The Double Barrel Gun

My wife and I were on board of the airbus that was on its way to Ranchi with a brief stopover at Kolkata. Captain Sanjay Kumar Singh announced that we were 2ooo, above and will reach Calcutta in two and half hours. Then the chief of the cabin crew took over with her instructions. The beautiful air hostess started demonstrating the use of seat belt, emergency exits, oxygen mask and the live jacket kept under our seats. We reached the exit at Ranchi Airport. We were about to call our host. She appeared in her smart clinic uniform. Our host took us to her house where we spent the rest of our six days stay with her smart, intelligent, artistic and lovely children.

In spite of her busy schedule, she managed to spend some time with us. She plays not only the role of CEO of her clinic but also does a number social service activity. Her car driver was a man from tribal community and his wife works in the clinic and at home. Our host took us to the temple at the hill and Durga Devi temple at her friends house. Next time I plan to go to Symbiosis Public School at Bundan and Jonha waterfall at Angara.

I must agree that there are wonderful places to see in and around Ranchi. Due to the hot summer days we could not see all of Ranchi but during our brief outings in the evenings I could feel the street lights were dim. The Super market can be compared with that of Bangalore or any other city. Among the newspaper, I like the city edition for giving the headlines in English and the news in Hindi.

During one of our outings, I had an unforgettable experience. As usual our outing with the kids and the host materialized. We were proceeding to the Sai temple ten kilo meters away in the jungle infested with terrorist groups. We ventured the trip because of our faith in Sai and the assurance given by some relatives of our host that the terrorists wouldnt do any harm to the devotees proceeding to the temple. The moment we reached the mixed jungle that leads us to the thick forest area; the climate was cool and enjoyable. The car negotiated a curve .There stood a man who stopped the vehicle. The driver slow down and we saw the man has covered his face with block scarf. He looked like the terrorist portrayed in the movies. We all got down from the car. The driver spoke to the stranger in tribal language. The gun in the terrorist hand fired in the sky. Another two people came on horseback and entered the scene. They ordered the woman folk to remove the gold ornaments. They took the purse from me that contained my pension identity card and photo identity card issued to me by the State Bank of Mysore and the senior citizen card issued to me by the Karnataka Government. We reached the temple. After prayer we came out. Three terrorist on horseback were coming towards us. All the people ran and hid themselves. I was bold because they already relived of everything we had. An young man from the group came to me and handed over all the things taken from us. He profusely apologized to me and told us that I was his English Teacher when he was in eighth class. He also promised me not to disturb the devotees. His fight was with the Govt. I looked at my host, the university gold medalist in medical science whose husband was also my student who occupied an enviable position in Army and passed away and buried with state honours.