Light

Kid packing crackers - Source

The teacher had explained the significance of Deepawali. Sonu was very attentive in the class during the entire explanation. He learnt about Lord Rama’s return to his home town. He also learnt about the death of evil Narakasura. He was happy to learn something new today. He already thought of telling this tale to his mother in the night. 

The teacher then showed pictures of children making crackers in the dingy factories, breathing poisonous chemicals. She explained the ill-effects of bursting crackers. The pollution aspects and the harmful effects on animals moved Sonu.  Sonu decided not to burst the crackers during this Deepawali. 

In the evening, Sonu explained his streets friends about the effects of crackers. The kids around him were also motivated and decided not to burst crackers. Sonu (thanks to his teacher) had lead a mini revolution in the area.

Diwali night came. The kids of the street met along and played in the road. There were no crackers. Like Sonu’s parents, the other elders of the street, lit diyas and decorated the houses with flowers.

Sonu and his friends made paper lanterns and hung it in front of the houses. It was light and only light all over the place.

During the play Sonu ventured into the neighboring road. There was a flash and Sonu fell down. It was a cracker that struck him on his eyes.

The boy who had brought light to the street by his teachings, now has a new teacher. She teaches him Braille. Light faded into darkness.

Murder - a short story

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The real estate king was murdered. In broad daylight. 1 day ago. And still no clue about the killer. The police department resorted to their last life line. Detective Munna.

Munna had never failed. He had a track record of all cases solved in short time. Some appreciated his brilliance, but most thought that he was lucky to resolve the cases.  Whatever be it, he would save the face of the police, thought Inspector Mahesh.

As Munna sat in the chauffeur driven car, he looked into the details of the victim, Maran alias Macha. Maran was a successful real estate agent in the booming city of Mangalore. The business involved lot of deals which cannot be exactly called legal. Black money flew in from all places including underworld. Bigger the money involved, bigger was the risk. Maran had friends and foes in the business. Maran’s recent & future business deals ran into pages. Detective Munna knew that every other real estate agent could be a suspect.
Maran was a widower. His family had died in the Tsunami in Chennai. Maran image was clean without any affairs. Detective Munna mentally eliminated a family angle to murder. He stayed alone in the big fort he had built for himself. 

Munna reached the spot of crime. It was raining. It was the bungalow of Maran. Huge was a small word to describe it. A 20 ft wall surrounded the house, like a fort. A lush green lawn welcomed him. The fort had one big gate and was well guarded. Munna sat next to the drawing where the body was found – in the garden. The garden was adjacent to the lawn which paved way to the main door of the house. Maran was shot by a single bullet, right in the forehead. A blood soaked newspaper was in dead body’s hand when the police arrived. The police were informed of the murder by the Maran’s personal security guards. The guards and the personal cook were under investigation by the police. But Inspector Mahesh was on the verge of giving a clean chit to all of them.

Munna walked around the house. The house had 2 doors. The main door was on the east and another door on the north. The door on the north opened to a tennis court. There was a huge verandah for business meetings. Then a bigger hall. There were 5 fully furnished rooms. There was ample space for parking the cars. Munna mentally made note that the house was fully vastu compliant. Munna quickly glanced the property documents seized by the police. Nothing enthused him.

The detective decided to walk around the locality of the house. Small houses surrounded this bungalow. The roads were narrow. “Typical of a middle class locality”, Munna thought. There were a few small shops but no major mall around. As Munna spoke to a few local people, he found that Maran was loved by one and all.  As it was raining, Munna came back to his car and was driven back to his office.

Early next morning, Munna drove himself to Maran’s house. It was bright and sunny and the detective could spend more time today. Munna made quick notes as he entered the lawn. He called the guard and asked a few questions.  He observed things till 10 am and then made a few phone calls. In a couple of hours, Munna called Inspector Mahesh  and told Mahesh that the murder mystery was solved and the police can start with the arrests.

In the evening, inspector Mahesh called and confirmed that the case was solved. Munna was happy.

Next evening Mahesh and Munna met over tea. Mahesh thanked and appreciated Munna. He asked for an explanation. Munna explained his thought process.

“When I arrived in the morning, the Sun was in the east. And was burning the main door of the house. But the door had not lost its sheen. This was not typical. Typically the Sun rays fade out the polish of the door, especially if it strikes directly. I checked with the guard if the doors were newly polished. He said no. Further probing lead me to the fact that there were huge trees on the road opposite to the house. The shade of the trese protected the door from the eastern Sun.  The tree was chopped down for road expansion purpose. And the tree was chopped on the same day of the murder. I read the post mortem report carefully and found that the bullet had struck Maran at an angle. I checked with the civic office on who had the contract to chop down the trees. I got the name and did a background check. It was the same man from whom Maran had snatched a big business deal recently. Then I called you to arrest and further investigate the contractor. You confirmed that the contractor had hired a sharp shooter to kill Maran”.

Once again detective Munna had saved the face of the police.

