--- stories by a corporate convict ---

A land with no houses

2012-01-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

I can walk miles,
Just by looking at your never ending smile.

I can live on for years,
Your voice, when I hear.

Your eyes have taught me to dream again,
And that our lives shall not go in vain.

In my dreams I see,
Birds flying above the trees.

Far far away in a land where there are no houses,
We ride endlessly on our horses.

As the sun shines,
Riding on horses of time.

There's a river which cuts in between,
We cross a wooden bridge, in the fog unseen.

We ride together,
Not meeting, forever.

The land doesn't end and it goes on for miles,
Like the curve of your lips in a never ending smile.

The Thief

2012-01-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

The mother sat on her haunches,cradling the baby on her lap. Her shadow danced on the mud wall behind her asthe dry wood crackled and burnt in the blackened brick stove in one corner ofthe room. In the other corner sat the old mother-in-law watching the mother andthe child with her bony hands on her mouth. The night outside the hut was dark.The incessant rain trying to drown the village of Bankura in West Bengal hadlet up in the past few hours. The mother sobbed and wiped her nose with thetattered end of her cotton saree as she rocked on her haunches. The month oldchild’s chest rose and fell as he breathed through his open mouth with awheezing noise. A puddle had formed in the middle of the room from where theroof had been leaking.

The father ran inside the house, hisknee length dhoti muddied from hisouting. Another man followed him inside as he closed the black umbrella andshook the water from it. The man wore an ankle length dhoti and white kurta.The father removed the gamcha tiedaround his forehead and squeezed it stretching his hands outside the door.

The man kept the umbrella near the entranceand sat beside the mother and the child. He took the thin hands of the childbetween his fingers and thumb and applied some pressure. He looked gravely atthe child’s chest. He put his hand on the chest and felt a soft rumble everytime the chest went up and down. He shook his head and took out a packet fromthe bag hung on his shoulders. The packet was wrapped in a couple of banyanleaves.

“What is the matter Vaidji?” The father asked as he stood,with his hands folded.

“Madan, I told you to take him to thetown. This pneumonia is beyond me.” Vaidjireplied. He opened the banyan leaves, took some green paste from the leafand applied it with soft hands on the heaving chest of the child.

Another man wearing a saffron clotharound his shouldered entered the hut. Madan and Vaidji turned around to look at the man.

“It’s only a matter of a few hoursnow.” Vaidji said shaking his headgravely. The mother gave out a short yelp, covered her mouth with the end ofher saree and began to sob.

“I had told you earlier, the child’s Shani has a fault and his mother’s Rahu is in the wrong place he will becritically ill and die.” The man wearing the saffron cloth addressed thecracked wall opposite him. The mother started to cry audibly.

“Panditjiisn’t there a solution?” Asked Madan, his voice wreaked of a father’sdesperation.

“You will have to sell the child.” Panditji replied coldly.

“How can a father sell his own child?”Madan asked sitting down on floor with his hand on his head and his voiceshaking with grief.

“Who has the money to buy the child?And what is the guarantee that after the child is sold he will be cured?” Viadji said standing up and wiping hishand with the end of the kurta.“Don’t believe in these superstitions Madan and take the kid to the townhospital as soon as possible.”

“When the child is sold, he willbelong to someone else and his mother’s fault will no longer affect him. Youhave to sell him and spend the money on buying Prasad for the Devi inthe temple and feed the Prasad to a Brahman.” Panditji said turning around and beginning to leave, “and sell thechild for liquid money, not food or cloth or any other barter. Only liquidmoney, and no less that Rs. 21. It’s an auspicious number, if you want to savehim.”

Panditjiwent out of the housefollowed by Vaidji and Madan.

“Vaidji,why don’t you buy my child? I will be your slave for the rest of my life.”

“I don’t have any money on me Madan.Nobody has paid me in liquid money in a long time. They give me some rice orwheat in return for my medicines.”

“Panditji…”Madan looked at the priest questioningly.

“How can a Brahman buy a Chamaar’s child?Are you out of your mind?” Panditji shoutedat Madan. “Do you think we can dismiss these classes created by God himself onour whims and fancies?

“Someone stole twenty one rupees thatsomeone had donated to the Devi fromthe temple this evening.” Panditji continuedand spat on the ground. “This village has lost all its morality. Stealing fromthe Devi’s feet is disgusting. Nowonder you mortals are suffering like this.”

Madan ran to a neighboring house andknocked on the door. A short man opened the door and came out.

“Kalua, please buy my child, he isdying, it’s the only way to save him.”

Kalua looked at Madan and then at Vaidji. Listening to the commotion a fewmore doors opened and people came out of their huts and stood around Madan.

“What is the matter?” Kalua asked.Madan gave them an account of what Panditjihad told him about saving the life of his child.

“I can only give you a handful of ricefor your child.” Hariya said keeping a hand on Madan’s shoulder.

“Rice won’t do Hariya, I have to sellmy son for twenty one Rupees nothing less.”

Soon everyone was out of their hutsstanding in the middle of the 30 house village under a dark sky, which was nowbeginning to clear after the torrential rains. None of the villagers hadanything other than consolation to give.

“This is what will happen toeveryone’s family when people steal from the Devi’s feet.” Panditjisaid sharply. Everyone knew about the theft that evening. The Pandit had created a huge ruckus overit. Everybody started murmuring amongst themselves discussing the kind oftroubles that could befall on the village due to the theft.

“Bapu,should I buy his child?” whispered Panditji’sfifteen year old son.

“What?”

“I have some money with me.” The sonshowed two ten rupee note with a one rupee coin in his palm. The coin had afaint smear of vermilion on it. Panditji staredat the money in horror. No one noticed Panditjigrabbing the son by his arm and pulling him towards their house behind thetemple.

“Stay inside, you thief, you will ruinmy hard earned reputation in the village.” Panditjisaid gritting his teeth and pushed the son inside the house and closed thedoor shut behind him.

“I will buy the child.” A man squattingunder a banyan tree shouted, as Panditjireturned with the expectation of making a quick buck out of someone’s ill fate.Everyone turned around to look at the source of the deep voice.

“I will buy the child, I have themoney.” The man repeated shuffling a bit under the tree adjusting his weight.

“AeyKarim, where did you get the money from?” Kalua shouted.

“I went to the town today did some workas a coolie and earned this money.”

“Why would you buy a Hindu’s child?”Someone from the crowd asked.

“A child is a child. And besides wemust save every life.”

“AeyKarim, you have been known to be involved in a lot of hanky panky stuff, howcan we believe that it’s your hard earned money and has not come from somedubious means?” Kalua shouted again.

“No, I have left my past behind. I ama changed man. I don’t want to go to the jail again. I swear on my dead ammi.”

“There has been a theft in the temple,you know.” Someone in the crowd whispered.

“Yes I heard, someone stole twenty onerupees from the Devi’s feet.”

Panditji heard the whispering.

“How much money do you have? We needtwenty one rupees.” Madan said walking towards where Karim was now standing.

“I have twenty one rupees.” Karim saidreassuringly.

“Wait, how do we know that you haven’tstolen the money? There has been a theft in the temple today.” Panditji spoke, stepping forward.

“No, Panditji, I did not steal it from anywhere I earned this as acoolie in the town today.”

“How can we believe you? You have oncegone to jail for stealing in the next village.” Panditji said again. “Madan if you let this man buy your child withthis tainted money, not only your child will die but unspeakable trouble willcome upon each and everyone in this village.”

Madan looked at Panditji his eyes wide in grief and horror. The short spark of hopewas now lost forever. Will his child be saved, he thought?

Inside the hut, the child’s breathing grewfaint with every passing moment. The mother was crying as a few women gatheredaround her, tried to console her. Outside in the conundrum of the thefteveryone forgot about the ailing child and wailing mother.

“Yes that’s right, we will not letsomeone from another religion to get away after stealing from our temples.” Aman shouted from the crowd. A murmur ran through the dark night.

“What are you waiting for? Reclaim theDevi’s money from this man.” Panditji shouted pointing towards Karimand looking towards the crowded. Madan stood in one place stunned into inactionas the horde ran towards Karim. Karim began to run, but the crowd caught upwith him. As the villagers swooped upon Karim, Madan heard his wife’s wailsfrom inside the hut. Karim began to shout for help as the villagers started tobeat him up. Madan ran inside the house and saw the child lying motionless onthe floor and the wife cried and wailed and beat her bossom.

Innocent Questions

2011-12-06T08:15:00.001-08:00

“I want todrink that.” She said pointing at the golden liquid in the glass.

“No, thisis my drink. You can’t have my drink. You have your own drink.” I said.

“What areyou drinking?” She asked.

“Whiskey.”I said, making a hissing sound.

“What areyou drinking?” I asked.

“Lemonade.”She said making a clicking sound inside her mouth and emphasizing on the‘d’.

She fellback and rested herself on my chest, and felt the fabric of the tie hanginglimp from my neck.

“Will youleave me?” She said looking at the tie.

“No. Whywould I leave you?” I asked in reply.

“You knowAamir?”

“The boywho saves you a seat every morning in the bus?” I asked.

“Unhunn!”She replied shaking her head as she sipped the lemonade from the tall glass.

“Yeah!”

“His fatherleft him.” She said as I sipped from the glass.

“Oh! Where didhe go?”

“He died.”She turned her head to look at me.

“Oh! That’sso sad.” I replied looking at her eyes.

“Will you die too?” She put her glass on thetable and stood facing me, her knees on my thighs and hands on my shoulders. Iheld her lightly, my hand on her back.

“Yes.” Inodded slowly.

She staredblankly at my face.

“Did yourfather die too?”

I noddedagain.

“Do allfathers die?”

“Everyonedies.”

“Will mom dietoo?”

“Yeah.”

“Daadi?”She asked, still holding on to my shoulders and looking at my lips.

“Yes.” Isaid pushing her hair back from her forehead.

“Why do wedie?”

“We become old and then we die.”

“Will I dietoo?”

I smiled,put my hand on her cheek and caressed it with my thumb.

“When youare very old,” I said, “first this hair will turn grey,” I held a hair betweenmy fingers, “then this one will turn grey,” I said holding another strand, “andthen this and this and then all the hair on your head will be grey.”

She laughed throwing her head back. I laughed with her.

“Then whatwill happen?”

“Then youwill lose your teeth. First this one,” I said holding her one front tooth, “andthen this one,” I said pointing to another, “and then you will lose all yourteeth.” I said rubbing my nose against her.

Shechuckled, showing a couple of holes in the set of bright teeth. She looked atme calmly. I pushed her hair back from her brows again, looked into her browneyes trying to understand what was going on in her seven year old mind.

“Will I loseall my hair too, like you did?” She asked innocently.

The Phone Call - Part - 2

2011-11-28T06:37:00.001-08:00

Click Here to read the first part of this story The Phone Call - Part - 1

Asharp thunderclap jolted Ravi and Kumar out of the shock.

“Ithink we should leave now.” Ravi said.

Astreak of lightening fell into the sea lighting the dark room. In the lightKumar looked again at the silhouette of the telephone and nodded to Ravi.

Kumarshut the window after Ravi jumped out of. They walked out as the rain startedto pour. Both were too shock to speak or even look for a shade to protectthemselves from the rain. They found their bike still in the place where theyhad left it. The paan wala washurriedly shutting the shop. A battered wall clock inside the kiosk showed fivepast eleven.

“TwoWills Classic.” Ravi said as he walked up to the paan wala. The paan wala gavean annoyed look at Ravi, found a pack and pulled out a couple of cigarettes. Kumarwalked into the porch of a closed shop. Ravi followed him.

“Soundslike a good front page story for your newspaper.” Ravi blew a cloud of pungentsmoke.

“No,it doesn’t make any sense. It is clear that nobody has been into that buildingin recent times, then who called me a couple of hours back?”

“That’sright, it’s an unbelievable story.” Ravi said still not believing their smalladventure.

“Ithink this Ajay will hold the key to everything. We have to find him.” Kumarwhispered.

“Andhow are we going to do that?”

“Mineis an Alliance Telecom number right?”

“Sowhat?”

“Maybesomeone else had it before I did.”

“Youare saying that someone named Ajay had it before you and it was actually awrong number.” Ravi said, words flowing out slowly out of his mouth with thesmoke.

“Doesn’tAnuradha work for Alliance Telecom?” Kumar asked as he threw the butt of thecigarette and crushed it with his shoes.

****

“NoI am sorry, we cannot dole out customer information even to our fiancé.”Anuradha whispered to Ravi, looking around her cubicle to check if anyone waslistening to their conversation.

“Please,come on Anu, no one will know.” Ravi begged in a hushed voice.

“Seethis is important we have to know what that call was all about, someone’s lifemight be in danger.” Kumar said, as always his voice was calm. Being ajournalist he knew how to get information out of people.

“Ican’t do this. I can’t put my career at stake for a silly prank that someoneplayed on you two.” Anuradha said, shifting her gaze from Kumar’s piercing eyesto Ravi’s begging eyes.

“No”, she repeated firmly.

****

“Nowwhat?” Ravi asked as they came out of the building. Kumar looked at him withpursed lips. Ravi’s phone began to ring.

“Anuradha.”He said showing the mobile to Kumar.

“Yesdarling?” he said in a soft voice, “Okay.” He said after a pause. He gesturedKumar for a pen. Kumar asked a man standing nearby, the man handed him a pen.

“Ahhhunn”,Ravi took out a half empty pack of cigarettes and started to scribble on it.

“…butthe lady said Ajay?”

“…Ookay sorry. Thanks. You are such a darling sweetheart.” Ravi disconnected thephone. Kumar was looking at him with a smirk on his face.

“What?You will know when you are engaged.” Ravi retorted.

“Anuradhagave this address. She said in 2004 the number was allocated to one VinitaSolanki.” Ravi said handing over the pack of cigarettes to Kumar.

“Butthe lady said Ajay on the phone then how can the number belong to a female? Isshe sure the number wasn’t transferred to anyone else later?” Kumar asked.

“No,she said that the number was discontinued in the same year in December.”

“Igot this number in 2010. Someone else by the name of Ajay might have got it inbetween. Let’s go and check out the address.” Kumar said reading from thepacket.

“What?Now? No way, I have to be back at the office.”

“Youare already an hour late, you can take a half day off.” Kumar said mounting thebike. Ravi couldn’t resist, things were getting far too excited. He sat on thepillion.

****

Theyreached a high rise building and parked the bike outside. After signing in thevisitor’s register, they took the lift to the thirteenth floor.

“1302.”Kumar checked the cigarette packet.

AJAY SOLANKI.

Thename plate on the ebony door said. Ravi and Kumar exchanged glances.

“Rightnow, I wish, life had a background score.” Ravi said, excitedly.

Kumar pressedthe doorbell. A woman dressed in a short cream colored sleeveless dress openedthe door.

“Yes,may I help you?” The woman said. Ravi looked her up and down admiring her curvaceousphysique and immaculate skin.

“Myname is Kumar, we are here to meet Mr. Ajay Solanki.” Kumar said.

“ButAjay has already left for office.” The woman replied.

“Ohactually we have come to interview him for a newspaper article and he had givenus an appointment to meet him here but due to traffic we are late. Can you giveus his office address?”

“Wait.”The woman said and disappeared closing the door behind her.

“Askher if she is Vinita.” Ravi whispered.

Thedoor opened. The woman gave a visiting card to Kumar.

“Thishas Ajay’s office address and phone number.”

“Thankyou so much. Are you Mrs. Vinita Solanki?” Kumar asked.

“No!”said the woman with a hint of suspicion and surprise.

“Ohok!” Kumar mumbled, suppressing the surprise in his voice.

“Howdo you know Vinita by the way?” she asked.

“Wellerr… We actually…”

Acell phone began to ring somewhere inside the apartment.

“Excuseme, I will be right back.” she said and went inside closing the door.

“Let’sleave before she comes back.” Ravi said. They pressed the button of the waitinglift, got inside and pressed the ground floor button.

“Thatwas close.” Ravi said. “If she wasn’t Vinita, then who was that woman?”

Kumarlooked at the visiting card.

AJAY SOLANKI
ManagingDirector
Solanki Group of Hotels

“Shallwe go and meet him?”

Ravinodded slowly still contemplating the question.

****

Atthe office of Solanki Group of Hotels the receptionist dialed a number.

“Fromwhich newspaper you said?”

“MumbaiDaily.” Kumar replied.

“Mr.Kumar from Mumbai Daily.” She said into the telephone.

“Whatis it in regard with?” She said looking up to Kumar.

“Aninterview for an article.”

Shespoke into the phone again. “Okay sir.” She scribbled something on the notepad.

“Youcan go in. His cabin is the last one on the right.” She said looking bored.

Ravimuttered a hasty thank you and followed Kumar into the office. The office wassmall but plush with wall to wall carpet and paintings of European architecturehung on the walls. MD, declared a glass cabin at the end of the office. Ajaywas talking on the phone. Kumar knocked. Ajay nodded at them to come in. Asthey went in Ajay gestured them to take a seat. Ravi and Kumar sat on heavy leatherrevolving chairs and waited for Ajay to finish his phone call.

“Sorryto keep you waiting. What will you have tea or coffee?”

“Nothingwe are just fine.” Kumar said.

“Sotell me how can I help you?”

“Myname is Kumar and this is Ravi. Mumbai Daily is doing a feature on hoteliers inMumbai and we wanted some inputs from you.”

“Iwill be happy to contribute. Please go on ask whatever you want.” Ajay repliedwith a bright smile.

Kumartook out his writing pad and started to ask routine questions about thehospitality industry, the Solanki Group etc. Ajay answered the questions quiteeloquently. Kumar asked a few questions related to ownership and shareholdingpatterns of the group.

“Whoall in your family are the shareholders?”

“Wellours is a family business, I am the majority stake holder and my wife owns 24%of the shares and her uncle Mr. Ashok Solanki who is also in the board ofadvisors owns 10%.”

“Yourwife means, Mrs. Vinita Solanki?” Kumar asked. Both Ravi and Kumar sat up notknowing what to expect.

“What?What do you mean by asking that kind of question?” Ajay’s voice rose.

His calmface was visibly disturbed.

Raviand Kumar nervously looked at each other.

“Ithought you journalists did your research before interviewing someone.”

