Left Behind : Part Two

Read the first part here . The second part is as follows.

They blocked the road leading to the temple from the main road. The police had surrounded the entire slum and the riot control vehicles were ready. They started by demolishing the shanties closest to the road. They did not bother if the house was locked or there were belongings of the slum dwellers inside. The policemen would force away the occupants and then the workers and the bulldozers would do the rest. It was not very difficult for them to bring down those structures held together by mud, plastic sheets, paper, polythene, stolen iron rods, bits and pieces of wood, nylon ropes etc. People tried twice to come near the bulldozers and in their way, or sometimes plead to a policemen or employee of forest department, but it did not help.

Just as the initial few meters along the road was cleared, shouting protestors on tractors and other vehicles arrived on the scene. They were young workers of the Revolutionary Indian Party (RIP). They were hundreds in number and soon spread out like locusts over the entire area. The police was not prepared to handle this. They did not anticipate interference from RIP in such a small matter. The protestors were an eclectic mixture. Some of them were party workers, some shopkeepers of the Bhoothnath market, but many of them were college students. They were there to block the demolition of the slum. The police was hugely outnumbered, and they were able to block the bulldozers and other workers busy with removing the shanties. They started an impromptu dharna demanding that demolition be stopped immediately and people whose shanties have been razed be given some compensation.

“This land belongs to the people!” shouted one.

“Set fire to the machines of oppression!” cried another.

As protestors seemed unrelenting, police called in reinforcements. Soon more riot control policemen arrived and then a commotion ensued. Newsmen arrived in time to cover the ferment. The young students of the college, with revolutionary slogans in their breadth and concern for the proletariat on their mind, were at the vanguard of the protest and they took the brunt of the police blows. In the end, however the combined might of RIP workers and other supporters proved to be insuppressible. By 4p.m. the demolition was called off. As the state prepared for its withdrawal, the students started celebrating. Their efforts had paid off.

The college union treasurer took the restaurant owner aside, and told him that the fear of new demolition will keep the shopkeepers on tenterhooks. Since they can now bank on RIP to stall any demolition, the shopkeepers should be ready to pay protection money and they should pay it to him. At the same time he received a message from the gold trader, asking him to ensure that the cleared ground is not re-occupied by the slum dwellers. They should either go somewhere else or clear up more forest land.

Meanwhile, a girl who was one of the college protestors thought of making a good use of the rest of the time. She decided to look around and capture some pictures. She parked her jeep at a little distance from the temple and started walking. The evening had set in, and the temple bells were already signaling the preparations of evening prayers. The number of devotees slowly started increasing. As she spent her time photographing the different scenes, enjoying the beauty of proletarian life, a boy laying out fresh marigolds right at the temple entrance caught her eye.

Haria had sustained a few lathis in the melee. He came back and told his son that he will go to his shantie and get some new flowers for the evening as well as do something to relieve his pain. He asked his son to stay in the shop until he comes back. Dhanne was taking the cover off his shop and re-arranging his flowers when a girl approached him with a camera in her hand. She started enquiring about the different flowers. She asked him how did he get them and from where. She took pictures of the flowers as well as smiling Dhanne along with them. Then she sat beside him. Dhanne was surprised and did not know what to do. He did not want her around as he wanted to hawk flowers and sell as many as possible. Even more he was worried that his father will give him a sound beating once again if he did not sell any flowers. But her camera with a TV like screen on its back interested him. After she was done asking her question Dhanne asked her about the camera. Dhanne had never seen anything like that before. Then suddenly she thrust the camera into his hand and told him how to use it. Just look into the screen and press the shiny button on top.

Nervously he handled the camera as she looked on smiling. The screen was amazing. He pressed the button hesitatingly and the screen froze, then it came back live once again. He looked towards the girl, and she took the camera back. She pressed one button and then showed him the first photograph taken by him. It was the stairs leading to the temple. Dhanne now started liking her. He looked away from the devotees approaching the temple and did not care about selling the flowers. She then asked him questions about his life, his daily routine, his studies and many other things. Dhanne told her about his family back at home, about the daily beatings from his father, how they live in their shantie, how cold it is in winters, how their shantie was almost torn apart by heavy rains last year, how his father was beaten by the moneylender’s goons and many other things. He told her that he has never been to school although he knows what it is. They draw pictures on the walls there.

Then the girl asked him if he would come with her. There are people in the city who would give him free food and education. They will give him good place to live in and there will be many kids like him around. Dhanne’s eyes lit up. He hated his oppressive father a lot. He had thought about running away from him many times. Now he had one good chance to do so.

Then she told him she has to leave now. She clicked one last picture of him. Dhanne asked her if he can come along with her. She said that she will send someone tomorrow to pick him up. They are the ones who normally take care of child laborers. Saying this she started walking away. But Dhanne followed her. He suddenly had a hope for a good life ahead, and he would not let it go away so easily. She turned back and when she saw Dhanne following her, she gave him a scornful look. But Dhanne did not notice it. His eyes turned away to look at his shop.

His father would be back soon, and then he will take care of it, he thought. Then to his shock he saw Manohar standing at the temple gates. He hated him very much as Manohar was very abusive and never let him and his father inside the temple. Now since he has seen him, Manohar might tell this to his father. Afraid of another beating later, he turned away quickly and paced towards the girl. She was now near her jeep. She had kept the camera inside and was about to sit in the driver’s seat when she saw him. She gestured him to return back. But Dhanne slowly moved closer to the vehicle. She then closed the door and came to him. And then she placed a tight slap with full force on Dhanne’s cheeks. Shocked and bewildered he stood there. She started the jeep and then drove away.

Haria was shocked to see an empty shop when he came back. He angrily looked around for Dhanne. Today he was going to give him the toughest ever beating he thought. But soon anger gave way to other emotions. Unable to find Dhanne he started making enquiries. Nobody was able to tell him where Dhanne was.

Manohar was preparing to go home when he was told about the missing boy by the temple cleaner. He quickly went outside and called for Haria.

“Panditji has seen your child”, those words were heavenly to Haria’s ears.

Manohar told him that he last saw the boy with a young girl. It was near the parking stand. Someone told Haria about the kidney harvesting racket. Someone might have kidnapped him for his kidneys. Haria feared worst and started crying. Manohar formed a group of 10 people, and started searching the surrounding area with flash lights. Just in case they might have dumped the body somewhere near. Or perhaps the boy just lost his way into the woods.

They found him by the canal. He was asleep. Manohar woke him up and asked him how he reached here. Groggy and staggering the boy stood up. His eyes were puffed up and moist. He just said, ‘peechhe chhod diya’(Left Behind).