August 19

August 19 In 2021 Separated from her family, and forced to sleep with men, living in a desolate farm house near Ballia station all by herself, Manjula had barely stepped into her teens. Manjula lost all hope of escaping the nightmare as she clutched on to her life tenuously. Even while she was being physically assaulted, the girl clutched on to a photograph, her only possession. She was the daughter of Ram Avatar Pandey and Razia. Pandey a peasant, hailed from Rattuchak, a hamlet in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh while Razia was from Chittagong. Ram Avatar was a descendant of the celebrated revolutionary Chittu Pandey, who liberated Ballia from colonial oppression for a few days on August 19, 1942 before being crushed brutally by the despotic British regime. Some Years Back Ram Avatar was ambitious unlike his brothers and had a crack at various competitive examinations. Alas, lady luck did not smile on him…. His dream to be District Collector in the feudal state of Uttar Pradesh crashed at the altar of unfulfilled aspirations. He was left with no option but to tend farm lands with his father and brothers. Meanwhile he was married to Shakuntala, along with a dowry of several parcels of land. His life resembled a parched land desperately yearning for a monsoon. The peasant was so different from his unlettered brothers with whom he could barely communicate. As agricultural incomes plummeted, with little work on hand, the farmer migrated to Bengaluru. He found a job with Uber and began driving a taxi for a living, on which he could only just survive. A significant portion of his earnings was sent to his wife to fend for the family consisting of his children and parents. One night it was raining incessantly in Bengaluru. While ferrying passengers in the bustling city, Ram Avatar almost knocked down a woman who was being chased by a few drunken youngsters. The well-built Pandey was quite a handful for the inebriated youth who beat a hasty retreat. The woman, who worked in a salon was Razia (also studying journalism under a pseudonym, Radhika). That chance encounter between Ram Avatar and Razia changed their lives forever. Both were migrants to the Silicon Valley of India; one from Uttar Pradesh and the other from Chittagong. They were not alone, but lonely. Razia, a winsome young woman was exceedingly cerebral, pursuing journalism at the estimable Chittagong College, a beacon of learning in the eastern part of Bangladesh. The young lass was fond of the “good things of life” and not overtly religious. She believed in a sovereign power governing the Universe, and not particularly wedded to Islam. Her personality was fashioned by the writings of Rabindranath Tagore, Khalil Ghibran and Osho, among others. Razia believed in the power of the mind and the concept of international consciousness rather than sectarian nationalism. The woman often skipped offering prayers five times in the day, for which she was severely remonstrated by her father, a muezzin in a mosque. At heart Razia was a rebel with a strong feminist view and always admired the life and writings of Taslima Nasreen. She abhorred modern day “Jihad” being carried out across the world by various vigilante groups of all organized religions and sects. As it happened, Razia got entangled in a relationship with her professor who held similar views. Love and passion blossomed and the two ran away and started staying together, before they were hounded by their respective families and the cops. The body of Prof Rehman was one day found near Karnaphuli River Road, ostensibly hit by a vehicle and Razia fled to India two days prior to her nikah. Ram Avtar and Razia’s attraction was not “love at first sight” but a strange connection. She was amused by his earthy rural jokes and knowledge of history and English language. The taxi driver was singularly impressed with radical views of the intrepid Bangladeshi woman. Religion and language did not create any barrier between the two. Though not married, they moved in together. Ram Avatar did not compel her to convert to Hinduism even as he offered prayers at a Shiva temple, while Razia at times offered namaz. The couple was nevertheless ostracized by their associates. News about the incident in Bengaluru soon resonated in the village of Rattuchak and the Pandey family was boycotted by the other twice born as the hapless father looked on, forlorn. Earlier in both good and bad times the Brahmins, Thakurs and Vaishyas of Ballia district were closely associated with the Pandey family (owing to their lineage), but now they were spurned. “How could Ram Avatar marry a Muslim and that too a Bangladeshi?” was the refrain. Shakuntala’s family in Rasra village was also snubbed by the highbrow population. Pandemic Strikes There were a series of lockdowns and finally a masked Ram Avatar and a full term pregnant Razia along with Manjula boarded a migrant special from Yeshwantpur to Gorakhpur on their way to Ballia. Razia passed away in the train while delivering a girl child. As the train trudged in to Gorakhpur, tragically Manjula got separated from her parents in the melee at the station. That night she was accosted by a group of landlords and repeatedly raped and confined in a farm house. The torture continued for days together. The only person aware about Manjula’s agony and ignominy was Shakuntala, now a house maid at the farm house. It was the night of August 19, when Shakuntala and Manjula ran away from the farm house. That morning, Shakuntala had had a glimpse of the photograph of her husband Ram Avatar among the meagre belongings of Manjula. A few days later the charred bodies of Shakuntala and Manjula were found in the farm house by the police and a little earlier mangled corpses of Ram Avtar Pandey and an infant were found on the Purvanchal Expressway connecting Gorakhpur and Ballia. History had repeated itself with the Pandey family.