horizon is not so far now #hinsfn

पर्दों से छन के जो

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 06:04:00 +0000

होती हर खालिश की दवाई...

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 18:20:00 +0000

बिना खुरचन का दिल

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 18:16:00 +0000

फासले यू बढ़े है दरमियान

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 09:19:00 +0000

उड़ती है बांकुले आज भी उसकी

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 04:07:00 +0000

I Said, You Said

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 13:19:00 +0000

With rain-drops slowly dripping from their hung umbrellas, both secretaries were waiting eagerly for someone's arrival. The Finance Secretary, being more restless of the two kept on glancing on the entry gate of the park, her bench mate and then her wrist-watch, this was going on in tandem since they both took their seats.

“Will you please stop doing that? He will come when he will come, your fidgeting will not make him apparate out of this falling rain.”

“How can you be so calm in all this? Is it me alone who is feeling this vine of fear slowly crawling up the spine? I mean so much depends on this. After this meeting there will be no turning back.”

“You are making this meeting sound like a murder. We are here to meet the police inspector and share whatever we know about this embezzlement thing. In the CEO's absence from the company thanks to that fateful attack, we can’t trust anyone else, especially when our fingers are pointed towards the second in command.”

“But still…it's the police we are reaching out to. This will have legal repercussions. And what if this police inspector after listening to our story changes sides and strikes a deal with my boss? What if the fingers we are pointing somehow change their direction and start pointing towards us?”

“Have they changed the script of your cartoon show? What they called it Plom and Terry…or have you started watching something new? You are questioning like we are in a shady cop thriller drama, where the innocent go behind the bars.”

“First, it’s Tom & Jerry and my grandkids watch it. I just give them company. Second, yes I watch a lot of crime drama serials, but that has nothing to do with this. And regarding innocent going behind the bars, I have two words for you - Look Around.”

“It's not as bad as you are picturing. Anyways, I don’t think this police officer is anything like what you are talking about. He is good.”, she can herself feel the hollowness in her words but still want to portray a confident face in front of her friend. This inspector is her only hope in protecting the company and more importantly the company's CEO.

“So you think he will be extra nice with us. Like, he will ask us to have some coffee and some biscuits along. You fool, police always start a conversation with doubt. And who they doubt the most, the person who shows them initiative.”

“Hmmm….so you mean if this meeting goes south, at my funeral people will say, “She would have lived a little longer if not for her initiative-taking nature.””

“You can laugh now as much as you like but when you are behind bars on charges of embezzlement and illegal trespassing on private property, then we'll talk.”

“Obviously we will, my dear accomplice.”

“No, I am not your accomplice.”

“But you are, my dear Finance Secretary. When they will ask me in court for a statement, I will simply admit my incompetence in financial matters and will point my finger to you and will say, I did what my Finance Secretary friend asked me to do.”

“You will not do that.”, a mixture of worry and agitation shadowed her tone.

“Yes, I will.”, the CEO's secretary replied back in her nonchalant coy tone.

“But why? Ok, What will it take for you to not take my name in the courtroom?”

“No more fidgeting. That's it. Nothing more.”

FInance secretary opened her mouth to rebel against but then thought better of not to and kept her words to herself. With their chat abruptly ended, the sound of raindrops pattering suddenly took the centre stage.

They must have waited for five more minutes before a police jeep entered through the front gate of the park and came to a halt at some distance from them. Police inspector rolled down the driver's side window and waved them to join him in his car..

Both ladies stood in their place and started towards the car. FInance secretary with a little hesitation in her step though.

“Sorry for being late. It's been awhile for me to visit this part of the town.”, the inspector didn’t wait for both of them to settle in seats fully and finished with his apology on the very first instance he got.

“It's alright officer, we didn't wait that long.”, the CEO's secretary didn’t want to tell him that they were in the park for over an hour. If this officer stands up to the reputation which she has heard all this wait will be worthwhile.

Finance secretary kept her wits to herself on her friend's last statement. But she passed a knowing glance to her to give her a piece of her mind.

“Coffee?” Inspector handed the CEO's secretary two steam ozzying cups with chocolatey coffee aroma dissolving in the car air. “Last part of my apology, I promise.” He smiled and went behind her own coffee cup, blowing on his coffee for a colder landing for his lips.

“Oh, how thoughtful. Isn’t it thoughtful dear.” And with that, the CEO's secretary passed over the coffee cup to her friend and also passed her a return glance.

“Thank you”, the Finance Secretary whispered.

“So, whenever you are ready we can start.” Inspector kept on drinking his coffee. He was late for the meeting because he was doing some real digging on the case. And when he got a call from the victim's secretary about some financial irregularity in the company, he was not sure if this would have any link to his investigation. But taking a couple of hours break for an otherwise hectic investigation might help in adding to his perspective.

Amidst constant pattering of rain on the car roof, with steam breathing coffee cups, the three started on the very reason for this meeting.

The CEO's secretary started narrating the events chronologically how they found it weird that the company's bumper profits till the first eleven months melted away and paved the path for donations and charities cut to keep company afloat. And then the link between the Finance Director, the ghost company and the bungalow.

Both women have already decided that they will not delv much into the history of the ghost entity so nothing can be backtracked to the company itself.

By the time the CEO's secretary was done with her narration all three cups were emptied and disposed of in a small poly bag on the floorboard.

“Interesting. I can’t believe you both have uncovered so much without any help”, Inspector wrote down some points in his diary.

“But have you given any thought on how you will prove all this? I mean without any proof about these missing funds it's just a case of ‘I said, you said’, Inspector was still looking in his diary when he made this point.

When he didn’t get a response he closed his diary and started, “Listen, don’t take this the wrong way, but I agreed to meet you because I was intrigued over the phone when you said you know something is going behind the CEO's back. But now after listening to this story, for which you don’t have any proof, I am bound to think that all this is just pure fiction. And a very interesting and layered one, I must say. But without proof it will sadly be limited to fiction only, nothing more, sadly.”

“Anyways, I will be lying if I say that listening to your story is my only purpose here. I have a couple of my own enquiries to make which unfortunately I can’t ask in office premises.”, Inspector concluded.

“Who said we don’t have proof?” Finance secretary muttered in between being busy eating biscuits. Where the hell did she get the biscuits?

Inspector froze in his tracks and looked towards both secretaries turn by turn.”You have proof?”

The CEO's secretary took a fluffy brown envelope and handed it to the inspector. He didn’t spend much time opening and sifting through the documents and photographs. After going through all, his spellbound spell only allowed him enough breath so he can say, “You should have started your story with this.”

Before coming on this supposedly two hour break, the Inspector was doubting if this would be a fruitful meeting. But now he is glad that he said yes for the meeting and also showed up.

The inspector was lost in his reveries when the CEO's secretary shook him out of it, “You were saying that you want to ask us something which you can’t ask in the office premise?”

“This brown envelope of yours has blown away those questions and at the same time raised some new questions which I know whom to ask exactly.”

With that Inspector put the envelope in the glove box and turned on the car's ignition. “Let me drop you to your place, it's getting dark. Also, I was just wondering what you think about the newly hired guy for the Govt Policy post?”

Both secretaries looked at each other, by now both have become so good at probing that they know when they are getting probed themself.

One Tiny Soldier

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 07:35:00 +0000

“Listen, not today. I have already a lot going on in my head and it's making me feel dizzy. I don’t want to get into a fight with you because, just I don’t.”

“You think I want to fight with you. I am just asking why the hell police came to our house? Is it too much of a ask?”

“I told you it's about city mayor elections. They have this routine chat with all the people which they think have firm footing in their respective vicinity. They ask for cooperation and to keep them informed if we come to know about any unethical element creating ruckus during poll time.”

“I don’t buy that. Cook said the police came around breakfast time and stayed till late afternoon.”

