GOOD SHOT

Colonel Nishant Pandit was trying to teach his son, Aman to shoot at the red circle in the dart.Though Aman is incentive, the colonel had been fatigued in the warm rays of the shimmering sun.

Suddenly, his phone rang. He turned pensive.

"Try to shoot, I'm coming", he instructed the learner.

A convoy rushed to a Kashmiri separatist's house. For the last six months, the security forces had been running from pillar to post to find and arrest him. Shoaib Aftab, the militant, who had devised a strategy to bomb Srinagar's base hospital had been found here. Such was the relief for the army that in this fearsome situation, they exchanged a smile. Col. pandit, among this relieving situation, told his comrades that a greater challenge had come.

"Surrender yourself, Aftab. else we would be compelled to shoot", roared the colonel amid the pathetic cry of Mohsin Sultana, who begged for her son's life not to be ended.

Heedless to that, he shouted again.

This time, Shoaib's father was told to instruct his son to lay down arms. He told the words "Surrender yourself" in a shaky voice.

"Let me attain martyrdom! god will be graceful to me as well as to you too.", shouted the angry terrorist.

In no time, the patrol took its position, their guns waiting for orders to roar.

Mohsin Sultana ventures into the double-storey cottage. In a shrill and trembling voice, she cried, "My son, how can I live without you?"

" By the grace of god." he yelled.

"Allah has given only one earth to live with our brothers and sisters. Why to part it?"

"Ammu, you are too a kafir, only one supreme power prevails in this universe- allah! " said the exasperated theist, murmuring holy chants.

The radio of captain Amit sharma beeped. his gun was pointed towards the lady. A mechanical voice said, "Take down".

The lady laid there immediately. Her son rushed out of his attic and regretted greatly. Unlike other times, a submerging feeling of grief resisted him to spray bullets at the enemy. If he had surrendered, he would not have to see his mother drifting to an eternal sleep.

Sultana opened her eyes. "My son, if you can't bear me dead for matter of seconds, how could I?"

Aftab shocked yet relieved, kissed his mother.

Nishant had made her wear a bulletproof jacket. As soon as the metal piece hit it, it got repulsed. Sultana pretended to be dead.

Aftab was taken to the custody. Captain Amit Sharma came out from his firing position.He was expecting remarks from the colonel. At the same time, Nishant's phone rang.His son, thrilled, told him that he had got the red circle shot. Amit thought he would be deserted of appreciation by his commanding officer. But, the colonel murmured to both, " Good shot".