Restore

1. Fifteen Years Later......

It had been fifteen years since Bharavi left this place..... This soil.... This atmosphere.... Of freedom and of independence. Bharavi knew that Madhavgarh had changed but it was difficult for her to accept. She stood in front of the large stone, which marked the boundary of her kingdom. In fifteen years the stone hadn't changed. What had changed was its background, its loyalty. The British flag was attached to it.
Bharavi couldn't control herself. Standing there she recalled all that had happened fifteen years ago, she remembered how on this day itself, she lost every single thing dear to her.
A flood of emotions arose within her. She removed her sword and cut down the British flag in one swift attack. She fell on her knees as her emotions overflew in the form of tears. It took her only a moment to realise that she couldn't afford to be driven by her emotions. She had to be strong.........she had to be the king's daughter.
She was happy to see that it was dark and no one saw her cutting the British flag.
She entered her kingdom and tried not to affected by the events of the past. Today she was forced to disguise herself in her own kingdom. She wore her white coloured war practice uniform. She covered her face with a white cloth, only letting her eyes exposed. She had this weird fear that even after 15 years of change, someone would recognize her.
As she moved inside the kingdom she was astonished to see that villages were astonishingly identical to the ones present there fifteen years back but they had no light. Ironic.
Diwali was a festival, everyone in Madhavgarh celebrated irrespective of any circumstances. Maybe this is misrule.
Bharavi saw a tanga( Bullock cart) passing by. That was the best mode of transfer in Madhavgarh. She boarded the tanga to the capital.
Bharavi had to know the ground reality of Madhavgarh before she could draw a conclusion or take an action. A tanga driver would be just perfect. He could give an unbiased report.
"Why is it so dark on diwali this year?" She asked.
"Are you new to this place?"
"No. I used to stay here. But I had been out for a while"
"I am sure you might have returned here after atleast fourteen years"
Bharavi was unsure what to answer." Umm.........yeah "
"Since fourteen years the people of madhavgarh have been banned from celebrating diwali. The government does not allow the gathering of people or formation of societies . Besides no one here is left with money enough to celebrate any occasion"
"Why? Are the taxes too high"
"The general tax is high in itself. But we are even asked to pay taxes on any commodity or service we use. If that wasn't enough, they have not exempted anyone from paying tax"
"But this is unfair. Why don't the citizens unify and protest against this? "
"Its simple. No word like unification exist and if you wish to stay in Madhavpur, there are just two options, first to suffer and live or second, DIE."

Its was difficult for Bhairavi to digest the two options. She sat in the tanga silently pondering over this. The people of this kingdom whom she considered her family were suffering and all she could do was disguise herself and come at the site of the calamity 15 years late.

She was only able to come out of that depth when a jerk hit her.
"What happened ",she asked
"You reached your destination,daughter"
She thanked the old man as she handed him his well deserved four aanas.
"The cost is three aanas",he said while returning an aana to Bhairavi.
"Please accept it as a gift from your daughter "she said as she kept walking away. Even from a far distance she could see that innocent smile in between his white beard and blessings in his eyes. Atleast she could make this one man happy.

On entering Maanikpur,the capital of Madhavpur, she could feel the rift time had brought between people here. She had heard of the British ' Divide and rule ' policy for over a million times but had witnessed it for the first time. Talking to each other was a far concept where people did not even share glances. She was clueless about what might have happened. All that she knew was that during her childhood, this place, this market was a social hub and not a business place. A few moments later she could hear a horse. Maybe some official was there. This could be her chance.

Bhairavi could see many people getting gathered close to the statue of victory. All of them were holding some kind of sacks on their shoulders. Just as she was observing all this, she saw two horsemen coming near the same statue. Both of them were dressed in red colour stiff uniforms with golden buttons and stars. There were badges on the chest of the two men. Both of them had extremely pale skin and brown hair. Without doubt she could say that these were no other than the intruders.....,the murderers........,the British officers.

She came closer to have a better look. She saw that all the men with sacks were unloading them at the statue. All of these bags were of nearly of the same size. Just then a man unloaded a bag smaller others. One of the horsemen stopped that man with his sword. Bhairavi could partly hear that the officer was asking the man to pay more tax.
Bhairavi tried to go closer to hear the conversation. The man had all his clothes torn and muddy. He was malnourished to such extent that he looked less of a man and more like a skeleton wrapped in skin. His back was completely bent like a bow. "how heartless of them to not let this man go without paying an equal tax".
" I cannot pay anymore taxes sir"the man said
"You will not be exempted from paying taxes . You were instructed to grow indigo, then why did you grow pulses? "replied the horseman .
"sir my soil doesn't support indigo"
"so what? If you don't pay the rest of the tax in kind, you will have to pay 25 aanas as cash by tomorrow ",the horseman said, as he got down.
The old man fell to the feet of the British officer and pleaded for mercy.
"No mercy shall be provided to any lowly creature,no matter what "
"Then I promise you sir that I won't give you an aana of my tax"the old man said,in low but sturdy voice.

The British officer couldn't possibly bear this retaliation. He picked up his
whip and started hitting the old man with it. It was impossible Bhairavi see this. She tried hard but nothing was worse than seeing a old man getting whipped.

She moved forward and caught the whip before the officer could bring down another.

The agitated officer looked up to Bhairavi just to utter in anger "who the hell are you to have the guts to oppose commander Lewis"

"The Savior "

........................................................... A/N:I know it is too late for an update but I guess that quality of content matters. I could finally convert my thoughts into words but still SORRY ;)
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