The Stranger

It was midnight in a small village called Hanumagiri, eight kilometers away from Pavanpur town. Stray dogs were barking outside. The village is famous for the Hanuman temple situated on the hill top. 

Mahesh and his family members were sleeping in their 'Swabhimana',  a newly constructed farm house. The phone was ringing continuously disturbed his sleep. He got up to receive the call. 

"Hello, Who is calling sir?"

"Sir, someone had set fire to your car shed.  It may spread fast to your whole house and your brand new car ambassador may explode in just a few minutes. Take care of you and your family. God bless you."

"May I know your name?"

The caller stopped the conversation without giving his introduction. Mahesh's wife Mayuri got up and went to another room to wake up her daughter Sneha. All came out including a ferocious dog, watchmen and other workers. The tin shed outside, where the car was parked was burning. Mahesh thought immediate action must be taken before the flames became monsters. His house was equipped with a fire extinguisher. Within minutes the fire was completely extinguished. All those present there were  happy. Timely action saved lakhs of rupees. His car was safe. If there was a delay in extinguishing the fire, a major catastrophe would have happened. 

Mahesh wanted to convey thanks to the caller, who was a stranger. He could not get the caller's name. 

  After one month of this incident, Mahesh was invited by the village head Manikantha to attend a village development meeting at six pm. Mahesh accepted the invitation and as he was about to leave, the phone rang. The caller  advised him  not to attend the meeting as there was a life threat for him. He  canceled the meeting. This time also the caller did not introduce himself.

Mahesh was a progressive farmer in Hanumagiri, a small  village. Four years back, he,  his wife and daughter all resigned from highly paid lucrative jobs  in the United States of America and returned to their native village to manage and develop twenty acres of  agricultural land, which was barren. He had constructed a farmhouse, bird sanctuary, pet room, pumpset rooms and rest rooms for workers. Due to the application of modern technology,  big wells with abundant water, employment of laborers and more than that  hard work of the family members, the lands became fertile. The main crops were sugarcane, paddy and wheat.  The  produce increased four times by the end of fifth year. 

He and his family faced a number of life threatening situations.  Every time the stranger makes a call and saves their life. 

Who was making  threat attempts?

He was Manikanta, a landlord of and village head. He presumed himself as a king in the village. Nobody had the guts to face him. The poor farmers were under his grip and working in his fields as bonded laborers.  He doesn't want anyone to rise in the village. Manikanth sent his servant to Mahesh with a threat to sell his lands and other properties to him  at the present market rate and go back to the United States, otherwise, his life would be in high risk. He lodged a complaint against Manikanta at Pavanpur police station. The following day police arrived and grilled Manikanta for three hours. He, being a powerful man in the village, managed the police and sent them back to Pavanpur without any action. 

Manikanta continued giving  trouble.  Mahesh was unable to trace out the stranger, who had called every time to save their lives.  He felt very bad for not getting any clue about the stranger.  He was seriously thinking  why police were inactive  against Manikantha despite the complaint?

Mahesh approached the police commissioner, Bengaluru informing the activities of Manikantha and series of threats given to him. He requested an appointment. Mahesh was surprised to know that his friend Abhay Kumar was Commissioner of Police.  Both were classmates in high school.  The appointment was fixed on the fifteenth of the following month. Manikanth got this information and planned to counter it. He had a  fear that if Mahesh became a strong man in the village, all his crimes would come out and he would have to spend his rest of life in prison. 

Mahesh met his friend Abhay Kumar on that day and discussed in detail about the  cruelty of Manikanth. Abhay agreed to take action against Manikantha. 

Three months passed. Neither Pavanpur police took action against Manikantha nor the Commissioner took any steps to stop the powerful man.

On one Saturday morning, Mahesh and his family went to Hanuman temple at the hilltop by climbing one hundred steps to perform puja. While returning at the 50th step, two guys  supposed to be the henchmen of Manikantha stopped Mahesh. These guys shouted 'go back America'. 

At the same time, one young man arrived and fought with them. During the scuffle, the youngman got injured and the duo ran from the spot. Mahesh saw the youngman and it  was a surprise for Mahesh and his family. The youngman was none other than Parikshit, collegemate of Sneha in America. He loved Sneha. But Sneha rejected him. Another surprise was he was the same stranger, who called a number of times to save Mahesh and his family. It was yet another surprise that Parikshit's father Suryakantha, elder brother of Manikantha died due to the torture given by Manikanta. 



Sneha felt very much for rejecting the love with Parikshit and extended her hand of love. 

Why did Parikshit help Mahesh at the risk of his life?

One, to take revenge on uncle Manikanta. Two, by helping Mahesh during trouble may get back his lover. Parikshit was successful in achieving both at a time.

It took one year in the court to send Manikantha behind the bars. 

Lovebirds joined together happily.