Resurgence- The Second Chance

Hovering over the clouds it fluttered high in the air. It felt like an airplane but it was an airborne vehicle destined to reach an unexplored point of disembarkation

Aditya walked through the narrow dark lanes connecting the different compartments of this mysterious vehicle. In Every compartment he saw people like him who were lost in their own worlds staring outside the vehicle and admiring the beauty of the sky.

They did not acknowledge his presence and neither was he interested in knowing them. He was more curious to know where this journey would end. Another aspect that was troubling his psyche was how he reached this mysterious airplane. Umpteen attempts to remember had not given him a clear picture. He had forgotten everything about his life. The Only thing he remembered was his name and the fact that he was making this journey to an undisclosed location.

As he reached the last compartment he saw that the airplane was headed by four flying white horses and a chariot.

On the chariot sat two men, The First One was the one controlling the movement of the flying horses and if the story book versions of him had to be believed, he looked like Yamraj with his dark complexioned skin and thick handlebar moustache.

The second one held an unknown device in his hand where he was calculating something continuously. On his device random images of people appeared at rapid speed and he was giving them all some points and scores and minimizing their profiles.

Aditya felt paranoid. A Golden chariot led by white horses flying well above the clouds. Was he dreaming all this he thought .The man doing the calculations seemed like a very normal guy wearing formal clothes, clean shaven and very well groomed. Aditya thought of having a conversation with him and ask him about his obnoxious journey.

He sat down next to him on the chariot and broke the rhythm of his calculations.

The Man Introduced himself with a smile . ” I am Chitragupt ” He said.”God’s Official Accountant”

A Puzzled Aditya looked amused and asked ” Where Am I “

Chitragupt replied ” You are Dead . This is your journey to the point of equilibrium from where we will decide whether you should go to heaven or hell “

Aditya was stunned to know this. He had subconsciously felt he was dead but he had been negating that thought and thrusting his mind with other positive ideas.

Chitragupt Quipped ” I know it is difficult to accept your own death “

Aditya tried to understand the calculations which appeared on Chitragupt’s device. Millions of transactions were showing and scores were rapidly changing in people’s profiles.

Chitragupt ended his curiosity by showing him his scorecard ” See you have maintained an excellent balance, The reason you are sitting here with me is because of your ability to maintain fantastic balance between good deeds and bad deeds you did on earth “

Aditya blatantly refused to acknowledge that he had committed any sins. He felt he had always tried to be a nice human being and had always done all the righteous things

Chitragupt on the other hand felt that all humans ignore their own misdeeds and forgive themselves so easily. They are perfect at pointing out other peoples mistakes and flaws, but rarely do they introspect and see their own sins.

Chitragupt said in angry tone ” I have been irritated by your upswings and downfalls. your consistency in coupling every good deed with a sin and now i am fed up”

Chitragupt was indecisive. They had reached the point of equilibrium where he separated people based on their final assessments.

The Only person left was Aditya

Chitragupt then decided to give him a second chance. He said ” This has never been done before but since you have been so annoyingly balanced. i want to give you another chance. i will send you back to earth to first understand the sins you committed and once you understand the gravity of these sins . i will give you one chance to rectify one sin and change it into a good deed”

“The Balance will tilt towards heaven and then we can send you there ” he said

Once Aditya left ,Yamraj said ” You sent him on such a difficult task”

Chitragupt replied ” I want him to be a lesson for all mankind “

Meanwhile on Earth ,Aditya found himself seated in a bus . As he turned his head he saw himself seated right next to his own past self. His past self looked very happy listening to the songs playing on his Ipod. He was swinging his head to the beats of the song and humming the lines of the song ecstatically.

It felt great looking at his own self from an outsiders point of view. He noticed his attire, his hairstyle. He felt proud of himself . He tried to speak to himself but the voice did not reach. It felt like the person on the other end , his own past self was guarded by millions of barriers which prevented the interaction. He decided to observe himself , as suggested by chitragupt.

Another aspect he realized was that he could read the minds of the surrounding people and his own past self and this helped him analyze the situation and understand better if he committed a sin or he played good samaritan.

The Bus stopped and his past self got down from the bus. Aditya followed him

His past self stopped to eat a sandwich on the street and aditya noticed a beggar looking at his past self with a hope to get some help.

The Beggars mind read” i have got nothing to eat for the past three days. I hope this nice looking man gives me something”. Aditya could not recollect the moment from his past whether he helped the beggar or not. It seemed such a non important routine moment .To his surprise his past self did he see the beggar. The Beggar made a sign that he was hungry. He had no energy to speak.For a moment his past self stopped and thought about giving something to the beggar but his phone beeped. He smiled and read a whatsapp message and moved ahead replying messages in the chat conversation to his girlfriend with a smile. Aditya sat there next to the beggar for a few seconds. He felt really bad about himself. The Beggar continued to starve and started looking for leftovers in the dustbin nearby.

