WEAPON OF SILENCE-PART 1

We never know how our past treats us, but always it has been a clear evident expression of destiny that the sins of past are never forgiven, rather they are concealed for future.

Savarkar, A 65-year-old man and a retired school-van driver goes to pick up his grandson Tatya from school and found out that he was missing.  He enquired the watchman of the school, who was recently placed instead of Shyamlal, the previous one.  But destiny was against Savarkar today.  The watchman of the school, Raghu gave a careless expression to Savarkar and turned towards his cabin for a smoke.

“where did this child go?”

Savarkar `s face appeared pale, his worry was attaining a figure of his biggest fear, a fear which was an outcome of his dark past.  He did not want to accept that his past was coming back him.  He remembered the last words of his wife, when he had stabbed her to death

“one day all this will happen with you again and that time you will remember that child, he will come back to you, in your dreams, you will hear him laugh and call out to you, you will search but your search will be pointless, I curse you…”

 His mind was in a dilemma now,

“Is her curse haunting me now?” he asked himself.

School usually gets over by 3:00 pm but today it was 5:00 pm and Tatya was nowhere around school he went to the playground but Tatya wasn’t there, nobody nearby gave any information which could help Savarkar trace Tatya.  What an inconvenient situation was this? Savarkar never found himself so helpless, he wanted to approach Police but being listed in underground criminal list, was unable to do it.

    

After an hour`s struggle, Savarkar had started to lose hope, he decided to go up to the watchman again.

“anna…please tell me, where is Tatya? Are you sure he wasn’t loitering here today?”

Anybody would make out that Savarkar was about to cry.

This time the watchman stared at Savarkar and slowly his serious face gave a creepy smile.  He slowly walked up to him and initiated in a deep voice

“Savarkar!! You seem worried, what happened? Is your grandson missing? Or is he kidnapped? Or I think he must have been murdered! Like that child who was killed by you? Am I correct Savarkar?”

Savarkar `s face turned blue, he was sweating now

“how does he know about my past?”

Before he could think further, the watchman came closer to him and wispered:

“don’t think too much Savarkar! You might be wasting time! If you want your grandson safe, go and meet your old friend. And I know you are smart enough not to go to police, because more than us your past and your present are haunting you.”

Savarkar was now sure that Tatya was kidnapped.  He couldn’t go to police station because he was supposedly the only guardian of Tatya.  His past which was so dusky that those episodes had engulfed his complete family.  Tatya was his only life support and intimate member whom he had been shielding for 6 years.

Savarkar grabs the watchman`s collar and almost choked him:

“Listen Raghu!  Tatya is my life, if at all anything happens to him, just remember, I have grown old but my gun is still as young as it was before.  Tell me whom to meet? And where?”

“Savarkar! I killed Tatya!” shouts the watchman

.

Savarkar `s heart had stopped after hearing this, his grip was loosened and eyes went wide until he heard the next lines

“I hope you don’t want me to tell these lines, do you? Savarkar! the more time you waste here, the more is death coming closer to your grandson.”

Raghu`s firm adamant voice echoed and his laugh was more piercing to Savarkar`s ears

In tears of anguish and frustration, Savarkar left from there and started walking towards his cycle kept near the corner of the school building.  The watchman had asked him to meet his old friend, and this could be only one man, his partner turned rival in crime: Amatya.  But where to find him now? And even if he is found would Tatya be there with him?  But there is no one else who had any reason to Kidnap Tatya.  With all these questions, Savarkar  sets off to lonawala bus stand.

Amatya and Savarkar were pioneers of all rackets which are existing in Bangalore.  The past which was haunting Savarkar now had started to grow around 1970 when he had his first smuggling of relics from Panvel, which later got replaced by drugs in them, but when Amatya joined Savarkar , he started human organ trafficking.  Savarkar was not aware of this fact for a long time but when he discovered it, he was furious.  The team split in two but even after being rivals they never intended to harm each other.  Savarkar wanted to settle down and he transformed into a school van driver.  He changed into a family man, until one day he got an information which revealed that Amatya had promoted his business of human trafficking by selling children as slaves and prostitutes to foreigners.  This shattered Savarkar .  He had never imagined that the sin of planting a bad seed in man would give rise to a poisonous tree later.  He wanted to put an end to this sin which Amatya was committing and 6 years ago, he decided to assassinate Amatya.

