Six Fictional Tales Inspired by Real Social Conditions……

- RAVI R. GOSWAMI

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It So Happened…

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IT SO HAPPENED

(Six Tales)

Ravi Ranjan Goswami

EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)

www.educreation.in

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About The Author

Author, Ravi Ranjan Goswami

is an intellect, who is science

graduate. He is working as a

custom officer by profession and

lives in Ernakulam (India).

Few of his other published titles includes;

"Samvad" (a collection of Hindi poems),

"Meri panch kahaniya" (Hindi stories).

He is the upcoming talented young Indian

writers, whose writings depicts his sole

nature and by heart touch and emotions with

his writings.

His writings are catchy enough to involve

the readers along with it for a long while.

Brief Pen Sketch by;

Educreation Publishing

www.educreation.in

(Author)

http://www.educreation.in/

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About the book

This book contains six stories. These stories

are fictional but inspired by the observations

of my social surroundings.

These stories were originally written by me

in Hindi. I have not translated these stories

from Hindi to English instead I have retold

them in English here for the benefit of

English readers.

So, with these words, I wish you a happy

reading......

Ravi Ranjan Goswami (author)

Email: ravi-ranjan@educreation.in

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Dedication

“TO KESH

&

DIVITA”

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Content List

Content Page No.

Aghast 01

Monkey Bandar 17

Geography Of History 25

Break Up 33

Valentine 47

A Dangerous Watchman 54

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It So Happened

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Story1 Aghast ____________________________________

He was a middle aged man. He was talking

with the Panwala (Betel leaf vendor). I was

standing there waiting for my bus. I was

there in Delhi in connection with an

interview for a job. After appearing for the

interview in an office nearby I was waiting

for a bus to go to the New Delhi railway

station. The betel leaf shop owner appeared

to be acquainted with him. My attention was

drawn to him for his secretive way of talking

to the Panwala and the queer way of looking

towards me while talking. There was a look

of fear in his eyes. He was talking about fear

only.

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2

Perhaps it was not prudent to take an

interest in a stranger in an unknown place

but I could not help it. I started to watch

him.

Suddenly we had an eye contact. He

came a bit closer to me and started talking

with me.

He said, “Brother, I am too much

afraid.”

I was pretty surprised by that.

He further spoke, “What will happen

next?”

I asked him about what was that he

was afraid of. I jokingly asked him if he was

afraid of death.

He replied “Better if I die. I think too

much, but cannot find an answer. What will

happen to my life?” Having said that, he

turned serious.

He remained silent for a while, then

suddenly spoke to me, “Sir, can you help

me?”

It So Happened

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I turned cautious and apprehensive of

him. I doubted that he wanted to extract

some money from me. Still, I asked him

“how can I help you?”

“Will you come with me to my

house?” Was his next question.

I doubted his intentions, but my

curiosity about him increased.

By his appearance, he was neither

looking insane nor a crook.

I asked him, “Why do you want to

take me home?”

“My soul is telling me that you can

help me” he replied.

I started thinking. I had feelings

of curiosity, apprehension, fear and

compassion. Finally, curiosity won me over.

I decided to follow him.

On the way to his residence I talked to

him and gathered some information about

him. His name was Harendar. He was

working as a clerk in a state government

Ravi Ranjan Goswami

4

department. He had one daughter named

Pummy and three sons Bunty, Chhotu and

Monu.

While walking along with him I was

cogitating about the situation, which I might

be facing on reaching his home. How was I

going to be received there?

I did not have much time to think

about it. His house was not really far. Within

five to seven minutes we reached there.

We found the doors of his house

open. For a moment, I hesitated to enter his

house. He first went inside and asked me,

"Please come in." I entered there. That was

his drawing room. His three sons were

sitting there watching television, which was

placed in a corner. His three sons were close

to about fifteen, ten and seven years of age.

On seeing me, they said, “Namaste” with

folded hands. I responded in the same way.

The two younger boys went inside. The

eldest son went on to watch TV.

It So Happened

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Harendar made me sit in a chair away

from the TV and dragged a chair, placing it

opposite to me and sat in that chair facing

me. I looked all around the room. The room

was not large, but was neat and comfortable.

The Room’s walls were adorned with the

calendars and photos of various Gods,

Goddesses and hermits. There were two

windows opening towards the road in front

of the house. There were no curtains at the

front door and windows. There was a door

backside opening into the inner portion of

the house. This door had a curtain. Above

this door there hung a pendulum wall clock.

He was sitting quietly. His head was

down, and he was looking at his palms.

Suddenly he jumped off his chair.

Looking at the wall clock he asked his son

“Has Pummy come?” Son answered in the

negative.

He looked very concerned and

worried. He uttered “She should have come

by now.”

Ravi Ranjan Goswami

6

He became restless. He stood up from

the chair, went to the door, looked outside

and came back to the chair.

I was feeling awkward there. I was

unable to justify my being there in his house

for whatever cause. Furthermore, there was

no strong reason of my being there except

that the long period of my unemployment

has given me a sense of being in a state of

permanent leisure. I had nothing urgent to

do and nowhere to reach. I was a free man.

He produced suspense by his unusual

demeanor and talk, and I accompanied him

there.

