Trashy Entry #4: THE 21ST CENTURY EPIDEMIC TAKING PEOPLE BY STORM- II

REMEDY:

It is definite now that we’re knocking the wrong doors. The loneliness is the weakness persisting in our minds, and not of the surroundings. There are many notable moments when we feel all alone even in a bountiful gathering. Thus, it’s nothing wrong with the place, air or weather. The glitch is in the mind, a feeling that emerges from inside, like a void that builds when we believe that people or objects would fill it when we’ll need them to. Henceforth, the cure remains with us too.

Find a hobby today! Seek the things that make you happy, even after you’ve spent hours doing it all alone and continue the ritual. We humans are creators by nature. The bliss that we seek in building something is far comparable. So find the maternal instinct inside you that keeps you going even in dull times by creating a unique piece.

Social work: Develop a habit to do something good for the society or the environment. It swells our heart with pride and sense of worth.

Invest in the relations from the start: Family is the most blessed gift from God. Despise it or like it, but they’re the reality of our existence. The time now invested in those who are close to our hearts and try to be available in their needs, can build a strong foundation to a healthy family. This gives a great sense of belongingness.

Get a pet! The innocence and overwhelming unconditional love of a pet keeps us feeling loved and wanted.

Travel and nature: Learn to relax and enjoy the nature. Nature is our ultimate undoing. We are all designed for the wilderness. But during our little span of mortal life, we seldom steal moments to stop and smell the flowers. Thus, time to learn to breathe in the fresh aroma of the flora, bathe yourself in the purple light of the setting sun, and calm your mind with the sound of the flowing water. Go places, if you can, see the wondrous creation of the Mother Nature. There is no end or any boundary that can limit the thing of beauty that embarks the joy forever.

It’s true that we are all designed to play our roles in life. But in doing so, we often forget that we’re created by nature to mingle in it one day. We keep running throughout our youth and when we stop at the finish line, we stand there confused and wonder what to do next. The old age is not the stage of loneliness as we all fear that it is. It’s basically the stage to sit back and reap the investments that we made while running our way here.

After all, sitting in a corner and sipping a nice drink with a book or ipad is actually not a bad thing to do. But doing it all over again and every single day for the next twenty years is what scares us all. Train your mind to love the beauty of life rather than fearing about the future. “And if we die alone???” Well, we all die alone. It’s not a group thing to do. So, why worry about that yet? It’s an altogether different topic.    

Trashy Entry #4: THE 21ST CENTURY EPIDEMIC TAKING PEOPLE BY STORM- I

THE PROBLEM:

After all the hard day’s work, most of us dream to sit on the comfy couch placed on far corner of the house, with a cup of steaming tea/ coffee/ hot chocolate and maybe a book to go with. This ‘me time’ is a heavenly bliss for every person who drives oneself crazy the entire day working their butts off in the office/ kitchens/ running after kids. Oh! This peace and solitude seems far too delicious when we imagine ourselves soaking in it. How we wish an eternity of such beautiful moments!

Let me divulge you in a secret. This is the epidemic I’m talking about in this blog. The so-called ‘dreamy place’ would suddenly turn into a hell-hound when our imagination takes a ten- year leap. Let’s start all over again. This time we may take the liberty to place ourselves in our fifties and sit on the same couch placed in the lonely corner of the house and try to convince ourselves that the ‘me time’ took a longer turn. Not so tempting now, is it?

I’ve met a lot of people who are facing the so-called mid-life crisis that’s plainly indicative of their fears surfacing due to the loneliness they feel. Most part of their lives they’ve worked like mules, never getting enough time to seek any hobby or something to boost their creativity or built a sound relation with a true companion. Simply taking everything for granted except work. It’s a popular presumption that when we have lot money, we can buy anything to please ourselves.

 People work for comforts, money, house and status. But when they achieve it all, they try seeking the next venture. But oops! Nobody bothered to peek at the clock. It’s almost mid-fifties! Do we still have that much time in our hands to do something else? With all the cholesterol and diabetes thriving inside our bodies along with other imbalances, can we really reinvest our exhausted brains into yet another venture?

With these questionable realities, almost 80% of people give up and convince themselves that they’re now retired. Then they turn back expecting their families to entertain their boredom. Oops again! We forgot the clock yet another time. The parents have grown older and are more like kids than our once mature councilors. And our kids, on the other hand, have grown older and expect us to treat them like parents. It’s like Alice looking through the mirror!

The world that we once built is upside down now. We yearn to be with those we created so that they become the crutches of our old age. But sadly, they are helpless with the lack of time as they are following the same regime that we once chose for ourselves. Then we look for our spouse, (keeping in mind the current divorce rates and low human tolerance levels) who had probably in 25% cases lost interest in us years ago and separated their paths. Our siblings have nothing to help us (maybe it had skipped our minds countless times to invite them to our family get-togethers). Friends don’t remember us. Obviously, they are playing their individual parts in their respective struggles.

