Category: Short Story

A twist in tail

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

I was adopted when I was very young. A baby, actually. The family who adopted me, came into the orphanage one day, grabbed me from my cage and took me home. I still remember the feel of that blanket. I was wrapped into this soft blanket, probably by my biological parents. Smooth,silky and musty, it would soon become the only link with them. The blanket quickly became my favourite piece of cloth. It was always besides my cosy bed. That was the day I met my parents.

Father, was very fond of me when I was young. We used to play all the time. He was a cricket fan, so our favourite activity was to play  catch with the ball. I still remember the smell of the grass from the garden we used to play every evening. I purposefully rolled around in the grass. I loved it. Father knew that and so did not mid when I got mud all over my body.

After playing, we used to return home, have a small, quick wash(which I hated) and then I would sit on his lap, while he worked away on his desk till dinner was ready. I always loved the rhythmic typing he did when he sat on the desk. Although I never understood why he disappeared for hours on end in the morning, I was certain that he would appear late in the evening.

I used to love the boy who gave us our paper. Father loved when I fetched the newspaper for him in the early moring. I even used to bring his footwear when I thought he was about to go out of our house.

Mother, would always cook healthy and delicious food for us. They always cooked seperately for me, made me feel special. She would bath me in the morning, took me for my walks around the city, often to my favourite places. I especially loved the light poles and the small but thick poles (never knew what they were supposed to be for). For some reason they fascinated me. I even met others like me on our walks in the morning. Some of the people used to bend down to pat my head, some even gave a peck on my forehead.

I was having the best time of my life.

But all of this changed, suddenly after a few rainy seasons, as I got older.

Mom would no longer take interest in taking me for walks. She became fat. Even Father lost interest in me. No more games in the playground. The food was now straight out of a plastic bag and it smelled weird. Even my bed started to smell bad as it was not washed.Things were not looking good.I couldn’t even sit on my father’s lap.

Suddenly mom was taken away in a car. She seemed in terrible pain. Father went after her in the car. But they refused to take me in the car. They shouted at me. But I did not care. My mother was in trouble. I ran behind the car, but soon lost sight of it.

I returned home, eventually, worried about my mother. Father came home late that night, fed me, ate and then went out again.He looked very unhappy. It was a long night.I saw him again a bit late in the day, the next day. Now, he seemed happy and content, yet mother was nowhere to be seen. He fed me took me for a short walk and then vanished again. I was alone for the entire day.

This situation remained true for a few sunrises, when one day I finally saw mother !

Oh the joy!

I was ecstatic. I tied to leap on her lap, but father shouted at me. That’s when I noticed “her”. Like me, she was wrapped in a small blanket. Looked like I had a sister.

A few more days went by. My sister was still the center of attraction, but I loved her. I kept guard over her, being the older brother. I did not allow anyone other than mother and father to touch her. If anyone else tried, I would growl at them to warn them to stay away. No one hurts my sister!

But, now that I think back, I think mother and father did not like that. They used to growl at me to stop doing that.

Then one day, father took me out for a walk in the car. It was the happiest day in a long while.  I was finally being taken out after a long long time. probably for the first time since my sister came home.

I always loved the wind on my ears and tongue when I took my head out during these long drives. We stopped at a new place today. It looked like a corn field. I loved open spaces. Father  let me out of the car and told me to run.

So I ran. I ran to my heart’s content. It felt nice. I felt free. It had been so long since I ran so much. Eventually the excitement died down and then I realized, father was gone !

Where did he go ? Did he leave me here ? Nah. I am sure he will come back. Afterall, I am his good boy. I always wagged my tail in agreement whenever he called me a good boy.

I waited, but he never came back…

I think,they did not want me around, now that they had a baby girl to take care of. There was no place in their life for heir dog now.

