Cold Love (17 page)
Authors: Amieya Prabhaker
Beautiful
Hills… Revisiting the
Past
Riya’s car finally reaches the summit of
the Cumbala hills. She breathes in deeply to first savor the fresh air of the
hills and the lovely backdrop of the orange sun on the horizon. She gets out of
the car and anxiously starts looking around. She spots Arjun’s bike at the far
end and then Arjun seated further down the hill, sitting on the grass
overlooking the valley, with his back towards the road.
“Ramu kaka. Please take the car back.
I’ll come along with Arjun.”
“Ok beta. I’ll tell sahib.”
Riya walks up to Arjun. She realizes
that Arjun has noticed her, but he didn’t bother to get up to greet her. She
smiles at him and sits next to him on the grass. “Arjun! You are here and
everyone has been worried about you since the morning”.
Arjun doesn’t respond, and simply
continues to stare at the sun. Riya decides to give him a moment.
“It’s such a beautiful place isn’t it?”
Riya tries to strike up a conversation, but without any response. She tries
again in a minute, “Hey, it was such a great party last night! I feel so glad
for Puja. You know, we were awake until almost 3am!”
Arjun continues to stare stolidly and
silently at the sun on the horizon.
“Arjun, please talk to me! You are so
stubborn!” Riya moves her left hand to wrap inside Arjun’s, “Arjun, I want to
tell you something.”
“If it has anything to do with today’s
incident or about us, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Ok baba, I won’t say anything! Can I
sit here at least? Or will that require a Government permit?”
Arjun smiles, and gently nods yes.
“Thank God! At least you smiled. You
make me nervous Arjun!”
They sit there for a while, chatting
about various things, except the things they really need to talk about. Arjun
lies down on the grass on the slope, his hand supporting his head at the back.
He suddenly moves his head to her lap, asking her, “Do you mind?”
Riya shakes her head no, smiling back at
him. Arjun closes his eyes and moves his right hand over his face to ward of
the glare of the sun. They sit there for a while, as Arjun almost dozes off.
Riya continues staring at the beautiful sun and the picturesque landscape in
the distance. She can’t help but admire her love in her lap. She ventures to
gently run her fingers through Arjun’s hair. He appears to be asleep and lies
still. She continues to play with his hair, her fingertips slowly and
soothingly moving through his hair.
After a while Arjun, still half asleep,
casually takes his hand off his eyes. He has a frown on his face, uneasy at the
sunshine upon his eyes. Riya improvises immediately and opens the knot of her
lovely long hair so as to shield Arjun’s face, thereby blocking the sunshine
from hitting his eyes. She continues to stare at Arjun and intermittently at
the beautiful orange sun beyond the valley.
After a while, Arjun opens his eyes
slowly. He smiles looking up at Riya staring at him. “Arjun, please let’s go home.”
In response, Arjun closes his eyes
again.
“Arjun!”
Riya waits for a while; she can sense
Arjun is only pretending to be asleep, so she picks up a piece of grass and
tickles Arjun gently around his neck. Arjun giggles spontaneously and springs
up on his feet, with a large smile.
“Hey, do you want to eat something?”
Riya gets up from the grass as well.
“Oh my God! Have you had any lunch,
Arjun?” Arjun just smiles back, “Oh! Please let’s go home! Aunty is waiting for
you!”
“I don’t want to go home now. I need to
speak to you. You are not in a rush to go home are you?”
“No.”
Arjun briskly starts walking towards his
motorbike. Riya follows. He starts the bike with a kick and gets on. Riya is
wearing a long skirt and struggles to sit with her legs to one side.
“Uff! Arjun! How will I sit on your
motorbike?”
Arjun shuts off the engine without
saying a word.
“Ok listen. Give me your tool kit,” Riya
enquires with a spark in her eyes. Arjun hands her the tool kit from the side
panel of the motorbike. Riya takes out a pair of scissors. “Ok now turn around.
