Prologue: Drop of Life is a category of blogs which carry small Anecdotes or very short story that carries the reflection of life in every drop.
“Please sir, don’t hit me… Aaargh!” , the pain in the voice echoed piercing the silence of the night. Bopanna got up from his bed like he has been stuck by a shock of electric current. He gasped and his face was fully drenched with sweat. His eyes reflected the fear he had inside. He turned and looked at the clock by his side, it was 1 am. He took the bottle of water on the table by his side and drank. As he drank his hands shivered and water spilled on his face and flowed down his body. He kept the bottle back on the table and wiped his face with a towel.
“Sir sir… Please do not hit me…!” the voice sounded again. It had more pain than what it had previously. Bopanna was again in a state of shock. He held his chest with the towel. Then he laid down on the bed sideways and hid his other ear with the pillow. Although his intention was to avoid the sound and sleep, he could not succeed in his intention.
Let’s go in the direction of the voice and see where it comes from. As we move past the house of Bopanna we turn left into a police station. The wall of the police station is very adjacent to the house of Bopanna. The voice was coming from the remand cell in which the prisoners are kept and interrogated. This cell’s wall is on the side of the house of Bopanna. Hence the sound is very clearly heard in his house?
Bopanna’s house is in a small town called Adhikudi. It is a small time business hub for all the neighboring villages. The villagers came to this town every day to do their daily trades or buy commodities. The house was situated little away from the central market place, it was a small house with red tile roof. The tiles had gone black withstanding rain and heat through many seasons. The house had a small hall with an open kitchen and a single bedroom on the side. Bopanna earned his living working as an English teacher in the government school. His wife Gayathri and a five-year-old daughter Meghana stayed with him.
The trouble of hearing painful voices in the night has been a recent menace. There has been a new inspector deputed to the town. He has a very efficient track record of setting things right and preserving law and order wherever he is performing his duties. His name is Kalicharan. From the time he had come into the town the crime rate has significantly reduced. He has been very strict in maintaining law and order in the town. From the petty thieves to dacoits the name Kalicharan sent chills down their spine. His ways of interrogation and punishment had been well known to the accused and the fear of undergoing one kept them in check. Now we know the reason behind those voices in the night.
Everyone in the town was happy with the new inspector’s arrival but for Bopanna. Gayathri has asked him several times to go and tell the inspector about the nightly nuisance. However, Bopanna being a very simple person could not muster the courage to go up to him and complain about the nuisance.
He tried discussing the idea of going ahead and complaining to the inspector with his friends. There is one thing we all get freely in this world “Free advice”. The thing with free advice is that it sparkles the creativity and empowerment of the person giving the advice without worrying about any failure. Same thing happened here. He got different pieces of advice from different people… “don’t dare to do that… Are you mad…? The new inspector is arrogant and he might keep you in the remand and your family would hear your voice next”, “if I were you I would keep quiet about it… After some days you would get used to this noise and you will start missing it when it is quiet.”, “have some attitude to give to the society. You can consider this as a sacrifice for the neighborhood. The crime rate in the city has come down to a great extent. If you raise this concern now and if the inspector stops everything then god save us”, “Hey I have heard that the inspector has a thousand ears and he knows what people are talking in the town. I think you should not speak about this more or else he might come to know and we would be in trouble”. All these just reinforced Bopanna’s thought of keeping quiet. However, when he returned home his wife told him, “others will not understand what we are going through. Meghana is all frightened by the sounds she is hearing and she often gets sick now. We are telling a genuine concern and the inspector should understand it” Bopanna replied, “they can’t change the police station for us”. His wife said, “you should leave the problem to them… Anyways tomorrow I am going to our hometown to attend the temple festival and will be there for a week with our daughter. You please fix this problem before we return”
It was already a couple of days since Gayathri had left. One of the mornings on his way to the school, Bopanna spotted the inspector crossing the road towards the side he had been standing. Seeing that he tried to gather some courage to tell him about the issue. To his surprise inspector, Kalicharan walked towards him. Kalicharan is a well-built man with a large mustache. His eyes were half red most of the times. This made his face very stern and serious. As Kalicharan’s steps approached near Bopanna, he could not swallow his saliva properly in fear. Kalicharan directly walked towards him. Bopanna’s friend’s voice echoed in his ears “the inspector has a thousand ears…” Kalicharan’s eyes were even more red than usual as he neared him. He just lifted his hand and came down hard towards Bopanna. For a moment the entire world went dark as Bopanna closed his eyes. But nothing happened to him. He opened his eyes to find that the inspector had caught hold of the guy standing next to Bopanna by his shirt collar and started slapping him. As he slapped, the guy handed over the wallet to Bopanna. For a moment Bopanna could not believe his eyes. It was his wallet. The inspector then took the guy towards the police jeep. Everything happened in a jiffy it took quite some time for Bopanna to realize what had happened.
In the evening Bopanna sat in the park and recollected what had happened in the morning. He was still shivering thinking about how arrogantly the inspector had hit the guy and pulled him off. He slowly reached out to his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He ran his fingers around it and a faint smile appeared on his face. Then he got up and walked determinedly. He reached the junction where his house is and looked towards the police station. He saw the inspector’s motorbike parked outside the station. The constables ran around hurriedly doing their duties. There were enough indications that the inspector is inside. Bopanna walked towards the station. He reached near the gate and asked the police guard at the gate that he wanted to meet the inspector. The guard gave him a look and then directed him inside. Bopanna walked slowly inside the station. He started to sweat a bit. His heart beat increased when he came in the sight of the inspector. Kalicharan was busy with his work. Bopanna stood before him. Kalicharan was looking into some file. He just lifted his head and looked at Bopanna. He cleared his throat and pointed to the chair in his front. Bopanna sat down in the chair without saying a word.
Kalicharan asked, “tell me what’s the matter?”
Bopanna said, “Thank you for saving my wallet today morning”.
Kalicharan looked a bit thoughtful and said: “It’s ok no problem, anything else?”
Bopanna replied “no errr… Yes”
Kalicharan sighed and asked, “what is it”.
Bopanna swallowed his saliva and said ” I am Bopanna, I work as an English teacher in the school. My house is just nearby next to the station. You know the house with the yellow paint?”
Kalicharan said “hmmm yes… ”
“that’s my house… People say that after you had come the crime rate in the city has come down… ” ” that’s ok what do you want?”
“hmmm …I know you are tough with the accused people… In the night I could hear the sound almost every day… We, that is me and my family … that is my wife and my five-year-old daughter… we are not able to sleep properly because of that… errr… ”
Bopanna’s heart almost stopped when he spoke the last words he did not look up into the eyes of the inspector.
Kalicharan just replied “Hmmm… Let me see what I can do about this…” Bopanna slowly lifted his head and Kalicharan started reading the file in his hand. Bopanna got up from the chair and asked: “So I will leave now?”
Kalicharan did not lift his head from the file and just replied “yes”.
That night Bopanna had a very peaceful sleep. He did not get disturbed by any of the voices. It turns out that Kalicharan had moved the remand cell prisoners to a cell inside the station and not at the periphery of it. As Bopanna was going towards the school next morning he saw Kalicharan on the way. Kalicharan looked at him and their sights froze at each other for a moment and then he walked away. Bopanna looked at the direction Kalicharan walked and smiled to himself.
As he got into his class he erased the blackboard and wrote the new thought for day, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak – Winston Churchill“
Raja Saravanan 