Torrents of Love

Their friends were waiting in the airport to bid bon voyage to Raj and Anitha. The traffic was too much and Anitha feared that they would miss the flight. This was the day she had been waiting for a long time. Raj too was getting impatient.

“If we are not there in another 10 minutes, we are going to miss the flight,” he said not addressing anybody in particular.

His friend Karthik, who was driving them to the airport said, “Don’t worry Raj, it is my responsibility to see that you catch your flight. And more over this is your first time to go to India from US, which is why you know nothing. It is good if you go 3 hrs early but it is not a must.”

“I have lot of luggage Karthik. Because we are going for the first time, Anitha bought many things for everybody in India”, Raj said.

“That is ok, don’t worry, Singapore airlines is very considerate. They know that we Indians have more luggage than anybody else”, Karthik said.

“Please God Please God….”, Anitha was chanting something.

Karthik looked at her and laughed, “Bhabhi, What are you asking God?”

“To clear the traffic”, she gave a sharp reply.

“Raj smiled at her and laid a hand on her, “don’t worry, we will make it.”

“I hope so”, she said.

“Why don’t we ask one of our friends to stand in the Singapore counter ‘Q’, that way we can save some time”, Karthik suggested.

“Good idea, I will call Jay and ask him to do that.” Saying which he dialed his cell phone and told Jay to do so.

After 25 minutes they reached the SFO airport. Karthik dropped Raj and Anitha along with their baggage.

“You guys go inside and take care of the things; I will park the car and come. Will you be able to manage with all this baggage Raj?” he asked.

“Yeah! We will take care”, Anitha said.

Karthik left to park the car while Raj went to get a cart for the baggage.

“Come on hurry up, we are late already and it is damn cold outside,” Anitha said as a cold breeze blew on her face.

“Help me with this suitcase will you? God what did you put in this, bricks?” Raj grunted as he tried to lift one suitcase.

Anitha laughed and said, “It can’t be more than 30 kgs, and it is just that you have got old. That’s it.”

Both of them loaded the cart with the baggage and counted to see that they haven’t missed anything. Then they hurried inside. There, all of their close friends had come to see them off.
“You guys are already late, Jay is getting tensed up standing in that line because he is nearing the counter and you people have not turned up yet. Come on, come on, get in the line,” one of their friends said as soon as they saw them.

They got in the line and Jay said smilingly, “It looked like you people would never come.”
“Once the luggage is all checked in, we can have some relief,” Jay said to Raj.

* * *

“Hello, can I see your boarding pass please?” the airhostess greeted with a big smile.
Raj and Anitha showed their passes.

“Straight down to your right please, thank you,” she said.

They followed her instruction and found their seats. After sitting, Anitha gave a sigh of relief. Raj smiled at her and said, “See we did it.”

Anitha said, “I can’t wait to see him.”

“Yeah, me too. Two years is a long time.”

After a few minutes, the captain of the fight introduced himself and the crew over the speaker and said that they would be taking off in about 5 minutes.Anitha caught hold of Raj’s hand and squeezed a little.

“I know, I know, you are happy,” he said while still reading the instructions manual, which was in the front seat pocket.

After a few minutes the fight took off. The crew brought some refreshments and dinner. Anitha politely refused but Raj took a bite. He felt hungry after lifting all those suitcases. Anitha teased him again saying that he was getting old.

“You are a doctor, right? Then why don’t you give me something to keep me young forever?” Raj said.

“If at all something like that is ever discovered, I will buy two, one for you and one for my dad,” Anitha laughed aloud saying that.

“And more over, I am only a dentist. I can give you something to keep your teeth young forever but not your body though,” she said.

“God, no not about teeth again,” Raj said.

Anitha keeps telling Raj to take care of his teeth but he never bothers. The more Anitha pesters him the more he doesn’t want to listen to her advice. To tease Anitha, Raj often says that Lions and other animals never brush their teeth, so they have healthy teeth. That annoys Anitha even more and she scolds him for talking like that.

“OK, OK, I don’t want to fight over teeth now,” she said.

Just then the fight had an ugly turbulence. The seat belt sign above them flashed almost immediately.

“I get very scared when it happens like this,” Anitha said getting little scared.

“This is very common, don’t you worry about each and every small thing,” Raj uttered.
“God save us, God save us…” Anitha started her usual prayer.

