भागती भूखी ज़िन्दगी.....

रेलवे क्रासिंग पर पिता के साथ स्कूटर पर बैठा मैं,

देखता चारो ओर सड़क, लोग और दुकाने, 

जानवर जैसे कुत्ते, सूअर और गाय,

कुछ भागते, कुछ चलते और कुछ पगुराते, 

लोग भी कुछ वैसे ही, 

कुछ भागते, कुछ चलते और कुछ पगुराते,

सड़क पर दौड़ती गाड़ियां, 

और उनमे बैठे लोग,

फिर मैंने देखा एक सूअर का परिवार, 

मादा और उसके पांच बच्चे,

काली गन्दी बदसूरत माँ,

और उसके नन्हे गुलाबी शावक,

उछलते अपनी माँ के पीछे,

उसके स्तनों से अपनी क्षुधा तृप्त करने को,

गुलाबी शावक माँ के पीछे,

करते वह सड़क पार,

पर वह संभव न हो पाया,

सबके लिए तो नहीं  कम से कम,

उनमे से एक जीवित रहा, 

अपनी क्षुधा तृप्त करने को,

बाकियों के सुन्दर गुलाबी शरीर रह गए सड़क पर,

ट्रक के चौड़े  टायरों के बीच एक लाल मलीदे के रूप में,

कुछ लोगों ने देखा और भागे उस ओर,

बातें सुनी कुछ उनकी और सुना ' रात का भोजन',

उठा लिए गए  शावको के शव, 

क्षुधा तृप्ति ही कारण और अंत,

क्रासिंग का फाटक  खुला,

आगे बढ़ चला स्कूटर ,

पीछे छोड़ते हुए लोग और पशु,

कुछ भागते, कुछ चलते और कुछ पगुराते.

 

गहन मंत्रणा.....

चाय की दुकान पर बैठे चुस्कियां लेते,

बाल मजदूरी पर करते गहन मंत्रणा..

कभी दोष देते सरकार को,

कभी बतलाते कमी समाज की,

चाय पर चाय आती रही,

चलती रही वह गहन मंत्रणा,

चाय का दौर थोडा रुका, 

शर्मा जी ने आवाज लगायी, 

छोटा पप्पू भागा आया,

'साहब अभी लाया चाय'

शर्मा जी मुस्कुराए बोले,
'हरामी को दो बार न बोलो तो समझ न आये'

चाय  फिर लाया छोटा पप्पू,

चलती रही वह गहन मंत्रणा.

 

Rakshasas....

‘Mini…. go to sleep or the rakshasas will take you with them’, mother shouted from the kitchen.

‘I am afraid..mumma’, Mini called.

‘Go to sleep… if you close your eyes and remember God nothing will happen to you’, mother said again from the kitchen arranging the dishes.

‘When will papa come, mumma?’

‘He will come day after sweet…. now you sleep’

Little Mini went into her bed and covered herself with the quilt. Mother finished doing dishes, came to the living room and switched on the TV. The city was in curfew. Somebody had killed a religious leader, giving rise to riots.

‘Bam!, Bam!,Bam!’, Mother heard a loud banging on the main door. Before she could respond the door broke open. Men with various weapons were standing on the door.

Little Mini had the clear view of the men from inside the quilt from her own room. They seized her mumma and dragged her out of the house. Her mumma kept on shouting. Little Mini was afraid, she closed her eyes and remembered God as her mumma had said, and really nothing happened to her. They couldn’t find little Mini hiding in her quilt.

In the morning police came to the house. They found little mini hiding in her quilt. Inspector took her in his arms.

‘Beta, where is your mother?’

‘Uncle, in the night momma was not sleeping so rakshasas took her with them.’

Hearing little Mini’s words a picture of body of a young woman lying in the front of the house flashed in the mind of the inspector. He clutched little Mini more tightly, closed his eyes and could only mutter to himself- ‘Rakshasas……  Sure they were.....’

The Adventures of ultimate 8.. THE FORMATION OF ASHTABHUJ....Chapter 3.. The Ancient Ruins...

