YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW: PROTECTOR (PART SIX)
AUTHORS' NOTE: The Yesterday part is like a snapshot into the past, a parallel story line of what might have happened after Paro was taken into the BSD Headquarters by Rudra after the Baraat massacre. I'm fleshing out the questioning, the interrogation, even the torture Paro might have faced if that track had more details. Tomorrow shows what might happen in the future, after everything is settled. Basically the same "idea" before and after! This one is about Rudra, the Protector. How does he protect her in the past? And in the future? Who protects whom then? Read on!
PS: You don't need to do it to understand this OS, but if you haven't read it, you might look at the OS: Yesterday and Tomorrow : Bindi (https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3907135). Not essential, but I'm doing this as a series--it flows better.
Anyways, I hope you like this! Please comment/like, it inspires writers!
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YESTERDAY:"Bohot zyada sundar!! Yaar, mei pura India ka ladki dehka, by God, lekin kabhi itni stunning chera aur figure nahi dekha!! Ek baar darshan kar le, yaar...Raat ho gaya, General Singh chala quarters pe--ladki uski private holding cell pe hai. Ajaa, mein tujhe dikhati hu.."
(Eng: She's too beautiful! I've seen all the beauties in India, By God, but I've never seen a lovelier face or a better figure. You need to meet her, buddy--its night so the General's left and she'll be in his holding cell. come with me, i'll show her to you...")
The young BSD jawan grabbed his friend's arm eagerly, hustling his intrigued colleague towards the HQ cell where Paro had been shifted.
Paro had started cooperating with the BSD only recently, and only after Rudra had managed to convince her of the Thakur's guilt in the Bindi murder case. She had watched her friend's body being buried, and she had sworn to avenge Bindi, at any cost to herself. She had no illusions left, no loyalties, no past or future. Everything she knew about life, about family or loyalty had shattered and drifted into the wind. But one thing about herself remained-- she was not a traitor. She was not a collaborator. And if the Thakur was...she would cooperate. Let the truth come out, whatever it was. Let it release her, or damn her. She no longer cared. Since then, General Singh himself had arrived at the BSD HQ, and taken over the questioning of their only witness on the explosive Birpur Terrorism case.
General Singh, a kind man, had made things much better for his female prisoner by ordering that she had civilian and not combatant status. This meant a clean holding room with a private bath, regular, if unappetizing food, fresh clothing and even the liberty to walk around the BSD compound for fresh air and exercise during the day. In return, Paro was trying her best to help the BSD find out exactly what was going on in the village of Birpur, and how far and how deep this conspiracy of murder, betrayal, women trafficking and terrorism went.
Most importantly for Paro, more than the relative comfort of her cell, more the General's kindness and the better treatment was the fact that she no longer had to see the Jallad. He was completely gone, vanished from her life like a nightmare melting into the light of a bright day. As she prayed to Bholenath every night for the strength to avenge Bindi's death, she also thanked her God for removing her from the Jallad's control, for ridding her of him.
She was not free, but at least HE was not there, to hurt and confuse her, to singe her with his stare, and bruise her with his acidic hate. She knew that Major Ranawat had been reassigned to another case and was no longer involved with this one. The Birpur case was too politically sensitive to be under the infamous, highly volatile Major Ranawat's purview, and so Paro was General Singh's witness now.
But sometimes, as Paro ate her meal in her room, her skin would prickle and she could swear that she felt the heated, wild burn of his eyes on her skin.
Speaking with the General about previous Birpur marriages and what she could remember about baraatis that had come in the past, Paro would become absolutely positive that HE was in the room, to fill her mind with a silent, deadly presence. She would stutter and start to shake, until the General would recall her to her senses with a puzzled frown. And, looking around again, Paro would see that there truly was no one else in the room, and, despite her trembling hands, HE was not there to make her shake with this odd anxiety.
During her walks, it felt---often--that HIS shadow was right behind her, shading her from the noon sun only to trap her in HIS protective darkness. Paro would turn at such times, frightened and wary, and see absolutely no one other than her regular guard walking behind her, looking bored and picking at his teeth.
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The young Jawans had reached the restricted area of the HQ where Paro's cell was. Now, slipping past her sleeping night-guard, they stood before a locked iron door, and the BSD man who had brought his friend now produced a key.
