The Jugni

by Gagan Saini

  “Sure, here it is.” Simar took the sunglasses off and gave to Zahid. He put those on.

  “These seem to be like just other sunglasses to me.”

  “Of course, all features get activated after it scans my retina. If anybody else wears it will be like ordinary glasses.”

  “Incredible, this technology should be used in defense forces.”

  “Siddarth tried to give his innovative ideas to the government, but instead they fired him saying he was crazy.”

  All of a sudden they both heard some noise. Zahid looked around but he could not see anything making noise. The noise did not stop.

  “Oh, don’t worry about this, its Sheru,” she said and walked to the fridge in the corner. She took out a packet of about two kilograms in size and walked to the gym section.

  “Who is Sheru?” Zahid asked and walked to the gym section as well.

  “Sheru is my pet. When he is hungry he bangs the wall.”

  “Well, you have a pet dog in this basement, good for you.”

  “I never said I have a dog.” She smiled and placed her palm on the wall. The front layer of the wall slid on the left side. This revealed Simar’s pet, it was a tiger. As soon as he saw Simar, he gave a loud roar.

  “What the hell Simar, you have a pet tiger? Be careful, he looks angry.” Zahid placed his hand on the gun.

  Simar laughed and said, “Relax, there is a strong glass wall between us and him. She emptied the packet of meat into a big bowl and slid that into that glass room through a little window at the bottom just big enough to slide the bowl. The tiger started to eat.

  “You might have heard a few weeks back about a man-eater tiger.”

  “Yes, that tiger killed five people but all of a sudden it stopped. Nobody disappeared, and nobody saw that tiger again. Hang on a minute, is that the same tiger? It disappeared from the streets because you brought him here?”

  “Yes, but I did not go to bring him here. I went on a tiger hunt. I wanted to kill him because he was too dangerous to be left out there.”

  “Then what happened, how did he end up in your basement.”

  “Well, he grabbed our attention when he claimed a fourth life. We started searching for him. However, before we could find him; he took one more life.”

  “I was so desperate to find him, I did not want him to kill anyone else. Sid used satellite, drones, and cameras. I increased my patrolling. Finally, we tracked him with the help of a drone. It was late in the night and on a quiet road, a street hawker was going home with his ten-year-old son. The tiger hid in the bush. Thanks to my superfast bike I reached there on time. When those poor people came in the range of the tiger, he attacked. He jumped from a distance towards them. I had gained momentum already on the bike. As I approached the scene, I stood on the bike. I asked the bike to apply breaks on the front wheel at once. This sudden break projected me towards the tiger. So, before the tiger could reach that father and son, I pushed the tiger away while we were still in the air. The collision was so strong, we both fell to the ground and rolled over a few times. I did not lose the sight of the tiger for a moment.”

  “Did you use arrows or bullets to control this beast?”

  “Sid and Boss were ready to help me, but I thought it will be a bit unfair for the tiger. I did not want to use any weapon either; however, I used a little bit of technology.”

  “So you are telling me that you fought this animal without any weapon, are you crazy? Anything could have happened.”

  “I know it’s silly. That’s what Sid was telling me over the earphone. He had all the drones ready to fire bullets and tranquilizer darts. I stopped him to use anything until I said so. The tiger ran towards me with his full speed and jumped towards me. I quickly asked Sid to mark my attack. I stood at my place. I just moved a little to my left, just enough to move away from the trajectory of the jump and the range of his claws. This gave me the opportunity to punch him in the center of his trunk. The computer linked to my glasses marked the location of my punch in pink color. I could see exactly the spot of the punch. The tiger landed at a little distance and turned back in frustration. His roar was scary, I shouted at the man and the boy to run away. The tiger ran to me more aggressively. This time he did not jump, he tried to grab me with his front claws. I took one step sideways, rotated and kicked him at the same spot. The same thing happened a couple of times again. He slowed down eventually and started to limp.”

  “He might have sensed his internal injuries, he tried to run away. But this time, I chased him and knocked him down. I wanted to kill him. I asked Boss for a dagger, which I got in a moment. I was about to stab him when he looked at me. My heart melted, I did not kill him and asked Sid to use a tranquilizer.”

  “You brought this tiger here for what?”

  “I don’t know but I felt bad for him. He got very sick with those injuries, but I looked after him and fed him well. Now he has recovered, and we became friends.”

  “He killed so many people; if he stays alive he can kill again.”

  “That’s what I used to think, but this is not the case. We, humans, are responsible for this. He is a predator by birth and nature; if he is in the jungle he will hunt for some animal and eat. Circus people brought him from the jungle and made him do activities for them. It’s not his nature. He killed people just because he was hungry. It was not his mistake that he was in the residential area, if he would be in a jungle, he would have killed some animals. I keep him well fed and he never showed me any aggression.”

  “I guess you have a point.” Zahid was still looking at Sheru.

  Simar placed her palm on the wall again and Sheru went out of sight. Now they could discuss anything else.

  “What is the logic behind name Jugni?” Zahid diverted his attention from Sheru to Simar.

