The streets of Old Delhi bustled as usual. The quaint monuments each hold million of tales in its backyard. The by-poll election is slated in a couple of weeks. Posh posters over the streets have tons of promises unfulfilled. Husain ponders over the potholes on the road. The potholes remind him of the socio-economic gap between his community and elite folks of the society. He reminisce a survey report stating the rich 1% own 73% of country’s wealth. Husain's thoughts are disrupted by a commotion as an autorickshaw overturned in the midst of the road. People sprint to check-on. The victims are being rushed to the hospital. Subsequently, Husain makes his way to the mosque for Friday prayers. The Imam leads the Jummah prayer. A congregational supplications follows:
“Oh Allah! Make us among the righteous”
“Aameen”
“Oh Allah! Forgive us our sins”
“Aameen”
“Oh Allah! Guide us in our affairs”
“Aameen”
“Oh Allah! Make us among the knowledgeable”
“Aameen”


Husain comes back home.
“Assalamu Alaikum”
“Wa-alaikumus Salam”
“Where were you? ”
“Dadi, I witnessed a horrible accident. The lavish posters are being flaunted all across the area, but the common man struggles even for basic necessities. A pothole in the road can be fatal but someone traveling in Mercedes can never understand. I was busy in helping the victims along with other people of the locality.”
“No problem! Anyway, what about your further studies….. I want you to keep trying your luck abroad since it can give your dreams the right direction. Also, what about my medicines? ”
Husain heads toward the pharmacy. “Isn’t the delivery guy supposed to bring the medicines?” asked his grandmother. “He’s stuck into some work. Unfortunately, this is not a pizza to have a smooth delivery. I need to go and get it on my own,” said Husain.

Husain's friend visit him in the evening.
“Husain, what’s happening?” asked John
“Nothing much!” said Husain
“I have a good news. Me and Ayyub have cleared our interview for the scholarship and would be joining the University of North Carolina this fall.”
“Congratulations guys! I just want to let you know if you have been granted privilege for something, then know that it’s your duty to pay off those privileges by utilizing it for the benefits of the underprivileged.”
“Yeah, Husain… we’ll try our best. Also, we want you to keep trying too. God knows if you may join us some day.”
Husain was disappointed to have his scholarship turned down due to lack of guidance. His dream of studying abroad was shattered. Privileged ones with average grades can study abroad, but an underprivileged with good grades can’t think of abroad without scholarship or grants.
Husain’s grandmother noticed him getting caught in the pangs of guilt. She says: “Whatever happens, happens for a cause. You will learn this in time. The sun has its own essence and the moon has its own.”
Next morning, the phone rings. It was Husain’s father at the end from Bahrain.
“Husain, I've transferred 20 thousand rupees to your bank account for this month’s expenses. I hope you are taking good care of your grandmother. You know it very well she has nobody besides you there.”
“Yes, dad. I am.”
Husain reluctantly hangs the phone as he didn’t want to continue the conversation or to share the news of his scholarship getting rejected. However, he consoled himself by thinking going abroad will impact his grandmother as there is no one to look after her.

“Husain, was it Aman?” asked his grandmother.
“Yes, dadi. It was Dad,” replied Husain.
She read Husain’s silence behind his sullen demeanor.
“Why don’t you think about education loan? That way you can have your problem solved.”
“Dadi, I know that you can read my heart very well but I don’t want to turn my face away from reality. You have no one to look after. Also, the hefty educational loans are a risk too. Not everyone can afford it, and you see those study abroad counselling organizations; they charge hefty fees too. Sometimes more in one go than a middle class person's per annum salary. Anyway, Dad has sent us some money. I need to go to the pharmacy to pay off the debt and also buy this month’s grocery.”
“Then, why don’t you enroll yourself in a college here?”
“No, dadi. I think of joining some NGO. I think NGO can help me in developing my potential. I have learnt to embrace darkness. The moon may get all the credit for the splendour of the night but there are umpteen stars in the sky who have a covert contribution for the night. We are like those stars; our silence speak the loudest.”
Husain heads toward the pharmacy:
“So, this month’s expenses are quite high. I need to cut down on some grocery.”
Suddenly, Husain notices two cops ruthlessly caning a fellow down the lane.
“Sir, stop…” beseeched Husain
“Ohh… so, now we need to learn from you. Who are you to intervene in between? You will have to pay the price.”
“Sir, I was only trying to settle things….Sir, please……”
“Don’t worry….We will settle you for the better.”
“Sir, please try to understand… I have an ailing grandmother to look after…”
“Pasha, take him to the police station. We will show him what it means to intervene in our matters…”
Husain was always aware of the corrupt machinery and system but one day he will fall into it was something he couldn’t have imagined in his dreams. They frame Husain on phony drug dealing case. Husain is arrested and is sent into police custody for 14 days after being produced at the court.

