Wind was roaring like a ferocious lion attempting to enter the apartment via the small opening b/w two sliding transparent doors; that stood b/w the warm cozy 75 F interior and the cold darn 0 F exterior. Vijay was seen comforting on his soft spongy bed, had no idea what the day had to offer him. Sudden flash of light entered his relatively dark room and woke him up. As usual flipped opened his laptop to take a look at the time, realized that it was out of battery searched for the power cord which was inserted to the laptop. It felt a bit strange seeing his laptop’s battery dead as he never ever removed his power cord and his laptop always ran 24/7.
He then reached for his mobile, the only other source of date and time in the house it showed 10:10 am with its battery indicating low. Plugged the phone to charger and it wouldn’t charge. Still in the state of sub-conscious gazed through the window to see his car submerged upto the wheels in the heavy snow, it felt like dream land everything covered in snow. He needed cricinfo to charge him up, did everything to power his laptop up, switched chargers, switched ports nothing seemed to work, and finally realized that their building had a power outage.
Vijay felt like an Indian batsman entering an unknown territory of pace and bounce in Australia, he had entered the unknown territory of blackout. Even though he had been through the power-cuts in his native country; he felt lost and didn’t know what to do, as he had never experienced this situation in this country before. Back in his country they had candles, emergency lamps, flash lights as backups; he had nothing close to any of those at his apartment.
Suddenly he felt hungry and the whole idea of skipping dinner as part of weight loss didn’t feel good. He took out the milk gallon from the refrigerator poured it into his mug and placed it in the microwave as he did every single day. He pressed the magic button (the add 30 sec button) and wouldn’t respond as it needed Benjamin Franklin’s electricity. For the first time in this country he was proud of his kitchen as it had gas based burner, other apartments had electric ones; he turned the knob of the burner to auto-ignite, heard the click but nothing happened; it took him five attempts to realize that auto-ignite ran on power. How ironical, power is needed for something that is an alternative for power. He felt like driving on the wrong side of the one-way street.
He needed some form of fire to ignite the burner; for the first time being a non-smoker pinched him very badly, atleast he would have had a lighter and with the absence of mini-temple eliminated the oil-lamps and hence matchstick. Suddenly the picture of his good looking neighbor smoking in the balcony struck him; he always hated smokers, especially women smokers. “Wow she smokes, thank GOD she smokes, long live smokers” were his words, how ironical `long live smokers`.
He had lent her sugar one day; it was her turn to lend him fire or something that produces it. Stepped out of the apt and entered the hallway, it was pitch black dark, walked to her apartment and knocked her door. In this country since everybody calls before they come in, the host generally knows who is coming to their apt, so when someone knocks the door, your first reaction is ‘who the hell is it?’ that was exactly what he heard from inside. ‘Your neighbor next door’ he replied, ‘coming’ was the reply. No sooner she opened the door ‘Can I borrow a matchbox’ he asked in a very low tone. He had a problem talking to women especially the good looking ones; prettier the women lower was his voice, a problem similar to Rajesh Kootrapalli of Big Bang Theory sitcom fame, just that he didn’t need alcohol. Without uttering a single word he picked up the matchbox nodded his headed came back to his apartment.
When he stroked the matchstick against the matchbox to create fire and ignite the burner he had goose-bumps; he felt as delighted as Tom Hanks in CAST AWAY, even though the later had used stone to ignite a spark and jumped up and down. Milk began to boil and the aroma of BRU coffee filled his eyes with tears as it reminded him of the coffee house at his native. Poured steaming coffee into a cup and sipped every ounce of it. Now he had enough caffeine and sugar in his body to survive the entire day.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Short story 2: Maula Mere Lele Meri Jaan
Last minute into the World Hockey Championship PAK leading IND 1 to 0. Kabir Khan was marching his team forward gets hit by the opponent player and topples over. Referee whistles & IND get penalty stroke. He held the hopes of entire country, his hockey stick & scooped the ball aiming over the goalie, but the misses he goalpost by a foot and IND lose the game 0 to 1. Kabir can’t believe that he missed such an easy shot, the shot which he had mastered over the years. As a fact of sportsmanship Kabir shakes hand with a PAK players and was captured by camera & is printed on the main page of the next day’s news paper. The issue blows out of proportion and Kabir is treated as a Traitor.
Vijay the last batsman walks with 3 runs needed of 3 balls for his team to qualify for the finals. His eyes lit up seeing the full delivery outside off stump; muscles it over the covers ball lands just behind the fielders & scampers for 2. Scores were level, out came the cry from the dugout, run for everything, non-striker take a start; he walked upto the non-striker and punched his fist against his and took a fresh guard. Instead of focusing on the bowler the memories of AUS-SAF WC 99 semi-final lingered in his mind. He swung blindly and missed the ball completely so did the keeper, the scene where Kabir Khan kneeling with head down and hockey stick in this hand was witnessed when Vijay rather than scampering for a single was found on his knees with head bowed down. He neither heard the cry from the non-striker nor abuses and swears from the angered dug-out as he was in a state of mental block ; He actually recreated AUS-SAF WC 99 semi-final.
