Behind the Scenes (Tamil translated)

அவனை நான் இரண்டாவது முறை பார்க்கிறேன். முன்பு பார்த்த மாதிரியே இப்பொழுதும் அதே வெள்ளை கோடுகள் கொண்ட நீல நிறச் சட்டை அணிந்திருந்தான். சுமார் முப்பது வயது இருக்கலாம். அவன் முகத்தில் ஏதோ பரபரப்பு  தெரிந்தது. அவன் கையில் பள பளப்பான உருளை வடிவக்குழாய் போன்ற ஒன்றை வைத்திருந்தான். எனக்கு எதனாலோ ஒரு பயம் மனதில் ஏற்பட்டது.

இந்த நிலம் என் பாட்டன் சொத்து. என் தந்தைக்கு பிறகு எனக்கு சொந்தமானது. என் குடும்பம் இங்கிருந்து ஒரு மைல் தூரத்தில் ஒரு சிறிய ஓட்டு வீட்டில் வசிக்கிறார்கள். நானும் என்னுடைய மூத்த மகனும் சேர்ந்து செங்கல் செங்கலாக பார்த்து கட்டிய வீடு. அவன் பசு மாடுகளை பார்த்து கொண்டு எனக்கு உதவியாக இருக்கிறான். என்னுடைய மனைவி கறந்த பாலை பக்கத்துக்கு கிராமங்களுக்கு கொண்டு சென்று விற்று வருகிறாள்.

எங்கள் வீட்டைச் சுற்றி உள்ள எல்லாருமே வயலில் வேலை செய்பவர்கள் தான். சாயங்காலம் 6 மணிக்கு மேல் ஊரே அடங்கிவிடும். 8 மணிக்கு மேல் விழித்திருப்பவர்கள் மிக குறைவு. நான் தினமும் காலை 4 மணிக்கு எழுந்துவிடுவேன். தினமும் வயலில் ஏதாவது மண்ணை கொத்துவது, செடிகளுக்கு நீர் பாய்ச்சுவது, உரம் தெளிப்பது, களையெடுப்பது போன்ற வேலைகள். அப்புறம் சாயங்காலம் மாட்டுக்கு தண்ணி காட்டுவது, புண்ணாக்கு போடுவது, புல் கொடுப்பது, பால் கறப்பது எல்லாம். வேலை முடிந்து தினமும் கயிற்று கட்டிலில் வேப்பை மர நிழலில் உட்கார்ந்து மகன் மனைவியிடம் கம்பு கூழ் குடித்துக்கொண்டு கதை பேசுவது வழக்கம். என் சிறு வயது கதைகள், கிராமத்தில் நடந்த சண்டைகள், தேர் திருவிழா எல்லாம் கொஞ்சம் சுவாரசியம் கூட்டி நான் சொல்லிகொண்டே போவேன். பல முறை சொல்லியும் என் மகன் அப்பொழுது தான் கேட்பது போல் ஏதாவது ஒரு கேள்வி கேட்பான்.

என் வாழ்க்கை எனக்கு பிடித்திருந்தது. போதிய அளவு பணம் இருந்தது. தேவை அதிகம் இல்லாமல் நிம்மதியாக போய்க்  கொண்டிருந்தது. இது எல்லாம் அந்த நீலச் சட்டைக்காரனை பார்க்கும் வரையில். முதல் தடவை அவனை பார்த்த பொழுது அதே நிறச் சட்டை, கையில் பள பள என்று ஆயுதம் போல் ஏதோ ஒன்று வைத்திருந்தான். நான் அவனை சற்று தூரத்தில் பார்த்தேன்.  அவன் என் வயலில் அப்போது விளைந்திருந்த காய்கறிகளைப் பறித்து ஒரு கூடையில் போட்டு கொண்டிருந்தான் அவசர அவசரமாக. நான் அவனை நெருங்கி 'ஏய்' என்று சொல்வதற்குள் கூடை நிறைய காய்கறிகளுடன் வேகமாக செல்ல ஆரம்பித்தான். அவனை முன்னால் சென்று நான் மறித்தேன். அவன் என்னை முறைத்து பார்த்த பார்வையில் எனக்குள் உதறல் எடுத்தது. நான் பயந்து விலகி விட்டேன். அவன் கையில் இருந்த ஆயுதம் எனக்கு பயத்தை உண்டாக்கியது. 'ஏய் நீ யார் டா?' என்று நான் கேட்டதை அவன் அலட்சியமாக கடந்து சென்றான். கிட்டத்தட்ட ஒரு வாரத்திற்கான விளைச்சல் அவன் கூடையில் இருந்தது.

அவன் எங்கிருந்து வந்தான் எப்படி சென்றான் என்று என்னால் சரியாக பார்க்க முடியவில்லை. அவ்வளவு வேகம்.

அன்று மாலை என் மனைவி மகனுடன் இதை சொல்லிய போது அவனை என் நண்பரின் தோட்டத்தில் ஒரு முறை பார்த்ததாக என் மகன் சொன்னான். சாப்பிட்டு முடித்தவுடன் மெதுவாக நடந்து என் நண்பரின் வீட்டுப் பக்கம் போனேன்.

'என்ன எப்படி இருக்கீங்க?' நான்.

'நல்லாருக்கேன். களப்பா இருக்கீங்க?' நண்பர் விசாரித்தார்.

பேசிக்கொண்டு இருக்கும் போது நீலச் சட்டைக்காரன் அவன் வயலிலும் வந்தது தெரிந்தது. "அடுத்த தடவை அவன் வந்த என்னைக் கூப்பிடுங்க. ஒரு கை பாத்துடலாம்" என்றார் நண்பர்.

