OPAQUE MORNING:
For long I am in the middle of the mist covered club ground. I am all alone in our 22-yard cricket pitch, waiting for my friends to come.. it is a foggy winter morning .The sun looks hazy, the warmth of its rays aren’t touching me. I am being shrieked by the cold winter breeze. I wonder why they are taking so long to come. The bitter incidents of yesterday’s evening are coming in my mind repeatedly..
We starded the cricket match in afternoon quite late, ’cause some of my lazy buddies couldn’t shorten their afternoon nap and reach field before 4.30pm.twelve of us were in the ground. Suman and Sujit were captains, they tossed and chose their respective team members. Suman won the toss and chose to bat first. They played quite well, specially Vicky and Suman. I was in Sujits team. Our team would have to score 67runs to win in 6 overs . Two of our openers Binoy and Sourav didn’t do well . So there was a pressure on me and Sujit. We had to score 50 runs in 4 overs. I am Mr. Dependable in my team and Sujit is the` hot shot’. We played in our usual style, almost reaching to the targeted score. We had to score 8 runs in the last over. Sujit pulled a short pitch delivery of Risabh to the leg side. It was a six . The ball crossed the boundary, reached to the shadowy alley. Everybody looked at that direction. We were hurrying to that alley to find where the ball had reached. At that moment we came across that incident. A girl, probably aged 15 or 16 was being teased by four boys. They were trying to pull her towards an omni van. The girl was trying to escape them. But she couldn’t . She was crying, desperately trying to find a way to get past them. Suman rushed seeing the bizarre incident to save the girl. We too rushed after him towards the alley. When the four boys saw us to come toward them they tried to escape with the girl. Two of them pulled the girl more forcibly towards the van. The other two held two knives and stay alerted. Suman warned them ,”Hey what the hell are you doing? Leave her I warn you”. Poltu , one of the offender was a local boy, threatened him,” don’t fuck you know me? stay away, or I will tear out your fucking heart apart ”. Suman punched him in his face without saying anything far. I knew another face,Naren who used to work as a party cadre of a political party .With full force Vicky hit Naren ,one of Poltu’s accomplices in head as he was trying to drag the girl to the van. The girl got freed , she ran and hid behind Kabir. The other two accomplices of Poltu held their knives and punchers to strike Suman and Vicky. But before they could move their feet an inch the rest of us hit them with tide of blows with our bats and wickets. It was a bloody dirty fight. I could feel my adrenaline boosted blood rushing in my veins.I recognized that the girl was Ananya, whose family recently bought a flat in our locality. His brother, Avimanyu had recently been admitted to my class. Ananya was so frightened that she was sobbing silently behind Kabir..I hit naren ,one of Poltu’s accomplices with my bat again as he was trying to escape. He fell on the ground .Arunangsu ,Vicky and Kabir kicked him furiously. Poltu was being tackled by Sajid ,Binoy and Sourav. Poltu was muscular and powerful. He was the right hand of Mr.Subhojit Halder ,a powerful political figure in this locality. Poltu punched Binoy in face and almost throw him away. He pulled a short gun from his trouser pocket and pointed it at Sujit who was beating badly one of the duos who pulled knives to strike at the first . They were unknown to me. Gurmeet saw it and hit in Poltu’s hands with a wicket. The pistol fell on the ground. Risabh collected it and pointed at the fourth goon. He didn’t move and lied on ground as instructed by Risabh. But we were out of our mind. Sandeep and Risabh continuously kicked him .Gurmeet started to beat Poltu as hardly as he could with a wicket. Gurmeet regularly goes to gym, he is most powerful of us.He stroke as hardly as he could at Poltu’s head. `Thud’-- a sound of cracking skull was heard. Poltu fall on ground like a fallen tree . He was bleeding tremendously, his forehead ,arms and nose were covered with blood. He shouted in agony.The engine of the van started and tried to escape. I threw a stone that shattered the wind screen of the van. But the van hushed past us and vanished out of our sight. The other two bastards became senseless by our beating. Naren and Poltu beg before us to let them go. Hearing shouts and screams, some local people come out,tied four of them and called the police. We didn’t wait for police to come, they were as usual late in their duty. We checked whom of us were injured. I was worried about Vicky. I saw him to get injured with a knife of Naren. I came to know that Binoy ,Vicky and Suman were injured too. They were taken to a local dispensary for first aid. Rest of us decided to escort Ananya to her house, her face seemed bloodless..But she was not sobbing anymore. She was not in a condition to say anything though. I could understand what tremendous shock she suffered. We called her parents, told them in brief about the incident beforehand .When we reached her flat Avimanyu and his dad and mom were waiting for us at the gate of their residential complex..They took us to their flat, it was at 3rd floor of the flat 1a. Their 4bhk luxury flat was well decorated and furnished.His dad Mr.Angsuman Roy works in a multinational company. We just sink ourselves in the sofas. We were too exhausted. Mrs.Chandrima Roy, Ananya’s mom carried her to her room. She thanked us and went to her room. Her father thanked us,”how can we pay our gratitude to you all. If you guys wouldn’t be there I can’t imagine what would happen to my daughter.” We just smiled faintly. Mr. Roy informed our parents about the whole incident. I guess they had already been heard about the fight from local people. In this country news like these fly faster than anything. So its not very hard to assume. They didn’t became late to come in ananya’s flat. Only my dad came alone. I knew mom couldn’t come cause our house would be empty then. It was around 7 in the evening. They were anxious, some also panick-stricken.It was clear from their facial expressions. I thought my dad probably would have scolded me for getting myself in this mess. But however I was wrong in my assumption.
