One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE IX

The woman stood in front of the well fit police officer and other 2 women. He gave her a tight slap. She almost fell to the ground but the woman wearing chudidhar stopped her. She took the baby from her hand and started crying loudly. She kissed all over the baby’s face.
The other stout woman and the beggar were pushed into the back seat of the police Van, while the woman in chudidhar took the middle seat of the van. I thought to myself, that the child was hers and wished them to stay happy together.
In the meantime, a small wind blew me away from the bike and I flew along with the sand. I thought I’ll fly like this and get drowned in some sewage canal and my life is gone but I was stopped by a hard force, something, like a be a stick which, almost pushed me in to the sand.
Slowly and steadily two fingers relieved me from the stick. It was an old man who was completely white. White pajama, white kurta, white mustache, white hairs, white teeth and a white color framed glass. He turned me front and back, gave me a gentle blow. Holding me and his stick on one hand, he corrected his glass and took me near his eyes.
“Its 10……hmmmm, it’ll rain today. It seems I am lucky after such a long time” he said and folded me and pushed me inside his pajama. I rested there for sometime after such a long day, I wanted some sleep but the old man kept on putting his hands inside his pocket to check if I was still there.
Where the hell would I run? Even if I run I would be in some other person’s hand and my travel will still go on.
There was a round object near me in his pocket; it always was making a sound “tick….tick…tick”. I wanted to give a punch to that noisy guy but didn’t have enough courage. I saw there was something circling within itself and whenever there is a “tick” the tiny lean stick inside that object moved one step forward. There two other guys, who didn’t seem to move. I was able to see numbers till 12 on their circumference. The short guy, among the two was near five and the long guy was trying to catch it and he was near 4. Again the old guy touched me.
Suddenly I was able to hear sounds of small children around me. Mixed voices came up,
“ Haiya thaaatha, chocolate”
“Hey no, lets play first granna”
“No first let him take rest”
“Hmmm yes yes, let me sit children, give some space” it was the old man’s voice saying that, he touched me again. “So, how are you all” he asked “Bindaaaaaaaaaas” a chorus reply came.
“Nana nana…..hmm…why didn’t you come for oneeeeeeeeeeeeeee week?” I heard a small girl’s voice.
“I am sorry kids, actually…..” taking time for each word he replied “I was busy at home…..your nani……she gave me a bigggggggg trouble that’s why” It was time for him to touch me, be he didn’t.
“What trouble? Where is nani?” it was boy now.
Coughing twice “She won’t come with me now. She has gone far away” he said.
"Where nana? Where did she go???? And why alone? My mother scolds me if I come alone even to this park”
“Where is nani, Where is nani, Where is nani, Where is nani,????” the children shouted together again.
“Okay Okay….I will tell you…..me and your nani had a race. We wanted to know who will meet god first. She always used to tell me that she was going to the first and she ran faster than me. I said I will never leave her to be number1 but….……………She has won the race now……… she is with god” Oh no!!! I thought to myself.
“Oh when will she come back?” asked another “ She won’t come back kids, I have to go there…….I will soon have to go there…..soon….soon” when he said I realized how much he missed her.
“Who will say story for us then?” in an angry voice, another kid shouted. “I will say beta, till the time I am here I will say don’t worry” saying that he pushed his hands into his pocket, I thought he was trying to touch me again but he pulled that round object with “tick tick” sound and said “It is time for us to go now It is getting darker and before we go………………..” he said and pulled me out of his pocket.
“We all with have toffees…..” and before he completed “heeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” cheered the crowd.
He handed me over to the tallest kid in the crowd and that kid walked as fast as he could towards the park’s gate. I was handed over to a road side shop keeper and the kid took had full of toffees from him. It was getting dark and from the holes of the fence, I was able to see the kids jumping over one another to grab the toffees………………………To be continued