நண்பரிடம் பேசிய சில நாட்களிலேயே மறுபடியும் அவன் நான் இருந்த இடத்தில இருந்து சற்று தொலைவில் தென்பட்டான். அவன் கையில் முன்பு பார்த்திராத ஆயுதம் ஒன்று நீண்ட கோல் போன்ற ஒன்றை வைத்திருந்தான். இரும்பினால் ஆனது போன்று இருந்தது. அவன் ஏதோ அவசரத்தில் இருந்தான். என்னுடைய தோட்டத்தில் இருந்த காய்களை பறித்து அவனுடைய கூடையில் திணித்துக் கொண்டிருந்தான். அவன் முகம் வேறு பக்கம் திரும்பியிருந்ததால் சரியாகப் பார்க்க முடியவில்லை.

நான் உடனே என் வயலின் வரப்புகளூடே ஓடி என் நண்பரின் வயல் இருந்த திசையை நோக்கி ஓடினேன். நண்பர் தூரத்தில் தென்பட்டார். விசில் அடித்து அவருக்கு அவன் இருந்த இடத்தை காட்டி சைகை செய்தேன்.

நண்பர் வந்தவுடன் மிக மெதுவாக அவனை பின்னாலிருந்து நெருங்கினோம். நாங்கள் வருவது தெரியாமல் அவன்காய்களைப் பறிப்பதில் மும்முரமாய் இருந்தான். பக்கத்தில் சென்ற போது அவன் சடாரெனத்திரும்பி என்னை அவன் அந்த பள பள ஆயுதத்தால் தாக்கினான். எனக்கு மிகவும் வலித்தது. நல்ல வேளையாக என் நண்பர் அவனைத் தாவிப்பிடுத்து அவன் அடிப்பதை தடுத்து நிறுத்தினார். இருவரும் சேர்ந்து அவன் இரு கைகளையும் பிடித்து தர தரவென்று இழுத்துக் கொண்டு அங்கிருந்த ஒரு மரத்தில் அவனைக் கட்டினோம். அவன் திமிறினான், தப்பிக்க முயன்றான். முடியாது என்று தெரிந்ததும் விட்டு விட்டான்.

"யார்ரா நீ ? எங்கிருந்து வர ?"

அவன் ஒன்றும் பேசாமல் திரு திருவென முழித்தான். நான் அவனை அடிக்க கையை ஓங்கிய போது சற்று தலையை சாய்த்து ஒரு வினோத சத்தத்தை எழுப்பினான்.தொண்டையை செருமிகிற  மாதிரி இருந்தது.

ஏதோ பேச முயற்சி செய்தது போல் இருந்தது. அப்பொழுது கண் இமைப்பதற்குள் அவன் திடீரென்று காணாமல் போனான்.

நாங்கள் இருவரும் திகைத்து நின்றோம்.


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வெளியில் மாலை வெயில்தணிந்து இருள் சூழத்தொடங்கியது. அவள் மாடிப்படிகளில் ஏறி தன் மகனின் அறைக்குள் நுழைந்தாள். அவன் தன் முன்னாள் விரிந்த அகலமான LED மானிட்டரில் லயித்திருந்தான்.

"கடவுளே நாலு மணி நேரம் ஆச்சு இன்னுமா இந்த கேம்-அ விளையாடிட்டு இருக்க. போதும்" என்றாள்.

"இரும்மா. இன்னிக்கு..இன்னிக்கு..ஒரு சூப்பர் situation மா. இதைப் பாரு என்று மானிட்டரைக் காண்பித்தான். "என்னை இந்த farmers நார்மலா ஒன்னும் பண்ண மாட்டாங்க. பயந்து ஓடிப் போய்டுவாங்க. ஆனா இன்னிக்கு என்னைக் மரத்தில் கட்டிப்போட்டுட்டாங்க.

மானிட்டரில் ரோஹித்தின் அவதார் ஒரு மரத்தில் கட்டப்பட்டிருந்தது. அவனைச்ச்சுற்றி அந்த இரண்டு தோட்டக்காரர்கள் கோபத்துடன் கையை நீட்டி ஏதோ பேசுவது தெரிந்தது.

"ரோஹித் நீ இந்த கேம்-க்கு addict ஆகிட்டு வர. அம்மாக்கு இது கொஞ்சம் கூட புடிக்கல. இந்த ஸ்டுபிட் minecraft கேம்-அ  uninstall பண்ணப் போறேன்" என்றாள்  அவள்.

ரோஹித் அந்த மானிட்டரையே பார்த்துக்கொண்டிருந்தான்.

அவள் அவன் கையை பிடித்து இழுத்தவுடன் கேம்-ஐ விட்டு வெளியேறி நிஜ உலகத்திற்கு வந்தான் ???

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அவள் தன் தலையில் மாட்டியிருந்த அந்த சாதனத்தை அவிழ்த்தாள். சுற்று முற்றும் பார்த்தாள். இப்பொழுது தான் தன் வீட்டின் ஹாலில் சோபாவில் உட்கார்ந்திருப்பதை  உணர்ந்தாள். ஏதோ தென்பட்டது போல எழுந்து நின்றாள். கடிகாரத்தை பார்த்தாள். 'ஓ! ரோஹித் ஸ்கூல்-ல் இருந்து வரும் நேரம்' தனக்குள் முணு முணுத்துக்கொண்டாள்.

