Chennai Floods : The Takeaway Points

Through all the failures and learning curves of life, we gain more and more memories, it's these memories which keeps a particular situations or instants awoken in our mind.

Some of those memories are very pleasant and sweet, some are not so pleasant and some turn out to be our nightmares. But each and every memory regardless of its essence, teaches us something about life. It gives us valuable experiences.

One such point in my otherwise unusual life came when I, along with 4.334 million other Chennaites experienced something that we haven’t witnessed for ages- A devastating weather system which brought in 1024 mm of rain in the month of November alone (which is 300% more than usual rainfall the city gets during that month) and believe it or not this was just the starting of what was to be a disaster. As if this much rainfall is not enough, the city went down to register more than 400 mm of rainfall in just 24 hours one the first 2 days of December. As per record this was the highest amount of rainfall the city had seen in 100 years and consequently, it led to the flooding of Chennai – what was to be the worst to ever hit the city in past 100 years.

Now from these stats, it should come as no surprise that the beautiful city finally converted into some sort of water body and it got immensely flooded.

It had several devastating implications- almost the entire population of Chennai was effected – Transportation stranded, Food and water supply cut down, people getting homeless, and a lot more.

The entire city was in the gasp of the bloody anger of nature and without a question of a doubt – the city was down to its knees with people and humanity in Chennai, in general seeming completely helpless.

The city was out of track, and in the moments like this, you except some help  and concern from the Government and from the people all over nation but leave the people even the media persons, who find love in putting every damn thing to spotlight, were too lazy to properly broadcast this situation.

At the times when there should be some sort of tendency to help the affected, the entire nation was in a hurry to blame the town planners and architects of the city for poor planning and media itself was determined to put this disaster forward as a man-made one and not a natural one.

These sorts of stuffs were freaking us, the effected consensus of the city.

Finally the army came to the rescue and the entire chennaites thank them from all our hearts for standing by the stranded people in the most disastrous times.

And apart from army one such standout in the relief efforts, one glimmer of humanity through the tragedy was the concerted efforts of Chennai’s own, the film star Siddhartha Suryavanshi and the man behind the radio---RJ Balaji.

At the time no-one showed any signs of effort or help to revive the destroyed city, Actor Siddhartha was on the roads with chest high water, helping people and doing everything he can to rescue the stranded ones to safe places. He along with the help of RJ Balaji (another person active in relief work) and some volunteers toiled hard for about 5-6 days in order to rehabitate the city, he introduced the #ChennaiMicro to use twitter to his help and in this way, he brought together hundreds of thousands of people to contribute their bit to the help of the people and without a question of a doubt he defied the so called stardom policies to become the real star of the show.

Here’s a testament of his incredible, and heroic efforts:

Without a question of a doubt, his efforts were an inspiration for millions of people as to how a movie star valued humanity above all in order to help the people of his city. And that’s why every single Chennaite salutes and thanks this guy whole-heartedly

Following his lead, several other stars and popular figures rushed in to provide help to the city’s affected population.

Even if we stress in our sharp memories we can never find an instance when any bollywood star helped the people in Mumbai 2005 floods the way Siddhartha did this time around. This simply shows the class of the man.

What was another high to take out from this disaster was the unified fight that the people of Chennai had shown.

From December 1-7, the entire week during which the floods got triggered, Chennaites were constantly taking to twitter to help the people of their city survive the danger, a testament of this can be seen from the fact that #ChennaiFloods and #ChennaiRains and later #ChennaiMicro were constantly trending for more than a week.

Many people living in safe places gave their home address and contact numbers publicly in twitter and other social media to help the dislocated people.

Several others volunteered with The Indian army and people like Siddhartha in trying to bring the life in city on track.

The Government triggered the relief measures by distributing a number of food and water packages to the people but what really got criticism was the fact that it allegedly delayed the distribution of relief packages in order to print the photographs of the Chief Minister over those packages.

This I guess, pretty much clarifies the situation and the mindset of all the people whom the affected consensus dearly look after to with hope and expectations of help and relief.

Now, the tragedy is done, people are back to their feet and city back on track and is looking raring as ever but at this point of time, thinking about that situation really makes us feel how contrasting things could be.

On the night stroke of 13 and 14 November when Paris was hit by those massive terror attacks, the entire world media provided solid coverage and there was also a small thing in social media which was changing the profile picture in facebook into the national colors of France which I believe was a good think and a great sign of solidarity. But that's not what exactly happened in our case.

Contrastingly enough, as far as Chennai's situation is concerned, even the media was also not much focused about properly highlighting the situation and it was only after much widespread criticisms and appeals that the issue got highlighted, during the tragedy, the people were left stranded and fighting for themselves all alone.

This was really a very disturbing instance of contrast when a tragedy in a nation was not properly viewed in by its own officials and mass media.

But at the end of the day, if we think about the scenario it do has given us some sort of useful experience on how to fight a dangerous situation like this. And talking from general point of view, it has made all the 4.334 million people affected in Chennai very strong and tough mentally.

And the way common people of Chennai responded to this disaster in a very unified manner truly made me believe they are the best and it’s increased the respect for the common people of Chennai infinitely high in my mind.

I truly love to say this that I am proud to be a resident of this incredible place and I am proud to be a Chennaite.

