Motherland

By Syed Imaduddin Khilji

On the early hours of one morning, A Poor Single Mother along with her Twins, Her 2 Sons about aged 10 years wake up at their tempory makeshift shelter, They are residing in a Refugee camp set up at a Slum Dwellings located in a place adjacent to a hustling market. The entire camp is also located very near to the area with High Class Societies having High End Apartments residing Diplomats and their families, As one end of the Apartments face the Slums and other end Face the Sea.

The Mother after waking up, Tries hard to find basic food ingredients to prepare food for her Twins but doesn't find anything at home, She is tensed as she has to go work as a construction worker nearby and later shift as a temporary maid in the nearby apartments to earn today's living.

The Mother after extensive search finally finds 2 Rupees Coin in an utensil, She calls over the Twins, Hands the Coin to them and asks them to go to the market nearby to buy a slice of Bread worth the 2 Rs coin as their food.

The Boys agree and the Eldest of the Twin collects the coin and heads to the market.

The Elder Twin is dressed in All White clothes and Younger Twin is dressed in All Black clothes as they both have contrasting personalities and opinions of the World but nonetheless are Brothers by Blood.

After leaving the Camp boundary perimeter they decide to take a shortcut through the Playground field to save their time.

When slowly running in the Playground they both start to play by passing and throwing the Coin to one another, They do this about 20 times; But suddenly the Younger Twin holds the Coin for long time without passing to read the details imprinted in the Coin.

The Elder Twin asks the Younger Twin gently to pass the coin but he refuses to pass, The Elder Twin now shouts but he again refuses and Finally the Elder Twin Snatches it away from him and tries to run with it to the market, Immediately the Younger Twin manages to Trip Elder Twin legs and the Elder Twin falls off to the Ground.

Now They both get into a Tussle over the Coin, Both of them are Locked In and neither one of them wants to let go.

After a struggle the Coin bounces off in the air from both of them, It lands on the ground and starts off rolling in the Ground.

The Rolling Coin is stopped at the feet of an 18 year old Teenager who's a well known bully from the nearby High End Apartments who's dressed up in Red and White colorrd stripped clothes covered in small blue stars on the shirt.

The bully is Immediately followed by his gang of 8 members who live in the nearby apartments.

The Bully grabs both of the Twins by their neck collar, And makes them stand them up, And tells them that the Coin both of them were fighting for, Now belongs to him. The Twins are dejected and are scared that their Mother would be Unhappy and Furious for losing the hard earned money.

The Bully then proceeds to say that He will give this Coin on one condition only;

Which is that Both of the Twins must Fight one another, And whoever wins the fight or makes the other one submit, They will receive the Coin.

Both of the Twins realise the only way to get hold of that Coin from the Bully is to fight his Brother. They both agree to fight, The Bully acts as a Referee and they both start the fight with the Tussle again

Now after a long hard tussle they start hitting each other by throwing their hands and legs at each other. The Bully and his Gang view this fight as an Entertainment, And soon they realise they can enjoy it even further by betting money on them.

The Gang members of the Bullies standing on his Left start placing bet from their own personal pockets by adding 1 Rs and 2 Rs as their bet on Elder Twin.

The other Gang members standing on the right start placing bet around same price on Younger Twin.

The Fight continues but no result or no grave damage to any of the Twin.

Realising this the Bully adds 100 Rs to the betting amount, The Twins see the bet and realise it's a huge amount to win, The Bully then throws a sharp rock in the middle of the fighting space.

Both of the Twins rush to the rock, The Younger one grabs hold of it and hits it on the back of the Elder one, The Elder one then retaliates back by hitting with fists on his face.

The Fight ensues the other Gang members find sticks, stones and sharp objects from the playground and throw it at the fighting space.

The Gang members start placing bets of Rs 100 and Rs 200 each from every person of the Gang.

The Twins view this large betting amount and use all the objects thrown at them to hit the other to win the fight.

The Fight continues as both of the Twins are Exhausted. The Elder Twin finds the strength and over powers his brother and holds him in a Chokes lock and asks his brother to submit so that they could finish this fight and head back home to their Mother.

The Younger Twin refuses to submit, He's unable to grab the stone placed nearby.

Upon seeing this the Bully takes a small knife from his keychain and throws it near the hand of the Younger Twin.

Now the Younger Twin grabs hold of the Knife pokes it in the leg of his brother.

The Brother let goes of the Chokes lock, The Younger Twin pounches on his Brother, He tries to strike the small knife in the Eyes of his Elder Twin, The Elder Twin grabs the hand but the Knife which is too close to the Eyes as the struggle ensues.

Suddenly the Sirens of the Police Vans are heard from a distance, Upon hearing this The Bully asks his Gang to try to flee away as fast as possible. They do so and The Bully cunningly grabs all the betting money amounting to 1000s and runs away with it leaving just the Original 2 Rs Coin.

Upon seeing everyone running away and hearing the sirens, The Twins finally let go off one another but they can't get up to run away as they both are bloodied and exhausted.

The Police arrive at the scene and see the Boys all bruised up and bloodied up.

Upon seeing their Old Torm out White and Black clothes they realise they are from the Refugee

Camp. They decide to arrest them and place them in their car and Drive away to the Police Station.

After a couple of Hours, During Evening time the News reaches the Refugee Camp that the Twins got arrested for fighting and endangering peace in the society.

The Mother hears this News and upon hearing screams and starts to run away from the house with Tears rolling down from her cheeks. She starts to head to the Playground from where her boys got arrested.

Now meanwhile, The same Police who arrested the Twins also arrive at the entrance of the Apartment of the Bully, They meet the Bully and He bribes them with very small amount to the Police who arrested the Boys, He closes the deal with Police and then takes the remaining large amount and heads up to the Terrace. He gives the whole amount to the person who's aged around 50 years old, An Unknown person dressed in Clothes symbolising the One Big Star on White and Blue colored clothes.

The Unknown person rewards the Bully with a small amount and keeps the Rest to himself and send the Bully down to find any such other fights to profit from.

Meanwhile at the same time of the sunset, The Mother with lot of difficulty after running reaches the spot where her Boys had a fight, She views the fighting scene with full of stick, stones, sharp objects and knife.

Her attention goes out to one specific object.

She reaches over to the object, It is the same 2 Rs Coin which she had given.

She sees it is fully covered in the Blood of her sons symbolising that both sons have been brutally damaged one another over this money.

She picks up the Coin covered in Blood and looks up in the sky crying realising her Twins fought with one another for the Greedy and Atrocious Nature of the World and forgot about their Own Motherland !!

By Syed Imaduddin Khilji