The Rule Breakers

by Preeti Shenoy

  Veda just stood there, wishing the doctor had at least given them some hope.

  The attendants came immediately and wheeled Sanju into the ICU.

  The junior doctor asked Kanika, ‘Are you his mother?’

  ‘No—no. I am his teacher.’

  ‘We will need a parent or a guardian for the signatures,’ he said.

  ‘Please go ahead, doctor, and do whatever needs to be done. We will get his parents,’ said Kanika.

  ‘One of you will have to stay here. We might need you to get the prescribed medicines. Just wait outside the ICU, we will let you know,’ said the junior doctor.

  ‘Veda, I can stay back here. Do you think you and Ron can go to Sanju’s house and bring his father here? Do you know the way?’ Kanika asked. Her fingers picked at the edge of her handbag, shredding away pieces of flaked leather. Her voice betrayed her anxiety.

  Ron looked grim and pursed his lips as he nodded.

  Veda nodded too. She was nervous about this. She had never gone into Sitawadi without Kanika. But this was an emergency, and she could see how distraught Kanika was.

  ‘Let’s go,’ said Ron, as he and Veda made their way out of the hospital.

  They took an auto and reached the entrance arch of Sitawadi.

  ‘Are you sure you know the way?’ Ron asked.

  ‘I think I do. If we get lost, we can ask someone where Sanju’s house is, and I’m sure they will point us in the right direction.’

  Ron was a little worried about bumping into Kajol’s father. But Veda told him that most likely, he was at work.

  As they made their way to Sanju’s house, they spotted Kajol at a tiny shop that sold paan, cigarettes, and a few other things. She was buying bananas.

  ‘Veda didi! Ron bhaiya!’ she called out.

  ‘Oh, hello Kajol. I’m glad we met you here. Could you take us to Sanju’s house?’ asked Ron.

  ‘What happened, didi? Bhaiya—did you find Sanju? What happened?’ Kajol asked. The expression on Veda’s and Ron’s faces told her that something was amiss.

  ‘Yes, Kajol. We found him. He is in hospital. We need to get his father urgently,’ Veda said.

  ‘Didi. Is he okay? Did . . . Agni’s men—?’ Kajol asked. She had guessed the truth.

  ‘Yes,’ Veda interrupted her before she could complete the sentence.

  ‘Come, didi—I know where exactly Sanju’s father is. I saw his auto just a little while ago,’ Kajol said, as she led them through the lanes.

  Then she remembered the stolen amount.

  ‘Didi, what will you say if he talks about Sanju taking the money? Please didi—he will get so angry,’ Kajol said.

  Veda and Ron had forgotten about that. They looked at each other, and in that instant, the same thought crossed their mind.

  ‘I’ll take care of it,’ said Ron.

  ‘We will cover that,’ said Veda, speaking at the same time.

  ‘Listen, let’s split all these costs, including the hospital expenses. It isn’t fair otherwise. Kanika paid for the hospital,’ said Veda.

  ‘I am happy to take care of this,’ Ron insisted.

  ‘No, let’s split everything three ways,’ Veda said firmly.

  Sanju’s father had parked his auto at the end of their lane and was having a cup of tea at the bakery, which was opposite where his auto was parked. Kajol knew his routine, as he always took a break at this time if he happened to be in the area.

  Ron and Kanika, led by Kajol, approached him.

  ‘Namaste. I am Veda. Sanju’s teacher at Sankalp. And this is my colleague, Ron. I am afraid we have some bad news. Your son, Sanju—he is admitted in hospital,’ Veda said.

  ‘What? How? Which hospital? Is he fine?’ he asked.

  ‘We need you to come with us. He is in Vinayaka Hospital and he is in the ICU. He . . . is hurt,’ said Veda, speaking in Hindi. She did not want to tell him that he had been beaten up.

  ‘He is becoming too big for his boots. Useless fellow—he deserves a good thrashing, if you ask me. Now I must go to the hospital to see my stupid son. And he has spoilt my duty for the day. Who does he think will earn?’ Sanju’s father began an angry tirade in Hindi.

  ‘Well, we need an auto to go to the hospital. Will you take us there? We will pay you,’ said Veda.