Thanks For Your Valuable Time

RESERVATION : TICKET TO DESTRUCTION

Now there are a lot of different quotations and facts that keep touching and getting under our minds and skins day in and day out but one such fact (or fantasy crap whatever u wannna call it), which really peaks my interest every now and then is the fact that every single emotion in this world needs an outlet. Maybe it was this or what I don’t know but there’s something inside me which thrived and drove me to write about this ever prevalent issue.

Now I don’t wanna bore u all people with my somewhat annoying lecture and cut it straight to the point.

Imagine yourself as a normal guy without any luxuries of life but a somewhat stubborn   desire to meet every single needs and requirements of your family and determination to realize all your dreams. Driven by that you wake up every single day working harder than ever doing all the things you can, not leaving any stone unturned and struggling and gushing through all the failures and finally you start rising up the ladder of success and you sense your opportunities waiting for you ……what a dream story...but... but... hold on hold on……….all of a sudden….all the opportunities you created for yourself with extra-ordinary hard-work gets snatched away/……..in a blink of an eye………

And who gets that--- a person who was never in the contention, who remained out of the picture without doing any sort of remarkable work but came right inside the contention just to snatch your opportunities.

And the reason why he/she was given the fruits of your struggle? 

It's because going by his/her surname he/she was considered backward in the society and less privileged than you. What a Bullshit ending to such a fairytale of struggle and dedication!

All your dreams, all your desires crushed in a second (trust me it won’t take more than that) while he enjoys all the dreams you saw and worked for, you continue to be in the middle-class frame, full of never ending desires, dreams and aspirations.

How do ya feel now?  Hurt? Angry? Infuriated? …… or else I guess you are so tired of all these injustices that you just accept your life the way it is and continue to live on the same ordinary life and all the work u did will slowly fade out, and all your rage will also slowly but steadily evaporate into the infinity.

Well guys this is what’s happening in our nation for the past 68 years. Every one notices it, every one gives a damn about it, every one experiences it and then this injustice gets forgotten.  (As I write it, I think that’s what me and you all read-freaks gonna do once you and me are through this).

In case you haven’t figured it out yet this post is all about----RESERVATION.

This by far is one of the most important socio-political evil that’s prevalent all over the globe particularly India. But its adverse implications are ever-increasing.

Before we rush into this situation’s details let’s first see how this crappy bullshit theory came into existence---- There’s actually a very funny concept of Equality that’s responsible for its conception.

Our constitution makers thought some socially and economically backward castes (mind you, backward at the time of independence) were not getting equal opportunities. So, there needed to be something that must be done to pamper those castes and they came up with this stuff which could be of some use then, but an absolute bizarre crap now.

Now I called the concept of equality as funny side because look where this evil has brought us. Millions of students and job-seekers get turned out many-a-times in their life only because this constitution and law sees them having an unfair advantage over other castes and creeds which are seen backwards.

But in reality most of the people benefiting from this reservation policy are those so called backward castes’ people who earn millions of money and are in no way that they enjoy any less equality or opportunities in daily practice and there’s actually no way at all that they should be pampered.

Look at what implications it has had.

Each year several students of our nation commit suicide and several other horrendous deeds as they just can’t handle the immense pressure that is on them. Now this is a very sad situation and we can screw our educational system for that all we want but what’s really important to notice here is that-- the pressure is not the same for all students. For a student of some surname this is greater than that as compared to those of other surnames or caste to be particular.

Is this the Equality that we’re talking about?

Now it has had massive disastrous impacts everywhere cross the society but most of it has been in electoral and educational sector, education and stuffs to be very particular.

What this has led to is the fact that several people are not valuing Hard-Work at all as they think that their surname and caste is enough to get them to the top of the ladder of success.

Talking from the national point of view, this has led to increase in the number of incapable and unworthy people holding important positions of our national politics and other administrative posts.

This is a major Blow to the development of our beloved Nation.

For years and years, this issue has been prevalent and it’s been killing our nation from inside and is one of the biggest worms and internal cancer prevalent in India and many other nations of the world where this bullshit policy is in practice.

For instance let’s take real life instances of the Human Development Index of the nation that don’t have much sophisticated reservation policy v/s those who have it:

Norway(1), Australia(2), Switzerland(3), Denmark(4) and Germany(5) none of these nations have caste or creed based sophisticated reservation policy and by the stats these are the TOP 5 NATIONS when it comes to Human Development Index.

India(130), Bangladesh(142), Pakistan(147), Kenya(145), Morocco(126) - all these nations have caste/creed based reservation policies and there’s absolutely no doubt at all as to why these nations rank low in Human Development Index stats.

I guess the picture of National Development of our nation, which depends hugely on quality of Human Resources is clear from these stats.

And as is said----Statistics Never Lie.

Voice has been raised against this issue but as always due to lack of coordinated protests and unity; the lone voice raised was easily suppressed.

I guess it is high time now for us as a whole to take action against this evil policy that’s destroyed the dreams and aspirations of several households of our nation and will continue to do so until it’s completely scratched off.

Now from this post I don’t mean to disregard every single person coming under reservation policy as incapable and unworthy but instead my aim is to reveal the real unworthy guys hiding behind the shield of reservation, to limelight and to bring them under the radar.

Do Think About This Issue.

THANKS FOR YOUR VALUABLE TIME

The Plea Of The Unheard

Well i am a true Indian and one thing that you can bet your ass on is the fact that Indians are movie freaks.
And m not an xception by any stretch of imagination. Ours is a region where movie stars sort of really steal the show, the spotlight and they have quite a big fan-following.

