It was a stormy morning, it has been continuously pouring since last night, the cleaning lady Sarita mentioned it to Mrs. Ranjha while she was wiping the floor. “The weather will remain the same for the next couple of days,” said the voice on the television. The forecast was being aired not the news channel and Mr. Ranjha was eagerly waiting for the daily horoscope which should follow once the weather forecast was over. Listening to the horoscope was one of their daily chores. 15 minutes of uninterrupted glance into the future of the family members which included their two sons Ahaan and Jahaan. The names were decided by the parents. Ahaan was named by her mother and Jahaan by her father. Apparently it was part of the deal between the parents that if the first child is a boy then the mother gets to name him and then the second child would be named by the other parent.
It was lazy Saturday somewhat because of the rain. Mr. Ranjha was in a jolly mood as the horoscope for the day was great for everyone. Their sons were not up yet. They had a cricket match in the society that was washed. The human alarm clock of the house (their mother) was instructed by the children about the match. Suddenly Mrs. Ranjha hears a cry “mom, you were supposed to wake us up.” She moves in the drawing room where she finds Jahaan rubbing her eyes and crying that he was not woken up for the important cricket match which was scheduled for sharp 7am. The time on the clock showed 9:45 am. Once Jahan stopped rubbing his eyes Mrs. Ranjha pointed at the window. Jahaan looked outside the window and saw that it was raining. He turned towards the tv and sat on the sofa and everyone went back to their daily chores. Soon followed Ahaan into the drawing room and placed himself on the sofa and switched the channel to cartoon network. The Jetsons were being aired. Ahaan was fond of cartoons. He would never miss a chance to watch the cartoon network.
Mother went back to the kitchen. Sarita was done with the wiping and went in the kitchen to help with the dishes. “1402 ki memsaab ke gardan par fir se mar ka nishaan tha," Sarita said The lady in House No. 1402 had a bruise on her neck. Sarita Said. This caught the attention of Mrs. Ranjha. She stated kya fir se nishan tha aaj? She stated so there was a bruise again? Kitne dhum dham se shadi hui thi. Han memsaab maine suna hai sahab ka bahar kisi aur aurat ke sath chakkar chal rha hai. She was married with so much joy and happiness. Yes madam I have heard that her husband is has a mistress.
Just when the conversation was about become interesting, Mr. Ranjha’s voice interrupted the conversation. He was asking for a cup of coffee. Following that were the kids asking for breakfast. Once the coffee and breakfast was served, everyone went back to their respective rooms. It was half past noon when the bell rang. The rain had stopped and a cool breeze was gushing through windows, pushing the curtains on its way in the room. Mrs. Ranjha went to answer the door. It was the postman. He had come deliver a letter.
Mrs. Ranjha collect the letter and came back in to her room. The kids were not in the house they had gone to the park to play soccer. Mr Ranjha received a call. His voice rose in concern. He got up from the bed and asked his wife to follow him till the park.
Police had arrived at the scene. There were too many people covering the area. Mr. and Mrs. Ranjha arrived at the scene. They were not being let in the scene but were cleared after some resistance. They were shocked and taken aback with the amount of blood spatter in the area. Mrs. Ranjha started crying while Mr. Ranjha was trying to hold himself together and at the same time had to hold onto his wife as well. Ahaan was being questioned and Jahaan was no where to be seen. Ahaan was crying, when he looked at her mother, he ran and hugged her tightly. The police came upto Mr. Ranjha and explained the whole incident. There was an ambulance parked at the corner of the road. Ahaan pointed towards the ambulance when his mother enquired about Jahaan. her heart sank. They all rushed towards the ambulance. There was a white bandage around his right elbow and left knee. He had a scratch on his forehead and arms.
The kids were playing cricket while Jahaan was busy playing with a puppy near the park. Suddenly the puppy ran towards the road and was about to get hit by a car. Jahaan tried to save him. He could not reach in time. By the time he reached he managed to get hit by the same car and fell on the ground. The traffic police came rushing at the scene and fortunately an ambulance was passing by that was stopped by the crowd. “I could not save him," said Jahaan. His mother was crying and started thanking the gods once she saw that her son was unharmed. Mr. Ranjha scolded Ahaan stating that he is supposed to take care of his younger brother. I was playing and did not know when ran after the stupid dog said Ahaan in his defence. to which Jahaan said don't call him stupid. He has dead now. I was just trying to save him. The puppy was hit and died on the spot.
The lines in Italic are English translation for the dialogue in Hindi.
1 comment:
short & Nice story.
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