A BIG CHERRY ON AN ICE-CREAM

A BIG CHERRY ON AN ICE-CREAM

By-: Jasmeet Singh Ahuja
( jas_ahuja@yahoo.com ) , ( jasahuja@gmail.com )

One Sunday, I went for morning walk. As I am a patient of allergy, my doctor has advised me to go for morning walks for fresh air. I start it from the main road near my house and jog till the park ends, which is about two miles away. I was all in sweat because of continuous jogging. The weather was quite hot; July is the most humid month. Whenever I go for this morning walk, I just curse my doctor, my parents, my allergic life and also God, for making me so defective.
There was no one around me in the park. Far ahead, I could see some guys playing football. I took out my bottle of water and was drinking it when a girl came jogging and she sat down on the next bench.
I wiped my face with a towel. I had my gaze fixed at the grass. Morning walks were good atleast for my writing talent. Ideas just drain inside my head at this time. I had my eyes closed, towel on my face and was groping for some new ideas to write my stories on.
Drain of ideas was a bit disturbed by a strange sound. I looked at the girl beside me. She was heavily breathing and was using an inhaler, a type of which asthma patients use. It looked as if medicine was not coming and she was desperately in need of it. She was becoming more and more impatient. I even noticed her body shivering. Something was definitely wrong. I enquired, “ Can I help you?”
She looked at me, “ Get me some water.”
I got up but realized that I had just finished up my bottle. I went to the roadside to see if I could get some help. There was no one. I decided to go to the guys playing football. May be somebody has water. Fortunately, they helped. The girl was feeling better when I reached with water. Water ameliorated her problem. She thanked me. “ Anything wrong with you.” I asked.
She was about to tell me when a big car stopped in front of us on the road with loud music from ‘Rang De Basanti’ going on, ‘Loose Control’. The speakers of the car were great. Seeing the car, she smiled and ran towards it. While going she turned back and said, “Thank you”. Within a minute, she reached the car and the next thing, which I saw made me more surprised. This girl climbed to the top of the car and sat on the roof and started shouting and enjoying with the music. The car was gone within a second, spreading the loud music everywhere.
That whole day, I couldn’t forget her. At heart, I really loved her attitude to life. She was, what we call these days, in a wrong spelling, KOOOOOOOL!

Next day, while I was returning from court, I got stuck in a traffic jam. It had been a tiring day. I had to stand continuously for three hours in the courtroom. Sometimes I wish legal system be given a makeover. Everything would be so appealing that no one would ever get tired. Getting stuck in traffic after such a tiring and hectic day was like standing for an hour at a ticket window and the moment your chance appears, the theatre becomes houseful. I was deep into my modification-to-the-legal-system thought when suddenly I saw the same girl whom I had seen in the park. I noticed that she was distributing some pamphlets. She was standing three cars ahead me. When I came beside her, she identified me, “ Hi, how are you?”
“ I am fine. You disappeared yesterday. I hope you are fine now.” I said.
“ Ya. It’s part of my life.” She said smilingly.
“ What are you doing here?”
“ Well” she handed me a pamphlet, “ We’re organizing a blood donation camp for thalassemia patients, tomorrow.”
Before I could ask anything or she could say further, I was constrained to move my car ahead and thus our conversation broke. From the side mirror I saw her distributing the pamphlets to the other cars.

