An uncomfortable silence settled over the room as we all waited for Abdul Sahab to make his appearance. So much had been said on both the sides, that there was hardly anything left to say. I looked at Amma, nobody had had any time to think of her. She had been a silent observer all along. Although she could not have understood most of what had been going on, she was smart enough to have seen the heated exchanges, the undercurrents of anger , the threatening voices, all this must have certainly caused her a lot of worry. I looked at her. There was a worried expression on her face. She knew something was wrong. I was sure she was worried about me.
"Don't worry, Amma, everything will be al right," I said reassuringly.
"They are not going to take you away, are they?" She asked apprehensively.
" Of course not, Amma, how can they? Just relax"
"Adaab, Babuji, kya daleel?" Abdul sahab entered the room.At first he did not seen the army officers, his eyes were completely focused on Babuji. The officers were sitting to the right of the door and Babuji right in the front so it was only natural for him to have noticed only the three of us.
" Hello, Abdul, we have been waiting for you," the major's voice startled Abdul Sahab but he quickly regained his composure.
" Hello, major, what brings you here,?" Abdul Sahab asked with enthusiasm which was clearly meant to camouflage his concern. He walked towards Babuji and sat by his side.
" Abdul, we would like to know what happened at the airport today?" It was the captain again. He did manage to find his voice now and then.
" What do you want to know from me, I am sure, Bittu must have told you everything?" Abdul Sahab spoke in his usual confident manner.
" I don't know whether he really told us everything, that is something I am not sure of. But, you, I am sure, will tell us everything" The major had suddenly switched over to a belligerent tone.
" What more can I tell you, we went to the airport, we waited but to no avail. Anita was not on that plane, end of story,"
" I am told you saw the passengers' list, is that right? And you told Rahul that Anita's name was not on the list?
" Yes, I did tell him so but that was not the truth. There was no way, I could have seen the list, I only had a few words with the guard on duty, stepped a couple of steps in to the arrival lounge, noticed that it was completely empty, realised that Bittu Ji's Anita had not come and made my way back" So he had lied to me but why had he done so?
"You lied to me, Abdul Sahib, why?" I was shocked and I was hurt.
" I am sorry, Bittu Ji but I had to. If I had not told you about Anita's name not being on the list, you would not have moved from there and you would have refused to go back, in your legendary obdurate manner" He said, looking at me with sad look in his eyes. I did not doubt his sincerity, he had done what he thought was best for me.
" The fact is, Abdul, her name was very much there. She has left her home, she is very much here but the question is where, where could she have gone?. It is possible you might have missed her at the airport, she might have used some disguise, a lot of reasons why you were unable to spot her but absolutely none for her disappearance." The major sounded a little worried and what about me? I was stunned at the possibility of Anita having reached the airport, somehow having missed me and then...then what? What could she have done? She would have tried to contact me, she had our telephone number. But she had not done so. Unfortunately, she did not have this address, I had not thought it necessary to give it to her, sure as I had been of meeting her at the airport. I had, not for a moment, thought that anything would go wrong. How foolish of me! I should have taken all eventualities into consideration. She should have had the address, she should have had it. Babuji had told me to give her the address but I had refused saying there was no need for that, How wrong had I been.
" Major, now that you know, she is not here, please do something. Ask your people to look for her. You have your men in every nook and corner of the city, surely they can find her. Please. Major, please do something" I was literally begging now.
"We have already done that. The army and the police have been looking for her since the morning but so far we have had no success. Coming here was our last resort. After getting negative reports from everywhere, I realised this was the only place she could be at. But we seem to have drawn a blank here also. I would have searched the house but I don't see any need to do so, You have no reason to hide her, you have no reason to lie to me, after all the fact remains that she is an adult and she has come here willingly. Come along Captain, let us go, our work here is done, we have other things to do." The major got up and the captain followed.
" But you have to find her, you have to. Your senior officer will be highly displeased with you, if you don't"
" We know what we have to do, Rahul, we don't need your advice. If, by any chance, you hear from her, let us know immediately." With these words they shook hands with Babu Ji, did not even look at Abdul and left.
For some time, there was total silence in the room. We were lost in our own thoughts. I was in a very bad state. It seemed I had lost everything. We were supposed to get married in a couple of days, I had been so excited, so thrilled but now the ashes of my hopes were scattered all around.
