Struggle for Safety Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

 

Struggle for Safety

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Moni and Soni could not forget that day through out their life when they encountered their first danger in life. They reached an area of the town when due to some occurrence or event or misunderstanding some people turned against them and decided to teach them a lesson. Both of them became aware of impending danger in time so they took off before the affronted party could send their men to teach them a lesson. Moni and Soni had not hoped to outwit or outdistance their rivals as they were local people well versed with the local terrain. But a procession celebrating some religious festival came to their rescue as they joined it and covered some distance when crossing the road they saw a bus that they boarded. As the bus was crowded so they could only get place on the roof of the bus. After the bus moved a couple of kilometres they came across Raja Saheb, with his black stiff upright moustache, coming from the opposite side in his vintage 1968 model Mercedes car. Recognizing each other Raja Saheb waved his hand at Moni and Soni sitting on the bus top and they also replied in glee. But then it occurred to them that they might be spotted so they left the bus and took a jungle path.

After walking on the jungle path for a kilometre they came across a graveyard. All the time they were keeping an eye behind to ensure that they are not followed. Now they had to cross the graveyard and as the darkness of the evening was setting in they decided to cross the yard. As they entered Soni advised Moni to walk around the graves and not over it as they would get blessings and wishes of the dead people that might help them in this escape though it would take them longer time. However they succeeded in crossing the graveyard and they came to the river bank that was covered by dense trees. Here they took a branch of a tree and pounded it on the ground before taking next step as they had been told that there could be snakes or scorpion near the river bank. Soon they reached a culvert that helped them to cross the river as the water in the river that day was only knee deep. After crossing the river and walking for another kilometre on the Jungle Path they reached the highway. After walking for another kilometre as they took the left turn the lights of the colony where they lived filled them with hope of success. Perhaps the wishes and blessings of dead people have helped them in this escape as the people after them came upto the bus and even after that for some distance but they returned back when they could not find Soni and Moni as they had taken longer time than expected in the grave yard by walking around the graved rather than over them. They heaved a sigh of relief as they entered the gates of the colony and jumped with joy as if they have won some battle.