by Naitik Jain
The car came an hour later, and I went back home for the two days, knowing very well that I wasn’t going to see my parents for quite a while after that. It was time to act soon. Everything was in place now, and all I needed to do was ensure that the plan was executed smoothly. In two days, Meira would be free, and she would be able to start a new, independent life for herself.
Life is one hell of a roller coaster ride. Just about a month back, I was an ordinary student looking for a decent score in my exams. I had no clue that this could have happened to me. In two days, I would be rescuing two girls from a brothel, with my parents having no clue of my whereabouts. I had finally grown up to do something that I should have done a long time back- fight for what is right.
CHAPTER 13
“Are you sure you’ll need only this bit of luggage?”
“Yes mom. I don’t want to slow stuff down. We’ll mostly be travelling, so too much of luggage will be a problem.”
“Who are you going with again?”
“I’m going with Ayu and Niki, my friends from college.”
“How did their parents allow them to go?”
“It was quite a struggle, but the genius that your son is, he managed to convince their parents to let them go,” I joked.
“You being a genius? Ha-ha. You’re the stupidest member of our family Ansh. You can’t survive a day without our care!”
“Stop it mom! I’m not a kid anymore.”
“Alright, whatever makes you happy. Where will you be meeting them?”
“The train goes via Kharagpur. They’ll be boarding it from there.”
“Okay. We’ll leave at 10p.m. from here. That should get us there on time.”
“You’re not going with me to the station mom. It’s pointless. Dad isn’t home anyway, and calling the driver for this is too much. I’ll take a cab.”
“No you won’t. As it is you’re going away on this stupid trip. I don’t even get to see you nowadays. I am coming with you.”
“Mom, you’re not coming with me, and that is final. I can manage myself. You stay at home, and stop this emotional blackmail. I’ll be back soon enough. Take care of the house till then, and don’t get too angry.”
“Fine then, do whatever you want to. You’re a grown up now, who doesn’t need to listen to his parents anymore.”
“Don’t be like that mom! Let me go alone this one time! You will be coming to the station to drop me back to Kharagpur anyway!”
“Okay. You can go alone. Give me a call when you reach the station, when you board the train, and when your friends board the train, okay?”
“Should I also call you when I eat, drink, wake up, go to sleep, or say any word?”
“Shut up. You will make those calls, or you won’t be allowed out on a trip again.”
“Alright, I’ll call you all of those times.”
“And take care of yourself. Don’t talk to any stranger, don’t eat any unpacked food on the train, or take any kind of food someone you don’t know offers you. I hope you understand my concerns for you.”
“Yes mom, I do. I will take care of myself.”
“That’s like a good boy. You’re my little baby, how can I let anything happen to you!”
“Mom! I’m a grown up now, and I can take care of myself. Now can you please get me my chocolate chip cookie?”
“Of course you can, my little grown up!”
“I’m nearly six feet tall, and can pretty much pick you up easily. I’m not little anymore.”
“You’ll always be little for me.”
How I wished I could tell my mom that her ‘little’ son was about to rescue two girls from a prostitution centre in a while, and then take them away from there to a place far away from the city. She would probably get a heart attack right there! This was not the right time to tell anyone. Also, mom would probably just freak out about it, and not let me pursue this further. I had to keep it to myself for now. Mom could find out once it was done.
“Fine, whatever makes you happy. I’ll go recheck the stuff you’ve packed for me.”
I went back into my room to check whether I had taken everything, or rather, whether mom had kept everything for me. Mom always packed my bags for trips. I was this spoilt, pampered kid who did nothing on his own.
There was a small bag with all the things I needed, and my laptop bag with just my tablet and some food. I had made sure I didn’t keep too much stuff with me, because it was extremely important for me to travel light.
“Everything is fine. I’ll leave in a while.”
I left at 9:45p.m., with mom insisting that she drop me to the cab. I couldn’t refuse again, so I went ahead with it and let her do so.
“Make sure you keep calling, and don’t forget to have your medicines.”
“Yes mom.”
“Also, keep eating well. I’ve packed some food for you in the bag.”
“So that’s why the bag is so heavy! Okay, I’ll eat it.”
“And don’t try to act too smart there. Stay careful, and take good care of your belongings.”
“I will mom. Taxi!”
Surprisingly, and thankfully, the first cab that stopped agreed to take me.
“Take me to Howrah station.”
“Take care of yourself son! Keep calling!”
“Yes mom, I won’t forget to keep calling you. Stop worrying about me so much!”
The cab drove ahead now, and as mom went back inside, I told the cab driver, “Rajabazar.”
“But you said we were going to the station.”
“Yes, but now we are not. We are going to Rajabazar.”
Twenty minutes later, I was standing in front of an eight foot wall with a bag in my hand and another on my shoulder. I had to wait for a little less than two hours for them to come. The process had begun.