he looked at me,said,”what u have done will have consequences.it was right thing to do ,I agree.but u should have call the police early.” Sajid’s dad said,” They are young boys Mr.Nath. They think these fights make them heroes. We are common middle class people. I don’t know what and how our family will have to pay the cost of todays incident.” Sajid looked away from his dad. He was clearly ashamed and embarrassed of his father’s comments. Kabir patted him in back, softly whispered,” We are united ,buddy. we will let no one to harm us or our family.And we did nothing wrong.” Parents couldn’t hear him. Mr.roy hosted our parents in their drawing room.They engaged themselves in deep conversation to decide what to do next. They advised us to stay alert and not to go anywhere alone. Ananya’s parents praised us repeatedly infront of our parents. They looked worried as well as might be feeling little proud for us too ,deep in their heart .Avimanyu took us to his room.Vicky ,Binoy and Suman joined us at 8 pm in ananyas flat. They had bandages in their hands and some scratches in legs and faces . Vicky got a deep cut in his face too. It was clear from the blood clotted bandage on his chin.They busied themselves in conversations. I was not listening any of the my friends’s chattering. My mind was fixed in a particular thought, to be precise a question-what will happen next?everybody knows Poltu and his accomplices are under the shades of a powerful political figure of the rulling party, Subhojit Halder. He himself is accused of many crimes. Though nothing could be proved against him as usual .I think that the more political power one possesses the more he abuses his powers. Well most of them, to be fair. The so called `neta’ Mr.halder would do anything to suppress this incident so that no connection could link him in this regard. God knows what would happen in future. I was sure that poltu will escape from police custody or got freed anyway. Probably he would roam free again and continue his misdeeds soon. And then he would do anything to avenge his todays defeat from.We might be in danger .How long I was in my thought I didn’t know. Suman patted in my back,”hey!what are you thinking Rony? you are not saying anything.”
“I am thinking that a criminal like Poltu will do anything to come out of police custody. He has well built political connection,and I don’t trust the police of this country.”I replied.
Others agreed with me.vicky asked,”what next then?”
Sourav said in aggressive tone,” If we see those bastards again in this locality we will beat him again. They will not dare to come in this area again.”
“But that’s not a solution. They are criminals and outlaws. But we are not. We cannot always fight this way.”, arunangsu argued, ”we have our personal agendas, studies. Can we always engage ourselves in fight like today?”
We were silent,trying to find a proper answer. This was a serious issue.so we cant take any haste ,unethical rash decision that can damage our families’s reputation. But we also can’t sit on our butts and let the anti-socials continue their activities in this area. Today they tried to molest an girl, tomorrow they could murder or kidnap someone. Something needed to be done to solve all these problems, but in a proper civil way.
”let’s meet tomorrow and decide how will we encounter the antisocial activities.” I suggested.,” everybody take your time to think about a solution. We will hear everbody’s opinion and choose the best.or take the jist.” They nodded.
I didn’t know what parents would decide. Would they stand beside us in our decisions?or oppose? they could be over cautious and restrict our movement outside home…but we would not be dominated and forget our duty towards our town anymore. i think we, specially the youth have some responsibilities on this regard . I didn’t know what others wanted to do. But I would protest. I would do my part of responsibility.
Avimanyu was silent so far.he broke his silence,”I want to be part of your activities ,whatever you decide. I will be with you.you guys are courageous, not everyone can stand against crimes. My sister was saved but the memories of today will haunt her.We all know what happened to `Nirbhaya’ and hundreds of unfortunate girls thesedays. Definitely something should be done before something bad happens again.” He just finished his words.Mrs.Roy entered the room with a tray full of pastries and biscuits. she said,” Help yourselves .I know you are hungry and tired. I am bringing tea.” she left. Avimanyu too requested us to start .We took our shares without hesitation. After the game and such a fight everybody must be tremendously hungry.It didn’t take any long to finish. I looked at the wall clock. It showed 9.30 pm , so it was quite late. At that moment Ananya’s dad called us to the drawing room.