Aditya then remembered how unashamedly.he had told Chitragupt that he had never done anything wrong. But there was more to come.

Aditya reached home along with his past self. His Past self was returning home after two days of outings with his friends. His past self immediately sat on his laptop and connected his headphones and started watching a movie.

Aditya read his mother’s mind ” He did not even acknowledge my presence ” she nodded her head in disapproval.” I have been so sick for two days and been missing him so much” she thought and went into the kitchen to heat his food.

Aditya felt shattered when he saw his mother crying quietly in the kitchen, he felt worse when his past self ordered in a loud nasty tone for food to be served to him immediately.
Things got immensely heartbreaking when she gave him the food, aditya’s past self felt that the food prepared by his mother was extremely boring and instead he ordered a pizza .

Aditya felt embarrassed by his own behaviour towards his mom, which was completely routine when he was alive. He never even noticed his mother’s tears after his rude remarks.

In another moment,Aditya sat next to his past self while he drove to his office. His past self was engrossed in playing candy crush while driving and almost bumped to two pedestrians.

On reaching office Aditya sat opposite to a crying Suganda, Aditya’s ex girlfriend with whom he had broken up only because another popular girl and socialite was showing interest in him. Suganda was the simple and studious girl next door who did not wear skimpy hot clothes.

Suganda’s mind read ” All that he ever said, his feelings, his passionate romantic messages and lengthy love letters were all fake. He is so casual about this entire relationship and i still love him with so much of passion”
Aditya’s past self had failed to acknowledge her true love. He laughed while read a flirtatious message from the other girl and completely disapproved Suganda ‘s feelings.

His Past self got up and said to Suganda ” Anything else ? So it is over right.. Please stop crying and move on.”

Aditya felt so small and shallow, someone who constantly hurt his own mother and now he was hurting this naive innocent girl .Breaking her heart would mean that she may never believe in true love again.

Aditya sat alone in the garden outside his house and cried. He was feeling extremely ashamed of himself. He remembered the scenes from his life, where he had been extremely rude to his father and he had said certain things to his mother which had immensely hurt her.

Aditya cried and begged Chitragupt to stop this and send him to hell. A thunderstorm erupted and aditya fell to the ground and suddenly the ground opened up and he fell through a huge dark ditch, sliding deep and deep into infinity . A never ending depression which he felt was his own mind..where he saw his own thoughts resurfacing in the form of written quotes. He read those ugly thoughts which had occurred to him where had desired for things forbidden and where he had wished negativity for others.His entire life came flashing at him as he fell deeper and deeper into the circular ditch which was possibly taking him to hell . He closed his eyes anticipating ruthless things, Crying inconsolably with his hands folded. He had surrendered to his fate.

However The next moment he got up in his bed to an ordinary morning and walked out of his room, and saw father reading the newspaper

His mother came and kissed his forehead and gave him a cup of tea as he sat on the sofa.

He saw himself in the mirror and he felt completely alive. He was going to proclaim that all that transpired was a dream when suddenly he saw someone familiar walk into the garden outside.

He went to the garden area and shrieked loudly ” Chitragupt ” “That means i was really dead ”

Dressed exactly in the same formal attire Chitragupt stood there and said ” You were the chosen one, only because you helped some street children study by donating them your books and many other good deeds that you did unknowingly ” “Go grab your second chance and live again” Chitragupt concluded.

An emotional aditya thanked chitragupt for allowing him to revive his life and relive those moments.
The new reformed Aditya immediately rushed to hug his mother.He said “Sorry Mom, I know i have been very rude to you and always engrossed in either my cellphone or laptop, I Promise i will change and be a better son”

It was time to leave for office. He hugged his dad and said ” I will prove to be a good son”

As he walked past the garden he saw that there was huge ditch which he had fallen into, He still could not decide whether the events that had transpired were real, Had he really died ? Had he met Chitragupt and Yamraj ? Had he been on that journey to the point of equilibrium in that strange airplane?

He went back to the office canteen and sat next to a teary eyed suganda and said ” I am sorry for all that i did . i have realized that your love is true and real and that we are meant to be together ”

His phone beeped but he chose to ignore it. It beeped again but he kept it on silent mode and said to himself ” i will check it after suganda leaves, let me live the moments with her without getting distracted into my phone”
He had looked up from the virtual worlds of his cellphone and electronic devices and acknowledged real people, His real world which was earlier lost in the virtual world in his hand.

