Love Kills

Kori Creek, Kutch

Living in India was next to impossible for me. Loving Loving the daughter of Will City’s, Member Of Parliament J. D. Divan was the biggest mistake of life. That wily girl took me in her charm for I was tall strong and good looking for an average man of my age at 24. The shrewd MP didn't like this love affair and he pulled some string and within two months I was behind the bars for false charges of drug paddling for a period of five years.

Meenu Divan, the girl who was responsible for present plight did never come to pay me a visit to the Will City jail. I was totally devastated and wanted to retaliate for the injustice which was done to me.

I myself, Vishal Singh; inmate of Will City jail. Six months in the tough wing of jail has snatched everything from me. My poor mother who was living in a vain hope that justice will be served was heart broke after I was awarded five years jail sentence. One day she slept at night and slept forever, her body was taken out of the house by neighbors who anticipated something bad. I was taken out of jail for her funeral; her tragic death brought me on the verge of devastation. I wanted some rope to hang me or a sharp object to cut me to death. But I found none and went on living in a vain hope that someday I'll sleep like my mother and get rid of this ruthless world.

Inspector Dharampal, the police escort member of J. D. Divan security was arrested for taking a bribe and was taken in jail lock-up. I saw him during lunch as he was the key tool of arrest, I was happy to see his jail. After a few days he came to me with full apologies and explained everything how I was framed by J. D. I asked him if he could confess all this before the judge, he said no.

After a few days, Dharampal told me that he was being shifted to another Devdurg jail in a few days and he told me that he could plan an escape during this shift for both of us. I saw a streak of hope and gave him my consent. The plan was made that we'll make havoc during this transition and take over the police van and escape. He told me that he had earned a lot of money illegally and have settled his family in Mauritius and after the escape, he has a plan to migrate to Mauritius illegally via great waters of the Arabian Sea. He advised me to follow him to Mauritius and promised to find a job for me out there.

The day of transition came swiftly and we both were in prison van with ten other prisoners to be carried to Devdurg Jail, 300 km East of Will City. Our plan was to make our move as soon as the van enters the dreaded Kali Valley. We crossed Colonel Pass without any event but after 50 km there was a sharp turn and the driver couldn't control the van, the van fell into a hundred feet deep ditch after rolling several times and I got unconscious.

When I regained consciousness, I was under the dead bodies of the rest of the prisoners, Dharampal was amongst the dead as well. I came out of the burning van and ran far from it to avoid any blast.

The 500 km dreaded valley was in front of me and I really didn't know what to do. I just got rid of my jail dress and started walking towards the Colonel Pass to decide my next move. I tried for a lift but people took a naked man for a lunatic and increased the speed of their vehicle. Finally, a drunkard truck driver gave me a lift and offered me some of his dirty clothes which I took thankfully.

The journey towards Will City was dangerous but I didn't want to enter the valley so I took my chance. The truck driver left me at Colonel Pass check post and entered the Will City, now my task was to get some money to go to Gujarat to get the Yacht which could take me to Mauritius as arranged by Dharampal. I saw a number of police vehicles entering the valley, perhaps the news of jail accident has spread. I had no way to earn money but luckily, I saw a truck with the Gujarat number plate and went direct to the driver to ask him if he wanted any manual labor. The driver who was fully drunk took me in as a cleaner and so my travel towards Gujarat started. But there was a problem if the police found out about my escape; they shall certainly look for me. But my doubt proved wrong and we entered the Madhya Pradesh without any problem. My daily wages were 150 rupees, so by the time we entered Gujarat; I had 1000 rupees in my pocket.

I got rid of the truck at Kutch and decided to look for Jibhu Patel, the man who was responsible for the illegal migration of Mauritius. But first of all, I went to the thief market and bought one Khaki trousers and a denim shirt for me to look like a man.

Jibhu Patel was a ruthless man he wanted rupees 1 lakh for this illegal migration but I told him that I had no money. He thought for a while and said a cargo ship was going to Port Louis and he could send me on the ship as a seaman.

He told me to come to Kori Creek at 10 in the evening.

Great Waters

Jibhu Patel met me at the Kori Creek and ushered me to a waiting steamer which took me to dirty yacht full of well-built muscle men. What the hell was this, there was no talk of a cargo ship, and they were just hovering over the surface of great Arabian Sea waters. I was given the task of looking for another yacht that might appear anytime. I thought I was in some sort of illegal sea search, but there was none who could answer my questions.

During the three days meaningless hovering I came to know that the occupants of the yacht were looking for a Pakistani yacht full of gold to loot it or either drown it. The occupants of the yacht were calling each other by the names which were strange or merely code names. They were well versed in navigation and always busy with their maps and navigation.

On the fourth day, I saw another yacht on the surface of the sea and informed them. One of them came with a powerful binocular and confirmed that it was the yacht that they were looking for, which might be headed to Sindh, Pakistan.