ஒரு நிமிடம் ரோஹித் மாடியில் அந்த கேம் விளையாடிக்கொண்டிருப்பது போலவே இருந்தது. 'சே! எல்லாம் நிஜம் போலவே இருந்தது'. ரோஹித் அந்த கேம்-ல் மயங்கி எப்பொழுதும் அதையே நினைத்துக்கொண்டிருப்பது அவளை கவலை கொள்ளச் செய்திருந்தது.

"உன்னுடைய மூளையில் உள்ள மிக பலமாக ஓடும் சிந்தனை அலைகளை உள் வாங்கிக்கொண்டு அதைச்சுற்றி ஒரு கனவு உலகத்தை உருவாக்கும் இது". அவள் கணவன் தான் ஆராய்ச்சி செய்து உருவாக்கிய மெய்நிகர் (virtual reality) சாதனத்தை அவளுக்கு பிறந்தநாள் பரிசாக கொடுத்த போது அவன் சொன்னது நினைவுக்கு வந்தது.

அவள் தன் மகனை அழைத்து வரப்புறப்பட்டாள், சற்று கவலையோடு.

Behind the scenes

This is the second time I am seeing him. He was wearing the same blue shirt with white stripes. He was young and in a hurry. He had this sort of weapon in his hand which scared me.

I inherited this piece of land from my father who inherited from my grand father. This is our family property. My family lives a mile away in a little house I built myself. It took me a year to build it. I built it brick by brick with my elder son who helps me with the cattle. My wife sells the milk in a nearby village.

I usually rise very early in the morning. There are few houses nearby and almost all of us are engaged in farming. All of us go to bed soon after dinner. Much before the sun rises I am normally in my field watering the plants, tilling the soil and have my breakfast around eight in the morning. I continue the hard labour all through day with a break for lunch and by evening I go to rear the cattle. Evening, we relax under the neem tree near my house on a cot made of bamboo and ropes. I normally tell stories what has been passed to me by my Grand Father.

I just love this life. There is nothing more I want. I have enough money saved over time to take care of adversities. It is just that the first time I saw this blue shirt guy with that strange weapon, fear crept in me. He did not speak a word. He walked into my field and started to pluck the vegetables and gathered it into his basket. He was very quick and almost ended up taking all of my weeks produce. When I stepped forward to stop him, he looked at me with a cold stare and that made me step back. I could not say anything fearing he may attack me. I decided to know who he was.

“Hey! who are you ?” I asked

He turned and looked at me briefly stopping to collect the veggies. A moment later he was busy as before.

He seemed to have confidence that I won’t be able to do anything to him. After a while he left. He was almost running with all the fruits and vegetables he collected.

I could not understand from where he came and where he was heading.

Evening while we were sitting and chatting at home I narrated the incident. My son told me that he had seen him before doing the same thing in my neighbours field. After dinner, I walked around to my neighbour’s house.

“Howdy, all well?”

“Yeah, everything fine. You look tired”

We talked for a while. My neighbour had an experience not so different from mine. We both decided to find out more. He told me to call him the next time I saw him.

Today he is back the second time. This time he seem to carry a different weapon. It was not the same as the one I saw before. Looked like it was made of some kind of metal and it was shining. He was literally in a hurry and frantically shoving the veggies in his basket. I could not see his face much.

I ran to the edge of my field and whistled to get my neighbour.

Now both of us moved towards him. He was busy unaware of us. We went near him and he immediately started to attack with the weapon. I got some blows. It was very painful. But fortunately my neighbour caught hold of his hand and stopped him further. We dragged him to the nearby shed. He was trying to escape. As we tied him to a pole and asked him

“Tell us who you are and where you come from?”

He was silent. But fearing our aggression, he started with a grunt probably to answer us.

As he opened his mouth, the strange thing happened.

He completely disappeared into thin air. We could not believe our eyes.

“What..what’s happening here?” My friend was perplexed and looked at me.

I was speechless.

***

Outside it was dark. She walked upstairs and found her son. He was deeply immersed in the large LED monitor in front of him.

“My God, it is four hours and you are still playing this stupid game. Enough” she said

“Hold on ma, today I found myself in a strange position. The farm labourers who normally cannot do anything have tied me to a pole”

“Stop this Rohit. You are getting obsessed. Enough of this. I am going to uninstall this stupid Minecraft if you do not stop now”

Rohit saw his avatar tied to the pole, the beauty of the farm and the angry farmers surrounding him.

He quit the game, turned off the monitor and walked with his mother into the real world ??

***

She removed the gear from her head and looked around. She was sitting on the couch in the living room. The LED TV was still there.

She saw the clock. ‘Rohit will come back from school anytime’ a thought ran through her head. She tried to get up. For a moment she thought Rohit is still playing the game upstairs.

It was all so real. She was so upset with Rohit getting obsessed with the game.

“It will pick up the strongest signal in your brain and build around it” her husband’s words echoed as he gifted his first VR prototype he had been working on for her birthday.

She walked out of the house to get her son from school feeling a bit sad.

Crime and Relief

When the cigarette almost burnt his fingers, Ashok dropped it. He looked up and said “Lets see what you do today. I will drop you there” he told Raju, one of the other two who were also smoking. They dropped theirs and got ready to follow him. Ashok was tall and muscular which was visible in the seams of his shirt. As he went ahead the other two followed him. He looked calm.