  ‘Arey madamji—you can come in my auto. I haven’t been reduced to that level where I have to take money to go and see my son. Sit,’ he gestured, as he walked to the auto and climbed into the driver’s seat, pulling the lever to start it.

  Ron and Veda got in and sat in the passenger seat. Kajol wanted to go along with them, but Veda was insistent that she stay back.

  ‘Do you know he stole my money? I had five thousand rupees. All gone!’ Sanju’s father turned back to exclaim, as he drove away.

  ‘I have your money. Don’t worry. It is safe,’ said Veda.

  ‘How? How do you have the money?’ he asked.

  ‘Er . . . Sanju—he told us to keep it safe. I will give it back to you,’ said Veda.

  That pacified him somewhat.

  When they reached the hospital, Ron pulled out a bundle of ten five hundred-rupee notes and gave it to Sanju’s father.

  ‘Here’s the money. Sanju is very sorry about it. So, please don’t be upset with him,’ said Ron. Veda translated what Ron had said.

  Sanju’s father hesitated for second, and then took the money.

  Then they all went inside.

  Once they were in, Sanju’s father had to fill out and sign the consent forms. That was when Veda learnt that he couldn’t write or read. He seemed to be very ashamed of it.

  Veda filled up the forms for him, first writing out his name neatly.

  ‘Jadhav,’ he said, and Veda wrote it down.

  For his signature, he put his thumb impression.

  ‘The blood transfusion is done. We got blood from the blood bank,’ said Kanika, when she saw them.

  She brought her palms together and greeted Jadhav, tears brimming in her eyes.

  ‘I am so sorry to see Sanju like this,’ she said.

  Jadhav looked away, refusing to meet any of their eyes.

  None of them were allowed to meet Sanju, but they could peep though the little glass window in the door of the ICU.

  When Jadhav saw Sanju in the ICU through the window, he was shaken. So were Veda and Ron. When they had left, he was just being wheeled in. But now, he lay without a shirt, looking frail and helpless. It was a frightening sight. There were tubes coming out from all over his body. An oxygen mask was helping him breathe. Two more tubes were attached to his chest and were connected to some complicated-looking apparatus. There was an IV line with a needle pierced into his hand, for the saline drip. A monitor at the head of the bed continually recorded his heartbeats. He was hooked to several frightening-looking machines.

  They waited outside for hours. There were several other people there too, waiting for some news of their loved ones. One of them was having a cup of coffee and the aroma assaulted Veda’s senses. She inhaled appreciatively, and that was when she remembered that none of them had eaten anything since morning.

  ‘Kanika—you go with Ron and grab something to eat. I will wait here. And once you return, I shall go,’ Veda said.

  Kanika thought that was a good idea. She was beginning to feel the pangs of hunger, and so was Ron.

  ‘Yes, I’ll do that. I will also call my mother from the pay phone and let her know we will be late. Shall I tell her to inform Padma aunty as well?’ Kanika asked Veda.

  ‘Yes, please. You know, I had forgotten about informing them,’ Veda confessed.

  ‘We might as well, because we don’t know how long all this is going to take,’ Kanika said.

  ‘Would you like some coffee?’ Veda asked Jadhav. But he shook his head.

  Kanika and Ron left for the cafeteria, saying that they would return soon.

  Veda continued to wait with Jadhav. His expression was grim and unfriendly, so she did not attemp
t to make conversation with him. In any case, what could she say?

  ‘Sister, Sister. I am that boy’s father. Can I go inside and see him?’ Jadhav asked a nurse, pointing to Sanju in the ICU.

  ‘I will have to check with the doctor. I don’t know if the patient is allowed visitors,’ she said.

  ‘Just two minutes, Sister. I just want him to know that I am here,’ Jadhav pleaded.

  ‘I will see what I can do,’ said the nurse.

  Jadhav paced up and down the corridor outside the ICU. He wished Sanju had not got involved in this mess. Why did the boy always get into trouble? He shook his head disapprovingly. Then he turned to Veda.

  ‘The reason I am so strict with Sanju is that I want him to study well. I don’t want him to be an angoota-chaap like me. And now see what this useless boy has done. How will he write the exams?’ he asked Veda.

  ‘I am as helpless as you, and I feel bad,’ she replied.

