He saw a small town side restaurant. He entered and ordered for a tea and sat at a corner table where he had the entire view of the restaurant as well, the bazaar lane. The restaurant seemed to be vacant. The table near the entrance was occupied by a noisy group who seemed to be famished with insatiable hunger. They looked like rowdies straight out of movies. They had been hogging on many dishes. Sajjan curiously glanced at them and found that they were doing the same.
Once they finished, the boy serving them presented them with the bill. One of them slapped him tight, one glance at Sajjan, and asked him to summon the owner. The owner hastily approached the group and started to apologize profusely.
“The boy is new here and doesn’t know yet. Please forgive him” he pleaded.
“Remember” one of the rowdy said looking at Sajjan, “it’s your duty to educate newcomers. One more incidence and … you know what can happen to you”
“Yes, Sir,” the owner said, his hands folded in a pleading prayer to the rowdies, “I will take care.”
The group stood up and glanced around in a menacing way and left the restaurant without any further action. The owner, in frenzy, scolded the boy and asked him to stay put behind the counter and personally served the cup of tea to Sajjan.
“You seem to be new here,” he said in a wry tone aware of what Sajjan had seen in his restaurant, a few minutes ago.
“Yes, I arrived today morning.”
“What brings you here – into this small town?”
“Business – my work” Sajjan smiled knowing that this person was going to be inquisitive, “What happened here a few minutes ago – is it often that this happens?”
The poor guy, scared out of wits, looked around to see if it was safe to talk.
“You are new to this town.” he said in a low voice, “you obviously don’t know anything about this town. I will advise you to be wary of these rowdies and Do Not Trust Anyone.”
“Why? Is it so bad out here in this town?”
“Yes. The rowdies you saw few minutes ago work for Rajasaab. They call themselves, his party volunteers. They are dangerous. They spare nobody.”
“Rajasaab, I understand is a prominent leader in this country. He seems to be good at politics and every 2 years or so he starts a development project for downtrodden.” Sajjan mentioned casually.
The guy looked around in caution again and looked at Sajjan, “You seem to be a good person by heart and a trusting one. I do understand the image of Rajasaab you have,” he continued in a low voice, “Don’t go by his public image as a political leader. He is one of the most corrupt and scheming politicians in the country.”
“Really?” Sajjan had a bewildered look.
“You got to believe me,” he said in a confident tone, “I have lived here in this town since my birth. My dad and Rajasaab studied in the same class. Rajasaab was one of the poorest of kids to study in the school. His family had difficulty in arranging a meal, even once a day. His father was employed by one of the poor farmers,” he looked at the growing interest of Sajjan and continued, satisfied at his attentive audience, “You tell me. How is it possible for a person coming from such a poor background to own farming lands which are now measured in sq. km.? Someone who owns a palatial place to live, invests millions in various projects and industries, all around the country and abroad?”
“You have a point there” Sajjan said, “but, I guess, this happens to every person who joins politics in this country. The system, obviously, isn’t clean enough.”
“You don’t seem to get the point” he objected and winked at Sajjan, “Financially he is far more ahead than most of political leaders in the country. Politics and corruption are not the only means of his income. There are many shady businesses he runs through these rowdies (so called his party volunteers). The entire area is terrorised by their presence. They have no rules, no law. Even the police refuse to lodge a complaint against them. They are like wild beasts roaming free around with nobody to cage them.” There was a despair and sadness to his tone.
“I didn’t get you” Sajjan said and prodded him to talk more.
“They just go around doing what they want to. They eat at restaurants, don’t pay. Enter any shop and pick up any article that interests them. They just won’t pay – It’s like loot. If any shopkeeper objects – the whole place gets raided and looted. You won’t see women or teenage girls walk around in the streets. These wolves molest, rape anyone they fancy at that moment.”
“Oh! That’s bad.” Sajjan muttered and looked at the guy, “Don’t you people do something about it? You all could gather and collectively defend yourselves and your families.”
“There’s no unity among people here.” he said sadly, “Rajasaab has ensured that people stay divided and hate each other. He has created rifts amongst the people based on religion, caste, creed, sect, race, village, lanes, and what not. The internal hate amongst people has grown to such a level that if something bad happens to someone of a particular sect – other people rejoice as if it’s their personal victory.”
“Really?” Sajjan gave him a look of astonished disbelief.
“About 5 years ago, they molested and raped a newlywed bride. Her husband tried collecting people in a hope of fighting back for justice. Nobody knows where he is today. He just vanished. One of the traders had visited a big city and saw his bride in a brothel which was next to the business house he visited. Since then, nobody dares to go against them.”
“This seems horrible.” he sighed as he got up, paid for the tea, “maybe, we will catch up again when I revisit this bazaar. I got to go now.”