Year – 1987
Place – Mohalla of Ayodhya in UP
. Playing “kancha” and “patti” with friends every morning till evening and winning handful of coins was all Mohan has been caring about since he turned 10 this year. He did not care about anything else lately. Going to school was just an excuse to get out of his house and later catch up his friends behind his school playground to play such games. The other school boys were jealous of his skills and would challenge him once in a while. No luck for them but when they lost, they would go on to inform school authorities about his class-bunks which costed him punishments from home as well. But he never felt bad since he knew he did not just blew away the money earned but slipped them discreetly inside his mother’s “gullak”. Mohan was aware of his family’s poor economical condition and somehow believed that he will pull them above these agonies by becoming a big businessman one day. Every child of Girdhari mohalla of Ayodhya had this dream in his eyes but Mohan seemed to be determinate to achieve it.
Days went by and Mohan continued living his childhood this way. One day when he was playing with a bunch of kids, he heard some noises coming from a nearby classroom. One of the girls had not completed her homework and the teacher practically tore down her notebook in front of her. She started crying louder but the teacher went on to punish her with a cruel steel scale on her palms. Mohan stopped playing and noticed he had never seen this girl in school before. He felt bad for her. So bad that he decided to save the day’s money to buy a new notebook for her. He played all day with kids and managed to collect enough for a notebook. Next day, Mohan waited near school entry gate to find the girl. He waited for half and hour and soon he saw a big lavish car stopping in front of the gate. The girl came out was the same girl he was looking for. But looking at her father and the car they owned, Mohan figured out how rich she was and decided it was a bad idea to give her a notebook. He thought that how stupid he was to think of doing such a thing for someone. He felt angry at himself and wondered he could have used the money to buy his mother a present.
Next day, Mohan was thinking about the same girl and he kept looking across the field near her class window. He could not see her glimpse but still felt angry. After sometime, he heard some noise from her class. It was her teacher beating her cruelly with that horrifying scale again. Mohan wondered to himself, what she could have possibly done now? He looked around at her other classmates and all of them had notebooks opened on their desks but she did not. This puzzled him. “So does she like being beaten by her teacher everyday without a reason? Cant a girl of such rich family afford a notebook?”, he wondered. Soon it was lunch time and Mohan was out with his friends again, As soon as he moved outside, he saw the same girl crying…running towards the exit door of the school with her bag. Mohan understood that she must be embarrassed enough for the day and maybe she wanted to run back to home. Somehow he felt the need of stopping her and talking to her. He came in front of her and stopped her with both open hands… “Bhaag ke jaa rahi ho kya?” She lifted her head up and looked at him with her overly wet innocent eyes. She asked who he is. He said “Mohan”. She told him to get our of her way and let her run away. He held her hand and in few moments put out a notebook from his bag to give it to her. She dint know what he was doing. He pulled a pen out of his trousers and asked for her name to write it in front of the notebook. “Megha”, she said with soft voice. “Why are you giving this notebook to me? I dont even know you.” Mohan smiled and said. “I know your notebook got torn and you dont have a new notebook. That is why that teacher was punishing you today. But what I dont get is why dint you have a new notebook today?” Megha was looking at her with wide eyes, wondering how did he know all this. She thanked him for the favor but chose to remain silent. After some moments of hesitation, she asked for some help. “Can you help me complete the work?”, she said even though she was not sure whether this boy was someone who could help her. Mohan was glad to hear this and sat down near the open grass area to help her out.
From that day, they began talking during lunch time with each other. Mohan liked spending time with her and Megha also liked to be around with someone who could listen about her all day long. Soon she opened up to him about the strict Muslim family she belongs to and how difficult it is for her to continue studying in the school. They did not have any financial problems but in their family, educating a girl was something which was frowned upon. She wanted to study and become an independent girl one day who could set an example for others. But her relatives have been forcing her father to make her quit school. They were not used to the idea of woman education and did not want others to believe in the same too. Mohan listened to her inner feelings and thoughts patiently for hours. Their friendship kept growing stronger and stronger. Soon friends and teachers started frowning upon them. When anybody asked, they told them that they are family friends.
