A Young Boy Was Standing With a Young Girl Close to That old man.

The evening sun was sinking below the horizon. And the dying rays of that fading sun were falling on an old man. He was sitting on a dilapidated wooden bench at the bus station. He was bent over a half-opened biscuit packet and his trembling hands slowly and painfully put bits of biscuits in his toothless mouth. He had to eat because life was still in him and that day he had only those biscuits with him to eat. He was helpless because old age had robbed all his strength. He appeared like a lonely scarecrow which was left alone on a deserted field after the harvest. 

The sun completely faded and a shower of rain covered the bus station with layers of mud. The people in the bus station huddled themselves under the station roof for shelter. Now many people stood around that old man but nobody had time to take interest in that old man. The hurry of the average man to collect tickets from the counter, the deafening noise of horns and motor vehicles had successfully obscured the old man’s feeble presence. 

A young boy was standing with a young girl close to that old man. The girl was like a smiling flower and the boy was like a dancing river. They talked with each other on the notes of a young love. In the eyes of the boy there was deep appreciation for the girl and the girl had wholehearted acceptance. Their heads bent over each other and they looked to the distant lands with millions of dreams in their eyes.       

The buses were drawing impressions of their tyres on the wet ground. And the love between the pair was getting deeper and deeper…….

A honk of the horn from a bus startled the love-pair. The girl had to board that bus. She reluctantly approached the bus. By that time her eyes were full of tears. She was no more a smiling flower. The boy stood still like an iced up river. After the final call of the departing bus the girl had to board the bus. She waved her pretty hand to the boy. The boy blew a kiss in the air …….

The bus went away drawing a neat impression of its tyres on the wet ground. And the boy was left alone in a thoughtful silence, grief-stricken and desolate. The old man drew closer to the boy and asked, “Do you really love that girl?” The boy was very sad and with a shaky voice told, “Yes”. The old man offered a piece of biscuit to the boy and told, “Treasure today’s memory in your heart safely. Because it is the most precious gift that Time and Life can fetch you. Time robs everything. Time erodes everything but it cannot rob the true feelings of love. And when you come to my age, you may realise that the flash of such a memory can enlighten a dying old man.”

The Heart Of a Mother

Hundreds of stars were glimmering in the sky. But among them there was a star that felt lonely and pensive. Although it was a shining star, nobody had ever pointed it in appreciation because it was like any other star shining among the multitudes of its own kind. It used to shine brilliantly but rarely had any human eye fallen on that lovely star. Sometimes flakes of cloud would obstruct it from view and sometimes the silvery glow of a full moon would overshadow its brightness. But the star would stay in the sky hanging all day and night, visibly or invisibly for some unknown reasons.  

One day the star asked God, “Why have I been created? I twinkle among so many stars but why do I feel so lonesome?”  God smiled and told, “I have specially created you for a lonesome heart that is alone among a crowd.”

That night a motherless child pointed her hands at the star and uttered the word, “Mother” with two sparkling drops of tears. The star twinkled in a light of heavenly love and uttered, “Dear child I was so alone without you!” The little girl became happy. And the star thanked God because in the shade of loneliness God had granted the star the most precious thing of the creation- THE HEART OF A MOTHER.

All of them sold out LOVE,TRUST & FRIENDSHIP

That was a time when the air was all fresh and life was a pleasant dream. The earth was a paradise because the heart was warm with fervent hopes, sweet innocence and abundant love. I was a teenager all ready to change the world. I jumped into the world stage as a hero to enlighten it with love, trust, friendship, righteousness and all high ideals of human breast.

I started with love and I was betrayed ultimately. I believed others with my whole heart and I was brazenly cheated. I smiled at a friend but the friend turned to be the worst enemy. I buried my face in utter disappointment and my heart was bruised and bleeding. I was crying.

I wiped my eyes and opened them. By that time I had already cried a lot. My eyes were washed. Now I could see a world that was simply a market place where everyone was a seller. And all of them sold out LOVE, TRUST and FRIENDSHIP from their hearts in exchange of few paper notes.  

That day I was Not Alone.....

That day I was not alone….
An eagle, high up in the sky, was wheeling about like my path finder in a dreamy world. The bird was elegantly circling around me.
The time was right……The fresh green leaves had sprouted in response to the first showers of monsoon and those leaves were gleefully rustling and dancing with the gentle morning breeze.
The place was heavenly……. The enchanting solar rays were witnessing the eternal sky and the lovely mountain locking their lips on the horizon. Flakes of cloud were floating past the tips of spectacular mountains.
The person was right….. She was with me. She was smiling often with her eyes downward and I looked above and found that the morning sun had already risen above the mountains. I felt my heartbeats quickening. I knew I love her more than anything else. But I could not say that I love her. I gently held her hands in mine. She came closure and I could not speak anything because my lips had touched hers.

An alcoholic neighbour-A story

26 years back a father, a mother and a son had to set out on the unknown seas of life. The family boat floated directionless for many days. No land was visible for days. The fog of uncertainty pervaded all around. But they lived…..

Grass emerges out of the cracks of cemented walls. Likewise, life also comes out green through many troubled blockades. Life NEVER says “NEVER” because human heart is always a natural seat of undying hope. Therefore, life had generously given them many narrow escapes, tears, disappointments and last but not the least some happy moments.

In the flow of time a new member was added to the small family. A baby girl cried and all woke up to her care. Times passed and life moved. The son grew into a man. He got married and was blessed with a child. By that time the little girl had also grown into a lady and one day she found her soul mate and went with her stepping gently into a new phase of life.

Life continues like this-One generation holds the centre-stage for a while and then slips away to make room for the next. Individual life is but a single ringlet of an infinite chain. The previous generation vanishes in a state of decrepitude while the next one blooms.

One day the son, who was now a young man, stood on a busy bus stop. A hand from behind gripped his hand. He turned his back and found a decrepit old man holding his hands. The old man was dressed in shabby clothes. The son vividly remembered that the old man was his neighbor 26 years back when he was a boy of 8years. He was a tax collector of a marketing committee. Most mornings he would call the boy to his home to have breakfast. The boy would go to his home and would play songs on his sound system. He would take breakfast there and after that he would return his home. The neighbor had a wife. The couple had a bad habit of drinking alcohol. Day by day this bad habit developed and disturbed their life so unfortunately that the neighbor lost his job and faced legal proceedings on charges of misappropriating office money. By that time the boy’s family moved to a different house. The boy could no more witness the gradual downfall of that neighbor. But after so many years alcohol had turned him into a beggar. The old man asked about the well-being of the young man and then asked for hundred rupees. The young man took out a 500 hundred rupee note with some tears in his eyes. He gave it to the old man and left the place in great disappointment. He knew well that he could give only a temporary relief to the old man’s inevitable disintegration but he could never stop this tragic human waste.

Alcohol never leaves its prey so easily. A day will come when this liquid enemy will eat up the soul of that old man and he would be left in a drain to die alone and helpless. And the world would not care for the old beggar although he had the fine human sentiments of feeding a young boy as a way of loving the humanity in general.