Gosh! We must now follow the path of the Great Gatsby and organize affluent parties for our past acquaintances to come attend and spend some quality time with us. But the question arises, was Jay Gatsby spared by loneliness? Absolutely not.

(To be continued...)

Trashy Entry #3 THE BENTLEY MYSTERY (Part Two)

Harry and Smith returned to the Bentley estate and hurriedly went inside Mr. Bentley’s study.

“Did you touch anything here since the last night’s break in?” Harry asked Mr. Bentley who shook his head confidently in denial.

“Good. Would you mind excusing us?” Smith ordered everyone to leave the room instantly.

Once alone, they both got to work. Harry looked around the desk for all the papers and important documents, while Smith brushed some powder around the window panes from where the unknown person supposedly entered last night. He easily matched those imprints with the one of the culprits and surprisingly they didn’t match with any of the staff members.

Harry observed some papers lying loosely in the last shelf of the desk, inside a diary of Mrs. Bentley. It was a site map of a children’s park, dated the year 2005. The park seemed to be planned to be completed by 2010 and was proposed on the site of the north of the woods at the outskirts of San York.

“Smith do you have any park around this area today?” Harry called out.

“No way. I’ve been here, it’s a restricted area. No construction is allowed there. It’s a military dump known for the radiation prone area. Building a kids’ park would mean open murders of kids.” They both looked at each other raising their eyebrows.

Just then Mrs. Bentley broke inside looking edgy.

“So, found anything?” She tried to hide her nervousness masking it with a brilliant smile. Harry hid those papers craftily inside his jacket pocket and they both shook their heads showing disappointment.

“Mr. Bentley wishes to see you both in the living area.” She spoke gesturing them to leave the room. They nodded and stepped out while Harry returned inside, startling her out of guilt.

“Sorry to surprise you, but I just wanted to return your briefcase.” She nodded while he left the place.

Mr. Bentley was waiting for them at the living room. “The kidnapper left this note on the door.” They unfolded the paper that read in the same handwriting:

‘Meet us in two hours on the Old Wicket Bridge with the money in the same briefcase.’

Harry and Smith suggested Mr. and Mrs. Bentley to take off with the money immediately. To the couple’s surprise, they refused to follow them. So, Mr. and Mrs. Bentley drove towards the Old Wicket Bridge while Harry and Smith stayed back.

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Smith went back to the study and called all the Bentley’s staff over there. He noticed that one of them was missing.

“Where is Max?” He asked the head servant.

“Max was unwell, so he didn’t come today.” He replied hesitatingly.

Smith nodded and asked again, “Give me his address.”

The staff members told that all of the employees of Bentleys’ lived in staff apartments in the estate.

Smith leaped towards the apartments to find Max’s apartment empty, while Harry searched the entire estate and found a passage to the basement of the house. He entered the dark and dingy basement and looked around.

 He heard some footsteps there and asked who was there. But there was no reply. But Harry sensed someone’s presence there. He quickly leaped and locked the door from inside and called, “Whosoever is there, come out right now.”

There was still no response but Harry didn’t give up. He swiftly leaped and caught hold of a shadow moving behind the large wooden cupboard. It was not a shadow, but an arm of a person. He pulled him out and unveiled his mask. It was Max!

On the other side, Smith hid himself in the Bentley’s bedroom for a long while till he heard some footsteps entering the room. The man silently trotted inside and noticed the papers of the site map lying on the side table. He hurriedly caught hold of the papers and tried to get away with them, but he was not fast enough. Smith had already locked the room and arrested the man. His name was Tommy and he was the same man who broke in last night into the study, searching for those papers.

Both Max and Tommy were arrested and dragged by Harry and Smith to the place where they had hidden the boy.

The men took the detectives to the Low-income housing society where in a one room apartment lied the boy all tied up and weak. They knocked at the door which was opened when Tommy spoke in a different language. Once the man opened the door, he was ambushed by Harry. He shouted and tried to run but was too late.

“You traitors!” He screamed at Max and Tommy who looked at him helplessly.

“Sorry Romeo. We’re done.” muttered Max.

The three of them were arrested and taken into custody while Andrew was safely taken by the detective duos till they tracked his parents.

Harry and Smith rushed towards the Old Wicket Bridge where Mr. and Mrs. Bentley were expected to be meeting the rest of the kidnappers.

