Story

Story

'Inspirational Dream'

It was a sunny day at around 12 o'clock. No one was even seen on walking along the Mahendra highway besides vehicles. At the moment, leaves remained firmly stable. The gust of wind flowed nowhere. The heat of the sun was protruding more. However, there were enough vehicles on the road each full of passengers. Every ‘Khalashi’ was anticipating eyes ahead to the awaiting passengers. The crowd of passenger was under the ceiling of each bus station of Jhapa district because of the extreme heat. I was on the bus coming from the east, especially my sister's house on the occasion of ‘VAITIKA.’ Inside the bus, I frequently had been inhaling hot air and vice versa. The same case was with every passenger.

People were hardly standing in the middle row having touched their body with each-other. Sometimes, passengers would question:

'Why our bus frequently stops?'

some would express their hassle conspicuously.

'Hey you! Move your head without any delay.'

But, who would listen to the passengers' voice? When the bus stopped at Birtamod station, 'Khalashi' came to the left window and yelled..

'why don't you listen to my word? Many more times, I requested you all to move slightly backwards.'

He screamed with commands as if we all were servants of him. One of the middle-aged men with furious eyes, in no time, squared up to him and replied,

'Have you ever seen how long suffering we are facing ? Are we animals ? Oh, what a stupid Khalashi you are !?'

Soon after, passengers broke the lump of silence and went against that severe looking Khalashi. But, I was just murmuring by that weird impulse and severe manner from both sides.

After some moment, some passengers (especially male) approached abruptly on my left side. They seemed to be mincing with a cynical outlook. The surrounding moment around me happened to be agitating again. Those middle-aged men with black mustaches were in almost hasty way. Guessing slightly them as true passengers as me, I leaned on my seat looking through the left window. Outside the bus, it was blowing air. For sure i used to notice upon leaves.

Similarly, Inside the bus, I was noticing a woman wearing full ornaments for a long time. She had been giving some rigid pride towards other women. She had sneering look at other contemptibly. She seemed to be strange and uncomfortable unlike all women on the bus. Slowly and gradually, she became trapped between those just arrived men. Again, she touched her bobbed hair by her hand and looked hesitatingly at men. One of the men spoke magnificently and turned a deaf ear to her,

'Please, let her come here.'

As a reaction, she looked up at my face but stared out. Her very strict sight deeply stroked me. I was in dilemma thinking that...

'........Why she frequently visit my face ? What is it ?'

Consequently, I felt worse than usual. I filled with repulsive premonition. So, I couldn’t visit her face again and stared nowhere through the window.

I felt guilty upon what I so often did just before. I thought she must be alleging me by her severe sight. Whatever happened before, I denied to go in the way of that quick-witted woman. I remembered many characters similar to her in the novel which i had been plaguing deeply into my heart. I happened to laugh by reactivating some characters of the novel and consoled my heart at that time.

Then, our bus stopped at next station and got a few passengers on and accelerated to the west in its way. Every station, passengers had been condemning to the bad system of public buses. Similarly, from the back side, there was coming quiver sound made by metal. There was equally panic feeling grown by the chronic and weighty bus. Almost all passengers weren’t in the way beyond skepticism.

Outside the bus, the sun looked like a tyrant. it seems as if God is retaliating by sharp heat in spite of the destruction done by humans on this earth. Those cunning men were talking by nonverbal medium. As soon as I glanced at them, I kept myself in the defending position. I was as yet undecided in which direction they wanted to go. I had so many questions growing at that moment. Finally, I came to the vague conclusion in which that woman was likely to be bogged down. They were weaving their plan by their shrewd mind. I visited their dresses, hair, shoes through poky space. it was very difficult for me to peep from my seat. It was like ridiculous clothes wearing strikingly by which I collided with an imagined character selected by Haruki Murakami in his upcoming novel. I had expected to get support from my co–visitors around me. But, yet nobody noticed me. I was far away to prevail upon those thieves conspiring beside me. It was because they looked like veteran muggers. Sometimes when the bus shacked badly in the distorted road, their hands seemed to be fumbling on the neck of that woman in order to grasp the golden chain. I prayed,

'Please God help her.'

They were consistently mincing for their best chances. The hustle behavior of their was resuming vigorously. I frequently underwent much intricacies. I frequently questioned myself:

'How can i help her instantly?'

As a result, I got fed up with melancholy thinking in the sense that I couldn't do more in order to save her golden chain. A short later, they swayed and changed their position when the bus quivered its body. The bus was also at high speed on that festive road. A screaming, that was difficult to decide whether came either from inside or outside.

As the bus stopped suddenly, again, a scream of pain collided with the four walls of the bus. I got up from my seat and spied on. The woman happened to cry with her chain loss. In the middle side of the bus, everybody heeded and checked their valuable materials. An old man shouted,

'where is my purse? who stole it?'

Respectively, a middle-aged man crammed with agony,

'I have lost my handphone, please help me to find out.'

A flame of those resentments somehow excited me to blame those cynical faces. However, I became nervous and nervous. I blushed and thought about nothing. Within a minute, I realized my perjury. All of the passengers had a growing rage against that robbery.

On the way, suddenly the bus stopped. One by one, we got down from the bus and tried to catch out who the robber was? That woman was doing nothing but yelling ceaselessly with impatience eye. I sighed looking at those who were stolen by rubbers. They were also predicting that fierce faces who got on the bus from Birtamod station. Unfortunately, they were not shown up there. I thought they run away.

At Damak station, Metropolitan police arrived and investigated. From different angles, they set out their investigation and proceed. But, None robber was to be proved during almost five minutes. I was staring at the victims’ lament standing at the side of the crowd. At the same time, my mobile rang out. My mother spoke to confirm either her son was coming or not.

I replied, 'I’m coming mom.'

She requested me to arrive as fast as possible. And I moved away from there having a haggard face. After some steps of walking, I checked my purse, it was not there. What happened after ?

Abruptly I woke up from a deep sleep and found myself on my own bed. I also found my body being covered with sweat. It was 4 o’clock at the morning and I kicked off Haruki Murakami’s novel ‘1Q84’

Bimal Sitoula, Jan, 2020