Himmat

What does being noble mean? In realistic fashion, a person is called a noble, when he or she displays kind heartedness, compassion and regality in face of corruption . These are commendable qualities that a noble being must possess . But most of the human beings are not chivalrous beings. They are perhaps the only species in the planet who like to project their power by oppressing their own kind. Out of their greed was born the religious system, the cast system and the noble faction. The objective of the noble faction was to push the downtrodden farther down the muck while profiting out of their misery.

The Alamgir in his infinite wisdom had ordered the nobles not to collect extra tax from the poor ( especially the farmers) because the farmers are the backbone of every nation. Without them, there will be extreme food shortage, which will lead to destabilisation of a nation. But human greed knows no bounds and it was just pure greed that had spelled doom for the poor and the needy.

It was a sunny day with a cool breeze blowing, a perfect weather to harvest rice from paddy fields. Himmat, Rahmat's father was eager to get started on the extraction. So the father son duo ate a light breakfast cooked by Rashmi, Himmat's wife and started working on the paddy field. Himmat told his son : " Remove the weeds carefully and remember not to slip on the mud. You don't have any extra dry clothes. You will catch a cold, boy." Rahmat was a bit over eager, but he knew his father was right. If he did not do the work properly and carefully, they will not be able to send enough products to the market. Winter will be coming soon and before that happens the family needs to earn its keep for the winter. Extraction from paddy fields is a laborious and time consuming job. Rahmat was working slowly but carefully as per his father's advice. Suddenly a glint from the corner of the muddy field caught his eye. Cautiously, he bent forward and touched the stone which was giving a yellowish hue. As soon as he touched the stone, he suddenly felt he was seeing a vision. No, it was not a vision ; it felt like multiple visions to him. He saw monstrous calamities that swept away the entire world killing everyone in it's wake; he saw huge structures that towered over the sky with glittering windows ; he saw carriages without horses being driven by men at tremendous speed ; he saw enormous beasts trying to snuff out a group of people and a lady in the midst of that group shinning brightly with her head held high ; at last, he saw a visage of a person who was looking at him but that person seemed sad. The visions came in quick successions and before he could see any more, Rahmat felt extreme pain and he fell face first in the mud and started convulsing. Himmat was extremely worried; he ran to his son and asked : " Are you alright, boy ? Can you hear me ? " But Rahmat was not waking up. Without wasting any time, Himmat called a few more farmers who were nearby and took him to the local healer Sanchita. She is a spirit woman who helps and heals the poor without expecting any monetary benefit from them. When Himmat asked her what is ailing the boy, Sanchita replied : " The boy's spirit is fighting Himmat. I don't know what he is fighting, but we will get to know his condition in the morning. I pray that Bhagaban (God) have mercy on him." Himmat prayed to Allah to grant mercy to his son and courage to him and his wife that night. All he was thinking of was how would he break the news of their son's predicament to her.