“What do you think? Can the

government catch the terrorists?” He asked

me.

Before I could say anything he started

speaking “Nothing can happen sir. They

come like apparitions, put bombs anywhere

and escape. They appear from nowhere,

shower bullets and disappear. I have

witnessed with my own eyes charred dead

It So Happened

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bodies of two young children following a

bomb explosion at a nearby bus stop.”

“Bunty! Where are Chhotu and

Monu?” He asked Bunty his eldest son

where was his two younger sons then.

“They are inside with mummy

(Mom)?” Bunty replied without looking

away from the TV screen.

He heaved a sigh of relief.

After a few moments, he again looked

agitated. He looked towards me and asked,

“Will rapists get the death sentence?”

A few days ago, four boys had

brutally raped and tortured a young girl in a

moving bus and thrown her out of the bus

after committing the heinous crime. Later,

the girl died in a hospital. The whole nation

was shocked and agitated. People were

agitating and demanding capital punishment

for those rapists.

I was about to speak, just then a girl

of about 18 years of age entered the room

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8

from the front door. She was Pummy his

daughter.

She hesitated for a moment, seeing

me, a stranger there, and then crossed me to

go inside. Before she could go inside

Harendra asked her, “Why are you late

Pummy?”

She started explaining, “Papa! A few

days ago dead body of a girl student of my

university was found behind a boys’ hostel.

There was a suspicion of murder. No one

has been arrested so far. So university

students were agitating against the inaction

of the police. They blocked the road through

which my bus runs. The bus, in which I

came, had to alter the route so it got late.”

When she was telling the reason of

her late coming, I was noticing the changing

expressions on her face. She was a beautiful

dusky girl with sharp features. She looked

tired, but her eyes were alert and watchful.

While talking to her father, she had been

scrutinizing me too with her side glances.

It So Happened

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After telling the reason of her late

coming, she went inside.

After she had gone inside I looked at

Harendra. He was looking in my direction,

but his eyes looked focused on some distant

object beyond me. Until then, he did not

introduce me to any of his family members.

I too did not bother about it. We were

strangers only.

Suddenly, he addressed his son Bunty,

“Bunty tell your mom to send two cups of

tea.”

Bunty seemingly felt disturbed. He

reluctantly got up and lazily went inside.

More than half an hour had elapsed

since, I reached there. I had a feeling that

Harendra wanted to tell me something but

was unable to express.

Bunty delivered two cups of tea to us

and disappeared inside. The TV was on.

Harendar switched that off.

Now only we were there in the room.

We were sipping tea, talking. I again started

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thinking about my status in his house. I felt

like an intruder there.

“Swamiji” he addressed keeping his

cup of tea on the table after his last sip.

The way he addressed this time

surprised me, but I did not say anything.

He further spoke, “Last night I had a

dream, which I want to tell you please.”

“Please tell” I said. Tea had made me

a bit relaxed.

He started narrating his dream. He

said, “I saw four ferocious men chasing me

with big naked swords in their hands to kill

me, and I was running to escape from them.

Thus, running crazily I entered into a blind

lane. I turned back and saw those men

entering the lane waving their swords. I was

trapped in there. I felt that I had no chance

to escape. Death seemed imminent and

inescapable. I closed my eyes and waited for

them to attack me. But……….”

It So Happened

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He paused and looked into my eyes,

perhaps to see my reaction. I asked him “But

what?”

He further narrated, “I waited for

them to attack me, but after some time when

nothing happened, I opened my eyes. Those

men were nowhere there. I was not in the

lane. I was sitting in a big field inside a

circle formed by Rudraksh beads. I looked

around me. I saw a young yogi in a saffron

dress standing behind me. He smiled and

told me that he had saved me as I was

innocent. He also told me that he would

meet me again, and he disappeared. After he

disappeared, I again remembered those

ferocious men and started shivering with

fear and then only my sleep was broken.”

After telling about his dream, he became

quiet and went into a brooding mood.

I was wondering at his memory of a

dream. His account of his dream seemed to

me as if from some mythological film. I

could not recollect if ever I could remember

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12

any of my dreams so vividly, and in such

detail as he had told.

Again, my attention was drawn to

him. His eyes were focused on my neck. I

recalled that I was wearing two Rudraksh

beads with the help of a black thread around

my neck. I wore these to appease my

grandmother. She brought these beads from

Haridwar, a holy city for Hindus near

Himalaya. She requested me to wear this.

She believed that wearing Rudrksh would

help me in keeping excellent health and

landing in a decent job too. I did not want to

disappoint her, so I put them on.

Suddenly, it occurred to me, and I was

afraid that by any chance that man was

trying to identify me his savior as seen in his

dream. I looked at him.

I found him gazing at me.

Then he asked me, “What do you

think about me?”

I thought that he got imbalanced and

carried away because of his over sensitive

It So Happened

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FICTION

This book contains six stories. These

stories are fictional but inspired by the

observations of my social surroundings.

These stories were originally

written by me in Hindi.

I have not translated these stories

from Hindi to English instead I have

retold them in English here for the

benefit of English readers.

So, with these words, I wish you a

happy reading......

- Ravi Ranjan Goswami

(Author)

_________________________________________

Reach author at: raviranjan@educreation.in