The Jugni

by Gagan Saini

  “One old constable said to her that he would save her family. But the other constable asked in grief, ‘Where will we go? Do you want us to abandon our families all of a sudden?’ He was panicking.”

  “She said, ‘I am giving you one chance. If you die here, your families will be left alone anyways. Go somewhere far away and get your family after some time as well’. All the constables agreed to her.”

  “We had to escape from the van without being noticed by the other policemen in the other vehicles. She unlocked my handcuffs. Our vehicles were about to pass through a crowded area. The bomb was supposed to be detonated remotely. She did not know when they would do it. I was worried about the innocent people in the bus who would die with me. Nobody knew what to do.”

  “One constable asked the driver to open the door between the driver cabin and the rest of the vehicle. We wanted to save them as well. He explained everything to the men in front. Of course, nobody wants to die. They all agreed with the plan to escape from the bus and live incognito life somewhere else. We all were thinking of an escape plan, but we had very little time. The driver said there was a traffic jam ahead.”

  “I looked outside to figure out what was happening. I noticed a manhole on the road. I asked the driver to stop the van right above that manhole.”

  “All the vehicles had stopped because of some accident on the road. It was a little difficult to stop the bus right above the manhole, but the driver managed to do so. We all forcefully removed the layer of a metal sheet on the base of the vehicle. We could not stop at one particular place for long because of the crawling traffic. The bus was open from the bottom. The driver gave me a tool which had a little hook on that. With the help of that, I pulled the lid of the manhole up.”

  “I asked everyone to jump into the manhole quickly. When it was my turn I asked her to come, she was crying continuously and said no. I felt very bad because of me she had to die but I was saving many other lives as well. After I jumped into the manhole she closed the lid again and sat on the driver’s seat. When the jam cleared, the vehicles moved forward and nobody noticed anything. Later, I came to know that she drove the van off the bridge into the river before the explosion. I read in the newspaper that the explosion was so strong that the police said the pieces of the bodies might have flown away with water or eaten by the fish, therefore, they could not find any. “

  Zahid asked, “What about the family of the lady.”

  “As soon as they came to know I was dead, they released her family. They are safe and out of this city now. Those people who escaped with me are living their normal life far away from this city. Some had their families moved to them and others are in the process of that.”

  “Why did you come back to this city?”

  “I had many unfinished businesses here.”

  “What business? And how Simar became Jugni?”

  “My dream to minimize crime is still alive. Police are not enough; the city needs someone who does not have any restrictions. Criminals do what they want and how they want. Those who maintain law and order, have so many obligations. Now I don’t have anybody telling me how to do my work. Nobody is going to ring me to spare someone.” She did not give any opportunity to Zahid to argue on that point.

  “Once I escaped I had to go somewhere safe and reliable.”

  “My name did not come in your mind? You could have come to me,” Zahid asked with a little bit of anger in his eyes.

  “You were the first person I thought of, but you are so involved with police, it would be hard for us to keep it a secret. Moreover, if this secret was exposed, it would have been unsafe for you as well. My family would be an obvious place to find, so I couldn’t go there either. So, I came to Siddarth and his family.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that. Anyways, what happened next?”

  “I had to hide somewhere the whole day on the day of the blast so that nobody notices me. So, I stayed in the sewer for the whole day and went to Siddarth’s house around midnight. I knocked and Siddarth opened the door.” She got lost in the flashback while telling this to Zahid.

  “Simar, you are alive? It was on news the whole day that you…” Siddarth asked me with surprise.

  “Can I come in, I will tell you everything.”

  He moved aside from the door giving me a way to walk in and locked the door.

  His wife was awake by now and wanted to see who was at the door.

  “You are alive, Simar? What happened to you?” Ana asked me, looking at my mud-loaded clothes, face, and messy hair.

  “I need someplace to stay tonight, you said once that your door is always open for me,” I said to Ana.

  “We remember that, and consider this your home Simar. But what happened?” Siddarth said.

  “I will explain everything but before that can I have a shower, I smell like shit.”

  “Yes sure, you go and have a shower, I will give you my clothes,” Ana said and showed me the bathroom.

  “I am very hungry too.”

  After the shower, Ana gave me curry and bread to eat. Three of us sat in a closed room. I explained everything to them.

  “We are happy to help you, Simar; you can stay here as long as you want. Rather we are glad that you came to us in the time of need.” Ana said.

  Simar came back to reality from her flashback but continued with her story.

  “The news of my death was in the media for about a month. Eventually, the News of my death disappeared from the headlines. Life moved on. I used to spend all the time in the home cooking for them, watching TV and exercising. I never stepped out of the house for so many days. They never invited any guests during my stay.”

  “One-day Siddarth came home with frustration. A few blocks away there was a big theft in a jewelry shop. They took everything - diamonds, gold, silver and anything they could find. Police were given CCTV footage but nothing significant happened. He also told that shop owner knew who the thief was, but the police would not do anything as they had their share already.”