Speaking of fan-following, there is one star who ususally enjoys as much of a support as any of his contemporary and his name is - Salman Khan.

Well last day was supposed to be the biggest day of this guy's life as it was the verdict day on The famous (or rather say infamous) Hit and Run case of 2002. I had myself glued to the television all the time for the verdict. And finally when it did came it blew the wits outta me.

In a loud- clear voice, (mind you the journalists said this), the judiciary acquitted the star of all his charges saying that the charges against him didn't have substantial and supporting proofs to convict the star.

Joy broke out in the streets amongst his supporters and of course, the well-wishers which mind you was very well captured by the media.
The man was finally breathing a sigh of relief and the air around him looked to be a lot less burdened and the environment lot less panicking.   It was as they call it ditto-movie-like-stuff where everything finally has a happy ending.

But hang-on something inside me kicked my lazy self to get at work and get an insight of all the stats and i did some work, probably the hardest you can say i've worked in recent times.

I and i can bet thousands of other people were interested in this case only because of The star who's involved in this - Bhaijaan and let me be very honest i didn't even know the name of the victim who died. So i decided to get my facts right.

And as i gathered more and more information about the incident i was like bowing down more nad more in disbelief about how it was all going on--- The change of statements, the change of judiciary and mind you the change of verdict.

By the end of this all one thing was clear our Judiciary and our System commands more respect than that of any other nation which I've heard of. I mean where in this world will you find a Judiciary, a system which can change its color faster than chameleon, is there any larger Democracy in the face of this planet which can be completely bought inside out by Money? The answer to these questions is sadly NO.

NO, don't get me wrong my motives through this blog is not to take a dig at The superstar's defense or anything related to that, i'm here to elaborate what's already been done several times but never been listened to properly - The Plight Of The Poor.

A good percentage of our population still dwells and combats extreme to minor Poverty in their daily life but the question is who cares.

Yes who cares - who cares about the hungry malnourished children picking garbages in the most unhygienic places you can ever imagine, Who cares about the poor family which doesn't get 2 time meals to at least satisfy their hunger, Who cares about the woman who watches her husband die of cancer or hell lot less deadly diseases and illness due to lack of Medication and money, Who cares about the child who works day-in and day-out in a factory or a shop to add some contribution to household income.

Actually u know who are to blame for all this ?  IT'S THESE PEOPLE THEMSELVES. They are the ones to blame it the most as it's their fault that they were born in poverty in a nation which is ruled not by - politicians but by money.

And just like the above mentioned, no one cared about Nurullah Mehboob Sharif and his family.

Probably what's worse than this incident and the verdict is the fact that The victim and the case is highlighted just because of the spotlight of the superstar. Had it not been for that, this would have been just another ordinary Hit and Run case to disgrace the face of our nation, i bet several of which happen every year in our nation.

As a matter of fact, the verdict on the superstar is not at all important and i can hardly understand why so many people are crying over it. The dead man - Nurullah isn't gonna comeback. He's gone once and for all regardless of the verdict.

But what's important is the fact that this case has just highlighted how easy it is for a poor guy sleeping on the footpath to die and how worthless his life is.

This is what needs to be changed, laws should be mad e to strengthen the poor, laws should be made so tight and strict that no on eon the face of the planet should dare to do another such thing ever again. The poor of our nation needs to be empowered, he/she needs to be respected else, our country will continue to get disgraced by such insane and inhumane tragedies.

So i request every one who has done me a favor by reading this that instead of crying for The star escaping the bars, raise your voice for the Poor of the nation to rise above the bars and shackles of Poverty and Money-Power.

EMPOWERING THE POOR IS THE ONLY WAY TO EMPOWER OUR NATION, so, Speak Up!

THANKS FOR YOUR VALUABLE TIME.......

  

THE POSTCARD : For All You Read-Freaks

THE POSTCARD

Sitting next to an aspiring filmmaker on my train to Lucknow.

I can see the nervousness on his face and he was literally shaking throughout. Unable to control my anxiety i asked him why he was so nervous. At first he was too shy to tell anything but as they say it every single feeling in this world needs an outlet. Maybe it was that or what i didn’t know, after a while he said- “I’m Raghav, tomorrow I have to present an interesting script to my boss but till now I’m clueless.

I mean boss is really angry with me as that stupid guy thinks all my stories are just crap and that those stories are as pointless a fact as they giving a job to me.

I seriously think tomorrow is the last day of my work. That’s why I am feeling like shit.”

“Whoa man as far as i can point out you are in need of a damn good script that will literally blow the wits outta your boss’ freaky mind and sort of one which is gonna elevate your status not only in workplace but also in this crazy business as a whole”, I said.

“Exactly!”, he screamed. “can you help me mate?”, he sounded like the most needy person on the Earth and his face looked as sorry as his state of mind.

“I-I don’t know if you would like it”, “no-no, just tell me once”, he interrupted in between, “ I so badly need one.”

“Okay! So here we go.”

“You believe in love raghav?”

“Umm, hard to say as my Heart has been broken irrepairable coz of love. So yeah! I’m sorry but i don’t believe in this crazy sociophatic feeling called Love”, He absolutely rejected my idea of love.

“Harsh words mate! Anyways I’m afraid i have a love story in the books.”

“To hell with that! Hey I m not at all interested in story all i want is a script that can save my job. So go on and play your cards! Cut the crap and tell me. And yeah never mind the language m the most frustrated man in the globe right now.” He sounded crazy like anything.

