1

RAINY NIGHT

It was around 12.30 am. Clouds were thundering and it was raining. Rakesh was a few km away from his house when it started raining. He stopped his scooter near a shop on one side of the road. The market was closed. He parked his scooter near a closed shop and stood in the shadow of the tin above the shop door.

He was returning from shift duty from 4 pm to 10 pm. Heavy rain started on the way. As soon as the rains started, electricity was cut and the town was drowned in darkness.

When dark, a window in the front house opened. A lamp was lit. A young woman stood close to the window and started looking outside. Rakesh felt that she was watching him. She seemed to be a beautiful young woman by the outline of her figure.

He had a fantasy that he was sitting in her room and drinking hot coffee with that woman on that cold rainy night.

He looked towards the window. He was shocked to see that the woman was calling him by waving her hand. He walked towards her tied up in a strange charm.

When he approached her house, the woman gestured for him to come and closed the window. He reached the door of the house. The woman opened the door and asked him, "Would you like to drink hot coffee with me?"

Now she was seen. She looked beautiful. But talking about drinking coffee, two big pointed teeth came out of her mouth and her face started to look like a vampire.

He panicked and ran away without answering. He came near his scooter, started it, and drove fast to his house

2

BABU

The area behind the rear boundary wall of the school was like a jungle. Rajeev, Babu, and 3 other boys had bunked the class in the last period. They crossed over the wall behind the school by scaling. They all sat down in the grass.

Babu asked Rajeev, "Will you play cards?"

Rajeev was not interested in the cards.

"No, I’ll see you guys playing," Rajeev said.

Babu got a comic booklet out of his pouch and handed it to Rajeev.

"You read it."

They started playing cards.

After a while, Babu took out a packet of Wills cigarettes and a lighter from his pants pocket. He lit a cigarette and all the boys drew on it by rotation. Babu knew how to make smoke rings. He demonstrated twice by blowing smoke rings. Then a strong wind started to blow and it became impossible to make the smoke rings. Then the school bell rang off. They climbed the boundary wall, jumped inside, and ran to their classrooms. They took their bags and came out of the school. Rajeev had come to school by bicycle. He moved toward the bicycle stand.

School buses were standing ready. Babu and his companions boarded a bus. They were backbenchers in the class and preferred the rear seats in the bus too. All the students knew this and nobody dared occupy the seats normally occupied by Babu and his gang. Babu and his friends sat in their seats and traveled indulging in some or the other mischiefs

BABU IN COLLEGE

Babu and his gang enrolled in the City College of the Arts.

It was the first day for Babu in the college. There was a good deal of hustle and bustle. New students were easily distinguishable by their nervous and terrified faces. Though the ragging had been banned by the administration, some senior students were still harassing the fresh students on the pretext of getting an introduction.

Babu arrived at the college and parked the bike in the parking lot.

When he turned back a group of three or four boys called him.

"Hey, come hither."

"What’s the matter?" Came and asked Babu.

"No manners to talk to elders?"

Babu laughed. None of them looked bigger. He understood that they were trying to rag him.

"What happened?"

"Speak, sir."

"What happened, sir?"

They asked his name and class and let him go.

This was a big college with an immense building and a large playground behind it. From the big entrance gate to the main building, there was a broad drive in. Both sides of this were lawns. The building was coated with light yellow paint and looked fantastic.

Babu moved to the main building of the college. Three boys stopped him. These young men looked like rowdies. One of them was taller than Babu and he had a light beard and mustache. He asked, "New admission?"

"Yes."

"Do you know me?"

"No."

"It will be good for you to know me. My name is Mahendra Singh. I am the king of this college"

"Yes, sir," Babu himself was no less naughty he did not mind a little fuss.

"Give a salute to the Majesty," one boy told Babu.

"Salaam," Babu raised his right hand to his forehead to salute."

"Bloody fool, you don’t even know how to salute the king?” Mahendra said, "Raju, you teach him."

Raju bowed down from the waist before Mahendra and raised his right to his forehead thrice. Babu also did that.

Now Mahendra said, "Sit like a rooster now."

Babu felt irritated. He looked into Mahendra’s eyes in a revolting way.

"Duffer, did you not hear what I said?"

Babu looked around. Some other students had gathered around to watch the spectacle. At some distance, some girl students were also standing.

"Fuck your sis…," Mahendra reviled and tried to tilt Babu’s head down by his hands.

Babu pushed Mahendra’ hands aside, raised his head and stood upright. Babu was enraged now.

"Straight off you guys are passing over the limit."

Suddenly Mahendra slapped Babu.

