Link to the 4th chapter : https://www.tellyupdates.com/bound-to-you-book-two-chapter-4/
*
The guest-house that Riddhima and Angre were provided with decent appearing. A servant girl, Bindu, was also appointed to look after their needs.
It was late past evening and they were being served dinner by Bindu.
“Can you get some more rotis, please?” asked Angre. It was a mere pretext from his side to steer Bindu away from the scene for sometime at least.
Readily and with a smile on, Bindu disappeared into the kitchen. And as soon as she did that, Angre spoke up in a hushed tone.
“It is better that we leave tomorrow morning. This place and the people alike look creepy as hell.”
Riddhima simply hummed and continued to eat her food quietly. But Angre knew better than that. He knew something was going on in that troublesome mind of hers.
“Why doesn’t she understand? Why is she hell bound on putting her life in danger?” he irritatedly thought to himself. “The ideal and safest way to manage this fiasco would be to escape from this wretched place, go to RAW headquarters in Delhi and forewarn them about the impending bomb blasts. And after that, they’d look into the matter. But who will explain this to her? Boss rightly named her as Ziddhima!”
Riddhima on the other hand was determined to not leave this place until she found Vansh, and even Kabir, too.
A sudden shriek from the kitchen caught their attention and they ran inside to check.
It was Bindu, who was holding her arm and crying.
“The hot oil fell on my hand. It’s hurting a lot.”
Riddhima worriedly inspected her hand and sure enough found a large boil on her hand.
“Do we have any cream or ointment in the house?”
Bindu shook her head. “We don’t use western medicine here. It is strictly forbidden.”
Riddhima gritted her teeth. These people had been so brainwashed by the Maoists that they didn’t even have a proper doctor at their place. They were living in backward conditions, but they were very happy with their state and did not crave for any improvement in their lives.
Thankfully, Riddhima found a row of plantain leaves outside the house. After plucking them, she made a paste out of it and applied it on Bindu’s hand.
“Thank you, Didi.“
“Now go and take some rest.”
“But Didi, I need to clean up all the dishes…”
“You won’t do anything of that sort with that burnt hand. I’ll clean it up. You just go and take some rest,” Riddhima ordered her sternly.
“Didi, you are very nice…” smiled Bindu. “You are leaving tomorrow, right? I wish you people stayed here longer. You could have seen how we celebrate Sohrai with so much vigour over here…”
“Sohrai? What is that?”
“It’s a very important harvest festival for us which we celebrate when the paddy crop gets ripened, on the day of the new moon. We pay our homage to our deities for blessing us with crops, cattle, etc. We hold fairs, we dance and sing folk songs, we decorate our houses with mural arts. We bring in all our cattle, clean and adorn them beautifully, and finally worship them…”
Riddhima’s eyes gleamed up. “Wow, this sounds so exciting! I’d so love to take part in all these festivities.”
“Then you must stay back Didi, and postpone your plan of returning to your place.”
“Yes…that’s what I am going to do,” she smirked.
*
Riddhima tried but she couldn’t get any sleep. The entire night she kept tossing and turning in her bed anxiously. An uncanny feeling of constantly being watched lingered around her. Once or twice, she tried to peep out through the windows but found nothing.
Getting impatient, she suddenly went and opened the door wide open, expecting to find someone. But there was no one in sight.
A slight rustle could be heard from behind the trees. Someone was running away. That is when Riddhima understood that they were being spied upon by Surya’s men.
She and Angre would have to be extremely careful. A single wrong step from their side, and everything would be over. They were surrounded by danger from all four sides.
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Surya did not seem very pleased to hear that Riddhima wanted to stay back and take part in their tribal festival.
Being the village supremo, he’d have loved to outright deny her the permission.
But even Riddhima was one step ahead of him. She brought in Bindu and another group of village girls whom she had befriended to back her up.
Not wanting to come off as rude in front of the village women and spoiling his image, Surya had no option other than resignedly giving into her demands.
“But as soon as the festival ends, you will instantly go back the next day,” Surya warned her. “We don’t like it very much when outsiders stay here for longer periods.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t give you any reason to complain,” said Riddhima.
Riddhima was a good actress, no doubt about that. But nothing could be hidden from Surya’s cunning eyes. He had years of experience in this field whereas Riddhima was a mere newbie in front of him. He had a hunch that this woman wasn’t as innocent as she was portraying herself to be. But unfortunately, he had no evidence against her. The only way to get to know about her further would be to keep a close watch upon her.
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“Didi, we are going into the forest to collect some flowers for the festival. Do you want to come along?”
“Of course, I’d love to!” Riddhima rubbed her palms in glee.
Angre pulled her to a corner and began scolding her.
“Don’t be stupid! There’s threat looming over us everywhere. You are not going anywhere.”
“Relax Angre. I know what I am doing. This is all part of my plan to get closer to the truth. Back when we were at the bar, Jenny had told me a riddle and stressed upon the word ‘forests’.
‘Forests look beautiful from outside, but hide many secrets deep inside them…’
Therefore I think that the answer to all our queries also lies inside those very forests. Perhaps, that was what Jenny had been trying to hint at.”