" What happened? What did they say?" it was Amma who broke the deadly silence in the room. Babuji explained everything to her, she merely kept on nodding her head, without uttering a single word.
" It is all my fault, I should have never agreed to this foolishness in the first place. You and your love for this brat of a man are responsible, Kamala" It was very rare for Babu Ji to address Amma by her name and this was one of those rare occasions. " Had it not been for you, I would have never agreed to become a part of this stupidity. It was Bittu's problem, he would have handled it. The heavens would not have fallen if she had married the boy of her parents choice, That was the right thing for her to do. We encouraged her to rebel against her parents, we are sinners and your darling son has made us so". Babu Ji glared at me. Even Amma did not come to my rescue this time. Babu Ji was fuming, he was trembling with anger. he kept on shouting at me, blaming me for lots of things, reminding me of my past mistakes, telling me that I had always been a good for nothing boy. I was hardly paying attention to what he was saying, my mind was elsewhere. I could think of nothing else but Anita. Love makes us very selfish, it really does.
"Calm down Babu Ji, you are merely raising your already high blood pressure. What is done is done. Nobody is to blame. This decision was not taken in a hurry, We discussed it thoroughly, we weighed all the pros and cons and then planned all this. Why blame Bittu and why rake up his past mistakes? Let us spare a thought a for that poor girl, god knows where she might be/" Abdul sahib, coming to my rescue.
" It is nearing dinner time and I have not cooked anything. I will go and make food, Abdul, you also stay back." With these words, Amma left the room, she did even glance at me.
And then the phone rang, its shrill sound startled us out of our wits.
I jumped out of my chair and ran towards the phone. I picked up the receiver, fully expecting to hear Anita's voice.
" Hello, may i talk to Rahul?" It was a male voice. All my hopes were shattered. The voice sounded familiar, though.
" Yes, I am Rahul, who is this?"
" Surprising, you don't recognise my voice?. I am Prakash" Now i understood why his voice sounded like the voice of someone close to me.
" Prakash, you, of all people, how did you remember me after so many days? Calling from Amritsar?"
" No, Rahul, I am calling from Srinagar" I was taken aback by this answer. What was he doing in Srinagar? He had never told me anything about having any plans to come to Kashmir. What was he doing here and why had he not informed me earlier, before leaving Amritsar?
" What are you doing here and why didn't you inform me before coming? Where are you at present?"
" Rahul, you fool, you asked Anita to come to Srinagar, she left her parents, how did you think she could have managed all this by herself? She called me, asked me for my help. I was the one who booked her tickets and I decided to accompany her. Was it possible for me to let her travel alone to this place? After all she happens to be my best friend's soon to be wife."
" Are you telling me, you came with her to this place? " I was completely baffled. Anita never told me she had contacted him. But I felt at ease to know that Anita was not alone.
" Is Anita with you? Did you come by the morning flight? Why didn't I see you/ I was at the airport waiting for her but I didn't see her. Didn't you see me, you must have known I would be there to receive her." Words tumbled out of my mouth one after the other. I was relieved but also confused at the same time.
" I will tell you everything in detail when we meet. not over the phone.I was trying to call you the whole day but just could not connect. Anita was all tense and worried"
" Where are you?"
"We are in a hotel by the Dal Lake, the name is Lake view Hotel. I knew you stayed somewhere in Karan Nagar but did not have the address. moreover, we could not leave the hotel because of the curfew. This place scares me, Rahul., haven't stepped out of the hotel the whole day. Anyway, be here in the morning and take us home. I will stay here till your marriage. How can I ever miss my best friend's wedding?" He sounded quite excited although a bit apprehensive as well.
" Don't you worry, I am glad you came with Anita, she is in safe hands. let me talk to her" I said in excited expectation.
" Sorry, Rahul, the room phones are not working. I am calling from the reception. You can talk to her as much as you want tomorrow, you have all the time in the world now" Why hadn't Anita accompanied him to the reception? Wasn't she eager to talk to me? She should have been the first one to call me, not he. All these thoughts kept going through my mind in the background, my active mind was full of joy and excitement.
"Prakash, I will be there first thing in the morning. I think I should be there by eight. Keep everything packed.We will have breakfast together at my place. Thanks a lot, Prakash, see you in the morning." I said and hung up.
"Who was it?" Babu Ji asked.
" It was Prakash, a very good friend of mine. He and Anita have come here together. It seems they didn't see me at the airport so they checked into a hotel. Abdul Sahab, I will need that taxi again" I was beside myself with nervous excitement.