“Once upon a time when life was not at all that busy, There used to be three persons in this world so connected to each other and yet miles apart.

There used to be two guyz – “John” and “Luke”

And surprise surprise----a girl.

Her name was- Clara.

Now John loved Clara like anything – sort of what you call true love.

Clara meanwhile , as unfortunate as it was, loved Luke.

A handsome man, aged about 25 and hailing from a well-off family.

But unlike many of the rich guyz, he was not a spoiled brat instead he was sort of a good human being.

He also loved Clara in return.

As unfortunate as it was for John, these two got married and it was celebrated as a very grand occasion in both Clara and Luke’s family.

John became sad at the moment but he was the man of a very noble nature and sort of a true lover hard to find.

He said to himself, “I loved Clara like anything and in her happiness lies mine.”

He continued to be best friends with Clara and Clara who by the way knew about John’s love for her said sorry but she’s helpless as she never thought of him more than the closest friend ever.

John accepted that and said he will be as a friend to her till her last breath.

The newly wed couple lived happily as the time coursed. Clara’s father,Sir Victor as they would call him was a private school teacher who worked his ass off to educate Clara and her brother Jean as the solo missionary zeal for decades.

Clara’s family was not that rich they belonged to the usual middle class families of everyday life that you portray in films and stories.

Luke cared for Clara and her family like anything.

Meanwhile John who was now a famous journalist continued to be friends with Clara.

He often visited Clara and use to spend time with her and her husband.

The trio shared a good bond.

But the proximity of John towards Clara was growing and many people were unnoticed to it including Clara and Luke themselves.

Victor, her father, didn’t seem to like this growing closeness. And one day he became very upset at John and literally screamed-“get the hell outta here! And don’t show up again.”

This created a lot of tensions in house including daily tiffs between Clara Luke and Victor but somehow things have not yet reached the boiling point.

Out of all the things one thing which Luke lacked was lack of boldness in front of wife and father-in-law.

In fact no one could stop them if they were at it.

But Luke as busy a guy he was, he always found time to care for his wife and her family.

His parents lived in U.S. and he seldom used to talk to him also he never used to speak anything about their parents to her wife.

Once, Victor fell very sick at that time had it not been for Luke he would not have made it alive. He cared for her family more than Clara did. These two in themselves, described what’s Love about.

Probably the best gift a human can get is the skill to hide inner feelings no matter what sort of outrage is goin’ on inside the bloody heart.

John was that sort of a guy.

A born introvert only the Holy Jesus knew how the hell he managed to hang out and be close to few people, let alone loving Clara.

But failure in love made him quite a disgusted man by now.---Angry short tempered and above all deeply saddened and disheartening.

He was a kind of a guy who was so broken in love that he couldn’t trust anyone now.

His parents asked him to marry but he was just too hurt to believe in this crappy little fantasy things and he couldn’t help but Love Clara.

She was almost like a passion to him and John—a maniac. So crazy like anything but he somehow always managed to hide this with others.

Due to Victor’s reluctance he stopped visiting Clara’s mansion and it was very seldom that they ever met.

Life was as simple as it was until one day----

SEPTEMBER 9/2010:

Luke as I said was a busy rich man so he was outta India and was there in Pretoria for a business meeting and contract issues.

It was in morning at 7.00 meanwhile Victor saw a postcard in his letter box. That was the day he was very excited as Jean, his beloved son and Clara’s beloved brother was finally returning to India after completion of his studies abroad.

In the excitement he ignored that postcard and took his car and went out to pick up his son from airport.

At about 11.00 4 hours have passed airport was just 1 hour drive in traffic. There were no phone calls from victor, the homemates got tensed. Unable to control the anxiety, she called John and asked to help contact his father and brother.

John without wasting a moment went out and after about an hour he called Clara and delieverd a news-which shocked everyone but more than shock it was the grief which tunnelled across the family---Victor had died in a car accident. The car he was driving was hit by a truck resulting in spot death of Victor.

Full of grief, Clara called Luke who left all his works and left for India. Luke who thought of Victor as his father was shattered in pieces.

The damage that it did to him and Clara was irreparable.

Jean meanwhile reached home and was welcomed to this tragic news. All his excitement of homecoming wore off and all the happiness of Clara’s life had been snatched in a moment.

One day which broke mountain of tragic over them.

Everyone was struggling to come to reality of Victor’s death but John reacted maturely to it.

He said, “what happened has happened. Its destiny” and stuffs like that.

This invoked Clara who got angry by his condolences but decided to control her resent.

Luke came home the next day was heartbroken to see his family broken out in tears.

He was although as grieved as he was, trying to act maturely and was consoling everyone.

Jean meanwhile was so shocked that he didn’t even utter a single syllable from his word the entire 2 days.

But as they say it, time is the best healer. Its capable of healing any wound how-so-ever critical or paining it may be.

After time flew by and everyone overcame this shock, Jean meanwhile for some reasons was unable to believe that it was just an accident.

He thought of it as something beyond the cover, he somehow believed that the truth is only half out and the untold truth is what he needs to find out.

CHAPTER---2:---

UNFOLDING

Weeks passed and Jean grew as restless as time passed on.

He began investigating on his own he questioned and found out every possible information from close friends and acquaintances of Victor.

He got next to nothing information about victor and almost gave up the investigations. He slowly but surely was feeling as helpless as all of them and started accepting Victor’s death as part of destiny after all nothing can outreach the arms of fate.

And it was the fate of Victor to die on that very day.

