The Jugni

by Gagan Saini

  She did not move.

  He said again, “If you don’t want to go home you can come with us.” Still, there was no reaction.

  He went even closer and tried to grab her left gloved hand. She reacted very fast and held his hand instead and twisted. He screamed out loud with pain. She was still holding his twisted hand when he gathered all his power and tried to punch with the other hand. This hand suffered the same fate. He could not move his both hands now and was on his knees moaning in pain. The girl wasn’t done yet, she hit him on the nose with her knee. He fell on the road motionless.

  The man on the passenger seat witnessed this from inside the van. It all happened so fast that it left him frozen. He did not expect his big buddy to be knocked down by a girl, just like that.

  She went back to her stance; arms crossed the front of her chest and feet apart from each other. The man on the passenger seat screamed out loud with anger at the girl and ran towards her to attack. She blocked his blow with the left hand and punched him in the chest with the right. The force behind the punch was so enormous that he fell on the van behind and shook it completely.

  The rest of the men realized that there was something wrong outside. They came outside and saw both of their men on the ground. They did not wait, they all attacked her.

  As the men were approaching her, she raised her right hand towards the sky. As soon as the first man came closer and tried to hit her with a hockey stick, she had a rod in her hand out of nowhere. She blocked the attack of hockey with the rod and kicked him in the chest. The kick was so powerful that man fell on the ground a couple of meters away.

  She held her rod with both hands from the center and gave a little twist, it divided into two. With both hands having rods now, she positioned herself as if she was ready to attack. They attacked her with full force. She not only blocked the attacks but gave powerful blows to all of them.

  The way of moving the rod and kicking at the same time was unbelievable for these men. She made them kiss the ground in no time. It was an artistic display of exceptional combat skills. Once all the men were on the ground, she ran to the van and opened the sliding door.

  “Avi, it’s time to go home.”

  The little boy opened his eyes and smiled.

  “Did you come to save me?”

  “Yes.”

  “You must be the angel.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I was praying to God to save me from these bad men. I told them God will send an angel to save me, but they all laughed.”

  “Well, you can call me whatever you want. As far as bad men are concerned, they can’t laugh now. We have to move fast, let’s go home.” She picked up the boy from the seat and started walking. The boy was very happy to see all the men crawling on the ground. She walked past them. The boy looked behind over the shoulder of the girl.

  She crossed the last man. It was the man who made fun of Avi. He saw them going away and he had an eye contact with Avi. Avi pointed at the back of the girl and silently said, “Angel”. That man read his lips and felt even more miserable.

  Avi was still looking back, he saw one car coming.

  “Hey angel, look back… there is a car coming. These are bad men as well.” The boy got afraid again.

  The other car, which was following the van, reached there by now. They could see their men on the ground. In no time they got alerted. They could see a girl was taking away the boy. They were five men. They started getting ready as the car approached the van. The girl saw them and said to the boy, “It’s time for piggyback.” She shuffled the boy to her back. The boy held her across the shoulders. She started running. Instead of going away from them, the girl climbed on the wall on the edge of the bridge. She was ready to jump when one man shouted and stopped her.

  “Hey girl, stop! What do you think you are doing? You will jump and kill yourself and this boy. We need that boy till morning. Give us the boy and then you are more than welcome to jump.”

  She stopped while standing on the wall with her back towards the bridge. She pressed a button on her waist belt and slowly turned around towards the men. All men stood with their guns pointing towards her.

  The button on the belt activated a machine in the bush near the bridge. It started to move and at the same time, it analyzed the position of the girl.

  “The boy is coming with me.” She said in a very confident tone.

  “You cannot take him. If you try, we will shoot you.”

  “Mister, you cannot shoot me because if you do and I fall off the bridge, it is so high that it will kill the boy, which you do not want.”

  The boy was scared more than before. He sneaked his one eye from the back of the neck of the girl.

  One man shouted again, “Hey silly girl, come down slowly we won’t hurt you, give us the boy and you can go home.”

  She did not show any expressions. She just simply raised her hands as if she was going to surrender. The men looked at each other and smiled as if they had won the game.

  She turned her neck to the boy and said, “Hold me tight and close your eyes.” The boy did not understand what was going to happen, but he tightened his grip anyway.

  On the bridge, the girl slowly slid her feet backward. Now she was on the very edge of that bridge. The men did not notice her move.

  One man was about to start speaking, the girl moved back even further and fell from the bridge with face towards the men on the bridge. This left them surprised.

  The machine became even faster. The machine jumped out of the bushes towards the bridge. It was a dark black stylish and muscular motorbike, which was driving itself. Surprisingly, it did not have a sound like other similar bikes; rather, it did not have any sound except the friction of the tires on the ground. Instead of the speedometer, it had a complex display, which had the location of the girl as she fell from the bridge. It calculated the trajectory of the fall.

