The mixed thali

The environment is everything fresh, natural, lively and full of love. Environment doesn’t have a definition, it is all about our perception on it. Environment for me personally is the dance of the happy green trees which sway with the fresh air. It is the movement of the beautiful ocean waves which move up and down and teach us to keep going even if we are going through ups and downs. Environment is the fluffy white, cotton-like clouds which flow in the sea of sky. Environment is the fresh white snow with the dirty earthy mud; it is the union of all the lovely elements of nature. It is like a perfect Indian thali that brings a smile on our faces.

But this perfect thali brings an emotion other than happiness- hunger. Greed and hunger, though denied, are two emotions which often find themselves in our minds. The nature gives us so much, handles us with so much care that it leaves us wanting more.

Our greed is silenced on one day, Environment Day. But it makes an immediate comeback on the next day. We think of environment as our property, as our right. We seem to forget that the environment is to be shared by the world, by all, by each and every organism.

Fifth of June, Environment Day is celebrated to commemorate the opening of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). We are supposed to respect the environment, and we seem to remember this only on this dear day. We keep forgetting the fact that the environment has given everything to us, from the food we eat, to the air we breathe, to the clothes we wear.

We all pledge to make a change; but unfortunately fail to do so. Small things like switching off the lights when not in use, walking or cycling for smaller distances, efficiently handling the water supply, reducing plastic usage, etc can help us to make a change.

We all learn about making a change in the environment at school. But the truth is, we fail to implement it and we ignore such suggestions. Having the desire to make a change, alone is also enough. The spirit of encouragement and hope is the sole component towards accomplishing this mammoth task. The change in environment is going to start when we take an initiative. The change is going to start when we all come together and get everyone to start a movement and come together. The change starts with us, and it starts today.

पत्थर

मैं एक पत्थर हूँ.

रंगीन कपड़ों से ढका हुआ.

सोने के अभूषणों से सजा हुआ.

जाने क्यों लोग मुझसे इतना आकर्षित होते है?

कुछ लोग रोज़ मेरे पास आकर अपनी समस्याएं बताते है.

वह मुझे समस्या सुलझाने के लिए जाने क्या क्या देते है.

दूध,फूल,फल,मिठाइयाँ,

जो न मांगो, वो भी मिल जाता है.

अब भला मैं, एक पत्थर, इन चीज़ों का क्या करूँ?

मेरे लिए एक चार-दिवारी घर भी बनाया है.

मेरे घर के बहार एक व्यक्ति प्रतिदिन बैठता है.

काँपता हुआ, बीमार, फटे कपड़ों वाला.

वह रोज़ मेरे पास आने वाले लोगों से खाने का एक दाना मांगता है.

पर बेचारे को कुछ मिलता ही नहीं!

शायद वह ही एक व्यक्ति है जिसपर मुझे तरस आता है.

वह लोग मेरे लिए कितना कुछ करते है,

जबकि मुझे उनकी मदद की आवश्यता भी नहीं है.

वह उस ज़रूरतमंद की सहायता क्यों नहीं करते?

मेरा मन अक्सर मुझसे यह प्रश्न पूछता है.

मैं तो पत्थर हूँ,

समझने की शक्ति नहीं रखता.

जाने क्यों ये शक्ति होकर भी मनुष्य इतना मूर्ख होता है.

कहाँ गयी उसकी समझ?

The Marlok Mystery-3

I couldn’t sleep last night. Scenes from the shocking recording kept playing in my mind. I thought that I would forget about this in a while. But the shock that I got today is impossible to forget.

I wanted to know the cause of my death. For that, I tried to look into the recordings from the lives of the people who were a part of the smuggler group. After looking for a long time, I finally found something. It was a phone call.

The smuggler said to Tapesh,” If you reveal details about our intentions, team members or locations to the police, we will kill one of your family members. I am warning you in advance.”

Tapesh replied, “I don’t fear anything. You do whatever you want to, but I will reveal all the information. I have worked all my life to find this information, and I want your gang to pay for what it did to my father. Your gang completely transformed my simple, rule-abiding Baba. What you did cannot be forgiven. You have taken away my father from me. Do I have to remind you that you murdered my father? He had expressed his desire to stop working with you, but you said that if he did so, you would kill us all. He was in such a dilemma and shock, that he had a heart attack. I want to avenge his death.”

“Do whatever you want to, I won’t take back my words. One of your family members will be killed if you leak information.” The smuggler warned.

Tapesh had leaked the information to the police. As a result, I had been killed. I saw the scene of my death through the eyes of the smuggler. He had pierced a poisoned needle into my neck which had led to my death.

Few days after my death, Tapesh was coming back after work. The smugglers feared that he might leak some more information and might pose as an active threat to them. Hence, they decided to kill him.