Next day, my sister asked me to drop her to The City Hall. She was going to that blood donation camp with her school group, to donate blood. I looked at her, wondering, it was such an easygoing thing for her. I accompanied her.
“ What is this Thalassemia?” I asked my sister on way.
“ It is some kind of a blood disorder. I don’t know much about it.” She replied.
At the City Hall, my sister went to her school group and I as a visitor went to the other side of the hall. Doctors, nurses, attendants, volunteers and many other people were roaming there. The place was so full of people. At one side a presentation was going on. At the backside of the hall, in the open garden, under the big tree, arrangements were made for exhibition of articles, photographs and books on Thalassemia. I was going through the main exhibited articles, when someone came behind me, “ So you have come.” I turned back. The same girl from the park was standing before me.
“ Oh! Hi.” I said. She was wearing a white embroidered sleeveless kurta and blue long skirt.
Seeing the visitor tag on my pocket, she asked, “Just a visitor? Not donating?”
“ No. My sister is donating.”
“ What about you?”
“ Well…I am not…actually I don’t feel like.”
“ You are not ready for donating, right?” She said.
I realized she was right. I nodded.
“ Don’t worry, it’s ok. It takes time for people to get ready. But I’m glad you came. It’ll give you an idea.” I nodded again.
“ Tell me what is this ‘Thalassemia’. I mean everywhere it’s written. What is it?”
“ You don’t know what is Thalassemia?” She asked. I shook my head.
We were walking in the garden. She started, “ Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder. It is a hidden disorder. Thousands and even millions of people in certain communities and countries carry the thalassemia gene but have no knowledge or awareness about it. It is only after the fact that they get married to another person carrying the same gene and have kids, they hear about it.”
“ What kind of disorder?”
“ Actually, the Hemoglobin producing gene of parents is defective, so when a child is born of such a marriage, the Hemoglobin producing gene is missing in him.”
“ Oh! Then how does the child lives?”
“ Hemoglobin maintenance, that is to say, maintain a mean Hemoglobin of 9-10% to keep the child alive. And this is only reached by blood transfusion every 3rd week.”
“ What! Are you serious?” I asked her.
“ Yes I am. I am one of them.”
I stood where I was, looking at her. “ Yes, I had been undergoing blood transfusions since I was a kid. It has become part of my life now. But this is just one sort of thalassemia. There are other types also, which are not so severe.”
She looked at me and said, “ You’re wondering if that is true then why do I look so ok and so fine.” I nearly nodded.
“ After blood transfusion, the patient becomes ok. Although, there are lot of other problems but…who doesn’t have problems. It is just part of it you see.”
“ I don’t know how to react. You’ve told me something, I feel so shocked. I mean, such big thing had been there and I didn’t know about it. I mean. I had never ever heard about it.”
“ It is normal. Our Government has not taken it seriously. Actually, there are lots of patients but not enough blood and this result in death of so many patients. Thalassemia's prevalence in India is so so high that according to one statistical data, 1 in every 20 Indian is a carrier of a potentially pathological hemoglobin gene or in other words a defective hemoglobin-producing gene. If we look at it, it is equally severe as AIDS.”
“ Exactly, that’s what came to my mind.” I said.
Both of us walked with some steps of silence. “ I really want to thank you for that day.” She said.
“ It’s ok.” I said. “ Was that also due to this Thalassemia thing?”
“ Not exactly. Actually, due to continual blood transfusions the body develops some problems. It can be due to that that I am asthmatic.
Before we could continue our conversation further, somebody called her. She had to go. Within an hour, my sister was also free. She was ok. I had been worried about her. I saw a feeling of pride on her face to be a donor. She came to me and said, “ I feel so good. Atleast, I have helped someone. I have given life to someone.” I patted her back. She showed me another pamphlet, “ This is a party ticket.”
“ Party ticket?” I asked.
“ All donors and all patients are invited for a party in Hotel Taj.” She said. “ Isn’t great?”
I wondered how courageous these people were. “ Ya. It’s great.”
Before I was going, that girl met me at the exit, she handed me the same ticket. I was surprised, “ But I am not a donor.”
“ I know you’ll be one soon.” She smiled and hugged my sister.
My sister lateron said, “ She is too good.” And I just nodded.

