Srinivas Cv

Drama Tragedy

4.0  

Srinivas Cv

Drama Tragedy

Tax Payers Big Cheque

Tax Payers Big Cheque

10 mins
231


Mango Man (Aam Aadmi)

Ramu was busy that morning. Ramu was busy most mornings. Not because he was like this millennial generation, procrastinating all things. Every morning he woke up at 4 AM without fail. Only then he can do his morning pooja, to cook his lunch and be ready to reach the train station at 7:10 AM. A 7:15 AM train takes him to Chennai at 8:25 AM. A 10-minute walk and three more stations in a local train he reaches office between 9:00 and 9:10 AM. His boss comes to the office before 9:25 AM. He expects Ramu to be in before him. A few times Ramu had to take 7:30 AM train Ramu could reach only after his boss, and things were ugly that day.


That day, however, was busy for a different reason. He was to head to the income tax office to get some refunds. He did everything in his power to clear things online. With the little knowledge of taxes and not a very helpful auditor of the company, he ended up paying 10,000 rupees extra in advance income tax. For a man who works hard to makes ends meet, that was a substantial amount. 4 months ago, he would have requested to help out preparing the lunch. Today she was at her mother's waiting for their firstborn, which made the refund very critical.


The issue with the refund was because of a receipt number, which was recorded incorrectly in another employee's name. However, not taking any risks, Ramu approached an agent who he befriended on the train. He agreed to help, and he promised it was not to take more than a few hours. Ramu decided to go on the day the office was off, any leaves saved was money saved. He reached the station and was waiting for the agent to show up. His watch knows he arrived there early, but his anxious mind did not. He was worried that the agent might not show up. He prepared himself for such a situation. He was to head to the office, and get some overtime, and plan the visit to the tax office another day. As the time hit 7:10 AM the agent was in the station and Ramu was finally relieved. Ramu started counting the notes before they hatched. But there were many hurdles he had coming his way, which Ramu was not aware of yet.


How to cross the bridge?

Ramu got on the train and the train started to move. Ramu sat in his usual seat and was eagerly looking through the window. It was to have a cursory view of the Ganapathi standing at the end of the platform. Removed his shoe as they got close to the temple said his prayers and the train started to move faster. The agent asked, "Why doesn't he walk to the temple before getting into the train?". Ramu had only a smile as an answer. In his mind, he knows walking to the temple was going to make him worry. It was not right to visit the temple in an anxious and worried state. As the train crossed the town, Ramu slowly started to feel comfortable. He wanted to review the documents one last time with the agent to be sure. But he remembered the agent's warning from the day before.


"You take out those papers one more time I will not accompany you. I know what I am doing. Follow my word.", said the agent the day before.


Against the usual schedule, they were nearing the Chennai station around 8:10 AM. Five more minutes they should reach the Chennai station. Ramu was feeling happy to be early. They were to head to the tax office early, and he could actually complete his work and come back to the office before lunch. That was when the train stopped. Initially all around him said could be because of the early arrival and no platform availability. After five minutes of wait he got anxious, after 10 minutes he started to get worried. He wanted to get down and walk to Chennai station, but he found out the train came to a stop on a bridge. Slowly the whole bogie started to get worried. All were heading to offices, after all. Their positions too similar to Ramu's. But the wait was not ending anytime soon.


All bridges cannot be crossed.


After a few more minutes of wait, they started enquiring the reason for the delay. People were starting to get restless. That was when they learn, the train was stopped due to an agitation by the opposition party. One of the sympathizers of the ruling party said this was unacceptable. One of the men, who was shouting his lungs out till now said, "It was for a good cause". Don't need to see hard to find the opposition party heads picture in the transparent white shirt. Ramu had planned for various things going wrong, but that was not in his worst nightmares, however. Now he was a sitting duck waiting with no end for his misery.


After waiting for half an hour, there was suddenly some commotion in the bogie. Confused people were looking at a man who looked to leading the group for direction. He was ordering all to follow his orders. Ramu felt the man was here to give them a way-out of the log jam. So, he blindly followed the man with the agent near to him. They were all directed to move between bogies from the outside. The man jumped from one door to another, not caring for the height of the bridge under them. The passengers had no option but to follow the man. On reaching the end of the train and landing on two feet on the railway track, Ramu wanted to go his way. Few of the fellow passengers escaped without anyone noticing. But Ramu being the good man he was, asked the man's permission to leave. He explained his condition and why he needs to go. But the man was in no mood to listen. He had lost a lot of his people when the police came, and he needed Ramu and others to show the crowd and run the agitation.


