“Do you normally slip and fall like this whenever you climb up a hill?’ she couldn’t help but laugh.
“You don’t understand.” he explained, “Amar slipped and hit his back hard. We were climbing down. I told him that there were two more hills to go up and down and if he would like to quit there and go home.”
“Then what happened?”
“He wanted to continue. So we climbed up the next hill after a long walk. On the way down, he slipped again. He still wouldn’t give up.”
“I don’t get this. What made him continue? I also don’t understand, Amarbhai slipped and fell, how come you are in pain?”
“I was about to tell you that part.” Sajjan sighed a bit in relief now, “On the sixth hill, he slipped and fell at such a location that if I hadn’t dived and caught his hand, he would have slid down many feet with definite bone breakages. The point was a bit steep and we both slid down few feet till I could get a foothold which stopped our slide downward. That’s where I got hurt.”
“But, you did slip and fall.” she teased him and ran off to escape his mock slap and they both laughed. “That’s better. Now be a good boy and go to sleep. I’ll heat up the brick and apply it again on the strained points in sometime. This will help you.” she looked at Sajjan in mock anger, “Or, do you want me to sing the lullaby that I sing to put little Leela to sleep?” she teased him again and laughed.
Sajjan was now feeling much better and soon he dozed off to sleep. He woke up feeling almost normal. He saw Leela in the kitchen and knew that she hadn’t slept a wink. He faintly remembered her applying the heated brick at different intervals, the whole of night.
“Thank you so much.” he said with gratitude even as he sipped his morning tea.
“I can see that you are feeling much better now.” she said smiling at him and stifling a yawn, “Can’t you take rest for a day or two and be fit?”
“No. I got to complete my mission within the time limit set – once – that’s done, then I can take rest for a month or so before starting another project somewhere else. If, I’m unable to complete this project on time – it will make me feel sad. All the work I’ve been putting here will go waste.”
“Oh! In that case”, she said wide eyed, “you better finish this one on time – I’ll not like it if you can’t and feel sad about it. Tell me what I can do to help you finish it o time?”
He held her hand with care, “You already are doing more than your bit to help me.”
“I’m just trying to be a good wife trained by Lajjo di.” she started laughing.
He freshened up and started getting ready to go out. Upon a thought, he opened his duck bag and fished out the hollow, heavy metallic rod which she had played with when she had seen it the first time along with a simple bag which he could carry over his back.
“You didn’t tell me what these are.” she reminded him, her curiosity rising again.
“I use this rod in many ways. I use this to dig and collect the soil. I use this sometimes to light up fire when in the jungle. And – if in danger – I also use this as a weapon.”
“Oh! That’s a nice way to use a rod like this…”
“Okay. I’m going out for work. I want you to take rest and catch up with your sleep.”
He very well knew that Amar was out of action for at least a week. On his way out, he inquired about how Amar was feeling. Satisfied that he didn’t have any broken bones, he proceeded to take a look from the balance hills.
He finished the first two hills pretty early. He had seen what he had thought he would see. He reached Rajapuri around 4pm. He climbed up the hill and started to explore the terrain below on the other side. He was amazed to see miles and miles of lush green fields as he could see from the previous two hills. The crop was waving gaily to the winds. They stretched as far as his eyes could see. He saw the bridge where he was threatened by few people for want of a proper pass to cross over. He followed the road past the bridge with his gaze till it reached the palatial farmhouse owned by Rajasaab.
He pulled out the hollow rod from his bag and then searched the side pockets. He fished out two small circular objects. He smiled and opened them. They were lenses which fitted on the either side of the hollow rod. He now had a powerful telescope. He carefully started studying the terrain once again, especially, the terrain on the other side of the bridge and started to make notes of what he saw in detail. The farmhouse, the lush green fields He then turned to the ghostland on the other side of the hill. He started exploring the ghostland. In the ghostland he saw two wells next to a shed. One had a small diameter while the other seemed to be huge, almost 15ft in diameter. He saw a movement near the shed and focused. He saw Birju draw water from the smaller well and carry it into the shed. ‘What’s this guy doing here?’ he thought to himself.
He started exploring cross country path from the ghostland to Amar’s house. There were two different fields adjacent to the ghostland, all wired up for protection. However, it did have a couple of gates for entering into the ghost land. Between these fields was one of the irrigation canals that ran along the border of these fields including the ones owned by Amar. This canal had steps on both sides opposite to each other and these steps were built every km or so along the path of the canal. He saw a couple of people wading through the canal where these steps were. He followed a path till Amar’s house through his fields. He could see Lajjo sitting and chatting with some other lady he didn’t know. ‘Perhaps Leela is still resting’ he thought. Then he shifted his focus back to the farmhouse of Rajasaab. The sun almost had set and the farmhouse was brilliantly lit up. He studied the layout. He watched the massive lawn which was laid between the river and the main structure of the farmhouse. He had forgotten about time as he carefully studied the farmhouse and the activity around the ghostland. He heard the train sound the horn and looked at his watch. It was 9.10pm. He saw the approaching passenger near the bend of the hill, slowing down the bend of the hill, for its minute long halt at Rajapuri. He hurriedly put his accessories back in the bag and slid down the hill in time to board that train to Dheemapur.
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- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/