Shining Smile

Shining Smile

That day was hard for me , as I woke up with great difficulty only after my contractor sprinkled a glass of water over me and took away by bed sheet. I could get little sleep last night as my body was aching badly due to hard work put up by me in the construction of the building on the outskirts of the town. Contractor used to take us-the labourers- in the trolley driven by tractor along with the construction material as the owner of the house has given contract with material as well as labour. I got ready for the hard work of the day ahead after a hurried breakfast of half a cup of tea and a stale chappati left over from the dinner last night.  The life of a labour was simply miserable surviving on the minimum wages, after working from morning till evening, to make both the ends meet and to keep body and soul intact. As we reached the site the contractor was already waiting for us eagerly and he gave us instructions for the work to be completed that day before the sunset. The only good thing that day for us was that contractor had agreed to give us a few days leave to go to our homes to celebrate a local festival provided we completed the task in a given time and to the satisfaction of the contractor. So though tired and our limbs were aching all of us- both labourers as well as mason- started working with enthusiasm. We had to skip the lunch break entirely in order to complete the task in given time in the hope that contractor will allow us to go on leave.

Since the owner of the house had given contract along with material and labour, so he did not care much for the work nor did he trouble us for that though he used to be present in the morning and evening daily to see the amount of work done and used to discuss it with the contractor. The only thing that we waited from the owner side daily was a cup of tea, with cardamom and ginger that was served to us by the lady of the house in the late afternoon. That day also we were waiting for this refreshing cup of tea. The tea was served at the appointed time and we took it eagerly and savoured it with delight. As we handed back the cups lady of the house shot a question ‘Will you come tomorrow for work or not ?’. Fearing that she might have some work to be completed next day and contractor, so as to please her, may ask us to come tomorrow also, we did not answer her query at once, but then mustering up courage I replied by shaking head in negation and saying these words ‘no, tomorrow we will go to our homes to celebrate the local festival’. The way she shut the door after taking the cup made us apprehensive that we had antagonised her. So we resumed the work silently in the hoping for the best in the evening. As the Sun was nearing the horizon in the west contractor came and after  seeing the work done by us during the day with pursed lips and expression less face, at last nodded his head to give approval for our leave. Happy and contented we started washing our limbs and arranging tools in the side room given to us. At that time Lady of the house reappeared with the bundle of clothes in her hand and beckoned me to come. As I approached her she handed over a shirt, pant and a jacket – to me and instructed us to use them according to our size.  Grabbing the clothes I went to sit on the motorcycle of the mason whowas waiting for me at the gate of the house.  As the motorcycle began to move lady of the house and the owner waved and smiled at me to wish greetings for the holidays and festival. Their shining white smile was perhaps the best thing in my life that I had seen.

Saviour

Saviour

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

I was a lanky, lean, wheat complexioned girl- the only girl in my class of thirty students-as my school was meant primarily for boys, as it was a residential school with the primary aim of sending officer material for the armed forces for admission to National Defence Academy- which was a premier institute of the country for training officers for the armed forces. Though a girl, I got opportunity to study in this institute as my father served here as a teacher and I was put into it as a day scholar. I had to remain surrounded by 30 or more males including the teachers for about six hours daily. As I was child of a staff member so founder Principal of the school - a serving Lieutenant Colonel of the army-took a special liking towards me and took the responsibility to teach me phrases and lexicons of English language for about fifteen minutes daily after the school was over.  Perhaps Principal saw it as a method to ensure my safety, as boys used to march from the school to mess for lunch after the school was over. 

It was a month of March or April and this area of the country starts getting hot leading to whirlwinds, cyclones and sand storms. My residence was about 1.5 kms away from Academic block of the school and I used to walk down this distance daily twice a day in the morning and in the noon in about fifteen minutes.  One day as I came out of Principal’s office and came on the road I found that a boy of my class, who appeared rough and hefty, was following me. I wondered why that boy did not go with other boys to mess after the school.  It occurred to me as if that boy had stopped purposely after the school. I started walking rapidly fearing that finding me alone he may do some harm to me. I was unable to think the ways to resist him as there was hardly anybody on the road and the ground that I had to cross in order to reach my home. I left the road and entered the ground. That boy too left the road and came towards ground. Almost at the same time a whirlwind rose and took me completely by surprise by taking me off the ground.  When this boy saw this he ran towards me and jumped in the air with his arms outstretched. As he was a tall boy so he succeeded in catching and bringing me safely to the ground. If he had not caught me storm would have taken me away and banged me hard on the earth. As we stood close together on the land storm passed away. He saw to it that I reached the home safely. After handing me over and narrating the whole incident to my mother, that boy went inside the hostel as it was now too late for him to got to mess for lunch.  It occurred to me that this boy was not just my class fellow but my saviour sent by God in human form. Perhaps he was my first saviour in my life.         