“So what? And why the hell cook is telling you all this? And if you rely on your sources so much, why don’t you ask them to tell you about my chat with the inspector verbatim to verbatim?”

“Now, who’s losing his cool and fighting?”

“Bloody hell woman, I will lose my control. You are expecting me to keep calm when your house staff, which your father gifted you at the time of marriage, goes around behind my back and tells you what I am doing and what not? For god sake I was having only a conversation with my college friend and that too in my own four walls, and your bloody servants and you are making me sound like I am having an affair!”

“Wh…Who said you are having an affair? I was just worried about you so I just thought to ask you why the police inspector visited. I didn’t know he was your college friend.”

“You never bothered, I never told. Ha! That's funny..”

“What?”

“Nevermind. Is there anything else your trusted “source” told you which you want to drill upon? Or may I have the permission to step out of this jury box?”

“I was not drilling you, it's just that I was a little worried about our little boy and…you. I heard about the police coming to our house and panicked.”

“You were?”

“What? You think I am lying.”

“No, no, obviously you were worried. Especially for me, that's why when I was in hospital, after that leopard attack, eyes half buried in chloroform dizziness and other half in antibiotics and asked the doctor for you in my half consciousness, he pointed his finger towards my dozed-off 65-year old secretary in the corner of the room and not you, because you simply were never there.”

“How many times I have to tell you I get nauseous on the very site of blood.”

<<CEO rises from his breakfast table and in anguish started towards his room, but then stopped in his tracks and without looking at his wife, said,>>

“Of course, you get nauseous. You know what was funny earlier, “You never bothered, I never told”, this seems like the perfect way to define our marriage. Don’t you think so? By the way, I just want to let the worrying mother know, her 12-year-old’s birthday was yesterday. And on both our behalf I have given him Thor's uniform. So when he comes around and hugs you for no apparent reason, just pretend you care like you always do.”

<<In anger and pain filled long strides CEO reached his bedroom landing on the first floor of the house. What he saw next broke his heart. His 12-year-old son was sleeping outside his bedroom door on the floor, with his Thor hammer clutched in his tiny little palms. He lifted him slowly and took him to his room and carefully placed him on his bed. For one long eternity of a moment, it was just him watching his son sleep. Him and fourteen different cartoon faces ogling from the walls. Some moments get told and get passed on from generation to generation and become stories and then there are some which will always remain between fathers and their children’s goofy stickers and broken toys. No one bothers to ask, no one bothers to tell.

CEO lost in his reveries accidentally steps on one of his son’s squeaky toy.>>

“Dad?”

“Yes son, it’s me. Sorry I woke you up.”

“Where is my Thor hammer, Dad?”

“It’s next to your pillow dear”

“Oh..ok. Did that leopard come back when I was asleep?”

“What? No, no one is coming dear. You don’t have to be afraid, dad is here for you.”

“I know you will always be. And, I am for you. Next time when that leopard comes, my Thor hammer will be waiting for him, I mean her.”

“You overheard the police uncle when he was here, didn't you?”

“Please don’t scold me.”

“I am not going to. How can I scold someone who will always be there for me.”

“Can I sleep with you tonight, Dad?”

“I don’t see a reason why not. Let's make some space for your old man.”

<<Most of the time children need their fathers to fight their fears and demons living below the bed. But then there are some other times, when the fathers need their children to keep their fears at bay.

The CEO's son gave his father a one hand hug and tightly clutched his birthday present in another. In his son’s tiny embrace, the CEO can’t help himself but falls into a deep dark velvety slumber with dreams of leopards and jungle in the wild. And one tiny soldier with hammer in his hands standing between the leopards and him.>>

Hunch

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 14:01:00 +0000

“I will kill you, if you ever tried to pull something like that. What were you thinking entering that property without permission and then spying on people inside from those bushes.”

“I know that was a little irresponsible…”

“A little? You were very far from being called “a little irresponsible”, my friend. A little would have been if you woke up this morning and in this age thought to walk to the office instead of taking the bus. A little would have been if you forgot to take your medicine, but this was opposite of “a Little. And…”

“Ok, I am sorry.”

“And you also took me along with you. You know I get a little short on breath when my blood pressure goes up. And to top it all you called me on Saturday evening on pretext of doing something important together, when you know very well that this is my Tom and Jerry time…I mean my grandchildren watch it and I overlook them.”

“Wait a minute, you are angry because you missed your TV?”

“No, I didn’t say that. I missed quality time with my grand kids, that's it.”

“That’s very normal I guess, a grandmother of 65 years enjoying Tom and Jerry with her grandkids. I see why you are upset.”

“See it’s not for me, it's for them. They love that show and you know me being a grandparent I have to be responsible, nurturing, understanding and other adjective words, you get my point, right?”

“I was not understanding it very clearly earlier but then you drove the point home by saying “other-adjective-words”. How can one not understand after that?”

“No need to be apologetic now, it's alright in your age the brain gets a little slow in processing things.”

“You know I am a year younger than you..”

“Is it? Well in that case age is just a number. So, what was the big exciting thing for which you ruined my Saturday evening?”

“I know the reason behind our company’s best profitable year turning into a subpar year.”

“What? But how? I mean what is it?”

“We are standing in front of it.”

“You mean this car. But how did this car eat our company’s profits? That Human Resource secretary was right, you are going cuckoo in your head?”

“No you idiot, I am talking about this mansion.”

“Oh…that makes sense.”

“You have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Not a clue.”

“The reports that you were going to shred that day, I studied them and everything looked right, apart from one transaction. In bank statements there was one money transfer entry to an entity which I know for a fact is closed for the past thirteen years, or I thought I knew that it’s closed. And precisely for the past thirteen years.”

“You are not making any sense to me. Did you skip your meds this morning?”

“I am alright and I know what I am talking about. Around 27 years ago when this company started, it took some time for both the brothers, our CEO’s father and his younger brother, to take the business off the starting block. But when they did, there was nothing holding them back.”

“And how is this related to this 13 year closed entity and then to this mansion?”

“Both brother’s learnt the tricks of trade very early in their career and not all of those tricks were on the right side of the law. This closed entity was one such trick. They created this to create an artificial loss on delivery to clients and then they used the loss to offset against their income, which in result reduced their tax outlay.”

“Ohhh…but then you said it's closed for the past 13 years?”

“When the CEO's father passed away, his younger brother also decided to leave the business but before leaving he made sure he was handing over a business which is a law abiding enterprise, so he closed that fictitious entity and alongwith buried other skeletons.”

“But if it was closed 13 years back then how come this year we made payment to this entity? Wait a minute, is it what I am thinking it is…”

“What?”

“The new CEO came to know about this entity and he kept on using this to do what his old man was doing prior to him. That's smart.”

“That’s really smart of you, Byomkesh. I think you nailed it, shall we go to the police.”

“I told you I don’t give enough credit to my wisdom…, wait a second you agreed with me. You never agree with me, what's the catch? Spill it.”

“So you are right in saying that the entity was kept alive even after the CEO's uncle left. And I confirmed this by checking the past years bank statements. Each year money was sent to this entity, but I think it was not the CEO who was sending this money.”

“Then who? I think it was him only, otherwise who else will gain from showing lower income to the authorities. Isn’t he the only executive who gets part of the net profits as an annual bonus?”

“Hmmm…I have two reasons to believe it is not the CEO, who is embezzling money away from the business and using it to buy mansions”

“No hurry at all, it's not like I have dinner to cook and medicine to take. No Rush At All.”

“Ok, Ok, no need to get cranky. I will take you to McDonalds after this, at least I can pay you in burgers if not in cash.”

“Not burgers alone. Happy Meal.”

“Fine, Happy Meal it is, “Miss-my-grandchildren-watch-tom-and-jerry-not-me”. So reason number one, if the CEO was himself embezzling the money then why did he hire that boorish man for a Govt Policy role and that too from his own salary cut.”

