My Wanderings - 72. Short Story No. - 52 When the water in Jehlum turned murky

Those were the days of love, faith and compassion,  when a fair mix of Shiva and Sufi culture  was flourishing in Kashmir . There was  much communal  harmony and tolerance of different faiths  prevalent allover .  The  Jehadi cult  had not cast  its vicious  spell  over the sociocultural fabric of Kashmir and selfi faith had not spread its monstrous tentacles there .
In  those days a Kashmiri pandit widow lived in downtown area of Srinagar  with her two children, being  a son and a daughter, in much dilapidated  tiny house  having a  roof made of birch bark and earthen covering with a lush green vegetation  growing allover.  The house was   surrounded by a   small compound , the door of which opened  in the main   street through a long and narrow muddy lane on  one side . On the  other side of  house  there were  big mansions, built in luxurious style , which belonged  to Muslim carpet and tapestry  traders and manufacturers surrounding the area . But the doors of one of  these mansions also opened through the same narrow and muddy path .
The husband of the  Pandit widow, usually addressed as Babhi by her children and neighbours,  had died much earlier,  when the children were very young .
After the death of her husband, Babhi had suffered so   much in rearing her children in utter poverty and absolute desperation . She used to spin yarn on her old spinning wheel  and sell  the same to  weavers on  paltry sums of money,  which  helped in family  sustenance  and education of her children .
Bhabi was very pious and religious woman . She would spent her leisure time in spiritual pursuits . She was very humble , helpful and friendly with her neighbourly  women, who were mostly Muslim. She grew up her  children in much discipline   and never compromised with  their education . Only after passing Matriculation her son Shankar   started giving tuitions and helped in contributing towards family expenses.
Shankar was very good in studies and passed graduation with flying colours . In due course of time Shankar got a good job in central  Govt. and family  once again had a glimpse of prosperity . It all started with repairing of their roof which profusely leaked during rainy seasons. They had to keep many  utensils on upper story floor for collecting rain  water .
In the meantime  daughter of the family  Laxmi completed her education and both her mother and elder brother Shankar appeared to be concerned about her marriage . They arranged for the dowry of Laxmi with whatever little savings they could afford and started looking out for a suitable match . After a long  perseverance and matching of Horoscopes​ they were  able to find a match for Laxmi . The name of Boy was Autar Krishen, who was  working in some Govt.Deptt. and belonged to a middle class family.
It was only after passage of some time the date of marriage arrived . Shankar had arranged for rented  marquee tent   in his small compound and was furnishing the same along with his friends . They had made small paper buntings and coloured the saw dust  for decorating the lane  .  While Shankar was worried about the drizzle which was falling   scarcely on the  tent in the midnight , he heard loud  sound of hammering of nails in the narrow  lane from which Barat had to enter . He and his friends came out in the lane to witness an amazing scene . Many labourers  were decorating the lane with fresh tapestry bundles known as crewl in Kashmir under the supervision of  Mohd. Ibrahim,  one of their neighbours . He had already decorated  two big halls of his mansion with fresh Kashmiri carpets and walnut wood furniture . The mud of the path was concealed by laying  red coloured coir matting on it.  Everything was looking fit and fine . On seeing Shankar , Mohd Ibrahim told him that You need not to worry about expected rain tomarrow morning , I have made the full arrangements to receive the  Barat in my house . Shankar could not venture to make any comment as he had hardly talked with Mohd.Ibrahim through out his life. Mohd. Ibrahim , their  neighbour was a carpet manufacturer and trader having an authoritative and resourceful  disposition .But he was very introvert and never indulged in loose talking . Mostly  all  respected him and young people hardly ventured to talk to him.
Next day in the morning Barat arrived and was received with much fanfare and gaiety  . Barat was made to sit in the decorated  halls of Mohd. Ibrahim despite of pleasant climate outside.
Mohd. Ibrahim himself looked after all the arrangements . The lunch was served to the guests,  which was being prepared by the chefs at Shanker's house. The marriage ceremony was also solemnised  there in a room already arranged for that.
At the time of parting farewell to the bride , Mohd. Ibrahim again  appeared in the scene and addressed with due honour  to the father of bridegroom
pointing towards bride,
" Pandit sahab,  please never think she is an orphan.  She is just like my own daughter . If you have any problems or complaints regarding the girl or marriage, pl don't tell anything to her mother or brother. Call me or come directly to me personally, i will look after your complaints myself.
Bridegroom's father was a very gentle person . He only thanked Ibrahim  for his hospitality and assured him of looking after the bride properly at her in-laws house.
Now after the lapse of twenty years i.e.in year nineteen ninety  much of the water had  flown over the River  Jehlum and most of it had become murkier.  The    traditional  values  cherished by the people of Kashmir through out centuries  were  vanishing in to thin year by the appearance of gun culture sponsored by neighbouring country Pakistan .
Mohd  Ibrahim and Bhabi were lucky enough not to have  witnessed  the change as they already bade farewell to this mortal world . Both Shankar and Laxmi had grown up children now . Laxmi 's husband Autar Krishen was  promoted as Asstt. Director in his Deptt.
A nephew of Mohd.Ibrahim,  Salim had become a notorious terrorist .
Once Salim  along with his accomplices, carrying a gun  entered the  office  of Autar Krishen and killed him on point blank range for being  a Hindu only.  He left   him   in a  pool of blood and perhaps with   the soul of Mohd.Ibrahim  bruised ,  unaware of latters  contribution in the marriage of Autar Krishen and Laxmi .

