Inner Light

FICTION

Rahul was eagerly waiting for his father to arrive , a rare occasion one would say as he s a young boy but its diwali time you see, and this day his father would bring a big gift box, full of crackers..packed and sent from sivakasi. He had asked his mother innumerable times when dad will come home and got scolded in the end. But enthusiasm is a like a magic fountain in kids ,never drying up. He looked up thinking of asking once more but decided not to stretch his luck.

Although his parents were wealthy, they weren’t much interested in buying crackers. Rahul had to beg them innumerable times had to throw a tantrum before they agreed to bring crackers home. He had spent last two days imagining how he would light each type of cracker along with his friends this diwali night . His favourite cracker was ‘atom bomb’ promptly named because of the deafening sound it produced. He had planned to bury it in ground and light it so that it could create the explosion effect!

At eight p.m. he heard the sound of dad’s car arriving. He couldn’t control his excitement anymore, he ran to the gates..jumping and giggling. His father stepped out of the car looked at his boy and gave him a big smile and slowly extracted the colorful gift packet. He shouted with joy and took it and ran straight to his room.
The box was beautifully wrapped in colors which he removed once he was in his room. And it contained many a variety of crackers but rahul cotinued searching .. but it wasn’t there..his favourite cracker wasn’t in the box. He was so disappointed. He ran to his mother and cried loudly. Mother was utterly confused by this and asked what was wrong. ‘ I wanted atom bomb mommy it isnt there in gift box’ . Next moment two slaps landed on his cheek. ‘ why do you need such dangerous cracker why cant you enjoy safer ones. No way you are getting that!’

He was so crestfallen he didn’t even want to eat anything that night. His dad too was surprised to see his kid sulk during dinner and asked why. Mother ‘ whatever we give him is not enough , he needs atom bomb it seems..he’ll become a terrorist I feel.’
Next morning, the day before the festival, rahul started walking to his school heads down,sullen faced. His father saw him walk..something happened..he went to his son and gave him 50rs.’go buy it son,whatever you want..’

His joy knew no bounds ..finally he would get his favorite cracker. He couldn’t sit in the classes. His mind was set at the cracker shop nearby. Evening came and bell rang..he rushed out of school eagerly crossing the gully to reach the cracker shop. Then something caught his eyes. Three little children, all in ragged clothes were trying to lit a half burned cracker, hoping that it would light. He stood and thought for sometime. Then rushed to the crackershop and bought few smaller flowerpots and lightersticks and gave it to them. And he watched them light it..he could see the light in their eyes ,and somewhere inside him, a light was lit.

To be carried or not...

Here's an good zen story which I read long back and still remember.

Long time back there was a famous zen guru. He was constantly travelling from one place to other , helping people and preaching religion. He had few disciples who followed him . One day while travelling, they had to cross a river. The flow was high . Also by the riverside, was a beautiful young woman, alone and worried . She also had to cross the river but she couldn't swim.

The disciples ignored her, since they had sworn celibacy . The guru saw her, suddenly went near her, took her in his arms, carried her across the river and left her on the other side.

The disciples were astonished and angry. How can our guru do this ? Being sworn celibacy how could he lead us in wrong path? They were angry but didn't have the courage to ask him directly. So they continued their journey .

The next day, senior most disciple gathered his courage and asked guru ' master , after being sworn celibacy , why did you touch that woman ? ‘

The guru simply said ' oh I left her on the other side of the river, I can see that you have been carrying her all the time till here!'

The disciple immediately understood that he had mentally thought of her all the time, where as his guru had seen her as a just another human being sworn in need of help. He bowed to the guru, feeling ashamed.

PURPOSE OF LIFE

FICTION

Long time back there was a man. He wanted to achieve something great. So he started acquiring knowledge. He wanted to know the purpose of life . But no book could give him that .

It was not mentioned by any of his mentors , some of whom were of great expertise and fame . He became very sad that he couldn't get the answer. He was depressed all the time. He further studied and studied . .

Later he thought penance would give his answer. So he went to a mountain and started his penance. But no avail , he still didn't get the solution . His sadness persisted and progressed . He became very old and fragile, still his quest moved on.

 Finally he was in his death bed , when God appeared in front of him.' Son , what is it that you want to know from me?' God asked in a kind voice. The old man asked 'The great one, please tell me the purpose of this life, the existence .'

God replied ' I pity you, for the reason that the answer is rather simple, life is there so that you can enjoy it. Purpose of this life is to be happy . Too bad you spent it in misery.'

