One killed

The loudspeaker roared.

The customer standing at the shop was scared. Aman saw the fear in his eyes. He knew what was coming. He was silent.

Aman said, “Arre Ahmed bhai… kya hua?”
Ahmed said reluctantly, “Kitni baar bola hai maine, itni zor se kyun lagaate hain ye speaker… har kisi ko nahi pasand aata…”
Aman said sympathetically, “Arre jaane do na Ahmed bhai, kuch nahi hota…”
Ahmed said matter-of-factly, “Arre Aman bhai… aap bhale insaan ho…par aapko nahi pata… jo hoga achha nahi hoga”.

Two days later, the people broke-out in a protest against the roaring and the ‘annoying’ loudspeaker. There were complaints, pretests, processions, curfews, rumors, clashes, injuries and death. Two days later, everything was slowly limping back to normal. The shops were open again.

Aman’s day was normal and ‘as usual’. He always found the newspaper very engrossing. The dark black bags under his eyes reflected the intake of words per hour, by his eyes, and also the distance (in kms) covered by them. Every morning from 7 AM to 12 noon, his eyes were accustomed to the black ant-like alphabets printed on the off-white newspaper. They traveled from left to right, everyday, without complaining.

Today was nothing special. It was 11.30 AM and the Aman had squeezed the newspaper enough for the NEWS. Aman’s business gave him ample time at home. The ‘Shri Hanuman General kirana store’ was one of the biggest landmarks of his colony. It was named after the great Indian bachelor God. Incidentally, Aman’s father was named after Him.

Aman called his wife from the store. His house was just a few blocks away. He told her that he will be home in another half an hour, for lunch.

The loudspeaker roared again.

The mosque was on the way to Aman’s house, which was just a 3-minute walk from his store. Aman saw a mob outside the mosque.

They are at it again.

Just when Aman was trying to move away from the mob, trying to avoid their eyes, someone threw a boulder at another man who was standing inside the mosque. Aman knew what would follow. He bagan to run. But, even before his body could gather some momentum, something very hard hit the back of his head. He fell flat on his face and died.

Aman’s wife is still running around the insurance firms to collect the compensation. His son is sitting at home, as there’s no money to pay the fees of his school. The ‘Shri hanuman general kirana store’ has been closed ever since and the land lord says he will take the goods and everything else in the store as compensation towards non-payment of the rent.

3 days after the incident, the loudspeaker was roaring again, with a 6 PM deadline.

The black ant-like alphabets printed on the off-white newspaper read,
‘Clashes in the city - One killed’