AN INTERNATIONAL EPIC

A STORY BY: ANURAG SAHOO

This beautiful blue planet EARTH is covered with lands which have vast stretches of lush greenery, high mountains, small streams of waters and mammoth water bodies. The entire globe is diversified geographically. There are places where there is only sand and in another there is only snow. During the Jurassic ages, there were only empty lands with only animals and plants. But after the evolution of human, empty lands became kingdoms and borders were drawn. The intelligence of human have also given them ways to divide the land which belonged to only one domain called MOTHER NATURE. Today, there is a USA, RUSSIA, UNITED KINGDOM, INDIA and CHINA with their own flags, cultures and their own set of indifferences. The great EARTH which once boasted of its individuality has TODAY, due to her most advanced race of children is divided into 7 continents. The continents are further divided into nations. Each nation has a brighter side but unfortunately also a dark side. This is where my story begins.

I’m Mohammed Rizwan. I’m from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. My father runs a carpet shop and we always get enough to keep ourselves alive for the struggle with the life in India. I am lucky enough to be staying in Hyderabad which seems to be in the centre of economic development in India. I saw how IT took over the reins of the economy and the transformation of this NAWABI SAHAR to CYBERABAD. As an Indian, my Mathematics and Science basics were strong and that let me get an admission in INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KHARAGPUR-the best one and after 4 years I qualified myself as an ENGINEER. Even before I got my DEGREE CERTIFICATE I got a job offer from an U.S based company which was among the top notch company in IT sector. The convocation happened and I was ready to join those millions of Indians who had left the World’s largest democracy and the World’s 12th largest economy and culturally, one of the richest nations but economically one of the poorest (ironically) of the world to earn money outside. Thus the time had arrived to move to the second continent that I’d been which North America is and the country was none other than UNCLE SAM’S nation.

Days have passed and I remember about my mother crying while seeing me off in the airport. I was equally nervous about the fact that how UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is going……..sorry……..gonna welcome me. As the Boeing 777 of the Fly Emirates was preparing to land I saw skyscrapers. Tall man made mountains which defied the nature made me realize that my destination is near. TOUCHDOWN and the next moment I was in JFK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT and the name of my destination was NEW YORK. I joined my office and noticed that every American colleague were well cultured and behaved. Healthy work culture prevailed at my workplace. But who could forget MAA kya PYAAR and DAL ROTI. Still days passed and I saw the Statue of Liberty which till today celebrates freedom and welcomes thousands of immigrants who come to this land of opportunity to pursue THE AMERICAN DREAM. I got accustomed to the quintessential U.S culture. I had McBURGERS at McDonald’s and washed it all down with a glass of COCA-COLA. I purchased a Chevrolet’s sedan and went to LAS VEGAS to play poker and enjoy my night watching SHOWGIRLS and EXTRAVAGANT

CASINO. I went to GRAND CANYON to admire this awestruck beauty of the nature. I felt the cosmopolitan atmosphere of TIMES SQUARE in New York where if you stand for only 30 minutes you’ll get to see people of varied nationality. I saw MANHATTAN where real estate costs more than even a man’s life (kidding). I saw in AMERICA the best Human brain can offer.

After 8 years, I decided to head back to India. From India I was selected to join a team of Indian scientists in MAITRI-the Indian Base in ANTARTICA which is built to carry out scientific expeditions. So I took a flight to a place named AUSTRALIA which is the world’s smallest continent. DOWN UNDER I witnessed a beautiful place which like India has unique wildlife with animals like Kangaroo, kookaburra and Koala. Sydney’s OPERA HOUSE and IRON HARBOUR BRIDGE reflected the transition of a continent from a prison land to an Economical Powerhouse. And of course on the way to ANTARTICA I was lucky enough to enjoy a cricket match on BOXING DAY with a glass of FOSTER’s Beer.

From Christchurch, New Zealand I took off by a small CESSNA plane to MAITRI. ANTARTICA. The entire continent has known only one color for hundreds of years which is WHITE. Right from day one I had to freeze my ass off as temperature was dipping below day by day. Man, the warm base looked like paradise when I and my team used to come after a hard day’s or rather a chilly day’s work. We were also lucky to see AURORA lights in winter nights. The only sign of life we saw in this vast snowy desert were PENGUINS and SEALS.

I reached India after 3 months in Antarctica. On board of the QANTAS flight, I met a gentleman named SAYED WAHEB who is Egyptian by origin. He was a tall, sturdy and broad chested handsome man who seemed to be in his late thirties. He told me about his profession as an Arabic teacher in various schools all over the Middle East. He understands the culture of Middle East. He discussed with me about the various issues related to India like Kashmir, economic development and poverty. I realized that he was a learned and intelligent person. Then he suddenly changed the dimension of his conversation towards a common thing between both of us which is our religion ISLAM. Our plane made a stopover of 5 hours at Malaysia. There I was having a sip of Coffee at a restaurant when he came to me again and invited me to a nearby hotel room. Inside that room I saw lots of CDs and two shady characters. The CDs contained video of an ISLAMIC leader saying some inspiring slogans. Sayed talked to me about the atrocities committed on Muslims by Hindus during riots, the KASHMIR issue and the WAR ON TERRORISM. He tried to convince me that we all have to teach the western world and other non-believers infidels (KAAFIRS) a violent lesson. He sounded so convincing that I began to feel that I was not made for India but for my religion. At last he told me that he work for an organization which has waged JIHAD (holy war) against infidels. The organization goes by the name PRO JIHAD ORGANIZATION (PJO). After that day, my meetings with many active members of PJO took place by internet and Phone. I was getting brainwashed as I became a complete follower of PJO’s philosophy and ideologies.