Is it so easy for a 59-year-old man to kill a 40-year-old man? That too when both are criminals?

Savarkar failed miserably and instead he killed Amatya`s 10-year-old son.  This broke the last strand of treaty between both Amatya and Savarkar. The wrath that emerged from the depression of Amatya engulfed Savarkar `s entire family except his grandson. He also murdered his wife to protect her from getting killed by Amatya and secretly managed to escape with Tatya from the scene creating an illusion that Amatya has killed everyone but now it appears as if it could not last longer.

Somehow today Amatya has managed to reach Tatya.  The only way to find Amatya was to search him in his den, the area which he ruled for years.

Savarkar reaches Lonawala bus stand and starts searching for the key through which he can reach Amatya but suddenly he saw someone else.  A man whom he had met hours before: “THE WATCHMAN!! But what was he doing here? 

“Raghu??” he exclaims.

“what on earth are you doing here?” Savarkar is furious

“surprise Savarkar? got confused? Hahahahahaha” and Raghu starts his usual laughing.

“Darling Savarkar!! I am not Raghu. I am your old friend. Remember?” Says this man in a low husky voice almost whispering near the ears of Savarkar.

           

“old friend??” Savarkar tilts one side of his face and makes an expression of confusion.  He is still not clarified with this sudden appearance of Raghu.

“The Palanpur encounter! Remember?”

Some flash incidents appear before Savarkar `s eyes. Recovering from an immediate collapse near the bus stand, Savarkar stretches his arms towards the man.

“please forgive me, Pradeep!! Whatever happened was not intentional!  I took care of the loss and compensated for it too.”

Seeing Savarkar in tears, Pradeep urf Raghu turned away from Savarkar mercilessly and lighted his cigarette, after smoking two puffs, he said

“Savarkar! Money cannot bring back family.  Because of your mistake, I lost my wife in that incident and what did you give me? Every month some alms which is slightly more than the monthly income of a beggar.  Amatya is dead now and his entire business is mine today but his only incomplete task will be completed by me, I want to kill you.”

Saying so Pradeep took out his gun and pointed it towards Savarkar but then he was perplexed, he heard a giggle from the old man at whom he was pointing his revolver.

“Pradeep! Before you shoot me answer one simple question-Is Tatya with you?”

Pradeep laughed first at this miserable condition of Savarkar, and then slowly said “NO”

DISHOOM… the sound of gunshot which was prominently heard, created a chaos at the bus depot and immediately before the crowd and in the deep darkness, a dark shadow ran and disappeared in the dark corners and merged within the huge crowd of the other side.

As the crowd came near to realise what happened: they see Pradeep lying in the pool of blood.

Yet again Savarkar is back on his track of old gang attitude, but behind this terror attire there is a worried grandfather who does not know what to do?

Where to go now? Amatya is dead!! Pradeep is murdered? Then who kidnapped Tatya?  He went back to Tatya`s school hoping that his 6-year-old grandson would be sitting near the tree crying and waiting for his ajja to return, but even after searching the entire premises, in the dark he couldn’t find any sign of Tatya at school.

Shattered Savarkar started walking towards home, thinking, someone must have dropped Tatya home by looking at his school Id card but as he was walking he noticed something.

 A water bottle lying near the lamppost next to school gate.

“Tatya!” he mutters.

Finally, after such a long search, an evidence of Tatya was in his hand.  He walked near the wall in search of more things, like Id card or book or anything which could lead him to his grandson but what he found was more terrifying.

At a distance, he witnessed 4 dogs fighting with each other and trying to grab something from the dumpster.  Perhaps this area was back side of the school. With a heavy heart, sluggishly Savarkar walked down the street, with his feet trembling and sweat drenching his forehead.  He goes ahead and notices a leg with red sock, the usual ones which Tatya wears to school.

“Is Tatya murdered?” Fear was dominating Savarkar `s heart now.

He immediately chased the dogs and went further and finally, he found Tatya unconscious in a dumpster behind the school.

What happened? Was this kidnapping? Or just a prank? If this was kidnapping, then why no one asked for ransom?  And most importantly who did it?

 

A complete confusion of thoughts, every question was projecting itself loud and clear but still they were silent.