Arohan - The Ascent

An Intersection

3 Months Later

There had been no news of Vikram over the next 3 months. There was no way to communicate with him as well. Before going away to Afghanistan, he was allowed phone calls to his foster parents. And when it was not possible to call, he wrote a letter to madam ji. But beyond that, there was no way for anyone to contact Vikram, unless he decided to make a phone call or write a letter.

Urvashi was sure in those 3 months, that something had gone wrong terribly. Something, she was not prepared to accept was happening to her a second time over. She was devasted by the news on the TV screen as well as her own guilt at the way she had treated Vikram, over the past couple of years, as he tried to reach out to her, to show her that he was changing, that he deserved her respect and ...

Urvashi had gone into a shell of self-inflicted mourning. She had become rather withdrawn, rarely smiling, hardly talking, just going through the motions of life, like a lifeless, purposeless body. She had returned back to the forests way beyond Padrauna, settling into the tribal settlement of Chadauli, 200 km from Padrauna.

The Naxal-infested Chandauli tehsil, where a small village called Bhadualiya sat on the border of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with a population of just over 500 people, mostly tribals, became the home to Urvashi. She had zeroed in on this village, as she had heard stories of how children in Bhadauliya were bereft of education and opportunities that education presented, due to the great distances they travel, to get to a school.

She had requested Pandit ji, to allow her to operate a makeshift school in Bhadauliya. Pandit ji thought it better to get her away from the prying eyes of the villagers and their pointed questions. 

"Are! What happened to the teacher? She looks so pale?" one middle-aged lady asked Pandit ji.

One of the days, as Urvashi woke up in the morning, she found her well-meaning neighbor tying a large white pumpkin to her front door. His justification was, it would help ward off the evil that seemed to have taken Teacher Ji in its grasp, making her look pale and sick.

At the hand pumps and wells in the village, Urvashi and her loss of enthusiasm were discussed with great interest, day on day. So when she offered to step up a makeshift school, he didn't wish to stop her. But he knew too, that Bhadauli was right in the center of Naxal activity. And the Naxals had even killed a man in Bhadauliya, suspecting him of being a police informer. How could he send her to such a dangerous place?

When he broached his fears with Urvashi, she dismissed them casually. "You already know who my father is, the Naxals would not invite his wrath. Trust me Pandit ji, I know what I am doing, just let me go," she said, with a resolute look on her face.

There was a specific reason why Urvashi chose Bhadauliya. One it was in a remote part of the state, being on the border with Bihar, almost. The village mostly comprised of tribal population with almost half the population of 500 being women. Most of the men were the breadwinners of the family and the women were deprived of even basic education. Only 22% of the women in Bhadauliya had even basic education. And that is what Urvashi wanted to change.

And so she moved with Pandit ji's help. Jai, Sonu, and Minku were her principal logistical partners, helping her move whatever things she needed to set up the school there. They made several trips back and forth between Padrauna and Bhadauliya. When she initially moved into Bhadauliya, Pandit ji accompanied her. They introduced themselves to the locals and asked if they could rent a place, to live for Urvashi.