As John always said, “everything is part of destiny. We must accept it and move on.”

But there was something in him that made him refuse to give up.

“screw John, he’s a maniac, I would continue working my way”, he said to himself.

After another hell of searches and researches he finally found out one thing- The fact which everyone till now has ignored. THE POSTCARD – he searched out for it throughout Victor’s room but was unable to find it. But his hard work was not in vain he found out something--- A crumbled sheet of paper kept very secretly. He read that and was amazed to read it.

He screamed-“I always knew it has to be this way”.

Next night he went to a friend’s home for some general talks.

On his way back he saw two guyz in a motorbike following him.

They surrounded him and beat him to pulp he tried to fightback but was in vain as he was shot by those guyz. Before dying he wrote a note.

“Holy Christ”, Clara said, in a weeping voice sitting beside her brother’s body which had somehow been sent to his home.”Holy Christ is what it reads, the note”.

“Oh jesus! Why this havoc? Why ---why??“, she screamed in grief .

Everyone was silenced. The happiness of family had just turned into utter sadness.

One effected most was Clara.

Her husband was a very busy man with a tight schedule he couldn’t help but just care and console her whenever he was home.

All her other homemates were as deeply saddened by the loss of two pillars of family as Clara.

So she had just one name in mind to talk to, she had just one name in mind to whom she can share her grief.

Out of all people, he was the only one whom she could trust completely afterall John won’t be wrong and John alone cares for her as much as her husband does.

Due to absence from home of Luke due to business and other matters, proximities between him and John increased and they began sharing a bond like never before.

John began visiting her everyday and consoled her, tried to make her happy amidst all sadness.

Luke meanwhile conducted a police inquiry upon the suspects of attack on Jean and from that investigations they found that the attackers were in a—R15 bike (black),  but outta all the crap one thing was startling --:

“The day before the death Jean received a mail titled POSTCARD.”, the investigation note read.

This was the time that Clara became serious.

Something was not right! Postcard ---received………Victor and Jean-----both dead.

This has to be something just more than mere coincidence.

The culprit had a clue with that postcard.

Somehow it had to be found out.

What’s in it? Who sends those? What are the intentions of the sender?

All these questions needed to be answered.

Luke convinced Clara he will find out who it is……but just asked for her cooperation.

She agreed.

Now John was a very famous journalist. This fact convinced Luke to approach him and discuss about the problem and work together to find the culprit.

John nodded and next day onwards they were searching for every possible thing they can find.

One daY Luke was in john’s home till night and to his surprise he found out a bike in his garage.

-------------R15 (BLACK)----------------

This fact just chilled his spine.

He thought of asking about it to John but instead decided to keep it a secret.

Next morning, Luke had a very busy and important meeting scheduled on that day.

But on that morning something sort of an ill omen happened-----

Postman deleiverd a postcard on name of Luke in his office.

As soon as Luke reached office he found that postcard, he quickly informed Clara about that.

She was scared outta wits.

He gathered courage and opened it.

Just as he opened it, he felt dizziness and in a second he felt down into ground fainting.

It was the juice that he drank in the office that morning.

Somehow, his office workers took him to hospital and docs declared him as very critical.

Docs found out that there was poison in his juice a very deadly one. But thanks to workers he was took to hospital at right time.

He survived but was bed – ridden.

All his strength was lost and he became as useless as a wasted bullet.

Clara’s pillar of support, her love was now in such a bad condition as anything.

She used to cry day-in and day-out.

And who came to console her----surprise surprise----“JOHN”…

Victor----gone

Jean-----gone

Luke------Deactivated

Now there was no one between him and Clara.

But wait hes a noble guy right, this must be coincidence hes just comforting Clara that’s it.

Haha But unfortunately love can change even the most unbreakable one.

“phew! That’s’s pretty interesting ……………from happiness to disaster, that’s how life turns…”, Raghav said.

“Hang on brother” I said, “fun has just started”.

“Just as closeness of John and Clara were growing, their lives were to change forever. Remember back when I told about Jean.

Oh yeah! You are right…Jean did his studies from abroad.”

“There he was very close to a girl named- Angelina.

She was also an Indian Christian.”, I continued

“He secretly married that girl without his family knowing as his father, Victor oh sorry! Late Victor by now was very strict as far as cultural traditions and orthodoxies were considered.

So Jean kept it as a secret.

As soon as she came to know about Jean’s death, she hurried back to India. And went to demand her right and a justifiable place in Jean’s house.

She told her entire love story with Jean’s family. And the depression in the home just rised to an all time high level.

Jean and Clara’s mother- Rachel, was a very short tempered but genuine woman.

After a lot of dramas and hardwork, the persuasive powers of Angelina were finally able to win over stubbornness of the family members. She was accepted in the home but everyday there was a drama.

They say wonders happen when tempers clashes.

I mean to say Angelina was no less when it came to temper and ego, she used to have a lot of quarrels with her mother-in-law, and even with Clara herself.

Clara didn’t like that woman even one bit but dignified her just coz of her love towards Jean.

But no one knew what Clara was upto except herself and her intentions were all pretty much clear – to exact revenge of her husband’s death.

She was here to find the culprit, atleast for now it seemed so.”

Meanwhile Luke who had lost all his strength was bed-ridden and required high care and attention.

Clara took care of him throughout and he was very slowly recovering.

Angelina started just where Luke left it. She was slowly but steadily marching forth in her mission.

She knew the clues----Black R15 blah blah blah……but was unable to connectify it.

