My Wanderings - 38. Short story No. 20. The Woman

It was a sullen morning of rainy season with clouds still hovering over the sky adding gloom to the already melancholic atmosphere near a two storey house in a congested locality. A body of a woman covered with white sheet of cloth was lying in a pool of blood adjacent to the compound fence surrounded by police personal and people from neighbourhood. The police was busy in collecting evidences on spot and trying to preserve them. After listening to the rumours of surrounding people it transpired that victim had perhaps fell down from upper storey of  her house in  mid of the night  and died instantly. She had however,  left a suicide note absolving her husband from any criminal charge which could point a finger towards him. The police was still interviewing the husband who was the only person present in the house at the time of accident as the couple had no children. The husband appeared very meek and distraught.
She was a woman, a woman in real sense with all woman like virtues  and devoid of any womanish disqualifications. She was very beautiful and fair  always adorning a smile on her bright face exhibiting  sparkling white jewels in her mouth. She was very lively intelligent and quick witted. She was ambitious and articulate emanating an  aura of positiveness through her personality. It appeared as if she belong to this whole universe and vice versa. She got married to her husband twenty years back  to the jubilance of  one and all and it was an arranged marriage. She was a working woman and very popular in her office due to her lively and helpful nature. She helped in providing every thing to her family a good house, property etc.  except a child.
Her husband was a little introvert type of man and he never liked the admiration of his wife by others so often. He began to feel a sense of inferiority complex in front of his wife because he was not worth to match her qualities. In order to overcome his shortcomings he began to dominate and torment his wife oftenly. He was always trying to find a pretext to hurl abuses on her. He often boasted of his manliness that he knows how to control his wife. But it was not his manliness,  it was male ego and lust that possessed him. He could never realise the true value of his virtuous wife.
His wife tried very hard to maintain the relation and reconciled on every step which lessened the friction between the two and saved the relation for a long time. But he always criticised his wife and never admired her good work.
On the material day he had a good fight with her on some flimsy ground and he addressed her as a 'whore' and a 'bitch'. He  spared no adjective of infamy and noterioty to insult and humiliate her that day. She felt very much dejected and with out saying a word went to sleep in another room. He could never guess that some misfortune is going to fall on the house that night as these fights had become  very common between the two. But no body can forecast the vagaries of fate, time and mind which topsy turvy the whole situation.
In the midnight she awoke and could not reconcile with the insult and humiliation which her husband had inflicted  upon her. She wrote a suicide note and jumped from the window of her room.