Temptation

Temptation

                                                                                 

In my childhood I was allowed to go to the roof of the house only in the company of grown up adults, as the boundary wall of the roof was negligible as it was a normal thing in government buildings of those days, one of which was allotted to my father, who worked as a science teacher with additional charge of Hostel Incharge, known as House Masters, of one of the eight hostels of a residential school. I was not allowed to go on the roof of the house alone due to apprehensions of my parents that I might injure myself seriously by falling from the roof. Each hostel had three full time employees- a Warder, a Sweeper and a night watchman. Among them warder whose work was housekeeping job during the day used to come on a bicycle from the town, three kilometers from the school premises , where he had a house. On the handle of the bicycle dangled a cloth bag with tiffin box inside. So one day when he took his cloth bag from the handle of his cycle and quietly proceeded towards the roof of the house I followed him in curiosity to observe his action. When I reached there I saw Warder sat squatted on the floor of the roof and took out his tiffin box from the cloth bag and placing it before him opened it. Meanwhile he spotted me and beckoned me to come to share his food. I came forward to have a closer look into his tiffin box. The thing that attracted me in his tiffin was the yellow chapatti made of corn flour of yellow variety as there are two varieties of corn- white and yellow. So lured by the yellow chapatti I pointed towards it and he gave me a piece of it. When I put it into my mouth it tasted like a crispy, salty biscuit or plain pizza and I liked the taste due to salt and a bit of chilly put in the flour before baking it. I demanded more and he gave me another piece but forbade me to ask for more as he had finished the rest of Corn Chapatti. It appeared a new delicacy to me perhaps due to its colour and taste as mostly we ate chapattis of wheat flour at home as in the middle classes it was considered unbecoming to eat corn chapattis as it was cheaper than wheat. This became my daily routine and my mother wondered where I disappeared between 10 and 11 a.m. Oneday she followed me to the roof of the house and caught me red handed eating yellow chapatti of the warder with full delight. Warder also feared that my mother would scold him for giving his chapatti to me, as he told me that now we will both have to face Madam’s bashing, as he called her out of respect. But my mother disappeared and after a few tense minutes when we were unable to decide what to do, my mother appeared at the foot of the stairs with a few wheat chapattis and pickle and handed it over to Warder so as to make up for the Corn Chapattis that I had gobbled, with one hand and took me with the other inside the house with her usual stern gaze as during that stage it did not occur to me that I was keeping Warder hungry by taking from his tiffin.            

An Innocent Aberration

 An Innocent Aberration

                                                                                             

During my childhood the only free time I had was when my mother used to be busy in kitchen or taking bath. Though my mother used to ensure that the main door is latched particularly before she went to take bath in the bathroom of three bed room accommodation that was given to my father as the hostel incharge of a residential school where he was also working as science teacher. One such day, when perhaps my mother was busy in the kitchen and my elder sister and father had already gone to school , I ventured out of the gate to meet my usual companions- the warder and watchmen of the hostel and the like. During those days school had given a contract to a cobbler to repair the shoes of the boys. He used to come to the eight hostels of the by rotation for one weak each. That week cobbler had come to our hostel and he had placed his shelter in one corner of the compound of the hostel. Under this shelter he used to sit continuously with his anvil before him and different sized needles and threads by his side. This cobbler use to converse with me while doing his work as it used to relieve his monotony and it also passed my time. So after coming out of the door of the house I straightway headed towards the place where cobbler was squatting. That day as we conversed casually he asked me to bring some sweets as he had a great desire to have something sweet. As warder came with more footwear of the inmates to be repaired I came back to the house silently. I found the house vacant as I could make from the running water tap that mother had gone to take bath in the bathroom. So I straightway went to kitchen and opened the wooden almirah in the kitchen where mother used to keep milk and other food items and found some sweets there. I took up one piece of sweets and came back quickly out of the house and came quickly towards cobbler’s workplace but in hurry I forgot to close the door of the almirah and the door of the house in a hurry. I had place the piece of sweets in the pocket of my half pant. Luckily by the time I reached back warder had already gone and cobbler was alone so I took out the piece of sweets from my pocket and brought my hand forward to hand over the sweets to him. Cobbler was totally bewildered as he had not expected that I will take his wish, that he made casually, so seriously. Meanwhile my mother came out of bathroom and was surprised to find the door of the almirah and house open and when she came out of the house to find the cause of it Cobbler was bringing holding me with one hand and holding the piece of sweets in the other. Trembling the cobbler put forward his hand holding the sweet to mother fearing a good scolding from her and even feared that his contract will be cancelled if the news reached my father. After listening to the whole incident my mother was confused for some time as how to react to the situation. But suddenly recollecting herself she took me in at once and gestured Cobbler to wait and brought for him some vegetables and chappatis too and of course the piece of sweets as additional bonus. Though she neither thrashed me nor scolded me but warned me plainly ‘ your objects may be noble but your methods were unethical, you could have told me to do whatever you wanted to help your friend.’     

