The Human Bond! (Part II)

A very disgusting, disgraceful and dreadful thing happened in Mumbai on December 7, 1992. Babri Masjid was demolished and Mumbai began burning due to riots! I was studying then and was almost caught in the crossfire between the warring communities. Luckily, by God’s grace, I returned home in one piece. Taslima’s (is a real person and a very good friend of mine) telephone booth was burnt during the riots and she had to rebuild the whole thing from scratch. I wrote this story, The Human Bond! (Part II), after the riots were over for an additional course I was taking then. I am sharing the same here:

The Human Bond! (Part II)

“We should save it,” Radha blurted and was about to get down from the moving rickshaw. But Asha held her back, as they rounded the circle in front of the telephone booth.

“Let’s move away before those hooligans see us,” Aakash exclaimed to the driver.

The driver did not wait for anything else. His pace appeared to defy the speed limit and within minutes, they were standing before the hostel. Aakash left in the same rickshaw. The girls entered the hostel compound as the guard ushered them in and were about to enter the main hall, when they heard a moan.

“Taslima!” Radha exclaimed and ran to the hapless girl lying just within the gates. Between them, she and Asha carried the differently-abled girl into the hostel building.

“Where’s your cycle?” Asha asked.

“I had to leave it near the circle. I could only make it till the gates on my hands,” she replied, between sips of water.

The day and the night passed peacefully. So did the next day and the next one to that. Taslima had called her parents to inform them of her whereabouts, the first day, itself. Everything seemed to have settled down, so Radha and Asha ventured out to shift their friend to her home.

To be continued…