** Chapter : 7 **
Deep into sitaram hullabaloo…
The sky had turned into dark turquoise blue, nothing much was there apart from some dark grey clouds. A little shades of dark orange painted the west horizon, up roared of Sun’s existence in this vast universe. A two or three stars also started appearing into the sky, night ill begin soon, once again I will have to inhale my exhaled carbon-dioxide only and once again my lungs will be filled by the stinky atmosphere of that pathetic cell. Winter evenings ended pretty early, I waited in the portico of the prison, to get dragged back into my cell.
“Ipsa Vaidya…!” A constable shouted from a distance in a high tone. I just stood up, cleaning dust gathered on my back side.
“Someone is here to meet you.”
“To meet me?”
“Yes, this way..!”
I wondered who it can be, with a little inquisitiveness I walked towards the visitor’s area. It was a little room, with a wooden desk, some chairs and a time worn fan circulating on the ceiling. I adjusted myself on the chair, the entrance to the door opened, a man entered, neither young nor aged. He was smoking, I immediately recognized him.
“Smoking is injurious to health.”
“I know Miss. Vaidya, how have you been. Is Jailer treating you good enough?”
“Oh yeah, I am phenomenally well treated. Will you please tell why the hell you are here?”
“Chief sent me, to remind you what you are up to, if you have done with you romance with Mr. Agrawal, concentrate on the work.”
“Why don’t you mind your f**king business, have you forgotten you are talking to your senior. I know what I am upto, you don’t need to come and remind me. And it will be good for you arse-hole, if you stay away from my personal affairs.”
“It’s not your personal affair Ms. Vaidya, whole of our team is depending on you. To the f**k with your romance, I just want to make sure you are not ruining effort of each of us.”
“First of all, let me remind you. It’s not your duty to make sure anything; it was once upon a time. If chief has trusted upon me, why you don’t let me do it my way and stop poking your nose in, and throw that f**king cigarette away, being here is suffocating enough.”
“Well, all the best..!! What else can I say?”
“You better, shut your bloody mouth Sharma, since last three years we are working with each other and with each day passing we have hated each other more and more and still we are working together coz we know we are best at what we do. So, can’t we do it more peacefully?”
“Good to know, you finally accepted – I am the best in the business.”
“F**k you…!” and the meeting ended.
∞
Once the capital of early Chalukyan Dynasty, Aihole is a picturesque village on the banks of river Malaprabha; variously called Ayyavole & Aryapura in the inscriptions. Aihole has the potential to be included as UNESCO World Heritage Si**. The village has 125 temples divided into 22 groups by the archaeological department. Aihole has been described as one of the cradles of temple architecture. Of late some brick structures of pre-chalukyan times have also been excavated. It must have been a great ancient city, a commercial centre as well, with the federation of trade guilds having its headquarters here. According to the mythology Aihole is the place where Parashurama washed his axe after killing the Kshatriyas. Aihole has historical significance and is called as Cradle of Hindu Rock Architecture, many temples and caves of historical importance can be found here. It has more than seventy temples. The experimentation with different styles was undertaken by artisans. They worked on the rocks to create the earliest rock cut shrines. The artisans graduated to the full-fledged Chalukya style of architecture.
We were here at one of the heritage temples, Lad Khan Temple. It is the temple dedicated to Lord Shiva (my all-time favourite lord, as you know). Lad Khan Temple is a one of the oldest Hindu Temples built in the 5th century by the kings of the Chalukya dynasty. It is located to the south of the Durga Temple. The temple is named after a Muslim prince who turned this temple into his residence for a short period. The temple consists of a shrine – garbha griha with mandapa in front of it. The mukha is situated in front of the sanctum and consists of a set of twelve carved pillars. The sabha mandapa and the pillars are arranged to form two concentric squares. The walls have floral patterns on them and windows have lattice work done in northern style. The special feature of this temple is that it starts with a rectangular structure and ends with a square structure. Based on a wooden construction design, the square and rectangular plan has a steep roof, which is an adaption of wooden style in stone. The maha mandapa is open to exterior by large windows between the pillars; I stood at one of such window, letting the wind play with my face the way it wanted, drinking the pleasure of company and serenity of my favourite almighty when ringing cell of Satva disrupted almost to be meditated state of mind of mine, I gave him oh-please-pick up that fucking phone look, he smiled at me, letting the cell ring a little more, I made my face at him.