“It makes sense but not enough of it. What if hiring this new guy is just for optics?”

“Fair enough. Here is my second reason for believing, it is not him.”

<<CEO’s secretary shows the photographs she has taken just some time back when she was hiding in the bush.>>

“Is that the CEO’s wife and…”

“Your dear boss, Finance Director.”

“But..but, why?”

“You mean why are they snuggling in this photograph? Or..””

“No, I mean yes, but also why is he doing this?”

“Good question. My hunch is it's related to the snuggling and the partner he is snuggling with.”

“I agree with your hunch.”

“Wait a second, you are agreeing with me. You never agree with me.”

“What are you talking about? I have an agreeable personality?”

“What is that supposed to mean?

“That, you are taking me for a Happy Meal and telling me how you know all this.”

“I told you already, I went through the papers you were going to shred.”

“The papers didn’t have the story which you told me about the fictitious entity.”

“You were right, we don’t give enough credit to your wisdom.”

Like father, like son

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 06:58:00 +0000

“I still find it hard to believe Mother. Are we that good at persuasion? Or the world has become pliable then earlier.”

“Don't be mistaken here my dear, it's not the world but only these two. But then we should not be surprised, since ages’ love has made people do far stranger things against their better judgement, then what our partner in crime, the Finance Director and his long term partner has agreed upon.”

“Sometimes this all feels too good to be true.”

“It is, because our job is still not complete. I was only scared of the first phase of the plan but that went well. I was worried our little kitten might satiate her appetite in one go. But she can’t have done a better job. Attacked and hurted him enough that he survived and with his survival came into existence a precedent of Leopard attack in the city. And then it is the matter of you getting into the company. We were thinking of getting you in the company, but that moron CEO himself asked for a new position to be created. And to top that he gave the responsibility to our dear lover boy.”

“But the thing is, he is not. I saw the business numbers for the past 12 years, since he has taken the top job, and the numbers are impeccable and growth numbers are better than industry average. But then I think he did all that but didn’t have a whiff about his wife’s affair, maybe he is a moron.”

“Like father, like son.”

“Was his father also a good businessman?”

“Equal parts of goodness in doing business and being a shitty husband. It was he who started this business and along with his younger brother he scaled it up to a level, where in each room his reputation preceded him. And after both of their arrival I used to enter like an afterthought, with no one even knowing about my existence. It ached me more when I saw that in people’s eyes, seeing me just as an afterthought.”

“I didn’t know about his younger brother. Where is he now?”

“Last time when I met him it was a chance encounter. He was travelling with his wife and was on his way to some resort on north-eastern side of the country. He was as surprised as I was after seeing him after so many years. After the initial shock reduced, we started talking and it was then I came to know that the previous CEO of the company, is dead. I found an opening in that piece of information but you were quite young then. And not to mention my divorce with my second husband, your father, was still in court.”

“We would not have needed to do all this, if my deceased father had simply honoured the court ruling on alimony.”

“I wish he would have honoured his commitments. But no, nothing came from him towards us. Apart from blank stares of sympathy nothing good came to us even at the end.”

“There is one good which came out - the kitten.”

“Act…actually you are right. Yes, that did come out in our favour. So, how’s your new job going?”

“It's good but it’s just getting difficult to pretend to be a Govt. Policy expert when you can’t even tell the government policy and horseshit apart.”

“Not much difference there to begin with. Just try to stall things for some time, we are close to our goal. It's a matter of a couple of weeks now, everything is in place.”

“But what after the CEO? We still have the Finance Director and CEO’s wife…”

“I won’t worry about them. I handed them a bag of bread crumbs in the beginning, and I can see the bag half empty now. Trail is getting longer and sooner or later someone will pick-up the trail. And I know that someone, who has a microphone in one hand and moral compass in another, combination which is not lethal usually but in this case it will be for our love birds.”

What the cat dragged in

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 15:41:00 +0000

“Son, look what the cat dragged in.”

“Why are you disturbing the poor chap, you keep on playing kiddo, no need to get formal for your police-uncle.”

“So, “police-uncle” if i remember correctly, you were planning to come about three months ago and now you are coming.?”

“You know very well how the last three months went in the city. One after another unexpected turn of events happened, first the mayor resigned unexpectedly then we came to know someone was blackmailing him with a video of him in a “compromising” position. Initially the case went to another department, and the complete police department took a collective sigh of relief because you know these political cases…but then the court passed the buck to us with strict orders on no-airing-of-dirty-linen.”

“No-airing-of-dirty-linen of this compromising position video case, was he referring to the same linen ex-mayor used..”

“I knew it out of all people you will definitely love it. Anyways, I got the case and luckily I discovered a clue and was near to solving the case, but then they started pressuring us about the new mayor election and the security beef-up..”

“Since when you were working on this excuse-speech?”

“I did no….fine since breakfast, happy?.”

“Why won’t I? Very few people witness police admitting their guilt. Anyways, enough of this chit-chat…let's go outside in fresh air. So apart from my inspirational personality and pearls of wisdom, what else bringed you to my humble abode?”

“A cat.”

“Don’t tell me the police department is taking the animal cruelty newspaper article piece seriously. You came here to ask me questions on if I treated the wild animal well in my bout for survival? Or are you here to ask me if I asked the leopard how he was feeling while he was chewing on my forearm?”

“She was.”

“This is very comforting to know that amidst their busy schedule of security beef-up for the new mayor’s election, the police department is also gender testing maneater leopards.”

“Do you serve all your guests platter after plaster of your wry and dry pearls of wisdom in lunch or am I the special case?”

“Here we believe in serving shallow and warmth to only strangers, for friends and family we always keep an extra pan of honest and cold.”

“Fair enough. But does that come with something on the side also for nutritional requirements?”

“Lunch is on its way, my dear hungry police uncle. So, before you do any formality, I am feeling fine now. Few stitches on my arm and ego, rest all is in front of you. And I don’t know where the leopard went after attacking me, as you see I was a little preoccupied with carrying my son and running for both of our lives.”

“Since college I knew you were a good runner, the way you ran from the warden when she caught you red handed entering the girl’s hostel, or when the college dean saw you stealing petrol from his scooter, or when the junior batch…”

“Enough of running testimonials but the fact is all that running did come handy…little unexpectedly but it did. After all, who would even think of a wild leopard roaming in our city? I don’t think after the early 1970s this city has witnessed anything close to a jungle, leave aside encroaching it.”

“Hmmm…”

“You know what is more upsetting than a free roaming wild animal in your neighbourhood?”

“What?”

“A no-body reporter reporting in his bloody no-body newspaper about the incident in which i could have lost my life and somehow able to come up with a narrative in which I am the bad guy. I don’t even remember what happened, it's still all a blur to me. I didn't even know till I saw it on paper that the police had recovered something belonging to the “poor” animal. Police also recovered a pint of my lost blood snaking towards the gutter, you didn’t bother to fit that tiny detail in your crusading narrative. Journalism is going to dogs my dear friend.”

“It's been a long time, it’s been there my friend. But for now, I can’t focus on any of your cribbing because I can see our lunch coming our way. By the way, how many people live with you here in your so-called “humble” abode?”

“Only us three - son, wife and me and two of our servants.”

“No extended family or relatives? After all, this is a big house.”

“Nopes, I think they don’t like our curtains. When dad was alive uncle and his wife were also living with us. Dad and uncle both were running the business and whatever I know today all because of them. But then when dad passed away, uncle also bid his farewell to office and took to travelling and along goes aunty.”

“Was it his decision to leave the business or you…, i know you, but i am just asking…”

“..whether he left on his own or I “kicked”, for lack of a better word, him out. Correct? And you said you know me. And why the fuck I am getting this feeling that I am in an interrogation?”

