A Mysterious Man – By: Zia Ahmad
Last night, I met a mysterious man on the way back to my room from a long walk. At a Kiryana shop, someone was staring at me in a strange way when I was lightning my cigarete. He was a man of strong muscular appearance. Besides me, there was a young girl, wearing a black mask, may be about fourteen, with an old woman.I could only see her round black eyes. She was looking innocent and beautiful. The old woman was coughing badly. When the cough irritated her; the young girl gave her the cough syrup and told her to take some sips.
From the kiryana shop, they were buying eggs and by their outlook, it was clear that they were going home after meeting a doctor. It was quite interesting that the young girl bought only two eggs and decided to leave the shop. When they were passing by me; I moved back and gave them a way to pass by holding the cigarete with my lips. By following them, when tried to leave the shop, the mysterious man holded my hands from the backside and the half-lighted cigarete fell onto the ground. He said,” Bloody idiot_ silent, Just follow me” and released my hands. I took it too much easy, considered him a man in the street, and said, “You bloody! who you are to say me this, go to the hell. I know about you and your gang. You are in a wrong way. I don’t have any thing_no pocket, no mobile.”
When I tried to kick him, he said, “look at me.”when I looked at him, I found a black colored pistol hanging beneath his paint”. By showing it to me he said,” just follow me, don’t talk, and don’t behave rudely.” I felt a burning sensation inside me and followed him like a pet dog .
On the way, he ordered me to tear the banners on the walls and didn’t leave any wall and we visited every Street and tore all the banners. When we was tearing a banner of any democratic party, he said,” Do you know; only fifteen days are left for the general election?” I replied,”yes” and said, ” why are you doing this? ” He replied, ” I am doing my duty. I am not obliged to tell you. Duty is duty and I am in duty. “
Anyway, after finishing his mission, he ordered me to sit in a luxurious car with him. He drove the car very hastily and I sat behind with fearful dreams. After a long drive, he stopped the car and told me to come out .He took me to a cafe shop and ordered two cups of tea without asking me whether I liked tea or not. By appearance, he was opposite to me but the only thing looked common between us was that we both were tea lovers. After taking tea, he took out a packet of any foreign cigarete and offered me. Happily, I picked one of them. At this time, no one was around us, and with the strange-looking man, I enjoyed smoking.
At the cafe shop, he advised me not to smoke in public and not to be addicted to any addiction. He gave me a lecture on the importance of time and finally, he concluded with discipline. According to him, the most important thing in life was discipline.
Once again, we sat in the car. A half hour of driving, he stopped the car near an old building. I came out from the car and found it a prison.He forced me to follow him. By following him, I entered into a prison. Most of the renowned politicians were imprisoned there. Later on, he took me into luxurious cell. I found an aged man while reading books. The man looked at me in such a way that for months he had not seen any common man. He took off his glasses, put the book on the table, and welcomed me wholeheartedly. I said,” I have seen you somewhere” “Did you not understand me?” He replied in sad tone. I said” yes”. He replied, “Once I was the king of kings and ruling on thousands of hearts like you. Now, I am a stranger to all; everyone forgot me and I am living absurdly. Time has stopped for me.” When I asked him about his mistakes, he said, “Once I was a renowned politician and walking by holding the hands of some mysterious people. I supported them, and they enjoyed my kingdom and showed me the reality. I was blind and blindness was my tragic flaw.” Then soon, I decided to leave the absurd cell and requested the muscular man to go ahead.
The next step of our meeting was very interesting. With the mysterious man, I reached a palace. At the doorway, a white bearded man, with a yellow turban, welcomed us. He greeted me by saying a young man. The mysterious man kneeled in front of him and talked with graceful words. They talked on the national and international topics. One of the topics of their discussion was the general election. After a half hour of discussion, the mysterious man said to me, “We are fearless, but this sober man is some steps ahead of us”. In this country, all people respect us, but we respect this man because he is a game changer. He knows us from the depth. He is our weak point.” He said goodbye to the old man and we left the palace.
On the way, I asked him about our next meeting. He said, ” It will be unveiled soon “. In the same way, our third meeting was at a castle. When we was entering the castle, we heard the sound of Cyrene and many of them made a line and welcomed us. We met people who were looking much foolish and less fuedals. All of them bowed in front of the mysterious man and didn’t say a word. He rudely talked with them and told them to be ready for the election. He further said,” Power is shifting towards you. Don’t take it as power. For you it is not power_ it is a so called power.” Moreover, He also advised them to understand their limits. Further , he ordered them to not use it against the mighty hands. With these words, he left the castle and I followed him silently.
“This would be our final visit”, the mysterious man uttered. Being a talkative man, It was quite difficult task for me to follow him without uttering a single word. Anyway, finally, we reached our last destiny. For me, It was a heavenly world. I saw all the luxurious things that I had not seen in my life. Before entering into this world, I was following a single mysterious man but now it was a world of mysterious men. For a moment, it looked me an ideal world that can be only imagined. After seeing the heavenly view, I lost my consciousness and fell down. The mysterious man was trying to help me. He was saying me, “Be cool, be strong _ wake up.” I heard him and opened my eyes. It was the early morning of the Sunday. Besides me, my little nephew was watching an Indian cartoon.
