Maya's Revenge

Playing with Fire to slay the demon

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Maya woke up to a usual morning. The sky was cloudy, and it was raining. It had been raining since last evening. She woke up Chanda quietly, and they both sat at the door of the hut, staring at the rain. (Toka bahut maara?) "Did they beat you up a lot?" Chanda asked after a few moments of silence. (Haan us kamine constable ne bahut mara, Kumud Singh ke saamne. Dande se peeth par , pair or pet par bahut maara, baalon se pakad kar khoob thappad maara) . "Yes, that wretched constable hit me a lot in front of Kumud Singh. He hit me with a stick on my legs, stomach, and back. He held me by my hair and slapped me incessantly in front of everybody." She gave a subdued cry. Chanda had tears in her eyes, but she was also in awe of her elder sister. (Ka jaroorat thi patthar se maarne ki oka, bhaag jaati wahaan par se?) "What was the use of hitting that boy with a stone, you could have just run away?" (Tujhe pata naa hai, wo kamina mere peeche nahin tere peeche pada hai, tere chakkar kaat rahaa thaa wo ischool mein, mujhe pata hai savere bhi wo tere liye hi humare peeche cycle se aaya thaa. Agar mein use nahin rokti to aur nidar ho jaata wo haraam ka jana. Ye to har roz ka kaam hai, tujhe to pata hai ischool ka, par ee baat baba aur amma ko mat batana, warna ischool nahin jaane denge) "You don't know this, but I know, that guy was stalking you, he is not after me but you. That morning he was stalking us for you. Had I not stopped him that day, he would have become more emboldened, that rotten pig. You know its a daily battle at school, but don't tell of this to Ma and Papa; they would not allow us to go to school.

Maya and Chanda, resumed their daily routine. School started, Nihal Singh opened his paan shop as usual in the morning, and Jigna joined him at the tea stall. With all of this, Maya was still edgy, she made it a point that she kept an eye on Chanda as much as she could. She still had a bad feeling about Kumud Singh doing something unthinkable. Sleep at night was scarce for her as she was concerned about her family.

Two days after this incident, Maya noticed two motorbikes, turning up repeatedly around their hut. She was concerned. That night, she broached the subject when the family huddled for dinner near the Choolha (fireplace made of mud used for cooking). Tara was cooking chapati's, and Jigna was serving them. (Baba ehaan se chalo. Hum sab khatre mein hai. Kumud Singh ka koi bharosa nahin hai. Aaj teen bar motorcycle par ladke humare ghar ka chakkar laga rahe the). "Father, let's leave this place, we are in danger, Kumud Singh cannot be trusted. Today three times, boys on the motorcycle went around our hut." Nihal Singh broke down. He had a small bite of roti in his hand, and used that hand to hide his face as he cried. Maya, got up and stood beside him and consoled him. Jigna and Chanda looked concerned, and Tara, now had stopped cooking. All of them were looking at Nihal Singh.

Nihal Singh, said in a choked up voice, (Kahaan jaayenge, Kumud Singh yahan se lekar lucknow tak charas afeem ka dhanda karta hai. Usne Chanda ko apne ghar par kaam par bhejne ke liye daraya dhamkaya, par hum pair pakadkar kisi tarah raaji kiye usko. Paan ki dukaan, par ab humein afeem rakhna padega, raat ko nepal paar se log aakar humare dukaan par khareed bikri karenge . Agar hum nahin karenge to Chanda ko uske yahaan bhejna padega.) "Where can we go, Kumud Singh's opium empire spreads from here to Lucknow. He forced me so much to send Chanda to work in his house. But I pleaded with him and convinced him to leave her. To compensate him, I have to keep opium in my paan shop, and people will come in the dead of the night to trade in it from across the border from Nepal. If I do not do it, we will lose Chanda forever."

Right then there was a knock on the door. All the family members were nervous. Maya went and opened the door. It was Girish, the inspector from the police station. He came inside. Nihal Singh, it seems, had requested him to come to meet them at the house. He had sent one of his friends to deliver a message to him at the police station. He could not go and meet him at the police station, as Kumud Singh would get to know. Girish had come in plain clothes. Maya invited him in and gave him a small stool to sit on. Nihal Singh sat on the ground beside him and enumerated about everything in a choked voice.

Girish listened inquisitively. He took out a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number. He stood up and went to one corner of the hut. Girish sat down on the stool and spoke. (Nihal Singh, bhai ek hi rasta hai madam ke hisaab se, tuu Kumud Singh ke khilaaf saboot ikattha kar, hum tujhe aur tere parivaar ko kisi aur shehar mein baswa denge. Madam, ne abhi waada kiya hai. Par saboot dhyan se ikattha karna padega. Betiyon ko acche school mein dakhila mil jaayega aur tujhe naya kaam. Saara kharcha sarkar uthayegi: "Brother Nihal Singh, there is only one way out. You collect evidence against Kumud Singh and help us arrest him, and we will get you and your family settled in some other city. You will get new work, and your daughters will get a new school. All expenses would be borne by the government."

He explained to them that the requirement would be to keep a surveillance at Kumud Singh's house and some of the other Paan shops where trading of opium used to be done in the middle of the night. Girish told that he would make sure that Kumud Singh got to know that the police had kept all the other paan shops, under surveillance, where he was currently doing his trades, so that he is forced to trade at Nihal Singh's paan shop. He would be forced to do his trades at Nihal Singh's shop, as he would be confident that the police, did not know about Nihal Singh working for him now. At the right opportunity, they would nab him or one of his men and force him to admit his crime and also expose others's involvement. Nihal Singh was afraid to do all this, but then he had no other way out. But he asked how they would keep surveillance at Kumud Singh's house. Girish suggested to Nihal Singh that he should request Kumud Singh to keep Jigna or Maya as a help in his house. Request and plead with him for some work. He should not have any problem doing it, as he will think he has Nihal Singh's family under his nose. Maya interrupted (hum jaayenge, amma nahin jaayegi). "I will go, Ma would not be going." Girish agreed, and said that, as it is, the elderly policewoman had threatened Kumud Singh that if anything happened to Maya, he would pay for it. He knew that he could not do any harm to Maya, so it was safe for Maya to work at his house. Girish gave Nihal Singh two small feature phones and told him to only call using those phones in case there was an emergency. One had to be carried by Nihal Singh while the other by Maya.