Arohan - The Ascent

Winds of Change

What did you say your name is?" Asked Balram , looking at the face of young man, with a disbelief.

"Vikram ... Vikram Singh!" He said...smiling faintly.

The old man stood rooted to the spot where he was and watched Vicky with amazement in his eyes. Vicky could not understand why Pandit ji would ask him to go to him and why the old man looked at him , the way he did. But there a piece of this puzzle that was missing.

"Are you new to this place?" Asked Balram, regaining his composure, in a somewhat hoarse voice.

"Yes Baba, I am new here. I am just wandering around his country from state to state. I have grown on the streets... so I have no one who waist for me, no home..nothing. I was on a bus from Lucknow, and just on a whim decided to get off here. I saw the advertisement at the station and decided to stay here for sometime,"

Vicky had not even completed the story that Pandit ji had made him repeat many times over before sending him out here, when the old man cut him short.

"So, where will you stay?" He asked unlocking the massive lock that held the shutters of his shop closed.

"No idea baba, may be tonight I will sleep outside the shop, tomorrow I will look around the town and see what I can do..." he stated, matter of factly.

The old man started to say something, and then abruptly stopped. "Can do simple calculations?" He asked, turning away from Vicky.

"Yes, I am very good at mental mathematics. I also have a great memory, and I won't be clumsy. So you can trust me," he said, watching as the old man, went to the counter and listed a small oil lamp. He put it on a pedestal, where a photo of Mata Lakshmi was kept. Beside the frame of Mata Lakshmi, there was a photo frame of a young man, Hugh with a floral garland around it.

Vicky quickly turned to the old man and hinting to the frame asked him, "who is that baba?"

The old my looks to the direction where Vikram was pointing and said, "my son," and turned back to pulling out some buddies of camouflage cloth.

"Was he by any chance named Vikram?" Questioned Vicky, looking at the picture with an unblinking stare.

The old man stopped whatever it was he was doing and turned towards Vicky almost as if he had seen a ghost. "How do you know his name?" He asked , his voice barely a whisper.

Vicky simply looked at the old man, his face mirroring the incredulity of fate that had been thrust upon him.

His mind raced back to the previous days and the ominous words of Pandit ji. "Many times in life I have wondered why somethings happen, like when an aged father is stied off of his only living support, when a mother , at the age she should be planning the marriage of her son is planning the many fo his final rites, I wondered why God would do such a thing to some of the most God fearing people in this world. I have even fought with him for His injustice to this old couple. But now, I think I understand. I understand exactly why you and I are here in this moment.Now listen to me....."

The old man touched Vicky gently on his shirt sleeve. "Vikram?" He called.

Vicky emerged from his thoughts with a "huh?"

"I asked , how you know my son's name?" The old man repeated his question again.

"I just felt it in my bones...." Said Vicky, looking down at the defeated father.

The Previous Day -Padrauna Zilla Parishad School

"Why are you doing this?" Urvashi questioned, storming into Pandit ji's small room, once Vicky had left.

"What am I doing?" He asked her back, with a poker face.

Urvashi could not believe that Pandit ji would do this to her, the man who always stood by the right was now defending a criminal? This was beyond comprehension for her.

"Why would you try and talk to that monster ? Have you forgotten what state I was in a few months ago? Why then would you even talk to him?" She demanded, anguished at what she considered a personal betrayal by someone who she considered a father figure.

Pandit ji understood her feelings very well. And frankly there was no fault in her thinking that way too. What she had suffered physically because of Visky was the easier part. The mental agony that had been caused to her the experience of that one night, pandit knew, he would never even come close to understanding as a man. So, her outburst was fully justified.

He stood up and walked u to Urvashi. Taking out his spectacles he patted her gently on her head. "Calm down Urvashi. Your anger, your hurt, everything is justified in it's place. I will not even try to say I understand how you feel, I couldn't possibly understand... But Vicky has already suffered for his crime. He has served out his prison term. For good or for bad, unwittingly or by design , you have now , clearly put him on a path to self-transformation. And I am only playing my part in helping him achieve this transformation..." he stated, with calm, kid eyes.

"It won't work Pandit ji?" Urvashi said, her eyes pained by the fact that anti ji got taken in by Vicky's act. " Once a criminal, always a criminal. Do you think a monster like him has any scope to change.. I think now And I am truly hurt that you would take his side..." she said, and walked out