Immortal

He was listening intently to what Surjit was saying. Surjit was older than Avijit and Avijit had accepted Surjit to be his mentor, friend, philosopher, and guide. Surjit though not yet twenty five was a worldly wise youth and therefore had his blind follower in Avijit.

Surjit was like what Chanakya was to Chandragupta Maurya. Chanakya had mentored Chandragupta Maurya who later ruled the Magadh empire. Surjit knew he could mentor someone like Avijit to attain that level but he could not reach there. So he devoted his time towards Avijit.

Avijit had an unquenched thirst for knowledge and a hunger for achievement. All his queries were fulfilled by Surjit, who was like his elder brother. Everyone knew that and so they thought them to be brothers.

Avijit had inquisitiveness and he bombarded Surjit with questions and queries one after another. Ambition was a burning desire that was in Avijit. Slowly as he grew older this desire began to grow exponentially.

But, as he crossed over from his innocent teenage years, Avijit started harboring doubts if his wishes would be fulfilled. Because life through a child's eye is different when he grows into a youth. He starts to make compromises. Avijit was no exception.

Avijit wanted that he should be remembered by the people to which he belonged. The political leaders came to their area and did inaugurations of many projects and their names would be carved on the marble or metal plaques. Avijit was very intrigued by this. He knew that the plaques would outlive more than the person whose name it bore. So the person whose name it bore would be remembered for many years ahead. Avijit wanted his name should be on these plaques. By bearing his name on the plaques, Avijit would become Immortal. He thought that the characters that were in the history books were the only immortals but now even humans close by and ordinary achievements could also get immortal status. 

So the easiest way to achieve this desire would be for Avijit to become the people's representative. Surjit gave the basic training for Avijit to join politics. In college, his subject was political science. He even started teaching Political Science in a college.

As per his destiny, Avijit soon became the representative of his people. He started as a district representative. At this level, he saw many of his peers having their names implanted on the plaques. But his destiny was playing spoil sport with him. There were numerous inaugurations in the coming years but Avijit could not have his name on any of the plaques.

The immortality that he was desiring was not within his reach. Some last-minute entries of names of other political leaders were replacing his name on the plaques. He began to get disheartened.

Then he heard that cash was being exchanged for implanting names on the plaques. Hearing this he started to get depressed more. Ethics values and probity in public life were facing the challenge of trade-off. Avijit's aspirations were going for a toss.

Surjit noted the depression in the attitude of Avijit. He was seeing Avijit drifting away from his dreams and falling into the deep morass. Surjit had a new challenge on his hands now. He began all over again. First, Surjit took Avijit on a vacation to a famed hill station. There they spent a delightful fortnight of fun and frolic. A bunch of Surjit's other students accompanied them.

After the rejuvenating vacation, Avijit took up work with renewed vigour. His local area leader gave him a new important work agenda regarding girl child education. Avijit worked with girls of varying ages, counseling them and finding ways of opportunities for them. Within the next few months, his work started showing remarkable results.

A new hostel for the women was approved and the foundation stone was laid by the local member of the assembly. In the marble foundation stone along with the name of the member, Avijit 's name was also carved there. This was his name on the stone plaque for the very first time. Naturally, he was overjoyed beyond comprehension.

Avijit, saw at long last his journey from an ordinary mortal to an immortal being. None from his family had their names carved in stone ever. So this was history. He began to see his dreams getting fulfilled.

The opposition parties saw the chinks in the armory of Avijit and then his party. Avijit now got the taste of blood as he could do anything to get his name on the stone. This was inexperience and foolishness.

Avijit couldn't see the trap he was being dragged in. Any type of inauguration had Avijit 's name on the plaque just to please him. He only wanted to become immortal. Finally when Avijit and his party lost the election they were relegated to the outliers group and their names and links were dragged into public scrutiny and merits.

All his plaque-bearing names were removed unceremoniously. Avijit was deeply pained. His dream of being immortal was shattered. He had lost his will to live. Depression caught up with him a second time. Surjit was now not around to rejuvenate him. Days were passing very painfully for him.

Then one day there was a big fire in the area where he lived. Many houses and shops were gutted in the blazing fire. Countless lives were lost. Avijit thought this was an opportunity to redeem himself. As it is he was in the clutches of the worst depression of his life. So not giving a second thought of what would happen to him he threw himself into the rescue operations in the fire tragedy. With his active support more than ten lives were saved. He ultimately came out of the wretched fire when he ensured that no more life was entrapped. Finally, he came out and collapsed. His body was heavily damaged with a high degree of burns. Immediately he was shifted to the hospital burn unit. There he spent many months on life support.

The citizens of the town built his statue and erected it in the city centre with his name emblazoned on it and with glorifying words. Avijit heard of this magnificent event of his life and consoled himself that he had lived a worthy life and now his deeds have made him immortal amongst his fellow citizens