Identity Card

Identity Card

As the wheels of the train screeched to a halt on the concrete bedded rails, Pyare Lal looked out of the window to confirm his destination. After confirming it he threw his bedding and bag on the red soiled platform of the village.  Then he got down from the general coach of the train quickly as train stopped only for two minutes at this non- descript station that happened to be ancestral village of his wife. Holding the ticket between his lips and bag and bedding in both the hands Pyare Lal came out of the station only after handing over the ticket to the railway official standing at the exit of the station. Nobody had come to receive him because he had made this programme suddenly and the intimation of his arrival was perhaps, as usual, behind the schedule. After coming out of the station Pyare Lal started walking on a pavement dimly remembering the way to his wife’s parents house as he had visited this place only once just after his wedding, and that too in the darkness of the night. As it was only morning there was hardly anybody in the street giving it a deserted look. To make the matters worse Pyare Lal had completely forgotten name of his wife’s grandfather by whose name everybody knew about them in the village, as was the practice prevalent in the most of the villages of India, that a household is known by the name of the eldest male member of the family.

By the time Pyare Lal had walked about half a mile, the Sun had already come up in the sky and Pyare Lal was experiencing sweltering heat of the month of September. After walking for another quarter of a mile, Pyare Lal reached the central part of the village, which used to be a hot centre of exchange of information and gossip through the day.  From this central part of the village two lanes diverged in opposite directions and now Pyare Lal was totally confused as to which street to take, so he put his bags on the ground and began to recollect his breath and memory as to which street to take so as to reach his wife’s house.

Meanwhile in the central part of the village, popularly known as Chaupal, a few elderly villagers were sitting lazily with a page of a local daily newspaper before them. Meanwhile Lakhan, a young educated man of the village came there to get his daily dose of news. Lakhan took one page of the newspaper from Satbir, his friend and fellow being, and started perusing it. The first news that he came across in the paper was the escape of a dangerous criminal from the nighbouring town , while he was being taken from to the court. After reading it he looked up from his paper to take another page of the newspaper but his gaze was arrested by the figure of Pyare Lal, who was sweating profusely and looking confused. After watching him and his expressions closely it appeared to Pyare Lal that the description of the criminal given in the paper matched this person to some extent. So Lakhan nudging Satbir pointed quietly towards the news with one hand and towards Pyare Lal with another. Satbir after a few minutes looking repeatedly at paper and Pyare Lal beckoning Lakhan to bring his ear near him Satbir whispered ‘ I’m sure he is a run away criminal  and may cause some untoward incident in the village.’ And he further added,’ you keep an eye on him and his movements and try to engage him in conversation while I will go and inform the police.’  With that Satbir disappeared from that place at once while Lakhan moved towards Pyare Lal and asked ‘ Have you lost something, sir ?’

Yep, I have lost my way .’ replied Pyare Lal

Lakhan asked another question so as to engage Pyare Lal in conversation, ‘ Do you belong to the village ?’

