the fire.

"I don't need suggestions”, I hurled back at him.

"These conditions are ideal for snakes.”, he always spoke in the same pitch.

"I said I didn't need suggestions”, I almost shouted at him.

"Yes you don't need suggestions you are intelligent people from intelligent countries”, for the first time he uttered the words in a sarcastic tone.



"Yes we are, and not like you’ll. You people exploit your country, exploit the villagers, abduct a journalist who came all this way leaving behind his family to do some good to your people and you talk about country, it doesn't suits you.”, I was not finished yet.

"And you…you don't even have a name, may be your parents were in hurry...huh buddy”, at this last line he gave me a stare, the fire reflected on his face and his eyes were clearly burning.

"Enough! Shut your mouth and sleep”, he said grinding his teeth.

"Why just because you have a gun, I should shut my mouth. I do not deserve this place, I do not deserve these conditions and I do not deserve an ignorant, lowbrow like you...Do you think I deserve this life?",I shouted on his face.



"I am not sure about yours but I don’t deserve this life", he yelled back at me.

"I wasn't born with this thing”, raised the AK-56.

"I am not an ignorant I am a qualified person probably more than you and I…I never exploited anyone, just let the rain get over and then Get Lost”, I was shocked whom I was talking to and with infinite questions in my mind I turned away from him.

"Just remember one thing never ever talk about my parents again”, he said pointing his index finger towards me and gently shook his head.

"And the name is Kabir."

My Favourite Day

From the time I left college I saw people posting some pretty usual posts on fb “Hey I got my first salary”,”My first day at office”,”My second day at office”,”My third day at office” some surprising ones were “Look at my professional look and others which don’t even qualify for the list”
I never thought of posting any such thing as I didn’t noticed any difference because I loved writing codes this was all I wanted to do until today I didn’t knew what I was missing…
Until today when I was going through ways and roads and passed through people there were many of them,a girl  staring at me with probably all the colors available in the market on her face and when she smiled even her teeth were wearing some sort of a pink colour…A mid aged man probably in his 50′s hurling water balloons at me which I survived some how…Kids runnin after each other to paint their already painted faces…and a lot of people just simply meeting and moving on the streets…for some reason they were happy extremely happy…
And then I came across a college hundred of students were playing colors,dancing in the water showered upon them from the top,they were ecstatic,they were enjoying and then I realised I was there a year back,As my auto passed across them I could easily see somewhere in the crowd there was akhil,asif,ashish,ranu,avinash,abhi(I am sorry if I missed anyone’s name) all of them looking at me and smiling and suddenly they started chasing a boy caught him and painted him and then the boy turned back looking at me and asking me to join him…It was me…
I reached office,picked up the newspaper,the coffee machine served cappuccino at a click with all sorts of sound and suddnely I wished the place could be same…and as I walked through the bay to my seat I thought my destiny bought me a seat,an opprtunity in one of the biggest software exporters of the world…I will be ever obliged to GOD for the same…But what it took in return was huge,a chunk out of my life and till today I didn’t even know what I had left back…
So I have already worked over three months and drawn a handsome salary(thrice:-) ) from the company…Today I feel it was my first day at office…Happy Holi to all of you…

A story never told...

The first thing which I remember when I opened my eyes was 4 persons staring at me.3 of them were looking at me and then at the fourth person with dilating pupils while the fourth person was the oldest of the lot constantly examining me.

                                      “Sir you are going to love this, it is perfect”.

He took me in his hands and started moving me in different directions on the paper. He scribbled his name which was

“George Safford Parker”.

“Excellent, Good Work boys”, he nodded with a smile.

I was a special,crafted gold I.M.Parker pen made on a special request by a Swiss lady Mileva Marić for her husband as their first anniversary gift.

I was presented to her by George Parker himself. By watching the treatment she received you could easily guess she was an important person.

She quickly placed me inside a red velvet cover box. The box was mesmerizing with royalty spilling from every side. I enjoyed lying inside the box.

