Vantage Point (PART 2) : THE MILITANT

Jihad that was the name we were taught and bred with. We would die for it and martyr our lives for jihad. That was what we were taught and forced to do otherwise they would kill our children and our family. He had to do this otherwise they would kill his family. These were the thoughts running wildly in Ajmal's mind as he was pointing his rickety old AK 47.

He was a farmer living a silent peaceful with his family. He could still remember the dreadful day when they came and took him away and threatened to murder his family if he dint agree to go with them. It was 5 yrs since that happened. Now he was a killing machine with no remorse or mercy. He was bound by no laws of any country the only law he knew was to kill the person he was pointing his gun towards.

Ajmal and 4 others had set out towards this village a month ago on foot with minimal food and shelter. They were supposed to set up shelter in a village that was at a strategic point. Once they set up a base he had to call command centre and more of his martyr brothers would join them there for the war of Independence. It was a dreadful and gruelling journey to the village off the 5 only 3 could make it to the village. Two of his martyr brothers were sacrificed to the treacherous mountains of the Himalayas.

But they had somehow managed to reach the village and contact their command centre when they saw the indian army men walking towards the village. Ajmal was the first to spot them and he alerted the rest of them. Ajmal was thinking it was not supposed to work this way. How did they manage to know that they were here. But nevertheless he knew what had to be done. Their survival depended on the death of 5 army jawans then so be it. So they took point at 3 places and opened fire. With the old guns they had half of the bullets went awry but one bullet from ajmal's gun killed a jawan. But the training of the Jawans and their fire power was much superior to theirs and he helplessly watched the other 2 martyrs getting killed.

Ajmal had to run it was all over nothing could be done now, he was the only survivor at least till now. If he dint leave then he would also have to take his last breathe. So he made a run for it, initially after a 100 metre sprint he thought he was alone but then when he turned to confirm he could see the silhouette of an army officer chanrging towards him with vengeance and speed. He was so captivated with the officer that he almost bumped into this on coming lady who was frightened by the bullets that were flying all around the place. He had to stop that officer, he reached down his fur coat and took out a hand grenade removed the pin and was about to throw it.....

Bannggggg....

He dint know what hit him, it was a flash of light for a fraction of a second, the grenade went astray into the nearby market. That was followed by intense pain and a feeling of failure. Not because he failed his mission, but the failure of letting down his family. His family would be ravaged and murdered now, because he dint succeed. He had let them down, he had failed his promise, he could do nothing. All he saw was the officer who had shot him down looking down upon on his dying body. Taking his last breathe all he could only blurt out was,

"Forgive me. God please forgive me."

Déjà vu (Part 2) : The Angry Denial

Read Part 1 of this post here

I regained consciousness surrounded by troubled faces... One was giving me water, one was calling for help, one trying to give me some air… I started to get what had actually perspired out there, and then I remembered I had not eaten anything since the previous morning and the lack of food and the trauma caused me to collapse… I got up and convinced everyone that I was fine and drank some water… Finally I found a guy who was selling Pani Puri at the other end of the ground and had a couple of plates of Pani Puri… As I had pani puri emotions started rushing into me as I started to remember about the day that changed everything.

It started as a normal day... Arjun came and woke me up at 6... Everyone was already waiting to go play cricket... I was as usual late and made the others late... But nevertheless i woke up and we made our way to the ground to play... We started our match and everything was going well though we were loosing the match... But it was all the part and parcel of the game but things got worse and we were getting taunted by the other team...

I was getting angry but Arjun and the others were trying to pacify me... But it was getting wayward with the all the taunts and it was getting uncontrollable... All hell broke loose as they won the match, they got in my face and I that was what triggered the events that I never wish ever happened at all... I punched the other teams captain in the face who crashed on the ground and then there was a huge melee... I fell down and grabbed the wicket that was on the ground and took a wild swing at someone who was coming at me... I caught him right in the face and opened up his left eye, from which blood started gushing out...

After I got back to my senses I realized that the guy I hit was actually Arjun... I dropped the wicket and panicked and fled the scene... I dint know what I was doing but I just fled without looking back... Everything else was history after that... Things changed and I moved away from that house as I asked my dad to put me into a hostel away from everything... Within a week I was away from the guys and in all this I totally forgot what I had done to Arjun...I refused to deny the fact that what I did was wrong...

Days passed, months passed and years passed everyone had changed... The guys after trying to contact me stopped trying and eventually moved on... I moved on and after ten years we moved to the same house... I did not make any effort of finding out about the guys... But fate plays its own game as always and brought me to this day that has given me my punishment by banishing me from my friends... Ostracizing me from the friends that I once had... Tears started rolling down my cheeks without me even noticing it... The pani puri guy started inquiring if he had put a lot of chilly in his pani puri...

But my fate had a design of its own and I was going to learn it the hard way....

Black board tragedy... PART 2 Appeal and Hearings...

This second day of the tragedy while issue at hand had actually sunk in and by this time I was contemplating on the future plan of action rather than what had happened... I told mom what had transpired in college and after a much debate and convincing at home she agreed to come along with me...
Next day in college was another disaster.. I learnt another lesson... There are two kinds of people with power... One kind use the power when it is required and the other kind who show their power just to prove they wear the pants... I met both these species on this particular day and out found how to find such people from under their skins...
Mom and me waited for a couple of hours just to meet the princi who was just sitting in his chamber having tea and biscuits while he wanted to make us wait just to prove he was the alpha male... Finally he called us and Gouthams dad into his room and started off his rambling..

Pricipal: So you people are the parents of these rowdies, this is an act of total indiscipline and indeference.
Me: Sir but this was a total accident we dint mean to break the board...
(That took him totally off guard, he dint expect me to back answer him, my first little victory)
Pricipal: I dont know all that, i think we have to rusticate you from the college(He told this to prove that he was the alpha male and the reason that i had intimidated him)
Gouthams dad: Sir this is totally unreasonable, i think we can pay for the board instead of spoiling their future.
Principal:(in his mind, now we are talking) Calls his secretary and says get that ledger...
Me:(Saw a sinister smile on the fellows face, if its money you wanted you should have asked before)
Principal:(well it was the marks ledger that she got, Looking at our mid term marks he was stunned he had least expected the toppers of the class to do such a thing) Well you guys seem to be doing well in class, why did you do such a horific thing..
Me and Goutham at the same time: Sir it was an accident...
Principal: OK fine.. I think the board costs about 4k you can get it replaced by paying 2k each...

What happened after this was something that i had least expected to happen...

Me: Thats too much to pay sir, i dont think we can afford so much...
Principal: OK then you can pay 1k each..
Me:(WTF was that did he just reduce the money he asked, now i pounced) Sir we cant afford that much too we can pay a max of 500 Rs...(This was a blady fish market)
Principal: OK then you can pay money to the cashier and take reciepts for it.......
Me and everyone with a sigh of relief that we got a good deal done....

Paid the fellows and got reciepts, this was one incident which made me believe that shit happens with everyone but then, thats why they invented toilet paper to clean it off.. :)

See you later guys till then Maja madi... :D