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE VIII

The girl was still holding me in her hand while all the three of them moved to the end of the road. I struggled to peep through her fingers to check what was going on outside.
There was a brown big bike near which, the khakhi fellow stood, with one leg on its foot rest. He had some papers on the front seat of the bike and waved to both these women to get near the bike.
“What’s the matter?” splitting saliva on the road, he asked the women.
“Inspector sir….” When the girl started he showed his hand towards her and said in a brisk voice, “I am constable” and now looking at the crowd around he shouted “get away, don’t you guys have any work?”
“Constable Sir….” the girl continued “This kid….the kid the lady has is not hers; they are a gang......,people who kidnap the kids from their parents and ……and sell them….rent them….” Before the finished, the other woman started crying again.
“No sir……it is my kid…..this young girl has gone mad, she is trying to separate my baby from me” she shouted again……..”No one is there to save me and my child……our life is so miserable…..” she continued to cry….and I wasn’t able to hear what she was saying.
“Stop it” said the constable. “What’s your name?” he asked the girl. She kept me and other papers on the bike seat and pulled her card from her bag and showed it to the constable.
“Listen madam, if there is any issue, go to the police station, complain it to the writer and the Police will take action on it, why are you taking the law in your hands, why are you creating public nuisance?”
All these time, when the constable was shouting, she was typing something in her mobile and once he finished,
“I am ready to come to any station, take this lady we will go now itself” she said and by this time, the dirty lady started crying loudly.
“Sir, please leave me and my baby alone, I don’t want anything….please leave us….don’t believe this girl…..she seems to be some mental...leave us please......” and when she finished, a bike stopped near us.
Hey, it was the same guy, whom I left in the cinema hall. Now I understood, what she was typing in her mobile. He pushed the girl aside and they were talking something.
I was still lying below a bunch of papers on the bike's seat.
“Hey Mr……come here” said the constable.
He kept his finger on the girls lips and said not to talk anything and came back near the Constable and continued, “ Hello sir, I am a student….. i am her friend...he he….you see….nothing…there has been a small misunderstanding…..she is okay now….I will take care of her....……You leave it.”
“No, no misunderstanding” the girl said, the guy turned to her now “I asked you to stay silent” he said….. stopping him the girl said “No need, constable take us to the police station we will give her police treatement and she will spill truth” and when she finished there was more crowd around us and somewhere far away from us I was able to hear sounds of siren.
“Okay, okay….stop all these now, assistant commissioner is leaving, let him go and we shall talk” he pushed all the three of them aside and went to the center of the crowd to clear them from road.
“Let’s go, come soon” the young boy looked at the girl and dragged her from that place.
“Leave me, I will show this bitch, who I am” she was shouting, but couldn’t withstand the boy’s power. He pulled her towards his bike and made her sit behind him and rode the bike away.
The Dirty lady was still standing beside the Police bike and now her hands were over me, she almost picked me up from the bike’s seat when a Police van drove near us. She left me on the seat again and started moving away from the bike.
Another person in Khakhi dress jumped out of the front seat. His body was more fit than the constable, behind him there were two ladies.
One of them was, young, fair, in red chudidhar. Wiping her eyes again with her hand kerchief, she pushed the other lady in front of her. Other lady was older, stout, and black and with not so neatly dressed up walked up near our bike.
The black lady pointed her finger towards the dirty beggar near the bike and seeing that the beggar with the baby in her hand started running away from this bike.
4 other policemen including the constable with on whose bike, I was sitting, surrounded the beggar and pulled her towards the police Van…………….. to be continued.

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE VII

The taxi, cutting through the buses and trucks, reached the next traffic signal. I and the girl in the taxi were still trying to digest the things which we heard from the driver.
There was another knock at the cab window and a lady and her baby were standing in their usual dirty clothes. This time the girl inside the cab didn’t respond to them, she closed her eyes tightly and it looked like she was trying to hold her emotions.
While, the lady with her child moved to other vehicles, this girl suddenly took her wallet and gave some money to the taxi driver. She got down in the middle of the road and started walking between the vehicles.
Before I realized, where she was going, she reached the old lady and gave her a tight punch in her nose. I was totally shocked at that moment; the girl now was trying to snatch the baby from that beggar’s hands.
“Oooooooooooh, leave me…..leave me and my baby alone” the beggar started shouting and she was trying to retaliate now.
“Give the baby to me, you Bitch!” the girl demanded “I will take care of the baby; you don’t have to beg to keep it alive”
“It’s my baby, my baby……” screamed the lady with the child and still the child was not making any noise. Nothing could stop this young girl and she was still trying to pull the baby from beggar.
By this time, black dirty hand, of the beggar came towards me. It held the shirt pocket, where I was sitting and pulled it hardly. “creeeeeeek….creeeeeeek….creeek” the pocket was torn and I flew down and got settled on the road.
Above me I saw the two ladies holding each other’s hair and the girl in jeans, was trying to snatch the baby.
Wind gently tried to push me out of that place, however I requested it to show me some mercy, I wanted to know what was happening to this girl, the beggar and baby.
Within few minutes I saw more people around me and they were trying to separate both these women. A stout person in khakhi dress came forward and gave a tight slap to the beggar.
For an instance, everything was silent; the dirty lady started crying loudly. Somebody picked me from the ground with other papers and handed me back to the same girl. She held me in her hands tightly and said “I want to have these people punished, the baby should be saved”
“Come on……let’s go to the police station!!!!” the khakhi fellow shouted at both these women………………to be continued.