My Wanderings - 37. Short story No.19. One day in the life of Niranjan

Niranjan  was  a very disciplined person  right from his childhood. His father died when he was  very young, barely a small boy of fifteen years  and being elder than his other siblings, who  comprised of  two sisters and a brother, he was forced to leave his studies only after completing  matriculation and look out for a job. He started with many menial jobs  such as a domestic help, shop Assistant  etc. and finally he got job as a clerk in Govt. Department, which eased his tension of looking after his family with an assured income. He allowed to continue the study of his two sisters and a brother. He would take all family decisions in consultation with his mother who was very practical and sagacious lady.  With the passage of time his sisters completed their education and after looking out for their jobs, he married them.  As his brother could not do well in studies, Niranjan helped him to open a provision store with Bank loan. Niranjan was a role model for his other siblings as they loved and respected him very much. Finally after much persuasion of his mother, Niranjan also  got  married to  a nice and homely girl. The wife of Niranjan was very dedicated person like her husband. She helped much in keeping the family sanctity intact till the  wife of younger brother of Niranjan arrived at the home, who appeared not be  a  very good lady. She left the house within a year of her marriage to live in a seperate dwelling with her husband, who by now had become a very shrewd businessman.
In the meantime Niranjan's wife had given birth to two children a son and a daughter. When they were small kids, their mother died of cancer which shattered the life of Niranjan once again. However,  his old mother helped him a lot to bring up the children.   Then the migration of his community from Srinagar to Jammu due to turmoil added many difficulties in his life. After the death of his mother at Jammu,  Niranjan had to rear his children singlehandedly. It is an old saying that fortunes and misfortunes are the order of life which everyone has to face with a fair mix . But misfortunes always overweighed the fortunes in the life of Niranjan.
However, Niranjan brought up his children with great difficulty but left no stone unturned  to give them best education and never compromised with their carrier. His son became a Doctor and his daughter an engineer. With the passage of time  both got married as per their choice. But his son and daughter in law both being Doctors remained  with Niranjan at Jammu in a house which latter had constructed. After some time Niranjan retired from Govt.  service as Section officer. As Niranjan had worked overtime at home and office throughout his life, he began to feel gloomy and lonely after retirement. Moreover, Niranjan never found any  time, through out his life, to  cultivate in himself,  a hobby  to pursue after retirement.
Then one day, while strolling in a park early in the morning, Niranjan had a chance meeting  with a middle aged woman. By talking  to the woman, it transpired that she was a widow living alone in her house situated near by. She was having only one issue, a son married and living outside the country, who had virtually snapped all links with her.  The meetings with the lady increased day by day and they began to like the company of each other. Niranjan began to feel a new thrill in his life due to her presence. The lady in question, whose name was Kamala also responded well to him. The marriage  proposal was made by Niranjan and Kamala agreed to it reluctantly.
It was really  a big shock for the family members of Niranjan, when he announced his decision to marry Kamala. They began to show their true colours by  insulting and humiliating Niranjan. They called his daughter and sisters to dissuade him from marrying Kamala. But he had made the decision and that one day in the life of Niranjan arrived, when he left his family and home for ever to join the place of his love. In old age company is the main criterion behind such relationships but marriage provides them a touch of  legitimacy. The family and children of Niranjan never reconciled with this   relation but   newly created couple lived happily ever after.

My Wanderings - 36 Short Story No.18. Family Life is indeed a bliss

Rohan recently retired from his  service. He was a journalist by profession and retired as  Chief Editor of a leading magazine. Journalism was his passion and he sacrificed a lot to remain attached with this profession. As a young man like all  his other contemporaries, he was ambitious and possessing   a streak of rebellion. After completing his education with top grades, he choose journalism  as profession which  required much patience and struggle to get hold in the field those days. Although he could have choosen many other jobs which required less efforts and assured monthly salary. But due to his passion with journalism he choose the difficult path and started his career as a freelance journalist contributing much to stray magazines and newspapers and getting petty  renumeration in return. But the job satisfaction which he derived from it kept him alive and addicted to the profession. Moreover, his simplicity and honesty hindered his progress in this field. He even postponed his marriage proposals several times with the pretext that he will marry only after striking a foot hold in his field of profession . In the meantime his younger siblings got married. His parents were also eager to see him settled  in life. It is an old saying that with the perfection of art, artist becomes old. Rohan also achieved   success in his  field  very late after joining a leading Newspaper as Asstt. Editor with high package. But he could not find a suitable match of his age at that time.He also purchased a seperate flat for himself. His parents also left this mortal world one after another leaving Rohan alone. But his professional involvement and quest for perfecting his art kept him busy and  never let him feel lonely.
It was only after his retirement that Rohan began to feel the pangs of loneliness which made his life miserable and gloomy. Though he tried to keep himself  busy in cooking, reading and occasional travelling but still he could not keep himself happy with out company of someone and communicating with some body else.
One evening  while looking out side his window, he could see black dense  clouds hovering profusely over the sky. Within a short span of time it started raining heavily. He noticed some human figures  covered with rags from head to heels taking refuge under a small covered space opposite his house. He could recognise the figures. It was the family of a blind beggar who used to beg near the corner of lane. The wife of beggar immediately started kneading the  floor after mixing some rain water with it.  Stove was made of two stones kept apart and fire was lit within the space by igniting few small pieces of wood which they had brought under their rags. Then few breads were prepared  by them on a piece of metal plate kept on the stones. Thereafter, whole of the family relished these breads with pieces of broken onion laced with a pinch of salt. Finally they all slept in company of each other with much satisfaction.
Rohan closed the window of his bed room and laid his body on his plush bed in much agony and desperation, brooding over the bliss of family life and  deseperately trying to overcome his newly acquired disease of insomnia with sleeping tablets.