Luckily they were well on time to track down the couple who were arguing with two men about something. The men wore masks and were trying to snatch the briefcase from Mr. Bentley. Harry pulled out his gun and shot in the air to alert the men. As soon as the gun gave out a loud sound, the men shuddered and pushed Mr. and Mrs. Bentley out of their way to run for their lives.

But Harry and Smith caught them expertly after a slight chase in the woods. They caught the two men and dragged them to the place where the others were locked. Mr. and Mrs. Bentley followed them to reach to the detectives’ office where the policemen had already summoned to keep an eye on the culprits.

As soon as the two of them were unmasked, Mrs. Bentley cried in horror.

“Shepherd and Ceaser!” She knew both of them.

“As we expected.” giggled Harry. Mr. Bentley stared at them confused and spoke;

“Where’s my son?”

“He’s resting inside. He’s fine. I hope you don’t want to involve your son anymore into your dirty works?” Smith looked at Mrs. Bentley gritting his teeth.

“W-What dirty work?” She tried to play innocence.

“You still want to get away clean? Even after seeing the height of danger your son faced because of your ugly deeds?” Harry stared at her angrily, at which she started weeping like a sissy girl.

Mr. Bentley looked confused at which Harry and Smith decided to narrate the entire incident:

Mrs. Bentley partnered with Shepherd and Ceaser five years back to build a children’s park illegally on the old military dump area that was still abandoned due to its adverse radiation effects. They got the land cheap as the military too intended to get rid of the land. They planned a park as a loud pomp and show construction might grab the attention of the environmentalists.

“Children parks are rarely objected by the authorities. Also, they attract a lot of charity money.” chuckled Smith.

As planned, things went perfect and they easily drew 1 million dollars from the charities.

“Mrs. Bentley grabbed sympathetic votes as well for her welfare societies’ elections.” Harry smirked.

The tables turned once the money was in. Mrs. Bentley quite cleverly swept the entire money and filed a case against Shepherd and Ceaser under forgery. They returned after five years of imprisonment maddening with revenge.

“So the master plan was grabbing the money back and unveiling Mrs. Bentley’s truth and making her endure imprisonment.” Smith smiled.

“Max being an in-house agent informed them about everything. Tommy and Romeo the local hit men were appointed for doing their dirty jobs.” Harry chuckled feeling victorious.

“Kindly tell us if we hit out any petty information.” Smith smirked at Mrs. Bentley who dug her head ashamed.

Trashy Entry#3 THE BENTLEY MYSTERY (Part One)

The story originally written for a literary competition, it can be found as an e-read in kindle for young readers. This is one of the initial works of its author, Sugandhi Dilawari.

IT was a rainy day in San York with the air much chilly than usual when the phone bell shrilly rang in the small office of Harry and Smith Detective Agency. It was late in the afternoon, an unusual time for Mr. Harry Bond to exercise with his heavy weights. Mr. Bond was a tall, handsome man with staunch body and a good physique.

“Why don’t you pick up that damn phone?” yelled Mr. Smith Jones from the desk that was situated at the far north of the office room.

“It’s much nearer to you than me.” replied Mr. Bond, smiling calmly.

Mr. Jones shook and got up to pick the phone that was screaming at the top of its volume. Mr. Jones was a tall lean man, much less interested in exercising his body than his brains.

“Hello!”

“Is this Harry and Smith Detective Agency?”

“Yes, it is.” said Mr. Jones, slightly edgy.

After a while when Mr. Jones held up the phone and looked at the eager gaze of Mr. Bond and smiled and said, “Come Harry, we have work to do.”

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Smith and Harry were escorted by a uniform clad person inside the Royal Bentley Estate where Mr. and Mrs. Bentley were waiting eagerly for the detective duo. From then, the detectives learnt that their son Andrew Bentley a 14 year old boy that had gone to a weekend camp with his friends and didn’t return since then. They tried to call on his mobile which was switched off and they have not heard from him since then.

“In the morning”, said Mr. Bentley. “I got a call from my son’s mobile and some unknown person was speaking. He said that Andrew is with his and he will call me again. He warned us not to involve the police.”

Later that evening, Smith and Harry tracked the location of Andrew’s mobile signals and found out the address near the Old Wicket Bridge. Both of them reached the place and could find no track of anything unusual on the site in the darkness. Smith vaguely dialled the number again to find the buzzing of the phone from somewhere around. Harry followed the ring down below the bridge under a broken signboard which said “BEWARE” in red colour as if in blood. It had a paper chit stuck with it. Harry unfolded the chit that was a photograph of Andrew tied on a chair and looked in pain. At the backside of the photograph was written in a very untidy handwriting:

“You involved detectives, next time the dead body of your son would be found right here.”

Both of them were surprised at the cleverness of the kidnapper. “He’s definitely one step ahead of us.” said Smith, thinking deeply.

