The Black Rose-II

Read the 'THE BLACK ROSE-I' first.... here is it..



All around, it was filled with colourfully dull lights. Just where Ranjit lay, squirming in bed out of pain, the wall infront of it had one more red night-bulb. HE was trying to open his eyes, but he could manage opening it only partially. Just then, an extremely huge lady entered the place, and it made him sure, he was in HELL! After all, Heaven is meant for beautiful angels. Hell!, Was his life, really so much full of sins! With these thoughts in mind, he tried inquisition with the lady. But such was his conditions, that he miserably failed. He tried lifting himself toward the head of the bed.

"Wasn't your that action, enough? That now, you trying further to hurt you"

Reprimanding Ranjit, the huge nurse, moved across the room, got a syringe in her hand, came near him, took his hand and was trying to locate the veins. Ranjit was a healthy person, yet now, locating his veins was such a big headache for her. Remotely sensing the green hue, on his hand, she punctured his skin with syringe. Not allowing him the time to protest even. And he lay silent again.


In morning, when the neighbor's children were playing cricket, ball had went on Ranjit's terrace, the terrace where he lay almost presumably dead. Children out of shock, by such a horrid scene of their humorous Ranjit uncle, screamed so loudly that their parents arrived in almost no time, literally. Cops were informed, and so was "Maa", from his cell phone's address book, and he was taken to a nearby Government hospital. Yeah, Ranjit deserved this, thought his neighbor Mr.Sharma, for ruining their Sunday. There was huge loss of blood, but, as fate would have it, people of his O+ blood group and his acquaintances, proved to be too many, to even allow him to do one thing out of his wish, without any boundary.

Such was life, when he wanted to live, he was denied. It looked like, the very same people denied him the LIFE in his lifetime. When as a ten-year old kid, it fancied him to become a lemon-soda seller on the road. Lemon's colour, and fizz of the soda not only enticed him, but also gave him immense optimism. Once when he was thrashed by his parents for having fought with a kid, the tears that had ensued, faded away after seeing the lemon-soda seller. Aah, the lemon, the soda, and the fizz!!!
But as he grew older, things started turning extremely difficult for him. Ranjit and his father, were extremely happy about his admission in one of the best colleges of India. His father gifted his favourite motorbike, and he thought of gifting his father a tie. He bought the tie for his father, and had reached the entrance of his street, when someone told him about an accident, minutes ago. It was his father's dead body on which the necktie was kept, on his pyre. It was his last gift to his father.

All of 19, he was devastated, broken, and apocalypse seemed to surround him. But there was more in store. It was not even a year, when his mother decided to marry his father's colleague, a divorcee. Ranjit had always thought him to be a boorish rake, a third-grade person, a lecher. Rather, he had known. Once when he came to home mid-way through his class timing, because of high fever, he entered through the back-entrance. Today he didn't want to walk on the reflecting marble, which meant a good 25 feet walk to front entrance, when on other days, he loved to walk and see toward the ground, to see his reflection. Back-entrance used to be open for maid servants to come, in evening, and morning. Only in night it used to be closed. When he entered home, he entered a disgusting surprise. Mr. Khanna, the boor, was in his mothers room. His mother was lying stark naked on the bed, and Mr. Khanna was humping her. But he never told anyone about it, not his parents, nor himself. It all flooded his mind today, when he came to know about his mother's desire to change her surname to Mrs. Khanna.
He packed all his belongings in a bag, overnight, and when the night enveloped the world, he embraced the open world, on his Hoodibaba bike!!!

With no plausible qualification, no money, no home, no mother, he set out to write his own destiny. He did to an extent. Took a menial job, continued studying through out,took a better job in a call center, and with gift of his oratory skills soon made enough progress, to become team-leader. Throwing open his ears to all the cuss words, made by the white skinned. Soon and slowly, jingoism occupying him, because of his BPO experience. All he seem to be wanting now, by every day, was to become an IAS officer, and serve his mother Earth. He gave the exams twice, and failed to clear both times. Meanwhile, his colleague in office, Mandira seemed to be making an equally strong impression on his heart. The first kiss in the cab, led to promises of life and death together. Passion overtaking each other, every minute. Ranjit approached Mandira's father, and told him in simple words, that he would like to marry his daughter. Her father, was a retired army man, to him the thought of his son-in-law being a petty glorified-executive irked him. Further to Ranjit's ill credit, he had lost his father to life, and his mother to some boor. He set out a condition, which he thought, Ranjit would not be able to clear. Become a grade-I officer in a government job.

Mandira was made to leave the job, Ranjit left his own as well, to concentrate on IAS prep. Two years salary was enough to sustain him for another 1 year, and it did...by the time, he had cleared his PRELIMS, and given his MAINS. A day before MAINS examination, Mandira's best friend Alka, informed Ranjit, that Mandira has gone to her home-town Lucknow, and she is quite sure, Mandira would be getting forcibly married. She claimed she had enough inklings. Needless to say, perturbed Ranjit could not concentrate on his papers well. He was sure of not clearing. On further telephonic inquisition, he could make out they had gone to Lucknow for some wedding. He headed to Lucknow, where he met the Colonel father, who refused to let him meet her, claiming innocence about her whereabouts.While his home spoke in volumes, of a marriage celebration, recently concluded....Why didn't even she inform him, he thought! Was their love, so feeble!

Ranjit couldn't make out, who to live for! In hospital,When he gained consciousness, Mandira was infront of her. Impulsively, She slapped him hard, and then hugged him tight, as if never to let go of him. Then she told him, that she had gone there for her cousin's marriage. And she had seen him from the window, when he came to meet her father. She nagged about his shirt's colour, when he met her father. Maddy, as he often called her, assured him that, she would keep on meeting him, as and when possible, with the support of Alka.

Soon he was shifted to his flat. He started recovering. Mentally, and emotionally as well. He wanted to live, cry in joy, hit himself for his stupidity, rebuke himself for the suicide attempt. For the moments of self doubt, and doubt on her love. For failing to give his MAINS Examinations well. For delaying everything by an year, in the best scenario.

The day MAINS result was to be declared, he went gloom. He didn't even log on to the result website. Mandira had managed to come today. She asked him whether, if he had checked his result. There was a tinge of sadness in her voice. He said, "When I know it, why to check it?"
Aah..there she slapped him again. A tight hard slap.
"Such an asshole, Ranjit. You have cleared it!"
"Haah! Disgusting Joke! Why you reminding me, of it, even? why humiliate me?"

Another slap on his face. And he was starting to believe it.

"I mean, how come. And if its really so, why you sad? You must be kidding"

"I am sad, because for an year now on, you 'd be on training and faraway in Mussorie, Hyderabad. How would I be able to......"

Before she completed her sentence...

"..Slap me!"

There was love in the remark. There was fondness in the words. And there was the tenderness in the slap, that ensued again on his remark......



[You can post your questions, if any, in the comments section! Or, We can have a Q & A, if you all wish, lemme know...Yahoo Pingbox, apke right me hai na!!]

THE BLACK ROSE-III, would be soon written and updated...

Awaiting your critical feedback / comments....