"Motherfucker you forgot how to talk to seniors. "

Babu had tolerated more than enough. He was also hot-tempered and rash. Babu was slightly smaller in stature, but not in physical strength. Babu bounced and hit hard Mahendra’s chest with his head. Mahendra did not imagine it. He was hurt and pushed a few steps backward. Babu also retreated several steps. He feared that Mahendra and his friends could pounce on him together. So he was thinking of defense to protect himself. He badly missed his gang, which was not with him at that time.

Mahendra and his partners advanced towards Babu threateningly with clenched fists.

Babu challenged, "Come on, one by one if you have the guts”.

A junior student had challenged Mahendra and his friends for the first time, so they wanted to teach him a lesson. Many of the students, including girls, were watching the fight, but they did not dare to interfere in it.

Babu took on the four opponents at a time. From the left, one boy raised his hand. Babu quickly ducked to the right side and delivered a karate kick by his left leg in the stomach of that boy. He sat down, holding his belly. Mahendra, meanwhile, came increasingly closer to Babu and tried to give him a punch on his face. Babu bent his head backward. Punch hits his chin. Babu wobbled and got back a couple of steps. In the meantime, the boy, who got a kick recovered. Mahendra and his associates wanted to somehow hold him and then punish. Babu had understood that if they caught him, they would beat him hard. He was stuck in the phalanx like Abhimanyu of Mahabharata. The crowd of onlookers was growing too slowly around. Some of them were female students. Losing and fleeing in front of so many people, particularly in front of the girls was exasperating for Babu. Abhimanyu of Mahabharata did not have any weapons left with him in the end, but Babu had one in reserve.

Babu retreated a few steps and put his hand inside his shirt, pulled out a pistol and fired in the air. Mahendra Singh did not have any arms with him at that time.

People scattered and fled when they heard the sound of gunfire.

3

THE GHOST WIFE

It was unbelievable but In the village everybody believed Suganan’s wife was a ghost.

Normally she was not found in the house in the day time. She would come in the evening and leave in the morning. A few people of the village had seen her and they told the other fellows that she was extremely beautiful.

Suganan had a beautiful white cat. When his wife would come in the evening the cat would disappear. The neighbours said that the cat was the woman ghost, who at night used to become a woman.

Sanno’s grandmother died. When Joseph heard it, he asked his grandson John to follow him and rushed to Kunwar Saheb’s mansion. Sanno’s grandmother died at the age of 75. Joseph was an old photographer in the town. Sanno’s grandmother was his old customer. Her name was Rajkumari.

When the grandmother came here, she was a beautiful young woman. Her husband Kunwar Chandan Singh loved her very much. In those days, Joseph had no photo studio. He would sit on the pavement outside the courtroom with the pinhole camera prevailing till that time and whenever there was a fair in town, he would raise a small tent and made it his photo studio. When Rajkumari and Chandan Singh visited the fair, they liked to get them photographed by Joseph. Rajkumari was very fond of photos. Her photo never came as beautiful as she was in reality. The shape of her nose was such that it looked somewhat crooked in the photo. In English we could say, her face was not photogenic. Joseph kept working hard. He opened a photo studio. The photo technology got better. Film cameras were replaced by digital cameras, but both Rajkumari and Joseph grew old and Rajkumari’s complaint changed. Now she would say, " Joseph, earlier you used to take a good photo."

Joseph liked her photo. He had displayed a photo of Rajkumari and Kunwar Chandan Singh in his studio. Age passed. Joseph’s grandson john now took over the charge of the studio. Mrs. Rajkumari had now become the grandmother of Sanno.

The wheel of time keeps on moving. it does not wait for any of your wishes to be completed.

Joseph, after receiving an instruction from Kunwar Saab, prompted John to start the photography.

The women of the house bathed the dead body of the grandmother and dressed and made it up like a bride.

They laid it on the ground of a big room for the public to see. People had not yet come. John went into the room and looked around the room from the photographer’s perspective. The room had a mirror studded in a very gorgeous silver frame.

John took photos of the corpse from two angles. Suddenly he got a shock and felt like someone tried to snatch the camera from him. He considered it his vagary and got involved in his work. He proceeded to take a photo of the corpse from another angle and passed in front of the mirror. A strange thing happened that the camera automatically turned towards the mirror and the camera sounded the click and its flashlight also lit up, then he took a closeup of the face of the corpse from two sides like a robot as if somebody forced him. When he saw the corpse’s face, the corpse was laughing without making a sound. He ran out, throwing the camera on the ground. He told about the incident to Joseph.

Joseph said to him, " Okay you go to the studio. You don’t look well. Don’t tell about this incident to anyone. People will be scared."

Joseph went to the room. When he wanted to lift the camera from the ground, the camera moved and went near the grandmother’s body.

Joseph went near the corpse and whispered," Rajkumariji today I will take such beautiful snaps of you that even the Nymphs of the heaven will feel jealous of you. Please let me do my job. I am a professional photographer. Can you take better photos than me?"

