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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A Justice Divine



The rain came down heavily and the clouds thundered. The lightning tore through the sky lighting up the dark sky. The steps leading down the Shiva temple down the narrow flight of more than two hundred steps had an unusually big bundle wrapped in a blanket at the bottom of the steps. Manwar, the postmaster was returning from the visit to the temple which had just closed after attending the evening prayer and ‘aarti’. As he searched for the steps, his feet struck the bundle that lay motionless. He bent down to see as the lightning struck once more!

‘What, he exclaimed as he stepped back’! He was aghast to see that it was, Kishan, the village rowdy, who lay motionless, apparently dead! Manwar, could not believe what he was seeing. “Good riddance’ he muttered inwardly as he shouted for help! Soon a small crowd gathered, including the priest and a beat constable! The body was lifted, with great difficulty in the dim lit of the lantern as there was no light around and taken to the dispensary where a doctor was summoned. He declared Kishan dead perhaps due to head injury sustained from a fall down the steps!

Munia was sixteen years old and the only daughter of the sweet seller who lived in the small town of Lansdowne, ever since her birth. She had a brother who was two years elder to her and had just finished his school. They lived in a small house in small colony next to the sprawling Garwhal Rifles Training Centre, an elite school of Army! Lansdowne, is a small hamlet perched at an altitude, about thirty km from Kotdwar in Pauri Garhwal region. The town had a small market, a primary school and few tourists during summer visiting the small hill station. It had salubrious surroundings with oak and Pine trees and unhindered views of majestic snow clad Himalayas in the backdrop! The life moved at a slow pace in this sleepy hill station.

Kishan had come from the adjoining village in search of livelihood. He was around twenty five years old, strong built and worked as a porter. He would spend the meager earnings in consuming opium and country liquor every evening and create a ruckus! One day while returning from his work he saw Munia and stood transfixed! He was completely bowled over by her beauty, her cute face with dimples and almond eyes . A few days later he saw her returning from school and accosted her and made some lewd remarks! Munia was dumb found by the sudden encounter, and ran as fast as she could! She was panting when she reached home. Her brother who was at home asked her, as to what had happened! On hearing the story between the sobs of his sister his fury knew no bounds! Munia was too scared and managed to convince her brother to avoid the duel as she knew that only her brother would return back hurt!

It was getting dark and the clouds thundered! Munia had just started a descent down the long flight of steps leading to the Shiva temple when she heard a ruffle of bushes behind her! Too scared she froze for a minute and looked back! It was Kishan, who stood with a wide grin on his face!

‘Where will you go tonight’ he told her as he too started to walk down the flight of steps!
Lightning struck once more and the rain cascaded down making the steps slippery.
‘Oh God!’ please save me from this beast she silently prayed and tried to hurry down. She lost her balance and the bottle dropped from her hand and crashed on the steps. She hid behind the huge rock next to the steps as Kishan charged towards her!

One more step, and there was a huge crash! Kishan had slipped and next Munia heard cries of pain as he rolled on to the steps till she heard a thud and a silence!
She slowly emerged from behind the rock and instead of walking towards the temple, looked towards it in darkness and retraced her steps back home!

The next morning she woke up to the chimes of the temple bell and the blowing of conch shells, as the morning sun rose! The sky was clearing after the previous night’s rain. ‘Munia, “you know’, Kishen died last night, her brother broke the news as he came running to her’ looking relieved. The cooking oil which she had purchased the previous evening had saved her after the bottle slipped from her hand, was what she last remembered!

PS- Image Kind courtesy Google

114 comments:

  1. Aah a very sweet story, Rahulji, one that shows that nobody is forsaken in this world--not the weak, not the marginalized!!! Something higher than us will protect us, if that indeed is beneficial for us!

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    1. True Bhavana! Divine forces make no distinction when meting justice!

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  2. Justice in some way, if we can call that. Good story Sir. Oh, the title is Justice Divine. I should pay more attention to titles I guess...