As they moved out of the narrow mud road in the outskirts into the main road leading to the town, they got into the van parked on the roadside. After ten minutes Ashok crossed the bank. It was shuttered from outside and locked. He took a right into the street next to the bank and then another right turn and went past the Bank manager’s house and parked a little further. “Let me see if you have the guts. We have to leave for a trip. Come out and tell me if you saw him” Raju got down and went inside the Manager’s house.

“Hi Shilpa” he said to the Manager’s daughter when she opened the door. She smiled at him and he entered. Ashok saw this in the rear view. “We should not have got him involved” Ravi told Ashok. Ashok did not answer. He was intently looking into the rear view. He saw Raju come out of the house and raise his thumb. He immediately got out of the Van with Ravi following him. They walked in the empty plot of land next to the Manager’s house and came to the back side. They could see the Gate on the wall that separated the Bank and the Manager’s house. It was an iron gate and it was not locked. They pushed it gently and sneaked in. They were inside the compound of the Bank. They could see the back side of the Manager’s house on the other end. The bank was housed in a house and its back door was just latched. They moved in. “Pull on your mask” Ashok told Ravi and both now walked in directly to the Cashier’s room with the mask on. The fan and light in the Manager’s cabin was on apart from few others in that hall with darkness hiding in between patches of light. The cash box was solid iron and heavy. Ashok and Ravi lifted it with some effort and started to walk back. They were in the van with the box within the next five minutes.

The manager had his cinnamon tea which his daughter is good at. He slips out of the bank into his house once in a while. It was very convenient. He enjoyed every sip. He checked the cricket score on the TV in between and turned around to Raju and asked “So you are the one my daughter has been talking about?” for which Raju said “Yes uncle, I just came to share some notes I took in the class”. The Manager smiled “Hope you pass on some of your wisdom. I have to go now. Will see you at six” and left. He came into the bank and went to his cabin and put his head down to sign in the papers stacked on his table.

Ravi was driving the Van. It was almost two hours since they got the box. Ashok sat in the back of the Van trying to open the box. He had his master keys and tried with various combinations of it. The lock gave in after few attempts. “Hurray” he said. The box was full with cash, may run into a million. “Let’s celebrate” he said. “Let’s celebrate with a whiskey” Ravi shouted. Ashok said “No”. He sounded firm. “Not until we reach the motel”. He had planned to check in to a motel on the highway which was still an hour away. “Let’s celebrate it there” he said. Ravi stepped on the gas. “Meanwhile I have some work to do” Ashok got all the notes and lifted the floor mat of the Van. He then brought out black plastic bags which matched the colour of the mat and stuffed the bundles in small groups. He lifted the floor mat and slid the floor a bit. It opened to reveal a compartment specially made for it. He pushed the plastic bags into the compartment and closed the lid and moved the mat over them. Everything appeared normal. The Sun was going down fast. There was no sign of life anywhere except for some far away village lights and sound reaching them. He asked Ravi to stop the Van. They got down to loo. The wind was quite heavy. “Give me a hand” he said and both got the box and ran a little into the land nearby and threw the box as far as they could.

The manager saw the clock. It was seven and dark. He walked to the cashier’s cabin to get something and saw the box was missing. He called the cashier immediately. “Yes, Sir” the cashier came on line. There was lot of music and shouting in the background. “Madhu, the cash box is missing” the manager shouted. “Sir..What…What is missing ?” , “the Cash box”..Now Madhu must have gone away from the music. “Sir..when I left it was there in the usual place…”. “Come over immediately…”. When Madhu came, and they were convinced of the theft, it was late. Shilpa called her Dad. “Ya. I am coming…give me sometime. There is a little problem”. Raju had left a while ago. In the bank, the manager was now shaking. His words were not coherent. “Police…lets call them”. It was 10’o’clock by the time inspector Raghav stepped in.

The whole of next day went pretty much in Raghav briefing the reporters and getting his dog and police to gather information. The cashier told that the box had around three million. He said he counted, placed everything and sealed it. He had got one other staff to verify and sign it. Raghav asked the Manager “What happened to all the staff ?”, “All of them went to attend a colleagues wedding. I stayed back to get things done”. “Where you there all the time ?”, “No…briefly around 4’o’clock I stepped into my house for a cup of tea.”. The constable walked in and whispered something. Raghav went and saw two masked fellows walking into the bank from the back door in the CCTV footage. He could not make out their faces, the video was hazy, but likely they were young from their frame. The time said 4:15 and it must be around the same time when the manager had stepped out. So, they must have entered from the parallel road behind the bank. Raghav went ahead and questioned Shilpa. “Did you see your father?”, “Yes”, “what time he came in to the house?”, “…May be around 4” , “…How long was he there..?”, “..May be half hour..”, “What were you doing ?..”, “was talking to Raju..”, “Raju ??”, “Yes, he is my classmate..”. When Raghav started questioning Raju it was 11’o’clock.

Raju was shaky. He said he came to exchange some notes with Shilpa and they studied in the same class. “Did you see anyone around when you came in ?”. “No”. “You came in at around 4?” , “”Yes”, “Did you meet the manager in his house ?” , “Yes”, “Did you see anyone walking around in the road at that time?” , “No”. Raghav felt there is something about this guy. But he wanted to allow some time. “OK you go now. Will call you if needed”. Raju went.

