War For Love

~Nineteen~

The sudden shearing pain that coursed down Siya's body knocked the breath out of her lungs. Just a minute ago, the police officer— Welby had pushed her down on the ground with her mother and sister being held by other officers, and the very next minute she heard the loud CRACK as she felt the whip hitting her upper torso. Siya had learnt about a lot of medicines and how to treat big wounds and injures but she never knew what physical pain was until that day. Her fingers shivered as she gripped her dupatta (scarf) and clenched her teeth to keep her painful cries inside her.

Vedika and her mother froze when the whip hit Siya's upper torso. The village was looking at the officers with horror and fear. They sympathized Siya, a young woman as such her was getting humiliated in front of the entire village but none of them had the courage to stop the police, who was brutally whipping a girl who was naive enough to oppose the royals. Shankar could no longer look at Siya or any of the villagers for that matter. He was guilty of exposing a woman. He had assassinated her whole life. How would she survive this humiliation?

Hot tears rolled down Siya's eyes as the whip hit her multiple times. Sometimes her back, sometimes her legs and her sometimes her chest. She was biting her lips so hard, drawing out the blood to keep herself from screaming in pain. Her nails dug in her palm as she was trying hard not to forget her breath. The pain was getting too much to bear now. She looked up at the people, her chest pressed against the muddy road. Men had their face turned around, not being able to look at a woman getting whipped and the women looked at her with their teary gaze but none of them dared to intervene. Not that she was expecting them to.

Her dupatta (scarf) no longer covered her chest, it was getting ripped with every stroke. She could feel herself losing the consciousness with the increased amount of whipping. Officer Welby was indeed enjoying torturing the young woman, crushing the revolution in every other woman's heart. He wanted to show what would happen if anyone tried to be another Siya. They would end up in the same place where Siya was at that time. On the mud, getting whipped, humiliated before throwing them into the prison.

What the officers didn't knew was that Siya was stronger by this. This was just the start of her protest; revolution was still due.

When Siya felt the whipping would never cease, someone caught Officer Welby's arm, stopping him from hitting Siya anymore. Siya took a deep breath, wincing as she gripped her now tattered dupatta (scarf) before wrapping it around her chest. Her hair were out of her braid, disheveled. Her kohl smudged from all the crying and the bindi she always had on her forehead also got wiped out. She, wincing in pain, turned to look at her saviour, only to get stunned for the man who stood in front of her: Jayanti Lal.

Jayanti Lal was the same and only man who had seen Siya with Sahib on the day of bombing the stations. He was the same man who was opposed the idea of women in the battlefield. Jayanti Lal, who had angered her so much that day, was now helping her. Siya could now clearly see, Sahib's men, all the rebels shielding her. Tears of ecstasy rolled down her eyes. Not because they had saved her but because they were going to accept her one among them.

These men had boycotted the foreign produced clothe, wearing only a dhoti, turban and kept a white clothe around their chest. Akin to Sahib, they all looked like the soldiers, ready to kill and die for their nations. Jayanti Lal's eyes swept down at Siya once, his jaw clenching at the painful, red marks on her skin and tattered clothes before he glared at Officer Welby, jerking the whip out of his hand before throwing it on the ground. These men feared nothing. They had left their home, sacrificed all their relationships, love and had come forward to free their country. They were the freedom fighters.

"Interfering in the government matters are illegal, Jayanti Lal! Get away before I throw you in the jail again." Officer Welby snarled and Jayanti Lal rose his brows, kicking the whip out of his way as he took a step towards him.

"Legal matters, is it, Officer Welby? Tell me, on what grounds are you punishing this young lady here?" Jayanti Lal asked in his composed voice and Officer Welby glared at him before he looked mercilessly at Siya, throwing her a dirty look.

"She was with all of you, bombing the stations and offices!" The officer barked.

"How can you prove what you've just said, Officer?" Tilak, another man asked, his hand on his knife and Officer Welby glowered at him dangerously.

"We've found out a piece of a skirt in our burnt office."

"And that authorises you and your officers to harass a woman? There are many women in this village and neighbouring villages as well, wearing these type of sarees and skirts. And that doesn't prove anything, Officer Welby." Jayanti Lal said, his voice hard, tight and dangerously low as he looked at the piece of skirt in Officer Welby's hand.

"Shankar— our constable and your villager confirmed that the woman who was involved in the bombing was this young, cunning woman! Speak, Shankar! And besides you don't teach us law, you criminal!" Officer Welby growled, pushing Shankar forward.

Jayanti Lal was glaring venomously at Shankar, the traitor who had decided to rat on the woman of their village for his damn job. He scoffed, taking a step forward as he kept his hand on Shankar's shoulder, a little too painfully for him.

"You're scaring him!" Officer Welby warned and Jayanti Lal mocked him by raising his brows as he looked at Shankar with a dangerously, sweet smile.

"Oh, I'm not, Officer Welby. We're of the same village, remember? Tell me, dearest Shankar, you saw her bombing the stations by your own eyes?" Shankar gulped before looking at the tall, strong man, who didn't fear the consequences of his actions. But Shankar did fear for his life.

"No, but......"

"Have you ever seen her attacking the officers, in your whole life?"

"No, but......"