“Wellwe just…”

“Iwill not tolerate this. This interview is over. Please leave now.”

“ButMr. Solanki, at least tell us where she is?” Ravi blurted out.

“That’senough I will not have someone making fun of my dead wife like this.” Ajayshouted. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Raviand Kumar were stunned in to silence.

“Leaveright now or I will have to call the security.” Ajay stood up from his seat andshouted at the top of his voice.

“RelaxMr. Solanki, we are leaving.” Ravi and Kumar got up from their seats. As theyturned around to leave they saw everyone staring at them through the glass wallsof the cabin. They came out of the cabin and walked towards the exit.Everyone’s gaze followed them.

Ajayflopped on his seat and wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. He picked upthe phone and dialed an intercom number. He picked up the glass on the tableand sipped some water. The phone connected after two rings.

“Didyou see the two men leaving my cabin?” Ajay spoke into the phone looking acrosshis cabin into another cabin where a man was speaking in to the phone.

****

Kumarand Ravi came out of the office building and stood in the parking lot near thebike trying to figure out what just happened.

“IfVinita Solanki is dead, then who called me last night?”

“Andhow can one call from that dust covered phone without touching it?”

“Yeahthat too.” Kumar said. “I think this is deeper than just a phone call. Come Iwill drop you at your office.”

Theysat on the bike but they did not notice the man listening to their conversationand pretending to kick start a motorcycle. Kumar and Ravi left on their motorbike. The man followed them on his own motorcycle. Kumar dropped off Ravi athis office and then he went in to his office and disappeared into the building.

****

Froma distance the man saw Kumar disappear into the Mumbai Daily office. He tookout his phone and dialed a number.

“MayI speak to Mr. Kumar in Mumbai Daily?” He said.

Hewaited patiently tapping his feet, as the phone played a soft waiting tone.

“Hello,Mr. Kumar?”

“NoKumar is not on his seat. Who is this?”

“Ijust wanted to speak to him regarding an interview he had scheduled with me.”The man said looking towards the gate of the building to see if Kumar wasleaving.

“Canyou give me his mobile number? I will get in touch with him directly this isurgent.” The man said.

Hementally made a note of the number that was given from the other side. Hedisconnected the call immediately and saved the number on his phone. He dialedanother number.

“Yesthe man’s name is Kumar and he is a reporter for Mumbai Daily.”

“Theother one was dropped off at an office in Worli.” The man said after a pause.

“YesI have his number.” The man paused again.

“Theywere speaking about some Vinita giving them a call last night.” The man said.

Helistened for some time.

“Ok.”He disconnected the call, mounted his bike and drove.

****

Theman sitting across Ajay’s cabin, dialed a number. Ajay picked it up in thefirst ring. The man told him everything.

“Ashok,I think they might know something about Vinita’s death.”

“Howcan that be, we did not leave any evidence behind and it has been seven yearsnow.” Ashok spoke in whispers.

“Idon’t know but if anything comes out, we will be ruined.” Ajay said his voicetense.

“Don’tpanic, calm down, let’s see what they know I have asked Raghav to keep an eyeon the two.”

****

Inthe evening Kumar called Ravi. Ravi answered almost immediately as if he waswaiting for Kumar’s call.

“Meetme at the chai wala in half an hour.”Kumar said.

Theymet at the tea shop a little distance away from Ravi’s place.

“Do cutting aur ek Parle-G.” Ravi calledout to the shop owner, who was busy attending to the usual lot gathered aroundthe shop. The humdrum gave them a cover to chat along without being noticed.

“Ichecked our news archives to see if there was any news about Vinita Solanki orAjay Solanki and guess what I found?” Kumar said whipping out a bunch ofXeroxed papers from inside his bag.

“ThatVinita Solanki was kidnapped and then murdered.” Ravi answered excitedly.

“Howdid you know?”

“Wellyou know Patil, the guy who used to copy our notes in college. I justremembered he is posted at Bandra police station as a senior constable. Hechecked the FIRs filed in 2004-05 and said that in December 2004 there was anFIR filed by Ajay Solanki which said that his wife Vinita Solanki had beenkidnapped. The police later found her dead body on railway tracks near VasaiCreek.”

“Notbad my dear Watson, but do you know who this Vinita was?”

Asmall boy appeared with three glasses each half filled with tea and a pack ofParle-G. They both took a glass each, Ravi opened the pack of Parle-G took onebiscuit and offered the pack to Kumar. Kumar took one. They did not notice theboy giving the third glass to a man standing a couple of feet away behind them.

“Whowas Vinita?” Ravi said dipping the biscuit into the hot tea.

“Lookhere” Kumar showed a piece of news article with the headline, ‘The new hotelMoguls of Mumbai.’ Ravi looked at it intently.

“Vinitawas the eldest daughter of Shyam Ahuja.” Kumar continued, “Vinay Solanki,Ajay’s father was a 49% partner in Ahuja’s hotel business, Ahuja HospitalityPvt. Ltd. Ahuja had made a will which gave 26% share to Vinita his firstdaughter and 25% share to Anita, his second daughter.”

“AndVinita and Ajay got married.” Ravi said taking a sip from his glass.

“Yes,in 2003, after which Shyam Ahuja died. So now there were three shareholders in AhujaHospitality, Ajay Solanki, Vinita Solanki and Anita Ahuja.”

“Okay.”Ravi nodded. Kumar turned the stapled pages and showed another news article.

“In2004 December, Vinita was kidnapped reportedly by an extortion gang, who askedfor a ransom of 1 crore. Ajay went to the police and before the police could doanything, she was murdered as you said.”

“Andher share passed on to her husband, Ajay Solanki.” Ravi said.

“Rightso Ajay now had 75% share in the company and in 2005”, Kumar paused and turnedto another page, “Ahuja Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. became Solanki Group of Hotels.”

“Okaybut that could just have been a coincidence.”

“Thebest part is still to come my dear Watson.” Kumar turned another page. “Herethis article says that Vinita Solanki wasn’t happy with her marriage and shehad been through a few instances of domestic violence. She had also filed for adivorce but the case was still pending as Ajay wasn’t signing the papers. Afterher death in January 2006 Ajay Solanki married…”

“AnitaAhuja!” Ravi almost shouted in disbelief.

“Right!I also went to the MTNL office, thanks to my id card and 200 bucks a clerkfound out some interesting information. That Mahim phone from which I got acall last night is registered in the name Ashok Ahuja.” Kumar said taking alast sip from his glass of tea.

“Youmean Ashok Ahuja who has a 10% share in the company?” Ravi asked.

“That’sright.”

“Manthis is far too deep. And we still have no clue who the fuck called you lastnight.” Ravi said, his eyes wide in disbelief. “Do you think Ajay bumped offVinita with the help of Ashok in return of 10% share?”

“Idon’t want to jump into conclusions. Even if that was true the biggest questionstill remains, who called me last night?”

“Shallwe go and tell the police?” Ravi said.

“NoI don’t think police will believe us, what will we tell them, that I got a callfrom a number which hasn’t been used for years now. Was that Vinita’s ghostcalling me?”

“That’sright. Do you think we should go and investigate the warehouse again for someclues?” Ravi asked.

“Idon’t think we will find any evidence there after so many years.” Kumarwhispered. “Can Anuradha get us an itemized bill of the calls made from thisnumber in 2004?” Kumar asked, his eyes brightening up.

“Areyou trying to get me divorced even before I am married?” Ravi almost shouted.

“Comeon that can be our only evidence. What if Vinita had actually called Ajay onthe night she was kidnapped from the number at Mahim warehouse? Did Ajay doanything about it?”

“Sonow you are saying that it was actually Vinita’s ghost who called you lastnight and embarked you upon a mission to find her killers.”

Kumardid not say anything, he looked at Ravi, his eyes intense. Ravi shook his head,took out his mobile and dialed a number.

“Hellodarling, how was your day sweetheart?” Ravi spoke on the phone. Kumar went tothe chai wala to pay the bill.

Theman standing behind them slowly slipped into the shadows and walked hurriedlyin the opposite direction. As he crossed the street he pulled out his phonefrom the pocket and dialed a number.

****

Thephone rang, Ashok looked at the number and pressed the connect button.

“Yes.”He listened to the voice from the other side. He sipped from the glass of iceand scotch as he continued to stare in the void. Ajay sitting in front of him,looked at him with piercing eyes as if trying to read what was going thoughAshok’s mind. The golden liquid in the glass in his hands trembled.

“Thatwas Raghav.” Finally Ashok disconnected the call after what seemed like an eternityto Ajay. Ashok rambled off whatever Raghav had told him. Ajay threw himselfback on the sofa and put the iced glass on his forehead.

“Everythingwill be ruined.” He muttered.

“Getrid of them.” Said Anita sitting on a bar stool at the other end of the room.Her shapely legs kept one over the other. Ajay looked at her calm face.

“Youkeep your mouth shut. It is you who gave the idea about killing Vinita.” Ajayshouted at Anita.

“Dowe have any other option? These fucking idiots know way too much!” Anitareplied still maintaining her composure.

“Afterseven years how did they get a clue about this murder?” Ashok said looking athis empty glass. He poured some liquor into his glass picked up a few chunks ofice and dropped them into the glass.

“Thatdoesn’t matter. All that matters is that we have to get rid of these jokerswhoever they are.” Anita said clenching her teeth, her eyes cold.

“Whotold you to give them my office address?” Ajay shouted again at Anita.

“Enough!Stop fighting like kids.” Ashok stood up. “Anita is right, there’s no otheroption.” In one swig, he gulped the liquid down. His eyes went blood red, “Ifthey know about the warehouse, we will bury them there.”

****

Kumargot off his bike, at the garage of his apartment building. He had dropped offRavi after he had convinced Anuradha into finding out the calls made to Ajay’snumber in 2004. The Nokia ringtone on Kumar’s phone started to ring. Kumar tookthe phone out.

“Hello.”

“AmI speaking to Mr. Kumar?” A female voice asked from the other side.

“Yes.”

“Iwant to tell you something about Vinita.”

“Whoare you?” Kumar asked his heart skipping a beat.

“Idon’t have time for introductions Mr. Kumar. You don’t know these people. Ican’t tell you everything on phone. Can you meet me in half an hour?”

“Buthow do you know about me?”

“Rememberyou came this morning at my place and asked about Vinita!” The voice said. “Ican’t talk to you anymore on the phone, please meet me I will wait for you.”

“Butwhere?”

Thefemale voice gave an address. Kumar started breathing heavily in disbelief.

‘Damnthis is going to be a huge front page article.’ He thought with a grin. He dialeda number and pressed the ignition button of his bike.

“Getready I am picking you up in ten minutes.” He said when the line connected.

“What?But why?”

“Iwill brief you when we meet.”

Kumarsaw Ravi waiting outside his building.

“Whereare we going now?” Ravi asked even before Kumar could stop the bike.

Kumartold him about the phone call as they drove.

“Youmean Anita called you to meet her.”

“Shedid not tell me her name but yes it was her whom we had met at Ajay’s apartmentin the morning.”

Ravisat silently thinking hard. There was something amiss. He took out his phoneand dialed a number.

“Whowere you talking to?” Kumar asked as he parked beside the paan shop.

“Justmaking sure we don’t fall into a trap.”

“Doyou think this is a trap?” Kumar asked.

“Whynot?”

“Buthow do they know that we know?” Kumar asked again.

“Haven’tyou heard the saying, ‘chor ki daadi meintinka’?” Ravi answered.

“Whatif Anita knows something and is trying to help us?” Kumar argued.

“Thenlet’s go inside and find out.”

Theycrossed the street. The dilapidated warehouse loomed in front of them as carswhizzed by on the street behind them.

“Let’sgo in from behind.” Ravi suggested.

“Letme call her. She told me to call her when we reach here.”

“What?Don’t be crazy. That would mean walking right into the trap. If she is reallytrying to help she would be waiting inside. Once we are inside and we have madesure that it’s safe you can make the call. Why would she call us in thiswarehouse again?”

“That’sbecause she doesn’t know that we have been here before and thinks that this isthe only safe place to talk about her sister’s murder.” Kumar said soundingirritated.

Theywalked silently through the alley. Once on the beach they crawled up to theplace where the boundary wall was broken. Ravi looked around to make sure noone was watching. They crouched and ran to the window through which they hadgone inside for the first time. Everything was silent.

Kumargot up and looked inside, there was no sign of life. The only noise was thewaves crashing on the beach. Kumar took his phone out and dialed the numberfrom which he had received the call earlier.

“Whereare you?” He asked.

“Iam inside the building.” The female voice said.

“Okay,we will be there.” Kumar disconnected the phone.

“Wait,we didn’t hear the phone ring inside.” Ravi said.

“Maybe her phone is on silent mode.” Kumar said.

“Istill feel something is not right.”

“Iwill go inside, you stay here, if you don’t receive a call from me in fiveminutes call the police.”

“NoI am coming with you.” Ravi said.

“Don’tbe an ass, stay here and wait for my call.” Kumar said and pulled open thewindow. He climbed over the ledge and landed inside with a soft thud. He lookedaround, there was no one. He took out the pocket torch and moved the beamaround, nothing but garbage.

‘Maybe she is upstairs.’

Hewalked towards the flight of stairs, and started to climb it one step at atime. The stairs still creaked with his weight. He pushed the door and slidinside keeping the torch on.

Assoon as Kumar entered the room two strong hands wrapped around his torso andheld him tightly, the torch fell on the ground. In the light he saw someonemove in front of him.

“Whoare you?” Kumar shouted and tried to free himself, but the man’s grip was toostrong for him.

Theman in front of pulled his hair, “Where’s your partner?” he said in a deepvoice, his face almost touching Kumar’s. Kumar could smell the alcohol in hisassailant’s breath.

“Whatpartner?” Kumar said.

Theman slapped Kumar across the face. Kumar was stunned by the sudden violence hecouldn’t even shout.

“Whatdo you know about Vinita’s murder?” The man asked again.

“Idon’t know any Vinita.” Kumar said grimacing in pain. He tried to make out the man’sface in the dark.

Someoneon his right punched him in the guts. Kumar doubled in pain, he couldn’t standon his legs, the man holding him by his waist kept him on his feet. Kumarcoughed violently.

Through his bleary eyes Kumar saw light moving on the stairs, there was a sudden commotion.Someone kicked the door, the door went flying open. Flashlights appeared. Kumarcould see his assaulter’s face, it was an unknown face but behind him stoodAjay.

“Handsabove your heads!” A rough voice said.

Theman holding Kumar let go of him. Kumar fell on the floor. Ravi ran to him.Kumar raised his head to see Patil and three constables standing with theirguns pointed towards the group of men. Police siren started wailing outside.One of the constables’ radio came alive, he spoke the instructions into theradio in Marathi. Ravi helped Kumar to get up. The men were huddled to onecorner. More footsteps were heard on the stairs, a few more policemen came inwith flash torches.

“Areyou okay?” Patil asked Kumar. Kumar nodded.

“That’sAjay Solanki.” Ravi said pointing towards Ajay who stood petrified.

“Mr.Ajay Solanki of Solanki Group of Hotels and you are?” Patil said to the man whohad slapped Kumar. The man did not say anything. “What’s your name?” Patil shouted.

“AshokAhuja.” The man said. Kumar looked at Ravi.

“Handcuffthem and take them to the police station.” Patil shouted.

Kumarslowly walked with Patil and Ravi as the policemen arrested the men and handcuffedthem.

“Ravihas given me a brief about the case. From the details it looks like we can openthe Vinita Solanki murder case again.” Patil said as they came out of thebuilding. “You can come down to the police station and give me all the detailstomorrow morning. We will keep them in remand till then for attempted kidnapand assault.” Patil shook hands with Ravi and Kumar got into his van and leftwith the entourage. A small crowd had gathered outside the building.

“Thatwas some adventure eh.” Ravi said wiping his forehead.

“Thanksfor informing Patil in time.” Kumar said. Ravi nodded with a smile.

“Butthe question is still unanswered, who called you last night?”

“Maybe some questions cannot be answered.” Kumar said with a smile.

The Phone Call - Part - 1

2011-11-19T10:22:00.001-08:00

TheNokia ring tone rang on his phone. An unknown landline number flashed on thescreen. He pressed the receive button.

“Hello.”

“Ajay!Ajay this is me.” A female voice said from the other side. “Ajay, four people…in a van… out of the office, they drugged me… like a huge warehouse… seaoutside.” The female voice continued to speak in between sobs and moans.

“Butlisten…” he tried to say something.

“Ajay…hands legs tied… don’t know what… someone’s coming…”

“Hello,hello!”

Thephone clicked on the other side leaving behind a constant beeping noise.

Hepressed the call back button, the line connected and the phone started to ring.It rang for exactly one minute and disconnected.

“Whatthe fff…”

Hedialed again. The phone rang for a minute and then died in to a beep.

‘Whatif the men who had kidnapped the lady had heard the phone ring and killed her?No that can’t be if they were there they should have picked up the call.’

Hechecked the phone screen the time was 8:36. He dialed a number. The phone rangtwice.

“Yeah”,the voice from the other side said.

“Ravi,I just received a call from this unknown number.” He told Ravi everything aboutthe phone call.

“Callthe police and tell them about it man, it’s that simple.” Ravi replied.

“Whatif they try to hurt the woman?”

“Theyprobably don’t even know she called someone, just tell the cops and let themhandle it.”

“Ok,I will call the police. Bye.”

Theline died.

Heopened his twitter profile on the phone and typed.

“Anybodyknows any website where I can track the location of a Mumbai landline number?Pls RT.”

Hedialed a number. It connected.

“MIDCpolice station.” A deep voice said from the other side.

Henarrated his conversation on the phone with the woman, to the constable.

“SoMr. Ajay, what is your full name and what is the name of your wife who has beenkidnapped?” The constable asked as he scribbled on a battered register.

“Sir,my name is not Ajay. My name is Kumar.”

“Thenwhy would your wife call you Ajay?” The constable asked, speaking as if hismouth was stuffed with paan.

“Sirthat was not my wife, most probably it was a wrong number she had dialed and itconnected to me.”

“Mostprobably… hmmm… so you are not sure whether it was a wrong number?”

Kumarwas now losing his head.

“Sir,it was a wrong number can you please lodge a complaint?”

“Howlong has she been gone?”

