Goodbye....

“5...4...3...2...1 Let’s start a fire.
We'll burn this town from inside out.
Till no ones left alive.
And you can't feel the rhythm of your steps when you hit the street.
The city seems so far away from here, when you're counting every step.”

 Rajeev while listening to these lines from the song “Counting 5…4…3…2…1”** by American Band Thursday on his GoGear was thinking of how apt this song is for the situation he is facing right now. This song specifically comes from not being happy in the town that you grew up in and wanting to get out as quickly as possible. Same happened with Rajeev Patel in last few days. Though his ancestors belongs to Gujarat, he was born and brought up at Delhi and was always proud to be called as Delhite by heart. He grew up as one of the most recognised student leader in North Campus of Delhi University.

It was first week of the New Year 2013, he had to lead the students for a candle march in the honor & memory of the Delhi “Brave heart”. He planned everything and briefed all his team members.

Just before the start of the candle march he got a call from the Leader Saheb, a local leader of the political party with which he was associated,

“Beta Rajeev How is the preparation?” Leader Saheb asked.

 “Namaste Sir, it’s good, we got more than 200 confirmation for the march, it’s going to be a peaceful march with condolence messages” told Rajeev.

“Great, I like it, but only one thing you have to change; it should not end up as peaceful march.” Leader Saheb told.

“What? Why sir? We are going there for the condolence meet in the memory of the brave girl. We have to convey our message peacefully, that is what we have decided and accordingly communicated the same to the students, Infact because of this peaceful march we got 60% girls representation in the march.” Rajeev told surprisingly.

“Beta, this is Delhi, here every move of the political parties has its own importance. Anyways, you will learn all this soon, its party’s high command’s decision, you just follow it. Let this be the memorable march in the history of Delhi. And at the end government and police will face the heat, you will get all the credit. So go for it, its golden opportunity for you.” Leader Saheb told Rajeev.

“But Sir, it can lead to whole chaos among students and if anything goes drastically wrong then students has to face the heat.” Rajeev told anxiously.

“That I don’t care. You are my party worker you have to follow the orders, else your deputy Ramesh is a wonderful contestant for your seat. Hope you understand what I want to tell.” Told leader Saheb and disconnected the call.

Rajeev was confused, on one hand this can be a turning point for his future political carrier on the other hand he was thinking of the promise he had made to the students who were participating.

He finally decided to follow his heart and called his friend and co party worker Jasbir and explained everything to him. Jasbir was also shocked but happy that they got the information and also planned the action to be taken. They started the march and Jasbir was there to take care of Ramesh and his activities. Ramesh had got the call from the same leader also, and he had agreed for what leader had told him. But Jasbir and his friends failed the ill intentions of Ramesh. The march was on the verge of its ending peacefully, suddenly few of the constables from the local police commented on the girls who were participating in the March, girls didn’t reacted much. They continued doing so for some time, after that some of the girls and boys reacted and opposed the constables. Rajeev saw that and went there to resolve the issue, but constables were not listening at all and one of them pushed Rajeev back. Student seeing their leader pushed by the constable reacted and started shouting and also pushed the constable back. Seeing that police activated their riot control vehicle and started water spray, after this crowd of 200 students also reacted and ultimately the whole place became a small battle ground. It lasted for one hour and no surprise students were badly bitten by the armed police. It was not a peaceful march.

 Rajeev was hurt not because of the wounds he got but due the promise which was broken. He was surprised and was not able to understand what went wrong. Ramesh was taken care of by Jasbir, then how it happened? With this thought he was trying to sleep in general ward of Safdarjang Hospital.

Suddenly Jasbir came almost running to him with a letter in his hand. It was Rajeev’s suspension letter from the party. Ramesh was new in charge of the student wing of the party. His mobile rang, it was Leader Saheb.

“Beta, how are you? You must have got the news by now. I warned you about that. But I knew your strength. Therefore I didn’t rely on Ramesh only. This is Delhi Beta, here even police doesn’t know whom they have to report. And it doesn’t cost us more “they” are quite cheap. I just thought to give you an opportunity so talked to you else arranging this is effortless job for us. Hope you learned something. Good bye!” he disconnected the call.

