Short Story - How Blue is my Sapphire

Ramesh reaches the Wadi village by 8.00 AM. He travels around 12 hours in last night. In the journey, he did not see any greenery. No water in sight. No proper roads in this area. Lamentation in environment added sourness to his mood. He thought the temperature was soaring due to the summer season. Ramesh is a young news reporter, working for a leading newspaper. He got the new assignment to cover drought story in the rural area. He is not happy with this project. Last night, Ramesh packed his bag and started travelling to the rural area of Marathwada region.

In the journey, clouds of thoughts covered his mind. His career growth was not satisfactory as he planned. Because of his moral values and ethics, his growth is stalled. These values are outdated in today's competitive world. Ramesh knew, he never twists or hides the truth to change impact of the news. He never compromised on ethics. Ramesh never pledges boss or superior for the sake of growth. He did not have any significant finding in his career. Ramesh knew that He tried very hard to be successful. But Ramesh remains at the same position for a long time.

Tatyarao loves ranching and his byre. Bull is his favourite animal. He raised a bull named Sarja like his son. The bond between them is special and famous in the village. There is drought since last three years in Marathwada region of Maharashtra. A below average rain and no crop ruined the life of farmers. Tatyarao seats on the high amount of losses. He borrows money from bank, money lenders and relatives. Even his beloved Sarja mortgaged against the loan. He tried to repay some part of the loan to the money lender. He does not have money to pay last loan portion to the money lender. The installment is approximately Rs.4000.

Tatyarao came to know about Rs.2500 being distributed with freebies for one vote in the by-election around 10.00 AM. He battles with his ethics and values whether he should cast a vote for financial benefits.

Dinkar is a mysterious person and former Member of Parliament. Today is an important day for Dinkar considering that the elections are just around the corner after a couple of days. He manages all kinds of people with ease. His face remains invariably unexpressive. Ten years ago, he had won the election from current constituencies. In the second attempt, he did not succeed. He is trying his luck for the third time for the same seat. In his constituency, a reasonably sizeable number of people have a problem. As a Member of Parliament, he made lots of money in the different scam. He did not take any effort to improve the situation in his term. So He knows that people were fed up with his inactiveness. He also knows that his scams are going to affect him. So he tried to decoy and lure his constituency people with different schemes. He sends senior citizen on the pilgrimage. He donates a good amount of money to an ashram.

Tatyarao’s love for Sarja beats his moral values. At 3.00 PM, Tatyarao went to the place where Dinkar people distribute money. But Tatyarao is afraid to take money. He is pusillanimous to take quick decision and returns from that location. At that time, Ramesh is searching for farmers who were affected by drought. Tatyarao pixilated on the road due to confusion. Ramesh spots Tatyarao on the road. He wanted to have a conversation about the drought effects on crop and farmers.

Tatyarao explains his story and shows that how their lives are severely affected due to drought. Tatyarao mentioned that government declared Rs. 2000 for compensation against last crop losses due to drought. But he got only Rs.500 out of Rs.2000. He had to pay the remaining amount to corrupt officials. Such contrast former Member of Parliament ready to pay him more money against one vote as compared to the government would pay for crop losses.

Ramesh gets the tip from Tatyarao about money distribution. He locates spot from the distance. Ramesh is shocked to know that Ratnakar is the primary person who distributes money for Dinkar at 5.00 PM.

Ratnakar is a middle age man. Ramesh is the son of Ratnakar. But due to their ideological differences, they can't see each other. Ratnakar always thought that his son is a loser and incompetent. Ramesh knows that his father is not a good person to follow.

Ramesh meets Ratnakar at that spot and blasted a flurry of questions to him. Tatyarao listens to their conversation from some distance.

"Why are you distributing money?"

“I work for Dinkar, In fact, I am his right hand. I execute good and bad activities for him.”

"Father, why are you involved in politics?"

"Ramesh that is the long story."

"What happened to your liquor agency?"

Suddenly cold vibes come from Ratnakar.

Ramesh lowered his tone and asked the same question again.

“Son, my liquor agency business was good. When you left home due to our differences, I started to concentrate more on the liquor outlet. I earned a handsome profit, and I was happy with the progress.”

"Ramesh, why you left home?"

"Father, you wanted me to continue our liquor business and discontinue the course of Bachelors in Mass Communication. I did not like liquor business at all. The gap between our ideology differences was wide, and we never take any effort to fill the gap. Each day we fight a lot because of your liquor business issues and complication. You tried each and everything to make your outlet profitable. You never care about people's lives are affected due to that. That is the reason I am against of it.

"If your business was running in profit, then why are you working in politics?"

“Ramesh, with rapid growth other things come to your nest. I entered the club of rich people in this area. Especially Dinkar, with his contacts, I started to venture into other fields. But this success came with a price, and I need to repay it in some form.”

"Father too much greed may ruin a life."

“Son that's correct. Same thing happened with me. In the last election, when Dinkar contested the seat, he asked me to help him in his election campaign. I did so and even supplied alcohol to his campaign to woo people. Eventually, Dinkar lost the last election.”

