Virgin Patiala Peg

by Gaganjeet Gujral

  Amrit put the IMEI number of his lost phone with some details and tapped on the green button that read “Track”. After about five minutes, a small window appeared on the screen with a list of three places where the probability of finding his phone would be maximum. It showed the location and the close proximity of his phone. “See, there it is. Its displaying the location of your phone!” Karamjit exclaimed. “But It’s not precise at all. Its showing three locations, so we will have to go to all these places to search for it.” Amrit argued.

  The first place that showed close proximity of phone was near the Bhakra Nangal Dam on the Patiala Samana Road, the second one in Shakuntala Vihar near Tripuri market and the last one found in the Jhill Village leading to the Sirhind Road. Amrit put these locations on Google Maps and took hold of Karamjit’s bike.

  “Let’s go and search for phone at each of these locations.” he said. “Hand over the phone to me and I will tell you the directions” Karamjit sat on the back seat and they immediately rushed out of the place. Amrit followed directions as Karamjit guided him. They embarked to go to the Bhakra Dam first. After driving for ten minutes, they reached there and glanced at the location again on the phone. “Are we at the right place?” Amrit asked stepping off the bike. “At least, it says so. It is nearby, somewhere around there.”

  Karamjit said as he pointed out his finger to a small brick house which was right across the Dam. “Come, let’s check it out” Amrit said. Both of them started marching straight to the house. As they reached closer and closer to that house, they realized that no one lived there. It had no door, no furniture and it appeared as if someone just piled up the bricks together haphazardly. The house was not cemented and there were cracks all over the place. Both of them went in, looked around hoping they would find the phone but their search did not last long as the wrecked up house had nothing more than some old rugged up bed sheets lurking on the ground. And some stale bread half eaten up by some animals probably a dog.

  “ There’s nothing here ” said Karamjit. “Not even another place in this locality where we can look out. No other house except this one where there is a possibility to find it” “Then we are left with other two places to go. It might be either of the other two” said Amrit. They quickly took their bike and went to the Shakuntala Vihar as per the guidance laid down by the map. As they reached there, they found the place to be a construction site. They tried to go ahead but were not allowed to pass through by the construction workers. So now, they were left with only one choice and that was to go and search out in the alleys of the Jhill village.

  So they set out without squandering any time further and by the time they reached there, it was already noon. The streets in the village were narrow and there were very few natives of the town who lived there. Rummaging in the alleys of the village for about ten minutes, they finally reached the spot which the tracker identified. There was a house on the spot the tracker showed. The house was a rather small one with a narrow opening door. They stepped to the door and knocked over it twice. But no one came out. They knocked the door again but no one came out. Then they called out at the top of their voice asking if someone was there but all in vain as no one came out again.

  Amrit left Karamjit’s presence telling him that he would ask something from the neighbors. He told him to stay right there until he comes back to him. But even the closest houses in the neighborhood were all locked up. It seemed to him as if the whole place was completely deserted. Amrit went on and knocked on every door in the neighborhood hoping somebody might be living there and give them some insights about that particular house. Meanwhile, Karamjit kept standing right there in front of the door which they suspected to be thief’s residence. He was waiting for Amrit to return but slowly he was losing his patience. So he knocked at the door once and as before, nobody came out. This made him mad and he pounded at the door with a hard fist.

  Suddenly he lost his patience and put his left leg in between the space of the door steps and instantly jumped over the door thinking he would catch the thief and bring him to Amrit. He landed after jumping over the main door and as he walked in, he noticed that the interior door was unlocked, so he slowly and quietly stepped towards the room. But as he was about to enter the room, somebody shouted behind him saying, “Thief! Thief!” Karamjit trembled up in fear as a crowd gathered in the locality in just few seconds after the first cry. He heard someone saying, “Grab that bastard by his throat” and others saying, “Don’t let him go. How dare he enter a house in that manner?” While some said, “Look, how audacious he is! He thought he could get away with robbery in this daylight?” Before Karamjit could utter something, everybody around him had formed some preconceived notions about him and suddenly two sturdy tall men came jumping the door and grabbed him by his shirt collar. One of them slapped him on the back of his neck without letting him defend it. The other one pushed him forcefully, threw him out of the house and suddenly the crowd of the locality gathered around him as if they were thirsty for Karamjit’s blood. Karamjit couldn’t’ speak anything as he was completely shivering when he saw too many people all surrounding him looking to almost kill him.

  He somehow collected some courage and tried to speak but before he could utter a word, they started accusing him of an attempt of robbery. Someone in the crowd said, “Call the police, Now!” As Amrit returned, he saw the crowd and as he went ahead struggling to get past through the crowd, he saw Karamjit dusting off the ground. “What happened?” he asked Karamjit. “He stepped in that house and tried to rob it” a middle aged man answered as he moved his hand over his rounded belly which was about to un-tuck his shirts buttons.

  “ No-No-No! You are getting it wrong. He is not the thief. Instead, he came with me to help me catch the thief. Leave him alone please, he is innocent.” Amrit said. “What are you talking about? I saw him myself stepping over that house door” said the middle aged man. “Let me explain it to you. Yesterday someone stole my phone and with the help of tracker we found out this house is where the thief lives. We knocked over the door many times but no one came out...” “So?” interrupted the man.