My Wanderings 71. Short Story No. 51. A Sequel of Confession of Aparna's Mother

Before proceeding further it is worthwhile here to mention   about the two friends of Aparna, within  whom she  choose    her prospective bridegroom . They were Ajay and Vimal . Ajay was her childhood buddy and her neighbour . She always felt at ease with Ajay  and they had  family relations as well. Ajay was a happy go lucky type  young man , with ordinary  disposition and family background . On the other hand Vimal was  extremely handsome and a rich man . He  was running his  own business and had met Aparna two years back at friends party . Aparna had  a crush over Vimal for his dashing personality and sober ettiquates .
While choosing between  the two she felt the personality of Vimal more dominating  and charismatic .
She could find all the qualities of good husband like love, commitment ,trust ,attention ,good communication including listening , partnership,  tolerance , patience ,honesty,  generosity and ability to   compromise in Vimal. Therefore , she chose Vimal as  her prospective husband .
Aparna confided to her parents about her decision  and  marriage of   Aparna was solemnized  with   much fervour  and gaiety . This left  the life of Ajay much shattered as he was also in love with Aparna .
On the other hand Aparna enjoyed her married life in the company of her husband Vimal nicely . They enjoyed their honey moon at Switzerland . Vimal purchased expensive car for Aparna and took her to big hotels for eating purposes . They visited malls and enjoyed themselves while purchasing expensive clothes and gifts . After one year of their marriage  Aparna delivered a baby girl which brought more joy in their life .
Only after few years of marriage , cracks started  appearing in their relation .It all started on filmsy grounds but crossed greater heights within a shortest   period of time as the same remained  unattended . 
One night Aparna was dead tired and she was fast asleep . In the  midnight her daughter awoke and started crying .  Vimal got disturbed by the cries  of Baby and he too awoke . He started cursing his wife as he thought it was the duty of his  wife  to attend to  the child . He had to attend a business meeting early in the morning next day  . How can he attend his business tomarrow  , if  he can not sleep properly ?
He conceived that  his wife was trying to skip her duty  deliberately and feigning sleep . He awoke Aparna and reprimanded her for not looking after the baby properly as he was getting disturbed .
' But you could  also have  looked after the baby . You know i was dead tired yesterday ,"  replied Aparna
" It is your duty , and you should not escape it."
"It is the duty of both and  I am not the exception "
They had a good quarrel  over baby  for the whole night and this  small incident spread its tentacles to destroy their happy married life .
After this incident Vimal tried to compel Aparna to leave her job and attend her family  chores properly .  As already mentioned  Aparna was a career conscience woman , she could not reconcile with the idea of her husband . Eventually there was a divorce between the two and Aparna had to leave her husband's house and join her parents along with her newly born daughter .
After few years of divorce , Aparna was promoted to a senior position  and she purchased her own house with her savings and Bank loan .  Now she started living in her own house along with her daughter and decided not to marry again. But her mother never reconciled with her idea and kept on pestering her for remarriage . Once Aparna's mother suggested her about Ajay, who  was still unmarried .
" But mother How can I marry Ajay , i have already been deceived by  the  man,  whom I once felt indispensable  for me as per  cue i took from your experiences ."
"You see Aparna! no body learns from others experiences  .  One learns from his own experiences only . Moreover, Vimal was not a bad guy either . It was his inbox approach to the problem at the material time that lead   you to the trouble . Had he applied out of box approach to the problem that night by not waking you , but  just helped the child again to sleep. There  would have not been any problem at all . It was your impatience and impertinence also that added fuel to the fire."
"But I could not help that Mom  , he was too conceited , " added Aparna .
"You see  now Ajay has not married yet and still loves you . He is your childhood buddy . You know each other thoroughly well  rather you have grown up together . What is wrong in considering him for marriage ?"
" But give me some time Mom , it is very difficult  decision for me "
"Happy is the person who finds a true friend and far  happier is he who finds that friend in his spouce . It is not lack of love but lack of friendship that is the cause of unhappy marriages," ! exclaimed Aparna's Mother.
After  some time Aprana decided  to marry Ajay and later  also happily agreed to the proposal .
Epilogue
After passage of twenty years Aprana is happily married to Ajay and she is now CEO of her company . Ajay is also working on very senior position  . They are  proud parents of a Daughter and a Son . Aparna 's mother is very old and she is living with her  daughter  after the death of Aparna's father . Aparna's daughter  Ahana is  grown up and is living with her  Boy friend and Aprana is now much concerned about her marriage with him.