One day she saw a black R15 parked just outside their home and she asked Clara whom that belonged to.

“Mine – that’s mine Angelina”, John screamed.

“I think I-I should leave…..ok bye seya”, John left in a strange hurriedness.

This nothing but made Angelina’s suspect on John grew stronger and deeper than it was before.

For a moment even Clara herself was shocked, Black R15 same as that of murderers belonged to John.

“But it could also be a coincidence”, she confided herself, “ John is a true friend and there is no way I m gonna doubt him.”

Meanwhile Angelina kept a close eye on John and his activities.

John also was slowly noticing the suspicion in her eyes about him. But decided not to react.

CHAPTER 3:

CHASE:---

With that last paper note of Jean in hand Clara was tryina think of what point Jean wanted to make.

“Holy Jesus won’t save”, what possibly could be the meaning of this.

“what did u just say?”

Angelina screamed.

“Gimme the note”

She snatched the note and went away. Clara was in disgust.

“How ill-behaved this woman is?”, she thought to herself and putting that thought away,

She soon went to Luke to provide him with his medications.

“Holy Jesus won’t save” Angelina murmured, “what this points to”

In a flash an idea struck her mind like anything and she screamed-“ I have got it. I have got it. Finally Jean will get revenge.”

Next morning everyone went to church but Angelina was left all alone at home.

As soon as she woke up, she heard the sound of calling bell.

She walked up to the sound to find---a POSTCARD was lying near the door with her name on it.

OF all the facts poor Angelina didn’t knew about postcard coincidence.

She ignored it like everyone else had done so far.

In a moment she turned around and a bullet shot was heard.

Angelina fell to ground with a sigh. In her dying moments she somehow lifted her face up to see the Killer.

“Jean was right Holy Jesus won’t save anyone indeed. Why—wh-wh-wh”, her voice stopped, face shrunk and before she knew she was dead.

Upon returning home everyone was shocked to see Angelina’s body lying motionless.

“O.M.G. not another one. Holy Jesus save us!”

“What the hell is goin’ on in our lives, Why just Why??”, screamed Rachel saddening about yet another loss to the family.

“This is just not coincidence, something is linked with someone who’s close to us, we have to find out.

For the peace of the souls of father and Jean, for her lover – Angelina, we need to find the culprit, coz that and that only will make the souls of so called ‘Faithfully Departed’ rest in peace.

I promise to my life mum, I will find out whoz the murderer and m gonna punish him real bad and until it happens no one can stop me in my zeal, mark my words Jesus, no one.”

She started inquiring about the happenings of the house while they were not there with the neighbours :

“One of the guy came into your house dressed in all blacks, after that we heard a bullet shot and by time we reached there he was speeding away in a bike.” reported one of the neighbours.

Immediately one thought stuck her mind and she called John, “John I want you here, I need your help.”

One hour passed by and John finally reached her home.

“doesn’t it took a bit long”, asked Clara

“Ya I was busy in an important work, still I came to you leaving all the works behind. Now tell me what happened?”

“Nothing I just wanted to spend some time with you, can we?”

“Of-course Clara, I can rewind the clock and I can stop the time for you again and again just to do anything that makes you feel better, You know I still love you as a friend and will always do.”

“oh that’s so nice of you John!, but are we done now?”

“wh-what?”

“I said are we done?”

“What done? What do you mean?”

“I mean are u done tryina flatterin’ me?”

“wh-what, I just spoke the truth, why are you reacting like that, I never flatter anyone, u understand that, I never do that.”, he screamed.

“Common Johnny, I was just joking why r u sort of screaming?”

“Oh no, not screaming Clara how can I scream on you?, I’m sorry for that”

“OK what was that work by-the –way, which kept you so busy?”

“Oh nothing! Its just sor-sort of part of everyday life”

“Ya, I mean you journalists deal with murders, scams, scandals, and all those sort of crappy crimes everyday, so you people just sort of know every single details about how to approach a murder mystery or even solving it, don’t you?”

“Ya, but why all this now?”

“I mean you guyz know this crime world inside out”

“ya b-bu—“, “wait m not done”, Clara stopped him in between ,”Tell me how did u manage to do it all so cleanly?”

“What?  What did u just say Clara?”, he looked her in sudden strangeness and utter horror yet in a calm composed voice he said, “What’s your point?”

“U got it right buddy?”

“No, I didn’t, now just cut the crap and tell me what do you want”, he literally tried to dominate and upped his voice.

“Oh man, easy, I mean how do you guys manage to investigate all your mysteries and plots against those deadly murderers without even getting noticed, I mean it’s an art right?”

“oh-oh!, Girl you are damn right it’s an art and I promise you’ll never get to know about it ever.”

“What –?”, now it was Clara’s turn to get literally horrified.

“I mean that art is what it takes to be a journalist, that’s why only we can do that, anyways.”

“Oh really we’ll see”

By this time both Clara and John knew this was just more than a mere conversation they used to have.

This was now turning on into something strange, weird and yet fun.

“Okay, so are you playing all your cards down tonight or you gonna save it for another day?”

“Man I ain’t the genius of your calliber, cut it short and tell me what do you mean?”

“sciences say that average life span of a human being is usually – 60-70 years.”

“So-what?”, she screamed.

“Have you ever wondered why is it like that, I mean 60 years?”

“I-I guess it has….”, “whoa!”, he stopped her, “my prophecy about it is that there are so many things to do in life, so many moments to enjoy, so much fun to watch and so many thrills to experience and it just can’t be done in just one year or even 20 years.

