In
the wake of unexpected change, there was unrest in almost every part of the
city. The people, who had lived
peacefully once, could never bear the most unwelcome change and undesirable situation. The heart of the city was rocked with
violence. The joy of the people was lost
in the wake of the wide spread communal disharmony. The rift between the people
of different religions was on the rise.
Brutal killings and rapes were a common feature everywhere and some
houses were ablaze with fire.
The city was Shantipur which was once very
peaceful and worthy of the name. There was perfect communal harmony in the
city. Its dwellers enjoyed liberty,
equality and fraternity as the principles of life. They were totally humanistic and democratic
not only in spirit but also in letter. They had love and affection for one
another and content in all respects. But
time in its incessant flow brought about an enormous change to tarnish its high
image beyond one’s expectations.
The prominent leaders of three religions: Hindu, Muslim and Christian, were under
arrest. The recent riots led to their
imprisonment. Shyam, Saleem and Solomon were in the jail. The leader of the
prisoners welcomed the new prisoners in a conciliatory tone; “Hello! My dear
newcomers! Hearty welcome to you! So,
come forward to introduce yourselves to the other prisoners.”
The first convict came forward and introduced himself
with a profound feeling: “I am Shyam, a devoted Hindu and son of Radhe
Shyam. When I found injustice done to
some Hindus, I instigated my followers to set fire to the houses of the
wrong-doers.”
The second convict
introduced himself with unique gestures of his own, saying: “I am Saleem, a son
of Abdul Kaleem. I adore my
religion. I found the houses of some
Muslims choked with fire and ash. They
have become unsheltered and are now living in the shade of all trees. I reacted
forthwith to provoke my supporters to molest the daughters of the culprits.”
The third appeared on the scene of
introduction “I am Solomon, a true Christian, son of George Samuel. No doubt, I am a staunch supporter of my own
religion. People talk of secularism
everywhere but they are never secular in reality. Is it not hypocrisy on their part? In my case
I have no pretensions. I respond as a
true Christian when my co-religionists were deceived. On my advice, my people brutally killed our
enemies, the wrong doers.”
All the three convicts introduced themselves to others,
attributing their imprisonment to the issue of communal differences when Bhasha
who had been amidst all prisoners was very much sorry. The charm of his face was gradually fading
away for certain reason which was not understandable to the other
prisoners. As and when he listened to
the newcomers of the jail, he was lost in deep introspection. All who had observed his face were amazed at
the diminishing charm in his countenance.
As time passed, the newcomers were assigned duties in
the prison. They were to work together
in spite of their communal prejudices and personal differences. Shyam, Saleem and Solomon couldn’t forget
their secret plans to take revenge on one another but nothing was obviously
seen in their faces. Each of them still
tried to support his cause from the jail also.
Bhasha
secretly met Shyam one day while he was busy plowing the field on the premises
of the prison, looking like the farmer of India. He accosted Shyam from behind with affection
which the latter had never expected from the former so far. He broke the ice in intimate terms: “Shyam,
I feel very much delighted to speak to you.
Our reunion in this jail is providential but I pity you for the
vicissitudes in your life which have led you to the jail for imprisonment.”
Shyam felt surprised at the kind gesture of Bhasha and
said, “Why? …Why do you pity me? …What made you pity me? Thank you very much
for your concern.”
Bhasha, with an air of revelation said, “You are not
Radhe Shyam’s own son. He adopted you when
he was childless. I know this fact
better than anybody else in the world.”
When Bhasha told all these
secrets, his lips were found quivering with the sense of guilt. Shyam said, “I have known this fact since the
demise of my father. My father himself
revealed this in the mood of excessive rapture well before his death. At present I have a photograph wherein my
father, my mother and I as a five-year-old child are seen for my lifelong
loving memory. The photograph had been
taken on the occasion of adoption ceremony.”
Bhasha recalled his evil acts done to an old woman when
he glanced at a photograph. He suffered
internally for that. He felt lonely like
the old woman whom he had left helpless in the hut. He realized her agony and anguish in his
heart of hearts. He felt that he was the
most detestable weed in the most beautiful and enjoyable garden. He also
thought that he was the worst sinner on earth.
As a father he had two sons in his house. He felt lonely in the absence of his sons
with him. He could visualize his sons in
the new convicts: Shyam, Saleem and Solomon.
He derived the pleasures of their company and treated them as his sons.
When
Bhasha could not tolerate his loneliness in the jail, something within his
heart forced him to see Shyam in his room.
He realized the suffering of the parents when their sons were
kidnapped. He rushed to Shyam to have an
intimate conversation with him. While
speaking to him very affectionately, he showed the five year old boy, Shyam
himself in the photograph. Shyam too
took out his photograph from the trunk-box and found the photograph similar to
that showed by Bhasha . He enquired of
Bhasha about the whereabouts of the other two boys seen in the photograph.
