The Subconscious Instincts Often Lead You on the Right Path!
In our splendid arrogance, we all believe we are masters of our destiny and the “doers” of our deeds. However, in reality, it could all be a “grand divine play”
It’s nearly three decades since the incident, yet it is imprinted in my mind like the present!
The year was 1994 or 1995. I was in my late teens and used to live in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) with my parents and siblings. It was summertime. The independent house we stayed in had a boundary wall and a gate; the latter was locked up only at night. At all other times, we would put a latch that could be opened from both inside and outside. A stairway leading to the terrace was located on the left side of the house. We utilized the area underneath the staircase to park two-wheelers.
That eventful day, just prior to his customary afternoon siesta, my father asked me to check if his bicycle had been locked properly. As I was surveying the lock on the bicycle, I saw an unknown man squatting below the staircase. Clearly hiding from someone or something, the fear in his eyes was palpable. He was simply huffing and puffing. Though he didn’t appear as a threat, the sight sent shivers down my spine.
The very next moment, I turned to rush inside the house and inform my parents. But before I could get in, I saw a group of 4–5 men charging towards our house. They asked me if I had seen a man running by our house. I had no clue why that man was hiding below our staircase. And also why in the lords’ name, were these men searching for him..
For me, that man was just a trespasser, making a surreptitious uninvited entry into our home. Everything was happening in a jiffy; there was little time for a calculated decision and neither was I mature enough to do so.
So, instinctively, I told the group that the person they were looking for was hiding below our staircase. The next moment, they ran towards the staircase, grabbed him by the collar, mouthing profanities, as is typical amongst folks in the northern belt of India. The man pleaded with them in vain; he was mercilessly dragged outside.
Hearing the hubbub, my parents and brothers came out. When my father asked those men the reason they were beating him up, one of them said in an authoritative tone, “Sir, aap beech mein mat boliye (Sir, you don’t interfere in this).” They dragged the man outside towards the main road. Stunned, all of us stood there meekly, witnessing the scene as far as our eyes could see and ears could hear.
Shocked, my parents locked the gate and door and asked me and my brothers to stay cooped indoors the rest of the day. That afternoon, as everyone in my family took a siesta, the scene kept running in my mind endlessly; assailed with the persistent doubt whether I had done the right thing.
Later that evening when my father gleaned more information from his friends; a group of men lynched a man to death on the road. The law and order situation is considerably more stable today in Northern India compared to those days when such incidents were not so uncommon.
On further queries from my father, they told him that the lynched person had raped an 11-year-old girl and the men who killed him were the girl’s relatives.
After coming back home, my father narrated what his friends told him. I heaved a sigh of relief in my mind and all my self-doubts vanished that moment.
And you know what, dear readers? Even today, I don’t regret my part in it.
In hindsight, I feel it wasn’t me; it was God who was directing me and the child’s relatives as an instrument to serve justice on the man for his dastardly act. I am happy to have been selected by the almighty to play a tiny role in accomplishing HIS will.
How I wish all rape cases in India had a similar fate…
