Epilogue
Shruti was lost in thoughts, her baby sleeping in her arms. One policewoman was deputed to keep an eye on her. She started speaking softly to her son.
“Beta tu aaram se so ja..jab tak teri ma hain tujhpar koi aanch nahi aayegi..” She went back to the time when she had trekked through the jungle with Virat. 8 months pregnant, Virat had casually enquired about the future of her child. Sada was already known as a rebel naxalite, with enough cases to keep him behind bars for his life. But she was not. Virat’s words bounced around her. Soch lo. Tum aur tumhara bacha..dono ek behtar zindagi jee sakte ho. Sada ek gunahgaar tha, farari tha. Magar tum nahi. Tumhare khilaf koi thos case nahi hain. Aur tumhara Bachha bina kisi kalank ke jee sakta hain,acche school main ja sakta hain, uska bhavishya achha ho sakta hain. Duniya main ek naam aur misaal kayam kar sakta hain. Magar sirf ek shart par…He had left the part unsaid. But it was clear enough. He was helping her out of humanity. Just to save her and her child from an uncertain fate. Behind bars or a juvenile home? Or free?
What all had Sada promised her? Everything. Comrades in arms, they were. He had introduced her to Professor Bhandari, a noted economist from Nagpur who was researching on the tribals. She had idolized him and before long was helping him out with literature and logistics. And she had got carried away for the cause. Sada and she had got married in a temple and life was bliss. They were all comrades. Equal, regardless of caste, creed, gender or status. Then one day she realized that it was all a sham. Sada and his comrades..were all cutthroats and backstabbers. Sada ran the system with an iron hand. People who disagreed or even questioned his decisions simply vanished without trace. She decided to walk out but by then she was pregnant with no family. She had burnt her bridges.
The clock chimed somewhere and she came back to the present. Now in the absence of Sada..the team members were not willing to accept her. She smiled sardonically. She knew that Sada wore a bulletproof vest inside his fatigues. And ACP Virat Chavan had shot him. The same Virat..the forever gentleman was caring for her and her unborn child. He had urged her to come to Nagpur with him so that best medical treatment could be availed of. All this in a clandestine manner, nobody should know..They had stopped in a roadside dhaba to assuage her hunger pangs and a small boy had approached them with a kettle of tea. The child, not even ten, had rued that his parents were in jail and he had nobody in this world. Virat had tactfully maintained silence while handing over some money to the destitute. Something snapped inside her.
But then, there were lot of informers and sympathizers, even in the police force. Forget the civilian world, wherein she knew Prof Bhandari who ran a recruiting cell as well as a chain of sleepers. To defect meant peril at each and every step. Sada’s eyes and ears were everywhere. Once or twice, she had sensed it, no matter how best Virat had tried.
She carefully placed her son in a crib and walked to the window. It was a full moon night. Virat’s face, as he tried to pass her as his wife and then his inner tussle…would ever haunt her. She wondered about his real wife. Would she ever get to know who the lucky one was? Would she ever get to explain the situation to her? What was her name? Sai. Yes, Virat once mentioned her name and the fact that she was a policeman’s daughter, a state topper from GC. She knew the girl…read about her in the newspaper. Then the day Sai walked in her room.. she felt vindicated. It was a God sent opportunity to explain but then the linen helper had walked in and she knew. Informers were everywhere. Whether they were protecting her or reporting on her movements to Sada?
And when Sai went missing…she felt defeated. And knew it was time to act. The linen attendant had smuggled a tranquilizer dart to her before, in case she needed it to escape. And she had escaped with a tranquilized Virat in the linen trolley. The linen attendant was of great help.
But one stumbling block remained. Her baby. The linen attendant had quietly pointed out the Lady SI to her. Then onwards it was a simple road with a single way ticket.
The Lady SI had then smuggled out the baby with the pretext of shifting it to another hospital. As she held her son in her arms, Shruti had made the toughest decision of her life. The DIG had assured her of all help and wished her all the best. She in turn had urged him not to trust anyone blindly: the police dept was infiltrated heavily.
After the surgical strike, she was one of the prisoners who had filed along, handcuffed. The entire gang had been wiped out apart from a few injured members. They were all in custody.
The door clanged behind her and the DIG came in. The policewoman clicked her heels and stood to attention.
“Kaisi ho? Aur yeh..?” He strode over to the crib. “So gaya?” She nodded. “Mere saath acche se raha. Rota tha magar god main lete hi so jaata tha. Shayad tumhari yaad aati hogi…”
She nodded, amidst tears. It had been a tough moment for her.
“Tumhare liye ek khush khabar hain. Maine higher ups se baat ki. Tumhare khilaf koi case nahi hain. Tum azaad ho. Kal se kahin bhi ja sakti ho..”
She thanked him amidst tears.
“Kahan jaogi? Kuchh socha hain?”
She shook her head. He patted her head paternally.
“Mere dost ki biwi ek NGO chalati hain. Yahan se door,Sangli main. Wahin chali jao..!”
“Aapka bahut bahut Shukriya..”
“Mera nahi, Virat ka karo. Uski biwi ka karo…iss mission keliye unhone bahut badi keemat chukayi hain. Apna manasik swasthya khoya hain…!”
“Jaanti houn, Sir. Kya unse mil sakti houn? Khaskar Sai se?”
“Soch lo. Bahar khatra ho sakta hain. Prof Bhandari, wo linen attendant, bahar wo rikshaw wala…unke jaise aur bhi honge. Hume nahi maloom. Jinke bare main hum jaante hain, hum unpar nazar rakh sakte hain. Aur bachhe ke liye yeh theek nahi hoga ki log baatein karein ki wo ek Naxalite ka beta hain. Isiliye tum kaun ho, kahan ho, yeh jitney kam logon ko pata chale, utna tum log safe rahoge..!” Shruti nodded in complete understanding. The DIG continued.
“Main uss NGO main baat karta houn tumhare liye. Bachha thoda bada ho jaye, uske baad tumhe wo log absorb kar lenge. Mere khayal se, tumgraduate ho?”
She nodded, her head downcast. “Sarkar tumhari poori sahayata karegi. Bachhe ki schooling, aage ki padhai likhai..everything. You start life afresh. And all the best for your future!”
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THE END
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