Rahman - 5th issue

As I am back at Kolkata, So as Rahman (as promised). This issue was written quite a few days ago. In fact, before I went outside Kolkata.
First Issue: Click Here (This issue combines all prior issues)
Second Issue: Click Here
Third Issue: Click Here
Fourth Issue: Click Here

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Rahman and Ziah was walking together through a narrow walking path in a not-too-dense forest. Then Ziah asked Rahman, “Tell me your story? How come you get here?... Ok, wait a second. I’m too tired to walk anymore. Let’s sit under this banyan tree and talk”

Rahman told his full story to Ziah. How his father died at his age of six, what hardships his mother faced while bringing him up and how she too succumbed to the hardships of the world and died when he was fifteen. How Sadhan uncle ill-treated him in every possible occasion, and finally he started walking the path. How he met the dying old woman and how he got the coin and how he met the first stop people who told him that he was in a sacred journey.

“So you actually didn’t have any choice. In whatever position you are now, you weren’t any better off at Sadhan’s.”, said Ziah.

Now that’s it. Rahman knew that what Ziah was saying was correct. But getting a certificate on how bad you are from an other person doesn’t always feel good. Yet Rahman kept his mum. It is because of this soft-spoken nature of his character every other person gets successful in pushing him.

Ziah continued, “My case is totally different although. I never had any problem regarding money. My dad runs a big grocery store in the main market where I live. I used to get more money than I actually needed.”

“Then why did you left your home?” asked an astonished Rahman.

“Why wouldn’t I? should I stay at home just to have the crap study and give the crap exam? Life was so boring. So I left home. Failing in the exam worked as a catalyst although.”, Ziah said with curving her lips in a peculiar way.

“So you left home just because you failed in an exam?”

“Oh… not for that damn exam yaar… I told you, it only worked as a catalyst. I left home because there was no charm in my life. Life was so clumsy, so unexciting. Tell me one thing. What’s point in living that way? If you live that way, do things you do not like and do the same things day after day, year after year, you are not actually living. You are just waiting for death.”

“I think you should get back to your parents.”, said Rahman.

“No way. If I get back now they will surely lock me up in a room and make my life more miserable. Plus they will make me married as soon as possible. Dad had already started the talks with the son of the owner of the main market, who is a criminal by profession.”

Ziah paused for a second or two. Then continued, “Don’t worry! I will surely get back to my parents. There is no doubt in that. But first let me find out the charms of life. Let me continue my journey as a sacred walker. We are among the chosen few, remember?”

“Chosen few? You mean there are more that just me and you?”

“Of courses there are. But I am not very sure how many of them are still alive. The path is really dangerous.

“That is why I will again tell you to go back to your parents.”

Ziah got furious at this. She shouted, “I have already decided what to do. I have made it very clear that I am not gonna get back until I finish the sacred path. And by the way, you are no one to advise me. And if you keep nagging me any further I will forget about the alliance and go on my own.”

Rahman did not push her any more on this. Not because he cared for the alliance but because he knew how stubborn the girl is and he didn’t want to let her face the path alone. I must be there with her all the way, Rahman thought.

“what happened after you left home?” asked Rahman.

“that is in itself a history. I will tell you some other day. Everything was fine till my pocket money lasted. but as the money was nearing it’s end, I gradually becoming hard to cope up you know. But you see, you have to face hardship in achieving anything great”, Ziah said as if she had a lot of experience regarding life.

Ziah continued, “One day as I was sitting in a park, I noticed that a coin fell in the grass from the bowl of a blind beggar. I picked them up but as I was going to give that back to the beggar, he was gone. I searched the whole park but he was nowhere. There was something unusual about the coin as you must know. It was the fucking direction coin for God’s sake.

“How did you lost your coin?” asked Rahman. It is because of this Ziah and Rahman was together. Ziah lost her direction coin somehow in the path. On the other hand Rahman lacked information. This made them natural partners in the journey.

“It fell in the river. It was in my hand while I was crossing the river through the bamboo pool. It just fell from my hand and sank in the river.”

“You should not be that much careless” said Rahman.

“See, whatever gone is gone. There is no point in mourning over and over on the same point. Look, I can not carry on without the coin. You too can not carry on because you are a know-nothing-looser and you are by character so dumb. So it makes sense if we carry on together. And for that do not piss me off in such a way that I have to carry on alone.”

Somebody please teach this girl how to talk properly! Thought Rahman.

Rahman - Why there is no more issues

If you were following Rahman and now wondering why there is no post since a looooooooooooong time, here goes my apology.

There is two more issues written in my computer at home. But when I shifted from Kolkata to Mumbai, I forgot to take those issues with me. Without that part it is difficult to continue...

I promise, as soon as I get back to Kolkata, I will again post Rahman.

Ha ha ha.... I am talking as if there are people who were following Rahman anyway..