“It’s not an interrogation…while working on the mayor election security, something came to my notice and I was just bothered…”

“Bothered? About what? Wait a second, you didn’t come after three months because you wanted to meet your old college friend. This is a duty call. Seriously, you are investigating me on the basis of that good-for-nothing reporter’s article and a little ruckus animal welfare groups have created.”

“I am not investigating you. I am here because…”

“Because you think I am hiding something in all this wild animal’s attack saga.”

“Because I think it was not a wild animal that attacked you. It was a well trained animal and was let out for only one specific task. Now, after watching this, don't panic.”

<<Police officer took pen drive from his upper pocket and plugged it in the nearby laptop. And pressed play.>>

One trick pony

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 09:08:00 +0000

“What happened?”

“I thought I saw someone in the window.”

“You mean in the window of our new house, which you are dying to move in with me.”

“I still seriously don’t believe that you actually remember what I said about this Bunglow when we were crossing it on the street. And then you went ahead and actually bought it for me…for us.”

“After 13 years you still think I will not know what is in your heart, dear.”

“I think I under-estimated you Mr. Next CEO when we met for the first time..”

“And now when you know me for the past many years, has that changed your highness's opinion towards her humble servant?”

“Definitely yes, and to top that you still keep on surprising me. Just if my dad would have said yes to you in the first place and then we would not have been required to keep our relationship in hiding.”

“Not for long my dear, not for very long. The plan is in motion and if everything goes our way then it will be a matter of days now.”

“It would have been already done by now, if not for that stupid old leopard. And what that circus master said, it is blazingly fast and also infamous for killing two of his crew members. All smoke, no fire.”

“In hindsight, I think I would have checked on the animal myself and should not have taken that circus master’s word for it. Neither of that old sinister witch’s.”

“From day one I have had my doubts about her and her son. But you only convinced me as you really liked their leopard idea.”

“When she reached out to you with her plan, for us everything fitted like a glove in hand. It seems like a good way to get rid of your husband and that too without anyone having any inkling about what happened. But that stupid old leo…”

“You think we have kept too much of our trust in that mother son duo?”

“Hmmm…i don’t know, but i seriously don’t like them calling the shots. They came up with a full leopard plan, they even organised for that leopard and I just contacted the guy and now they are keeping us in the dark about what is their next move after the article publishes…something is definitely off.”

“I still don’t understand why the hell we need this leopard article in the first place.”

“We need this, so when the next attack happens people have something to relate to. And that is how no suspicious finger will be raised towards us.”

“She is evil genius. Sometimes that scares me.”

“I can’t see my son’s mother to be scared of anything. Come here let me tell you something I was circling around.”

“Is it another surprise for me? Mister be done with all yours so I can start with mine.”

“I was thinking to not wait for that sinister witch and her hound like son and take the plunge on our own. What do you say?”

“I am not following.”

“We don’t need them, we can do this on our own. We know the trick and when we know the trick why we are waiting on Madam one-trick-pony.”

“Brilliant, that way we don’t need to make them partners after the good riddance of my husband.”

“So…”

“So..?”

“So, the article is out tomorrow, we will give one week for expectations to be set. And then the plunge will begin. So..that's all my surprises for the evening, now your turn sweetheart and trust me you don’t have to do anything for me, god’s gracing me with you in my life is all the miracle i wanted and sooner that is going to happen. Nothing else in my life will make me happier…”

<<He was so wrong in saying that last thing. CEO’s wife and his lover of past 13 years took something out of her purse and handed over him a positive pregnancy test and smiled.>>

What meets the eye

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 19:09:00 +0000

“So, you fed the story and he took it at face value? And there I was holding him in higher regard based upon his writing.”

“Truth is always easy to sell.”

“That’s half true, it's easier to sell sometimes but harder to buy always.”

“Care to explain?”

“I will, but some other time. Right now we have to make sure that this story travels the intended distance and reaches its intended destination.”

“Rest assured about that. I know our reporter friend very well, he can digest a friend’s secret but digesting a moral-immoral dilemma is beyond him.”

“So you think he will go against his given word and will tell this story to others and that too to the whole world? Are you sure about that, because a whole lot depends on this.

“Yes.”

“You seemed very confident? So confident that you don't feel need to explain yourself.”

“There’s not much to explain, all is what meets the eye here.”

“If you say so. So how’s my grand-kid, did he like his birthday present?

“He’s flying that damn remote control plane everywhere. The other day he crashed it into a neighbour's dish antennae. And the other day he was asking for permission to take the damn thing to school so he can show it to his friends. When I said no the poor thing went to school crying and then you know what happened.”

“You should have given him some ice-cream, that usually works as a pacifier.”

“He is different now.”

“Sorry, different means cries more with ice-cream?”

“No…it's hard to explain, sometimes I feel that kid is hard to understand.”

“All kids of that age are that way, give him some time he will come around.”

“If you say so….so we are good then for the meeting, when shall we meet next time, after the article?”

“Article is the first step in the direction, we need a follow-up on that. And the follow-up should not only stir the pot but should also bring it to the boiling point.”

“Don’t you feel like when we both talk to each other we are talking like two characters of a story, a lot of idioms and properness. It feels like a lot remains unsaid and open to interpretation.”

“Is that so, I was under the impression you only like to see things which meet the eye, nothing less, nothing more.”

“I know what you are doing? You are reversing my argument towards me to know why I am confident in our dear friend. You are good.”

“You are inferring that,I just made an observation. By the way, I know the reason why you are confident, so I didn't push it.”

“But how can…?”

“You are not the only person he talks to. Let's say he discussed this morality part of leopard attack with someone and my trusted pair of ears happened to be by-stander.”

“Did that buffoon mention my name in his conversation? I should have known this before even trusting him with this.”

“Relax, he didn’t mention your name but I inferred that after my source told me that he is going to re-confirm his part. And as his part came from you, so i assumed he will call you back.”

“If my expression didn’t give it away, then let me, he did call me. Twice.”

“So there’s our reason for confidence in him in the open. He called you twice to re-confirm all the details and from there you grew in confidence that he will definitely take some action on it.”

“Not some action, but he said specifically that he will mask the names but will print the article on animal cruelty and some other correlated shit. But the point is he will print it and it will print in tomorrow’s edition.”

“Tomorrow? Interesting.”

“What’s interesting about that?”

“Just the usual-ness of things taking their own due course, that’s interesting. That and remaining all which meets the eye.”

“Hmm…interesting choice of words, don’t you feel. Is it all which meets the eye?

“At least, from my vantage point."

Mum's the word

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 15:30:00 +0000

“There should be a reason behind this new financial restructuring . Otherwise, why would he ask me to cancel all those cheques he has written for donations. Do you think I should ask him?”

“I know the reason and it's called realisation. Realising that why on earth he is spending all that dough on people who had made living on charity their sole goal in life. And what are you talking about, going and asking him for a reason, he is your boss, not son.”

“I know he is not my…but I don't buy your realisation theory. I would have agreed with you if this had been his father but about him naah, he is not like his old man. Do you think our company is going through tough times? You will be knowing it right after all you are the secretary of the Finance Director.”

“Yes, yes I know everything, after all my boss always takes my advice before drawing the T shape balance sheet. I am his secretary, not his advisor, my dear fellow secretary of Company CEO.”

“But still you are the closest person after the inner circle of management who gets to hold the financial numbers before they go public. You are telling me you have never taken a peek at those ultra-secret sheets. I am not buying that.”

“Miss “i-am-not-buying-that” there is nothing for sale here, I have integrity towards my job. Even if that integrity has a hollow structure of a piece of cheese which Jerry usually eats.”

“Whose Jerry? Is he one of your grand-kids? And by the way how many are there?”

“Do you think I will name my grand kid Jerry? Jerry is the mouse he watches on TV. And in our household we don’t count two things - blessings and grand-kids. We are orthodox that way.”

“But don’t they say, count your blessings. Anyway, dear cheese-structural-integrity person, will you enlighten me with your knowledge of…you know which documents?”

