Petty indifferences-huge implications

"Oh! Lord... come down to this earth!
Oh! Lord ... come down to this earth!"

Sings Anita, with her petite sweet voice. Rohan, comically dancing to the tune of Anita's song, got bugged of trying to irritate his sistor. He pulled her ears and ran away, as she squealed. The singing stops and Vijay Roy , who is in the living room, scolds his daughter for not singing properly.


The Roys'lived in a suburb in Mumbai. Rohan was in his second year in an arts college nearby. He was a bright boy, chose his own future. He had high ambitions, as would anyone of his age. The college he went to inhibited all that. In a month the college would remain closed for atleast 5 days, this was excluding any public holidays. This was the scenario 2 months ago. Presently, a week would be an understatement. The college was actually divided into two: the Hartals and the Punis. The day you enter college, you side with one of these castes, even if you don't belong to either caste. Only the daring tried to remain neutral. The surrounding slum area was responsible for this.

It was fate that Rohan met Hari. It happened in a library and they instantly clicked. Hari, a devout Hartal, abhorred the Punis. Rohan tried putting sense into him, but to no avail. He displayed his dislike so openly, that everyone in college knew about it. And whatever Hari did, it was assumed Rohan did too.

The professors aware of the differences in college, tried to their maximum to remain impartial. In the rare case when a Puni was preferred, Hari used to seethe with anger. The tension in college rose up a degree. If Hari spotted a couple of opposite castes, the whole day he used be upset and spit fire at any Puni. The tension in college rose up another degree. Hari won over to his side all the Hartals.

Rohan views college as an inflated balloon, with the volume of air in it increasing day by day. It is like the castes are dead dry grass, just awaiting to be lit by sparks from flint stones. The spark was imminent. It was just the matter of when.

Rohan is the first person to gather his books and rush home at the sound of the bell. He goes about his business at college and stays as far as possible from Hari. While walking home, walks briskly and doesn't look on either side. Punis follow him everywhere. He reaches home and closes all the windows and goes straight to his room. His mother asks him to get eggs from the market; he refuses. He is scared to sleep at night. Sleep comes really late. There are pebbles thrown at his window right through the night.

How can u stop the rain from falling down? Same was the spark. Rohan is petrified about this. He knows it will be the worst massacre since 1993. The miserable ordeal continues for a whole month. Hari shouts at Rohan, "Will you stop hiding, and be ready to fight! ..The Punis and their Thilaks!..and the boy is scared of them!", he says to his kindred.

August 14th, 2002 he walks briskly home as usual. The road is strewn with loose gravel. His brisk gait flings a pebble off his slipper onto a nearby person. The person turns around and swings his foot to connect with Rohan?s mid section. He falls down and is immediately a large number of people pounce on him. The place was soon to be a blood bath.

All he could see last was the Thilak on the forehead of the person he accidentally flung a stone on. He mumbles incoherently "I didn't start the fire!... I wasn't the spark!...." before he breathes his last.