Three Mistakes Of My Life Part 30

'Move back. Mama wants to talk to his other son,' I said.

Omi took Mama to the side and hugged him. Mama consoled him. I looked through the crowd to see any influential person. A man with a turban had six men behind him. He wore a gold chain. 'Can I talk to you?' I said.

The man came to me. He held a fire torch in his hand. My cheek felt the heat.

'Sir, I want to offer you a proposal.' 'What?'

'How many of these men are yours?' 'Ten,' he said, after some hesitation. 'If I promise you ten thousand, can you slowly step back and walk away?' I said.

'Why?' he said.

'Please, don't ask. Consider it an offering. And keep it quiet as I don't have enough for all.'

'Why do you want to save the boy?' he asked.

'Fifteen thousand last. My shop is at the temple. You can ruin it if I don't pay.'

The man in the gold chain went back to his group. He spoke to them as they stepped backwards. He turned to me and nodded. Twenty-five per cent of my problem was over.

Mama left Omi and came to me.

'What's going on here?' Mama said. He did not notice forty people turning to thirty in his drunk state.

'Mama think again. You have a future in the party. Parekh-ji will not approve of this,' I said.

Mama laughed. He took out his mobile phone and dialled a number.

'Parekh-ji won't approve?' Mama said and waited for the phone to be picked up.

'Yes, Parekh-ji, I am well. Don't worry, I will grieve later. Right now it is war time. Oh and someone thinks you are not happy with me ... here talk ... yes talk...'

Mama pa.s.sed his phone. The crowd waited behind us.

'h.e.l.lo? Who is this,' Parekh-ji's voice came at the other end.

'Govind, Parekh-ji. One of Omi's friends. We came to Vishala with you...,' I said.

'Oh yes. Son, trying day for us Hindus. So are you supporting us?'

"This is wrong, sir,' I said, not sure why I called him sir, 'this is wrong.'

'What? The train burning, isn't it?' 'Not that Parekh-ji, they want to kill a boy'

'So what can I do?' he said. 'Stop them.'

'Our job is to listen to people and do what they tell us. Not the other way round.'

'People don't want this,' I said.

'They do. Trust me. Today, the cooker needs a whistle to release the pressure."

'But kids? Women?' I said.

'Doesn't matter. Whatever it takes to quench the hurt feelings. People in pain want to feel better. Unfortunately, today I can't think of a better way.'

'This is a horrible way,' I said.

'This will last a day or two, but if we stifle it, it could explode into a huge civil war.'

'Your party will be blamed for it,' I said, trying to appeal to their self-interest.

'By who? A few pseudos? Not the people of Gujarat. We are making people feel better. They will elect us again and again. You wait and see.'

'Sir, this boy. He could be in the national team someday.' Mama s.n.a.t.c.hed the phone from me.

'Don't worry Parekh-ji, I'll take care of all this. You will be proud of me tomorrow,' Mama said and hung up.

I looked around for another mini-leader in the pack. I walked up to him and took him aside. 'Fifteen thousand, you take your people and walk away,' I said.

This time my lure did not entice.

'Mama, he is trying to buy me,' the mini-leader screamed at the top of his voice.

'No, no you heard me wrong, what are you mad or something?' I said and moved back towards the bank.

'What's going on Omi? Get the boy here,' Mama screamed.

Omi nodded to Mama. He went to the main door. The crowd remained at the gate and only the porch separated us. However, the gate did not have a lock anymore.

Omi knocked on the main entrance. Ish opened it after confirming the person.

Both of them disappeared inside.

I stood alone with the rioters. They suspected me of offering bribes. I wanted to run inside too. However, someone had to keep the crowd out.

'Are they getting him?' Mama asked me.

'I think so,' I said.

I offered to check inside as Mama asked twice. I went to the door and knocked.

Ish opened it for a nanosecond and I slipped inside.

I let out the loudest sigh ever. Ish bolted the door and blocked it with the sofa from the waiting lounge.

'They are waiting. If one of us doesn't show up in two minutes, they will attack,'

I said.

'Ali woke up,' Omi said. 'Where is he?' I said.

'I locked him in the manager's room. How many people?' Ish said.

