Lost Again..

(1)

Current day –

He was staring hard into his book, doing all he could to read words in the dim light of the sun set. Sun was already dipped almost half into the horizon. He wanted to finish that paragraph before he could put the book back in bag. After that he would not get time to read it he knew Bangalore was going to be busy.

As the bus moved it became impossible to read even a single word, so he decided to fold the page to resume later. He took a sip of water from the bottle and leaned back into his seat. “Railway crossings are too painful” he thought “they made one wait an hour every time a train crossed”. He closed his eyes and murmured under his breather “pathetic!”

(2)

2 Weeks Back –

He was returning to his parents after 12 years. Such a long time 12 years is ! All this while when he was away he did not even know whether his parents were alive or dead by bow. He was sure his parents could not have been sure about him either. Back then he could not imagine a life without his parents and suddenly 12 years, almost a life time, passed without them. He had missed them. But he had to leave home, he did not have an option, he thought. He could not remember faces of his parents clearly. That argument with his dad set him on a separate path. He was successful today. Married to a lovely woman and father of the cutest son. Maria, his wife, was from a different religion. It was another of his worries, if his parents would accept his marriage? Would it matter? Will the return of the prodigal son mean anything to his parents ? “Mom would have missed me!!” he thought.

Maria was there with Rahul ( son ) at the airport to see him off. She hugged him good bye as he kissed Rahul on the forehead. In just 3 hours he was at Delhi airport. He could not wait to board train to Lucknow and then a 3 hours road trip to Bahraich, where his parents lived. He did not know if they lived in the same house anymore. There was no way to find out. But he was determined now to find them and tell them that their son was back, for good. The day passed swiftly in journey. He reached Bahraich before sunset.

Anand Nagar, his locality did not look anything like he remembered. He asked around for his father. "Do you know where does Mr. Mukesh Mishra live?" he asked a stranger "oh, apko pata hai ki mukesh mishra ji kahan rahte hain ?" he translated it in Hindi for that person. "Aaage se teesri gali me chale jaiye, master sahab wahin rahte hain.( Take the third street from here, he lives there )" stranger replied. His heart was pounding as fast as it could, his palms were sweaty , he was nervous as he knocked on the door.

(3)

Maria had always been supportive. She knew that he missed his family. She did everything to make him comfortable and fill the empty space in his life. Rahul's arrival in their lives definitely helped. He loved him for all the love that he had lost. He understood the attachment for his son and everyday wondered how his parents would have felt when he walked out, never to look back.

Maria had always wanted a complete family with Ronit's parents. But he was not sure if he should try to get in touch with his parents again. He was scared. He did not know how to face his parents. How to look into their eyes and make up for the 12 years when he abandoned them. Time, probably when they needed him most.

(4)

His mother stood stunned at the door, tears rolling out on her cheeks continuously, unable to speak a word, she could not even manage to raise her hand or call her husband at the sight of her long lost son. She looked older than he had imagined. He fell on her feet and tears made their first appearance in his eyes. She went down to pick him up as he hugged her in a tight embrace.

"Where is dad, ma ?" he asked , she managed to point towards the drawing room where television was on. India was playing Pakistan in world cup semifinals. He went in and bowed down to touch his father's feet. His father looked at him and took a few seconds to register and realize what just had happened. He did not know what to do he raise his hand gently touch Ronit’s head.

For minutes no body spoke a word. They just kept smiling at each other, tears did not stop.

Current Day -

(5)

Two weeks had passed in no time, too less to listen all the stories of past 12 years. Too little a time to gather all the love. It went so fast, that the pain of yet another separation had started haunting them. But this time, it was different.

He did not expect it, but his parents were more than happy to Know about Maria and the way she had been there for him all this while. They could not wait another day to see Rahul.

They talked to Maria and Rahul on phone every day morning and evening. God took away their son and returned him with interest of a daughter in law and a grandson.

Finally the day arrived when Ronit had to leave for Bangalore. He promised to bring Maria and Rahul to visit his parents in Bahraich the very next month. He got the tickets booked for the trip and asked his mother to prepare to meet her grandson.

His mother packed everything that she could in the check in baggage and his hand bag. She had so many things to send to her grandson, space in the bags was not enough. She was dying to hold him in her hands and hug him.

His mother was fighting her tears as she waved good bye. Mukesh was already planning for Ronit’s next visit.

(6)

After a long the Mishra family did not have any complaints with god. They had a lot of work to do, just in a month they were going to meet Maria and Rahul.

