Sajjan looked at Leela with concern. She had not winked an eye the whole night. She had not winced at any pain she may have felt. She had started to shake and shiver horribly before dozing off to sleep sometime early in the morning.
He freshened up and prepared his morning tea and gave her a mug full of hot milk with a pinch of tamarind powder diluted in it. She went to sleep again. He walked out to Amar’s house.
“How is little Leela now?” was his first question in concern.
“She had a couple of nightmares but seems to be fine. She has slept soundly. Hope she will be okay when she wakes up. What about Leela?”
“She is sleeping soundly now – hope she will wake up by noon.”
They looked at the main door to Amar’s house as little Leela walked out, just out of her sleep, still rubbing her eyes. She saw Sajjan, she ran toward him and clung him tight, ‘Where were you?”
“I had gone out to get you a bar of chocolate.” he said gently smiling.
“I hate chocolates” she screamed and ran back in to the house. Sajjan and Amar looked at each other wondering about what made her hate chocolates overnight. They sat in the veranda. People were walking in and out of concern and discussing about the vigilance they had to plan. They seemed to have seen nothing suspicious last night. It was around noon when the crowd dwindled. Sajjan walked back to the outhouse to check on Leela. She had woken up, freshened up and was again sitting on the armchair, rocking it continuously and her gaze lost somewhere far off.
“Good morning.” he greeted her in a soft tone. She had no reaction and continued rocking her chair. Amar entered with Lajjo and little Leela holding jars of meals for everyone. Little Leela ran to Leela who was rocking the armchair and hugged her tight.
“Hey – play with me.” she chirped. Obviously, she was out of her shock. There was no reaction from Leela even as little Leela persisted with her to play along with her. Sajjan gently pulled her away, lifted her and made her sit on his lap.
“You want her to play with you, right?” he spoke to her gently. He wanted to know the details of what had happened.
“Yes. I want her to play with me as usual.”
“Then – you will have to help me to make her feel good enough to play with you.”
“I will help you to make her feel good so that she can play with me.”
“Okay. Dear, see you are safe here, I’m here, your father is here, Leela is here – you don’t have to be afraid of anything or anyone. Just tell me – what happened yesterday?’
She looked around her eyes showing her fright and then she realized that she was safe. “Do you remember – you visited my school and gave me a chocolate the other day?”
“Yes. I do remember that.”
“I had three chocolates that day.”
“Oh! Yes.” Sajjan said playfully to put her at ease, “I thought your teachers had given them to you for being a good girl and you told me that you’re the most mischievous girl in the school.”
A smile appeared on her face, “That’s what my teachers think.”
“I told you that one uncle gives me and Reshma one chocolate every day.”
“Yes. I remember that too. Didn’t he give you any yesterday?”
“He is a bad uncle.” she said with conviction.
“How?”
“She was putting washed clothes on the line with her lathi.” she said pointing at Leela, “I was waiting for her to play with me once she finished doing that. I saw that bad uncle peeping out of our field. He showed me a chocolate and waived me to come to the field and hid inside. I walked to the field and asked him why he was hiding. He told me that he didn’t want anyone to know that he was giving me an extra chocolate and tell that to Reshma. I couldn’t see her.” she said pointing at Leela who still sat there rocking her armchair.
“Then what did you do?”
“I wanted her to know of our secret and share the chocolate with her. I turned back to see her enter the house to bring out few more clothes to dry. He was still hiding in the field. I told him that I’ll get her along with me and then take the chocolate.” she now seemed a bit scared as she continued her narration. “I turned around and saw a horrible unknown man come running at me. I screamed in fear as he grabbed and lifted me and started running into the fields. He pressed his hand hard on my mouth so that I wouldn’t scream.”
She now held Sajjan’s hand in fear. “He ran for some time when he met that bad uncle who spoke to him in a language I didn’t understand and he disappeared in the fields again. Now he stopped running and started walking through the fields. He was joined by more horrible men. I couldn’t scream because he had kept his hand on my mouth very tight and it hurt.”
Amar and Sajjan looked at each other trying to control their anger as she continued. “Then, I suddenly felt one of his fingers slip and I bit it very hard. He immediately pulled his hand away and I screamed with all my strength. He slapped me hard in anger.”
“If I find him”, Sajjan said seething in anger, “I promise, I’ll slap him so hard that he will never dare to raise his hand against any child…”
“You don’t have to.” she laughed and pointed at Leela, “She already punished him bad.”
“How?”
“He put his hand again tightly on my mouth and started running with others. Suddenly, one of them screamed and fell down. I saw her with her lathi. She started to beat the other horrible man. This bad man threw me down and then they started beating her with their lathis.” her innocent eyes were filled with tears as she recalled those moments.
“But she started to beat them back. After some time, all those bad men fell down and went to sleep. She kept beating them till they were sound asleep. Then we came back running to our house.”
“Oh! Poor dear.” Sajjan hugged her softly in affection, “I am glad that nothing happened to both of you. You haven’t told me that bad uncle’s name yet?”
“Umm – I don’t know his name.” she said scratching her head, “but, I know him. He does visit our house to meet father many times.”
“I’ll be damned.” Amar said with anger, his thoughts scanning all those who visit him regularly, but couldn’t put a finger of suspicion on anyone. “I guess we will have to wait till he visits here next. Then – it will be his head and my lathi.”
“I doubt he will return.” Sajjan said, “He knows he will be recognized by her and will not risk the recognition. But – be assured – I am going to find out who did this – I am going to find him and we all will punish him – with more brutality than the brutality Reshma was murdered.”
Amar looked in surprise at these menacing words from a saint like Sajjan. Sajjan saw a similar expression in Leela’s eyes for a moment before her expression went blank again.
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- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/