Help

“Not again…..” I was annoyed. This was 5th time in a row when our society’s lift was not working. I used stairs to reach my flat on the 8th floor. After reaching there I realized that I forgot my flat keys in office. I called my roommate for the other pair of keys which was with her. She was on the way to home but I had no energy to stand and wait for 45 more minutes. I was tired, and that time I was left with just one option, to go to some neighbor’s house. The door facing my door was Das uncle’s house. He was a middle aged widower and both his sons were settled in other cities. I had not interacted much with him before but because other two neighbors on my floor were out of station for summer vacations, his house was the only shelter for me that time.

He welcomed me to his house and asked the reason for my visit. I asked him for water and a 9-10 your old kid came from kitchen with a tray in his hand. I said thanks to that kid and took the glass. I love sweets and I always keep some chocolates in my bag, I took one out and offered that kid. He was hesitant to take it and looked at Das uncle. Uncle gestured him to take the chocolate and go inside, he told me that this kid is his domestic help. I was little confused as some months back I saw some other kid as his domestic help. But I did not bother to ask him much. I was talking to uncle about some general stuff when my roommate called and informed me that she was back.

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“Shina, today when I was waiting for you in Das uncle’s house I saw his domestic help. He is just 9-10 years old. I feel really bad for the kid.” I said to my roommate Shina.

Shina: That Kid must be from some poor family. They mostly send their children to cities, to work as domestic help or something of that kind, so that they can get some extra money.

“But like other children, they too have the right to study and go to school. We should not boost such bad practices. I think we should talk to Das uncle about this. We should tell him to stop this child labour.” I said in excitement.

“Calm down super girl, It is government’s job so let them do it. Don’t put your hand in someone else’s shit.” Shina switched off the lights and said. “You sleep now, else you will get late for office tomorrow.”

*************************
Six months passed that incident. I was coming back from one of my friend’s place. I stopped my car at traffic signal, and there I saw him. He was selling magazine at the signal. He knocked my window glass and asked me to buy magazine. It took me no time to recognize him. “Hey, you are the same boy who used to work in Das uncle’s house right.” He looked scared and stepped back. “Do you remember me? I came to Das uncle’s house once, I gave you chocolate. Remember?” I asked him again. Now he smiled and nodded in agreement. I was going to have lunch in the nearby mess and don’t know why I felt like treating this kid with a good lunch. “Would you like to have lunch with me?”His eyes sparkled, I asked him to sit in my car. While chitchatting with him I came to know that his name was Sonu, he was an orphan. Das uncle brought him from his orphanage.

We reached the mess. I read the menu for Sonu and asked him what he would like to eat. He settled for a masala dosa and I ordered one regular meal. In few minutes our order arrived and Sonu started enjoying his masala dosa. I was happy to see him happy. We finished our food and ordered ice-cream. Till the time we were waiting for ice-cream, I asked Sonu that why he left Das uncle’s job. He became sad. “Didi, that uncle used to beat me and lock me the kitchen when he used to go out.” I felt pity for the little boy and wondered how Das uncle could do that to a child, He continued “He used to make me do all the household work and he forcefully used to do something with me which I didn’t like.” After that whatever Sonu said was very shocking for me. How could that old man do such thing? How could he be a child molester? I was terrified to hear what the small kid used to go through every day. He was crying while telling me this. I gave him water and made him relax. I asked him how come he reached this signal, where he sells magazines. He said that Das uncle sold him to some other man once he brought another kid from the same orphanage. This man also used to beat him and physically abuse him. One day he forgot to lock Sonu inside the house and that day Sonu ran away from there. He met some other kids near the signal and started working with them in that signal.

