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Hello all. I loved Sarju, aka Kapil's role so much that I decided to try out sn FF. Hope u all like it. Oh & pls tell me if don't like it, it can always be converted into a mini FF! 😉 😉
The lone solitary street-lamp shed little light on the boy on the bench intently writing on a tattered notebook. He brought the notebook closer to his eyes & the light revealed a neat, beautiful handwriting stretched across its pages. He bit his lip & continued to concentrate, his tongue sticking out occasionally to indicate even ore attention to the detail.
Keeping the notebook aside, he repeated the same action he's been doing for all of 3 hours. Read a paragraph aloud, word by word in perfect fluent English, slightly accented with his Marathi overtones; & wrote the same in his notebook. Some day, thought a 14 year old Sarja while writing, my name will be in the books I am reading now- Great Indians & their stories.
"Sarju, andar aaja...teri aankhein kharaab ho jaayengi, bohot raat ho chuki hai. Ataa zhopayla chal", ( Sarju come inside... ur eyes will get damaged, its late in the night & go to sleep now)came his mother's tired voice from the shack across the road.
Sarju added another thought resolutely, some day, Aai, will call me home from a bungalow wearing a red paithani..
He got up reluctantly, gathered his books & entered his 2- room house across the road. His eyes immediately traveled to his father, who was removing his hawaaldaar's uniform after his shift. He frowned. Baba would never know how tired Aai could become, taking care of his 2 siblings- Chandu & Sonali. He was always tight-lipped about their hardships.
"Sarju, aaj kitna padhhai kiya? Idhar udhar bhatak to nahi raha tha na?"
There, Sarju thought with annoyance, Baba could never ask a thing nicely- always putting in an element of doubt in his questions. He could not know, however, that it was love for his favourite son that kept Hawaaldar Dinkar Rao worried. He knew Sarju was hot- tempered with a fierce sense of justice & ambition. He also knew that his son was brilliant & would excel in whatever he did. Just as long as his work remained honest- otherwise Sarju even excel in being a gangster, he thought wryly.
He looked at his son again who had just grunted his answer in response to his question & smiled at his wife. He wondered if he could ever erase the lines of toil across her face. He would do it, or die trying.
Sushila gazed fondly at her Sarju, as he prepared his pallet on the floor after checking on his siblings, if they were comfortable. She also noted that he kept the thickest of blankets on them & chose the barest of all for himself, not even letting his Aai - Baba take it. She knew with a mother's intuition that "ek din who hum sabka naam unchaa karega"
Thus began the story of Sarje Rao, or Sarja ,as he is now called.
Hope u all like it- please comment!!
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
CID
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