And a story begins part IV
It has been 15 days since the
last time I typed. It has been 15 days since I started writing a story, my so
called true fiction. I have been doing nothing during the last 15 days. Suhas
and I are also going distant. He is busy with his work and I am lost all the
time. These 4 walls tend to eat me alive. I have been trying to find some time
to concentrate and continue the story which I started. This is my usual story,
I start something and then it goes away. This has to change; I have 45 days to
submit this story to my editor cum publisher. I will be completely broke if I don’t
sell this story.
What can I do? The usual question
starts doing the round. I better get some air.
----------
“How are you doing man?” Tomba
asked me as I opened the gate to his house and parked my cycle.
“Am alright dude, the ringing
sound seems to be still there” I replied while picking up a ‘moda’ to park my
butt.
“You are one lucky dude you know,
you could have died there man” Tomba continued while he continued to water the
plants in his small garden. His Father’s garden actually, his job was to water
it every day. Every lazy bum of us got that as a daily chore.
Yeah I could have died, I know, you dumb fuck.
“What is that plant called?” I
asked pointing to a beautiful flower with its petals growing downwards. It was
very beautiful. Orange, Red, Yellow and another shade of red were the primary
colors in that flower or floret, I don’t know but it was really beautiful.
“Oh this one! This is Burmese banana
tree” Tomba replied.
“What? A banana tree with that
kind of flower?” what rubbish. How can a banana tree not look like a banana
tree and be called a banana tree?
“I don’t know the real name but
people call it that way. My uncle who is posted in Moreh town got this from
there. He is giving out saplings to people who are interested in planting this
one.” He said in one breath.
Oh yeah, Moreh, the border town
between Manipur, India and Myanmar; the place where you get everything, from a
bloody pin to a plane; figuratively. Imphal is flooded with all the Chinese
goods which come through Moreh and people like it.
“Can we get one?” I asked.
“Sure, when?”
“Like, right now!”
“Ok, let’s take my dad’s scooter
then, we can come back faster” Tomba said as he went inside his house to change
his clothes.
The Sagolband and Uripok area is
divided by a small rivulet which flows through it and connects to the Nambul River.
I don’t even know the name of this rivulet, shame on me. Anyway, Tomba and I
reached the place and took a right turn just before the bridge on the rivulet.
Across the rivulet was a Manipur Police commando team in a gypsy, frisking
people.
I got down the scooter, opened
the gate and entered.
“Tomba, don’t look at them when
you come in” I said as I kept walking towards the house.
“Hello aunty, how are you?” Tomba
greeted his aunt. Is uncle home? He continued.
“No, he has gone out for some work. What is the matter?” his aunt enquired while feeding her 3-4 month old
baby with cerelac which was all over the baby’s face.
“My friend here wants a sapling
of that Burma banana tree” Tomba said.
“Oh, ok, you can take it. Come right
to the backyard, the saplings are all planted there. You can dig one right up”
she said as we entered the house. “Would you boys like some tea?” she asked.
“Tea is good” Tomba replied.
The tea was served with some
biscuits and then we walked out to the backyard. Tomba and her aunt started to
dick with a sickle and I was holding the baby. They were right in front of me,
the slow rivulet on the left and the road on its banks leading to another
friend’s place, the roughly put up bamboo fence which marks the boundary of
Tomba’s aunt’s house. The bunch of Big banana trees covering the setting Sun.
“You move and you are dead” a Manipur
police commando with his AK-47 rifle pointed towards Tomba spoke from the
bamboo boundary fence.
In a blink of an eye, one
commando jumped over from my right hand side, another leaped out of the banana
trees and another from the right side of the house. One asked me to hand over
the kid to the mother. They took the mother inside the house. They took Tomba
to the eastern side of the backyard. They took me to near the banana trees.
“Who is he, what is his name?”
the police asked me. I gave the answer.
“You are lying, you son of a
bitch, is he not Jayanta from Khuyathong? Tell the truth, else you will die” he
commanded as he pointed his gun towards my head.
“Sit down, don’t look up” he
commanded again.
I was thinking what is going on.
There was nothing that I could comprehend of the situation. Everything ran in
front of my eyes. Mom, Dad, brothers, school, and everything else that I had
seen till that time of my life. I was crying for help but my eyes had no tears
in it. I was shouting for help from the local people who had gathered hearing
the commotion.
“Don’t look up, I will shoot you,
fucking underground” he commanded again.
“Please don’t shoot me, you are
mistaken, we are not underground militants, we are students” I kept saying.
“Shut up, I said shut up” his
voice shaking as he pushed me with his gun.
He pulled the lock of his AK-47
rifle but his finger was on the trigger already or something, one bullet was
fired and it hit the ground 3-4 inches away from me. The noise from the shot
deafened me and that ringing sound increased and started hitting me really bad.
This is it, I thought, the end of
my life as I know it.
-----------------------------------------
“Hey dude, what happened after this?”
Suhas screamed as he shook me up from my afternoon lumber.
“What? When did you come back?” I
asked.
“Just a while ago” he quipped.
“Tell me what happened after
this.” He persisted.
“You will get to know when I type
the rest” as I went back to my dreams.
“Oh come on, you can’t do this”
he screamed and I could hear it in the distance.
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