NERVE TACKER AND THE CHALICE OF DEMEANOURS
CHAPTER-1
THE STRUGGLE STARTS
"I, Rupert Osborn, will always serve the people of Great Britain and the world. I accept the name as the made-up name of mine which is Leader London. This is not the name made by me, its the name made by the people of my country. The uncanny attack of the terrorists on the mall has been solved and as an act of vengeance, we did attack their headquarters. For this, I want to thank our force. It would be a laborious task for us to root the BPTD out from their roots. I, on behalf of all the people of Great Britain including my friend Peter Parker, vow that I will surely try to save London and avenge the BPTD terrorist groups and their small quarters."
"Don't you think this speech of RUPERT, I mean, the new leader of the armies of the United Kingdom will make BPTD angry??", said a mother standing near to her child.
"MOM, I think that the bureaucrats of the United Kingdom will not make such a nuisance. They might have a plan behind, right??", said that boy.
"Well, let him complete the speech."
"This speech of mine will spread ubiquitously and will make the people full of turbulent demeanour against injustice. In the end, I also vow that I will always fight against injustice.", Rupert continued, "Taking the United Kingdom at the highest point it can reach would be the motto of my living. I inspirit all the citizens of this country to fight against whatever is wrong. Always try to be non-violent. Thank You!"
"A great speech!!", said the boy.
"Well, leave it, Ramesh. Tomorrow's your birthday. How you're gonna celebrate it?", said the mother.
"Yeah, it is! But tomorrow's father's 6th death anniversary too. He died in 2007 and it's 2013 now.", said Ramesh.
"I remember. But we can't sacrifice your birthday because of it."
"I don't mean my birthday to be the best day of my life. I hate the day of 20 July. And especially the year, 2000"
"What is it?", said the mother.
"You know what SAPNA means in English. I know you have not studied well and we're too poor to study too. I have been studying for six years. But this is 2013 and there is good telecom connectivity and there's a lot of stuff available on the Internet. Your name means 'DREAM. My life has been a bad dream for me until now. I don't know what I have done wrong but I am facing the atrocities at the highest point."
"Though I am your mother, I think I don' know all of your atrocities, do I?"
"Of course you don't. I generally don't tell people about the things I face. You don't know what happened on that day.", said Ramesh.
"Can you tell me today!"
"Of course I will"
"I would be glad."
"I was born in Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia. It is located in the financial capital of India, Mumbai. I was born in slums and that is the biggest atrocity of my life. I was one of those unfortunate boys who wasted their childhood for various reasons.", Ramesh started, " I hate the day of 20th July 2000 because it is my birthday and I even cursed my birth."
"That year, I mean, 2007 was a horrible year", he continued, " One day I was going to school for the first time but I was too big to do this because generally, children start their schooling at about 2 to 3 years of age but I took 7 years to get into schooling."
"I know that. I am your mother, Mr Bhatia. Tell me what happened on that day!!", said Sapna.
"Please. Let the feelings come. If I do not tell all the things, you'll not be able to mug up so many things at the same time. Let me continue. The main reason for late schooling was our economic status. Father was only a labourer and he gambled for some additional income. I and you did not know that Father was a gambler, right?? Father was not addicted to it but he gambled for us so that we could live. As a mixture, father was good but his way was wrong. Gambling is all about luck and luck never remains the same. It fluctuates and that is what we call 'ups and downs' of life."
"That's very true"
"Well, I was scared of my first day but at the same time, I was cheerful about what was going to happen with me.", he began again," I was at cloud nine because I always wanted to get educated and I even was a brilliant child. Don't want to boast but it's my thinking. I went to a government school. I think you remember. The environment there was very different. Students studied on floors and there were more than sixty students in one classroom. I was directly transferred to class 3 and no introduction to other classes. You know this right???"
It was bad for him and even worse. It was a challenge for him to compete with other students but he was 'talented'. 'How would a boy be able to compete with other students who were studying from years?'. But Ramesh had a different mindset. He took a sigh of a boon. He was thinking about the positive side of this. at that time His thinking was, "If I compete with these students then I would be able to develop a different impression in the minds of the teachers. So, I will work hard to make this thinking a reality. It is very advantageous for me." This was a brilliant thinking and very less number of people are able to think this. This is what makes a difference between a common man and a hero!
"The time was passing at its own speed but I was moving on too fast according to time.", he set in," I burned the midnight oil to achieve success and I was truly going on the correct path. Days passed and my hard-work increased. I was truly dedicated to that work. At the same time, Father, unknowingly, was behaving eccentrically and that too was increasing day-by-day. He passed whole nights being out of the home. When he was asked about this, his straight answer was, 'I am not getting work these days, so I spend the whole day of mine in searching for a job." ' It was a white lie but what was on the other side of this?"
"The limit reached when he suddenly asked us to go out of the station. It was not a shocking thing but going out of the station at the time when he did not have work, was shocking. I denied because I wanted to go to school and continue my studies but you were ready to go for the trip and you left Dharavi the very next day. I stood with father lonely."
"Let me continue now.", Sapna broke in the conversation, "On 20 July 2007 when you went to school, you were very happy because you were performing very well. You were dancing on and on and returning back home. The moment you opened the door, you found Sanjay (Ramesh's Father) shot dead with a phone in his hand. The number shown by the phone was mine. His full body was drenched with blood. You were not able to keep up with what was going on. You embraced Sanjay with your tight hands. You were out of control. Your limbs shivered in fear. After all, your only thinking was that you would not be able to hear Sanjay's voice again."
"Line to line, you were correct. Did I tell you before?", Ramesh asked.
"Many times"
-To Be Continued
Nice one <3
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