Life is Precious

To keep himself fully occupied, Prem decided to visit his old friends. It was too late in the night when he made his return journey home. A police patrol vehicle stopped him and a senior officer started questioning him. The senior officer, a seasoned cop and a ex-neighbor of Prem, felt some vibrations and read the face, 'Come on, let us drop you at your place'. So Prem unwillingly jumped into the vehicle.

Just then an instruction was passed over their radio to move to a place where there was a double suicide. The paddy wagon proceeded towards the spot. The seasoned cop thought it wud be better to take this young chap with them.

Under the banyan tree, stood two young dead bodies, definitely a pair. They have strangled themselves to death. The cop who was there briefed them up on the events leading to the death. The new kid on the block enjoying the training had a wicked sense of humor, "Sir! You must have seen hundred such cases. I think you can write a good book on this venomous thing called love. Parental opposition... Betrayal ... etc" The seasoned cop, "Love is not venom. Even Honey, if taken in excess, would definitely cause vomiting. " Prem was confused as the girl's body had a mangalsutra dangling around her neck.

The cop on the duty briefed up, "The girl got married to someone else only last week. Seems that everything did'nt go fine. Call history shows calls to her lover before the event. Cant say what was there in their mind" The young trainee looked at the banyan tree and the coin phone that was just a branch away from it, "If only we can make the trees to speak, we would have been warned of the same. Haven't the R and D team ever thought about it.". The old officer remarked, "If that was the case, these trees would have thousand stories to tell and we would have to work sleeplessly for nights to come" While the cops were talking of the stories, Prem was thinking of the dreams with which those two souls must have died with.

The seasoned cop guided the duty officer, "Take the statements from the relatives and others..."
The trainee interrupted, "Sir. May I do it?. I want to see their emotional reactions. Most of the time I have seen such emotions and weeping scenes only on serials and movies. Please Sir." The seasoned cop was amazed by this trainee's heartlessness, "Go Ahead! But make it as nice as possible". Prem looked at the parents who were now burdened with some guilt conscious. They would be doing soul-searching, while the cop would be having fun throwing them all kinds of questions.

As both the young officers got busy, the old man looked at Prem, "This guy was on the pinnacle of his career. Such a drastic step at this juncture. I hope you understand, why I brought you over here. Youngsters like you have to think from the wider perspective and see the life as a whole. All dreams don't come true."

Prem gave a smile, "Should I say thanks for bringing me down here?. I have read somewhere that 'Man may have the right to create and bring a new life onto this planet earth; but he doesn't have any rights whatsoever to take any life, not even of his own."

With those words, he went back and sat in the vehicle with FM buzzing the song, "Har Gadi Badal Rahi Hain Roop Zindagi"