My wanderings - 35 Short story - 17. The Hermit with an earthen Lamp

This is  a story of long ago, when I had just entered my adolescent age and I was residing at Srinagar alongwith my parents and  other elder siblings. Our house was situated on the banks of river Jehlum overlooking the Habba kadal bridge. Our backyard comprised of a joint compound connected to outside lane through a small gate opening  beneath the house of our neighbours known as a ' pilav' in Kashmiri.
On the right hand side of our house was an open concrete  platform like structure of about two hundred square feet and with a height of about twenty feet on the river view side, with out fencing, serving as a compound to a small garage constructed beyond its rear periphery locating  a rice mill. The only entrance to the concrete platform and garage was available through a small door from its rear side opening from the street. The rice mill was closed from a long time now. Therefore, no body had access to the concrete platform like structure.
One fine morning in the early hours of dawn, someone from our house observed an earthen Lamp known as 'Rattan Deep' in Kashmiri  lighting  in the middle of concrete structure. We were all surprised to see this miracle as nobody could reach the place with out opening the rear gate which was locked from outside since long. The earthen Lamp was full of oil and its wick was emanating a majestic flame  flickering with all might  and not defaulting   for a moment in the strongest of winds. Our neighbours also visited us  as it was visible better from the windows opening from the  right side of our house. But the spot was not accessible from our side also. Speculations were made  by every one ,but most logical and sagacious suggestion was put forth by my mother , who  told that according to her opinion,  some hermit of highest order is living in the garage who lights these earthen lamps early in the morning during his meditation. She warned us not to look or spit out from those windows and that too in the early hours of morning. She cautioned us to treat the place as most sacred and never disturb the hermit anymore. I began to rise from my  bed early in the morning and witness the spot daily because of my inquisitive age. I could see the lighted earthen lamps placed there on daily basis. Sometimes there was a single lamp and sometimes two or three. But I could never see the hermit.The lamps would extinguish after sometime with the exhaustion of their oil. A devout Hindu neighbour of ours told my father that he had seen the hermit in his dream.  The hermit had ordered him to sprinkle some boiled rice and flowers on every Tuesday from the window of our house. My father was a religious man with a rationale outlook but the remedy put forth by our neighbour suited best to our mother. She started preparing boiled rice and arranging flowers for the purpose.
We could perceive the form of hermit  as a tall skinny man with a dark skin  immaculately dressed in white dhoti and piece of another white cloth flowing  over his shoulders alongwith a long white beard sprouting profusely  out from his dark face presenting a spectacle of contrast. Some of our younger cousins even claimed to have seen the hermit in blood and flesh holding a small earthen Lamp  in his hands. My father being a very  seasoned  person could not give any explanation or put forth any logic behind the lighting earthen lamps. He had also to remain contended  with the theory propounded by my mother.
Howsoever ,  rationale a person claim to be, a small mystery or a miracle hinders his conviction because he has been brought up in such an atmosphere where superstitions and ghost stories have been inculcated in his mind right from the childhood. Our subconscious minds are already embedded with superstitions because  we listen to ghost  or angel stories right from the age we start comprehending our environment and surroundings. Therefore, it is very difficult for a person to be rationale who has been brought up in such an atmosphere.
Now reverting to  the story, one day our father awoke us very early in the morning from a deep slumber of/in darkness for witnessing a scene from the same right side windows of our house which amazed all of us. We saw crows carrying small lighting earthen lamps in their beak from the windows of a nearby temple and placing them properly on the concrete structure besides our house. Perhaps they wanted to swallow the oil of lamps once the flame is extinguished. But they could never swallow it unfortunately,  because flame of earthen Lamp usually extinguished only after the exhaustion of its oil.