And don’t look here!” Arjun indifferently looks away, as Riya cuts her skirt
just above her knees. Surprisingly, the skirt looks great after a simple trim.
“Wow! You can kick start a new fashion
trend Riya!”
“Please! I wish! Let’s go now, shall
we?” She sits on the bike, clutching Arjun’s shoulders. He immediately races
on. After a short picturesque drive, he halts at a small roadside tea shack.
An old man is sitting behind the small
stove. His eyes light up upon seeing Arjun, “Oh beta! How have you been?”
“Absolutely perfect kaka! Can we have
tea please? And your special stuffed paratha too!” He looks at Riya as if
asking her if she wanted one. She smiles and shakes her head. They return to
sit down on the bike across the small road facing the green valley below. A
cluster of black clouds has started building up on the hills across the
horizon, threatening to engulf the orange sun on its descent to the sea.
“Can I ask you something Riya?” Riya
nods affirmatively, with a concerned look, sensing the question.
“What happened in Afghanistan, Riya?”
Riya stops sipping her tea, “You know
about it, do you?... Who told you?”
“I am Executive head of the Strategic
Intelligence wing.” He smiles gently, “Azhar is a wanted terrorist on RAW’s
list. How did you meet him, Riya?”
“Couple of years ago I was in
Afghanistan, working for UNICEF to help children displaced by Al Qaeda. We also
helped Indian archeologists in their work. You remember when Al Qaeda blew up
the Bamyan Buddha statues. I still get nightmares about the incident that took
place on my visit … Arjun, before I tell you, can I ask you to please not tell
mama about it? Papa knows everything, but we didn’t tell anyone else. No one!”
“Tell me what happened there. I have
read the report. But I want to hear it from you. And you can trust me; this
will be between you and me.”
“The Indian archeologists were working
on the statues, restoring the broken sculptures, like nose chips and other
defects. It was a regular day visiting these locations close to Bamyan.
Suddenly one of the local villagers warned us of Al Qaeda terrorists coming
that way. We left what we were doing and prepared to leave in a hurry. There
were women and children as well; a few children were playing on the sand in the
village. Before we could get back to our bus, bullets were flying around us.
Some hit the men and women there. Five terrorists on horses were approaching us
from a distance and immediately there was fear and chaos all around.”
“Oh my God! What happened then?”
“Suddenly, one of those terrorists fell
off from the back of his horse, then another one, and another. There was so
much noise and confusion I couldn’t make out what was happening. Someone was
shooting back at the terrorists. And within a few minutes, there were only two
terrorists left. They immediately took cover behind some rocks and continued
shooting. And then I realized there was one man, who was shooting at the
terrorists from behind a rock. Whilst this exchange of gunfire continued,
suddenly I saw a small child on the sand, a few feet from Azhar, who was in the
line of fire. My other colleagues were in the bus by then and I was about to
get in. I couldn’t leave the child behind in the line of fire and ran back to
get the abandoned boy. But Azhar took that opportunity to pounce upon me and
the child. Before I could do anything he snatched the child from my arms and
threatened to kill him if the agent did not come out.”
“Do you know the name of the RAW agent
who was shooting at the terrorists?”
“Yes; it was Krish.”
“I know him very well. We went through
academy training together. So what happened next?”
“Krish threw away his gun, but he was
still standing next to the rock. Azhar moved back to his horse, with the child
in his arms. When he finally got on the horse I thought he would let go of the
child. Instead he first shot at Krish, who took cover behind the rock. And the
very next moment … Azhar shot the child!”
She is crying and her voice is hoarse as
she talks about it. She continues, “I was frozen for a minute, Arjun! I
couldn’t move. There were bullets all around; a few of them flew inches from my
ear. I saw the child falling from the horse. I ran to grab him as he was
falling down and I managed to catch him before he touched the ground, but when
I turned him in my arms to look at him…he was dead. His face… his face was
completely blown off Arjun! And a moment ago that child was playing and
gurgling. I was at an arm’s length from Azhar, right underneath his horse. While
bullets were still flying around, he suddenly pointed his gun right between my
eyes. I stood there motionless, still staring at the kid. Then suddenly a
bullet hit Azhar’s shoulder. He immediately turned his horse around and started
fleeing at top speed.”
