Anyway I have a story. This is pure fiction and i have written in the best of the spirit and there is no intention to hurt anyone. There is a nice moral at the end which would appear in the next - Sunday Blogging Page.
BUMP AHEAD
‘Drat this bike’, Abid cursed as he kick started it for the third time, every time you are in a hurry, “something has to go wrong with this Uzi machine, as if we have got all the time in this moth eaten world” Pranjal let him speak, He knows him very well, Abid is such a guy he will go on cursing, if he has nothing better to do. They both realized, today they are both in for a soup. Pranjal wished they had come back earlier as they’ve thought of, but the whiskey was tempting, such days don’t come all the time, so they had thought as they gulped peg after peg on the get together of their college annual gathering. Soon they ran out of whiskey and the party ended abruptly. And they were late for home. Lastly home is another world where everything goes by the book. The night is dark, wet and bitterly cold and it sure hurts the ears a nigh too close as Abid winded the accelerator. They were both near drunk and Abid once nearly collapsed as they halted for lighting a cigarette. So Pranjal took over the reins after a lot of arguments. “Holy Shit!” yelled Abid, as the bike suddenly gave way and the engine turned mute after a little while.
“Something wrong with the engine, Abid, the
mammoth is consuming like a punctured tanker” as he turned the switch for
reserved oil and started the engine again”
“I wished I’d checked on it before; old
Saikia told me about the li’l problem, but balls anyway.
For a while they went smoothly, and then
the bike broke down again. And after a lot of cursing the gods and kicking, it
somehow found life, as Abid took to the reins.
The night air is cold and misty as they
both kept on the road in a moderate speed; they hoped it won’t happen again.
The headlight showed on clear road ahead. At this time they both knew, they
would hardly come across any traffic, and these sub-routes were least ventured
by anybody as trouble from either the police or the military is eminent. And
they both are not a sight to be left alone if by any chance they come across a check
post. This fear is still at the back of their mind.
“I think we better took to oak-street at
the cross roads,” Abid yelled back to Pranjal. “That’s what I was thinking,
there won’t be any check post in oak-street now,’ It’s so deserted,’ Pranjal
yelled back. Oak Street is a better choice; most of the other routes are
heavily reinforced, after the extremists blew up a military van in close
proximity. And the forces even more wilder now, and at this time they will
shoot first then ask question. So at fox hole point, they took to Oak Street, a
stony road that badly needs repair and so very few vehicle took that way.
The road was jittery and teeth chattering
all the way, they hoped the whole thing don’t come apart under the impact.
“Pranjal,” Abid yelled in an alarmed tone, “Turn around and have a better look” I think I saw a light tailing us from behind. “Pranjal whirled around and scrutinized the street. The road is narrow and straight and so he could see a long way up, but he could see no light, “No, Abid” I don’t see any damn light; and for the devil’s sake, don’t get panicky; a fall on this road and we’ll be at a loss, few of our bones perhaps, you are bloody hallucinating” “What??” Abid yelled, as the sound of the bike drowned all other sound and he could not hear a thing. “What?????” Pranjal asked puzzled facing the same problem. But before Abid could reply the bike lurched down ward, which lifted Pranjal off his seat and flung him over head many feet above the ground and the last thing he saw was Abid’s eyes filled with horror as he fell somewhere and the resounding noise of the bike as it hit the road somewhere, a sudden light blinded him for a moment and then it was all silent for him. Abid’s nerves has teased at the sight of the light behind him, but he never could realise how he lost his nerves as he saw the huge pot hole in the road and Pranjal’s body hurling in front of him, but one thing puzzled him, how could the Municipal leave such a big pot-hole un repaired, had the speed been higher, Why? They could‘ve met with gory deaths. What the heck?? Something is very odd? Abid wrecked his brain; but what is odd? He thought again; He could feel something very wrong. This is not the first time he had befallen an accident, But now something seems very odd, suddenly some where inside he fell it, of course! How could it be? He thought, purple haze running through his mind, Strange! He isn’t colliding; he couldn’t feel the impact, the fall, as if he was going spirally into a bottomless pit,, there seems to be no end to it, he could not see anything, although he could feel and recall everything, and the strongest thing is he could see himself falling from a distant. A bitter and cold thought engulfed his mind, is it death??? to be dead? Is this how the dead feels? A cold sweep of questions floated across his mind, but he could not find a single solution to his questions. If he is falling down then why is his body going down, as long as he knows only the spirits moves away, the body remains on earth. Earth?? Is he leaving earth? What the heck? How was he thinking?? odd? Could a spirit think? Yah! Few of the movies showed that...But he is going down and he is not able to see his body anywhere…Hell! He is moving with his body and he still stinks of alcohol. Does he need to go to hell without a proper bath? Lot of question…and he is moving at a speed he cannot explain. This is no time for fun and he needs answer but for all his answers he could just watch himself going down and down. Suddenly he could see ahead of him, which means he is looking through his eyes down…that means he is going to hell, isn’t that what the book says “bout” Heave n and Hell. He is not sure for how many hours days or months he needs to move before he reach “Hell”…that means hell is the center of the earth which is the hottest spot and is equivalent to the temperature outside the Sun….He even hates the Sun of Rajasthan and came back 5 days before the scheduled date, now he has to bear the brunt of hell. For Abid, he has spent a life under a big question mark. He has always contradicted the Gods of either world. He has been a maverick and a die hard atheist all his life. He never understood how one religion can be superior to another or vice versa. We get our religion by virtue of our birth and how can that God be at the top of all other Gods or is it that there are many Gods with their own identity and are equally powerful? He remained confused all his life and never bothered to follow any protocols. Slowly Abid began to drift away in an inner spiral of his own. He closed his eyes and surrendered himself to fate. There is no turning back now. “This is not fair” he thought “I cannot die so early, what about my dreams? What…what about….so many questions came to his mind. He doesn’t know how long he had been in this way, but when he opened his eyes, he could see strange light all around him, he has never seen such a colour before, the colour which now engulfed everything in his field of vision. He is not sure if these colours are beyond the Vibgyor. “Human being has a long way to go’ He thought. There are crude shaped objects all around, objects he had never seen before. He could feel himself walking a hazed way, the light is so bright, and he could hardly see the objects and their weird design. He did not realise when he got stopped flying and started walking. “Does people go walking to hell, these are strange dimensions” he thought, he knew he surely is in a never never- land. This surely is hell, ’cause he never had done anything in favour of the Gods, he has always ridiculed them, cracked slimy jokes on them, for he knew such utopia never existed and he has not spared a single God. So this is Hell that means somewhere he will come across LMG, one of his friends who died a year ago. Lakhi Madhav Gogoi aka LMG was a good friend who died in a freak accident when his bike hit a road roller. Suddenly he could feel the light change in the colour and again he entered another weird dimension which also is covered by another bizarre light and just ahead of him he could see someone standing with folded hands. The face, he could not see much as because of the light. This surely could be the God of Death. “Allo”, Abid uttered in a hollow voice, a week smile covered his face, he could just guess what was meted for him, and he didn’t like it. The tall character didn’t gave a reply, but slowly turned around and walked slowly ahead of Abid, somehow Abid could understand that the strange person wanted him to follow. Abid followed with him, for how long he couldn’t tell, strangely he could not feel the time, time doesn’t seem to be of any importance or a considerable factor here. He did not feel any pain and he didn’t feel thirsty or hungry here. “Where is Pranjal”, he though. Ideally he should have been walking alongside him; he too is a person who is fit for hell like LMG. “Did he survive the accident”? The tall figure stopped abruptly just a few steps ahead of him. Abid also stopped, again the light changed into another bizarre colour, this time in moving circles all around him obscuring his sight of vision. This time Abid started walking along side the stranger as if he knows the place and have visited before. He was not able to comprehend few of his thoughts and somehow realised that those were forced into him from some deep seated source inside him. Abid could now hear voices around. The light again changed and this time to a bright unknown colour. He could see a lot of faces, lot of people…Gods...he is not sure…so many of them?? He thought. The figure in beside him disappeared. He didn’t get an opportunity to talk to him. In his place Abid could see a face that he vaguely remembered seeing somewhere before. Slowly he could see the light fading away and objects appeared from vagueness though a strange colour surrounded the whole area. He looked around and it seems he was standing of a kind of bizarre arena. There were different figures around him in weird costumes. And suddenly the figure in front of him announced his “Abid Wasim!” the figure said in booming voice. “This is the last call for me to enter Hell” Abid thought. Suddenly a bright ray of light caught Abid’s eye. Abid turned his face to have a good look. A familiar face loomed just ahead of him. He tried to remember all the books, TV serials and Movies he has seen in his live on all the Gods he knew and remembers. Abid flashed a “smile” ‘I think I’ve seen you somewhere before’ Abid said to the figure in front who seems to be clad in a kind of modern dhoti and a thin scarf across his lithe body. “Are you Rama?” Abid asked again …of of “Ramayana” I mean of Ayodhya. “No!” the figure boomed, “I am his brother Laxman” “Oh Sorry!” Abid said suddenly a hope gleamed in Abid’s face. Are you the real God or…? “We have all of them here” “ Oh!” Abid again asked “Is this heaven” “No!” the figure said. “Then how come….I mean …you should be in Heaven, right? “Abid uttered somehow felt awkward’ “Right, I am from heaven, Currently I am the lord of both the world, heaven and Hell, he said pompously and would remain so for few more generations of human being and then someone else would take over. “How nice!” “Abid said stupidly, “So this is hell”, Abid said again falteringly knowing his position. “No, this is just the porch to either way. Your case will be decided soon, where you‘ll be going.” Laxman said assuringly, “right now, we are waiting for the great Allah as you are a Muslim, you’ll have to face the consequences from him, he will judge your stand. If you are found to have led a life by the book you all go to the Muslim division of heaven or else the counterpart; as you know. Abid remembered his father and many of his lectures and the importance of prayers. He felt a sharp pain in his heart and he realised that he has few minutes before he is thrown to the eternal fire and where he would keep burning forever till the time he is cleansed and is eligible to go to heaven. “At least I will get an opportunity to see the great Allah before going to Hell, I am missing Pranjal” He thought. Pranjal is not dead. He should have survived the accident. He would meet Lord Laxman many years from now and I hope he does some good things to counter his sins.” A faint smile engulfed his face. A smile of fear, he is very sure… Suddenly another figure appeared in front of him. This time Abid did not take much time to recognize the character. “Hi Jesus; “Abid waved. Jesus waved back, “hi, there Abid” he said. Laxman looked quizzically as Jesus. “Your Majesty, I think there is something very wrong here” That’s why I came over and more Gods are on their way; this guys over there is a total maverick, an atheist, he has never led a life as Allah has meted out to the Muslims. This is a difficult situation for all the Gods and most of them are consulting and sorting this out. I am not sure how much more time it would take before a judgment could be passed. This guy here is used to most of the vices that were strongly opposed by Allah. He drinks almost everyday, never went to the mosque, never read the book and the worst of all pork seems to be his favourate piece of meat” Jesus halted. “Then young man, I guess, you’ll only rot in Hell and the Muslim hell is one of the worst of all hell and the calculations here is very critical and I have hardly seen anyone released before the due date for a place in the eights heaven” Laxman said with contempt. “All sinners have to go to some hell” Laxman concluded pointing to a direction which Abid could not understand. “Wait” Jesus said.
To be continued