I saw the recording of this scene and was shocked yet again. Tapesh isn’t physically very strong. Hence, it was easy to fight with him. After a few minutes he was badly injured. Yet, he didn’t lose hope and continued to fight.

While Tapesh tried to combat a man in his front, the chief of the smuggling gang tried to pierce his back with a knife. But, the chief was killed. Baba killed him. 

Baba stared at Tapesh and Tapesh stared back in surprise. Baba told Tapesh to run. Reluctantly, a super-surprised Tapesh ran away.

The clock struck 12.00 a.m. That was my deadline for this case. I had just two days. And they were complete now. The mystery of my death was solved, but another mystery had found its way.

I was completely shocked after looking at Baba. Was he alive? Had he lied to us? How was he alive? Why had he faked his death? Where had he gone after faking his death? Why was he helping Tapesh? I had so many questions!

Unfortunately, I will have to live with this mystery, as I wouldn’t be allowed to access these files again. It’s going to be tough but I know I’ll manage to forget about it.

The Marlok Mystery-2

Two weeks have passed and now I am an officially dead person. I have been given an apartment which is shared by Sadhna, Zara and me. Sadhna met with an accident which led to her death. Zara was killed during a terror strike in Kashmir. We have adjusted really well with each other in the past few days and both of them have helped me to adjust in Marlok.

When a soul goes to Marlok, he/she is allotted a job which suits their respective skills. They work in Marlok for 5 years and if they work well, they are given a new life. Marlok is a dull area. The atmosphere is silent and eerie. Nobody seems to smile; everyone thinks death is a sad thing. I hope I stay happy and enjoy my new job.

I have been allotted a job in the MKI (Marne Ki Investigation) sector. I will investigate mysterious deaths of people and try to find the root cause behind them. This information will pass on to the Marlok court which will then think about how the killer is to be punished. The verdict of punishment is sent to Vaikuntha where the Gods decide whether or not to give the punishment. Currently, I have been given a case to test my ability and rank my position in MKI.

My sample case accidently happens to be my own case. As a part of the MKI, I have access to incidents from any person’s life. The incidents are recorded through the eyes, which act as a camera for us.

Before anything else, I plan to see my family’s condition after my death.

(Next day)

Today was my first day at work. I was deeply saddened to see the condition of my family after my death.  Everyone was distraught. Maa looked as if she had given up on life. Ajit is really sad but has to continue with his job in order to support the family. Tapesh, however, had a mixed expression of sadness and revenge on his face. I really felt that there was something wrong. Durga started her college but isn’t able to focus. Kali’s board exam results were great but happiness was nowhere to be seen on her face.

Tapesh’s expression and behavior worried me the most. Tapesh is 23 years now. He has always been a very different person. He has always been focused on his goal and has never let emotions come his way. He has always detached himself from all of us and has never really opened up.  His relations with Baba in particular weren’t strong. He never really spoke to Baba a lot. He was always annoyed with him for some reason. Actually, his attitude towards all of us drastically changed once we moved to Pune. He grew withdrawn. After Baba’s death, he opened up a bit. He became really close to me and was my best friend-cum-sibling. He stood up for our family and shouldered the responsibilities of a good brother and son really well.

I have always been wanting to know the cause of Tapesh’s isolated behavior. Today, I got the chance to do so. I have merely three days to unearth the mystery of my death. I know I should focus on the cause of my death, but I somehow seem to be attracted towards Tapesh’s indifferent behavior. I think it is linked to my death in some way.

So I put on Tapesh’s life recording. I searched for those specific scenes which had Baba, so that I could find the reason of Tapesh’s behavior towards him.

I started seeing all the recordings and found out that I had been a part of most of the incidents that involved Baba and Tapesh. I finally came across a scene which was worth watching because it shook me.

The recording left me dumbstruck. 

It was the recording of a meeting of Baba with a stranger near the back door of our house. Tapesh had come to the kitchen to drink water when he saw Baba outside and overheard this conversation:

Baba: "So you want me to work in the post office and help you to smuggle goods? If it will help my family, I am ready to do it. I just want sufficient money to run my family. So will I have to migrate?”

The stranger replied,"Yes, you will have to shift to Pune. We will smuggle goods from Mumbai and send it by post to Pune.  All you are supposed to do is receive the goods and hand it over to members from our gang. I hope you can carry out this easy job with ease. We will pay you 15,000 for each good."

The end of this recording showed Baba agreeing to the stranger’s demands and the stranger shaking hands with Baba. The scene gradually blurred with tears falling from Tapesh’s eyes. Tapesh also looked dumbstruck and completely shocked. He had idolized Baba as a child and had loved him the most. This news was a complete shocker.

My anger knew no bounds. Confusion, frustration, anger all conquered my mind together.  Tapesh was just a 12 year-old child when he came to know that his father was a criminal. How would he have handled it? What would he have gone through? His attitude was justified. And Baba, how could he have done this to us? The man who taught us to do good, he himself chose the wrong path?

