I’m alive he said to himself the umpteenth time
within his first minute of gaining consciousness.
Where Jas came from, life was always a struggle. His
father was a farmer by occupation. He had seen more turmoil than an average Indian could ever see in
a lifetime. He had it all, declining harvest pushing them below the poverty
line, ever increasing debt on his parent’s shoulders, his repeated failures in
academic attempts and even a broken heart. But the more serious apprehension
now seemed to be solving the riddle he is faced with.
Suddenly a tidily dressed nurse came to him smiling.
There was something salient about her “We thought you couldn’t make it. It’s
not that every day we see people rising from their deathbed and you are one
among them.” Now he was getting both curious and worried. Curious to know the
chain of all events which led to this dramatic devastation and worried because
he needed to know how badly was he hurt. But before he could respond, the nurse
held his hand and lowered her voice and then said “You better act hastily, the
time is running and the stakes on you are more than ever”. Saying so, she swiftly left the place before
Jas could make anything out of it and respond back. In no time the doctor
arrived, “let me tell you that you are in a very bad condition with plenty
broken ribs, fractured skull and bone fractures here and there. We thought you
had gone into coma, but I’m glad you didn’t. “Thank you doctor but could you
please tell me about the nurse who came in just before you entered” clearly not
giving attention to what doctor had spoken. The doctor was perplexed, “I don’t
know what you are talking about Jas. Its almost 11 in the night and all the
nurses have left except for a handful whom I just met in the canteen.” “May be you are hallucinating. Get well soon
or else I will have you pay a visit to our physiatrist too“. He left the room
laughing as if that was the best joke he had cracked that day. Jas had no
option but to look amused at the joke.
As the days passed Jas had never seen that nurse
again but one day he caught up with a nurse, “do you know of any nurse here who
is tall, having curly hair with dark complexion.” The elderly nurse replied a
blunt ‘NO’. Jas persuaded her and looked at her expecting something clue and
she got up “Look I have been working in this place from 20 years and I know not
of the lady that you are trying to mention. May be you were dreaming of her or
maybe you should really get your mind checked up” and left.
The very next day, the nurse came into the room only
to find Jas missing. He had departed. There was an uproar in the hospital and
the nurse in charge was getting all the blame. Meanwhile Jas had stealthily
escaped from the rear exit of the hospital which was less frequently used for dumping
the garbage. He understood that he was in a middle of the forest. He wondered
about his whereabouts. He was in a dense forest where after small walk he could
spot a road and luckily a truck was advancing towards him. It stopped by him
before he fully held his hand out. A man with a big moustache flung open the
door and said “Get in quick, what took you so long.” Jas got in. Now this was another curious
incident after the one with nurse, but this time he was determined to get the
answers.
The truck driver who introduced himself as Siva, had
an evil grin in his serious face. Jas, who was too busy at his mindplace
started bombarding his questions “Can I know what is happening with my life? I
don’t even know where I am, and don’t even know whom I am talking to.” Siva who
looked too busy managing the truck, didn’t mind to answer any of his questions.
They were traversing through a dense forest and the only sound they could hear
was that of the truck. Jas gave up all his efforts of obtaining any information
from Siva but asked one final question “Will I ever get out of this mess?” and
before Siva could reply the truck made a screeching sound and stopped abruptly.
They were here, the Jatiya tribe, who were known for their acumen in robbing
people crossing through forests, hijacking their vehicles and sometimes even
taking people’s lives. But they were remarkably known for this one ritual. They
were good at identifying nerves especially the arteries supplying blood from
heart, neatly cut and rip it apart. Jas who had googled about them once,
identified them by their attire, got down the truck and began his sprint which
was in no time overrun by one of a Jatiya who quickly grabbed him by his hand
and started his nerve identifying exercise.