40 years ago...

Archeologist Dr. Bhaskar Bandopadhyay was finally successful in finding the ancient city of Vanampa, with help from fellow Archeologist Dr. Sujoy Chatterjee and Historian Dr. Sophia Laura. Dr. Laura was Italian but her Indian Ancient history was her specialty and because of the same reason the government had chosen her in this team.

The excavation process was going on, laborers were busy in digging the ancient ruins. The site was surrounded by tents. The British India government had appointed Captain Tom Mackenzie and his soldiers to help Bhaskar. The site was present in between thick forests somewhere in north west hilly regions of India which now belongs to Pakistan.

Bhaskar, Sujoy, Sophia and captain Mackenzie were busy sipping tea in their tents when  a labourer came running in the tent and informed- "Sahib, We got a big metal box".

Bhaskar left the tea and came out while others decided to finish their tea.
When bhaskar reached the exact site where the box was found he saw laborers liftin the box to the level. He signaled them to open the box. It took a lot of effort but when finaly the box opened every body was shocked. The box was filled with gold coins, jewels, artifacts of different kinds but what caught the eye of Bhaskar was the statue of Pashupati with an emerald embedded in it. The emerald glowed as Bhaskar looked at it. He took out the statue from the box and examined it. At the base of statue something was written, he tried to read it but it was so small that he couldn't. He would need a magnifying glass he thought.  He kept the statue in his own bag to read the inscriptions on it later and sent a laborer to call for Mackenzie, Sophia and Sujoy.

.......................................

Captain Mackenzie had thrown a very party for the whole excavation team, laborers were happy to taste the english alcohol but Bhaskar was even happier because tomorrow was the day they were going to tell the discovery to the world.

The party ended and everybody retired to their tents. At around midnight someone came running in Bhaskar’s tent. Bhaskar got yp suddenly with the noise. It was Sophia. She looked terrified.

“We have to leave this place bhaskar, right now!”, Sophia said.

“Why?”, Bhaskar asked trying to guess.

“I just came out of my tent to take in some fresh air and I was passing by Sujoy’s tent. Captain Mackenzie was also there. I overheard them talking…….”

“Talking what?”

“They are planning to kill us both so that they both can take the treasure as well as the name for finding this civilization.”

“What sort of silly joke is this”, Bhaskar said.

“I am telling the truth,, believe me.. that’s what I heard”..

Suddenly they heard few footstep coming towards their tent.

“See.. they are coming… let’s run”.

On this, Bhaskar had no choice. If it was a sort of silly joke it will be over if he would agree to her. They came out from the other side of the tent and quietly walked towards the jungle.

The Adventures of ultimate 8.. THE FORMATION OF ASHTABHUJ....[Chapter 2: The Parcel arrives...]

 

2 days before the current events

10 am

Andaman, India

Vinayak was getting ready for work. He was a well built man of about 5 9’ with a wheatish complexion and a dark moustache that contrasted with his face. His black hair were neatly combed backwards. Though tall enough he looked short because of his stocky figure which was result of his daily prctises of mallakhamba and wrestling.

Today he had to sea-dive for studying coral reefs for his new research project. His SCUBA gear was ready.

He hastily poured milk in a bowl full of cornflakes at the same moment the door bell rang. He opened the door. A postman was standing holding a brown parcel in his hands.

11:20

City Hospital, Goa

Dr.Carol had just assisted Dr. Vyom, a reknown cardiac surgeon in a surgey. She was genuinely happy because it was really an achievement for her. She came out of the OT and walked towards the coffee hut.

She got herself a coffee and was thinking about the complexities of the just done surgery. 

Carol was a tall girl of about 5 6”, a fair complexion and curly black hair having all the feature of an anglo-indian. She was beautiful.

Carol was busy in her thoughts when she heard someone calling, It was Lavina the receptionist.

‘Carol you have got a parcel by your name’.

12:00

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai

Naaz was working on a new composition for moderators of atomic reactors. Last year she worked for a pharmaceutical company. This year her application for working with BAARC was approved and this had given her the opportunity to combine her chemistry knowledge with physics.