Rajeev now no more want to be in this town, he is saying GOODBYE  not because of the town but due to the people like Leader Saheb and Ramesh who are burning this town and turning it to ashes day by day and today he is waiting for his train to other town at the New Delhi Station and the next lines of Thursday’s song which he was listening on his Go Gear goes like –

“5….4….3….2…..1 what are you waiting for?
The train is catching up, keep on running don't look back.
Cause it's 10...9…8….7 everybody's coming to burn this city, burn this city down tonight.
Leave it all behind………”

          

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

PS: I love Dil Walon Ka Sheher

**Link to Song “Countdown 5...4...3...2…1” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i-ErJd_g2A

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Write Over the Weekend theme for this week

This weekend your post should begin with, ’5..4..3..2..1..’

The Mistake...

“And before I knew it, I had hit ‘Send’. This is my only mistake in the whole episode. If I would have got this information in time than this message would have not reached to the squad. This all is due to gap in communication that is what I can say” told Dy. SP Sameer Sinha to the enquiry board.

“Mr. Sinha you being the in charge of this operation cannot get excuse for this mistake. This is a grave misconduct. You have ordered for this shootout without getting into the details from reliable sources and in a hurry. You are suspended with immediate effect. Your case will be put up for trial in court next month. You will get the notice for the same.” Told Head of the Enquiry Board.

Sameer Sinha,Dy. SP & Chief of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Mumbai Operation is totally shattered. In his career of 20 years this is the first time he is facing such allegations that too a serious one of ordering a shootout in which two innocent civilians one being a young lady were killed.

Sameer was alone today as his wife had left for his father’s place after this incident. He decided to go to a less known bar in Borivali. He reached their and there was no one who can recognize him. He ordered for a nip of whiskey and sat in the corner. After sometime a person came near him and asked “Saab, what are you doing here?”

Sameer was surprised that how come anyone recognize him here.

“Chandu??” Sameer Asked

“Ji Saab, I am Chandu, the Khabri, I was out of station for some time and came back to Mumbai few days back and was there in that Chawl where the shoot out happened. Its really unfortunate. I am still not convinced that you have ordered for such shoot out without proper information.” Chandu Told

“Its true Chandu, I have ordered for the shoot out. But just after 20 min of my sending the message to the squad I got the call from the Minister that two out of five terrorist out of which one was a lady were not terrorist. But it was too late.” Told Sameer and took deep breath.

“Its so unfortunate.  By the way when you got the call from Minister?” Chandu Asked

“It was at 11:20 PM. I sent the message through my phone to the squad at 11:00 PM. 20 min is sufficient for such a competent squad to clear everything” Sameer told.

“What?? Are you serious Saab ji? How can it happen” Chandu exclaimed.

“Why? What Happen Chandu?” Sameer asked  

“I heard the firing at around 10:30 PM it lasted for 15 minutes. That was the only shoot out happens on that night. But, we heard the announcement from police at 11:30 PM that all the terrorist were killed in the shoot-out. And then I came out of my room and met your subordinate Sr. Inspector Shinde who rushed immediately from the venue once media arrived.” Chandu told.

“What?? Are you serious? Shinde was on the spot in charge of the operation, I had messaged him only. In fact he only told me to give the orders by 11:00 PM as these terrorist were planning to move out from the Chawl and we don’t want to loose this opportunity. And he only told me that instead of three as per information there are five terrorist in the Chawl. He was behind me for the shoot-out order, once they took the position in Chawl.” Sameer told and looked shocked.

“Saab Ji, There is something fishy in here. You can cross check the timing of the shoot out from other inmates of the Chawl. And how come Minister knows that they are not terrorist within 20 minutes of shoot out? By the way you know na that Shinde Saab is quite close to the Minister now a days.” Chandu Told

Sameer’s brain doesn’t took much time to connect everything. Inspector Shinde was next to Sameer and always tried to take his position but failed to do so because of competency level of Sameer in solving critical cases. One person who can get benefitted most from his suspension is Inspector Shinde only. Minsiter was involved in this operation and he only asked Sameer to take position from control room and asked him to make Shinde as on the spot in charge for safety reasons. Sameer now understood everything and know what he has to do next to save him and get his prestige back.

“Thanks Chandu. You have no idea how much you helped me. Now I know where I did the mistake, it was not hitting the “send” button but believing in the system more than believing in self. I had never thought Shinde can go to that extreme for personal and professional benefits. Anyway now I know what to do. Thanks once again buddy” Sameer told   

“You are always welcome Saab Ji. It happens in all the profession Saab, we are back to old Jungle days, eat or get eaten. And I know you will get your position back soon. Would like to work for you once again.” Chandu told

After few days it was headline of the local newspaper”City got his ATS Chief back. Minsiter who was hospitalized after problem of chest pain is missing from the Hospital. Inspector Shinde from ATS found guilty for shoot out at the Chawl.” 

