Three Mistakes Of My Life Part 29

Omi's body shook. He broke into tears. I held his hand as he hugged me.

Ali looked at us. I smiled back at him. I went to the room where we kept books and brought back three Phantom comics. I gave them to Ali as he happily read them with his meal.

We sat away from Ali so he could not hear us.

'The mob that burnt the Jamalpur bus, Hindu or Muslim?' 1 said.

'I don't know, I'm really scared,' Omi said.

We finished dinner and cleaned the kitchen by eight. We were planning to leave when Ish's phone rang. It was his dad. Ish hesitated to pick it up and did so only after half a minute.

I had dinner. I'll be back in half an hour...,' Ish said, 'what?'

We turned to look at Ish. I could only hear his side of the conversation.

'Ok ... Ok ... listen, I am at the bank. We are safe here. Yes, I promise we won't walk out on the streets ... yes we have bedding here. Don't panic.'

I gave Ish a puzzled look.

'A building in our pol caught fire,' Ish said.

'Wow, which one?' I said.

'The Muslim one at the corner,' Ish said.

'It caught fire? By itself?' I said.

'That is what dad is hoping. But it could be a Hindu mob. Dad said stay wherever you are.'

'Our moms will worry. Govind's would too,' Omi said.

'Call them,' Ish said, I can't take Ali to his home too. His parents don't even have a phone,' Ish said. I called my mother and told her I would be safe at the bank. We had slept over at the bank several times in the past. Many booze parties had ended with us pa.s.sing out on the mattresses in the branch manager's room on the first floor.

We sat on couches in the cas.h.i.+er waiting area and played cards after dinner.

Ali slept soon. Ish brought a quilt from the manager's office and tucked him in on a separate sofa.

Omi dropped three cards. 'Three aces,' Omi said with an extra-straight face. He sucks at bluff.

I tapped the cards. I wondered whether to turn them. Loud chants disrupted my thought.

'What's that?' I said. I saw the time - 10 p.m. 'Those are Hindu chants,' Omi said. 'Angry-Hindu chants,' Ish said. Calls to s.h.i.+va and Rama combined with drumbeats. We climbed the stairs two floors to reach the bank's roof. The city glowed orange in the thick winter night. One, two, three -I saw three b.a.l.l.s of flame across the pols. The nearest flame came from a building fifty yards away. A crowd of people stood outside. They threw stones on the burning building. I couldn't see well, but could hear the screams of the people inside the pol. The screams mixed with celebratory chants. You may have heard about riots several times or even seen them on TV. But to witness them in front of your eyes stuns your senses. My neighbourhood resembled a calamity movie film set. A burning man ran across the road. The Hindu mob chased him. He stumbled on a stone and fell, around twenty yards away from us. The mob crowded over him. Two minutes later, the crowd moved away while the man lay still. I had witnessed someone's death for the first time in my life. My hands, face, neck, legs - everything turned cold. My heart beat in the same irregular way as it did on the day of the earthquake. Nature caused that disaster, man made this one. I don't know which is more dangerous.

'Come inside,' Ish tugged hard at my sleeve.

We went downstairs. My body s.h.i.+vered.

'It's fine. Let's go to sleep. The police will come soon. By morning it will be ok,'

Ish said as he put his arm around me.

'Can we sleep together?' I said. Yes, I admit it, I felt super scared.

Ish nodded. He picked up Ali from the couch. We went to the branch manager's room on the first floor and shut the door. I checked my phone before going to bed.

Vidya had given me a missed call. I was in no state of mind to call or SMS back.

Ish lay next to me anyway. I kept the phone in my pocket.

I took three quilts and slept in the middle next to Ali. Omi and Ish surrounded us. We switched off the lights at 10.30 p.m.

At 11.30 p.m. I woke up again. We heard a shattering noise. Someone shook the main gate of the bank.

'Who is it,' I said. Ish stood up and wore his s.h.i.+rt.

'Let's find out,' Ish said and shook Omi's leg, 'come Omi.'

We went downstairs. I switched on the main lobby lights. Ish looked through the keyhole.

'It's the mob,' Ish said, one eye still on the keyhole, 'Mama is leading the pack.'

We looked at each other. Ish turned the door k.n.o.b and opened the door.

CHAPTER Nineteen

'My sons,' Mama screamed.

We unlocked the bank's main gate and opened it slightly. Mama opened his arms. He held a fire-torch in one hand and a trishul in the other. I expected him to cry when he saw Omi, but he didn't. He came close to us for a hug. He took the three of us in his arms. 'My son, the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds killed my son,' Mama said as he wouldn't let go of us.