Naaz had the looks of snow white, at around 5 4”, she was a really beautiful girl, a perfect example of beauty with brains.

She was busy working when her assistant came with a packet.

“Madam ji, you have received a parcel by your name.”

12:30

Bangalore, India

‘Thank you mam for solving my problem’, The young man sitting in front of Laxmi got up from his chair. She looked at him as he left. She was a counselor, a psychologist working in infosis and it was her job to counsel company people. Employees in tech companies can go through stressful situations and it was her job to relieve them and help them. She liked her job.

She had a dusky complexion with a long serene face. Her waist long hair were tied in a bun. She wore specs with a golden rim which suited her face.

She sighed and relaxed leaning back on her chair and was thinking of pouring a cup of coffee for herself from the thermos flask kept on the table when the office boy came in with a brown packet in hand.

‘Madam, parcel for you.

1:25 pm

IIT Delhi

‘Kindly complete the assignments and submit tomorrow’, Aditya told the students, we shall discuss the rest in the next class. He came out of the classroom. He was assistant professor of quantum mechanics in IIt Delhi.

Aditya was around 5’ 11’’ usually dressed formally as a professor should. He had a French beard in order to make him look more mature in front of the students.

He entered his department and reached his table. A brown parcel was kept on the table.

 3:40 pm

Chandigarh, India

Jeet was sitting in his cabin with his feet on the table. With the remote control, he was flipping channels on the television. Owning a company means not much of a job. He owned a auto-mobile spare parts company along with his uncle.

Just 4 months ago he had joined the company after doing an MBA in Human Resource Management. But it was of no use. Uncle loved him too much to let him do any work; all he had to do was to give attendance in the office. He was still flipping channels when Ruchi his secretary came along with a brown packet.

1 am,

Udaipur, Rajasthan

DJ Pyro was playing. The crowd was moving to his beats. Pyro was a new addition to Insomnia but still he had become a craze. He set the turntable to auto. It was time for DJ Nisarga to take over. Pyro left the stand and came to the parking where his cruiser bike was waiting. I was his seventh job in the year, last one was in a news channel. DJ Pyro, Shakti thought and smiled,… he liked that name. He sat on his cruiser bike rode his way back home.

Shakti was around 6 feet tall, well built with silver ear rings. And the bike suited perfectly on him. He reached home. On the door step he found a brown packet. The parcel had arrived.

Shakti opened the brown packet. There was a cardboard box inside which had :

A letter

A phone and a sim card

 

A handheld GPS device

A flight ticket to Dehradun

Shakti  read the letter…

Dear Shakti,

Don’t you feel that you are special? You know you are different but how that you haven’t figured out. Isn’t it? Come to me and I will answer all your questions.

Waiting for you eagerly,

Professor

Shakti threw the letter and started packing his bag. DJ job had bored the hell out of him. He picked up the air ticket from the box and tore it. He was going to ride to Dehradun.

Packing his bag he was thinking about the letter and the professor guy unaware of the fact that there were others who had received similar letters.

The Adventures of ultimate 8....THE FORMATION OF ASHTABHUJ[Chapter 1: The wait ends....]

The Villa was in the middle of a Jungle, somewhere in the Terais of Himalayas in Uttaranchal state of India.  Professor Bhaskar Bandopadhyay was sitting on his sofa chair and smoking his favourite cigar. The large computer screen in front of him flickered with the biodata of his expected guests.

Aditya Thakur

Age 27

Education: PhD in Quantum Physics

Hometown: Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Hobbies: Physics.

Laxmi Menon

Age 25

Education: MS in applied psychology.

Hometown: Ernakulam, Kerala

Hobbies: Knowing people, cooking, travelling.

Vinayak Kamath

Age 24

Education: Masters degree in marine biology

Hometown: Mangalore, Karnataka

Hobbies: Swimming, wrestling.

