The Pink Genie

On a lazy Saturday evening, Mithun was walking on a road. After walking for some time, he was feeling hungry. There was a little eatery at the end of the street. But Mithun was too lazy to go there and so he called them up and ordered some snacks for himself to be delivered at the park where he went and sat down.

The park wasn’t too crowded. There were few regular people who come there for evening walks. Mithun sat down on a bench under a tree waiting for his order. And then, suddenly a heavy thing fell on his shoulder, probably from that tree. He shuddered in shock and got up from the bench before he noticed that it was a book. For a couple of minutes, he was in shock about the sudden happening but soon he moved forward to pick up the book. It seemed to be an age old manuscript with brown tan on the pages exposed to the outer side and with a rusty look. Quickly he dusted off the cover of the book and it read, “The Pink Genie”.

Mithun is someone who hates to work hard. He always believed that the people who earned billions or who reached higher positions in life did so only because there’s something beyond just working like an ass. With the book in his hands, his opinions only became stronger. Thoughts started running quickly in his mind. He thought that ways like these favoured some people and that is why they are called fortunate and could earn riches. He started attributing all the wealth to luck.

Just then, the food Mithun ordered reached him. But keeping aside his hunger, he put the snacks aside, paid the delivery guy, sent him away and started to open the book to read. He was very curious to know how to meet the pink genie so that he could amass all the wealth once he found it. More than three-fourths of the book was about the person who wrote it. Mithun was not at all interested to know anything about the author but the genie. He flipped all the pages and came to the chapter, “What is a Pink Genie?”

Mithun was overwhelmed with the very title and he could not contain his inquisitiveness. He started to read anxiously. It was the description about the pink genie. “The Pink Genie is the most powerful, most rare and most unique of a kind”. Mithun’s curiosity grew as he kept reading.

“The Pink Genie is nowhere comparable to the one you have read in the story of Alladin. It does not live in a lamp, it is not like a smoke, it does not fold its hands, it does not befriend monkeys and the most important of all, it is NOT blue”.

The description of the Pink Genie was also so lengthy that Mithun wanted to skip it all and just go and meet it. He flipped all the pages of description and reached the last page where it read, “Where is the Genie?”

It seemed that Mithun’s long wait has come to an end. His eyes sparkled with happiness. “The Pink Genie lives on the very tree where the book has fallen from. All you need to do to call the Genie is to just say, “Oh dear Pink Genie! I want to see you”. But be sure to read the entire book before you do so”.

There were few more lines left to be read but Mithun wanted to call the Genie soon as he knew how he could call it. He closed his eyes, folded his hands and said, “Oh dear Pink Genie! I want to see you”. The most awaited moment has finally come.

The Pink Genie arrived in a huge flying chariot with thousands of servants assisting her. The chariot landed in no time and the Genie said “Come Mithun, join the crew of my servants. Serve me for life”.

The Pink Genie took away Mithun in her chariot even before he could grab a bite from the snacks he ordered.

[The last few lines Mithun missed to read from the book were: 

“The Pink Genie is an antithetical version of the blue genie we have all read in the tale of Alladin. The latter serves you and the former enslaves you. Once you have called it, there’s no way to escape but to serve her for a lifetime.

You might never want to meet a Pink Genie]

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There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Fortune favours the deserving.

The Mystic Tree

It was a special day for Rohan. He’s all set to attend the interview for his dream job at Google. Rohan has always been a merit student. Though he did not graduate from any of the premier institutes in India, his love for learning has kept him in top scores. He woke up early, finished his morning routine, had his simple breakfast of idly, trimmed his stubble, and got ready in formal wear paired with his polished black shoes. Rohan looked just ready. He seemed cool and composed. Rohan took blessings of his parents before he left to catch his local bus.

It was long distance travel and hence Rohan started well before. The bus Rohan got in wasn’t so crowded. He bought his ticket and sat down relaxed. The bus started moving. Just before he could completely immerse himself in his interview thoughts, Rohan felt a sudden jolt. The bus stopped suddenly as there was a clumsy quarrel happening in the middle of the road that blocked the route. Rohan got down the bus and started walking knowing that it wouldn’t end any soon.  After he walked for a while, something caught his attention. It was a bunch of people trying to cut down a roadside tree. He walked to them in quick steps and asked them why they were cutting it down. Their reason to do so was it was shedding so many dry leaves that season. Puzzled by their answer, Rohan warned them that he would complain to the authorities if they didn’t give up their idea to kill the tree. He threatened them in a loud voice and they had to leave angrily.

