Be-imaan Munni 2

CONTINUED from BE-IMAAN MUNNI

……..and while John was out shopping, drank the whole bottle of the rat-poison.

He waited for an hour. Then Another

Nothing happened. Later he came to know that John had actually used up the whole rat-poison and the bitter liquid which Sid had drunk was actually vinegar. It did not take long for John to understand that Sid was contemplating suicide. Sid too became wary of John. He realized that as long as John is living with him, he would not be successful in his suicide-bid.

One day, he called John and told him.

Sid: “John, I no more need your services. I am happy with whatever you have done for me, but now I think I can handle everything on my own.”

John:“But….”

Sid:“No John, I can look after myself. Take 15000 rupees from the almirah as your next 2 months salary and also, you can take my bike. I can write a letter saying I am giving you this bike lest someone suspect you of stealing it. Just write down the letter on a piece of paper and I shall sign it.”

 

John was hesitant to leave and did not give in, especially since he knew that Sid would try to commit suicide. They had never discussed this earlier and finally John gathered courage to speak up

John: “I don’t want you to go away from this world. Please Mr.Siddharth, don’t do this. In army, many a times, some of us lose limbs, and we reach a stage where we start hating ourselves, but none of us ever commits suicide.”

Sid laughed at him.

Sid : “What? Go away from this world? I am not going anywhere”

John: “You are lying; I know you tried to commit suicide. Please don’t do it “

Sid: “You have been mistaken, John. How could you even think like that? Why should I suicide? See, I am so happy and content with my life.”

 

Eventually, John was convinced and Sid was all alone in his house. He started revisiting his suicide plans. This time he wanted a fail-proof plan. So he decided to visualize each and every detail of his plan before executing it. He went about collecting information about various possibilities. By this time, he had a number of options enlisted – jumping into a water body, hanging from the fan, or lying on the railway tracks for a train to come and end his life.  He liked the last option very much.

On a dark and stormy night, when most people would be in their homes, he planned to complete his plan of action. He covered a lot of distance to reach a place which was not at all crowded.  The storm and the rain and the muddy place made his task even more difficult.  He finally reached the railway tracks and lied down on the tracks. It was raining intermittently and he had become all wet. The storm had grown fierce and he started shivering. There was no sign of any oncoming train. He patiently waited for an hour and he could now hear the vibrations of an oncoming train. He was relieved and thought, “Finally, the end is near”. The sound grew stronger and stronger, but then nothing happened. The train went and passed by the other track. Sid was heartbroken. He started crying but nevertheless continued waiting for some other train. By this time, he had almost given up hope, when suddenly the sound of another approaching train gave him a ray of hope. When the train came nearer, he felt someone shove him off the track.

Sid:”Who are you? Why don’t you just let me die?”.

The other man:”I am Pritesh. Come on man, say thanks. I saved your life”

Sid:”Do you know I got this opportunity after such a long time. You ruined it.”

Pritesh:”Ruined what? ”

Sid: “ I was waiting for that train to take my life and you came in between”

Pritesh:”Goodness me. I thought you got stuck in the mud or something. “

Then he laughed a lot.

Sid: “what are you laughing at?”

Pritesh: “Nothing. Was wondering why you would do such a thing”

Sid:”Can’t you see? I can’t see. I am blind”

Pritesh:”Oh, so that’s the reason. Come on, suicide is not an option. Did you consult a doctor?”

Sid: “Yes of course, an eye replacement will help but I am not getting any donor. The near-by eye bank is running empty. And then of course, I don’t have the money to pay for the operation”

Pritesh: Come with me. You are already very wet. Come to my home. We will find out a solution”

Then Pritesh took Sid in his car to his home. It was a huge bungalow. Sid dried himself and Pritesh offered him a fresh set of clothes. Sid changed and they sat on the dinner table.

Pritesh:”So what if I promise you a pair of eyes within a week and also I pay for the operation?”

Sid:”You are kidding. Why would you help me?”

Pritesh :”You must have realized the size of my home and also may be how rich I am. I could easily get you a pair of eyes through my contacts and also easily pay for your operation. You can pay back the money in due time as we are now good friends”

Sid: “I can’t believe it” And he started crying.

Pritesh and Sid talked a lot.