'Thirty,' I said. 'Let's fight,' Ish said.

CHAPTER Twenty

Ish, I want to talk to you,' I said. 'We don't have time,' Ish said. 'Omi!' Mama's scream came through the main door. 'Coming Mama. Give us five minutes,' Omi screamed back. 'Get him fast,' Mama said.

I made Ish sit on the sofa that blocked the main door.

'Ish, can I offer a bit of logic in the current chaos,' I said.

'What? We have no time,' Ish said.

'I know. But I also know what will happen if we fight thirty people. We will all die. They will get Ali and kill him too,' I said.

'So what are you trying to say,' Ish said and stood up.

'Giving up three lives to possibly save one. Can you show me the maths in this?'

'f.u.c.k your maths. This isn't about business.'

'Then what is it about? Why should we all die? Only because you love the kid?'

'No,' he said and turned his back to me.

'Then what?'

'Because he is a national treasure,' Ish said.

'Oh, and we are national filth? So maybe one day the kid will hit a few sixes and Indians will waste the day watching TV and get thrills out of it. So f.u.c.king what? What about my mother? What about Omi's parents? What about...,' I said and turned quiet. I almost said Vidya.

'I'm not giving him up. You want to run away. Open the door and run. Omi, you are welcome to go too,' Ish said.

'I am not going. But how do we fight them Ish?' Omi said.

Ish told us to follow him. He led us to the kitchen. He told us to lift a kerosene canister each. He also picked up three buckets that we used to chill beer. We fell in step behind him as we took the steps to the roof.

'It's heavy,' I said.

'Twenty litres each. That's heavy for sure,' Ish said as we reached the roof.

Fires dotted the neighbourhood skyline. The weather didn't feel as cold as a February night should be.

'We are coming!' Mama said as his group pushed the rusted metal gate of the bank open. They came to the porch and banged on the main entrance door.

'Stop shouting Mama,' Ish said.

Mama looked up to the roof.

'Where are you hiding sister-f.u.c.kers,' Mama said. The crowd hurled fire torches at us. We stood two stories high. Nothing reached us. One fire torch fell on a rioter and he yelped in pain. A mob maybe pa.s.sionate, but it can also be quite stupid. They stopped throwing torches after that.

Ish kept Mama engaged.

'Mama, I was born without fear. See,' Ish said and climbed on the roof ledge.

The crowd became distracted. If they weren't, they'd attack the main door.

Despite three bolts and a sofa in front, they would break it in ten minutes flat.

After that, they'd have to break the first floor entrance door and then the flimsy one at the roof. In fifteen minutes, we would be roasted in blowtorches. Ish's plan better be good. 'Say Jai Sri Ram,' Ish shouted. It worked perfectly, the crowd had to partic.i.p.ate. Most of the crowd did not know whether we supported them or not.

At least not yet.

Meanwhile, Omi and I poured the kerosene out of the canisters into the buckets. The canisters had a narrow neck and the kerosene wouldn't flow out fast. We needed a big strike.

Ish struck Siva's poses on the ledge. A few drunk members of the mob even bowed to him. Perhaps Siva had come down tonight to bless the rioters.

'One, two, three and go,' I whispered as Omi and I upturned the buckets. We threw the oil forward to keep it away from the bank building.

The blowtorches in the rioters' hands acted as the ignition. A river of fire fell on the bank's porch. Panic spread in the mob. They took a few moments to realise we had attacked them. Ish stepped off the ledge. We hid ourselves under the parapet. I raised my head high enough to watch the happenings below. A few mobsters ran out of the bank gate as their clothes caught fire. I suppose it is much more fun to burn people, than get burnt yourself.

'How many ran away?' Ish said.

'Quite a few. There's panic downstairs.' The remaining people started jabbing trishuls on the main door. I popped my body up to count the people. I estimated more than ten, but less than twenty.

'We have to go down,' Ish said.

'Are you mad?' I said.

'No. Let's reduce the people further,' Ish said.

'Ish, we are hurting people. Some of them may die. We threw a lot of kerosene,'

I said.

'I don't care,' Ish said, 'we have to hurt some more.'