"Lad, ready to jump into the yacht and look for the gold." said the one who had a powerful bazooka gun in his hands.

"What are you thinking; either jump into the yacht or I'll blow you after blowing the yacht." warned the muscle man.

The other navigators were heading the yacht towards the unknown yacht. Soon we were close enough to the yacht that we could collide with that yacht. The muscleman threw a life jacket towards me and gestured to jump into the sea. I had no option and jump into the sea and started swimming towards the yellow yacht. The sailors of that yacht were on the deck with their weapons and ready to fight. They saw me jumping into the sea and some of them laughed. As I neared the yacht the man from my yacht fired and made a big hole in the yellow yacht. His next blow killed the sailor of the yellow yacht. I was terrified and started swimming towards our yacht but the navigator on the yacht gestured me to go back.

I was helpless; I headed towards the half-drowned yacht. The sailors of that yacht were either dead or swimming in the sea. Navigators from my yacht were killing them like flees and I was swimming among the dead bodies. Finally, I entered the drowning yacht to look for the gold.

Onboard I was checking cabins of the yacht-like a fool to find some imaginary gold. But I found nothing, instead, I heard a feminine scream and I ran towards the origin of the scream, there was a cabin full of seawater and a woman in black stuck in a loose log in the water.

I ran towards her and tried to free her from the log and that very moment she screamed, "You rustic idiot, don't touch me."

I overheard her and freed her. But she decided not to move.

I screamed, "Come with me otherwise we'll both drown."

She refused to move, I thought for a while and I lifted her and put her on my shoulder and ran outside. The yacht was about to draw and I jumped in the water with her. She was afraid to see the sea waters, first, she hesitated but later she clung to me like a child and I swam towards my yacht.

The navigators on the yacht were looking surprisingly at the woman with me finally they lifted us from the sea.

Colonel's Fiancé

"Where is the gold?" asked the leading navigator.

"I found no gold on the yacht," I replied

"Idiot, you were busy saving this woman instead of searching the gold," said he looking at the wet woman.

I had nothing to say so I kept quiet. Then he turned towards the woman and asked, "Who are you ma'am and what were you doing on that yacht."

All she told him in her shivering was voice meant that her name was Ayesha Khan, she was the daughter of a Gujarat based Muslim businessman and was headed to Pakistan Legally to merry her Pakistani colonel fiancé as he could get no Indian visa to come to India to marry her. She had a chest full of gold as her dowry which drowned with the yacht.

The leading navigator saw at her with disgust and told me to give her my cabin and ordered the yacht captain to return to Kori creek.

Later he got compassionate with the woman and said, "I'm sorry for the trouble which you went through, but we had orders to drawn the gold, which might be used by Pakistan to promote terrorism in India. I'll make arrangements to take you to your father's home safely."

"And you, he said looking at me, you saved her, now you'll look after all her needs until we reach Kori creek."

"No; not this rustic fool." said the woman looking at me.

"Ma'am, this is the only spare man whom we can use; please bear it with him."

I wanted to say something but he forbade me by saying, "Not you; I don't want a word from you."

Damn you; damn this woman.

Stormy Night

By the evening the cook of the yacht called me and gave a plate full of food to take to the woman.

"This food is good for you rustic fools, not for me," said Ayesha without looking at the food.

I said nothing and took the food back.

I made myself comfortable in front of the Ayesha cabin and tried to catch some sleep but the weather was turning stormy and the yacht was stirring badly. So, the sleep was far away.

"Could you bring some tea for me, I'm feeling unwell?" a sweet and tender voice echoed in my ears.

I looked back, she was standing on the cabin door, she was very beautiful and fear in her eyes was making her more beautiful.

"Sure," said I and headed towards the kitchen.

The kitchen was closed but I took some dried milk and made tea. I placed some biscuits on the plate and went back to Ayesha cabin with tea and biscuits.

"Seaman you are very strong but polite," said Ayesha taking the tea.

"I'm no seaman, I'm here against my wishes, sort of slave."

"Understood."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'm going to marry a man whom I don't love."

"Marriage; without love?"

"Yes, it was arranged between my father and colonel Zaheer Khan's family, I hate that man."

"Why?"

She said nothing.

"Vishal; run for your life, this yacht is drowning." Yelled someone and I ran outside. But soon I realized that Ayesha was in her cabin and I ran back to take her out of the cabin.

I saw her rushing out of the cabin and I took her arm and ran towards the exit. Water was flooding the yacht and it was drowning swiftly.

I found nothing and jumped in the stormy seawater.

"Vishal; please don't let me drown." screamed Ayesha clinging at me."

I just hold her tight and swam in the opposite direction of the drowning yacht as it could take us down with her.