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  3. Rahul...." A la justicia divina "

    Muchas veces lo que uno menos espera, es salvado por un milagro.
    Gracias por compartir este relato.

    ¡¡¡Muy interesante !!!

    un beso

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  4. Was it Divine Intervention that saved Munia, a case of justice meted out by the invisible hand of God. Interesting post, Rahul.

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    1. Thanks a lot Rachna for your comment! Divine justice at times is instant

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  5. What a great story!

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  6. Great post! Shows that justice does happen - late, early or on time! Same with Karma.

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    1. Could'nt agree with you more Gayatri! Thanks a lot!

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  7. Great...I am reading fiction on this blog for the first time. Kept me hooked till the end.

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  8. A great story with a serendipitous outcome.;) I am so impressed by people that can write fiction, I can only reflect on and contemplate reality.;)
    Hope you are having a lovely week so far.;)
    xoxo

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    1. A sincere thanks for those kind words Zuzana! Wishing you a nice week too:)

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  9. Wow what a great story. Well written.
    www.thoughtsofpaps.com

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  10. The all pervasive force is watching every second of our life on this earth and nothing goes unnoticed! Prayers are always heard :-) Lovely narration Rahul!

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    1. Agree Padmaja tha genuine prayers are Heard by almighty! Thanks for liking

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  11. Very well narrated and story is awesome

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  12. An interesting read and well-written :)

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  13. Lovely story and so well written!

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  14. Divine intervention and an oily end.

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  15. Happy to read- good things happening to good people!

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  16. Ways of the almighty. Reap as you shall sow. Wonderful narration.

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  17. I love happy endings. Somehow, I feel people think any piece with a sad end, becomes a piece of Literary art.But happy endings are considered predictable and average, which is so not the case. Why do we generalize?

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  18. Wow is this your first attempt? If so, well done. Kept me hooked till the end. Reap as you sow..so true

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    1. Yes this was my first one! Thanks a lot for liking:)

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  19. wow...this was reealy nice...i was glued till the end jus like insignia....loved it rahul...look forward to more:)

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    1. Thanks a lot Alka for your kind comment and support to my endeavor:)

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  20. Marvelous story with beautiful and vivid descriptions and bollywood style ending with the death of the "bad man". Enjoyable.

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    1. A huge thanks Rama:) So I can attempt to churn out something for Bollywood:)

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  21. Beautiful story. I enjoyed reading it.

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  22. Interesting story. Relieved that the girl got saved. A happy ending is what we all look for.

    However, I get irritated that girls like Munia need to depend on divine intervention. As a society, we should be ashamed that we are unable to protect our women, children and the weak.

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    1. Thanks a lot:)Agree with you that we are yet to learn to respect women folk:(

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  23. divine force or some unknown power..
    what matters is the justice done..... I'd love to witness more n more such divinity in real life... it'd be worth a watch Isn't it ?

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    1. Very true, Jyoti! Wish we have more instances in reality where justice is done or not delayed:)

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  24. Very interesting story, Rahul!

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  25. This is a very interesting tale, well narrated and wonderfully described. It leaves one feeling slightly sad at the demise of Kishen, as that what death is supposed to feel like but then again there is a feeling of relief and justice that he has gone. Karma does work in strange ways!

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    1. One pays the price of karma's in one's life time! Agree with you Sam:) Thanks a lot for your comment!

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  26. What a surprising little sting does that one pack! Good one here, for sure.

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    1. Thank You USP! Coming from master story teller it means a lot:)

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  27. Powerful title...Beautiful story....I enjoyed reading it....:)

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    1. A huge thanks Valli for that kind comment:)Am happy you liked it!

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  28. Sometimes the Divine hand works in inscrutable ways indeed. Good narration :)

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    1. Very true, Zephyr! The divine hand does work at times! Thanks a lot.

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  29. The name Munia is so cute..beautiful post..

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    1. Thank you Ruchi for liking the smaller details of the post including the name of the girl, which I had heard from local folk:)

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  30. Nice story Rahul.Short narrative crisp characterization.