Angre was still skeptical. “This is not safe. Please for the love of God…”
“Nothing will happen to me. I know how to protect myself in all situations,” she said adamantly.
Angre sighed. His sixth sense was telling him that something wrong would happen during Riddhima’s casual stroll through the forest. And gut feeling was never incorrect.
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Riddhima gasped when Bindu and her friends led her deep into the jungle. They stood at the bank of a river, where all kinds of beautiful flowers in all colours stood proudly.
She gently brushed her fingers against the soft petals. “My God, these are so pretty!”
“This is the beauty of our place Chiria. A tiny village for the others, but it is actually home to some of the most exotic plants and flowers,” remarked another girl. “But our selfish Government, wanted to slaughter all these trees away for their own selfish reasons and snatch away our very source of livelihood from us.”
Bindu added, “Yes! Many foreigners and city dwellers came to this place, promising that they’ll give us large sum of money in return of all these forests. But we’d rather die than give our nod for this trade!
Thank God for Surya Saahib, who took the reigns of this village in his hand and prevented this mishap from occurring. It is because of his strict intervention only, that today no one would dare to tamper with our sacred forests. He is equivalent to God for us. He has saved Chiria from the evil Government!”
Riddhima silently listened to all this. It was right that the Government had made many blunders and done many wrong things too.
But that didn’t automatically make Surya an angel. He was actually a devil in disguise who treated the gullible villagers like mere puppets only for his own vested interests. In fact, he was so evil that he was planning a series of bomb attacks to teach the Government a lesson, but in actuality he was going to kill the innocent civilians.
She wished she could tell them about their so-called ‘God’, Surya’s real face. But it wasn’t the time to act impulsively in the flow of emotions. It was time to be equally calculative and cautious.
Riddhima was so lost in the pristineness of the jungle, that unconsciously she drifted away from the group.
When she realized that none of the girls were around her, she began to feel a little paranoid.
The feeling of being watched that she experienced yesterday night, began growing around her yet again. She frantically looked all around her, but the tall, dense trees could hide even a large dinosaur behind them.
Riddhima pulled out a revolver from under her dress, ready to shoot at whoever jumped in front of her.
“Bindu?” She called out the servant’s name once again, as loudly as she could, but no answer came.
A sudden gust of wind started blowing, scattering her hair in the air. Scared to death, Riddhima turned around with a jerk and began walking backwards till her back hit something hard. She almost jumped up in startle but it was only the bark of a large tree.
Riddhima was breathing heavily, her hands firm on the revolver, and her eyes darting all over the place in search of the stalker.
Suddenly, a rope fell on her from nowhere and tied her tightly to the trunk of the tree. She was so taken aback by what happened that the revolver slipped from her hand and fell far away from her.
Riddhima screamed violently and struggled hard to free the ropes around her. All of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in her neck. She started feeling dizzy and through the corner of her eye, she saw a hand holding a needle in her neck. And then, everything became black.
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Riddhima opened her eyes slowly, the bright light almost forcing to close her to shut them off again.
Two pairs of worried eyes hovered over her.
“Are you okay? What happened to you all of a sudden, Didi? You had gotten lost in the jungle and when we finally found you back, you were lying on the grass in an unconscious state,” explained Bindu.
Riddhima was helped to sit up straight by Angre and the servant girl. She remembered how she had been attacked in the jungle, but she didn’t deem it right to blurt that out in front of Bindu.
She lied, “I think it’s just the extreme fatigue I’ve been feeling since yesterday that led to this. I’m sure if I take proper rest, I’ll do much better.”
“I’ll get some warm milk for you. Will make you feel better.” With that, Bindu exited the scene and Riddhima and Angre were left to themselves.
A grim expression on his face, Angre said, “The scar on your neck shows that someone injected something, presumably a sedative to faint you. I told you time and again that all this very dangerous but you won’t listen to me all! But enough said and done, we won’t be staying here even a minute longer. Someone out there has started doubting you and wants to harm you. Look what I found in your hand when you were brought back here in the unconscious state.”
Angre showed her a crumpled piece of paper with an untidy handwriting on it.
‘LEAVE THIS PLACE AS SOON AN POSSIBLE. OR ELSE YOU MAY EVEN END UP LOSING YOUR LIFE.’
“Thank God these villagers are illiterate and couldn’t read this note,” added Angre.
Riddhima tore the note away in anger. “And do you think these petty threats can frighten me?”
He raised his hands up in exasperation. “For heaven’s sake Riddhima, you were almost killed! Does that even make any sense to you?” Pointing a finger in her direction, he strictly warned her. “I’m going to the verandah so that you can comfortably sleep here. And if by chance, I find you out of your bed, then even I don’t know what I might end up doing.”
Riddhima just sat there open-mouthed. How dare this Angre threaten her when she was his freaking Boss!
As soon as Angre closed the door behind him, Riddhima’s eyes landed on the window.
“Huh! As if I’m going to listen to him!” she huffed.
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“Didi, what are you doing strolling outside the house? Weren’t you supposed to take rest? If Angre Bhaiya gets to know about it then…”
“Cut all that crap and just answer my questions,” said Riddhima irritatedly. “When we were in the jungle, did you see any person in saffron coloured clothes with a brown, beaded rosary tied around his forearm?”