“Yes sir..!” He started walking around in the temple premises, I wonder what is this with the phone, as soon as people start talking, they start walking.
“No, actually I am here in Karnataka, for some work.”
“Okay..!!”
“Good..!”
“But, it’s not possible now, give me some time.”
“Good, then let’s meet at Hyderabad, once I am done with it over here, we need to discuss that project in Gujarat as well, it is of the most significance to our organisation as of now.”
“Absolutely sir, Cya at Hyderabad soon then..! Take care..!”
“You like Hyderabadi Biriyani?”
“I am a total vegetarian..!”
“Good, we are going to Hyderabad from here.”
“Do, I have option to deny?”
“Try it someday….!”
“You are a stubborn arse-hole…!”
“Oh yeah babe, there is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
“Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice – Chapter 31…!”
“I like this smartness in you Ms. Vaidya..!” And he walked away slowly, eluding to look into my eyes, he was afraid, I will catch something from there, what he felt, how he felt about me, he was escaping the battle ground that meant I had won. I blushed.
“By the way that thug is at Chilapur, a village twenty minutes ride from here.” He shouted without turning back to look at me, his voice ricocheted in the silent temple premises, once or twice may be.
∞
Chilapur is a little village near Aihole on the main highway connecting to the main cities of the state of Karnataka. Although population of the place wasn’t that much, it was strategically located on the highway, that crook had selected his place nicely, he was smart enough, but not more than us.
We too had pulled our resources together, before taking on this deadly Guruji. Thought we hadn’t succeeded in getting any evidence of him involved in killing of those kids, we managed to get a good look into why he was here in at Chilapur.
“Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshu kada chana. Ma Karma phala hetur bhurmatey sangostava akarmani; meaning to say, you have the right to perform your duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of the actions. Do not let the fruit be the purpose of your actions, and therefore you won’t be attached to not doing your duty. We all are bound to our duties, and those who hide from their duties can’t find place even in the hell.” Sitaram sat on the temporary stage made in the huge open land just next to the highway. His eyes stared at the relatively larger crowd looking at the town size; he had a shrewd look on his face. He was in complete white attire – a white dhoti and a white shawl, so was each of his volunteers. A huge tripund was made on his forehead using chandan. His hair had turned silvery-grey, so was his beard which extended till his throat. Har Har Mahadev, was embossed on the background of the stage, he was sitting on. Crowd of innocent people listened to him, there was some sort of charm in his voice, one can’t deny that. We stood at a little distance, listening to what he was speaking.
“As the almighty said, Karma is the only wealth you possess. It’s all pre-written, you can’t change your destiny; but yes by doing good karma, we can attain a place in the holy Mount Kailash, place in the legs of Lord Mahadev. And if you have faith in in him, he will prove that he exists, he will prove that he can do the miracles. And that is what exactly happened, last night Lord Rudra, Mahadev himself came into my dream, wearing Vyghara-charma, his body was smeared with fresh Bhasma- ashes from the Smashan, his bravura forehead seemed even more brighter with the tripund. He held a trident in the right lower arm. With a crescent moon on his head; he was wearing his golden – yellowish white hair wound in a braid in a Kaparda- shell like fashion. His complexion was fair like camphor or like an ice clad mountain, some invincible light was coming through his face, his personality was calming. I immediately surrendered to his legs. He ran his hand on my head; I felt heavenly peace in there. He said, “Sitaram, you know, why you are here, in chilapur?” I nodded my head in negative, I was so overwhelmed in the joy that words had dried in my mouth. “Because, I wanted you here, I want to stay in this pure land of Chilapur. The Day after tomorrow is waning moon 13th night, i.e. vad teras, according to Hindu Calendar, I will appear on this holy land on this holy day exactly when the sun is at the top of your head. I want you to make necessary arrangements, so I can peacefully stay here with my family.”
“It will be pure pleasure for me my lord. Your words are words of inscription for me.”
