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.