It was boring down there after few days and I wanted to get out desperately, it was an amazing feeling ; even  velvet starts hurting after a long time…

Anyways finally I felt some quakes and shakes and at last the box was opened. On the other side of the box were words inscribed “With love Albert”. The words matched my colour.

The person took me in his hands and raised it to everyone present in the party and then kissed the lady. He found me beautiful and everyone else agreed by raising their glasses in air.

In the coming days I was being used a lot. I went through a lot of scribbling. Albert had a good habit. He always started his day with the date on the top.

 One fine day I don’t remember the day exactly but after continuously pouring ink through me for over 2 nights this person wrote these characters  “E=mc2” and shouted in joy.

After this incident I didn’t saw Mileva for a long time.

Then one day I saw her outside the Zurich High Court. I was more than happy to see her after a long time.Albert and Mileva climbed the stairs.

I could easily feel the thumping of Albert’s heart. It was faster than normal, may be the reason were the staircases or the woman walking on those.

They entered a room and Albert signed against his name and handed over me to Mileva. She signed on the same against her name, her hands were trembling I could easily make that and later a drop from her eye through her cheeks fell on me to confirm this. I was wondering what happened and as they turned to the main page. It was written in bold letters

 “Agreement Of Divorce”

 dated 14^th Feb 1919.She held me hard towards her chest and cried and then handed me over to Albert.

Nobody asked me where did I want to stay?

Anyways life moved on and it was 1931 when my master was hosting an Indian guest. He was about to return to India the same day and Albert took me out and wrote a letter dated 27^th Sep,1931 to a man called M.K.Gandhi and handed it over to his guest and asked him to give it to him.

As he was suppose to go, Albert had a look on me and handed me over to the person and asked him to give it to Gandhi as a gift from him.

Two weeks later I was in India where the person handed the letter and me to a person whom he referred to as Bapu…He did the same and raised to show me to everyone present in that room and all of them tried moving me on paper. Among them one signature looked extremely beautiful was

After that I was not used much and soon after a long time a person came to meet Bapu. He touched his feet and showed the newspaper and asked him to sign it. It was dated 15^th August 1947 and in big fonts was stated

 “BIRTH OF INDIA’s FREEDOM”

Bapu signed on the paper with a message:

“Truth alone triumphs, be it whatever. Do the same Aggarwal. I believe in you and so does the whole country”.

                                            

                                      

                                                         

Some days after I was again in a courtroom and a statement was being written with me; the lines were:

 “After hearing all the eye witnesses I hereby declare that Nathuram Godse was found guilty and thus awarded death penalty for killing M.K.Gandhi on 30^th January,1948.”
                                                                        –Atma Charan Aggarwal.

                       

My new master then took me to his home and kept me in his drawer and never took me out again. Then One day I was handed over to a museum in Delhi. They wrote a long history about me and placed me in a glass shelf.

 Many people came and went everyday but no one was allowed to touch me. I wanted to be taken and written. I was dry and I wanted to be filled up but I couldn’t because even though they call us mightier than the sword, neither can we stand on our own nor can we express what we feel. We can articulate what our owners feel or what they want but not about our own selves.

One night a light flashed on me.I remember they were two guys who took me out breaking the glass. They were thieves who took me out from the museum with other artefacts. Suddenly I was lying in between bottles with label “Single Malt Scotch”.

I was left there for the night and the next morning there were 4 persons staring at me.3 of them were looking at me and then at the fourth person with dilating pupils while the fourth person was the oldest of the lot constantly examining me. I remembered how life has come full circle for me.

“Sir you are going to love this”, he took me in his hands and asked “Does this work” and scribbled on paper. With all my pressure I blocked d ink inside me and didn’t produce anything on the paper instead of repeated blows by the man.