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My Wanderings - 70. Short Story No. - 50 Confession of Aprana's Mother

Aparna was very happy and radiant with joy as she  got a dream job in a multinational company with a very  good prospectus and high package. She had already postponed all her marriage proposals so far , as she    wanted  first to settle  properly in life . Now she was looking for a person ideally suited to herself as a close friend or romantic life  partner .  She was already in  friendship  with  two  boys , whom she liked  so  much.They were also loving her to the hilt.  In her opinion both were equally  nice guys and worth to be considered for prospective grooms for her. But she was confused to make a right choice between the two  for her  life partner .  She thought it better to  consult her mother regarding this.
'Have you ever been in love with two men at once , Mother ?'
Her mother took a pause . A distant look came in to her eyes , as she went in search of a time that was almost  lost.
'Yes , I have .'
Aparna stared at her with amazement .
'Your father was my first and greatest love ',she said and I am still happy with him . When I was of your age my friends and I believed that love was the only reason for living . If you failed to find someone there then you can not realise your dreams .After i met your father , I realised my search was over . Then we got married and you were born. Suddenly the whole world fitted in my small  home . But with the passage of time your father remained busy with his work and  I started feeling  forlorn . Strange worries of unknown origin started creeping   in   my mind . I could not reconcile my self with the daily schedule of  life,  which sometimes appeared to me meaningless . Perhaps my role  in this universe was being overlooked and I was taken for granted .
But when I entered  middle age, I met a strange man through social media. He was an Artist . We exchanged our  views on every subject  with  each other . He made me feel very important to the world  . All my problems I had been grappling with, disappeared . I felt really useful and started telling him everything . I felt necessary and that is the best feeling a human being can have . I felt  the time passed with him quickly and I sensed he also felt the same. Only once in my life I met this man personally . I could see in his eyes  that he desired me  , and I also felt the same. Once he tried to express his feelings for me but I  forbade him from doing so by saying that feelings should be within and no need to say anything . Maturity is in knowing and accepting with grace . Trust is very important .  Sometimes We  both  were behaving   like middle aged  adolescents . But age is no criterion in such things and love is not the  monopoly of adolescents  only , I believe .   This  heart is a mysterious thing which can  betray  its  holder at any stage of life  . I suddenly lost contact with him one day and every thing passed off peacefully with the passage of time .  I personally believe  that he made a  graceful exit from my life to prevent me from any embarrassment .
But tell me Mother , it never occured to you  that you were going against the norms , I mean being a married  woman .
To tell you the fact  Dear Aparna , I never left loving your father for a single day . But breaking a norm sometimes , makes your life more  thrilling  as  some  poet has said that you  are dying slowly if you don't follow a dream , if you don't allow yourself to evade a sensible advice at least once in your life time.
Yes mother these  lines are  from the poem of   Brazilian poetess Martha  , who won Nobel Prize ,responded Aprana .
The mother's confession however,  confused Aprana  further and she could not derive much relevance from  it  with her own problem . 
Her mother sensed what was cropping up in the mind of Aprana . She said," I can only guide you by my experiences in such matters of  sensibility.  I can't hold your hand  and show you the right choice . You have to make the right  choice yourself by using your own  impulses and  faculties . You must think of a person who is not someone you can walk away from  that so easily. It must be someone you can not imagine being with out ,a person you believe sticking with or fighting for.
After listening to her mother's advice and experiences , Aprana took  the cue  from it and made the decision, which appeared right to her at the moment.

