It was a grand day in the village.Bhuvaneshwari Devi had come here for the first time much to the delight of the villagers.Bhuvaneshwari Devi was a God in human flesh for the village folks, she had saved them from the ruinous drought which had struck there just a year ago. It was a terrible time, twelve farmers had committed suicide then suddenly one day, Panditji received ten lakh rupees from the anonymous Bhuvaneshwari Devi.Since then they had become devotees of the unknown “Devi” who saved them.
The lady came in a black Mercedes, escorted by bodyguards she went inside the village college hall, where arrangements where made to felicitate her. Her eyes wandered around as if searching for someone however they seemed disappointed.
The village headman welcomed her warmly and followed it up by a speech praising her for her gratitude towards them.Finally, it was time for the lady to address the eager audience.She walked up slowly to the microphone and began.
“Namaste,Brijpur wasiyo(folks) what I did to help you was not out of pity it was out of duty as a Brijpur wasi myself”
The crowd went viral on learning the lady to be from their village.The village elders had to interfere to quiten them down.
“Today you know me as Bhuvaneshwari Devi-the saviour.But years ago I was just another ordinary girl in this village.Had a nice happy family,friends and neighbours.I would tell this tale of mine which made the little Maithili,daughter of a farmer into today’s Bhuvaneshwari Devi.Maithili was growing up well she dreamt of becoming a doctor-yes a grand drem for a mere farmer’s daughter.Soon she was eighteen years old,and as other teenage girls of her age she too fell in love.The world of love was new to her and she floated in it carefree.The boy was no one but the son of the panchayat pradhan,Sanjay who a year older to her.It was a closely guarded affair since Sanjay did not want his father to know of his affair with a poor farmer’s daughter.
It went on for long.It was true both of them loved each other very much and even decided to marry. They made countless promises about love and life after marriage.Maithili had even decided upon the names of their future babies-Karan if it was a boy and Ashima if it was a girl. Once, Sanjay gifted her an expense gajra telling it was a gift on the occasion of Valentine’s Day.He had later explained to her that this Valentine’s Day is the day for lovers. A year took exit,alongwith their happiness too departed.Maithili had been nagging Sanjay to talk to his father about their marriage.Sanjay wanted the same but he was much afraid of his father. He always obeyed him and the thought of talking about the proposal to his father was the most difficult in the world for him. Besides, Hukam Singh,the pradhan had a notorious reputation of a criminal.He had gained his position by committing number of crimes.He was more of an overlord and the villagers were scared of his name.
Finally,Sanjay decided to confess to his father about his love.His father surprisingly was angry at his son’s confession he looked quite pleased.I would like to meet Maithili he said and as decided a meeting was fixed up.Hukam Singh and his accomplices visited Maithili’s house.The entire family was excited they warmly welcomed Hukam Singh.They thought it was by God’s grace their daughter was going to be married in such an illustrious family.It was all well,the next day all the hell broke loose when the villagers discovered the entire family murdered in the house and Maithili missing. Police came large scale enquiry was conducted to discover the murderer. A large scale manhunt was launched to track down Maithili but needless to say, all failed miserably. Police suspected Hukam Singh as he was the only person who had a reason to harm the family.They soon got enough proof and arrested him.Meanwhile,Sanjay too vanished from the village heartbroken maybe in search of his lost love. He missed her every day,and every night. He had a picture of her in his wallet with whom he used to often talk,even shared his food with it. He truly loved her with all his heart and his heart used to feel a strange ache every time memories of her flashed in front of his mind’s eyes………..”Bhuvaneshwari Devi stopped here, she rubbed her eyes from which a drop of tears had just dripped down.
All became quite for a while. The villagers could not believe in her wildest dreams about Bhuvaneshwari Devi being Maithili, of whom they had heard as kids.However, with time discussions on Maithili became a taboo.
They weep in unison,” Then what happened Ma ji?”