      To it Pyare Lal replied, ‘ No, I came to the village only today morning’

Getting confirmed that his stranger has come from outside and is not well conversant with the  paths and lanes of the village Lakhan’s suspicion increased. While Lakhan was thinking about another question to put to Pyare Lal, he saw Satbir with police constable at the end of the street to his immense relief. Satbir and Police Constable reached at the Chapula and Constable asked Pyare lal bluntly, ‘ Follow me obediently like a good boy, Inspector wants to see you.’ Now Pyare Lal was totally bewildered as to why he was being taken to the Inspector and he even protested weakly by saying, ‘ Why are you taking me to Inspector ?’ To Pyare Lal’s query Constable gave a routine reply by saying,’ That I don’t know, you will know after meeting Inspector.’  As Satbir, Lakhan , and Constable were taking Pyare Lal a number of children and other villagers joined them in curiosity as a result of which they had become quite a procession till they reached the end of the man street. Inspector, seeing his constable leading this procession of the villagers with this stranger, decided to deal with the matter there and then. So he asked villagers to stop and ordered constable to bring a chair from a neighbouring house and put it under a shady mango tree. Reposing comfortably in the chair Inspector asked Pyare Lal, ‘ So what is your name ?’ Pyare Lal who was unable to know why things have taken this turn, shook suddenly at the question of the Inspector as if awakened from a dream and he replied humbly ‘  Huzoor, my name is Pyare Lal’. Before Pyare Lal could complete his reply when Inspector fired another question, ‘ Why have you come to this village ?’

‘ Huzoor I ‘ve come to take my wife who lives in this village ‘? Getting certain that this stranger could be escaped criminal, Inspector said firmly, ‘ Don’t befool me, Can you prove your identity’ ?

       Perhaps Pyare Lal was prepared for such a situation so he said quickly, No , sir I’m not befooling you, I have enough evidence to prove that I ‘m Pyare Lal of 25, Lane no. 2,Ranjeet Nagar, Gurdaspur .’ With that he took his valet from the hip pocket of his pant and took out his voter card, employer card, driving license and PAN card and handed it over to the Inspector. After examining the cards as crowd was watching in complete silence Inspector was certain that this stranger was an educated man but to reconfirm his views he asked Pyare Lal another query,’ O.K, What is name of your wife ?’ 

‘Sir my wife’s name is Meena.’ said Pyare Lal.

Raising his eye brow Inspector again said ,’ Meena what, you will find Meena in each street of the village. Do you know the name of her father, grandfather or ancestors.’

Now Pyare Lal again felt cornered and said in a weakly audible voice, ‘ sir, actually I’ve forgotten name of her grandfather.’

This reply again made Pyare Lal object of suspicion as Inspector said in a harsh scolding voice ,’ You have forgotten the name of your relative’.

Now Pyare Lal was totally helpless but suddenly he saw the familiar face of his wife at the other end of the street. It appeared to Pyare Lal that if any divine person could take human shape to salvage him from this ordeal, it was his wife’s face. So Pyare Lal shouted at the top of his voice startling the crowd and Inspector ,’ Meena, I’m her , save me.’ This lady getting a familiar voice in her ears looked up to find her spouse surrounded by villagers. She came towards him with a coy smile on her face, which was enough evidence to prove the identity of Pyare Lal as crowd uttered with relief,’  Oh!, he is Shyam Prasad’s son-in-law.’ Handing over the documents to Pyare Lal Inspector commented jovially, ‘ Now Mr Pyare Lal of 25, Lane No. 2, Ranjeet Nagar, Gurdaspur, move with her in the village’, pointing towards Meena and further added,’ as she is a surer identity card here than these plastic junks’, pointing towards the cards. Inspectors comment was greeted with a loud laughter of the crowd. And the whole crowd moved to escort Pyare Lal to his in-law’s house with respect as after all Pyare Lal was son-in-law of the entire village.    

Flaw

Flaw- A Skit

Character:

Mr Sen:  Middle aged man, Ashok’s father

Ashok: A young man of about 18 years of age

A room in which Ashok  is sitting alone on a stool. Room is dark in the beginning but as the curtain rises, a dim light reveals a reasonably well furnished room. Mr Sen enters the room slowly

Mr Sen: ‘ Ashok, How are you my son’

Ashok ( slowly raising his head ) : ‘Oh! You are here.’

Sen: ‘ Yes son, I have come to disclose a vital information to you.’