  By the time the girl reached the middle of the height of the bridge, the bike jumped precisely under her. Her feet settled exactly on the footrest of the bike. She quickly got hold of the handles of the bike. However, she did not have enough time in mid-air to adjust herself and the boy on the bike properly. Soon the bike hit the ground with a jerk and there was a sound of the impact. She, with one hand, held the bike and with the other held the arm of the boy to make sure he did not fall. Amazingly, the bike did not lose any balance.

  The men on the bridge ran to the edge where she fell. When they looked down, there was no one. They looked at each other, nobody had any clue. Surviving the fall from that height was next to impossible, but where did that girl go? There was no dead body of either the girl or the boy. They were so confused that nobody looked behind, in the opposite direction and on the road under the bridge. The girl and the boy had settled on the bike. The girl accelerated the bike and within a few seconds, they were out of the sight.

  It was about 6 AM now. She drove to the police station. There were not too many people on the roads yet. She stopped the bike at some spot where nobody would notice her. She asked the boy to hop off.

  She said to him, “Go inside the police station and ask for Zahid Khan.”

  “Come with me, I am scared.”

  “Don’t be scared, Zahid uncle will look after you.”

  The boy gave her a hug and asked, “What is your name angel?”

  She smiled and said, “I am Jugni.”

  The boy smiled and started walking towards the police station. She left after seeing the boy enter the police station safely.

  The boy entered the police station, nobody noticed him. There were a few policemen only. He approached one constable and asked, “I want to see Zahid uncle.” As Zahid was still sleeping in the chair, the constable did not find it good to disturb him. He said just sit here when he will get up we will let you know. As soon as the constable left, he ran to Z
ahid and held his hand. As he held Zahid’s hand, Zahid woke up.

  “Sorry Zahid uncle, I did not mean to disturb you, but I am scared.”

  Zahid said, “That’s okay boy.” Soon he got into senses and realized that was Sridhar’s son.

  “You are Avi, right? Zahid asked.

  “Yes, uncle.”

  “How did you come here?”

  “God sent an angel to save me from bad men. She kicked the ass of everyone and rescued me.”

  “She….? A girl saved you from kidnappers?”

  “Yes uncle, her name is Jugni. She is a superwoman.”

  Zahid had mixed emotions – the happiness of seeing the boy safe, the confusion of the Jugni mystery and the feeling of misery that a girl did what he could not. He offered the boy a bottle of juice he had and asked him to sit.

  “Okay, tell me everything in detail.” The boy told him the whole story. He could not believe the story the boy told him, but he gathered himself and looked at his watch. It was 7.30 AM already and at 8 AM there was the press conference where Shridhar was going to announce the name. Zahid called him on his mobile, but he did not answer. He was on his way to the conference and was in the stress. He did not notice the bell of his phone. Sridhar’s wife also did not answer her phone. He picked the boy up and ran to his car.

  On the other side, the journalists from all newspapers and TV channels had arrived at the site of the conference. Shridhar reached there on time. His wife had instructed him to announce Yogi’s name so that his son could be saved. This situation had put Shridhar in an emotional dilemma, what to do and what not to. He reached the conference room. He greeted all the press members and started his speech. When the time came to announce the name of the contractor, he slowly opened the envelope.

  His hands were shaking, he did not know what to do. His fake smile was unable to hide the stress. Yogi sat among the audience. He knew his name was going to be announced. Shridhar was already feeling guilty about what he was going to do. He could not look into the eyes of the other people. He took some time to find the paper having the name of the contractor.

  He was still looking down at the papers when he heard someone cough as if to draw his attention. He looked around. What he found was the most relieving thing for him. It was Zahid standing at the door of the room holding his son. His son smiled and waved to Shridhar. He was about to cry but he controlled his emotions. He was now confident.

  He announced the name on the papers which was not Yogi’s. This left Yogi shocked. After announcing the name, he told the press, “My son was kidnapped by Yogi and he wanted the contract. But our efficient police have found my boy.” After hearing this, the press bombarded him with the questions. At the same time, a lot of policemen came into the conference room, whom Zahid had already informed, and arrested Yogi. Shridhar’s wife saw everything live on TV and she was much relieved. Zahid handed over Shridhar his son and left.

  Zahid went to his apartment in a high-rise building. He was dying to jump into the bed. But before that, he had a shower and made breakfast. While eating a toast, something struck into his mind. He quickly got ready and left. He went straight to Shridhar’s house. The vibes of the house were different now. Everyone looked happy. Zahid was welcomed as a hero by Mr. and Mrs. Shiridhar. Then he headed towards Avi, who was eating food at the dining table.

  “Hey buddy, you look hungry.” Avi smiled and nodded as he took a big bite of his sandwich. Shridhar and his wife laughed and thanked him for getting them out of this trouble.

  “Don’t thank me, I did nothing.” Shridhar and his wife looked at each other with confusion.

  “Yes Papa, an Angel saved me. I was very afraid when I was with those bad men. I prayed to God and God sent an angel to save me. She kicked the ass of all bad men and saved me. And you know mom, she jumped with me from a big bridge. I thought I will hit the ground, but her bike caught us. She got a very cool bike. I love her; I wish I could see her again.” Avi said everything in one go, with great excitement and innocence.

