Shocking Incident
How many times have we come across Municipality workers, doing their assigned chores, without any kind of protective gear! A common sight ... isn't it? But, recently what I saw was far from common or was it really not that uncommon?

I was on my way to F. C. Road, when just after the Pulgate crossing, there was a huge traffic jam. I was confused as there were no signs of road accidents. I observed everyone was looking up, and I followed, but the sight which awaited was terrible. My heart stopped beating, I couldn't breathe...I quickly looked away, I tried to drive away fast but the whole traffic was stalled and I couldn't get out of there. I tried to manoeuver my car so that I can take a turn and go some other way...but there were electricity wires strewn on the road. I was helpless, and my eyes fell on that electricity pole again. A boys dead body was hanging upside down from the pole, his legs were entwined and his torso was dangling down, lifeless. Another man, on top of the pole was trying to pull him up, he caught hold of his hand and pulled the boy's body up, but the hand slipped and the body swayed in an awkward position. I couldn't look anymore!

I had to get out of there, somehow I managed to make someway and get out of there, as more and more people were stopping by to take a look. I found it disgusting, as all these people were there only to watch the tamasha. I agree the workers were helping to get the body down quickly but simply gathering around and watching, as if some show was on, disgusted me more. I wonder if somebody had called an ambulance or no. I agree neither did I call an ambulance, well how often are you confronted with such sights, so as to have the sense to call up an ambulance. I bet when others surely had the hearts to watch such a sight, they would indeed have had the guts to react and call an ambulance.

That was the first time in my life that I saw a dead body from this close. I was disturbed, rather the sight still flashes in front of my eyes. Later, I thought, how we don't value life in India. This is just one incident there may be hundreds of them happening everyday, in each city, all because of faulty practices. Probably the accident that I saw, could have been avoided if proper safety precautions were taken. A household's bread-winner wouldn't have been lost.

I don't know how to curse the government. I wonder if God will have to construct a VIP hell for them, something beyond imagination. I bet, God surely has some surprises awaiting these politicians. But whats the use cursing them? How proactive are we? What have we done for the nation? I don't know .. everywhere you go...TV channels, Movies .. everyone is talking about it.. thousand more are talking of getting inspired from it.. but why dont I see any action? Probably I am the wrong person to be asking such questions... after all I wasn't even inspired, neither have I acted on a thing, with patriotism being the cause for it.

Most people say... my blogs have a negative streak to them. All the stories I write are sad and painful. But, this is not a story, its a true incident. How much does this hurt you? I bet all my stories look subtle in the face of harsh reality.

Do call up the ambulance if you come across such situation. It was my first, and I am sharing my experience so that you do not make the same mistake, which I committed.

Friend

He drove there, as fast as he could, farther and farther away. He took a turn dropped his bike and sprinted towards the trees, he ran till he came to a cliff. Tears were streaking down his face, he knelt, buried his head in his hands and started sobbing.

It was late evening, the sun had already set, it was slowly getting dark. He sat there like a statue gazing into nothing. His eyes were swollen, his crying reduced to soft sobs and breathing was hurting his chest. The birds had already returned home, and a few stars were already twinkling in the sky.

He lied down on his side, on the cold rocks beneath, his eyes closed slowly. After a few moments, he turned and rested on his back, gazing at all the bright stars in the night sky. He stayed there for a while, a tear rolled down from the side of his eye, his eyes were burning.

He slowly slid his hand in his pocket and removed a pack of cigarettes. He looked at the packet, as a fresh pool of tears filled his eyes. He tossed it in his hands for a while, then he slowly got up and walked towards the edge of the cliff. He took a last look at the packet and a thought of, one last smoke, came to his mind. At the thought his heart started burning again and then he threw away the packet with all his might.

He walked back to his bike, picked it up and left the cliff. On his way back, he was thinking, thinking hard, as if preparing himself for something. He was trying to console himself. Phrases like 'Whatever happens, happens for your own good' 'Time is the best healer' and all that. His heart felt heavy again, and his eyes were so swollen that not a single tear formed in them, and they burned as if on fire.