Pritesh later on dropped Sid home when the storm subsided. While getting into his car Pritesh said, “We will meet at ‘Tomahawk’s bar’, a month later when you would be having your vision back”.

A week later, Sid got a call from Appollo hospital saying arrangements had been made for his surgery and an ambulance would come to pick him up.

The operation was successful. Two weeks after the operation, Sid was discharged. Doctor had advised Sid not to strain his eyes much but nevertheless he started painting and sketching. He was getting restless as he wanted to meet Pritesh urgently. He tried calling his number but no one would pick the call. Finally the D-day came and he reached Tomahawk’s bar.

He was waiting near the bartender expecting Pritesh to come up any time and talk to him. After some time, the bartender approached him and asked him”Sir, are you Mr. Siddharth?”

Sid:”Yes”

The bartender handed him a sealed envelope. Sid opened the envelop, there was a letter inside. The contents were as follows:-

“Hi Sid,

Hope this letter finds you in good health. Hope my eyes are serving you well. Ok, now let me tell you a story. The day I met you at the railway tracks, i had come to the tracks for the same reason – suicide. My reasons were a bit different – I was actually reasonably rich but recently had suffered heavy losses in the business and was under heavy debt.  Because of this, my wife Munni Lakhani had lost interest in me and had started going out with other people. Because of this, I was depressed as I used to think that her love for me was true and had planned to commit suicide. But that stormy night, I frankly had no idea you were planning to suicide and thought of saving you before my death. But your story gave me a new idea. I could indeed help you with my eyes and also pay for the operation by selling off my bungalow – my only property left, which otherwise would go to Munni. I pledged my eyes and personally for you and soon I will suicide and of course to take care that no damage happens to the eyes- I would cut my veins.

Now, you have been restored your eyesight and Munni is left with nothing. Let her find someone else!!”

Sid folded the letter and put into his pocket. He shed a tear for Pritesh and smiled wryly thinking about Munni who would never know what true love is.

He quietly walked away thinking about how fate was playing different games with all of them.

Be-imaan Munni

Guys, This is another one of my short stories. Only the title is in hindi. Its an english story 😛 .

The usual disclaimers ….

Disclaimer  : The below story is a work of fiction and the characters including the character names in the story are all fictitious. Any resemblance in name etc to any person living or dead is a matter of sheer coincidence.

———–Story Begins————

“Don’t move! Stay still. Gimme 5 more minutes.”

“Come on, Sid. Finish it fast. My neck is aching!!!”

“Patience, darling, patience. You are posing for Siddharth– the world renowned artist”

“Not yet. You are…”

“And you, darling would be as famous as ….lets say, Mona Lisa”

“Stop building castles in the air, my Leonardo Da Vinci”

“Oh, You don’t have faith in me…”

“Of course Sid, I was just talking about the Mona Lisa part”

10 minutes later….

“Yes Munni. We are done. Now put on your clothes and get going!!”

“What? No other plans?”

“Plans? Plans as in…”

“Don’t act smart! Just look at me. Are you in no mood?”

“Munni, I gotta give the finishing touches to the painting! The dinner is kept on the table. You can leave after having the dinner. Bye!”

“How Rude!!!!”

Siddharth or Sid is an upcoming artist and Munni is his girl friend of three years. Munni belongs to an affluent family. Sid is quite well-to-do and Munni is happy with him. Siddharth leads a very simple life and spends all his time painting. The relationship started with Sid finding a special interest in Munni and she had instantly become his ‘inspiration’ for most paintings. In due course of time they had fallen in love with each other.

 

It has been two years since that evening. Sid has put in a lot of hard work and has put his paintings on exhibit at as many venues as possible. He also earned a contract with the police department to draw sketches of crime suspects. Creating new and innovative designs for book-covers of a famous publishing house earned him a reasonable amount of money and respect.  Now he had enough money saved away and with generous support of bank loans, he could open an art gallery of his own. He did open a gallery, though it was a modest one in terms of size, location and facilities.

Sid and Munni had planned to get married a week after the inauguration of the gallery. The inauguration was attended by heavyweights of Mumbai art culture and also some lesser-known bollywood stars. The event also got decent page 3 coverage. It was a life Munni had dreamt of even while she used to go around with a poor Sid. Now she was happy that she had made a good choice and she was genuinely happy for Sid, for whom, so much hype and media coverage was getting quite difficult to handle.