Earth 21000AD…

~ ddgaikwad ~ Leave a comment

Planet Earth, Terra or Prithvi, a home for all of us. What a beautiful blue planet this is, so peaceful from up above… No borders, no conflict, no politics just pure serene beauty… A wonder in its own self, with those vast lying seas and high mountains… At the right distance basking in the Sun’s radiation! The cradle of Human civilisation…

Suddenly! The alarm starts ringing, there is an warning displayed and I exit out of my VR, wondering what’s the matter? I hear 3rd officer announcing, we have reached the war zone, the Solar System… we the Terrans (another branch which broke away from Humanity) who had left the its cradle long back, about 21000 years ago, to explore the newer worlds out there in the distance… Today we are back to fight against the other colonies, who are claiming our holy Earth, all for themselves…

One after one we take our positions, the engines go online, the main weapon systems online, warp drive to 80% and climbing, 85%… 90%…. As for me? I am wondering about the outcome of this war.. What will happen if we claim this world for ourselves? Would we even be able to salvage anything from its surface? Have we forgotten the only reason we left in search of new worlds? Were our ancestors not the ones who depleted it of all the resources? Snatched away all its beauty? Turned a thriving planet into a dead rock??!! And yet here we are again, in the same solar system, same humans, divided  by technology and beliefs, fighting for a ruined planet… proving once again, no matter where humans go, how many worlds they conquer, war will always remain a part of their DNA…. But as the first officer, I was the one to drive the fleet of 12000 carriers and about 50000 cruisers, and a total of 1000000 soldiers for this holy cause…

The formation is ready, we prepare for another jump… this time, right into the heart of the arena, near the 1st Lagrange point… my heart is racing, my palm sweating, I see the entire fleet right in front of my eyes… I look at the captain of the ship, he looks at me… We are ready to leave New Terra… I can see if beneath the deck…
With a heavy heart I have to command them, keeping my doubts aside…

Warp drives are charged 100%…. I initiate the countdown, 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…!!

Reunion

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

“Hi there, do you remember me from the class of 85 ?”, she asked the  guy behind her in the queue for name tags, a broad smile on her face.

She was in her late 40s now,  hardly any resemblance to her 16 year old self. But then, that  was true with most of the people gathered in the hall.

It was their 30 year school reunion.

They took the name tags, only first names with their pen names in quotes, pasting them on their chest starting to mingle with the crowds. It was good to see some of them, hard to recognize some of them and very difficult to remember, that some of these people were actually ever in the same class as them.

It is common, to have very few people from your school to be still in touch, but it seemed that they had forgotten a lot of their own classmates.

Eventually, they ended up sitting at the same table.

“Do you remember how you used to throw colour pencils at me?”, she asked him.

“Of course I do. You used to be very good at art and craft, I was just helping you out”, he answered with a sheepish smile on his face.

His hair was grey now, she noticed,  but he still had that mischievous sparkle in his eyes that he had even when they were kids. It seemed time was not able to touch that aspect of him.

“Well, I did help you out once or twice. When the teacher was not looking, remember ?”, she asked.

“Well, drawing a mustache on the face of queen Victoria from our history books, does not count as helping out”, he remarked.” It cost me a week’s worth of detention . My parents were furious. Dad thrashed me like anything that day. And this was all because of a girl ! That thought kept me awake. I had to take my revenge”, he said while filling up her glass with water,a grin on his face. ” Well, I don’t think that revenge should have included me sitting in the library for a month as detention, for allegedly throwing a chalk at the teacher while she had her back turned to the class. I did not even have a good aim, and I used to sit next to the captain of the cricket team, famous for his accurate aim at throwing the ball onto the stumps from great distances. I wish they would have made that connection”, she said, responding to his grin with a smile .

“Well, I definitely was very good at cricket back then. I loved to spend time on the field.  Joining the national Cricket team was my live goal back then, but life had other plans it seemed”, he said. Looking down at his bulging stomach. He missed playing cricket .

“You know, that was the day, I developed a small crush on you”, he confessed.”To be honest, I had a crush on you from that day as well. Maybe a teenage crush for a rebel, but a crush all the same.”, she admitted.” I wished I had proposed that day, but I was too scared and proud for it”, he confessed. ” When I was in the library, I spent most of the time day dreaming about how I could have spent time with the team captain”, she said and blushed. I was a long time since he had seen her blush. He missed it so much.

