Sometime Later and After Forever

Vijendra was up from his sleep early today. Early enough, to view the morning riseup higher over the stench wafting to his nostrils from the nearby gutter blockade. It was just another routine consequence of monsoons, that he and his fellow dwellers surrounding him had to live through each time the rains decided to come down. He lived in a shanty right in the middle of the path of the city's largest gutter. An early morning sight for him would mean watching the rising sunshine's saltation over the unrecognizable and humongous reject of the city. Call it irony or whatever, that he was so close to something which everyone else wanted to run the farthest away from. He turned around and entered his shanty which was erected upon and made from parts collected meticulously from the reject present in abundance all around him, viz., polybags, cardboards, tin foils, metal plates and every other thing that could help himkeep the sun and rains off for another day. It made his shanty, a smorgasbord of different colours. Could it be the end of an equally colourful rainbow?

Mozis entered his shanty all unannounced. All one had to do to enter was lift the polythene of a curtain to make his presence felt, and thats why 'knocking on the doors' was an unknown formality around this place. He mock-punched Vijendra in the face, to alarm him towards his new possession tightly wound around his wrist. "Nicked it from a guy at the local station", Mozis said with a satisfied relishment. He laughed with great pride over his newly acquired wrist band which he was wearing on his left hand. Mozis ensnared vijendra's neck with his left hand and brought his left wrist up close to Vijendra's eyes and read out the letters to Vijendra - "L-I-V-S-T-R-U-N-G". He chided Vijendra for still being unable to read. Vijendra had dropped out of school at fourth grade and had been surviving on odd jobs ever since.

"Kya bhai!? No work at all for you? You had promised me chicken biriyani last week and now I have almost accepted that I am never getting one! Forget biriyani, even rice gruel is quite a distant dream!! Soon, I will even forget what food looks like; atleast find me some work so that I can earn for my own stomach", said Vijendra. "Na rey, you are too young to go to work and I am there for you na!! so dont you ever worry. I will get right on it today itself", replied Mozis as his eyes furrowed in deep perturbation. He left the place immediately on his feet thereafter.

He did what he liked to do best during the day. He bought himself a packet ofbeedi at the nearest bus station and began smoking. He reclined on the boundary wall behind the bus station and observed each and every person who was passing on the road, trying to haul onto buses, taxis, autorickshaws or even private vehicles just to ensure their timely arrival at their places of work. He laughed hard at the robotic machinations of those humans. His laughter was stopped short only by an extremely protuberant woman who had trouble moving herself comfortably amongst that morning's office-going crowd. Her clumsy movement and profusely perspirating face would have made for a comical sight, but Mozis' amusement was bettered only because of the gleam in his eyes produced by the gold-chain that she was wearing. The gold chain's girth perfectly complimented her physical appearance, and that was enough to have betrayed its value - its apt weight in gold. Mozis left no thought to thoughts and sprang to action in the next instant. He lunged towards the woman in two long strides and snatched her chain off.

A milli-second later, his senses suddenly turned highly perceptive. His head felt light headed so much, that he felt he had overdosed on Ganja. He was losing sensation in his legs very quickly while at the same time he could smell the rising tension in his immediate surroundings. His adrenaline rushed high like a tsunami wave which almost pushed his heart up, inside his chest.

Two seconds later, he was on his feet, sprinting as fast as he could, wishing he could run faster than the speed of the sound...coming off from the woman who was screaming for help.

Five seconds later, he struggled to breathe, as his heart was pounding hard against his lungs further restricting them in his breath intake.

Eight seconds later, he hit the road right on his nose along with another man who had his hands held tightly onto Mozis' shirt collar.

Twelve seconds later, Mozis' had the man's knees on the low of his back even as Mozis' still tried to gather his wits to make sense of it all.

Two minutes later, an angry mob undertook to exhume its personal grudges, anger, despair and their sense of justice out on Mozis.

Five minutes later, a police constable who was on active duty was on the scene adding another number to the Mob.

Eight minutes later, under a shower of indiscriminate number of blows produced from a sense of immediate justice, Mozis' clenched fist opened up like a blossoming flower to reveal the gleaming piece of gold.

3 days later, Sailesh, the man who had pinned down Mozis was celebrated as a Hero and was recommended to the President for selection to the Bravery Awards.

Some time later and After Forever, Vijendra waited for his Hero, his Mozis; whose bravery always inspired him. His Idol. Someone Vijendra aspired to be one day!

Image from here.