CHAPTER 14
Time is a rather relative quantity to the human mind. Scientists may advocate its absolute nature, but to an average human mind, the concept of time can never really be absolute. Only a few days back, I had spent 3 hours watching a Batman movie, and it flew away like a breeze.
However, these two hours that I had spent waiting for Meira and her accomplice to come out had been excruciating. Standing in a dark corner, in front of that eight foot wall in a small lane behind a brothel isn’t exactly the best way to spend time. Thankfully, most people crossing me were so drunk that they didn’t really notice me, and passed by me with a glance or two even if they did. I kept to myself, and tried to avoid any form of contact with any person there.
Midnight struck, but they didn’t come. Then I realized my how stupid I had been, and my obsession with midnight. She had asked me to come at 3 a.m., and I had made arrangements according to that too. Only that I forgot at the last moment, in my excitement, and I had come much earlier for that. Three more painful hours on this shady lane with these bags would kill me. I sat down on the least dirty looking part of the road, and waited for them to come.
Thankfully, they decided to come a little early. The road was deserted by the time they came, so there was no one who could see them leaving. I heard their soft footsteps on the other side of the wall, and propelled myself up on top of the wall, with support from the pipe on the side wall. I jumped to the other side, landing softly on my feet.
“Where is Meira?”
“She’s coming. She needs a little more time than me. I made sure the guards were out cold, but we still need to be careful.
“Did everything go according to plan?”
“Better than the plan, you may say. Everything has been perfect so far. She should be out in five minutes.”
“That’s great.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re doing this for a girl you met just once.”
“How do you know I’ve met her just once?”
“Girls talk, especially when they have no other source of entertainment. She mentioned you quite a few times during our conversations.”
“I see.
Well, good to know that she remembered me.”
“So, why exactly are you doing this for her?”
“It’s not just for her. This feels like redemption from my sins for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say that I did something wrong a long time ago, and I want to cover up for that now, and this is the best way to do that.”
“You’re one crazy person. I don’t know what you are up to, but as long as you’re helping us out, it doesn’t matter.”
“I’m glad to know you think so highly of me.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m sorry. You’re a great guy, but it still seems strange to me why anyone would do such a thing for someone he barely knows.”
Our whispers were cut off by the footsteps of Meira approaching. She stepped out of the back door, barely being able to conceal her smile.
“You look beautiful in that smile you’re wearing,” I said, smiling at her.
“It’s all because of you that this smile is there,” she grinned back.
“I think we should leave now. The guards may wake up, and if we are caught, all three of us will be dead.”
“Yes, you’re right. We should go soon. Being caught is the last thing we want after so much effort. We are very close to being free now!”
The three of us stood against the wall. The first girl climbed on my hand, then my shoulder, and then jumped across the wall, landing safely on the other side.
“Send the bags across.”
We threw the bags over, and she caught them on the other side. Meira was next. She followed the same routine, and reached the other side too. I was the only one left to go across. However, there was no pipe here on the side wall to help me climb the wall, and jumping two feet up wasn’t exactly something I was an expert at.
“C’mon, hurry! We have to get out of here as soon as possible!” they whispered from the other side.
I was trying as hard as I could to get out of there, but jumping the wall seemed more difficult than ever. I wasn’t being able to jump the distance. I looked around for something to climb on to so that I could leave, and found a small broken stool. I took the wobbly stool and placed it in front of the wall. In one quick motion, I was on top of the wall.
The stool shook and fell, creating a noise slightly audible. I heard footsteps coming from inside.
Human beings, in shock, often fail to do the thing they’re supposed to. A man slipping and falling on the tracks may not be able to get out of the way of an oncoming train even if he has the time, simply because he may be too scared to move. Similarly, despite knowing that the best thing for me to do was to leave, I sat on top of the wall, frozen. The whispers of the two girls were inaudible to me, and the wall was too high for them to reach me.
The footsteps drew closer, and got louder as they approached the door. They were clearly not of a man. I had to know who this woman was now, even if it meant landing us in trouble. I was sure she wouldn’t reach us in time. The car I had hired for the job had smoothly pulled over on the road, and we were just a small dash away from reaching it. Three train berths to a safe haven had been reserved, and all I needed to do was get in that car.
The door opened slowly, and a slender figure stepped out of it. The darkness ensured I couldn’t see her face. She could see mine, though. She walked slowly towards me, and as she did, she stepped into the faint light that shone on the small space there.
Her face looked tired and worn out, her body exhausted. She was pretty, but I wasn’t interested in how pretty she was. My gaze was fixed strongly at only one place – her eyes. Those were eyes one wouldn’t forget in a hurry. Those were eyes I had seen several times before. Those were eyes that I hadn’t seen in years, except when I dreamed of them. Those were the eyes of a person I had thought was long gone, whom I would never be able to see again. Yet, I saw them again, and I was shocked.
