FIRE and BRIMSTONE

Social Short Story – FIRE and BRIMSTONE

Marketplace reverberated with the sound & fury of her tirade that blared from the sound system.

“How can I ever accept as my husband a man whose only earnings are public ire and property ill gotten from hapless people? Only he who holds the welfare of his people above his own can ever claim to be a true public leader!”

This tirade was aimed not just at her husband, whose money bought several of his minions their offices of power, but also at the very ministers, legislators and parliamentarians her husband poured political life into and led as their Chief Minister.

While her untiring crusade against evil men in power made her the cynosure of all television channels, “Incarnation of God” was how several public celebrities described her for the fire & brimstone she invariably spewed against her own husband and his harried ilk.

Listening to her diatribe against his tribe, a minister passing by stopped his car and gave vent to his outrage:

“What rubbish is she talking? Her husband who did not have enough money to take her to hospital by a rickshaw for her delivery is today a billionaire. The man who did not own a centimetre of land is today our chief minister who has not left even a centimetre of prime land for anyone else! Can this lady show me one politician today who has not betrayed his voters and not plundered public wealth? Doesn’t she know that politics is nothing without treachery, selfishness & immorality today? Let her confine her skills to literature & fine arts instead of blabbering about politics! All she is managing to do is turning normal citizens into misguided extremists!”

Unable to vent his anger adequately, the minister picked up a stone and hurled it at her with all his might and frustration, unsuccessfully though.

Her name was Jasmine Saraswathi! “Jasmine” was the sobriquet she earned for making her debut as an author with an unforgettable piece of literature named Jasmine when she was just sixteen. This nickname then went on to become her very surname for life. Exploring the nooks & corners of all south Indian villages and bringing to life their music and literature buried in the debris of neglect had ever since become Saraswathi’s mission in life that she pursued with relentless fervour to the delight of her readers and fans.

That such a sensitive, socially conscious and artistically enlightened woman should end up as the wife of a man who was her very antithesis in moral values was but a matter of fate! The man in question, though, was no ordinary person; his globally renowned company Globe & Space Drugs & Pharmaceuticals constantly churned out wealth that eventually catapulted him to the pinnacle of political power.

Far from enjoying her husband’s exalted position and his extraordinary wealth that was hers too, Saraswathi detested both from the bottom of her heart. What her husband’s pharmaceutical company was pumping out was nothing but blood money . . .over the bodies of ignorant patients in government hospitals who unwittingly became guinea pigs for her husband’s untested drugs that later earned him millions!

She could have enthralled herself watching her husband’s bank balances bulge with every new drug tried on unsuspecting patients. Instead, her heart bled for the patients’ relatives who believed these tragedies to be nothing but acts of God!

God, for Saraswathi, was none other than her husband in the early days of her marriage. But soon Saraswathi discovered to her shock that far from being God-like her husband actually personified all the demons depicted in Ramayana and Mahabharata. Shamed by her husband’s inhuman ways, she locked the doors of her prayer room and the Gods’ portraits inside it shut once for all.

What Saraswathi, however, could not shut out of her mind was the memory of her one and only daughter who alas became another victim of her husband’s avarice and cruelty. The ghastly sight of her daughter jumping off the high rise building of her father’s corporate office on learning that her lover’s life was extinguished by her own father’s arrogance of wealth just could not be erased from her shattered mind. How bubbly and beautiful her daughter was! How happy her daughter always was . . . . . .

“Mom! Do you know what happened in college today?” Saraswathi’s daughter Miss Tejobala alias Teju was so agog with the happenings that she did not wait for her mother’s response “They were ragging me!”

“Darling, I hope you are alright!” was the immediate response from her doting mother

“Sure, mom! I am alright. But the guys who ragged me are not!” Teju could hardly contain herself from revealing the real incident thereafter.

“Stop getting excited and tell me clearly what happened?!” Saraswathi asked impatiently.

“The college Chairman’s son grabbed my hand and misbehaved with me. His gang of friends surrounded me and were cheering him loudly”

“Oh, my dear! Then what?” Saraswathi was now all ears and worried

“Then the climax! A boy came from nowhere and began thrashing all of them including the Chairman’s son! In no time, they all fled from the scene!” Teju concluded with pride and pleasure.

“God bless that boy, whoever he is!” Saraswathi heaved a sigh of relief

“He is the hero of our college now, mom . . . and my hero too!” Teju declared “but do you know who he actually is? He is Kishore, our Lakshmi’s son, mom, can you believe it?” she finally revealed with a flourish.

Privy to this conversation was Lakshmi herself, who was sweeping the room adjacent to where Teju & Saraswathi were talking. Lakshmi happened to be the maid servant in their household!

Also privy to this conversation was none other than Mr. Raghuvansh Kumar, Teju’s (in)famous father! What he had overheard made him seethe with indignation and venom. This blasphemy had to be nipped in the bud before it sprouted into a scandal, Raghuvansh had decided then and there.

First, Raghuvansh ensured that Lakshmi and her “hero” son vacated the quarters they were provided inside his compound. Next, he focussed on his driver who drove Teju daily to college. While on his way to office one day, Raghu diverted the car to a luxury hotel and ordered a lavish lunch for the driver. Raghu shot his first question to him:

“Are you dropping and picking up Teju from college without any diversions?” even as the driver was taking his first scoop of food with apprehension. Unable to swallow the food, the driver stood up in fear and confessed: “Sir, Teju madam hardly uses the car for college. She gets off at the street corner daily and goes to college on Kishore’s bicycle. She threatens me with punishment if I were to talk about this to anyone. I am her driver, how could I disobey her Sir!”

Half expecting to be literally shot dead, the driver’s heart surged with relief when his master did not say another word to him and just drove on to office.

That evening Saraswathi was surprised at the unusually early return of her husband from office. Her first thought was that Raghu was unwell. It was only when the driver arrived with Kishore in tow that she discovered the truth.

“One girl, our only daughter and you cannot keep tabs on her movements! What kind of a mother are you?” Raghu vented his anger on Saraswathi. He then turned his ire on Kishore who stood haplessly.

“How dare a servant boy aspires for the hand of his master’s daughter, you arrogant ungrateful scou*drel!” Raghu shouted as he rained blows on Kishore’s unresisting body. He was about to kick Kishore lying on the floor when Teju came rushing into the room.

“Dad! Is this how you reward a man who saved your daughter’s honour? But for Kishore, I would have killed myself out of shame! You behave as badly as those boys who ragged me!” an enraged Teju confronted her father. Once again privy to the goings on in the room was Lakshmi working in the adjacent room unable to give vent to her grief on hearing her son being butchered.

The next day was one which Raghu and Saraswathi always looked forward to for the rest of the year with equal excitement and pleasure . . . Teju’s birthday. It was the one occasion for Raghu to flaunt his power and status to his friends and foes alike, with day long revelry and pomp. For Saraswathi, it was a day to thoroughly indulge in the undiluted joy of her darling daughter. In fact, Raghu abruptly left Kishore and went out to oversee the arrangements for the celebrations next day. Saraswathi forcefully diverted her mind from the ongoing tension with Kishore to the pleasant bearings of the next day. Imagine the shock and sorrow that was in store for both Raghu and Saraswathi!

“No, dad! I will not celebrate my birthday tomorrow! How can I, when you have broken my heart so ruthlessly?” Teju announced with all the contempt in her heart for her father’s inhuman attack on Kishore.

Teju’s animosity for her father spilled over to the next morning too, when she switched off her mobile phone and deprived Raghu the pleasure of greeting his daughter on the special day. Saraswathi, meanwhile, visited several temples on this occasion and also donated her blood at the very Government hospital whose patients invariably were the victims to Raghu’s avarice. This atonement obviously did not please God sufficiently because the special day ended with Teju being kidnapped!

On hearing this shocking news, Kishore was the first person to appear at Raghu’s house and assure him that he had nothing to do with this ghastly deed. Even as Raghu was consulting the police commissioner on what to do, Kishore swore to himself that he would return with Teju within 24 hours wherever she was hidden.

24 hours had passed but there was no sign of Teju. The state’s home minister too could not succeed in finding Teju. It was then that Raghu took it upon himself directly to find his daughter. He summoned his retinue of political thugs and hoodlums and first ordered and then cajoled them with money to find Teju. As soon as the anti socials left on their mission, Lakshmi nervously approached her master and requested him to summon her son Kishore too and entrust the task to him. To her surprise, Raghu along with Saraswathi accompanied Lakshmi to her humble abode to personally met Kishore whom he knew since he came to his house along with his mother at the age of ten.

“Kishore, my boy! Bring Teju back to me safe and . . . . and I will give her to you in marriage! This is a promise” Raghu declared to the astonishment of both Lakshmi and Saraswathi. Kishore’s excitement knew no bounds as he savoured the prospect of marrying his sweetheart Teju. He rushed to the city’s slum where anti socials and criminals took shelter from the law. He met one such criminal whom he had once helped escape from chasing policemen and who was eager to return the favour. Together they burnt the midnight oil meeting one notorious gang after another for any clue that they could get. Their efforts paid off at last.

The dilapidated building and the ruins surrounding it looked so eerie in the dark that it took all of Kishore’s love for Teju to venture into it. After groping in the dark for several minutes and hitting himself against pillars and walls, Kishore finally stumbled on something that moved frantically. On a closer look, the object turned out to be what he was searching for……Teju, bound in ropes and a plaster on her mouth! Fear and pain vanished for Teju who hugged Kishore for a long time before following him on their way out of the hellhole. Love, they say, is all powerful and all pervading. In Kishore’s case, it proved true . . . it was only after he escaped along with Teju from the hideout after a prolonged battle with his tormentors that he began to feel the blood oozing from several parts of his body. Even as he began to lose consciousness, he heard a big car stop near him for a few seconds and speed away. He tried grabbing Teju to avoid falling down but realised that she was missing!

“Dad! How can you be so cruel and ungrateful? Please go back and pick up Kishore too! But for him, I would have been dead by now!”

“Shut up, Teju! I am already disappointed that he did not die at the hands of those goons. It would have saved me the trouble of myself having to kill him now!” Raghu lamented loudly even as his daughter stared at him in disbelief.

Lakshmi’s wailing filled the crowded corridor of the Government general hospital as Kishore lay unconscious in one of the beds with intravenous fluids and oxygen tubes keeping him clinically alive. Lakshmi stopped crying when she saw her master Raghu there, believing that divine help had finally arrived. Lakshmi firmly believed that she and her orphaned son owed their entire lives to the benevolence of her master.

“Lakshmi, do you truly believe I have been responsible for the survival and well being of you and your son all these years since your husband died?” Raghu asked without bothering to enquire how Kishore was.

“Of course, master, without any doubt! But for you, we would have been dead long back. How can I ever repay your debt, master?” Lakshmi answered with all sincerity.

“If you really want to, you can redeem your debt now . . . .by pulling off the oxygen mask from Kishore’s body! Do it now, Lakshmi, right now!” Raghu ordered.

Benumbed by shock, blinded by loyalty and oblivious of what she was doing, Lakshmi obeyed Raghu and watched her hapless son drift into his death. Moments later, Teju rushed in to see her saviour and lover only to find him lifeless!

The well furnished conference hall on the tenth floor of his corporate office was filled with stakeholders who were all ears for their chairman as he eloquently propounded on his plans for the growth of the business empire he built with passion. “Ladies and gentlemen! It gives me immense pleasure in announcing that our company has scaled new heights in profits and success in the just concluded year. The plans I will now unfold will take the company to even greater heights of . . . . . .” his speech was rudely interrupted by his daughter Teju’s barging into the meeting.

“Dad, you heartless brute! You talk of great heights but you have gone to the worst depths of inhumanity and barbarism! You may have killed Kishore and his mother too by running her over on the road. You may be a king among businessmen. But you cannot win my love and affection for you . . . . please take care of mother for me, she is an angel Dad!”

Raghu could hardly register the outburst of her daughter when Teju opened one of the windows and jumped from there to her death Memories of her darling daughter flooded her mind as “Jasmine” Saraswathi proceeded to make her next public tirade against the evils of avarice and fraud perpetuated by people like her husband. More fire & brimstone in store for Raghu and his infamous ilk.

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(translated by: Mandalika Satyanarayana

from the book “Marige Thaarusarovaram”)