“Telegram”

Ram Prasad, a retired hawaldaar, was waiting anxiously for his son's return from the war. His son, Ramesh had gone to the kargil sector to fight against the enemies who had infiltrated into our territory.

Ram Prasad had already heard in the news channels about the killings of various soldiers. Since then, he was worried about his son's whereabouts. Thus, he was waiting to get some message that will tell him that his son was fine. Ramesh was his only son though; his only hope to stay alive after his wife had died a long time back. He regretted himself to have sent his only son against the wishes of his son to fulfill his needs and desires, because it was he wanted to be in the Indian Army but couldn’t go because of certain reasons. He cried, he wept, and begged to god for his son's safety. He pleaded to god to not take his son's life, he pleaded to let him stay with him because he was the only one left in his life.

Then suddenly, there was a knock at the door, a loud thump. Everything went silent, there was silence everywhere. He felt scared to open the door. But, then he thought maybe it was his son himself. There was also this hope that allowed him to move slowly towards the door. As he opened it, he was greeted by his friend who was a postman. His friend said, "Hello! There is telegram message for you."

He quickly took the telegram from him, closed the door, and opened it. The telegram has just one line mentioned in it, "Major Ramesh Prasad dies in the kargil war."