“Aayushmaan bhavah, abhaya bhavah..!” He said and disappeared, now it is our duty my friends to arrange for warm and huge welcome for the lord, it shouldn’t be less than a festival for us. The Lord himself is coming to us; there can’t be any other holy day for us. Are we ready to welcome him?”
“Haaaaaaaaan..!” The crowd screamed, Sitaram joined his hands in Namaskar. “We will make one of the largest temple of Lord Mahadev, here in Chilapur with the land you people have donated to my ashram, this is my sankalp, Har Har Mahadev….!” And the crowd irrupted in a roar, “Har Har Mahadev, Har Har Mahadev, Har Har Mahadev…!”
“All these innocent people, they don’t even know what game this ass hole is playing with them. These people intentionally select small village people for their tasks; it’s easier to get them into such traps.” I pressed my lips together.
“We will catch him off guard tomorrow.” Satva put his hand firmly on my shoulder. I looked at him, don’t know what stuck his mind, he removed his hand immediately, I just managed a grim smile.
∞
The morning at the Chilapur was exactly jubilee like, unerringly as that Sitaram had said last evening. The market was declared closed that day, every one in the village was in their best traditional attire, all the females of the village had gathered at the place where god was coming today, and were making huge rangoli, the place was festooned with flowery festoons . All the volunteers, in their milky white attire were running here and there, anyone can easily feel the flavour of enthusiasm in the air. Maharaj Sitaram, had arranged for a Havan at the place, for welcoming the god himself. Satva and me also had reached the place, pretty much early in the morning, at the time when no one was there, even before sun had arrived, we had a work to do.
“Om Traymbakam yajamahe sungandhim pushti vardhanam urva rukumev bandhnat mrityurmokshiya mamritat. Oh, great Lord Mahadev, please accept my warm welcome, and come here. We all have tried our level best, but if unknowingly if we have committed any mistake please forgive us. Bolo bhakto Om Namah Shivay…!” He screamed from the mandap, the crowd joined in. Om Namah Shivay, carried on for a while, every eye present there were looking forward to the arrival of Lord Mahadev, but he wasn’t approaching. I was able to sense a little discomfort in the eyes of Sitaram Bapu, he glared at some of his volunteers. I stood up from my seat and walked towards the Mandap.
“Aur kitna intezaar karvayenge Mahadev, Sitaram Bapu?” His face turned pale looking me, he immediately recognized me, he kept on glowering at me.
“Haan Bapu, aayenge to sahi na prabhu? Kahin unho ne apna vichar badal to nahi diya?”
“Eye Ladki, kya bakwas kar rahi hai tu?”
“I am doing Bakwas? I just wanted to confirm, nothing else..!”
“Yes, you are..! Tum jaise Nastik log yahan aake, is pavitra din ka, mere prabhu ka apmaan kar rahe hain..!”
“Mein Nastik nahi hun..! Definitely not..!”
”Yes you are, or why will you ask for confirmation? Don’t you trust god and his words?”
“Coz, Lord Mahadev came into my dream last night…!”
“What?” Each eye was looking at me, I lost a breath, caught the next one, I need to remain composed, if I wanted to succeed. I took a deep breath and begun:
“Yes, Lord Mahadev came to my dream last night. He said he isn’t interested staying in a place, next to which a huge shopping mall is being constructed.”
“What the hell are you speaking girl, do you know? Where is a mall over here, we are constructing a temple over here.” An aged man from the group of villagers spoke; he seemed the leader of the troop, as whole crowd nodded in affirmation.
“This girl is talking non-sense, throw her away from here. She is insulting our god, distrusting our Sitaram Bapu. She cannot stand on this holy land even for a minute.” One of the volunteer screamed, a few of the villagers joined him too, I started to feel the nervous, I guess that Acid attack was there on my mind; somewhere in my subconscious I was afraid of this Sitaram.
“Listen to her first, atleast listen to what she says, then if she is wrong you definitely can throw us away from here.” Satva too, get up from his seat, I felt a bit relieved.
“Tell, what you wanna say…!” The elder guy said, face of the Sitaram was turning more and more pale with every moment passing, he too was afraid me now.