7 years later Kabir Khan took the challenge of coaching the Women’s Hockey Team for the World Championship in-order to restore his lost pride. Scene shifts to the penalty shoot-out where INDIA lead AUS by 5-4. Australian striker attempts to lob the ball over the goalie but Vidya Sharma (Goalie) stood still between the ball & the post. There is sudden silence in the stadium, entire Aussie team was in tears but the victorious INDIA girls were jumping in joy. Emotional Kabir Khan is seen in tears, it was more than match to him; the scene where he watches the INDIAN flag shining high & “Maula Mere Lele Meri Jaan” playing in the background told the whole story. The tag of traitor was off his back.
Vijay is seen practicing his trademark straight-drive in the dug-out and was sunk in the memories of scoring a straight boundary over the bowler in the last over of the finals that he played a month ago in a different city & for a different team. Tension prevails in the dug-out; yelling and swearing continues, entire team was aware of Vijay’s heroics of scoring boundary in the last over and they were hoping for a Déjà vu. Last man Vijay walks in with the intention to take the monkey off his back; which was tagged onto him for a year now. The term “he did a Vijay” had become infamous. Two things were in his favor; bowler was bowling full and there was no long-off fielder. He just stood outside his crease and didn’t take guard this time and shut his mind off and focused on the bowler.
Bowler speared in a full length delivery and as a natural instinct his foot went to the pitch of the delivery and with high elbow swung through the line of the delivery. The meaty part of the bat struck the ball and he watched the ball pass the boundary with a couple of bounces. Out came the entire team in joy with captain literally lifting Vijay off the ground. He was their hero of the day.
Vijay was happy that the monkey of finals was off his back and felt exactly like what Kabir had felt when Vidya saved the goal for INDIA, he had tears in his eyes. And the background music “Maula Mere Lele Meri Jaan” kept playing in his mind.
Note: The character Vijay is purely fictional, and has no relevance to living or dead.
Vijay the last batsman walks with 3 runs needed of 3 balls for his team to qualify for the finals. His eyes lit up seeing the full delivery outside off stump; muscles it over the covers ball lands just behind the fielders & scampers for 2. Scores were level, out came the cry from the dugout, run for everything, non-striker take a start; he walked upto the non-striker and punched his fist against his and took a fresh guard. Instead of focusing on the bowler the memories of AUS-SAF WC 99 semi-final lingered in his mind. He swung blindly and missed the ball completely so did the keeper, the scene where Kabir Khan kneeling with head down and hockey stick in this hand was witnessed when Vijay rather than scampering for a single was found on his knees with head bowed down. He neither heard the cry from the non-striker nor abuses and swears from the angered dug-out as he was in a state of mental block ; He actually recreated AUS-SAF WC 99 semi-final.
7 years later Kabir Khan took the challenge of coaching the Women’s Hockey Team for the World Championship in-order to restore his lost pride. Scene shifts to the penalty shoot-out where INDIA lead AUS by 5-4. Australian striker attempts to lob the ball over the goalie but Vidya Sharma (Goalie) stood still between the ball & the post. There is sudden silence in the stadium, entire Aussie team was in tears but the victorious INDIA girls were jumping in joy. Emotional Kabir Khan is seen in tears, it was more than match to him; the scene where he watches the INDIAN flag shining high & “Maula Mere Lele Meri Jaan” playing in the background told the whole story. The tag of traitor was off his back.
Vijay is seen practicing his trademark straight-drive in the dug-out and was sunk in the memories of scoring a straight boundary over the bowler in the last over of the finals that he played a month ago in a different city & for a different team. Tension prevails in the dug-out; yelling and swearing continues, entire team was aware of Vijay’s heroics of scoring boundary in the last over and they were hoping for a Déjà vu. Last man Vijay walks in with the intention to take the monkey off his back; which was tagged onto him for a year now. The term “he did a Vijay” had become infamous. Two things were in his favor; bowler was bowling full and there was no long-off fielder. He just stood outside his crease and didn’t take guard this time and shut his mind off and focused on the bowler.
Bowler speared in a full length delivery and as a natural instinct his foot went to the pitch of the delivery and with high elbow swung through the line of the delivery. The meaty part of the bat struck the ball and he watched the ball pass the boundary with a couple of bounces. Out came the entire team in joy with captain literally lifting Vijay off the ground. He was their hero of the day.
Vijay was happy that the monkey of finals was off his back and felt exactly like what Kabir had felt when Vidya saved the goal for INDIA, he had tears in his eyes. And the background music “Maula Mere Lele Meri Jaan” kept playing in his mind.
Note: The character Vijay is purely fictional, and has no relevance to living or dead.
