Once Upon a Curfew

by Srishti Chaudhary

  VP ji nodded, his fingers on the table. ‘It will definitely work, VP ji,’ Rana said again. ‘I don’t want him to suffer. I want to bring him out.’

  ‘And what is your father’s position on the issue?’

  ‘He is sympathetic to the resistance,’ Indu said.

  ‘Oh. He is?’

  ‘As far as he can be . . . in his position.’

  Indu sensed a change in his manner and looked at Rana. Perhaps they should never have told him. She wondered if Rana had been foolish in trusting him.

  ‘And does your father know that you are here?’ VP ji asked her.

  ‘No,’ Rana said, ‘of course not. No one knows she’s here. She doesn’t even know where the safehouse is located. We followed all the rules, she was blindfolded when I got her here.’

  Indu nodded vigorously, but it seemed like the damage was done.

  ‘And how does your father feel about your upcoming . . . alliance?’

  ‘Well, that’s our business,’ Indu said briskly. ‘Also, I think we should get going now, we don’t want to miss our meeting.’

  Rana nodded and Indu collected all the photographs again, putting them back in the package. VP ji nodded and got up swiftly, walking back into the corridor as Indu picked up her dupatta and Rana stuffed the package back into his bag. ‘Uh, yes, I should blindfold you again when we go out,’ Rana said. Indu widened her eyes at him but didn’t say anything more, as Rana was obviously thinking of what he could use as a possible blindfold, and indicated her dupatta. She handed it to him with a glare.

  He put it over her eyes, wrapping it around her head and tying it at the back. ‘Okay, give me your hand,’ he muttered to her.

  ‘What do you mean “give”? Take it! I can’t see where your hand is.’

  He grabbed her hand and they had barely walked a few steps when she felt Rana stop dead in his tracks. ‘What?’ she asked but he didn’t reply. A long silence followed, she felt another presence, and guessed that it was VP ji.

  ‘Rana?’ she asked again, but he didn’t reply, and clutched her hand tighter instead. She had opened her mouth to say his name again when he pinched her thumb and she shut up.

  They were suddenly moving backwards. Rana made her sit on the chair again. She prised off the knotted dupatta from her eyes and gasped. VP ji stood with a gun pointed at them, all smiles gone from his face, and she turned to Rana, who seemed as unnerved as she was. Beads of sweat formed on Indu’s palm and she held Rana’s hand tighter.

  ‘Sit,’ VP ji said, his voice crisp, and Rana sat next to Indu.

  ‘What are you doing, VP ji . . .’ Rana began in a small voice.

  He looked sharply at Rana. ‘How much does she know?’ he asked.

  ‘She’s on our side, VP ji,’ Rana said immediately. ‘I can swear to you, I vouch for her completely. I vouch for her on my life. She’s helping us get Fawad back, we swear to you it’s true.’

  Indu nodded vigorously, noticing how much Rana had paled, and how VP ji’s hand remained steady, holding his gun. A silence followed, and Indu thought VP ji was trying to make up his mind about her. When Rana tried to get up from the chair, he jabbed the gun in Indu’s direction.

  ‘VP ji, why are you doing this?’ Rana protested.

  ‘Don’t speak,’ he retorted. Indu sat with her heart beating thunderously, waiting for the worst. They both sat staring at VP ji and Indu glanced frequently at Rana.

  She tried to signal to Rana to say something. After what seemed like hours, VP ji slowly lowered the gun and Rana smiled, encouraged. ‘That’s right,’ he said, pacifying him, ‘she doesn’t mean any harm, VP ji, you were being paranoid. You can see, I will blindfold her and lead her outside, right until we reach the city. She has no idea about the location of the safehouse.’

  ‘Come here, I want to talk to you,’ he said, now staring right at Rana.

  Rana made as if to move towards him, and then stopped himself. ‘Anything you want to say can be said here, VP ji. I’m telling you, you can trust her.’

  VP ji stared daggers back at them, and then continued. ‘I’m sorry to have pulled the gun out,’ he replied shortly. ‘I wasn’t sure what to think about her.’

  Indu tried not to look exasperated, for he still had the gun, after all. Rana nodded, holding up his hands. ‘It’s fine, we must be cautious, after all, these are dangerous times . . .’