 

Need

Raj was on the way back from office. It was a 25km drive for him. And sadly this drive in his car could take around 2 hrs. The unpredictable city traffic and the frequent signals could add another 30 mins to his travel time. Some of the traffic junctions would take 20 mins for clearance. He cursed his bad luck and his inappropriate office timing. "The need of the hour was good broad roads and flyovers", Raj thought.

Today was no different. There was traffic jam at the junction. Looking at the distance between him and the signal, Raj guessed that he would have to wait for 20 mins in this junction. He opened his bag and found a banana to eat. This was a regular habit. This would satisfy his need for food.

As he peeled the banana, he saw a face and a heard a knock on his car window. It was a beggar boy, pleading for some money. He looked like he was around 6 to 8 yrs old. Raj hated the beggars. The boy made a sad face and pleaded for something. He indicated that he was hungry. Raj knew these tactics of the beggars. But today, he felt bad to eat the banana in front of the beggar kid. Raj lowered the window glass and gave the banana to the beggar boy. The boy smiled and ran with his hands up in the air. It was like the boy had won the world cup. Raj thought that the boy really needed something to eat. Raj smiled at himself.

A few minutes later as Raj's car strolled in the junction, he saw the boy again. Boy had a baby on his lap, and was sitting on the pavement. The boy was feeding the baby with the banana, Raj had given. Curiously, Raj asked the beggar boy who the baby was? With a big smile on the face, the boy said "my small sister. She was hungry and needed food. So I am feeding her the banana".

Raj was speechless.

Operation

The 3 were chosen by their leader for the operation. They were the 3 musketeers of the group. Never had they failed as a team.

This mission was nothing special. The spy team had informed about the arrival of the new bounty in the old man's house. The operation was to steal the new bounty.

The 3 went about their routine. Night time was the best chance. They visited the old man's house in the night. Found that the doors and windows were locked. this was not new and they had faced similar problems in previous operations. But never had they damaged the doors to barge in.

Next day, the specialist, agile agent went into the house through the main door when the old man was buying vegetables. The agent studied the house plan and the potential areas of where the bounty could be. The agent knew that he had to get out of the house before the old man was back. He did just that.

With the plan of the house clearly etched in mind, they now had to attack. Loitering outside the house and waiting for a chance to enter the house, the 3 kept a close eye on the old man. The chance came sooner than expected. The old man went to the terrace to dry the clothes, leaving the door open. The agents quickly entered the house. One took position at the entrance to manage the old man, if he comes in before the operation is over. The other 2 went in search of the bounty. The sight of the yellow shine brought a twinkle in the agents eyes. The bounty was found. Operation success, as they walked out of the house before the old man arrived back.

As the old man realized yet another theft of his cheese, the 3 rats presented the bounty to their leader to garner applause.

Prison

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"Why am I prison?", she pondered.

Beauty? She had a feather smooth skin. She had lips which was covered by red lipstick. Was this the reason to be in prison?

Quick learner? She can quickly learn things. Uniquely speak well. Was this the reason to be in prison?

Seek food? She liked mango. When the mango garden was full of ripe mangoes, what's wrong with having one? Is it correct to be hit by stone and called a thief for one fruit? Was this the reason to be in prison?

Now in prison. What kind of prison is this? I cannot stretch my body. Cannot eat food of my choice. Have to curb my natural instincts. And most importantly cannot fly like my fellow parrots, kissing the sky.

Queue

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He was one of the last few in the long queue. He could not see the start of the queue. It would be a long wait, he guessed.

He knew all about queues. He had waited for 12 years in a queue. After 12 yrs, when he was first in that queue, the job was done in 5 seconds. The wait was boring.
 

He pondered if this wait is also boring and the final event would last seconds or hours.
After some hours, came his turn - he stood in front of Almighty. 

There was one straight question "do you repent for what you did?"
He said "yes".
"Explain".
"I have given my explanation in the court", he replied.
"Answer me. I know everything that has happened, but want to see it in your eyes".

"He had cheated me and my wife. He grabbed the land which was our livelyhood. He threw us into poverty. My wife died because I had no money to treat her. The idiot dint show mercy or humanity during our tough times. After my wife's death, there was no purpose in life. I went to the idiot's house and hacked him to death. I used his gun to shoot down in his wife. Then I surrendered to the police. The court ordered death sentence to me..after 12 yrs in the queue of death sentence, I was hanging by the rope. Dear God, Now I am here in front of you."

"You said you repent for what you did, why?"

"Lord, after I shot the idiot's wife, there were 4 bullets left in the gun. I knew that my surrender to police meant my surrender to death. I repent for surrendering to police. I had to wait in the queue for death. That was an unproductive waste of time. I repent for not shooting myself to death with the same Gun. I could have reached you earlier."
"Case dismissed - put him into hell" Almighty answered.

Lord laughed and tried to see the end of queue before him. Lord could not and called the next person in queue.