“Hmm … God really should save you,”

The Caption over the speaker said that they had some nasty weather on the way, so little turbulence is expected. He also requested all the passengers to wear the seat belt at all times.
Anitha gave a pitiful look at Raj.

“It’s ok, I am right here and nothing will happen. Why don’t you sleep for some time? You will feel better,” he said.

“I am too excited to sleep Raj.”“Just give it a try.”

“Ok”

She tried her best to sleep but she could not, partly because she was excited and partly due to the turbulence. It seemed impossible to sit in the seat with the seat belt on. The other passengers also seemed little disturbed.

“I travel a lot, but never did I experience so much of turbulence.” One of them was saying.
“Is something wrong with the flight or what?” another raised a doubt.

But after some 25 minutes of horrible turbulence, things seemed to settle a little. Anitha also relaxed her grip on Raj’s hand. After few minutes, Raj was too tired to keep his eyes open and so he slowly slipped into sleep. The lights in the flight also dimmed and almost all the passengers were fast asleep. Anitha tried hard to get some sleep. She turned uncomfortably in the seat but was careful enough not to disturb Raj’s sleep. She closed her eyes.

* * *

“Raj, I am awfully scared,” Anitha said.

“Don’t be, I called up your parents and they are on their way.”

“I am studying to become a doctor myself but still when I am the patient, I don’t like these hospitals.”

Raj laughed at her comment. “Doctor Roma is good, all of us have known her from a long time, don’t worry she will take care of you.”

Raj was constantly telling Anitha not to worry but he himself was scared. It was their first child and Anitha had high blood pressure in the last two months of her pregnancy.

“Don’t think anything Anitha, just close your eyes and try to be calm.” Raj took her hand into his and tried to sooth her.

Just then a nurse barged into the room and said, “I need to check her BP and temperature.”
She took the temperature and BP. “Temperature is normal but BP is very high. I will call the doctor. How are the contractions coming?”

“What contractions?” Anitha asked with a puzzled look.

“Aren’t you here for the delivery, your case sheet says that you have contractions?”

“Do I, but I don’t feel any pain.”

“Ok then, just let me check you once.” She turned towards Raj and said, “Will you please go out and close the door. I need to check her once.”

Raj didn’t want to leave Anitha nor did Anitha wanted him to leave, but he gave a nod to Anitha and walked out of the room.

“She has been having contractions from the morning but she is not feeling the pain. I have checked with the monitor and it is showing that the time interval between the contractions is getting reduced. It is time for her to deliver the baby but the problem is the baby’s head has not come into position. Her BP is also a main concern for me here.”

Doctor Roma looked as if she was talking to herself.

“If it keeps fluctuating the way it is now, it is dangerous for the baby and the mother too. Waiting for normal delivery does not seem to be a good idea under these circumstances.”
She finished and looked at all three faces which were now totally freaked out. Raj recovered and said, “So, we will go with C-section if that is good for her.”

“Yes, Let us go ahead with C-section” Mr. Kelkar joined. He was very worried that Anitha will not be able to bear the pain of the contractions.

“Yes Mr. Kelkar, your daughter’s case is little unusual. I have not seen many cases like her but I should say she is very lucky.” Dr. Roma added with a smile.

* * *

“Taresh, what an unusual name. What does it mean anyway?” Bhuvan asked.

Raj smiled and said, “I don’t know, Anitha wanted a new and unique name. One night when I closed my eyes and was trying to sleep, it suddenly struck my mind. Immediately I jotted down on a piece of paper, afraid that I might forget it by morning. Morning when I told to Anitha, she jumped at it and said it was a beautiful name for our boy and so we named him Taresh.”
“ Accha hai. At least I did not hear that name till now.” Vasanth said.

Just then, Raj’s phone rang and he was called into his boss’s office.

“Congratulations Raj, your H1 approval papers arrived today.” Rajeev said.

It took a sec for Raj to understand what he was listening.

“Oh am I selected tha.. thank you sir.” He said.

“Sit Raj, you have worked hard for last 5 years in this company. I know that you always wanted to have a good and challenging career. I have lot of trust and faith in your capability to work. So, here are your required papers.” He handed over the papers and Raj looked at them in disbelief.
“Well, young man, your son surely brought good luck on your way.” Rajeev said.