We may not get a second chance. Look up from your phone now. Stop asking whatsapp on your phone and and start feeling what is really happening to those waiting for that one glance, one smile, One appreciation and one acknowledgement from you.

The Mysterious Hunchback

Clenching her fists and rolling her eyes, Psychic woman Maya moved her head in circular motion with great force and let out some nasty, unpleasant moans. She looked perilously horrid as her long hair covered her entire face. With a sudden jerk she stopped her gaze at a wheel-chair bound Tribhuvan Thakur. Her voice changed to a husky male voice and she shuddered and shivered when she spoke.

“You are the culprit; this is the circle of life. What goes around comes around. You are responsible for the sudden deaths in your family”

Tribhuvan was moved to tears. He wailed loudly at hearing what she had said

The Entire family was shocked at the revelation and was curious to know the mystery behind the sudden death of Rajan Thakur. This murder made headlines in the newspapers and all news channels covered the news of this baffling murder that had taken place in the City of Indore.

An extremely frustrated Vaibhav Thakur (Tribhuvan Thakur’s grandson) , the youngest male member of the family asked her to stop her occult drama immediately and asked Maya to leave. She turned back from the door and warned them

“The Hunchback has taken a vow to kill all the male members of your family, including this child in your wife’s womb when it is born. Pray that this child is female, so that he leaves it alive”

Vaibhav hugged his pregnant wife Shraddha who was terror – struck with these events and asked her to calm down and banged the door on the face of the psychic woman.

Tribhuvan’s elder son Rajan had been slayed right outside the temple he regularly visited. Onlookers had seen something extremely inexplicable, uncanny and mysterious. A Hunchback, who had sprinted like a monkey, jumping from tree branches to long fences, had suddenly climbed on the shoulder of Rajan thakur and hit at the back of his neck with a small Syringe which made him die instantly.

It contained a very peculiar kind of poison which was venom extracted from snakes and mixed with some other vicious poisonous substances, the forensic experts claimed

Vaibhav had been conducting his own investigation through his friend Inspector Ghosh who revealed that this could be a vengeance from the past and came up with a name Umesh Shukla when he tried to dig into past enemies of Tribhuvan Thakur.

Umesh Thakur had emerged from being a driver to a multi billionaire businessman in this city; He had been a servant to the thakurs when they lived in a nearby village named Themalpoora.

Inspector ghosh showed Vaibhav a police complaint registered twenty years ago against his Uncle Rajan Thakur, His father Vikrant Thakur and His Grandfather Shri Tribhuvan Thakur by Umesh Shukla and his sister Ujwala Shukla in the Themalpoora Village police station.

In the meanwhile, Vikrant Thakur (Vaibhav’s father and Tribhuvan’s younger son) and who was gardening his plants saw a shady figure on the terrace of his house. He was petrified at what he saw. A Spine -tingling creepy looking man who stood at 4 feet with a Hunchback jumped from the terrace to a tree and laughed loudly. Then Like a child he stuck his tongue out and made some silly teasing gestures to Vikrant. He leaped from the tree and disappeared in no time. He was quick in using his hands and legs to great effect to bounce and jump away like a rocket frog.

Flabbergasted by what he saw Vikrant stood stunned and he suddenly felt something on his shoulder. He looked around and their eyes met. The Hunchback had red eyes as if they were full of blood. There was a very filthy smell that emitted from his body. Vikrant tried to get himself freed from his grip but the hunchback had held him tight with his hands and legs. Vikrant was stiff and could not move as if a python had grabbed him with all his power. He shouted in pain and angst as he got really frustrated with not being able to move out from the vigorous embrace of the Hunchback clinging on to his back.

The Hunchback Sang a tune in his ear in his horrendous voice “Death Awaits you, death awaits you, impossible to survive, No matter how hard you try,. It is impossible to survive” .

The women of the house arrived but stood like a statue intimidated by the creepy figure on the shoulder of Vikrant.

He wore red skin fitting pants and the rest of his body was uncovered.

His long hair fell all over his face as he titled his head to look at them in an unnerving and disgusting way from head to toe.

He then pinched the Syringe at the cape of Vikrant’s neck, somewhere right below his hairline and jumped off the fence of the bungalow.

Vikrant died on the spot with white fluids gushing from his mouth as he fell to the ground.

The Torment had reached a saturation point and Vaibhav felt terribly helpless at not being able to stop the killings of his near and dear ones.