My Wanderings -69. Short Story No. - 49. Her Last Romance

It is said that Men always want to be a woman's first  love , women like to be a man's last romance. But  in a relationship like marriage men may become woman's  first love but woman is rarely a last romance in man's life . Mostly the men do not realise that the  beauty of woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows . The beauty  of a woman grows with the passing years. Actually it is the caring attitude and confidence in a  women that makes her sexy rather than her physical appearance .
Here I will like to narrate an old  tale of an ordinary woman  who was called by the name of Kamla.
Kamla  like all other woman of her times was very  radiant , full of  life and yearning for all the happiness that she could imagine in her little world.  She was very passionate and anticipating the existence of Prince charming in her life to whom she can bestow all her love . She did not know how he looks ? But she will adore and worship him . Kamala was not a paragon of beauty but a woman of ordinary appearance . But all her  homely looks, youth  and passionate characteristic made her disposition charming .
Later on Kamala was married to Raj. It was an arranged marriage . Raj was a handsome  young man having a very good job in engineering Deptt. He had a  very good  income by the way of  salary and other sources . But it was not only happiness that was anticipated by Kamla, marriage also brought  with it  many responsibilities  and liabilities for her. She  wholeheartedly devoted herself to her new assignment  and accepted all the allied responsibilities with out a wrinkle on her face for the love of her husband Raj . The marriage was successful for so many years . They loved each other very much .They could not bear to seperate from each other for a day or two. Whenever Kamala would go to her mother's home for two three days, Raj would arrange to bring her back the same evening .
One day Kamla said to Raj , " Darling ! I feel embarrassed sometime by your possessive behaviour ."
" But I can't help it  dear I can't bear your separation for a single day.,"
" Love me a little dear , but longer please ". , retorted  back kamala.
In the meantime Kamla delivered two sons and a daughter.
The destiny played its own part and Love did not last longer between the two as implored by Kamla .
Raj got promoted and lady  success began to lure him .
He started showing coldness towards the relation between the two . Now Raj was looking for the greener pastures .
Kamla  was observing keenly the activities of Raj . Raj got involved with various woman . He started taunting Kamla. Kamla  resiprocated  Raj in the same way. All the love in the relation was exhausted like thin air  and a vacuum was created. But the relation between the two continued as divorces were not so common those.  days in the community . Moreover, they had three children who were growing fast and needed look after . Kamla tried hard to find  and use all the  local beauty aids , whichever available  those days .Alas! beauty saloons were not existing  then. She wanted to look beautiful to attract the attention of her husband once more . But all in vain .  She was not successful in attracting the attention of her husband towards her again .  She longed for it through out her  life desperately .  Moreover , the cheap beauty aids available those days made her to look  more absurd . With the passage of time and advance age she became  more skeptical and apprehensive  and   began to find solace in taunting her husband in presence of others . She would tell  about his randevous to  everyone even in the presence of her  husband . But his husband remained always silent in presence of others, perhaps due to his guilty conscience.
Even after marriage of their children and after becoming grand parents , peace never returned to their relationship and love remained a precarious entity for them through out their lives . 
It will be worthwhile to mention about the incident when Kamla was very old and on death bed in a hospital a young Doctor  entered the hospital room and exclaimed , " vow !" Kamla ji you look so  beautiful and pretty  today ."in order to boost her moral perhaps.
She immediately retorted back ,
" Oh my Prince charming , where were you so far. I longed for you throughout my life."
With these words she closed her eyes and bade farewell  to this mortal world .

