Truth: The Dark Facet Of Lies!!

‘’ Truth is mostly singular, Lies are always plural’’- Soham Paul

Anmol was in the bathroom. Blood was dripping continuously from the slit wrist. He was gradually sinking into the sea of sheer darkness.

"Anmol, Anmol; please get up, your baba is waiting for you"- Radha, Anmol's mother.

"Maa, please let me sleep for some time. Today there is no exam." Anmol said peeping through the quilt.

It was a winter morning, mid of December, in the village Rampur. Rakesh, a farmer, was hell-bent on getting his son Anmol admitted to a good school in the Kolkata city. They had seen abject poverty. Rakesh didn't want his son Anmol to experience impoverishment as a legacy.

"Rakesh you should try to put Anmol in a big school in Kolkata. He has an uncanny panache to try out new things. God willing, one day he will make all of us proud" - exclaimed Bishwajit Majumdar, Headmaster of Rampur Junior Basic School.

“Yes Dada, I will definitely do that.”- Rakesh answered affirmatively.

Rakesh was really sad, he had tried his best to collect the admission fee but of no avail. ”Please take these bangles of mine, sell them and get the money. When our son grows up as a successful man, he will get many such for his unfortunate mother.”- Radha was crying incessantly.

The classroom was really huge. Anmol was knowingly/unknowingly comparing everything of Vivekananda Shikshayatan with his erstwhile village school. It seemed to him that everything was 10 times magnified.

“Anmol Sharma, Anmol”- Class Teacher Ramesh.

“Yes Sir”- Anmol.

“Boys, this is Anmol, your new friend. He happens to be a very good student. Say hello to him”- Ramesh Babu.

“Hi Anmol”- Everybody.

“Are you from the village?” asked cute Neha.

“Yeah. I am from Rampur, more than 350 km from here, Kolkata.”- Anmol replied.

Anmol used to remember his mother, often during relishing on the stale food served.

“An important day at the hostel, guys buck up. Try to give more than 100%”- an ecstatic Rajiv Majumdar, placement coordinator, Kolkata Institute of Technology. “So, you are Anmol Sharma”- accounted the chief interviewer. “Anmol, why are you Anmol"- he was asked.

" Sir, I am Anmol because I believe everything is possible under the sun if the attitude is right"- replied Anmol with utmost confidence.

"Neha, Neha, please pick up the phone"-Anmol was murmuring.

"Hello, Neha, guess what? I have got a job."

"Great Anmol. So, when are you giving me the treat?"-Neha.

"Tomorrow at the food court, South City Mall."- Anmol.

"So what are your plans now, Anmol?"-Neha asked as they were waiting in the food lounge after ordering food." Have you thought anything regarding our future?"- Neha asked pensively.

"Yes, Neha. Let me join the company, get me established at first. It will take a couple of years. Then I will go to meet your father to ask for his daughter."- Anmol replied quite gleefully.

"Anmol, Anmol"- the voice was cracking. It was dead of the night. "Yes, who is speaking?"- Anmol was trying to find out who it was, as he was in deep slumber.

He was returning from Rampur with his bereaved mother and was constantly lamenting that he was not beside his father during his last breath. "Mother, I have rented an apartment in Kolkata and I am taking you there. Hope you will be able to start life afresh."- Anmol tried to comfort his mother. He was suddenly feeling that he had grown pretty old. Somebody had rightly said, "Time is the best teacher." Anmol was a diligent guy and he used to take his work pretty seriously. Within a year and a few months, he got promoted multiple times.

He was in Chandan Roy's chamber. Mr Roy is the MD of "Nathan Pharmaglobal", an astute salesman and a shrewd marketeer."Mr Sharma, I am heavily impressed by witnessing your commitment and hard work. You are a sedulous person and we require such kind of people to steer our company to 100 crore INR mark within 2 years."- Mr Roy was very proud.

"Thanks a ton, Sir. Your kind words matter a lot to me and I vow to do everything possible to keep the mission/vision of the company always in high esteem."- a motivated future leader Anmol Sharma.

"Anmol you will have to go to 'Shoalbuni'. We will be setting up a new State Of The Art Laboratory. You will be in complete charge of the project. You will have to migrate within a week. I hope I am clear to you. A new guest house has been constructed, you can stay there. Local people will be there to help you out."- Mr Roy signed off.