A faint voice left my mouth, barely being audible.
“Aliya?”
CHAPTER 15
Some things in life are best deleted from your brain, some memories best forgotten. Some people are better off disappearing into a state of oblivion from your mind, because their presence there brings you only pain. You know they will never come back to you, yet you keep hoping that some day they will. All they cause with this presence is pain, and lots of bad memories.
Until this very moment, that is exactly what Aliya was to me. Her physical absence in my life for so many years had pushed her back as a memory that would never go. I knew it was best for me to forget her, for she would never come back, but there was too much pain and too much guilt to forget this girl. I would think about her all the time, thinking of ways to apologise to her. But today, as she stood there, right in front of me, staring back at me as I looked into her eyes, there was not a word that came out of me.
“Ansh? Ansh! How did you get here? Why are you here? What the hell are you doing? Why are these two girls in the cab?”
“I’ll explain all of that to you later. First, you need to come with me.”
“What are you up to? Tell me now!”
“Trust me Aliya, please. Have faith in me this one time, and I promise you that I will not disappoint you.”
“The last time I trusted someone, it led me to spending so many years in this hell. I will not make the same mistake again.”
“Please Aliya, try to understand! I assure you that you will not regret this decision. Just give me your hand this one time, and I’ll get you out of here.”
She moved towards me, and stretched her hand out. I picked her up and set her down on the wall in front of me. Both of us jumped down, and walked towards the cab without uttering another word to each other.
The cab ride was one of the quietest rides I had ever been in. Meira and the other girl were very excited at being released from that place, and their excitement kept them quiet. Aliya, on the other hand, was in a state of shock, and it seemed like she would take time coming to terms with the fact that her childhood friend had just helped her get out of the place she had been dragged into years ago, and she had really escaped from the fate she had eventually resigned herself to. I, too, was spellbound at finding my lost friend again. Nature has its way of playing things out, and this time it did that in the most dramatic way possible.
Finally, Meira couldn’t hold her excitement in, and burst out. “So what’s the plan now? How do we escape from the city? We obviously can’t stay here, because Gujjar’s men will know that we are here, and they will make sure we are found and killed. We need an escape plan, and need to get out of this city soon.”
“I have told you all of that already. We are headed to the station now, from where we will take a train to a far off place from here, where Gujjar has no influence. This will ensure that he doesn’t get to know where we are, or who you people are with. He will obviously try to look for you people, and given that you three have gone missing at the same time, he will safely assume that the three of you have run off together. I have three tickets with me, since Aliya was a surprise addition.” I said, grinning slightly at Aliya. She looked at me and smiled back faintly. She clearly wasn’t in a state to talk. “ Anyway, we can bribe the ticket checker, so that wouldn’t really be a problem.”
“You won’t need to do that.” The other girl said.
“I think it’s safer to do so, since we won’t have any trouble later on because of this. It is a rather long journey.”
“I’m not going with you to wherever you’re going.”
“Are you in the right state of mind? Gujjar’s men will be all over the place looking for you, and it’s extremely unsafe for you to stay in this city. You should come with us for now, and maybe return to the city later.”
“I won’t be staying in the city. I’m coming with you to the station, and then leaving for Bhubaneswar. That’s out of the region Gujjar operates in, so I should be safe there. I have a few friends there, and I will be safe in that place. There’s a train t
hat will leave in a few hours. I’ll buy a ticket in that one from the money I stole from the hell-hole. I will be perfectly fine, so you don’t need to worry about anything.”
“Whatever you think is right for you. I still think that we should stay together till the heat is down, so that we can at least know we are safe.”
“Getting me out wasn’t part of your plan anyway. Besides, it’s more logical for us to split, since they’ll be looking for all three girls together, as you’ve said yourself. It should be much safer for us to go our separate ways. You’ve done enough for me, and I hope I can pay you back someday for getting me out of there, but I shouldn’t be taking any more help from you. I can fend for myself, and I will do so. Thank you so much for being here with me through this tough time.”
“I’m glad I could help you so far. I wish you would come with us, but I think now that you’re right. This will keep all of us safer. I hope you stay safe wherever you are, and your friends take good care of you.”
She smiled at me, and the silence took over the journey once again. It was funny how the streets that were bustling with activity throughout the day looked so odd in this calmness. Being brought up amidst the car horn noises and people shouting at each other for nothing on the road, the silence was unnerving for me. I wasn’t used to such quiet. My ears had started ringing.”
“Where will we go from the station?”
“It’s a surprise for you people. I hope you like it. It is one of the few places I know that will keep you both safe and unknown, and is also really beautiful. I think you can settle down there for a while.”
“I hope it doesn’t turn into a shock as we reach there.” Meira said, giggling slightly.
The cab pulled over at the station, and we got off, with me being the only person with any luggage. I paid the cab driver, and we walked to the giant screen where the trains with their departure platforms were written.