He stopped in front of a white building, even at this hour of the night, there was a lot of activity going on in the building. An ambulance screeched to a stop in front of the gate and suddenly there was a flurry of staff running around. There was a man on the stretcher, his face was covered in blood, making it unrecognizable.

After the passage was clear, he started moving towards the building. His legs were feeling heavy, and his heart was heavier. He came to a stop in front of a room with glass windows, and peered inside.

The sight of a human body, almost lifeless, with dozens of instruments punched into it, is terribly painful. He stood there, looking at the body of a man, with instruments all around him, beeping, pulsating machines. This man lying in the hospital bed, meant so much to him. He was always there for him, as far as he could remember.

The first time they went to school, they were together. They even got their first bicycles on the same day. The first time they went to college, they were together. They also had their first smoke together. He cursed the day they started smoking.

It was a beautiful morning and their first year results were out and both of them had scored more than their expectations. They were excited as they went to the shack outside the college, to have tea. The whole college gang was there, and everyone was celebrating. He can not remember clearly who offered them the first cigarette and when did it become an integral part of their life. They never even thought of quitting, because it was the 'in' thing and they enjoyed it so much. Soon the count had gone up from one or two stubs to almost 16 a day.

He could see his own health was deteriorating, but his friend's was worse. The moment he smoke, he would get an attack of incessant coughs. How much he urged his friend to stop, but all his efforts went down the drain. He used to steal his pack of cigarettes and throw them away, still somehow he managed to get his hands on some stubs.

On the night of Jan 16th, he suddenly woke up to the coughs of his friend, which just wouldnt stop. He got up and rushed to his bed, and was shocked to see blood on his sheet. He managed to wake up a few others in the hostel and soon they got him to the hospital.

He started walking, and came to a stop in front of another similar door, and a similar sight greeted him, the only difference, this time it was the body of an old man. A boy, almost the same age as his, was attending to him. He was thankful, atleast his friend wasn't inflicting such agony on his offsprings and soulmate. But, at the same time, he thought, about the future of his friend, he had no future at all.

He wondered how a careless attitude left them with nothing, not even a future, which for most of them is the only ray hope. He returned to his friend's room and sat there, staring at the watch as the minutes ticked away, and he couldn't do anything about it. He had to just wait and watch.

Forest

It was a dark and dense forest, people said it was haunted, not a single living creature existed there. Not even birds flew in that direction, it was evil. Filled with tall huge trees, the air was filled with the smell of the dead and decaying animals, leaves and grass. It was not a pleasant sight either, carcasses of animals were strewn across, who had made the biggest mistake of venturing in that direction.

Deep, deep inside the forest, there were some sounds...not very clear. On moving closer, it sounded like screams, a woman's screams, but it was not only that, there was also some other fast humming kind of sound, which had a rhythm to it.

She kept on moving ahead, and the noise grew louder. The screams were intermittent but the humming was continuous, it gave her a creepy feeling. The humming was hurting her ears, it wasn't loud still it forced her to clasp her hands on her ears, it was the rhythm and the way it sounded that was piercing her ears. She couldn't recognise the sound, she kept moving ahead, her mind working fast and her ears listening hard, despite the torture. The sound started becoming clearer and sharper, yes, she recognised it, it was some sort of chanting. Suddenly, she saw smoke, she broke into a light run, as she advanced towards the smoke, twigs snapping beneath her feet.

It was so dark in this part of the forest, it looked as though it was night fall. The only source of light was the fire, from which the smoke was emanating. She could see a figure seated, next to the fire, back towards her, but there was no one else in the sight. The person next to the fire was the one who was chanting, but the screams, where were the screams coming from. She started looking around but could see no one, when suddenly she heard another scream and looked up. Her eyes popped out of their sockets at the sight and quickly she placed her hand on her mouth, just in time to conceal her shriek. She shut her eyes tight and bit her finger, so as to release the pain which the sight caused her.

After a while she turned again to look, there was a woman, suspended by her hair from a branch of a tree, right above the fire. Her hands and legs were tied, there were deep gashes on her body, from which blood was trickling, the flames seemed to be relishing each drop of blood, it appeared as though the fire was thriving on it. The woman seemed stupefied for a while, when suddenly, the person below started some new chants, which made her scream all the more in pain, as the intensity of the chants grew so did her frequency of screams.

