By Akash Pakanati
Guest Author mritsece.co.nr
He looked around. There was nothing to do, its usual. He lied on the couch and switched on the idiot box. He started surfing, which was his usual habit with the half screwed up remote. Within five minutes he realized that watching TV would not break his boredom. But then he had nothing to do either so continued watching TV.
He lived in a one bedroom house which looked normal from inside but was a cheap ramshackle from outside. Being tenants, he could not ask to change the state of the house. The land lord was supposed to be a short tempered person and would give out tons of crap if any one questioned him. So, he preferred a cheap house to crap on him.
There was a knock on the door. He did not realize that knock would change his life forever. He went and opened the door.
“Mr. Subhash Kumar?” a man asked. There were two persons.
“Yeah. It’s me. Please come in.” the man told.
Two men came in, one was tall and thin and the other was normal height and fat. They both wore white dresses and carried some files.
“Please sit down.” Subhash told.
“What is it that you have come for?” Subhash asked.
“Shall we go out and talk in nearby park?” the fat man asked. Subhash nodded and the three left the house.
“We come from the company Techatronics. Our records show that you are a pass out from Osmania University with an M Sc in Electronics. We come with a job offer as an engineer in our firm.” The tall man answered. They were in the park now and were sitting under a tree.
Subhash’s eyes brightened. He was looking for a job though he had his own conditions. The fat man understood from Subhash’s eyes that he was interested in the offer. He said –
“Before we go ahead, we need to know your background info. Also, our records show that you have passed out 2 years back. But you are unemployed. What is the reason?”
Subhash started chronologically.
“I was born in 1982. My father is a clerk in the Road Transport Department. He will be retiring in a few months. My mother is working as a teacher in the government school. I did B Sc and M Sc in electronics. I was the university topper in M Sc. I was unemployed all these days not because I dint get any offers but because I was not interested in working for 10-12 hours per day.”
The fat man did not seem to hear. He asked –
“What is your family income per month?”
“Around eight thousand rupees.” Subhash answered.
“Don’t you think you should have worked long back? Is 8000 rupees sufficient for your family?” the fat man asked. Subhash understood why the fat man asked that question before.
“No sir. It’s not sufficient. We barely manage. But sir, I told you. I can’t work for 10 hrs per day.”
“You can’t work so much and you are a goddamn topper. Your brain must be super awesome.” The tall man observed.
“Also, I would like to make it a point that I am interested in your offer only if I am allowed to work for 4-6 hrs. Anything more than that, I can’t accept.”
At this the tall man seemed to flinch. He certainly dint expect this from Subhash.
“See, your position is critical. Your father will be retiring and your life cannot go ahead if you can’t work. Nobody in this present contemporary world would pay you for just 4 hrs of work. You have to accept our offer. Or else you will repent.” The fat man said.
“Hey mister. I have never asked you for a job. I have put forth my conditions and if you people don’t accept then it’s your problem.” Subhash retorted.
At that instant a branch from the tree below which the three were sitting broke. It fell directly on Subhash, just above the ear where the bone protecting the brain would be egg shell thin. The branch stuck him hard and Subhash fell down.
Subhash shook his head. There was neither pain nor blood. He just got up. He looked around and was surprised to see himself lying in a pool of blood. He looked around. The tall and the fat men changed slowly into bodies of black coal. They looked terribly scary with white, long and sharp teeth protruding out of their mouths. They looked like ghosts.
“What happened?” Subhash asked. He still couldn’t figure out why he could see himself sleeping as if in a trance. His figure below him looked ice cold, as if..dead. This thought sent a chill through his spine.
“It’s like 10 seconds since you died.” The changed fat man said.
“What?” Subhash knew that he heard them write, “But I feel alive and who are you?”
“We are the emissaries of Yama, the lord of death. We have actually come to take you. And your soul is speaking to us. You are free from your body”
In a moment the whole world collapsed for Subhash. He could not understand the situation.
“Then why did you come to me faking a job offer and stuff. If u had come to take my life, you could have just taken it. Why this deception?” Subhash’s blood boiled. There wasn’t any blood though. It was just a soul.
“Let me explain. Before death, our lord Yama gives two choices. One is to choose death and other is to choose to live. This choice is not given directly. It’s an indirect process and you have chosen death.” The fat man said.
“How is that?”
“We know that you are a lazy bug. You have screwed up 2 years of your life because of the laziness. You are intelligent but lazy. You would turn out to be a good for nothing fool. So it was destined that you will die. But people with your brain are very few. Hence we (Yama) offered you a choice by faking this offer. When you refused to work, you have indirectly chosen death.”
“Do I deserve to die just because I refused to work?”
“Yes! Your situation is like that. Your parents are working hard when they shouldn’t. And you are sitting in your house when you should slog. We know that your family’s financial status is low. In that case, as a young man, you should take up the responsibility and solve your family’s problems. Instead you were just whiling away the time. The present contemporary world has no room for laziness.” The fat man who was now a messenger of Yama explained.
“As a matter of fact, I am relieved that we killed you. Maybe your parents will be broken at the loss their child, but half their burden will decrease and they will live happily for sometime.” The tall man said.
“What if I had chosen your job offer?”
“Simple, we would have used our magic to get you a job. Can’t we do that?” the fat man blinked with a wide grin.
“If everything is destined, why are humans given this opportunity of making a choice?”
“Who said everything is destined?” the tall man said. “Nothing is destined kid. It all depends on you. You make your own destiny. You have chosen to die. Well, if everything is destined, why catch a thief? You should leave him assuming that it is destined that he will rob. Anyways, no point in wasting our time with a dead person.” The tall man said.
“You know, there is not much of a difference between a lazy person and a dead person. Instead a lazy person causes problems to others like you have caused to your parents.” The fat man said.
“I understand. I agree my mistakes and shortcomings. I promise never to be lazy again. Please could you give me back my life?”
“Ha...realized that life is precious? There isn’t any way of you getting back your life.” the fat man snapped. “Let’s Go!”
“Where?” Subhash asked innocently.
“To Hell!” both said in chorus.