Ramu standing in the crowd felt helpless. He gave up his resistance and decided to accept his fate. A middle-class man in India can do nothing but accept the cards he was dealt in life. An hour into agitation, Ramu understood it was going to only last till noon. Ramu felt a little happy. He can reach the office that afternoon, and he can plan the visit to the tax authority another day, he felt. He was also thinking if the agent can try and do without him visiting at all. After all, he said it was a simple matter. He was scolding himself for not thinking of this earlier.


Sitting in the sun and not having anything to do, Ramu asked the people next to him what the agitation was about.


"I don't know for what", said a hefty guy next to him.

"They promised a biriyani and quarter of whisky, and I am here", he said continuing.


Ramu was about to turn to the guy on the other side when the hefty guy said, "I brought him too".


He walked slightly ahead to people holding the hoardings, hoping for an answer.


"It was against the government", said a lady.

"For what?", asked Ramu.

"No water", said the man turning away.

"Not having water was a just cause," thought Ramu. Then he noticed the man getting a water packet. He quickly mixed it in his quarter and turned to Ramu and signaled in an inebriated state to Ramu as if asking him what he wants to know.


Ramu moved further ahead in the group. He saw a few more men but lost all his confidence to ask them anything. He decided he will have a peek at the hoardings. The first board had a big "Down, Down" nothing more. He turned to the other side to see what was on the board to his right.

"Government belongs to people not to rich."

Walking further to the front, he read a few more slogans.

"Rich in this country are looting the poor."

"Poor cannot remain poor. Make them rich."


Still, without any clue of what the agitation was about, he walked to the front of the line. But he was not able to see clearly and turned around. He was able to read the slogan finally. There was a big cheer suddenly. Ramu had no clue for what, he kept reading.


"The laws should be taken back immediately. It was against the constitution...". He could not see well as some liquid started to block his eyesight. He tried to clear his eyes of the liquid, that was when more liquid started, to flow on his head. Before he could smell it was petrol, his body was on fire. The people in the crowd were chanting louder, but no one seemed to care that Ramu was on fire. Police arrested all agitators after that. They took Ramu's body to the hospital. Not to save him, but to make a postmortem was done. The case was closed as self-immolation for a just cause.


The government announced 10 lakh ex gratia to Ramu's wife. The MLA of the town came to her home, gave condolences and the cheque.

"My husband is not one to die like this", she said.

"We know. But he died for a good cause".

She knew Ramu had no clue what the cause was, and he had no reason to immolate himself. She did her inquiries and found someone else was supposed to immolate himself. One other guy was to stop that from happening. Before any of them showed up, Ramu came to the front, and in the spur of the movement, the leader lit him on fire.


"What happened to the agitation?" asked Ramu's wife.

"It went well. Because of that, I won the election. My party too won many places."

"And?"

"As promised, I came here to give you the ten lakhs. We will give the land to build the house soon."

"And?"


"What else, what do you want?"


She started to say, "My husband".

He stopped him and said, "We cannot bring him back."

She said, "I know, let me speak."

"

My husband was a simple hard-working man. He did well in school, college. Did well to get an interview with a government job. But, was not selected as he did not have enough money to pay the bribe. He did not complain he found a small job worked hard and paid his taxes. He did not ask anything in return. All he wanted to live his inconsequential life without being disturbed. What do you guys do? You kill him for your politics, and you have guts to come here and show this cheque."


Noticing things were going out of hand MLA says an artificial thank you and walks out of her home with a smile.


Without notice of the man had left, she continues.

"A cheque for ten lakhs. What a big amount?" waving the cheque high in the air.

"What all I can do? I can buy the saree that I was postponing for six months, not one but many of them. I can buy my husband a shirt, the last one he bought for himself was three years ago. I can buy him one he can wear to his office parties. I can buy him two of them. He does not like to splurge on himself, after all. I can ask him not to worry about the 10,000-rupee refund. I can ask him not to go on a day he had an off. I can actually have him with me now", said she crying her eyes out.


P.S: She tried to burn the cheque. But her poor background did not allow her to do such injustice to money. She wanted to know the cause for which he died and give the cheque to that cause. But no one told her what it was as "No one cares" for the cause. All the agitators care for was the politics behind the cause.


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