Wild Justice

By Niranjan Mudholkar

Another water tanker had passed through the rough jungle road. It was the fourth tanker within just one hour. “And this goes on for 24 hours.” There was a hint of helplessness in Ranjit’s tone. Subhash missed it. Of course, he was not without concern for the issue. But it did not matter to him as much as it mattered to Ranjit.

From a place that was no better than a slum, Ranjit’s family had moved to Vilaspur a couple of years ago. The only consoling factor about his previous house in the small town called Narsala was that it was not called a slum! At least, Ranjit’s family never termed it thus. Though they knew that the surrounding localities looked down upon the place they called home. And when he would be forced to do things that would remind him starkly of his predicament, he would do nothing but look forlornly at the hills that stretched on the Eastern outskirts of Narsala. The hills comforted him. Well, Ranjit also loved the monsoons. But Narsala’s monsoon had flooded his home, twice. In fact, at one time, the entire family had to take refuge in the home of an acquaintance for three humiliatingly painful days. But now, Narsala was a matter of past. And Ranjit wanted it to remain there.

In fact, it was again the hills in Vilaspur that gave him the greatest comfort. Ranjit had never climbed the hills in Narsala, but in Vilaspur it was a different matter. They were too close, too tempting! And then, he had found a partner in Subhash to go trekking. There was something about the wilderness of the hills that appealed to him. But Vilaspur was now slowly losing this wilderness to urban greed. Several small lakes and big ponds once added to the charm of Vilaspur. Many of these water holes were now being reclaimed by real estate developers and most of the remaining ones were shamelessly drained out by the water tanker mafia.

Perhaps, it was the effect of being so close to the Big City. Though originally a tribal village, Vilaspur due to its proximity to the Big City was now developing into a satellite township. Buses and trains connected Vilaspur with the Big City. In fact, many of Vilaspur’s people worked in the Big City. These would leave their homes early in the morning and return only late in the evening. Ranjit too had become a part of this routine. Nobody liked it. In fact, Ranjit hated it. And he cursed himself for becoming a part of the lifeless routine.

Most of Ranjit’s peers were married by now. Some even had had their first child. But marriage seemed a distant dream to him. Not that he didn’t want to marry or was inadequate for it physically. He simply believed that his financial and social standing did not permit it. “Ranjit, you know what?” Subhash interrupted Ranjit’s train of thought. “What?” Ranjit asked half-interestedly. They were staying overnight in the jungles. It was actually the first time they had stayed back in the jungle despite trekking around for more than a year now. Lying down on an old half-torn sheet, Ranjit was busy observing the rising moon.

“My parents think that it’s a stupid going to the jungles, more so when you do it at night. It will be really difficult for me once I get married. Do you think you can continue going to the jungles when you have a wife?” Subhash continued in his dull tone.

Ranjit was too engrossed in the moon. The moon always excited him. “I don’t know. Isn’t it surprising that the moon is actually rising from the east tonight?”

“Is it?”

Then they heard something. It was a bird’s call. But neither of them could recognize the bird. It was probably an owl. And then there was another sound. This was too familiar to go unrecognized. It was the noise made by the tankers draining out water from one of Vilaspur’s ponds.

“You are right Ranjit. This thing goes on forever.”

The Big City was more than a city! It was the gateway to the nation on the western coast. Perhaps, the only metropolitan to have a forest within its city limits. And yet, it wasn’t easy to make out what existed inside what? Was it a jungle that lived on the verge of a city or was it a city that had a jungle inside of it? But the city definitely had something about it that made it a magnet to others. It was a city of dreams that also lived in nightmares. Surprisingly, it was young. It did not even exist five centuries ago. And yet, it seemed that it had existed eternally! It had been the blue-eyed bastard of history. And the cold-blooded sweetheart of now. A sadistic devil and an indifferent god at the same time! Then there was the sea surrounding it from three sides and adding to the essential salinity that thrived on people’s sweat and tears! An urban chaos where many people did not have enough clothes to wear and many did not want to wear enough clothes. An overcrowded and over-abused space that was also a beggar’s paradise and a taxpayer’s hell. It was a mobile city that lived on the fast track meandering between greed and necessity. It was an urbane character that was not ready to let go of the savage within. It was a stark world that breathed dreams! It stole people’s days and gave them nights that stayed awake!

Ranjit loved the Big City. And he also hated it. He had once told Subhash about it. “It’s turning into one enormous factory that either mass-produces cyber-slaves or blood sucking morons. I just don’t get it! People get paid for being what they are not. They get paid for talking to people they do not know; when they hardly talk to the people they know! And they don’t mind it because they get paid for it. And what do they earn the money for? To spend on things they really don’t need. This place is a marketplace that I wouldn’t want to go window-shopping to! I am scared of what they sell. Not because I cannot afford to buy most of it but because I just don’t like the idea of a place that sells and buys everything and anything. It’s so unnatural, and so abnormal. Everytime I go to my office and come back home in the evening or the night, I feel I have also sold a little bit of myself. The Big City has corrupted me, it seems beyond purgation.”