“Howwould I know? I don’t know that woman. She said she had come out of the officewhen she was kidnapped so must have been at around 6 in the evening so musthave been 2 hours back.” Kumar replied.

“Whatplace did she say she was calling from?”

“Shedid not tell me the name of the place.”

“Whenyou don’t know anything then why are you calling us? Next time when she callstake all the details and then call us.” The line went dead before Kumar couldrespond.

‘Whatthe fff…!!! What should I do now? May be she called again and got through thecorrect number and spoke to Ajay whoever he was? May be police was already ontheir way to rescue her along with Ajay.’

Thoughtsraced his mind as he starred at the television set which was showing a moviebut the sound was muted. He checked the phone for his twitter updates. Someonehad posted a link in his mentions section which could help him track thelocality of the land line numbers.

Hekeyed in the number into the search box of the website. The window opened aGoogle Maps section showing a pin on a location near Hinduja Hospital.

‘Shehad said she could hear the sea outside.’

Hedialed a number.

“Yeah”

“Ravi,I’ve found her location.”

“What?Who’s location?”

“Thewoman who had called, she had called from a number in Matunga near HindujaHospital.”

“Didshe call you again? Did she tell you? Did you call the police?” Ravi firedwithout giving Kumar a chance to speak.

“Noshe did not tell me, I Googled the number. And the police said they will nottake the complaint as I don’t know her.”

“Callthe police and tell them that you think the location is in Matunga.” Ravi said.

“Idon’t think I am sure its Matunga but that’s what this site says. And I don’twant to call the police. I don’t think they are interested.”

“Thengo to sleep. By now she must have called up the real Ajay and she might havebeen rescued by now.”

“Ithink we should go and investigate.”

“Whatat this time? It’s already nine. And what the fuck do you mean we? You got thecall, you go if you want to. I am not coming.” Ravi replied and disconnectedthe call.

Kumardialed again.

“Ravi,let’s go man. Somebody might be in the need of our help. I will take my bike,we will investigate the place from outside and if we see anything fishy we willreport to the police. That’s it.”

“Okaybut we will stay there for just five minutes and then we will leave no matterwhat.” Ravi replied in submission.

Kumararrived at Ravi’s place in Dadar on his bike. They both rode to HindujaHospital. The Hospital looked deserted. They drove slowly along the road andlooked around for a place which might look like a warehouse. They saw a bighouse surrounded by broken boundary walls. The gate, two huge sheets of rusty tinand iron hung limp from its hinges on the boundary wall. There was no lightinside or outside the house.

Ravisoftly tapped Kumar’s shoulder. Kumar drove the bike some distance ahead of thehouse and parked it near a kiosk on the opposite side. They bought a cigaretteeach and lit it.

“Boss,is there a warehouse around this place?” Ravi asked the paan wala.

“Yesthat used to be a warehouse till a few years back.” The paan wala pointed to the dilapidated house. “But no one uses itanymore.”

Raviand Kumar exchanged glances.

‘Ifnobody uses the warehouse anymore it would make a perfect place to hidesomeone.’

“Haveyou seen anyone coming into or going out of the warehouse today or maybeyesterday?” Kumar asked.

“Itold you no one comes here anymore. Are you the police? Why are you asking somany questions?”

Raviand Kumar did not say anything they took a puff from their cigarette andcrossed the street leaving the bike behind. They crossed the building, lookingaround and there was no sign of life. They found a dark alley at the end of theboundary wall of the building.

“Thismust lead to the back of the building.” Kumar said pulling Ravi’s arm. Ravi didnot protest, he was already feeling like a sleuth.

Thealley ended on the beach. The waves were trying to devour the shore thanks to ahigh tide and the clouds building above. Still there was no light or any signof movement inside. The roaring of the waves was deafening.

Thebuilding was quite old and looked as if no one has been inside it for quitesome time now. The building was double storied and the roof was made of tin orasbestos. Most of the glass panes on the bottom row of the windows had beensmashed, during stone throwing competitions.

“Let’sgo inside and take a closer look.” Kumar said pointing to a broken portion ofthe boundary wall.

“Butyou said we will examine it only from the outside.” Ravi protested.

“There’sno one around, don’t be afraid come on.”

“Maybe the police already came and cleared the place up.” Ravi speculated.

“Ifthe police had been here there would have been a crowd outside and the paan wala would have known about it.”Kumar replied and pulled Ravi by his arms. Ravi followed Kumar reluctantly.

Onceinside the boundary they ran keeping their bodies bent low. They hid themselvesbehind a bush underneath one of the windows. Kumar took out his mobile anddialed the number from which he had got the call. The phone started to ring. Theylooked at each other’s sweat ridden face. They could both hear the shrill ring comingfrom inside the building. Slowly Kumar rose on his legs and peaked inside. Thephone continued to ring, nobody picked it up. The ring died.

“Can’tsee anything, it’s too dark inside.” Kumar said to Ravi crouching back downbeside him. “Let me see if I can open this window.”

Kumargot up again looked around and inserted his hand inside the window through thebroken pane. He felt around for the bolt and pulled at it. The bolt was jammed.He pulled the window but it did not budge.

Hecrouched back again, looked around and started to move towards the next window.Once under the window he pulled it, the window opened with a loud creek. Shardsof glass fell on the ground inside. Before Ravi could stop him Kumar wasalready scrambling to climb over into the building.

“Kumardon’t go in, there might be armed people inside.” Ravi shouted.

Kumarclimbed the window and looked inside, it was pitch dark but there was no signof life or any other movement. With a thud and crunch he fell onto the darkfloor. Ravi looked around everything seemed to be dead still except the roar ofthe waves behind him. He jumped and held the ledge of the window and pulled hisbody up.

Inside,the building was eerily silent. The din of the waves outside was only a distantdull sound inside. Kumar was already up on his feet, as Ravi jumped in behindhim. They looked around. Ravi took out his mobile phone it had a torch in it.It was a huge room. Wood, empty beer bottles and garbage lay strewn all aroundthe floor.

Atthe other end of the room they saw a staircase. Kumar took the torch from Ravi’shand and started to walk, trying to make as little noise as possible on thelittered floor. The staircase was like a dark well. The light from the torchlit it to show a flight of wooden stairs in front of them.

“Let’sleave, this looks too easy, it might be a trap.” Ravi said pulling Kumar backby his arm. Kumar put a finger on his lips and waved his hand asking Ravi tofollow him. They walked carefully on the stairs, it groaned with their combinedweight. The stairs led them to a landing and a battered wooden door. Ravi andKumar exchanged glances and switched the torch off. Ravi felt a drop of sweattrickle down his spine. Kumar breathed heavily and wiped the sweat off hisbrows.

Raviput his left ear on the door and tried to listen. The only sound he could hearwas the dull noise of the waves breaking on the shore. Ravi looked at Kumar.Kumar gave the door a slight nudge. It was jammed. He pushed it a bit more. Thedoor dragged on the floor and opened a bit. They pulled themselves back and hidin the darkness. They breathed slowly and waited for someone to move, nothinghappened.

Ravipeeped inside. There was no one. No movement. Kumar pushed the door a bit more.There was enough space for him to slide in. Ravi followed. Kumar switched thetorch back on. The room was of the same size as the room below, but it had afew pieces of broken furniture scattered around. It had a few wooden cabinetsstanding against the wall at the far end. The cabinets seemed to be full of longforgotten files and papers.

Kumarmoved the light of the torch around the room. The rays crossed something, whichcaught their attention. On a wooden desk lay a telephone. They went up to the desk.The telephone was a very old model of the instrument, black in color with around white dial. There was a thick cover of dust on everything including thedesk and the phone.

“Idon’t think, anyone has been to this place for ages leave aside this evening.”Ravi said looking around suspiciously.

Kumartook out his mobile and dialed the number. A shrill ring jolted them out oftheir skin. Kumar immediately disconnected the call. They trembled as if anelectric shock had run through their spine.

“Whatthe fff…” Kumar examined the dust on the phone closely, no finger prints, thelayer was smooth.

Hiseyes caught something. Under the phone lay a slip of paper. Kumar carefullypulled the paper out. It was crumpled with moisture and covered with dust. Therewas something scrawled on it. He shook the dust off and pointed the torch on toit. Ravi poked his head in to take a better look.

“9,7, 0, 2…..”

“Whatthe fuck dude? That’s your cell number!”

Click here to read the 2nd part of this story The Phone Call - Part - 2

A Blast from the Past

2011-11-14T05:58:00.001-08:00

I don’t remember the exact date butit must surely have been some day between 8^th and 12^th ofDecember 1992. The Babri Masjid had been demolished in Ayodhya, and riots hadbroken out in various parts of the country. Some riots had broken out in theoutskirts of our town, Jamshedpur and hence a curfew was imposed. That was someexcitement the people got in the then sleepy town. The roads were deserted andduring the relaxation in curfew at certain times of the day we would play cricketin empty streets.

Me, my two sisters, my youngerbrother, and two kids from the neighborhood, all we did the whole day waseither play in our garden or on the streets. No schools, no home works. It waslike an extended winter vacation for us. We used to live in a house which rightacross the street from the police staff quarters and the police station.

That day, at around 3 in theafternoon we were as usual playing in the garden. The curfew had been relaxedtill the evening. Our neighbor, a man who must have been in his early 20s and usedto occasionally play cricket with us, came up to us and showed us a huge sutlibomb that he had saved from Diwali.

He told us he would show us atechnique of making time bomb. Being a bunch of kids who were used to watchingmovies like Tridev and Ram Lakhan etc on VCRs, we were excited by the idea ofmaking a time bomb. He took an incense stick and tied it to the fuse of thebomb.

“Look now,” he said “after theincense stick has burnt for sometime it will reach the point where the fuse isand it will ignite it. So if we know how long exactly an incense stick burns wewill be able to set the exact time when the bomb goes off.”

He placed the bomb on the boundarywall outside our garage and lighted the incense stick. We were super thrilled. We all ran to theverandah and huddled together patiently waiting for the bomb to go off.

As the moments ticked by we realizedthat this was going to take longer than we had thought. The neighbor said hewill go inside and comeback to check on the bomb later. The two kids decided towatch the bomb go off from their respective houses. My brother and sisters wentinside never realizing what was going to happen. I being the eldest had a faintidea about the consequences. My father and my grandfather were both at home andwere taking their afternoon siesta.

I stood in the verandah watching theincense stick getting shorter by the second. Now it seemed that the burning endof the stick was approaching the fuse faster than I had thought. Suddenly thefuse flared up and started to burn with a hiss. I ran inside the house with myfingers in the ears and threw myself on the sofa in the living room.

And then…… BOOM.

The bomb went off, it was a hugeone. There were no decibel limitations in those days, so one can only imaginethe noise today. Due to the curfew the town was almost dead silent before theblast so its effect doubled. The noise ripped through the silence and echoedfor a few moments. Then everything around me seemed to come to a standstill. Igot up, came out in the verandah and saw smoke rising from the boundary wallwhere the bomb had been kept.

Suddenly I was aware that I was notthe only spectator of the scene of crime. Policemen armed with lathis andrifles had come out of the staff quarters. Some were still in their shorts andvests.

Ten or twelve of them, some dressedsome semi dressed rushed towards the site of the blast, near our garage fromwhere the smoke was still rising as if a gene was about to appear. They werefollowed by a throng of women and kids coming out of the police quarters.

“OSinghji bahar aaiye!” one of the hawaldarsshouted from the gate.

My father came out followed by mygrandfather, my mother and my siblings. I guess we were all confused which Singhji the hawaldar was calling to. Suddenly everyone was shouting, talking,looking. Somebody picked up and brought the charred remains of the bomb and showedit to my father. I stood at the back and looked at everything in horror.

“Who did this?” I heard my fatherasking me.

I did not answer. The original culprit wasn’t in sight. His door wasclosed even after so much commotion right next door. I wasn’t surprised.

“Arey, it was your kid, he burst thebomb, I saw him lighting it.” Someone from the crowd said.

“No, no we don’t buy such crackersfor our kids.” My mother retaliated.

Everyone started talking again. Alady who was from the police staff quarters and was also a friend of my mother tookour side and tried to calm the crowd down.

A man wearing an inspector’s caparrived at the scene. He came up to my grandfather and said something. Turnedout he was an acquaintance of my grandfather. He brought the situation undercontrol asking everyone to calm down.

“Areybachchein log hain, khel rahe thein.” Hesaid to everyone. “Jaiye aap log sab.”

The crowd slowly dispersed. My father thanked him for hisco-operation. We all went inside and closed thedoor. My father asked me what happened. I told him everything. All hell brokeloose. My father beat me black and blue. He was angry at me for not telling thepolice the truth. I had not lied either.

My Collection of Short Stories | Unknown Triumphs - eBook Free Download

2011-11-12T00:46:00.001-08:00

Collection of my Short Stories - Click on the Image Below for Free eBook Download

Click on the image above for free eBook download.

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पुरानी किताब (An old book)

2011-08-29T22:51:00.001-07:00

पुरानी किताब)">
पुरानी किताब) by CellPhoneClicker">
An old book (पुरानी किताब), a photo by CellPhoneClicker on Flickr.

पुरानी किताब

तुम्हारी अलमारी में आज एक किताब मिली
काफी पुरानी
पन्नो को पलट कर देखा
एक अक्षर में तुम्हारा नाम था
काफी बार पढ़ी थी तुमने लगता है
पीले पन्ने सिलाई से निकल रहे थें
एक पन्ने का मुड़ा कोना बता रहा था
तुम पढ़ते पढ़ते शायद वहां पे सो गयी थी
एक पन्ने पे पानी की बूँद से बने दाग ने बताया
के तुम वहां पे रोई थी
मैं वो पन्ना ढूंढ़ रहा था जिसे पढ़ कर
मेरे बारे में सोच कर तुम शरमाई होगी
नहीं मिला
काफी पुरानी किताब थी शायद.

Independence Day. Really?

2011-08-15T00:26:00.001-07:00

Independence Day. Really?, a photo by CellPhoneClicker on Flickr.

Just one day in the year we think about our nation, about the people who laid their lives for our freedom. And we celebrate the conquest of our freedom fighters by watching movies on TV, changing DPs on Twitter, Facebook or the more enthusiastic ones amongst us may stand and salute the tricolor at the flag hoisting ceremony taking place in their apartment complex.

Come 16th August and we are all the same again, cribbing about the politicians, the conditions of the road, the scams happening and the government doing nothing about everything. Why can't we celebrate Independence Day each day, just once each day?

Just once each day try to be a better citizen. I don’t think it’s much to ask for. While you are driving just don’t honk the horns of your vehicle unnecessarily or drive responsibly without jumping the lights or cutting the lanes. Just once each day, switch off the lights, fans and the water tap when not in use. Instead of pledging to fight corruption by signing online petitions, just once each day try to fight it by not paying the traffic hawaldar without any receipt, or not purchasing something without any proper receipt, or not paying the babu in sarkari daftar to forward your file.

Weren’t these things taught to us in our schools? Why did we forget them?

Remember the 80/20 principle, I don’t think more than 20% of our nation is corrupt, the rest 80% of us are good, indifferent to our situation but good. Just once each day, if each one of us took care of these small things our nation would not need a Lokpal Commission at all.

After 64 years this is our time, we are one of the strongest economy in the world today, the most powerful nations look towards us in the times of world crisis, let us not waste this opportunity. Let us all do our own one small part each day. As the equation of synergy goes the sum of parts is always greater than the whole.

The forbidden fruit

2011-08-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. - Aldous Huxley

--------

In the beginning the Creator created the heaven and the earth.

The earth had no form, and was void. The Spirit of the Creator moved upon the face of the waters.

And then the Creator created light, and divided the light from the darkness. And that was the first day.

On the second day the Creator divided the waters by a firmament and called the firmament the Heaven.

On the third day the Creator decided to create the Earth, with plants and creatures and man who would be in his own image. Even the creator had his own doubts while starting such a big venture. So before he started he thought he should practice a little.

The Creator gathered some water under the heaven at one spot and let dry land appear. He called it, Earth ‘Beta’. The Creator then created a garden where he planted grass, herbs and plenty of banana trees. He also created a river which flew through the garden. He named the garden Eden ‘Beta’. Then he created the Sun ‘Beta’ for day, and Moon ‘Beta’ for the night.

Then the Creator decided to create man in his own image and let it dominate over the land and the waters, the grass, herbs and the trees. He named the man Adam ‘Beta’.

The creator checked his hour glass and saw that it was four Ether hours on the third day. He was pretty happy with the results of his trial the Earth ‘Beta’ looked good and Adam ‘Beta’ was happy in the gardens of Eden ‘Beta’.

The Creator then decided to take up the real task of creating the Earth and left Earth ‘Beta' and Adam'Beta' as they were and the rest as the cliche goes, was history.

Adam ‘Beta’ had plenty to eat, the weather was always that of spring and the grass made for a soft mattress for him to sleep. He woke up each morning, swam in the clean cool water of the river, ate all the bananas he wanted to and rested in the shade of the trees. Adam ‘Beta’ was never aware that the bananas always tasted the same or that he had nothing else to do,

he wasn’t even aware of the fact that he was naked. He lived happily forever on Earth ‘Beta’ until….

4.6 billion Man-years later…

God (that was what the man had named the Creator after the Earth was created), was not very happy with the way Earth had shaped up. Men became corrupt with desire and lust and were willing to kill each other for material wealth. This was not the way he had thought his Earth would be. One day as he was sitting deep in thought, saddened by an experiment which had gone wrong and out of his control, he remembered Earth ‘Beta’. He thought about Adam ‘Beta’. How was he, was he happy there? He thought of taking a look.

He saw that the Sun ‘Beta’ had just risen over Earth ‘Beta’. Adam ‘Beta’ woke up with a smile on his face looked around and went for a swim in the river. After a long swim he ate a few bananas from the trees and sat down in the shade to rest. All the time he had a pleasant smile

on his face. The Creator was very happy. But he also felt sad that Adam ‘Beta’ was alone. Then he remembered what had happened to Adam after he had created Eve, so he decided that he would let Adam ‘Beta’ be happy the way he was. A mischievous thought struck the creator’s mind and he whispered it in Adam ‘Beta’s’ head.