My Wanderings - 68. Short Story No. 48. An Untold Story from the Diary of a Doctor

Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure ,as Freud believed , or a quest  for power as Alfred Adler taught, but a search for meaning . The great task of man is to find   meaning in his or her life. There can be three sources of meaning in life as taught by  our  great Philosopher  in  Shrimat Baghwadgita   . We may find it in work , in love or in courage in difficult times . 
      It was   month of November in  year Nineteen Ninety , when I was living  in RajBagh locality of Srinagar all alone as my family had already shifted to Jammu due to turmoil. Not only my family but majority of the  people of my community had shifted to Jammu and various other safe quarters of the country . I being a Practising Doctor felt very safe because of my self less service to the masses in general and  people living around me in particular . 
One evening two persons called me at my  clinic and requested me to accompany them for visiting  a  Patient . They drove me in a car and it took us hours together to reach the destination.  It was by their indifferent   attitude and changed behaviour that I could very well guess ; I was kidnapped . They threw me in a dark cell and advised me to change my clothes . They provided me with  some dirty , torn and misfit clothes and took away my new suit and other valuables including my watch and wallet . I had also to exchange my new shoes for their  torn and misfit shoes. I could not have a wink of sleep that night in that dark cell with empty stomach as they could only  provide me a  scrap of bread in the name of meals. Next day early in the morning  I was made to walk through unknown paths , mountains and ravines for hours together to reach a new destination , being a bigger hut in some remote hemlet ,  where I could  notice a group o fifteen persons lying on the floor of hut  in torn shoes and dirty clothes . I soon gathered that they were also the kidnapped persons just like me . 
The men including myself were herded , sometimes to one place and then to another ,sometimes driven together , then apart like a flock of sheep with out a thought or will  of the our  own for months together.  A small but dangerous pack of jehadis  watched us  from all sides ,well versed in methods of torture and sadism. They drove the herd backwards and forwards , with shouts kicks and blows. And we the sheep thought of two things only how to evade these dogs and how to  get a little food.
We had lost everything our clothes, our shoes, our valuables ,our identity , even our professional recognition . We were only moving in   our frail bodies with a little life in them. They used to call us by nicknames which they had designed for us . We were rebuked and reprimanded for no fault of ours . It is very difficult for  outsider to grasp our condition or what we felt as prisoners . Most of men among us had lost hope of their release . They had turned indifferent . But few among us including myself had not lost hope . We were trying to find meaning in  our life . I was mostly thinking about my wife and kids and I wanted to meet  them again  because I loved them .   Therefore , i was not leaving any chance to keep myself  alive . Every thing that  was not connected with  an immediate task of keeping myself  alive lost its value . Everything was sacrificed to this end . A man's character became involved to the point that he was caught in a mental turmoil which threatened all the values he held and threw them in to doubt. Under the influence of a world which no longer recognised the value of human life and human dignity , which had robbed man of his will and having made him object to be exterminated . 
We could lie all night  in our little corner in the hut and doze and wait for the daily distribution of bread and for daily helping of soup , watered down and also decreased in quantity . While we laid our bodies  against each other to avoid any unnecessary loss of  warmth and were too lazy and disinterested to move a finger unnecessarily , we heard shrill whistles and shouts from the square where the  jehadis were entertaining themselves . Once the  door was flung open , and the snow storm blew into our hut. A new herd of people who had recently been kidnapped were flung in the hut. 
I kept thinking of endless little problems of our miserable life . I had terrible sores on my feet from wearing torn shoes . I ventured to move outside , I limped a few paces  with horrible pain  but very cold  bitter winds struck and  held me back . I used to  daydream about  my release and joining my family , this thought entertained me much and gave me a little relief . Love is the only way to grasp another   human being in the innermost core of his personality . I could find the meaning of my life in love for my family and constant  suffering . I could attribute my suffering to  my family members , who were safe and sound and compelled me to live for them .   Many prisoners had  become indifferent towards life . They had lost all hope. It was  that lot which perished most and died in transit, due to lack of will or because they had lost Intrest in life . Some of them became easy target to the guns of jehadis because of their indifferent attitude .    Almost eight of our co-prisoners died  before our release .
One day while trying to sleep  in our hut , we heard sounds of gunfire and shouts of our guards for hours together outside the hut.  It transpired that security forces had invaded the hide out and killed many of our guards and others  have escaped . We could not believe  our ears that we had been rescued by the security forces and we were free.  It took us lot of time to acknowledge our freedom ,