“It happened as expected.”

“Ramesh, the story does not end here. It triggered the downfall of my business. Dinkar refused to pay the bills for liquor he freely distributed in the election. Some of my decisions went against me. That's the reason there was a crunch of money in my agency. Many people went against me and wanted me to repay their money. Due to the lavish lifestyle, it did not take long for me to become bankrupt and eventually led me to sell out my property.”

"And still you are part of the Dinkar campaign?"

“Yes, that is because I became jobless and I wanted to earn money to survive. Even though Dinkar did not pay the liquor bill, he wanted me to do all his work. Initially, I hesitated but finally agreed to join him as his activist. Gradually I earned his trust and led his campaign. I think he figured out greedy, calculative and proved my mantle in managing people qualities in me.”

“Dad you made a wrong decision and joined the wrong person too.”

“Yes, that is correct Ramesh.”

“Anna, I like to request you, please get out of this politics and help yourself.”

Ratnakar felt emotional after being called as “Anna” by his son. That triggered a guilty feeling within him about his work.

“I want you to tell me all details of Dinkar. His all his activities and his plan to lure people.”

Ratnakar ready to provide all the details of Dinkar properties, campaign details with freebies distribution. He is willing to provide all the evidence. He warns Ramesh that Dinkar will come after both of us. We need to hide until news article published in the newspaper.

Ratnakar needs three to four hours to collect all proofs. At ten, he handed over all the proofs to Ramesh after which he prepared a detailed article on the Dinkar campaign, his assets and his wrong doings.


Dinkar came to know about news reporter arrived into the village and investigating his people about the election campaign. Dinkar started his search to destroy all evidence and stop both of them to avoid further complications. But Ramesh is able to escape from village successfully with the help of farmer. Dinkar gets outraged about this news. He searched Ratnakar and news reporter in every corner of the village.


At midnight, before he left, Ramesh offered some cash to Tatyarao. Tatyarao hesitates first, but he convinces him to take it. Money is not sympathy for Tatyarao but for Sarja to become loan free again. It's kind of fee to help Ratnakar to go underground until tomorrow morning on Tatyarao field for the safety of his father.

News article with the detailed proof published in the newspaper by Ramesh. For the first time in his career, he did get breaking news on his own. Due to this, Dinkar’s application for election got cancelled by the state election commission. At seven, Ratnakar appeared in the police station himself and confessed a series of statements for the numerous crimes, and he undertook for Dinkar. As soon as Ramesh exposed Dinkar, his party distanced themselves from the campaign episode. Dinkar’s career as a politician came to end with this breaking news. Now there was only one choice left for him to surrender himself and confess his crime and scams in the court.
                                                                                                   Tatyarao did not lose his hope and started his work with a renewed vigour. He paid the last installment to free Sarja from the loan. Besides, he needs to repay a significant amount of money, but he has the faith in himself and Sarja for the next year season. Tatyarao feels great as he did not compromise his life values in amid worst condition. Ramesh feels sad because his father will be in prison for a long time. He decided, he will reunite with father after Ratnakar gets out of jail. Ramesh got his first major journalistic breakthrough and looked forward to seeing much more.

x

Half Win

Today Atharva reached office on time. He greets Narmada in the lobby.

"Narmada, did you prepare the presentation."

"Yes" Narmada replied.

He asks her to add latest product sales figure in the presentation.

Narmada agreed on points.

"Narmada, you have become more productive."

She exchanges the smile with her boss.

She left. She thought that her boss needs the presentation to reach him in the next couple of hours.

She was constantly stunned by the boss for his leadership skill. He knows everything, his staff deliverables, skills, birthdays, events, and he cares about team members. He was a man of moments. Her boss was a genuine leader. The way he communicates any thought to peers or his seniors. That impresses others. It's acted as a confidence booster for his team. Nothing but a halfway mark for any assignment. The remaining half part he carries on his shoulder by distributing work to the right people. He is the right person at the right time at right place. He was an environment-friendly person. Infrequently, his peers call him eco-friendly manager. 

Pratham was the top performer of Vedika's team. Until that time, the relationship between the top managers was all right. But all hell broke loose when Pratham moved from Vedika's to the Atharva's team. Vedika was not happy with this move. She totally relied upon Pratham to keep a healthy relationship with the customer for repeat orders. He procured good business deals for her. Even though it was an internal transfer, his exit from the team was a big shock for Vedika. It created an animosity between Vedika and Atharva. Both of them used to work for the marketing department in the bank.

Pratham described Vedika to his new boss. She was the combination of aggressiveness, greedy, smart, hard work, and talent. She manages all her projects with great speed. Speed and good planning are Vedika's USP. Her team members always try to avoid her anger. She always wants the best performance from staff for an assigned task. In other things, she was smooth to deal. If she plans anything, then she does everything to execute it.