A light smile appeared on the corpse’s face and went away. Joseph picked up the camera and started to work with full focus.

A crowd of hundreds joined the funeral procession of Sanny’s grandmother. Joseph ran to his studio first. He said to his grandson John, " Make the best photo you can make of the grandmother’s face on the computer now itself."

John made a wonderful photo of Rajkumari with the help of Photoshop on the computer, took out a print, and gave it to Joseph.

Joseph reached the cremation ground running. Granny’s funeral pyre was being set on fire. After a while, the people started the ritual of circling the pyre and putting pieces of wood in it. Joseph also picked up a wooden stick from a pile of wood sticks kept nearby and took the photo out of his shirt’s pocket. He took a round of the burning pyre and threw the stick and photo in it. After this, he stood a little distance away from the pyre. A gust of wind passed by touching him. Someone whispered in his ears and said, " Thank you, the photo is amazing."

The pyre started burning with more intensity.

4

SUSPENSION

The condition of the city was very critical. A political party protested against the city’s poor law and order and protesters blocked the road. They set vehicles on fire. The law- and - order situation became worse.

The police resorted to lathi-charge. So, the second day there was a protest against the police excesses.

Sub Inspector Karan was summoned by Deputy Sir. Karan went and saluted him. The deputy seated Karan. Then he smiled and said, "You have to be suspended in connection with yesterday’s lathi charge."

Karan said, "Sir, but I had followed the order. The lathi-charge became necessary to control the situation." Deputy,Sir said, "We know. You don’t need to feel demoralized. Consider it a week off and give your family some quality time." Saying this, he gave him a copy of the order. "Good luck," he said.

A slight smile came on Karan’s face as well. He stood and saluted. And came out of the room.

Karan’s suspension pleased his wife Rekha and 7-year-old son Gagan. It would have been difficult to get leave. They went to the mall, saw a movie, and ate food in the hotel. Did some household work.

While going to resume his duty after the suspension period, Rekha laughed and said, "My younger brother is getting married after four months".

Will you get leave or suspension?

Karan said with a laugh, "I will apply for leave today itself."

5

ELECTION SPEECH

Balu from the Danka party filled, the election papers for the ward, but now he was worried about how he would give a speech. The party’s district president Chotelal had given the opinion that even if that was not a big election, a rally and speech were necessary. Afterward, he had to go door to door and ask for votes.

When he could not think out a solution, he went to Chotelal Ji.

Chotelal asked, "How are you? How is the election preparation going? "

Balu said, "The leaflets are printed. Banners are also ready. There is a problem. "

District President Chhotalal asked, "What is the problem?"

Balu said, "I never gave a speech. What and how will I speak in my rally? "

Chotelal said, "This not a problem. Go to the Knowledge Book Store now. There, prepared speeches are available. Buy Ward’s election speech, learn it by heart or read it at the rally.

Balu immediately went to the Knowledge Book Store and said to the Shopkeeper, " I want a Ward election rally speech."

The shopkeeper asked, "How many minutes or hours of speech is needed?"

Balu was skeptical of speaking for long, so he asked, "What about the fifteen-minute speech?"

The shopkeeper said, "I think half an hour’s speech will be fine. This is what the other candidates have taken. When you want to stop, shout Inquilab zindabad and stop. Balu liked the idea.

Balu asked, "How much is the cost?"

Shopkeeper, "Just five thousand rupees."

"So expensive?" Balu exclaimed.

The shopkeeper asked, "Are you a candidate yourself?"

Balu said, "Yes."

The shopkeeper then asked, "Fighting for the first time?"

Balu said, "Yes."

The shopkeeper said with a smile, "All right. You give four and a half thousand. "

Balu bought the speech by giving money. The speech was in a booklet form. Balu opened it. The entire speech was replete with accusations and abuses. There were empty spaces in between.

Seeing Balu being confused, the Shopkeeper said to Balu, "Netaji, before reading the speech, fill your opponent’s name in the blank spaces. Don’t forget this. "

Balu was pleased with the Netaji’s address and went to his house with a speech. His main problem was resolved.

6

Good Decision

Manoj moved to Mumbai four years ago to become an actor from a village in Uttar Pradesh. His struggle was on. So far, he had so much success that he was introduced to Veenu, a junior director. Sometime he got small, insignificant roles in his films.

One day during the shooting of a film, the hero became sick. The important part of the film was to be shot. The director wanted the shooting not to be cancelled. It was learnt Hero also worked on Night Shift. Hence, he felt exhausted. He went to rest in his luxury van. The director called Veenu and said something. Veenu beckoned Manoj.

Manoj went to them.

