Kumbhpur Rising

by Mayur Didolkar

I wonder why things turn out the way they turn out.

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  Epilogue II

  The circle closes

  Pohani is a small town north of the mining towns near Maharashtra- Madhya Pradesh border. The start of a thermal power plant has put the sleepy little burg in news constantly. A meeting of about two dozen villagers was taking place in the house of one Nama Korat. The man they call “weda Shukla” (mad Shukla) was talking, nay screaming.

  “This thermal power plant would destroy every sustainable piece of ecology within hundred miles of this place. It would destroy the plants your grand parents and great grand parents planted. It would bring those big trucks and trailer rigs, it would bring pollution and corruption, it would bring strangers on your streets and in your homes, it would mean your wives and daughters would be the target of out of town perverts, and they can buy the silence of these corrupt cops for the price of one quarter of rum. Will you allow this to happen? I ask you WILL YOU?” he thundered. Spittle flew from his mouth. Villagers nodded their heads no. Some of the younger ones felt blood pounding their temples. They were ready for battle.

  “All legal means are impotent because judges are sold to them too.No, no, no my friends. We have to take matter in our own hands. We the bhumiputra need to start a revolution. Right here in this fine little town. Are you with me?”

  The younger ones nodded vehemently. There was a good bit of shouting and clapping.

  “Tonight, the guards at the main station would be asleep by midnight, we will slip past the fences and plant these inside” Weda Shukla opened a sachet and showed them a few country made hand grenades. There was a light in the eyes of the younger ones. Nandita, a twenty year old drop-out from Mumbai’s JJ school of arts felt a pleasant flush in her body. Her nipples tingled with arousal. Later tonight she would probably reward her courageous leader with her firm, bony body.

  Revolutionaries lived by their own rules.

  THE END

  Started writing- June 2004

  Finished: December 2008

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