"No I dont want to listen to you..mujhe nahi rehna yaha..ja ra hu main..
i am fed up of all these restrictions and your principles.. "
says Hardik to his Father in a heated argument..

Father: "You are not even following your dreams.. Youy made a decision to be a film maker..but now what who will work on it..your father..grow up Hardik..life aint about all sunshines and rainbows.. Tumhe agar kuch paana hai..toh you have to strive hard for it..".
says in lot of anger..and wants his son to understand values of life..

Hardik: " Please dad ab phirse wahi lecture mat zadiye..Kehna aasaan hai....If you are rich then why dont you lend me money to make a film.. I am your son.. Saare paise yu hi zindagi bhar sadakar rakhoge.."
(Frustrated)

Father: "Behave yourself Hardik.. are these the values which i have taught you.. Kya ye sanskar diye hai mene tumhe..Apne baap se baat karne ki tameez kahi chod aaye ho..Tumhare jitna gairzimmedar ladka mene aajtak nahi dekha..Improve your attitude..do something on your own.."

Hardik: " I dont wanna here your values and ethics..I dont wanna stay here any more..Aaj Maa zinda hoti toh mujhe paise de deti.."

Leaves the argument and walks off the house banging the door..*BANG*..
Leaving his father shocked and afraid over the fact that his son is walking towards failure..and unethical life.. Tears roll over his eyes hearing such harsh statements from his own son..

Hardik is walking on the streets in frustration..he is walking fast..
He is not concerned where he is walking but just keeps walking.. normally in such situations what guys do is the smoke..
Hardik goes to a pan bidi shop and asks for smoke.. the Panwala says he doesnt have a 100 rs change for a single cigrate..
Hardik: Chutta nahi toh dukaan kayko kholaa..band kar de na..

His anger and frustration builts.. he talks with his inner person.. How could my father do this to me.. I had only asked for some lakhs..i couldve made my film shown it to some director.. and got into the feild..

He decides to go at a calm place where he can sit, smoke, and calm himself down..

He walks on a hill from his place..theres a garden on the hill..where no one comes because years ago a plane had crashed there and lot of people had lost their lives.. since then people have stopped going there..

It is a place in the city but it is very different from the city.. the small garden is as calm as the breeze before the storm..and the best part is that you get a view of the sea from the top of it..

Hardik goes there and sits on a bench.. lights his smoke.. and starts smoking.. thinking what went wrong..suddenly he hears someone..
" Hey bro!! all okay??"

Hardik looks at his right and finds a vry old man..almost of the age of his father..White beard grown in french style..Black sking..not so attractive..little old..wearing a torn brown jacket over a mud spoiled shirt and a black trouser.. His whole look gives a wibe of he being a street begger.. But his eyes are very blazing.. they can grasp serenity as we look it them.. very calm nd peaceful..a smile like a Peaceful Monk..

Hardik looks at him for a while..thinking..why the f#ck is he asking me..who is he? a drug dweller? a begger?

The man still smiles..

Hardik replies : " yup..all okay"
in a careless manner.. and continues smoking..

"Doesn't seem so" says the man with an amusing smile which annoys Hardik..

"Well..its fine" says it loud voice..

"I may help you son". the man again says it with the same smile..

Hardik this time more annoyed..
"Yeah i need help.. I want to fall this apple on my head and i want to discover gravity like einstine.. Can you make it fall..? no ryt.. So mind your own buisness old man "

Coincidently an apple falls on hardiks head..

The man laughs and says " Its not einstien..Its Newton..i guess You made him angry over name clash.. Well..atleast i am not minding my fathers buisness" replys over his line of minding ur owm buisness..

This brings an expression of surprise on Hardik's face as he hears Father from that man's lines..

"What do you mean?" He asks..

"Well..I mean that probably you have had a fight with your father..and came here in frustration.."