  “I decided to help the shop owner. At night, I went out wearing a hoodie and on a bicycle. I went to the building where the thieves were supposed to be. I covered my face with a handkerchief tied around my face and neck.”

  “So, you went to the thieves by yourself?”

  “Yes”

  “Okay; go on, I am listening.”

  “I asked them nicely to return the jewelry to the owner but they all laughed at me.”

  “Then you might have used your way?”

  “I had to. I took all the jewelry and put it in the shopkeeper’s house. Next day it was in the News that the jeweler got most of his stuff back. I felt happy to do that.”

  “I made this a routine, to go out and help people at night.”

  “What about Siddarth and Ana? Didn’t they notice anything?

  “No, I used to go quietly from the window. The house had another problem; the situation in the house was changing. Siddarth did not have any job and it was getting very hard for them to feed all the mouths in the house. Siddarth used to go almost every day looking for a job, but he never got any. I was observing everything. I could not stay like that forever. Going out at night and helping people gave birth to an idea in my mind. It took a while for me to create a blueprint, but once I was ready, I asked them that I wanted to talk to them together.”

  “We had a closed room meeting. I had planned something big. It would help me achieve my goal and help them as well. I asked them if they would like to work for me. They were very surprised as expected because I was not in a position of offering anything to them. I showed them a bag full of money. They asked the obvious question about the source of money. I told them everything that how I go out at night and kick the asses of criminals and I was the one who dropped the jewelry back.”

  “I told them that the criminals I go to; ofte
n have heaps of money and drugs. I burn down the drugs and take the cash with me.”

  “You can hand over everything to the police,” Zahid said.

  “Same thing Ana said. You know how corrupt our department is, they will help themselves with drugs and money and will declare only a fraction of it.”

  “I told them regarding this and expressed my thoughts to use that money for some noble cause.”

  “Ana said what cause I was planning to put the money into. I told her that I just wanted to make this city a better place to live.”

  “She said, ‘You can do this while you were in police, you can always go back to the police. Your charges have been lifted as well’.”

  “The same question the couple asked that why don’t I just show up to the world and go back to the police department. But I have learned the lesson the hard way that I had many restrictions when I was the police. You do so much hard work to catch a criminal and someone in a higher position calls you to release them. I am so done with this. I wanted to fight crime freely. Moreover, I am heartbroken what happened to my case. I was doing my duty honestly but ended up with all sorts of allegations. There is too much influence of politics and money in our department and judicial system. I wanted to be unrestricted in this way. Ana said it would be blood money. I told that I would pay them for their hard work. If someone has to take the sin of the blood money, it will be me not them; they will be earning money just like a normal job.”

  “So, what did you want them to do for you?” Zahid asked.

  “I wanted this setup”. Simar said pointing to the basement.

  “We bought a showroom with the godown in the basement. The huge godown was converted into a lab and a gym. I needed a range of weapons, special clothing, mode of transport, mode of communication and so many other things. The three of us worked as a team on this project. Some stuff was bought from India and some from overseas. As we had no problem with the cash flow, we bought the best of everything and the most advanced technology. I selected the weapons by myself. I can use most of the weapons out there, but I did not go for guns because I did not want to attract unnecessary attention at night. I wanted to appear from nowhere and disappear anywhere.”

  “Basically, you had decided that you will become a vigilante?”

  “You may call me whatever you want, Zahid, but this city needs someone who deals with crime unrestricted. I have worked as a police officer as well, it didn’t work for me.”

  “I don’t know what you think is right or wrong. Anyways, go on with your story.”

  “Transport was the main problem. Sometimes I had to go somewhere immediately so a car would not be a good option; you know the traffic of this city. So, we agreed on a motorbike, it could go deep in the city. I selected a very stylish bike, it was fast. It had only one big problem, the sound of the engine. I asked Siddarth to put all his efforts to make it a better and quieter bike. Siddarth said he always had ideas to modify the bikes.”

  “But I have never seen you on any bike.”

  “Wait for it.” Simar smiled and walked to her bike, Zahid followed.

  “You know Zahid, Siddarth is a real genius. He really worked hard for weeks on the bike, and when he presented the bike, it was something I could never imagine.”

  “What is so special about this bike?”

  “The morning when Sid finished this project, he looked terrible. He had worked on bike day after day and night after night for a long time. He called me and Ana to see the bike. He said to Ana, ‘Darling, today you will be so proud of your husband’. Then he took the cover off from the bike. It was a black, muscular and stylish sports bike.”

  “I can see that it is a stylish bike, what about the sound?”

  “Siddarth replaced the engine with some very advanced batteries. So, no engine no noise. This bike is an example of a combination of art and science. Being operated on batteries does not mean that it lacks anything; it is very fast yet quiet. It is fully controlled by voice. He synchronized my voice to the bike’s computer. It is a kind of robot, I can talk to it and it talks to me; I call him ‘Boss’ because he is the boss of all the bikes. This bike has hundreds of sensors of different types.”

