Saturday, September 29, 2012

She Was The One! : A Short Story


“Four”, I yelled out as I smashed the ball beyond boundary. We were playing at Bombay Gymkhana we were not allowed though. It was like my second home. I used to play all day at gymkhana. My twelve more friends used to accompany me all the time. I was around six then as I didn’t know my actual birthdate. We used to celebrate our birthday on 14th of November every year. After all we were none other than so called orphans born somewhere and brought up at ‘Aarushi’ orphan house. There were many at ‘Aarushi’ who really cared for us. I used to ask Shilpa di, the chairperson of ‘Aarushi’, that where I came from and she used to ignore me by telling other stories. But one day she told me that she found me in unconscious state on one of the roads at ‘Dharavi’. In future when I learnt to operate computer and I just googled what Dharavi was and got shocked and froze on the chair.

So I was growing in a far better surrounding with twelve more children like me. Everyone had his own story to be in ‘Aarushi’. We were enrolled in nearby BMC School. So we were living a normal life on weekdays and were treated as different especially on Sundays. Because most of the couples used to find their time on Sundays to visit ‘Aarushi’ and get a son or a daughter. I used to get bored and feared at the same time of such sessions, I wanted a mother and father like other children though. Those couple never took effort to think before commenting on us loudly. At the age of six I had known every small defect in my body. But Shilpa di had told us that those sessions were only for our better future and I had believed her with my eyes closed.

On one Sunday morning I finished a match with breathless half century and a victory for our team. Then I went to Sundar chacha’s shop to have lemon juice. We used to go there for refreshments. But we never stole a penny for that. Shilpa di was our sponsor. Sundar chacha was a nice man. Many times he had offered us some chocolates. But that Sunday morning one lady offered us chocolates. My friends refused to take but I convinced them to accept her gift and Sundar chacha also said to do so. I had seen her many times at that shop. She used to come with her baby boy. I got more information about her when I asked to Sundar chacha. She was a qualified working woman living nearby. She was a nice lady and unlucky at the same time as her husband lost his life in an accident in very unfortunate way. I left the shop with sympathy for her.

On one another Sunday morning when I was getting ready for the ‘session’ one of our caretakers came to my room and informed me there was no ‘session’ that day. As I was about to jump he threw a shock bomb towards me. I was ordered to pack my bag because some Mrs Joshi had adopted me. I started crying and my friends came and joined me one by one. I never had thought to leave ‘Aarushi’. It was more than my actual parents. But I knew that Shilpa di would never give me in wrong hands. So I went to office room to meet my new mother ‘Mrs Joshi’. My head got shaken when I saw her because she was none other than that chocolate lady from Sundar chacha’s shop. Shilpa di congratulated me and introduced me to my new mother and brother. She was shilpa di’s school friend. Then I prepared my mind and left ‘Aarushi’ with teary farewell.

Today there was a passing out parade at NDA. It was around fifteen years ago when I left the orphan house. I got everything which every child deserves. My background taught me a lesson to serve for others and hence I chose an option to serve for our nation. My chest filled with confidence when I saw my mother in parents’ stand during parade. Today what I am is just because of her. I saw my other mates getting the stars on their shoulders by their parents after the convocation ceremony. And she was there waiting for me. My brother was watching me proudly. I handed her my stars without wasting a second. When she was pinning the stars on my shoulder we both got tears. And my heart spoke out loudly, ‘She was the one’!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

War.Peace.Love


What do you think that what we have started first to experience? War, peace or love. This question is as tough as to decide who came first among a hen and an egg. If you read the international history, one can find number of wars and then lots of peace programs followed by them. Generally we think about peace only after noticing the economic and social losses we receive as a return gift in war independent of final result. Peace is nothing but a mutual understanding not to hurt anyone. This feeling of not hurting with an outline of caring is called as love in our language.

Either you can love or hate. There is no other such feeling in this world to bind everyone together. Love and hatred are two sides of a coin. Love never comes alone. When a patriot loves his country he starts hating enemy countries at the same time. Our parents teach us to make good friends and we learn to hate bad people. Our surrounding teaches us to differentiate good and bad and makes us mature. But no one teaches us to transform bad into good. Bad remains bad and sometimes it becomes worst. And our hatred transforms into a war one day. One of the popular US writers Bill Watterson once quoted “How come we play war and not peace?” “Too few role models.”