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Harry secretly packed his bags to temporarily shift at the Bentleys’ outhouse to keep a track on the happenings inside their estate. Meanwhile, Smith worked on the evidences- the mobile, the photograph, the handwriting…. at the lab. All the phones at the Bentley’s estate were tapped by him. Around 12 o clock in the midnight, Harry secretly entered Mr. Bentley’s study through the window. With the torchlight, he searched all over to find any evidences.

He caught hold of some documents by Mr. Bentley and his assistants. He matched their handwritings with that of the kidnapper written on the back of the photo they found that day. The results were positive.

Meanwhile, Smith tracked another phone call that day. The kidnapper asked Mrs. Bentley to bring the ransom of 1 million dollars in her personal briefcase only. They warned not to bring anyone else with her at the old warehouse in the outskirts of the city.

The next day, Mrs. Bentley nervously asked her husband, “What if I go alone and they kidnap me as well?”

“You should right now be worried about your son than yourself.” Spoke Smith agitated while Harry gestured him to calm down.

“You won’t be alone Mrs. Bentley. We would be right behind you.” Harry assured her.

Mrs. Bentley reached the venue in the evening, obviously followed by the detective duo secretly. The warehouse was an abandoned place broken and ruined with time. She nervously entered the shed that was dimly lit with some yellow light bulbs.

“Hello! Anyone there?” she cried in nervousness but there was no reply. Harry stealthily walked to the extreme end of the hall while Smith blocked the main entrance. Their guns were out in case anyone attacked. But there was no movement from anywhere. Finally, Harry tracked the entire area to find no one there. Mrs. Bentley started sobbing badly at the failure of the plan.

“I thought Andrew would be home today. I wonder where they have kept my son and in what condition.” She cried.

Three of them came back failed when Mr. Bentley informed them that in their absence someone broke in their house and entered his study. He was searching something specific as no valuables were missing.

Harry and Smith called out all the assistants of the Bentleys and kept their record along with their fingerprints. Harry requested Mrs. Bentley to lend him her briefcase. While Smith tracked down the camera footage of the study room. To his surprise, the camera was blocked for two hours when the incident happened.

“Maybe we are looking around at the wrong places.” said Smith while Harry nodded.

They placed all the evidences on their office table and started scrutinizing deeply. The list of all the fingerprints was one by one tallied with the fingerprints on the mobile as well as on the photograph. To their surprise, the phone and the photograph beheld multiple types of fingerprints out of which one matched with the one of the fingerprints taken from the Bentley’s staff!

Harry stepped closer to the table where Mrs. Bentley’s briefcase was kept.

“I wonder why the kidnapper asked the money specifically in this briefcase only.” He opened the bag and deeply researched the odds. It was an empty briefcase, engraved in some designer’s name. He checked the inside pockets and even carefully split away the internal lining. But tattering the bag was of no use.

“Mrs. Bentley won’t like its condition. You might have to pay her heavily for your extra services.” taunted Smith chuckling.

Harry snorted in reply. He continued the labour and carefully eyed the leathery sides of the bag. He noticed some sticky substance on the lock of the briefcase. He rubbed his fingers over it. It looked like some gum or a binding substance. He looked at it deeply with the help of his magnifying glass.

The lock looked broken and as if reinstalled with the help of a fixing agent that was not applied long before. With the help of a paper cutter, Harry forced the lock to re break and tried to scratch the insides of the hollow area. He found a loose piece in it that when the part was shaken, dropped out from its hiding place.

“What is it?” asked Smith leaping in the scene.

“It’s a computer chip.” observed Harry holding the part in his index finger and thumb.

“So, that means the case does not involve the kidnapping exclusively.” said Smith grimly.

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Trashy entry #2 THE ETERNAL FORCE

This post is written by immensely talented ANEESHA KHANNA who's presently a student. Her writings include several beautifully crafted poems that have simple language yet run way too deep when her thoughts are revealed. Trashy Blogs thanks her and wishes her all the luck for her future!   


I don’t see him as a man

With powers infinite

Nor do I see him as a magical light

He is not someone I need to please

Fasting and spending hours in the temple

But mind filled with greed

I don’t see him as a goal that I got to achieve

Nor do I need to climb mountains

To prove that yes “I do believe!”

I don’t see him as the power

That can free the guilt of my sins

Nor do I see him as a statue

Who needs to be honored with animal offerings

I see him as a force

The force within

That gives me power to change anything

I see him as a spark

That ignites a deep fire on the inside

The strength that guides

And never lets me take the wrong side

I see him as a potential

That we all need to realize

The potential to do good to the world

Without expecting any prize

I see him as the courage

The courage to rectify my sins

And help me learn

To rise above

Caste, creed and sin.