Adam ‘Beta’ got up and started collecting stones in a place. He made a large sphere with the stones, upon it he collected more stones and made a smaller sphere and above that he made another small round shape. He put two large white pebbles for eyes, a long twig in place of nose and a strip of banana skin in the shape of a smile. He put two thin branches on the sides of the round shape in the center.

Now it looked much like Adam ‘Beta’s’ own image that he had seen so many times in the clear water of the river. He was happy, he laughed and clapped and ran around the stone figure.

The Creator was happy to see this. Adam ‘Beta’ had not yet tasted the fruit of knowledge and hence he was not corrupt like Man had become on the Earth. The trial experiment that the Creator had started at the very beginning was still under his control unlike the Earth which was now a place of coincidences. But He was still sad. He wanted the Man on Earth to be happy.

Suddenly the Creator's face lit up with another idea, “What if Adam ‘Beta’ went to Earth. He might heal the Man and bring peace back. I would ultimately be successful in my experiment”. The only way of making things happen on the Earth was by chance. So the Creator decided that he would make a coincidence happen.

Earth: Man-year 2036

The leading news on newspapers on Earth:

NASA Discovers a Planet Inhabitable for the Human Race.

NASA has found a distant planet which looks exactly like the Earth and might be habitable for the human race. The discovered planet is 8 light years away from Earth.

When seen though the telescope, the planet looks blue in color and exactly the shape of Earth. NASA has named it, ‘Earth Beta’. With the help of some Indian scientists they have developed a fuel which could help them travel the distance of 8 light years in eight months straight. NASA is all set to launch an unmanned shuttle to the planet which would have robots to take pictures and samples of land and the atmosphere from the planet and come back to Earth.

“Arrgh! Now I don’t even have the control over the names man gives!” exclaimed God.

Earth ‘Beta’ Man-Year 2037

Adam ‘Beta’ was sleeping on the green grass; the night sky was dotted like a net with billions of twinkling stars, the half Moon ‘Beta’ shone on his happy face and a cool breeze blew from the direction of the river. Suddenly the sky was lit with an explosion as a ball of fire descended from above. Adam ‘Beta’ woke up, his eyes fixed on the ball of fire, the smile on his face was gone and his heart was filled with strange feelings that he had never felt in all these billions of years that he had lived. The fiery orb fell from the heaven and disappeared behind the hills, with a loud noise.

He was amazed, overjoyed and bewildered all at the same time for he had never experienced such a thing. The sky behind the hill was now crimson in color and black air rose from behind the hill. Adam ‘Beta’ was curious, he got up and started to walk towards the hill.

All this while the Creator watched Adam ‘Beta’ in amusement, and hoped that finally his Earth will no more be a rogue experiment.

By the time Adam ‘Beta’ reached the other side of the hill Sun ‘Beta’ was rising in the east. He saw that the object had landed on a field, he could not see any black air now neither could he see any fire coming out of the object. The object was standing on six legs firmly grounded in the grass. He went close and touched one leg of the object.

Suddenly there was movement, Adam ‘Beta’ moved back and craned his neck to see what was happening. One of the sides of the object slowly started to open with a loud rumbling noise. Adam ‘Beta’ was scared, this was the first time he had this feeling. He ran behind a banana tree and hid himself. When the noise stopped, a smaller object slowly emerged out of the bigger object and came to land on the ground. The small object started to make muffled sounds and move on the ground with its small circular legs. Adam ‘Beta’ was now very excited he had never seen anything move on the whole of Earth ‘Beta’.

The small object moved in circles and made various noises with each movement as if inviting him to come and play. Adam ‘Beta’ ran to it and hugged it. The object gave out a soft grunt and raised its neck. Adam ‘Beta’ was almost blinded by the flash of light that came from the objects face. The object continued to move around noisily and from time to time continued to emit flashes of light from its face. Adam ‘Beta’ watched everything in bewilderment.

The object stretched one of its arms, scooped some dirt from the ground and put it inside an opening in its back. It then picked up some rocks and pebbles with its two thin fingers and also put them inside its back. Adam ‘Beta’ went to a banana tree nearby, plucked a few bananas and gave it to the small object. The arm took it from Adam ‘Beta’ and put it inside its back. He craned his neck to see where the object had put the banana but couldn’t see anything. Adam ‘Beta’ brought some leaves and gave it to the object, the object again put them in its back. He kept giving the objects something or the other and the object continued to put all of them inside its back.

After sometime Adam ‘Beta’ got bored and started to investigate the bigger

object. He climbed one of its legs and stood on it looking at the opening. It was big enough for him to get in. There was a sloped platform which led to the inside. Adam ‘Beta’ climbed down the slope. He was surprised to see so many colored lights on the walls like the night sky dotted with stars. He touched the lights and examined them closely. He laughed and clapped because he had never seen anything like this.

He touched the lights again and the whole object started to groan and started trembling. All the lights started to blink and flash at a very rapid speed. The smaller object stopped moving around and started to climb the slope. Adam ‘Beta’ was scared. He hid himself in one of the corners. The small object climbed in and stopped. The slope started to raise itself and closed the opening with a loud clang. The inside became dark, only the wall on the other side was blinking with colored lights. The small object sat at one place and lay still. Adam ‘Beta’ came out of his hiding place and touched the small object but it did not respond.

With a loud rumbling sound, Adam ‘Beta’ felt the floor below him starting to rise slowly. At the same time he was pulled towards the ground by great force. The grinding sound grew louder and louder and the force continued to pull Adam ‘Beta’ to the ground with increasing pressure. Soon the pressure was so much that everything around Adam ‘Beta’ went black.

He did not know how long it was before he came to his senses. He was floating in mid air, his arms outstretched he bumped into the flashing tiny lights. In sometime he passed out again, and then after sometime he woke again, still floating in air and then passed out again. It happened several times for several days the smile still on his face whether he was awake and floating in the air or he was asleep and floating in the air.

The creator watched happily, Adam ‘Beta’ was on his way to heal the Earth.

Earth: Man-Year 2038

The morning sky was beginning to brighten up when NASA’s telescope caught the Finder ‘Beta’ enter the Earth’s atmosphere leaving a trail of smoke behind it. It kept falling, hurtling through the morning sky in a bright blaze. An automatic chute opened and slowed down its fall. The Finder ‘Beta’ slowly descended onto the sea surface and gave out an angry hiss. It continued to hiss for some time and then it cooled off and floated on the surface with the chute lying beside it. A flap on its top opened.

Adam ‘Beta’ was suddenly aware of the bright light right above him and cool wind coming in. He slowly climbed out of the object and dived into the sea. A couple of helicopters appeared on the horizon swiftly moving towards Finder ‘Beta’.

Adam ‘Beta’ started to swim swiftly towards a piece of land in front of him. He was aware of many moving creatures below him, every movement surprising and scaring him. He swam fast until he reached the land. Scared of the unknown surroundings he ran and hid himself behind a tree. The small object was picked up by other objects which had descended from the heaven and was taken away. Adam ‘Beta’ slowly began to relax and the smile returned to his face. Slowly all the commotion died down.

He started to explore the land around him. There were such trees which he had never seen. There were creatures which moved on the land, on the tree and which could raise themselves in air and rise into the heaven. He was overjoyed. He laughed and clapped and looked in amazement at the strange sites around him.

For a moment he thought a pair of eyes staring at him from behind a tree. The creature stepped out from behind the tree. Standing on its two legs, the creature had eyes, nose, mouth and ears just like him, but it was smaller than him. He smiled brightly at the creature and ran towards it to hold it.

The little girl upon seeing the naked man running towards her screamed and ran away from him laughing in amusement. She ran towards her house and hid behind the door. From there she saw the naked man was examining everything with delight and was laughing and clapping when the birds flew in the sky or when the little squirrels came up to him and kissed his legs. The little girl was happy to see the man so happy. Then she noticed his naked form, she went inside her house.

It all looked good and God was happy.

The little girl returned with a white bathrobe and two apples. The man stood at the other end of the field below a maple tree. She ran up to him and offered him the robe.

God watched everything, bit his fist and exclaimed, “oh no, not again!”

Adam ‘Beta’ was excited to see the little creature come back, he laughed and clapped. The little creature smiled at him and extended her hand to offer something. He took it in his hand, it felt soft. He took a closer look at it. The little creature said something and gestured but he didn’t notice. Adam ‘Beta’ went down on his knees and touched the little creature on the cheek. The little creature laughed. Adam ‘Beta’ laughed and clapped.

The Creator’s voice boomed in Adam ‘Beta’s’ head, “Whatever you do, you shall not eat the fruit of knowledge”.

Adam ‘Beta’ was confused. The little creature again extended its hand, it had a round object, and Adam ‘Beta’ took it.

“No no no don’t do it, not again, you fool”, thought the Creator and again he spoke inside Adam ‘Beta’s’ head, “Do not eat the fruit of knowledge”.

Adam ‘Beta’ looked confusedly at the apple and then at the little creature. The little creature had a similar object in its other hand and bit it with its mouth. Adam ‘Beta’ seeing this examined the round object in his hand and bit into it with his teeth.

And the Creator screamed “No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The little girl saw as soon as the man bit the apple he started to feel dizzy. She asked him what his name was, but he didn’t respond. She told him to wear the bathrobe but he didn’t do it. The man ate the apple and fell into a deep slumber. The girl put the robe over him and went inside the house again and let him sleep.

Adam ‘Beta’ woke up after sometime. It was still bright but the sun was approaching the horizon now. He felt very week and tired as if he had been walking for many days. He felt his face, his chin was covered with long hair. He felt his head and the hair on it was thin. He looked at his chest and hands the skin was sagging and wrinkled. His fingers were thin and there were wrinkles on them too.

Adam ‘Beta’ was suddenly aware that he was naked. He took the bathrobe and wrapped it around his waist. He tried to stand up but he felt too week. He held the trunk of the tree and stood up, but he was unable to stand straight. Every bone in his body ached. He picked up a stick to support himself. He took small, weak steps towards the stream which he could see nearby.

At the stream he looked at his reflection on the water. He saw an image which was very unlike him. He tried to smile but couldn’t do it anymore. His mouth only made a hollow frown without his white teeth. The hair on his face and head was grey and his eyes looked tired.

The little girl came out of her house again and saw an old man bent with age near the stream. The man had the robe wrapped around his waist the one she had given to the naked man. She looked for the naked man under the tree but he was not there.

The Creator was sad.

Adam ‘Beta’ was unable to understand what had happened to him. He turned and started to walk towards the horizon where the sun was now setting.

Superheavy - Satyameva Jayate [A. R. Rahman] (2011)

2011-08-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

Superheavy - Satyameva Jayate [A. R. Rahman] (2011) by Jerin John

Superheavy - Satyameva Jayate [Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, and A. R. Rahman] (2011)

140 - Character - Less

2011-07-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Some of my very very short stories that I have written for Twitter and Facebook. Some of them are lesser than 140 characters.

Yeah you can follow me on Twitter @vivek13th and on Facebook too Viveksingh.

He thought he heard her call his name. He turned around and found her talking to someone else. She turned around and looked through him.
He cracked his knuckles. His neck ached. He'd been lying there for hours. He felt the cold metal trigger as he saw her appear at her window.
It would have been a night to remember hadn't the bullet missed. It still became a night to be remembered.
They had walked 20 miles in the scorching heat. The crowd at the well looked like a fair from a distance. The daughter & mother stood gaping.
The price of one roti was Rs. 1.50. He had Rs. 3 with him and four mouths to feed. He had 3 options to go with. Beg, steal or kill.
Mumbai is all about running, run after the train, run after the taxi, run after your job, your client, run or the signal will change. Run.
The sun lay shattered into a billion shimmering pieces, on the surface of the sea. She picked them up with her lonely brown eyes.
Each night he doused the fire within. Each morning he rose like a phoenix from its own ashes.
She picked up a bunch of keys, handed it to a shopkeeper & said 'I found these on the ground'. Somebody was going to have trouble with locks.
Time to start a new chapter. Time to chase new dreams.
There's a pileup on the highway called life.
When the sun goes down and I am all alone, will you be my refuge? When the days are still and the nights are violent, will you be my refuge? When the time is gone and no one remembers me, will you be my refuge?
कुछ सुन लिया तो लिख दिया... कुछ दिख गया तो लिख दिया... कुछ कह दिया तो लिख दिया... कुछ बिक गया तो लिख दिया

Which one did you like?

Not Allowed

2011-07-28T09:38:00.001-07:00

Dreamer, originally uploaded by CellPhoneClicker.

इस शहर में रुकना allowed नहीं है
थक कर कहीं रुक गए तो
धक्के खा कर चीखना allowed नहीं है
.
पल में भूल जाने वाले इस शहर में
याद रखना allowed नहीं है.
समय से race लगाते इस शहर में
वक़्त का होना allowed नहीं है.

भीड़ भरी सडकें
भीड़ में खोना allowed नहीं है.
ठोकरों से भरे इस शहर में
चोट पे रोना allowed नहीं है.

ज़िन्दगी के पीछे भागते
इस शहर में जिंदा होना allowed नहीं है.
सपनो की यह नगरी
इस शहर में सोना allowed नहीं है.

Gulzar and pancham

2011-06-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

याद है बारिशों के दिन थे वो, पंचम!
और पहाडी के नीचे वादी में धुंध से झाँक कर
निकलती हुई रेल की पटरियां गुजरती थीं.
और धुंध में ऐसे लग रहे थे हम, जैसे दो पौधे पास बैठे हों.
हम बहुत देर पटरियों पर बैठे उस मुसाफिर का ज़िक्र करते रहे,
जिसको आना था पिछली शब् पर उसकी आमद का वक़्त टलता रहा.
हम बहुत देर पटरियों पे बैठे हुए ट्रेन का इंतज़ार करते रहे.
ट्रेन आयी न उसका वक़्त हुआ,
और तुम यूँ ही दो क़दम चलकर धुंध पर पाव रखके गुम हो गए.
मैं अकेला हूँ धुंध में. पंचम ! - गुलज़ार

The Threat.

2011-05-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

At Dadar station he somehow pushed the surge of bodies and got inside the local train. For the last seventeen years, every evening at 7:21, in the same coach of the same local train he would push through the horde of people standing at the door of the train, some trying to get in others trying to get out. Only the faces changed. This evening was no different. He managed to reach his spot under the fan, in the space between the two metal seats facing each.

His frail body swayed as the train lurched and started to move. The fan dried the sweat on his bald head. With a wet handkerchief he wiped his brows, darkened in the sun and scared with the lines of his daily struggle. The bag slung across his chest hung over his almost invisible stomach, a plastic bottle stuck out of the open zip.

“Aey uncle move this bag from my face”, shouted a boy sitting in front of him. The ma

n looked at his fair clean shaven face. His clothes told him that the kid was one of those brats raised in luxury of his father’s money. A girl in a short skirt, held the boys left arm. The man stared at the boy.

“Uncle, are you deaf? I am telling you something”, shouted the boy. The girl giggled and whispered something in his ears. They both laughed and exchanged a high five. The man glared at the two.

“Rohan be scared, he is angry”, said the girl and laughed. “Remove this bag from my face. Now!” shouted Rohan and pushed the bag. The man adjusted his bag back over his stomach and continued staring at the couple.

“Abey buddhe have you gone crazy, cant you understand. I will kick the hell out

of you, if you don’t remove this bag from here right now.” shouted Rohan jumping to his feet.

As the train lurked to a halt, the announcer’s voice finished announcing “next station, Bandra”. As more people pushed to get into the train, the humidity and the stench of human sweat became unbearable in the already overcrowded coach. The crowd pushing and shouting from outside was unaware of the confrontation going on inside. The people standing around them looked as Rohan shouted and gestured, threatening the man who stood his ground unflinchingly. He hasn’t lost the war that his life has waged against him since years, how can he lose this battle against a brat. The people looked on in amusement as the girl laughed.

The train started to move again with a jerk and the boy flopped on to the seat again. “Move this fucking bag” he yelled again, this time he pushed the man. As the man tried to retain his balance, the girl laughed out hard at the sight of man scrambling.

In one move the man opened the zip of his bag, whipped out a gun and pointed it at the boy. “Tichya aaila”, screamed the man, as if the scream helped him release all the frustration pent up inside him through years of struggle. Silence fell across the coach. The men pushing to get inside the coach stopped pushing. Those who were trying to avoid stomping on each other’s feet as they tried to gain balance froze. The only thing moved was the overburdened local, running on the serpentine steel tracks towards its destination. The only noise to be heard was the clatter of metal grinding against metal.

Rohan and his girlfriend stared at the short barrel of the gun. The people standing around them moved aside to give the man space as if he had suddenly grown in size. “What the fuck were you saying? Can you repeat it for me? Please.” said the man, his eyes red and ready to bulge out of their sockets. The sweat reappeared on his brows as the girl clutched at Rohan and started to cry.

“Sorry sir, please forgive me”, said Rohan his eyes moist and both his hands raised in surrender. “Please let us go sir, we meant no harm to you”, he pleaded again, as the man continued to point the gun at Rohan’s forehead. “Please sir, please let us go” it was the girl this time. She cried hysterically as tears washed her makeup. The people around them continued to stare at the commotion but nobody spoke.

“Pudhil station Andheri. Agla station Andheri. Next station Andheri.” boomed the female voice on the public announcement system. As the man lowered the gun, the train stopped.

People rushed to get out of the coach. The young couple dashed from their seat and ran for the door. The man gave a hearty laugh, put the gun back in his bag and sat on the seat where the couple was sitting. He looked around at the people as if he owned the coach. The train started to move. Nobody approached him. Nobody dared to sit in the empty seat beside him.

People continued to get in and out of the train as it made its way to its destination. The man sat near the window looking at the tracks running alongside the train. He had a satisfied look. The look of a winner who has just won the biggest battle of his life, who knew he couldn’t be suppressed by anyone however rich or powerful. He felt a power deep inside him. He patted his bag smiled and closed his eyes. At Vasai station he got up looked around at the people who had seen the power he possessed inside his bag.

His five year old son greeted him at the door of his one BHK flat. “What did you bring for me today, dad”, his son shouted excited to see his father. The man threw his bag on the floor and slumped on the sofa. The television played a loud song as a hundred dancers danced on the screen. He closed his eyes as his son crouched on the floor beside his bag and began to open its zip.

