The Transformation

Life was cruel on Somashekhar. He wanted to study hard however, could not live up to the expectations his parents had. His grades were always a cut below the expectations. A member of a middle class family, his father Arun used to work hard to ensure that Somashekhar and his sister Saritha had a good upbringing. Saritha used to study in a convent school as Arun could not pay for the studies of both children in a private school as the fees would be too high.

Arun was an accountant working in a Private company in Ernakulam. The monthly bills and education bills would take a toll on the savings he had been planning. He would also have to send some money home to his ailing mother. She did not want to come to Kochi leaving her ancestral house in Trivandrum. As a result Arun would end up sending around Rs. 250 a month to her, a big sum in the 80’s. From the meagre amount that remained he would buy vegetables and fish very rarely though the family loved fish.

For Somashekhar however he would look at the rich children he had for company and yearn for the riches they had at their disposal. As was the case with most of the children, he would think, ‘Why Oh god, why was I born in this poor family?’.

Som’s school was not too far from his house. He used to walk to school and back. Some of the days they used to have extra classes after school hours which used to end at 3.30 pm. Som’s principal had summoned his parents many times this year as he was lagging behind in Maths and Physics. As it was 8th standard they considered it a duty to remind parents that 10th was knocking on the doors and the parents had to push their wards to perform better. In the quarterly test paper, Som had barely passed the test papers and had tricked his mother into signing the report card. Arun was angered by all of this, however being a relatively calm person had tried to use his good nature to try and preach the virtues of being true. Citing Mahatma Gandhi was a pretty normal ritual when citing righteousness. So much so, that Som knew a lot more of Gandhi than some of his teachers who taught History at school.

Rajkumar was a rich boy and he used to show off his new Pencil Boxes which he used to bring to school. His father surely was a rich man, Som used to think to himself. Then there was Ravi and Ashwin who also were super rich according to Som as they used to get Maggi to school. Ram was super fat and easily the heaviest lad in class. As was expected, for lunch he only used to get biscuits to school which would disappear as soon as he would open his lunch box.

Som used to get rice and curry for lunch. Non vegetarian food was not allowed in school, and it anyways was a luxury that Som’s family could hardly afford.

February 24, 1989:

Arun’s father while reading the newspaper was reading an article aloud to Sumalatha, Som’s mother about children being kidnapped in the vicinity to be pushed into begging. There were also rumours about some of them being supplied to an eatery where human meat was served as a delicacy. ‘Must be rumours, who in earth would have human meat in Kerala. We are literate and educated, how can someone do something as barbaric as this’.

Som walked to school as on any other normal class day. Class day had been normal that day. Same old boring classes except for Geography as it was conducted by Prema teacher whose classes he loved. She was a very good teacher according to him as she never scolded anyone. At the back of his mind were the special classes that they had been informed about. Som had been told that there would be a special class after school hours for around 10 of them.  Maths and Physics were the subjects.

He was carrying some dosas as his mother wanted to ensure that her son was not hungry and would concentrate on his studies. However Som after his lunch of rice and curries was not at all hungry. Janaki Ma’am, a teacher in her 40’s and a taskmaster at that, came at 4 pm and was expected to conduct the class till 5.30 pm. It was only 4.30 pm and Som was already feeling the pinch. He was not at all interested in Maths. In another 15 minutes he would also have to contend with Physics. All this Sin and Cos he wish were never invented.

Janaki ma’am gave a lot of sums to be solved and some homework too. The bag seemed heavier than usual. Som walked slowly trudging carefully alongside the road careful to avoid the traffic on the road. He had barely walked for around 10 minutes when suddenly, there was a vehicle which came and stood next to him and a big man picked him up and pushed him into the vehicle. Som was shocked and started yelling. The big man took a plaster and put it on his mouth and tied Som’s hands behind him. There were a couple of other children in the vehicle. Som could hardly breathe and his heart was beating fast. Through the corner of his eye he could see that the other children were not tied, he kept pleading to them to untie him and then not realising when, he passed out.

‘Get up, you sick little pervert’ a big mug of water splashed on Som’s face.

‘How dare you try to scream? Do you even know who we are? You are still lucky to be alive’ The big man screamed.

‘Hey you scum bag, tell him who we are and what we can do’. He thundered.

Som’s hands were still tied and his hands were now hurting.