Irfan Ali

Age:23

Education: Bachelor degree in Criminal Law

Hometown: Mumbai

Hobbies: Bike Racing, shooting.

Carol D’sa

Age: 24

Education: Bachelor in Medicine and surgery

Hometown: Goa

Hobbies: Dancing, singing, helping people.

Naaz Ahmed

Age: 24

Education: Masters degree in Chemistry

Hometown: Hyderabad

Hobbies: Painting.

Jeet Walia

Age 23

Education: MBA in Human Resource Management.

Hometown: Chandigarh

Hobbies: Driving, Partying.

Shakti Singh

Age 23

Education: Bachelor in computer science.

Hometown: Udaipur, Rajasthan

Hobbies: Not available.

Professor has waited for this day since long time. A faint smile appeared on his face.  Madam Zee was busy in gathering papers and arranging files on professor’s desk. She looked at the old man and saw him smiling to himself. She smiled too. She knew how eagerly professor had waited for this great day. The emerald embedded in the statue of eight armed pashupati kept on the table was glowing brightly.

Professor looked at Madam Zee, ‘Take good care of them Zeenat, let them rest and relax first, it’s necessary.”

Zee nodded her head with a courteous smile. The emerald in the statue was glowing brightly than ever.

TB aka Tej Bahadur Thapa was standing on the door to welcome the guests. He was a short man of about 5 feet and has tiny eyes and pleasant face. He was given special instructions for today by Madam Zee. He knew today was a special day. Vishnu had gone to receive the guests on the airport. Vishnu was the driver; Vishnu Ayyar from Tamil Nadu was a lanky man with a thick moustache. Only difference between Vishnu and other drivers was that the others didn’t know to fly an aero plane.

A jeep entered the premise. Behind it was a blue and white dirt bike with its trademark noise. A guy with a white biking jacket and a metallic blue helmet rode it with utmost precision. The jeep halted in front of the villa. The biker braked too. The rear wheel left the ground for a few seconds and then touched the ground again to rest.

Aditya, Naaz, Laxmi, Carol, Jeet and Vinayak got down from the jeep. Irfan too parked his bike. Vishnu drove the jeep back to the garage. The guests entered the Villa where TB was already ready to greet them.

‘You are very welcome, Sir’, TB smiled warmly. ‘Your rooms are getting ready sir. Kindly rest here in the hall itself while your own rooms get ready. Aditya had already settled himself on the sofa. The rest of them also joined him.’

The hall was huge and decorated with antiques at right places. The room was well lit and had a fireplace too. A huge maroon rug covered the whole of the hall. Three long antique sofas were kept in the middle of the hall with an antique glass table situated in between. In the far end of the hall was a staircase. The hall was pleasantly warm compared to cold outside.

Now everybody was sitting in the hall waiting for the 8^th person. They heard a loud noise of a bike coming. Thudd, Thudd, Thudd, Thudd.  A cruiser bike stopped in front of the villa. The biker wore a brown jacket and a black helmet and aviator goggles. This was Shakti.

‘I hate cruiser bikes’, Irfan told the group. Shakti entered the hall.

‘Welcome Sir, we had sent the jeep for you too.’, TB said to Shakti.

“I prefer my own ride.’, said Shakti.

“So do I”, thought Irfan, “tough guy huh?”

“That’s why we had sent each one of you a GPS device so that you can locate us easily. “, They heard a female voice and looked at its direction. Madam Zee was descending down the stairs in the hall.

Madam Zee was a beautiful woman with milky complexion and dark black hair. She wore a red colored formal skirt and coat with black shoes with long heels. It was really difficult to tell her age. But a good guesser may guess her age in early thirties. She wore a red lipstick and her hair was in a bun. She wore glasses with black frame which made her look intellectual and even more attractive.

“Your rooms are ready. I will request you all to rest for some time. We will meet again for dinner. TB will show you the way to your rooms.”, madam zee spoke again.

‘Kindly follow me Sirs and madams”, TB said courtly. They followed him to their rooms.

Professor Bhaskar  was studying each of them carefully on his monitor screen. Are they really the ones?