Bhasha, who was in the mood of revealing every thing,
said, “The other two are your younger brothers and you all the three were born
of the same parents.”
Shyam listened to all this very eagerly and felt stunned
at the turn of the events in life. He
asked where the other two brothers were.
Bhasha replied, “Your near and dear are near you. They are very much here, not there or
somewhere. If you call them by names
they will respond to you now from this jail but you don’t know their names to
call them.”
Bhasha knew that the two brothers were in the jail but
he did not want to reveal the fact that Saleem and Solomon were known to him by
the names of their respective parents: Abdul Kaleem and George Samuel. He met
them separately. They too came to know
that they were brothers but were brought up by different parents with the help
of their photographs and the photograph Bhasha had with him. Abdul Kaleem, a rich merchant, adopted Saleem
and George Samuel, a strong propagator and staunch supporter of Christianity,
Solomon.
Bhasha separately revealed the fact that Shyam, Saleem
and Solomon were the sons of the same parents.
When they learnt that they were born to the same parents, they forgot
their rivalry. The idea of their blood
relation dispelled their sense of avenge.
The prison followed a tradition to take an oath by the
prisoners to be the followers of Mahatma Gandhi on his birthday, the second
October every year under the chairmanship of the Jailor. On the day they had to confess all their sins
and they were to be sworn in to live together to promote harmonious relations
among themselves. Bhasha appeared on the
dais and related the flashback of his life, confessing his sins:
“I …I was …I was a heartless kidnapper of many children
and was totally responsible for the torture and agony of their parents. Storm-like wish to become rich overwhelmed
me. I became a slave to it and turned
myself rich in that cruel deal. Here
were three men: Shyam, Saleem and Solomon who were children below the age of
five years when I kidnapped them and they were sold for fast bucks to Radhe
Shyam, Abdul Kaleem and George Samuel. I
kidnapped all the three from Bharathi, the old woman while she was looking
after and nursing them. She resisted and
begged me not to do so but I resorted to violent means.”
Bharathi said with tears in her
eyes: “First kill me; then kidnap the children.”
“Killing you is mere waste. My
precious knife goes futile ... Kidnapping children is my sole business”
“No ... no… Help …help. I can’t live without them.
They are the apples of my eyes. They aren’t my sons. They are the sons of
Devaki and Vasudeva who had lived on the bank of the river Pralaya in a small hut.
One day Devaki and Vasudeva went to earn their livelihood in the usual way,
crossing the Pralaya to the other side.
That day the river Pralaya suddenly overflowed its banks and so the
floods washed their parents away while they were coming back. I rushed to the children and rescued them in
the hut on the bank of the Pralaya from the havoc of floods. Unfortunately the children became orphans in
the wake of floods. It became a bounden
responsibility on my part to look after them as before when their parents left
for work.”
“My business is not to listen to
you. It is to go on according to my wish”.
“As I was a notorious,
villainous kidnapper, none could come to her rescue. I was able to kidnap
them. After a series of my crimes for a
decade, I was caught red-handed. In the
court of law, the judge awarded me an imprisonment for a decade. Consequently I
was in jail. Since then I have been
suffering for my faults and evil acts.
My intense suffering has shaped my character of all faults and evil
acts.”
In course of time, the sons
of Devaki and Vasudeva grew to be dynamic as adopted sons of different
parents. The selfish leaders made use of
them for their vested interests and sowed the seeds of communal prejudices in
them. As a result, they reaped the bitter fruits of their violence. They were
otherwise good.”
Revealing all his travails and traumas, Bhasha burst
into tears. He whole-heartedly prayed to
God to forgive him for his sins.
When Bhasha told the secret of their birth and
parentage; Shyam, Saleem and Solomon hugged one another with warm love and deep
affection. They displayed fatherly reverence towards Bhasha. They visualized their parents: Devaki and
Vasudeva and their guardian, Bharathi in the ideally transformed father,
Bhasha. Soon they were sworn in to be
not only the ideal sons of the same parents but also the model sons of the same
soil, Mother India in the presence of the jailor, Mr. Mohandas Karamchand. They realized how the selfish political
leaders of vested interests had cheated them.
On the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhasha and the three
prisoners were set free when the period of their sentence was condoned. They came out of the jail while the sun was
rising, shooting the new bright beams of light amidst barred, colored
clouds. The political leaders, waiting
outside the jail to welcome them, felt stunned and bowed shamefacedly when they
came out hand in hand.
The three bid good-bye to all their communal prejudices,
individual differences and social injustices and lived to promote communal
harmony. They restored the past name and
fame of the society of Shanthipur.
e-journal, Muse India,
Hyderabad.
26-1-2003