"Do you think, she has the knowledge of how to use the grenades and bombs?" When Shankar didn't say anything, Jayanti Lal turned to Officer Welby.

Shankar knew he couldn't tell how Siya sneaks out of her house to meet Sahib. He can't tell what feelings Siya possess for Sahib. He was helpless. He had to expose her name out to save his own sisters and other women from the harassment of the officers if they started arresting women on the basis of the doubts.

"You don't have any proper evidences, Officer Welby. Maybe this woman was never involved in the bombing. The piece of skirt was maybe kept by you or any of your officers to harass a woman of our village!" Jayanti Lal said, his eyes burning and Siya's own eyes widened as she looked at the man in front of her with disbelief.

True, taking the whipping was painful, seeing her mother and sister pleading the officers for her was heartbreaking for her but she had done everything to let herself be visible. To encourage more and more women to participate in the freedom struggle. To fight for their country. But his one statement would make everything to doom again. All her hardwork and efforts would be in vain if she accepts her defeat. She would rather have an hour more of whipping and spend countless nights in the prison than lie about her presence in the protest.

Slowly with heavy voice and parched throat, she tried to speak. Her body giving up her support as she couldn't even stand but her determination and bravery had touched the heights no-one had ever reached when she stood up, drawing out blood from her skin. Vedika shook her head, pleading her silently to not let herself get in the same ditch again. Siya's mother had her hands joined, pleading her not to tell the truth that would only take her away from her family. But Siya didn't let herself bend to the infinite pleas her family held.

She was feeling guilty for disregarding her mother's and sister's pleas but she knew someone had to fight, otherwise they'd lose their independence forever to the foreign estate. Jayanti Lal's gaze was warning her not to speak anything opposite to what he had said but when had she ever listened to anyone but her own self?

"I didn't bomb your stations, Officer Welby." Siya said, making Vedika and her mother to let out a breath of relief but Siya wasn't done yet. "But I was in the protest. I helped them. I was in your office when it burnt down to ashes and the piece of skirt did belong to me. What would you do about that now, Officer?" Siya said, her voice soft but firm. The fire in her eyes made the women of her village to look at her with astonishment.

Can a woman be this strong?

"I was there in the protest too! We all were. Did any of you saw this woman in the protest?" Jayanti Lal asked and all of them shook their head because none of them had really seen Siya. But Jayanti Lal did. And he was lying because Sahib liked Siya. And Jayanti Lal could tell that and even though he didn't support women in the battlefield, he respected Sahib enough to protect the woman he liked.

"See, none of us saw her. Every woman seeks for independence but it's not easy for anyone to fight for it, Officer Welby. You cannot arrest this young lady or you'll have to pay greatly for harassing a woman where Sahib lives."

Officer Welby knew they couldn't kill Sahib. He was under the direct care of the Queen, who had found his bravery, weirdly impressive. Such men must serve the royals. It was what she has said. And they could punish him, torture him but not kill him and in such situations, they couldn't have afforded his rivalry.

"One more time we see women or men near the offices or government buildings, we'll arrest them for security reasons. Let this be a lesson for everyone." With that all of them went back, Shankar too left with his heavy hurt, guilt gripping his chest as he saw the bloodied woman in front of him.

Vedika ran towards her sister, as she took her inside with the help of her mother. Siya's mother had so much to say but chose not to bombard her with questions as she made her sit on the cot. Siya was bleeding. Vedika ran inside to get the water and ointment for her wounds. Satyavan rushed inside when he got the news of his daughter getting punished by the royal officers.

Siya's eyes were red from the pain and tears, though she no longer cried. Her hair, disheveled and her dress torn from various places. But something that was still uninjured and not ripped into pieces was her spirit, her fierce determination which was straight as ever, not ready to bend even after the whipping and humiliation she had suffered in front of the whole village.

"You're not any Queen, Siya, you're just a random girl in the village. They won't leave you alive if you continue rebelling them. Bombing is not what women do, Siya. We create life; and how can a creator be a destructor!"

Siya's mother chastised her daughter who looked at her mother with a blank expression. She looked down at her wounds, a smile forming on her face which scared her mother.

"Maa Parvati had to become Maa Kaali to protect this earth from evil, Ma. She drank the blood of a demon to protect her people. She was a mother; she is our mother, of all of us and yet she chose to kill that demon. If she can, why can't we?"

"You are no God, Siya! Your protest would give us nothing but the pain. You can't always win with those radical thoughts, Siya. We will in society where we have to follow the norms and rules to live, respectfully. Who would marry a woman who had been sentenced to jail?" Siya's mother cried out and Satyavan tried to hold his wife back but she was just too scared to listen to anyone.

"Would you believe me, Ma, if I said, there's a man who would love me when this world would be done loving me?" Siya asked softly and her mother tensed. She looked at her daughter, a weird light in her eyes.

"Love that gets birth before the marriage ends up sucking your whole happiness, Siya. Such type of love never gets validation."

Siya slowly lifted her face, her eyes devoid of any guilt and any pain. Just strong determination lacing her dark orbs. The whipping she got in public had made her fearless. The only thing, a woman couldn't bear was humiliation. But she had crossed that boundary too. She had nothing to fear anymore.

"It's better than the life which has no love at all, Ma."