A Journey To Remember

“Kareena broke up with Shahid Kapoor”. Oh my god when and why did this happen? Were you aware of any reason behind that, was the first question that was asked to me when I was about to publish this news in our newspaper. I was known for this and now a day’s people give more importance to these kinds of cinema gossips and grapevines. The prior news which I published got me more accolades were “Shahrukh to sizzle with six packs in his new venture Om Shanthi Om”. I’ve been continuously getting constant and positive feedbacks from the age class between 18-26. I was really happy rather excited in reading those feedbacks which were mainly from girls. There were few girls who used to mail me in my personal id just to get the info about their favorite hero’s and heroine. I was meticulously known for these kinds of news.
I was born in the soil where the great “Subramanya Bharathiyar” hails from. There was no better poet to be compared with him during his generation and even now I reckon. I was totally admired by his writing and wanted to become something like him. Even a small kid would get the independence thirst just by hearing his words. More than addressing people in large gatherings, he rather chose his writing skill to reach individuals directly. That’s the power of his writing. I was not good in writing poems rather I haven’t tried it except during my first year of college where I wrote a poem for my first crush and gave her. The reaction was quite obvious in the form of a slap and she even asked me not to torture anyone in the form of writing poems. Well that was really a good experience and I guess she has saved some souls from my writing.
Today, the situation is entirely different. There is quite a big list of readers especially youngsters who read our paper only for my news. My only aim right from my childhood after getting inspired from Subramanya Bharathiyar was to serve the nation. I didn’t have any plans of joining the military for that, but I chose this path so that even I can directly reach people without any restrictions. But I was wrong, there were quite some restriction and of course they are bound to happen irrespective of the field. The only thing I had in my mind was to become one of the best reporter in the country and take up as much as social issues as possible and moreover to create social awareness among peoples.
I should say I’ve achieved one part of my dream by becoming almost a best reporter in the country for cinema’s gossips and grapevines. On my first day at office when I was asked by my boss in where my area of interest lies and my immediate answer was “Social Issues”. I think that was quite a generic answer but my boss took the exact meaning of that and put me in the cinema section. I haven't thought that cinema was a social issue till that time. I was not able to ask for a change since it was my first job and moreover it was my passion. Soon I got recognitions for my work and my boss was happy with the way I have proceeded. Once I wrote an article on srilanka and the problems the plebeian were facing in their country. My boss read the article and told there are many people already assigned for that task and I need to concentrate on “Shreya” rather than Srilanka. Of course my boss was right, because the one that reveals more gets more attention.
The word “Change” was meant only for one person and that is Obama and apart from him I haven’t seen even traces of the word change in my life. I was always involved in gathering reports like “This Bollywood Star names her dog Craig, wonder what’s her relation with the new bond”. “This actress celebrates her 33rd birthday and she received 33 different gifts from the industries top hero. Any guesses on this hero.” “I was shocked when he kissed me in public. An open interview with this glamour queen”. Oh my god! Give me a break. It was altogether the same for me and I’ve been keep on doing this for almost 4 years. It was similar to this guy “BALA MECHANICAL” who continuously keeps on posting romantic blogs. I seriously don’t know how many romantic encounters he would have faced in his life. Though the blogs were good, it all has only one concept “Love” except for the last blog.
One fine day, my boss called me to his cabin and gave me a letter to read. It was altogether a different letter and so far I’ve never ever read or seen such a letter. It was from a woman who hails from a rural place and the content was written with such an emotion that no one would control their tears after reading that. I was asked by my boss to immediately visit the women and get a detailed report about her. I was really excited in hearing this, since it was completely a different job assigned to me and I was happier than I was when I interviewed “Amrita Rao” for the first time. The place from where we received the letter was almost 80kms from our place and I had no other option apart from going by bus. I reached the final bus stop and when enquired I got to know that I have to walk at least 8 km to reach the exact place. The post-office was available only in this place and I was wondering how this woman would have walked all this 8km to post the letter. I was really surprised to see such a kind of place on the way where you hardly see any soul. In fact not even in some Bengali movies I had seen this location. The whole route was full of thorns and I was sure that there would definitely be snakes around.
I finally reached her place. There were only 20-25 huts nearby and it was something I’ve never even seen in my entire life, people living in such a remote place. I somehow enquired from the nearby people and got to know this women’s house and was waiting outside since she had gone some 2km just to fetch water. This is where first time I came to understand what is life and what is the exact meaning for the word difficulty. She was back after some time and was happy to receive a response in my form for her letter. As soon as she opened the door, there came two children’s running out. One was a boy around 10 years of age and the other being his younger sister almost 7-8 years. She gave me a cup of butter milk which tasted like heaven. It was more than those diet cokes and sprite which I used to have.
After a while, I started asking her about what made her to write such a letter. I was so deeply moved by her answer. To start off with she was widow and has two children which I already made out. Her husband was in military and died in the enemy hands after killing 5 of them. His body was brought back in four pieces and no one would have imagined anything like that. He was the only security she had and even he is no more. She was about to receive Rs 10,000/- from the government, which she hasn’t received for almost 8 months. The panchayat didn’t even bother to help her rather expelled her from the community saying she was a widow and from backward cast as well. Her son was sent back from school for not paying fees. The only source of help she got was from the old post man of that place. He wrote a letter to our office and wanted to take up and publish this issue in our “Social Issues” section. This is where I was about to publish the srilanka issue where I was earlier rejected. This time I want to publish this issue and show some justice towards this woman.
It was already getting dark and I was about to leave. She was so thankful to me and asked me to have dinner and leave. I was already full. The few words which she said before I started made me feel that there is still humanity exists in this world. The only reason why she wanted her son to get a minimal education was she even wanted him to join the military and serve the nation. I asked her why she wants to send her son to military since she already lost her husband and why unnecessarily she wants to risk her son’s life. The reply which she gave was really mind blowing. She said that we all are born in this earth for a reason and one reason which she was aware was to do something for the motherland. By serving the nation through military is the only way towards that which she got to know from her husband and since her husband is no more she wants her son to do the duty. What would I call this, I was in search of words but words failed me at that moment. I just saluted her and walked from that place. This is called Patriotism and today is the day I felt it.
The next day we published it and the response what I got for this was something beyond imagination. She got the amount allocated by the government and more than that there were lots of readers who contributed towards her child’s future. I was showered only with praises that day for taking up this issue. My life took a new dimension from that day. I was really happy with the way I contributed a bit towards a mother and her children’s life. From that day I’ve changed my area of interest; my only topic was about Military men and their services to the nation. There was even a green signal from my boss. I haven’t done anything to my country till that time, but now I’m doing a little bit with the most powerful weapon ‘Pen’. This was my way of showing ‘Patriotism’. The happiest thing I’ve ever done is contributing a part of my salary every month for her children’s future. That was perhaps the biggest journey in my life and a journey to be remembered.