And yes Sameer's wife is back once again.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Write Over the Weekend theme for this week

This weekend your post should begin with, And before I knew it, I had hit ‘Send’.

Flower Girl......

Traffic lights of the Main Road of this small city are one of the most powerful things here. Yellow, Red & Green lights controls the movement of both living and non-living things. Vehicles irrespective of their engine capacity can’t neglect those small light emitting diodes. Likewise people on and around that main road have to follow those three musketeers.

Edwin as usual was on his way to office on his Blue Fiat Padmini, the car which his father has owned very proudly and passed on the legacy to maintain this machine to Edwin. It always happened that there is always Red signal when he used to arrive near traffic light on Main Road. Today also it happened. Suddenly a young girl wearing Orange frock came with Yellow Roses and asked if he want to buy one. Edwin didn’t reply and acted as if he is ignoring her. But he saw her closely. She must be of 13-14 years of age, fair complexion, Black curly hair & Brown eyes.

 He asked “What’s your name”.

 Girl replied “Saab, what you will do with my name, please buy one flower it will help me to earn something”.  

Edwin was surprised to hear that answer from a small girl. “Why you are wasting time in all these, you should go and study” Edwin told the girl.

Girl replied “Saab, I am not interested in all these. My father told me that I have to earn something to survive. Please tell me if you can buy one flower at least. I have a target to sell all these by the end of the day. Likewise I have my monthly & weekly targets, if I will not achieve these I may have to face something bad”.

“Damn they are also under pressure of Appraisal cycle like us”, Edwin thought & smiled but didn’t told anything and drove away as the green signal was on and he has to work hard to achieve this year target of him also.

From that day on wards every day that girl in same Orange frock used to go near each and every car including his Blue car and tried to sell flowers. Edwin simply blamed the government for in effective Child Labor Act & the parents who destroy the childhood of young soul like her. He never brought a flower as he thought it will encourage Child Labour.  He wants to do his bit for the cause by these. In fact he use to discuss with his colleagues about the issue sighting example of that girl during Tea breaks.

One day that girl was not seen near the traffic light. Edwin asked another young boy who was selling flowers like her. He told that he has no idea and fled away from there.

It has been one month since that girl was absent.

      

Edwin as usual was waiting in his same Blue car for the signal to be green. He saw a young girl in the same Orange frock trying to sell same Yellow Roses to someone. After sometime she came near his Blue Car. Again Edwin saw her closely.  She was still 13-14 years of age, fair complexion, Black curly hair but one of the Brown eyes has deep burn marks around it & one of the arms was missing.

“Oh God! What happened to you? How it happened? Have you met with any accident?” Edwin asked

Girl Replied “Saab, please don’t waste my time and yours too. Please tell me if you can buy one and help me to save my eyesight & one of the legs. As target this time is quite tough and I have to achieve this to save them.”

Edwin was speechless.  Suddenly signal became green and he drove once again without speaking anything. This time his car was full of Yellow roses & he was not thinking of any Child Labour Acts or about the parents who do all these with their child or about the Tea break discussion on Child Labour and other social issues. He was happy he did his bit for the humanity.

PS: I am no way supporting the Child Labour. It is the reality happening around us which I have simply penned down. We all think about this issue, but hardly we address them properly. Do we??

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Write Over the Weekend theme for this week

This week your post should have five different colours acting as adjectives for five important words, around which your write-up revolves.

Friends Forever....

“Salaam Namaste, 68 William Street, London” this is the address of the restaurant based in the heart of London's Bloomsbury where Ramanuj’s life got changed in few hours.  It was Christmas eve and Ramanuj was alone in Company's Guest House. First time in his life he was away from his home during this time of the year. His company sent him to UK on an urgent basis. Usually he used to take 10 days off during this time of the year and spent time with his family at Mangalore. But this big opportunity came at wrong time which he can’t afford to lose hence decided to be away from his family this year. 

Though it is holiday time at UK but this particular client somehow want to get his issue resolved during this time only. Ramanuj arrived 5 days back here and his job was almost done, he was supposed to leave UK after three days. He was happy that his task is over a bit early and client and his manager are quite happy with his performance and he can spend few days with his family now.