“Yes, very much sir.” Raj said happily.

“Ok Raj, make your preparations. You have 20 days to go. Go home now and tell the good news to your family. I wish you good luck for your bright future.” He said.

“Thank you sir, good day.” Raj said and left.

That night Raj told Anitha all about his US offer.

“What are you waiting for? You have been waiting so long for this opportunity. And more over I have to go out of country to write my exam for the dentistry because it is getting more and more difficult in India now. All my friends are going either to US or UK to write the exams.”
“That is true and more over we have to think about Taresh also.”

“Here when you are having your mom and everybody to help you out with him, you are getting tired by evening. What will you study if you come there with him? That is a new place for both of us. I don’t think you should come now along with Taresh.” Raj said.

“What are you saying? I am not going to stay here with out you. Please don’t leave me here and go away.” Anitha was totally in tears.

“Don’t be silly, you are acting like a child. Taresh is too young to come and more over first let me go and settle there. I need to see a house for us and know things little. Both of you can join me after some time or may be if your mom and dad want to keep Taresh here, you can come there and write your exam. I heard that life in the States is little tough.”

“You always say some stories and slip away. How can I leave Taresh even if mummy and daddy want to keep him”?

“Ok Ok, we will think about it in the morning. Now sleep before he gets up for feeding.” Raj said.
* * *

Feeding Taresh, Anitha was saying, “Say mummy, m-u-m-m-y. Ok Taresh, where is daddy? He went bye-bye in plane. When you eat well, you will become big and you can also go bye-bye like daddy.”

Taresh was 2 months old and was talking some gibberish and Anitha was laughing at him.

Taresh was kicking with his hands and legs in air.

“See daddy, he rolled for the first time”, Anitha was saying to Mr. Kelkar.

Mr. Kelkar took Taresh into his arms and kissed him. Taresh was 4months then.

Two days later after that incident, Taresh rolled from the bed and fell down. He cried a lot and Anitha never left him even for a second. He had a small bruise on his head too. From then on when ever Taresh slept, Anitha made sure that there were lots of pillows around him. It did not take long for Taresh to start crawling. His most interesting place was under the bed. Anitha played a lot with him and Taresh used to spot her. Taresh was like a baby doll for everybody in that house. He brought lot of joy and happiness and Anitha could never ask for more.

That night, Taresh’s body felt little warm. Mrs. Kelkar said he might have little fever. Anitha was worried. Taresh also seemed little dull from the evening. Anitha constantly checked his body temperature from time to time. But as the time passed, temperature also was increasing. It touched 102 and she could not wait any longer. She went and woke up Mr. Kelkar and Mrs. Kelkar. Mr. Kelkar called up their family doctor and he immediately rushed to see Taresh. Anitha was totally in tears to see Taresh lying unconsciously with fever in her lap. His body felt very hot. Mrs. Kelkar was putting wet towels on Taresh’s head. The doctor examined Taresh and said that there was nothing to worry and gave some medicines for next few days. For the rest of the night, Anitha was awake and was taking care of Taresh. Both Mr and Mrs. Kelkar were also awake with Anitha. But by the next day itself, the fever had come down and Taresh seemed to be ok. Anitha was very happy to see Taresh doing well. Once the fever came down totally, all three of them and Taresh visited the near by temple.

* * *

“Don’t cry like that, she will also cry if you don’t stop.” Mr. Kelkar told Mrs. Kelkar.

Anitha was already in tears. She did not cry when she got married and was going to Raj’s house for the first time. But today she was not able to control. She had to take the tough decision of leaving Taresh with her parents and leave to US all by herself. Mr. Kelkar was coming along with her till Chennai. There he will see her off to US.

Taresh was now one year old. He was very innocently looking at Anitha. She could not bear the thought of leaving him and go. A strong urge to cancel all her plans was repeatedly coming into her mind. All her family and Raj’s family had come to see her off. Mostly everybody was crying and some who were not crying were boldly pushing off the tears. At last the time had come to go. Mrs. Kelkar, who was trying so hard no to cry, busted out when Anitha hugged her. Anitha bid everybody good byes. She took Taresh into her hands for the last time. ‘Bye my little sweetheart’, she said to him in her own heart. She felt a lump in her throat and her stomach twitched in pain. She would no longer see Taresh’s face as her eyes filled with tears. As she kissed him on his fore head, she didn’t want to part with him but she had to go.