Upon hearing the news, his grandmother’s world turns upside down. She asks Aman to come back to Old Delhi. Aman had no alternative left. He quit his only job in the wake of untimely return to India.
“You know Aman, a couple of days back Husain’s scholarship application was turned down. His friends Ayyub and John got the call letter and are studying in the United States now. Had our Husain won that scholarship, he wouldn’t be languishing in prison…… Oh… how I wish…” said Husain’s grandmother
“I remember how a mob attacked our house years ago and I lost my wife in that communal violence. Now, I can’t afford losing my son, ” a dejected Aman vents.
“Some people mature with age and some people with circumstances. Some people learn at school and some are taught by life. Husain has always been the latter one. I will be meeting Husain in the evening.”
“Look Aman, you lost your sole job. It would be difficult for us to hire a lawyer, ” said Husain’s grandmother.
“I will do something, mother.”
Aman visits Husain in the prison.

“My son…I wish I could have studied harder in school or during my college days…I wish I could I have got a decent job for the sake of my family…. I just…..I don’t know how to say this…but I want to let you know that everything will be alright. In this darkness,we shall strive to find our moon. Maybe we are amidst the storm, but our ship shall soon discover its shores.”
“Dad, you shouldn’t have come here. You lost your only job. We will be barely able to make both ends meet. Let me live in here. Atleast I won’t be a burden on your soul. Neither me nor our despondency. Is it a crime to come from the weaker section of the society? Is it a crime to be underprivileged? Is it a crime to be financially unstable. Is it a crime to stand against the stronger if I come from a weaker section. As long as hope remains, we will fight against all injustice till the end. Hope sustains the universe. Know that no matter how hard circumstances test us, we don’t bow down to social or economy disparity for we are different lamps which glow from the same light.”
“I can’t be more proud of you, my son. I will see you later. Stay strong!”

Aman and his mother knew that it will be an uphill task for them to get Husain’s bail.
“Aman, I hope we could arrange some money by mortgaging the house.”
“I had the same plan too but Husain doesn’t want this to happen. He knows that we will lose this home if we decide to go that way, so he refused. I will check some of my savings and have a meeting with our lawyer.”
Aman sees the lawyer.
”Sir, you have been like a family to us. I told you what happened with Husain earlier.”
“The matter seems to be complicated. I will try my level best. The case is quite strong……”
“I hope it works…”
Aman and lawyer head over to the court for the next hearing.
Destiny has some other things in store for Husain as he is denied a bail and his custody is extended further. Husain starts working on a book in the prison— a memoir telling his life experiences, his community lagging behind in the society and how he lost his mother in a communal violence stoked by a misinformation. He writes, “In this era bias, lies and misinformation travel faster than the speed of light while innocent languish behind the bars for years hoping justice to be served one day.”



These verse cast a light upon the indifference prevailing in the society. Husain has found a comrade in his pen. His prison days are often put down on paper in the form of verses and paragraph touched with a light of pessimistic utopia.

Phone rings....
“Yes, Aman here.”
”As-salamu Alaikum, uncle. Ayyub this side. We have joined the university here in the US. Where’s Husain…..?”
“ Wa-alaikumus Salam. Look, Ayyub…I don’t know how should I tell you… but Husain is faraway from all of us. He’s languishing in a prison for a crime he didn’t commit or his only crime is that he is socio-economically weak. A celebrity gets arrested and it’s the talk of the town. A common man languishes behind prison for years but no one cares….”
“My heart is sinking…. I will call you later, uncle. Take care….. ”

“Who was there on the phone call? asked Husain’s grandmother
“It was Ayyub, ” said Aman
“Why don’t you look for a better lawyer?
“ I was thinking about it too…but better means more expensive”
“We can’t let our son languish in jail. We can’t keep sitting like this helplessly. .. I am going to sell my jewelry… and one of my kidneys if needed.”
“It’s not about the money but... Anyway, I shall try”
Husain’s bail keeps declining time and time again. This takes a toll on his grandmother’s health and one day the news of her demise reaches Husain. Husain is released on a parole for her funeral. Upon his arrival, Aman hands him a note written by her grandmother which read:
Embers of unkempt snobbery wanes tranquil earth
As blazes a crook tale of unscrupulous mirth
A tarnished tale of human being and being humane
Beneath lies the fallen throne of anthro kingdom
Political gimmick and its defiant deception
Casting its shadow upon egalitarianistic paradigm
Schadenfreude of cast, creed, colour and its mirth
Vexation traversing the yards of the earth
Malice invading nooks and crannies of anthro kingdom
Bruised souls succumbing to prejudice prompted mirth
Malign morbidity enswathing entities of the earth
Lo and behold! Harrowing hues of nil humane
Vendettist waging its voracious paradigm
Stifling fraternity with the nose of deception
Trailing seedy desires and its cynic paradigm
Daffodils disguised in dismay of anthro kingdom.

An inconsolable Husain is taken aback…He never came to know how creative her grandmother was as a writer or maybe circumstances wouldn’t have let her grown as a writer.
Husain vows to carry forward her legacy as the funeral proceeds.