Story-Jeevan Lakshya

Story-Jeevan Lakshya Jeevan Lakshya - Story

Vijay, forty-two, paces around nervously at the foyer of an auditorium with a piece of paper in his hand, murmuring 'Aadarniya Mukhya athiti mahoday, humaare marg darshak shakha prabhari ji, DO sahab aur mere pyaare saathiyon ... '

In the background, a faint sound of someone speaking on a mic can be heard. It's coming from inside.

'Aisa sunehra din aaya hai, mann hua hai prafullit ... Aaj jo hum mein sarvashresth hai, use karenge sammanit' announces the emcee animatedly and invites the chief guest to come to the podium and present the coveted 'LIC agent of the year' award to the one who has done maximum number of policies this year.

As the chief guest, an old man in his early sixties, slowly walks towards the podium, Vijay's anxiety increases outside. He begins to jumble up the words 'aadarniya saathiyon, pyaare atithi ji' ... his pace increases too. He is a nervous wreck.

The chief guest reaches the podium, the emcee gives him a card and the old man reads from it 'is saal ke vijeta hain ... Vijaya ji'. The crowd applauds. A confused female gets up. Vijay is shocked outside. But just then the emcee corrects the chief guest 'Vijaya ji nahi Vijay ji ... vijeta hai Vijay ji.' The crowd applauds again but Vijay is not in sight. The applause dies down. Someone runs out to get Vijay. That person comes back. The crowd applauds again. But Vijay is not with him. The applause stops again. The person gestures that Vijay is coming in a moment. Everyone waits ... and finally Vijay enters with a huge round of applause.

Vijay smiles nervously and moves towards the stage, still stealing glances at the piece of paper in his hand and saying the lines of his speech under his breath.

SCREENERS

He gets up on the stage, greets all the dignitaries (one of whom avoids eye contact with him) and taking the award from the chief guest, he goes to the podium to give the acceptance speech. 'Aadarniya Mukhya atithi mahoday, Humaare Marg darshak Shakha Prabhari ji, (a little awkwardly) DO sahab aur mere pyaare saathiyon' ... but just then ... BANG BANG BANG! A series of loud noises come from outside and everybody runs out to see what happened. Vijay stands alone at the stage with his speech in his hand.

Outside, a man has been shot dead by someone and the crowd gathers around the dead body. Nobody seems to be shaken by it or even surprised by the murder, but they are all curious to know who got killed. 'Arre woh gujjar ka ladka hai, pichale hafte cricket match mein jhagada ho gaya tha na gol market ke ladkon se, unhone hi goli maar di hogi' seems to be the general consensus and everyone is quite okay with this theory.

Vijay too walks out and sees the dead body. While rehearsing for his speech, he had actually seen a couple of guys lurking in the alley next to the auditorium, but rather than waiting there to tell the police about it, he just shakes his head and leaves. He is disappointed. Not because a young man lost his life due to a petty issue (which is just too normal in Muzaffarnagar), but because he didn't get the opportunity to deliver his acceptance speech.