  But VP ji was staring at Indu. She looked at Rana, feeling conscious under his gaze.

  ‘Your father is getting Fawad released,’ he said—a statement, not a question.

  Indu nodded after a pause.

  ‘Why not more people?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Why won’t he get more people released?’

  Indu gaped at him. ‘Because he can’t. Even getting one person out is very tough!’

  ‘But he’s doing it,’ VP ji said.

  ‘Yes, he’s doing it because we asked him, and also . . . these photographs!’

  ‘So he’s not really on our side, is he, then, if he’s asking for something in exchange?’

  ‘You don’t understand! You don’t know the position we are in, how we are even managing this!’

  ‘VP ji,’ Rana began, ‘it’s not just her father, we are taking the help of other members of their family and Indu’s . . . fiancé. Her father doesn’t even know about any of this. We have to exchange the pictures for Fawad.’

  VP ji got up from his chair, his hands folded behind his back, and began pacing up and down the corridor.

  ‘What if we keep her here?’ he asked, looking at Rana. ‘Her family would exchange way more people for Indu, wouldn’t they?’

  Indu’s heart turned to stone, and she could tell that Rana too was completely shocked. She heard forced patience in his tone when he spoke next. ‘VP ji, think about what you are saying. Holding an innocent woman hostage? Using her as leverage, putting her life in danger? We don’t do that, or we would be like them, ready to dispose as we will, use as per our interests and profits!’

  But VP ji now paced faster than ever, shaking his head. ‘Rana, you’re not thinking about the big picture here. Forget about your relations with her for a moment, not that what you told me was honest anyway—as you said, she has a fiancé—but think about how valuable she could be. We could get several of our top people out if her father or fiancé or whoever valued her life. She’d be far greater political leverage.’

  ‘Are you out of your mind, VP ji?’ Rana yelled, getting up from his chair. ‘Using an innocent woman in this. I thought this movement was greater than that!’

  ‘Think coolly, use your head! It’s not only Fawad’s life that is important, there are so many of our valuable members inside—’

  ‘Okay, I am not a part of this anymore,’ Rana said slapping his hands on the table. ‘Indu, come on, let’s go.’

  Indu got up from her chair, but found her path blocked by VP ji. Rana sighed in frustration.

  ‘Look, we won’t harm her, if that’s what you are thinking,’ VP ji said. ‘It’s not about her—it’s about the bigger movement! She can stay comfortably in your room, and not a hair on her head will be touched! We are not mistreating her in any way, but we can’t just let an opportunity like this get away.’

  Rana now sat with his head in his hands, silent. He stayed that way for a long time and then looked up at him again. ‘So you are saying she won’t be harmed in any way?’

  Indu couldn’t believe her ears and stared at him incredulously.

  ‘Not at all,’ VP ji said soothingly, almost laughing at the suggestion. ‘What will we achieve by harming her? We are not monsters. She can stay here. In return, we will ask that in addition to Fawad, a few more of our top men, who also have been unjustifiably imprisoned, be let off. Innocents released for an innocent released. Is it not our duty to do all we can for those whom we swear to protect? Is it not up to us to save as many human lives as we can? In fact, considering what’s at stake, the price she can fetch us, if she’s trul
y on our side, she should volunteer to be held hostage!’

  Indu couldn’t help it; she laughed at the preposterous suggestion, unable to control her guffaw, and to her astonishment, looked up to find Rana not laughing. She gaped at him, betrayed that he didn’t find it ludicrous.

  ‘This is how it feels when someone close to you is incarcerated for no apparent reason,’ VP ji egged him on. ‘It’s the perfect plan, and the way I see it, we have nothing to lose. They let our people go at a certain location, pardoning all charges, we let Indu go from here, chastity, dignity everything intact, not even the ends of her dupatta crumpled. Everyone is happy.’

  ‘You have got to be kidding me,’ Indu said, now standing next to Rana, nudging him. ‘Can you believe this guy? Has he gone nuts because he’s been trapped here for so many days?’

  But Rana didn’t wear exasperation on his face, and looked, in fact, to Indu’s chagrin, pretty convinced by what VP ji had said.

