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Publié par | Diamond Books |
Date de parution | 06 avril 2020 |
Nombre de lectures | 0 |
EAN13 | 9789390504961 |
Langue | English |
Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0150€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.
Extrait
The Black Mercedes and Other Stories
eISBN: 978-93-9050-496-1
© Publisher
Publisher: Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.
X-30, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II New Delhi-110020
Phone: 011-40712200
E-mail: ebooks@dpb.in
Website: www.diamondbook.in
Edition: 2021
The Black Mercedes and Other Stories
By - B. L. Gaur
‘ Dedicated to the Society ’
About the Author
B orn on June 12, 1936 in a Village Kaumla, District Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. B.L.Gaur received his elementary education in his village and after that he completed his schooling from Ramjas School, Daryaganj and B.Sc. from Delhi University. He started working in the Indian Railways from the year 1958, in Civil Engineering Department. After serving there for 31 years of service he took voluntary retirement in 1989 and started his own business. He established a construction company, by the name Gaursons India Limited in the year 1995 that has made name for itself in the arena of construction, widely known as Gaurs Group in the whole country.
During his years in service he earned the title of Sahitya Ratna from Allahabad (Prayag), Uttar Pradesh, An Honorary title of Vidyasagar from Vikramshila Hindi University and also a diploma in Italian language. He is proficient in three languages, i.e., Hindi, English and Italian. He has several published works, 14 Books, 6 poetry collections, 3 books on media, 1 story collection, 1 drama and 2 books of technical knowledge (Civil Engg) in Hindi. He is the editor of a fortnightly newspaper ‘The Gaursons Times’. He is a lifetime member of Antarrashtriya Sehyog Parishad Bharat, Press Club of India, Authors Guild of India and Indian Society of Authors. He was a honorary member of Hindi Salahkar Samiti, Ministry of Culture, Government of India (2018-19) and executive member of Delhi Hindi Akademi (2010-2014).
He is recipient of 3 lifetime achievement awards including many other awards and honors. In pursuance of Government of India he has participated in the 11 th Vishwa Hindi Sammelan in Mauritius.
— Publisher
Introduction
U nder what circumstances does any writer write a poem, story or novel? To answer this question, after much brainstorming, my observation and opinion became something like this -
A lot has transformed in the last 5 decades. Be it the lifestyle of a person, his behavior, morals and ethics, thoughts and mannerism, his responsibility towards society and much more has changed. But among all this, the most worrying thing that has happened is the constant erosion of a person’s sensitivity. You will find it meaningless to compare a man of 50 years ago and today.
People of that time from villages to towns and cities used to live in narrow lanes and clustered neighborhoods. They knew everything about their neighbors, around them. If there were ever voices of distress in a house, people would solve it together. People used to be there for each other, in every sorrow and happiness thus creating a peaceful, harmonious and gentle society. But today it is totally the opposite; even in villages those times are over.
Still, I must say that even today, there are a handful sensitive people present in the society, who by their writings cultivate sensitivity and receptiveness. When they feel pained by the unjust and complex incidents happening around them and find themselves unable to stop them, they try to find a solution of such happenings through their writings, by giving birth to good literature in different genres. One of such genres is story writing. This book of mine is also a small effort in this direction.
— B.L. Gaur
Contents
About the author
Introduction The Black Mercedes Bridge Eid-Ul-Fitr (Meethi Eid) Gurudakshina Hello! Kallo Rani Moneyorder Revenge The Last Casualty Triangle A Hundred Feet Road A Ruptured Heart
The Black Mercedes
I t was November. Days have begun to shrink and nights growing longer. He was standing in a forlorn bus stand for quite some time, waiting for bus no. 15. It would leave him at the Gyani border and catching a three wheeler from there will take 20 minutes for him to reach home. Thought of home brought forth flashes of usual routine to his mind. At first, the call bell would ring, Nirmala would open the door and without even looking at him would go back to her bed-room. He would hand over his pension to her and so on. Perhaps it is what a thought process is. The moment a thought comes it starts spreading like the aerial roots of a banyan and the continuous flow of thoughts saps so much time, you never come to know. This state of tranquil only breaks, when someone asks, ‘Uncle, what is the time?’ or ‘Can you tell me on which street is this house?’ etc. etc.