At his father’s funeral a crying Vaibhav looked at his grandfather who looked uncomfortable and uneasy. Tribhuvan Thakur, The Wheelchair bound patriarch of the family sensed something eerie and deathlike. He saw the hunchback hiding behind a pile of unused logs of wood and making teasing gestures at him. As Vaibhav walked up to his grandfather, he pointed towards that direction

Vaibhav witnessed the insane frog like giant leaps that the hunchback took and jumped on a tree, and he suddenly disappeared into thin air

Vaibhav was now taking all measures to save the life of his grandfather and on the other hand he was terribly worried about his pregnant wife and his baby who was expected at any moment now.

inspector ghosh had found the secluded hiding place of Umesh Shukla , Vaibhav and Inspector ghosh made their way to this place located somewhere in the heart of the city

Umesh Shukla ran a theatre group called ‘ Tamasha’ and it had performers from all over the world.

He was a local mafia don, dealing in drugs, cheap alcohol and other intoxicants. He loved theatre and had invested huge amounts of money in creating ‘Tamasha’

As Vaibhav and Inspector Ghosh entered Umesh Shukla’s enclave A Mystic music echoed in the auditorium and there were deafening claps from all corners from the audience. Umesh Shukla sat in the front seat cheering the performers. Vaibhav was caught by surprise when he saw the Hunchback performing a flying trapeze act on stage practicing his usual giant leaps from one swing to another. .After executing some incredible somersaults he landed on his feet and then leaped again to a thundering applause from the audience. A Whistling Umesh Shukla jumped on to the stage, and the hunchback leaped on his shoulder and they paid their respects to the appreciating audience by bending.

As the eyes of the hunchback met with Vaibhav, he immediately got down from the shoulders of Umesh Shukla . His stare was full of rigorous angst and he was breathing heavily. Umesh shukla calmed him down suddenly a lot of Caucasian background dancers flocked the stage waving to the crowd and provided cover for the hunchback to escape from Vaibhav’s gaze.

Vaibhav and Inspector ghosh searched every nook and corner of the place; they found all the evidences with a room filled with poisonous snakes from various parts of the world, whose venom was being extracted .They found pictures of the hunchback who had been seen by the various eye-witnesses. Umesh Shukla had been the mastermind who had created this monster who was only killing the family members of vaibhav.

Inspector Ghosh threw the Arrest warrant on Umesh Shukla’s face

Umesh Shukla said with pride ” I Ordered the killing of Rajan and Vikrant Thakur ..Two down, two more to go” and he laughed sarcastically adjusting the stylish suit he was wearing

Inspector Ghosh punched him hard in his face and the policemen arrested him.

Umesh walked in imperious style tied with handcuffs with a feeling of contentment and assured that the revenge was being taken

Vaibhav understood that all this was linked to a grievance in the past and as he read the police investigation report that had been filed twenty years ago, the entire gory past came to haunt him.

20 years ago

Ujwala shukla had just turned 18. Something unexpected had happened in her life. A Rich and flamboyant man named Vikrant Thakur proposed his feelings for her. He was spellbound by her beauty and hopelessly in love with her. Ujwala’s prince charming had arrived. The dream which she had seen since childhood about a prince on a white horse had come true. He was an extremely handsome man and a very strong personality. They had decided to get married in the temple and Vikrant promised her that once he speaks to his father Tribhuvan Thakur, he will take her home.

They lived together in a small house near the temple and Ujwala’s love with Vikrant thakur had crossed all limits. They even consummated what they thought was a marriage. Since they had been in an extremely close bond, they had never felt the need to have any approvals on their relationship.

She shared the news with her brother Umesh Shukla who had been the most trusted aide and the driver of Tribhuvan Thakur. Umesh felt extreme pride and happiness when he came to work the next day, he felt that his sister would be the lady of this huge mansion of the Thakurs.

He even imagined her sitting there on the huge sofa wearing her ornaments and ordering the servants.

But Hell broke loose one day when Tribhuvan Thakur announced the marriage of Vikrant thakur with his closest friend’s daughter. The entire house was decorated and wedding preparations of vikrant thakur had begun. Umesh decided to speak to Tribhuvan thakur and make him understand that Vikrant is already married to his sister.

A Sobbing Ujwala and Umesh sat on the floor in the Thakur’s mansion.

Tribhukan thakur sat on his grand sofa and questioned his son about his alleged love affair with the driver’s daughter

The Thakurs looked down upon Umesh and Ujwala as according to him they were not belonging to their caste and stature.

Ujwala lost her faith in humanity when an innocent looking Vikrant thakur refused to even recognize her and asked her not to put these false claims for money.

