‘Oh, lying in a pool of blood, how my heart bled for both of you in turns?’ he said reminiscently. ‘How lucky I am to survive that ordeal. Had I died, how would I have tasted all that’s in store for us? But, what a frightening experience it was, really!’
‘Why think about all that now?’ said Sandhya persuasively.
‘Where’s Saroja?’ he asked, at length.
‘Don’t worry about her,’ said Sandhya. ‘She’s in Sathyam’s care.’
‘Honestly, I didn’t think I would live to narrate my nightmare,’ he said with an apparent relief. ‘It’s a miracle to be with you again.’
‘You can talk all about that,’ said Roopa, trying to restrain him, ‘when it would have become a distant memory.’
That night, keeping vigil over their man that united them in their love for him, the mates didn’t wink even for a moment. However, by the time Ranga Reddy came along with Subba Reddy towards mid-day, what with Raja Rao, raring to go, they were as fresh as the flowers at dawn.
‘Raogaru’ said Subba Reddy, ‘what a fright you gave us all.’
‘If not for Ranga Reddygaru,’ said Sandhya ‘we could have gone mad by now.’
‘After all, it’s a minimum human courtesy,’ said Ranga Reddy.
‘Don’t tell me about human courtesies as I had seen the visage of inhumanity at close quarters,’ said Raja Rao, brushing aside Sandhya’s protests. ‘When I was a few feet away from Wahab’s office, some Hindu hooligans seeking out the Muslims for slaughter, accosted me. Oh, I was so dazed by the frenzy of those hate-merchants, that some of them felt I could be a Muslim in fright. After stripping me naked, to confirm my religion via circumcision, they advised me to run for safety. I was too shaken to comprehend whether I should thank the foreskin for having saved my skin, or feel ashamed of the crassness of my co-religionists. Then, hardly could I cross the street, when I ran into a Muslim mob that was after the Hindu blood. Before I could utter a word, someone stabbed me in my stomach. As I ran for life, with the shouts of ‘death for the kafir’, they chased me like a stray dog. When they were about to close in on me, I slumped to the ground, and taking me for dead, they left for good. As I lay in a pool of blood, I craved for life, while cursing the religions. Now, I vaguely remember to have been picked up by a police patrol. And as you know, Dr. Wazir Ahmed, and others here, retrieved me from the jaws of death.’