Sweet Revenge

FICTION

Jon was walking aimlessly..He didnt have anything to do actually he just lost his job the 

previous day..He was furious with his company for doing this to him.The company for which he had worked so hard,

lost sleep for so many days completing the projects.He just wished he could go back in time so that he could stop himself from doing all that he had done for this pathetic piece of waste.

His phone started ringing...'Bah..one more colleauge calling to give me condolences..bullshit' He thought. But the caller was unknown..Jon didnt want to talk with any stranger today..He just rejected the call.The phone rang again.

'what the heck? My life s so screwed up and here comes a wrong number!!ok anyway i'll take it..'He took the call

On the other side was a male voice which sounded rather strange...it was devoid of any emotion.

'Jon..We know what your company did to you.Idiots they are,because they don't know who does all the work there..Don't you want to hit them on their face?'

Jon's pulse started racing..'yes..! I would like to kill them all bastards!! what do they think of themselves?How can they do this to me? I will take revenge for sure..!!'

The male voice said  'Yes you will...I would like to help you in achieving that..Will you do it?'

Jons mind was full of ideas of revenge..probably much more vivid because of the whiskey he drank few hours back..He didn't think much before replying 'yes i would do anything".

'Ok,tomorrow morning one of my assosciates would give you a briefcase..You place it in the toilet

and comeback..you will get a lot of money for it'

Jon hazily remembered mounting expenses,bills,loans..his eyes brightened

"sure..how will i recognise your guy?"

"dont think about it..We will arrange everything..you just have this simple job"

'ok then it will be tomorrow..by the way whats your name??'

'my name isn't important..its your work that is important..'

It was early morning and Jon was ready for revenge..He got up early,freshened up and wore a nice suite.Just as he came out of his room,he saw a medium sized suitcase placed in front of

him.He looked around and there was nobody to be seen.He silently took the briefcase and started

towards his former workplace.He noticed briefcase was rather heavy,but he didn't dare to open it

as he was sure some explosive was inside..He didnt feel guilty ..He thought it was a tit for tat.

He entered the office.The metal detector on the door screeched but nobody was there to check it.

'Uff..one hurdle is over..I just need to place this briefcase near toilet now..'

He casually moved towards toilet..He noticed that lights were off..

'good for me..I can go undetected..'

He entered toilet and started placing the briefcase...

Suddenly all the lights flared up!! He was temporarily blinded by the flash of light..

Only thought in his mind.'oh dear this is it.i m dead..'

Suddenly there were people ..many of them laughing..

One of them came front and told..'You are in live tv now..you are

the latest Mtv Bakra...such an idiot you are..what do you think your company will

fire you just like that? Everything,even your dismissal was fake..'

Jon was still staring straight ahead.....................

The final wish

FICTION:

It was a dark evening in Rome .Days cant be worse than this,the jailor thought.

The emperor had ordered for the execution of a political prisoner and he was the one who had to look after this man till his sentence was carried out.I m a good man ,he thought and then he realised he hadn't seen the prisoner yet.

So he called a servant and told him to bring the prisoner in.As the prisoner entered,the jailor was surprised to see a young,handsome man.His face had a glow which didn't fade out as his body had during the prison stay.The man was calm, contrary to most of the people who wouldn't be so during their last evening."Prisoner" the jailor said,"what is your last wish?" . The man replied in a soothing voice,"Sir I want you to listen to my story"

This man has lost his sense,jailor thought but he had no problems in listening to the story so he agreed.

"Listen", the young man began,"I m going to tell you the story of my love".Then he went on,reminiscing the first encounter with the girl,explaining how he had fallen for her and

tried to talk to her unsuccessfully.He described the beautiful eyes which he appreciated so much,the grace with which she walked,her captivating smile .The time was running fast but both of them didn't notice,for the story was so wonderful.The jailor was beginning to like this young man.He silently wondered what did this man do which made the emperor so angry.

The young man continued his story,telling about his succesive efforts which paid off,the day when she talked to him,The day when they held each other's hands,the day they kissed....

Then sad part came,when he was arrested,how he had to suffer the estrangement and how sad he was that he couldn't see his girl for one last time.

There were tears in the jailor's eyes.He asked young man whether there was anything he could do for him.

"Yes", young man replied," I want you to give this letter and the red rose to her tomorrow after my execution."  

"I will do that" promised the jailor.The young man gave the letter and the red rose to the jailor.After recieving,

the jailor asked casually,"what is her name?the woman who is so beautiful as you described,where does she live?"

The youngman replied,"she lives nearby my lord, she is your only daughter"...

The jailor was shell shocked.................

all that he was able to do was to utter "what is your name ?"

The young man replied.."I'm Valentine"...........