Sonu’s story made my eyes wet. I had two options in front of me. Either I should listen to what Shina said “Don’t put your hand in someone else’s shit.” Or I should do something to save the life of the other kid who was with Das uncle. I decided to go for good over bad. I asked Sonu to come with me to the police station. We went to the police station and filed a complaint against Das uncle for Child labour and Child molestation. I even complained against Sonu’s orphanage, for selling children to such people. Police raided Das uncle’s house and saved that kid. They even raided the orphanage and So many hidden secrets came out. There was this entire gang which used to sell the orphanage children and Das was one of their agents. Police arrested Das and his gang, Sonu and other kids of that orphanage were sent to a good Orphanage. Sonu joined school, and I was very happy for him. I was satisfied that I helped these kids and did not ignore, thinking that it was none of my business. I was with good and as always good won over bad.

PS: This is a work of fiction. To live a safe and good life, we have to be good first. It may take some time but at last good will win over bad.



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Wonderful Morning

55 Fiction is a form of micro fiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words.

She opened her eyes, cool breeze greeted her a wonderful morning. She loved her soft bed, decorated with soft-toys. She never felt so happy in twelve years of her life.

One hard kick brought her back to reality. She found herself in messy storeroom “Go, start working you bitch. We don’t pay you to sleep.”



Time Travel tag

This Tag/idea came to me from Preeti, it is originally written by Emily Barton from telcommuter talk.


1. Depending on your age, go back 10, 15, 20, or even more years.
2. Tell us how many years back you have travelled and why.
3. Pretend you have met yourself during that era, and tell us where you are.
4. You only have one "date" with this former self.
5. Answer these questions.


Okay, as we start, what year is it and how old are you?

It is Oct 2000. I went 10 years back, because 15 years back I was too young for this date. :)

My younger self studies in 10th std in a girls only school in Jamshedpur. They have a gang of 9 girls and they enjoy their last year in school to the fullest. This year only my younger self attended the NCC republic day camp, and received best cadet award there. She enjoyed all the fame and attention after returning to her home town Jamshedpur, when many newspapers took her interview.

Last week only her gang won a bet for 100rs from one classmate and they did an ice cream party with that money in the nearby restaurant and then ran back to school, because they saw their class teacher entering the same restaurant.


1. Would your younger self (YYS, from here) recognize you when you first meet?

Yes she would recognize me. However at first place she will be very much surprised to see me. She has been very skinny all through the years and she used to believe that she will never grow by an inch also, no matter how much ever sweets and chocolates she eats. Call it an effect of movies or anything else, she used to believe that once she grow older than 20 she will look entirely different (read it extremely gorgeous), as we see in movies, kid Madhuri Dixit and young Madhuri Dixit never look same. :P


2. Would YYS be surprised to discover what you are doing job wise?

Yes she will be. As she always wanted to become a doctor. She will be surprised to see me working in engineering domain.


3. What piece of fashion advice would you give YYS?

Don’t wear those high heels and feel uncomfortable while walking. You have good height so wear the comfortable flats. And stop putting so much of oil in your hair, it looks sticky.


4. What do you think YYS is most going to want to know?

What percentage she will get in her 10th board exam.


5. How would you answer YYS's question?

Stop worrying about the marks and percentage because in coming years of your life you will be judged by your work and not by your marks in these exams.


6. What would probably be the best thing to tell YYS?

I would tell her to stop worrying for small-small issues. There is no point crying for hours when she comes 4th in her class. In her coming life these things won’t be important for her. And when mom scolds her for her clumsiness, she should not get angry on mom, as mom is correcting her and helping her become better in life.


7. What is something that you probably wouldn't tell YYS?

I would never tell her how painful is threading and waxing. ;)


8. What do you think will most surprise YYS about you?

YSS will be most surprised to know that now I am not scared of sleeping alone, because she used to sleep with her parents always. She will be surprised to here that now I am not that much scared of cockroaches as she is.


9. What do you think will least surprise YYS?

That I am still in contact with my school friends and I am still in love with sweets and chocolates so much that I can eat full packet of sweets and can skip my meal.