“Come Anitha, it is getting late now”. Mr. Kelkar said, putting a hand on Anitha’s shoulder.
Anitha nodded and gave Taresh to Mrs. Kelkar and said, “take care mummy, bye.”

* * *

“Anitha are you all right?” Raj’s sudden jerk woke her.

“uhh.. what?”

“Why are you crying like that?”

“Was I?” Anitha touched her eyes and found tears.

“Nothing, I was dreaming about Taresh. I am alright now.” Anitha said.

“Raj, do you think he will recognize me? Will he come to me?”

“Don’t be silly, of course he will come to you. He has seen you in lot of home videos and he has been speaking to us from past 2 years. And thanks to Internet, we could see him in net meetings and he also saw us many times.”

“Don’t keep thinking about all these things. We are almost there. We will land in Singapore in another half an hour. And from here it is just 4 hrs to India.”

“I can’t wait to see him.”

* * *

Anitha could not wait any longer. Whole of the journey was another part and now being so close to her son and not being able to reach him seemed too much for her to bear.

“How long is this line going to take?” She was getting impatient with the immigration check line. Raj laughed at her.

“Come on let us get into the customs line.” Raj said.

“What? Another line?”

“This is the last one and then you are free to meet your son.” Raj said.

Anita told Raj to take care of the baggage while she rushed to look for Mr. Kelkar and Taresh. Though it was going to be late in the night; Mr. Kelkar had promised Anitha that he would bring Taresh to the airport. She could not find them even after a long search. She felt little disappointed, ‘may be he slept’, she thought. Mean while Raj cleared the customs and arrived.
Anitha was all the while looking for Taresh. And then suddenly she spotted him. He was not looking at her; he had turned towards Mr. Kelkar and was saying something. Just then Mr. Kelkar spotted Anitha. He pointed her to Taresh.

Anitha almost ran to her dad. Taresh seemed little shy and laid his head on Mr. Kelkar’s shoulder. Anitha came near her dad. Mr. Kelkar kissed Anitha on her forehead. “How are you my dear?” he said. “I am fine daddy.”

“Taresh?” Anitha said laying a hand on Taresh. Slowly he turned towards her and smiled at her.
“It is ok Taresh, see mummy”, Mr. Kelkar said to Taresh.

“Mummy?” Taresh said.

“Yes mummy,” Anitha spread her arms for Taresh. He looked at her once and leapt into Anitha’s arms. She took him in and hugged him to her heart. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Raj joined both of them in that group hug and then they seemed complete.

The Hubbub

The Sun was doubtful whether to show his morning presence or not. In fact, it was rather the choice of dark clouds that were occupying the whole sky whether to give way to the mighty Sun or not. The entire colony was getting ready for another routine day. The local newspaper boy was riding on his old bicycle, whistling slowly and hurling the paper bundles in to the compounds of various houses. But least did he expect that his bundle was also carrying a notice from the local cable television distributor, which is going to create little havoc in that small little colony.

The police head-constable was bustling restlessly for the newspaper. The moment he heard the noise the paper bundle made on his verandah, he rushed out and picked it up. He would be restless if the newspaper arrives late or if it was a holiday for it. He is habituated to read the entire newspaper before his breakfast and again in the night he ransacks for any missed bits. But, that day when he picked up the morning paper, the notice from the local cable television distributor slipped on to the floor. He mistook it for the innumerable pamphlets, which arrive with the paper everyday.

It was his neighbor who called him over phone and warned him about the hike in cable television charges from the next month. He went berserk over the hike and he rummaged the entire newspaper for the notice, only to find it on the verandah floor. He cautiously read it and crumpled it in his fist and threw it into dustbin. This cable distributor never gave him due respect because of his links to high officials in the police department. All those old scores and the new hike infuriated him and he could not wait to see his other neighbor to share his anger.

The neighbor, a complacent government clerk, took his bath and was about to go for his morning prayer when our constable showed up. He wondered what the constable was doing in front of his house. With awe, he invited the constable inside and offered him some coffee. But the constable was really not in a mood for coffee.

“Are you aware of that bugger’s new notice?” he burst out.