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    1. Thanks a lot, Sharmila for that kind comment:)

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  31. An interesting story..Liked it..

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    1. Welcome to my blog and a huge thanks Tomz for your comment!

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  32. Replies
    1. Thanks a lot Francesca for that beautiful comment!

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  33. That was a nice little story. I loved the way you phased the story and also wonderful detailing of the small town. A very good and interesting narrative. A story beautifully told.

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    1. A huge thanks Raj for liking the story and details! Readers/Writers like you inspire me to write better:)

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  34. Very well narrated.. I felt as if I was reading a novel!!

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    1. Thanks a lot Radhika and it feels nice to read a sweet comment like that one:)

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  35. Ashwini, totally agree that the cries of help of those in despair do get answered. Faith can make all the difference. Thanks a lot!

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  36. Seena you are an excellent story teller. I loved this.

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  37. Well, normally justice is done but it is delayed. But in your story, it's instant! :)

    Destination Infinity

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    1. Instant justice is rare but it does happen:) Thanks a lot!

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  38. This is the 4th Time i am trying my luck to post comment :D I haven't lost hope coming back to post again :D

    This is a very gripping story kept the readers hooked till the last line fantastic description of the place, the girl and the very surprising End totally liked it

    :) pls keep writing such wonderful stories :D you rock

    (pls get posted, pls get posted, pls get posted, pls get posted) :D

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  39. Ramya I am honoured with your comment and if you were the only reader I would not mind attempting to write more stories:) a huge thanks to you for not giving up and succeeding in making my day!

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    1. :) oh my god :)such nice words thanks Rahul sir :D, Thanks to this blogger world I am getting meet so many nice people :D

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  40. Rahulji, your posts have always been so captivating. This particular one is a wonderfully narrated story, just so perfectly told. Every word and line so precise!
    Look forward to more ..... thank you so much.

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    1. A sincere thanks for those kind words, Rupreka. I am honored that you are following my blog and hope to see you here in future too:)

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  41. Replies
    1. Thanks, Alessia and wish you a very nice weekend!

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  42. i guess justice was served .. good riddance..
    good story sir , I liked it

    Bikram's

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  43. Muchas gracias por visitar mi blog y dejar tu huella, me quedo viendo tu rincón.

    Un beso.

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  44. Oh, so you write stories too, eh :)
    And about the story, good riddance, indeed. The oil was on her side. I'm glad she didn't slip on that. :)

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  45. Loved the story, feels wonderful to have found this on my comeback :). Simple, touching and meaningful. Very beautifully narrated.. I could visualize every word that you wrote. :)

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  46. Very happy to see you back after a break Arti:) Hope you had a great time . Thanks a lot for your nice comment

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  47. Good narration and a nice end. Very nicely depicted karma of the beast and a prayer of a true devotee listened. :)

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  48. What a fantastic story so well written too!!
    Been kind of occupied with painting of our house, so the delay in visiting blogs.

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    1. I am very happy to see you back despite your preoccupation at home. A huge thanks, Rama for that kind comment:)

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  49. And more than 50 comments, that is really great.

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    1. Readers and great bloggers like yourself are only the strength of my blog and increased footfalls encourage me to keep pushing me to write better:)So thanks once more:)

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  50. Beautiful and well-written!

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  51. Beautiful story..God has his own ways of always standing by us:)
    I liked the this piece of writing.

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  52. Thanks a lot, Aishwarya for that nice comment! Am happy you liked:)

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  53. Very interesting story and a nice plot!

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  54. We absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post's to be exactly I'm looking for.
    can you offer guest writers to write content available for you?
    I wouldn't mind publishing a post or elaborating on many of the subjects you write regarding here. Again, awesome site!

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  55. I'm very happy to discover this website. I wanted to thank you for ones time for this particularly wonderful read!! I definitely savored every bit of it and I have you book-marked to see new stuff in your blog.

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