THE MYSTIC: PART I - THE SEEKER (Part 1 - THE SEEKER)

by Arindam Bhattacharjee

  “Do you see all those people crossing the bridge coming from their daily work? Most of them are walking, cycling or driving past in cars. They do not even halt for a while to register the beauty of the bridge on a moonlit night.” She then looks at the other direction and say...

  “Look towards the other end and you see the burning pyre of the departed. I wonder during their entire life did they happen to see this awesome scene? If not what did they live for?”

  “In the other ghats do you see the women dressed in their best sarees to perform aarti to the Ganga as a ritual, but I wonder if they too had ever seen the beauty of the bridge through the eyes of love.” Then she looked into Raghav’s eyes and continued..

  “So many lives have passed perfecting the daily rituals around this river and perfecting our lives that we forget to admire the imperfections of the moon and the bridge.”

  She smiled and said, “The bridge is kind of ugly made up of steel skeletons but only its importance to the city gives its beauty.”

  Raghav who was sitting holding her hands all the time realized what a damn fool he was and said,

  “If I could only see the world through your eyes, the world becomes a better place for me.” Then he moved closer to her and kissed her cheeks and said,

  “This is the reason why I love you. You make me complete.”

  At this moment Raghav presented her with a ring from his pocket and asked her to marry him. Raghav still to this day remembered the red blushing face of his wife against the twinkling water after he had proposed and this brought in a smile in his face and for a while he forgot all his misery.

  But Kolkata was very different from what Raghav remembered it to be. It showed signs of development unlike what Raghav had seen in Manipur. The roads were wider and less crowded with a good network of subways and flyovers. Raghav reached College Street still in his Buddhist monk uniform. He saw Debashish and his friend sitting in the coffee shop. Debashish could not recognize Raghav until he came and sat next to him. Shocked at Raghav’s new look Debashish said,

  “So that was what you were doing all these years and now you are monk!”

  Raghav smiled and said in a hushed tone

  “It’s not how it looks. I just escaped from a Manipur military prison, so I cannot be in a public place without a disguise.”

  Debashish lowered his voice

  “What do you mean military facility? We last heard that you were killed in an ambush. Does this mean all those who vanished are there in some prison?"

  Raghav canvassed around to see for anyone overhearing and whispered,

  “It's very much possible that they are alive. I did see many people still in the Manipur facility. But we need to get to a safe location from where I can get a grasp on the situation.”

  Debashish introduced his friend Vishnu who had come with him and said,

  “I am still under surveillance in Kolkata but Vishnu will get you to where we need to go. I hope you still remember the safe house in Mayurbhanj since your IIT days.”

  “Yes I remember that place.”

  “I will also meet you there soon. Vishnu will tell you how to reach there”

  Raghav interrupted,

  “But first I need to buy some clothes to change from this dress.” Debashish smiled towards Vishnu and left without saying anything.

  3.8: The Chase and Drama in Kolkata

  Vishnu took Raghav to a mall to buy some clothes. He was dazed! How much Kolkata had changed! It looked like any other city of the West. Raghav told Vishnu,

  “I want to buy a wig to hide my shaven head and couple of clothes. I need to get a pair of glasses as I am myopic.”

  Vishnu said, “Very well sir, I will see how we can arrange it in the mall.”

  It so chanced that when Raghav was in the mall Christina had come there with a nephew of Sagarika’s friend to do some shopping. Christina’s task was to understand the daily habits and lifestyle of the budding artist. Christina saw the oddly dressed monk moving about in the mall and thought that he would make the perfect subject for a good picture. So she quickly took her camera and clicked Raghav in the monk's dress.

  Seeing her do that Raghav instinctively ran to the opposite side. Christina found this rather odd and followed Raghav. She caught hold of his arm and said,

  “Sir I am sorry but could you please don’t shy away from me. I am actually a reporter for BBC and saw it strange to see a monk in the mall.”

  Raghav looking visibly scared replied

  “See Lady, I am just doing some shopping over here and hope this does not bother you.”

  “No sir, it does not bother me at all. I was once working on a documentary on the esoteric lives of Buddhist monks and was wondering what you were doing in the mall; I just wanted to take some pictures and I will not take up too much of your time.’

  Raghav replied in haste, “I am sorry but I need to run. I am actually travelling and need to timely reach a certain place.”

  “Very well sir, Thank you all the same.”

  She quietly left Raghav and joined her companion who was still trying on many clothes. Christina however did not lose sight of the monk for even a minute. She wanted to see what Raghav was doing.

  Raghav first went into a men’s saloon to buy a wig. He then went to a clothes shop and bought few essentials. Christina grew suspicious of Raghav’s shopping choice but she had to divide her attention between her companion and Raghav. Next Raghav went to an ophthalmologist to be fitted with a new pair of glasses and this was the mistake that cost him dearly.

