Kabir woke up the next morning to strong winds. The the clouds weren't raining yet but they were thick black, covering the whole sky and the wind was pacing up too. The storm was near and Kabir didn't have any place to hide his head. He was walking through the unknown streets of an unknown village, aimlessly. The thick black clouds blocking the whole sky. Everything was what Kabir's mother called "bad omens". Kabir has seen many storms in his life. He used to enjoy them, standing against the winds with head high, even when the sun hides. He always used to feel as if he is the strongest person who has conquered the storm, but this one was different. It brought with itself the sense of insecurity, something that sends chills up in the spines and makes heart tremble with fear. The storm felt like a bad omen. A very bad omen. Kabir desperately ran. He was wanted to cry but there was no time for that too, he must find himself a shelter. He wanted to go home. Sand carried by the strong winds blocked his vision, strong winds pushing him away. It was frightening. This time kabir didn't felt like he has conquered anything, he realised how helpless he was and that was frightening.
Then came the rain, wind eased up and sand settled. He looked forward and saw a tin roofed tea stall. Kabir moved towards it, unsure whether he was crying or it was rain. He came below that tin roof, rain still rattling on it. Kabir stood there, still as if he froze. He stood like that for a while before a man came with the towel.
"Here boy, dry yourself otherwise you will catch fever." Said the man as he handed Kabir the towel. " you are all soaked. Why don't you come near the fire."
Kabir came near the fire. He was cold to his bones. So cold that he wanted to jump straight on that fire right away.
"You are still trembling" said the man as he poured so tea in a glass. "Here drink this. Careful, It's hot."
"so who are you? I have never seen you here before." Said the man as he poured tea for himself too.
"yeah I'm not from this village. I have came here to meet someone who lives here."
"who is it?"
"Azaan. We were friends. I came here hoping that he could arrange some job for me."
The old man looked at Kabir for a moment. "Are you that boy from the village on the mountains?"
"yes. I'm Kabir." Kabir looked puzzled. Someone who met Him in the strange land for the first time, knows who he was.
"And you came here to azaan, hoping that he could find you some work?"
"yes sir."
"you got to the wrong address then. Azaan don't work anymore. The fine man has degraded himself and he knows he had but he still keeps degrading. He used to be a very successful man with ambitions. He achieved what most people couldn't. Time is always the winner in the gamble called life. You could be so sure on something that you could even bet with closed eyes and then things change and they change in a way you could not possible think in your whole life. Sometimes the people who sees to be the best, ends up pathetic."
"You know Azaan that well? What has happened to him?"
"yeah I know Azaan very well. I was his father's friend. He used to call me uncle. He was the brightest kid with his goals fixed right from the start. He used to come to me very often, just to hear about the stories of gods and curses and boons and how the sky became blue and how oceans were. He always used to say that he will travel throughout the whole world and then will tell stories to everyone. Stories no one has ever heard of." Said the man as he took a bidi from his bundle and lit it from the fire burning.
"Azaan's father died, when he was very young and so the boy had the responsibilities of handling his father's business. He was good in convincing and connecting with people and so his reputation and trade grew. One day when he was out of the village, He met a girl and fell in love with her and she loved him too, so he brought her here with him. She was 10 years older and was a widow and so the elders didn't approve the relationship between them and asked him to send her back to her village.
Azaan refused to obey the elders. He married his love-Saira and so the people boycotted their marriage. No one from the village attended the ceremony, not even his friends but he didn't care. He didn't care about any of them. He was happy. He used to travel and then come home to his love. That's all a man wants and that's what he got. Everything was going good. She became pregnant with his baby. He was like the happiest person in the world when he got that news. I have never seen him more happy. They planned everything, the baby's name and it's room and everything. Azaan brought cradle and toys for the baby and Saira started to make sweaters for the baby.
But then one day, everything changed. It was when Azaan was out for few weeks for work, Saira got into early labour. Me and my wife were there. We still remember that day, The baby wasn't coming out and Saira lost a lot of blood. We asked for help but no one came forward for help. They didn't only boycotted the marriage, they didn't only boycotted a woman in need of help, they boycotted humanity, just because they didn't approve the marriage."
Society is weird. It was supposed to give security to the people, serve humanity and give freedom but for most of the part it does is to give people fear, it serves the ego of few and takes away freedom for the rest.
When Azaan came back, after 2 days, he had all those little wooden toys and flowers and a necklace for Saira. He buried them all. He buried all the toys with his little girl and flowers, white lilies were put on the grave. He didn't cry, all he said was that Saira loved white lilies. He hasn't worked since then. He blames himself for her death. He has not gone out since then. All he do is to drink. He is killing himself and he knows that, that's why he drinks. All that is left of the curious boy with the eyes full of dreams is a dull man with a bottle full of misery."
kabir stood silent. The rain has stopped, everything was greener and more clear. Raindrops sliding through the leaves as the winds shakes the leaves. The winds were kinder now, calm and gentle. The man took the last drag from his bidi as he watched the dying fire. Kabir stood there, with his empty glass. He had a battle of thoughts going inside him.
"You lived in the village in the mountains? Azaan once told me about you. He said he made a friend there." Said the man, trying to break the Silence.
kabir nodded a little with a smile but his mind still engaged in the battle against his guilt for leaving Azaan in that condition and his reasons why he did that. Kabir wanted the victory of his peace and so the reasons won, but the guilt is like rebel, waiting to rise and shake the whole kingdom.
"Boy you came come with me if you don't have anywhere to go. You can Stay with me for a sometime till you get a job. I'm not that well for sometime, so I can use your help too. I'm an old man now. " said the man laughing
Kabir smiled. It was like a relief to Kabir. Now he at least had somewhere to go. "Somewhere better than the musty smelling house of that drunkard" said his reasons.