My wanderings - 40. Short Story No. 22. The Crime of Lambhodhar Bakaya

Lambhodhar was perhaps born in the beginning of twentieth century in a small two storey dilapidated house situated on a narrow  lane of Batyaar mohalla in Alikadal area opening towards river Jehlum  ghat adjacent to temple.  His father had a small kiryana shop in the same lane which was the only  source of his income to   support a large family. Lambhodhar was born after his mother had already given birth to five daughters one after another in succession with a desire to get a son. Although Lambhodhar was brought up with much pampering but dearth and  poverty hovered the household throughout his childhood and youth. When Lambhodhar completed Matriculation four of his sisters were already married. He wanted to do something innovative so that he can support his  family nicely. He got a Govt job  but after working in Govt for few years Lambhodhar renovated the shop of
his father and started the business on large scale with him. He also started money lending business. When the business picked up, Lambhodhar left the job and devoted himself wholeheartedly towards family business and money lending. He was very  eager to make money and status and therefore, he never looked back. In the meantime his last sister  got married and his parents were now eager to marry  Lambhodhar also. Lambhodhar was fortunate enough to marry a very wise and beautiful girl who became an inspiration for Lambhodhar to work harder and realise his dream of becoming a rich man with a status in society. He was now a perfect moneylender, who was well acquainted with the tricks of  his trade.He could make a large property and money. Only tregedy in his life was that his wife could not bear a child for him. He was however , advised by his well wishers to adopt a child but he was not interested in that.
As the business of Lambhodhar was expanding day by day,  he was not able to manage cash and pledged  jewellery as Banking system was not much in vouge those days. He was however,  carrying cash and jewellery to his home on daily basis and ensuring its custody in a safe kept thereat.There were only  one or two branches of Bank that too located far away near Amira Kadal during those days. Moreover, Lambhodhar was also skeptical  about the functioning of Banking system. He thought about it as a direct intrusion on his trade. But as he grew old,  one day on the advise of his well wisher , he was compelled to open a Bank account with the major amount of  his earnings I.e. Rupees one lakh, a huge amount those days. He also deposited some jewelleries in the  Bank in the form of  Bank Safe custody as lockers were not available those days. It was the jewellery  usurped by him  from  his defaulter borrowers. 
After depositing his prize possession,  Lambhodhar reached his residence feeling restless. He could not sleep the whole night. He was not sure about the safety of his valuables at bank. He considered Bank employees careless and incompetent to guard his valuables. He repented over his decision and cursed his well wisher who gave him this useless suggestion. He made it a point to guard his valuables himself also in addition to Bank staff. He started visiting the bank daily on foot from Alikadal  to Amirakadal after Banking hours to ensure that Main Gate of Bank was properly locked. In this exercise he used  to fondle the Lock with his hands. This exercise of Lambhodhar remained unnoticed for several days. But one day he reached the Bank earlier than usual. The Bank people were still loitering nearby after locking the Bank door. They noticed an old man fiddling with the Bank Lock. They became suspicious and caught hold of him and informed police. The Lambhodhar had to spent a full night at Police station. This incident left a deep impact over the nerves of Lambhodhar. He could not sleep the whole night he spent in the police station. The reality of life dawned upon him. Though he was not guilty but he felt the guilt taking possession of him. He was not guilty of tampering the lock of Bank but he felt guilty of tampering the lives of thousands of his clients who took loan from him and pledged their valuables for it, which they could not redeem later on even after paying to him heavily in terms of Intrest and service. They were the people of his society and community, even his relatives who were poor  and deseperate like his father. He in order to make a fast buck altered their  peaceful life by adding misery to it. He had lost  all business ethics and tampered with Intrest rates of accounts of his clients taking due advantage of their illiteracy and innocence. Now he wanted to redeem his guilt.
Next day when Branch Agent visited the Police Station, he was surprised to see Lambhodhar Bakaya, a valued customer of Bank as culprit. He sought apologies from Lambhodhar and arranged for his immediate release.
After his release, Lambhodhar Bakaya took back possession of his Jewellery items from Bank   and tried to locate their bona fide owners or their kiths and  kins by searching his own ledgers and was successful in returning the most of them.
Mr Bakaya never felt the need of making premature payment of his Fixed Deposit of Rupees one lakh, which was huge amount those days ,in his life time. It was only reinvested several times. But after the death of both Mrs Bakaya and Mr Bakaya in quick succession and after receiving no claim from anybody, Bank transferred the amount to Unclaimed Depositors account with due notice to Reserve Bank of India.

