Hell Camp-Your Loving Taliban
By Raja Sharma
Copyright@2011Raja Sharma
Smashwords Edition
Chapter 1: Preface
"You think you know but actually you don't know that there are so many who know more than you know"
--------Raja Sharma
Chapter 2: I don’t Want Time Machine
In a computerized hall like laboratory, two eyes were fixed on a screen in front of them. The power of that super computer was examining a globe shaped machine next to it. That globe, about eight feet in radius, was iridescent and had many hidden possibilities in its womb. The super computer was trying to get to the bottom of those hidden marvels.
The eyes were waiting for the result. He was sitting there holding his breath, for he did not want to miss even a second of that miracle.
“Look Vijay, we have success!” suddenly shouted Professor Yasser ecstatically, “our time-machine has conquered the invincible velocity of time. Now we will be able to travel in time, past or future!”
The professor had been working on that machine for more than twenty years but over work and tension had resulted in emaciated body. But now with the new joy in his life, he was jumping like a boy who had got his favourite thing.
“Congratulations, professor, your hard work has finally brought success to you. This invention of yours will definitely change the life on this planet,” said Vijay, professor’s assistant, who had been assisting him in every step for about six years.
“Thank you Vijay, but don’t forget that the credit goes to you too because you have been working with me on this machine,” said the professor very happily.
“Sir, I don’t deserve this honour. It is your greatness that you value my work so highly,” said Vijay very humbly.
Once again, Professor Yasser, with the help of his assistant, got busy in the preparation of his journey, a journey that would take him in to future. It was a beautiful dream that was going to turn true, to add a golden chapter to human chronicle of advancement.
The professor was now in a self designed suit that was made with consideration of changing environments in mind. He looked like an astronaut who was about to go in to the outer world in search of a new planet.
When he entered that iridescent globe shaped craft, he was thrilled. He switched on the computer, having properly seated himself on that special seat that was designed for the purpose. The craft slowly rose up, about one foot, in the air and its iridescent surface began to revolve at unimaginable speed. The colours finally changed into white and it disappeared.
Inside that craft everything was normal. The only movement was in the time cycle, which was changing rapidly on a meter, 2000, 2009, 2050, and 2300. Everything was being left behind very rapidly. Finally the meter stopped at 2500 AD. The professor looked at his wrist watch. It was 25 minutes 40 seconds past 5:00 pm. He had completed his journey in ten seconds. His delight was beyond words. He switched off the computer and opened the main door of the craft.
He was shocked to see the scene outside. The smile disappeared. What he saw was the hot burning sand stretching till the horizon. It was a burning desert, with no sign of vegetation and water. He was confused and surprised whether he had reached any other plant because it was not like his own earth. There was no sign of life there. He put on his face mask and began to observe the scene.
It was true that Professor Yasser was standing near his house in Kathmandu but it was not the Kathmandu of 2010, it was the Kathmandu of 2500. It was the picture of the part of the earth that once teemed with green trees, plants, gardens, and human beings, but now it was deserted.
He was unable to tell what the cause of that change was because there could be so many reasons. Suddenly, he saw a shining object in the sky. It was a round object like a flying saucer. It came down and making a tornado of dust disappeared into the earth. The professor could not believe his eyes but he was relieved that there was some movement on the earth. A ray of home gave him courage and strength and he began to run forward. He could not see the transparent glass wall and he collided with it. He fell unconscious. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was in a glass cage.
After a while, red light appeared in the room and it brought some movement in that cage. A robot, exactly the size of a normal human being, appeared and pointed his right hand at the professor. A ray of red light touched his body and he felt that he was being transported somewhere else. Maybe it was their way of welcoming the visitors.
He found himself in a hall. He almost shrieked with joy and surprise to see human beings there. The place looked like a court of law, with a judge on a high chair, lawyers sitting below and people who had come to watch the proceedings. The professor was in the dock, the place where an accused stands in the court of law. The professor was surprised to see the colour of the skin of the people there. They were yellow complexioned, with brown hair and blue eyes. This was obviously the result of the environmental changes.
The lawyer smiled and said, “Whose guest are you, Professor Yasser?”
“I am a visitor from 21st century and I have brought a message of friendship,” said professor Yasser.
