અવસર

અવસર

જીદ છોડો હવે (લઘુકથા)

જીદ છોડો હવે

લઘુકથા:

         "જીદ છોડો, બેટા. ભાવતી કચોરી બનાવી છે, જમી લો,હવે." થાળી અને આસન જમીન પર મુકતાં મમ્મીએ રોશનને કહ્યું.

         "નથી જમવું." ક્રોધથી તગતગતો સ્વર ડાઈનીંગ ટેબલ પર જમવા બેઠેલા સહુના કાને અથડાયો.

         "કાલથી કંઈ ખાધું નથી. વધારે દુખશે તને."મમ્મીના સ્વરમાં ચિંતા અને પીડા છલકાઈ.

         "કેમ? બાએ જ શીખવાડ્યું છે ને 'અન્ન દેવો ભવ.' તો હવે આ અન્ન મારા શરીરમાં જઈને અપવિત્ર નહીં થઈ જાય? હું તો અશુદ્ધ છું, અસ્પૃશ્ય છું આજે!" સ્વમાન ઘવાયાની પીડા લાવારસની જેમ આંખોથી ફાટી નીકળી.

          બાના આવ્યા પછીથી મમ્મીએ કેટલીક વાતોમાં ટકોરવાનું શરૂ કર્યું જ હતું, પપ્પા પણ એના પક્ષમાં બહુ બોલતા નહોતા. 

           બંને ગાલે અશ્રુધારા સહિત એ ફરી ત્રાટકી‌.

           "મને સાયન્સ સ્ટ્રીમમાં ભણાવો છો અને ઘરમાં આવી અંધશ્રદ્ધા? જીન્સ કેમ પહેરાવો છો ? બાને કહો ઘાઘરો-ઓઢણી લઈ આપે." ગુસ્સો અને અશ્રુ તીવ્ર ગતિએ પ્રવાહિત હતા.

           "બે દિવસથી કિચનમાં આવવા નથી દેતા; સોફા પર બધાની સાથે બેસવા નથી દેતા; ડાઈનીંગ ટેબલ પર બેસી જમવા નથી દેતા. બાને કહો રેતીનો ઢગલો કરી આપે એક ખૂણે. એના પર જ બેસી રહીશ. આમેય જુના જમાનામાં લોકો એવું જ કંઈક કરતા ને."

            "જુના જમાનામાં....." શબ્દો બાને પથ્થરની જેમ વાગ્યા.

             યાદ આવ્યું બાળપણ. રાજા રામમોહન રાયની પ્રવૃત્તિઓ વિશે પોતાના શિક્ષકદાદા સાથે કલાકો ચર્ચા કરતી રહેતી. સતીપ્રથા, બાળ વિવાહ, વિધવાપ્રતાડણા જેવા સામાજિક દૂષણોના વિચારો માત્રથી વર્ષો સુધી વિચલિત રહી હતી.

               બા, એ જ હતી કે જેણે નવી આવેલી વહુ માટે પોતાની સાસુને સમજાવી-મનાવીને ડ્રેસ પહેરતી જ નહોતી કરી બલ્કે નજરની શરમ રાખી પાલવ-પ્રથા પણ મરજિયાત કરી દીધી હતી‌.

             રોશનનો વિદ્રોહ અને અકળામણ એમના હૃદયને પશ્ચાતાપ સુધી લઈ ગયો. 

             બા રોશન તરફ વળ્યાં અને પોતાની બાજુમાં આવી બેસવા હાથેથી ઇશારો કર્યો.

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'કુમાર' જૂન'24 અંકમાં પ્રકાશિત લઘુકથા 

©️ પલ્લવી ગુપ્તા 🌷

13 : The Cultivation of Poison

Kartavya: Duty with Dedication

Chapter:13 The Cultivation of Poison

Ganja Cultivation in Aravalli! Isn’t it hard to believe? But the whole division was stunned when the Aravalli district police cracked a massive racket of Ganja cultivation down based on information.

The youth of a country is the future of her. Therefore, the enemies of the country are always in a search for an opportunity to ruin the lives of such promising youths by making them addicted to drugs. Drugs, heroin, Charas, Ganja, opium, these all are the absolute poisons to obtain their target., Although, the government is grave serious and set on to stop drug addiction. The Aravalli district LCB busted a huge racket of Ganja cultivation worth around two and a quarter crore and dealt a huge blow to the enemies of the country.

While describing that heart-felt operation, LCB PI K.D. Gohil tells: “I was busy with my routine office works on that day as usual. There I got an unknown call from a stranger speaking in a panicked voice. As he said he had something very serious to inform. He added anxiously that his life might have been in danger if someone could have come to know about his giving the information. Yet, he wanted to share for it was an indispensable news.

“I assured him for his identity would be skeleton in the cupboard. My heart dropped for a moment when I heard what the stranger said the next. He carried on mumbling, “Sir! The youth of the country will be ruined. Please do save them. The poisonous Ganja is cultivated in one of the villages of Bayad block. Please cease this cultivation and extricate the youth of our great nation, Sir.”

 “At first, I was shocked to know about the cultivation of Ganja in our district itself, but the stranger had a stab of pain in his voice. As there was a ring of truth, the wheels were set in motion to investigate in that direction.

            “I shared all those particulars with District Police Chief Sanjay Kharat. He took the matter extremely seriously and ordered an immediate investigation to detain the entire racket.

“We started on a secret mission. First, we connected the stranger who had called me. the Our team reached at night for a search operation in the fields of the village where Ganja was being cultivated. The whole village was fast asleep. The police team reached the outskirts of the village with full preparation. That stranger also joined us. Although he had a mask on his face. We could only see his eyes. Our team moved towards the direction under his leadership. We were passing fields one after another in the dark night. There the stranger halted at the edge of a field. where Toor was grown. The man beckoned us to enter the farm.            

“Crossing the big Toor plants, when we reached at the middle of the field, we were stunned to see the Ganja plants grown under the semblance of Toor cultivation. As it became necessary to examine the surrounding farms as well, we proceeded. And it was beyond our imagination. In second field, we got the same scenery, also in third, in fourth and in fifth and so on…. it continued. The whole team was amazed to see such a large amount of Ganja cultivation.

“The operation lasted for 36 hours day and night. With the help of drones, the crops grown in the fields of an area of about ​​two kilometres were monitored. We needed many tractors as we started to collect the complete Ganja cultivation. A total of 2272 kg of green Ganja plants were seized. The estimated cost of which was two and a half crores. The entire police team was awake day and night and carried out the entire operation.

“With that successful operation, the police confiscated the belongings that ruined the lives of many youths. Criminals who were cultivating Ganja were caught. The next question was how the Ganja seed reached there. After rigorous enquiry, we found that the Ganja seeds were supplied by 'The Elephant Maharaj' - as the supplier was identified by that name only among the accused. The accused knew neither the face nor the original name of the supplier.

“A tip-off from a stranger led to an important operation. Even after the success of the operation, the man refused to give his true identity to the police. And we also respected his sentiment of anonymity. I wanted to ask the informant one last question about why he got us the respective information on the verge of his death. His answer shocked my heart.

“As he replied, 'Sir, I also had a brother whose life was ruined by the Ganja addiction. At the end, his condition was so pathetic. As a family we could not help him anyhow. I have lost my brother. I have risked my life so that no other brother should follow this path of destruction.”

Contentment reflects in the eyes of PI K.D.Gohil for successfully completing that operation as he concluded the report here.

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Kartavya, a police diary by Mr. Ishwar Prajapati in Gujarati

©️Translated into English by Pallavi Gupta🌷