Justice

Breaking News flashed overall news channels– Young scientist Ajay Ravichandran from Tamilnadu India receives the most prestigious international award in Seismology. Being the first Indian ever to receive this award, wishes poured in from all over the country. “Thank you so much, Sir. It will be a privilege to be part of the National Council for Seismology research” Ajay was answering on his mobile phone. His mom whispered “Who is it?” and he whispered back “It is the Prime Minister”.

It was party time in the evening with all relatives and friends pouring in to wish him. Lots of food and music. His parents were extremely proud of him. Eager relatives were enquiring, what exactly Ajay did to get this award. He tried to explain in simple terms to all of them “I devised a way to study the geography of any given area, with the chemical composition in the surface and deep inside, scanning of the rocks under the surface, using algorithms, I am able to accurately derive a pattern of the smallest seismic movements that happened in last 100 years and using that I can derive the seismic movements that will happen in next 50 years”. Ajay’s father understood his relatives even better and translated it to him “He is like an astrologer of earthquakes, he can tell the past as well as the future”. Now everyone understood!

It was 10 PM. Ajay was sitting along with his friend Raghu at the garden table sipping their soft drinks. “So buddy looks like you have reached your ultimate goal in life at 35 with an internal award. What next? Settle down in a central government job quietly for the rest of your life?” asked Raghu.

Ajay smiled, “Nope, the real work starts now, that I was waiting for the last 20 years”.

“What?!” Exclaimed Raghu.

Ajay continued “Let me tell you a story. 20 years back, when I was 15 years old, a lot of things were different. There were hardly any Super Markets in India. Coimbatore got its first large self-service Supermarket which itself was an exhibition for people. A lot of people from towns and villages used to come to the city just to roam around this place. My Dad took me to this place which looked like a paradise. Large spaces, roofs touching the sky, full of lights, colorful decorations, everything that you can imagine was sold here. Everyone who came there was stunned.”

There was a separate section for the world-famous Cola where thousands of glass bottles were beautifully arranged. I was so fascinated by the arrangement that I literally stood there looking at the flashy light decoration. There was a “Do not touch” board and so I was very careful. My Dad was far away looking at other things. When I went even closer to read what was written on the bottle, suddenly the whole rack of glass bottles started falling on the floor and crashing with a loud noise. Everyone started rushing towards this spot and I am the only one standing next to it. Most of the bottles shattered into many pieces. The store workers caught me by the hand and started yelling at me asking “Are you blind, can you not reach the “Do not touch” board. “But I never touched it” I fought back.

By now, hundreds of people in the store gathered in the spot and my dad fought his way through the crowd. I told my dad “Dad, I promise, I was just standing here, I never touched it”. The store manager was furious “This has been in place for a week now, how can it suddenly fall like magic? You are the one nearby and would have touched it.”

Raghu was listening to this story without even blinking his eyes. He asked Ajay “Did you really touch it or not?”

“No, I just went very near to read what was written on the bottles” Ajay replied.

“Then what happened?” Raghu asked.

“We did not have CC TVs those days. There was no way to prove myself. After a lot of debate with the shop owners, my father was also convinced that I did something. The owner asked my dad to pay for the entire loss which was close to Rs.1 Lakh. That was an extremely big amount in those days. My dad took a weeks’ time. He had to take away all his savings and sell my mom’s jewels to pay the loss. The Supermarket owner also filed a police complaint on me just to be safe. My dad had to take me to the police station a number of times. The next few months were the worst in my life. I could not face my Mom and Dad. While the money burden itself was big, social teasing was even worse. They used to refer to me and my family as “The boy who broke the bottles”. My parents even stopped visiting relatives because of this insult.”

“But what has all this got to do with your life goals Ajay?” asked his friend.

Ajay continued “I wanted answers! I and my family were penalized for something I never did. So I went in search of the truth. Remember in our school days we studied Natural disasters and man-made disasters? This topic stuck in my head. In childhood, the event at the store was a disaster for me and I did not do it. So I started wondering if it was a natural disaster. I started diving deep and discovered so many fascinating theories. This is what led me to seismology. I spent a good amount of time and effort and developed the method of identifying tremors from the past. Sometimes they are so mild that human beings do not even realize there was a tremor.”

Raghu was now all curious “Am I guessing the story here….?”

“Yes, you are” replied Ajay. “11.0168 Degree North and 76.9558 Degree East are the coordinates of the Supermarket in Coimbatore. And I now have proof that 20 years back, at the exact same location, there was a mild tremor!”

“Oh my god!” exclaimed Raghu.

“Yes, it was the tremor that made the bottles fall and crash, not me. No one realized the tremor, there was no science to prove it that day. No one even could imagine these those days”

“What are you going to do now?” Asked Raghu. “Sue them?”

Ajay smiled and said, “I already did. Tomorrow is the verdict in the court, you are welcome to join”.

 

Raghu could not sleep that night. He was surprised to see that Ajay has spent 20 years proving he is innocent.

The next day Ajay, his father, and his mother drove into the court compound, their lawyer was waiting at the entrance to receive them. As they got down, Layer first wishes Ajay “Congrats on your award Sir. Sorry you have to be in court the very next day”.

“It’s ok Mr. Sankar, this is important for me” Ajay replied.

“Sir, someone wants to meet you before we get in. He is the Supermarket owner’s son. He would like to ask you if we can settle this outside the court. Given they are now a big brand, with chains of Supermarkets across India, they did not want damage to their brand” the Lawyer explained.

Ajay did not give up “Wow, they are worried about their brand? 20 years back I and my father literally cried before them seeking some consideration. They not only took compensation but made it a police case for which we suffered for years after that. I need the official records corrected. Justice needs to be served”

In an hour the judge read out the verdict. “With all the scientific data clearly showing that there was a tremor at the spot, it is proved that the police case against Mr. Ajay 20 years back is incorrect. The owners of the Supermarket and police department are hereby ordered to apologize to Mr. Ajay and his family for all the troubles caused to them. The government records need to be corrected. Moreover, the Supermarket owners are to pay back the compensation with interest for 20 years. The police department is also ordered to check for similar cases across the country and see if the new data available can resolve some of the unsolved cases”

As they walked out of the court, Ajay’s father was crying. “Son, this is real happiness for me more than the award you got yesterday. Sorry that even I did not believe you that day. Today I am extremely proud of you”. They hugged each other in front of the court.

Raghu was waiting there too watching. He also hugged Ajay and said, “I am proud of you buddy. Your dedication not only solved your case, but will be helpful for many more people”.

Ajay said “Ok, I need to hurry up, have important work to do”

“Now what?” asked Raghu? “Anyone more to Sue?”

Ajay replied “Remember, I am an earthquake astrologer, I can not only tell the past, but I can also predict the future as well”

“And?” Raghu was still waiting for more details.

As Ajay ran towards his car he yelled “The Supermarket that I just sued and got compensation... Let me do something good for them. There is a major tremor I have predicted in Chennai at 13.0827 Degree North and 80.2707 degrees East in another 1 hour. That is exactly where this Supermarket chain has its newest biggest megastore. Let’s save some lives…”

Raghu fainted.