THE BOYS OF BANDHAVGARH

 ।। श्री गणेशाय नमः ।। 

THE BOYS OF BANDHAVGARH

FIRST DRAFT - 24 May 2023

Chapter 01

It was a hot summer afternoon in the month of April in the year1988. The young lads from the nearby villages of Bandhavgarh, were busy soaking themselves in the pond to cool of from the scorching heat. Summer holidays were on and everyone was busy playing in the pond, lakes and streams. Kanhaiya walked towards the pond as he finished his daily chore of grazing the cows and sat on the grass. Vishnu yelled, hey Kanhaiya, you are late even today, we have been waiting for you. Mahadev splashed water towards Kanhaiya and said, he is always late, must have gone deep in the forest with the herd... Pawan who was drenched, walked out of the pond and picking up his pancha (towel) wiping himself dry and sat next to Kanhaiya and said, Kanhaiya ignore these two, you tell me did you get berries for me? I am so hungry. 

Berries! Mahadev and Vishnu screamed... Hey Kanhiya you are the bestest friend we have, come on please share some with us, please... Kanhaiya still had a frown and handed over the berries to his friends. They stared relishing the berries but suddenly noticed that Kanhaiya was not eating and neither he seemed interested in anything, rather he looked troubled and worried about something. Mahadev asked him, hey Kanhu, what is the problem, you seem to be restless. To which Kanhaiya replied, yes my friend, another person from our village has gone missing and this time it is Chaudhary Kaka. To which Vishnu replied in shock, What! I just met him last evening while I was returning from the farm with babuji. He seemed all good, and told us he was walking towards his farm since he forgot his tools back there. 

The Boys were worried since this was the third time someone from their or the nearby villages had gone missing since the last three months. The Forest Officials and the Police were doing the best of their investigation but they were unable to solve this mystery. 

They headed back home and met again after dinner at Vishnu's house which used to be their routine during the holidays. They used to discuss several topics, either school or general knowledge. Each of them had their special interests. Vishnu had deep interest in astrology and he used to share and educate the rest with his favourite topic. Mahadev was very good at art and craft, he shared his set of interest and knowledge with the rest. Pawan had interest in archeology and was good at building structures and objects. Kanhaiya loved Geography and Nature, he could imitate bird sounds and had a great memory with the forest pathways and knowledge of birds. To add to their passion and interest was the Seth Gyanchand Foundation Library which fuelled their interests and helped them with the best of the books. Late Seth Gyanchand was a philanthropist and had set up educational institutes and a huge library which had the best of the books back in the times. The children from the nearby villages were engrossed in reading, which was education as well as entertainment for them since TV was still a rare find. Radio was pretty common in the household. But many children in the village were excited to read books since they were free and there was no limit on reading. 

That night while they gathered, Kanhaiya showed them a few bird feathers of a rare bird which was found only very deep in the forest. They all were quite intrigued to see that. Mahadev got a new book about the temples of Ellora and told everyone how the Ajantha and Ellora were carved out of a single rock and were monoliths. They kept discussing and chatting until their parents reminded them to go to bed.  

Chapter 02 - 20 June 2023

It was another bright and sunny morning at the village and the boys gathered at the usual market which was also the center of the small village. The village center had all the shops, post office, police station which also had a forest office in the same complex. Each village had a small forest office since most of the villages neighboured the Bandhavgarh National Park. The boys saw a new face, a boy of their age sitting outside the police station playing with his fancy car. Vishnu exclaimed, wow what a toy he has, come lets go and check it out. Mahadev said yes lets go and see what toy he has. They went near the stairs where the new boy sat alone, playing with his car. He did not look like someone from the village. His attire was like a typical city boy. Kanhaiya walked upto him and asked, hello my friend, why are you sitting alone, you seem to be new here, is there anything I can help you with. To which the boy smiled at him and said, hello I am Omkar, you can call me Om, all my friends used to call me Om, but now... I had to come here. He frowned upon and looked down. Vishnu asked, are you lost or something? Doesn't look like... Oh no, replied Om, I have moved here with my parents. My father Arjun Rathod is the new forest officer in this area, and he has been posted here. A lady walked out, she smiled at Om and said looks like you already made friends here. Om said yes ma, oh but i dont know their names yet. The boys introduced themselves and asked if he wanted to come along to see the village. Om was excited and jumped with joy and asked his mom, Ma can I go around with them. Even before his mother could nod a yes, he jumped the stairs and walked with his new friends towards the village. Om's ma was glad to see Om with his new friends. 

Here Om walked down with his friends and they took him to the library, Om was happy to see a huge library in a tiny village. He too loved to read and was glad to see the variety of the books in the library. They then went to the pond and Kanhaiya treated him with the sweetest jamuns. Om had never tasted such sweet jamuns. Vishnu popped from nowhere with some tiny juicy mangoes and they all binged on the fruits and relished them. Om was very excited as he climbed the tree and sat on a branch chatting with his new friends. Moreover he was glad he would be going to the same school as his friends since it was the only school in the nearby villages. 

Om was delighted and was back home with mango and jamun stains on his clothes. His mother was happy to see him so excited with his new friends. Om's father Arjun Rathod was excited to see Om enjoying the village life. This was his first posting with his family, his previous postings he was all alone and this time decided to take the family along. 

The next morning Vishnu and Mahadev were outside Om's house which was in the Police Quarters. They were ringing their bicycle bells and calling Om's name. Om popped out of the window and yelled, 2 minutes, ill be right there. Ma... Maaaa... Om shouted as he ran out of the house, Maa.. I am going for cycling with my friends. Om's Ma said ok, but dont go too far and come back in the afternoon, tell your friends to have lunch with us. 

Om headed out with his friends on their bicycles. The chased each other throughout the entire village. Om was excited to ride through open fields and mango trees. They stopped by whenever they saw nice ripe jamuns and berries. It was noon and he asked everyone to come home for lunch. They were back home tired and exhausted. Om's Ma welcomed them and asked them to freshen up. They all sat for lunch, Mahadev got a small pack which was made up of stiched leaves which had the best of the berries and handed over to Ma, and said Aunty these are for you, the best of the berries from our village. Om's Ma happily accepted the gift and got startled with such loving behaviour and upbringing of these kids. Thanks, she said. And served some delicious food to everyone. The boys had a delightful meal and then dozed off while playing in Om's room. 

This was now their daily routine, lunches were at either of their houses, their mothers too loved doting over these kids and it was a fun vacation for them. The village had spacious houses and  couple of times everyone gathered at Mahadev's house in the evening and post dinner they kept chatting and discussing about everything that they could. Everyone lived close by and parents were well informed so it was safe for the kids as well. Their vacation was indeed turning out exciting. 

Chapter 2 - Completed June 26.

Chapter 03 - 26 June 2023

It was a regular morning at the village and the forest officials along with the police continued search for Chaudhary Kaka who had gone missing few days ago. Arjun Rathod was on duty and was scanning each and every nook and corner. His day was full of search operations, combing up the forest in the best possible way he could. Every morning he started early to get the daylight advantage since he had to be back before dusk. The forest area was dense and search operations were in full swing.