Walked Away with My Soul

They say when misfortune overpowers you, it attacks you from all sides. No matter how hard we tried to conceal our relationship, Aadhiren came to know about me and Maya. He saw my number being called most frequently from Maya’s number in her itemized mobile bill somewhere in the last week of April. When he asked her about it, she gave him a hint of my being her good friend and wellwisher. But that truant was smart enough to realise the truth. It was the 2nd of May, around 12:00 noon. I got a call from Maya. I was in my office in Mumbai. ‘Hi Maya!’ ‘Gattu…’ ‘What happened Maya? All well?’ I enquired. ‘Gattu, Aadhiren went to my school out of suspicion. The admin staff informed him that I’ve resigned. Today as I was heading towards my parlour, he met me downstairs and told me to come home with him,’ Maya said. ‘Freak…! But what on earth made him go to your school?’ I asked. ‘I don’t know Gattu. Maybe he might have smelt a rat. He told me that he will not let me go so easily from his life.’ ‘OK. That’s cool actually. Well, for what amount did he buy you from your parents Maya?’ I asked in an all cool tone. ‘Buy? What are you saying Gattu?’ an already perplexed Maya asked. ‘Did he legally marry you to take care of you all throughout your life or he actually gave money to your parents and bought you? If the former case is correct, then he cannot force you to stay with him. If he cannot understand this, police will explain him in their own language,’ I said. ‘What do I do now? He has called up everybody. Didi will be here with jiju any moment. A couple of relatives of mine will also arrive in a short while. What’ll happen now? I’m so worried,’ Maya asked in a fearful tone, as always. ‘Look Maya, this is a situation which you have to handle by yourself. I wish I could salvage you from there but it will be a case of kidnapping on my part. Plus it isn’t so easy to take you out from there. Now whatever you have to do, you have to do it yourself. Just tell them that you don’t want to stay with him, and that from now on you intend to lead an independent life,’ I explained to her. ‘OK Gattu. I shall try my level best. Wait for my call. And don’t even think of calling or texting me. No SMS no Whatsapp,’ Maya rebuked. ‘OK Maya. I love you. Come soon to me. Come safely.’ ‘I love you too Gattu.’ Was this my last conversation with Maya? – a voice from somewhere within me asked me. I was very dejected. Till date nothing like this had happened. We were just a couple of days away from moving to Pune and Aadhiren, out of the blue, went to her school only to find out that she had resigned! I couldn’t even contact Maya to know the situation at her place. It was as if I was thirsty and a glass of water had been kept before me but my hands were tied with a tight rope. Today I just wanted her to be safe, forget about us moving away from Valsad. I immediately called up Vishal. He told me to keep my cool and not to send Maya any messages. * * * Later that night… It was around 8:30 PM. I got a call from an unknown number. I answered it, almost instantly. Every call was important for me now. ‘Hello, can I speak to Mr. Aman?’ a man, I think in his forties was at the other end. ‘Who’s this?’ I enquired. ‘This is Bhavsar from Vodafone, calling from Gandhinagar,’ he said, quite confidently. ‘Vodafone? At this hour?’ I asked. ‘Yes. We have got a tip-off from one of our customers that you have been harassing his wife with unwarranted calls.’ ‘What nonsense is this? Who are you?’ ‘I said I am Bhavsar from Vodafone. We have information of your calls to her,’ he said, trying to maintain his cool. ‘That’s utter bullshit. First of all, it is the police who have to call me if such a thing happens. Secondly, how can I believe that you are from Vodafone? And thirdly, even if I have done so, what has it do with my service provider?’ I bounced back. I heard another man in the background telling this so-called Bhavsar - Put his number on navigation, we’ll track him. I was a bit petrified on hearing this. After all, I also stayed with my family. ‘Look, whoever you are, we have got this information from one of our esteemed clients and he has asked us to deal with you. What needs to be done now, tell me…’ he said. ‘Do what you want. But remember one thing - this is the job of police, not of service provider. More so, I am not convinced that you are from Vodafone. So neither do I care to give you any explanations nor do I really care who you are and where are you calling from. I very well know who is behind this call. So you’d better hang up now. Don’t waste my time,’ I said and before he could say anything, I hung up. Beyond doubt, I dealt with the situation valiantly. But soon I realised that my entire face was in sweat. I couldn’t understand what to do. I went downstairs and dialed Vishal’s number. ‘Yes mate, tell me.’ ‘Vishal, just now I got a call from an unknown number. He said his name was Bhavsar and he was from Vodafone, Gandhinagar. He accused me of making unwarranted and troublesome calls to the wife of one of his esteemed customers. I also heard one of his accomplices saying that they’d keep my number on navigation,’ I narrated the story to Vishal. ‘Oh come on Aman, even you know that Aadhiren is there behind this call. I am sure neither his name is Bhavsar, nor he is from Vodafone and nor from Gandhinagar. He must be a local from Valsad only. No need to hit the panic button man. Just ignore the call,’ Vishal pacified me. ‘And what about the navigation thing?’ ‘Are damn him man! You should have asked that motherfucker whether he even knew the spelling of navigation! Aman, you just cannot keep anybody’s number on navigation like that. A service provider can do so only after they have a ticket raised from the police, that too, only after a proper FIR has been filed. So stop worrying unnecessarily man. One more thing, go to Valsad police station tomorrow itself and give a written statement to them about Maya. Tomorrow if any untoward thing happens to her, you shouldn’t be held responsible.’ Vishal’s words, as always, had a soothing effect on me. He even instructed me not to switch off my mobile under the fear of getting more calls like that. He further suggested me to google out some NGOs in and around Valsad district functioning exclusively for suffering women like Maya. I couldn’t take any half measures, given the situation. I did so the same night. I found out seven NGOs, but the one I found most suitable was Mahila Vimochan Sanstha run by one Smt Swati Dev. It had branches in Valsad, Rajkot and Gandhinagar. Swati Dev had been managing this NGO since 1986 and had an excellent reputation in the district. She had good political connections too. I thought I’d approach her with Maya’s case, should things go from bad to worse. I just dropped her an email, briefing about Maya. * * * Next day… I reached Valsad police station at 7:00 AM in the morning. There were only two constables on duty, one dozing on his chair and the other sleeping on the table which was meant to kept files and FIR registers. It resembled a typical Bihar police station shown in Bollywood movies. I banged the table on which the constable was sleeping. He didn’t get up, but the knocking sound awakened the one sleeping on the chair. ‘Yes?’ he asked, with his eyes half open. ‘Sir I want to submit a declaration to you. I stay nearby. It’s an important matter. Can anybody please attend me?’ I said, yearning to kick him on his ass for dozing during his duty hours and make his police station look like a drug addicts’ rehab center. ‘Come at ten. Sahab comes after ten. Go,’ he said, his eyes still shut. I doubt whether he even looked at me. ‘Sir it may be too late then. Please at least listen to what I have to say. Someone’s life is in danger,’ I almost pleaded. Such is the pathetic condition of the functioning of police in our country. A common man has to plead to an on-duty constable just to make him listen to him.