Rahman - 4th Issue

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First Issue: Click Here (Issue 1 combines all prior issues)
Second Issue: Click Here
Third Issue: Click Here

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“Well… not actually. I met an old man in the path. He was a sacred walker too. He told me about the southern hill before dying. Like the hill is covered with grass and bushes and discrete trees. Except that, the hill is almost barren. Some rabbits, porcupines, dears may be found there.”

“What’s the specialty? That’s almost the description of any other hill.”, asked Rahman.

“Wait… Let me complete first. There is absolutely nothing special about the hill in the morning. It is just like any other hills scattered all around. But as soon as the sun goes down everything changes.”

“Changes to what?”, asked Rahman.

“Now if you interrupt me any further, I wont speak another word. Please shut up and listen to me when I am talking”, Ziah got furious at Rahman. She probably had a hobby of getting furious at people, any time, any where and on whatever reason.

“No, no. I am sorry. Please continue”, Rahman apologized although there was no apparent fault of himself. Apologizing had got into Rahman’s blood.

“Yes, everything changes with the sunset. Bushes becomes grand doors, small hillocks become great palaces, rabbits become sentries, porcupines become heavily armed guards and a live city appears out of nowhere. And in the middle of the city there is a big castle. A castle guarded by soldiers of the flip side.”, said Ziah.

“You mean something as bizarre as this actually happens?”

“If you think I am lying, then you are free to believe whatever you like. Haven’t you seen enough bizarre things already?”

It was true. Whatever was happening around Rahman was actually too bizarre to believe. Rahman said, “It’s not that I don’t believe you. But if everything changes with the sunset how come none of the people know about it. If the barren hill changes to a lively city as the sun sets, the southern hill should be a famous place, no? how come none of the people haven’t yet noticed anything?”

“That’s because the change is visible only to the chosen ones. Only the sacred walkers can see the city and the castle. Other people just sees the hill as it is.”, said Ziah.

“Ok, this makes sense. And it almost matches with the riddle in the parchment and what the Bhaisaab just said. But tell me,..."

“what riddle? And what parchment?”

Rahman told her everything about the first stop and the parchment he got inside the bread.

“Wow! You have a handful of resources then.”, Ziah chuckled.


(May be continued...)

Rahman - Issue 3

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Issue 1: Click here (Issue 1 combines all prior issues)
Issue 2: Click Here

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“WHACKK!!! There is something inside. A piece of thick perchment was peeping out from the bitten off corner of the bread. Rahman quickly ate the bread and got the paper out. Some message was written on it.

Rahman read the message on the paper very carefully.

Now… what is that? First a weird coin then some weird people and now these puzzle parchment? What is this? Some kind of weird jewel quest, treasure hunt?

After eating up the bread Rahman started thinking. “Now,” he thought, “the puzzle doesn’t seem to be that tough off hand. Especially the first two lines are rather easy. It just seems to tell to go south. But what does crude man? A crude man? Crude oil? What? And what about the hill, castle etc?... whatever, the puzzle tells to go south… if only I had the power of the coin, I could cross check.”

Unmindfully Rahman tossed the coin again. “Wow!!! This stuff works again… I’ve got a new destination I guess” and guess what… the coin pointed south.

* * *

Then Rahman started his walk again. This time towards south as dictated by the coin. He was not sure whether it was a mirage he was looking for. Yet he didn’t stop. For one simple reason, he had nothing else to do. Everything is better than going back to Sadhan Uncle. Inside the bread along with the paper there was also two five hundred rupee notes. So it was not so hard to survive. But this time Rahman spent the money very carefully. The sacred walker must reach his destination before resources run out.

But there was just void and void towards the south. Only stretches of barren land, some scattered agriculture and very few human localities. He started to get fed up mentally now. What did the puzzle say? In the south, there is crude? Did it mean this crude nature? Barren lands, and heat of June? And then there is a mention of some hill. A southern hill?

Rahman was nearing a locality. A small village with hardly ten or twelve households. Rahman noticed an elderly man walking slowly by the village road. The man was leaning forward and had a stick. Rahman called him, “Bhaisaab!”

The man stalled. Waited for a second or so. Then slowly turned his face towards Rahman. Now Rahman could see his face. Yes, the man was really very old. His face was covered with wrinkles all the way around.

Rahman asked the man, “Bhaisaab, is there any hill to the south?” The man replied in a even slower pace, “May be or may not be. Everything depends on who you are and when you see. Everything is according to the sun.”

Now that is enough. Rahman had already had enough of the strange puzzles and messed up words! It seems no one in this place talks straight. Rahman was thinking all these things when suddenly someone patted Rahman’s back and yelled, “Hey! Did you just said ’hill to the south’?

She was a teenage girl. With medium height, and curly hair. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Both of the dresses had the sign of a long journey. Her face was also dusty and hairs mingled. But the first thing you would notice on her would be her bright blue eyes.

Rahman was too astonished to speak. He just said ‘Ya!… I mean yes.’… but who are you? How do you know about the hill to the south?

“I am Ziah, a sacred walker”, said the girl after clearing her throat a bit. She spoke the words as if she was announcing that she had just won the Nobel.

“So am I. What’s the big deal?” Rahman was regaining his confidence.

“You too! Well, it doesn’t seem so. Whatever, even if you are, you are not going to find out any thing anyway. You better fuck off.”

“Find out what?”, Rahman said indifferently. He had already seen enough rudeness in life. So these things hardly had any effect on him.

“So you do not even know what you are looking for! Wow… good job done!” the girl broke into giggles. When the laughter phase was over, the girl continued, “I really can not decide why on earth you are going on! I really wonder how you became a sacred walker on the first place. I am sure you don’t even know what a sacred walker is.”

“Sacred walkers are what then?”

The girl was a bit serious now. “Are you sure that you are persuing this path? Being a sacred walker is not an easy job. There are lots of deadly dengers at the southern hill”

“You have already gone to the southern hill?”

(may be continued...)

RAHMAN

(2nd Issue) The previous issue is here

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The story so far: When Rahman’s mother died when he was 21, the jobless Rahman became homeless too. Rambling here and there as a vagabond Rahman met a dying lady who gave him some coins. The last coin was a bit bizarre. It had an arrow on it. Whenever Rahman tossed it, the arrow side would be on top and pointing to a particular direction. Having nothing to do Rahman followed the direction and reached a small teashop where he bought bread. But as soon as the shopkeeper saw the coin in Rahman’s hand, they seemed to recognize him as the sacred walker walking the path of end unknown.

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Rahman reached the shop. He could only afford one half breads with the one rupee left. Hesitating whether to spend or not spend, Raman entered the shop.

“Get me one of those half breads” said Rahman.

The bulky shopkeeper woman barked, “It costs one rupee.”

“Yes, give me that. I am hungry” said Rahman.

“Show me the money first. Lot’s of people from the poor village comes and eats and then asks us to write down the bill in the credit book which is not ever paid. Our cashbox are filling with credit book instead of cash. The shop will shut down if things keeps on going like this”, the woman barked again.

Well, that was not the behavior a first time customer expects from a shopkeeper. But in life the expected things does not always happen. Rahman was still reluctant to spend the last coin, so he was hesitating.

“Give me the money or move your butt out of my shop” the woman barked at the highest possible pitch. Rahman was jerked with the intensity and loudness and slowly gave her the coin.

But as soon as the woman saw the one rupee coin, the body language of the woman changed. She handed over him one half bread and gave the one rupee back to him.

Rahman said, “The coin is perfectly alright. It is not disputed. You must take this one. I have none other left.”

The woman responded, “Son, First stop people do not take money from the sacred walkers.” Rahman could not get the meaning. He was too amazed to ask what she meant. The woman said, “Take this bread son.”

As Rahman was leaving the shop, he heard the woman saying to the aged man “Saw him? He is the chosen one.”

Rahman’s ear drums were buzzing. What were these things? What is meant by sacred walkers? What was the meaning of the chosen one? Totally puzzled Rahman stood in front of the shop and tossed the coin again. This time the coin landed vertically.

The coin landed vertically… wait, this means this is the place where the coin was intending to take me. The coin guided me here… Yes, this is the place. But why is that? What is special in this distant teashop in this godforsaken place?

“I must check it out” thought Rahman. Forgetting all his earthly needs like appetite, Rahman went back to the shop and his jaw dropped. He first thought he must have been forgot the path back to the teashop. He went back and came again to make sure he was right. But where the hell is the teashop? There was nothing. The landscape was just empty; only some bushes scattered here and there and some cows grazing. Puzzled Rahman tossed the coin again, this time it was pointing somewhere else.

“What the hell is this happening?” Rahman cried aloud and sat on the empty field. His brain had just ceased to process the unnatural data which was in contrary to the logics it learned from Rahman’s childhood. First a dying grandma, then a bizarre coin, then some dream sequences, after that some bizarre people in a teashop with their God-knows-what-it-means set of dialogs and now all of a sudden the shop is vanished. All I got is this coin and this half bread.

“I need to use my brain” thought Rahman. What was the shopkeeper saying? “First stop people…” this means there are more. There is way ahead; perhaps a very long journey towards the end unknown.

“What should I do? Continue walking or get back to my village home and continue to work in Sadhan Kaka’s grocery shop as a helper for a meager 100 rupees at the month’s end? Whatever; let me eat the bread first”

Being too puzzled amidst these weird scenes Rahman forgot his appetite. Suddenly it came back. He tore off the paper wrapping and had a bite.

“WHACKK!!! There is something inside. A piece of plastic coated paper was peeping out from the bitten off corner of the bread. Rahman quickly ate the bread and got the paper out. Some message was written on it.


(May be continued)

- Joydip Datta