SILENCE

Who said, “If Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden”, ??? - False it is.

For once, Tin happened to experience a whole new situation in his life, one like smelling the odour coming out of a sugar factory.

This was Tin – a jolly good fellow in every walk of life. He believed in keeping the atmosphere pleasant. Enjoying every moment being his passion for life, he would make new friends pretty quickly.

Now, he was a young guy, just out of college, and searching for a job. It was his interview day. He had applied in a large shipping agency and they needed lots of workers to join the crew. While waiting for his turn to come, unlike the other applicants who were getting anxious every now and then, this lad stayed cool. He was observing things around and trying to enjoy the ongoing skit, where helpers assisted the applicants and the interviewers. They were running around like as-if settling things out of a big mess. One such helper Avi was guiding Tin and a few others. Anxious interviewees made the atmosphere cold. Silence filled the air for most of the time and occasionally a few scared footsteps were heard. It seemed like a dungeon wherein a serial killer was waiting to do his job as victims approached him one by one. Tin broke the silence, made friends with Avi.

“Is this all we need to take in?”

“Yes, they won’t bother much.”

“How is it inside the dungeon?”

“There are two. One in this room and another in that..”

Just then, a.. tired of life kind-off.. old man walked out and in through one of those dungeons. Poor fellow was given the job of the serial killer for that day.

“How is this taskmaster?”

“He is crack”.. (Giggles surround).. “very slow and Strict too.”

“And I am going to be killed by him, right??”

“Yes”.. “The other one is good. He is recruiting many.”

“Then send me there..”

Now, Avi seemed to be dog tired, still kept a smile on his face constantly, and that attracted Tin. Avi told Tin, it was a hard life in this agency. But optimistic Tin showed extra excitement like an ever-ready battery. Avi smiled. Probably, he remembered his interview day. He sent Tin in the better dungeon and Tin was happy. Tin got the job easily and was heartily glad, for now he had something to do.

He was to be boarded on a ship - Riana. But this also meant that he had to be away from home for months. Anyways, he had to do it. Excitedly, he boarded the ship at the earliest he could. There he met many others, different crew members doing different jobs in different departments. He befriended most of them.

Riana was beautiful. A small cruise ship when compared to the other ships of the agency, but very big one for Tin. It had three decks. The top was the open deck, with a golf court, a garden lawn with snacks and drinks. Cool blue waters shone on all sides during the day, and at night created a deeply chilled atmosphere. The middle deck had food and lodging facilities for all. The bottom deck included games, entertainment theaters, and party rooms. An alluring waterfall ran down from the top to the bottom deck, behind the stairway. Another tantalizing thing was a painting in one of the corridors.

“Wow!”, exclaimed Tin to his fellow worker, whose name was Rev. They were passing that way, towards the food-house. They both were managers of that food-house.

“That painting was got from an antique store.”, Rev said, “Beautiful, isn’t it? It will soon be shifted into our food-house. It would make a nice show piece on wall opposite the cashier”.

“Oh! Is it?”

Nod.

Now that painting of an unknown author was a special one. Rev had to take it safely somewhere, but this he hadn’t told Tin. He somehow managed to put it under Tin’s responsibility. Tin saw to it well and they often admired it for hours. One fine afternoon, when the ship landed on the shore, the police came in for a casual checkup. They found stolen gold inside the frame. Since it was under Tin’s responsibility, he was caught and put in jail.. actually Trapped..!! And jail is never a good place to be in.

Tin had nothing to say but that he was innocent. He preferred to be quiet, as no one would accept his plea. He was jailed for 2 years.

Now there were different facilities available in jail, for the prisoners -Things to do, to learn, that could earn them a living once they got out. Tin found new life in there. But how good was it? Once he got out, he could again apply to join the ship, but would they take him? And even if he got that job, would he be accepted by his fellowmen? Would he make friends the same way as before? Questions in his mind wouldn’t end. But one thing needs to be answered..

Was his new life worth?.. worth his silence?