“What notice?” clerk enquired ignorantly.

“Our bank Manager alerted me in the morning. That cable television bugger increased
our monthly installment again”,

“Again? Didn’t he increase it just six months back?”

“It is high time, we should act now”

“I will call for a meeting of our neighbors today evening”, the constable looked for a consensus from the clerk.

That evening all the four neighbors met at the head-constable’s house. The stout bank manager arrived little late to the meeting. He muttered all kinds of excuses for being late, but nobody was in mood to listen to his stories.

“So, what shall we do?”

“We need to act in coherence”, the local grocery shop owner echoed with confidence.

After exchanging couple of arguments, they came to a conclusion on how to deal with it. They decided to go and discuss with the cable operator first before they go on a mass scale against the hike.

Next morning, they attacked the cable television office. The local cable television distributor was chewing tobacco and shouting at his workers, when our guys turned up.
He casually offered the customers seats and then some cool drinks.

“So, what made four of my valuable customers to visit my office today?” his blithe ignorance irritated the head-constable.

“We don’t like the way you are increasing the monthly rates, we are here to protest against it”, the bank manager delivered.

“You see, the corporate television networks increased the premium drastically. We have no other go. Don’t you understand?” “We are not becoming millionaires here. This business doesn’t pay”, he showed the desperation.

“If you think what you are doing is right, we wouldn’t hesitate to submit a memo against you to the government”, the head-constable threatened.

“We are just doing what other distributors are doing. Just go and verify in other areas. Then you yourself will accept our low fees”, the cable distributor offered his final explanation.

As they got out of that office, they cursed the distributor and they swore to take a strict action against him. They then departed to attend their respective jobs.

As our head-constable started complaining about this hike to his colleagues in the police station, he learned that that cable distributor had already paid enough bribes to his top officials. Realizing his limited authority over this issue, he gulped the grudge into his stomach, hoping it to get digested soon. He decided to forget about the whole issue. In fact he was trained to do so, particularly when things go out of control.

When he met the government clerk the next day, he tried not to raise the topic. But when he felt he ought to close the issue, he said, “ You see, I enquired with other cable distributors around and found that our fares are reasonable and probably we have to agree to it”. The clerk watched him with dismay.

“In fact, it might help us indirectly. When we pay to these guys, these guys in turn pay taxes to the government. So, perhaps the government will raise our salaries”, he added.

When the clerk met the bank manager, he lucidly offered the same statement, which he borrowed from the constable. And added, “Along with the government services, the nationalized banks also may increase their pays”.

The grocery shop owner had to content himself, by assuming that increasing salaries for the community residents would mean increase in his sales too.

Then after a month or so, the newspaper boy delivered another notice from the cable television distributor, thanking the colony residents for their cooperation regarding the hike in the monthly installments

Dawn of Courage

Courage was another name for the family of The Great Royas. It all got established more than hundred years ago, when one of their forefathers killed the man-eating tiger, when it went on rampage over the villagers. From then onwards, the family always thrived to keep that value with them. Later, another family member stood against the British soldier's gun in the freedom fight, creating a sensation in the surrounding villages. For that matter, just twenty years back, Vilasat Roya killed a wild bear just with his bare hands when it attacked him in the near by fields.

Having born in such a family was a pride for Josheel. From his childhood, who ever he met, always praised his family. Wherever he went, he always found somebody extolling his family in one or the other way, by quoting from their history. Listening to such kind of eulogies was always a joy for Josheel. But the only problem he ever had was that he was timid and coward in his heart. And he always tried to hide it from others.

It must have been fate, for Josheel was born as a weak-hearted person. His father, Vilasat Roya tried to train him in horse riding, shooting etc., but his ardent efforts could not change his son much. He gulped his displeasure with difficulty, and decided from then onwards not to think about it anymore. His mother, Renu always backed her son, from the comments of the family members. When there was a bullock cart race in the village, he was expected to participate and prove his family’s valor. But instead, he put up an act of breaking his leg and skipped the event. Even though, his family members were aware of the truth, they never used to comment on Josheel because they were afraid of Vilasat Roya. Even though he was timid, Josheel always had a brave face to the world, mainly because he never faced any demanding circumstance.