Ashok and Ravi had checked out of the Motel early in the morning and were on the road pretty much all day. They wanted to cross the border somewhere and get into the neighbouring state. The TV was flashing breaking news everywhere they stopped about the theft. In one of the toll, they found uniformed policemen stopping and checking the vehicles. “Just behave normally” Ashok said Ravi. “Where you guys are going?” , the Police peeped into their Van. “We are heading to get the goods”, “Do you have the copy of invoice?” Ashok showed a invoice which had the description of goods and the town they were supposed to pick up. The police asked them to step out. He lifted the mats and found nothing. Still not clear of suspicion in his eyes, he noted down their names,phone numbers and the number and color of the Van and let them off. “Guess we still have 200 kms to reach the nearest border?”

“Now the police have started the manhunt” Ravi had fear in his voice. Ashok was at the wheel as they almost reached the border. “Yeah..what do you think the police should do?” Ashok was a bit casual. “Tell me, What you want to do with all the money?” Ravi persisted,”We will think about it. For now, we need to wait and watch” Ashok was thinking about the border check post. “Just stay calm. Nothing will happen” he told Ravi who was already looking pale. “I will answer”. The police asked the same set of questions as before and looked inside and around the Van, looked at the papers and he was let go.

Raju felt there is something wrong with Ashok and Ravi. They were making fun of him and Shilpa. It is true that of late he had developed a sort of soft corner for her. He was a bit scared of Shilpa’s father. He always timed it to her house during Bank hours when her father would be busy. This time strangely Ashok challenged him to meet Shilpa when his father was at home. Ashok asked him to go to her house on a Saturday late noon when they told her father would be there. If he is around, Ashok asked him to come out and show his hand as a sign of victory. All of these appeared a bit strange. He had known them for a long time. They played cricket together. That’s how he got to know of them. But given the timing of the theft and the police asking him if he saw anyone at that time, he felt he should have told the police. When he approached Raghav and told about Ashok and Ravi, Raghav immediately aired it and got to know they have left the border. He summoned the owner of the delivery company. The owner vouched for their track record and told that they are on their way to the neighbouring state to pickup some goods. “I want to talk to them”. Ashok took the phone when Raghav called. “I want to talk to you”. “Sure sir. We will be here today to get the goods and we are returning” Ashok replied in his usual calm self.

“We are done with” Ravi said. “All these years of hard work is going to be washed away in Jail”. Ashok was looking at him. “Why do you need all these money ?” Ravi asked. “Why not ? What’s wrong with having money?” Ashok asked. “What do we do now ? ”, Ravi was clueless and scared. “Lets go back and let them know” …..“If you stay calm and forget what we did…and simply look from that point of view, we will be lucky to get those 3 million”. “But how do I stay calm?”… “Just forget what happened. Erase it. Think that there is nothing you have done other than driving the Van to get the goods. The money is safe in the Van. No one is going to go near it. We just have to wait for everything to pass away”. Ravi was not convinced that he could easily pass the questioning. He nodded his head for Ashok as he always does.

On the way back they stayed in a motel. It was late night. Ravi was drunk. He started shouting and talking about the police treatment. For the first time, Ashok felt it is going to fall out. He started to think of the possibilities from there. As he switched on the TV, All News channels were beaming the Prime Minister. “We want to get rid of black money and counterfeit notes in this country. This is one of our ways to hit the terror network. That is our poll promise and we want to go by our word. This Cabinet has decided to invalidate all the high value currencies with immediate effect. Starting tomorrow for a window of 3 months you can exchange the high denomination currency with the bank. You do not need to panic. Your money is safe and Government will replace it with new currency”.

It took a while for Ashok to get what would happen. He shook Ravi to his senses. “The currency in our van is just paper”. Ravi cried suddenly “I thought we can live a happy life..Everything is spoilt. Everything…”. The winter night was unusually cold. We can get some warmth for the night burning the notes, Ashok thought and laughed out loud. There was both relief as well as disappointment in that laughter.

Far away, Raghav called the Manager and said “You can sleep in peace. There is nothing to chase now. The money chased itself out and shut the case.”.

Mountains Went Missing

“How can you lift a mountain?”, he was visibly curious. It was a Friday evening and I could see vast stretches of agricultural land, ploughed and ready for the monsoon rains.

I was jogging beside my son who was on the bike and asked me the question.

Kids are generally free in their minds. No hangover about asking or doing anything. They actually have less of space and time hangover I used to think.

Yesterday I had told him the story of how Hanuman lifted a mountain to bring the Sanjeevani herbs when they had to wake up the dead Lakshmana during the Ramayana war.

His question sprung out of nowhere now.

“Hanuman had magical powers. He could lift mountains, cross oceans, grow as big as a mountain or shrink as small as an Ant” I said.

He stopped cycling and turned his head to the side and looked at me. I knew he was seriously thinking about what I said.

“Come on. Lets go there”, I showed him our usual spot which was a block of stone where we rest, watching the mountain range at the far end. There were tracts of land which are usually covered with corn or sunflower. Beautiful sight.

Today the land in between was pretty much empty. The mountains were visible.

As we sat, I said “ Look at those mountains, they are supposed to have some really special people called Siddhas. They can do what Hanuman did. They can cover long distances in no time, Shrink their size, or grow it, appear and disappear at will”.

“Are they there now ?” he asked

“Quite possibly” I said.

“Do those mountains have Sanjeevani herbs?” he asked

“May be, but no one knows how they look” I said.

I was not exaggerating. I have heard stories about the special properties of those hills. People had told about sage Agasthya who did meditation there and a Shiva temple somewhere deep in those mountains. They still talk about spotting siddha like people occasionally who appear from nowhere to guide people who lost their way in the mountains. There was always something mystical about that place, which had only grown with time.

There was a herd of sheeps coming on that road where we were sitting. My son was keenly watching them now.