Bindu pondered for a while. “No…I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”
Riddhima fell silent. When she had been injected with the drug, she hadn’t seen the face of the person. But she definitely saw a dash of saffron cloth cross her eye. And when she tried to hold the intruder’s hand in order to prevent him from harming her, she had seen a beaded rosary dangling from his wrist.
“Saffron clothes and rosary around the hand? There are only two persons in this village who dress up in this way,” Bindu said after sometime.
A flicker of hope raised in her heart. “Who are they?”
“Gurumata and Guruji, the head priestess and priest of this village. Not even a leaf can move from it’s place without their permission. Even Surya Saahib makes it a point to consult them before taking any important decision. All the villagers also do the same…
In fact, you must also meet them and take their blessings. It is said that they have such strong spritual powers, that when they bless someone, all the wishes of that devotee get granted!”
“Where do they live? And how can I meet them?” asked Riddhima, desperation gnawing at her.
“They live inside the jungle only, close to the nature. When you cross the river, there is a large den on the other side. That is where…”
“Thanks!” Saying that, Riddhima left for the jungle again, ignoring Bindu’s protests.
“Didi, you cannot go without prior appointment. Or else, it may anger Gurumata…”
But all her pleas went unheard and Riddhima soon disappeared from her sight.
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After what happened with her the last time, Riddhima was paying even more attention to her surroundings. Every little sound or movement around her made her jump up in fright – be it the chirpings of the birds, screeching of the monkeys, rustling of the branches, and even the gushing of the river.
She finally reached the river. This was the same place where she had been attacked earlier.
Thankfully, the river was not very deep and large, making it easy for her to swim to the opposite side. After a swim for ten minutes, she reached towards the other bank of the river. She climbed upon the land, her wet clothes sticking to her body like a second skin.
Not giving a damn to her messy appearance, she walked towards the den that Bindu had told her about. The same den where the so-called Gurumata and Guruji lived.
“Bindu said that whatever happens in the village, happens upon the priestess’ and priest’s order. This means they must surely be knowing about the bomb blasts that Surya has been planning. But why did they attack me? Do they know the real reason why I am here?” she thought to herself while putting her foot inside the den.
It was dimly lit, with the only source of light coming from the fire brands hung near the ceiling. She continued walking down the abandoned alley, her hands firmly holding her revolver in place.
As she ventured further and further, a strange humming sound from inside hit her ears.
There, in front of her, was a man in saffron coloured clothes and a turban of the same colour adorning his head. He sat in front of a fire and kept reciting ‘Om’ over and over again. His back was turned to her.
Rage filled inside Riddhima as she remembered the dangerous attack on her in the morning. She could have even gotten killed!
Aiming her gun at him, she shouted. “Hands up! Don’t move or else I’ll shoot you down!”
The man in question, came out of his trance and raised his hands above his head.
“I know you were the one who injected me with that drug. Now tell me, why did you do it? Why?
You should have known that I am not someone to get bogged down by such childish games…”
Riddhima abruptly stopped speaking when she saw the priest beginning to stand up on his feet.
“I told you not to move, didn’t I? Now, you haven’t left me with any option other than pushing these bullets right through your body!”
She aimed the pistol at his leg and was about to pull the trigger, when she saw the man turning around and meeting her face.
Riddhima wobbled backward and gasped. This man had an unkempt long beard that ran upto his chest. With the saffron kurta, dhoti and turban, sacred amulets around his neck, brown coloured rosary around both his wrists, a red tika smeared across his forehead, he could fool anybody with his appearance.
But not Riddhima. She could recognize her Vansh everywhere and in whatever getup he took.
And why not? It was the same face she had caressed with her own hands, the same eyes in which she used to lose herself, the same lips that she had often lovingly kissed…
Her feet were rooted to the ground, and her heart leaped with happiness and immense relief to see her Vansh safe and sound in front of her. Yes, he was living here under the disguise of a priest, but at least he was alive!
Vansh stood still too, staring at her with his softened eyes.
A jolt ran through his body, when he saw someone else entering the cave. He quickly grabbed the revolver from a stunned Riddhima’s hand, and hid it inside his own pocket.
“Who are you?” said the woman who walked upon the scene just now, eyeing Riddhima up and down.
Riddhima diverted her gaze towards the woman in question. She too was dressed in saffron clothes, with amulets and rosaries just like Vansh. Her black curls ended just below her shoulder.
“Who is she, Vishnu?”
Riddhima looked on. Vishnu? Perhaps it was the fake name that Vansh lived in this village with.
He shrugged, “I don’t know, Saanvi. This careless girl right here disturbed me in the middle of my meditation.”
Saanvi, aka the Gurumata, glared at Riddhima.
“How dare you commit such a grave sin! Do you know who he is? He is Guruji, the head priest of Chiria, and also my would-be husband!”
Riddhima felt the ground beneath her feet slip away. She looked between the two faces, with hurt in her eyes. Her husband, Vansh was going to marry some other woman?
*
Hello everyone! That is it for today guys. Do comment.
Peace out!