THE CURSED BEAUTY

C-8

"Please miss, I request you. I will lose my job. Moreover, I fear I will lose my life if let it touch you. Please", Manohar said more like pleaded.

"I saw everything that happened today, kaka. And how will a raksha sutra make me impure?" the screened girl asked innocently. "Why were people beating that poor old man? Was it his fault to be born in a lower caste?"

"Premojit dada, beat him so bad kaka. I felt bad at his state. Didn't he feel bad? Couldn't he feel mercy?" the girl questioned. Her voice choking at end as if she was trying hard not to cry.

Anirudh felt there was more to the cursed girl. She was not just a snobbish girl with immature action potential but also a considerate, innocent and pure hearted child, who was trying to make everything better by her own ways.

"Give me the raksha sutra kaka, I will deliver it to their home and will apologize on every ones behalf. Then everything will be good again. Everyone will smile." The girl was now breaking into sobs, maybe disturbed by all the violence she must have seen.

"You are merciful miss, but shorkaar is not. If he finds out...." Manohar trailed off thinking about the consequences. He might be banished from the town, killed, his family tortured and humiliated. No he couldn't afford that. "Please miss, I join hands in front you. Don't." Manohar said pleadingly.

Anirudh was watching the scene from a safe distance. He could hear everything clearly without showing himself. Charan Singh Varma was a manipulative man. He understood the fact from the conversation he had with the beggar few moments ago. But his daughter seemed different. She was trying to apologize on everyone's behalf and thought everything could be solved. As if nothing happened. Her thinking was kind in her own childish way but she was wrong. The beggar did not need apologies. He needed justice.

His concentration from the conversation was broken when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He was instinctively on attack mode and lifted his fist to punch the person and refrained himself when he saw it was Charan Raj Varma himself.

"You're really violent. The villagers were right." Charan raj deadpanned.

"Then maybe you should not sneak up on me like this. Behind my back", Anirudh argued back. His argument had a point though. He was not wrong and was being unapologetically himself.

"What you did today was different. Not admirable in any case but different. There are many people who stand opposing the old customs and beliefs. You're not special. But not everyone lifts an untouchable in his arms like a lover, makes  him sit beside the idol of god and tries to break a fight inside the temple premises. Where people are supposed to pray." Charan raj sarcastically stated. He had seen similar situation 8 years ago, it was the day he diplomatically handled the situation, but got the biggest shock of his life.

 He had to accept the fact that this man had put his hand in the hive of raging bees and made it out alive.

"I have no regrets, sir. What I did was absolutely right and was not against my values. Injustice in any form is wrong." Anirudh said simply. Absolutely feeling super fine even after feeling blood tricking down his jaw. The fight was pretty intense , he thought.

"Absolutely you will have no regrets because you are standing alive. Not cut into pieces for your treacherous audacity. You should thank me". Charan Varma said. "You shout so loud man, as if your red giant monkey like face wasn't enough to scare off all the people. He joked.

Red faced monkey! Her daughter also said the same thing. Like father like daughter.  both weird.  Anirudh thought annoyed.

"Then try to cut me into pieces sir. I'm not afraid. But this backward mentality is wrong. That beggar was also human. With two hands, legs and eyes. He must not be discriminated just by the shallow divisions of caste and creed. He has all the rights which you people have." Anirudh tried to explain.

"He cannot get a better job or educate his children as you do to yours. Can't feed his family proper food. Endures taunts and beatings, humiliation and fear just because he was born in the wrong caste. This society is so delusional that it created its own casting system to increase the misery of people. Doesn't a human has enough hardships to face that we need to increase it further? What is the meaning of living life bound and in shackles when this huge world has so much to offer?" Anirudh's words held meaning but not enough to impress the stoic man in-front of him.

"You speak like a western man. Poetic and great. But all bark and no bite. The country you are trying to reform is much bigger than your 6 ft 4inches of height. It will take one secret poisoning, or an assault by goons to end your life and voice. With no voice no reforming. People in India love their culture more than life itself", Charan raj said. 

"I was one of those people too, but my beliefs and thoughts have been changed by a bitter sweet blessing on my life." He smiled as if remembering a sweet memory.

"This place will change, sir. My country will change. These social evils are a hindrance to the progress. I will change it. An ocean is made up of small droplets. If there is a drop like me, there might be other droplets hidden somewhere too." Anirudh stated. He believed. And perched. This incident of the temple stirred something inside of him. His life earning a meaning. A goal. 

This trip to India gave me my goal in life. To serve my land. To make the country proud.

"So let me give you a advice young man. Know the people you are willing to change before actually trying to change them. And you cannot just resort everything with violence or screaming. Use brains. Use money, power. "Charan raj said but it felt like he was feeding his thoughts and words into anirudh's brain.

"No sir! A pen is mightier than a sword. Money and power are only available to the people of upper classes but people who need help the most are the lower class men. A book doesn't discriminate but society does. Education can be the torch to show the light to the people in need and can also burn the evils of the society." Anirudh stated in a trance. "What we think today, what we do today, what we say today will reflect our future tomorrow."

"You are really a poet. Red faced monkey. You speak big words." Charan Varma said annoyed. Anirudh's style of speaking resembling an old headmaster making him bored. "Anyways thank me later for saving your life. The angry people whom dharma you insulted won't kill you. Because I have dealt with it." He said expecting thank you from Anirudh.

"What is with you calling me a red faced monkey? Are you trying to insult me?" Anirudh felt embarrassed. His daughter had the same opinion too. What if he really looked like a monkey? He thought. No. Girls back in London use to dot on his killer looks. This family might have some eye-sight issue.

"For all that kranti you dream about, you must have a brain too." Charan raj Singh Varma sassily replied. "With all that blood and anger on your face. You do look like a red faced monkey."

"Anyways return to your home before these people try to attack you behind my back. I have to leave. I'm a busy man." Charan said frankly left.

If he was not such a manipulative guy, Charan raj Singh Varma actually qualified to be a good person. He definitely had a grey personality with a diplomatic tongue but also had a childish side too. Anirudh remembered how he called him a monkey. His insult was a bit hilarious, he had to admit. Maybe his lighter side emerged because of being a father. 

He had an influential persona too. Then why couldn't he save his own daughter from the curse. When he had all the money , power and support he claimed what was necessary for things to change then why keep his own daughter bound in superstitious beliefs?