10. At this point in your life, would YYS like to run into "you" from the future?

Of course. She would love to become more confident and smart person as I am now. :)


I enjoyed doing this tag and now I tag Nasia, Aneesh, Shilpa, Hemal, Sourav.
if anyone else liked this tag, consider yourself tagged by me and leave a comment, I would love to read that :)

Wordless Wednesday -5

 

Waiting Room

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 15; the fifteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

“Yes Sir, we covered the full story. The tape and the pictures are with Gaurav. He left already with the team. This story will create sensation Sir.” Barkha said to her boss on phone. She used to work for a big news channel. She came to this small village Chandanpur, to cover a gang rape case. In past also there were quite a few similar incidents happened in this area, but justice never reached the victim. More over Barkha’s channel head wanted some sensational and exclusive story this time, which was why they got ready to fund this story. Barkha was comparatively a new comer in the media field. This story was supposed to be a turning point for her career. 

They filmed the story as per their plan and the whole team was ready to return back to city that day. However at last moment they found one witness, who wanted to meet Barkha in person.  On other side Barkha’s boss wanted to review the first cut story on the same day itself. So she decided to stay back, while rest of the team started early morning for the city. She met that witness and collected all the relevant information. After which as planned, she started for the railway station to board the train to city.

 Chandanpur railway station was an old and small station. She enquired about her train to the station master and came to know that the train was 6 hours late. Then she had no choice but to wait for the train in the railway station. There were some wooden benches in the station, she sat on one of them. She looked around, there was lot of greenery around that place but the station looked barren. Very few train used to stop there, so the station used to be empty most of the time. In no time sky was covered with dark clouds, the whole atmosphere gave a haunted look to the station. In few minutes it started to rain and she ran for shelter towards the tiny waiting room. 

That was a small room with two wooden benches placed next to each other. An earthen pot for drinking water was kept in one corner. Only one bulb was there, which was barely lightening the room. She kept her bag next to her and sat on the bench. She was not very comfortable but her tired body left her no choice but to sit there. She took out a book from her handbag to kill some time. 

                                                **********************************

“Can I sit here?” she found a tall manly figure standing in front of her. She moved her bag to one side and went back to her book. Barkha was busy reading but something was not right. She felt that this man is staring at her. She turned her head towards him but he still continued staring nonstop. This was making her uncomfortable. “Excuse me? You have any problem?” She asked him furiously. She did not bother for his answer, “Idiot, stupid, fool. As if he never saw a girl before” she said to herself and slightly moved towards the other side of the bench. 

“Where are you going?” He was trying to start a conversation. 

“Why can’t he sit peacefully” she thought. 

“Looks like you are all alone? By the way, this is not a safe place for girls to travel alone.” He again.

She wanted to maintain calm but his questions were annoying her. “Yes I am alone. And there is no need for you to take care of me, I can take care of myself very well” She took her bags and moved to the next bench. She turned her face to the other side and acted as if she is busy reading the book. 

By now it was evening, it was getting dark outside. And to add to her trouble, power went off. She got really scared in the dark room. 

Nothing was visible clearly, and suddenly she felt someone’s touch on her shoulder. It freaked her out, she shouted and ran towards the door. She ran out, it was dark there and was raining too. She kept on running. Fear in her made her run faster and faster. She was tired, exhausted. She didn’t even realize that she came very far away from the station. There was no one around and it was very dark. Before she can understand where she was, someone covered her mouth from back.

                                                ********************************

She screamed and woke up. She was sweating and was breathing heavily. It took her few minutes to realize that she was still in that waiting room. There was no one around other than her, and all that she saw was a dream. “Thank god that was just a dream” she looked for her water bottle, but it was empty. She was very thirsty and had no option but to drink water from the pot kept in the corner of the room. She drank water and looked at her watch. “Still 3 hour to go. It’s so boring!” She came back to her place and leaned on the wall behind. She was worrying about how to pass these three hours, when she heard him. “Can I sit here?”

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Credits
Image - Alston Station by Wandering Soul
Courtesy - http://www.deviantart.com/ via http://www.blogaton.in/