  ‘He’s not saying anything wrong, Indu,’ he said in a low voice to her. ‘Just think of what we can achieve. Using your name this way was what we should have done all along, instead of other petty things.’

  ‘Have you lost your mind?’ she shrieked. ‘Do you know how much trouble we will be in, how much trouble my father will be in? Have you absolutely no sense?’

  ‘Indu, dear,’ VP ji said, now grinning broadly, ‘just think! Your father will be so ecstatic just to have you back that nothing else will matter, absolutely nothing else! A few prisoners would be nothing.’

  ‘Stop this madness now.’ Indu got up from her seat and attempted to walk away, but found her path again blocked by VP ji.

  ‘Rana!’ she yelled, looking at him.

  Rana walked towards her, looking apologetic. ‘Indu, try and understand, nothing is going to happen to you. All VP ji is suggesting is that we fake this “kidnapping” and see what we can get out of it. You said that you wanted to help Fawad, didn’t you?’

  Indu couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She felt her way to the table, picking up their chai cup, and threw it straight at Rana. It hit him on the forehead and fell to the floor, cracked. Rana winced in pain as VP ji came up behind her, holding her arms in a lock. Indu struggled against his hold and began screaming at the top of her voice as VP ji yelled at Rana to help him. Rana went to a drawer in which there were ropes.

  They tied Indu’s arms and legs, and put a gag over her mouth so she wouldn’t scream; Indu shot Rana looks of pure venom as he massaged his forehead. She didn’t want to believe what had just happened. Yet, as the minutes passed, he avoided looking at her.

  ‘Do you want to know how I came into this movement, Indu?’ VP ji asked her, and Indu raised her eyebrows sarcastically. VP ji gave a low chuckle. ‘I was forced to join it. There I was, sitting peacefully in my home one day, not really bothered by any kind of emergency, when they arrived at my doorstep and declared my home was illegal. I was confused; how could homes be illegal? They said our entire colony was illegal, that it didn’t exist on paper, and so we must leave. My wife asked me what to do, but I had no answer. The next day, when we sat outside our homes, refusing to move, they beat us and kicked us aside, knocking over all that we knew to be home.’

  If he expected Indu to show sympathy, she displayed none. ‘Did your father think about the legality of destroying 200 homes, chief advocate that he is?’

  Indu wanted to tell him that it wasn’t up to him, but was barely paying attention anymore. All she could think about was Rana’s betrayal. Her mind turned to whether anyone at home had noticed her absence already. She was dimly aware of Rana hovering around her.

  Rana and VP ji huddled together in front of her, murmuring in low whispers. The cloth was tight around her mouth. They sat that way for some time, discussing plans in low voices, and she even saw VP ji pat Rana on the back once. She wondered how she could have been so wrong, so many times, about a person. As she simmered in anger, she saw Rana say something in VP ji’s ear and then pin him against the wall, swiftly grabbing the gun from him.

  She stared at him as he pointed the gun straight at VP ji’s face. ‘Stand back,’ he growled at VP ji, whose expression went from shock to anger.

  ‘You will regret this, son—’

  ‘Shut up!’ Rana yelled at him, backing up to where Indu was, removing the cloth from her mouth.

  ‘If I give you a knife, can you cut the ropes?’ he asked urgently.

  ‘So you’re . . . you’re not on his side?’ Indu asked him.

  He couldn’t help looking at her in exasperation. ‘Of course not! Did you actually buy that?’

  Indu shrugged.

  ‘I told you that if anybody could act like Rajesh Khanna, it’s me. Anyway, wait,’ he headed over to the kitchen counter slowly, still pointing the gun straight at VP ji, and brought back a knife. ‘Do it,’ he said to Indu, ‘I need to keep this bastard in sight.’

  VP ji shut his eyes and began singing ‘Aye mere watan ke logon’. Indu and Rana looked at each other, incredulous, but Rana shook his head and urged Indu to hurry up.

  ‘Rana, this is not the way to insaaf,’ VP ji said after a while.

  ‘I know,’ Rana said shortly, ‘but yours isn’t the way either, you freak, keeping her hostage. Now don’t talk or I’ll blast your head off.’