My Wanderings - 34. Short story No. 16. Who is dear to Lord

                  In my early  youth I used to visit shivalya in Srinagar located near karan Nagar. Actually there was a temple of Shiva and branch of Ramakrishna Ashram located adjacent to temple. My purpose of visit was neither  in pursuit of spirituality nor in connection with gaining any divine enlightenment. I used to sit for hours in the reading room of Ashram to read latest books and magazines, which were rarely available those days. I visited  the Ashram inordinately and without fail, because I was  so much interested in reading.
I became  familiar with many workers of the Ashram who appeared more important and indispensable  but   least of all with  a  person who deemed to be of ordinary disposition. His ordinary attire and simplicity attracted my attention towards him after a long time. He could be seen wearing a common man's dress , a pant and a shirt and doing ordinary chores of Ashram like changing the lamps repairing the electric fuses arranging the magazines and books. Mostly I noticed him working in the lawns of Ashram raising flower beds and watering them most earnestly . He spoke very less and that too with all humility. But there was a sort of  radiance present  on his face which perhaps  reflected his dedication towards service with a spectacle of divinity.  Latter on I was astonished to learn that he was working as professor of physics in local college and belonged to a well to do family dealing in Medicine business. His name was Brij Nath ji. After college hours he would spent most of his precious time at the Ashram. He was not interested in family business and was not married either.
Once they planned to renovate Ashram and raised funds for the purpose. The construction work started at large scale and a new and spacious    meditation hall was  built  with modern fixtures. Renovation work of old structures was also  initiated. When the construction  was at final stages there was shortage of funds and the work  could not be carried  out further. Brij Nath ji applied for withdrawal of his Provident fund account. An amount of two lakhs, which was a huge amount those days, was released from the Personal Provident fund of Sh. Brij Nath ji  and construction could be completed.
Only after few years of  construction of new Ashram, militancy started in Kashmir. Unfortunately there was mass migration of Hindu community of Kashmir to Jammu and other parts of India. Most devotees of Ashram also left for Jammu. But only Brij Nath ji and few other inmates of Ashram preferred to stay at Srinagar and that too in the premises of Ashram.
One fine morning, when the militancy was at its peak in Kashmir valley, few militants brandishing automatic Guns entered the premises of Ashram. They knocked the door of meditation hall where Brij Nath ji along with other inmates was meditating. A cold shrill passed through the spine of  all inmates , except Brij Nath ji, on witnessing the militants holding  automatic Guns  entering the meditation Hall. Brij Nath ji encountered them boldly.
One among the militants addressed to Brij Nath ji.
Be prepared, we have come to kill you.
Yes you can kill us, only if my Thakur desires so otherwise not,  replied Brij Nath Ji most confidently pointing towards the marble statue  of Shri Ramkrishna installed  in the hall.
On hearing the reply of Brij Nath ji. all the militants lowered their guns with a feeling of uneasy ness. Then they asked for Tea, which was most promptly served to them by the other inmates of Ashram. Afterwards  they left the Ashram with a note of regret writ large on their faces and with a promise  not interfere in the working  of Ashram anymore.
Brij Nath ji still lives in the Ashram with all humility and devotion to his Master. This story reminds me 13 and 14 shalokha of 12 chapter of Baghwat Gita, where lord Krishna says

..One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self controlled  and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on me......Such a devotee of mine is very dear to me.