“You are saying, you are construction only temple here? Then what is this?” I opened my bag, took out a large paper, on which a few designs were drawn.
“What is this?”
“Approved plan from the authorities, for construction of shopping mall over here.”
“What, who got them passed, and what about temple?”
“Temple too will be built, but only in the one third of the land donated by you people. Then after some time huge mall will be constructed over here. And you will be interested in this document as well.” I gave one more paper; it was on the stamp paper.
“What is this?”
“Partnership deed, between developers for the profit sharing and you will be interested in knowing one of the partner’s name over there; third from the top, Mr. Sanjay Sirumalani urfe Sitaram Bapu. He has the twenty five percent share in the profits of that mall.”
“What are you saying?”
“Yes sir, and I am not saying anything in fluke, I am a journalist from the Delhi, Ipsa Vaidya. My column is famous nationwide, From Ipsa’s Pen. Me and my friend Satva are trying to get facts regarding Sitaram Bapu since long. He is not just a business man, he is a kind of mafia, ek gunda hai ye.” I ran out of my breath, Satva held my hand.
“Yes, she is correct friends, he is such a bogus man. Ipsa wrote a column against him in her column, at that point he threatened her, not only that he also planned an acid attack on her. But she was lucky enough to escape that. We have gathered all these information through RTI and other sources. When we got to know about this mall deal, without wasting time we reached over here to make sure, you people aren’t fooled in the name of religion.” I was able to see the transformation of feeling in the eyes of crowd, eyes which were gawking at us with the doubts in there at the beginning; were now glaring at the Sitaram Bapu with angst in there. In a little while only crowd got mad at him, they rushed to him, stretched him out of the seat. Took him in their custody, beat him badly with whatever came in their hand. His volunteers tried their best to save him; they too got their share of beating in between. I guess just for the sack of revenge of that acid attack, I too joined the crowd, with the fists and kicks. His milky white clothes now had stains on them, were little torn as well. He looked exhausted, his hair scattered all over his face; little blood too drove its way from scars on his body.
“We already have called police, for framing a case of illegal land grabbing from poor farmers. Sarpanchji, I hope this goon won’t be left.”
“Thank you beta, for saving lands of these poor farmers. We all thought we had donated little from what we had for the good cause of god. Even god won’t forgive this ba**ard.” And he slapped Sitaram Bapu on his face; he glared at me with the anger mixed with frustration and embarrassment.
“There already are a few more land grabbing cases going against him in various states. He has political support, so I know this little will do nothing to him. But, at least we have started. I know he will be out soon, but we will try and get him again.”
“Yes we will Ipsa, but right now we have to rush, as we need to catch flight for Hyderabad from Bangalore. I hope Sarpanchji will handle the matter.”
“Make sure all the FIRs are properly done and all the formalities are completed. We are in bit of a rush.”
“’Sure Beta..!”
“And haan, I forgot one thing, Sitaram Bapu. This only is the lord, which was coming to chilapur today na?” I handed a Shiv-ling to Sarpanch, Sitaram surprisingly glared at me, so did the others.
“Actually, this thief’s volunteers had hidden this Shiv-Ling, beneath the land. Beneath the Linga, they had installed a miniature version of hydraulic lift. They were planning to bring this Lord Mahadeva, with the help of that hydraulic lift from the land, showing it to be Swayambhu Mahadev Ling, coming out of land to you. We are here since three in the morning, we found out this Linga, as we followed the wires going beneath the land, as the hydraulic lift was temporary and needed electricity. They gave the connection from main switch board only but forgot to hide the cable, following the cable last night; we reached to the place and digged-out this Shiv Linga.”
“Make sure with due respect this Shiv-Ling is either installed in a temple or is offered in the holy Ganga…!”
“Sure Beta…! God Bless you….”
“Hello Sharma….??”
“Oho, Ms. Vaidya, how’s you? And how’s Mr. Romantic?”
“To the f**k with your sarcasm, listen we are in Bangalore, leaving for Hyderabad in half an hour. I am talking from a public booth; I hope you have made necessary arrangements in there at Hyderabad.”
“Absolutely madam, I need to follow your orders. All is done as advised.”
“Good then, adios..!”
∞
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