He decided to celebrate this professional success of him alone and got ready to go to a contemporary Indian restaurant offering a superb range of dishes from across the subcontinent known as “Salaam Namaste” which was suggested by some of the colleagues back home who had visited this place earlier. But there was one more thing they have told him about the local issues during night time. Some of his colleagues had very bad experience of being harassed by local boys of London especially during night time and if you are alone it is going to be a nightmare. They somehow hate outsiders especially who are working in their country. But the love of Ramanuj for Indian cuisine motivated him to take that risk. He took a taxi and reached the restaurant.

It was pretty crowded with fellow countrymen. He felt quite relaxed seeing the people similar to him, talking in Punjabi & Hing-lish. Manager of the restaurant asked him to wait for some time as none of the table was available. He agreed and sat in the lounge area. After half an hour Manager came and informed him that one table is vacant but he has to share the same with one more gentleman. Ramanuj wants to finish his dinner ASAP so he agreed to share the table. Manager escorted him to the table where already one man aged mid 40’s was sitting. Ramanuj saw him, he was quite fare and a well built man.

That man saw Ramanuj and greeted him “Salaam, I am Zahid from Lahore, Pakistan”. 

Ramanuj was surprised to hear that in place of Hi or Hello. He also thought to greet him in Indian way.

Ramanuj: “Namaste. I am Ramanuj from Mangalore, India”

Zahid: “So you stay here or came here for some work”.

Ramanuj: “I came here for some official work. Will be going back to India after three days. What about you?”

Zahid: “I stay here. In fact I am the third generation of my family here at UK. You can say that I am almost a local man of this place. Since my family right now is in Pakistan for a marriage, I have to take care of something important here, so I stayed back. Next Year I will certainly go, it has been long since I visited Lahore”

Ramanuj though belongs to Gen-next but he is also pre occupied with his understanding of people from the neighbor country like most of us. Moreover Zahid being the local man also raised doubts in his mind. Suddenly Ramanuj stopped talking to Zahid.  Zahid asked if everything OK. Ramanuj didn’t reply properly and went straight to Manager and asked if he can get any other table. Manager informed that there is no other table available. Ramanuj than asked Manager to get his order packed, he can carry the parcel and can have dinner alone in his apartment. “Its better to eat alone than with someone who belongs to the country who is creating problem for my country”, Ramanuj thought and felt proud as if he did some great thing for his country.

He got his parcel soon and rushed outside the restaurant to look for a taxi. It was a bit late and effort of 15 minutes look out of Taxi was in vain. Someone told him that if he walks up to the Traffic Signal he can get Taxi there. Traffic Signal was half kilometer away, he decided to walk rather than waiting there.

Suddenly a group of local boys on bikes stopped him. One of them snatched the parcel form his hand and thrown away. Another one holds his court collar and asked “Where are you from, India or Pakistan?” Stories told by his colleagues flashed in his mind. He was frightened and was sweating like anything. He gathered some courage and spoke” I am from India”. One who snatched his parcel suddenly hit him on his leg “How dare you walking alone in the night in our place. You guys have taken our job & place. You are not more than cheap labor for us. So be like a paid servant, do not dare to be like one of us”. Suddenly one who had held him with the collar asked one more boy to take the spray paint out. “Let’s paint him black, this is the color he belongs to” he told and everyone laughed.

“Don’t even dare to think about that, I am warning you”, a familiar voice came from behind.

It was Zahid. They saw him and one who had hold the collar moved back. In no time everyone disappeared from there. Ramanuj was surprised.

“Why they fled away, it seems you are also one of them. May be you have more power than them. Now you will harass me with your people.” Ramanuj told.

“Yes I definitely have more power than them. But this power has been given from the Government to me. I am Inspector with Metropolitan police.  I stayed back in holidays just to take care of people like you.” Zahid replied.

“You must be hungry let’s get back to Salaam Namaste and then I will drop you to your place” Zahid told and helped Ramanuj to get to the restaurant. Ramanuj was speechless and happy. He made a new friend in London. After dinner Zahid dropped Ramanuj at his company's guest house.

Zahid: “Its good to meet you. Meet me when you come next time to London. Namaste and good buy for the time being.”

Ramanuj: “Sure, will do. Salaam & good buy for the time being “

Till now they are good friends.

PS: This story is based on real incident happened in 2012 with one of my friend.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda