The Old and the Dutiful

Im back!!!......missed me?? Two things i would like to say before you read the story.....

How often have you had those debates with your elders about the clothes you wear and the kind of life you live.....This story spawned out of this idea and then my imagination took flight.

Secondly, the title sounds a bit cliched( to me atleast) as it is a direct spoof of "The Bold and the Beautiful" but I really think you should pay less attention to it and more on the story. Hope you like it.....and plzz do comment..btw few more stories coming up soon...till then, enjoy!!!
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HONK HONK HONK

"I`m going as fast as I can!!!" wheezed the old man with a frown which, adding to the wrinkles on his face, made him look like a folded curtain."Stupid kids with their stupid cars" he muttered to himself as he walked past the car from which loud music was blaring.

Crossing the road, he walked towards the bus stand to rest his tired legs. The bus stand was empty except for a youngster who seemed to be waiting. The youngster was wearing a black T-shirt with skulls and flames all over it and baggy jeans. His hair was pointing upwards as if they were fighting their way upwards to get some sunlight. He had a large tattoo on his arm, which the old man initially mistook for a nasty infection.He had small bruises on his face and a bandage on his arm, which seemed like souvenirs from a drunken fight at a local bar. But the fact that the old man hated the most about the youngster was the fact that he was wearing sunglasses on a cloudy day like this.With an audible sigh of disapproval, the old man ambled his way towards the seat next to the youngster.

The young man acknowledged his presence with a smile to which the old man replied with another frown and a scowl. He sat down beside the youngster and unfolded the newspaper he was carrying. Glancing sideways, he saw the young man and felt extremely tempted to rant about the young man`s appearance. But he knew a direct approach would be pointless. Folding his newspaper he turned towards the man and said " Very bright day today is, I just wish I had brought some sunscreen!!!" with sarcasm dripping in every syllable.

The young man smiled but didnt say anything back. The old man, further instigated on not getting a reply continued " So how old are you, young man??"

"Twenty seven, Sir. Will be twenty eight this July" came a very polite and direct reply. This didnt seem to affect the old man`s demeanour who rambled on, " What is that thing you got on your arm there??"

"Its a tattoo Sir. Its supposed to be a snake called Fer-de-Lance, Sir"

"I can see that. But what is it supposed to mean?? And why the hell do you have it on you arm??"

"Does there always have to be a reason for everything, Sir??"

"I dont see the point of painting something useless on your arm, or any part of your body for that matter. Isn`t that what tribals and crazy witch-doctors do??"

The young man simply smiled at the statement and didnt offer a reply. The old man, now on a roll continued, " And what are you doing here on a fine day such as this wasting your time?? The way you are dressed Im guessing you are probably going to a Voodoo cult ritual or to a party with zombies. Since when did wearing skulls and blood on your shirt become a trend??"

"I am just going down to the mall with my friends, Sir"

"To the mall", the old man said without a pause," that is exactly the problem with you youngsters. All you do is spend your earnings or most probably your parents earnings by shopping for stuff which will get outdated within a week and will finally end up in a trash can within a month. In fact, most of what you buy is trash. Gone are the days when things actually lasted. We attached a sentimental value to everything we owned and kept things carefully. Nowadays people are buying new cell-phones every week either because they lose them or get bored with them. Times are changing."

"It isnt so bad, Sir. People still do attach sentimental values to objects that actually matter. This pen." he said pulling out a fountain pen from his pocket,"belonged to my grandfather who was in the war. I have treasured it. A cell-phone might not ellicit the same feelings from me, but that doesnt mean things dont matter to me.Besides, I think its not fair to stereotype our whole generation by taking some bad examples. Not everyone buys a cell-phone so frequently. I have had mine for 2 years already and it still works fine"

"Your grandfather was in the war, you say. Now thats one more thing you young men should learn. To have respect for your country and your elders.Just now I was walking accross this street, and this impatient guy sitting in his car was honking at me for no reason. After all, I can walk as fast as my legs take me. Always in a hurry. No time to sit back and think. Guys like you should be disciplined by sending you to the army. You wear your skull shirts and get tattoos to look manly and rough. But none of you would even last a second in war. I was there in the war and that was when I became a man. I survived under the harshest conditions and lost a lot of my friends. I have seen things you can`t even imagine, but I took it all for my country. I never wasted my time drinking or doing drugs or shopping in malls like you boys, I was fighting for honor and glory of my country.The war is fun when you watch it on your TV but the harsh reality is something you will never be able to stomach."

"Just because you fought in the war doesnt necessarily make you tough. I personally feel that war itself is the root cause of all evil and there wouldnt be any war if I had any say in it. War is ugly and I feel we are better off without it"

"I expected you to say that, you people, all warm and comfy in your cosy homes who wouldnt even give a second thought to the fact that these soldiers were fighting for your security and protection. They are layng down their lives, not just for their country but for worthless and unappreciative people like you."

The young man looked like he was deep in thought. He replied, "I agree that the soldiers fighting for us are no doubt very brave and sometimes go unappreciated. But the whole concept of fighting a fellow human being seems wrong. A life is a life, no matter which side you are on. If there is an alternative to this mindless war, I would go for it. The mindset of fighting and killing for honor and glory no longer exists .I feel a good, clean law abiding dutiful citizen deserves equal respect as a soldier. Sadly, they are even more unappreciated than the soldiers. And it doesnt matter what the person looks like or wears on the outside, true patriotism comes from inside and cannot be judged by a few minutes of conversation or observation."

The old man looked at the young man with disgust. 'These youngsters are very good at talking back', he thought, 'I feel like I'm wasting my time with him.' He stretched his legs out to stand up when his foot bumped against something solid.

"That would be my walking stick, Sir" said the young man calmly, "My legs have never been the same ever since I came back from Afghanistan."

The old man looked stunned,"You were in Afghanistan??"

"Yes Sir. Lost my left leg in a mine explosion. Sadly, I lost my vision as well in the war," he said, pulling out his sunglasses and revealing a dark nasty gash where his eyes were supposed to be.

The old man was shocked stiff. He bent down to pick up the stick and fumbling with it nervously. " I dint know you were in the...I mean, I didnt mean all....The sunglasses and..umm....I am sorry...I really didnt mean to.."

"Its ok Sir, an honest mistake" said the young man with a wide smile. "In fact I`m surprised you havent recognised me yet.I am very much present in todays newspaper."

"Oh my God!!You are Kevin Foxx!! You are the guy who assasinated Ahmed Razaq and his close associates!!!"

"Yes, I was the undercover officer who was sent to kill them. But there,I saw the terrible side of war. Some of Ahmed`s associates had families, whom I met there, and I could never forgive myself for stealing them away from their loved ones. Ahmed Razaq had a beautiful daughter, a very sweet little girl she was, very delightful. Ahmed loved her very much and I am haunted by her face every night. I lost a lot of my dear friends in this war too. And I lost my ability to walk and see. That, Sir, is why I despise the war so much.And now," he said as he heard the horn of a jeep, " Im guessing that my friends have arrived so I will see you later."

The old man gently handed back the walking stick and looked at the youngster, still having the stunned look on his face. The friends came out and helped him get into the jeep. The youngster smiled and waved to the old man as the jeep took off.

The old man slowly sat down and watched the jeep departing. Then he pulled out his wallet and tears welled up in his eyes. He slowly brought out a device from his pocket, tears streaming down his cheeks now. He gazed around and saw that noone else had even given a second glance to the events unfolding here. Slowly, he brought his gaze back to the photo of himself when he was in the war, a much younger version of himself standing beside his best friend, Ahmed Razaq. The old man had wanted revenge ever since he heard about Razaq`s death.He always regretted the day he left Afghanistan and how he was unable to convince Razaq to follow him to America. Why did Razaq have to stay back and get caught in all this mess?? And this proud young man had been the one who finally killed him?? Anyway, everything had gone according to plan and noone would suspect a thing. Placing the tiny-yet-powerful bomb on the walking stick had been childs play. He pressed the big red button on the device and watched in satisfaction as the jeep exploded in a huge ball of flames far away. The old man smiled and turned away, muterring to himself "This one`s for you Ahmed!!!".
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Hope you liked it!!!........The double twist is my favourite where you think the twist is over but you dont suspect another twist coming up!!!.......I dunno how effective it was, u tell me
Anyway, Im working on my next story and your comments will help me improve so do comment........

Limericks with a twist!!!!!

