short stories

THE RIVER WHICH FLOWED IN SKY

Punjab was always a dangerous place for everyone, especially Hindus, this dates back to the early 1980's, the operation blue star had not been a far memory and the deaths due to it were also not a far memory

Punjab had a president rule since then, this all begun in early 1960's when people begun demanding for a separate KHALISTAN state and this led to indeed lots of problems all over the state, in late 1970's a leader rose out of oblivion, his name was bhindanwale, he influenced other social workers to take by the idea of a separate Sikh state and thus begun terror all across Punjab and it was not long before government noticed this

in 1983 the Punjab police SP, Mr. A.S Atwal was shot dead, his body lay in the gates of golden temple untouched out of scare of bhindanwale and his followers, this triggered Delhi and Indira Gandhi, the then PM asked for a commando operation, on JUNE 1 around 10,000 people of army, most of them CRPF left on grounds for a take over

The terrorist though came out to strong, it was a 72 hours battle where bhindanwale and his followers were killed and golden temple was seized but destroyed, there were causalities of innocent people as well who were in the temple

Then in October 1984, the then PM of India, MRS Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own body guards, this led to riots all over India which killed 30k Sikhs,

President rule was declared in Punjab and several organizations formed creating a complete insurgency

This story is about a family in Punjab of 1980's and how they were dragged to politics and terrorism

SOMETIME AROUND 1985

kuldeep returned to his hometown in village of khalaskar after a long wait of 4 years, he heard that his father had suddenly disappeared, his mother had panicked out and called him back, kuldeep, a student at JNU was back with the next bus on board, he was been picked by his childhood love and daughter of DIG police, her name was harshadeep

kuldeep was sent away by his mother around 2 years back with worsing situation in the state, that particular day she found kuldeep attending a khalistan pro meeting of seven boys of his gang, she saw him with a gun, the next day he was forced to go to Delhi

in 4 years the village hadn't changed much

he went to his home and found out that his mother was been taken by his uncle to his home, his father was then called "sarpanch' OR the head of village

kuldeep traveled a kilometer further to his uncles house, he just entered the room and found his mother singing and dancing and having fun with his uncle, he was shocked, he was fragile, he spoke out with disgust to his mother and also blamed her saying that he thought she sent him to Delhi for his studies, but actually she wanted her relationship with his uncle to not be showcased out so she sent him away, saying this he left the house in disgust

after travelling a little, he meets his two old twin bro friends, their names were Meet and Jeet respectively, they worked in an arms shop selling arms to the army and police over the state, he stayed with them that night

He inquired with them about his father and found out that his father was detained after he was found having relations with the terrorists, he later commented saying that Punjab was nothing more than a prison for a bird

The next day he began his search for his father, he went to nearby police stations, he went to government office, he referred to help of human rights activist but everyone said him that they were helpless

later he went to the DIG, the DIG said that his father was left days back and he also said that maybe he ran away, he went on to comment that he had many affairs as well, kuldeep was furious on this remark, he left the place in disgust, later the DIG Whispered that if he takes risk with police then he will also disappear in oblivion

The same day while walking back to meets and Jeet's house, he encountered a strange man, that strange man asked him strange question, kuldeep ignored him till he said he knew where his father was

he took him to a grave nearby and said that they were both detained together and kept in same jail, his father was actually innocent but still detained, that man later commented that his uncle was the main person, he was jealous of his father, he actually loved his wife or kuldeep's mom and also wanted to be the sarpanch, both times his father got a better of him, he sworn to take revenge

he actually kept illegal arms in his house without the knowledge of his brother, later police found that arms in the store and detained his father, but this work was done with help of an insider, that insider was kuldeep's mom, she was tired of her husband his aggressive behavior and she took refuge with his brother (kuldeep's uncle)

in the prison, they didn't provide adequate food or water, kuldeep's father said him to deliver his son a message, they made a way out of the jail with help of other prisoners but only that man and kuldeep's father could escape out, later the police found them and fired in which kuldeep's father was fatally injured, he later died but this man escaped

After hearing this, kuldeep became mad and begun acting strange, he said about his father's death to his uncle and mom, on his funeral he danced like a peacock

later kuldeep's uncle decided to marry his mom and his then sister in law, on their marriage day, kuldeep kept a skit and presented a drama based on the life of his uncle, his uncle then got up and left, kuldeep followed him, he went to gurudwara and begun praying to god for forgiveness, kuldeep took a gun with him but didn't kill his uncle, before he could, he was arrested by DIG, and it was seen that meet and jeet were spies appointed from DIG

While transporting kuldeep to jail, meet and jeet took over the bus and decided to take him to the bay of Sutlej and kill him there, but in turn kuldeep breaks apart and shoots them both to death

that very night he breaks down into the DIG's house and murders him on the spot, he was spotted by harshadeep, she broke down but refused to name him to the police

kuldeep decides to join khalistan pro group and take part in it and take revenge with his uncle, he went to the same graveyard, the later day a group of people came for a funeral, kuldeep sees harshadeep's brother and gets to know that harshadeep has died, he gets mad and goes out, her brother reads her suicide letter and knows that kuldeep is the killer of his father, he gets furious at seeing and tries to kill him but himself gets hit with a rock and dies

meanwhile kuldeep's uncle arrives at the spot, and a gun shower between the terrorists and the police takes place, in the end only kuldeep and his uncle are left alive, kuldeep brutally hits his uncle, his uncle finds a gun and try to shoot him when kuldeep's mother jumps in middle and gets shot, seeing this his uncle loses control

kuldeep confronts to his mother one last time and she says that his father was actually helping the terrorists and giving him shed and money when required, she informed this to his uncle and he decided to help her, it's also true that his uncle loved him but he never wanted to steal him away from his father or they had a relationship and she dies

kuldeep's uncle surrenders himself and says kuldeep to kill him as he cant bare the guilt of killing his sister in law, kuldeep gets in dual mind, in one he wants to kill his uncle as he killed his father, in second he wants to leave him, he loads his gun and between his dual mind he drops the gun down and leaves, his uncle asks him that why didn't he shoot him ?, kuldeep replies saying

"ITS NOT ABOUT WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, ITS ABOUT WHY YOU HAVE DONE IT, AT LAST

TO BE OR NOT TO BE IS THE QUESTION!!!'

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