Terror on the Divine - Part 1 : Behind the mask

Chapter - 9, The conceit of Niharika

I understood her concerns, and I had never wanted to upset her; kneeling towards her, I said, "Apologies, I am not here to take your father away from you nor to involve him in anything. But, I need his ideas; I need his expertise and suggestions to go forward. I hope you understand. Many innocents are falling into the trap of an unknown criminal who is running a ring of drug dealing and prostitution for his benefit; he might be growing rich. Still, because of his desire for making money illegally, many families have come to the road, many cultured, innocent girls are falling into his trap. It is an evil spreading across Goa, someday or another day it might affect your close ones too. Will you react the same way when it affects your closed one too?"

She kept quiet, looking deep into my eyes without responding, her concerns for her father showed in the tears which were falling silently from her eyes; every drop of her tears carried pain and her love for Adyapak. She understood the criticality it seems, she understood the pain of innocent victims it seems, but she never responded to my question.

Adyapak opened his mouth for the first time after we had walked in. "Well, your concerns are understood, Niharika. But, we should respect those who have gratitude towards us and those who want to do good deeds for the society. You should understand the deeper thought in their mind, the way you care for your father, the same way they care about those innocents whom they literally have no connection with in their life. You should respect it. And they are here with a hope to know the way forward by taking my suggestions, I don't think they are here to grab me from you," he said while stroking his daughter's head.

Niharika said nothing; instead she left the room, nodding her head.

Wiping his tears and placing his spectacles on the glass table in front, he said, "Earlier, our protest was only against the corrupt politicians, about the required rights of backward people and about those who are cheated to get government jobs. But, the thing which you explained to me now is entirely different from our earlier protests; in fact, this is the most complicated thing to deal with. It includes the mafia and underworld criminals, which might cost you your life. In a simple word, if I have to tell you something, then I would tell you that this is dangerous. But, as I know, you guys will not sit quiet, but remember, if you really want to involve yourself in helping those, then you must be prepared for all the worst situations which might affect your lives." His suggestion was a little terrifying; it shook my heart; it made me think about it again.

Chirag was silent all the way from Goa, and lines of worry creased his forehead. His silence allowed me to think further about giving up the case, and to go back home safe. Our mature leader Adyapak's suggestion was a serious call to consider. And, even I agreed to it, because I could feel the fear build up inside Chirag after hearing Adyapak.

Chirag's nervous voice said, "Arjun, I think we are capable only to protest and organize rallies against corruption; we are not that influential nor strong enough to defend ourselves against unknown underground criminals, we are not capable of ruling them. If we die, nobody on this earth will ask the reason for our death; instead they will still be afraid to poke their nose to know the truth." It was actually disappointing, but practically, he was right - we weren't capable enough to defend ourselves against dangerous criminals without any backup or support. I too accepted this. With the aim of closing the discussion, I asked about his appointment as assistant to the central general secretary of defense. "It was very surprising to know about your appointment, how did this happen?" Adyapak stayed silent for a while, looking around; then he whispered, "When I was working in the military, the present general secretary of defense was my head, a major general. Even after me leaving the army, he used to be in contact with me. Recently he had called me over the phone and said that something big is waiting in my way. I hope working under him is the big thing he was talking about."

"Oh, that's great news." I was in no mood to have any further discussion. "So you will be shifting to Delhi pretty soon?" I asked.

"No, I am moving to Hampi, a historical place in Karnataka, that's all I know; other than that Secretary General hasn't revealed anything. But, Niharika doesn't like me working; further, she had actually disagreed about this; it took time for me to convince her by telling her this job is not really that stressful. Somehow, she is okay with it." He said all this in a hurry; meanwhile, Niharika passed in front of us, grabbing the fallen silver cup in front of me.

"So, you guys are shifting to Hampi?" Chirag asked.

"Probably yes. Until Niharika completes her academics, she will be staying here, and if necessary, I will be moving," he said looking at the wall clock, which reminded me about his journey to Delhi.

"Well, sir, it must be getting late for you. We will leave." Greeting him, we stepped out of the house, Niharika came running towards us and said, "I apologize for hurting you. I understand the good cause you are willing to work on, but the whole of society is corrupt; you can just arrange rallies and fight. But, the fact is the system won't change. When you consider the history of our country, the people who are involved during the freedom fights was only 60% of the overall population and the rest stayed at home hatching eggs. When India got independence, 100% of the people came out to celebrate. That is how our system works; whatever protest you do, you will only be allowed to get a 50% success rate; you can't expect a 100% result. This is the reason I always hated you guys, and this also actually affected our family too. As my father was involved in all such activities - protesting and going against powerful corrupt politicians - my mother and I were worried about him. Thinking and consuming the stress, my mother got affected with high blood pressure. Because of which I lost her, and now, I am not ready to lose him also." I didn't say anything. I smiled at her and asked her, "Can we drop Mr Adyapak to the airport?"

She said yes.