My Wanderings - 33 Short Story No. 15. A Strange case of Kranti Veer Kaul

Kranti Veer, as the name implies , never tried to reconcile in  his life.  He made it a point never to realise the wishes of his  parents.  He was  actually born to his parents after three daughters. Therefore, he grew up into a very pampered   kid. His  parents  particularly the mother was responsible for his present state of affairs.  They tried to fulfill all his  irrelevant and untoward  demands. He would ,sometimes, emotionally blackmail them to realise  his wishes to derive most of advantage from them. But  all the wishes  were realised  at the cost of inconvenience to his parents. There was only one streak of silver lining visible in his whole disposition  and that was his intelligence. He was exceptionally intelligent and a very good in studies. Only this quality overweighed his all other bad qualities.
All his elder sisters were well behaved and most accommodative. They loved their only brother so much. They were married shortly after completion of their education with out any hassle. Kranti completed his engineering and joined services in State Public Works Department. After getting Job he was married to a very nice girl working as  a teacher. At the time of marriage also Kranti behaved indifferently.  But  only within a few years  of marriage , the wife of Kranti gave birth to a son  and  a daughter.  His parents heaved a sigh of relief that Kranti   has  somehow, reconciled with  his life. However, Kranti was not a person to remain satisfied with his Job and family. He left his job and Joined business and made his Father also to invest  a large amount of providential money in it. He did  business for some years  and when it started crossing break even point and showing profits,  a Saint of highest order came in the life of Kranti.  The Saint was on his  religious sojourn and camped with his desciples near the town of Kranti for  some time. He gave many religious discourses which influenced the mind of Kranti very much.  He lost interest in business and started visiting the Saint on daily basis. In the meantime his business started declining and he suffered great loss.  Finally Kranti totally lost interest in business and began to utilise his time towards spiritual pursuits only. His aversion towards his occupation totally deteriorated  his business  and he began to find solace under the feet of  his Guru  whom he called Swami ji.
One fine morning ,Kranti left his home for joining the original  Ashram of his Guru, which was about two thousand  kilometres away from his town  to become his permanent desciple. But he did not inform any one at his home. Later on his family members came to know about his  misadventure which hurted
their feelings very  much. They once visited the Ashram to implore upon him to return his home as it was very difficult for them to live with out him. But they could not change his mind and there was no other alternative for them  but to reconcile with the situation and remain contented with it.
Kranti tried  meticulously to abide by the rules of Ashram. In earlier days  It was very difficult for him to rise from his bed so  early in the morning and take breakfast very late and  to leave tea altogether.  He had to be in meditation for hours together. But he  could overcome these  difficulties with passage of time as he was very much enthusiastic about realisation of self and  pursuing knowledge. His intelligence and enthusiasm helped him to achieve excellence in the field of spirituality in shortest possible time.
The family members of Kranti, particularly his wife had to suffer too much  in absence of him. She had to look after her young kids and aged parents of Kranti. She worked almost  round the clock for the betterment and education of her children. She  had to arrange for the tuition of  her children, who were at the crucial juncture of their academic carrier. She singlehandedly arranged their admission in professional colleges located in far off cities. She did not let her children  feel absence of their father. Sometimes she was even blamed for her inability to stop her husband from becoming  a Saint. But she was undergoing  a sort of penance in her life, where she could face these blames indifferently and stoicly.
In the meantime both her parents in law passed  away and she had to arrange for their funeral and performance of last rites with the help of some relatives and neighbours.
Finally her children completed their education with high grades and got placement in Big companies.
Kranti was now an accomplished saint who had taken the  prime seat of  Ashram after the death of his Guru. He had changed his name from Kranti to  Swami Maha Anand Dev ji.He had thousands of desciples. People thronged the places in thousands, where ever he was scheduled to give his spiritual discourse.
People used to say that it was because of the greatness of their father that his children have made so much progress in life. No body gave credit or even mentioned about the contribution of their mother.  Children were also happy that their father was a great man and used to visit his Ashram sometimes. But his wife never visited him ever again even after much persuasion  by her children, who also gave all the credit to their Father for their achievements.