My Wanderings - 39. Short Story No 21 The Dilemma of a Diplomat

Omkar Nath Kaul, popularly known as O.N.Kaul was a well known personality  in diplomatic circles and also famous  beyond  corridors and hierarchy of external affairs ministry of the country. He was even posted on senior positions  in many embassies of India located in various foreign  countries .  He started his career from a humble background. His father was a primary school teacher with a large family to support. Omkar was third child amongst the family of four  brothers and three sisters. His father was not able to provide all his children a better future but Omkar was an exception. He was extraordinarily intelligent and by the dint  of his  hard work  and patorn age  of some  community members already established  in New Delhi,  he  could  realise his dream of qualifying IFS, unlike his other siblings who had to remain contended with the circumstances and to eat a humble pie.
Omkar also got a wife from an affluent family who was a little arrogant right from beginning and  hardly tried to maintain relations with her in-laws. Omkar mostly remained posted outside his native state and
even in foreign countries. Therefore, in a rush to create  his  resourcefulness   in higher circles, he could not also keep much track of his roots. In earlier years of his career some old acquaintances and  relations visited him to seek some help from him in the alien environs of capital then, but after observing indifferent attitude of Omkar and his wife, they hardly visited him thereafter. In the meantime he remained busy in making his career and building  resources . He learned the tricks of his trade and achieved excellence in International laws and techniques associated with it. He was consulted   even by his seniors often and  accompanied them  when ever there were bilateral treaties or negotiations with other countries.  It was by virtue of his resourcefulness  and using his good offices ,he also managed to purchase a huge property comprising of few apartments in New Delhi and a farm house near Shimla. His children, a son and a daughter also got the opportunity of  getting better education earlier in India and later on in foreign countries. They also got married as per their choice and  settled  there
Mr Kaul after retirement from active service could not reconcile with  retired life and therefore, joined again some MNC on very senior position after completing the necessary time  gap between the two jobs  giving due cognisance to law. In the mean time his wife died   due to heart ailment. After the death of his wife, his health deteriorated tremendously and  he was advised by Doctors to take due care of his health if he wanted to live more. Finally he decided to leave the job and live in serene atmosphere of his farm house near Shimla despite  of the fact that both his son and daughter advised him to join them at  their places.
He however, employed a local lad of the village in the age group of early twenties to look after himself and his farm house. His name was Mohan and being a country lad, he was very simple and full of dreams as per his age. He worked very sincerely and proved very helpful to Mr.Kaul. Mr Kaul liked his company very much. After few years the health of Mr. Kaul deteriorated further. His body became very weak and frail and he was not able to move with out the  help  of Mohan.His body muscles became very thin  and his skin appeared loosely dangling from his fragile bones. He was in possession of everything,  nature's bounty as well as all the materialistic gadgets. But his  personal faculties failed him to enjoy the same. He could not enjoy a bite of apple from his farm because of his weak teeth. He could not enjoy the chirp of birds or buzz of early breeze because he was hard of hearing now. A little cool air would ache his bones to the hilt. All the money and property amassed so far, appeared to him of little value as compared to good health, which he had taken for granted through out his active career. He sometimes envied the good health of Mohan, which he considered the real wealth now. He desired to live a poor man's life with good health and youth. He sometimes conceived to barter all his fortunes with Mohan against his healthy body and young age .  It would have been a good bargain. He was perhaps in dilemma.  He could reminisce that almost all his wishes of youthful days had been realised but against a huge cost that he had to pay for it in terms of his health and age. He wished now to un realise his dreams and get his health and youth back.   But  on the other hand Mohan was full of dreams. He wanted to make money and property in his life. He also wanted to make name  and  fortune like  Mr Kaul, who was his ideal.  He was also taking his good health and youth for granted.
One day Mohan said to Mr Kaul, 'sir I have heard that you are having very Good connection in New Delhi, can't you recommend me for a Govt. job'
Mr Kaul was stunned by this question of Mohan. He could most easily adjust him somewhere but he felt helpless in his absence.  He most sincerely wanted to help Mohan, but his mere existence was in peril with out him. Therefore, he could not reply him properly. This question of Mohan haunted Mr. Kaul for several days and finally he took a decision . He sent for his lawyer and changed his will and transferred the  property rights of Farm House to Mohan after his death.
Mohan most loyally worked with Mr Kaul till his death. Then Mohan changed the farm house into a Guest house as per the dictates of Mr. Kaul, which became a source of livelihood for him afterwards.
Any reader going to Shimla can still enquire about the Omkar Guest House, which is  fifty kms away from it towards north.

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.