Beyond the tale

¶¶¶We got ready on the bank of the river. Hunger is one thing which keeps on coming day after day. We cannot avoid and we cannot neglect. We satisfied our hunger today doesn’t mean it will not come again. After all, this walk on fire was done due to hunger only. Nobody fears death but fell for hunger. It is the only thing kept us move on as we were aware that there was nobody to feed us here. During the journey, I kept remembering one adorable lady whom I respect very much. Her name as I know is “ Sindhutai Sapkal”.¶¶¶ From Book Lockdown: A Journey On Fire

  The human resource associate came to me for immediate help. There was an injury to an operator working on a machine. His one finger got stuck into the machine and got a serious injury. I was heading quality and was not having any responsibility for such incidents. I asked him, “What happened?”  He replied, “One of our employees had an injury. Will you please help me to take him to the hospital in your car?  As it is the early morning shift, neither the Plant head nor HR manager has come yet. Thankfully you are here.” As it was not the time to argue about why the Company ambulance is not in working condition, I ran towards my car immediately. I brought my car in front of the gate of the office. One production associate came with the injured associate to help him. They sat in the back seat. I started driving. The associate’s name and my name were the same. It was a mere coincidence. He had started crying. I said to him, “Don’t worry! Nothing will happen.” I had broken my ...

The body of Param was lying on the bed.   Strict lockdown had been implemented in the town. Param had a big family which included three sons, three daughters-in-law, five grandsons.   Such a big family it was. All were at home. The home was quite big. Every subfamily was having separate rooms. Only the kitchen was one. Two weeks before one of his grandsons was sick and he came out Covid-19 positive. After him, all men came out positive. Fortunately, nobody was serious. They were all asked to stay quarantined in their rooms. Medicines were provided. Param’s age was a worry. He had crossed, 85. All others got okay within two weeks except Param. All others reports came out negative except Param. Now everybody was worried for their “Pa”. Yes, everybody used to call him 'Pa'. They all were treated by their old family doctor and best friend of Param named Dr. Rahul. As Param was Covid-19 Positive, nobody was going in the room of Param except one oldest servant and Dr. Rahul. S...

Will there be a human in this world? What does it mean to be a human in this humanized world? I am lonely. Yes... lonely in this crowded world. Surrounded by a sea of lives, still I feel I am living in a dead world. Why I am feeling like this? What is the reason for this dryness in thoughts? I am a mango tree planted years ago by a very gentleman. When I was small, he took care of me every day. There was not a day he did not come to me. He used to speak to me as well. He used to tell me all his sorrows, happiness. Not only that, he used to ask me the solutions for queries which he used to have in his life. I used to answer by moving my branches in a particular way. I don’t know how, but he used to understand what I wanted to tell him. There was a miraculous bonding between us.  He used to come with care when there would be a storm or heavy rain to see if I had any injury. If I got a branch broken due to heavy rain and storm, he used to hug me tightly in his arms. He used to bring h...

  Normally, a bike is an attraction to every youngster. But during my days in college, due to certain conditions, I could not learn to drive a bike. I always had this complex in my mind that if I ever would be able to drive a bike. After college, I joined a company. My boss, Anant, was extraordinary in communication. I learned a lot from him. I was an extremely dumb and less talkative person in my initial days. I learned a lot from Anant, not only communication but also my self-confidence was built by him. I started my journey of development even though it was late. To drive a bike, was one more skill that I was lacking. I used to be ashamed of telling my friends or colleagues that I don’t know to drive a bike. But now while working, I saw that colleagues are required to go to visit at Client's place on the bike. There were two bikes in the company for us to visit at the client's place. The boss also was unaware that I don’t know to drive a bike. Somehow, I was escaping from th...

Lily was raised on violin lessons and minimal parental supervision. Her parents have been divorced during her childhood. She does not remember that her father had ever met her during her childhood. Her mother, Mrs. Julia Rodriguez has married another man Mr. Steven Rodriguez, who was least interested in her being a stepfather. So her childhood was all alone. There was no one to play with her other than her violin. She was a very bright student in her studies. But she always buried herself in her violin lessons. Looking at her interest in violin, Julia had appointed a teacher, Mrs. D'souza for violin lessons. It solved two problems. Her mother, Julia was a working woman and used to be too busy to take care of Lily. Her stepdad, Steven was free from his duties towards Lily in the absence of Julia. Mrs. D'souza was a very gentlewoman and was taking care of Lily like a granddaughter. She was almost 55years old lady. Very soon Lily and Mrs. D'souza had a great bondin...