“You can’t be our friend because you and your forefathers caused this present state of the earth. It is only because of you that we are surviving in this hot oven like earth in 2500 AD,” said the lawyer.
“I don’t understand,” said Yasser with expression of surprise on his face.
“This court room is situated about ten feet under the ground. We don’t have any other option to save ourselves from pollution, lack of oxygen, and the ultraviolet rays of the sun. There are no trees on our earth and the ozone layer has disappeared. The sea level is dangerously high and dust storms are everyday part of our life,” said the lawyer.
Professor Yasser was speechless and he decided not to say anything.
“This is the result of your activities. Now we survive on the oxygen that we make through machines; we can neither laugh to our content nor speak as much as we want to because we must save oxygen. You are responsible for all this. You and your people destroyed jungles, fought wars, finished natural resources, and left our earth bare. You are a criminal, you have killed the humanity. You must be punished!” the lawyer was furious and he wanted that the professor should be dealt with severely. His face seemed to be burning with anger.
The grave voice of the judge echoed in the hall, “This court, the saviour of human rights, finds the accused guilty and passes death sentence.”
The professor was stunned and he could not protest.
The robot sent the red ray towards him and he was transmitted to some other place. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was in a kind of black hole and he was shrinking.
He knew that his body was going to explode any instant. He was helpless and he knew that the end was near. He was about to scream when he was startled. He was in his laboratory. He had been dreaming and there was neither any spacecraft nor any black hole.
“Sir, please check this time and velocity diagram. I have made the final plan,” said Vijay, his assistant.
“No, Vijay, I don’t want any machine to take me to future. I would like to concentrate on the present,” he gave a pleasant smile to Vijay.
Vijay was totally confounded because in past many years he had never seen his professor in such a jolly mood.
The professor left his laboratory and stepped into the garden. He went near the plants and began to smell them one by one. He was like a child talking with flowers and buds. His mind was dancing.
After that day, the laboratory was never opened again, and it transpired that the professor had left that place. Some said that he had started a project with the help of a few volunteer to plant trees wherever they found vacant lot. The professor made it his mission: his glory, his ambition, and his study of science, almost everything that he had with him had disappeared. He was a hermit on a mission, spreading the message of goodness.
He began to visit colleges and universities to deliver lectures but he never forgot to tell them about his horrible dream. They say that the professor is a dancing sage and he sings and dances with people and informs them about the glory and power of nature. A scientific Buddha was in the making.
Chapter 3: Sunshine
It was shivering cold, and to add to their discomfort the sun had not appeared for about two weeks. Their eyes would wait for the sun-rays hidden behind the overcast sky. Like any other day, Bishan Singh woke up very early in the morning, though he had not slept well in the night.
Once eyes are opened in the morning, it is often very difficult to go back to sleep. In summers, Bishan Singh would go for morning walk but in winter it was different. He was sitting on the edge of his cot, his old body tightly covered with a quilt. He looked at Sukhwanti, his wife, asleep in her cot, next to his. She had been coughing the whole night and only near the morning she had fallen asleep.
Bishan Singh often told her to get her household work done by the maid but she would not listen to him. She did not feel happy until she did everything herself: washing utensils, scrubbing the floor, and, if nothing remained to be done, washing clothes. It was not like before when she was young. Old body is susceptible to ailments. At night, he would get up and rub her back so that she could get some relief from cough. If she is unwell, he is almost shattered.
The chirping of the birds in the courtyard suggested that it was light outside. Bishan Singh guessed that it must be 6:00 am. He wanted to peep through a window but the very thought of cold gust of wind that would enter through the window frightened him. He enveloped his body tightly in his old quilt. He was thinking why birds don’t catch cold! How delightfully they were chirping in the courtyard, pecking at the grains strewn by the maid!
Meanwhile, Sukhwanti turned on her side, and in the process her quilt slipped from her back, showing her bare back. Bishan Singh wanted to call her so that she could adjust her quilt but he didn’t; he did not want to disturb her sleep. He stood up and covered her body with her quilt. He decided to take her to their doctor, for her cough was not being cured with the help of herbs and local treatment.
Sukhwanti did not agree so easily because she did not want to waste money on minor ailments. She believed that such physical ailments get cured by themselves.