I was in a creative mood and I wanted to try something new.So I wrote these limericks, but it has a hidden twist too. Read them first(dont look for any logical or grammatical mistakes in any of the limericks plzz, it was written just for fun)

There once was a bloke named Kyle.
All he did was Poke and SMile.
He KNelt for Fives,
And Wangled his STRives.
In short, he was quite senile.

There once was a Booker from Hay,
Who liked everyone Great to STay.
With Tagging Shies,
she`d get PRude for the Nice,
Her service was pleasure, they say.

There was a Monkey from a Juvie,
Was shady yet looked kinda groovy.
If you wonder why,
He always was high,
Trade letters and replay the movie.

Obviously, the limericks themselves make enough sense, but there is a reason I have written it in this way........Manipulating the texts in some way will give you a second clearer meaning to the following texts.....try figuring it out

Hint: I love spoons!!!





Answer:
If you have given up figuring out what the hidden meaning is, check this out(see the examples):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism
Now try reading all the limericks once again :)
I call these poems Spoonericks!!! a cross between spoonerisms and limericks with both ways making enough sense.....I dont think anyone has done this before, so its my creation!!! :D
Anyway,I have shown the places where the changes must be made by writing those letters in the upper case(capital letters). Please ignore the capitals in the start of every line, that is not part of the spoonerisms.
Enjoy!!!

If you`ve still not got what I`m trying to say, Ill show you what the first limerick should look like:

There once was a bloke named Kyle
All he did was SMoke and Pile
He Felt for KNives
And STRangled his Wives
In short, he was quite senile

As you can see, i have swapped the syllables(in capitals) like "Poke and SMile" to "SMoke and Pile" and so on,and the limerick made sense both ways.....this is a Spoonerick :)

Do the rest for the other limericks...and if you do get the other two post it up as a comment to this entry for the others who still dont get it!!
If you have your own spoonericks, plzz feel free to post it as a reply too :)
plz do comment!!

Ciao

Fright Flight

Story #2.......this one just came up as a series of really crazy ideas....how a lot of unrelated things can make sense in wierd ways.... enjoy....

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"Passengers, please fasten you seat belts.We`re set for take off."

The passengers of the 12 seater plane obeyed the voice like zombies.Mr Daniels, who was busy reading the inflight magazine instinctively glanced at his seat belt.It was locked. Satisfied, he glanced at the passenger sitting beside him. There was no mistaking the appearance of a priest. He looked very young and was reading a newspaper. He turned towards Daniels and said "The world is spiralling downwards!! I fear that even God cannot save the Earth now. Look at this!!", he said pointing to an article in the newspaper,"The mysterious gangster 'Slicky Rick' killed another policeman yesterday. Im telling you, the world is going to burn in Hell."
"Calm down",said Daniels,"One murder doesn't signify the end of the world. Besides, 'Slicky Rick' is part of the Rissetti gang, and Rissetti is infamous for his justice. Its very probable that the policeman must have been corrupt."
"You seem to know a bit about these mobs?? Part of any of them??"
"No, just interested, that's all"
"Is it true that Rissetti is a devout christian??...that doesnt make sense to me!!"
"Yes, i've heard hes a very holy man and never misses the Sunday church. Ive heard that most of his followers are Christian too. He believes in fighting for justice"
" And what about this guy??"said the priest pointing at the paper again,"Who`s this mysterious Bill Waters?? "
"Oh! He`s said to be the right hand man of the Rissetti family. "
"The papers say the police had apprehended him for the fourth time but they can never get any evidence against him. It says that Bill is their key to bringing down the Risetti family."
"Yeah....but its all a rumour. And the fact there is no evidence might show that Bill could be innocent."
"The mob world is so confusing!! Anyway what do you do, Mr Daniels??"
"Well, I`m into the stock market,you know, a businessman. Now, I think I`ll lie down for a while .The flight is very long and I`m very tired." yawned Daniels.
"Sleep well" said the priest and got absorbed in the news once again.

BOOM!!!

The plane jerked violently in mid air causing Daniels to wake up.He glanced around.The priest who also seemed to have been sleeping had woken up too. The other passengers looked shocked and frightened too. Then came the booming voice of the captain:
"We seem to have a problem with one of the wings. I request the passengers to remain calm please.It is very important you remain calm.We have the on-flight technician checking it out. Once again,please remain calm.Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank You."

