Quo Vadis

 

Umapathi alighted at the nondescript railway station in the early hours of the morning. It was still dark outside and he preferred to rest in the tinned shed that did the duty of a waiting hall. After the train had left, the station was empty except for a couple of cows chewing the cud and a stray dog with its legs raised under a tree. A strong-built man, Umapathi looked around fifty-five years old, tall and muscular and with a few days bristle on his face.

At the break of dawn with some light emerging, he got up and started walking out of the station. There was some urgency in his stride as he walked briskly towards the distant village of his younger days. It was about nine kilometres away. With eager expectation of a reunion with his family and at the same time assailed by doubts about their well-being during his long absence, he was virtually running.

 It seemed to him that he left the village only the other day despite the intervening thirty long years. He had joined the army without letting know the family when he was just twenty-five fearing they may prevent him and soon went to the front to fight a war. One day he was not to be seen. None in the army knew what happened to him. The authorities presumed he must have been captured by enemy forces or killed. They were also not sure about it. The nearest kin were informed that he was untraceable and his things were sent to them. Umapathi had left behind a young wife of twenty-two with two young children. There was no way of communicating his capture by the enemy forces to the Indian army. He was not allowed to write. He was interned in a cell for prisoners condemned to death in a prison in a remote part of the country.

There were talks repeatedly of his being sent to the gallows but nothing happened. He behaved well and assisted the jail authorities in several small ways. He gave up hopes of being set free that he nursed in the initial years. He reconciled himself to his misery. He had no inkling that he would be released suddenly one fine morning. He was not aware of the tremendous efforts of human rights activists outside the prison walls to save prisoners like him.

When at last he reached his village, he found it had changed into a small town. There were modern buildings, a bazaar, and two and three-wheelers crisscrossing with people busily engaged in different activities. There was not a single known face. Only the temple and the small tank opposite it were familiar and served him as a landmark to his small house. When he saw in its place, a two-storied building, he was surprised.

With a gnawing but unknown worry deep in his heart, he asked an old man on the steps of the tank whether he was aware of the whereabouts of Umapathi’s family. The old man did not know whom Umapathi was talking about.

 He told him,” One Umapathi was living in a small house decades back at the place where the two-storeyed house stood, who had joined the army secretively three decades back and left his young wife Valli with two children behind. Have you any idea about his family and their well-being?

The old man scratched his head and asked him” Are you talking about the Sepoy Uma as we used to call him? Don’t you know he died in the war a long time back? Who are you anyway?”

 Umapathi replied,” I am his friend and interested in meeting his family.”

“Uma’s wife and her children are living in that big building constructed after demolishing the old one. She waited for him for ten years and her parents had died in the meanwhile. She was leading a very difficult life. It was then the owner of the provision store in the village who had lost his wife took pity on her and married her. They have two children of their own too,” replied the old man

 “Did she agree to marry him readily?” asked Umapathi.

“She was not willing initially as she still nursed a hope Uma may return someday. It was only after the elders in the village persuaded her to marry him for the sake of her children convincing her that there was no prospect of her husband ever returning, that she relented.” and added,” Her second husband is a nice person, owner of a big supermarket and very affectionate to her and her children through Umapathi,”

Umapathi just said Hmm and looked vacantly at the big building unsure of what to do.

 The old man continued,” The children are all studying in colleges and schools. She is very happy now after leading a miserable and uncertain life for several years. Are you meeting them now? Her husband would leave for the store after lunch and should be available now.”

Umapathi replied, “I would meet them soon after buying some sweets. Thank you very much.”

He quietly returned to the station with a heavy heart. He didn’t know what to do. He sat on a bench at the empty station for hours till the station master nudged him telling him that the train was expected any moment and asked him,” Where are you going?” for him to issue the ticket.

Umapathi kept quiet for a long time and when nudged again replied with vacant eyes” Anywhere”.

The station master looked at him quizzically, unable to comprehend but did not stop him when he entered a compartment in the train without a ticket..