He, she and their love stories..

He loved walking with her and so did she
They made up an odd pair but he never minded
And neither did she
To him, she was the most beautiful woman
To her, he was the second most handsome of all men
In many of their walks, she was the one who spoke
He loved listening more than liberating his thoughts
And so he listened
To each and every word, to each and every breath, to each and every chuckle of hers
He listened so attentively because it reminded him of his love
She also loved speaking to him
For each and every reaction of his to the words she spoke
Reminded her of her love
The love she had lost long ago to life..

In many of their walks, she was the one who spoke
And more often than not, she spoke about her love story
She loved speaking about it
For it gave her a chance to relive the love she had lost
He loved listening to it
For it gave him a chance to compare his love with her love
And relive his love as well
His was as lost a cause as her..

Their walk today was an extra special one
It was his birthday
"What do you want to listen to today?!" she asked him
He thought for some time, searching his memory for the story he wanted to rehear
"Tell me about the time you fought with your love for wanting a girl child" he finally said
She began the story with a smile and ended it with a tear
"I always wanted a boy because I wanted another him" she broke down
Grabbing her hand, he also shed a tear
She asked him the reason with her eyes
"I also said something similar to my girl.
I told her I wanted a girl child after our marriage because I wanted another her." he explained
She chuckled and patted his shoulder
They walked hand in hand, sheltered by the sky, in silence
"Am I as handsome as him?!" he asked her slowly and yearningly
She took a close look at him
"Not as much but close enough" and she winked
He had known the answer pretty well and he decided not to encourage her taunt
"Was your girl as pretty as me?!" she continued
"You have no idea!" he quickly responded
Her face shrunk as he faked a triumphant grin
"Why did you have to let her go?" she asked him, grabbing his hand firmer
He remained silent
"I did not." he mouthed his thoughts 
"She left me, yes, but I still have not let her go" 
They walked hand in hand casting shadows of love
The sun and the moon, the plant and the fruit, the God and the man
They walked hand in hand - the mother and the son
She reminded him of the love he had lost
He reminded her of the love she had lost
They identified themselves in each other's love stories
They identified each other in their own love stories
He loved walking with her and so did she
They made up an odd pair but he never minded
And neither did she...

Let's talk about Arjun's death..

His name was Arjun. But it could have been any other random Hindu name starting with the letter 'A'. His parents had had only that constraint in their mind while naming him. Arjun was not special or talented in any way but it never stopped his parents from loving him excessively. There could have been the possibility of prejudice if Arjun had had a sibling. But we would never know since Arjun was a single child. Owing to which, losing their only child to suicide was more than what Arjun's parents could take in.
Was Arjun's death really a suicide?!
Let's look at the facts. 
Arjun's corpse had been lying with the skull cracked open behind 'B' block, Royal Apartments, 5th Cross Street - the flat in which Arjun's family resided. There was Mrs. Gupta - the sole witness - who had seen Arjun falling from the terrace. (Poor Mrs. Gupta. She had been sitting in her balcony playing with her kitten when something big had suddenly passed her balcony from the terrace. She had quickly peeked out of her balcony only to see Arjun's body crashing on the ground and his blood bursting out. Out of her shock, Mrs. Gupta had dropped her kitten which had landed safely on the ground and had climbed up the stairs back to her). There was Arjun's college friend's statement that the previous day, the girl with whom Arjun had been in a romantic relationship for 3 years - Nasreen - had told Arjun that her father had learned about their relationship and had outright rejected the thought of his daughter marrying a Hindu boy. (Poor Nasreen. She had pleaded her father not to be like a 1980's Tamil romantic film villain but it had only made things worse). There was also Nasreen's tear-filled story of how much she and Arjun had loved each other in the past 3 years. (Poor Arjun's mom. Listening to Nasreen speak about Arjun had made her realize how little she had known about Arjun).
And hence it was concluded - Arjun, unable to cope with the sadness of his failed romance had committed suicide by jumping off the terrace.
The records at A123 police station also said the same. 
Incidentally, 3 days later, a complaint was lodged at A124 police station by Mr. Samuel. Cash and jewelry worth 50 lakhs had been robbed from his house sometime during the previous week he and his family had went on a tour to North India. Mr. Samuel had initially gone to A123 police station to lodge the complaint as it was the closest to his house. But he had learned from the Sub-Inspector there that the jurisdiction of A123 police station extended only till 5th Cross Street and right from 6th Cross Street - the street to which Mr.Samuel's house belonged - all areas fell under the jurisdiction of A124 police station. And hence the complaint was lodged at A124 police station. The investigation about the robbery went on for a few weeks after which the police gave up on the case owing to lack of substantial findings. 
About a year later, the 2 robbers who had planned and executed the robbery at Mr. Samuel's house died in a stampede at the holy shrine they had gone to wash themselves off their sins. With their deaths, they had also carried out of the world a secret only they knew.
After their robbery at Mr.Samuel's house, the robbers had decided to escape via the terrace. They had jumped from one terrace to another and had landed on the terrace of the 'B' block of Royal Apartments. It was there that they had faced Arjun. Arjun had secretly sneaked out of his house and had reached the terrace to cry his heart out. He had been standing at a corner, letting his tears fall down to the earth when he had suddenly noticed 2 masked men jumping on his terrace. Startled, he had taken a misstep and Arjun being 6 feet tall (2.5 feet taller than the terrace wall), he had toppled over and had fallen down to his death. 
And so had transformed an accident into a suicide.
Now having known all sides of the story unlike Arjun's parents or Nasreen or the police at A123 police station, who/what do you think was the cause of Arjun's death?
The robbers? The terrace wall of insufficient height? Nasreen's father? All the buildings of 5th Cross Street and 6th Cross Street which were of the same height and hence facilitated the path of the robbers from the terrace of Mr.Samuel's house to the terrace of Arjun's flat? Arjun's body and limbs not being as flexible as Mrs.Gupta's cat?
But a more important question is this - Having learnt that Arjun's death was not a suicide but an accident, would you let Arjun's parents know about it? Would it make Arjun's mom and dad feel better to know that Arjun had not died for love but instead had lost his life by a freak accident?
I don't think so. What do you say?!

