Short and Long Stories.

By Bulbul Niyogi

The book consists of four stories with a universal appeal.Each showcases a slice of Indian life. 'A Soul's Bus Journey' and 'Give This Moment a Chance' deal with self-discovery. 'Family Ties' and 'Gun and Girls' explore discovery of events.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bulbul Niyogi
• Release date: Feb 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466170834

Bulbul Niyogi

I have written short stories and travel articles under my name Bulbul Sur.They were published in leading newspapers in India.I am also a translator.I translate Bengali stories into English.An anthology of my translated stories is available in print entitled ,"The Lovers and Other Stories."

Book preview

Short and Long Stories

By

Bulbul Niyogi.

SMASHWORDS EDITION.

***

Published by

Bulbul Niyogi on Smashwords.

Short and Long Stories.

Copyright 2012 Bulbul Niyogi.

***

All the characters in the stories are fictitious.Any resemblance to persons living or dead, or places,events or locales is purely coincidental.

***

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.Thank you for your support.

***

Table of Contents

1—A Soul’s Bus Journey.

2—Gun and Girls.

3—Family Ties.

4—Give This Moment a Chance.

A Soul’s Bus Journey

Ranjan tried to open the window but it was jammed. The bus was full except for a seat next to him. The passengers consisted of a large bunch of uncouth, down-at-heel men; a couple of educated professionals like Ranjan and a group of foreign tourists. Just as the bus was about to leave, a girl in her early twenties got up in a haze of hurry, perfume and a carefully-careless ponytail. She was dressed in blue jeans and a black T-shirt; her huge, feisty, black eyes reflected a go-go-go attitude. She sat down beside Ranjan and read a book, entitled, Six Sigmas for Managers.

Ranjan opened the curtain. The bus moved amidst the mizmaze of traffic, through the streets of Delhi, bordered with pea-green belt of trees. But his mind was wandering to the incident of his utter degradation. He closed his eyes and relived those tortuous moments.

***

Ranjan had selected an engineer, Ashim Dutt, as a prospective groom for his sister-in-law Shipra.But Ashim had refused to marry her at the last minute. In desperation, Ranjan asked the engineer’s apartment mate, Sudarshan (also an eligible bachelor) to marry Shipra.And the day before he had gone to meet them at their high-rise, Green Heights, to finalize a rendezvous with Shipra.

Ranjan tightened the knot of his tie as he stood outside Ashim’s apartment. The sound of TV wafted through the closed door; lights could be seen through the glass ventilator. But as he pressed the calling bell, the TV stopped and the room went dark. There were surreptitious sounds of shuffling feet and then there was complete silence.

Ranjan pressed the bell again and waited patiently. Still, there was no answer. He stared at the closed door and understood.Ashim and Sudarshan had seen him through the eyehole and had skedaddled by the fire escape. He walked out on the street and saw both of them running on the road. As they glanced backwards to see whether they were being followed, their eyes met Ranjan’s.Thoroughly befuddled, they stopped. Ranjan walked up to them. For some moments, nobody spoke. Then Ashim, the smarter of the two, said, Just jogging. Quite stuffy inside…

Ranjan’s shoulders hung with dejection.

Sudarshan offered faintly, Come to our house for a cup of tea.

Ranjan said, Just back from your house.

Both said together, Oh.

Ranjan said, Sorry, I troubled you two a lot.

Ashim was about to say something but Ranjan said, Please hear me out. I’m under tremendous pressure from my mother-in-law and my wife to marry off Shipra.They think that I’m not trying hard enough. You can’t imagine my position at home. I have to face a steady barrage of barbs from both ends. So I had made a pledge that I would find a suitable boy for Shipra within a month. That’s why I was hounding you…

What could the bachelors say? They looked away.

Ranjan continued, You must be having genuine reasons. But just do me a favour.At least write a letter to me citing your reasons for refusing to marry Shipra, so that my mother-in-law would know that I had tried. And post the letter at my home-address. He handed his card to them and walked away. He knew Ashim’s reasons. Shipra was a beautiful, educated girl. There was no reason to dislike her. But after Ashim had met her in the presence of Ranjan’s off-putting mother-in-law and his wife that he started being standoffish.Ashim had surely programmed Sudarshan too!

***

Ranjan felt suffocated. He gave another massive pull at the window and managed to open it. It was a cloudy afternoon. He let the cool, moist breeze sluice his face for some time. Then he glanced through his appointment diary. On weekdays, he had his yoga classes at six a.m.On Wednesdays he went to the Well-Being classes in the evenings. On Fridays, he attended Devotional Discourses. But nothing seemed to work. He took out a sheaf of papers from his attaché case and glanced over them. They were distributed to the members of the Well-Being classes. He read them whenever he felt low. On it were written some dictums, e.g. When the panic feeling overwhelms you, stop and meditate.

Enjoy the moment. This moment will take care of your future. Be positive,etc.

Suddenly, there was commotion in the bus. It had just left Gurgaon and it picked up speed in the comparatively uncrowdedness of Gurgaon-Jaipur highway.

An altercation was going on between the management girl and the bus conductor. The girl said sharply, "When I reserved my ticket at the bus station, the booking clerk told me to sit in 9507, i.e.