A premonition of the Happening

Another short story which I wrote for a competition along with "Was it a sheer coincidence". The previous one and this one won a top votes prize.

A premonition of the Happening

After a few hectic weeks at the office, James was happy that the product got released and he could get some vacation. He packed all his bags the next day morning and started driving to his hometown four hundred miles away. On his way, his car got stuck in the midst of the forest and it started raining. He left his car and went to wait under a tree.
He heard strange whispers suddenly, “Enough is enough. Now ask him to get out.”
He was bewildered and looked around and could not find anyone in his vicinity. Then he heard it again, this time a bit loudly with a tone of resentment this time.
“Don’t worry Mr. Human. It’s no ghost. It’s me the tree under which you are taking rest.”
James said to himself a bit loudly, “What the hell? How can a tree talk?”
Then he got back an answer rather rudely this time, “Just because we don’t speak your language doesn’t mean we don’t talk. We communicate very quickly among each other.”
This time he heard a voice rather serene and soothing, “Dear, don’t be so rude. Otherwise, they may think we are human too. Sorry Mr. Human. Er, what’s your name?”
James answered feeling a bit weird talking to a tree, “My name is James.”
The calm tree said, “Don’t mind him James. He is just angry that he lost one of his friends yesterday and that he thinks you were one of the murderers too”
James wondered, “Me. How can it be?”
At this, the second tree snapped at James, “Did you do anything to stop when a tree was being cut yesterday? You were too busy working with your computers. Did you ever wonder how many trees are being cut for the furniture and buildings you use daily?”
James got angry and said, “How can I be responsible for something I didn’t even know? Do you expect me to go around the world to stop all trees being cut?”
The second tree cracked at him again, “You don’t change. Do you? You and your callous attitude towards fellow living beings will never change. “
The first tree said in its usual calming tone as if nothing is happening around, “Be patient brother.”
The second tree said in its heated tone, “We have had enough of patience already. These humans not only are destroying us but destroying the Mother Nature with all their idiotic greed to capture the world.”
James retorted back saying, “What can we do? With progress, certain changes are bound to happen and we can’t do anything to stop them.”
He said in a rather mocking tone, “Why don’t you do something about it rather than shouting at me? Oh! I forgot that you can’t do anything but accept what comes by. Isn’t it?” and walked towards the road as the rain stopped.
He suddenly could not breathe for a few minutes and started suffocating when he heard the rude voice of the tree, “This is what we are capable of doing. We are capable of doing a lot more but just like my mother tree which had been patient with you all the while and even now, we have remained patient for generations and generations together. But, we won’t be calm any longer. We have had enough. Do keep this in mind and try to behave like a true human who is supposed to compassionate and kind to all living beings.”
James suddenly woke up from bed trying very hard to breathe and drenched in sweat. His heart was pounding faster than the alarm clock on the table.
“Huh, what a horrible dream it was? Was it a premonition to what is going to happen? What if all the trees stop being patient to all our deeds? I should do something about if from tomorrow onwards.” He said to himself and slept.
The next day morning, he forgot his dream and went back to his digital routine and being indifferent to the Mother Nature.
Do you want to leave it as a dream or do you foresee a warning? What are we going to do if it is real?

Was it a sheer coincidence?

This was a story I wrote an year back and it won one of the short story competition (There was a restriction of ~1000 words for it and hence the pace is a bit alarming. It might have a few grammatical mistakes as well. If you find few, please ignore). I hope it will be an interesting read

Was it a sheer Coincidence?

