THE HERO

2 am in the morning and Rahul’s phone started ringing. Of course he was awake. The thing with insomniacs is that they are never really sleeping but they are never completely awake too. Rahul was not an insomniac, but bouts of it affected him. It was not chronic but it happened at times when his mind was not at rest. Of course a normal mind of a normal person is never at rest, but when something troubled him really bad he could not sleep. He was not worried about the things that are, and always will be mundane. He was worried about things you can’t keep your finger on. Indeed a menace.
It was a week now and he did not sleep. His head was constantly aching and he just did not know why. He made some assumptions regarding what could be the cause. He wanted to do something that made his life more meaningful. It was two years in a software company and he didn’t see anything extraordinary happening and he was worried about that. Each night he went to bed he wished that something would happen that would change his life. Something would happen that would make him want to get up early next morning and look at the mirror with purpose. With a burning desire, with passion of doing stuff that meant more than the tons of lines of code he pushed into his computer.
He picked the phone after 4 rings only because the number was unknown. The voice was of a female on the other side.
“hello can you help me?”- the female.
“who are you?”- he asked confused.
“I am a girl who needs your help can you, I don’t have time for details”
“ok”
“listen, come to baker’s circle, near the Food bazaar immediately, some goons are after me I need help!”
“it’s a big place how do I find you?”
“just come to the food bazaar entrance I am hiding there behind the delivery van, hurry!”
“ok hold on”
That’s all he said and within exactly 3 minutes he was racing through the halogen illuminated streets of old delhi. It was beautiful, the night was beautiful. Cold and unforgiving, the night was not welcome for just any guy. But he was not any guy, he was a guy that needed some purpose to live, that’s the reason he sped towards an impossible rescue. Logic had nothing to offer, half of his mind wanted to figure out how a freak girl got his freaking number and what was she doing at 2 am near food bazaar. But as his bike touched 80kmph his mind was clear. His mind was empty. He felt alive and he smiled.
Neelam stared at the morning newspaper. She was getting late for the office. And Rahul would get pissed off for having to wait downstairs on his bike. She must read the headlines at least. Something was very familiar about the front page photograph of a battered bike. She read on.

INDIA SAVED FROM A TERRORIST ATTACK, ONE LIFE SAVES THOUSANDS
May 25th-Thursday,New Delhi- An unidentified jeep collided with a bike around 2:30 AM this morning near the Food Bazaar stop, Old Delhi. After the collision the jeep exploded as it is believed a freak spark detonated 50 bombs. Each bomb is said to be capable of destroying an area of radius 3kms. The ignition was catalyzed by a spark probably from the bike engine. The jeep carried maybe 4-5 men but due to the giant explosion there is no clue as to who they were. The identity of the bike rider is also not known. Is this God’s way of making martyrs out of common men, we do not know who this soul was but we will remember him as our savior.
Neelam wanted to go out and look out of the window to tell Rahul to wait. She wanted to so much. All she could do now was to drop tears into her tea cup and stare at the photo of the battered bike. They had always gotten into these bets where you had to make the other person look lame. They had played a hundred pranks on each other in the last few years. That was their bond. Last night neelam had downloaded some free software by which you could call national numbers. She had pasted a note on the food bazaar entrance when it closed for the day. She mailed her friend in Chennai with the instructions and the plan went way smoothly. What did she write on the note?
‘Rahul you are the stupidest male alive on this planet, I am the stupidest female on this planet and that makes us partners. Let’s start our new stupid life together, this is my stupid proposal, please accept”
Only one thought came to her mind all day and it would come to her for the rest of her years in this life. ‘Even God does not help stupid people’