Fragile Strength

What is one thing you would change about yourself?

The vision of the eyes opened to the dust covered concrete flooring. Sound erupted from within the throat but was greatly reduced as they tried to escape the mouth tied tightly by a cloth.



The girl still in her school uniform raised her head to look around. It was a hall with a single window. It was still day outside. The parts of the cobalt blue painted walls were broken at several places. A damp smell floated in the air. There was a door right in front, it had stains of dirt and something that looked like scratches from an animal or maybe a person.



The hands of the girl were tied to a galvanized steel pipe that was protruding from the wall. She tried to stand but the pipe wouldn’t allow her to rise much, so she went back to her sitting position.



She was still in her school uniform she observed and the last thing she recalled was walking to school and suddenly being blindfolded and being pulled into a vehicle with a voice of a man asking her to stay quiet.



The realisation of the situation brought tears with them and the door opened and two men stepped in. Both of them had beards and had the vibe of people who were upto no good.



“Don’t worry, you will be free soon,” said one of the men



“As soon as your father meets our demands,” said the other man with a snicker



In her mind, the girl thought of how worried her parents might be, and what her kidnappers could have demanded and she started blaming herself for not being careful enough.



Just then another man rushed in hurriedly through the open door with sweat clearly visible over his face.



“What happened?” asked one of the two men who had come before



“Ther… There is a man.. he came all off ff a sudden and started beating up everyone..” replied the man in a stuttered tone



A light of strength was visible in the girl’s eyes as she knew exactly who it could be. Her elder brother who for some reason or strength unknown could accomplish anything in life he wanted to.



“Then go and make sure he doesn’t come here, we will move the girl,” said the second of the two men



The man who came in hesitantly went back outside but after a moment or two, came back flying as if struck by the blast wave of an explosion. The man hit the wall in front and fell down unconscious.



The two men present looked at the man lying unconscious on the floor and then at each other and immediately took out their guns and started to rush out to deal with this intruder. But this muscular bearded man wearing aviator and with hair flowing despite the absence of wind rushed in and sent the two men flying like the man before with a punch each.



The girl rejoiced with confidence and happiness as this man who was her brother untied her and asked her if she was injured. At that moment, about twenty men rushed into the room surrounding both of them and probably a hundred more stood outside.



The brother however showed no flicker in confidence and he picked up her sister and asked her to hold on tight before going on a smashing spree with men flying here and there because of the punches and kicks that were brought upon them; some broke through the walls, furniture and windows they impacted against and the brother walked out without a scratch successfully rescuing his sister from more than 100 armed and capable men.



“I just don’t understand, what do you find so interesting about these movies,” said Mrs Barman



The hand of Mr Barman carrying the flake of popcorn to his mouth stopped and he looked at his wife, “You have no idea about the kind of fan following these movies have. Many people enjoy watching them.”



Mrs Barman was clearly not convinced or affected in any manner with what Mr Barman had said.



“Maybe you don’t understand them well yet,” said Mr Barman as he put the flake of popcorn in his mouth and continued to watch the rest of the movie, where the man took down the main villain of the movie in the same manner.



Mr Barman was a big fan of such movies, and was inspired by these near invincible characters who were no less than any superhero out there. Although he did not let anybody know but within, he felt he was similar to one of these characters.



Every morning when Mr Barman went out running, he believed he could run faster and longer than anyone else and, in the evening, as he exercised with his 5 kg dumbbells, he thought he was becoming stronger by the day. He was quietly waiting for his moment to shine.



One morning as Mr Barman ate his cornflakes and his wife read the newspaper, his wife spoke, “there has been a string of robberies in the area by a person pretending to be a delivery person.”



“There could be multiple people involved,” said Mr Barman



“No, it is only one, by the description provided by some people to the police,” said Mrs Barman



“What is the description?”



“It hasn’t been mentioned”



Mr Barman felt that it was within his set of skills to find this robber and hence he began his observation of every delivery person who came in his view. He even started spending time talking to the security guard of the society in an attempt to closely look at all the delivery persons that passed within that time, especially on the weekends.



Mr Barman even followed some of the delivery people to where they were going, while pretending to coincidentally go in the same direction.



“Are you involved in something.. you know… not legal,” asked Mrs Barman one day during dinner



“What? You know where I work and what I do. You think I am doing something illegal?” responded Mr Barman, taken aback a little



“Some ‘concerned people’ have seen you going around behaving weirdly like you are looking for someone or something. They were asking me if something was wrong,” said Mrs Barman



“Its just a misunderstanding. I am not doing anything wrong”



Mr Barman remained awake that night, he was nowhere closer to what he wanted. He had found a few people who looked suspicious but nothing beyond that.



However, he did come across what he was looking for after two months, although not in the manner he thought he would. While waiting for the elevator, he saw a delivery boy wearing a green cap and green t-shirt of a pharmacy, but the odd thing was that the boy was standing in front of the door of an apartment which was locked and a big silver lock hung outside the door.



Mr Barman silenced his breath a little and with steps which made the least amount of sound he approached the delivery boy. The delivery boy became aware of Mr Barman approaching, he turned to look at Mr Barman, smiled warmly and then he started walking away in the opposite direction.



“Hey wait, excuse me,” Mr Barman said as he increased the pace of his steps towards the delivery boy expecting him to start running.



But the delivery boy stopped and turned, carrying the same warm smile and asked, “Yes sir?”



“What were you doing there?” asked Mr Barman



“I came to deliver medicines but no one seems to be at home,” said the delivery boy and then he looked at his watch and said, “I have another delivery to make” and he started walking away.



“They haven’t been at home for a while, and they won’t be for at least a couple of months,” said Mr Barman in a serious tone



The delivery boy stopped but did not say anything and he slowly turned and smiled, “I must have the wrong address then.”



But, Mr Barman was sure of his suspicion, he let his bag drop from his hand and sprinted forward and punched at the delivery boy and pushed him. The delivery boy lost his balance and fell down as Mr Barman continued to punch him. The delivery boy raised his arms to protect himself and tried to say something, but Mr Barman was all over him with this incredible strength and confidence he has been building for so many days.



Then it happened, so suddenly that Mr Barman could not understand. When it was enough, the patience, understanding and professionalism broke apart and the delivery boy grabbed Mr Barman by the collar and punched him in the face.



Mr Barman experienced a silence like he had never experienced before and the next time he came to sense he saw his wife with an ice pack in hand, the security guard, the delivery boy and some neighbours who were relieved to see him coming back to sense.



He noticed he was sitting with his back against the wall on the floor of the lobby where he had stopped the delivery boy.




The delivery boy had in fact come to the wrong address by mistake when Mr Barman started attacking him indiscriminately and he had no option but to fight back. Mr Barman realised a lot of things that day including that it wasn’t so easy to just throw a punch.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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