"Let's celebrate this day, our son has returned to us. We do not need anything in life now" Mukesh was ecstatic. Reena did not say a word, she just smiled. After 12 long years they had all they wanted. Happiness had knocked at their door once again.

They did not have to worry about their son anymore. Unending series of questions, where is he? Is he alive? What had become of him? Does he remember us? Would he ever come back, did not haunt them anymore.

With every passing year the hope of return of their son had faded away.

Now that Ronit was back, they had nothing to worry about. Mukesh thanked god in his heart as Reena handed him the tea cup.

They sat comfortably in the sofa and switched on television. With the screen still coming up the sound reached their ear

"In a breaking news TAir flight from Lucknow to Bangalore was blown away into pieces by a bomb blast. No survivors. We are waiting for more information."

Story of Evolution

                                                                    (1)


He sat on a rock beside the waterfall chewing on the last piece of carrot. Deep in thought, he did not realize how the day had passed. He stared at the waterfall and tried to remember his days as the smartest graduate rabbit in the forests. He rolled his eyes and turned his back to call for his men, “Roy !! Roy !! get me my stick”. He was getting old and could not run as he did in his youth. Roy came puffing and panting up the rock with the stick tied on his back. “ My lord ! your stick “ bowed Roy by putting his back towards Chanak, the chief minister.



Chanak took the stick and started walking , Roy followed him two steps behind. “Roy ! what do you think we should do ?”, he asked. Roy was bewildered at the sudden question “About what my lord ?”. “About humans, the have been destroying our forests. We kept quite all these years thinking that they are evolving and they would need means. But their greed is insatiable. “ Chanak frowned.



Roy was furious, with anger in his voice he replied “We should have destroyed humans at their first mistake. They do not understand our warnings. They have a very volatile short term memory. Our tsunamis are forgotten in a day or two. We have no option but to annihilate them from the face of the earth else nobody else would survive”. Chanak was shocked at the reply he turned back and stared at Roy for a moment. Roy realized that he may have spoken more than he was required too.



                                                                         (2)

Sultan , the king of forests, was fast asleep when queen entered his bedroom. “ Dear lord, you are still asleep. Our subjects are going nuts since humans have started deforesting Corbett. Please wake up.” Sultan rolled in the bed and tried to pat himself with his tail. He got up slowly and sat in the bed with multiple pillows around him, as if to support him from falling in the bed again. “ I need time to think about the solution” he murmured. “Do we have the luxury of time my lord ? “ queen Meenakshi asked while handing him the cup of tea.



“I know I do not have time to decide, but gods made me take a vow that I would not destroy humans until it is impossible to tolerate them. Gods feel bad that humans started evolving after all of us. Don’t you remember we were as boastful when we realized the power of our brain as humans are about their new found brain. They hardly have a 4 % active brain , you cannot blame them if they do not understand the repercussions of their actions. We have passed that stage years back and now we have evolved completely with a brain 100 % active. We understand reason behind everything , thus our actions are coherent with nature. They have a long way to go and it would not be soon that they start maturing. As alpha species of the planet it is our duty to give them the chance to reach our levels.” Sultan said softly.



Queen was left with no words but she was worried about the state of the earth. She said worriedly “ But my lord, as king of the forests you have to ensure the safety of our subjects. Some of them have already started rebelling by attacking humans and trespassing their territory.”

“I know, I will send ministers to talk to other animals. Problem is that humans do not understand that we are more evolved than them. Our calm and reserved nature makes them think that they rule the planet and can control us. I do not know how to make them understand that they are the most stupid ones on the face of earth. I blame gods for this, they should have created humans with all of us so that they can start evolving with all of us. But no, they just could not do that. “ King felt a surge of helpless anger.



“ I will talk to the king of waters “ he walked out of the room whispering.



                                                                             (3)



Matsya, King of waters was restless, Sultan had not arrived at the meeting venue. “He just does not understand punctuality. No wonder forests are being destroyed by humans long before Pralay ( doomsday ).”

Sound of conchs rose from all sides, Sultan had arrived. “Apologies for delay in my arrival brother Matsya. We had to change our route because humans encroached deeper into our territory. We did not realize that until it was too late.”



Sultan and his ministers took seat with Matsya and his queen. Matsya brought only his chief minister with him , not many. His queen was his chief minister. The most intelligent and admired in waters Madam Dolphina.



Matsya started “ Have you thought what to do about humans, they are not going to stop anywhere lesser than complete destruction of ecosystem. Gods wouldn’t have thought that this day would come. “



Sultan sighed and said “ I agree brother, but what should we do about our oath to not destroy humans? “



Chanak took the opportunity to share an idea “ We must show humans that we are smarter. We have concealed our evolution from them just because we are more evolved. Flaunting half the knowledge of anything is harmful, this they would have to understand”.