My Wanderings 67. Short Story No. 47 Mystery behind the Murder of Sh.Kanth Ram

I am writing this story in utter confusion  and absolute  distress because I have received a letter from my old friend , now an inmate of  Srinagar central  Jail . It is a  sort of appeal to public in general  and to the readers  of this post in particular  , thereby  seeking their help   and pleading himself innocent . The copy of his appeal shall be reproduced in original by me at  the end of my post  but first let me introduce you with the backdrop of the calamity which befell on him some thirty years back.
The story begins with the transfer of my father to a small village about fifteen Kms away  from Srinagar city  towards south   as a country Doctor . Most of village heads and known people living there started visiting my father to introduce themselves as it was customary those days to pay such visits to the new incumbent of any Govt. Department by the village heads. Once I noticed an elderly man with conspicuous disposition   talking to my father  a bit  loudly reflecting a streak of  arrogance from his suspicious countenance .I   came to know that he was a big landlord of village and his name was Shri Kanth Ram. Later on he became a very good friend of my  father and visited our residence often , sometimes  with fresh vegetables as a gift to my father , being the  new crop of his farm  . Kanth Ram was a chronic bachelor and therefore , he had  no  family . But he had employed few servants who worked at his farm and helped him in domestic chores  also .  Later on it  transpired that Kanth Ram had some relatives , who were also living in the same village . It was actually the family of his younger  brother , who had already expired . Now his widow  was living with her children ,comprising of   a  son and a daughter, in  a very  miserable condition . They had some family dispute on division of property and land , the major portion of which appeared to have been usurped by Kanth Ram after the death of his younger Brother leaving his  family  in distress .  Therefore , they were  always at daggers drawn with Kanth Ram . Kanth Ram  being  very rich Landlord never helped his brothers family in distress.  The name of the nephew   of Kanth Ram was  Tej. He was reading with me in  village School. He was very mischievous type of  boy .  He was often beaten  up by his teachers for creating some trouble in  the School. He  started taking rift with  his Uncle right from his childhood. He had become a rebel type person perhaps due to injustice meted out to his family. Tej grew  up in to  a ruffian and started threatening his uncle often . Many times he created  very awful scenes while fighting with his uncle  . Every villager was aware of the rift between the two. One day Tej even threatened his uncle to kill him in full public view. The rift between Uncle and Nephew had become the  talk of town . Many times Tej was caught  red handed  for damaging the crops of the farm of his Uncle by his guards and beaten up  blue and black  by them.
On the  fateful night a servant of Kanth Ram called  on Tej and  advised him that his uncle was seriously ill and wanted to see him  urgently  . Tej thought for some time and finally decided to visit his uncle . When Tej opened the bed room door of his uncle , he found his uncle already dead and his head  badly damaged  with  a wooden cudgel lying nearby . A cold shrill passed through the spine of Tej and his cry for help was suppressed by loud noise of the two servants  ,who entered the room abruptly and caught hold of him.
Police was called and they apprehended toTej.
Tej implored them for  his innocence but no body beleived him. The case was executed well by the prosecution in the court as there was  motive of crime well defined against Tej because he  was beneficiary to the property of deceased . Many witnesses admitted about the life  threats given by Tej to Kanth Ram often .  The defence Lawyer could not prove the innocence​ of Tej despite of his best efforts.
Tej was awarded sentence of life imprisonment till his death . Only after lapse of a year or so from happening of  this incident our community migrated to different parts of country  due to turmoil in Kashmir and  they totally  forgot about it.
Now I reproduce hereunder  in original the letter or appeal of Tej , which I received through unknown sources for satisfying the curiosity of readers as promised by me earlier .
Appeal
I Tej Kumar Bhat son of Late Sh. Mohishar Nath Bhat  Resident of ..... appeal to people who have read my story to help me in distress . I am languishing in Srinagar central  Jail for the last thirty years for no fault of mine. I hope that after reading my story you people must be sure of my innocence ,which could not be proved by my Defence lawyers in the court of Law at material time. I believe that you people will work hard  to reopen my case once again and arrange best  lawyers , who can defend me well and prove my innocence in the court of law . But  I know very well that you  could not defend the innocent killings of hundreds of our community brothers by bringing the culprits to  book . You remain satisfied when such cases were declared time barred  by Supreme court of India   . My case is much older than that. But I assure you that no case of injustice becomes time barred untill justice prevails . Therefore , I reiterate my appeal to you people to provide justice to me and hundreds of my community brothers who were deprived of justice . Otherwise I am compelled to say  that you people  will not heave  a sigh of relief or take a wink of sleep hereafter,  if you will  not plead my innocence
and avenge the death of hundreds of my community brothers  by  bringing  the real culprits to book .
Please do not sleep over the matter . Otherwise our community will always be taken for granted by everyone.