 I was distraught. I just couldn’t believe that my own Baba could do such a thing! And Tapesh, didn’t he trust me? Couldn’t he have told me about this? My dearest brother and father had both betrayed me. All I could do is cry. It took me a while to calm down.

After coming back to my normal self, I started wondering how this is linked to my death, because I am pretty sure that it is…………..

(To be continued)

The Marlok Mystery

This is my first attempt at writing a story. This story will continue for the next 2 or 3 weeks. I hope you like it. Please feel free to tell me how I can make my story better.

I closed my eyes to open them in an alien land. I had no idea about who forced me to travel to this new land. I felt as if my life had been taken from me. I felt lifeless. The reality, however, was that I had faced the phenomenon the world feared --- death.

I am Gitanjali Sarkar, a 25 year-old social worker from Hugli in West Bengal. I was murdered a week back in Pune. I was on my way back from work when I felt a striking pain in my neck. I had no idea about who had killed me. Actually, I still don’t.

I was born in a relatively poor family in Hugli. My mother, Satyaboti worked as domestic help and father, Nishanath had a government job of a clerk. I had 4 siblings. My family found it tough to make ends meet. Sometimes, we hardly had enough food to feed ourselves. I was the eldest of all siblings. I had two younger brothers, Ajit and Tapesh, and one sister, Durga and my youngest sister was Kali. We all struggled a lot to sustain with the food we had.

My parents thought that education was very important. They believed that education would act as a Messiah and lift the curse of poverty from our lives. I was passionate about my studies and took them seriously. I felt really lucky that my parents were sending me to a school instead of marrying me off to some random boy, which is what most families do.

The days went by in the same way. Then, one day a ray of sunshine shone upon us. Baba (my father) was offered a job in a post office in Pune. We definitely felt bad leaving Hugli, but we had no option.

Pune welcomed us with open hands. I was 14 at the time we shifted to Pune. I definitely had difficulty in adjusting with the language and had to learn Marathi and Hindi. I scored 90% in my grade 10 board exams. Due to my excellent grades, I got a scholarship in a good college. I picked Humanities.

I started working as a waitress in various restaurants to supplement the income that my parents earned. I passed grade 12 with flying colors. But, a calamity struck. My father passed away due to cardiac arrest.

We all were shocked. We found it tough to recover from this loss. Our family income reduced incredibly. My younger brother, Ajit had to sell newspapers and Tapesh had to clean cars to earn enough for the family.

Years passed by and we managed to turn from poor to middle-class. I started working for an NGO which looked after poor children. Having experienced poverty, empathy took control and made me enroll for this job. Ajit became an engineer and Tapesh wanted to become a writer. Durga wanted to be a chartered accountant and Kali was going to pass her Grade 12 that year. Maa had become old and we kids didn’t allow her to work any longer.

I had fallen in love with Pune. The city had a life of its own. It was friendly and warm. It welcomed all with open hands and provided loads of love to each inhabitant. Pune had helped me climb the ladder of success. It had helped me to conquer my dreams.

I was really happy with my job and was enjoying it. But one day, a calamity occurred. I was coming home after work. I usually walk back from work. When I was about 100 meters away from the society, I felt a piercing pain in my neck. It was as if someone had stabbed me. I’m not really sad that I died. I have gradually accepted it. All I am worried about is how my family will survive.

For the past week, I have been in Marlok (World of Dead), as a mere soul who is clueless about how her death occurred. I really want to know for what reason I was killed and by whom.

I was told that it was a poisoned sewing needle that cut a vein in my neck and ultimately killed me. I can’t wait to find the truth. A person is officially considered dead once she has spent 2 weeks in Marlok. I guess I will have to wait for another week to find the reason for my death………

(To be continued)

IPL Fever

8.00 a.m.: I wake up with a start. I had a really weird dream. I was attending a cricket match with my school buddies. I have a really awkward set of friends. So basically, we are all cheering for our dear team Pune and Sid blurts out, “ Yaha kuch khaane ke liye milega kya?” (Will I get anything to eat?) At that very moment, the cricket ball falls into Sid’s mouth. I realize that my dear MS Dhoni has hit a six. Parnika suddenly starts talking in her rarely heard childish tone and keeps saying, “Trophy chahiye!” Ronit starts crying for no reason and Shruti starts letting out her sarcastic laugh. Tina keeps blabbering something about Harry Potter and Dibya keeps munching khakhras. Tanaya and Vaishnavi start a conversation that basically consists of pakao Marathi jokes. Palak keeps dancing and Isha just stares at everyone with a blank expression.  The other people (who are perhaps slightly less crazy) try to calm these people.  