And with a powerful blow I was lying on the floor after crashing to the wall...Remembering what times I have lived…What deeds I have done...It did hurt...It did hurt a lot…You see I was in hands of some interesting people who defined history and now I am a history…

[The above events are not to be considered as a fact, these are my personal interpretation what may have had with a pen during the time.It was my attempt to see some of the interesting events in history through the eyes of a pen.]

Why Grass is Green?

My mom used to take me for a walk in the park when I was a kid…I noticed a strange thing when we went to the park…she opened her slippers and started walking on the grass barefoot…I noticed some most beautiful things back then…it was her ankle bells they were beautiful…I wished I could have 2 of those one for me and one for Disha,oh I am sorry I forgot to introduce Disha(Disha was one of my neighbours,a beautiful girl who seemed another obvious reason for me to visit the park daily without fail,we had many things in common,she was a complan girl I was a complan boy you see)…

Later I enquired mom why did she surrendered her slippers before walking on the grass and she said it was good for the eyes and health and I told her I will do the same if you want will that allow me to  skip the glass of Complan I was forcefully fed before sleeping…

Then it happened one day…that day the grass was more beautiful than the other mornings…it was more greener it looked as if it was brand new…The drops of water on it the dew drops were no less than a diamond I must say…the sun was just perfect in timing as it magnified the beauty…

I popped the question again…

“Why is grass green mom?”She looked amazingly towards me

“What do you mean by why is it green…it is green because it is green”,she replied

“But why not it is red like apple or blue like the water why does it have to be only green?”

Mom evaluated the situation quickly and thought it was better to explain one question rather than answering why apple is red why hair are black why sun is yellow and so on and on…

So she replied “It is a kind of magic which God did to earth,it was green because he wanted it to be”

I was mesmerised by the fact,I started thinking God was so powerful,sitting out somewhere above us he was making the grass right here look green…He was so powerful…He could do anything if he could turn the grass to green…

14 years later..I am a so called adult now…I know the grass is green because of some weird pigment which is otherwise very useful(Read:Chlorophyll),but you see now I have got a very practical approach to everything and I know its not magic the beauty does not mesmerise me anymore…

I liked the previous reason more than anything else…Some questions are better left unanswered…whenever I see grass i have few things to recollect…my mom ankle bells…my childhood…the almighty ofcourse…the weird pigment and my complan girl… 

Resolution 2012:Go Green

At the end of each year for as long as years have been counted, humans have been known to come up with resolutions for the next one. Following them through is easy for the first weeks of January but then comes February and the deeper we get into spring, the further away we sail from the resolutions we made in those dark and cold last hours of the previous year but, this year is special as I became a part of a world class organisation and looking at the efforts it is currently undertaking towards a better tomorrow by Going Green reflects the true thought and delivering nature that is making it stand apart among its competitors.

Going by my resolution for this new year would be to mindful of and sensitive to the natural environment in your daily life.

I am going to implicate the 3 ‘R’s of environmental protection.

Popularly known as Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

See to be very clear and precise I have always thought of things which I or people around me use in excess, like wasting food items and water when people on the other regions of the planet not too far (Read Somalia,Nanchang,etc) were deprived of even a drop of water (not mentioned food as it was only a distant dream).

We should Reduce our consumption which in turn would Reduce our waste.

The first step is reducing the amounts of resources I consume and use. I will surely think twice before buying or using anything. I will surely pop up a question every time I buy something “Do I really need it?” By reducing our consumption we would also decrease the amount of waste produced. And, while writing this para I recalled, wasn’t this the thing which mom and dad always suggested…I tell you, parents are always right.

There are endless ways to reduce the waste we often mistakenly produce. Some of the very simple ones would be to think before a print or photocopy, to print and copy as little as possible, edit on screen and not on paper, use e-mail to minimize paper use, whenever going for a  print or copy, do it double-sided, change the margins on your Word documents. The default margins on the documents you print are 1.25 inches on all sides. Simply changing the margins to 0.75 inches will reduce the amount of paper you use by almost 5 percent. (I loved the last point. just wonder how eliminating 0.5 would save us 5 )

Reduce my energy consumption by simply turning off my computers when not in use  or simply and also I am going to install a master switch outside my room which I would switch off when I go to work in case there are any appliances on by mistake.