Five more years passed by and they grew closer. Mohan’s friends started teasing him that he is in love with her but he kept ignoring them. He knew in his heart that he is addicted to her and they are growing together as more than just friends. But just when everything looked happy for him, things changed. Talks about Mohan-Megha’s friendship went into the ears of Megha’s family when one of their neighbors asked them about family relation between them. Her parents started being suspicious since they never had any relatives here in Ayodhya. Angered by such rumors, one day Megha’s parents went to her school, only to find her talking & roaming around with Mohan in playground of the school. They marched out of their car and separated both of them. Megha was frightened to see them and within minutes, they brought her home. They confronted Megha about Mohan and she did not know what to say. She keeps saying that he is a friend who helps her in studies but this infuriates them even more. Meanwhile Mohan is disturbed by the thoughts of how badly her parents must be treating her. He is not able to eat or sleep well. Every moment without her felt like a pain to him and he knew Megha felt the same for him too. It was during this time that he realized he was in love with her.
November 1992
Megha’s parents decide to leave Ayodhya and take her to Delhi to her Mamaji so that she could be away from Mohan. Megha is not allowed to go out of the house and talk to outsiders. Days pass by. She grows weaker and sadder. Her grandmother feels bad about her and tries to convince Megha’s father to go back in Ayodhya for her granddaughter’s sake. Afterall, her father also had to continue his business back in Ayodhya. She makes Megha promise that she wont ever meet Mohan. After great deal of convincing and discussions, Megha’s family returns to Ayodhya. Mohan’s friends inform him about Megha’s return and he jumps in joy. Megha convinces her parents to allow her to continue school given she will never meet Mohan again.
Next day, her dad came to drop her to school personally so that she does not meet anyone. Mohan came early to school that day but did not go inside the gates. He stayed behind a tree to see when Megha comes. When he sees Megha coming out of the car, Mohan comes in front of her to meet. What he does not notice is that she is with her father. Before he could do anything, her father pulls him away from Megha and starts beating him badly. Megha tries to stop him but he goes on to make serious bruises over his body. Mohan comes back home in bad shape, feels terrible for Megha. Her parents start thinking that she had been lying to them all along and will not stop meeting him. They blame her for being careless and even beat her up this time. Their neighbor get to hear the voices and their smallest kid, Shyam, who is Mohan’s friend – he tells all this to Mohan next day. Mohan is heart broken after listening to this and after hours of thinking, he decides to escape with her. He thought this would be best for her and he would bring her to his own home where his mother would take care of her. He made an imaginary world of his own and could not just let it go.
Mid-December.
Mohan starts spending hours thinking about how can he run away with Megha. One evening, Mohan asks Shyam to give her this message that he would come to escape her at 6 in evening. – he thought of buying something through which nobody can see her. He goes to a shop just behind her house to buy a “burkha”. He chooses one and pays some money in exchange. On his way back, he suddenly faces riots happening on the road ahead. He sees the Hindus going from houses to houses and setting them on fire. People were dragged out of their homes and burnt alive. Mohan was stunned to see this sudden death toll and could not even move. In few minutes, some of the “killers” came running towards him and see the “burkha” in his hand. Mohan is breathless and looks at them helplessly. One of them pulls out a knife and looks at him in anger. There was anguish and revenge in his red eyes. But before he could do anything, another man stopped him saying “rehne de yeh musalman nahi hai. Jaanta hun iske baap ko. Dayanand ka ladka hai. Chod isse, aage nikal”. They left Mohan standing in awe, surrounded by fire and dead bodies. Mohan was rarely able to see anything and was merely inching with wet eyes towards Megha’s house. As soon as he got little closer, he realized the house had already been set on fire. Almost every muslim house was being burnt down in the streets. Mohan could hear voices of children and women crying for help. He stood closer to the gate of her house and it was Megha’s father’s body lying in the corridor in pool of blood. Maybe they tried to run out of the house but were beaten or stabbed to death. Mohan is not able to bear all these painful thoughts and could not even attempt to go and check if anyone is alive yet. As he turns around in fear, he sees a Muslim standing in front of him. He is taken aback and in few seconds, he faints.
nidzmeghan 