“Ok, ok, I am not confirming and denying anything but I can say that numbers were good until last month.”

“Until last month? What changed?”

“I don’t know but it seems like something changed.”

“You are enjoying this moment right? You will keep on feeding me enough bread-crumbs so I can keep on asking you questions and keep on feeding your egocentric personality. Spill it!”

“Ok, ok, no need to get hyper..thank god you are not my grandmother. You are scary.”

“3, 2…”

“Fine, so you know the Finance department prepares monthly numbers and each month at the end they have a meeting to discuss the actuals.”

“To check, what they have projected for cash inflow through sales and cash outflow through expenses and what are the actual numbers.”

“Right. And yours truly is asked to be present in these meetings to make administrative arrangements.”

“This over self-indulgence will cost “yours truly” dearly, if she…”

“I see the audience lacks appreciation for a good story-teller. Anyways, I am always there when they are discussing all this “financially” stuff. In the last meeting when I was sitting there, the Director called me and asked me to take a couple of notes and then asked me to get a few copies of some documents he handed over to me. And..”

“And..?”

“And, when I was making copies of the document I saw written these words under one report, “Best year in terms of Profit in company history”, and when i saw the highlighted profit numbers i remember saying to myself, “Do we have enough maths to count that high?””

“How do you know that you are looking at the profit numbers?”

“If you don’t know then let me tell you, yours truly is a humble commerce graduate.”

“I have serious doubts on “yours truly’s” humble part and I find it hard to rely on “yours truly’s” “financially stuff” knowledge.”

“I called it “financially stuff”, to give it gravitas. But seriously, till last month the company was standing on its best profit numbers in history I know because I have seen past 25 years numbers. I have never seen such margins since the liberalisation was announced.”

“So what changed in the last one month, that made the CEO to rollback all the donation cheques?”

“It's business, things happen all the time.”

“Also, with your “financially stuff” knowledge I find it really hard to jump to any conclusion. I have to first check those numbers on my own.”

“Just in case if you haven’t noticed my eyes rolling, I am saying it aloud, “My eyes are rolling.””

“So, you think you can manage it?”

“Gosh, I just did it, twice. You want me to roll my eyes again?”

“No dummy, do you think you can get your hands on those 11 month numbers?”

“Oh, I thought…Do I think? Silly, I have those numbers. Why do you think I am standing at your desk? I have these numbers here and I need to shred them and I am waiting for my turn on shredder. You really think that you are that interesting that people will come to your desk to just talk to you. Who is self indulgent now? Not yours truly for sure.”

“You have shredded these.”

“No, I will shred these. I am just waiting…”

“No, you have shredded these. And now you have some other work to look into.”

“Oh..ohhhh, so you want me to hand it over to you subtly, so you can check them and meanwhile I will go work on my desk and see if I can get something else from that meeting.”

“Subtly, being the key word, miss truly yours. And remember, mum's the word.”

“Ok, grand-mum. See how I did that wordplay. You used mum for being silent and I used it….ok, ok mum's the word, no need to give ugly stares.”

“Thank you.”

“And before I forget, here’s that note which the Director asked me to take.”

“It's a phone number.”

“He wanted me to call on this number and ask for…he mentioned someone’s name.”

“And did you call?”

“I dialled but the operator said the number is out of service.”

“Hmmm”

“Hmmm…”

“What are you doing?”

“Giving you company. Ok, ok, no more ugly stares going back to my desk….on covert mission.”

“Let me know if you find anything else from that meeting worth checking.”

“Aye Aye Captain!”

“You know you are looking ridiculous fake saluting me, it is not your grandkid, it is you who watches Jerry on TV, right?

“Time to head to my station.”

Appallingly cruel

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 08:22:00 +0000

“Now stop laughing, and don’t you dare tell anyone about this incident.”

“But then if you don’t want anyone to know then why tell me? You wanted to laugh at your husband so you told me about this but now you don’t want others to laugh at him…you are cruel to both of us.”

“You tell me if husbands are not good enough to expense a laugh or two then what other purpose they are serving. I guess that came out wrong, they have their purpose but come on a hearty laugh fully expensed on your own husband once in a while, is that too much to ask for?” And you said both, what’s my cruelty against you?

“By robbing me of the opportunity to be a storyteller and that too of a really funny one. But amidst all this thank god your son is ok, otherwise encounter against a wild animal and that too where the poor animal is afraid and while facing his fears is looking for something to fill his stomach with, i can’t even imagine”

“Her stomach.”

“Heavens! It was a mother leopard. They are more lethal than their male counterparts, after all it's they who hunt for the pack. Have you ever wondered how nature has kept the designs almost the same across all its creations? In each of its creation its always females who are doing the heavy lifting. I think we should start calling nature father instead mother, that will fit in more accurately with the partialities it has taken liberty with.”

“Are you starting again on your newspaper column topics? You always have this tendency to hijack a normal day to day discussion and convert it into a high morals 101 class.

“I know, I know, but then if we will not discuss the morality of our surroundings then who will? After all it's us ....”

“See, again you are doing that same thing. Why don’t you start a subscription service for this. It will be a good business model for you as it has no cost and it will be good for your friends and family also, they will know what to unsubscribe for.”

“I see that the lady-dry-humour has found the second victim of the morning after her husband.”

“Anything immoral in that?”

“Ha Ha, very funny, now stop it.”

“But we have not discussed the moral of the story yet.”

“Which is?”

“If you give your son de-Moralising talk, father nature will lend a paw to up your pep talk game. And in this case, the lending of the paw was on the forearm, thankfully, and not on the high moral collar bone.”

“Did I just call you cruel? I was wrong, you are appallingly cruel.”

“I guess I have earned my share of adjectives for today, so see you tomorrow at lunch?”

“Same old?”

“Same old.”

….

“Mum, I was waiting for you to get off the phone. Can I please have some ice-cream? I swear I will complete my homework afterwards.”

“But you told your father this morning that you don’t eat ice-cream any more?”

“I was a different person then.”

“And now?”

“Different”

Value at risk

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 19:10:00 +0000

“So how many of these numbers are correct?”

“What do you mean how many? All of them!”

“That can’t be right. You are telling me that at any point in time our company can lose 30 million! That's half of what we stand for. Are you sure the numbers are correct?”

“Have my numbers ever been wrong? Have I ever raised the red flags incorrectly? If you find my numbers borderline outrageous then my next argument is behind enemy lines crazy.”

“So you agree the numbers are outrageous”

“Outrageous yes but true as well.”

“So, don’t just stand there, be done with your argument”

“We should cancel sponsorship.”

“Wait a minute, you want me to cancel our Cancer Marathon run sponsorship just because one of your reports states our value at risk numbers are going haywire.While you are at that why don’t you advise me to cancel the new hospital wing donation as well and also other charities our trust has promised.”

“Unfortunately, I was going to come on those as well. We have to reduce our overheads by at least 20% and then we have to increase our productivity by 17% to come near to the acceptable margins. And on top of that, we have to increase our cash reserves as competition is heating up with speed which was previously unexpected.”

“Listen I know you are thinking for the betterment of our company, for us, but the proposals you are making will make a dent in our company’s reputation and will sink all those patients’ hopes which are just afloat because of free treatment coming their way. Can’t you check the numbers again, see where we can make some internal changes to avoid this.”

“This breaks my heart as well in more ways then…anyways my job is to advise you to the best of my ability and my ability tells me we can’t avoid insolvency if we carry on same path.”

“You know yesterday I was taking my frustration out on my 12 year old and was thinking, why the fuck this has to happen to me.”

“Why were you scolding your son? He is a nice kid. He always wishes me good mornings & afternoons and always offers me a hearty smile.”

“I am a big dud thats why. It's just that I had an argument with his mother and poor soul chose wrong timing to be upset. Actually I think he chose the wrong dad also.”