‘Sir, I am sorry’ he screamed. ‘Please untie my hands, I want to go home..Please I beg of you’

Som started crying his eyes filled with water which were now red from the water that was thrown at him.

‘Dare not move, I will untie you, if you try to run away I will not hesitate to kill you’.

Som was terrified and shocked. He was a little happy though that the hands were untied and mouth was not plastered. He started looking around now and asked the other children which place this was. No one wanted to answer his questions. Did they not know the language? He thought to himself. Suddenly all the memories of his family started appearing to him.

His eyes were filled with tears. He was so not sure of the time, he had the dosa with him and the bag was still with him. He opened the box and checked how the dosa was, it was still good. He opened his mouth to eat when he saw the other hungry kids alongside. Not the one to usually share his food, he offered a bite to a couple of them. He also ate some and looking at the way they ate his eyes were filled with tears. Back at Arun’s home, his mother was trying to reach his school number from a neighborhood house.

Arun had just reached his house. Sumalatha ran into his arms and cried ‘where is he, where is my son?’

He tried to pacify her. He felt helpless not sure what to do. ‘Let us wait for some more time, he might have gone to watch the matches that they play in that ground near his school.’ Arun said.

Saritha was also trying hard to console her mother, ‘Som will come mom you don’t worry too much.’.

The children and Som were now feeling hungry.

‘The food will come in sometime’, one kid spoke for the first time in Hindi.

Som realised that these kids were picked up from different parts of the country. Going by the looks, he remembered his father reading the newspaper. This surely was that begging racket he was talking about. Som started thinking about the martial arts classes. He decided that it was not good to just go in for a meek surrender.  There was the sound of the door opening and a couple of big men walked in. Som sat huddled in a corner like a helpless child. He decided that lying low was the smart thing to do and while at night he would have to plan the escape. The big men brought food for the children. It was stinky rice and curry. Som didn’t feel like touching the food, let alone having it. However he feared for his life and safety of the other children. He felt an obligation to save their lives as much as his life.

Arun decided to go to the Police station and register a complaint. The Inspector in charge at the Police station decided to file the case and asked for Somashekhar’s latest photograph. Arun had taken the photograph and entrusted the same to the policeman. They assured that they would take swift action and asked him not to worry. Arun told him that he would do anything to get Som back. The children had their food and were about to sleep. Som was pretending to be asleep, the sound of mosquitoes however did not allow him to sleep.

‘Let these guys go, after that I will check if I can escape’.

He then waited for the guys to leave. After sneaking from where he slept, he started looking around in the pitch black if there was any sign of a place he could escape from. There was a small opening he saw in the wall. He searched if there was any tool he could dig with or something he could push it open with. It was a metal covering that was there in place. He trying to push it open with all his force. He could not, time was running out and it must have been at least an hour or so since he was trying.

All other children were fast asleep. Suddenly a hand reached out for his shoulder.

‘Oh god! I am caught’

He thought and slowly turned around. His heart beat fast as he turned around. It was one of the kids. He breathed a sigh of relief. The other kid too helped him and slowly but surely they were able to open the door. Slowly the other child woke up the other children and they climbed out of the hole one after the other. In the pitch dark of the night they walked. Barefooted most of them, trying to avoid being detected. Near the entry point, a tall dark guard was snoring. The kids slowly sneaked through without a sound. There they were walking slowly away from their place of captivity. There was a small neck of woods that they made their way through and kept walking not knowing where they were headed. They only realised that they needed to go as far as possible. Suddenly as a God sent, they heard a Police Van moving towards them.

Som waved heavily and the van stopped. Initially they thought it was a group of beggars. Som narrated the incident to them and the kids were ferried away in the van. All of them packed like sardines were brought to the Police station. The inspector recollected Som’s face from the picture Arun had given to them.

Som narrated the entire story to them and the policemen raided the place based on his description in the dark of the night. All the goondas were arrested due to the swift action of the police. The policemen were impressed by Som’s bravery and his parents were surprised and relieved. Arun and his wife was very happy that they had found their son. Som was happy that he was with his family and requested the Inspector to help the other children find their families.

A couple of days later Somashekhar rejoined school and he was given a hero’s welcome at school. He was a changed person now. From a school going boy he had become more mature. Of course, the child like pranks were still there at times. However the incident changed him into someone a lot more mature and realized that he had more in life than some of the other children that roamed around in the streets. He started taking studies more seriously and decided that he wanted to take up a profession once he grew up, that would make a change to the world.

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