the story of a watchman

     A small crowd had gathered at the building gate. All of them were standing in a kind of semicircle, except for one. He was standing alone, facing the crowd, and was afraid that soon he will have to also face their wrath. His fear was quite reasonable; around ten people had surrounded him, and he was a lanky man, and he looked even thinner in his oversized blue uniform. Watchmen in this city could hardly make their ends meet. But this watchman was not worried about that at all at that moment. At that moment, he just wanted to run away from that building as far as he could; after all, he was being accused for a heinous crime.

     The crowd was getting restless. A man wearing all whites and a saffron turban shouted at him, “Tell the truth. Did you do it or not?” Another man, who was quite hefty and had gone all red with rage, added, “Of course he did it. He is afraid to admit it. Why will the little girl lie? I know how to bring out the truth.” He grabbed the watchman’s hand and twisted it hard. The watchman shrieked in pain. “No, I have done nothing wrong with the girl. I don’t know why she is saying that,” he whimpered. Someone from the crowd said, “Leave him, Dubeyji. We will hand this bastard to the police, they will deal with him.”

     “Did you hear him? Do you want to rot in jail? Accept your crime now and we will not involve the police. Esha has told us everything. How dare you molest her?” He gave a hard slap to the watchman.

     The watchman, cowering in a corner and clutching the side of the face where he got slapped, said, “Sir, it is true that I was drunk, but I did not molest the little girl. I am telling the truth. Believe me.”

     “So you won’t open up like this. Fine, let the police come then,” Dubeyji growled.

     The police van arrived after some time. Two policemen stepped out of the van and one of them stationed himself in front of it. The other policeman headed straight towards the crowd. He talked with the people present for a while and then enquired, “Where is the girl?”

     “Rohit, call Esha down,” the man wearing the turban told the person standing next to him. Rohit went inside one of the wings and came back with Esha, a pale-looking, frightened 11 year old girl. Walking behind them was Esha’s mother, her face expressing a mixture of shock and anger.

     “Beta, tell the inspector whatever happened. Don’t be afraid,” Dubeyji told Esha.

     Esha gave one short look at the watchman and then turned to the inspector. “I wanted to go inside my wing, but that stray dog was sitting at the entrance. I am very scared of that dog. So I told the watchman to take me inside the wing. He agreed. But as soon as we entered the wing he lifted my skirt up and I felt his hands brushing around my…” She stopped talking and looked down. “I knew something is wrong, because my mom always used to warn me of such things. So I ran above towards my home,” saying this she inched closer towards her mother. She hugged Esha and gave the watchman a disdainful look.

     “She is confused, sir. I was just trying to get her away from the dog. I did nothing wrong with her,” the watchman pleaded.

     Thaaat… The watchman got slapped again, this time by the police inspector. “Shut up! We will hear what you have to say in the lock-up.” He turned towards Esha’s mother and said, “Madam, your daughter will have to come to the police station to give her statement. I know it is a bit traumatic but you will have to follow the procedure if you want him punished. You can bring her tomorrow.”

     “And you are coming with us,” he directed the watchman towards the van. The watchman took his belongings and followed the two policemen into the van. The van sped off and slowly the crowd dispersed.

     The next day, the watchman was booked under a non-bailable offence. He had no money to bribe the police and get out. He had no choice but to spend his next three years in prison. All he could do day and night was to narrate and re-narrate his story to the other inmate in the prison cell.

     “She was afraid of the dog. So I pushed her away from the dog. I did not do anything else, not a thing. My only fault was that I was drunk. This is too big a punishment for being drunk. This is not fair. Why doesn’t anyone understand that I am innocent?”

     “Why don’t you understand that it doesn’t matter whether you are innocent or not? Your blabbering isn’t going to change anything. You are going to remain in this cell no matter what, and that makes you a criminal.” But the other inmate’s words fell on deaf ears.

     “My wife hasn’t heard from me from such a long time. She must have got so worried. I couldn’t even send any money to her. What if she is dying of hunger? She can’t live alone. Or I guess she must have married someone else.” As soon as the last thought crossed his mind, the watchman wished that the earth below him would open up and bury him alive.

     After some days, Esha went to meet her friends. “I couldn’t believe that the plan worked! You were right, Sheetal. As soon as I said that he touched me inappropriately, everybody believed me and started beating him up.”

     “Told you,” Sheetal replied.

     “I fooled everyone so easily, I guess I should become an actress,” Esha giggled, and then went on. “Gosh! I was so sick of him! He never used to let me go out of the building because of my mom’s orders.  Thank God he doesn’t work anymore in my society.”

(The only message I wish to convey through this story is that lies/mischief, however innocent or small they may seem to you, could totally alter the other person’s life. In this story, due to her innocence and small age, the girl never realised the actual consequences the watchman would have to face.)