Tragedy in a Foreign Land (1)

"Pass me the hammer! Hey! I say, pass me THAT hammer!"

Rajoo awoke from his day-dream with a start! Irritated and yawning widely, he bent down slowly, picked up the hammer at his feet, shuffled over to Siva, who was working at the other part of the house, and handed him the hammer. Dragging his feet, Rajoo turned back to continue the work where he had left off, before he lost himself in his day-dream.

He was about to lift his hammer to drive in a nail when he got distracted by an ant crawling up his shirt. He watched it make its way slowly from the bottom-last to the top-most button of his shirt. Then, he reached out his hand and squeezed it dead between his thumb and finger. He held his thumb and finger slightly apart to check if the ant was dead. He watched its mutilated lifeless body just long enough to be satisfied that it was not moving. Ha! The foolish creature thought it was going to make it! Feeling pleased with himself, Rajoo wiped the dead ant onto his pants and took up his hammer again.

"Knock! Knock! Knock!" The monotonous knocking sounded like a lullaby to Rajoo. He looked around at the other guys busy at work. With these guys working so hard, there was no fear the house could not be finished on time. His boss would have no excuse delaying payment for his hard labor then. With that happy thought, Rajoo decided it was time for an 'energy-booster’.

He walked behind one of the pillars and lit a cigarette. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, he felt proud of himself. He was certainly one who knew hard labor. After the puff, he felt rejuvenated. He definitely deserved that little break. This was hard work. He walked back to his spot and picked up his hammer and a nail. He could feel the heat of the sun on his back.

“Knock! Knock! Knock!” The other guys were still hard at work. When Rajoo caught sight of the big heap of nails on the floor, what little amount of energy he had gained from the smoke vanished. Then a thought hit him! Why not spread the nails further apart when he hammered them in, so that he would have less hammering to do? Cheered up, Rajoo took up his hammer again. Before his hammer reached the nail, his eyes caught sight of a trail of ants making its way along one of the ledges. His eyes followed the ants.