Great Expectations-Epilogue Pg 69 (14/6) - Page 8

Milind was still in the meeting when the manager of his Delhi hotel came in and informed him the shocking news that Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of the country has been assassinated by her own security guards. Milind stared at him in disbelief and asked him to verify whether it was not a rumour being floated by some prankster. The Prime Minister's life has been in threat ever since she had ordered the Operation Blue Star, wherein the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple, the most holy temple of the Sikhs, in order to flush out the Sikh militants holed up there. While the operation itself was considered a military success, it had created widespread controversy over the timing and the style of attack, as many civilians were also killed in the process of eliminating the terrorists. The manager informed him that the news should be accurate since it was broadcasted in the All India Radio, which is a Government owned radio channel. Milind hurriedly wound up the meeting and went back to his room. He turned on the radio to learn more about this shocking news.

He learnt that the Prime Mister was shot by two Sikh security guards at her residence, No. 1, Safdarjung Road at around 9.20 a.m. She was immediately rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), a leading medical institution in the country, but all efforts to revive her had failed and she was declared dead at 10.50 a.m. The death of one his iconic figures immersed Milind in a pall of grief. He just froze into inaction for over an hour. Much later he slowly recovered from the shock and tried to ascertain what the fallout of this news was. He heard that the situation in the nation's capital was very tense as the people were trying to come to grips with a tragedy of this magnitude. All transportation came to a grinding halt. He wondered what Prachi was doing. He did not have any contact number or address of the friend she was visiting. So there was nothing much he could do but wait for her to contact him.

He skipped lunch, as grief over the PM's death and worry over Prachi's safety had killed his appetite. He also cancelled his meeting with the auditors and waited for Prachi to call the hotel but he did not hear from her till evening. When it was past 5 o'clock and Prachi had still not returned nor called him, he got increasingly worried. Just then he heard a loud noise and looked out of his hotel window to check what the problem was. He was shocked to see a mob burning a taxi belonging to a Sikh. Standing across the road, at a distance of 10 yards were around 30 policemen, an inspector, who was armed and a sub-inspector. None of them did anything to prevent the mob. The mob went on a rampage and burnt shops in the adjacent Khan Market and had attacked a gurudwara nearby. They attacked a garage run by a Sikh and burnt the cars there shouting Khoon ka badhla koon se lenghe (we will avenge blood with blood). It took him some time to register why all this was happening all of a sudden.

He was disturbed from his thoughts by the ringing of the phone. He quickly ran to it. As expected, it was Prachi on the other side. He could not hear her voice clearly as she was speaking from a public phone booth. Amidst the din of anti-Sikh slogans in the background, he managed to hear that although she wanted to return back to the hotel, Gurdeep's husband had not yet returned and her friend was terrified. She could not leave her alone especially since she was eight months pregnant, so she was waiting for him. Before Milind could ask her where she was the line got cut. He waited for her to call but did not get any further calls for the day.

Desperate to know where she was, he called up Shah Mansion to find out whether they knew where Prachi's friend, Gurdeep lived. Although Prem Latha remembered the girl from Prachi's school days, she did not know where she lived. In fact she was not even aware that she lived in Delhi now. She promised to try to find out about Gurdeep's whereabouts from Prachi's other friends. Several minutes later she called back to inform him that none of Prachi's other friends knew about Gurdeep. There was only one other friend left to check but she was out of station and would return only the next morning.

Milind was extremely restless by now. He heard the news that the motorcade of President Zail Singh, who was returning from a foreign visit, was stoned as it approached AIIMS. Mob violence was reported in different parts of the city even as Rajiv Gandhi, the son of the slain leader, was sworn in as the Prime Minister. Just then there was a knock on the door. He opened the door eagerly hoping it would be Prachi, but it turned out to be a couple of hotel staff who had come to decorate his room with flowers and candles under instructions from the manager. In his frustration, Milind yelled at them to leave him alone and the two men scurried away to safety. He couldn't sleep a wink throughout the night, wondering about Prachi's plight and he kept pacing up and down his room. The vision of the mob attack was still fresh in his mind and he feared for the safety of his wife.

