Forbidden Territories

Chapter 3

One week later

"...he literally threatened us. And he definitely is linked to some political party Namra. We shouldn't get involved or mess with these people.." Aisha mutters as she sips her lemon ice tea.

I observe the light traffic passing on the road as Aisha continues talking about the incident which took place in our workshop last week. We're seated on one of the tables outside a roadside cafe.

"Of course Aisha I'm also worried by the whole thing but come on we all knew that at some point such kind of a things would happen. Now that people know WII such kind of problems were to rise up. And nobody is messing with them we're just doing our job. Infact them crashing our event that day, that was unacceptable and disrespectful and, not what we're doing. And as usual whenever any good venture gains popularity it's always attacked by such people who have their own personal agenda against it .." I say as I run my fingers over the rim of now half empty cup filled with cappuccino.

"I think we need to hold a meeting and sort this thing out soon.." Aisha sighs.

A ringing sound is heard indicating that Aisha's getting a call.She quickly picks up her smart-phone and mouths 'mum' before sticking it to her ear.

"Assalam alaikum Mum.." she speaks into her phone.

"..uh ..yea...yep..ya I'm on my way... yes yes sure..yea" she continues as she gets up to throw the empty plastic glass which before contained the lemon ice tea.

"Hmm..hmm..no no I'll do it mother.. yeah I was with Namra... no no we're done.." she picks up her bag as she signals me she has to leave.

I mouth 'I'll call you' as I nod in response.

I see her cross the street as she hails a rickshaw and leaves.

No sooner is she gone than I see a couple of black and white SUVs drive up the road and a number of motorcycles following them. The doors to of the cars are flung open as a number of men step out onto the footpath across from where I am. The guys on the motorcycles gather around them, some of them have saffron bandanas tied on their forehead while others are holding saffron flags.

I see a boy dressed in a brown kurta and dark jeans jump onto the bonnet of a black SUV. He's wearing a black leather jacket over the kurta. I almost choke on my cappuccino when I get a proper look at his face. It was the same guy who crashed our workshop. He starts giving some speech over a megaphone.

I gulp my drink, grabbing my phone and bag I walk into the cafe to pay the bill.

As I yank the door open after paying the bill I notice a number of cop cars parked on the street and a number of officers are roaming around the place. The men in khaki start to make their way towards the men in saffron bandanas who now look larger in number than before and have taken up not just the footpath but half of the road too.

I quickly turn right and make my way along the footpath hoping to get out before things get worse.

"Excuse me ma'am...where are you going? It's not safe for you to be here." I'm stopped abruptly by a constable. He's old and could be in his mid 50s.

"I know sir and that's why I'm leaving so if you excuse me please.." I answer trying to get away but he doesn't budge.

"Dekho beta, you better take the other way as things might get dangerous over here.." the constable states with genuine concern.

"But sir.." I start to say but am cut off by another voice from behind.

"What's going on here?" I turn around to see in man in his mid twenties dressed in a khaki uniform. He's clean shaven and has dark brown wavy hair.

"Nothing Mikaal Sir. This young lady wants to go this way but I was just advising her to take another way.." the constable answers for me.

"Ok..I got this.." he nods at the senior constable who walks away.

"As he was saying please take the other way ma'am because these guys don't have permission to stage such an act here " the inspector who's name I suppose is Mikaal eyes the guy who's standing on the car giving a speech.

".. so we're here to stop them and things might get heated..." he continues.

"But sir.." I'm cut off by some screaming.

I turn around to see a fight has broken between the saffron guys and the police.

"Stay here.." officer Mikaal instructs as he rushes towards the fight scene.

My jaw drops open as I notice the scene infront of me, it's chaotic and disastrous. The men in saffron are attacking the cops with hockey sticks and wickets while the police is fighting them off with their lathis. I turn around to run and instead freeze. A guy clad in a saffron kurta with long-ish hair stood with folded hands and a sinister smile on his face blocking my way. He leans forward and tries to grab me but I quickly turn around and run as fast as I can straight into the riot that just broken out.

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-Pic of Mikaal --->