  “Now that sounds interesting,” Zahid said as he walked around the bike.

  “This is not all, Zahid. It carries all the weapons I need. Do you want to see?”

  “Why not.”

  “Hey Boss, give me the sword,” she said while facing the bike. From the left side below the seat, the covering of the bike folded inward, and a sword was pushed out by two very fine metallic tentacles. Simar smiled as she looked the surprised face of Zahid. “Okay Boss, put it back.” The metallic strands pulled the sword back and covering slid back to its place.

  “My boss can fire in all directions. The feature I like the most is, it can disappear.”

  “Sorry, what did you just say?”

  “You heard it right Zahid, it can disappear!”

  “Okay boss, please disappear.” As soon as Simar finished saying that bike started reacting to it. Zahid could see that bike started to disappear from both ends. Tyers and then the body, soon both disappearing ends met in the center and he could not see the bike anymore.

  “Wow, it’s magic.”

  “Ha Ha, it’s not magic its science. It is something to do with the reflection of light which I don’t fully understand; Sid can tell you in detail.”

  “Now I understand how you fly! You stand on this disappeared bike.”

  “Yes, you know the mystery now.”

  “Why not just ride? Why fly?”

  “Two reasons – one, I want people to be afraid of Jugni so that they do not do bad things in the first place; secondly, if someone recognizes me they will think I am the ghost of Simar instead of the real Simar. Anyways, Boss, you can show yourself now?” The bike started to appear from the middle towards both ends.

  “So, we can say it is a superbike?”

  “I feel superbike is an understatement. I am not finished yet.”

  “You mean there is something left? What possibly else a bike can do?”

  “Look at my dress, it is special.” She moved near Zahid and lifted her arm so that he could feel the texture of the dress. He touched the forearm and looked into the eyes and tried to find his old Simar. Simar had an eye contact and realized he was not interested in the fabric of the dress. She moved to the bike again.

  “Apart from being bullet and fireproof, the dress has sensors everywhere and these are synchronized with the bike.”

  “What do these sensors do for you?

  “A lot; the bike can locate me. If I am in contact with the bike I can disappear too.”

  “Wow, your suit seems to be special too.”

  “Yes, it was a big challenge for us, as you know I am very choosy and I wanted a stylish costume. Siddarth worked on the fabric while Ana and I worked on the design. The black color was our choice because it would help me disappear in the dark. We put some blue strips to give a little design. Siddarth visited a few countries looking for the material of the dress. Once he got what he wanted, he created a dress for me.”

  “The dress is very flexible which allows me to move my limbs freely and it has tiny sensors all over. The sole under my feet absorbs all the sound, so no one can hear me walking. The dress has some sort of magnetism as well. If I jump from a height and it detects the velocity of the fall is greater than the safe landing, it activates the upward thrust which reduces the impact of the fall to a safe extent.”

  “That explains what Avi was saying about the jump from the bridge.”

  “That was even better because I jumped on Boss which ensured a safe landing.”

  “That’s what I have never heard or seen anywhere before.” Zahid’s anger was easing up now.

  “One more thing, can you see these blue strips.” Simar sho
wed Zahid the strips in the elbow area. These strips ran from shoulders to wrists and from the waist to ankles.

  “Yes, I can see that, what is special about them?”

  “Siddarth calls these as ‘PPED’.”

  “What is PPED?”

  “Punch power enhancement device. These detect the muscle movements when I am about to punch and doubles the power. Not only the punch, but it makes my kick and grip stronger as well.”

  “This sounds very good. I have a curiosity to know why you wear sunglasses at night.”

  “Once we were done with the bike and the dress, hiding my identity was an issue. We came up with so many ideas such as wearing a mask. I did not like that idea it is so old-fashioned and I feel male superheroes wear the masks. So eventually, we decided on sunglasses. It does not cover my whole face, but most of the people can’t recognize me much.”

  “Do you think it was a good idea? As you go out at night mostly, do you see properly?”

  “Actually, I see more than other people. Do you think Siddarth would give me any simple sunglasses? Come and have a look.” Simar put on her glasses and asked Zahid to look at one of the screens on the wall.

  “These are the most advanced sunglasses you might ever see, Zahid. It has got night vision and metal detector in it. It has very tiny but high-resolution cameras, which help the person in this basement to see what I am seeing.” She touched on the side on the glasses and looked at Zahid from head to foot and pointed him to see at the monitor. Zahid saw his x-ray kind of image and the image clearly showed his gun tucked in the pants.

  “The feature I like the most is; if I run out of the weapons and it is an emergency, it can be my weapon as well. It has tiny needles embedded with toxins. All I have to do is to blink four times fast; it will activate the aiming system. Once I see the aim for a few seconds it will lock the target with the fifth blink and with the sixth, it will shoot the needle like a bullet.”

  “Can I have a look?”