  VP ji smiled. ‘You’re not a killer, Rana, I know that. Especially not one who kills their own leader.’ He began to walk forward with his hands up in the air, and Rana warned him to stand back. When he continued walking, there was a deafening blast. Indu jumped, and the knife fell from her hands. As the smoke from the gun dispersed, she saw a bullet embedded in the wall. Rana’s expression was fierce. ‘I thought I told you to stand back.’

  Indu saw VP ji gulp and take a step back, horrified that Rana had actually fired. Indu then continued cutting the ropes on her wrist, and finally freed herself.

  ‘Go,’ Rana said. She grabbed her dupatta and shot VP ji a look of the deepest loathing.

  ‘If you dare come after us,’ Rana said to VP ji, ‘we will make sure the police comes knocking on this safehouse next.’

  20

  Their autorickshaw wobbled dangerously on the road, but neither Indu nor Rana cared, still reeling from the shock of what had just happened. They didn’t say anything for about a minute, and then Indu let out a sound of relief and hugged him sideways, surprised to find that he too was shaking. The auto driver watched them in the mirror, but they ignored him. She wrapped her dupatta around herself.

  ‘I thought you had really turned on me back there,’ Indu said.

  ‘Is that why you hit me so hard with that cup?’ he asked.

  ‘Of course!’

  ‘Pity all the practice of dodging things before didn’t work out . . . but only because you caught me unawares.’

  ‘What in the world was that, though? Why did he suddenly flip like that?’ Indu asked him.

  Rana seemed to be having trouble processing what had just happened, so Indu gave him some time.

  He finally looked at her, a vacant expression in his eyes, and said after a few seconds, his voice cracking, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I felt a bit nervous about taking you in there but I just never knew that he could . . . stoop to this level . . . got greedy…what’s the difference . . . shattered my faith . . .’

  He was now murmuring bits of phrases, and Indu patted him on the back. ‘I always knew he was ruthless,’ he went on, ‘but to this extent—he could dare to even suggest that we kidnap you . . . after I said we will be married . . . what sort of madman . . .?’

  Indu nodded sympathetically, lost in her own thoughts. She had thought she understood how things worked, how authority and dissent functioned. She thought that the lines between the good guys and the bad guys would be clearly demarcated. But this encounter had left her more confused than ever.

  Rana bowed his head in shame. ‘I don’t know what to say. I wonder what the other people in the movement will think of it if they find out. Just
goes to show that humans, even well-meaning ones, can go to any extent to get what they want.’

  Indu reflected on this, finding herself agreeing, and yet it was hard to make peace with it. ‘Nice game of bluff there, by the way,’ she told Rana.

  A grin spread across his face. ‘Once I saw how seriously he believed in his plan, I knew there was no way to change his mind, so I had to act convinced. I was hoping he’d keep talking to me.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘It’s easier to fool talkative people,’ he said, matter-of-factly. ‘That’s why I’m always able to pull a fast one over you.’

  ‘Oh, please! When have you ever pulled one over me? And you’re the talkative one . . .’

  The conversation kept them going as they headed toward Ganpati Tower. It was quite late at night, and Indu knew she would have a lot to explain when she got home. But for now, they had a more pressing problem at hand: where in the world was Rana to stay?

  ‘Just stay at Number 7 tonight. It’s safe, nobody will expect you to be there, and tomorrow, in the morning, before the girls start to arrive, I’ll come and let you out. I’ll tell Dhar uncle we have the pictures, and are under a lot of pressure, so if he wants to make the exchange, it needs to happen . . . very soon. We’ll make the exchange and get this over with once and for all,’ Indu said.

  He stared at her for a few seconds and then nodded. She got down at Ganpati Tower as well when the auto stopped.

  ‘And Indu,’ Rana called out as she walked away. She turned around and stopped right at the apartment gate.

  ‘What?’

  He was silent for a moment, but only a moment. ‘I wanted to tell you that I love you,’ he said suddenly in a rush.

  ‘I mean it,’ he went on, ‘I really do. When I think about you, I know it immediately in the way my heart swells. If I could go back in time, I’d tell myself not to be an idiot and tell you the first time I met you that I loved you and wanted to marry you and would do anything in the world to give you a beautiful life.’

  Tears now streamed down her cheeks, but she refused to look at him.