The conversation went on for hours, they did not notice that the other people on their table had a completely different conversation going on between them. It was as if they were immersed in their own world, they had traveled in the past, re-living their school days.

Now, the party was coming to an end, it was time to bid a goodbye to the batch of 85. The host called for an attention from everyone. Lightly banging the champagne glass with a spoon, he announced,”Ladies and Gentleman, fellow classmates, it has been 30 years since most of us saw each other. During this time, we have changed, we have grown, we now have separate lives which we share with loved ones. Some of us are still good friends, but some of us were less remembered by us. Some are just a memory and some, a missed call”

“However, most of us here still remember our “Head-boy” and “Head-girl” , who were always loved by all, during their school days. A strong example of how strong love is. Please welcome, Mrs and Mr… ”

She touched his shoulder and said,”Honey, I think they want us to go on that stage and give a speech. Think you can manage it ?”. “Sure”, he said” Just help me with the wheelchair.I see they have a ramp , just push me onto the stage, will you ?”. “You should have  a lot of practice by now darling. After all, it has been  31 years since the accident. ”

They started going towards the stage, accompanied by a thunderous applaud . The high school sweethearts remained so, even after being married for 28 years.

Spoils of …

~ Pied Piper ~ 1 Comment

The family was eating their dinner together.

It was a custom that all family members eat food together. But the dad kept looking at the empty seat in front of him. The usual clatter during their diners and lunches was absent. His wife and daughter were eating the food in silence, sobbing silently.

He kept going back to the day of the riots, the day his son was arrested. Just 15 years of age, he was there in the midst of it all, throwing stones at the cops. Someone had told him that people from other religion were torturing people from his cast, which had sparked a fire in his young belly. – A fire which should have been used for society betterment was now being used to nurture hatred.

The father cursed himself for allowing this to happen.After all, it was his task to protect his children from such negative elements of the society. It didn’t occur, nor did it matter to him, that he spent more than 14 hours per day away from his house, working hard to put food on the table. It was, he thought, his duty to shield his kids.

He slowly put the morsel of food down. Prayed silently to God, for forgiveness and left the table.

Although the son was arrested, the family died that day.

All falsely, in the name of religion.

Life is sacred…a satire

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

She was sitting at the hospital, looking at her stomach, gently moving her hand over it.

While doing so, she kept going back to her trip to Africa. She cursed the day she entered that place.

She never thought, that her one decision would cause her this much pain. But she knew she had no choice.

She had to get rid of the life inside of her. She did not want it.

“The doctor will see you now”, said the nurse.

She went in the doctor’s cabin. Dread was upon her like a large and heavy blanket on a kid’s chest. This decision weighing heavily on her.

The doctor  had a file in front of him. Eyes peering into a bunch of papers. His eyes kept looking at the papers while his mouth said,”We can kill it without the surgery. I will subscribe some medicines for you. We should be rid of it in no time. It is still in its primary stage”.

This was excellent news for her. Joy spread across her face.

She would finally get rid of the growth in her stomach. The parasite living inside of her.

The Tapeworm.

What does charity mean ?

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

The recent earthquakes in Nepal and the sudden rise in want-to-be philanthropists made me write a short story from the Hindu scripture ” Bhagvad Geeta.”

A little background on the characters and situation.

Karna : He was a loyal friend of the Kauravas. He was known as the most charitable person alive. Extremely honourable, but highly looked down upon because of his lineage.

Arjuna : One of the Pandavas. Highly skilled archer,

Krishna : King of Dwarka. Very intelligent, practical and diplomatic person. He is the one who rist recited the geeta to Arjuna.

Here is the story :

One day, Arjuna says to Krishna ” Oh great ,lord, why is it that Karna is deemed as The hero among donors ? Even I do a lot of charity work. Why is it, that I am not given the same honour ? ”

Krishna though on this and decided to give him a practice session.