If Rohan wasn’t quick enough, they would have killed the tree for no reason. The very thought disturbed him a lot. It was shedding lots of dry leaves and one of them fell in Rohan’s pocket. Not noticing that he quickly made a move as he did not want to be late for the interview. He was in time.

It was his turn. He was feeling strong and surrounded by a positive energy. It was an enigmatic feeling. Soon as he entered the interview chamber, he was asked to take his seat and was posed several questions to assess him. As he came out of the chamber, Rohan seemed confident and optimistic. He walked to start back home. While he was descending the steps as he left the place, he overheard someone say that it’s a prerequisite to graduate from IIT to be placed in Google. That conversation disturbed him. But however since there’s nothing he could do, he just left.

Rohan could not concentrate on anything properly from the moment he overheard them. He started feeling unpleasant. On the way back home, he happened to stop by the same tree he saved in the morning. A dry twig fell on his hair. Rohan could not feel it in his gloomy mood. He stood there for a while and before he made a move, his cell phone vibrated. It was a mail from Google. To his astonishment, it was an offer letter confirming his job. He was surprised that it was so quick and none of the rumours were true. He beamed in glee and was on cloud nine.

Rohan reached home and shared the news with his parents. They were very happy for him. Rohan’s mom cooked his favourite delicacies and his dad presented him the watch he always wanted.

Joyous Rohan sat down to watch television in a blissful mood. Soon as he turned on the television, to his shock, the bus he avoided after saving the tree encountered with an accident. Before he could get out of that, his friend called him and said to him in a sad voice that he lost the interview at Google since he did not graduate from the IIT.

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“Save Trees. They are the only source of free oxygen in the world”

The Short Film

Short Story #2

“6:00 AM? Not my thing!” murmuring slowly, Chaitra rolled over in her sheets on a cosy bed. The moment of sweet sleep is just before when you need to wake up. It’s no less than the feeling of being in heaven especially when it’s cold and you’re snuggled in your warm, soft and fluffy blanket. Turning around, she grabbed one more slot of sleep. A moment later, she woke up fresh and feeling relaxed. Those were tough days for Chaitra. She hadn’t had a proper sleep for days. She’s been toiling hard to make an ad film.

Chaitra has done her graduation from Miami Ad School in Art Direction and Advertising. Her dream to flourish as a director could become a reality once her ad film gets selected to the ‘International Ad-film Festival”. She could win prize money of $100,000 if she wins the competition.

Nothing comes so easily to Chaitra. Though she is aware of this fact, she never gives up. This is the quality that sets Chaitra apart from the other people. About a week ago, Chaitra got to know the news about this Film Festival through one of her friends and wanted to send her entry before the deadline is over. So she’s left with a tiny spell of time in which she has to mail her submission.

She’s left with just two days to finish her task and Chaitra is still struggling with the choice of script. She’s so unsure about what to choose so that her ad stands the best. Lots of ideas were bombarding her mind. Social awareness, human emotions, technology, movies, sports, environment, development and science- across these categories Chaitra needs to choose one for her film. With the lack of time bothering her, she couldn’t decide on anything. Finally out of the blue, an idea struck. She quickly grabbed her scribbling pad and jotted down the key points in a jiffy.

Now there’s a warm smile on Chaitra’s face. She could heave a sigh of relief. Not wasting any more time, she called up her team and started to work on it. She’s keen on not missing any minute detail. Coordinating through all the departments of work, Chaitra got immersed into the job skipping breaks though the team worked in breaks. At the end of the day, the ad film is ready leaving the editing part to be done.

It was 3:00 AM. Sipping her favourite hot brewed coffee, Chaitra started watching the film they shot so that she could continue with the editing part. Once that’s done, she began to edit. By around 8:00 AM the job is done. She had to sacrifice her sleep to make up things in time. Now that the final video is ready, she is to just upload and send the mail.

With all the excitement, Chaitra attached her file and sent her entry to the competition. But it was too late before she checked that the duration of the ad film she sent exceeded the guidelines of the Ad Film Festival. Chaitra broke down in astonishment and fear. Her dreams shattered in a hurried moment in spite of her hard efforts to give her best.

Her grief was beyond words. She didn’t even shed tears but became all numb. She couldn’t eat or sleep for the next two days.

Few weeks later, it was the result announcement day. Chaitra was sure about what would happen. Still she couldn’t stay away from the curiosity to check the result. It took a very long time before she could get to the results page. And when she finally could, it was sadly no different from her prediction. Her entry wasn’t even selected and winning prize was a far thing.