  Shridhar looked at his wife, “Avi had a traumatic experience perhaps that’s why he is talking about this imaginary stuff.”

  Before his wife could say anything, Zahid said, “This is not imagination.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Avi is not the first one talking about that girl. I am not sure at this stage who she is, but I’ve got many reports of people who saw a girl helping people. Some say it’s the Ghost of a police officer named Simar.”

  “No uncle, her name is Jugni, she told me.”

  Zahid paused for a moment. Avi’s parents looked at each other with confusion.

  Then Zahid took the phone out of his pocket and started searching for something in it. He found one photo of Simar in the gallery. He showed that to the boy.

  “Hey buddy, just have a look… does Jugni look like her?”

  “No, but if you put sunglasses on, then she will be the same.” Zahid got shocked for a moment then he stabilized. He greeted the couple and left.

  So many questions were striking in his mind. Who is Jugni, how does she resemble Simar so much? He went to the police station. He went to all those people in custody who claimed that they had seen the ghost of Simar. He asked them the details and showed them the photo. All gave the same answer. He checked all the surveillance cameras. But he could not find anything promising. The only way to find out his answers was to ask Jugni herself. He planned in his mind and did not tell anyone. He went home and got into the bed. Although it was still daytime, he wanted to sleep.

  It was half-past eleven in the night when he got up with an alarm and put on his blue jeans and a dark green t-shirt. He took his bike and started roaming around the city. He had his helmet on, which served two purposes - safety and hiding identity.

  He was in contact with one of his friends in the surveillance center. He kept on talking to him via a Bluetooth device in his ear. He looked for anything unusual on the streets. He kept on roaming around but nothing significant happened. He returned home that day but kept this routine for a few nights. He could not find anything.

  His eyes were so desperate to see Simar or whoever she was. One night he was on his bike when he got an update from the center that there was some disturbance in the Rohini area. He went there but kept a distance. He stopped in the dark from where nobody could notice him. It was a fight between two teenage groups. Zahid could stop them, but he didn’t. Then something happened which was hard to believe.

  The flying girl appeared out of nowhere. She wasn’t flying as such, she was moving in the air. She stood straight and was 3-4 feet above the ground. She wore a dark tight dress with blue strips around the legs and arms area. She had her hair untied and black sunglasses on.

  She entered the scene and grabbed the attention of everybody there. Zahid watched from a distance. She looked at the boys and said, “Stop fighting now, if you want to go home in one piece.” By now, all of them stopped what they were doing and started looking at her. She could notice the fear in the eyes of all the boys, perhaps they had never seen anyone flying before.

  “If you guys like fighting so much, go and join the army.” The boys started looking at each other. They heard about a lady ghost in the city, but they saw her for the first time. Their terrified eyes were looking for any place to hide. As she looked constantly at them, they started dropping their hockey and baseball sticks. One boy asked innocently in a bit of scared tone, “Who are you? Are you a ghost?”

  She smiled and said, “My name is Jugni and yes I am a ghost for evil. Tell everyone whoever does wrong things; change their ways otherwise, Jugni is coming for you. Now you guys go to your home and remember, I have eyes on you.” The boys started dispersing. She folded her arms, turned her face from the boys and started moving ahead again.

  Zahid got ready. He let her go a bit far so that she could not hear his bike starting. As
soon as she moved a bit further he started chasing her.

  His friend in the control room contacted him.

  “News just came in that a truck of illegal material is being located. The truck might be loaded with drugs. It is very near to your location.” Zahid said, “Send a police team there.”

  “Police can only be there in fifteen minutes by that time we will lose the truck. You go and just talk to them by that time a team will reach there.” Chasing that girl was important but he could not let drugs reach the streets as well.

  “Okay, just tell me the location.” Then he turned his bike. He reached the spot which was a kind of godown. There were many people loading and unloading things in the trucks. Some people were packing the things. The material being packed was some sort of powder.

  Zahid parked his bike and entered the godown by making sure nobody sees him. He hid behind a truck. He told his friend in the control room that one team wasn’t enough and to send one more. Although he was talking slowly, one man passing by heard him and shouted, “Who are you?”

  “I am just an electrician, someone called me to fix the lights.” By this time more men gathered near him. Two held his arms and the third searched him. They found one gun and his identity card.

  “These are very unusual things to be found with an electrician.” He called out his name loud so that everyone could hear. After that, he punched him in the abdomen very hard. Zahid felt the pain, but he started talking.

  “I give you a chance to surrender to the police; I will make sure you guys get less punishment.”

  The man who punched him laughed loudly. “You are not in the position of any negotiation. You will arrest us only if you walk out alive.”

  “Don’t complain later that I did not give you a choice,” Zahid said without any fraction of fear.

  After finishing his words, he kicked one the man holding him. This loosened his grip so he was able to punch the other. Now he was free to kick the ass of others. He fought well for a while, but the number he was fighting with was quite high. Soon they overpowered him.