  The ophthalmologist took a retina scan and checked it with the national database. He found out that the individual was in fact Raghav who was involved in anti-government activities and was killed about ten years ago. The ophthalmologist raised an alarm and called the police to apprehend Raghav. Understanding the situation Raghav leapt from his chair and headed straight for the exit with Vishnu. The cops were just few minutes late to reach the ophthalmologist and Christina could not believe what was happening.

  She went straight to the ophthalmologist and asked what was happening with the monk. The ophthalmologist told her about Raghav and how he was supposed to be dead. Christina showed a fake FBI ID and asked the ophthalmologist to provide her with a printout of his portfolio which he gave her without any hesitation.

  In the meanwhile Raghav and Vishnu were able to escape the cops from the mall by hijacking a motor bike; soon other police cars joined the chase. Vishnu was able to move through the narrow lanes and reach Howrah Bridge. The chase continued and on the bridge the cops opened fire. A bullet hit Vishnu’s thigh. The bike skidded and hit the side of the bridge.

  Vishnu was killed when a car hit him from the opposite side but Raghav jumped into the River Ganga. Luckily the cops were too busy with the chaos caused by the accident to notice Raghav's escape. Raghav had jumped clutching his bag and he swam to the shore and quickly changed himself into a burkha that he had brought from the mall. He went to Howrah railway station but without boarding any train he came out of the station and got onto a bus to take him to a safe place.

  The bus drove through Howrah Bridge but the burka provided Raghav the necessary protection. He got off the bus at Esplanade. This area of Kolkata seemed to be the same as it was a decade ago – rickety buses and trams operating- coexisting with modern buses. Even hand pulled rickshaws were still to be seen in this area. Safely covered by the burkha, knowing that no one would search a Muslim woman, he bought a ticket for the place Debashish had mentioned somewhere in Mayurbhanj.

  Raghav got down from the creaking bus to check out his options before journeying forward. But first he needed to change to a new getup and so he found an enclosed space, took off the burkha and put on another set of clothes. He wore a new wig, painted eyebrows and felt satisfied that he looked like a Marwari trader in his kurta pajamas.

  By disguising himself as a Marwari, Raghav was able to outwit the security forces. But to his horror wearing the old fashioned
Marwari dress was now prohibited in Kolkata with a new code enforced by the government. Just as he came back to the road, a group of police officers and constables were on their regular patrol in the region. One constable looked at Raghav. Casting a quick oblique glance at Raghav’s peculiar appearance, the constable halted for a while and frowned at him. Raghav sensed the demeaning feeling of hatred. Looking askance at the police staff, he too displayed his scorn and the constable reacted by going back to his patrol. But this episode was the closest he came to being apprehended.

  In the meanwhile Christina went back to her hotel to find out more about the monk she saw in the mall. She uploaded the picture she had taken earlier on her laptop and saw that the individual had injury marks all over the face. Also he had a shaved brow and very sad eyes – not symbolic of a Buddhist monk. She did a little research on Raghav on the agency database and was amazed to find that even after being from an Ivy League institution with an almost clean record, Raghav was a state enemy.

  She put two and two together and thought that all the reports from her think tank actually made no sense after all. She went through some of Raghav's writings on the conditions of India and his company's financial reports and concluded that Raghav was a hero. She thought given Raghav’s political ambition and his company’s financial reports, only a disinterested and unprejudiced person in the reporting world could uncover the real stories behind Raghav’s becoming what he had become.

  There was obviously something hidden that the world did not know. She looked back at the photograph of Raghav and could again see the pain in his eyes. Christina vowed to unravel the truth behind the situation of Raghav but for this she would need some help from her think tank. She remembered what Sagarika had told her that in India one must cultivate friendship with powerful people for they could be puissant allies in the future. She now understood a way to unravel the information about Raghav. She thought that deep insight into her subject might give her access to information of the nature she required.

  3.9: The Conversation with the Rickshaw - Puller

  Raghav saw something new in Kolkata. From afar he saw fast moving rickshaws running along a straight path. It was strange because as a rule rickshaws cannot move so fast and that too in a systematic direction. They were also a different type of rickshaws with some modifications in design. Raghav saw a hand cart parked close to a who was rickshaw puller smoking a bidi. The fellow wore his hat at a rakish and jaunty angle which reminded Raghav of the famous actor Raj Kapoor singing popular song, ‘Mera joota hai japani’.

  Next to him he saw a vagrant sleeping and a group of ragamuffins begging for food at the corner of the street. He thought what he saw of Kolkata was merely eyewash. Raghav went straight to the rickshaw driver and asked,

  “What are those things and where are they going?”

  The driver responded with astonishment,

  “Sahib, are you coming for the first time to Kolkata. These are the electric rickshaws that ferry people from one city to another across the abandoned railway lines.”

  Raghav asked, “Are they legal?”

  The man replied, “Of course they are not!”