Every single phase of life, every single sensation is associated with a proper timing and it must be experienced within that timing only, else the fun is all over.

“Okay so why did u lecture me all this?”

“Because that’s what I meant when I asked whether you gonna play all your cards in just one day?”

“Oh-okay, fine.”, she got startled.

“Life is fun if you view it from my eyes Clara, it really is and now I’m afraid that fun has only started, so save your best for the last. Now I guess I’ve gotta go and carry on with my work ,

As always it was fun with you.”

“Okay john, bye!”

Just like that John took his bike and left but besides he had also left a startling impression over Clara.

“Interesting, indeed.” she said to herself.

The care of Clara towards Luke was finally showing its effects as Luke was now returning back to himself as he recovered from life threatening condition.

Next day John called Clara

“Hey Clara, I just couldn’t get enough of you”

“Hey John, howz u?” she asked in the most polite manner.

“I am good as ever but howz ur hubby?”

“Amm he’s doing well, thanks to Jesus he’s now back to himself.”

“Oh that’s great, and I promise I am doing my best to find the culprit with all those journalisms and all but yes do tell me when you see something strange and worth telling regarding this inverstigatory.”

“OK so is that it, that’s why you called?”

“Not exactly, I have got to tell you something, wait can we meet today?”

“OK b-but where?”

“6 PM at McDonalds, I will be waiting. Bye”

Hours passed by, Clara was a bit terrified and before she knew it was six,

“OMG I’ve got to meet John”

She left for McDonalds, there when she reached John had already left after waiting for a while, but someone gave her a note written by John before leaving.

The note read—

“Hey Clara, late as usual I am sorry to leave but gotta go and catch up with my work but before that I want you to know something--- when I was a kid I had a friend. His name was Stuart, we were indeed very close. We always used to share our secrets and we were what you can call perfect close friends. One day we both saw a toy in a toy-shop and both of us convinced our parents to buy it. When we reached that shop only one toy was left. And my parents as humble as they always were asked Stuart to buy that. He bought it and became very happy. He played with it everyday. I got a bit angry as I really wanted to have that toy. What I did next will literally make you laugh your nuts off, I went to his house and broke that toy to pieces and also broke every single toy that he used to play everyday. He burst out in tears and while he was crying his eyes out and with every falling tear I was getting happier and happier. Wasn’t that funny?

Of course to make you happy and bring fun to your life is my motto.

Goodbye”

Forget the fun, Clara was sort of horrified after reading that as that reflected the mindset of the man whom she thought of as the best friend and the most harmless man ever.

This change in John and his conversations made Clara accept the fact that all those coincidences—R15, John’s reluctance towards Angelina were not at all coincidences and that all the happenings had to do something real with John.

CHAPTER 4 – CONSOLIDATION:

As the conversations between John and Clara took shape, both knew inner sides of each other.

One thing was clear both were hiding something.

Both were trying’ to push each other to know the truth.

Meanwhile Luke recovered completely and started back to work. He was also consolidating in his efforts to find out the culprit, but nothing was clear.

Clara’s suspicion on John strengthened as time passed on.

Finally she tried to consolidate her doubts and visited John’s home when he was not there, surprisingly enough she found a black dress having stains all over it in his garage.

She was shocked to see that as the words of her neighbour kicked in her mind---“The man who came to their house just before the death of Angelina was dressed in all blacks.”

This sort of consolidated her doubts and she was all but convinced that John was the man.

Yet some part of her refused to accept the reality she had been seeing and witnessing for weeks now.

“Am I doubting John worthlessly?” she kept saying this to herself.

Afraid of all, she told about the happenings to her Luke who also was shocked to know about this all.

Luke and John were also good friends.

“At one point I trusted that guy to carry on the investigations” he said.

“Hang on what happened soon after this was that you were poisoned and the culprit almost took you away from me.”

“I shouldn’t have trusted that guy, Clara, I shouldn’t have”

“But what can we do we are not at all having consolidate proof as of yet which indicates that John is the one.” She interrupted.

“You and your friendship Clara. Your deep and close friendship with him is just not allowing you to see the truth, wake up Clara, all the facts and events point out to him--- Wake up, John is no longer the guy he used to be. He is a murderer now and it’s my job to save you from him coz you are too lazy to accept this fact.”

“OK Luke OK, “ she broke up in tears.

CHAPTER 5 – REVELATION AND ACTION

Both Luke and Clara were endlessly trying to know the truth. Luke infact also started spying over John but all their efforts seem to be in vain until one day.

SEPTEMBER – 9/2011

The entire life of the happily married couple got changed in just a space of one year.

This was the day when it all started – Victor died in a car accident on that day.

Everyone was out to church for paying off some duties.

But Clara meanwhile stayed at home as she was very depressed due to the haunting memories of the day.

Just as she was thinking something, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell, she went on and opened the door and there she saw no-one but a postcard lying there.

“OMG! She was afraid outta her nuts, wh-what the h-he-hell!” she screamed.

History was repeating itself, same day last year her father passed out and now this could well be her turn. She was at first refused to open up the card.

But in a flash she gathered the courage and opened it , and found a note inside it.

In a lot of horror, she went on to read the note which unfortunately no one else had done so far.

The note read:

“Hardwork pays off, dreams do come true, bad times don’t last forever but bad guyz do. In about 43 seconds you will hear the sound of the bell --- and just in case you haven’t figured it out yet---- this is the end of your life.”