Nature had started this life with peace and it will end with peace one day if we don’t stop to follow war.peace.love! These days we are enjoying the love phase. We are sharing our creativity and technology on the international table. Nuclear deals and smartphones have a same birth rate. No Nostradamus is able to imagine our future. The government of USA is busy in destroying the monsters from past and making few for its own safety. China is running in its own race. Besides these peaceful activities the remaining world in between these two countries is sharing love and increasing cosmopolitan families. And our Indian ‘aam junta’ (common people) is hoping for the best and planning for the worst

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Diamond Rings: A Short Story


Last year I learnt a lesson of my life. It was a very happening year for me. I got the promotion news with New Year wishes and also a shock at the same time as they decided to transfer me to the head office at Bangalore. It is a replica of heaven for Indian coders. Their actual heaven is somewhere in U.S.A. But it wasn’t an excuse for a Mumbai lover to leave his place. I accepted the promotion after having some words and a promise to get back here in two years. I packed my parents’ bags also as this promotion would become a punishment for me!

I remember that day, a beautiful and work free ‘Bangalore Sunday morning’ in march, when we had gone to a prominent jewellery showroom in Bangalore to buy a worthy and wealthy gift for my mother. After all it was my mother’s birthday. There were many good looking girls came with their parents and my mother was showing me each one of them and embarrassing me each time. One girl, hardly 25, of them caught my eyes. She was naturally beautiful and looking mature at the same time. She was arguing with fiery words with a manager of that jewellery shop. My mother gave me an eye signal not to look at her. But I was interested to know the topic of argument as we headed towards the counter for a bill. I interrupted in that argument spontaneously; my unintentional and unnecessary act deeply surprised my parents.

That girl had received a diamond ring through a courier from that shop without a name of well-wisher. I sensed one more victim of e-shopping. But she got a same ring on the same day last year. I convinced her not to argue with the manager as he was an innocent in that matter. She thanked me when we were leaving the shop. My mother did not forget to take her phone number by speaking some ‘meethi baatein’. I got bored of my parents’ ‘find a girl and marry’ mission, I also wanted her contact number though. I controlled myself and contacted her after three ‘long’ days and asked her if she was able to find out the mystery behind those diamond rings. I talked with her some more time and ended with inviting her for a coffee. So I went to meet her again on our ‘coffee date’. I was surprised when she came as she was refusing in the beginning. She had worn an Indian outfit and forced me to feel love at first sight. Later we discussed on many topics, from her job to popular places in Bangalore to hang out. We met several times for a coffee or dinner after that day. But every time I sensed some stress behind her friendly and loving nature. Her strained smile did upset me few times and requested me to share her burden. I was feeling a growing closeness in our friendship.

Surprisingly one day she took me to her home when we had met for a lunch on one another Sunday afternoon. She had cooked food by her own and I was getting excited to taste it. But who knew that what was there in my dish. As we got into the house I found a little gorgeous and beautiful three year old girl playing with her toys. I got introduced to her daughter when I was feeling a jerk in my head. It was almost a year when I had met her first time but I never tried to know her personally. I was scared to ask about her husband. She chose to be silent. We had lunch and that afternoon ended with playing with her daughter. Her sudden move might be a signal for me to keep distance. I wanted some time to think on it. After that we talked on phone few times and it assured me that at least I hadn’t lost her as a friend.

On one fresh morning in the month of March I was sitting on chair thinking about her. And my mother was busy in searching new jewellery designs. Suddenly a thought came to my mind and I reached to ‘that’ jewellery shop. I was sure that she was going to get one more diamond ring this year. I requested deeply to manager to tell the truth. After some emotional punches that manager spoke out finally. Her husband was a military officer. He went for a secret mission with slender chance of returning. Before going he made a deal for those rings to send her one every year on their marriage anniversary. I asked him curiously about how much rings he had bought exactly and the number was unbelievable. I left the shop with a smile of satisfaction on my face as I learnt the true meaning of relationship!

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