It was getting dark.

“Come let’s go home” I said and got up to go back.

*******

It was raining heavily outside.

The officer had just got inside his home. His wife followed him closing the door.

“You look tired, I will go make a cup of hot tea” She said and went into the kitchen.

It was a cottage refurbished to house the Officer who was on special duty.

“How is he?” the officer asked his wife changing to casuals.

“Today he is quite a bit down, sleeping all day”, tears were filling her eyes as she said this. “I am not sure what else can we do, day after day I see him getting weak”.

The officer was silent for a while. It cannot come at a worse time for him. He was outright honest in his job. He used his power to help the needy. He never bent to please his political bosses. His current posting has been the hardest. He was asked by the court to submit a report on the illegal granite mining that had robbed the state of thousands of crores.

He was at the fag end of his enquiry. His only son was a happy school going kid until last week when he was diagnosed with Cancer. The Sky fell on him since then. He could not focus on the last bit of his report to the court.

“How are things going with your report” his wife came back with the Tea. She wanted to keep him focused and get it out of his mind so that he can take off to be with his son.

“There are a lot of obstacles. The local politicians do not want to see this report done. But I feel I have got a lot of evidence now. It should nail these goons who have made a large portion of this mountain disappear”, he said as he closed his eyes for a moment in the fresh aroma of the Tea.

He walked into the bedroom and saw his son sleeping. As he came out, his wife said “The peon came and left a sack in your office room. He said you asked him to keep it there”.

The officer said “OK” and walked into his office room and started to look into the documents he brought.

******

“Today I should complete the story of Hanuman”

I thought to myself as I was walking on the road. I had come to buy some veggies.

“Hey man, how are you ?” I heard a voice behind and looked back and saw my friend.

“How is the kid?” I asked and realised I could have delayed asking it.

“Sleeping all day. Effects of Chemo”, he said.

“Oh boy. That sounds awful. You look pretty worn out”, I said.

“Yeah. In the last stages of the report. All of these taking a toll on me”, he said.

I had known him through my son who studies in the same class with his son . We met over a school annual day and few more occasions and slowly became family friends. Once we had a long discussion about this whole illegal mining stuff. He was candid about many things.

Suddenly I had this thought “Hey, why don’t we go for cycling in the mountains this Sunday?” and added “May be it will give your body some exercise?”

He was initially not sure. After a while he said “That may be a good one to do. OK. Let us do it. I gotta go now, See you”.

*******

It was quite hard for me. I had not done much cycling recently. My son wanted to come along. But I felt it was too long and hard for his age.

There was mild breeze and we could now start seeing the town far away from the altitude we stood.

He was quite at ease. Being an IPS, I was not surprised by his fitness. As we cycled, he said, “ Come 

let’s go this way, and I will show you something”.

We now detoured into a narrow path moving away from the road into what looked like a deeper side of the mountain.

It was very silent except for our occasional talking and the creaking of the wheels. Tall eucalyptus trees and numerous other trees were all over the place. It was beautiful and suddenly my mind was not wandering. Every sound, every rustle I could hear.

It must have been easily an hour ride through that road which looked like 15 minutes. I realised we had come to another part of the mountain range. My friend, the officer was looking around and said “We need to go little more this way”, he showed a path that continued from where we had come but even narrower.

I was a bit hesitant. My friend said “Come on. I wanted to show you something. It’s not far”

After some time, we had almost come to a view point from where I could see the whole valley. There was no sign of any one around. My friend pointed somewhere and said, “Look. Over there you see those huts. Its a village. They have been living there for ages. They worship this mountain. There are some folks who are beyond 100 years of age, but can lift a rock. Such is their life”

“Our whole country must have been like this thousands of years ago, tribes of different kinds. What we see is just the remnants of our past” I said.

He showed another part of the hill, which almost looked flat. He said “ You would be surprised if you know there was a Jaina cave with sculptures and paintings. But its gone now”

“What ? Did I hear you right?” I was shocked.

“Yes. The villagers had told me about it. Fortunately some writers who came here had taken some photographs of those caves. But our greed had destroyed them as well”.

“Why do they need so much money ? What will they do with it ? Don’t they realize they are leaving a vicious place to their sons and grand sons where it is all about money and nothing else? With money in everything do they think they can expect their sons to live happily? Mindless idiots” I was pouring out.

My friend was smiling now. He said, “See how you feel. Every one of us sits behind four walls with four others and they are happy to watch things on TV. No one cares beyond their house. Not even the road leading to their house. This attitude has cost us dearly. A large portion of the hills this side of the mountain range has been mined and sold. Most of our historical past has also gone with it. All of this because they found a BMW better looking than this piece of earth”.

When we cycled back, my mind was filled with images. I was silent to the most part. My friend was talking about how the whole system has been bought by the mining mafia. Right from the customs to the check posts. I felt helpless listening to all this.

******

After reaching home I washed and settled in front of my computer. My son was excitedly narrating the herd of sheep he saw the other day to my wife.

He came to me and asked “Appa, did you see any Sanjeevani herbs ?”

My silence remained in me. I was nodding my head unable to talk anything.

“Why don’t you have your dinner” I heard my Wife call from the kitchen.

“Coming..” I said.

“Appa, continue that story of Hanuman” my Son started, not giving me any time.

“OK. OK. will do” I said and typed “Hanuman lifting Sanjeevi mountain” and after clicking some links, went to a Wikipedia page.

It is believed that fragments which fell from the Sanjeevi hills while being carried by Lord Hanuman created …..

