Monday, April 28, 2008

Kill for Something.

Sapota is going to write a post on voilence again, previous post was more on line of being gory and brutal. But a massacre is that way, nothing can change that. What follows next is another story of blood being spilled. Sapota is not going to present any justification on any action or views, but will present it in a way perceived by someone who has actually undergone all this. There is no disclaimer on it being true or views being biased or if they controversial content, one is free to derive any understanding of this story:

They say there is something about the water of chambal, which brings a kind of unrest, a tendency to fight. The river is vital to survival of residents of this place. In this peaceful night of summer after a day of scorching heat, burning anything that is exposed, the last thing I expect is a fight, but this place was never in peace.
There is a distant voice, "Suren bhaiya, are you coming to the fields?"
I was lost somewhere but that voice brought the mundane life back to me, I shout back "YES, I am coming".
"Bhaiya this year we will hardly have any harvest, this is july end and a not a single cloud in the firmament",
I was still lost "u'm, oh yes, bad season I guess".
"Do you know rinku will be back in village?"
I thought "why?, what does he want", but i never spoke back.
"I think that's rumor, those pichola(sub faction in village) folks are spreading".
"really? what will they get out of it?"
He became little thoughtful now, "he killed 5 of their folks, they are looking for revenge"
"I know that. but what good will the rumor do?"
"This will give them an excuse to come to this part with their weapons loaded and put some show here frightening people"
The great warrior clan of this motherland has belonged to the kings. The last thing a Rajput will do is swallow his pride. We want to live with dignity and respect, and if something prevents that, I wont deter to eliminate it. Rinku is a by-product of this glory. Rajput were known for their valor, glory, bravery and relenteless love with the motherland. The list of virtues was still bigger, but it has shrunk and there are very few left with really some of them. Nothing comes without side effects, If I am brave then I am angry and if I am justice-loving, I will fight for it and this fight will not be peaceful. It is always the war that comes to my mind when it comes to love of justice and love of this motherland.
I boomed back to life "Rinku is a kalank(contextual meaning:disgrace, literally:stain) to this entire Rajput community."
he knew my blood was boiling.
"but bhiya, he is our kid"
"Do hell with such kid, his father has protected all his deeds, till he became this monster, I would have killed such a son a long time back"
"bhaiya its not that simple!"
he was right, killing your son is last thing one can think of, but atleast I could have stopped him from becoming a monster. but who knows? the love for one's progeny blinds the parent.
"Jagan is back home for vacations" he said changing the topic.
"oh really. first thing in morning will be meeting him"
Fields were now visible.
"what is all this police doing near tube-well?"
he had a quick answer "must be drinking, what other business do they have here"
me "u'm"


"Surendra!!! wake up" she shouted.
I wake up in half haste and half sleep.
"what the time?"
"leave the time aside, their is some problem in the village"
I sprang back to life immediately, without a second thought I thought that Rinku bustard must have came back and done something.
she said "sarpanch(village head) has called u immediately to chaupal(gathering place in a village)"
I said lazily, "right now?"
"yes! rush to chaupal"
There was a huge gathering, almost all men of village were there. I was surprised to see so many folk at such an odd hour.
They all were looking at me as if something sinister is going on around.
Avtar Singh, the village sarpanch directly to me, "Son, this is time to take out your gun"
A sudden chill, a feel of death, a resistance was surmounting. I don't want to fight, No one actually want to. But Avtar singh is a man of his words, he wont say any non-sense.
"But what is the matter kaka?"
"They killed Jagan" with a firm voice. Everyone except him had watery eyes. Man of his stature don't cry, they have seen it all.
Me without a thought, "I will kill all pichola bustards", my voice became hoarse as if I was shouting at peak of my voice.
Bheem singh, "Its police!"
I was taken aghast "Why would police kill an Army Soldier???"
Bheem singh came forward with his arms around my shoulders, "they took him for Rinku"
I was admant, "Pichola folks must has conspired againt us with police"
Bheem singh, "Police was tracing rinky down right from Kanpur(a North Indian City), their informers have mistaken Jagan for Rinku"
Rinku although a notorious criminal now, was hardly 22 years old and last month he killed Kanpur's top don in the daylight in a crowded market. He had all shades of bravery, courage like a typical Rajput, but he had a criminal mind. Those instinct of fighting is turning this great community into a pit of producing criminals. Since Rinku's rise, half of young boys of this community have joined him. The reasons were simpler, "quick fame", "easy money" and yes! this is an era of unemployment and kids are hardly into proper eduction.
I asked "Now what?"
Someone "We will hunt down the thana(police station)"
"Are you out of your mind, we wont kill police"
Avtar Singh, "Yes, we will."
Gopal came forward sobbing, "Suren, they have killed my Ram-like(Ideal) son, We were about to fix his marriage next week!!!"
My blood started boiling, one side I could imagine a filthy criminal Rinku and on the other a simple ideal son Jagan, who was first cousin of Rinku. There is nothing more grave than seeing blood of your own child. And Jagan was one such child of this village, everyone loved him like their own son and he was just 23. All I could see now was blood, it was instinctive. I am growing old, but can still chase and hunt these government dogs.
"kaka, how many men are coming with me?" even if there was no one, I would do it all alone.
"Seven. there are around 10 policemen in chowki right now ,including daroga(sub-inspector). I know you can hunt them down easily"
At these moments, there are no exceptions, "Yes, we will, when should we start?"
"Now, once police realizes what they have done, they will expect the retaliation and they will be well prepared and we wont be able to take this revenge"
"I am going to bring my gun, everyone meet me near tubewell"
I am the de facto leader for this mission, this is the kind of responsibility, I knew I have to shoulder sometimes in my life. And I am not supposed to come home defeated. My father, whom I considered an Idealist to the core, always had a saying "don't come home beaten" and I never had.
I took my gun out from the trunk, which was rusting for a long time. My wife took the gun from me and started cleaning the barrels. There was no conversation, she was prepared for this. She is a true Rajput lady, who was born with guns firing around, she had been drawing inspiration from likes of Rani Padamavati(A queen, who gave her life for glory).