  ‘Bad? Why will you feel bad? What do you know about feeling bad? Eh? What kind of teachers are you, if you can’t even guide him properly? And also—why did you take money from a kid?’ Jadhav bombarded Veda with questions. He was growing angrier by the minute. He was upset about Sanju being in the ICU, and he was also irritated about losing his earnings for the day. He had to pay a daily rent to the owner of the auto, and all this time that he was waiting in the hospital, he was losing money.

  Jadhav glared at Veda, expecting her to say something.

  Veda had no answers for him.

  Fortunately for her, a nurse came and asked who Sanju’s father was.

  When Jadhav said that he was the father, she said that Sanju was now awake. She said he could come inside and speak to his son for two minutes.

  Jadhav nodded.

  ‘Normally we don’t allow anyone in the ICU. But since you requested, we are letting you in. Two minutes only, okay?’ the nurse warned him as he went inside.

  Chapter 34

  March 1997

  Vinayaka Hospital, Pune

  Sanju opened his eyes. His head throbbed with pain. He struggled to focus. All he could hear were the sounds of the machines around him, whirring softly. He was confused about where he was. He looked at his hand and saw the saline drip. Though one part of his brain told him he could be in a hospital, another part grappled with how he had got there and who had brought him here. He didn’t remember anything. He recalled the sharp blows that he had received. He grimaced as he remembered the pain. It felt as if someone was sawing off bits of his body. Bolts of dull pain came and went in waves. Every part of his body was affected. He had felt himself drifting in and out of consciousness, but now he was hearing a voice.

  ‘Sanju . . . Sanju beta,’ he felt a palm on his hand.

  Could it be his father? Sanju felt a cold, clammy sensation grip his heart.

  Indeed, it was his father. How had he got here?

  Sanju shivered in fright as he remembered the money he had stolen, and now lost. The sequence of events came back to him. Agni’s men had said that the cost of one question paper was ten thousand rupees. Sanju had shown them the money he had. He had then claimed that he had more money, and he would pay when they gave him the question papers for all the subjects. They had taken him to the godown. Once he was inside they had shown him all the question papers. He had attempted to grab the papers and run, when they had chased him and caught up with him. They had beaten him with hockey sticks and an iron bar. There were three of them. ‘This will teach you a lesson,’ they had said as they rained blows on him. They had hit him till he lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he realised they had taken the money as well. Sanju had crawled into the wagon and taken shelter there till Ron had found him. And now he wondered how his father was here.

  Even in its dazed state, one part of Sanju’s brain worked hard. He had to come up with an explanation for the missing money before his father asked.

  ‘Sanju. Why . . . why did you. . . ? his father was asking.

  ‘Veda didi . . . she told me to . . . she told me . . . question paper, we can buy. I wanted to . . . do business. . .’ Sanju interrupted his father, the words coming out slowly.

  ‘What? They told you to buy it?’ Jadhav asked, shocked.

  The effect of seeing his father and recollecting the chain of events caused Sanju’s blood pressure and his heartbeats to rise, immediately setting off the monitor.

  The nurse rushed in, hearing the sound.

  ‘Enough, sir. Visiting time is over. Three minutes are up. Please wait inside. The patient needs to rest,’ she shooed Jadhav out.

  Sanju closed his eyes and lay back.

  But Jadhav had heard Sanju clearly. The implication of what Sanju had said dawned on him. The vein in his forehead throbbed. He took short shallow breaths as what he had just heard sank in.

  He came out of the ICU and spotted Veda, Kanika and Ron.

  ‘How is he?’ asked Kanika.

  Fury built up inside Jadhav as he slowly worked out in his head what must have happened. He thought about it as he walked out of the ICU. Rage simmered in him, he was ready to explode.

  ‘How is he?’ asked Kanika, as soon as she saw him.

  Jadhav took one look at her face and his anger erupted.

  ‘WHAT KIND OF TEACHERS ARE YOU?’ he yelled, losing control of his emotions.

  ‘SHHHH . . . silence. . . . This is a hospital,’ a nurse passing by told him.

  But Jadhav did not keep quiet.

  ‘You are doing a question paper business?’ he demanded angrily, gesturing for them to step outside the corridor.

  ‘What—of course not,’ said Veda, shocked at the preposterous suggestion.