On the party night, I was stunned to see people rocking the party just like a normal party. I mean to say, no one could say they were ill or they had a serious blood disorder and for that they keep getting blood transfusions every third week. My sister found her friends and she got mixed up with them. I rather sat on the stool to have a drink. People dancing were all youngsters. The music was quite loud and girls dancing on the floor were not bad, either. DJ was awesome. My feet were tapping and my shoulders were moving with the beats. After a long time, I had been to a nightclub. I was enjoying the crowd.
In between, announcements were also going on to thank all the blood donors. Donors and guests were asked to take floor too.
After an hour, I found that girl sitting with some elder people. She looked at me and smiled. It looked as if she had been looking at me for a long time. She came to me.
“ Why aren’t you dancing?”
“ I don’t feel like.”
“ Don’t hesitate. Don’t you like this party?” she asked.
“ Yes, I do.”
“ DJ is great.” I nodded.
“ All of these are thalassemia patients?” I enquired.
“ Most of them. But don’t think that everyone here gets blood transfusions.”
I chuckled. “ They don’t look like patients.”
“ I know. That’s what we teach them in our community. To live life as much as you can.”
“ Community?”
“ We have a Thalassemia community.”
“ Ok.” I said. “ It’s great.”
“ So now you want to be a donor.”
“ Well, my mind is drifting to that side.”
“ That’s good.”
Suddenly the music stopped. She said getting up, “ Oh! That’s my turn. Watch it.” There was an announcement about a special dance sequence by Thalassemia Community Counselors. She with two more girls and one boy went on floor. The music started and it was “Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe” from Dil Chahta He. The dance was splendid. People just couldn’t stop themselves. Every single person in the party danced with them. I wondered again, were they really patients!
After the party was over, she met me outside. My sister was still with her friends, so I had a bit of conversation with her again.
“ I loved it. I think that’s the best party I have ever attended.” I said.
“ I can’t tell you how many people have said the same thing today. I am so happy.”
“ You guys are really…amazing. I mean, you exactly do what you want.”
“ I know what you mean. Yes, we do what we want to do. We enjoy life to the full.”
“ It’s so different…you are so different…you sit on top of a moving car and enjoy, you dance great, you are always so happy, you are always into some activity…I mean how do you get the energy?”
She laughed. “ It comes automatically. Look, everyone has to die. You, me, everyone else. No one will live forever. So what’s the difference? I believe in try fulfill all your dreams, try everything you want to try, I mean, if you want to sit on top of a moving car, just sit. Sing like a rock star. Dance like as if no one is watching. Be part of everything you want to. Talk to everyone. Be good to everyone. How long are you going to condemn God for giving you such a miserable life? Isn’t it enough that he atleast gave you a chance to be born like a human being?”
“ You are amazing.”
She smiled. “ You believe in dreams?” She asked me.
“ Yes I do.”
“ What’s your biggest dream?”
“ I want to be known.”
“ Then start working on it, coz life is too short. You never know when the chances are given. You have to grab them to make your dream come true…coz the stock is always limited. You know what I mean?” She said.
“ I know. What’s your dream?”
“ I want to be the best in everything I try. Be it dance, singing, games, anything. I just want to be at the top. Just like a big cherry on an ice cream.”
My sister came and I took leave from her. Before going, I called her, “ What’s your name?”
She smiled, “ Abhilasha.” We stared at each other, she asked me, “ What’s yours?”
“ Meet”
“ Good bye Meet.” She said.
“ Good bye Abhilasha.” She turned but I stopped her, “ Abhilasha, I want to know when is the next donation camp?”
I could see a winning smile on her face. I gave her my card. “ Call me at this number.”
On way, my sister said, “I liked Abhilasha. She is amazing.”
I smiled. “ Yes amazing. Just like a big cherry on an ice-cream.”

Guys....Read this and comment

Written below the story written by me for a contest. Although i didnt win it but it got published in a local newspaper...so plz do comment on it


MARRIAGE THE FORLORN DESIRE by Jasmeet Singh Ahuja


Marriage is a potent attraction, so it was for me. Right from the age of six, I had an implicit desire of getting married but unfortunately child marriages in India were banned long before I was born. However, this implicit desire remained incarcerated in my mind and it kept on burgeoning and never seemed to subside.

When I entered into my teens, I had already married hundreds of beautiful and gorgeous women including movie stars, TV stars, super models, etc, in my dreams. I had spent my honeymoons and also had two kids, one sweet girl and one naughty boy. At that time, I was totally against the system of monogamy, 'Only-One-Marriage' system was not acceptable to me. I had disparate views. I wished either Government should allow polygamy or 'Each-One-Take-One' system must be changed to 'Each-One-Take-Many'. I used to praise the lives of Muslims who enjoyed the legal right of keeping four wives. Sometimes, when my rage against this mono-wife system reached to its saturation point, I used to pray to God to change my religion but nothing of such sort happened.

In my late teens, when I had realised that marriage was a lot later issue, I started craving to have a girl-friend but like it is truly said ' more you find love, more it runs away from you ', I remained single with no feminine friend except my cat Dolly. Dolly and I shared the same grief, lack of a heterosexual partner. Whole world seemed to mock at my loneliness. It appeared to me as if people were pointing at me with their fingers and saying, " Look at that bovine young boy, he doesn't have a girl-friend." At such moments of embarrasment, I would usually pray to God to take me back into heaven, where, I assumed, that I won't be subject to such emotional torture.

When I entered college, there were too many girls in my class. I was in fact captivated by few of them but to my stark disaster all of them were pre-occupied and those who were not, did not acknowledge my application. I was cloaked with the layer of distress and during that time I kept vacillating between the two alternatives, either to die or to marry someone, but unfortunately I couldn't stick to any one of them.