“It was a dark, silent night with hefty clouds and lightning giving signs of heavy storm. I was serving a few customers in the ‘Red Hot Blood’ Bar as I saw four people meet at one of the tables. They didn’t seem to be friends at the first glance because they didn’t seem to have the warmth and intimacy that can is common among friends. However there was something peculiar about them that made me observe them even though I was busy serving.
One of them seemed to be an extrovert and initiated the conversation. He said, “Hi, I am a retired military lieutenant and worked in the border for 20years.” When there was not much reaction from others, he reiterated saying, “Why don’t we introduce each other?”
The guy in the red shirt snapped at him saying, “I don’t think we are going to become friends for life. Hence, I suggest we better continue with an unconventional introduction rather than a formal one. What do you say?”
Another guy who seemed to be dull and emaciated asked, “What do you mean unconventional?”
The last guy, who was muscular, said looking at the weather outside, “Let’s start with a mention of the dodgiest nights we ever had so far in our lives as the climate today guarantees one.”
Everyone seemed to agree to this thought as the lieutenant started saying, “As I was returning from a tough day at office, I saw someone bloodshed on the road asking to stop my jeep. I was in a hurry as my wife wasn’t feeling well. Looking at him, I had a doubt if he were a militant. I didn’t want to risk wasting time as I was in a rush”.
At this, the red shirt guy looked astounded tone and asked intriguingly, “Was it at the valley gate? If it was, I treated him as I was the next one to come across him. Being a doctor by profession, I felt it was my responsibility. But your guess is correct, he was a militant and that was announced in that day’s morning papers. When I saw that day’s paper by chance while I was treating him, I called the police secretly and they caught him red-handed.”
At this the hefty guy cracked in between, “What a strange coincidence! I was the one in duty at the police station that night and I arrested him. He was sentenced death.”
All this talk seemed too good to be true for me as I thought that it was a nice story that started and was being continued by the others. I was more than interested to hear what ending the emaciated person who remained silent so far was going to give.
As the thin guy started speaking, my owner called me and I had to go to him with utmost suspense chilling my nerves. He ordered me to get some old wine from the store room and it took me ten minutes to find it.
The moment I returned, the 3 guys were lying on the table and the fourth one seemed to have left. I went to them wondering why they were sleeping, to see that they weren’t breathing. I immediately panicked and went to inform the bar owner and he called the police.
When the police came and the doctor who came along with them examined their bodies, he confirmed that they were poisoned. We all were interrogated but none of them knew anything about what happened at that table. I remained silent too in the fear of police interrogation and the situations I may have to face later if I inform them of the story. I started thinking about what must have happened.
Any guesses? Your guess is as good as mine too. I believe the weak guy must be the injured militant who was sentenced death as I heard his first word as I missed the conversation. “I was on the taking side that day”. If he were the militant and if the story were to be true, he must have escaped his death sentence and avenged his vendetta on these three guys who were responsible for his suffering.”
All in all, I can say that it was a sheer coincidence when one of them said that day’s climate guaranteed one of the dangerous nights. The clouds seemed to have cleared up and I didn’t know if it was a perilous night for everyone but surely it had got the utmost peril for them.”
Saying this, my roomie ended the experience he had on his most eventful night a year ago as we weren’t feeling sleepy that night.
I might have felt the same way he felt and you all are feeling, that this narration was too good be true but after all, had it not been me being the murderer.
I recently joined this hostel and requested the warden to be this guy’s roomie because I suspected him to have heard something that night. He may have forgotten me, may be because I have changed quite a lot in my appearance, but I remember him rather vividly.
It was by mere coincidence and sheer chance that I met the three of them that day in the bar and could take my revenge. I murdered the three of them because the military officer didn’t try and save me even when he could have done. Though the doctor saved me, it was of no use as he had me caught by the police. The police inspector was the one who had me sentenced death though luckily I could escape it.
I was sentenced death the second time because of this idiotic waiter who gave the evidence to the police though he denies having done that. I have escaped previously to take revenge on the three who made me suffer. But this time because of this useless waiter, I couldn’t escape. Don’t you think I should avenge my death? As an experienced murderer, I have learnt not to leave any traces and I didn’t want to leave any this time too.
Would another coincidence help me take my revenge? I don’t need any, as humans need coincidences, not ghosts like me.

How do we value Freedom? - Anguished Plea by an Indian to fellow Indians

Somehow blogging never excited me since long, but today I had an urge to express something and here I am writing my first blog post, a day before our 64th Independence Day. As I was coming back from office, there were discussions around what needs to be done on Independence day, etc which triggered my thought process. The debate that went in my mind after that is the seed for this post :) This however was written in emotion than with a prepared mind. So please ignore if there are any grammatical mistakes and errors.

I was just wondering how much do we value the Freedom, our Independence now that we are enjoying the 64th year of it. How much do we value our freedom - The freedom to express anything and everything when we dont give a chance for our subordinates or colleagues or for that matter our parents to speak anything against our will,
The freedom to enjoy our lives without any fear when thousand others are dying in the borders everyday fighting for keeping us free,


The freedom to lead our life selfishly not caring for our fellow humans but expect everyone to pacify our ego,
The freedom to comment upon everyone as irresponsible for everythingthat is happening around when most of us shun to take up responsibility for the same everything,
The freedom to comment upon changing everything in our country when we are the reason for its condition as we move to foreign countries and dont even pay tax here.



