The Award

It had been a tough week for Lal Bihari but the sweat had been worth it. Half the battle was won. He at last got his passport. After so many rejects, near-misses, heart-breaks he at last made it. Come on you guys must be thinking getting a passport is no big deal!! But he overcame a handicap that you can’t even imagine – He was DEAD!! Now the next hurdle, the US visa.

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Govind comes running into the house. He is panting, wants to say something but words won’t come out of his mouth. The expression on his face is of complete astonishment.

“Bihari, who log tumhari zameen le gaye!! Kahtey hain tum mar gaye ho!! Saath mein police bhi hai!! Hum lut gaye, barbad ho gaye”

“Oye Govind! Kya bol raha hai? Pagala gaya hai kya? ”

“Arey nahin Bihari kaka..jamnagar mein jo aapke mama hain who aaye hain!! Kahatey hain peechale mahine ke train accident mein aapka dehant ho gaya..kuch to bahi-khata bhi leke aaye hian..”

“Uske kahane se kya hota hai? Tu chal mere saath..mere zinda hotey koi meri zameen nahin chheen sakata”

Yeah only if he could have proven he was alive his land would have been his own..But his uncle had all the evidences. Bihari had no chance in front of law..his uncle had a paper from the court and land registry office stating that the land now belongs to him after the death of his nephew Lal Bihari. Lal Bihari did all he could..cried, wailed, shouted loudly “arey bhai mein zinda hun..meri zameen mat chhino mujhse..mein zinda hun”..but to no avail..It was clearly written on the paper “Lal Bihari: Dead, in the train accident”..It also had the district collector’s signature on it..now it was Lal Bihari’s walking, talking cadaver against the word of the collector…Of course he was dead..Why couldn’t he understand sucha simple fact.. His uncle infact tried to console him from the grief of his very own death!!

So, his land was taken away from him. He could do nothing but just look at his uncle reaping the harvest from it. But Bihari didn’t give up. He decided to fight against this injustice. He tried his level best to prove that he was alive. He tried to run for parliament, kidnapped the son of the uncle who had stolen his property, threatened murder, insulted judges, threw leaflets listing his complaints at legislators in the state assembly and demanded a widow's pension for his wife. But this was not enough in the eyes the law. It’s not for fun that people made movies called “Andha Kanoon”. He was arrested after his acts and duly placed in prison. After all everybody knows how harmful dead people can be to our society!! And the law enforcement officials see to it that we lead a safe life.

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The turning point of his “dead” life came when he decided to join hands with other dead people like him. He became the founder and first president of “Association of dead people”. To his surprise there were hundreds of his kind in the state. Shocking!! How people couldn’t see so many dead people walking all around them. Their combined efforts soon started reaping results.

It took 18 years of hard struggle of Lal Bihari for people to finally see the signs of life in him. Law could no longer attribute his actions to “late” Lal Bihari. He got his land back. He was happy. But the icing on the cake was when he got a letter from the “Association for Faltu Activities”. They had decided to award him “The AFA peace award” for his outstanding achievement of championing the cause of dead people who have been the most neglected faction of human society in whole history!! The award ceremony was to be held in washington, DC where president George Bush was to give him the award.

That night before sleeping Lal Bihari said to himself “At last, I can die in peace!!”

-Inspired by true adventures of Lal Bihari, who was awarded the Ignoble peace award in 2003.