Evolution

I was in the middle of a client call in a conference room at my office.

The client was explaining about a particular data table my team had wanted clarification upon. As I was trying to understand the way the calculation of a field in the table had been made, I suddenly felt as if a huge hand had grabbed my shirt collar and I was being pulled through one time hole after the other until I was thrown down, landing on my face, beside a stone-age man (who for some reason, looked very similar to me) waiting to hunt. I looked at him and he looked at me. But not sparing me attention for more than a second, he started running towards his food which, at his sight, started running away from him. Before he could grab his food, blackness hit me and I was grabbed again and thrown this time beside the same stone-age man in his cave. He was fast asleep with a huge smile spread across his face. Before I could finish observing the walls of the cave, blackness hit me again, a hand grabbed me again and threw me back into my office conference room.

The explanation about the calculation of the field was still underway.

Data Analysis! Stone-age man! A hunt! A cave! Back to data analysis!

It was utter chaos. 

Then, slowly, it began making sense.

When man started his life on this planet, what did he really care about?!

Food. Shelter.

As the most dominant species breathing on this planet now, what do we really care about?!

Money. Respect. Love. A few other perishable items.

How drastically have we then evolved from a man requiring only food and shelter to a man who is a part of a society which sees a point in having numerous fields of work which determine the respect and money and other perishable items?!

From being alert to the movement of a wild animal to being alert to the fall and rise of the stock market, from being naked with nature to revering silk and platinum, from not knowing that communication could occur to sending out a voice mail and typing down abstract poems  – How dumbfounding a change?!

To realize that we created civilizations, we created languages, we created religions, we created money, we created marriages, we created jobs and to realize that most of our problems today revolve around these creations of ours – Don’t you wonder if the human species is a masochistic one?

As these thoughts started settling down in my head, the explanation about the calculation of the field came to an end.

There was a pause from the client’s side which after a few seconds, turned into awkward silence. My team leader quickly pressed the ‘Mute’ button in the Polycom conference phone and shouted, “Arey.. Reply if you have understood the calculation or ask the next question!”

I nodded and released the ‘Mute’ button.

“What do you actually think about our evolution as a species?” I wanted to ask.

“Thank you so much for that explanation.. Now we see why the issues in the data…” I started speaking.

I had evolved too much for life and truth.