Our parents looked like that they had their decision. I didn’t know what would they say. But my heart was beating fast. Risabh’s dad Mr.Santanu Das is a lawyer of high court. He stood up and spoke on behalf of our guardians,” todays incident will have effect on all of your lives. You might be thinking that today you beat up 4 anti-socials,so you have won a battle. But it’s not about winning .Remember it’s about security of all of you and your families. the outlaws will be freed shortly cause they are dear to some political leaders. Poltu is a hot minded criminal. He might try to harm you. So its for your safety we decide that you will not go outside home ,if not necessary. And when will you go ,somebody must accompany you. We will write applications to local councilor Mr.Bikash Bhowmik as well as at the police station to increase the security of this area. We agree that nowadays antisocial activities are increased in our locality. But we certainly don’t want you get involved . Gallantry is a good virtue, but life is more costly. You all have your futures ahead. ” Other parents nodded as Mr.Das finished his speech. I didn’t like all these decisions because our councilor is also close to Mr.Halder, Poltu’s godfather. Secondly, police will always support a powerful leader like Mr.Halder. They clearly don’t give a damn about our security .But I know arguing our parents wouldn’t help. Their decision is quite final and irrevocable. It was clear from their stern faces. Risabh and Avimanyu wanted to say something but I stopped them,whispered,” lets talk about this tomorrow in our ground. arguing will not help.” conversations after Risabh’s dads advise was short. Everybody left for their homes. I messaged everyone about our tomorrows meeting. We agreed to meet at our club ground at 10’o clock in the morning. Reaching my home I saw mom was roaming anxiously in our baranda .I hugged her and said everything about the incidents and also the decision from the parents meeting. I skipped about our plan to meet tomorrow at the ground. she reacted , affectionately blowing my hair with her hand,” Babu, you did the right thing. Protests should be organized.only then we can curb the increasing crimes in this locality.”mom’s words encouraged my spirit.i became more determined about our next step.
After dinner I was lying in my bed organizing our next steps in my thought……..
....we would form a forum that would work actively to solve all the social problems in our locality. First we will solve the problem we just faced-the increasing criminal activity in our locality. I know it’s a very risky task. But we must stop all sorts of criminal activities here. Second we will force to shift the local desi liquor shop from our locality. The drunkers just roam here and cause us unpleasant troubles .,plus the local youths are also getting attracted to alcohol addiction.
We would have a signature campaign from local residents .Then we would organize a rally .We would be having meetings to spread awareness among citizens to stand beside us and protest against crimes and other social issues. we would engage local young boys to collect information about crimes occurring here . They will be effective for this purpose. Then we would lead a mass of people at the crime-spot. crime would be stopped before occurring, even the anti-socials would fear us. We could take help of media and force the authorities to solve our problems. Then police and political leaders would have to take our demands seriously. Our meetings in every block of cities will enlist problems reported by local residents. Then gradually we will solve every problem one by one.
I wrote my plans in a paper point-wise for our tomorrow’s meeting. I didn’t know what my friends would suggest. But I knew I could be assured that they would like these plans. I messaged them to meet at 10 am tomorrow. We were having group chat in whatsapp. I urged them to think and write their suggestions in a paper. Though a little doubt came across my mind- would all of my friends come to our meeting and actively participate in our plans, because parents definitely would not approve to our agendas at first.Their decision today ,had cleared it. We will be in direct confrontation with political leaders, anti-socials and other powerful figures of authority. Pressures would be created on us to suppress the movement .But no threats, adversities should be able to move us from our goal, a dream of a crime free town. United we will stand and make the outlaws fear our strengths.
I didn’t realize when did I fall asleep. I got up late. It was 9.15 am. I brushed and had my breakfast as quickly as I can.I don’t want to late for the meeting.
…………..
My friends has not come yet. I am not sure if anybody will come. Its 11.00 am, But they haven’t come. they probably have surrendered themselves to their parents’s decision. Are they too scared that they cannot even come and attend this meeting?
My heart has sank with despair. Last night when we had the group chat over whatsapp they showed eagerness. what can happen after our conversion that they cannot come? how will be then my plans will come into reality? how the crimes growing here will be abolished then? This will be a defeat of humanity and morality and all good hopes. A person who sees injustice but does not protest is equally guilty. The society just can’t watch injustice and let it happen. If we , the young people do not come forward then who will? We above all should have courage. The future of this locality seem to me like the opaque gloomy mist that has covered this whole town in this winter morning.
I forgot my mobile at home in hurry. I want to call my friends and ask them why they gave me false promise .
Suddenly the gate of the club ground opens.12 figures parked their cycles beside the club room. all my buddies along with Avimanyu has entered together. I think their smile is more warmer than the sun rays. My heart has rejoiced and filled with bright hopes. I have never been so happy to be proved wrong in my whole life . All my doubts are gone. Risabh shouted while coming towards me,” what were you thinking boss, that we wouldn’t come?we are all together buddy, in every deeds.”
Vicky teased me,” you know, Mr.Punctual , we couldn’t get up before 10 am like you .How cold today is!. Have mercy on us. I don’t know about others but I still have pains on my whole body.”
It is quite a scene- it seems 12 soldiers are coming together for their next mission, a social war.
In the meantime the fog has been vanished. The bright sun is smiling and sending his blessings to us with its golden warm rays. I find a broad warm smile in my face too. Our movement is going to start. All pollutants of this society will be washed out. No matter what the consequences will be ,we will move forward. .I make the announcement that I was so eager to convey ,” ok guys, now let’s start.”……..
-------THE END----