“Maithili was injured badly somebody had invasion from behind while she was getting ready to meet the guests at her house.She was hit on her head and could only hear her bhabhi’s scream Bhaag ja Mathi(her pet name)!and freeing herself from her perpetuator she managed to ran away with her head still haemorrhage.She was picked by a trader who treated her at his house in the city.His name was Ravinder Yadav,a widow with a son.Maithili was taken into the family of two.She never mentioned to her saviours about her past.Only once Ravinderji had asked her about her whereabouts she simply told him she couldn’t remember anything.She sometimes remembered about her parents and Sanjay whom she loved the most in this world.But she never had the courage to go back maybe she was afraid to discover the worst.Maithili rechristened Bhuvaneshwari now went to English medium and then college.
Finally,became an MBA graduate from Princeton University.Needless to say,the trader’s fortune grew ten fold in the years and he opened a huge company,named Y Coporation.Bhuvaneshwari became its chief executive officer and took the company higher reaches of fame and glory.The trader had a boy,Dipesh who was of the same age as Bhuvaneshwari,but he was differently abled.He had a rare genetic disorder which had crippled him for life however,that did not deter Bhuvaneshwari in loving him.To her he became the most amazing person in the world who would make her happy even in the most gloomy times.His jokes,one liners were a treat for her.He would equally enjoy her company because he knew her affection was not out of pity but out of true love.Though neither of them professed their love for one another they knew it because deep inside their hearts they felt so.Dipesh was unable to attend college,Bhuvaneshwari herself took the initiative to teach him everyday.After studying,they would hold each other hands and talked till late night.Ravinder did not mind because he knew this made his otherwise gloomy son smile.This continued till the last day of Dipesh’s life when he resting his head on Bhuvaneshwari’s lap breathed his last,with the eternal wish of being born again as her partner in some other life.She did not weep but looked towards the heaven and prayed for his soul.Life had taught her to accept death well she knew whatever is there today will be taken away tommorrow.That is the ultimate truth of life…..”,the lady now clearly sobbing concluded her speech as she began to walk her way out.
The audience were dumb found at the life story of their very own Bhuvaneshwari Devi.Many of them silently sobbed away,an image of gloom hung across the crowd.As she got into the car,her eyes got transfixed onto someone standing just infront of her.She softly said,”I pardon you”.No one except the person to whom it was addressed understood it perfectly.He began to walk away from the crowd,images flashed infront of his eyes.Tears rolled down his eyes as he recollected the events which were for so long suppressed in his mind.
-……It was early mrning,he had just got excited that his father would fix his marriage with the love of his life.He still felt fishy and doubted his father so he secretly followed him to her house.He sneaked in without informing anyone,he overheard a conversation in the house between his father and the girl’s father.
“Listen I like your daughter. But she is not fit to be my son’s wife.I have a proposal for you”
“Yes,Hukam Singh ji”
“If you let me use her for a night I will offer you 500 rupees”
“What are you saying Hukam Singhji?No,this cannot happen,never…”
“As you please but you will have to evacuate this house if you don’t agree”
After much persuading,the father had agreed to the indecent proposal.But before he could propagate this to his daughter,the thing happened.
He knew he would be never be able to save his life so he decided to harm his love.With the purpose in mind he murdered the family members.His father saw him but he never acknowledged his presence there later.As for Maithili she too saw him as she turned her back,to stop her assaulter.But she believed it was a mistake of her eyes.She never believed her love of life could do such a thing to her.
He remembered meeting her once in the city when she had got stranded in his chai shop.He had unknowingly of her identity revealed to her,in a moment of extreme emotion how he had committed such a crime and how life treated him after it.The kind hearted lady had helped him with money to return to his village.18 yrs later,he had failed to recognize her once again.He felt miserable,he wanted to rewind back his life and to reun away with the young Maithili but it was too late for him.The world had stolen him of his age and he was in no position to undo what he had done.His heart felt a deep ache,this was happening after a long time,he felt helpless as he closed the door behind him.
Next the newspaper carried a small piece of in one of its columns-“Village Pradhan suicide.
Tara Shankar Dilwar,found hanging from the ceiling in his house.Police have found no suicide note and concluded that there was no foul play involved.”
Later that day,investigators discovered a small wooden box hidden under the bed from the deceased’s house.It was a almost torn voter id card which read-
Name-Sanjay Singh
S/0 - Hukam Singh.
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