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE VI

There were a couple of phone calls, which she refused to attend with a grin in her face. “Let him cry for sometime” she talked to herself.
“What ma’am?” asked the taxi driver; she nodded her left and right to say it was nothing.
I was still in her pocket, and we were in the taxi which was waiting at a traffic signal. People were selling news papers, small cleaning cloths, guavas, on that busy signal; some even with sleeping kids in their hands were knocking the unopened doors of the cars.
When that old lady with came near our taxi, the girl took a five rupee coin from her handbag and handed it to that old lady. I appreciated her generosity, while the taxi driver started his conversation after such a long time.
“Don’t encourage these things madam.” He said
“Why?” she asked.
“They are all run by mafias, gundas…….. have you ever seen any lady holding a crying baby in her hand? Or any lady taking rest or feeding her kid? Never, you will never find them, that’s because all these small infants are stolen from their parents”
“What the hell?” she jumped out of shock
“Yes madam, they kidnap these kids and every morning they feed them with brandy or something…….. so that the child sleeps the whole day, a part of their daily earnings is collected by gundas and not only these people, See those gangs” Driver pointed out to a bike surrounded by Eunuchs. They were almost pulling all parts of his body and asking money.
“You can escape from any one, but not from these people. They will humiliate and take the money and usually target young men”
“Can’t the police stop these people?” she asked. I was now putting all my efforts to peep out of her pocket and look the scenes around.
“ha ha, they cannot touch these people, they have unions……but…..” he stopped for a minute and continued putting his car’s gear and moving it forward “I wonder why police is staying deaf on these children issues. They would have surely got complaints from the parents, what action are they taking? We don’t know and don’t have guts to question also. Just like this last week a couple was in my taxi looking for their child all around the city……” and continued his story and grieves for them.
Something fell on me and lifted my eyes to see the young girls shedding tears for them. I wanted to wipe her tears, but was feeling at this moment I was feeling ashamed of myself.
To earn me, people are going to even such extent. It seems only we are causing the problem, if we were not there people might have been much happier…….To be continued.

One day with me......by 20C 0J6JJ4 A ten rupee note EPISODE V

Exactly as he told, within ten minutes the bike came to halt. Placing it in side stand and throwing his helmet again into the bag he started running somewhere.

He removed the purse from his pocket; I noticed he was pulling a couple of pink colored guys. I saw them for the first time inside his pocket. Both of them were very silent for that could be the reason why I wasn’t able to notice them. With his purse still on hand he rushed to a girl, who was in her twenties.

He said “See I reached on time!!!!!”

Oh god!!! I thought, the same guy was crying to the police constable, he said his mom was in an emergency. Is she his mom? Was this an emergency? Breaking so many laws he has rushed to this place?

The girl was very upset and immediately started scolding him, “Its 11 already, you were supposed to wake up soon today, what the hell were you doing till now”

“Yeah darling!” he said, “I woke up very early today, at 10 o clock itself, however you see……..”The guy started narrating how he had reached and how heroically he escaped from the police and how late they were getting to enter the cinema hall. I was still not able to come out of the shock…..as they entered a dark door way I was put into his bag with his purse. This time I felt lucky that I am not behind in ass…………….

I understood it was a cinema hall and was sure that I won’t be disturbed for the next few hours. I started to sleep for a while when the sound from the cinema hall kept on disturbing me.

The movie was about PINDARE and people on horses were fighting with each other. I woke in the middle the movie and saw,

“Yeh Mere Talwar sirf firangiyon ki gardano ke liye hai.......”

HERO WAS FLYING OVER A TRAIN…….

“dabi dabi saason se sunatha maine.....” SINGING WITH HIS GIRLFRIENDS

And ultimately,

“Yeh mera desh hai....agar mere desh ki taraf kisine aaknh bhi utayee .tho veer itni dapai machayega jo akal aur bhookam bhi macha nahi payega.....”

I peeped out for a second and saw that the girl was wiping her eyes. Seems they were watching a sentimental movie. I didn’t want to think about it.

It was around 2PM and the girl wanted to rush back home, but the guy repeatedly was asking her to come on his bike. She was almost convinced to go with him when he committed a great blunder of his life. He said, “We had already wasted 3 hours in that boring movie, why don’t we have a nice time now?”

The girl’s face turned red and started to walk down. I was still peeping out of his bag. “Oh God! What a waste fellow” I thought for myself. I suppose he heard me, he realized his mistake, ran behind her and started to beg. This time she didn’t bother to turn.

“I thought you were also a big fan of him???” She murmured.

“What NO!...... I mean yes…….I am big fan, but the movie….”

She showed her hand hardly asking him to stop it. “Then why did you come to his house and waited for more than 2 hours with me?” Now the boy was very silent.

Slowly holding her hands “I still feel it was the luckiest day in my life” he said with a serious face. The girl’s face started blooming slowly while he continued “ Yeah, even after waiting for more than 2 hours in front of his house, I escaped….I didn’t see him” he winked…..

She snatched his bag, opened it and took me along with his purse. She opened the purse. With my eyes and mouth wide open I was looking at her. She quickly ran her fingers through us and dragged me and couple of my siblings out.

She got into the taxi and waving good bye to the sad looking guy she kept us in to her shirt pocket. She guided the taxi driver who enquired about the destination……Crossing various traffic signals the taxi started speeding into the city………To be continued.