This leaves hardik in shock..he walks upto the man..looking at him..sits in front of him..on a stone..very astonished..
"How did you came to know that?"
he asks

"Well..normally when boys like you come up here alone..they cry for their gf's n cut their hands..or they write names on stones everywhere..you seemed different..so i took a guess it might be a father son problem..but thats not important..how can i help you thats important"
says the man with his beautiful smile on his face..

Hardik stands up n explains him the whole thing what happend..thinking that its better to express your feelings with a stranger..coz in life u never meet these people again..plus you feel nice..like a burden is passed down..we often do it..express it to a person we do not know much..coz we know..that person will never meet us..and we dont have to face the guilt..

The man thinks about his problem..he says " look..i cant help you much..but il tell you one thing..there is a magical bench out there if u walk 200 metrs left to the park..You sit there..you'll seak your answers to the problem "

Hardik: "what?? are you kidding me?? hahaha..like seriously..magicall bench n all..so you are saying..il go there n il get my answer..like Steaven Spielberg is sitting on the bench waiting for me with a script..or Salim-Javed.. and are saying..broo we are" little busy man..just make this film for us.."
starts laughing

"well..i dont know about steve..but salim-javed are busy making sholay's sequel..so probably they might not appear there.." says the man..

Hardik laughs out loud on it..saying that " I dont know about that bench but you are hillarious..il leave..enjoy the view..thanks for your magical bench idea.." haha..

The man smiles at him and just looks back at the sea..

When Hardik is walking back he thinks why not take a look at that bench.. Well in life ive done so many foolish things lets do this one more..and he walks 200 metrs away from the park.. he sees a bench..it was queit noticable..coz that was the only bench away from the park..there was nothing special about it which could visualise it as magical..but was just another bench..Hardik thot what a jerk..sent me to a bench to solve a problem saying it is magical..He thought if we have come so far why not have a seat on it..and see what happens..

Hardik sat..looking around like a fool for some magic to happen..but everywhere there were preety normal activities happening as they happen in normal lives..nothing angelic about it..

There was a guy selling ice cream near the bench.. Hardik called him and asked him for an ice cream..the guy gave him the ice cream of 5 rs..Hardik gave him 10rs and said keep the change..but that guy went on to give the change back and said.."sahab apana jitna banta hai utna hi apun legaa..paise ka valuuu apun janta hai..ye 5 rs apun nai le sakta.."

Hardik taught what a foolish guy to refuse a tip..but somewhere those lines touched his heart..

then came a group of guys who sat next to him..were preety happy..vry yound and fresh..one of them was talking about some dance reality show which he had just auditioned and cleard the first round..the others were saying.."dude why dont you ask your dad to pay to shamak and you join as a student there"
the young kid replys.."my father can afford..but i dont want him to stress on it bcoz i want to make him proud one day..and brinng smile on his face..il surely do it..but not with his money..".
Hardik is hearing all the conversation..of the boys..
its been an hour sitting at the bench no magic yet..
Hardik decides to walk back..but when he walks back..he thinks abt those events happend with him on the bench..about how that ice cream guy was a boy of principles and values..how the dancer kid belived in hard work and loved his father..
which all reminded him about the morning incident..he felt so guilty now..and so angry on himself..that he couldnt value what he should have..he suddenly thought that oh yes..this is the magic happened and made me realise what i should be doing..
Hardik ran to the place where the old man was sitting..
as hardik reached there to thank him..the man wasnt there..hardik took a glance..then he saw the man exiting the park..
Hardik screamed.. " hey magic man...thanks for that bench idea.." The man smiled waved and left..
Hardik saw his coat near the bench..
"Heyy you forgot ur coat.." he screamed..but by that time the man had left..
Hardik saw a white paper in the coats pocket..He just took that paper out with curiosity..
and opened it..
There was something written on it..which brought a huge smile on his face..and gave him all the answers..

The words were...

" Magic Is in YOU"

:D

To be continued....

Statutory warning: Cigarete smoking is injurious to health.It causes cancer

Tags: Short Story

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