Ashok; ‘ Oh! No, not again the match scores .’

Sen: ‘ No, it is not the match result this time, my son.’

Ashok: ‘ then, what is it father?’

Sen: ‘ I know son you have dreams to pursue in future, you told me that you wanted to become a pilot.’

Ashok: ‘ Yep I do have. And I look to you for every kind of moral and financial support.’

Sen: Ah!, my son I would have considered myself fortunate to help you but……….’

Ashok: ‘But what. Is there some problem father ?’

Sen: ‘ Yeah, my son I have lost my job and whatever money I had invested is also lost due to slump in share market.’

Ashok: ‘ (suddenly jumping from the stool) ‘ Oh! no, then you will not be able to support me ( and falls on the stool with a thud and buries his head in his knees)

Mr Sen slowly leaves the room, after placing his hand lightly on Ashok’s head, with an expression of lost gambler who has lost everything in the world, leaves room and Ashok to darkness. 

The Intrigues of Language

The Intrigues of Language

Being the student of language and literature I have collected a few pieces regarding intricacies of English language. These pieces point out paradoxes and surprises of English in which there are more exceptions than rules yet it is the most widely used language of the world perhaps due to this great advantage that it is printer friendly and hassle free. Now I would like to draw your attention to the following pieces.

                                               English is a Funny Language

                                                 There is no egg in eggplant

                                                  No ham in hamburger

                                           Neither pine nor apple in the pineapple

                                           English muffins were not invented in England

                                           French fries were nor invented in France

                                           We sometimes take English for granted

                                            But if we examine its paradoxes we find that

                                            Quicksand takes you down slowly

                                             Boxing rings are square

                                        And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea

                                                       Nor it is a pig

                                          If writers write how come fingers don’t fing ?

                                          If the plural of tooth is teeth

                                    Shouldn’t the plural of phone booth be phone beeth ?

                                             If the teacher taught

                                             Why hasn’t the preacher praught ?

                                             If a vegetarian eats vegetables.

                                      What a heck does a humanitarian eat ?

                                             Why do people recite at a play,

                                              Yet play at a recital ?

                                            Park on driveways and Drive on parkways ?

                                           How can the weather be as hot as hell on one day

                                           And cold as hell on another ?

                                           You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language

                                            Where a house can burn up as I burns down.

                                           And in which you fill in a form

                                               By filling it out.

                                          And a bell is only heard once it goes !

                                          English was invented by people, not computers,

                                          And it reflects the creativity of the human race

                                          ( which of course isn’t a race at all)

                                   That’s why when the stars are out they are visible

                                    But when the lights are out they are invisible

                                     And why it is that when I wind up my watch, it starts

                                     But when I wind up this poem, it ends.

Next piece is why English is a difficult language to learn as you have to learn more exceptions than rules. Here it is:-

                   

                     Why English is so hard ?

         We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes

          But the plural of ox, becomes oxen, not oxes.

          One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese

           Yet the plural of moose should never be meese

          You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice

           Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

                If the plural of man is always called men 

              Why shouldn’t the plural of  pan be called pen ?

               If I speak of my foot and show you my feet

              And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet ?

              If one is tooth and a whole set are teeth

              Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth ?

              

              Then one may be that, and three would be those

              Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,

              And the plural of cat is cats, not cose,

              We speak of brother and also of brethren

             But though we say mother, we never say methren,

             Then the masculine pronoun are he, his and him

              But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim !

Now a serious and sensible piece about Eight Parts of Speech to wing up this article

            

                         The Eight Parts of the Speech

                      

                    Every name is called a Noun

                    As field and fountain, street and town.

                   In place of noun the Pronoun stands

                   As he and she can clap their hands.

                   The Adjective describes a thing

                    As magic word or bridal ring.

                  The verb means action, something done

                   To read and write,  to jump and run.

                    How things are done the Adverbs tell

                     As quickly, slowly, badly , well

                   The preposition shows relation

                   As in the street or at the station

                    Conjunction joins, in many ways

                    Sentences, words, or phrase and phrase.

                   The Interjection cries out, Hark !      

                   I need an exclamation mark.                