Then finally the chance came to travel MEDELLIN which is located in COLOMBIA,SOUTH AMERICA. The basic purpose was to oversee a deal which involves PJO supplying opium grown in AFGHAN-PAK border to the MEDELLIN DRUG CARTELS who will pay astronomical amount of money to PJO for arms purchase. The MEDELLIN CARTEL, CALI CARTEL and many other organized crime syndicates operates in SOUTH AMERICA which is a haven for COCAINE, MARIJUANA and other drugs producing activities. The drug lords maintains their own supply and distribution network which leads to NORTH AMERICA which is the market for them. The powerful cartels have top government and military officials inside their pocket. So opium produced by Asians in VIETNAM, NEPAL and AFGHAN-PAK borders get supplied to these cartels who distribute these in US, CANADA and EUROPE. So my first assignment was to establish a connection between PJO and MEDELLIN CARTEL and facilitate the transactions.

Time passed by and I became a globe trotter. I left my family forever in India to join PJO as an active operative. PJO was supporting a warlord named ABDUL SIAD in SOMALIA. I had to go to MOGADISHU,SOMALIA where I have to supply arms and ammunitions to SIAD. Thus I traveled to the DARK CONTINENT AFRICA which is my sixth and reached SOMALIA in one bright afternoon. I was escorted by 2 gunmen by a jeep to SIAD’s headquarters. On the way, I saw people firing at each other. The BLACK HAWK HELICOPTERS of the US AIRFORCE were patrolling in the sky. Some of the buildings were razed and others had large holes from Bullets and ROCKET SHELLS. Yes, welcome to the poorest continent on Earth where majority of nations are crippled by civil wars. The deal went smoothly with SIAD as I moved around his gigantic and palatial headquarters which had limousines and swimming pools in a place where majority of people couldn’t find food. At the streets there were shops which sold bullets. Before leaving Africa, I got a call from my old friend and mentor SAYED WAHEB who told me the big day has come to strike a blow on west and make PJO heard in the entire world.

The target was OLD TRAFFORD, the home stadium of MANCHESTER UNITED and the date was on the FINAL MATCH OF ENGLISH PRIEMERSHIP LEAGUE between MANCHESTER UNITED and CHELSEA. I went to ENGLAND and landed in HEATHROW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. There I went straight to SOUTHALL area which is ASIAN DOMINATED area of London. There I and 3 of my associates who were all Pakistanis by nationality rented an apartment and stayed. We prepared the explosives with chemicals and all other essentials. We had already bribed 3 guards in OLD TRAFFORD and our plan was to plant 6 bombs in the washrooms. When the explosions will take place in a packed stadium, people will panic and run here and there and a stampede will be inevitable. So there will be a chance of maximum casualty in this high profile sporting event.

The big day arrived and we first prayed and then took a cab to OLD TRAFFORD. This is where I am now. Until this part, the entire story was just a flashback of how I started my journey from India and traveled all seven continents all over the world. As I was moving towards my destination, I saw LONDON TOWER BRIDGE, THE PARLIAMENT BUILDING,THE CANARY WHARF and INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE which are London’s most famous landmarks. But suddenly I noticed that 3 police cars were following us. My friend Rashid pointed his gun towards the BLACK CAB’s driver and told not to stop. The police seemed to know where we were going. That’s why they had placed spikes on the road which bursted the taxi’s tires. Before I could realize anything Salim, another associate kicked RASHID and the gun fell out of his hand. Salim ran out of the car. I immediately realized that Salim was an informant and he betrayed us. The entire mission is now jeopardized. The police arrested me and Rashid and AFZAL, my 3rd associate.

Today, as I am continuing my days at a maximum security prison in UK, I begin to recollect that I have seen the best and worst of this entire world. It’s not the countries which make the world an example an utopia of economic and social development or an inferno of raging war, hunger and poverty but it is the PEOPLE residing in the countries who claim to be the most advanced species on the planet. I had chosen my destiny of being a person who strongly believed in ideology of JIHAD which was wrongly and intentionally interpreted by some leaders as war against infidels and it should be done by terrorizing people. I, MOHAMMED RIZWAN, am closing my story here which knew no boundaries. It started from the streets of HYDERABAD which was filled with the fragrance of BIRIYANIS and traveled through the BLUENESS OF PACIFIC, the HUSTLE OF TIMES SQUARE, THE EXPLOSIONS IN A TYPICAL SOMALIAN LOCALITY, THE FREEZED WATER BODIES OF ANTARTICA, THE GREAT BARRIER REEF DOWN UNDER, THE AMAZON RAINFORESTS OF SOUTH AMERICA and others.