"Today we will make this place a chhavni(Contextually: Battle field, literally: Cantonment)" Jagan's Elder Cousin Prakash said forcefully.
These seven men now were blood thirsty, the only skill left in them is killing. By all means they will achieve what they want.
We started marching towards chowki, there was no plan, just plain anger. No one was speaking, only sound was thumping of our feet against the village dust. I was getting eager, this small walking time was making me more anxious and impatient.
We went straight inside the chowki. Chandan fired the first shot directly aiming the groin of the first policemen, he saw. There were 4 more shots fired from 4 different barrels and killing 3 more policemen. They couldn't even react to what was happening.The battle has begun and it was 7 vs 6 now. Daroga who was sitting in the other room realized something, I can't say what, but as soon as Omi entered the next room he was shot on left side of his abdomen with the pistol. We all step back and they fired three more bullets on Omi, he was dead. Avdhesh rushed in the next room while firing blindfolded, hitting one policeman in arm. Daroga and one policemen had already jumped from the window. We all entered room. I was furious again to see that khaki Dog and fired two bullets killing him.
"Babuloo and Prakash, stay here and we will signal you when we reach near window, rest come with me towards the main door", I said while waving my hand in the direction of next room.
As soon as we returned to the previous room, I spotted three more policemen coming from main exit unaware of the situation. Within a moment or so, they all opened firing except me, killing two of them. One escaped and started running haphazardly here and there. I felt a kind of relief seeing this khaki dog running madly, I felt like an executioner just waiting to kill the dog. I aimed at him while he was running, first bullet missed him narrowly. Second bullet came from other direction, which hit me on the shoulder. They all opened fire in the other direction.
Daroga and other policemen were firing from the other direction, this time they were well prepared and standing behind a tree. But fortune was on our side, Babuloo managed to jump out of window of next room and took a position just behind daroga, he killed Daroga instantly. he was in open field, so the other policeman shot him down easily.
They all again opened fire towards the tree, but no one was successful. Prakash rejoined us near the main gate. When he saw me wounded,he reaction was impulsive like a stubborn kid and he started running madly towards the tree and with lighting speed he hit the policeman with gun in the forehead, who was on the ground next second. And then he kept hitting him furiously again and again till he was all in blood. Someone killed him with the gun, relieving him from this torture.
The other policeman escaped. He was only survivor from this side. We have lost two of our men.

I was lying wounded in my bed wounded while 4 of my men has fled from the village. RAF was deployed in the village. I knew they will come for me very soon. I wont flee, there is still one left to be killed.
It happened much earlier than I expected. That khakhi dog came to get me with RAF man. My gun was lying on other side of the bed. They were proceeding towards me with loaded gun, within a minute or so the policeman uttered something, which I never bothered to hear. Somehow I managed to sit and next moment, I took the gun and shot him somewhere on throat. Next I could remember is blazing of guns and death coming, but my mission was accomplished.

2 comments:

Sucharita Sarkar said...

wow,

that was a mind-boggling post. saw a telecast of SHOLAY on tv the other day and coundn't but help think about your blog_ID. And then I come come across your violence-blog...talk about coincidences. But this brutality and counter-brutality and bloodshed and bravery is the story of the heartlands, isn't it?

!Teq-uila Del Zapata said...

well, yes.
but sholay is a remake of Akira Kurshawa's Seven Samurai and it has been remade umpteen times. So no credit to sholay and it anyway looks western.
There is much to violence than just mindless killing, i have tried to give a little insight. but its very difficult to understand things until u feel them yourself. I am still an observer from outside.