He came back to his cot and sat against the wall, with his back touching the wall. Memories don’t easily leave a person. Memories are like friends to the old and helpless lonely people. They submerge themselves in those whirlpools of memories and pass their days, sometimes thinking about happy days of the past and sometimes regretting over the past which they can never undo.
When he had married Sukhwanti, his economic condition was not so good, and it was somewhat difficult to make ends meet. There was no ancestral property and land. Bishan Singh was a carpenter in his village, carrying forward his ancestral profession. But with the first step of Sukhwanti in his house, everything began to change magically.
In those days, a new factory had opened near his village and he was lucky to have got a job there. He would ride his bicycle to and fro and come back home in the evening. His monthly salary brought a lot of happiness to their house. The first signs of prosperity appeared after the construction of a new house, replacing their old mud house. Things began to pile in their rooms and husband and wife looked very happy.
The next big venture for Bishan Singh was the purchase of a small piece of land in his own village. On that land, he got four shops constructed, of which one he kept for himself and the other three were hired, thus adding to his monthly income. The villagers admired his wife because she was lucky for Bishan Singh. In a few years, he began to be respected everywhere in his village, the evident result of his wealth and prosperity.
Sukhwanti changed her side again. Now her face was not covered with the quilt. Bishan Singh began to look at her face. God had blessed them with everything but the joy of becoming parents was, perhaps, not in their fate. They had undergone various treatments, visited many doctors, but nothing happened. People suggested to Bishan Singh to go for second marriage so that his second wife could give him children. They said that children would be a great help to him in his old age. But, Bishan Singh did not listen to any one of them. All he wanted was the happiness of his beloved wife, Sukhwanti.
While he was lost in his thoughts, Sukhwanti changed her side, but now her eyes were open. Seeing her husband sitting on his cot, she got to her feet and said, “What is wrong? Are you all right?”
“Yes, I am fine; tell me how are you feeling now? You did not sleep the whole night; your cough was troubling you. You will have to come with me to see a doctor today,” said Bishan Singh.
“Nothing has happened to me, it is but a common cold and I will be all right in a day or two. Look at yourself! You are shivering,” said Sukhwanti.
“It is too cold today. This year cold has broken all the past records,” said Bishan Singh.
“Why are you sitting like that? Lie down and take rest. I will be back with a hot cup of tea for you,” said Sukhwanti and moved towards the kitchen.
“I am waiting for the sunshine. I want to enjoy the sun but I don’t think we will see the sun even today,” said Bishan Singh.
“Now, don’t you touch cold water! The maid will wash the utensils. Bring your tea as well and sit with me,” said Bishan Singh in a patronizing manner.
Sukhwanti folded her quilt very properly and made her bed and then brought her glass of tea and entered her husband’s quilt on his bed.
“Come close. It is warm here,” said Bishan Singh, making room for her.
Sukhwanti touched his forehead and said with a shock, “Oh…you have high fever. Why didn’t you tell me before? I should have given you a tablet. Now, stay in your bed and don’t try to come out,” she said to him in a manner of a mother who tries to scold her son.
Taking a sip from his glass, Bishan Singh said, “Nothing has happened to me. You get worried unnecessarily!”
They enjoyed their tea and remained sitting close to each other for a very long time. There was an unspoken understanding between the two and both knew what in the mind of the other person was.
Then suddenly, Sukhwanti broke the ice, “I don’t know why God is angry with us. Had he given us a child, we would have enjoyed the happiness of being parents in our old age!”
Bishan Singh laughed.
Sukhwanti knew that behind his laughter there was an unspoken agony but she knew that she was as helpless as he was.
“Sukhwanti, don’t think that children bring happiness in parent’s life. Look at our neighbour Mohan Singh. He has three sons but they don’t live with him. They have taken their share of his land and left him forever. Now there is no one to take care of old Mohan Singh and his ailing wife,” said Bishan Singh with a deep sigh.
Sukhwanti did not say anything. She was, in fact, happy that her husband’s thoughts were much higher than other people in that village.
“Then there is Kamal Nath. His sons have acquired his property and given him just one room to live in. In his old age he has no one to look after him. Now he says that he was wrong. If he had kept his money securely, he could have hired someone to work for him but now he is helpless,” said Bishan Singh.