"Ok, Sir. I need all your best wishes."- Anmol.

The day before the scheduled journey, Anmol was enjoying a cosy dinner with Neha in a Resto-Lounge.

"So, Mr Sharma, you are going tomorrow. You will be

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the head of the new project of prestigious Nathan Pharmaglobal. How are you feeling dear?"-Neha asked.

"Really on the top of the world. You know Neha, today I saw tears in my mother's eyes but those drops were of sheer joy and achievement. I am feeling very relaxed today. Hope my father had been alive to enjoy these days of glory. My parents have sacrificed everything to give me a better tomorrow. But I failed to do everything for my father."- Anmol's word was shrouded with great melancholy.

"Don't worry my dear, Tomorrow's Sun will bring a new dawn in your life and I believe you will scale greater heights day by day."- Neha's face lit up while uttering those words.

Next morning, Anmol boarded a city bus for the destination. He slipped into deep slumber once boarded. He saw his father in his dream, as usual smiling and telling him not to bow down to injustice.

                                                                   

The guest house was quite nicely decorated with all amenities and 2 attendants. He befriended Dr Ranjit Murmu, medical practitioner, in the village Shoalbuni.

 

"Hello, Anmolji, Dr Murmu this side."

"Yeah Doc anything serious, it's quite late at night."- Anmol.

"Can you please come down to my clinic tomorrow? Would like to show you."-Dr. Murmu.

"Why not? By 10:30 am will be there. Good night"-Anmol returned to bed. He was thinking why Murmu rang him at these wee hours and urgently told him to visit his clinic. He was feeling restless, lit a cigarette.

"Oh my gosh!!! What are these? All the medicines have gone past the expiring dates and these are all life-saving drugs."- Anmol was perturbed.

"You know, Mr Anmol this is the medicine which we are getting from Kolkata to serve the illiterate, hapless, destitute of the village. Yesterday night I called you as I was treating a young boy and he took medicine of Nathan Pharmaglobal and died. All expired medicines which have turned into poison are being migrated to the rural parts of the country at a reduced price, just an eyewash. It is to show to the government that the big pharma companies are serving the society under corporate social responsibilities and they can claim tax benefits and other accolades from the Government."- Dr Murmu stopped as warm tears drops rolled down his cheeks.

"My Company Nathan Pharma global is the Winner of CSR awards for the last 5 years. I will not tolerate all these. I will dig deep into the matter and take corrective actions to stop this nuisance."- Anmol sounded firm.

Since the last two days, all the local news channels and also a couple of national channels had parked their vans near a South Kolkata Society. Everybody wanted to know where Mr Anmol Sharma was. He had become a fugitive.

It had been reported that Mr Sharma had orchestrated a delivery of several cartons of expired medicines in the village of Shoalbuni and siphoned away a huge amount of money. New bundles amounting to Rs 30 lakh had been recovered from his house. Nathan Pharmaglobal had issued a statement that they had fired Mr Sharma from the company with immediate effect and would cooperate fully with police and investigation agencies for the impartial and transparent trial. Mr Roy, head of marketing himself had stated a number of times in front of Electronic media and newspapers that they reposed full trust/confidence/hope in the judiciary and they would cooperate in every possible way so that the culprits could be brought to justice.

Anmol was miles away in a hideout. He tried to contact Dr Murmu but failed. He thought whether he should ring his mother or Neha but refrained from doing that. He took out the sim-card and destroyed the phone also. As he was slowly progressing towards eventuality, he suddenly saw his father, himself, his mother... everybody was laughing their hearts out, they all had gone to the village fair.

Next Morning headline: MAIN CULPRIT: NATHAN PHARMA GLOBAL CASE- Anmol Sharma had committed suicide. Justice had been rendered. The case got closed. So many people heaved a sigh of relief.

That night a private party was thrown at Chandan Roy's farmhouse to celebrate that "Truth always Triumphs!!!"

A month later:

 

Beep, beep, beep- WhatsApp message flashed.

‘’How are you, Sir? Can we have a word? Plz, update.’’

Regards,

Ankur Sharma.

The status showed the message got received. But no reply was tendered.!!