The boy pulled out the gun from the bag and shouted in excitement. He pointed the gun towards the television and shouted “Thaiy! Thaiy! Thaiy”! He then turned and pointed the gun at his father’s head and put his thin fingers on the trigger. The man opened his eyes and with tired eyes looked at the snout of the gun. His son was smiling at him, two of his teeth missing. “Thaiy! Thaiy! Thaiy!” The kid shouted and pressed the trigger.

How man started surfing porn on the Internet?

2011-01-29T05:21:00.000-08:00

(1999 – some small town in Karnataka/Maharashtra/UP/Bihar/Jharkhand)

Those were the dark days of Internet. Those were the times when it took at least ten calls to the ominous VSNL servers (yes it was Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited then) to connect to the Internet for a maximum of half an hour and at a speed of 32 KBPS. Internet at homes was a luxury (that’s an understatement). Internet at cyber cafes would cost Rs. 100 per hour and they also charged you for connection downtime. If a cyber café was able to clock one hour without any disconnections and a download speed of 12 KBPS, it proudly declared at its doorsteps in big bold letters “HIGH SPEED INTERNET AVAILABLE”, the only thing that was missing in those declaration was a statutory warning in font size eight:

“Please be careful or you might get hit by another speeding cyber café on the information superhighway”.

So as the nation was progressing on the information highway and would soon be taking on the world as an IT superpower, there was this kid studying Information Technology / BCA / Computer Engineering, dreaming about Silicon Valley where he would soon be headed to start his own multi-million dollar portal. But our guy had no idea that he would soon change the history of mankind forever.

So our guy who had just learnt about web browsers and HTML and left clicks and right clicks visited one of these “High Speed Cyber Café”, to do some research on AltaVista (yes Google wasn’t God then). After the initial hoopla of the modem and the phones the VSNL server finally gives way and gets connected. The other two computers were occupied by people who were sending e-mails to their kids in USA. The cyber café guy charged Rs. 50 for each email and Rs. 10 extra for typing. So our cool guy shrugged at the people who couldn’t even type and took a computer. Confidently he pointed the mouse on the Netscape icon on Window’s 98 desktop (yes he believed that open source will be THE thing in the future) and the hour glass on the mouse starts rotating. After some 500 rotations Netscape browser finally opens. Carefully he clicked on the dropdown button on the address bar and selected AltaVista from the options and hits “Enter”. The hour glass started rotating once again.

After some five hundred rotations he takes a look at the status bar (yes he remembers all the jargons and parts of the browser) it says “2 of 579 items downloaded”. He looks around him. Everyone is busy surfing the high speed internet. He looked at the rotating hourglass, he lost count. The rotating hourglass casts a spell on him, it hypnotizes him. His eyes turn bleary, the eyelids feel as if they have lead blocks hanging from them and slowly he goes into deep slumber. The hourglass continued to do its work.

(Picture source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Altavista-1999.png. if the owner has any problem it will be taken off)

Suddenly he was shaken wide awake. He opened his eyes to see the cyber café guy standing next to him, “Bhai saab aapka vyavsaay khul gaya”. “’Vyavsaay’, what the fuck is that?” he thought and took a look at the computer screen. “Oh ok the website”, he thought with a wry smile. He punched the air in triumph as he saw the oldies still struggled with their email typing. Then something hit him. “What was I here to search for”, he thought. He thought hard. He thought harder. AltaVista stared at him. “Fuck! What was I supposed to search for”, he thought again. Desperately he checked his watch. He checked with the cyber café guy, “Bhaiya kitna time hua?” “Adhaa ghanta ho gaya aapka”, the cyber café guy said looking up his register.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! How could I forget? Why the fuck did I sleep? Fuck!”

And then the light of dawn descended upon him. His eyes brightened up and he clicked on the search box of AltaVista. Rubbing his fingers he carefully pressed four keys on the keyboard. F U C K and hit enter. The hourglass started doing its job again. In a few minutes the browser became blank and then in another couple of minutes there were thousands of links on the page telling him about “Girls in bikinis”, “Hot Celebrities Nude”, “Lesbian Girls” and what not. He was taken to the new heights of pleasure as he read the names of the websites. His fingers started to sweat and he eyed the browser with lust. Rubbing his fingers again he pointed the mouse at the first link and clicked. Instantly the hourglass appeared and got down to its business of rotating, putting a spell around him, a spell which would satiate his lust. His eyes became heavy and once again he nodded off.

He dreamt that he was boasting about his virtual sexcapades to his friends, who on hearing his stories writhed in jealousy. He told them about seeing nude shots of Jenifer Aniston and Jennifer Lopez and even Madhuri Dixit making love. Suddenly he was jolted again out of the slumber land. The cyber café guy was yelling at him “Boss ye kya khol diya, ye family cyber café hai. Isko abhi band karo.” He rubbed his eyes and saw naked girls with larger than life breasts and men with larger than life penis on his browser. “Band karo usko”, the cyber café guy shouted again. The oldies strained their necks to take a look at the booty on our guy’s screen. He hit the close button. The hourglass rotated a few times and the Windows 98 desktop appeared. Dejected as if his newlywed wife has just denied sex with him, he rose from his seat and went to the counter to pay. With a heavy heart he fished out a hundred rupee note from his wallet as the two oldies came and stood behind him.

“Lagta hai computer seekhna padega”, said one of the oldies. “Haan main bhi soch raha hoon. Kal se hi typing classes join kar lete hain”, said the other.

The next day, after having remembered what he had to search for, our guy visited the same cyber café. He was amazed to see that each of the cubicles had a curtain which hid the computers from view. “Aapke liye special lagwaya hai”, said the cyber café guy with a toothy grin.

To the unknown.

2011-01-25T23:03:00.001-08:00

unnamed, originally uploaded by CellPhoneClicker.

Unknown faces like a sea
Unknown whispers like a stream
Unknown eyes unknown feet
Pursuing unknown dreams

Unknown griefs unknown sorrows
The city lends and we borrow

Unknown sons unknown daughters
Unknown mountains to climb
Unknown lives unknown partners
Reveling in unknown triumphs

Rendezvous

2011-01-18T23:03:00.000-08:00

Nadhiya a.k.a @mad_nad on Twitter gets a big box of Ferrero Rocher for helping me out in this story.

Rendezvous

She got off the auto rickshaw as it stopped, paid the driver and picked up an orange and white striped polythene carry bag from the seat on which she was sitting. She pushed her shades on her head like a hair band and immediately squinted her eyes. She pushed the glass door which declared ‘Madras Laundry’ in faded silver paint and entered the shop. A man in pure white half sleeved shirt, with oiled black hair and a pot belly jumped up from behind the counter like a jack in the box. She kept the polythene bag on the white laminated counter with a bored look on her face.

“All these are for dry cleaning”, asked the man behind the counter.

“Yes. And I want them tomorrow”, she said.

“Okay no problem”, he said. “Wow! This stuff looks expensive, have you been shopping”, he added pulling out a red lace negligee.

“That’s a gift from one of my client in Dubai”, she replied.

She heard the door open and from the corner of her eyes saw a man in a black suit enter and stood silently behind her looking at the shop owner. The shop owner did not bother to look at the man. She noticed the man was tall, had a fair skin and brown eyes and looked like a typical north Indian in his early forties. The man nodded and smiled. She didn’t respond and turned her attention back to the shop owner.

The shop owner pulled out a pair of black lace underwear from the bag. “Idhu super a kavarchi a iruku” (this is very sexy), he said in Tamil, feeling the material with his fingers. She gave an embarrassed smile.

“Adengappa!” (Very nice), his white teeth glinted from between his brown lips. She looked at the pictures of Gods lined up on the wall behind him as he pulled out a pair of pink push up bras.

“Sema abasam a iruku” (this is skimpy), he said, with a quick glance on her full breasts and slim waist. His face glowed in lust as he felt the two cups in his hands.

The man standing behind her shuffled uncomfortably.

“Anna, pinnadi nikra ala tension agaporraru” (Brother you are freaking out this man here), she said, pronouncing each word carefully.

“Your Tamil is getting better”, he said looking up and shoving the clothes back into the bag.

“I have been studying”, she smirked and turned around to leave.

“Have a nice day” she said to the man in black suit.

“Intha naal iniya naalaga amaiyattum” (you too have a nice day), the man replied in perfect Tamil.

With her eyes and mouth wide open she crashed in to the glass door of the shop.

Image Courtesy: http://hierroglyphic.blogspot.com/2009/03/taking-in-laundry.html

The Sun

2011-01-13T09:04:00.001-08:00

The Sun, originally uploaded by CellPhoneClicker.

Someday the sun shines
Sometimes bright
Never wrong
Never right
The path lies
Never altered
Time flies
As I walk
Someone walks beside
Always there
Like the sun
Somewhere
Always

Silver

2010-11-30T07:56:00.000-08:00

Now

The locksmith picked a bronze key with metallic spots on its sides, from a ring of thousand keys and inserted it into the door lock. The inspector standing behind him coughed, the constable behind the inspector scratched his buttocks, and the three people in plain clothes looked on.

The locksmith jiggled the key inside the lock and pressed the latch downwards. The door gave way. Immediately the six human beings put their hands on their nose.

“That’s the stink we told you about on the phone”, said the man in a smart off white shirt and grey trousers. The inspector looked at the man through his dark Raybans and waved at the locksmith. The locksmith got his clue and left.

With handkerchiefs on their nose the five people entered the flat. The constable immediately started looking around.

From the leather couch near the wall, to the carpet on the floor, to the huge TV on the wall, to the curtains on the French windows everything looked expensive.

‘It must feel like heaven to live like this, except for the stink’, thought the inspector.

“Sir, I have found something”, they heard the constable calling out from the bedroom.

The constable was sitting on his haunches looking under the bed when they entered. The inspector bent down and took a look.

“Detective”, the inspector gestured towards the man in dirty blue jeans and grey t-shirt.

The man whipped out a pair of white rubber gloves from his pocket and got down on his knees. The naked body was concealed in the darkness below the bed. A thin steel wire was wrapped around its neck. A thin line of maroon blood had flown from the wound and had clotted on the floor. After feeling the neck of the body the detective looked up at the inspector.

“How long”, asked the inspector.

“Three days. At least”, said the detective.

Three Days Back.

Under the golden streetlight behind the silvery smoke her slender figure was visible. The flawless skin on her shoulder showed through her sleeveless dress. The flowers on her short white dress fluttered in the night wind showing off her glistening long legs. She bent down and picked up her hand bag from the ground and slung it around her shoulder.

‘It’s almost time’, she thought checking her silver wrist watch.

She turned her head. A pair of bright lights appeared at the end of the road. She heard the sea roaring behind her. She noticed the four ring insignia on the grill of the SUV first. As the car drew closer she read the number plate. That’s the number her sister had told her while she lay wreathing in pain on the healing platform.

She stretched her hand, the wrist watch shimmered. The car came to halt near her and the dark window glass slowly slid towards the earth.

“I am unable to get a cab can you please help me” she said popping her head inside the car.

“Yeah sure”, said the man with a smile. She opened the door and slid into the black leather seat beside him.

From the side of her eyes she saw him looking at her body.

“Where do you have to go”, he asked.

“Well I am very hungry right now”, she said looking into his black eyes. She noticed he had thick black hair on his head, a thick moustache and fair skin, exactly like her sister had told her.

“It’s almost one, I don’t think any restaurant would be open”, he said. “I am going to my place it’s just around the corner, if you want I can fix something for you. I am good cook”.

“That would be great” she said. “I hope it is not much of a trouble for you”, she added quickly with an apologetic look.

“Not at all, the pleasure is mine”, he said looking into her eyes. “Have I seen you somewhere”, he asked her.

“No but I have definitely heard that line before”, she laughed. He laughed too.

“By the way I am DK”, he said.

“I am Argeni”, she said.

“That’s an unusual name. You are not from around here are you”, he said.

“No”, she shook her head smiling.

He took a right turn and passed through the gate of a tall building. The watchman came running to the car and saluted him. DK opened the door, got out and threw the keys at the watchman. He then opened the door for Argeni. Inside the lift DK pressed the button numbered 16. In a few seconds the doors opened. DK walked towards a brown door, slid a key into the lock and opened it.

“You have a beautiful house”, Argeni remarked as DK disappeared into the kitchen.

“Can I help”, she asked as she followed him in to the kitchen and saw him pouring some red wine into one of the two wine glasses.

“Sure, can you please chop some bell peppers for me”, said DK handing her a glass.

“Thanks. Sure”, she said, took off her hand bag from her shoulder and kept it on the kitchen counter.

She took a sip from the glass, picked up a knife and started chopping a bell pepper. She felt DK’s hand sliding slowly around her waist, and his moustache on the nape of her neck. As the musk fragrance from his body filled her senses, her eyes started to turn grey and she rolled her head on his shoulder with a soft purr.

Next Morning.

Argeni woke up with a start. The whole bedroom was filled with sunlight. Her body ached. She threw the covers back and jumped out of the bed. She bent down and picked up her floral dress and slid it over her head. She checked her silvery hair in the mirror and looked around the room for her hand bag.

Then she remembered she had left the handbag on the kitchen counter last night. She went into the kitchen and picked up the bag from the counter.

She was ready to leave.

She bent down to place the handbag on the floor. From the kitchen door she could see halfway into the bedroom. Below the bed she could see thin line of maroon fluid.

She straightened herself, keeping her eyes on the maroon line and put her left leg inside the bag. The kitchen was instantly filled with a blinding flash which left nothing but a cloud of silvery smoke behind.

हरा समंदर गोपी चंदर. (False Pride)

2010-10-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

गोपी ने दोबारा अपने आप को दिवार पे टंगे आईने में देखा. आईने में सिर्फ उसका गोल गेहुआ रंग का चेहरा, गोल भूरी आँखें, बीड़ी के धुएं से काले पड़े होंठ और तेल से चुपड़े कंघी किये बाल नज़र आ रहे थें. उसने अपने बाल पे हाँथ फेरा की तभी उसकी पांच साल की बेटी उसकी पैंट खीचते हुए बोली, "बापू मुझे भी". गोपी ने उसको अपनी गोद मेंउठा लिया. अब आईने में पिंकी का पावडर से चुपड़ा चेहरा और सर पे दो चोटियों नज़र आ रही थी.

"अब तुम दोनों आईने के सामने ही खड़े रहोगे या चलोगे भी", गोपी की बीवी ने पीछे से आवाज़ लगायी. गोपी ने पिंकी को गोद से नीचे उतारा, और अपनी जेब से पांच पांच सौ के चार करारे नोट निकाल कर उनका निरिक्षण किया. फिर ध्यान से उन्हें अपनी पैंट के चोर पॉकेट में वापस रख लिया.

"इमरती, रिंकू कहाँ है", गोपी ने अपनी पत्नी से पुछा. तभी रिंकू बहार से दौड़ता हुआ अपने एक कमरे के घर में घुसा. "कहाँ चला गया था, देर हो रही है, जाना नहीं है", गोपी अपने सात साल के बेटे पे बरसा.

इमरती अपनी साड़ी का पल्लू ठीक करते हुए दरवाज़े के पास आई, गोपी ने दोनों बच्चों का हाँथ पकड़ा और इमरती के पीछे पीछे घर से बाहर आ गया. इमरती ने अपने पल्लू में बंधी चाबी से दरवाज़े का ताला बंद किया, की तभी गली के कोने से बनिए ने आवाज़ लगायी, "इतना बन संवर कर कहाँ चली यह चौकड़ी?"

"कहीं नहीं बस वो खेल हो रहे हैं तालकटोरा में, स्टेडियम का काम हमने भी किया है न, तो सोचा बच्चों को दिखा लायें", गोपी ने दांत निपोड़ते हुए कहा.

"और सुनो! राशन का पिछला उधार चुकता नहीं होता, और ये खेल देखने जा रहे हैं", बनिए ने लच्छु जलेबी वाले की तरफ देखते हुए ताना कसा.

"सर्माजी तुम अपना काम करो. किसी को इस तरह टोकते अच्छा लगता है क्या. किसी की खुसी देखि न जाती है तुमसे." इमरती बनिए पे बरस पड़ी, और कुछ कुछ बुदबुदाती रिंकू का हाथ पकड़ कर उसे घसीटने लगी. बनिया चुप हो गया. गोपी भी चुप चाप पिंकी का हाथ पकडे इमरती के पीछे हो लिया.

झुग्गियों की बस्ती से बहार निकलते ही दुनिया अलग हो जाती थी. ऐसा लगता था दिल्ली छोड़ कर किसी और ही देश आ गए हो. चौड़ी चौड़ी सड़कें, और उन् पे दौड़ती लम्बी लम्बी गाड़ियाँ, इमारतों की उचाई देख कर इमरती को मतली आती थी. अपने परिवार के साथ बस स्टॉप पे खड़े खड़े, एक बिल्डिंग में मजदूरों को काम करता देख गोपी भी पांच साल पीछे चला गया जब वो पहली बार दिल्ली आया था.

गोपी चंदर उत्तर प्रदेश के एक गाँव से दिल्ली आया था. एक ठेकेदार ने बिल्डिंग में उसे मजदूर की नौकरी पे रख लिया था. गोपी दिन भर मजदूरी करता और शाम को गली गली घूम कर भेलपुरी और गोल गप्पे बेचता. कुछ ही महीनो की कड़ी मेहनत से गोपी ने इतने पैसे इकट्ठे कर लिए की उसने राजीव नगर की झुग्गियों में एक कमरे का मकान पांच सौ रुपये महीने किराये पे ले लिया और गाँव से अपनी बीवी को, जिसकी गोद में दो साल का रिंकू था, दिल्ली बुलवा लिया . दिल्ली आते ही इमरती के पांव फिर भारी हो गए, और गोपी के ठेकेदार ने उसके काम से खुश हो कर उसे दिल्ली के स्टेडियमओ की मरम्मत करने के लिए लगा दिया.

एक साल के बाद दिल्ली की सरकार ने दिल्ली को साफ़ करने का बीड़ा उठाया तो सारे रेहड़ी वाले और फेरी वालों पे गाज गिरी. गोपी का शाम को भेलपुरी बेचना भी बंद हो गया. कुछ दिनों के बाद ठेकेदार ने भी अपने रंग दिखाने शुरू कर दिए, गोपी की तनख्वाह आधी हो गयी और कभी कभी तो तीन तीन सप्ताह तक कोई पैसे नहीं मिलते थें, फिर बनिए की दुकान से उधार लेना पड़ता, दो दो महीने तक किराया न देने पर मालिक मकान हर रोज़ तगादा करने लगा.