29 Feb 2008: Mumbai:

Both the bride and bridegroom were very happy as they were going to start their life anew.

Munni: “Sid, almost none of your relatives came to the wedding”

Sid: “It’s ok darling, anyhow I don’t have many of them and none of them bothered to talk to me when I wasn’t this famous.”

Munni: “Still !!! They are your relatives. I was feeling kinda embarrassed with almost no one to introduce as your relative”

Sid: “Forget it! It’s such an important day of our life, such an important moment and darling, you are spoiling my mood by continuing with this boring discussion about my so-called relatives”

Munni: “ “Ok fine !!! Forget it. What are tonight’s plans?”

Sid: “Lets see. Nothing special as such. Your dad said he had a suite reserved for us at the Taj”

Munni: “ “Yup. That my dad’s wedding gift for both of us. Didn’t you like it?”

Sid: “Oh, I loved it. So nice of your dad that he booked us a room. An innovative idea. It would have never crossed my mind”

But fate had other plans for Munni and Sid. Their car met with an accident even before they could reach the Taj and both of them were critically injured.

After a few days, both of them were discharged from the hospital, though Munni could fully recover from her injuries, Sid lost his eyesight forever. The glass pieces from the windscreen had done permanent damage to his retina. It took some time for Sid to come out of his state of shock. He lost not only his eyesight but also his means for daily bread and butter.

When Sid would get up in the morning, he would miss the rising sun. He could hear the birds chirping but could never ever see them. The various colors and hues with which he would give life to his painting were now mere strangers – they were all in his mind, but could ne’er see them. Munni took care of him in the two months following their marriage. But soon she started getting irritable. It became clear now that she had married him for the sole purpose of money and her love for him was secondary. She started neglecting him and asked him to hire a household help for assisting him with daily activities. Fate had worse things in store for him.

Sid wanted someone to look after him. After consulting his friends, he availed the services of John – a war veteran who was quite impoverished and as a result used to work as domestic help at blind peoples’ homes. He had taken special training for the same.

 

One day Munni did not return home from a kitty-party she had gone to attend. Sid called up her dad and was told that Munni no more wanted to stay with him and he would soon be getting a divorce notice. Sid was crest-fallen. Soon, he took to drinking. He spent hours together in the near-by bar. Slowly his mental condition deteriorated. He visited a psychiatrist and was prescribed some anti-depressants. The drugs were not of much use as he was unable to overcome the grief.

Suicide had now become an option for Sid. He made up his mind to end his life with a bottle of rat-kill. One day, he complained to John that there were rats in his room and asked him to get rat poison. He somehow, made himself aware of the location of the rat poison, and while John was out shopping, drank the whole bottle of the rat-poison.

He waited for an hour. Then Another. Nothing happened.

TO BE CONTINUED……….

What do you think? What will happen to Sid? Take a guess…..leave your comments….

Next part at BE-IMAAN MUNNI 2

A Story

Guys, for a change this time i am not posting a movie review. I would like to put up a short story  written by me sometime back – titled ‘Myself, Uma‘.

This content is published at yourstoryclub.com

So here goes  –>

2 JAN 2005,   Makkasan Railway Station , Bangkok :

The sound of an approaching train must have woken me up. It was as if I had woken up from a long dream. I was seated on a bench and when I opened my eyes, I could barely recognize the surroundings – totally new faces, new people, a whole new country. How did I reach this place? Rather, my first question was – “Where am I?”. A person – a young man in his late twenties, alighted from the train. I went up to him and asked him, “Which station is this?” He asked me politely, “Khaaw Thoht”. “Poor Guy”, I thought, “Doesn’t know English”. This time round I started indicating with my hands – “What ….place ….is….this…..?”. Silence. I repeated. Again Silence. Then he gave me a smile and told me in clear English, “Oh! For a moment I failed to understand that you are speaking in English. It might be your accent. This is Makkasan Station. Where do you want to go? This train will take you to Bangkok Station.”

Bangkok? It was my turn to remain silent now. For sure, there was no Bangkok Station in India.

“You mean, Bangkok, Thailand?”, I confirmed.