I was tired of swimming and holding Ayesha, soon I found a big log on the sea surface and I put Ayesha on the log and assured her that I'll look after her. Soon the dawn break and I saw the seashore but the log on which Ayesha was lying started dragging us towards the sea again. I took Ayesha's hand in mine and started struggling to swim towards the shallow waters. A struggle of one hour or so took me to the foaming seashore. We both were dead tired so we just fell on the sand semiconscious. We didn't know that we have entered Pakistan's Sindh province illegally.

The Cruel Colonel

A fisherman family gave us shelter in their house and talked to Ayesha who was well versed in Sindhi.

"What were they asking?" I inquired.

"About you and me?"

"What did you tell them?"

"Nothing; they think that you are my husband."

"I don't believe; that I'm in the enemy country."

"What do you want to do?"

"I think you can tell the local police about you and they shall take you to our fiancé……..."

"What will you do?"

"I'll slip silently towards the sea and find my way out of this county."

"You cannot; you even don't know the language of this province."

"Don't worry; I'll manage," said I and took leave from Ayesha.

I could hardly reach the seashore when a number of policemen appeared and arrested me. They took me Ayesha; she was also arrested but she told them something and they respectfully bowed her and took her towards the waiting car. She said to them something which they opposed but soon one of them came towards me and said, "Ma'am says you are her friend, come with me, you'll also travel with her."

She forced them to untie my hands, which they did but with remorse.

"You hate the colonel, why are you doing this?" I asked her.

"Yes, why I hate him, you'll understand soon; I'm scared about you now."

"Don't worry; let's face what is coming……." said I with concern.

Within three hours we were in the cantonment of Karachi and were taken to officer quarters where Zaheer was waiting for us.

He was a big burly man in his late forties.

"Thank god you are safe Ayesha; where is the gold?" said Zaheer taking Ayesha's hand in his hand.

"Drowned, but I'm alive, isn't it enough?"

"Yes darling; but we need gold to fight these dogs," said Zaheer looking at me.

After that, he turned towards me and asked, "Indian; where is the gold?"

"Drowned with the yacht……." answered I.

"No, you have hidden that somewhere," said he and slapped hard me.

It was enough for me I knew what was going to happen to me so I clenched my fist and hit him back with my fist.

Zaheer staggered a little and he shouted, "Take this dog to the barn and flog him till he dies."

Four or five men subdued me and took to be a barn and tied my hands to the canon wheel and a powerful man started flogging me.

The leather flog was killing me with every blow, there was a shirt on my body and within one hour I was half dead.

Suddenly I heard a commotion, I saw Ayesha came running towards me and held the flog man hand to stop him by saying, "Stop now; he'll die."

Zaheer also came and shouted, "Arrest her; she is a traitor; she'll also face firing squad with that Indian dog tomorrow morning."

Wait For Death

I was also taken to a cell and thrown there to lie down in my own blood pool. The lack of blood was making my senses imagine things. I just recalled the last few days after my escape from jail. To meet Ayesha, who will also die because of me."

"Vishal; wake up, let's get out of here." the sweet voice of Ayesha brought some sense into me.

I saw Ayesha with a guard in my cell.

"Hurry ma'am; run away before the colonel wakes up……." said the guard in a hurry who was perhaps helping us to escape.

There was a horse waiting outside and the guard helped us to mount on it. Ayesha took the rein in her hands and she raced towards the seashore.

Soon I heard there were more horse riders behind us chasing us.

"Hurry Ayesha, they are behind us," shouted I.

"Don't worry; we'll escape," said she and maintaining the speed of the stead.

Soon the deserted seashore was in front of us and we ran towards the sea. There was a steamer, we ran towards it. But I gunfire slowed our speed; Ayesha was hit from behind. I took her limp body in my arms and saw her dying.

"Vishal; I'm dying in your arms……" whispered she and died.

"Don't worry; I'll join you in a few seconds……." said I and saw there was a knife in the sand, I took it and ran towards Zaheer, who was on the horse and had killed Ayesha.

"You cheated us……" shouted I running towards him."

He aimed me and fired; I took the bullet in my chest and fell on the ground.

"Ahamad; it was really fun to chase these Indian dogs and kill them," said Zaheer to the guard who freed us to let Zaheer hunt down us.

The guard laughed and Zaheer took the aim of my head and fired.

Game Players

"So finally, that dog has died a death of a dog in Pakistan all owing to you," said J. D. Divan to Dharampal while tossing a scotch shot with him.

"He had to die with the drowning gold yacht but that idiot was lucky enough to come alive of that yacht with that Muslim girl with whom he went to Pakistan to meet his end."

J. D. laughed a devious laugh.

"What about those navigators?" asked Dharampal.

"They were damn good swimmers; they came ashore swimming," said J. D. who took all the risk of getting Vishal escaped from Will City jail to nail him for loving his daughter.

Texas, Huston

Meenu saw the news of an Indian spy who was killed by the Pakistani army while escaping from their custody.

"Dad your hate didn't kill him…… my love killed him," said Meenu to herself wiping tears from her cheeks.

She jerked her head and went on ironing the cloths of her NRI husband.