She screamed in horror and was full of fear.

The moment had finally come, she was the one to be killed now and it was long time in the making. She reached out for her phone to try to contact Luke for any sort of help but before she could think, Door-bell rang, “Holy Jesus!” she screamed.

The door opened and to her extreme delight it was Luke who was there---“Oh god! Oh holy Jesus!, thank God it’s you Luke, I thought that’s my end.” She exclaimed and hugged Luke.

But to her surprise Luke didn’t even react to it and started laughing-----that sort of an evil smile, a smile capable of fearing even the most courageous one let alone Clara.

“WH-what happened? Why are you laughing” she said.

“Oh darling! What did you just say?”, he said.

“you heard it right”

“Holy Jesus…..huh!

You seem to forget it all”

“Forget what” she screamed full with surprise and horror altogether.

“That Holy Jesus won’t help……”

He upped his sleeves and beneath that he pointed-“Look here..”

“What, what’s there it’s just a tattoo, wh-wait a sec.”

“OMG , it’s a ta-tatoo of je- jesus “ she screamed.

“And he won’t save you Clara.”

“what the hell Luke, it was always y-you….. “

“Time’s up honey!”

He reached out to his left arm and there it was---- A gun pointed right over her head.

“1-2-3, it’s over”

Clara for all money gave up on life and started accepting death.

Soon a gun-shot was heard and there was blood all over.

In front of her eyes Luke fell to the ground in a flash and that was it---“Luke was dead.”

“Wh-whoa! What’s that” she absolutely got gutted.

And right there at the door she saw John standing with a Gun in his hand.

“It’s over Clara--- it’s over, no more deaths now no more murders, there will be peace all around now, the culprit is finally dead.” He said.

“my god, I can’t believe what happened” she broke down in tears.

“Why in the world would Luke do all those murders, just why, he loved Daddy like anything, he loved my family more than I did.”

“He did but time and circumstances made him do all that. He loved money more than anything. You remember him going to Pretoria back last year.?”

“Ya , it was when it all started”

“yes, you never knew of the fact that he used to earn money by smuggling goods and through a lot of other illegal activities.

He went to Pretoria for a consignment delievery which would have made him a millionaire.

You remember the fact that he never used to tell or speak about his parents?’

“Yes, I do”

“That was because his parents knew he was indulged in all sorts of criminal connections and hence they broke all their contacts with him.”

“Holy Jesus…. So why would he kill my father?”

“Because he came to know about his criminal racquets and networks, and he even decided to report it to some authorities. But Luke somehow figured this thing out and hence killed your father.

Your father was a very clever man, indeed, he somehow came to knew that Luke know about his findings and he was somewhat aware of his intentions, that’s why he wrote about everything on a piece of paper and put it in his suitcase which was read eventually by Jean.”

“After killing Victor, speculations increased and everyone was crrying out his own sort of investigations but the most potential threat was- Jean and later his clever wife—Angelina.

So he took both of them out of the way, you remember that R15 that’s the bike he too had and he hid it so secretly that no one ever found out.”

“and what about attacks on Luke himself?”, Clara asked.

“That was all part of his masterful plan to take the speculation and suspicion off him, he himself drank a poisoned juice but was everytime careful about the poison dosage.

That dosage can only make you ill but can’t kill you.”

“How did you find it out and what about the evidences pointing to you?”, Clara raised the point.

“I secretly investigated jean’s murder and found out that crumbled piece of paper not written by your father. I always knew the culprit but before I could take some action Angelina was killed.

And later on your consolidation in finding out the culprit was well sensed by Luke, who was in a plan to kill you and take you out of the game.

I sensed that and thought of diverting your attention towards me so that there was not at all chances of you doubting him.

But that guy figured this stuff out and was about to take you away. But somehow I spied on him and found his plans and thanks to Holy Jesus, you are finally safe now.”

“Oh John! I m really sorry I doubted you, but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought of Luke as the murderer. That was the sort of conviction we had or at least I had.” She burst out in tears.

“Don’t cry Clara, there’s nothing to be afraid of now, this nightmare is finally over.” He consoled and assured her.

“Oh john, while I loved only Luke in my life and now that he’s gone I can’t love anyone now but I promise we will be friends now and forever and thank you for whatever youo have done for me and my family.”

“Forget about Luke, that’s a nightmare which has finally ended. No more murders no more thrills no more fear, it’s all over.” He assured as he hugged her and left away.

“Phew man, that was one heck of a story, sort of one which I really wanted” exclaimed Raghav.

“But how did you manage to think of it” he asked.

“No thinking mate. I knew this story it’s a real one.” He said.

“wh-what?, jeez, that would have been thrilling in life.”

“Not actually thrilling but a nightmare indeed” I said.

“How do you know” asked Raghav.

“Coz I am the John of that story.”

“My goodness, Holy Jesus, what the hell” He exclaimed.

“Yup dude, you didn’t ask my name” I said.

“what’s that?” he asked .

“IT’s John Costello.” Journalist --- B.B.C. Broadcasters.

“Nice meeting you mate now gotta go, my stop has come, bye.” I waved goodbye to him.

“My word, boy thank you for sharing your pain, thank you, you made my day, goodbye.” Raghav said.

He waved goodbye to me as the train rushed across and I saw the watch and went to church – as it was SEPTEMBER 9 2015  and to this day we pay homage to Victor.

THE END