  “Simar was dead. I needed a new name for myself. I remembered during my college days, boys used to call me Jugni because I was very smart and beautiful. Actually, it is a word in the Punjabi language which means female firefly. I feel myself fighting with darkness everywhere, with a light as much as a firefly. No matter how insignificant that light may be, still I’m fighting with darkness.” After saying this she stopped and got lost in some thoughts and looked constantly at the wall. Zahid brought her back from the thoughts with his question.

  “Why did the boys call you Jugni in college? You had the same attitude back then?”

  “Ha Ha, they called me Jugni for different reasons. Jugni is an imaginary feminine character in the Punjabi culture. It represents a very beautiful young girl who rules the hearts of all men. This Jugni is not a beautiful dream; it is a nightmare for the criminals.”

  “People will come to know eventually that Simar is Jugni. People are already saying that you are Simar’s ghost.”

  “That is what I wanted; I wanted to create this image. I wanted that person should be afraid of doing something wrong and if they do it they should know they will not get away with it.”

  “Does your family know that you are alive?”

  “No, I did not want to create problems for them. They have accepted the fact that I am dead.”

  “How do you know they have accepted if you haven’t contacted them?”

  “Sid has hacked the computer in my home. With the help of a webcam, I can see my family. This screen only shows my home. Whenever I miss them I sit in front of this screen for hours. My mother sometimes talks to my photo.” One drop of tear jumped out of Simar’s eye as she finished talking.

  Zahid wanted to interrupt her thought-train, he put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

  “I understood most of the things you said, but tell me when I saw you as Jugni the first time; you shot many people with your fingers, how?”

  Before Simar could answer that a male voice came from the door side, “I will tell you.” They both turned in the direction o
f the voice. It was Sid, as it was morning already and he came as per routine.

  “Simar, what is this? You said it was a secret, but you are the one who disclosed it. You are going to tell your friends one by one and me and my family will be in trouble.”

  Zahid said, “I will keep your secret, don’t worry.”

  Simar said, “Sid, this was going to happen one day. I told you Zahid will reach me some day.”

  Zahid looked into Simar’s eyes and tried to find the emotion behind that trust.

  “Don’t worry, Zahid is one of those few people I trust.”

  “That’s alright; if something goes wrong I am not responsible. Till yesterday, three of us knew about this Jugni thing, now four people know.”

  “I told you once you can trust me and I mean it. By the way, you haven’t told me about the secret of shooting with hands.”

  Sid smiled and said, “It’s all about the backup. As Simar goes out all by herself there to fight crime, she needs backup. So, I made technology to do this job.

  Four highly advanced drones, fully loaded with special bullets fly around Simar where ever she goes out. Look at this.” Sid showed him one drone; it was a black miniature plane-like thing.

  “I followed her a couple of times, but I did not notice any of these.”

  “The reason being, I fly them a bit higher and keep some distance. When Simar goes around, everybody has their eyes on her; nobody notices the drones and of course, the black color helps. With those drones, she gets a very wide range of view from the sky. If they notice something, Simar knows at the same time. I had to design smaller and lighter bullets for them to reduce the weight.”

  “I guess you put that toxin in those bullets which we discussed earlier.”

  The three of them laughed.

  “It was your drone which was shooting, not your fingers, I got it,” Zahid said.

  “My brain is numb and full of lots of things now, I really need some sleep.”

  Simar took a deep breath and said, “Okay, I will show you out.”

  As they both got into the lift, Siddarth got busy with his work.

  “Simar, you need to tell your mother that you are alive, she doesn’t have to suffer such a grief for nothing.”

  “I know Zahid, and I will tell her at the right time. Until then, keep the Jugni secret to yourself.”

  The lift door opened, and Zahid walked out while Simar stayed in the lift. He walked a few steps and looked back, Simar was still there. He realized that Simar couldn’t come out in daylight.

  “Okay, I will see you some other time. It was nice to see you.”

  “Same here, Zahid.” She placed her hand on the wall of the lift, the lift door closed, and the cupboard slid in front. Zahid looked at the cupboard for a while then left.

  Somewhere in the city, a big godown received a delivery in a truck. The workers started to unload it. One man directed everyone. He categorized the stuff and directed the workers about the placement. All trucks came from outside the city and one truck entered at a given time.

  The godown was kept incognito. The trucks kept on coming for days and boxes filled the big godown. The content of the boxes in the truck was unknown until one worker dropped one box and canned food spilled on the floor. The workers could not understand why such secrecy is kept for food, but they continued to do their work anyways.

  On the other side, Jugni was gaining popularity. Now almost everyone in the city knew about Jugni. People had a doubt that she might be Simar or her ghost, but nobody knew for sure. Media got a new agenda to show people. All channels had telecasted their point of view on Jugni. Someone was able to draw the sketch of her based on the description given by people who saw her.

  Her sketch went viral on the internet. Few artistic people made a photo of her based on the sketch. Some people hated her for some reasons but mostly liked her. Youngsters became her fans. A few fans started her Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. Why not, she was doing something every day for the society. The crime rate started to go down again. It went even lower than the time when Simar was a police officer.