The director gave ten thousand rupees to Manoj and gave an address. He took a photo of him with his mobile phone and said, "You take a taxi and go to this address. There you will find a person named Karim. Give him eight thousand rupees. He will give a packet. Bring it. I sent your name and photo to him. "

Manoj understood the matter, but he was in dire need of both work and money. Sometimes we do not shy away from taking risks to fulfil our ambitions. He took the money and booked the cab while walking towards the road. As soon as he reached the pickup place, the cab arrived. He boarded the cab and the cab driver pulled it out

The address given was in the Chawl of Goregaon. The person from whom the packet was to be taken, took the money and gave a plastic packet without asking anything. When he turned, he said softly, "Carry on safely"

Manoj kept that packet in the right pocket of his pants. He felt as if he had a time bomb in his pocket.

He called a second taxi to return and left. He kept his hands on his right pocket all the way.

The shooting location was near Juhu Beach. After reaching there, he handed the packet to Veenu.

He took it to the Hero’s luxury van.

The shooting resumed after about half an hour. The shooting went well.

Manoj got double the money that day and got the opportunity to shake hands with the hero.

The next day there was one news in the newspaper, "Police arrested a person named Karim from Goregaon with a large quantity of illegal narcotic drugs. "

Also, the mention of the relevant law NDPS Act and the possible stringent punishment of up to 10 years for Karim was also written under it.

After reading all these, Manoj got frightened. He decided that even if he did not get much work and money, he would return to his village, but for any reason would not attend such work.

7

Sapna, Saroj, Ahok, and Anil studied in class 11 and were class fellows and friends. Anil and Saroj were just friends. Ashok and Sapna also said they were just good friends. However, Saroj knew that they were romantically inclined toward each other. Sapna had confessed her feelings for Ashok before Saroj.

It was the lockdown period because of the Corona outbreak. They remained most of the time at home.

Sapna and Saroj lived in the adjacent houses and they could see each other and talk by standing near the boundary wall, which stood between their houses.

Every day they talked. Otherwise, they chatted on WhatsApp.

One day Saroj asked Sapna, "How is your boyfriend?"

Sapna silenced her, "shshshee…"

Saroj asked, "What happened?"

Sapna, "Please don’t utter this word BF. Better say Ashok. If anybody hears I will have to answer several questions."

Saroj, "Okey. Ashok."

Sapna, "He should be fine."

Saroj, "Don’t you chat with him?"

Sapna, "We chat some times."

Saroj, "Have you tested his sincerity for you? Does he care about you?"

Sapna, "No."

Saroj had a crazy idea.

She said to Sapna, "You can test him now."

Sapna asked her, "How?"

Saroj, "Call him now to come and meet you."

Sapna, "Saroj are you crazy? If I want him to care about me I also need to care about him. I can’t ask him to violet the Lockdown and expose himself and others to the risk of catching Corona."

Saroj realized his mistake and said, "I am sorry. You are right. We should not instigate or cause anybody to violate the lockdown. Better people stay home."

It was time to go inside the houses.

They did Namaste and went to their houses.

8

Marzina was an excellent American singer. She got a big name, fame and money at a quite young age. She could not handle these properly and turned to alcohol and Marijuana. She took intoxicants secretly but the substance abuse spoiled the quality of her singing. There was a drastic drop in the number of her followers. Her shows were not pulling crowd. Her followers on Twitter dropped by a large number. She felt depressed.

Marzina ’s parents lived separately. Her mother Loris lived with her in Seattle, Washington She was a politician and a senator.

She was aware of the plight of her daughter. and wished to help her. 

She decided to talk to her. They had dinner together. At the dining table she started conversation. 

She said, "Marzina I love you.’’

Marzina replied,’’ I love you too mom?’’

She said to Marzina with affection,’ When you find it too difficult to manage your life. It is better to take the help of someone, who is experienced and wishes the best for you.’’

’’What should I do mom?’’Marzina asked.

Mom said,’’ You please avoid intoxication. Rest you leave to me."

Marzina said, ’’I will do as you say.’’

Ask your Public relations manager to meet me tomorrow evening.”

 The next day after the meeting of Marzina’s mother and the PR manager all newspapers, tabloid had a few articles on Marzina, TV news channels were showing Marzina’s popular songs’ clippings and there was a mention of her latest tweet.

She opened her Twitter account, in which there was a tweet saying, “My greatest wish is to perform in India and learn Yoga.”

She understood it was done by her PR at her mom’s advice.

Thousands of Indian music lovers liked and retweeted her tweet and the number of her followers swelled by a few million. 

Indian concert organizers took notice of her tweet and approached her for a concert in Mumbai.

She wished to perform in India since Michel Jackson had performed there.

Marzina thanked her mother and asked, ’’How do you get this type of novel idea?

Loris replied,’’ Don’t forget. Your mom is a politician too’’

Her concert in India was a great success.

She stayed in India for about a month to learn yoga from a reputed Indian Yoga Guru. After a month she returned to the US as a renewed soul.