It all happened, when Josheel went to the neighborhood village country fair. The moment he saw her, he fell in love with her. He got separated from his friends, and went in search of her. He followed her wherever she went. If she took the giant wheel ride, he was there next to her in the queue. If she bought a cup of ice cream, he also bought one for himself. Despite many of his tricks, she never appeared to have noticed him at all.

For next couple of days, he roamed here and there in that village, sometimes alone and sometimes with the friends in the anticipation of meeting the girl somewhere. At last, one day he spotted her in the village bus station. She was getting into the bus for the town. He had no guts to stop the bus and talk to her. So, he chose the other option, following the bus till the town on his motorcycle. He stopped whenever the bus took a break, he picked up when the bus was speeding and he slowed down when the bus turned sluggish.

He followed her through the town streets and saw her disappear into a two-storied building. He sighed a relief with joy in his heart, for tracing down the girl to her home successfully. Next day, he appeared again in that colony neighborhood, in the name of business. He waited around the corner of the street for hours together. His efforts yielded, when she came out alone for the temple. He followed her to the temple and when he got a chance, he greeted and smiled at her, bringing out the best in him. She smiled back, as if she recognized his efforts for her attention.
It did not take long for both of them to fall in love deeply. They met almost everyday secretly, either in the temples or in the parks. Josheel was in high sprits ever since he met her. It was like he was on the top of the world. He started skipping his friends’ circle and all other family gatherings. He lied about some new business plans and always stayed in the town. Money was never problem for him, as his mother always backed him from childhood, whenever his father tried to cut his expenses.

Couple of weeks later, he took his friends circle into trust and told them about his love affair. They felt happy for him and encouraged him in his venture. Josheel tried to tell about his love to his mother, but he never got enough courage to do so. When his lover pushed him for marriage, he started worrying whether his parents would approve the alliance. She was beautiful and well mannered. Even though she was from the middle-class background, she went to the college and was matured in thinking and behavior. But, these things would not draw approval from his family members. There was a big gap between the two families, the gap between the rich and poor.

He debated a lot in his mind, how to deal with the situation. His took the advices from his friends, but none of those appeared to be feasible. That evening he met his girl in the temple. They sat silent for quite long time. Both their minds were filled with tensions, which lay ahead of their lives. In the entire history, love stories never ended well. There was no problem from the girl side. Only problem was with his high-class parents, who never had any respect for the poor, other than showing generosity to the poor, when it was demanded. He decided to bring the issue to the notice of his parents. Both the lovers prayed God, to settle the issue peacefully.

By the time he reached home, the news had already arrived. One of his uncles had come to know about his affair and informed his parents. Everybody in the family was waiting for him at home. It was like a trial by the jury. He was demanded an explanation. ‘I love her. I wanted to marry her’ were the only few words that came out of his mouth. His heart murmurs were not heard and his love was not acknowledged. Vilasat Roya took a decision that he was no to be allowed out of the house, till he promises to forget the girl.

Josheel was kept in house arrest. His mother asked him the details of the girl. He knew very well, she would understand him. But she was of little help; she could only share his grief. He refused to eat any meal; he turned weak and was about to faint. His father never showed any signs of relenting his decision, his cousins and sisters felt badly for him. Everybody knew him as a good-hearted person, and they wanted to help him, but nobody had the guts to talk to Vilasat Roya in this issue. Since the issue was linked to the family prestige, he was the only one who was authorized to take any decision.

It was the testing time for Josheel. He never had the guts even to talk to his father face to face. In his deep heart, he wanted to debate with his father. But, he knew very well that it would not be a reality. He argued with his mother and other cousins who came down to request him to eat some food. He announced his wish to die, rather than not marrying his girl. People around him were scared that he might commit suicide. His mother was most worried than anybody else; she never left him from that moment onwards.

The more and more he thought about his love, he became crazy. He wanted to revolt against his father and other family members. He questioned again and again the values they believed in. He was ready to forgo the prestige and pride of his family for his love. In his mind, a different plan took shape.

The next morning, he expressed his wish to eat some. Everybody felt relived and thought he had agreed to forget his girl. There was the pride of winning in his father’s eyes. Josheel felt agitated, but he suppressed his feelings, showed a calm face to others. His father announced unofficially that Josheel was to be married with one of their distant relative’s daughter, whose family was equal in status with them.