She broke down into tears, wept for her mistake and sat down miserably. “Tring tring”. Her phone rang. Chaitra picked it up and spoke in a low voice. To her astonishment, it was a Hollywood producer with an unbelievable offer for her. He wanted Chaitra to direct a movie with an extended story of the script she sent to the Film Festival. She couldn’t believe what she heard. She did not speak any other word apart from an occasional “yes sir”. The producer told her that he’d mail her all the details and wanted her to meet the next week. Chaitra beamed in surprise. She eagerly shared her experience with her parents who always supported her through all the odds.

The film producer was apparently the jury member of the Ad Film Festival crew who liked Chaitra’s idea of movie. Her entry exceeded the duration but he felt it would make a great film instead.

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“If you fail in spite of your hard efforts, there’s something better waiting for you. It might not always be what you want. It could be what you deserve.”

The Facebook Story

Short Story #1

“It’s the same again. My timeline is all piled up with cricket news. Oh yes! It’s India-Pakistan match today my friend told. What finally matters to me is just the news that India won the match. How does it make a difference if one scores a century and the other scores nothing? Hmm, that’s okay. What else has happened since an hour?” Neha thought to herself while checking her Facebook account. She’s a Facebook addict. One can know every detail about Neha browsing through her account. She uploads everything. What she eats, what she does, everyday pictures, check-ins is a routine thing.

Neha is a pretty girl with extremely fair complexion and flowing brown silky hair. Her cute little eyes and chubby cheeks in rosy pink gave her a sculpted look. And not to mention the bubbly way of speaking, everyone loved it. Her good looks don’t fail to attract anyone’s attention. The way she swung while walking was beyond any description. She is the popular one in her college. Be it the drama competition or the dance show, she would be the first to enrol herself. If one had to describe Neha in simple words, she’s bubbly, beautiful, attractive and stunning.

As a part of her everyday routine, she was uploading her pictures on Facebook which she clicked wearing a cool blue saree. And as usual, she got lots of friend requests from random people. She always ignored such requests and never entertained a stranger to peep into her profile. But one thing that she used to do with such requests is to visit their profiles and saw who they were. While doing so, her attention stuck with a request. The guy who sent it was very handsome and she was dumbstruck browsing through his pictures. She was just amazed at his appearance and did immediately accept his friend request.

The next day to her surprise, she got a message from that stranger. She was thrilled and couldn’t control her excitement. However, she didn’t display excess interest as she didn’t want to seem over enthusiastic. As the conversation progressed, she was feeling butterflies in her stomach. He was keenly learning her interests occasionally making her smile.  Hours melted like seconds for Neha in his conversation. She could not end it for that day but did with a great difficulty. She couldn’t even sleep properly being immersed in his thoughts.

She woke up even before the sunrise and messaged him good morning. He too responded in no time. Her joy knew no bounds. Before she could say anything, he asked her out. That, Neha felt was the best moment of her life. It was a big yes for her but she staggeringly accepted his request. They have decided to meet at a coffee shop and exchanged their phone numbers.

Neha got ready in a jiffy yet took every care to look her best. Dressed in a white short skirt paired with a yellow top she looked stunning. She did not forget to do her hair and paint her lips red. She also applied kohl and curled her eyelashes. Neha reached the coffee shop in no time. She was all eyes waiting for him. Half an hour passed and there was no sign of him. She slowly walked out to see if he was any near. As she moved out, a guy came towards her running and gasping. Not noticing Neha, he quickly grabbed his cell phone and dialled some number. It was Neha’s cell phone that was vibrating. She put it in the silent mode so that it wouldn’t disturb their conversation. Neha quickly hid herself behind a wall and calmly escaped from the scene.

Soon as she reached home, Neha grabbed her laptop and opened his profile once again. The guy who came to the coffee shop was nowhere close to that picture. He looked like someone whom Neha wouldn’t wish to say ‘hi’ even in her wildest dreams. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She didn’t know where she went wrong. For all the pictures he uploaded, he received comments from his friends complimenting him. So she couldn’t doubt that it was someone else’s. Being clueless about what to do, she sought her friend Anita’s help. She told she has a picture and wants to find out who it is. Anita suggested her to do an ‘image search’ in Google. If it doesn’t help, let’s think of other options she told. Neha didn’t know how to do it and sent the picture to Anita so she could help.