Short Story 1: Spring Break
For the first time in six months one felt the warmth of Sun rays beating through the clear blue skies, temperature rising to 70 degrees, orange - yellow leaves beginning to add color to the pale and placid life, it felt like the beginning of spring. Indeed it was the last working day before the spring break, the Friday where no grad student worried about his assignments, as they had just finished their midterm exam. Everyone planed for their 9 day vacation called spring break.
Amit wasn’t sure whether he had something called a spring break as he was a Research Assistant; research according to him was searching something which his advisor had hidden somewhere . It was his second spring break; he knew how his previous spring break was foiled by his advisor in the name of research. He was happy as he had a good result - a line graph; something tangible to show, which his advisor expected all the time. At 11 am he reached his advisor’s office, who always believed in impromptu meetings; would send out an email the previous night, he always kept Amit on his toes.
“Can I come in Dr Y?” Amit knocked the door. “Come in” out came a voice. “How is everything going? Do you have any result to show?” was his usual silence breaker. Amit was all charged up, for the first time he had results which he thought were beyond his advisor's expectations; powered his laptop on and presented the demo and the graph. This was the first time his advisor liked his demo and was satisfied with it. With a funny smile came the reply “Good job, I give you two day vacation, START WORKING ON YOUR THESIS FROM MONDAY”.
These are the exact words every research grad student wishes to hear. It translates to “Ja Jeele Apni Zindagi” (read as ‘end of torture period get ready to graduate’). Spring graduation sounded realistic, he was as thrilled as an early released prisoner for his good deeds; but wasn’t sure what his good deeds were!
“Find three people for your thesis committee” his advisor broke the silence again. Amit knew that these three angels play a significant role in converting a grad student status to a graduate status, he had his X, Y, and Z pen down; one of them being his advisor. “I said find three more people, I cannot be part of the committee”, “why because I no longer work at this University!” “I submitted my resignation last month”; “Didn’t I tell you?” those words out of Dr Y were enough to give someone heart attack.
Amit felt like Vijay of “Don”, in the scene where Vijay realizes that the only person who knew about his true identity was dead and only the red diary could prove his innocence. Amit had a red thumb drive. He had heard of thesis being changed at the last minute, but changing advisor was ridiculous.
“Ladkiya Pyar Toh Apni Marzi Seh Karleti Hai, Magar Shaadi Apne Ma Baap Ki Marzi Sey Karti hai” of the movie Kabhi Kabhi lingered in his mind.
“Amit can you tell me something about the research you have done so far?” asked Dr X, his future advisor next day during his meeting. Those words had the power to recreate Khuda Gawah’s scene where Badshah Khan’s imprisonment is extended indefinitely for no fault of his. The thought of defending his Thesis without his advisor was enough to forget about the so called spring break.
Amit wasn’t sure whether he had something called a spring break as he was a Research Assistant; research according to him was searching something which his advisor had hidden somewhere . It was his second spring break; he knew how his previous spring break was foiled by his advisor in the name of research. He was happy as he had a good result - a line graph; something tangible to show, which his advisor expected all the time. At 11 am he reached his advisor’s office, who always believed in impromptu meetings; would send out an email the previous night, he always kept Amit on his toes.
“Can I come in Dr Y?” Amit knocked the door. “Come in” out came a voice. “How is everything going? Do you have any result to show?” was his usual silence breaker. Amit was all charged up, for the first time he had results which he thought were beyond his advisor's expectations; powered his laptop on and presented the demo and the graph. This was the first time his advisor liked his demo and was satisfied with it. With a funny smile came the reply “Good job, I give you two day vacation, START WORKING ON YOUR THESIS FROM MONDAY”.
These are the exact words every research grad student wishes to hear. It translates to “Ja Jeele Apni Zindagi” (read as ‘end of torture period get ready to graduate’). Spring graduation sounded realistic, he was as thrilled as an early released prisoner for his good deeds; but wasn’t sure what his good deeds were!
“Find three people for your thesis committee” his advisor broke the silence again. Amit knew that these three angels play a significant role in converting a grad student status to a graduate status, he had his X, Y, and Z pen down; one of them being his advisor. “I said find three more people, I cannot be part of the committee”, “why because I no longer work at this University!” “I submitted my resignation last month”; “Didn’t I tell you?” those words out of Dr Y were enough to give someone heart attack.
Amit felt like Vijay of “Don”, in the scene where Vijay realizes that the only person who knew about his true identity was dead and only the red diary could prove his innocence. Amit had a red thumb drive. He had heard of thesis being changed at the last minute, but changing advisor was ridiculous.
“Ladkiya Pyar Toh Apni Marzi Seh Karleti Hai, Magar Shaadi Apne Ma Baap Ki Marzi Sey Karti hai” of the movie Kabhi Kabhi lingered in his mind.
“Amit can you tell me something about the research you have done so far?” asked Dr X, his future advisor next day during his meeting. Those words had the power to recreate Khuda Gawah’s scene where Badshah Khan’s imprisonment is extended indefinitely for no fault of his. The thought of defending his Thesis without his advisor was enough to forget about the so called spring break.
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