जैसे जैसे बच्चे बड़े होने लगे उनकी फरमाइशें भी बढ़ने लगी. कुछ हालात में सुधार हो जाये इसलिए इमरती ने घर घर जा कर बर्तन मांजने का काम शुरू कर दिया. पर न ही हालात में कुछ सुधार हुआ और न ही बच्चों की फरमाइशें बंद हुई. और तो और रात को खाने के समय इमरती भी ताना दे जाती, "गाँव से लोगों की जूठन साफ़ करवाने को ले कर आये थें मुझे".

बस की पों पों और उड़ती धुल ने गोपी को वापस वर्तमान में लाया. आँखें मलते हुए उसने पिंकी को गोद में उठाया और इमरती का हाथ पकड़ कर बस में चढ़ गया. बस में चढ़ कर उसने कंडक्टर से चार चार रुपये के चार टिकेट लिए और भीड़ भरी बस में एक कोने में खड़ा हो गया.

जिस दिन गोपी को पता चला था की देश विदेश से खिलाड़ी उसके बनाये स्टेडियम में खेलने आयेंगे उस दिन से उसने पैसे जोड़ने शुरू किये थे, सोचा था की अपनी बीवी और बच्चों को ले जा कर अपना बनाया स्टेडियम दिखायेगा, उनकी नज़रों में उसकी कुछ तो इज्ज़त बढ़ेगी. आज खेल शुरू होने के सात दिनों के बाद गोपी अपनी बीवी और बच्चों के साथ तालकटोरा स्टेडियम में बॉक्सिंग मैच देखने जा रहा था.

तालकटोरा के टिकेट खिड़की पे उसने ढाई ढाई सौ के तीन टिकिटें खरीदीं. गाढ़ी मेहनत के साढ़े सात सौ रुपये जाते देख गोपी का कलेजा मूह को आता था मगर बीवी के सामने खोई इज्ज़त वापस लाने की बात थी. दूसरी ओर इमरती यह सोच कर खुश थी की झुग्गी की कोई भी औरत खेल देखने को नहीं गयी थी और इसलिए कल जब मुनिसिपलिटी की नल पे सब पानी भरने को इक्कट्ठा होंगी तो वो अपने पति की बढाई कर इतराएगी.

स्टेडियम के दरवाज़े पे दो दरबानों ने गोपी और उसकी बीवी को रोका और उनके टिकिट चेक किये. मेटल डिटेक्टर को पार कर जैसे ही गोपी और उसका परिवार स्टेडियम में दाखिल हुआ, एक सुन्दर सी, सलवार कुर्ता पहने युवती ने गोपी के मूंह के पास माइक घुसेड़ते हुए पुछा "आप CWG देखने आये हैं आप को कैसा लग रहा है?".

"सी कौन ची?" गोपी अकचकाया. युवती के पीछे एक आदमी अपने कंधे में कैमरा लिए खड़ा था.

"यह खेल जो आप देखने आये हैं अपने परिवार के साथ, आपको कैसा लग रहा है?" युवती ने दोबारा पुछा.

"मैडम बहुत अच्छा लग रहा है", गोपी ने कहा.

"ये स्टेडियम इन्होने ने ही बनाया है, मैडम", इमरती ने माइक को अपनी मूंह की ओर खींचते हुए बोला.

"हाँ मैडम ये स्टेडियम में फौल सी-लिंक का काम हमने किया है", गोपी ने माइक में मूंह घुसाते हुए कहा.

"बापू हम लोग टीवी पर आयेंगे", रिंकू ने गोपी की पैंट खींचते हुए पुछा.

"जैसा की आप देख सकते हैं यहाँ पे एक मजदूर है जिसने तालकटोरा स्टेडियम के फाल्स सीलिंग का काम किया है, वो भी CWG देखने आया है और गर्व महसूस कर रहा है", युवती कैमरे की तरफ मुड़ते हुए बोली. एक और व्यक्ति को स्टेडियम में दाखिल होता देख, युवती और कैमरामैन उसकी ओर लपक लिए.

"बापू हम लोग टीवी पर कब आयेंगे", रिंकू ने फिर पुछा.

"चुप रह", इमरती ने रिंकू को झटक दिया. "अपना नाम काहे नहीं बताये टीवी वाली को?"

"पूछी नहीं तो नहीं बताये", गोपी ने सर झुकाते हुए कहा.

चारो स्टेडियम के अन्दर कोने में कुर्सियों पे जा बैठे. सामने बॉक्सिंग रिंग में दो खिलाड़ी थें. उनमे से एक ने नीली रंग की हाफ पैंट ओर नीली रंग की बनयान, और दुसरे ने लाल रंग की हाफ पैंट और लाल रंग की बनयान पहन रखी थी और एक दुसरे की धुनाई कर रहे थें. जब मामला बिगड़ जाता तो एक तीसरा आदमी जो की सफ़ेद रंग की शर्ट और काले रंग की पैंट पहने था बीच बचाव के लिए कूद पड़ता, फिर सीटी बजाता और दोनों खिलाडी फिर एक दूसरे को धुनने लगते.

ये सिलसिला कुछ देर तक चलता रहा. बीच बीच में दोनों खिलाडी कोने में बैठ बैठ कर पानी पीते और आराम करते और सीटी बजने पर फिर शुरू हो जाते. तभी लाल बनयान पहने हुए खिलाडी ने नीली बनयान वाले खिलाडी को इतनी जोर का मुक्का मारा की वो रिंग के चारों ओर लगी रस्सियों में उलझ कर धराशायी हो गया. उसके गिरते ही गोपी ने देखा फाल्स सीलिंग का एक बड़ा हिस्सा, ज़ोरदार धमाके के साथ, टूट कर दोनों खिलाड़ियों के बीच आ गिरा. एक पल के लिए गोपी को मानो ऐसा लगा की सारी दुनिया थम गयी हो. कुछ भी नहीं हिल रहा था और चारों ओर सन्नाटा छा गया था. गोपी को लगा मानो उसके सारे सपने टूट कर ज़मीन पर बिखर गए. अब तो उसकी जो भी रही सही इज्ज़त थी, उसके बीवी बच्चों की नज़र में, वो भी फाल्स सीलिंग के साथ चकना चूर हो गयी थी. इमरती के डर के मारे पांव ज़मीन में जम गए.

बॉक्सिंग रिंग के चारों तरफ मनो हडकंप मच गया. लोग अपनी कुर्सियों से उठ कर भागने लगे. "भागो भागो स्टेडियम ढह रहा है", एक आदमी गोपी के बगल से चिल्लाता हुआ भागा. "भूकंप आ गया भूकंप", किसी कोने से किसी औरत के चीखने की आवाज़ आई. मगर गोपी को पता था की क्या हुआ है. उसने पिंकी को गोद में उठाया, और इमरती का हाथ पकड़ कर खीचने लगा. इमरती ने रिंकू का हाथ पकड़ा और इससे पहले की कोई उन्हें कुछ कह सके गोपी के पीछे पीछे निकास की ओर तेज़ी से बढ़ने लगे. जैसे ही गोपी स्टेडियम के दरवाज़े से बहार निकला दूर कोने में उसने उसी टीवी वाली युवती को देखा. वो कैमरे की तरफ इशारा कर कर के कुछ चिल्ला रही थी. उसके अगल बगल और भी कई लोग माइक पकडे कैमरे में देख कर कुछ चिल्ला रहे थें. जो लोग ऐसा नहीं कर रहे थें वो चारों ओर तितर बितर भाग रहे थें.

टीवी वाली युवती की नज़र गोपी पे पड़ी. गोपी इमरती का हाँथ पकड़ कर जोर से खीचने लगा और अपने कदम तेज़ कर लिए. लेकिन तभी वो युवती बिलकुल गोपी के सामने आ कर खड़ी हो गयी और गोपी की ओर इशारा कर केकैमरे में कहने लगी, "देखिये येही है वो शख्स, येही है वो देश का गुनहगार जिसने इस स्टेडियम की फाल्स सीलिंग का काम किया ओर आज जब की सारी दुनिया की निगाहें हम पे थी, वो फाल्स सीलिंग, इस देश के दुश्मन के द्वारा बनायीं गयी वो फाल्स सीलिंग गिर गयी. हम आपको दिखा रहे हैं उस देश द्रोही का चेहरा सबसे पहले अपने चैनल पर. आइये पूछते हैं उसने ये घिनौनी हरकत क्यूँ की. देश की इज्ज़त के साथ ये खिलवाड़ क्यूँ किया आखिर इस दरिन्दे ने", और फिर गोपी के मूंह में माइक घुसेड़ते हुए पुछा "अब आप को कैसा लग रहा है."

इससे पहले की गोपी कुछ कह पाता दूसरे टीवी वाले उस युवती की बातें सुन कर गोपी के आस पास इक्कठा होने लगे. और एक साथ कई माइकों और कैमरों के हुजूम ने गोपी और उसके परिवार को चारों ओर से घेर लिया. गोपी ने कुछ कहने को मूंह खोला मगर भीड़ में उसकी आवाज़ कोई सुनने को तैयार नहीं था. वो कहता रहा की यह उसकी गलती नहीं है मगर इतने शोर में उसकी आवाज़ दब गयी. ऐसा लग रहा था मानो सैकड़ों मक्खियाँ कचरे के ढेर पे दावत उड़ा रही हो. लेकिन अचानक ही सारी मक्खियाँ दूसरी तरफ मुड गयी मानो उन्हें कोई दूसरा, ज्यादा ही स्वादिष्ट कचरे का ढेर दिख गया हो.

एक आदमी सफ़ेद खद्दर पहने, सर पे गाँधी टोपी लगाये, हाँथ जोड़े, लंगडाते हुए स्टेडियम की सीढियां चढ़ रहा था. उसके चारों तरफ पांच छह पुलिस वाले उसको घेर कर चल रहे थें और उनके हाथों में बंदूकें थी. पुलिस और बन्दूक देखते ही गोपी कांपने लगा. उसे लगा ये नेताजी उसको पकड़ने के लिए पुलिस ले कर आये थें. गोपी की घिग्घी बंध गयी. मन ही मन वो उस दिन को कोसने लगा जब वो गाँव से दिल्ली आया था, और उस से भी ज्यादा उस पल को जब उसने बॉक्सिंग मैच देखने का फैसला किया था. पसीने से तर बतर वो कोने में खड़ा कांप रहा था. पिंकी उसके पैरों को जकडे खड़ी थी, और रिंकू अपनी माँ का हाँथ पकडे सारा तमाशा देख रहा था.

इमरती ने देखा मक्खियाँ अब अपने नए शिकार के ऊपर भिनभिना रही थी मगर पुलिस वाले उनको कचरे के ढेर पे बैठने नहीं दे रहे थें. तभी इमरती का दिमाग ठनका, अब किसी का भी ध्यान उन पर नहीं था. सभी लोग नेताजी को घेरे खड़े थें. दरवाज़े के कोने में थोड़ी सी जगह थी, इमरती ने गोपी और रिंकू का हाँथ पकड़ा और जोर से दरवाजे की ओर खीचने लगी. गोपी अड़ियल सांड की तरह इमरती के पीछे खींचता गया, मगर उसकी आँखें पुलिस और उनके हांथों की बंदूकों पे टिकी रही. इमरती ने पूरी ताकत से गोपी को खींचा और घसीटते हुए दरवाज़े से बहार निकल गयी. किसी ने भी उन्हें रोका नहीं. स्टेडियम के कम्पाउंड से बहार आ कर इमरती ने चैन की सांस ली. पीछे देखा तो रिंकू और पिंकी दौड़ते आ रहे थें. गोपी अब भी डर के कारन जड़ित था. एक पेड़ की ओट में ले जा कर इमरती ने गोपी के कंधे पकड़ कर जोर से झंक्झोंरा. गोपी होश में आया और अपना माथा पकड़ कर ज़मीन पर बैठ गया.

"इससे पहले की कोई तुम्हे देख ले और जेल में डाल दे, चलो यहाँ से", इमरती ने गोपी की बाहें खीचते हुए कहा.

गोपी धीरे धीरे खड़ा हुआ, पिंकी को गोद में उठाया और रिंकू का हाँथ पकड़ कर बस स्टॉप की तरफ चलने लगा. इमरती ने इधर उधर देखा, आस पास कोई भी नहीं था, एक अमबुलंस स्टेडियम के अन्दर जा रही थी. इमरती गोपी के पीछे पीछे चलने लगी और बार बार पीछे मुड मुड कर देखती थी.

"बापू अब आप उस छत्त को कब ठीक करोगे", पिंकी ने अपना हाँथ गोपी चंदर के कंधे पे रखते हुए पुछा.

Disclaimer:

This story is a work of fiction and all incidents and names of the people occurring in this story are fictional. The story has been inspired from the movie 'Peepli Live' and the name of the story has been inspired from a phrase used in the song 'Des mera rangrez' performed by Indian Ocean in the same movie.

उम्मीद (Ummeed - Hope)

2010-09-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

सुबह की किरणों ने फिर एक नया उमंग है जगाया
आसमा को छूने का नया सपना है दिखाया

उड़ने के लिए मैंने भी पंख हैं फैलाये
पर कड़ी धुप को देख मेरी उम्मीदें डगमगाए

गुमसुम चुपचाप सा मैं कोसने लगा किस्मत को
क्यूँ आज ही तपना था इस सूरज को

ध्यान मेरा एक पंची ने मोड़ा
मेरे भ्रम को उस नन्हे से जीव ने तोडा

कड़कती धुप में भी वोह चह्चहा रहा था
मानो सूरज को अपने गीत सुना रहा था

हिम्मत उसकी देख मैं मुस्काया
और मेरी समझ में यह आया
के बिना हौसले के किसी ने कुछ भी नहीं है पाया.

---------------------------------------------

The morning Sun rays filled my heart with a new hope

It gave me a new dream to reach for the skies

I stretched my wings to fly

But the heat from the Sun jaded my spirits

Silently I blamed my fate

Why the Sun had to beat down like this when I had to take off

A bird attracted my attention

And it broke my fallacy

In the heat of the Sun the bird was singing

As if it was singing in the praise of the Sun

I smiled at his courage

And I understood

That without courage and hope no one has ever gained anything.

Kartick & Gotam - Business Class Refugees (A Review)

2010-08-26T08:42:00.001-07:00

First things first, Business Class Refugees is an album compiled by music producer Patrick Sebag (Kartick) and sound designer Yotam Agam (Gotam). The album contains ten tracks. The album has been produced by EarthSync India. [Follow EarthSync on Twitter]

Business Class Refugees is a compilation of world music which Kartick and Gotam have mixed with electonica funk with heavy influences from India. The album features distinguished artists from around Asia and the Middle East such as Mahesh Vinayakram, Erez Lev Ari, Navin Iyer, Yoav Bunzel, Anuradha Viswanathan, Murad A

li and Mishko M’Ba.

The album is nice mix of soothing numbers which highlights the theme of the album that is travelling. The music does comprise of myriad sounds collected from all over the globe and well performed by the artists as mentioned above. [Buy the music here.]

The first track ‘Bonjour’ is a nice soothing mix of clarinet, flute and male and female vocals. The track is a bit fast but it still leaves a calming effect on the listener. Well placed female and male vocals provide a texture to the music.

The track ‘Tamil Bossa’ starts with a brilliant flute solo and is followed by awesome Carnatic vocals. The flute makes the track very soothing. The Carnatic vocals take you to a time very far in the past. The track is nicely paced and invites the listener to close their eyes and lose themselves to the music.

[Subscribe to the Earthsync channel on Youtube]

Business Class Refugees’ next track ‘Boye Boye’ starts with the voice over of a flight stewardess making announcements and sets the tone of the album. The music involves a variety of sounds which range from the harmonium, sitar, to sarod. The amalgamation of music and the vocals transfers the listener to a land somewhere in Middle East Asia and the sitar and tabla brings him back to India. The song is racy and foot tapping.

‘Shiva Shiva’ starts with the tone of sarangi and quawalli like claps in the background. The song overall has a classical feel to it with a trance like effect. The vocals again provide the texture to it and the tabla will make you tap your feet.

The track ‘Rututu’ also starts with an announcement by a flight stewardess and then takes on a pace which you can identify with the running of a train, again very much in theme of the album. The saxophones are the soul of this track and are guaranteed to make you get up from your seat and groove. The song has a feel of retro funk due to the saxophones and cello in the background.

Other tracks in the album are ‘Heer’, ‘Door Open Door’, ‘Vellai Thaamarai’, ‘Supreme Chaos’ and ‘Hear Comes The Funk’. All the tracks are quite soothing to listen to. [Listen to the tracks here]

Kartick & Gotam - Business Class Refugees is a must if you are a world music and fusion music fan. For music lover like me who can listen to all types of music it was a treat listening to the album. The music is fresh unlike other electronika funk albums the music grows as you listen to it again and again. The concept of travelling and composing music makes the whole album a very unique experience. Recommended!

A Special Date.

2010-08-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

It was a bright sunny morning exactly the way he had expected it to be. He raised his eyes and scanned the sky. The sky was blue with the lone morning Sun shining. His black jacket fluttered in the November breeze. With a smile he stepped out of his building, swinging his walking stick in his left hand.

“Good morning Cutinho saab!” said the doorman standing up.

“Morning Bahadur, how is your wife now”, he asked putting his hand on the doorman’s shoulder.

“She is fine now saab.”

“Looking sharp in that black suit Mr. Cutinho”, said a voice from behind.

Mr. Cutinho turned around and saw a tall fair young man entering the compound. He wore a white t-shirt, grey slacks and running shoes. His face and hair were moist with sweat and he smiled brightly at him.

“Good morning Ravi! Looks like you are back in shape these days.”

“Yes I am trying to be regular at my jogging routine these days. Where are you off to today?”

“Well, I am going on a date”, said Mr. Cutinho.

“That’s great! May I ask with whom?”

“With my wife of course”, said Mr. Cutinho with a laugh.