  “Does that give him the right to jump over the door to enter someone’s house like that without letting them know about it? I mean, how can someone do that, and that too in the daylight with every else present in the neighborhood? Now, the police will look into this matter. You can give all your explanation to them” he said. “But... please understand...” “No ifs and but’s. I already told you that it’s up to police now to look into this case.” Amrit insisted to explain himself but all in vain. Soon, police came in a Jeep with a buzzing siren on top of it. And as they entered the locality, Karamjit almost fainted. He was terrified with thoughts of going to jail which would ruin his whole reputation. He thought at once of his uncle and aunt & felt guilty of giving this trouble to them.

  Two Havildars stepped out of the jeep. They had their lathi’s in their hands as they walked with their leather shoes making a thumping sound as they walked. They went to the people in crowd, talked to them and marched towards Karamjit. As they walked towards him, his heart started pounding. One of them grabbed him from his collar and tears rolled down his eyes almost immediately. They took him in the jeep and went away as Amrit stood there completely shocked and helpless to figure out what just happened. While everyone else around him went to their houses. He thought to himself: What would I say to his uncle now? All of this happened because of me. He just tried to help me and got himself into trouble. What should I do now? I think I should first go home and tell father and mother, the complete story of what happened.

  He sat on his bike and went straight to his home. He hesitated at first but then revealed to his parents the complete story of how he lost his phone, then took help of Karamjit in finding it out which eventually placed Karamjit in the midst of difficulty.

  Now, he was waiting to receive bashing from them. But contrary to what he was expecting, they told him to not to worry and said they
’ll somehow figure out the solution to this problem. Amrit was taken aback surprised by this response from his parents. He learned if he could have told about the issue to his parents earlier on, then all this would not have happened. His parents told him to first inform Karamjit’s uncle Gurtej Singh about Karamjit as he is a retired Armed Force personnel. So a person of his rank may have a significant influence and would get Karamjit easily out from the prison .

  He went out and told Karamjit’s uncle all about the incident. It was already evening by this time. Karamjit’s uncle Gurtej Singh and aunt Jaswinder Kaur were all along there when he arrived at their home. He told them the whole story. After he finished, Jaswinder kaur burst out angrily looking at Gurtej Singh. “See, I told you that we shouldn’t give that boy this much freedom to go outside of home. Look what he has done. He is a complete disgrace to us and our reputation. We cannot take responsibility for his actions anymore. Let him do what he wants to do and let’s just separate ways from him. “Calm down darling, Calm down please.” “What do you mean calm down? He is completely ruining our name in the society.”

  “ Don’t you know that Karamjit isn’t that kind of a boy. He can’t even imagine of robbing someone in his wildest dreams. Haven’t you listened to what Amrit has said? And after all, you have been with Karamjit for almost a decade now and you still haven’t figured him out? Anyhow, don’t worry. We are going to sort out this matter together. ” said Gurtej Singh as he immediately went taking Amrit with him in his Ambassador to the Police Station where they might have kept Karamjit.

  As they entered the police station, they saw some prisoner’s locked up while some others were sitting on the bench adjacent to the locker room. Gurtej Singh saw Karamjit sitting among them with his head buried in his arms. “Karamjit!” he shouted .Karamjit lifted his head up as he heard a voice he recognized very well. “Uncle!” he shouted. “Please take me out of here. I have stolen nothing. Believe me” “ I know Dear. You cannot do this. Don’t worry, I will take you out of here.” The prisoner’s in the cell were making some strange noises which even further terrified Karamjit as he got piled up in the corner of the bench that he was sitting on. His heart was getting pounded every time the prisoners started shouting at each other. He was imagining himself sitting in the cell with the same prisoner’s that were shouting and behaving like complete psychopaths.

  Gurtej Singh asked the Inspector who was sitting on his desk with his feet on it while his head was dug in his phone. “Inspector” he said. “On what evidence have you put my nephew here in the prison? Did he stole anything? Do you have any evidence which proves him guilty?” he asked.

  The Inspector gazed at him once lifting up his hat with his fore finger and then continued to scroll through his phone as if he didn’t noticed him. “I am speaking to you, Sir. Do you hear me? Please show me the evidence.” He repeated. The Inspector turned down his phone on the desk and dragged his chair forward and said, “Sit down Please” “No thanks. Will you please respond to my queries?” “Listen Sardar ji, we have prospects who have given statements against that boy saying that he entered the house to attempt robbery. In fact, there are not just one or two, but many who saw and caught him red-handedly trying to sneak into one of the rooms of that house.” he explained. “But did you found something that he stole? No, you didn’t. Right? So you can’t just take him under your custody based on what you have heard others say.” “Yes I understand law better than you I suppose. And believe me, our team is going to introspect into this matter deeply. Rest assured, if he is innocent then he will be set free out of the prison soon.” “Listen Inspector, I am a retired Army personnel with many rewards and heroic achievements under my belt. And that boy has grown up under my supervision and guidance, so I know he can’t even think of committing such acts. So you better do something fast and sort it out quickly.” He warned.

