Sin, punishment, terror

 

A normal day. It was early winter. Evening darkness was enveloping Calcutta as the hour approached 5 PM. The hawker was arranging his wares on the railings of Kalighat Park. The kerosene lamp was illumining the illustrations on the posters eerily. There was redemption for the sinners, but they were in punishment prescribed for each of several sins. The do gooders’ rewards were noticeably absent!

The boys looked at the graphic pictures in furious red and the other primary colours. The hideous minions of the netherworld wielded terrifying instruments of torment reserved in their capabilities for each of the sins – lying, stealing, hurting, disobedience et al. The boys looked at each other in terror at the prospect awaiting them! Boy 1 “you stole my yoyo”. “Oh, you kicked me so hard, Boy 2, the swelling on my knee is not reducing, not to mention the pain”!!! 

 

                                                             hell - guantanamo in the skies
 

The sinful past was playing on a larger than real canvas in the minds of the two 8-year-old men (the kids thought so). But what did not cross their mind was the machinations they will experience in their professional life later in the Darwininian world of commerce. Déjà vu?

Those days of innocence, though childish, continue to bring me a smile even now and much moreso, as a comical relief when writing it.    

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