मै  समय हूँ । आज जब मैं मानव जाती को देख रहा हूँ। तो व्यथीत होता हुं क्या ये वही मानव जाती है जो कभी भगवान महावीर के अनुयायी थे? हाँ , मेरी नजर उसी भारत की भुमी पर जा रही है। जहा भगवान महावीर निर्वाण के समय को दिपावली का त्योहार मनाते है। जहा लोग अपनी सरकार खुद बनाते और चलाते है।     मैने तो काल में   बहुत सी सरकारे आती हुई और जाती हुई देखी है । पर    इसी काल में   मैने जो देखा है , जब आप लोग   जानोगे ,  तो आप लोग भी बोलोगे की   मै चूप   क्यू   हूँ? पर   मै तो समय   हूँ। मेरा काम सिर्फ देखना होता है। शायद आप देख भी नही पाओगे।   ये इतना नन्ना सा बालक .... कोरोना ,. परदेसीयों के गोदी मे बैठ कर   भारत मे आ धमका है।   सारे जग मे हाहाकार मचाते हुए जिसने अपने कदम अब भारत की पवित्र भूमी में रख   दिये है। भगवान महावीर के   इस पावन भूमी मे अपना साम्राज्य जमाने आया हुआ ये छोटासा   जीव .. हाँ , जीवही ...

I came home, washed my legs and hands at the gate only using water and soap. Then immediately went to the bathroom for a bath without even touching a  single thing at home. I even kept my changed clothes in a tub for washing adding detergent to it. No. No…It was not morning but afternoon nor I had come from somebody’s last rites. This routine was started from the day the Covid-19 pandemic has taken over our life. From this routine, I just remembered my childhood days when my grandmother used to change clothes very frequently. We were not allowed to touch anything before bathe in kitchen. She used to wash hands for every little activity. Like wash hands for touching chapatti, wash hands for just serving food, wash hands after touching every pot before touching any other thing. And this was followed so rigorously that there would be arrangement of washing hands using two pots near her. One pot with clean water and another pot to add dirty water after hand wash. She ...

    Ryan is a young engineer who just completed a degree in an engineering college in the year 2000. After an engineering degree, his struggle started with searching for a job in a good company. For six months, he applied for all the best companies in his country. But he was not at all getting any feedback. After six months, there was a disastrous slowdown started in the industrial sector. Many big companies were declared bankrupt. Many companies had decided to lay off an ample number of employees. Now he was facing competition from experienced employees rather than fresher like him. Companies prefer professional people rather than newer ones. So his task became tough to search for a job. His routine was to find out a newspaper and search for job opportunities. He had not even got shortlisted for an interview in most of the cases. Frustration had started taking over his head. For hours, he used to sit on a riverbank and think about what would be his future. ...

    Kristine was a judge for the last few years and had solved so many critical criminal cases with her talent and judgment. She was the only girl to her parents. Her parents were both retired teachers. They were very much proud of their daughter for her achievements. She had married a businessman and had a son from him. He was 10 years old. Kristine was 45 and her husband was 47. Her life was full of excitement as well as an emotional roller coaster ride as she was facing a new case every day. Each case on the bench was bringing thrill in her life. She was enjoying this journey as every case had a new perspective of crime every time. But she was not known that this job would put her in such trouble that she would regret as well as thank God that she is a judge. The other day she finished her breakfast in a hurry as she was getting late to court. Somehow she finished her breakfast and ran towards the car. She reached the court on time. Till today, there is a record on ...

Micro-Fiction Story.   (55 words or less.) " Stranger " His mouth open in shock, He stared as the alien stood tall, swaying this way and that. He couldn't tear his eyes away, the sight surreal. As the alien started towards him, he fearfully jumped back. Fearful, unsure, his attention was drawn to something on its upper body. Squinting, he peered closely. It..looked.. like... N. A. S. A. By Isaac J. Moore

  When I used to work a full day and come late at night from the office after working more than 12 hours a day, I was always out of energy.   My friend Sunny was my roommate. He was also always late. We were staying in a single room with one old bed. The room was on the ground floor, and the owner's residence was on the first floor.   Sometimes owner's residence above or below your residence is equal to a headache. They keep an eye on you like a CCTV camera. It is not that we used to do something which we were required to hide from the owner. But too much attention sometimes irritates. Anyways, we got used to this behavior. On one fine day, the owner had a dream; maybe, he decided to renovate his home. He called up an architect and finalized the map. We both were completely unaware of the situation. The next day, the work started. They started removing old tiles. Then they just spread water there. We both were at our respective offices. We were completely unawar...