"Kya karr rahe hai tu? Marwana hai kya? Chabi kaha se mili?"
(Eng: What are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed? where did you get the key?") Asked the friend, suddenly feeling a strange prickle of nerves on his neck.
"Arre, kuch nahi yaar. Tu bas corridor watch kar--mein chabi woh sleeping guard se chura liya, bas! Mujhe thank karega tu, ladki ko dekne aur uske sath time-pass karne ke baad!!"
(Eng:"Its nothing! You just keep an eye on the corridor! I lifted the key from that sleeping guard, that's all-you'll thank me for this once you see her and get to flirting, I'm telling you!") The enterprising jawan now bent to his task, grunting a little with the effort of finding the right key for the door.
Behind him, his friend hopped from leg to leg, suddenly feeling much less eager about stealing a few minutes with the gorgeous titliya behind the door. The night seemed to get darker, the corridor, lit by one bare lightbulb, teemed with strange shadows. An odd stillness was in the air, as if the wild Rajasthan wind was holding its breath, waiting for some force greater that itself to explode. The young jawan glanced here and there as an uneasy tension thrummed through his heartbeat, and he could feel the hair rise on his arms, as if his senses had detected a threat his mind had not.
It happened so swiftly, the two Jawans couldn't explain the whole thing properly when they faced the BSD Disciplinary Committee questions two weeks later. They admitted, through broken teeth, swollen lips and black eyes, that their intentions were not exactly what you would call pure. But neither young man was a degenerate, they had only wanted, --in the josh of young blood-- to see a pretty girl, maybe tease her a bit, talk for a few minutes with the captured beauty. They would not have hurt her, touched her, done anything wrong. But they hadn't had any time to explain their mostly noble intentions to the Destroyer who had caught them that terrible night.
One moment, they were both about to enter the cell, where Paro was peacefully sleeping. The next moment, pain had exploded through their bodies, their heads cracked open, their arms were broken, their faces pulverized. They remembered vaguely trying to react with their BSD training, to counter attack, to try and stop the gale force of rage that was half killing them. They remembered running footsteps and other BSD soldiers who came to pull the Major off their collapsed, shattered bodies. Then--- nothing. The next thing they knew, they were in the hospital, under armed guard. And, as they told the Disciplinary Committee, the guards was there, not to stop them from leaving their hospital beds, but to stop Major Rudra Pratap Ranawat from entering their cabin and killing them.
The Disciplinary Committee shook their heads as they recommended a punishment of a month's suspension and then, a re-posting to another BSD unit for the two cowering Jawans. There were no measures taken against the Major, but this was not because the Committee approved of his crazed conduct. The use of excessive force against junior officers, even idiotic ones, was a serious issue. The Committee had called Major Ranawat to come and give a statement, but General Singh had called them up just before this session.
The Major would not be coming.
He was doing what he had been doing since the Birpur case had started, and even a direct order from the General was not going to make him stop. The General had therefore requested to Committee to excuse his best Officer this one time-- Rudra was under some kind of extreme stress. The Major, predictably, had said nothing about his actions, either in defense of them, or in accusation of the jawans. He had half killed the BSD jawans who had tried to get unauthorized access to the prisoner Parvati Vader. He had entered her cell as the unconscious jawans outside were being taken to the hospital by the BSD personnel. The General had arrived to see him tucking a sheet around the still sleeping woman, shielding her from any curious eyes.
And then, as General Singh explained to the head of the Disciplinary Committee, Major Rudra Pratap Ranawat had gone back to silently, obsessively watching over the prisoner Parvati. Just as he had done, without any orders, without any permission, without any break, since the day he had brought her in.
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"Tomorrow" (Page 4) : https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/101741903
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THE YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW SERIES-ENJOY!
Yesterday and Tomorrow, Part 4 (Red Ghagra):https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3905307
Yesterday and Tomorrow, Part 5 (Bindi):https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3907135
Yesterday and Tomorrow, Part 7 (Fears): https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3930183
Yesterday and Tomorrow, Part 8 (Posession) :https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3934862
Yesterday and Tomorrow, Part 9 (Jallad) :https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3940500
Yesterday and Tomorrow, Part 10 (Forgiveness): https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3951666
Yesterday and Tomorrow, Part 11 (Repentance) :https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3970836
Yesterday and Tomorrow, Part 12 (Rebirth): https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/4059251
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