I looked into his cold eyes. He didn't look like a father who had just lost his son. Alcohol and marijuana smells reeked from his mouth. Mama appeared more stoned than grieved.

'My brother, Mama,' Omi said and held back his tears.

'Don't cry. n.o.body will cry today,' Mama screamed and released us. He turned to address the mob, 'we Hindus have only cried. While these mother f.u.c.kers come and keep killing us over the centuries. In a Hindu country, in a Hindu state, the f.u.c.kers can come and burn our kids in broad daylight. And we don't do anything.

We just cry. Come rape us, loot us and burn us. They think they can terrorise the whole f.u.c.king world but we will have no guts to do anything.' 'Kill them,' the mob replied. The shaky body movements of the mob showed their intoxication. By blood or alcohol, I could not tell.

'But the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds made a big mistake. They tried to rape Gujarat today. Mother f.u.c.kers thought these vegetarian people, what will they do? Come let's show them what we can do?'

Mama paused to take a sip from his hip flask. We stepped back towards the bank.

'I hope they won't expect us to join. I won't,' I whispered in Ish's ear.

'Nor am I, and let's take Omi inside too,' Ish said. We told Omi to hide behind us. In a delicate movement, Ish shut the bank gate again and locked it.

'What are you whispering?' Mama said and almost lost his balance. His fire torch fell on the floor. The mob cleared around it. He lifted the torch back.

'Where is my other son? Open this gate,' Mama said as he couldn't see Omi.

'What do you want Mama? Can we talk tomorrow?' I said.

'No tomorrow, I want something today.'

'Mama, you know Omi needs to get home...,' I said. Mama brushed me away.

I don't want Omi. I don't want any of you. I have many people to help me kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.'

Ish came next to me. He held my hand tight.

'So leave us Mama,' Ish said.

'I want the boy. I want that Muslim boy,' Mama said. 'What?' Ish said.

'Eye for an eye. I'll slaughter him right here. Then I will cry for my son. Get the f.u.c.king boy,' Mama said and thumped Ish's chest. Ish struggled to stand straight.

The blow torches lit up the dried gra.s.s on the entrance of the bank. A thick lock kept the gate shut and the mob outside.

'Mama, you are drunk. There is n.o.body here,' Omi said.

'You lose a son first. Then I will tell you about being drunk,' Mama said, 'and I know he is here because he is not at his home.'

'Mama, your dispute is with his father,' I said. 'I've taken care of his father,' Mama said, 'and his wh.o.r.e stepmother. I killed them with this.' Mama lifted his trishul to show us. The tips had blood on them.

I looked at Ish and Omi. We made an instant decision. We ran inside the bank.

I shut the main entrance door and bolted it.

I sucked in long, deep breaths.

'Relax, relax ... we have to think,' Ish said.

'I will join them and take them away,' Omi said.

'No, it won't work,' Ish said.

'They killed his parents?' I said and continued to breathe fast.

The mob banged against the gate. They didn't like our vanis.h.i.+ng manoeuvre. I wondered how long the lock would hold.

I sat down on the couch. I had to think despite the deafening gate noise.

'What are our options,' I said.

'We can try to negotiate with them,' I said.

n.o.body responded.

'They have madness in their eyes, they won't talk,' Omi said.

'We could try and escape. Or fight them,' Ish said.

'You want to fight forty people who are under a spell to murder?' I said.

'Then what?' Ish said.

I looked at Ish. For the first time in my life, I had seen him scared. I kept looking at him hoping he would consider all options. Even the worst one.

'Don't even think about giving up Ali,' Ish said to me as his pointed finger poked my chest.

'What else can we offer them?' I said.

'Money?' Ish said as his body s.h.i.+vered, 'you say people always talk if there is money involved.'

'We don't have that much money,' I said.

'But we will make it and give it to them,' Ish said.

'For Mama it is not about the money,' Omi said.

'That is true,' Ish said, 'but if we buy the rest of them, Mama won't be able to do it alone. We need to scatter the crowd.'

I paced around the room. We didn't have money. Yes, the rioters would be poor people in the neighbourhood with nothing to lose. But still, how and who would do the talking?

'You are the best at money talk,' Ish said.

'It could backfire. How do I separate Mama from them?' I said.

'I'll do that,' Omi said.

We opened the main door again. The crowd stopped banging their trishuls at the front gate lock.

'C'mon son, open the gate. You boys can leave, we will do the rest,' Mama said.

'Mama, I want to talk to you. Just you,' Omi said in a sympathetic voice.

'Sure, open the gate son,' Mama said.

I went forward and opened the gate. I raised my hand to calm the crowd. I had to appear confident.