“Nah, his dad is alright. Dud, i agree but will do his daddily duties alright.”

“Where did we go wrong? I always thought we are doing alright business and after Dad handed over the reins to me I made sure our socials are also as high as our financial. So where did we go wrong?”

“I wish I can give you as definite an answer as our valuation reports but unfortunately I can only say - it happens. I have gone through our finances and I can see there was nothing we could have done. We can’t have expected a sudden change in export policy and then on top of that change in tax slabs triggered spending change in customers. But all this is temporary, one good financial year and we will be back to an equal financial and social position.”

“So you think by next year this time we will be back in the pink of health? And don’t try to soften the blow please.”

“Not completely pink but yes pinkish. But enough pinkish that we can afford the hospital ward donation.”

“If thats the case, then I will need a complete list of measures we should take. Also, make some budget for a new position and hire an expert on govt. Policy and macro economics, I don’t want to be a sitting duck the second time.”

“But budget?”

“Take it from my salary. Let's do everything to make that pinkish as pink as it can be.”

“I see your dad's dudness is rubbing on your CEO position as well. By the way, you still haven’t told me why did you scolded your son?”

“You mean apart from me being a dud dad?”

“Yes, apart from you being a dud dad”

“Poor thing came back from halfway to school because of being afraid of a “big dog” sitting on his school route. And then somehow I managed to scold him for being afraid, not eating icecream and then his liberal thought generation. I believe there were a couple of other things as well but these are the highlights. Dud enough?

“You scolded your son for being afraid of a dog? And icecream?”

“It was a leopard. That idiot took a leopard for a dog.”

“Oh fuck!”

“Yup, we were lucky that the leopard didn’t see him.”

“That's why you have bandaged arm. And in the morning you told the secretary that you slipped in the bathroom. Thats hilarious.”

“New rule - budgetary cuts will be applicable on laughter as well.”

“And you scolded your 12 year old for being liberal? Just kill me…”

Big Dog, No School

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 09:27:00 +0000

“So you're telling me you are not going back to school because you are scared of a dog?”

“Its a big dog, dad”

“But is it bigger than the bullshit lie you are telling me to not got to school? You dumbass!”

“I am not lying. Why do you think I always lie? Like when I told you I don’t like eating

ice-creams, you said but you just had two tubs of it last wednesday.”

“But you did had two tubs of ice-cream last wednesday!”

“I was different then’

“And you are different now? You are some pollinating flower poop which keeps on changing

the direction with each breath, with each wisp. Don’t you start pissing with your eyes now?”

“But I am not flower poop and my eyes don’t piss, they..”

“They what?”

“They cry dad”

“I know eyes functions you dummy, but why your eyes functioning up now we are

just having a conversation”

“But you are name calling me and my tears”

“And these names bother you, why?”

“Like you don’t know. They are mean dad. They are mean words! And they hurt”

“Give me a break, you mean my words are hurting you like, hurting hurting you? This generation

wants everyone to notice their tough stance and recognize their hard hitting liberal thoughts

but in reality if somethings comes their way, They just start looking to borrow as many caps to

hold in there hands and stand with loopy shoulders”

“What's loopy dad?”

“Oh god! Loo...loopy is round bulging inward. You know you are not helping your case.”

“Like your head dad?”

“Helping a case like my head! No idiot”

“No, I mean loopy round bulging like your head.”

“Your mom put you to do this. Right?”

“What?”

“Forget it. So - big dog, no school.”

“Can you shoo him away?”

“What? The dog?”

“Hmmm”

“But your dad is mean why will he do that”

“I don’t know, because he is dad”

“Come you little Mike Tyson, lets “shoo” that dog”

….

“Oh geez! What happened to your dad?”

“Dad went to shoo the big dog.”

“And?”

“And your son is an idiot! Call animal control, we have a leopard roaming in the vicinity. And

please tell me you had an affair and he is not mine!!”

मुझे मेरे लिहाज़ मार गये

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 05:44:00 +0000

ये चोरी के इंद्रधनुष, ये लूटी हुई तितलियाँ

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:46:00 +0000

Chapter 3 – Daredevil Nandu

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 18:47:00 +0000

Though there were few instances before the interval, like in-between period change, still Ekam waited till then to collect what small amount of courage he can muster and approach Kannu. If boasting to a teacher’s kid about you and your friends playing cricket in class was an unforgiven crime, bad-mouthing teachers by calling them stupid was beyond that. It was nothing less than suicide. Collective bravery of complete primary wing students will not be sufficient enough for the unfortunate achievement, that Ekam has achieved single-handedly. Why he must be so open in his first meeting? Ekam was kicking himself for not following his mother’s advice, of not talking to strangers, to the T.

When Nandu saw Miss Rachna leaving the classroom after the first period, he did not waste any time narrating Ekam about what happened when he left for the staffroom. Their English teacher was going through the admission forms when Shakun Arora their Social Studies teacher came into the class and started asking about how was Rachna’s vacation. Though there were two teachers in the class the moment students found them distracted in their conversation, a slow buzzing of their own whispers started. While everyone had their bench-mate to talk with, Nandu had no one. Nandu was getting bored as from teachers to students everyone seems to be enjoying their whispers. And then suddenly he heard his friend’s name floating in thin air coming directly from the direction of the teacher's table.

Nandu pricked his ears and tried to eavesdrop on their conversation but to no avail. Normal Nandu could have left it there but Nandu friend of “going-to-be-super-detective” Ekam, cannot throw his hands in the air and admit defeat. Nandu rubbed his marbles together and hatched a plan.

He left his seat and went slowly towards the teacher’s table where both Rachna and Shakun were busy talking about the new designer suit which the latter chose for her first day at school after vacation. They were so busy in their talk that for the first few seconds they didn’t notice Nandu standing on the other side of the table. It took a gentle nudge from Shakun, for Rachna to realize the unwanted pair of ears.

Now to understand Nandu’s plan, one should know the rich history of class 5^th B and its notorious fame of eating lunch in the disguise of paying full attention during class. Students of the class understood hunger and the means to satiate it. That is why when they feel stomach grumbling, they knew what to do – open the lunchbox and eat, simple. And if some teacher is in-between the lesson, wait for the teacher to turn its back to write on the blackboard and then eat, simple yet again.

But what they cannot control, is the teacher’s sensory senses to smell the aroma escaped from the thin rupture of the tiffin box. And this usually became the reason for them getting caught red-handed, and in this case, red-handed with a mouth full of evidence. After numerous such occasions, finally teachers came up with a plan. They asked the class monitor to make sure everyone is keeping their tiffin box on the right-hand side wall of the teacher’s table, first thing in the morning. And if still someone got caught eating during class, along with the culprit, the monitor will also face punishment. Students were children and naïve enough not to understand that what teachers have done with them, English had done with Indians for two hundred years. The plan worked for teachers and students left craving for food with unattended hunger revolts till the first bell of the interval. When few students started quenching their hunger fire with long gulps of water, to avoid unnecessary toilet breaks teachers asked the monitor to accompany student's tiffin boxes with their water bottles as well. This might sound evil but teachers had their reasons, justifiable or not depends upon which side of the table one is standing on.

When Rachna and Shakun saw Nandu standing in front of them asking for permission to drink water, they didn’t have an inkling of an understanding of what Nandu is conspiring in his own little mad-genius way. After the permission was granted, Nandu snailed towards his water bottle and started to loosen the cap. It didn’t take much time for Nandu to put two and two together when he heard Rachna mentioning that her daughter is joining their school from today and as she was getting late for the class, she asked Tanwar sir to complete the remaining paperwork on her behalf.