In the twinkling of an eye, Anita called Neha and spoke in an angry voice. “I thought you were serious. Stupid! Started playing pranks again? Hmm, I’ve got some urgent work. I shall talk to you later.” Before Anita disconnected the call, Neha asked in confusion. “What? I really needed your help in identifying that person. Is he someone you know?” Anita could make out that Neha was not joking and she could not recognize the person. “Girl, he is Ravindra Jadeja, The Indian Cricketer. Don’t you seriously recognize him?” Anita disconnected the call revealing the name.
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"Beauty without brains is like?"

It gives me jitters!

Sometimes I feel ashamed to be called a human being. ‘Humanity’- The word which we have coined to mention a unique quality possessed by human beings meaning kindness and benevolence is in question now. We already feel on the top of the world to have conquered most of it. We haven’t left any ecosystem untouched. Man has long started marching towards the most uninhabited continent Antarctica. His quest for conquest hasn’t ended yet and started racing towards other planets too. In his serious and thoughtless journey, he trampled down lots of creatures that shared the same ecosystem as his and many others in his neighboring ecosystems. Not to mention endless list of organisms he has included in the ambit of his diet, he hasn’t failed to influence even the magnificent creatures that are symbol of might and majesty. What number of ways has he taken to, to threaten their very sustenance! Eating, hunting, pleasure-watching, circus keeping, and what not? Polluting their habitats has become the latest trend to torture them to death. Seizure of forest lands for industrial purposes, conquest of aerial space through fuzzy cell phones signals, and immeasurable quantities of plastic that is being dumped into the oceans that has become choking for the marine animals leading to death. He destroyed their peaceful living in every possible way.

I quit the very thought of visiting The Tiger Temple of Thailand which I always dreamt of going to, with the recent dreadful news about the barbarous treatment they undergo to be presented as a tourist attraction.

The countless number of dolphins that washed the shore in Tamil Nadu, Japan, Peru and Brazil in recent times could explain the serious emergency the marine habitats are in due to man’s laxity.

The ‘Little Tiger’ dish that’s popular in Vietnam is shaking the cat owners for all the reasons predictable.

And today a baby dolphin was ruthlessly killed in Argentina for mere cynical pleasure of wanting to click a selfie with it!!! frown emoticon
And, we are THE Human beings! The merciful, humane, generous and the kind creatures protecting the world!

What's all the fuss about growing intolerance in India?

I feel so confused when I read something that says “Growing intolerance in India” What is the growing intolerance in country all about?Is it about the suspicious murder of veteran Kannada writer MM Kalburgi? Is it about the ‘Award Wapsi’ which was started all the way by Sahitya Akademi award winner of 1986, Nayanatara Sehgal? Is it about the man in Dadri who supposedly ate beef being killed by an unidentified mob? Is it about the other writers, film makers, historians, scientists and artistes that joined the “Award return” club? Is it about the minority killings? Is it the silence of our Prime Minister over these attacks? Is it about the “Durga Puja” ban in West Bengal? Or is it about the recent attack by ISIS in France? What is it?
Though it’s no less than heart wrenching that a person could be killed for having his own ideology, isn’t it equally disrespectful to return the award of honor bestowed on them? Nayanatara Sehgal being the niece of our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, can we rule out the possibilities of her protest being completely apolitical? Why then a lot of other people follow that path? Every person may have had their own personal motives for that. It might be their film promotion, book release, or to become known, gain popularity etc. Didn’t any untoward incident happen in the Congress era? Did our former prime minister speak a word? Did Mr. Modi speak a word on the “Durga Puja” ban prevalent in West Bengal past 3 years? What’s wrong if he didn’t speak on these issues? A killing is a killing. What’s majority and minority in it? Aren’t we aware of honor killings happening in many remote parts of our country every single day? Aren’t we aware of dalits who are treated in the most horrible ways by the so called village headmen? Aren’t we aware of the khap panchayats delivering the cruelest of judgments?
All these happen every single day across the country whether we accept it to be true or not. There’s nothing to do with religion here. There’s certainly nothing about majority, minority, men, women here. No religion preaches evil. Crime has no religion. It’s just the people. And there's no intolerance!!
We, as Indians have been harmoniously coexisting with one another on the same land since centuries. We may profess different religions, belong to various economic groups, speak different languages, and may have lots of diversities among ourselves. But a single thing that has kept us all united is being “Indian”.
If we start dividing ourselves on the lines of religion, region, caste, majority, minority, race, sex etc, it would not be any less than a disaster. Since we all don’t have anything in common, apart from “Being Indian”!