He took Arjuna to a village, created a mountain of gold and asked him to distribute the mountain of gold among the villagers. Arjuna started calling all the villagers, asked them to form up a queue and started giving out potions of the wealth. Eventually, he got tired and frustrated, as the villagers kept asking for more.

Krishna saw the frustration on Arjun’s face and told to stop what ever he was doing.

Then he sent word to Karna and told him to do exactly the same thing.

Karna called the villagers to the mountain, asked them to take the gold and then without another word, went about his own business. He never even glanced at the pile, or how the villagers were using the gold.

Now Krishna says to Arjuna ; ” Did you understand your mistake now ? O brave archer ? You, in your pride, decided to hand out the gold on your own. You thought it was your prerogative how to distribute the wealth. Al this gesture did was  caress your ego. You also endeavoured to distribute the wealth equally.  But Karna has no such thoughts. He know he had to give away the wealth. He simply asked the villagers to take the gold. To achieve that objective, he knew there was no need for him to do anything more than simply ask the people to take the gold for themselves. He never thought that it was “He” who is giving away the wealth.”

———————————————-

Similarly, if you really want to help someone, you should not think that it is “you” who is helping him. A selfless help , a selfless act is richest forms of charity. There is no point in asking questions like :

  • Will this money reach the needy ?
  • How much should I give so that I can show it in my Tax returns ?
  • How much would be enough, to brag to my friends about ?

If you want to give away, have no regrets . Do it selflessly.

A Dog’s Life ?

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

I have a bad habit of taking a walk late in the evening , usually with a close friend of mine.

Yesterday, was one such time.

We were walking in the the shadows accompanied by our usual tomfoolery , when I noticed a dog by the side of the road.

The dog was skinny, as if it was no fed for days now and twitching violently. First thing we did, check if it had a belt which would signify that it had an owner.  Apparently, the dog did have an owner. Now the question arose. “How to contact the owner ?” This was quickly replaced by “How to help the Dog get well ?”

Now I have absolutely no conscience to speak of, but my friend has one. A very big one. Looking a the pain the dog was going through, we decided to call an animal shelter. But this idea fell through as neither of us new of any such shelter.

Meanwhile, a curious passer-by stopped and enquired as to what we were up to.( or maybe he just wanted to know if we were about to steal anything) . According to his expert opinion , the dog was bit by a snake and should be dead in 10 mins. He added, that in his village this was a common occurrence and even a man is unable to live through the snake bite so the dog would definitely. After sharing this valuable information, he left. 

Finally , we called a vet, and narrated the symptoms. The vet, being a religious person, asked us to say our final prayers and try to ease the dong’s pain. The dog was definitely about to die. We took this advice, said our prayers, and left him, twitching, concious of his pain, and very alone…

Maybe this is life ? after-all, in your last moments , you are alone, conscious of your suffering / pain and maybe twitching .

If yes, what is the difference between a Dog’s and a human’s death ?

IT’s escalations

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

Hello Reader,

I work with a company which provides IT related services to customers all over the world.

We have an operations call with our senior management, once a day, to give updates on the tasks completed during the day or ask any queries about the deliveries for any project. During the call, I observed that one of the teams always ended their update with ” No major escalation during the day”. I often wondered how it was that a team notorious for plenty of escalations end the status update in such a way. Their confidence was worthy of a dog who knows his master is  not looking and he can defecate where ever he wants.

I finally gathered enough courage to ask one the question which had kept bugging me for a ling time.

For the purpose of this story let us say the name of the person is John. Here is how the conversation went :

Me: Hey, may I ask you a question ?

John : Sure man, whatsup ?

Me : How is it that you guys say you have no major escalation ? I know you have some  escalations .

John : Well, after a major escalation, the Manager gives a call to the management and gives a situation report. So technically, there is no major escalation. Also, Most of the time the escalations are minor, no need for the management to know that.

Me : So basically you say “No Major escalation” even though there is one ?

John : Yup.

I did not dare to ask anything further. I did not want an escalation that the management might needed to know , did I ?