On 12th of January 1993, I was confounded to see that God has seen my biodata too. I was finally bestowed with not one but two girl friends on this day. I met Riti in train, she was reading a book on Hindu Marriage and I being the first year law student started flaunting my knowledge on the subject to which she felt impressed. Our conversation ended when my station arrived and thank God till then we had exchanged our phone numbers. I met Tulika outside my building. She was my new neighbour and she had asked me to help her in carrying her luggage till her apartment. Within fifteen minutes, all her four suitcases were transported to her apartment and within that time my exuberant spirits had ambushed a vacant space in her heart. She found me 'an interesting guy' !

Both my achievements had left me marveling at myself. My spirits, my courage, my confidence, my attitude were all resurging. Conversations with Riti on phone were as common as were the phone calls of my dad’s clients. I had even started teaching Riti some very important Hindu Marriage sections. She always extolled at my legal knowledge on the subject and left me dreaming of my future intimate moments with her. Visits to Tulika’s apartment were equally common and when one day she insisted me on having lunch with her, I was sure that my marriage was not far, after and all for the first time in my life someone, other than my mom, was making lunch for me.

My studies were being affected a lot. Except Hindu Law, I knew no other subject. Clandestine meetings with Riti and going out for dinner with Tulika had become my schedule of the day. My days were full of happiness. I had never been so happy in whole my life. I was thanking God day and night so that he may not get angry and snatch away all this from me but I think my special offerings to God for giving me so much happiness weren’t acknowledged and as usual, the most loved things are ephemeral, the happiness of my life was also planning to leave me. Tulika asked me to help her propose Amit, my other neighbour and I discovered that Riti had been reading all that Hindu Marriage stuff because she was seeking divorce from her husband !

My world was pulverized and razed to the ground. The layer of distress covered me again. My once jutting spirits were hammered to attain their original position and it seemed to me that they were muffled and padlocked too because they had indeed stopped working for me because I found myself unable to speak to a classmate who had herself approached me to ask me my phone number. This imbued me with plethora of rage and my whole rage was against God. I indignantly castigated at him and abhorred him for giving me such a miserable life.

Nothing exciting ever happened in my life after that. I became too engrossed in my studies and nearly forgot Riti and Tulika. It was my 21st birthday when one of my classmates invited me to her engagement party. I was stunned to realise my classmates were getting married. I suddenly got an exciting feeling that I too was nearing the age of marriage. This feeling revitalized in me, the desire of getting married. The idea of getting married had always fascinated me, as I have said earlier. This time I decided to keep clinging to this idea and talk to my parents but I couldn’t gather courage to talk to them. I was thinking, why were they so passive to me? They don’t even think of my marriage.

Dreams and imaginations had once again found a place in me. I started marrying film stars again. I started spending my honeymoon and even started thinking my kids’ names. Those sensual dreams and imaginations had encumbered me so strongly that I was totally dreft away from the real world in which film stars never marry a common law student.

My life continued with lack of feminine entry but I kept going to marriage parties thinking that in case of a last minute dowry dispute, when the groom will leave, I, like the movie hero will come forward to marry the bride. But this never happened though I kept waiting and praying for it in every marriage party I attended.

At the age of 25, I had started feeling that either I was not destined to be married or marriage was allergic to me. Perhaps, my sadness was now clearly apparent on my face that was why my friends and family members had started calling me ‘Devdas’. I had even decided to abjure all wordly desires and go to Himalayas in search of peace of soul but then my life took an aberrant change.

I was practicing law and had devoted all my time to my profession. It was then, when God finally pitied on me and sent me my would-be-wife, as my client. Her name was Aditi and she wanted to sue her company who had not paid her five-month salary. During the case, we came much too closer to each other and I found in myself same old desires burning but I wasn’t sure because this had always happened to me whenever I was near feminity. Perhaps, it was destined from above, Aditi herself averred that she had started liking me and I didn’t let my chance go. I held her hand and proposed her thereon in the courtroom, when judge was about to pronounce his judgment on our case. We won the case.

I decided to marry her but there was one obstacle, my parents, who, I knew, won’t agree to my marrying a girl elder to me. But Sachin Tendulkar had already inspired me and successfully I was able to convince my parents by reciting his example.

Finally, I was married. My childhood dream came true and my life no longer remained miserable. With the license of consummation, there came lots of happiness too. People too had stopped laughing at me because I was no longer alone. My wife Aditi, is just a wonder girl. She is not a moviestar but it's ok for me. Not everyone marries a moviestar. The most important thing in a marital relationship is happiness and Aditi has given me every scintilla of happiness that sometimes I think, if one wife can give me so much happiness, how would it be if I had four wives !