The Inexistent Highway..(Ep-20)

There was again a shock, the man who lied covered with the sheet was Ekshuk, who worked in Reeha’s house. She couldn’t breathe for a moment. Things became worse as she came closer to the truth. There were some papers which were wrapped in the plastic near the body. She came closer to the collection and took out the bag and unwrapped the papers. There was a bundle of sheets, with an impression of thumb on the right corner of a few of them. Some letters were attached to those sheets. The words on the letters were not visible but could be read.

She detached the letters from the bundle and started reading them. The date mentioned in the letter was of seven years ago. It read:

'Teerath province, Rampura district. The village here is the best, and it has everything a person wants, beautiful mornings, large farms and a lot of employment. That is why I was sent here to Kamarkh village. My father said that life here is very peaceful; after all, it is one of the wealthiest villages in the country. I came here to learn to farm from my relatives who were proper residents in this village. The mornings began with praises of sun and dances of peacocks. Nature here was undoubtedly the 8th wonder of the world. We spent the whole day on the farm and in the night attended rituals of Bhumi puja.

The village felt heaven when it rained, the smell of the soil, the chirping birds all added to its beauty. But good things don't last for long. My father informed me that the government had passed bills to lay a construction six-way lane which would pass through the core farms of the Kamarkh village. As soon as the news came to the village, the people were shocked. There was a meeting called in the village by the head. It was decided that we would resist all government policies and will attack the officers if they destroy our harmony or the beauty of the village. The plan that was made was executed; we gave up on all government policies. We boycotted their pesticides and artificial soil. All that we wanted was to remove the construction project that was forcefully imposed on our village.We made our manures, cultivated manually. All the machines that were given by the government to the farmers were thrown away and burnt to ashes. There were riots when government officers came to our village. We attacked them and chased them away’.