One Rainy Day

One Rainy Day

                                                                                               Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

            Waiting, in a queue, for the bus, on a rainy day Swaraj was calculating in his mind the time by which he will reach his work place, provided he gets some conveyance soon atleast if not a bus operated by State Transport Department. Beside him there were other people were also waiting though not so many as on a normal day. Due to incessant heavy rain since last night the stop nearly gave a deserted look as most of the vendors have not turned up. As Swaraj looked around him he saw some school children waiting for their school bus to come and pick them up. But children too were few in number in comparison to a normal day as may parents must have asked heir children to stay at home due to uncongenial weather. While waiting he was also thinking about some excuse that he would make before his immediate boss. He selected his excuses carefully ensuring that the same excuse is not repeated twice atleast in a fortnight. While making the excuse of mother being ill Swaraj was reminded about the life of a soldier who gets leave only on extra ordinary grounds and the popular excuse with them was death of the mother and it was a popular saying that a soldier’s mother died atleast thrice in his entire career, so as to get leave quickly. Meanwhile a rickety bus appeared at the corner. Though on a normal day every body tried to avoid this bus but in today’s weather it appeared like a divine blessing as everybody was eager to get into it. As the bus screeched to a halt Swaraj heaved a sigh of relief to see the bus almost vacant as traffic today was quite thin due to rough and hostile weather.

            Conductor jumped out of the bus shouting, ‘ sit only after taking the tickets, I will not give tickets inside’ so as to reduce his bothering to walk in a moving bus so as to give ticket to every body. Conductor also realized that due to rainy weather traffic is less so he did not feel the need to repeat his instruction and he headed quickly towards the ticket kiosk. After taking ticket as Swaraj was boarding the bus one of his co-commuter beckoned him to reserve a seat for him to which Swaraj replied positively with a nod of his head.  Swaraj took the seat meant for two just behind the conductor seat, which used to be small triumph in normal days. Though bus originated from Central Bus Depot but Swaraj and some of his friends dwelt at a place far from the point of origin of the bus, so they boarded the bus from this suburb stop that was nearer to their homes. On normal days they would find bus full by the time it reached this suburban stop. Due to unfavourable weather most of the casual travelers and students, particularly girls have decided not to travel today as a result of which Swaraj was chatting comfortably with his friend sitting in this comfortable and prized place. On the normal day Swaraj would have considered himself lucky if he could get even the last seat at the rear of the bus. Most of the days he could succeed only in getting standing place in the aisle of the bus. Bus started moving slowly with conductor putting his neck out of the window hoping to get some last minute passengers but he was only disappointed as most of the bystanders were idlers loitering at that place just to while away their time, so bus could gain normal speed when it entered country side leaving the town behind.

            As Swaraj and other passengers felt the opne air of countryside they started dozing off as it was one of those few moments of relaxation for them in their busy schedule as they could not do anything now. The brakes of the bus brought Swaraj and others dozing passengers to their senses and they realized that they are near their destination. Swaraj left his seat and started moving towards the exit gate of the bus and as bus stopped he jumped out of it and rushed towards his office as he was already late. In his hurry of reaching the office he did not even notice that his other friends have also got out of the bus or not. Swaraj had to walk nearly a mile to reach the portals of his office. And by the time he entered the grand portal of his office he was late by three quarters of an hour. While entering office Swaraj was thinking about the extra work and extra time that he would have to devote so as to appease his boss. To his utter relief Swaraj found the chair of his boss vacant who had not turned up today either due to unruly weather or due to his convenience loving nature.

            But his joy was short lived as Managing Director of the company Mr. Das entered and tapped the shoulder of Swaraj uttering ‘ So late today, perhaps due to weather’,  ‘ Yes sir, yes sir’ were the only words that Swaraj could speak in reply. ‘ Go resume your work quickly’ said Mr Das as he moved quickly towards his air-conditioned cabin. A gloominess hung on the face of  Swaraj as he moved towards his chair. That day Swaraj had also to work during lunch break to make up for the loss of time due to rains. He did not know about his other colleague but he could get only his glimpse in the evening when he looked up from his table to find that clock has struck five and everybody was rushing out of the office in order to reach their homes quickly and safely. At the stop the bus was overcrowded already but Swaraj was happy that he could reach the stop in time to get this fast bus and the prospect of reaching his home early and the pleasant cool breeze made him smile even in this gloomy weather that will be his heaven and haven from the rough weather of the day.                 

Images of Maiden Visit to NE India & Patna