THE OTHER SIDE!

It was a long road; long and narrow. A few people were standing on both ends of the road. They were furious about something, I don’t know what. Blood was flowing in their eyes; their hearts were definitely wrecked, I thought. On one side, there were slogans of “jai shri ram” and on the other side “allah-hu-akbar”. It was scary; very scary, to see clubs and spears in their hands. The group on the right proclaimed that someone who belonged from the opposite sect had demolished their temples hundreds of years ago. The other group said that their families were tortured and tormented in the past. Both of them feared that the other group is trying to appease them and that their future was in danger. They got more furious with every passing minute and started pelting stones at each other. Some of them even used bullets and bombs to get rid of their enemy. Perhaps, they were right in their ways. They wanted to make peace through war, I guess; for they all said that they believe in peace and equality. Perhaps, it is wise to avenge the actions of our ancestors by acting exactly in the same manner like they did. Maybe our next generation will enjoy peace and not fall into the same cycle of revenge by killing each other. Yes, they were doing right. But the sad part is that their stones, bullets and bombs never reached the other side. It ended up hitting a pool of thousands of innocent people standing in the middle of the road who had nothing to do with these acts of violence. They had already achieved peace and harmony by choosing a different path i.e. ‘forgiveness’. There was a state of chaos among all those innocent people as the arson spread and the bullets rained. I was standing in the centre, looking at the scene with deep morose. I could manage see a couple of people standing on the dais on both the sides. They had an evil grin on their face and their eyes reflected satisfaction. A bullet pierced through my chest and escaped from my back. Everything turned mute in a second and my eyes were blinded. There was ultimate peace and tranquillity, mixed with pain. I think I saw ‘allah’ and ‘ram’ crying; before I collapsed on the ground and found peace.