" They are staying in the same hotel, sharing the same room?" Babu Ji asked in shocked surprise.
" Of course not the same room, the same hotel, yes. Babu ji Prakash is a man to be trusted, he has been one of my best friends for a long time."
"Good news, at last, after a tension filled day. Don't worry, Bittu Ji, the taxi will be here, I don't think there is any curfew tomorrow , you go and bring our daughter in law home. I will take your leave now, Sayeeda must be waiting. See you in the morning." With these words, Abdul Sahib left.
I have hardly any memories of that evening. I was excitement and impatience personified. I don't even remember what we had for dinner. I recall rushing up to my room immediately after dinner, running up the two flights of stairs without taking a breath. I was tired but sleep would not do me any favours. I waited impatiently for the morning to come.
I must have dozed off, when I opened my eyes , dawn had broken and light was filtering in through the windows. I looked at my watch. It was six. I jumped out of bed and started getting ready. By the time I reached downstairs, it was 6.45, still a long time to go. Amma was in the kitchen and Khalid had gone out to get the Kashmiri rotis, which he did every morning.
Amma started talking, she was in a good mood, sounded very cheerful., but honestly speaking I was not listening to her at all. my mind was in Lake View Hotel, I was thinking of how I would meet Anita, how I would take her in my arms, hold her tight, kiss her and not bother about the people who would be watching.us. I almost gulped down my breakfast, looked at my watch, it was almost eight. The taxi must have surely come. I said bye to Amma, went to the Baithak, said bye to Babu Ji and rushed out.
I walked through the corridor, to the door of the house which opened out to the verandah outside, it was raised one, You had to go down a few steps to reach the outside pathway or driveway. In the front was the lawn and to the right was the driveway which lead to the main gate. I ran down the steps to the main gate, I reached out my hand to open it when it suddenly burst open from outside and some armed men in uniform barged in.
" Are you Rahul": one of them asked
"I am, but what is this, what do you want?"
They grabbed me by both the arms and dragged me outside. I shouted out to Babu Ji but I had no way of knowing whether he heard me or not. I was thrown into the back seat of an army jeep and the driver immediately drove off.
" For god's sake tell me, what all this is about? Where are you taking me and why? What have I done?"
' We are taking you to the detention centre, we suspect you have links with the local militants. The rest you will come to know when we reach our headquarters."
"Don't worry, Amma, everything will be al right," I said reassuringly.
"They are not going to take you away, are they?" She asked apprehensively.
" Of course not, Amma, how can they? Just relax"
"Adaab, Babuji, kya daleel?" Abdul sahab entered the room.At first he did not seen the army officers, his eyes were completely focused on Babuji. The officers were sitting to the right of the door and Babuji right in the front so it was only natural for him to have noticed only the three of us.
" Hello, Abdul, we have been waiting for you," the major's voice startled Abdul Sahab but he quickly regained his composure.
" Hello, major, what brings you here,?" Abdul Sahab asked with enthusiasm which was clearly meant to camouflage his concern. He walked towards Babuji and sat by his side.
" Abdul, we would like to know what happened at the airport today?" It was the captain again. He did manage to find his voice now and then.
" What do you want to know from me, I am sure, Bittu must have told you everything?" Abdul Sahab spoke in his usual confident manner.
" I don't know whether he really told us everything, that is something I am not sure of. But, you, I am sure, will tell us everything" The major had suddenly switched over to a belligerent tone.
" What more can I tell you, we went to the airport, we waited but to no avail. Anita was not on that plane, end of story,"
" I am told you saw the passengers' list, is that right? And you told Rahul that Anita's name was not on the list?
" Yes, I did tell him so but that was not the truth. There was no way, I could have seen the list, I only had a few words with the guard on duty, stepped a couple of steps in to the arrival lounge, noticed that it was completely empty, realised that Bittu Ji's Anita had not come and made my way back" So he had lied to me but why had he done so?
"You lied to me, Abdul Sahib, why?" I was shocked and I was hurt.
" I am sorry, Bittu Ji but I had to. If I had not told you about Anita's name not being on the list, you would not have moved from there and you would have refused to go back, in your legendary obdurate manner" He said, looking at me with sad look in his eyes. I did not doubt his sincerity, he had done what he thought was best for me.
