Fixion - a Diwali story
Bad luck did not follow H. It was his shadow.
And, it was the shadow that was moved enough to tell me his story.
A promise was made in 2014, of good days. People were tired, so they voted. Everyone had had just about enough of open corruption, selective secularism and a Life that just would not get better, or maybe it was getting better too slowly. So they went and made their choice. Not for, but against.
Voting had made no sense to H. He did not want to choose one goon over another. So, he settled for hoping that things would actually get better, if not for the country, then just for him. And who, having lived in that country, would begrudge him that hope? Luckily for H, an uncle had recently croaked and left him a chunk of money. Not wanting to follow his friends and buy things he couldn't really afford, H considered investing it. And, the first thing to catch his eye was the 'Clean the Nation' campaign whose fervor was sweeping through the country, if nothing else. Thinking laterally, H backed companies that manufactured brooms, detergents, bins and other paraphernalia.
Three years later, his inheritance was the only thing cleaned out.
H seethed with the anger of the helpless. Unlike in the movies he no longer watched, vengeance was not an option. Truth be told, it never was. H was a harmless soul, like a great many others who made up the numbers in the country. Alone, he could do nothing. In a crowd, people like him could beat up any luckless individual who crossed their path. A friend told him the government was quietly recruiting for an animal rescue program. H was ready to sign up all the way until he understood that only one kind of animal was to be saved. And, when they told him just how the saving would happen... well, he did not have the stomach for murder.
One night in early October, when the hunger was more painful than any bruise to his ego, H robbed a man. He was jubilant to discover that the bag he'd snatched contained 30,000 rupees. After eating his first proper meal in weeks, he gave thought to the money. Leery about risking it on fly-by-night operations, he went the other way and bet it all on a sure thing - firecrackers for Diwali. A week later, H had just completed moving all the boxes into a shed he'd rented out and was thinking about his trip to the capital to sell them when the news came out. After that, there was only one thing left to do. Later, when the cops and fire brigade showed up, H was nowhere to be found.
For years afterwards, the villagers of Kundli would reminisce about two strange things that had occurred just before Diwali in 2017. The spectacular fireworks show and the sudden spoiling of the water in the village well. But, no one knew or cared if H's kundli had gone up in flames that night. Or, whether the flame of his life doused itself. And, the shadow would not say.
Song for the moment: Fortune Teller - Maroon 5
Bad luck did not follow H. It was his shadow.
And, it was the shadow that was moved enough to tell me his story.
A promise was made in 2014, of good days. People were tired, so they voted. Everyone had had just about enough of open corruption, selective secularism and a Life that just would not get better, or maybe it was getting better too slowly. So they went and made their choice. Not for, but against.
Voting had made no sense to H. He did not want to choose one goon over another. So, he settled for hoping that things would actually get better, if not for the country, then just for him. And who, having lived in that country, would begrudge him that hope? Luckily for H, an uncle had recently croaked and left him a chunk of money. Not wanting to follow his friends and buy things he couldn't really afford, H considered investing it. And, the first thing to catch his eye was the 'Clean the Nation' campaign whose fervor was sweeping through the country, if nothing else. Thinking laterally, H backed companies that manufactured brooms, detergents, bins and other paraphernalia.
Three years later, his inheritance was the only thing cleaned out.
H seethed with the anger of the helpless. Unlike in the movies he no longer watched, vengeance was not an option. Truth be told, it never was. H was a harmless soul, like a great many others who made up the numbers in the country. Alone, he could do nothing. In a crowd, people like him could beat up any luckless individual who crossed their path. A friend told him the government was quietly recruiting for an animal rescue program. H was ready to sign up all the way until he understood that only one kind of animal was to be saved. And, when they told him just how the saving would happen... well, he did not have the stomach for murder.
One night in early October, when the hunger was more painful than any bruise to his ego, H robbed a man. He was jubilant to discover that the bag he'd snatched contained 30,000 rupees. After eating his first proper meal in weeks, he gave thought to the money. Leery about risking it on fly-by-night operations, he went the other way and bet it all on a sure thing - firecrackers for Diwali. A week later, H had just completed moving all the boxes into a shed he'd rented out and was thinking about his trip to the capital to sell them when the news came out. After that, there was only one thing left to do. Later, when the cops and fire brigade showed up, H was nowhere to be found.
For years afterwards, the villagers of Kundli would reminisce about two strange things that had occurred just before Diwali in 2017. The spectacular fireworks show and the sudden spoiling of the water in the village well. But, no one knew or cared if H's kundli had gone up in flames that night. Or, whether the flame of his life doused itself. And, the shadow would not say.
Song for the moment: Fortune Teller - Maroon 5
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