The dream then fast-forwards to the end of the match and the Pune team lifts the trophy. Our faces beam with pride and happiness knows no bounds. We start dancing like lunatics. All of a sudden, we see Steve Smith saying, “Having a good time?” We find ourselves in the Kingfisher ad scene. We start running quickly towards our favourite players in order to get a selfie with them. But these players suddenly start dancing on the Jio dhan dhana dhan music. We dance along with them. Thankfully, I wake up and stop this series of idiotic thoughts.

8.30 a.m.: I freshen up and try to think of the cause of this stupid dream of mine. I become like the person in the Mentos ad ‘cause dimaag ki batti jal jaati hai. I realize that it is the finale of IPL today and my favourite team- Rising Pune Supergiant has finally made it to the finale. The scrappy sister suddenly enters the scene. She tells me about how I was dancing in my sleep last night. Ah, that dream really ruined my silent-sleeper reputation. 

10.00 a.m.: After a typical Puneri breakfast of missal pav, maa says that Pune will win today. The scrappy sister joins in with a piece of jamun pointing out that she loves Pune so much that she is eating a purple fruit (purple is the colour of the Pune jersey). I check my Whatsapp and share my excitement about the evening with my society friends. They laugh at my excitement since they don’t exactly like cricket. One of the craziest ones comments that food is mood. I just stare at my phone with a peculiar expression.

1.00 p.m.: I check my Whatsapp again and observe that my 8A buddies are discussing a lot about the match. I find this eerie because most of my friends from my dream are my 8A friends. I guess I was right when I called them lunatics.

3.00 p.m.: My phone has been producing its irritating ‘beep’ sound for a while now so I decide to find out the cause of this beeping. I find out that my dear 8A friends have come up with a stupid and irritating yet super fun way of conversation. Basically, everyone has to chat using hash tags. So for the past hour, the ‘hash tag’ conversation has been going on in the group.

8.00p.m.: My whole family, including dadu dadi is sitting eagerly to watch this match. We are munching on delicious junk food and basically increasing our calorie intake. But we are also having a blast together. Meanwhile, on the 8 A group, the hash tag conversation is still on and craziness is at its peak. You wouldn’t need Cric Buzz if you were on the group; updates of every minute were on the group. And ya, the hash tag conversation was on.

12.00 a.m.: I am grieving at Pune’s loss by one run. Everyone is disappointed. Though Mumbai the tournament, Pune won hearts by its hard work and never-give up attitude. Pune is the winner for me.  IPL doesn’t just fuel our excitement tanks; it also teaches us so many things. Teamwork, adjustment, battling loss, never giving up, IPL teaches it all. Also, it brings us together. Family, friends, acquaintances, we discuss sports with all! So, Pune may win or lose, I am happy with IPL 10! 

Khane mein kya loge? -2

Summer and food are interlinked. As I mentioned in part 1, food for Indians isn’t just a mode of nutrition. For us, food is respect, happiness, wisdom (a paunch) and even the symbol of a happy person. Summer is that season which provides us perhaps the widest variety of food and an enormous amount of satisfaction. Summer and food is perhaps the best season-happiness combo. So let’s bite into this yummy, full-of masala delicious and hot combo.

The first food item that would come to our minds by the mention of summer is Mango. A summer without Mango is like a sabji without salt, rasgulla without that sticky sugar syrup, Bollywood without drama and childhood without play. Fresh, juicy mangoes are a treat during summers. Keri, badam, kesar, hapoos, dusheri, langda, chaunsa, mulgoba, raspuri, himsagar and totapuri are some varieties of mangoes in India. Each variety is ek se badhkar ek. All the varieties are super yummy. Sipping a glass of aamras or aam panna in the scorching heat is like a small rendezvous with the taste of heaven. The competitions about who eats more mango pieces or who cleans the mango peel most are full of energy and enthusiasm and a spirit of healthy competition. The various mango preparations are to die for.

Another important aspect of summer food is ice cream. Ice cream of each and every flavor is experimented with in this season. Licking the creamy ice cream is an irresistible pleasure. Vanilla with chocolate sauce, mangoes and aloo bhujia (we have awkward combinations) are a treat. Barf ka gola (ice ball) with the syrup of kaala khatta, gulab, nimbu, strawberry, orange, aam, etc are a sumptuous and soothing treat.

All our cool cold drinks, mocktails, milkshakes, smoothies also become very essential for our sustenance in summer. Here comes in the concept of ice. This frozen piece of water is what provides us relief from the deadly heat. Ice has a place with coconut water, normal water, milkshakes, smoothies, cold drinks, etc.

Summer is a season that brings us happiness and food is something that brings smiles to all our faces. When taken together, they bring loads and loads of happiness. The scorching summer heat can be beaten by these sumptuous meals. So, garmi se takkar mein khana avval hai.