Umesh got terribly upset and started mouthing filthy abuses and cursed the thakurs. He decided to break the pandals and stop this wedding by creating a scene and informing the father of the bride about the shameful act of Vikrant Thakur.

As a reaction to this an angry Rajan then started physically assaulting Umesh. Vikrant grabbed Ujwala by her hair and dragged her on the floor till they reached the outskirts of the village .Umesh was beaten so ferociously that he was bleeding profusely from head to toe.

Ujwala was humiliated in front of the entire village by tearing off her clothes and hurling abuses at her. Vikrant Thakur announced “This woman has tried to tarnish the image and reputation of my prestigious family in this village” ” i would never steep to such low levels and marry a woman from a low caste secretly ” ” They are dangerous, throw them out of the village”

Umesh took an oath on that day to kill Vikrant and Rajan Thakur while he covered his sister in his own torn shirt and both brothers laughed at them.

Wrenching in pain as they both walked towards their house. Ujwala told her brother that she was eight months pregnant with Vikrant’s child.. She further disclosed that Vikrant had bluntly refused to take any responsibility and had told her to abort the child.

A Furious Umesh shrieked at Ujwala “Why don’t you go somewhere and Die”

Next day he found ujwala on the kitchen floor with white liquid gushing from her mouth, hitting his palms on his head ferociously he whined as everything had been lost. Even though he rushed her to the hospital, the doctors could not save her.

All that survived was a premature deformed baby who had a hunchback. It seemed that he would not survive but the baby survived against all odds .Umesh then decided to make him into a weapon, even though he had certain physical disabilities. He was trained like a warrior.

Vaibhav was teary-eyed as he closed the file he was reading from. He had developed sympathy for the evil killer. All of a sudden he realized what the psychic woman Maya had said “It was the circle of life, they were responsible for the death of an innocent woman, who had consumed poison and the hunchback who was the result of their atrocities was out to revenge the death of his mother by killing those men with poisonous Syringes.”

Meanwhile Tribhuvan strolled in the wheelchair inside his house and heard some obnoxious sounds coming from behind the curtain. As he lifted the curtains, the hunchback stared in his face. Horror- struck he moved his wheelchair back as fast as he could. Suddenly the hunchback disappeared .He emerged again suspended from the ceiling fan showing his acrobatic skills by positioning himself upside down from the moving ceiling fan and then with a sudden move he leaped and stood behind Tribhuvan’s wheelchair .Tribhuvan struggled to pull his wheelchair ahead, as he turned around he saw that the hunchback stood there lifting his wheelchair from the ground. The Hunchback sang the same eerie tune and threw him off the wheel chair down the stairs.

He fell with a loud thud and all the female members of the house came rushing out. The Hunchback threatened them with the Syringe and ordered them to stay positioned and not move and leaped out of the window and disappeared in no time.

A Terribly frightened Shraddha who was eight months pregnant fell unconscious

Tribhuvan Thakur and shraddha were hospitalized in different wards in the same hospital.A Shattered Vaibhav and Inspector ghosh shuttled from One ward to another hoping to a get a good news concerning them both and amongst all this hoping for a healthy new born baby.

It seemed like a divine light had entered a dark room when shraddha delivered a baby boy. The smiling child brought a lot of positivism in the dreaded environment. A Weeping Vaibhav carried the child to his grandfather tribhuvan who immediately took the baby in his arms and started playing with his chin and with tears in his eyes, he laughed and cried both at the same time. This brought smiles to the entire family witnessing this. The Hunchback had been seeing the entire episode hiding behind the curtain and waiting for an opportunity to attack. But Tribhuvan loving the new born baby made him remember his childhood days in the arms of his Uncle Umesh who showered him with love irrespective of the world shunning him for his appearance. He was always made fun of ,because of him being a deformed figure with a hunchback. But his uncle always loved him unconditionally and took him along whenever he went on his shoulder. The Moment was an emotional one and the ruthless killer cried too. Wiping off his tears he realized that the Enemies had been killed and the revenge had been completed He decided to not kill Tribhuvan and Vaibhav as they were not directly responsible for his mother’s death. The poisonous Syringe slipped out of his hand and he decided to leave.

Immediately a few policemen jumped from different corners and surrounded the hunchback. Before he could react, He was pinned to the ground with extreme force. Fearing that he may escape, the policemen hit him with the Syringe he had thrown away. The Syringe was thumped into his chest and he died on the spot.

Vaibhav was moved to tears, after all, he had realized that the hunchback was also his own family member. His own step brother..Vaibhav felt ashamed of his father’s deeds. If those events of the past had not occurred the Hunchback would have been born like a normal healthy baby and played in the arms of Tribhuvan like his son was playing,