Daniels felt pale. His heart started pounding and his whole body began shaking. Beside him the priest was praying.He felt helpless, unable to do anything and hoping beyond hope that the problem was not serious.Suddenly another violent jerk rocked the plane. This time the luggage poured out from the compartments and fell down in the aisle. The passengers behind him were screaming and panicking. He looked around helplessly. The priest , trying to hide his fear, calmly said "Our time has come, Son.I have accepted the fact and prayed for forgiveness. Everyone has sinned in their life. Its never too late to confess your sins. God is waiting."
Daniels looked at the cross he had worn around his neck. He felt he was too young to die. He felt..

BOOM!!

Another jerk and now the plane was tilting sideways.The speakers had cracked and the captains voice was lost. The air hostesses had all gone back to their seats . Daniels looked at his cross again and confessed to the priest" Forgive me Father!, I have sinned. My actual name is John Daniels, but i'm better known as Bill Waters!!!"
The priest couldn't hide his shock, but said calmly, "Continue my child.."
"I am the right hand man of Luca Rissetti and I have witnessed a lot of bloodshed and corruption. I have killed a few men in my early days and witnessed a lot of massacres by Luca`s men. I have seen Luca bribe the Chief Inspector many times to get whatever he wants. I never stopped him from doing this. I have never cheated on my beautiful wife, never touched a bottle of wine, but i`ve watched countless attrocities being committed on the poor and helpless. I wish I had never met Luca......never taken part in his horrific 'Baker`s Street' massacre.I wish to seek forgiveness, dear God!! please forgive me!!!" Daniels burst out crying.
"Thank You", said the priest with a smile on his face. He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun and a badge,"Bill Waters, You are under arrest for first degree murder and for your involvement in the Baker Street massacre".
Shocked , Bill turned around and saw the other passengers were standing, all with their guns drawn out, pointing straight at him. He noticed with another violent shock , that the plane had steadied itself and was now flying quite smoothly.
He looked around in wonder and anger "It was all a trap!!!"
"Yes! the whole thing was a set-up to get you to confess....from the undercover police as passengers, including me, to the whole ' the plane is crashing ' sequence done by our own stunt pilot....everything`s a fake. And now we have your recorded confession," said the priest pulling out a small tape recorder from his robe, "I think we can finally take out Rissetti."
"Now that that's done", said a policeman handcuffing Daniels, " Can I please have some donuts??"

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Hope you liked it.A very bizarre way to get a confession outta someone. If u liked this, you also may like the anime "Deathnote" which has such complicated and elaborate schemes to try to catch an otherwise impossible to catch criminal.... as for this story....i tried to keep the suspense for as long as possible.....once again, its very hard to keep a twist in such a small story.....plzz do comment...

Adios

Green Eyes.......

Its about time i posted something......So here goes....

Things change! The things we used to like when we were young are very different from the things we like now. Yet the liking for some things remain constant throughout.One such thing is a story.....especially a short story.....

I love short stories(thanx to Jeffrey Archer) and I`ve always wanted to write short stories....
so lets leave the talking for later........Heres the story.....please do comment!!!

Green! As green as the crystal clear waters of Seychelles. It caught me off guard and I was left stunned. Then back to reality, courtesy of Fardeen`s push . I realised I was the blocking the doorway of the McDonalds restaurant we had just entered. I tried to recollect what i had seen. I was walking into the restaurant when I had seen her eyes. They were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. I don't know whether it was the vibrant green color or the piercing glare it gave me, but I was left stunned till Fardeen pushed me ahead. As I waited for Fardeen to order, all I could think about were the eyes. I had the strangest feeling all over. Had I fallen for this mysterious woman and her wonderfully green eyes? I hadn't even seen her face, yet I felt strangely attracted to her. That was the first time I saw her, but not the last...

I started noticing the female sex differently from around secondary school. My first crush was in the seventh grade. At that time it felt wrong to be so attracted towards her. But I just couldn't help myself, I never can. The jet-black hair, the athletic arms and legs, the dainty way she would turn her head back and chat with the boys sitting behind her, the long silky pony-tails flowing behind like a gentle wave. But I never had the courage to ask her out. I did not know how she would react...


