The Dejected Soldier

                   

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Mir Mohammed was in his tent when the news came in. The news had not only made him worried, but also made him crestfallen about Nawab's future. He became certain that there will be no point in going to war on the next day.

Mir Mohammed came to Bengal from Kashmir during Alivardy Khan's reign. Alivardy Khan was mighty impressed with Mir's military skills. Because of his intelligence and experience in war, Mir Mohammed held a formidable position in Nawab's army. But when Siraj-ud-Daulla became the Nawab of Bengal, things started to change drastically. He was demoted from his earlier position which made him to lose faith in Siraj. So Mir decided that the battle of Plassey will be his last to prove his obedience for Nawab.

The news of Mir Jafar's involvement with East India Company made him curious about both Nawab's and his future. He thought of retiring from Nawab's army and returning to Kashmir after the battle. But the news made him worried how the company will treat him when they will find that he was close to the monarch.

Next day, Mir was at the battleground with the Nawab's army. But alas! The Nawab's army surrendered without putting up any fight. Not a single bullet had been fired. East India Company won the battle with the help of Mir Jafar. Siraj-ud-Daulla, the Nawab of Bengal, fled the capital Murshidabad. Without wasting too much time, Mir also left Mushirdabad.

The haste failed him to take the wealth that he had accumulated in those years. He had no idea where he was heading to. He understood that returning to Kashmir, with the money he had, was quite bleak. So he decided to go to southern Bengal. He had heard how prosperous the place has become.

The more he started moving towards Calcutta he got fascinated with the beauty of rural Bengal. He realized that his desire to just win wars had certainly detached him from living a normal life. He was also worried about his future as he knew nothing but fighting.

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Mir's luck changed when he met a landlord of a village who was also looking for an able-bodied man like Mir for administrative purposes. Seeing a job opportunity and also a place to stay, Mir spent no time in grabbing that opportunity.

After working for Nawab for a long time, Mir realized that it would be tough for him to assimilate with the culture of the palace and the village. He didn’t hide his origin and religion to the landlord understanding it would be wise for him to reveal his identity to live in a village where majority of inhabitants were Hindu.

The landlord used Mir mainly to collect taxes from the defaulters by means of threatening and coercion. Barring that, he often went for hunting with the landlord. Within a few months of time, he had successfully developed a good rapport with the staffs of the landlord and the residents of the palace.

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Radharani lost her husband at a very young age. She was from the village from where landlord’s wife came. It was landlord’s wife insistence that earned Radharani a place at the palace. She lived at the palace and helped arranging daily pujas. She had devoted her entire life to god. She spent all the time at the zenana with other women. But things changed when she got the order to take care of distributing the food to the staffs of the palace. That made her close to the outside world and also to men. Almost every man at the palace either wanted to sleep with her or despised her of being a widow. But not Mir.

Witnessing her daily troubles, Mir became sympathetic towards Radharani. Understanding Mir’s affection towards her, Radharani also found a sense of enthusiasm and positivity. Within few months of time, they had developed a friendship. Mir had never felt such exuberance of emotions in his entire life. He had been to brothels but never developed any relationship with a woman. But this was different. On the other, Radharani also felt happy about having a lover.

Radharani was 20 and Mir was around 42 years old. But the age-gap didn’t act as a boundary between them. Both spoke different languages but that too didn’t become a barrier. They started meeting privately on a regular basis. Over time, their relationship became intimate and close.

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Understanding of having no chance of a formal union, Mir and Radharani planned to leave Bengal and settled in Kashmir. And before leaving for Kashmir, Mir decided to marry Radharani. But things don’t happen according to plan. Radharani had always maintained complete secrecy about the relationship. But one of the palace’s women, who were also a widow, had sort of sensed that something was going on between Radharani & Mir. She decided to catch them red-handed. She started keeping a strong vigil on who enters and exits Radharani’s room.

Mir used to go to Radharani’s room around midnight and used to leave before dawn. But their rendezvous didn’t last long when that widow caught both Mir and Radharani in Radharani’s room. The news of Mir in Radharani’s room escalated quickly and reached to the landlord. Landlord was busy in organizing an event to host some East India Company officials who were present at the palace. But the news shifted his focus. Fearing a scandal that may come out from his palace, he intervened quickly.

First he confiscated all the possessions that Mir had acquired and charged him with stealing. Landlord’s connection with EIC had earned him the power to execute anyone under any reason. Next morning, Mir had been taken to the gallows on the grounds of stealing money from the palace. Few days later, Radharani was deported to Beneras to live with other widows for tarnishing the image of the landlord. Later, Radharani got sold at a brothel where she spent the rest of her life.