The figure rose from the ground, she peered hard to see, it was a man. He started circling the fire, her eyes fell on a beheaded goat, lying in a pool of blood. There was also a cock, with a twisted neck, lying lifeless on the ground.

The man was old, his beard reached his chest, most of his face was covered in hair. But what was about to happen, she couldn't have imagined. He picked up a sickle from the floor and cut his wrist, and offered his blood to the flames. The flames bacame more intense and rose higher!

He went to the tree where the rope, which suspended the woman, was tied. He untied it and started lowering the woman. She started screaming, as her feet were almost in the fire by now. He lifted his hand, which held the sickle and aimed at the woman, he took a deep breath, chanted a few verses and threw the sickle at her. A blood curdling scream!




She got up, panting! She was sweating profusely. She could feel droplets of sweat forming on her forehead, and slowly trickling down her temple. She looked around, there was no fire, no man, no woman, no trees, no forest. She was in her bed, she sighed with relief. She lit the table lamp, reached for the bottle, and drank water, she was feeling exhausted. Even though she was feeling relieved, she felt a funny uneasiness, she decided to ignore it. She looked outside the window of the hut, there in the distance at the foot of the hill, she could see the forest. She wiped her brow with a finger, but there was something wrong, she stretched her hand, so that the light from the lamp fell on her hands, it was not sweat, it was blood!

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A Coin

It was one of the darkest alleys of the suburb, littered with overflowing garbage cans. He sat there with his back against a wall. A street lamp, far away, was casting a very dim light on his face, still his face was hardly visible.

Something glistened in his hands, he clutched it, and banged his hand against the floor.

A little boy was standing on the roadside, with a balloon in his left hand, and clutching his grandmother's arm with the other. His grandmother was handing a similar silver coin, making payment for the balloons.

A fair, a lady dressed in elegant clothes paying the man at the booth with a silver coin, to buy a ticket for a little boy standing next to her.

A bicycle shop, a dapper man paying the mechanic a silver coin, while nearby a little boy merrily rides a bicycle in small circles.

He clenches his fist so tight, his nails start digging his flesh, tighter, tighter, he lets go and pockets his coin.

A very beautiful afternoon, a car driving on a beautiful country road slowly approaches the bridge, after a few seconds, screeching sound of the tyres, a giant splash!

He bangs his head against the wall, his head feels numb and he looks relieved. Within seconds, the numbness starts to disappear, images start flashing in front of his eyes, he bangs again and the numbness returns.

He gets up and starts walking, the images at the back of his mind waiting to haunt him and he is aware of it. He starts running, cars, bikes, trucks, he wishes, wishes strongly that all the noise, all the commotion should occupy his mind, but his mind still wanders along the road, near the river. He clenches his fist again, a drop of blood trickles down, he loosens it, still no relief. Slowly, steadily he walks back to the alley, tears filled in his eyes.

A boy is choking in the car, struggling to get out, the murky water makes it impossible to see. He starts kicking and hitting the wind shield, but the water softens his blows. He doesnt know how long it took to break the glass, he squeezes his way out, his lungs start filling with water, he hurriedly starts swimming up, he can feel his body going numb. He reaches the surface, gasps for breath, simultaneously looking around, he cannot see anyone, he screams "HELP!!". Takes a deep breath, and dives in the water. He cannot see the car, he keeps moving down, bubbles escaping his mouth, finally he spots the car. He swims faster, feels the broken glass, he tries to open the lock of the gate, but its stuck, he gives it another shot, still stuck, a final pull and the door unlocks, he pulls the door with all his strength, and manages to open it. All his breath has escaped, he swims inside the car, feels a hand at the wheel, he pulls, at the same time his other hand searches the back seat, he feels something, its a shoe, he pulls. Next thing, he remembers is swimming upwards, clenching hands.

He sits in the alley, his face buried in his hands, crying painfully.

A soft bed, a hand stroking his little head gently, his little body curled up, his head resting in her lap, his outstretched hand holding a silver coin, he is crying, but the crying was peaceful.