The next morning brought with it more news of violence and attacks on Sikhs. Armed mobs took to the streets of Delhi and launched a massacre in several parts of the city. Gurudwaras were the first to be attacked, possibly to prevent Sikhs from collecting there and putting up a combined defence. Shops, garages and houses of Sikhs were vandalised and looted and Sikh men were killed. Amongst the worst affected were some places in East Delhi. He suddenly recollected that Prachi had mentioned that she was going to East Delhi the previous day. A cold fear ran down his spine. He hurriedly called for a telephone directory and started to search in it but then he realised it was of no use since he did not know Gurdeep's husband's name. He also remembered that Prachi had called him up the previous day from a public booth which meant that there was no phone in their house. He hit his fist against the wall in frustration. He tried calling all the hospitals in East Delhi area enquiring if they had any patient by the name Gurdeep or Prachi there. While he was hoping that their names were not in the rolls of any hospitals, he also hoped to glean some information about their whereabouts. At around 11 o'clock he received a call from Inder Shah. They managed to speak to Prachi's friend who had returned that morning and had got Gurdeep's address from her. He quickly took down the address and asked the front desk to provide him with a car. He was informed that none of the chauffeurs engaged by the hotel had reported for duty. He barked that he can drive himself and picking up the car keys, he quickly got into the car and drove to Gandhi Nagar in East Delhi where Gurdeep lived.

On the way, he witnessed several incidents of looting and arson. Some people pelted stones on his car but he did not stop. He drove like a man possessed, eager to reach his wife to make sure she was alright. His heart was in his hands as he parked his car and ran up the narrow deserted streets desperately searching for Gurdeep's house. He finally managed to locate it and barged into the empty house. He searched in the three small rooms of the tenement but there was no one. He rushed out and screamed his wife's name as he ran back and forth the alleys but there was no response. A few heads peeped curiously at him from the adjacent houses but nobody came out. He started perspiring profusely by now and his hands went cold in fear. He ran his trembling fingers through his hair and looked around him. A few shops were gutted in the locality.

He went to the nearby police station to lodge a complaint. There were several constables but the inspector was missing. He went up to the head constable and asked him to register a complaint that his wife and her friend were missing. When the head constable refused to write down the complaint, he went berserk and catching him by the collar of his uniform, he dragged him up from his chair. Seeing this, the other constables immediately rounded him up, but Milind was not intimidated by them. He started shouting that it is high time the police did its duty. This angered the head constable and he asked the rest to arrest him for misbehaving with the cop. He was soon pinioned and pushed into one of the lock ups. Milind's shouts fell on deaf ears and after screaming his lungs out for nearly 20 minutes he collapsed on the floor of his cell.

Based on the violence he had seen and heard, he kept imagining the worst possible scenarios. Burying his head between his knees, he finally broke down and wept bitterly. For a man who prided himself in keeping his grief under cntrol, this was very unusual. Even in his father's funeral he had not wept so much. More than the grief, it was the fear of the unknown which was dominating his mind. He did not know how long he sat there in this state. His tears had dried up but his heart ached badly. He forgot that he had not had anything to eat since the previous morning. Hunger was the last thing on his mind. He wanted to find his beloved wife, nothing more. Realising that he will not gain any thing by taking an antagonistic stance against the cops, he got up again and this time he apologised for his misbehaviour and started pleading with the constable to let him go so that he can search for his wife on his own. The constable pretended he did not hear him. It took all his efforts to bite back his anger and maintain his cool in the face of such apathy.

At around 6 o' clock, the inspector of the station walked in. Seeing him the constables saluted him. He nodded and took his seat. Milind called out to him. The man turned around and was shocked to see a well dressed decent looking man locked up in the cell like a common criminal. He asked the constable who he was and why was he locked up. The constable tried to justify his act, saying that he had manhandled the cops. The inspector reprimanded him and walked up to Milind, who then explained his problem.

The inspector opened the cell door and asked Milind to take a seat.

"Who did you say you are looking for?" asked the inspector.

"I'm looking for my wife, Prachi Mishra and her friend Gurdeep Kaur," said Milind.

"What???? So you must be Milind Mishra," he exclaimed.

"Yes, I am but how do you know me?"

"I am Inspector Roshan Kapoor. I was with both the women you are looking for till a few minutes back," he explained.

"You know where they are?! Where are they?" Milind asked excitedly.

"I'll take you to your wife. I had just dropped her at my place before coming to the station," he said and informing the constables he will soon be back, he left with Milind.

During the drive to his residence Mr.Kapoor explained to him what had happened.