Later that day, Josheel managed to send a letter to one of his friend through his cousin brother. He made plans to run away from the home that night. He decided to go ahead and marry his lover, rather than yielding to his family prestige. He requested one of his friends to go to the town and take his lover to the city. Another friend was asked by him to pick him up in the midnight behind his house.

That night when everybody was asleep, Josheel slowly got up from his bed and sneaked into their backyard. In his mind, he bid farewell to his beloved mother. He joined his friend who was waiting on a motorcycle and both of them fled for the railway station to catch a train for the city. The decision he took would be changing his family history. That would damage his family prestige forever. His father might not excuse him for life long. He might not even see his parents again in his lifetime. His heart was heavy with sorrow and at the same time bewildered by the thought that he had gone against everybody in his family. He saw the signs of the courage in his heart, the same courage that his family boasted for years long.

Neighbors

Mr. Natwarlal hesitated a moment and looked left and right before banging his neighbor’s main door. Mr. Natwarlal was the acting police inspector of the town and was well known for his bad temper. People curse their fate if they happen to deal with the bullheaded inspector, needless to say the agony of those who work with him.

Wondering who it could be that was banging his door, Janakraj rushed to see. On finding his most unpleasant neighbor, he stepped back in dilemma. In dismay, he worried whether any of his sons threw a cricket ball into the next compound by mistake. His past encounters with Mr. Natwarlal often ended with distasteful memories.

“You see, Janakraj, I often observed your dog lingering around our compound. Needless to say it is for our Julie” the heavy man took a pause for a breath while clenching his fists tightly.
Janakraj felt happy that the issue was different and at the same time worried about the new trouble. He felt the need to pacify his neighbor whatever might be the case.

“First of all, please come on in. Let us discuss the issue” he invited the police inspector.

Natwarlal did not expect this courtesy from his neighbor, as very few often extended such kind of respect towards him. Not knowing how to face such a situation, he stepped in and sat on the sofa.

As the inspector was appearing to be in soft mood, Janakraj immediately took the chance and offered him soft drinks and lured him into general topics. Natwarlal inadvertently showed his poor general awareness by talking foolishly. Janakraj was enjoying his neighbor’s stupid utterances. Already he was visualizing how much fun this conversation would bring among the fellow colony people. Not knowing the pranks, other do on his back, Natwarlal babbled enough till he was exhausted.

While lost in the conversation, he completely forgot about the dog issue. When he suddenly remembered it, only plain words came out of his loud mouth, as his anger had already subsided enough.“Please do not allow your dog to come around my compound henceforth. I can not approve of that” he mentioned in the utmost simple manner and left.

But nobody had noticed a golden ring that had dropped from the inspector’s hand on to the carpet in the hall, except Caesar, Janakraj’s dog. Natwarlal had the habit of squishing his ring thorough the finger while talking but this time he never noticed it slip through his finger and drop down before he left the place.

Natwarlal did not notice his missing ring till that afternoon. Once he realized what he lost, he could not stay in peace. He rushed home and shouted at everybody to go in search of it. When nobody could find it, he danced around the house in frenzy anger. At the moment, he remembered his visit to his neighbor’s house that morning.

At once he rushed to Janakraj’s house. He complained about his lost ring to his neighbor and urged him to find it without fail. “That is my wedding ring. I can not afford to lose it” he added. Even though he told about his lost property in his normal style, it appeared as if he was shouting at his highest pitch. All the other neighbors heard the fussy nuisance and wondered what really happened, but nobody had the guts to get involved.

Janakraj got increasingly upset with this latest incident. When he enquired about this with his children, his last son told him that he had seen Caesar playing with something, which resembled a ring that morning, but as he was hurrying to school, he had completely forgotten about it. Upon hearing that, Janakraj kissed his son and immediately rushed to Caesar’s kennel. But sadly, although he ransacked the whole place, he never found the ring. He shouted at Caesar initially and then later he tried all the possible ways to communicate with the dog, but all was in vain. It never yielded a clue about the ring.

Now, the problem appeared to be getting bigger and bigger for Janakraj. Had he not known about Caesar playing with a ring, he would have been peaceful. He was worried too much now and was looking for excuses to escape from the situation. He prayed God and urged all his servants to search for the ring again and again.

