Short story - What is in a name?

He was annoyed by the happenings. Reading a newspaper in the morning made him heavy. It is no longer the cursory glance at the happenings around. So many wrongs were reported. Of different kinds. May be that people were more diligent in reporting things than ever before. But still it worried him a lot. Robbery, Corruption, Terror, Accidents, Rape, Bigotry and countless such things, you name it , it is there. Or are all these different names for one common thing called ‘Bad’?. Not that it is there once in a while, it is there every day. Only the names, places and time have to be replaced.

“Where are we headed?” he was stuck internally with that question.

“Appa, I brushed my teeth myself today” his 5 year old kid came towards him.

It took a while for him to register the change in context. He switched to look at his son.

“Wow, its so nice” he beamed at his son and moved forward to hug him.

He could feel the morning warmth of his son. His thoughts flashed for a moment “What kind of place are we creating for this kid?”.

For the next half hour both were running around the house. He was chasing his son and vice-versa.

Another hour went in Yoga and meditation.

Mind calmed down. He almost forgot the thoughts he started the day with.

“Today I have to get those bugs fixed and see that working” he thought about yesterday night’s work and his mind now wandered deep into work.

Sita called him for breakfast and he had it. It was tasting good. “Without some sort of exercise in the morning, I will be doomed” he thought to himself.

“We need to get that compliance certificate for our site” Sita reminded him.

Compliance certificate was a way to correct the original non-compliance by the Government which issued approvals to purchase agricultural land for building houses. He got this site from the housing society of his company which had paid a tidy sum to get that land earlier. The new Government found the treasury empty and decided to regularise the non-compliance by asking all house owners to get it regularised. The company’s housing society no longer existed.

“The Government always wins. And people form Governments. So it is always the people who win, no matter what, Yes I win” he was loud.

Sita looked at him a little puzzled. “What? why don’t you get the documents” She said and went ahead to finish her work without waiting for him to respond. 

“Oops..I completely missed that one” he said and went on to get the documents needed.

He was not feeling comfortable with the thought of meeting this Officer in the Sub-registrar office. He was sure he had to dole out some cash to get things done. It was not something pleasant. He was tossing with the idea of ‘to comply or not to comply’ inside.

***********

The Sub-registrar office was flooded with people. Peons, brokers, officers, clerks all walked up and down the multi-storeyed building. Overall it looked jaded and dirty. Walls had pan streaks while walking up the stairs.

“Hello", the officer looked up.

He handed over the documents.

“Can we walk outside. It is too noisy here” the Officer stood up and moved outside his desk.

He followed the Officer.

Outside they came under a tree. Lots of people moving in various directions. It was like the way gas molecules move in a container randomly. Sita who waited outside joined him.

The Officer looked at him and said “You see, there are a lot of issues in your case”.

He kind of knew what was coming. So he looked at him without much reaction.

“The land has a history of disputes. Everything earlier has been settled with money by your company. Unless you pay ‘X’ it will be very difficult to move the papers”.

He told “See, we just bought it from our housing society. I was handed over the site. There was nothing beyond that. Asking me for money now is not correct”.

“OK, then you make a decision to wait for years to get it regularised. Your choice” the Officer said and started to move away.

***********

He stood there. “I was born into this mess. It was not my choice. I am a minority here to stay clean” he was mumbling to himself.

“What are you thinking so much?” Sita asked.

“Am not going to pay him money” he said.

“Then are we going to suffer without water and sanitary connections” Sita was looking at him helplessly.

"Yes. if that is what we need to pay for staying clean”.

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

As the Officer entered the building, his boss saw him. “Ram, did you talk to that fellow …who was supposed to meet you today?”

“Yes. he is not the type. He will not budge”. Ram told his boss.

“What was his name?” the boss asked.

“Ah..his name ?..Ravan” Ram told.