  Raghav thought, probably that would take him to the location where he needed to go without getting the authorities on his tail. He was still shaken by the accident on Howrah Bridge. Raghav asked,

  “How does one go to the rickshaw stand?”

  The rickshaw puller said,

  “I will drop you there. There is no official stop, we need to go there and stop any rickshaw en route.”

  “Will they take me to Mayurbhanj?”

  “Sir my facility is only from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar as that line has been rendered useless. But they will take you there.”

  “Very well then, take me to that place.”

  Raghav boarded the hand-pulled rickshaw. He tried to keep quiet but after a while could not control his excitement and asked,

  “Why haven't you switched to mechanized units? Why are you still stuck with this decade old technology? Government had so many schemes about this.”

  The puller replied

  “Well the government encourages us. This is how we keep the culture of West Bengal alive and by keeping it alive we make sure that no government authority enters this place.”

  Raghav replied, “It’s a fair logic.”

  The puller continued,

  “See if we change our pattern, we will get into competition with new individuals and this will destroy our local control over the business. Also you must see that roads have not developed in this part of the city and so good rickshaws seldom come here.”

  Raghav thought it's the same old logic provided during his time – just a vicious circle. The guy continued,

  “Sir if we become rich, become part of the lower middle class then we lose our status in our society and lose our control in the region. Then if we lose our jobs the government with put us in camps to work in very hard conditions far away from the family.”

  Raghav remembered what the workers had said in Manipur. The puller continued,

  “Sir so many foreigners come and take our survey each year. They want to see us poor and we stay poor. They donate lakhs of rupees.”

  The puller looked back and continued,

  “Everyone over here is rich but still prefer to stay like this. By doing so we make a lot of money.”

  While listening, Raghav saw the slums that still dotted the region. He was appalled at the horrific conditions of the slum dwellers. These people were still in the same filthy conditions as they used to be ten years back. The sordid housing conditions and lack of sanitation facilities in the slums irritated him

  “But even after so many funding programs by the government why the conditions of the slums are so bad?”

  The driver looked back and asked,

  “Sahib did you came back to the country after many years. Don't you know how the government programmes work?”

  “Sir, my daughter is studying in a convent school and the only way I can afford her education is from the charity that I get from the foreigners.” He broke some sweat and continued...

  “When they see us working so hard they tend to pay us more. The politicians also want to keep this place like this because they too get paid from these charities. Someday hopefully this place will become a UNESCO Heritage site.”

  Raghav could not help but laugh at this poor guy’s sense of humor. Actually they were not poor but were posers. But he also noticed that the road was filled with potholes and the rickshaw puller was navigating his vehicle dexterously through these potholes. It was very clear that the rickshaw puller was content with his condition and did not want to change. Raghav thought

  ‘Who says these places needs to be developed? They do not want quality life. They just want their children get good education and marry and settle outside but keep this place as it is right now.’

  After half an hour he reached a place that looked like an old railway station. The rickshaw puller said

  “The station has been abandoned after the state switched to magnetic levitated trains. The railway tracks were now used by the rickshaw pullers with rickshaws converted to run on these tracks.” He takes out his handkerchief to wipe his face of the sweat and continued...

  “These rickshaws were quite fast and are running at 30-40 km/hr and they mostly run by motors; the electricity comes from the overhead wires.”

  Raghav looked amazed at the way these modified rickshaws are working. He asked,

  “So who came up with these ideas?”

  The rickshaw puller replied,

  “It was some US based NGO that came up with this idea. They managed to get the utility companies supply these overhead wires with low voltage electricity.”

  Raghav, for whom it was utterly chaotic in Kolkata escaping the cops, was relieved to hear the melancholy sound of cycle rickshaws in the outskirts of the city. There was an order and discipline in the way the cycle rickshaws operated in the region. Ra
ghav smiled at the way the technology was described and bade farewell to his friend who escorted him to the electric rickshaws.

  Sitting in the rickshaw Raghav was awestruck with the new technology in place. It looked very simple but was very effective in these backward regions. Raghav took a ride directly to Mayurbhanj. There was no direct rickshaw the whole way and he had to change four motorized rickshaws to reach his destination. It took more than a day of changing rickshaws before Raghav could reach his destination but he enjoyed the entire stretch through the wild forests and the countryside.

  Once crossed into Orissa there was very little sign of development. It was almost evening when Raghav reached the rendezvous point that Debashish had suggested him. The village was still a remote place where Raghav during his IIT days used to come and work for the NGO. There was not much development in this region and he could see some huts in distance still using lanterns in the evening.

  There were some electric poles but these apparently were not operational and the infrastructure seemed to be rotting. While lost in the nostalgic days of his college life he suddenly saw fireflies hovering over the bushes near the village where he had landed. He folded his pants as it was damp and went to catch some of the fireflies. After much effort he caught one and tried to see the firefly twinkling through the small gap in his fist.