  “Hey, Hey, Hey. It doesn’t work that way with the police. Alright? You need to be polite and gentle if you want thing to get done here. This is not your army platoon where you are the leader and shout out your commands to your subordinates. This is a police station and if you want something to get done here then it goes through the required checks and balances. So, shouting and whining can do nothing except to delay the process.” Said the inspector. “Whatever.... Just make sure that you release him as soon as possible.” Gurtej Singh demanded.

  “Take some rest Sardarji. I see you are breathing heavily. Its not good for you to take stress at this age. Please sit there on the chair” the inspector said in a mocking tone with no clear intention to take Gurtej Singh seriously.

  Gurtej Singh looked apart absolutely appalled at the Inspector’s narcissistic behavior and sat on the chair kept near the long bench on which Karamjit was crumbled up.

  Meanwhile, Amrit went to see Karamjit. He placed his hands over his shoulders trying to relax him. “Karamjit, Don’t worry. We are going to get you out of here” he said. “It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have jumped over the door and should have waited for you instead. That would have saved me from troubling all of you.” He murmured. “Don’t be silly brother. You were just helping me. You don’t have to feel the guilt at all. It’s not your fault. We were already knocking at the door for quite a long time but no one came out.” “ But I have also put my uncle under distress. I am a complete disgrace for everyone else ” “Don’t say that brother. Just calm down ” Amrit comforted him as he put his arm over his shoulder to rub off and make him feel accepted. He sat with him there and thought how he could solve this catastrophe. Then he somehow remembered Riya. “ Hey, do you remember Riya?” he asked Karamjit. “Yeah, that beautiful girl who lives in your neighborhood. Right? ” “Yeah, Do you remember I told you that her father is a commissioner in the Ludhiana district? Maybe she can help us out.” “ You think so? Try it out ” “Yeah, definitely. Let me contact Riya and tell her the whole drama. She is my good friend. She can help us out.” Said Amrit. And Karamjit simply looked in quiet desperation hoping to get out from there soon as he was getting nervous with every minute that passed by making him realize again that he made a huge mistake by doing such a small act which led him to such a problem.

  Amrit dialed Riya’s number using Karamjit’s phone and waited for her to pick it up. The call just rang and rang and rang but no one picked up the call. He called again but ended up in the same result again. Meanwhile, Karamjit was getting nervous and his whole body was covered up in sweat because of the induced fear that crept upon him and he started shivering. Amrit tried calling Riya again after about five minutes and this time by the God’s grace, she picked up the phone and before she could ask anything, Amrit gulped out the story. “Hello Riya, this is Amrit speaking. This is very urgent. I want to ask you for something....” And he went on to explain the whole story after which he asked if she could help them in any possible way. “Well, let me ask my father. He shifted to Ludhiana 3 years back but he still certainly has some connections in Patiala’s police department.

  “Great, please let me know if it can help. And by the way, you have already met Karamjit before. Right? You know he is a nice guy and he can’t do this stuff.” “What are you talking about Amrit? If you are asking for this, I don’t even have to ask if he is innocent or not. I know you and you understand him. Right? Trust is the key. That’s the biggest thing that glues us all together. Okay, just wait a second and I’ll let you know what my father says once I talk to him on phone.” “Thanks a lot Riya! You don’t how much of a help you have been to me always. I really appreciate that.” He said. “No worries, Amrit. We are friends and it’s common in friendship to do these little things.” “Okay, please do let me know then.” “Sure” said Riya as she hang out the phone.

  Amrit desperately started waiting for Riya’s call to get some information from her father. Meanwhile, Gurtej Singh started calling his advocate friends from the military’s JAG department to get some advice on the matter. But he got no real quick advice from them and all of them told
him to wait for another one day as offices were closed that day. Amrit went to him and told him that he contacted Riya who could help them as her father is a commissioner. And Gurtej Singh just sat there with no response holding his walking stick looking absolutely annoyed at the inspector’s behavior.

  After about 10 minutes, Amrit picked up Riya’s call and she said, “Amrit, my father has said that he wants to talk to the chief of that police department which you are in.” “Yeah, sure. He is sitting right here. Let me hand it over to him.” “Okay, let me put the call on conference and call my father.” She said. Amrit went over to the inspector and handed over the phone to him. “Sir, this is the head commissioner of the police department of the Ludhiana district and he wants to have a discourse with you. So please.....” “Hello?” said the inspector as he took hold of the phone. And Amrit kept standing there hearing attentively what the inspector was saying. Gurtej Singh also got up from his chair as the inspector went on to a deeper conversation with Riya’s father.

  The inspector hung up the phone and gave it to Amrit. “Here, take it away.” He said. He called someone with his phone and said, “Let’s go for a search in that home” and placed the phone back on desk. “Havildar, take that boy and let’s go to the place where he told us about the suspect.” Gurtej Singh hurried to inspector. “What happened? What did he said?” he asked. “Let’s go to that location where we caught your nephew and if he is speaking the truth, his phone might be somewhere around there but if it’s not found there, we can do nothing other than to punish him.”