Meanwhile, at Natwarlal’s house, one of his servant maids found the ring under the sofa, when she was sweeping that evening. She brought that to the notice of Natwarlal, he jumped in happiness and was delighted to get back his precious possession. While he was celebrating his joy, deep down in his heart, he felt sorry for shouting at his neighbor unnecessarily. He repented for his actions and thought he should apologize for his behavior. So, he went to his neighbor’s house immediately and rang the doorbell.

Not knowing that the missing ring was already found, Janakraj anticipated a big fight and fuss from his neighbor. Noticing his neighbor at his doorstep, he decided not to face him. He urged his wife to open the door and fled into the street from the back door. When Natwarlal learned that Janakraj was not home, he thought for a second and decided to come again later.

After hiding in his friend’s house till midnight, Janakraj sneaked into his home around midnight. Even though he escaped from his neighbor that day, he was worried about the future. His thoughts were full of crazy ideas filled with fear and anxiety.

Lying in his bed, Natwarlal was also suffering, but for a different syndrome. He felt guilty about the whole affair. He rolled from that end of the bed to this end and wished he could extend his apologies to Janakraj. As the idea grew stronger and stronger in his mind, he at once jumped out of bed and rushed out, not even considering the time.

When he entered Janakraj’s compound, he hesitated to ring the bell. When Caesar saw him coming, it came down to Natwaral and started waging his tail. He cursed the dog and shouted at it to go away. He moved towards the main entrance and not finding any sign of lights inside, he debated in his mind whether to tap the door or not.

Exactly at the same time, Janakraj got out of bed and decided to get rid of his haunting thoughts. He put on the light in his bedroom. Noticing a light in one of the rooms, Natwarlal moved towards the bedroom through the garden crushing the plants under his feet. When he looked through the window, he found Janakraj standing in front of a bookshelf trying to figure out which book to choose.

In the process of attracting Janakraj’s attention, he whispered slowly “hushsh..sh.” As Jankraj was in a whole different state of mind, he never expected such kind of sounds in the middle of the night. He turned at once and in the dark, all he saw was a face with eyes glowing like small lights. He mistook the image to some ghost and almost lost a heartbeat. He started shouting loudly “Ghost..Ghost…..” and ran out of the room.

Not expecting such kind of a reaction, Natwarlal did not really know what to do. He tried to rush to the main door. With the shouting of Janakraj, all the workers in the outhouse and his children from the upstairs woke up and everybody rushed out immediately. Jankraj’s wife hurriedly put on all the lights, including the flashlights in the garden. Caesar, which was just lying down till then, got up and was barking in excitement. Janakraj’s wife opened the door along with all other family members, only to find their neighbor standing in front of their main gate surrounded by their workers.

Things settled down, after Natwarlal explained his neighbor the whole story. He extended his sincere apologies, and begged for excuses. After learning that the missing ring was found, Janakraj was relieved from his tensions. He shouted in merry and hugged his neighbor. All others also sighed a relief, for the story ending peacefully. Natwarlal wished everybody good night and started back to his home with content in his heart.

Janakraj also was so much in peace that he thought he would be having a good night’s sleep. At that very moment a new doubt arose in his stupid mind “How did the ring reach his neighbor back?” With little reasoning, he understood that it must have been Caesar and he thanked the dog for the job.

There, in his neighbor’s home, in a corner of the garden, in her kennel, Julie was lying and gazing at the crescent moon in the sky, wondering what it was really meant when her boyfriend Caesar presented a ring to her.

My Son

You were once a part of me
I kept thinking, ‘is it she or he?’
Even in the hard times of parturition,
Never did you cause me any affliction

Now that you are here
I want to be always near
You are the reason of happiness
I like to take you in my arms to caress

With tiny little hands and feet,
And skin so smooth, fair and neat;
I say, God what an impeccable beauty!
I will treasure this ecstasy for the eternity

Oh! Magician

Flying across the rainbow
In the pursuit of perfect flight
Came across this magician
Who can do miracles in the Air

Would you hide the pain in my heart?
Give me a little drop of ambrosia
This makes my thirst die forever
And eases the suffering I had for lives

Come and get me, Oh! Magician
I would wait for none to follow thou
The same way you created the mountains
Make them vanish into thin air

I witnessed many tricks of you
Now waiting for your ultimate trick
Which shall remove the blinded veils
Thus I witness your perfect creation