Thinking such irrelevant matters he started feeling a little tired when something miraculous happened. Yes, miracles do happen. Surf through the leaves of the book of your life, you will find many such miraculous moments. So, the miracle that happened was, a black Mercedes soundlessly stopped on his side. A white uniformed chauffeur came out of the car and said, ‘Uncle! Madam knows that you live in Savita Vihar. She knows you and she is saying that she will drop you.’ He thought for a moment and then proceeded towards the car. He was about to sit beside the driver when the lady sitting behind called him to sit there. ‘Please sit here’ she said warmly.
Spellbound he took the present incident as a dream and was thinking that any untoward happening might occur. But, why he should be fearful? Life is full of miracles, as well as, awkward instances. He sat in the car; it sped swiftly towards Delhi. The lady took the initiative – ‘I know you, your name is Yashpal Sharma and your house no. is 43. You and your wife live in the ground floor and on the upper two floors, both your sons live with their families – Am I correct Mr. Yashpal Sharma?’ Yashpal got into strange thoughts – this woman must be around forty, as old as his daughter, but instead of calling him uncle, she addressed him as Mr. Yashpal Sharma. Before he could ask or say anything she started saying – ‘Mr. Sharma! I’m an executive in a multinational company. My name is Nisha Luthra. You can call me Nisha. My mother Pritam Kaur is a widow. She lives in house no. 40, three houses back to yours. A tenant with his family also stays there on the upper floor, and the good part is that he is a South Indian; he works in my office only, and the best part is that Mr. Raghvan is truly a good person. I come here for two days every month and stock all her medicines and other necessities. And, in case of any emergency a sensitive person like Raghavan is always there to take care of my mother.
For a long time, without interfering Yashpal Sharma kept listening to Nisha Luthra. The car was about to reach Anand Vihar in another 15 minutes. Yashpal’s mind was full of thousands of questions. Gathering guts he began – ‘Nisha! It was nice to have you as a company in this incomplete journey and whatever you said is also more or less incomplete.’ After a pause he said – ‘Is it possible that tomorrow morning we all, I mean you, your mother, Mr. Raghvan and his wife have breakfast at my house. It will be my privilege to meet and spend time with some good people, may it be for a day only.’
The black Mercedes stopped in front of Yashpal’s house. Nisha consented for the next day’s breakfast invitation and also took the responsibility to bring Mr. Raghvan and his family.
It was ten in the morning but it was still drizzling. Last night, there was a heavy downpour and now everywhere, all around the colony, there was water logging. Yashpal had gone out a several times but there was no sign of the black Mercedes. He was about to go out again when he saw Nisha’s Mercedes in front of his house.
After the breakfast while everyone was waiting for tea, some topic made Pritam Kaur drift into her past – She had come here in 1990, but before that she would live in Janakpuri, where she lost her everything. In the year 1984, after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister of the country, the Congress party took every Sikh to be her killer. At that time most of the Sikh families were residing in Janakpuri. The rioters had taken vow not to leave any Sikh alive. Those who would survive would be sheer out of luck. Pritam Kaur was lost into a dark abyss where all her pleasures and happiness were buried. With great difficulty Nisha handled her. In the midst Yashpal said that one of his friends, Puran Singh also used to stay in Janakpuri. It was his ill-fate that two days before the riots he had come to Delhi on leave. We were both posted in the same office in Jammu.
After the riots when I came to Delhi, I went to Janakpuri to find his whereabouts. But, I could gather only this much that only his wife had survived and was now with her brother in Ludhiana. Actually Puran Singh was more than a friend to me. Yashpal then went inside his room and brought out an old album. There were many pictures of both the friends. Seeing the album Nisha and Pritam Kaur began to cry loudly. Puran Singh captured in the album was none other than Nisha’s father and Pritam Kaur’s beloved husband. What may happen in life is always uncertain. Nisha and Pritam Kaur were unable to hold back their tears. The Pritam Kaur whose tales Puran Singh used to narrate was sitting in front of him. Her silver hair and copper-ish complexioned face, full of wrinkles still depicted that she must have had been much more beautiful than what Puran Singh used to say about her beauty to Yashpal.
Two hours time trailed by, with a heavy heart Yashpal bid them farewell. He felt himself enveloped in a queer gloom. Now Yashpal had started calling Pritam Kaur often to his home. He would try to bring her out of her past. One morning Nisha came to say that she was leaving for London the next day, for a year. Her company has posted her on promotion to their London office.
Sometimes there come such tremors in someone’s