Sunday, September 9, 2012

The simple truth

As he mounted the jeep, it was rather satisfactory."We did it. We have Wriggled our selves a niche position in the history" said the enthusiastic youngster holding his Yugoslavian Mauser M-48BO with pride to his fellow comrade. It has been less than 20 hours since their troops successfully captured the country's capital from the incumbent President. These two youngsters had the painful job of segregating the corpses along the city markets so that a semblance of  normality could be restored to the war ravaged city. The dead military personal as well as the insurgents and the common denizens were heaped together and were being burnt continuously in a nearby corner. They also had ended the misery of a few police men who were still alive.

 The place that was once a picturesque trade center was shredded to peaces. But these boys were particularly chirpy, though stench of the rotting corpses was crossing the bearable limits. Add to that the cold wind was not helping their cause either.  They had been to the University together and were unceremoniously evicted following articles against the autocratic regime. They joined the uprising rather at the end. The cause and the hope of a free future was an ethereal dope that kept them going even under the most extreme of the situations. 

"Finally we can get back to the university." "People of this country would be very proud of us." The task at the hand was rather finally getting to them. "I wish we could have reduced this carnage. The human loss has been colossal" said the first kid who was collecting the limbs of a dead person. They went at it for more than six hours and had another couple of hours work left. Totally drained, they sat down on a huge boulder near by and put aside their weapons. This was previously a park at the city center which was a huge attraction. The people around the area either migrated to the northern part or lost their homes and shifted to a local relief camp. The whereabouts of those who had decided to stay on were unknown and many had lost their lives in the cross fire.

Suddenly they heard a rumble behind one of the bushes followed by what sounded like a human snoring. The kids got their Soviet NR 43 Combat Knife ready to strike and followed the snoring sound. On a stone bench laid a person who looked to be sleeping. These two were surprised. They themselves has not slept for more than 40 hours and the stench around the place was rather unbearable. A rag covered most of his body. They went and shook of the rag. Inside was a middle aged man, injured, but alive and sleeping. But what caught their eye was the military coat he was wearing. The second kid wanted to kill him straight away. As he was ready to use his combat knife, the first kid stopped him. "Look at his pants and shoes. He does not look part of the infantry." "He could be in disguise." "We have killed enough people today. Lets just give him a chance." Saying so the first kid, shook the person who was atleast 20 years elder. The guy wearily opened his eyes to the rifle pointing to his face.  "Comrade, introduce yourself and what are you doing here?" asked the first kid. "I am one of the guys from this neighborhood. I lost my home in the bombing. And i am here just to catch some sleep" said the weary person. He held out his identity proof that was issued by the insurgents to differentiate between normal people and infantry. Convinced that he was just a common man, the first kid asked him angrily "Then why the hell are you wearing a military coat?"   "Is it  a military attire? I had no idea. It was just too cold!!"

4 comments:

Abishek Ramdas said...

This, right here, is a piece of art.

Dutchaa aka Sriram said...

Haha machi!! Even I liked it very much!!

Kamal LeCanon said...

Best ever! Really touches the heart..

jaikishen said...

In the end its a square meal and a peaceful rest. Nicely portrayed.