Matsya ,interested in the idea, spoke “But how do we do this ? Humans are too arrogant to listen to us.“



Sultan lost his temper “ Darn ! “



Finally Dolphina spoke , there was nobody who was not interested in what she had to say. She had already proved her ability to all. Dolphina started “What is it that is common between extinction of many species over time?“



The question left everyone thinking. They were not ready for a quiz. Sultan said “Please come to the point”.



Dolphina irritated with Sultan’s attitude continued “A balloon bursts when air is pushed into it beyond it’s capacity. Greed is that air and existence is that balloon. Our beloved dinosaurs went extinct in similar conditions, they just could not control their desire to rule the planet in the beginning of their evolution. Same thing happened with other species. Humans would extinct sooner or later if they continued on the current path. Let the end of Mayan calendar come, I am sure they would learn something. If they did not change their attitude, time is not far when we would remember them as the less privileged ones who could not make it.”



Chanak added “Everything takes it’s own course. We must not worry and remain in our territory and wait for them to either evolve or extinct”



Sultan and Matsya nodded in agreement because they knew that there was nothing that they could do about it.



--period--

UA08-4356

UA08-4356, he drove it like a fighter plane right before take-off off a warship. No wonder he never lost to anyone in “self-determined” races on the roads of Dehradun. He always allowed elders to pass him on any given day but he hated it when anyone overtook him on the road with zooming speed. It was not his ego, it was his comfort with his first ever two wheeler, his Hero Puch 3G that made him follow and beat them by the speed or skill of cutting through the traffic.

His friends wanted to ride with him. He loved speed and more than that he loved the feeling of rolling wheels under him. He stared at the road passing below the tires for long stretches and admired man’s arguably most important invention i.e. “wheels”.

His friends had more powerful bikes but he had the heart to go out to any stretch with his puch. Call it a ride up the hills to Mussorie or a ride along with Ganga to Rishikesh or Haridwar or a ride in the Raja Ji National Park, He was never behind. His friends always exclaimed – “ we had never seen a guy riding a puch like CBZ “. After any ride up hills whenever he stopped and looked back at the exhaust puffing out white smoke. He looked at the engine and thanked his engine oil, just because it kept puch’s heart healthy and by that his J .

His philosophy was simple “life is too short to miss any opportunity of having fun” and he always knew that his hero puch was a true partner in this endeavor.

Bikes in our lives mean a lot of things from a piece of metal with a running engine to a partner in our happiness. There are many who would have faster bikes, but none had one like his.

My Diamonds

(1)

“I want those diamonds Ma ! “ I said emphatically staring at those precious marbles in market’s jewelry shop. “Did you listen what I said ma “I grew impatient with her silence. She smiled and looked at me. “We do not have money to buy them now, but I know something better”,She said “when the time comes I will show you how to get better ones”. I was not convinced. I was curious but to no avail. She did not say a word after that about those diamonds. Their shine faded off my memory sooner than I can remember now.

(2)

My father was a farmer and farming land we had produced just enough to feed our family of three. I was young when suddenly my father passed away leaving us to the fate. Life became a struggle for survival for my mother since then. She practically had no savings, no life insurance policy, fancy jewelry or relatives to support her. She worked in households cleaning and cooking, getting abused to make the ends meet. Her petty job at village “anganwadi” did not fetch enough to arrange food, shelter and education for me.

(3)

I was 16 when my mother took me to our fields which had not been ploughed for 8 years now. She took a fist full of sand in her hand, looked up and said “This will help you fulfill all your dreams, including buying those diamonds”. I was pleasantly surprised that she remembered. “What do you mean? “ I asked. She replied “You are 16 now. All grown up. Why don’t you start looking after our fields now so that we can save for future”. “This would give us some leverage and may be we will save enough for your college and marriage”, she continued after a pause.

(4)

6 months had passed; my first crop was ready in fields. Everyone was surprised at the yield. I had grown more from same size of field than others. My crops were a matter of envy for many. Whenever I looked at them, my heart felt the joy of success. Once the grain was filled and transferred to my home. I ran to kitchen where mom spent a lot of time cooking. I knew she would be there. On my way I caught a glimpse of my reflection in mirror. Sweat drops were shining like diamonds. I shouted in exclamation “Ma! I got my diamonds , and they are better than the ones in the jeweler’s shop”.