“Yes” was the reply.

“How did I land up in Thailand?”, I thought, ”By the way, what is my name?”

I didn’t remember my name. I was in a state of total shock. I didn’t know what to do.

I desperately started fishing out the contents of my hand-bag, one-by-one, studying each one of them in detail. Finally I came across my identity card. Uma Powar. I had found my name. But still I knew nothing about myself. I checked up the inbox of my cellphone. There were many messages from Nikki. “Nikki must be my best friend!”, I thought. I immediately called up Nikki.

“Hello, is that Nikki”, I asked, sounding a bit circumspect.

“Uma!! Thank God! At last you called. We were all very worried for you. Your family is waiting for your call. We have even contacted the Indian embassy in Thailand.”

“So listen, Nikki, I have lost my memory and currently the only thing I know about myself is my name. I don’t know how it happened. Please tell me how I landed up in Bangkok”

“You have become victim to Tsunami that occurred on 26 December. You had gone to Thailand for pursuing formal education in Fashion Designing. As far as I remember you were planning to visit Phuket on 26^th December. Then on that fateful day, you were stuck by Tsunami. I’ll right away call your family and inform them about you”.

“By the way, what are my parents’ names and if I have any siblings, what are their names?”

“Your father Mr. Murali Prasad Powar passed away 5 years back. Your mother’s name is Sarla Powar and your sister is Kamini – 5 years younger to you. Your date of birth is 5^th Feb 1983.”

“Thanks a lot Nikki. See you soon”.

I called up my family and told them everything was alright. Nikki had already told my mom that I had called her up. But luckily enough, she had not said anything about my amnesia.

I went to the Indian embassy in Thailand. Since I had lost my Visa, Passport etc, all these were remade without any hassles. Since we were all tsunami victims, neither the Thailand nor the Indian government wanted to complicate things.

A week later I reported to Bangkok’s Fashion School. I made new friends there and started my life anew. I always used to top the weekly tests and my professors always made special mention of all my assignments.

Three months later in April, I came to know that I was pregnant. Immediately I called up Nikki to ask if I was going around with someone before leaving the country.

“You had a steady relationship with a guy – Ricky. Just before you left India, both of you called off the relationship.”

“What about him? Where is he now?”

“He is married to one of his distant cousins”

“Nikki, I am pregnant”

“Better call up your mom and tell her everything”

That is exactly what I did. But my Mom could not stand this. She straightaway disowned me. She asked me never to talk to her and slammed the phone.The doctor gave me an option to abort the child. But I was determined to go ahead with the delivery. The child would give me a reason to smile.

Then in August, my daughter was born. I named her Kajal. After years of separation, my mother had mellowed down.  Finally, she called up one day and asked me for forgiveness. She was really growing impatient to see Kajal. I promised her that I would pay her a visit the very next month.

January 8, 2007: I reached my home in Mayur Vihar. The nameplate outside read – Powars. I started knocking impatiently. A lady in her early 50s – probably my mom, opened the door. She stared blankly at me. Mom failed to recognize me. When I told her that I am Uma, she refused to accept.

When I told my mom what had happened that day and how I had called up Nikki from the cellphone, all of us got a clear picture of what had happened. I was not Uma Powar. But somehow I had got Uma’s Identity card and belongings. I could even handle my career in fashion designing with great ease.

The truth was harsh but strangely enough, it was still the truth.

Now the question remains – what happened to Uma? And who am I? I still don’t know my origin, my birth place. I just know that I lost my memory. Going further, I don’t know who the father of my child Kajal is. Did I have a husband who fell pray to tsunami, or, is he still alive. Or is it that someone took advantage of my unconsciousness. I don’t know the answer of any of these questions. The only thing I know is that I have a loving husband, Stanley who accepted me as Uma Powar– no matter who I am. Today I am a successful fashion designer – Uma Yeoh living happily with my husband and two kids – Kajal Powar and Kiah Yeoh.

Whenever I visit India, I make it a point to pay a visit to Sarla Powar – my mother, the mother who lost her daughter but found another in me.

Disclaimer  : The above story is a work of fiction and the characters including the character names in the story are all fictitious. Any resemblance in name etc to any person living or dead is a matter of sheer coincidence.