  Four of them had made a team of their own. Sid controlled everything from the lab with the help of this technology. Ana was the face of the outside world. She used to teach in the coaching center during the daytime. At the same time, she was raising her daughter. She would go around do shopping and do almost everything which Sid and Simar couldn’t.

  She was an informer of the society. She would bring the news from the outside world as to what people were thinking or if they worried about something. Zahid was the source of information from inside the police department. He always wanted Simar to have her previous life back, but it was not possible anymore. She was done with her past life.

  At another side, four fantastic friends were at the top of the crime world of the country now. They operated their actions from unknown locations in a different city. Over the years they progressed dramatically. When their boss died in an accident, who they worked for, they took over the gang. They got direct control of the gangs one by one in the state. They accumulated a huge sum of money, weapons, and manpower. All other gang leaders in other states had a link with them. With a strong base in the country, they started drug supply in other countries as well. The supplied stuff was of high quality and low in price. Their popularity was all over the globe, but no one knew their real names. Police was in search of them, but they were like ghosts, they always left the stories behind not any pieces of evidence.

  Four of them watched a cricket match in a closed room.

  “Brothers, we are ready for Delhi,” Rana said.

  Junaid asked, “What are we waiting for? Let’s do it.”

  “We have a meeting with our allies in a short while. We will finalize everything and delegate the duties,” Sam said.

  It was night time, it was a dance bar. Lots of music and dance was going on. In a secret room on the second floor, a meeting was about to begin.

  The four friends and the associates sat around a big round table. They had their advisors with them. Junaid said, “Brothers, as you all know that our mission ‘Capital’ is almost ready. All the things we need, have reached the capital already. It’s time for action.”

  “But we have a problem,” One of the partners said.

  “Is this the police?” One associate asked.

  “Police is not a problem. We have bribed most of them. Those who have not accepted money will be killed eventually,” Junaid answered.

  “So, what is the problem?” the same person asked.

  “Perhaps you don’t watch television. That city is haunted. A ghost named Jugni protects it. She is not a problem yet, but as soon as we enter Delhi, we have to face her.”

  Once finished talking, he nodded to his sidekick, a thin man in shirt and pants. Reading glasses gave him a geeky look.

  He started talking, “I have done some research on her.” He switched off the light and started the projector. The famous photo of Jugni was projected on the screen.

  “Are we talking about a girl? How in this world one girl can create a problem in our mission?” One man said.

  “She is Delhi’s vigilante, Jugni. She could be found wherever the crime is. For some reason, she comes out at night. She flies, fights very good and very difficult to locate.” The other man’s sidekick continued.

  Rana said, “This information was in the newspaper as well, what is your research?”

  “I am coming to that. She has strange similarities with Delhi’s dead super cop Simar Kaur. Her height is similar, and both are ultimate beauties. Simar was an expert in all sorts of weapons.” Then he showed Simar’s childhood photo receiving a prize. “This is the moment when she won the national archery competition. Surprisingly, those who saw Jugni stated that she carried a bow.”

  Rohit said, “You mean to say Simar is
Jugni?”

  “I am eighty percent sure. Twenty percent I am not as Simar died in a bomb blast.”

  “So, what do you suggest?” Rana asked again.

  “Trying force on her is useless. You will lose so many men and weapons but won’t catch her. She single handily failed the metro hijack. I would like to mention here that, there were about twenty highly trained and highly armed terrorists in that metro.”

  “How many policemen she had?”

  “None.”

  “What about weapons?”

  “None, she had nothing. Actually, she was going to a wedding.” Then he showed the clip of the news which showed the metro news.

  “You mean to say that a simple girl with no weapons fought with those many terrorists and failed their mission.”

  “She is not a simple girl. She is an expert in hand-to-hand combat. She can fight with a number of men at the same time. She can use almost all weapons. In addition to this, she never misses an aim no matter it is with a gun or an arrow.”

  “What should we do to get rid of her?”

  “Get someone who Simar loved the most, her mother, brother or her colleague Zahid Khan. She was seen with Zahid on many occasions, so I guess there was something brewing between them. Once we get him, she will come to you by herself.”

  “Why not her mother?” Sam asked.

  “I knew someone will ask which is easy to kidnap an old lady or a tough police officer?” he said and smiled a little.

  “To get Zahid, you have to get one police officer only. Mother is a different story. Her Son, Simar’s brother runs a gym and martial arts training center next to their house. There are always police people who go there for a workout. Problem with them is, they are not corrupt. They are good friends of Jaspal and very loyal to him, moreover, they respect Simar a lot. So, we can say that her house is just like a fort. Zahid is rather easy.” He finished speaking and looked at those four friends. Junaid thanked him and turned to the associates to discuss this further.

  On the other side, the life was going as usual for Zahid. Now he could talk to Simar anytime he wanted. He started to do his job more energetically. He would work out with Simar a few times a week. Simar could practice fighting and he would sharpen his fighting skills. The news about Jugni was coming every day. She was in the news one way or other. It was quite often that a criminal would show up by their selves in the police station and confess the crime. Almost everybody who cared about the city and society was happy about it. The phone rang in Sinha’s office.