I have lived my whole life in Delhi and right now, am studying in a college here.Growing up in a metro meant that I got a lot of exposure to the real world. Fardeen had been my best friend ever since we studied in school together. We occasionally hung out at Connaught Place and preferred this particular joint. But I had never seen Miss "green eyes" around. I decided to ask around, try to get her name at least. Most of them were of no help at all, but I got a heartening piece of information that she used to come to this joint occasionally too. Now that I got a lead, I decided to follow. Of course Fardeen knew nothing about my dream girl. I would not share these things with him, my love-life and my friends were separate parts of my life, they would never intermingle. I spent the next few days roaming around Connaught Place looking for her, but to no avail. I asked around again, trying desperately to get a name or address, but no luck. I spent the next whole week waiting for her in McDonalds, and she never turned up. I had not given up hope yet. That whole month was spent in waiting. She never came...


Finally, one day when me and my friends were roaming around Delhi, I saw Miss "green eyes" again. She was sitting in a cafe sipping something, ALONE. My view was completely focused on her pretty face and everything in the background became blurry. I usually have no problem talking to girls, but today I felt weak and helpless. I knew that this chance would probably never come again and so I took the initiative. Leaving the guys who were busy chatting, I walked slowly but steadily towards her table. My knees were shaking and were almost on the verge of collapse. As I finally reached the table, she was standing up to leave. She saw me standing in front of her and said "Hello, can i help you?"
My throat went dry, but i managed to say "Yes, I..um..uh...I saw you in McDonalds the other day...the one in CP....".
"Okay, Do i know you?"
"No no, It's just that...uh...you have beautiful eyes" I said with a weird smile
plastered on my face.
"Thanks...well , I think I should go now.."
"No! Wait...I wanted to say that I'm really, really attracted to you and.." I blurted out, and was wondering if she understood what I was trying to say.
"What the hell?!?...Are you nuts?!?" she became livid ,"What do you think I am?? Look i already have a boyfriend so just leave, you @#$%%^ freak!!!" she almost shouted.
I was shocked and heartbroken and tried really hard to keep a straight face as I saw her eyes for one last time. Then I left, never to see her ever again.

It's been a year since that episode and I have never seen Miss "green eyes" ever since. I have a steady partner now. I have fallen in love again. She is beautiful ,caring, understanding....special just like me. Of course, we haven't revealed our relationship to anyone yet. It's obviously because the whole world, especially Indians, including the girl, haven't accepted the concept of lesbianism. Sometimes, I feel the world will never understand the problems a woman like me faces everyday. Neither did the girl. Someday, maybe...but not now. Till then...

Hope u liked it. I very strongly feel that a good short story
must have some kinda twist at the end of it.Its what i look for
in a good short story and its what u MIGHT get in most of my
stories....... I feel its very tough to add a twist to a tale which
is barely 4-5 paragraphs long. Anyway, here was story #1....
This is my very first short story....special thanks to Ashish
Kharloya for his valuable additions to this story. Next
story will be posted  shortly.......till then plzzz do
comment....i need feedback.

Ciao

HELLO WORLD!!!!!!!!!

HELLO WORLD!!! i have finally decided to share my priceless and dangerous thoughts with all of you(CODE RED!! CODE RED!!).It took me quite a long time to start one, but finally its done. Lets get on with the introduction then:

(this is from my orkut profile.............)

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy has this to say about "Aditya Navin":

This unique specimen of the human species can be found on a small blue-green planet in the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy. This creature has been found to be very shy and extremely lazy at times.But he is extremely sociable and loves making friends.He is also the self proclaimed "King of the Furbies".
He hates studying and spends most of his time watching movies and hanging out with his frnds.

He can be found at the hostel canteen or his room.His WEEKLY tours of the lecture halls are probably the most anticipated events of his life.
But he plans to change that(YEA.....rite!!!)

He has a wide variety of friends too .....from the genius to the weird to the extremely emotional to the How-can-God-make-such-a-mistake types.

His hobbies include singing,reading and listening to horribly poor jokes which he stores in his otherwise dormant mind for later use.

In other words,he is MOSTLY HARMLESS.......

For more information on this creature refer to the "Maximegalon encyclopedia of almost everything" or the "Top 100 Wat-the-hell-is-that things in the Galaxy" which are available at the nearest inhabited star.

A simpler way (in case u dont have a spaceship....YET!!!!) would be to read his blogs................

plzz do comment on whatever i write.......plzzzzzzzzz