" The fact is, Abdul, her name was very much there. She has left her home, she is very much here but the question is where, where could she have gone?. It is possible you might have missed her at the airport, she might have used some disguise, a lot of reasons why you were unable to spot her but absolutely none for her disappearance." The major sounded a little worried and what about me? I was stunned at the possibility of Anita having reached the airport, somehow having missed me and then...then what? What could she have done? She would have tried to contact me, she had our telephone number. But she had not done so. Unfortunately, she did not have this address, I had not thought it necessary to give it to her, sure as I had been of meeting her at the airport. I had, not for a moment, thought that anything would go wrong. How foolish of me! I should have taken all eventualities into consideration. She should have had the address, she should have had it. Babuji had told me to give her the address but I had refused saying there was no need for that, How wrong had I been.
" Major, now that you know, she is not here, please do something. Ask your people to look for her. You have your men in every nook and corner of the city, surely they can find her. Please. Major, please do something" I was literally begging now.
"We have already done that. The army and the police have been looking for her since the morning but so far we have had no success. Coming here was our last resort. After getting negative reports from everywhere, I realised this was the only place she could be at. But we seem to have drawn a blank here also. I would have searched the house but I don't see any need to do so, You have no reason to hide her, you have no reason to lie to me, after all the fact remains that she is an adult and she has come here willingly. Come along Captain, let us go, our work here is done, we have other things to do." The major got up and the captain followed.
" But you have to find her, you have to. Your senior officer will be highly displeased with you, if you don't"
" We know what we have to do, Rahul, we don't need your advice. If, by any chance, you hear from her, let us know immediately." With these words they shook hands with Babu Ji, did not even look at Abdul and left.
For some time, there was total silence in the room. We were lost in our own thoughts. I was in a very bad state. It seemed I had lost everything. We were supposed to get married in a couple of days, I had been so excited, so thrilled but now the ashes of my hopes were scattered all around.
" What happened? What did they say?" it was Amma who broke the deadly silence in the room. Babuji explained everything to her, she merely kept on nodding her head, without uttering a single word.
" It is all my fault, I should have never agreed to this foolishness in the first place. You and your love for this brat of a man are responsible, Kamala" It was very rare for Babu Ji to address Amma by her name and this was one of those rare occasions. " Had it not been for you, I would have never agreed to become a part of this stupidity. It was Bittu's problem, he would have handled it. The heavens would not have fallen if she had married the boy of her parents choice, That was the right thing for her to do. We encouraged her to rebel against her parents, we are sinners and your darling son has made us so". Babu Ji glared at me. Even Amma did not come to my rescue this time. Babu Ji was fuming, he was trembling with anger. he kept on shouting at me, blaming me for lots of things, reminding me of my past mistakes, telling me that I had always been a good for nothing boy. I was hardly paying attention to what he was saying, my mind was elsewhere. I could think of nothing else but Anita. Love makes us very selfish, it really does.
"Calm down Babu Ji, you are merely raising your already high blood pressure. What is done is done. Nobody is to blame. This decision was not taken in a hurry, We discussed it thoroughly, we weighed all the pros and cons and then planned all this. Why blame Bittu and why rake up his past mistakes? Let us spare a thought a for that poor girl, god knows where she might be/" Abdul sahib, coming to my rescue.
" It is nearing dinner time and I have not cooked anything. I will go and make food, Abdul, you also stay back." With these words, Amma left the room, she did even glance at me.
And then the phone rang, its shrill sound startled us out of our wits.
I jumped out of my chair and ran towards the phone. I picked up the receiver, fully expecting to hear Anita's voice.
" Hello, may i talk to Rahul?" It was a male voice. All my hopes were shattered. The voice sounded familiar, though.
" Yes, I am Rahul, who is this?"
" Surprising, you don't recognise my voice?. I am Prakash" Now i understood why his voice sounded like the voice of someone close to me.
" Prakash, you, of all people, how did you remember me after so many days? Calling from Amritsar?"
" No, Rahul, I am calling from Srinagar" I was taken aback by this answer. What was he doing in Srinagar? He had never told me anything about having any plans to come to Kashmir. What was he doing here and why had he not informed me earlier, before leaving Amritsar?
" What are you doing here and why didn't you inform me before coming? Where are you at present?"