Meanwhile, another leopard had been spotted somewhere on the edge of the Big City’s National park. About a century ago, the leopard had been a native of the region. But colonialism followed by commerce and corruption had seen to it that the leopard isn’t welcome in the city anymore.

“Let’s go trekking to Bhimashankar. I think we have trekked enough in these hills and forests of Vilaspur. Now we should go for the real spots. What do you say?” Subhash’s excitement was hardly infectious. But Ranjit replied just to make him feel better. “Yeah, why not? Let’s do it sometime.” They were getting down from what had been the toughest hill to climb in the Vilaspur forests. They called it the Kasav Tekdi (the Turtle hill) because of its unusual shape. It was very difficult to climb. In fact, even the tribals never climbed it. And they also believed that it was cursed! Ranjit had heard from his housemaid that whoever goes to the Kasav Tekdi never returns unharmed! But Ranjit and Subhash had climbed it nevertheless. Subhash did not believe in superstitions and Ranjit did not care. “So, do you believe that somewhere there’s a leopard out here?” Subhash asked while trying to get ahead of Ranjit. Ranjit always overlooked Subhash’s silly excitement just as he did now and spoke calmly. “Well, we haven’t spotted even a hare till now. So I won’t believe it unless I see it.”

“How can you deny the existence of something just because you haven’t seen it?” Ranjit was rather taken aback by Subhash’s wise remark. But he tried to smile and continued the downhill journey.

After coming back home from the Kasav Tekdi trek, Ranjit fell asleep quicker than he had imagined. And he saw a strange dream. In his dream, he was at the barber’s place for a haircut. No seat was vacant, so he had to wait. He was picking up a magazine when he overheard someone say DNA. It was an unusual word in that place. Next moment, he was peeping inside a small room. The barber had a devilish smile on his face. He was talking to his assistants “You are doing a great job. We have collected a lot of DNA samples. Our alien friends will reward us well for this.” Then somebody saw Ranjit. Their expressions changed and they charged at Ranjit. But Ranjit managed to escape from there. Now he was running through the hills. The barber and his assistants were still chasing him. Ranjit saw a cave and ran towards it. He stumbled upon something and fell down. In the darkness of the cave he tried to figure out the thing he had stumbled upon. It was a girl’s body half eaten by some animal. He moved back in repulsion. The cave had started to stink. As he grappled for something to hold on, he realized it was another human body and it was halfburnt. As Ranjit pulled back his hand, something hit him on the head. Then he fell unconscious. When he woke up he was inside the general ward of a huge hospital. He looked around. He recognized most of the patients. There were all men. His father, his brother, his other relatives, his neighbours, his colleagues, his friends, his acquaintances and a lot of other men that he would see every day in the waking life. Of course, many were total strangers but somehow Ranjit could sympathise with them. Interestingly, there was an empty bed as well. Strangely enough none of the patient was awake. Or were they unconscious? So far he had not seen any doctor or nurse. He tried to awaken some people by calling them. But they were, it seemed, fast asleep. Then he decided to touch them. As he about to touch his father’s feet to wake him up, someone pulled him behind. Before he could realize what was happening, he was tied down to the empty bed. He was horrified to see his captors. They were all extra terrestrials, headless creatures with tentacles for limbs. The biggest of them thrust a large syringe in Ranjit’s chest and he passed out.

Ranjit woke up to the noise of television. His brother was watching news. Another slum was mushrooming in Vilaspur. The new slum primarily housed people who came from other states, mostly from the northern and central parts of the country. A regional political party in the Big City had started a movement to drive out similar outsiders from the City and to protect the interests of the locals. According to some, the movement was more of an effort of revival by the party. So far, that party had shown no interest in Vilaspur’s problems. That’s what the anchor was talking about.

Then, there was news about a 15-year girl raped on the eve of the Independence Day inside a local train of the Big City. A senior journalist representing the largest selling National Daily, who had apparently witnessed the tragic incident from some distance, reported it!

Further, Ranjit wasn’t surprised that a leopard attack had also made it to the headlines. The tragic coincidence was that it also involved a 15-year-old girl, who was dragged into the forest by the leopard. Later, the leopard was captured alive, but in the process it was maimed. It died in captivity two days later. The people who killed the captured and maimed the leopard are been felicitated.

Meanwhile, the rapist awaits law to take its course. The senior journalist is planning to write a book on the incident and a film producer is planning a movie on it.

‘Secular Forces of the Country Unite’ screamed a huge poster on the road that connected Vilaspur with the National Highway. The poster belonged to the breakaway faction of the party that had once ruled the country. Ranjit looked at it dispassionately and started walking towards his home. It was a long and tiring 20 minutes walk from there. His mother had asked him to buy some vegetables for the next day on the way. Most of the vegetable vendors were natives of the central and northern part of the country. Ranjit had no political motivations but he really didn’t like this blatant invasion. “But then, if the locals aren’t so bothered about it then why should I?” That would be his self-consoling talk. But somewhere inside it did hurt him.