She is still weeping as she speaks-she
does not stop to wipe away her tears, “Even today that child haunts me in my
nightmares Arjun,” She sobs and takes a deep breath, “Just like that… he killed
him. A seven or eight-month-old perhaps? Arjun, what had that child done?”
Arjun holds her hand and squeezes it; he
gently wraps his arm around her shoulder.
“Then in a few minutes, far in the
distant desert we saw more horses coming by. And bullets started flying again.
This time, Krish jumped in and saved me as I was literally frozen looking at
the baby. Krish pulled me away, while I kept on staring at the little baby on
the ground. More horses galloped in. Krish dragged me on to his bike and we
raced as fast as we could, while we were followed by the horses. Throughout the
day we kept running … and shooting and then running… like a game of cat and
mouse. I came to know that Krish was a RAW agent and was there to capture Azhar
alive. Azhar himself was bent upon killing Krish as he saw him as his nemesis.”
“Where did you guys go from there?”
“We drove into the forest nearby to seek
cover as the horses were right on our heels. Soon, the bike’s petrol ran out
and we had to run as fast as we could. Although it was a desert area, the
nearby Band-e-Amir Park gave us shelter.”
“Hmmmm … Ok” Arjun sighs.
“That night in the forest, Krish killed
five terrorists with his bare hands and his knife. He had run out of bullets.”
“Yes, he is the best even without guns!”
“Yes… I saw so much bloodshed in those
two days of my life, Arjun! Krish killed one terrorist flinging a tiny Swiss
knife about 20 meters away…” She shook her head, still in disbelief, “It hit
the guy right on his eye, and he fell down on the ground like a stone! Krish
would lead me, holding my hand, literally dragging me around and I ran as fast
as I could… we kept running, hiding and he was fighting on and on through the
evening and through the night. We hid behind rocks, climbed trees… even went
into the water and mud…we did just about everything to keep alive.”
“You stayed in the forest though the
night?”
“Yes… I was so scared when the sun
disappeared and we could barely see anything in the dark. Krish led us and we
climbed trees on a few occasions to hide in the vegetation. It was a cloudy
night and perhaps it helped that it was a new moon night with not a single star
in the sky. He was like a hunter at night. There must have been about ten or
twelve terrorists, combing the forest for us. But Krish killed them all in this
rat hunt. Now when I think about it, I feel as if it’s a miracle that I am
still alive. In that desert all by his own, with just knives and daggers, he
fought tirelessly against the terrorists. I have never seen anyone like him.”
“Krish is an expert in guerrilla
warfare. That terrain must have been challenging, but I guess it worked to
Krish’s advantage.”
“Azhar and Krish had a face-off as well.
Azhar was so fast and inflicted a dagger injury to Krish on his arm. Krish
smashed a thick branch on to Azhar’s back that made him fall to the ground. He
was about to plunge a dagger into Azhar when the other terrorists arrived and
we had to run. Azhar was very badly injured from that fight and that is when
they decided to give up the chase. We stayed hidden for the next few hours
through the night, up on one of the trees. In the early morning, we came out.
It was a long tiring walk the next day in the hot desert, but we finally met
army personnel. They took us to the UNICEF base camp, where I met my other
colleagues.”
Riya pauses to look at Arjun. Meanwhile,
the sun in the distance, even though a few hours from sunset, had been hidden
by menacing dark clouds.
“Arjun, I know innocent children die
every day but that day… in front of my eyes … You know Arjun… that baby was
nothing to me… I didn’t know him… I didn’t even know his parents. But, that
moment I felt as if… as if I had lost a bit of my soul… Yes, Arjun; I felt as
if I lost something of my own! And I have never been able to sleep after that
night Arjun!”