Now Vedika searched a suitable replacement for Pratham from Atharva's team. But she failed to convince anyone from his staff which added fuel to her anger. Atharva tried to avoid to confront Vedika. But she always tried to invoke him into combat. In chess, when two kings are involved in the battle, their knights may engage in oblique moves. They never lose any chance to grab each other's customer base. Sometimes she used Atharva's ideas to impress the senior management. At that time, she used to look at Atharva's face and tried to tease him. But he was such a calm and composed person, he never responded. But sometimes he lost his cool and prepared strategies to counter-attack Vedika. That made him more vulnerable towards Vedika. Now the two were neck and neck to win customers from each other's base for the company.

Company internal politics added fuel to their fight. In a long shot, Atharva always beat Vedika's estimate. Your status will get a big boost when you win against a great competitor. They never waste any single chance to overpower each other. To become successful, they studied a lot and always were ready to take the extra step to get an edge on each other.

Their boss was the only commonality between Atharva and Vedika. Their manager knew techniques to handle this type of situation and always wanted to fetch best possible outcomes from his people. So he never disturbed their egos. Atharva was always busy to plan a counter strategy to beat Vedika.

Unknowingly, Atharva brought home the tensions involved in the office. Business mixed with family can be a deadly combination. Atharva was already knee deep into that. His family suffered a lot due to the stress in his professional world. Especially his wife Chitra was unhappy about it. She needed to support two children and handle her office work. It created differences and lots of tension in their relationship.  Both of them were physically and emotionally drained out due to their clashes. His health took a toll because of constant pressure and lack of any physical exercise. He was unable to spend time with family, and his busy business schedule made it even more challenging. His relationship with family started to strain due to this reason. The once famous person for his ice-cool temperament was now involved in bitter arguments on petty issues.

Chitra was an emotional and demanding person. She worked for the insurance company. She dealt with the office as well the household chores. The primary problem between Chitra and Atharva was a lack of communication. Both of them were busy in their respective jobs and did not spend quality time with each other. That was the reason why their relationship became boring and rotten.

One good thing happened with Atharva. He got a promotion in another department for his outstanding work and practical leadership skills. It made Vedika get out of his working horizon, and his approach got mild towards her. In the corporate world, nobody is your permanent enemy.  Now Atharva was involved directly with the senior management. He could easily influence the management. So Vedika wanted him to forget all ill battles and become friends again.

Initially, he suspected some trap behind this move. But soon he realized that it was mandatory for her to align with the new management. So he did not hold any grudge against her. After a few years, they became good friends. She led a new project for the company, and she was doing well in that. Sometimes Vedika invited the rival-turned-friend to her home for lunch. Her family knew very well about him. On one such occasion, he gifted mango tree samples. Both of them were very excited about their friendship, and they planted it as their symbol of friendship. Sometimes when they met in the office, they discussed the mango tree.

Atharva was on the top of the world for his success. But soon perceived that he was all alone out there. Nobody was there from his family to celebrate his success. That added woes to his existing set of problems. Everybody has an aim in their life. There was none from Atharva's family with whom he could share his accomplishment. Besides, he ignored his health problems.

Suddenly Vedika got the news that Atharva's car collided with a divider on the road. He was admitted to the hospital, and his health degraded steadily. Every morning she prayed for Atharva's well-being. In the hospital, she heard the bitter truth, i.e., Atharva and his wife had arguments over his new trip to overseas. His boss assigned him the new responsibility to look after business in a foreign branch in New Zealand. He wanted to move to the foreign country as soon as possible. But Chitra opposed this idea, and they had a bitter argument on this issue. All these thoughts occupied Atharva's mind while driving the car that collided with divider. This accident resulted in the unfortunate death of all his family members. Former and current associates of Atharva shocked over this incident.

Vedika called the hospital staff, and she received the sad news about Atharva. He died after a week's battle with his injuries. Vedika was very disturbed by this news. Even though she was the former enemy of Atharva, his death was a tremendous loss for her as well as the company. Now she understood that she lost a good human being too. She was unable to bear the loss of a dear friend.

The situation was critical for Vedika. The old hatred for Atharva turned into a feeling that she had lost a part of herself. She held herself responsible for this incident. Her heart was heavy and burdened. She was ashamed of her involvement in the corporate battle. Even though the contest was played a few years ago. She left the battlefield long ago without caring about win or loss. She wanted to repay the loss. As she thought that she was one who started all of the corporate episodes. She wanted to go that extra mile to salute her friend and to repay her debts.

She decided to resign from her current job, and she did it. She faced lots of struggle and competition in all her duties and each role she played. She thought that many people suffered due to the same. Some people lost their cool and argued on small issues which were unnecessary. Some people are unable to handle the complexities of professional assignments. They quit early and face troubles in their lives. Nobody can stop such things, but she decided to help such victims. In life, everybody wants to win, and nobody wants to lose. To become successful, you need to be mentally and physically fit.

Vedika started an NGO, which promotes awareness about healthy stress management and yoga techniques to cope with daily stress people bear in the workplace as well as in family. Narmada also joined an NGO later.