“It’s good that we are both carrying air guns. Those people mistook us for forest officials and that’s why they ran away.” Ranjit was referring to a couple of tribals who were brewing hooch in the jungle, of course illegally. What surprised him and Subhash was the enormous quantity in which the liquor was produced. There were ten barrels filled to the brim. The tribals ran away after they saw Ranjit and Subhash approaching. “I hope they don’t bring more people and attack us”, Subhash expressed his fears. There was a lot of sense in what Subhash said and so they decided to turn back. For a moment, Ranjit thought about complaining at the local police station. But he knew it wouldn’t help. Then he thought about going to the local corporator. However, he didn’t. Simply because the corporator was truly local and too well known for his corrupt ways. There was also a possibility that he was the real mind behind the crime. And anyway, the tribals comprised his vote bank so he wouldn’t do anything to spoil it.

“It is impossible, just impossible. This cannot happen in any part of our country. There has not been any geographical precedence or evidence for such events at least for the last few thousand years!” That was Professor Nadkarni, Ranjit’s friend at the City Natural History Society. Prof. Nadkarni was a geophysicist. What Ranjit had told him was incredible! And Nadkarni was too thorough in his field to believe an amateur’s theory. But Ranjit still tried to explain his logic. “Not very far from Vilaspur are the Gangapur hotsprings and a little further are the Paanivali geysers.”

“That does not prove anything. Presence of hotsprings or geysers does not warrant the existence of a dormant or active volcano,” said Nadkarni with a dismissing smile. The argument stopped there. Ranjit decided not to take it any further. More so because he did not want to tell the professor what he had actually seen. He had only expressed his doubts in the form of a theory. He hadn’t substantiated it with the proof he had. He didn’t want to. There was another theory in his mind (or was it in his heart?). Of course, he hadn’t talked about it with anybody and he wasn’t even going to!

It was the second time that Ranjit had gone to the jungles alone. Subhash had been busy with the preparation of his marriage. So Ranjit had decided to go on his own. And he knew exactly where he was headed. It was the hump on the ‘Kasav Tekdi’. When he was halfway through, he thought somebody was following him. But he didn’t bother to check. He went straight towards a large pond as if that is where he wanted to reach. He looked around. He was sure that somebody had been following him. He smiled and looked at the pond. The surface of the pond was covered with mild fumes. Bending down a little Ranjit slowly immersed the tip of his right index finger into the pond’s water. And he pulled it out as fast as he could. “This is happening quicker than my expectations.” He smiled to himself because he knew what it was. “Well, this is something that Professor Nadkarni hasn’t seen.” As Ranjit spoke to himself, he sensed that someone was right behind him! It was one of the tribals who had been brewing illegal liquor on the hills. The tribal was too focused to realize the state of the pond. He was planning to push Ranjit into the pond. Ranjit had somehow sensed the man’s intention but he waited for the tribal to get closer. The moment he felt the man’s physical proximity, Ranjit simply moved out of the way. The tribal wasn’t expecting and lost his balance. Ranjit further pushed him towards the water and the man fell straight into the fuming pond! Kasav Tekdi reverberated with a horrific scream for a moment. But it dissolved in the air as rapidly as the tribal who had drowned into the pond!

The Big City, which was also the state capital, was reeling under the exposure of a mega scam. It was the biggest scandal till date. Five political parties including the ruling and the opposition party had their members involved in it. Just when everybody thought they would know who the real mastermind behind it was, a series of bomb blasts jolted the city. The scam was conveniently forgotten and within a month the city was shamelessly back to the normal as if nothing had happened. Just a couple of kilometers to the North West of Vilaspur is located the ancient coastal fort of Jaigadh now in utter ruins. This fort was one of the places from where the explosives used in the serial bomb blasts entered the city. And it was also rumored that the terrorists who brought the explosives were hiding in the jungles of Vilaspur!

The month of December usually brings a cold wave to Vilaspur. But this time, it was terribly hot. The mercury had refused to stoop. “Ghor Kaliyug alay” (Indeed, this is the era of sin) said an old man in Marathi as Ranjit passed him at the bus stop. The sadness in the old man’s tone caught him unaware. He and only he knew the reason behind the rising temperature. “It had to be this way,” he said loudly but not in particular to anybody. Off late, he had become a fatalist. That fatalism was on its zenith now. And on another zenith, there was death! Ready to overwhelm everything and everybody that would come in its way!

Twenty-four hours later, the hump of the Kasav Tekdi exploded volcanic eruptions. Like a sick man throwing up again and again, it started throwing up molten fire. Violent rivers of lava engulfed Vilaspur in no time. But the fire god wasn’t satisfied with this meager sacrifice! He wanted more. So he turned his turbulent daughters of lava towards the Big City. The flaming ladies rushed towards the Big City lustily. Their anger would cool down only after they had merged with the ocean! Nature had executed its wild justice!

The End

By Niranjan Mudholkar