Ekam was spellbound when he heard Nandu’s plan in action for the first time. And then it started to lose its sheen with each iteration where Nandu started to add more and more heroics to his storytelling. Though that was not purposeful from Ekam’s end as he knew this story is going to be on their list of talking points for a very long time, but due to the looming uncertainty of whether Kannu will tell her mother about what he said during their brief chatter?, Or more dreadfully, what if she has already told her everything? made him lose all his interest in Nandu’s feat and started concentrating on the uphill task of how to approach Kannu.

She was looking for something in her school bag when Ekam approached her with sweaty palms. Though Ekam was trying to not show on his face that he is afraid of Kannu telling her mum about him and his friends' school rules defying pastime, but he was falling short of the mark.

“So, how did you find the first four periods of your first day?”, Ekam’s moisten palms were losing grip on courage.

“Same old, same old.”, with her hands still in her school bag, Kannu replied coyly as if she was expecting him.

“I usually like the latter half of our periods more, as my personal favorite teacher’s period falls then.” Ekam tried a weak smile.

“And let me guess English is your favorite subject?” With a completely straight face, she asked. Seeing her straight face, Ekam knew for a fact that she has told her mum everything.

After two long heartbeats, Kannu took her hands out of her school bag clutching a big ball of crumpled paper, and threw it towards Ekam to catch. Ekam though catches the ball but wondered how their paper ball was in Kannu’s bag? And then he saw that two-front-teeth-missing grin reaching from ear to ear on Kannu’s face and he knew at once he can relax.

“Did you really thought I am going to tell my mum about my first friend from new school?” she inquired in her coy way.

With imminent danger passing, Ekam again started to come into his usual confident ways. But for some reason, he could not lie to that toothless grin. And he slowly nodded his head with a sheepish smile. “I thought something on those lines.”

Seeing both of them laughing, Nandu approached them and without missing a beat patted Ekam’s back and joined laughter saying, “Teacher kid or not, I told you she is one of us.”

Ekam gave a knowing look to Nandu but till then Nandu was well past him and had started taking interest in Kannu’s just opened tiffin box, meanwhile querying about her previous school. Ekam quickly grabbed his and Nandu’s tiffin box from the front and then the conversation around Nandu’s heroics started to flow. Full exchange was marked with pauses of laughter. They talked about Ekam’s super detective dream along with how Kannu spotted the ball on the floor near her seat and quietly pocketed it before anyone noticed. And yes obviously for the umpteenth time, how Nandu covered the hazardous distance between his seat and the Teacher’s table and without thinking twice about any peril, he eavesdrops on the teacher’s conversation. They laughed each time a little harder than the last time.

Kannu and Ekam shared a look and they knew they are laughing at the same thing.

The remaining of the first day after summer vacation was going to be uneventful, till Kannu broke the news to his new friends that, her mum is taking a half-day today for some bank-related work so she is going to miss the fifth period after the interval. This day could not have become much better than this for 5^th B.

And then Kannu had her first paper ball cricket with her new classmates in the back of the class. If passing by seniors would have peeked in the class, they would not be able to tell which one of them is the new joiner.

-- Chapter 4 of Ekam's Adventures will publish on 25^th July --

चिठ्ठी

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 07:14:00 +0000

Chapter 2 - Surprise, Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 08:35:00 +0000

The first day of school after Summer vacations is always exciting. Seeing your friends after 2 months and to get to ask what they did over holidays was always a moment to look forward to. But then there was the matter of holidays homework which always made students nervous. Especially students like Ekam who spent the first half of the summer holidays procrastinating that they will do it in the second half, and then in the second half there was always one family function which stole full quota of leftover attention from their already attention deprived mind.

Ekam was in 5^th B. 5^th being class and B section. 5^th B has 5 subjects and each teacher gave at least some kind of homework to students to make sure students remember civilization called School. Otherwise, in jungles of childhood mazes were in abundance. Out of a total of 5 subjects, English had the most cumbersome homework of cursive writing practice. The remaining subjects' homework was in quantities which can be completed in a week or two weeks, but Miss Rachna the English teacher of 5^th B believed in extending the slavery of homework to the full extent of sixty days of vacation. Her exact words, “One page of cursive writing daily won’t kill you, folks.”

Ekam meagerly touched the boundary line of completion for all the subjects except English. So, feeling nervousness was obvious. With mingled thoughts of friends and homework, Ekam entered class which was already bubbling with forty-seven of his classmates discussing their vacation.

It didn’t take much time for Ekam’s best buddy, Nandu, to see him entering the class and rushing to him with more intense emotions than anything possible on the face of the earth at that moment. And then they picked the crumbs of their last conversation as they were not apart for the last sixty days.

Nandu shared his story of going to his grandparents' house, which was in Amritsar, forty kilometers from Beas. Ekam traded in return his story of going daily to his Baapu’s fields and how he taught him to ride a bicycle. Nandu got impressed with Ekam’s achievement of riding a bicycle on his own. Nandu always followed Ekam in all his ways, from buying the same school bag to started calling his granddad Baapu.

By the time School assembly got over, Ekam’s super detective dream story made Nandu’s eyes light up like a pair of jewels. Nandu can easily see Ekam becoming that super detective one day.

While Ekam and Nandu settled on their seats and along with the whole chattering class waited for their Math teacher, Miss Sood to arrive. They got the first shock of the day when they saw Miss Rachna entering the class in her usual sure-footedness walk and landing her purse with a loud thump on the teacher’s table. Miss Rachna was not expected till the fourth period. Nervousness started bubbling in Ekam’s stomach pit like a water kettle simmering over the stove.

By the look of the class, it seems along with Ekam many others in the class have not completed the cursive writing homework. Ekam was praying to all seven gods and then to the homework god himself to make Miss Rachna forget to ask about the homework.

But Miss Rachna never forgets.

“Ekam” Miss Rachna called.

Ekam finally realized that the scientists of Discovery documentary which he watched during the summer holidays were not lying, when they said we have scientific proof of how the world started but not sure if priests have the scientific proof of the existence of god. He knew for a fact that this is his last day. Students were less afraid of Miss Rachna’s homework volume, but they were more scared of her punishments. According to one 6^th class senior, once Miss Rachna slapped a student four years ago, one can still hear the echo of the slap in the school’s silent corridors. While telling about Miss Rachna few tuition-going students trailed off at the last part of the sentence and ended it with great dread by saying, “She has a room in her basement.” Ekam started towards the teacher’s table and burned internally incense in front of each Science god, to save him from his English teacher’s wrath.

Along with the remaining class, Nandu also said his last goodbyes to Ekam. He knew the world would not be the same place without Ekam.

Miss Rachna was busy going through some admission papers when Ekam reached her desk and stood on the farther side without saying anything. She kept going through the documents. With each passing moment, Ekam was seeing all those procrastinating moments of his summer vacation flickering right in front of his eyes. Once he said no to his mother for homework because he was busy blowing spit bubbles.

And then, Miss Rachna put her papers down and looked at him and said, “You need to go to staff-room. A new student is joining our class today, can you please bring her?”

Ekam was so deep in his thoughts, he did not register what Miss Rachna said. He was thinking to blame the shopkeeper for not stocking up enough of the cursive writing books, as each time when Ekam went to buy the book Shopkeeper was out of stock. He thought he will say that Shopkeeper knowing that summer vacations are coming should have bought more stocks of cursive writing books. While Ekam was rummaging for more layers to add to his lie, Miss Rachna’s voice jerked him out of his reverie.

“Her name is Kannu. She will be sitting with Tanwar sir, now go and bring her to class. She’s new to the school so she will not be knowing the way to 5^th B.” with that Miss Rachna again went for deep dive into her documents.

Nandu was the first person Ekam looked in his disbelief. With luck siding Ekam, other students also thought Miss Rachna has forgotten about homework. Without giving another moment to fate and his English teacher to hold him back for any reason, Ekam barraged out of the classroom.

Ekam’s boiling pot of nervousness now has changed into cold waves of the ocean, which were reaching shore and touching his feet to full relish. The empty school corridor has never felt this tranquil before. Only a student who gets to send by a teacher on administrative work knows, how soothing the outside of the classroom feels. That, and no homework check.