        

My Wanderings - 66. Short Story No. 46 My Inspiration my Friend

Not all in this world who wander are lost , but some while wandering find themselves and the  friends who become their life long  treasures and most cherished assets because they inspire them to the eternity   . There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship. We should always be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming Gardners who make our souls blossom .I could find many wonderful friends during the course of my Wanderings to whom I am very grateful and obliged for  their cooperation and support  and making my Wanderings   successful and magnificent . Their suggestions and comments have helped me to improve it a lot.  But as it is said that  a  single flower  can be a garden to me , a single friend my world . I will give here a description of my single friend who inspired me most .  I am not  obliged to the reader to mention the name of person who inspired me most as inspiration is an abstract entity which has no  form or sex and can not be  personified.
However ,  I may confer  my inspiration a female  form here.
A beautiful woman delights the eye; a wise woman , the understanding ; a pure one, the soul.
She is blend of all these virtues in a fair mix .
She is very  graceful , intelligent , and commanding with an aura of purity hovering around her . She is quick witted ,  humourous and . spontaneous . She can drive  any discussion to its logical conclusion by her crisp wit and reason. She is an epitome of gratification and benevolence . She is devoid of ego , a personification of humility . She is a good listener , analytical and extempore speaker . She has wandered all along with me through out my journey and supported me zealously with encouragement and inspiration .
I have never seen her in blood and flesh. Once I tried to arrange a meeting with her . She was ready to meet me . But it was hostile weather which dissuaded us from meeting  each other . However, It  was naive  of me  not to understand  that inspirations are with out  form or shape and they can not meet a mortal person like me.
I don't require meeting her,  because I feel her presence all around me now.
Yes I have seen her in my dreams  . She is very fair with a tuft of dark hair flanking over her round shoulders , wearing a matching designer suit making  a spectacle of contrast . Her white sparkling teeth shine like pearls , her eyes just like lotus petals and lips like blazing embers of fire. She is so sweet as honey and so soft as dew. Her heart is made of gold , not only her heart but she is worth her weight equal to  gold . She is beautiful , passionate  and sensual . I have learnt a lot from her.  I have become her ardent fan . She attends every person with due care and respect  . She is patient and sympathetic towards every one.
I can feel her presence all over in the nature .  She is a feeling which can be noted  only by soul. I can see her in celestial bodies . She can be a moon or star . I  can feel her presence in chirping of birds,  rustling of leaves , howling of  wind and flash of lightening .  I can smell her scent in the early spring flower buds , her caresing in first drizzle of monsoon , her warmth in the mild sun rays of autumn .
She is moving all along with me   so that I may not get lost in my Wanderings .  She is always there to guide and support me with all honesty .  she will continue it till eternity . Because such type  of love and inspirational stories have no end .