  ‘What, madam? You are acting all innocent now because my son got beaten up. Didn’t you tell him to go and buy the question paper?’ Jadhav’s eyes were blazing as he spat out the words. ‘You come outside, we will talk,’ he said.

  They followed him and stood just outside the corridor of the ICU room, near the waiting area.

  ‘Look here, you are mistaken. I did no such thing,’ Veda said firmly.

  ‘Why are you pretending, madam? I might be uneducated, but I am not a fool,’ Jadhav said.

  ‘Listen, bhaiya. We would never do such a thing. Why will we ask our students to buy question papers? WE are the ones teaching them, coaching them and we will be the happiest to see them succeed. Do you see Ron here? He has come all the way from England, and he is spending time with children like Sanju to teach. Do you understand? Why in the world would we ever do something so repulsive?’ Kanika explained in a calm voice.

  But Jadhav was in no mood to listen. He was belligerent.

  He shook his fist at Veda and said, ‘So you think I should believe that you do it out of the goodness of your heart? You think I am such an ULLOO, EH? You don’t get anything out of it? Then why did HE return the money to me? EH? EXPLAIN.’ He was pointing at Ron now. Ron looked a little frightened. He took a step back. Though he could not understand what Jadhav was saying, he knew he was being accused of something.

  ‘Good lord,’ said Veda. How could she explain the whole story to Jadhav without implicating Sanju?

  ‘And Sanju told me HIMSELF. Just now, he told me,’ Jadhav continued.

  ‘What? What did Sanju tell you?’ Veda asked, shocked.

  ‘That you told him to buy the question papers.’

  ‘I am telling you, I did no such thing. Don’t you understand?’ Veda said.

  This was getting bizarre.

  But before they could argue any further, there was a flurry of activity. A nurse ran out of the ICU, saying, ‘Call the doctor . . . call the doctor! It’s an emergency.’

  Next, they saw three physicians running towards the ICU.

  They rushed to the ICU, and peeped in through the window.

  The three doctors as well as the nurse who had called out for them were standing around Sanju’s bed. The back of one of the doctors was turned towards them. They all seemed to be frantically doing
something.

  It was like watching a silent movie, where you saw the actions but did not hear any sounds. The whole process lasted only a few minutes, but the minutes were slow and painful.

  Veda clenched her fists and involuntarily held her breath. Jadhav closed his eyes and muttered a prayer. Kanika looked at the tiles on the hospital floor and paced up and down. Ron just stood very still, leaning against the wall.

  It was Veda who knew it was over before the others did. She saw the doctors moving away from Sanju and the nurse removing the oxygen mask, as well as the other tubes that had been attached to his body. Veda stood silently, in shock, as the doctors came out. She knew what they would say.

  She watched Kanika, Ron and Jadhav rush to the doctors, their eyes hopeful.

  ‘We couldn’t save him. The internal lacerations were too many. His lungs failed. . . . So sorry,’ said the senior doctor.

  Jadhav stood and stared, not entirely understanding the doctor. He could not believe what he was hearing.

  ‘Doctor. Please, please save him. He . . . he is only fifteen. His exams, doctor. He is a good boy, doctor,’ he was rambling on, meaninglessly.

  The doctor patted his hand, shook his head, and walked away, followed by the junior doctors.

  It was only then that Jadhav understood.

  He sat down on the floor, his head in his hands. The wail he let out echoed through the corridors of the hospital.

  His Sanju was gone.

  Veda could not speak. There was a lump in her throat. She put her hands to her lips and stood silently, leaning against the wall.

  An attendant went into the ICU and wheeled the body out. Sanju’s face was distorted, but his eyes were shut now. There was a stillness about him which only death can bring.

  Jadhav held Sanju’s lifeless hand and wept, saying over and over, ‘Mera beta . . . Mera beta. . .’

  ‘There are some formalities before you can take the body. Please complete them,’ said the nurse to Kanika. Kanika nodded.

  Slowly, Jadhav and Kanika walked towards the administration department to clear the dues and claim the body.

  Sanju’s body was taken to his home in an ambulance. The funeral was to take place by 11 the next morning. As was the custom, the body was wrapped in a white cloth. They laid him outside in the same spot where, a few weeks earlier, Kajol’s birthday celebrations had taken place.