The Reward

A terrorist once successfully bombed himself killing hundreds in the onslaught. After death, he was led to the gates of heaven where he met the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper asked him, "Were you the suicide bomber who was just blown up?"

The terrorist answered, 'Yes, I am... I mean, I was."

The gatekeeper glanced him from top to bottom and made a note in his book of records.

"So, are you gonna let me into heaven?" the terrorist asked.

"Well, we will see about that after I finish calculating your tally of sins and good deeds in your lifetime", the gatekeeper said still peering into his record book.

"Oh, I don't care if I go to heaven or not! I'm here to claim what was promised to me", said the terrorist.

The gatekeeper looked up and asked, "Please be kind enough to elaborate what you were promised back in there as I do not seem to have any mention of it here."

The terrorist turned on his either sides to see if there was anyone listening, and making sure there was no one overhearing him, thus spoke, "Um... Well, during my recruitment and during my training, our leaders repeatedly stressed on one thing which kept us going and motivated no matter how difficult our tasks were. I did not care to see if there were children, women, old people, or innocent among the dead. I just wanted to kill. It was so much fun killing all those infidels!"

The gatekeeper was quietly listening. And the terrorist finally asked, "So, what about the 72 virgins that I was promised?!" with a grin of achievement on his face.

The gatekeeper immediately changed his demeanor and bowing to him with all the respect, said, "Oh! Please forgive my rudeness to have kept you waiting for so long, my dear Sir. Pardon my ignorance that I failed to identify you were a martyr in the Holy War. Your promise is right this way. Please follow me..."

He led the terrorist inside the gate and took him along a corridor. There were several rooms from which aromatic scents emanated and colorful ornaments were decorated on the doors and windows, which although remained closed. Trees bearing colorful fruits and flowers lined the corridor. It was truly a heavenly sight. The terrorist struggled hard to contain his excitement and paced up his steps to match up with the gatekeeper. After a couple of turns and passing a few rooms, they finally arrived at a beautifully decorated villa.

Upon entering inside, the gatekeeper said, "Here is the Heaven you longed for. Here is your destiny. The rewards for your deeds, my Sir. Step inside and glorify your afterlife as you deem fit. Your 72 virgins are waiting for you inside in the first room to your right."

The terrorist almost jumped with joy. "Thank you so much, Praise the Lord! My mission is finally successful!"

The gatekeeper said, "All right, Sir. I'll leave you here. Have a good time and a good stay!" and walked out of the house. The terrorist immediately closed the door and rushed to the room and pushed open the door. What he saw made him scream in shock! He rushed out to the main door and tried to open it but it was locked from the outside. Without another thought, he called out loud to the gatekeeper, "Hey, Mr Gatekeeper. You traitor! Come back here. I'll rip you to pieces..."

The gatekeeper, who was not very far, came back to the villa and saw the terrorist shouting from inside through the window. The terrorist, upon seeing the gatekeeper, frantically said, "Hey, open this door! Why is it locked from outside? I want to get out."

Approaching the terrorist, the gatekeeper calmly asked, "Why, Sir? What is the problem? Are you not satisfied with your present?"

"You moron, when I asked for 72 virgins, I meant girls and not 72 men of all ages", the terrorist protested. To this, the gatekeeper, maintaining the same calm gesture, replied, "Apologies, my Sir. Once allotted, the presents cannot be taken back and have to be enjoyed by either parties, which is the Law here. Uh, by the way, we have not lied to our word either. Those men in there are all virgins! And they're no more complaining if it's a man or a woman. It's only a matter of days that you'll get along with them. Anyway, enjoy your stay, Sir". Saying this, the gatekeeper walked away to check on the next person waiting at the gates.

Cassettes: A Nostalgic Collection

If you were someone born in the last 2-3 decades, you would have definitely grown up singing along or dancing to the music on the cassette player. Sure, newer technologies and digitization of music has revolutionized the way we listen to music today. mp3 and digital audio files are extremely easily accessible and given to the popularity of earphones in today's world, enjoying music has become more of a personalized experience than a group session like it used to be in the early days. Earlier, in the times of the radio, huge radio sets would take up important places colloquial to the ones our TVs would occupy today. Since it was the only home entertainment and information source, whole families would gather round it and listen to music or cricket commentary or news or anything that would be aired. It was the same with gramophones, except that they gave a more personalized option of playing the music of our choice. Cassette came in as the next generation audio devices that further altered our music listening experience.

My memories begin with my mom gifting me a Videocon tape recorder when I turned 4. The first cassette I listened on it had Aashique on A Side and Dil on B Side. Though I had no clue at all about the lyrics, the constant listening to it had made me learn them by heart (I've forgotten them now however). With more time, more cassettes added up to the tape rack. I would religiously play a cassette everyday and listen to the songs. Most of the songs would be from the movies I had watched. At the same time, listening to music of movies that I'd not watched was more of an imaginary experience where I would imagine the visuals according to the music.

As I grew up, I began to sing along with the songs and tried to match up the scales. This gave me an insight into assessing where I went off and where I fit in and work on my singing skills. I am not a formally trained singer except for music classes in school which I seldom practiced. But I would surely listen to the music on tape and sing along.

As I got a little older, I learnt about Stereo technology and would sit in front of the tape recorder with my head placed at the center, between both speakers for perfect stereo experience and listen to cassettes, sometimes for even hours. I would intently watch the tape roll to the other side through the plastic pane and be amazed as to how such a thin tape could contain such beautiful music.

With access to a few genres and restricted to a limited number of cassettes by both choice and availability, I would play the same cassette again and again so much that I can still unconsciously recite the lyrics of the hits of yesteryears, even while not paying attention to as what the lyrics meant as long as they sounded right. Over time, the cassette player gradually wore out and died one day. During it's lifetime, it had immersed me in a world of blissful experience for 20 years. In the middle of its life, it had fallen a couple of times owing to careless handling and non-availability of genuine parts.

Every time I sing something out of memory, I would definitely have heard it on tape. For the lyrics of the new age songs, I have mostly depended on the internet and haven't bothered of seriously remembering it. This is generally true because the songs that we had heard in those cassettes back in those years are all now in our hearts, no matter what music we all listened to. Even though we seldom listen to those songs or admit we listen to them, we can unconsciously recite them anytime a cue is triggered.

I was cleaning a cupboard in my room where I found a box full 50-60 of cassette spanning across three decades. These are the things that inspired me to sing and write and find joy. Playing a cassette on the tape recorder for me is a way to spark up nostalgia and travel to the times of my childhood. Every time I hear those songs on youtube or TV, I am transported to that timeline where I had spent days together relishing that music from the cassette.