Success - Part 6 of the short Story Series 'Missing'

                  "The secrets to success are hard work and luck". My luck is all time low. I will have to work hard to escape this time. How do I?

                    I did not want to run again. I did not want to leave the uncle and get into trouble. I felt that asking for help is the best solution. I talked to uncle and showed him those three guys. I told him my entire story without leaving any of the incidents. The people in the bogie listened to us. People are hurt deeply hearing the atrocities committed by them. Many narrated the stories they here but they never came across the victim. They suggested helping us catch him and hand over him to police. Every one of us hatched a plan. We wanted to teach them a lesson and help the other kids who are captured by them.

                  We knew that the mafia guys would attempt to kidnap only when everyone is asleep. Around 10 PM, we slept off but we did not actually sleep. Around 01:30 AM, after we crossed Dhone Railway Station, all the three guys came to our seat. One of the big guys slowly came towards me. I was sitting beside the uncle but not with the uncle, so the mafia thought it would be an easy job with everyone sleeping and snoring. But what they did not know was some of the guys were capturing those movements in their mobile cameras and some were ready to catch them. We stationed some more on both sides of our seats. The plan was to capture them all and not to let any of those buggers run away.

               As soon as the big guy held me, all the passengers rushed towards us and caught hold of all the three guys. They tried to hit the passengers but passengers were able to capture them all. The guy in whites tried to pull off the trigger off his gun, but the railway police came to our timely help. It was very dramatic and I never saw such an incident in my life. When my teacher taught us "unity is strength", I laughed off but this incident was the perfect example of 'Unity is Strength'.

            We reached Kurnool at 02:15. By then, all the news channels were already in Kurnool railway station. Uncle and I continued our journey to Kachiguda. The police case was filed by the passengers who got down at Kurnool station. I reached Kachiguda station where my parents were waiting for me with garlands. As soon as I got down at the railway station, I ran to my mother and hugged her tightly.

            My Parents appreciated the uncle and expressed their gratitude by promising him to call them if he was ever in need of money to educate his child. My Gundu Boss was all smiles. My happiness just got multiplied. After all those days of torture and depression, I was finally in the warm hands.

           Right now, I am laying on my couch watching the news.  The news was about the Balaji, the mafia leader and the release of abducted children. Some Tirupati policemen involved in child trafficking and child abuse are arrested. My story is on rewind. Passengers in train talked about how courageous I am and how we captured the mafia. NGOs have come forward to support the abused orphans. Some kids are reunited with their families. All good things said about good people by good people. The news channels dubbed my escape from the treacherous mafia gang as 'The great escape of the century' and 'The most courageous step by a small kid'.

I smirked!!! I put forward my first step to change the world! My father hugged me and said 'Get ready for the next'!!!

Intelligence - Part 4 of the short story series 'Missing'

                   The constable carried me on his shoulders. I could see behind his back. I saw many kids younger than me. They were lean and had mud all over them. There were small babies who were sleeping in the dirty ramshackle of the make-shift huts. This particular scene made me cry and made me realize that something bad would happen to me. To get out of this situation, I started shouting and crying at the top of my voice but there was no one noticing me. My cry grew louder and louder. All of a sudden,  I felt a prick on my neck and became unconscious!

                   I woke up and found no one around. The place was dark with bad odor. Sunlight barged in through the small bullet holes on the door. I went closer to the door. Through those holes, I could see the pain lashed on kids. There were two men behind a small statured person who was in whites and had gold chains around his neck. He was the boss. Though he was only 5 4, his persona was scary. The way he grinned his teeth, itself scares the hell out of anyone. His elbows had big scars and those were ostentatious. There was a tattoo on the broad side of his right elbow. It was not visible clearly. As I was looking through those holes, he turned towards the door. 

           He ordered his men to get me. They walked towards the door. My spirit did not die yet and I was waiting for those bloody goons to open the door. Having watched Chota Bheem daily, I was pretty sure I would tackle them. As told by my mother, every kid has the strength of Anjaneya Swamy(Hanuman) and intelligence of Lord Krishna, I particularly felt that I had some special powers. Convinced, I made a plan to run as fast as Usain Bolt and as swift as an Eagle. Even if one of those bulldogs hold me, I would beat him blue and red. But the reality was different. I ran as soon as one of the big guys opened the door. The second guy caught my hand. I bit him with my teeth. This made him angry,  he immediately slapped me on my face. His hand hit me very hard. I could not hear a thing. All I could feel was the tears rolling on my cheeks. No one ever hit me. All the strength this Chota Bheem had vanished in the air. As my ears started working again, I puked. I was unable to control my emotions. I was crying like those helpless kids. 

           The small guy in the whites walked towards me. I still could not see his tattoo as my eyes were moist. I heard him saying to other 2 guys to not to break any bone and put me onto picking up plastic waste. The 2 big guys took some days to train my mind so that I listen to them. I was a bird in the cage and I danced to their tunes. There was no escape. I was first put to pick up plastic along the Gandhi road under supervision of fellow pickers. Then in the subsequent days, we were moved to KT Road. What I understood from this, was that they were trying to brainwash me. But I missed my mother's love and father's helping hands. I kept looking around to find ways to escape. But I could not. I did not find any platform. All these days, I never spoke to anyone as I did not believe anyone. I was kept told a story. The story was that my poor uncle was taking care of me after I lost my parents in an accident. That poor uncle did not have money to provide food for his family and me. I resorted to begging/picking to help his family. Apart from the story, there was an actual uncle, aunt and his kids. All arranged by the mafia.

           11 days passed. I was dark and dusted. No one could recognize me. I became deaf and dumb by choice. I was reduced to nothing but a picking machine. The head was convinced that I was part of his team. He put me to begging at Sandhya Theatre. Though I felt uncomfortable, a girl child was dragging me to every place. She was given more money because I was with her. You can imagine how I looked. I was lean and looked like a hanging skeleton. I saw missing posters near the theater. The posters were mine! My photo, my age, contact to call and a message were on the poster. But again, I was not looking like what I was 12 days back. But I pull down one of the posters and kept in my pocket. I did not know at that moment that it was the most intelligent step I have taken after all these days wasted.