RETROSPECT(Pr)
LIFE HAS ITS OWN QUIRKS
Prologue
“I need your help.”,a voice said as I was smoking the last cigarette .”not interested”, I said with a feeble voice. Then there was silence. I thought the person has left and I turned around . but the person was standing , in a desperate position , his face told that he had a number of sleepless nights .He was just not okay. But I had to close the office as it was already ten . and it would take another half hour to reach home in this bustling metropolitan Delhi. “it is urgent.”, a calm but disturbed voice at the same time spoke. I was working in this office of government from past fifteen years and failed to understand what urgent could be there in the procession of birth and death certificates office. So , I ignored all the facts and said,”come at eight in the morning.”
“but what if I say the work will take hours.”, the same voice said. “ I don’t care!” , I said while taking the keys to lock the door. “ Name your price and I will pay you if you let me get what I want.”, now the tone of the speaker became arrogant . I was startled at once but assured him that I give damn to his money by a reply like this, “Get me the parliament ,Can you?” and I chuckled at my own comment. “ssee, I just want to see a birth certificate of someone who was born 29 years before.”
“can’t , it is confidential.”, I said. “ and if I say that person concerned is my brother?” “then why don’t you ask the same from your brother only ?” “ because I don’t know whether he is my brother or not!”, he said. I was just getting the keys in the lock when the keys fell down. I simply stare that person and unlocked the door. His eyes told me why they couldnot sleep at night because they were finding a truth, a truth that exerted a force to unlock the door , to simply help that man to get what he wanted without blinking my eyes for sleep till the coming dawn.
Before getting to the taxing job , I asked him about a cup of tea. He nodded thoughtfully. I have a thermos in which warm milk is poured every morning and winters were going , so the milk was in pretty good condition. I got the two cups from the upper shelf . The tea bags were kept beside them . it took me two minutes to get the water boil in an electronic thermos. As I was doing all this, the person said ,” you keep all this here!” “ hmmm, yeah. I am fond of tea and this is my weakness. So I cannot afford my working without these inevitable things.” , I said sheepishly.
“So , can I know who you are ?”, I asked him.
“yeah, I am Ronit Singla, executive head of Myrio Industries.”
As he told me all this, I was surprised in my mind and cursed myself for being sarcastic on his money offer, because he has the audacity to buy that bloody damn parliament of the nation.
I handed him the cup . it puzzled me that how come a millionaire like him was in a government office like this which was a nonentity ? I could not resist anymore and blurted out all this because I was too weak in concealing my curiosity.
The man wearing the blue checked shirt and tie loosed out with his black formal pants caught my attention . I listened him as I took my first sip of the tea.
“a week ago , I got to know I have a sibling, yup, I never knew if that was true. Made many trials to get the truth but I think it is a well –guarded secret . so here I am , after my search and I haven’t slept the whole week.” I finished my tea and got the keys of the room that was locked for years.
“but you are in a big post and it is easy for you to get the work done with a drop of a hat, so why you bothered to come?”, I asked while figuring out the particular key from the bunch.
He smiled and said “ it is complicated!”
“But do you really think that you will have that brother feeling for him after such a long time.”, I asked him after all relations take time to bloom.
He seemed psychic because he chucked, in a mad way. An expensive spectacles with tired eyes could just hint me he needed a treatment , but of what , that I was figuring out. And the door finally opened after my six trials into that key hole and a dark hall stood below.
A thought came that this was going to prove all use less and wanted to retreat my steps to ground floor and then to home, but something inside of me caught me to stay there. Today I think I am happy that I stayed in that hall, to help him. There were piles and piles and I stared him for what next?
He simply said “ we have to search out the file that was made 29 years before. It seemed a taxing job because everything was at sixes and sevens . and I told him to narrated his story that has brought him to here, so he started from the beginning approximately 9 years before.
"I have decided to write a long story , a story that was in my mind for a long time. So after every fortnight one chapter will be released. Your opinions and launches will be my motivaton. Hope you enjoy the beginning..:)"