The Death

Previous - 'Pitiful State'

"Live my life too son!" Amidst the whirring sound of the fan in the otherwise calm room Sireesh was lying on his bed. Lying motionless. Though he could follow sleep wake cycles and was able to open his eyes, he could still not make any slightest movent. Those were the last words his father spoke to him from his death bed after the road accident. Dr. Harish never knew what was waiting for his son. Deep down his heart Sireesh was feeling very sad for what had happened to him. He was sweating profusely and his entire body went shaking for a few minutes and Sireesh fell unconscious for almost one complete day. After he woke up, he found a new bunch of bottles being injected into his body. Doctors were asking him not to think of anything, though they were not sure whether he would be able to hear what they were saying. He was gazing blank at the rotating fan.

"Ek do teen char band karo ye atyachar", he remembered the way he shouted along with his friends during the cultural programmes in his college days. And he remembered the way his father used to feed him food when he was little. His mother praising him when he stood class first when he was young and his teacher punishing him for forging his marks card when he scored less than what he used to always. His dying father and the incident which got him to this state, everything was flashing. Frames of all these incidents were flashing in his mind one after another. All this left Sireesh wondering "They say every moment of our life flashes in our mind just before we die. Am I dying?"

Sireesh started feeling sick. He could feel his stomach muscles churning inside. "Am I dying?" The question still remained unanswered. He felt the answer will be in affirmative which he strongly wanted not to be. He started thinking again "I am supposed to live my dad's life too, am I dying? Who will take care of my mom? How will she react when she finds me dead in my bed?..." He was in a conflict of thoughts and suddenly Sireesh was not able to keep his eyelids open anymore. May be it's time, he was dying!

Next - 'Meaning of Life'

Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna...

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil mein hai

aye watan Karta nahin kyun doosra kuch baat-cheet
Dekhta hun main jise woh chup teri mehfil mein hai
Aye shaheed-e-mulk-o-millat main tere oopar nisaar
Ab teri himmat ka charcha ghair ki mehfil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Waqt aanay dey bata denge tujhe aye aasman
Hum abhi se kya batayen kya hamare dil mein hai
Khainch kar layee hai sab ko qatl hone ki ummeed
Aashiqon ka aaj jumghat koocha-e-qaatil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Hai liye hathiyaar dushman taak mein baitha udhar
Aur hum taiyyaar hain seena liye apna idhar
Khoon se khelenge holi gar vatan muskhil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se
Sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se
Aur bhadkega jo shola-sa humaare dil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Hum to ghar se nikle hi the baandhkar sar pe kafan
Jaan hatheli par liye lo barh chale hain ye qadam
Zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Yuun khadaa maqtal mein qaatil kah rahaa hai baar baar
Kya tamannaa-e-shahaadat bhi kisee ke dil mein hai
Dil mein tuufaanon ki toli aur nason mein inqilaab
Hosh dushman ke udaa denge humein roko na aaj
Duur reh paaye jo humse dam kahaan manzil mein hai


Wo jism bhi kya jism hai jismein na ho khoon-e-junoon
Toofaanon se kya lade jo kashti-e-saahil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazuay qaatil mein hai


PS1: I feel strong every time I go through this piece of writing
PS2: By-hearted more than half of this
PS3: Try reading after listening to this from the movie Rang De Basanti
PS4: Do let me know what you feel after doing this
PS5: Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai!!

One fine day

One fine day early at 5.30 in the morning with my iPod plugged I started my run on the roads of Jeevanbheema Nagar partly afraid of the stray dogs, a major problem in every area of Bengaluru. Those were the days when I was preparing for my 20K run. After a little warm up I started my run by entering into a near-by park where I can run without any apprehensions about the wild bites from stray dogs. And there is nothing quite like the cool breeze you feel on your face as you run early in the morning. After doing many rounds in the park, to break the monotony I started running on the roads around. I thought of giving up and reached back to the same park after one hour of continuous running where in I would have covered nearly 11 kms, but the view my eyes were offering made me run further.

That was a beautiful girl clad in black track pants and tee. She came out of her house, opposite to the park, just then and started her run. I was damn tired and it was really difficult for me to run, but my legs weren't feeling any pain. They were just running behind that girl. This way I ran behind her for around a kilometer and in order to avoid any misapprehensions from her side I overtook her and continued my run. Shez damn beautiful, thats all the description I could give you about her.

After five minutes, I heard a very sweet voice from my behind saying "Excuse me!".

I turned back to find her to sitting on the ground holding her left ankle. It was she who said 'Excuse me' and yeah she did call me. May be for some help. Whatever be it, the 9th cloud was occupied (obviously by me).

"Can I be of some help to you?" was all I said very courteously.

"I hurt my ankle."

"Let me see that... Are you new to running?"

"Yeah. I'm!"

And I helped her in removing her left shoe and sock.

"I guess its a minor sprain. A small massage near the ankle will relieve you of your pain."

She tried massaging herself but couldn't do properly afraid of the pain.

"Thats not the way. Can I help you out?" I said, partly eager. ;)

"Yeah, please."

How would I explain you guys that experience? As my friend says, its a life time experience.

After 2 minutes of ankle massage, "Any better?"

"Yep, much better!"

"Cool, try walking a bit. Let me help you", helped her in letting her stand holding by her shoulders. Was partly wondering if its all real.

"Thanks"

"Is it still hurting?" "Nope, much better now." "Able to walk?" "Ye I am"

"Thats cool. Do take care while running. Make it a point to stretch your leg muscles before running."

"Ok, I will. Thanks for the help."

I grinned and said "Anytime" and was about to continue my run to hear "Can I know your good name?" I could hear my heart beating faster and saying 'Ofcourse' 'Sure' 'Why not' out of sheer happiness but my mouth was not giving any answer to her. Finally with lot of difficulty, forgetting all the multiple answers my heart my giving, mumbled my name and made it a point to say "Yours?"

"Samhita Sharma"

"Thats an interesting and a very sweet name."

"Thank you!"

And we started running together for a while and took a break. Talked a bit about general things and then backed towards the park where her house was situated. She showed me her house from outside, thanked me again for the help, bade me bye and entered her house.

For the next 3 months she was my running partner. Every morning, we would run together and we would talk anything and everything, sensible and senseless, useful and useless. Later after that I could not find her coming for the morning runs. For the next one week she wasn't there. I started feeling a sense of void and was gradually losing interest in running too, because of her absence. During this time, I realized my interest for her and turned bold enough to enter into the house Samhita showed me the very first day we met. I was told that the Sharma family stayed in that house for past one year for rent and 2 weeks back the entire family moved to a different house, probably to a different city. Contacted the owner of the house to enquire about Samhita's father but little did I find about him.

Sad thing was we never spoke to each other about our personal lives. So I knew nothing about her apart from her beautiful face and her wonderful ideas. We never even exchanged our email ids. All we did was run together. Hope to see her some day.

PS: Purely a piece of fiction. Had never been so lucky to meet a girl like this.