A few minutes later a child's cries coming from up ahead disrupted the rhythm of the gudda and the oxen. The gudda proceeded haltingly so as to not hurt the child in the dark as it reached closer to the cries. The child, now close up ahead, stopped crying and Jagat bent don to the sobbing child, blessed him touching his short hair, wiped the tears from his tine face and embraced him. The child was wearing bracelets on his wrists. Saying, "Son, you're safe, come," Jagat picked him up and placed him on the gudda next to Beeru. Gamma sat with him so that he didn't slide off the gudda.
"No chacha, don't go," said the sobbing child to Jagat.
"Not going anywhere, son."
Jagat walked abreast the child and asked his name several times; the child didn't answer and all this time his own children along with Preeti's last words to him before e had left on this fateful trip, too, invaded his thoughts.
Soon the gudda pulled into the Halt. Moments later the fiat arrived from Chajjuwara. Sukhia and Sameer got out of the car. Jagat noticed them sobbing and staring at a draped object in the back seat.
"Papaji, mommy, they shot her. The doctors couldn't save her," said Sameer crying and walking into Jagat's arms.
"Jagat puttar, I couldn't protect my daughter, I failed," said Sukhia still holding the opened door of the car and looking at the draped Preeti.
Letting Sameer go from his embrace Jagat put his hand on Sukhia's shoulder and said,
"Chacha, what are we going to do? Hate has robbed her from us and Beeru, too," he said feeling his legs wobbling under him.
Jagat sat down on a cot, his hands hiding his crying eyes. A sense of helplessness was creeping over him. He had given independence his whole life. It had repaid him by killing his wife and a brother like friend; he wanted to lash out but at whom? Inciters of the partition's pogrom were the leaders of freedom struggle who asked or agreed to partition. He had already learnt from his trip to hurt Jewna in Moli that violence served no purpose. But he cried, angrily cried for the fate of the country. Seeing everyone crying the bewildered child on the gadda , standing near Beeru's corpse, too began to cry and Jagat asked Sameer to comfort him. Gamma and Dhumma took Beeru's body into the shunn (hut); it was rather dark inside and Atma who had been unwell but always greeted anyone entering the hut was silent. Dhumma covered Beeru with the khes (cotton blanket) and asked Atma,
"Chacha, how are you?" Hearing no response he bent down to look and saw Atma's mouth and eyes wide open, head turban less and hair disheveled.
"Chacha, are you alright?" shouted Dhumma shaking him by the shoulder; silence and stillness was all Atma was capable of.
"Bhaaji Atma Chacha, ill fated, cursed dauy for the family," cried Dhumma running out of the hut.
Dhumma and Sameer drove Preeti home while standing with the barefoot young child dressed in two shirts and a silver bracelet on each wrist, Jagat watched the car leave and said,
"Gamma we need lots of wood. Sukhia Chacha, where could we get it?" Gamma and Sukhia took oxen to the challah for water, re-yoked them to the gadda and left to get the wood.
"Son, what is your name." Jagat again asked the boy: no answer. He saw under the shirt; the child was naked and circumcised: a Muslim child, he thought.
"Beta, how old, your age." Jagat asked, again silence.
Tell me your abba ammi's names?" Jagat had no success and in silence and sadness, the child's left index finger in his hand, they walked home
No comments:
Post a Comment