My Wanderings - 32. Short story No.14. The Same story of Generations

            Ajay was living in a small Town with his mother. His father had already left this mortal world when Ajay was a small  child. His mother had brought him up single handedly with much love and affection after the sudden  demise  of  her husband. The perpetual  care of mother had made Ajay  more dependent on her and a little pampered one. When Ajay slept in bed at night she used to kiss his forehead and make unique gestures to ward off evil eye on him. But Ajay was an intelligent young man and had interest in art and literature. He used to write poems and make landscapes. After completing his graduation and learning some computer courses Ajay wanted to try his luck and make his career in some metropolitan city. As a matter of fact his real uncle was a CEO of some multinational Company and was living at Bombay. But he had hardly visited them after the death of Ajay's father. Perhaps he was too busy in making his career that he had forgotten his roots. However, Ajay decided to pay a  visit  to him  at Bombay and consequently look for  a job for himself there. When Ajay left his home, his mother gave him a small parcel of home made pickles and jams to be presented to his uncle as gift.
When Ajay reached his uncles residence at Mumbai,  his uncle made him to wait for an hour before he gave him an  interview. He was surprised to see  the disposition of his uncle who appeared to be in the age group  of early fifties,  with short but stout stature,  emanating  an air of arrogance and a person  of few words. Being a bachelor he advised his valet to take care of Ajay and dismissed the meeting. While Ajay wanted to handover gifts to his uncle but the latter advised him to give them to his valet so that he can dispose them off as nobody was taking such things here. Ajay was disgusted with the unemotional   attitude of his  uncle which was beyond his  expectations and comprehension.
Next day Ajay' s  uncle came to know about  the purpose of  Ajay's visit. He enquired about the qualification of Ajay and his hobbies. His uncle  told him plainly that only his little bit of computer knowledge will help him in finding a job here. Further he advised Ajay to gift him with his paintings and pieces of literature. Ajay felt elated and handed over all the pieces of literature and art to his uncle. But his uncle ordered his valet to throw away these things in the dust bin. Ajay implored his uncle deseperately not to destroy his things as he cherished them very much. But his uncle replied him sternly that you have already gifted them to me. It is my discretion now to dispose them  off as per my wish.
After sometime Ajay was appointed in one of the computer companies on the recommendations of his  uncle. He told Ajay to join the. job next day and arrange for his separate  lodging and boarding within a fortnight. He also told him that if he worked honestly there, he can have better prospectus in future.  Further he advised him never come to me for money and last but not the least advise from his uncle was not to make a folly of ever falling in love with some girl.
Ajay joined his duties but could not enjoy his job. Moreover, his uncle's personality haunted him and he could not appreciate  his extreme practical behaviour. After sometime he was in love with a girl in his office and confided  his uncle about his affair. His uncle apprised Ajay with all the conversation he had with his beloved. Oh uncle, you were listening to all our  conversation, said Ajay.
I had no other job but to listen to your foolish, conversation. Every one knows what the love birds talk about, retorted back his uncle.
But love affair of Ajay lasted for few months only because of his own folly. He would fight with another friend of the girl who appeared to him much smarter than himself. Though his uncle advised him not to fight with his adversary but to defeat him with his logical arguments. The girl did not tolerate the behaviour of Ajay and left him for ever for her another friend. He could not also adjust himself smoothly with his job. His aspirations were much higher as compared to his humble job. Finally he was so much dejected with his career and affair that he left his job and returned to his village. He remained in frustration  for so many months there. Then he began to collect the information about  his uncle when he was living in the village. He could gather that his uncle was very much emotional type of person in his youth. He was in love with the younger sister of his mother. But  he could not marry her because he was so timid to disclose his love for her and she got married to another person. He was never so practical type of person in his native village when he was young.
Ajay after living in his native village for a year or so as a failure  left for Mumbai again to achieve success. This time he did not meet his uncle. He found a job for himself and started making his career. After completion of five years he was successful enough to meet his uncle. Now Ajay had become a practical man just like his uncle with out any scope for emotions. But he was surprised to see his uncle who was a married man now had become sentimental person.