I had a question to ask all of us, yes including myself. Do we think this freedom is free of cost-The freedom that was earned by millions of Indians who sacrificed their lives for the future generations, the freedom that is retained by thousands of soldiers spending their lives in our borders giving their lives, the freedom that is ensured by millions of responsible citizens. Is it of no value for us? Don't we care a damn about it? If we really do care, what have we done to realize the value of it? This was what Lord McAulay said about India in 1835.



But today, Is India the same as in 1835? I dont think we are the same any longer. We believe we have progressed a lot since Independence. But is this progress? We as a nation are so obsessed with foreign things, foreign culture, foreign branded clothing, foreign technology, what not, everything foreign from the way we live to the way we love :) Why are we so obsessed with everything imported and why do we love going to the foreign countries to make a living causing the brain drain? Since the time of ours', our parents and their parent's childhood we have been hearing that India is a developing nation. But we, our children, their children want to live in a developed nation, if not move to a developed nation like the US, Singapore, UK etc. When will we make the dream of making India a developed nation come true? It has to start somewhere.


We, the youth of the nation, may not be 100% of the population of our country but we are the 100% future of our country. If we run away from our country for earning in dollars and making a higher living, who is going to change the future of our country. We say that our government is inefficient and a bunch of corrupted old fools are running it. We say our laws are too old, the whole system sucks, we say our streets aren't clean, there are no trees or greenery anywhere in the city, we say that the transport system is screwed up, we say that our country can never change, we appreciate being "Slumdogs" and love it when the poverty of our country is awarded the Oscar.


We shout, crib, taunt,jeer and just keep saying it, just keep wondering why nothing changes, why we are the way we are. Nothing changes by its own. We have to be the change we want to see. We love the rules, the laws of the foreign, the rules to keep their streets clean, the traffic rules and everything else in the foreign. But in our own country, we give a damn to rules, we violate our laws, throw clutter wherever we are done with it, we break the traffic rules, we never pay our bills correctly. We boast about the foreign countries that they arent corrupted and says our system is screwed and rotten with corruption. But we are the ones who violate rules, corrupt the officials for mending or relaxing or even forming new rules for our own convenience.

When it comes to burning social issues like dowry, killing girl child, crimes against women, communal rights, regional rights, child labour we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my rights to a dowry.'

Blame it on the system for everything and anything. How does the system form? We are the ones who use our vote, who use our rights to form it. What does a system consist of for us? For us it consists of our neighbors, other people, other officials, other religions, other castes, other creeds, other communities and the government. It’s always the "other", definitely not us. For becoming a better country, everyone of us needs to be a better citizen. As Maddy says in Rang De Basanti, "Koi desh perfect nahii hothaa hai, usey perfect banaaanaa padtaa hai". But what do we do instead?



When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution or making a difference to the system, we lock ourselves along with our families into a cozy corner and run for dollars to countries far away. Like losers, we run to the US to praise their system and enjoy the dollar dreams. When there is recession and the American economy is down, we run to the Australia. When Australians ill-treat us and even kill some of us, we run to the UK. When UK is in bad shape, we run to elsewhere. As a last resort, we come back to our country when we are thrown out by every other nation.

We don’t even use our "VOTE" but we expect the system to get better, someone else to clean the system, make it the best place for us so that once we are thrown out by the foreign countries during recession, come back to our country and enjoy the freedom earned and being retained by someone else. We are so habituated to enjoying the freedom that we don’t know the value of it. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

So what do we do? Every generation needs to earn its own freedom and earn it for their next generation. Next time, we meet a soldier, we should thank him and salute him because for our tomorrows, they sacrifice their todays. One lesson we have learned from our history is that we haven’t learned anything at all. It is better to be late than never. We can work for a better India. We are all involved in politics, the outcome of it, which means we are the ones who can change the outcome. We are the system and hence if we change ourselves first, the system will change.

This blog post is not intended to blame or hurt anyone’s feelings, it’s just the anguish, an agony which is the outcome of an average Indian’s introspection on India’s 64th Independence Day. If this induces some thought for a change, makes ourselves indulge in our country’s progress, instigates an ounce of retrospection, pricks one’s conscience - that is considered the greatest achievement of this post. Let’s do what India needs from us.

JAI HIND