" Rahul, you fool, you asked Anita to come to Srinagar, she left her parents, how did you think she could have managed all this by herself? She called me, asked me for my help. I was the one who booked her tickets and I decided to accompany her. Was it possible for me to let her travel alone to this place? After all she happens to be my best friend's soon to be wife."
" Are you telling me, you came with her to this place? " I was completely baffled. Anita never told me she had contacted him. But I felt at ease to know that Anita was not alone.
" Is Anita with you? Did you come by the morning flight? Why didn't I see you/ I was at the airport waiting for her but I didn't see her. Didn't you see me, you must have known I would be there to receive her." Words tumbled out of my mouth one after the other. I was relieved but also confused at the same time.
" I will tell you everything in detail when we meet. not over the phone.I was trying to call you the whole day but just could not connect. Anita was all tense and worried"
" Where are you?"
"We are in a hotel by the Dal Lake, the name is Lake view Hotel. I knew you stayed somewhere in Karan Nagar but did not have the address. moreover, we could not leave the hotel because of the curfew. This place scares me, Rahul., haven't stepped out of the hotel the whole day. Anyway, be here in the morning and take us home. I will stay here till your marriage. How can I ever miss my best friend's wedding?" He sounded quite excited although a bit apprehensive as well.
" Don't you worry, I am glad you came with Anita, she is in safe hands. let me talk to her" I said in excited expectation.
" Sorry, Rahul, the room phones are not working. I am calling from the reception. You can talk to her as much as you want tomorrow, you have all the time in the world now" Why hadn't Anita accompanied him to the reception? Wasn't she eager to talk to me? She should have been the first one to call me, not he. All these thoughts kept going through my mind in the background, my active mind was full of joy and excitement.
"Prakash, I will be there first thing in the morning. I think I should be there by eight. Keep everything packed.We will have breakfast together at my place. Thanks a lot, Prakash, see you in the morning." I said and hung up.
"Who was it?" Babu Ji asked.
" It was Prakash, a very good friend of mine. He and Anita have come here together. It seems they didn't see me at the airport so they checked into a hotel. Abdul Sahab, I will need that taxi again" I was beside myself with nervous excitement.
" They are staying in the same hotel, sharing the same room?" Babu Ji asked in shocked surprise.
" Of course not the same room, the same hotel, yes. Babu ji Prakash is a man to be trusted, he has been one of my best friends for a long time."
"Good news, at last, after a tension filled day. Don't worry, Bittu Ji, the taxi will be here, I don't think there is any curfew tomorrow , you go and bring our daughter in law home. I will take your leave now, Sayeeda must be waiting. See you in the morning." With these words, Abdul Sahib left.
I have hardly any memories of that evening. I was excitement and impatience personified. I don't even remember what we had for dinner. I recall rushing up to my room immediately after dinner, running up the two flights of stairs without taking a breath. I was tired but sleep would not do me any favours. I waited impatiently for the morning to come.
I must have dozed off, when I opened my eyes , dawn had broken and light was filtering in through the windows. I looked at my watch. It was six. I jumped out of bed and started getting ready. By the time I reached downstairs, it was 6.45, still a long time to go. Amma was in the kitchen and Khalid had gone out to get the Kashmiri rotis, which he did every morning.
Amma started talking, she was in a good mood, sounded very cheerful., but honestly speaking I was not listening to her at all. my mind was in Lake View Hotel, I was thinking of how I would meet Anita, how I would take her in my arms, hold her tight, kiss her and not bother about the people who would be watching.us. I almost gulped down my breakfast, looked at my watch, it was almost eight. The taxi must have surely come. I said bye to Amma, went to the Baithak, said bye to Babu Ji and rushed out.
I walked through the corridor, to the door of the house which opened out to the verandah outside, it was raised one, You had to go down a few steps to reach the outside pathway or driveway. In the front was the lawn and to the right was the driveway which lead to the main gate. I ran down the steps to the main gate, I reached out my hand to open it when it suddenly burst open from outside and some armed men in uniform barged in.
" Are you Rahul": one of them asked
"I am, but what is this, what do you want?"
They grabbed me by both the arms and dragged me outside. I shouted out to Babu Ji but I had no way of knowing whether he heard me or not. I was thrown into the back seat of an army jeep and the driver immediately drove off.
" For god's sake tell me, what all this is about? Where are you taking me and why? What have I done?"
' We are taking you to the detention centre, we suspect you have links with the local militants. The rest you will come to know when we reach our headquarters."
No comments:
Post a Comment