“Wow!” — I could not believe what I read.

“Dinner is ready” I heard my Wife again.

*********

The officer was about to leave for work. His wife came out to see him off. ‘It is going to be a busy day’ . He thought to himself. The peon came and lifted his bag.

“Appa, when will you be back?” he saw his son running towards him.

He turned back and was surprised to see him look suddenly fresh and live. It had been a while since he saw him like that.

“Come on…kid”, he ran and hugged his son.

“Let us plan a movie tonight. Will be back as soon as possible” he said charged up and got into his Jeep.

On the way to office, his phone rang.

“Hey! are you OK” — Officer

… — Me

“I was thinking , may be we cycled too much in a day” — Officer

…. — Me

“Go ahead tell me.. I am on my way to office” — Officer

… — Me

As the officer spoke, his face was lighting up. He suddenly could see the connections with what his friend was telling on the phone.

“So do you mean to say the Wikipedia page has the name of these mountains?” — Officer

… — Me

“Amazing. Unbelievable”, the officer could not contain his excitement. “Wow. That’s an interesting find.” he said and kept the phone and looked at the peon.

He then asked “Where did you collect the rock samples you left in the house the other day?”

“Sir, they were the places marked by you as we interviewed the villagers and went with them in the mountains.”, the peon said and asked “What sir, any problem?”

“No. No. Everything is alright. I just wanted to make sure” the officer said.

The Jeep halted in front of his Office building and the peon took his bag and walked in.

‘The Sanjeevani is working. Tonight I will watch the movie with my kid’ The officer thought to himself. Now he had a spring in his steps as he entered into the office to close the report.

Clear and Present Danger

“The society we live in seem to become increasingly evil”, He sighed, looking away from his laptop. He was buried reading News for the last half hour. And most of them were about the recent spate of murders in the city, mostly women, the cause unknown and police still working on the clues.

“You first stop reading News. You are going unrestrained. You read the morning Newspaper, you spend time on the internet reading News as it trickles by and what else do you think your head will be processing”, — the wife said.

“This is the problem with Women. They are always blissfully unaware of their environs. Men always are cautious. They are wired that way. A sudden change in the way things happen around can stiffen their ears. I can tell you that the way things are going is not something you can cheer about. It is not just the murder. It is the ease with which people, that too, young ones, seem to carry weapons. Mostly they are corrupted by these TV serials which show all kinds of violence right into our living rooms. The kind of things that is available uncensored on the web”, He went on.

“But you can’t be paranoid about all this. It will be difficult to walk on the street even” — She said

“OK, you see this broad daylight murder of a working woman in public view in a railway station. How can you expect some one carrying a weapon so early in the morning?” — He showed a CCTV image of the killer on the screen. It was not very visible.

“The Police will figure it out. Why should you worry about it ?” She was about to leave.

“Yes, they have already zeroed in on a guy and say it was one sided love. But there are also videos about the differences between the raw CCTV image first published and then the refined image” — He said

“OK..Now you are not only wasting your time, but mine as well. Go do your work” She became restless.

“Fine. I will go for a jog..it’s been a while” — He left after changing over to his shorts and shoes.

**********

He left his house and walked several streets to come to the entrance of a large university campus where he normally jogs. It has large areas of tree cover and it is usually unpolluted.

As he walked on the road before the entrance into the university campus, he saw this guy crossing him. Let’s call him X.

He looked at X as X crossed him from the opposite side. And he found X was staring at him.

X was wearing a faded pink shirt and his eyes were on him stubbornly. As he with a curiosity looked into X, X turned his gaze away and crossed him.

As he reached the entrance X had crossed him and gone past him. Before entering he turned back to find that X who walked away had by now started to come behind him at a distance. Now he became alert.

He kept a watch behind and walked slowly to enter the campus. X by now crossed him and walked in front of him as if nothing had happened. He found X go in the front and enter the campus, then take a immediate left onto a very narrow path.

For a while this whole thing looked strange for him. Why would some one do this in the first place?. As thoughts crossed him and he entered the campus, he started to jog from that point. He saw X going into that narrow path and felt may be X might be one of those fruit sellers who normally put a shop out there. But he was not entirely convinced. After doing some distance, he looked back and he saw X who appeared to have gone into the side earlier, now had come back and was looking at him.

This was a bit too much for him. He was jogging but his mind was now filled with suspicion about X.

Why would some one stare at me and when I stare back, follow me, cross me, detour, allow me to go and again come back from the hiding to look at me? I have seen his face somewhere. Ah..was it close to what I saw in the raw CCTV image ? My God, this means the murderer is hiding in this campus?.

He went through his usual jogging path all the while filled with thoughts.

Now when I go back, will he be there? Should I call any of my friends ? or Should I call the Police ? But how stupid it will be if he turned out to be some one normal?

In any case, he thought he should have some means to protect when he goes back. He picked some stones and stuffed it in his shorts. He saw a large stick with thorns. He thought in case X is there and does something nasty, he will need this.

As he jogged back and came to the entrance he did not find X. Quite likely he left by then or probably hiding somewhere behind some tree. He left the campus and while walking back, saw his friend.

“Hey, done with your jog?” friend asked

“Yep. just coming back”, He said.

“OK I will join you” , friend joined him.

“Things are not looking good man”, He said.

“What ? In office ?” friend asked.

“No…I am telling with all this kind of murders happening in the city and News about terrorism”. He went onto narrate what happened to him.