Ravi smiled back at him.

“My wife has her own way of celebrating our marriage anniversary, I pretend to be her blind date and we spend the whole day wooing each other. Today is our thirty fifth marriage anniversary. So you see Ravi if I am to meet my blind date I must look sharp.”

“That’s an awesome way to spend such a special day. Hope you two have fun.” said Ravi with a calm expression on his face.

Mr. Cutinho nodded, patted Ravi on his shoulder and walked out of the complex. He walked on the sidewalk swinging his walking stick with the enthusiasm of a young lover about to meet his beloved for the first time. He bought a bunch of red roses from the flower shop and went to the bus stop.

As he waited for the bus he thought about all the good years he had spent with his wife. She had been sad after their only son left them and went to the US. But after Mr. Cutinho retired as the CEO of a leading multinational in the country four years back his savings and incomes from investments were enough to support their needs, so he had enough time to spend with his wife.

Bus number 438 came and Mr. Cutinho boarded it. He took a seat at the end of the bus and bought a ticket for the next stop. As the bus started to gain speed he started to think about her again.

They had begun to enjoy their new found privacy and the free time they got. This was the time when they fell in love with each other again. It was their thirty first marriage anniversary, first after his retirement, when she suggested that they should pretend to be blind dates for each other.

The bus stopped.

Mr. Cutinho picked up the flowers and stepped off the bus. After walking for a few minutes he came to a huge iron gate. Through the gate he saw trees of all kinds. The area was surrounded by a crumbling boundary wall. He heard the sea which lay beyond the boundary walls. He heard a church bell toll in a distance.

Through the small gate on the right of the huge Iron Gate he entered the compound. He heard the birds chirp. His heart was at peace. He walked until he could clearly hear the water lashing on the sea shore. He came to Gulmohar tree, sat down underneath it, and kept the flowers on one side. With trembling fingers he traced the carvings on the granite stone. It said:

Mrs. Cynthia Cutinho

1958 - 2007

The Turn of Events.

2010-07-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

The night was unusually eerie, with an abnormally empty train. The bottles in his knapsack clinked as he held it closer to his chest. The train pulled into the station, he stepped on to the platform. He checked the digital clock in the platform it said 09:05 p.m. He jumped as his mobile phone gave out a shrill ring which echoed in the deserted platform. He pulled out the mobile phone and looked at the unknown number flashing on the screen.

He pressed a key on t

he keypad and spoke in Gujrati “Hello Ramnik Patel bolo chuun”. (This is Ramnik Patel speaking).

“Ramnik bhai, Sharma boloon chuun, kem cho?” (This is Sharma speaking, how are you) said a squeaky voice from the other side.

“Arey Sharma bhai, yes, yes I am back in Mumbai. Just stepped out of the train, I will take a rickshaw and reach home in another half an hour.”

“Okay. How was your vi

sit to Surat?”

“Arey, saarru, the business was good. Since the demand was high I made

a neat profit and what more a trader gave me two bottles of imported scotch”, said Ramnik with a laugh which showed his gutkha stained teeth.

“Su vaat che. Then what’s the plan for tonight.”

“Come over to my house we will have a couple of drinks and watch some movie on the DVD player”, said Ramnik again with a laugh as his pot belly jiggled.

“Okay I will reach there in an hour”, said Sharma and the line went dead.

Ramnik came out of

the station and saw an auto rickshaw coming towards him. He raised his hand but the auto rickshaw increased its speed and bolted past him. “Goregaon”, he shouted in anger. But the auto rickshaw disappeared around the corner. Cars a

nd buses sped by him towards their respective destinations. He heard the soft purr of another auto rickshaw and raised his hand again. The rickshaw slowed down in front of him and stopped.

Ramnik looked at the rickshaw driver. The driver’s double chin connected his head with his torso and it looked as if he didn’t have any neck. Ramnik felt a chill in his spine when he looked at the blood shot eyes.

“Goregaon”, he fi

nally managed to mutter.

The rickshaw driver nodded uninterestedly and chewed something in his mouth. Ramnik jumped into the back seat and the rickshaw groaned into motion.

Ramnik noticed that the rickshaw driver was looking at the gold chain on his neck. He tried to

hide it behind his shirt. As their eyes met Ramnik diverted his gaze. The rickshaw driver fished out a mobile from his shirt pocket pressed a few keys and put it on his ears. After a couple of seconds he disconnected the call and put the phone back in his pocket. The driver fixed his eyes on the street and drove uninterestedly.

He suddenly took a sharp right turn into a dark alley. “Why are you not taking the highway”, asked Ramnik.

“Shortcut hai”, replied the rickshaw driver gruffly.

Ramnik clutched the knapsack closer and looked around the dark alley. Fluorescent light from a tube light lit a rectangular patch across the road ahead. He heard a dog bark somewhere in the dark. Muffled sounds of a television came from the open window. The auto rickshaw swerved again this time to the left. They were now on a small bridge across an open sewer. Dirty water flowed in the sewer and a lone streetlight flickered at the

end of the bridge. Big metal pipes emerged from under the ground at the beginning of the bridge and vanished into the ground at the end of it.

As they crossed the bridge a tall man emerged from the darkness and gestured for the auto rickshaw to stop. He was dressed in spotless white half sleeved shirt and a spotless white pair of pants. Ramnik couldn’t understand whether the skin of the man was really that dark or whether it was the contrast of the color of his garments which made him look that dark. The gold wrist watch in his right h

and glistened as he waved at the rickshaw to stop. The rickshaw lurked to a stop.

The man put his head inside the rickshaw and sniffed at the driver’s face. Ramnik looked at the man’s muscular arms almost ebony black as he held the drivers backrest, the wrist watch looked expensive. Ramnik noticed that the man’s head was now turned towards him.

“What’s in that bag?” he asked, pointing at Ramnik’s knapsack.

“Why did you stop us? And who are you to ask anything?” replied Ramnik. He had always been a meek man trying to avoid confrontations but when cornered even the cow has no option but to retaliate.

The man pulled his head out of the rickshaw, and put his head again inside, this time straight into Ramnik’s face. As Ramnik stared at the man’s dark eyes a drop of cold sweat trickled down his brows, and before he could say anything the man’s fleshy palm struck Ramnik’s left ear. All Ramnik heard was a loud clap and his head started to reel. All he could see in front of were colored spots and all he could hear was a dim buzz of a bee somewhere deep inside his eardrum.

The man held Ramnik by his collar and dragged him out of the rickshaw. Ramnik still reeling from the slap clutched on to his knapsack with his right hand and with his left held the rickshaw to keep himself standing. With watery eyes he saw the driver being pulled out of the rickshaw. As the driver begged for mercy with folded hands the man turned to Ramnik again.

“Do you know who I am”, he yelled. Before Ramnik could understand he stuck a laminated card into Ramnik’s face and yelled “Patil from crime branch Mumbai”.

“We are responsible for people’s lives here and you are not allowing me to do my duties. Do you know what I can do, I can put you in lockup for months and nobody would even come to look at you”, he shouted again.

Ramnik started sweating profusely and his legs started to shake. “But… but I haven’t done anything”, Ramnik managed to whisper.

“What is your name?” asked Patil as he snatched the knapsack from Ramnik’s hands, the bottles clunked in protest.

“Ramnik bhai”, said Ramnik.

“Toh tu bhai hai!” smirked Patil.

Ramnik shook his head vigorously.

“What is this? Liquor! That too so much”, said Patil pulling out both the bottles from the bag. “Do you have a permit with you to carry liquor in such large quantities”, he asked.

“But saab these are gifts from my friend”, said Ramnik.

“Acha! Where are you coming from?”

“Saab, Borivali.”

“Where did you pick him from”, asked Patil turning to the driver.

“Saab, from Borivali station.”

“And what were you doing at Borivali station at this time, does your friend stay at Borivali station”, asked Patil turning to Ramnik again.

“No saab I was returning from Surat.”

“What! You mean to say you smuggled these bottles from a dry state!” shouted Patil, almost spitting at Ramnik’s face as he dangled the bottle in the air.

Ramnik’s body was now shivering as if he was in a fit. Patil handed the bottles to the driver and looked inside the bag again. He pulled out a rectangular packet wrapped in news paper.

“And what is this?”said Patil waving the packet in the air.

He threw the empty bag on the ground and started tearing the news paper wrapping off unveiling a bundle of crisp Rs. 500 notes.

Patil rolled his head to his left, put his left hand on his hips, waved the bundle in the air and said, “what do we have here, a bundle of fake five

hundred rupee notes!”

“No these are not fake”, shouted Ramnik and tried to snatch the bundle from Patil’s hand. But Patil swung his left arm swiftly and caught Ramnik in the chest. Ramnik fell on the ground, clutching his chest and coughing.

“Both of you will have to come down to the police station. We will have to verify these notes.”

The driver threw himself on the ground and started howling and pleading. “But saab I have done nothing, I just picked him up from the station. I don’t know him. I have small kids at home to feed saab!” cried the driver and hung on to Patil’s legs. The driver looked at Ramnik, winked and gestured him to do the same.

On the cue Ramnik plunged forward and wrapped his hands around Patil’s other leg and started wailing, “Saab these notes are not fake, this is an honest man’s hard earned money. Please have mercy saab I have small kids, an old mother, a wife and a blind sister to feed at home.”

Patil’s gave one sharp kick which landed on the rickshaw driver’s stomach he gave out a loud yelp and went reeling in the dust. Another kick landed on Ramnik’s groin, he gave out a muffled cry and doubled in pain.

“Get up now both of you”, shouted Patil pulling Ramnik by his shirt collar.

Ramnik somehow managed to stand up still clutching his groin. Patil put the wad of notes in his shirt pocket.

“Saab we are poor people”, said the rickshaw driver standing up, “can’t we cut a deal and all go home”, and winked at Ramnik again.

Ramnik got the cue and cried again “Yes saab please, I am ready to pay you. Please saab I have small children, an old mother, a blind sister…”

“You dare to offer me a bribe, I am an honest cop I will die but will not take bribe.” shouted Patil cutting Ramnik short. “I will make both of you rot in jail for offering me a bribe.”

“Saab, please forgive me saab, I will not say that again”, cried Ramnik and threw himself again at Patil’s feet. Patil pulled him up again.

“Okay, okay we will see to that”, he said.

Patil went to the auto rickshaw and sat in the back seat. Ramnik looked at him wide eyed not knowing what was to come next. Patil took out a white handkerchief from his pant pocket and spread it on the seat beside him. He then raised his shirt and pulled out a revolver which was stuck in his pants and kept it beside the handkerchief. Ramnik stared at the white piece of cloth and then at the shiny black revolver on the brown leather seat.

“Both of you, empty whatever you have on this handkerchief.” said Patil.

Hesitantly the rickshaw driver pulled out a few notes and coins from all his pockets and put it on the handkerchief.

“The wrist watch and the mobile too”, said Patil, pointing his fleshy finger at the rickshaw driver’s wrist. The driver unstrapped the wrist watch, pulled out a mobile from his shirt pocket and kept it on the cloth. The rickshaw driver went ahead and sat on the driver’s seat.

“Tujhchya aila! Should I send you an invitation card”, swore Patil crushing his teeth at Ramnik. Ramnik with shaking hand took out his wallet, his wrist watch and mobile and put it on the handkerchief.

“Is that a gold chain in your neck”, asked Patil moving his fingers slowly on the butt of revolver.

Ramnik looked at the driver timidly for a second and said wiping tears from his eyes, “Saab my dead father gave this to me when he was dying. Please don’t take it from me. This is his last gift to me.”

“Are you taking it off or should I send you off to meet your dead father”, said Patil his fingers still feeling the butt of the pistol.

Ramnik looked at the pistol for a moment and then looked at the driver with pleading eyes. The driver jerked his head towards Patil. Ramnik wiped his brow with the back of his hand and slowly pulled out the gold chain over his neck.

“Now take both the bottles, empty them in the drain there, and break the bottles”, said Patil pointing at the bottles lying on the ground and then waving his hand towards the drain behind the rickshaw.

Ramnik picked up both the bottle and went to the drain. With a click he broke the cap of one of the bottles and started pouring the liquor as it trickled slowly through the closed spout of the bottle. He looked up at the sky saying a silent prayer hoping that after he had threw all the alcohol Patil would let him go safely to his home. The night sky was dark hardly any stars were visible.

The bottle was almost empty now so he threw the empty bottle on the side of the drain. It broke with a loud crashing noise which pierced the silent night. Hearing the noise dogs started to bark in a distance. Ramnik turned around and looked at the back of the rickshaw, it was still there. He opened the cap of the second bottle and tilted it, the liquor began to fall in the drain with a pattering sound.

Ramnik heard a spurting sound coming from behind. It sounded as if someone was trying to start a motor. And suddenly the motor started, with a loud purring noise. Ramnik turned around and saw the rickshaw gaining motion slowly. Before Ramnik could realize anything the rickshaw swerved and crossed him. Ramnik saw Patil and the rickshaw driver smiling at him from the moving rickshaw. Ramnik gave out a loud cry and ran after the rickshaw which was now racing in the direction from where it had come.

Ramnik ran shrieking like a madman after the speeding rickshaw as far as his legs would carry his potbellied body. In a minute Ramnik ran out of steam and almost avoided tripping and falling. He fell on his knees panting like a dog. The half empty bottle of liquor was still in his hand. A car whizzed by and then a taxi. He was sweating, he was thirsty and his clothes were dusty. He took a swig from the bottle.

“Arrrggghhh…” he cried as his throat burned.

Still kneeling on the ground and panting, he looked in the direction the rickshaw had taken off and cursed under his breath. He took another gulp from the bottle. This time the liquor didn’t hurt much. He wiped his mouth with back of his hand and tried to pull himself up. But gravity seemed to pull his body down.

He drank some more from the bottle. He shook his head vigorously. Everything around him was starting to tumble. Cars, motorbikes and taxis zipped by him in slow motion. He gathered all his strength and pulled himself up. His knees shook, and the ground seemed to be moving. With both his hands spread wide in the air he tried to balance himself. In a few seconds he succeeded.

“Brrrrrr…” he shook his head again.

He waved at a vehicle coming in his direction the car didn’t even bother to slow down. His gaze followed the car’s dancing tail lamp.

“Son of a bastard”, he muttered.

He was shaking with rage, at the same time he felt helpless at such cruel turn of events. He knew he couldn’t do anything. He thought of going to the police station to lodge an FIR. He looked around and then smelled his own breath. His breath reeked of alcohol. He knew if he went to the police station in this condition to lodge an FIR against a man who claimed to be an honest cop he will have to spend the rest of the night in jail.

He raised the bottle to his lips again pushed his head back and drank the bitter liquor for some time.

“Arrrggghhh…” he hissed again, as the almost empty bottle came down from his lips and dangled in his hand.

Ramnik looked in both the directions. He saw an auto rickshaw coming his way. He tried raising his hand to wave but his whole body was revolting under the effect of alcohol. By the time he raised his hand the rickshaw had rushed past him. He looked at the bottle and decided to walk home.

He walked for sometime which seemed like hours to him. He felt his body reacting to his instructions in slow motion. Everything around him swayed. The red tail lamps of the vehicles passing by him revolved in circles before disappearing in the dark.

He raised the bottle to his lips but only a few drops fell. He shook the bottle over his lips anticipating more liquor to come out but nothing happened.

“Son of a bastard!” he cursed the bottle which he had raised in the air. The street light twinkled in his eyes through the empty bottle. With his full might he swung his whole body and let the bottle go.

The bottle flew in air, rotating like a grenade fired from a launcher. Ramnik’s bleary eyes followed the projectile which seemed to be flying in slow motion like every other thing around him. The bottle landed on the windshield of an auto rickshaw. The wind shield cracked and the bottle burst in to a thousand shards of glass.

The rickshaw instead of slowing down started speeding but it kept moving towards its left, it swerved a bit, tipped and then fell on its left side the engine died down with a loud groan. Ramnik watched the whole event unfolding petrified. Suddenly the streets were empty and everything was silent. He could hear the dogs barking again in a distance.

Someone’s faint moan jerked Ramnik to life again. He knew the moaning was coming from the rickshaw. Suddenly he found himself sober. He was still swaying but his senses had returned. Slowly he began moving towards the overturned vehicle, went around it and peeped inside. He was unable to say whether it was his own stink or it was the rickshaw that was stinking of alcohol.

He saw the driver was unconscious and his face was bloodied. The man in the passenger seat was groaning and slowly moving his head. The man seemed to be semi conscious. Ramnik’s eyes fell on a white cloth tied in a small bundle lying near the man’s legs. He looked at the man’s face, his head was tilted on one side, his nose was bleeding and his eyes were half closed. With his fleshy right hand he held the iron rod of the rickshaw above him, the gold watch in his wrist glistened in the dark.

Ramnik looked around the streets were still empty, a couple of cars had passed by without bothering to stop. Ramnik stooped inside the rickshaw and picked up the cloth bundle. He was about to get out when he noticed another bundle at the man’s feet. He picked up the bundle it was a wad of crisp five hundred rupee notes. As he pocketed both the things a car stopped behind him.

“What happened?” asked a voice, as Ramnik turned around. Two men jumped off the vehicle.

“Call an ambulance”, said one of the men. Another motorbike stopped. Some more people ran from the other side of the road towards Ramnik. Ramnik watched them in bewilderment. Men started to pull the victims out of the rickshaw. Ramnik slowly started to melt in the shadows.

“Are you okay”, someone asked him. He mumbled something and slipped out of the chaos. He started to walk away from the crowd as fast as his wobbling legs would carry him. A rickshaw slowed down beside him.

Ramnik looked inside the vacant rickshaw, “Goregaon”, he said. The rickshaw driver nodded.

Away from the mess now he felt a bit confident and asked “what happened back there?”

“Bewade log saab”, (drunkards sir) said the rickshaw driver and sped off.

You have been Vuvuzelaed.

2010-07-04T01:38:00.000-07:00

Come appraisals and people start talking about the torturous corporate life. Of many things that they talk one thing is common in all the offices and that’s the ‘corporate bamboo’ or as my ex-boss used to pronounce it ‘bumboo’. So everytime she got it up her’s she would very gratefuly pass it on to us or should I say up to us. But I have a feeling that after this FIFA World Cup the ‘corporate bumboo’ will be replaced by the ubiquitous Vuvuzela.