Lost in his reveries Ekam did not realize when he descended to the ground floor of the school. He was standing in the Primary wing of the school and the Staffroom was on the other side of the long corridor, towards the Secondary wing. Completing the given task within time will make him a candidate for Miss Rachna’s homework scrutiny. So instead of marching directly towards the Secondary wing, Ekam chose to take a longer path. First, he went to the water cooler and drank one glass of water at glacial speed. At one moment it felt, he is trying to count the atoms of Hydrogen and Oxygen in each gulp.

Like a deer in the forest, he knew he cannot remain in open for long as any by-passing school staff can ask him predatory questions like, why he is outside his class, so he decided to spend the next few mins in the boy’s toilet. After taking one of the longest bathroom breaks in the history of mankind, Ekam emerged from the washroom and then felt the need to spend a good amount of time on his mum’s teaching of washing hands after washroom visits. If he had washed his hands a little longer, he might have his fingerprints wiped clean as well. And then it felt to Ekam a good amount of time wasted and now he can go his way and look for that poor student who is waiting for him in the staffroom.

When he reached Staffroom, he saw a girl waiting next to the Art and Craft teacher, Mr. Tanwar. After taking his teacher’s permission, Ekam started escorting her back to class. When they crossed the long corridor halfway through, Kannu hesitated and muttered softly, “School building looks quite big.”

Ekam looked towards the scrawny little girl and nodded his head in affirmative motion. Taking him of reserve nature, Kannu went one step ahead and introduced herself. Ekam shook her extended hand and after seeing her front two teeth missing in her ear-to-ear grin, he didn’t help himself and extended a similar grin in return. Quickly he started talking and told her about how big the playground is and where the laboratories are, though primary wing students are not allowed there. He also told her about the canteen and what she can easily get from there.

“As you will see in some time we have the best-located class in the Primary wing. It's near to stairs, so we are the first ones to go downstairs in the interval and get to choose the best spots for lunch and playing and on top of that in the classroom, our’s is the only class which has extra room in back, so we usually play paper-ball cricket when we have a free period” Ekam boasted with the puffed chest.

“Cricket in class? What about teachers? No one scolds or punishes?” Kannu awed.

Ekam was too inside the boasting territory to retreat. “Nah! They can’t stop us. And we are the seniormost class in Primary wing, we are not afraid of the stupid teachers.” Surprise, surprise, how quickly one can forget about the simmering pot of nervousness, all proven and un-proven gods in Ekam’s eyes, smiled.

Ekam has started feeling comfortable about himself around Kannu and also with the first-period bell approaching near, it felt right to report back to Miss Rachna.

When Ekam entered his class, the whole room was very quiet. And when he saw Miss Rachna, though uncomfortably but still asked for her permission to go back to his seat after handing over the new student to her. Ekam reached his seat and felt his gaze slipping towards his best friend Nandu.

Nandu was happy seeing Ekam back to class but felt eagerness in his glance as he has something urgent to tell him. The moment Ekam sat on the seat which he shared with Nandu, he saw Nandu sliding a note towards him.

The note read, “Rachna didn’t check the homework.”

Ekam smiled towards him and wrote back, “Guess we are in luck.”

Nandu hesitated and wrote back, “How’s the new girl? I hope you didn’t mention anything bad to her.”

Ekam gave him a confused look and pushed his reply back, “She seems cool like us. She seems our kind.”

Nandu read his note and slowly shook his head and nudged his reply to Ekam.

“She is not our kind. She is a teacher’s kid, that too of Miss Rachna.” And there Ekam got the second surprise of his first day back to school.

A small droplet of sweat formed on Ekam’s forehead and parts of his talk with Kannu reverberated in his ears. Cricket in class. Not afraid of stupid teachers. The cauldron of nervousness was back on the stove.

-- Chapter 3 of Ekam's Adventures will publish on 18^th July --

Ekam's Adventures - Chapter 1 - National Security

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 11:27:00 +0000

Ekam was huffing heavy breaths when he finally stopped to look behind how many goons were following him. He knew he has limited time to complete his task and escape. He drew a long breath and then with purpose went ahead. He knew if the goons got their hands on the hard disk he is carrying, national security will be in danger. And Ekam knew exactly how not to let that happen. That and with no collateral damage.

He saw an empty alley on his right and took a turn instantly. With one swipe of his hand, he withdrew a couple of laser dot gadgets from his internal blazer pocket and set them on the entry point of the alley adjacent to each other. Then he rushed another couple of laser dots from another pocket till he reaches the mid of the alley. He knew the villain’s goons will come from both entry and exit points of the alley. And they need to come from both sides surrounding him, for his plan to work.

Before Ekam reached the end of the alley he saw three of the goons coming his way. Without losing another second, within a blink of an eye, he placed the remaining drawn laser dot gadgets to where he was standing. He threw the dots on each side towards the alley's exit in a similar adjacent way to the entry point dots.

Now, only positioning is left. As his super detective granddad always said, wait for the right moment before making your final move. He knew he must allure the goons past that point towards him.

“Gentlemen, nice weather for a stroll outside” Ekam muttered eyeing each one of them.

Goons were wearing a black all-over costume with tilted black hats. One of them came forward towards Ekam and demanded the formula which Ekam stole.

Ekam knew about the details of the formula which is on the hard disk and while he was thinking about what can go wrong in the alley, he heard three other sets of footsteps coming towards him from the entry point of the brick-mortar alley.

His plan was working like a hand in glove. He stood his ground and let the goons come near him from both sides. Goons were well inside the four dots. Now the situation was – Goons have surrounded Ekam with a 10 steps radius and then, Ekam’s dots have surrounded the goons with 3 steps distance in between them.

Ekam can’t resist a smile after he saw drawn guns, “You must have heard people saying, Bringing a knife to a gun’s fight?”

Goons smiled their villainous grin and one of them said, “I am not seeing any knife if you brought any?” and with that, they went berserk with their thunderous gales of laughter.

Ekam took a silent breath and said, “Who said I am talking about myself?”

That put cork to their free-flowing laughter and they gave each other a puzzled look and then when the leader of the goons was going to say something, Ekam pressed a side button on one of his shoes with heal of another.

What happened next, happened at electrifying speed.

All the four dots generated magnified electronic rays and strike simultaneously at a carpet area of 5 steps radius. All the goons got struck in their backs with the high voltage electric rays. Their knees folded first, then their head hit the ground, and then their drawn guns.

Ekam with a content smile of saving the country one another time knew exactly what to say at this moment. But first thing first he casually walked down the street and picked all the four laser dot gadgets, pocketed them. Then by long-pressing the shoe button, he deactivated it.

And then, he took out his pair of sunglasses from his upper pocket, and while cleaning the lenses he said…

“Ekam! Should I send your father to attend school in your place?”

Ekam’s mouth remained open, he wondered from where that voice came. When he again opened his mouth, another holler came out, but this time accompanying earthquake jolted his body.

Ekam rubbed his eyes open and the moment his eyes landed on his mother's angry face; all his super detective nonchalance died prematurely. Taking the advantage of the situation his arch-nemesis sister Gaggu added, "Mum, the school bus is here and Ekam is not ready yet".

Ekam did not wait for his mother's missile chappal to hit the target and ran towards the washroom to get ready. With a toothbrush in his mouth, Ekam cannot help but wondered, how nice it would have been if he could use all four of those laser dot gadgets on his sister.

-- Chapter 2 of Ekam's Adventures will publish on 11th July --

Ek shaam budhi jehi

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 09:57:00 +0000

मेरे मुँहासे

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 29 May 2021 05:20:00 +0000

मेरे घर के चार कमरे

noreply@blogger.com (Kamaljeet Singh) — Sat, 29 May 2021 05:08:00 +0000