 While writing this piece I understood the quote Rochelle mam, my English teacher at school,  told us, “The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.”

As I mentioned at the start of the article its time for the second ‘R’ Reuse.

Before disposing anything for garbage just give a thought can it be used for anything else and if you don’t get an answer give it another thought you will definitely get some use of the article something’s like plastic containers can become food storage, paper can become wrapping paper. The ways in which to reuse things are unlimited. All we need is to be creative. I came out with some excellent  creative ideas while going through a post on a website which suggested that we could reuse envelopes by placing a new label over the old address, designate a box for scrap paper and use it for printing all drafts or unofficial documents, reuse plastic bags or better get a reusable canvas bags.

Finally the third ‘R’ Recycling, it’s the most important aspect as long as the stats show such as we should wrap presents in gift bags because once we tear the wrapping paper off a holiday gift it ends up in the recycle bin, but gift bags can and should be used over and over again.

Just when I went through this fact I was completely blown off  knowing that we could operate a TV set for an estimated three hours with the energy saved by recycling just one aluminum can.(Source:Wikipedia)

Last but not the least I would encourage my friends and all near and dear ones to incorporate atleast one ‘R’ in this new year as good things must be spread because by going by Henry David Thoreau “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.”

Thinking green means being aware of our interconnectedness with the world and reflecting on the unintended damage we cause nature in the daily course of our lives. Thinking green leads to acting green - taking corrective action to make environmental responsibility a reality.

If there is just one thing you take from this lens, today please promise that you will change the way you do just one thing and incorporate at least one if not three ‘R’s

Whether it be to switch off the electronic appliances or reusing paper or always carrying a canvas shopping bag in your purse, just one thing WILL make a difference!

I wish you success in fulfilling your goals for the new year and don’t forget that together we can move mountains. Remember “Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground.“Here’s to a fresh green start of 2012!

Thank you and Go Green!

Yeh Dil Maange More...Does It?

Cricket I tell you must be one of the games to have the most STUPIDEST records that we know of, a few examples if I may. He is the first left handed player to score a run with a right hand. He is the first player to score a hundred on this ground playing against Australia batting second.First team to win on this ground scoring in excess of 273 runs chasing. First test team to win in three days against west indies. First player to score a hundred only with boundaries. Fastest hundred on this ground, fastest hundred against this team……….I can come up with some of my own if you like…..First player to stand 22 cms away from the boundary line to take a catch, First player to stand 21cms away from the boundary line to take a catch, Only player to have been digging his nose before he took the catch, First batsman to hit the ball from the bottom 85% of the bat and score a six….seriously no wonder its not a global sport and has no place in the Olympics

First day in the CITY OF JOY

For sometime now I have been thinking a lot on transformation and transformaton and transformation and still transformation. As we stepped into this corporate world I hope everyone of us every single one of us has expected an entry similar to the king of bollywood with both hands stretched,relieved from any other pressure and free from every burden letting us feel the cool air on our faces… The expectations were high and what we got in terms of infrastructure,quality,facilities and vision was sky high.There was a feeling,a feeling like we have won the race we have done a tapasya and when the results flashed in our mail the tatasthu happened but little did we know that how much we had to learn on the first day itself… I was instructed by my friend to go to Haldirams and from there take down a bus to Unitech.Haldirams came and passed and I was sitting like a king in the auto then suddenly the autowale bhaiya turn towards me and said “What are you waiting for? Get out of the auto this is haldiram already are you going to sit the whole day here?” I was never expecting this on a morning that too on the first day…I realised there was much to life than just memorising and writing our exams and we haven’t conquered everything by just landing this opportunity,”Sustaining a position is always much harder than attaining it.” I asked myself Was I supposed to learn everything on the first day itself? Atleast the Autowale Bhaiya thought exactly the same.