The Coporate Vuvuzela. The word itself is so annoying that it will make people shudder. When a boss will call an employee inside his cabin who had just missed a deadline, the people outside would be saying ‘Oh the guy’s gonna be Vuvuzelaed today’. I was even wondering since Mr. Obama isn’t very keen on outsourcing and now that India is not the only hub of outsourcing jobs, the phrase ‘your job has been Bangalored’ will be changed to ‘your job has been Vuvuzelaed’.

One must be thinking why should the notorious bumboo which has been there ever since the corporates came into being, be replaced with something as new as Vuvuzela? Let me tell you:

Vuvuzela, as wikipedia says, derives its name from the word ‘zulu’ which in African means to make noise and was invented in 1965. So its not as new as one thinks it is.
The Corporate Vuvuzela (due to its shape) can serve a similar purpose with as much ease as the Corporate Bumboo.
And while its being used the victim is bound to make noises though the type and source of noise in the case of Corporate Vuvuzela will be a bit different.
And last but not the least it can be used by anyone and on anyone without much training irrespective of their age, sex, qualification or communication skills.

So once again its appraisal time. Some of the companies are already through with the process and some, like mine are still at work. So one can see people huddled in groups during coffee breaks and lunch breaks discussing who will get the corporate vuvuzela.

So when the boss calls me to hand over the appraisal letter to me he would say ‘Dude I tried very hard but you failed to impress us this time. I was expecting a lot more from you. But if you perform well next time I promise you, you will get a lot better raise’. So along with the invisible carrot I see something written on my appraisal letter, something which cant be read by anyone else ‘You have been Vuvuzelaed’.

An English Crush

2010-06-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

(Submitted for Blogadda's "My first Crush !" contest )

Every time she pulled my ear, I fell in love with her, not because getting my ears pulled turns me on or anything, but because when she pulled my ear she would bring her lips so close to my cheek that I could smell the perfume on her neck and I believed that one day she would pull my ear and give me a peck on my cheek. I was 13 years old then, in the seventh standard, and no, I wasn’t getting my ears pulled by the female counterparts in my class but by my English teacher. Yes I know thirteen year old boys, studying in catholic schools, having a crush on their English teacher is a cliché but then that was how my childhood was, a cliché.

So there I was sitting on the last bench everyday, with my chin in my hands, looking at her face, dreamy eyes. From the moment she entered the class I would never lose sight of her slender body, dressed elegantly in a salwar kameez. I don’t know whether it was my imagination or the truth but every time our eyes met she would push a curl behind her ear.
Her brown eyes floated from face to face as she moved around the class reading us prose and poems. And when she passed me the whiff of her perfume and sometimes her duppatta grazing my cheek would make me sigh,”Oh! Teacher Sangeeta”.

I worked really hard in English, doing my homework, preparing the lessons diligently for the next class. Whenever she asked a question in the class I would enthusiastically raise my hand and when she looked at me and said “yes, Vivek what’s the answer”, I would go blank. This would make her really angry and she would pull my ear, which as I have already said I enjoyed.
It was Anu, my confidante in the seventh grade, who told me that women liked bold men. “When you mumble in front of teacher Sangeeta, it doesn’t look very manly”, she told me. I looked at her with my mouth wide open wondering how she knew so much about men. But then I realized she was a woman herself, so I thought she must be right.

I always hated it when teacher Sangeeta gave one of her brilliant smiles to anyone except me, and I always thought she did it purposefully to make me jealous. There was one person whom I hated the most and that was our physical trainer Mr. James. He was a tall good looking guy and whenever teacher Sangeeta would see him she would stop and talk to him. They both talked in whispers and she laughed at his secret jokes sometimes touching him on the shoulders or hands and that would make me wreath in envy. James in turn hated me too because I was never good at any sports. But I think he secretly knew about my love for teacher Sangeeta and was jealous of the fact that I might someday steal her from him.

Anu like everything else knew about the hatred I had for James. During recess we would both sit under the tree at the edge of the cricket field behind our school building and try to hatch plans to get James out of the way.

Anu once even suggested asking her cousin brother to arrange for some goons who would hide behind some wall near James’ house and beat the f*beep* out of him when he was walking alone in the evening.

“This would keep him in the hospital for a good whole month during which you would be free to woo teacher Sangeeta”, she said without blinking. And while she was suggesting this, all I could do was, as always look at her with my mouth wide open.

We (read I) decided to stay away from any such act of violence.

It was teacher Sangeeta’s birthday. Anu told me that I should give her a birthday card and a bunch of roses too. But I had only enough money to buy a birthday card, so Anu chipped in and I also bought a bunch of roses. Anu helped me write my feelings beautifully on the card and I told her that I would give it to teacher Sangeeta in the school. But Anu as always suggested otherwise.

“Dress up and go to her place in the evening, there you shall personally give her the flowers and profess your love for her”, she said. “But wouldn’t that be a bit bold. What if she didn’t like it? Wouldn’t she be angry at me?” I asked. “Don’t be silly, what did I tell you about women, they like bold men. She will melt when she will read those line and sees such beautiful flowers”, Anu convinced me.

So in the evening I dressed up, picked up my bicycle and pedaled to her house. As I reached near her house I saw James opening the gate of her garden and entering. He was dressed in a black suit and was accompanied by an old lady who must have been his mother. I stopped a few yards away from her house and waited for James to leave. After a few minutes a few more guests arrived. I knew teacher Sangeeta had given a birthday party. I saw Sumit come along with his parents. Sumit was my classmate and teacher Sangeeta’s nephew. He waved at me when he saw me standing at the corner of the lane. As his parents went inside he waited for me. I cycled up to him.

“Hey, did teacher Sangeeta invite you for the party too”, he asked. “Yes”, I mumbled, embarrassed. “You know it’s a surprise party. Nobody knows but my mother told me that it’s her birthday party as well as her engagement ceremony.” he said. I looked at him as if something had pierced through my heart and shattered all my dreams.

“Won’t you come inside” he asked again. I didn’t say anything. I turned around and cycled back to my home, the flowers and the card still in my hand. I found Anu sitting in the playground out side my house. I threw my bicycle went up to her, sat beside her and threw the flowers and the card on the ground. She put her hands around my shoulders and asked what had happened. I told her everything.

She sat with her hands around my shoulders as I hid my face in my knees. “Why do you worry, I am here for you”, she said caressing my hair. I looked up in to her eyes. She had tears in them. I bent down picked up the flowers and gave them to her. “These are for you, for being my best friend”, I said. She took the flowers in her hand, hugged me and then gave a kiss on my cheek. And as always I kept looking at her with my mouth wide open.

Killing The Pain

2010-05-11T02:49:00.000-07:00

She smiled as a stream of blood flowed past her. It was over now and she gave a sigh of relief.

Memories of her 12th birthday streaked through her mind. She remembered it was her school’s founder’s day celebration. She had taken part in the ballet dance, and was proudly flaunting her white short skirt. She knew she looked the prettiest among all the dancers even her teachers couldn’t stop praising her beauty.

After the function was over, her uncle picked her up from school and took her to his home. He was a lawyer and had a huge farmhouse at the outskirts of the town that was the venue for her birthday party. She had always adored him for what he was. She had always admired him for his good looks and because he had always treated her like a princess.

When she reached there, the farmhouse was deserted her aunt and other family members were to reach there by late afternoon. She got down from the car and ran towards the swimming pool her favourite place in the house. She took off her ballet shoes and sat down at the edge of the pool putting her legs in the cold water. A few moments later her uncle called her inside the house but she refused to go. She was enjoying the feel of cold water and splashing it with her feet. A few minutes later her uncle came out and asked her to come inside the house. In the mood of fun she pulled him in the pool too and started splashing water on him.

Their clothes were wet. He looked at her from head to waist. Her wet hair sticking to her neck, her wet white dress sticking to her chest gave him a mad rush of blood. He gave her a weird smile. She had never seen him like this before. Suddenly he grabbed her with one hand and started pulling her into the house. Initially she thought her uncle was having fun and she tried to free herself but his grip was very strong and it made her feel uncomfortable. She requested him to leave her but he took her inside the bedroom.

She thought her uncle was angry on her of what she did to him in the pool. She begged for forgiveness fearing that he might hit her and pleaded him to let her go. Instead he threw her on bed and locked the door from inside. She closed her eyes afraid anticipating a blow from him anytime.

However, he didn’t hit her, instead he put something soft in her hand, she opened her eyes and the sight made her scream. Her uncle was standing half naked in front of her. She started screaming and crying. He slapped her face, ripped her off her clothes and pushed himself inside her.

The pain, the burning sensation, the blood were all unbearable. She hated him for causing her so much pain. The man she had adored and respected once, had become repugnant and filthy now.
He threatened her that if she complained about him, she would be dead. With time the physical pain was gone but the emotional pain and torture scarred her life permanently. Whenever he found her alone he would force himself on her and all she could do was unsuccessfully try to protect herself. She shuddered every time she saw him, breaking into sweats. But with time it became a dull pain which was there constantly at the back of her head.

She had lived the pain every single day for the last ten years until today when he forced her to serve his client. She had refused. This made him angry.

He had slapped her and pulled off her duppata, pushing her towards the man sitting in the corner of the room. She spread her hands to avoid falling down and her hands got hold of the spear which was until now an antique showpiece adorning the beauty of the room. The view had scared the client and he had ran off from the room while her uncle didn’t realise that his sin of last ten years was about to end

She sat in front of him with her hands drenched in blood, looking at him die. This was the moment she had always dreamed of since she was twelve. It took her ten long years to gather the courage, for a decade he had haunted her day and night, every morning she would get up with the fear of facing him and now she had ended that fear. He would no longer haunt her.

The Nation’s Enemy Number One.

2010-05-03T03:53:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: The names of characters and situations occurring in all of the stories in this blog are fictional and any resemblance to any person dead or alive is purely coincidental. The stories in this blog are only for leisure reading and the author at any point does not mean to make fun of or degrade, any nationality, caste, religion or sex in the story. If you think so, it is purely unintentional and the author apologizes for the same.

The Nation’s Enemy Number One.

Mumbai, Khulgayipoll News Desk, May 3, 2010

It is a proud day for the country today. The courts of justice have finally delivered their verdict. Finally truth has won, injustice and lies have been vanquished. It is being hailed as the victory of the people of India. The number one enemy of the nation Khatmal Pasab has been found guilty for the worst ever terrorist attacks which happened in the economic capital, Mumbai, two years ago and the court has sentenced him to death.

The government has been very angry about the attacks since it had once again proved that the country’s Intelligence system, had no intelligence at all. Hence the government wanted that the perpetrators be sent to the gallows as soon as possible. And now they have made sure that justice has been done. The court today passed the verdict declaring that the number one enemy of India Khatmal Pasab should be hanged till death.

On this great day our correspondents caught up with some of nation’s well wishers to get their priceless comments.

Our correspondent Ragda Patties met Bagh Fakade, at his residence, he refused to speak in Hindi or English but this is what he said and we translate:

“It is a great day for the common man of Mumbai (an assistant whispered “Sir Maharashtra”) and Maharashtra that this devil has been brought to justice. And on this auspicious day we declare that we will start a new revolution. We will ask all the television channels broadcasting on each and every television set in Mumbai (assistant from behind again “Sir and Maharashtra”) and Maharashtra should have their logos and names displayed in Marathi only. That is our tribute to the victory of the common man of Maharashtra (assistant from behind again “Sir Maharashtra”, Fakade turns around and gives him a ‘tichyaaila’ type look). I will request everyone to start the revolution from today itself. Jai Shivaji, Jai Maharashtra.”

Our correspondent Pehle Aap Mishra caught up with Behenji Kalawati out side a statue shop in Lucknow, and this is what she said:

“Pasab is a black mark on this nation. He is the enemy number one of this country and I am happy that the court has delivered the justice. It is a big day for all the Dalits and other backward casts of India. To celebrate this victory of the neglected lower casts of the country not only are we declaring it as a public holiday in our state but I have also ordered 1000 life size bronze statues of myself to be made and placed all over, to make our beloved state more beautiful .”

Our correspondent Sattu Jha from Patna met Baaloo ji who was shopping for some Rabri (a sweet meat made of milk and sugar) with his wife Dhibri Devi and this is their reaction:

“I have heard the news and I think this is a very good verdict in favor of the minority community. I think that the government should have CBI investigate the whole Pasab case again, instead of wasting its time in trying to find out which brand of cattle feed I use for my buffaloes. I am going to ask the government to start the family planning program again to celebrate this verdict.”

Our correspondents spoke to the minister of Twitter affairs Mr Haanchee Suroor but he said, “You will have to follow me on Twitter to read my comments regarding the verdict.” Our correspondent is following him on Twitter now.

Our Mumbai correspondent Ragda Patties also caught up with the Bollywood super star Sukh Dukh Kaand for his reactions:

“I am very happy today that now even the Indian court agrees with me, that every terrorist is not a Kaand. If Pasab is willing to change his ways I am ready to teach him acting so that he may act in one of my movies and fulfill the mission that he came for or if he wants I can ask my Dadaji to teach him cricket so that he may join my cricket team. Because you know I am the star, I am the best and my movies are the best… ” Our correspondent had to snatch the microphone away from him.

Our correspondent Koyla Gundi found the missing ex-chief minister Gadhoo Roda coming out of a seven star spa in Mauritius and asked him what he thought about the verdict.

“Dekhiye hum toh gareeb kisaan hain. Humare babuji koyla khadaan mein kaam karte thein. Humare paas toh chawal khareedne ke bhi paise nahi hain. Toh Newspaper khareed kar yeh sab cheez kaha se padhenge. Humein toh Pasab ka ek hi matlab pata tha (raises the pinky on his right hand). Humein jhoothe aaropon mein fasaya gaya hai.” (I am a poor farmer. My father used to work in coal fields. We don’t even have the money to buy rice then how do you think we will buy newspaper and read about these things. The only meaning of Pasab we know is (raises the pinky on his right hand). I am being falsely framed.)

Our correspondent Gend Ball Gilli asked the tycoon who has changed the face of Indian cricket Mr. KhitKhit Godi, but he was in a hurry because his chartered plane was waiting and we could only catch him saying:

“I am still the chairman of…”

These are some of the reactions that our correspondents have collected from the well wishers of our country. We have also received reactions from Gayapapita, Churnanidhi, Moyaamji, Marmar Jhing, Garda Pahar and hundreds of others from all walks of life who have dedicated their lives in the upliftment of the poor of the nation. They have all hailed the verdict of hanging the number one enemy of our country.

I found a way.

2010-03-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

The iron tracks rattled by as I tried to follow them with eyes, which were looking at the ever changing future, I felt a soft touch on my hands. I turned and saw a girl, with rough hair dirty cheeks and equally dirty frock raising her small hands to her lips looking sadly at me. I turned my head and saw a girl who looked hardly fifteen wearing a blue saree standing in the aisle looking uninterestedly at me with her grey eyes, I knew the only thing of interest to her was the coin in my pocket. The pug nose and the wheat colored skin that both the little girl and the girl in the aisle had told me the whole story. I ignored both of them and looked outside the window. Dejected they moved on to other prospects.

I took another look at both of them and I knew if they didn’t have enough by the end of the day, the girl would have to find a client at night, she might end up getting pregnant again. As for the little girl, she would inherit her mother’s occupation.

Giving them a two or a five rupee coin would not have been a big deal for me. But every time I gave money to someone who asked for it I felt as if I was encouraging something wrong for easy money. But if I didn’t give them money the girls will end up hooking up with a drunkard. I can’t get everyone of them work, I am looking for a job myself. I thought as stations passed me by and I arrived at my destination.

I checked my mobile it was nine, the office goers all seemed to be walking in the same direction. I followed the throng. Having skipped my breakfast for the early appointment I felt hungry. I saw a bunch of women selling ‘Poha’ on the roadside from stainless steel cans kept at the back of a Maruti Omni van. I had my fill. Further down the lane I noticed another similar van, but this time the sellers were boys who must have been studying in 10+2.

I remembered a couple of years’ back we had a client in Santacruz who belonged to a particular minority group. I had become friends with his eldest son. One day sitting at his office I had asked him “I notice that all the boys working in your office are from your community, why don’t you have employees from other communities as well?”

His father who was reading a newspaper raised his head and replied “People from your community hardly give employment to people from our community, as a result these kids are easily misled by people who take advantage of them. I have nothing against other communities but I decided that I will employ people only from my own community thereby giving them a livelihood and an opportunity to improve their life. These kids that you see at my office all go to evening colleges, this way they stay away from evil.”

Seeing the kids serve Poha, Idli, Vada Pav or for that matter the guy selling second hand books on the road side reminded me of the man’s words. Create employment everything else will fall into place.

Meeting over, on my way back, at the station I saw a man selling Rubik’s Cube. I had wanted to buy one for a long time now. I had seen one at a supermarket but didn’t buy it because I thought that it was obscenely overpriced. I picked the cube and asked the price. He didn’t respond didn’t even raise his head to look at me. “Bees rupiya”, I heard a little girl call out to me from the other side. It was then that I realized that the man sitting there was blind. I immediately took out two ten rupee notes and placed it on his hand. He felt them with his fingers and put them in his shirt pocket.

The guilt of not giving the little girl any money was gone now. I was happy that I had my breakfast at one of those makeshift kiosks by the road which helped those women in making them self sufficient and by buying the Rubik’s Cube from the blind man and not at some mall and giving my hard earned money to some MNC.

I thought if we continued to buy our vegetables and groceries from the sellers in our locality instead of driving down to malls and filling the pockets of these corporate snobs we will be doing our country a big service. I agree that we will have to shell out a few bucks more but you won’t have to spend your time in traffic on a Sunday, all these can be delivered at your doorsteps. The matter of fact is that the Indian middle class today has such a purchasing power is only because we have always been so enterprising.

Until and unless the money trickles down to the very bottom of our society we won’t be able to create wealth. And people become self sufficient and have access to money they will start thinking of better education for their kids, better sanitation, health and hygiene for their family. All this in turn will help us in the betterment of society.

Who knows may be we would even be able to put an end to girls being forced into the oldest profession in the world, after all its true the treasure lies at the bottom of the pyramid.