“Oh..I see your point, completely agree. I feel we should report this to the Police. Do you have a clear idea of how that X looked ?” Friend asked

“Yeah, he almost looked like the one in the CCTV footage. And I am sure he is scared that some one will spot him. So he turned his head when I looked at him. But what is puzzling me is why he came behind me and went on to look at me” He said

“We will anyway inform the Police” his Friend said and both walked into the nearby station.

As they were about to enter, he saw X talking to the Sub-Inspector. He was stunned. He pressed his friends hand hard. He signalled him to stop and quietly slipped out.

**********

“Hmm..these days I guess the police are even more alert. But I never thought they will suspect me” He said his wife after narrating the whole thing.

“Of course, go and look up in the mirror. Not shaved for a week, unkempt hair, wearing glasses, look like those high end terror operatives” She smiled.

i2I...

When I had the dosa this morning, I kind of squirmed looking at the charred portion. I wanted a crispy, golden brown dosa on my plate. I went on to suggest my wife about how she needs to keep the heat at the optimum level even though she has turned out the best of the dosas on my plate before. Just one bad one and I started commenting ignoring all the good ones I had had.

The clothes I wear I have preference, the movies I watch, the books I read, the friends I keep, the places I go, the mobile phone I use and so on. Not only that, the mobile phone my wife uses, the dress she wears, the way she smiles and so on. Every damn thing out there I have a preference. I question if it is not delivered to my taste and I feel bad if it does not happen according to my preference.

You know the only thing you unquestioningly embraced in life ?

It is YOU.

Yes. When this body and mind was given to me and had evolved with me, I never even bothered to know about it. I never even questioned it once. I assumed it to be what I AM.

While I question everything about everyone I forgot to question this person who is questioning everything else.

Why is this spinning things out of control?

How did it reach this point where it simply goes on and on and drags me in?

How do I get into arguments and make mine and others life miserable?

How did it make me think I have to have this much money, a car, a home and on and on?

Did we ever question the nature of this body and mind that grew with us?

Did we have the opportunity to show preference to what we want and discard what we did not want out of it?

It does not happen unless you start to observe the patterns. You find that most of the things what you do tend to repeat on and on. Your craving for money, lust, power.

You find that your mind has cleverly camouflaged it with bells and whistles all the time but at the end of it leads you to a more affirmative image of ‘I’. A more powerful, a more lustful and a more wealthy ‘I’.

Is that good or bad?

As long as you cannot see the separation or question and introspect the images built by your mind there is nothing good for the real YOU. For sure it could be good or bad for what you are now.

i2I..

As I mentioned before, the ‘I’ is a sequence of images about ‘who you are’ reinforced by your mind over time. The one that is the current image is the most powerful. You vehemently defend and nurture it than your past.

If I say, ‘What you did to that woman was wrong’ after two years of your divorce, you care less. The same thing when said as you are going through it makes you retort and even stop seeking any words of advise. That is how powerful the image you hold now about yourself.

It is almost like a buffer cache (in computers) where the old is overlaid by the new. But in us, it is not exactly same as you still remember the old, but it does not evoke as much a reaction from you as the new. So this is really not about memory. This is about your response, reaction to those stored in your head.

If you look at this, it sounds very funny and outrageous at the same time. You have been going around thinking all what you did and what others said what you did is YOU. But the reality is no more than a bunch of images that were strong in you about who you are at that point in time.

That’s why we are always able to arrive at a better decision about things on hindsight. One you have a lot more data. But the most important thing is that you have nothing to lose. I mean not monetarily. But you no more need to defend that old image of YOU.

When I was working, I was consumed by work. I thought all I have to do is work harder and harder. And I did. I had this image of being the most hard working, and as a result most knowledgeable on the work I did. May be some others had this too. And many others might have had the image that I am brash and arrogant. Again I just have to remind you that the image about me in others is a result of the image of those people about themselves at that point in time. For example, if some one thought I am brash, he may be having a much stronger image to defend and hence cannot accommodate me. Whereas, some other may not have too much image and may be OK to hear me out. Coming back, this image of me as the most intelligent and smart at work had been assumed as what I AM by myself. Until I saw a failure, when I could not deliver what I promised. That is when I have the first jolt to the image I built up, the ‘I’ I had nurtured.

There is a Zen story about a person who bragged about his archery skills. He was convinced that he is the best archer in the town. In fact he was. But he carried that image so deep and would not believe if some one said ‘YOU are not THAT archer’. One day a master came along and he started bragging his archery skills to the master. The master took him to a hill and asked him to stand on a edge of a rock. When you look down, it was staggering. The master said “Now show your skills”. The archer trembled. He could not concentrate on the archery any longer. He bowed and moved away. The master went and stood on the steep edge and shot the arrow with the same level of calmness as he was before.

What the master did was to give a ‘jolt’ to the archer by making him stand on that steep rock. A jolt to his image and a situation to allow the archer to see it for himself. It was not really about the archery. The master had little doubt about his skills. But the image and all the bragging fed by the archer came in the way of archery. He would be a better archer if he could just keep that skill as a skill and be indifferent to that.

When a jolt happens in you life, it could be a failure of the task that you invested a great deal of time, it could be someone dear to you and acknowledged how great you were suddenly backing off, it could be a disease you get afflicted with or it could be even a small burst of anger on the road, all of this gives you that window to look at your ‘I’. The image that you have carefully built over time about YOU.

But to most of us, the images are inseparable from what we possibly are. In fact it is unimaginable to understand who this person is without any image.

Does such a thing exist?

If it is what would it be ?