It was a tea estate standing with breathtaking beauty. It was called “Ratnagiri.” This Ratnagiri Estate was located in a village named Sampigekatte, near Madikeri. A gentle drizzle had just stopped, and nature looked as if it had washed itself clean and was sparkling brightly under the rays of the sun. When the raindrops resting on the leaves fell to the ground with a “thut thut” sound, the sight of Mother Earth embracing them felt like a beautiful poetic scene.
It was a tea estate standing with breathtaking beauty. It was called “Ratnagiri.” This Ratnagiri Estate was located in a village named Sampigekatte, near Madikeri. A gentle drizzle had just stopped, and nature looked as if it had washed itself clean and was sparkling brightly under the rays of the sun.
The silence of the surroundings was suddenly broken by the chirping of birds. Here and there, creatures the size of small lumps stood hidden among the tea plants as if welcoming visitors. Tall tea plants stood on both sides of the road, and for travelers moving below them, watching all this was truly a feast for the eyes. This place was so diverse and beautiful that it could even surpass the heavenly realm of Indra.
On the narrow path inside the tea estate, a car was slowly moving forward. A stranger standing among the tall tea plants was observing the car moving in the distance with the help of binoculars. However, the people sitting in the car were unaware of it.
Inside the moving car, Siddharth Desai was deeply lost in thought. Beside him sat his wife Sumathi, sitting sadly, thinking that she was the reason for her husband’s seriousness. Unaware of all this, one-and-a-half-year-old Meera and Chirant were enjoying their little childhood world. Meera was Siddharth’s only daughter, while Chirant was the son of Siddharth’s close friend Sathyaprakash.
Driving the car ahead, Sathyaprakash stopped the car by the roadside and said with concern,
“Siddhu, the problem that has come now is not something that cannot be solved. It is my responsibility to find a solution as soon as possible. Now stop worrying about it, get out of the car. Let’s go to your temple and seek blessings. Everything will be alright.”
Siddharth replied with a bit of anger,
“All this happened because of her. I told her so many times that we shouldn’t be so good to people who wish bad for us, but she didn’t listen.”
Sumathi replied with a sense of regret,
“How would I know they would all come together and do something like this? Yes, a mistake has happened now, but will everything become alright just by sitting quietly like this?”
Sathyaprakash interrupted them and said,
“Stop your argument now. Are you coming to the temple or not?”
“You go ahead. It doesn’t look like he will come. I will stay here with him,” said Sumathi to Sathyaprakash.
“Alright, you stay here. I will take Meera and Chiru and go,” he said.
“Come on kids… the three of us will go and say hi to God and come back. Let them continue their argument here,” he said lovingly, picking them up and walking towards the temple.
Inside the car, the seriousness between Siddharth and Sumathi continued. Meanwhile, the man standing among the tea plants began making loud noises. Even though Siddharth and Sumathi in the car heard the sound, they didn’t pay attention to it.
However, Sathyaprakash, who was folding his hands before God, felt that it was some kind of warning of an upcoming danger. He quickly picked up Meera and Chirant and stepped out of the temple, looking towards the car. At the same time, he noticed a truck coming at great speed from behind the car on the same road.
Before he could loudly shout “Siddhu! Siddhu!”, the truck had already crashed into the car. Due to the impact, the car was thrown a considerable distance away. Carrying both children, Sathyaprakash ran towards the car. Seeing Siddharth and Sumathi lying in a pool of blood, he screamed in shock. Sumathi’s life had already left her body.
Meera began crying loudly, calling out,
“Amma…! Appa…!”
Sathyaprakash gently placed Siddharth’s head on his lap and listened to his last words as he stood on the edge of death.
“Sathya… I never thought I would die so soon. There was still so much we had to achieve together,” he said, pulling the crying Meera close, holding her hand and kissing her. Then he gestured with his hand and called,
“Chiru… come here.”
“Sathya, our friendship should not end today. Raise these children in such a way that it continues through them. And one more thing… don’t seek revenge against those who killed me and make these children orphans. Go somewhere far away. Don’t stay among these cruel beasts,” he said, looking towards his wife Sumathi before taking his last breath.
Sathyaprakash hugged both children tightly and cried out loudly in pain.
Meanwhile, the stranger said nervously,
“You said the job was done easily, but someone seems to be shouting there.”
The killer replied,
“They were not in the car, sir. They had gone to the temple with the two children.”
“You fool! I told you to kill everyone, not just a few. This problem must end here. It should not cause us trouble later. Come on, let’s finish them too. Call your men who are hiding there,” he ordered.
Meanwhile, Sathyaprakash, who was crying while holding his friend, noticed from a distance that someone was coming to kill them. Even though he didn’t want to leave his friend behind, he forced himself to run, holding the children tightly to his chest.
The killers chased them. On the highway, he urgently climbed into a passing lorry and escaped from them. Even after sitting in the lorry, his mind was not at peace. Seeing the children crying beside him, he began to worry,
“What will happen to these children in the future? How will I raise them?”
It was the time when the sun was finishing its day’s work. The lorry was traveling about ten to twelve kilometers away from Dandeli. Meera had cried herself to sleep.
“Dad… I want food,” Chirant started crying.
“Just wait a little, my child. You will eat soon,” he said, kissing his son on the forehead to comfort him. But he had no money for food. His purse had been lost somewhere while running. Somehow the lorry driver had come at the right time and saved their lives and brought them this far. Now he wondered what to do for food.
As the lorry was passing through a dense forest, he asked the driver to stop. Even though the driver warned that it was a place filled with dangerous animals, Prakash got down without listening.
Sathyaprakash thought he might find some fruits in the forest for the children. Getting down from the lorry, he entered the dense forest along with the children.
There were only giant trees growing tall, but he could not find any fruit-bearing trees. As they kept moving forward, darkness began to surround them, and soon they reached the middle of the forest. The path back was no longer visible.
Fear began to grow in Prakash’s heart. At the slightest sound from the bushes, the children became frightened and started screaming. Even though Prakash tried to calm them down, they could not stop crying out of fear.
Hearing their screams, in the pitch-dark forest, it seemed as if a spark of fire was rushing towards them. Prakash quickly hid the children in the hollow of a tree and stood holding a stick.
As the spark came closer, a voice shouted,
“Hey… who is there? What are you doing here at this hour?”
Prakash felt a little relieved. Throwing away the stick in his hand, he said,
“Sir, I need a little help from you.”
An old man around seventy years old came closer carrying a bundle of firewood on his head and holding a burning torch in his hand.
“What help can I give you at this time? What is it?” asked the old man Nanjappa.
Prakash explained everything that had happened in detail without leaving out anything.
“Life teaches us many things; we just have to learn from it. But still, how did you dare to enter this forest with these children?” said Nanjappa.
“Come… let’s walk and talk,” he said, walking towards his hut.
Prakash picked up the two children and followed him.
“The children were very hungry, so I gathered the courage to come here,” he said.
“I have known this forest for almost fifty years, yet even I feel afraid to walk here at this time. Because it is a forest full of cruel animals. Look there… can you see the Kali River? My hut is just a little distance from there,” he said, asking him to walk faster.
On the way, Nanjappa asked,
“What is your name?”
“My name is Prakash. Her name is Meera, and his name is Chirant,” he introduced them and then asked,
“What is your name?”
“My name is Nanjappa,” the old man replied.
After about fifteen minutes of walking, they reached the hut. Seeing that no one else was there in the hut, Sathyaprakash was surprised.
Unable to control his curiosity, he asked,
“Do you live here alone? I don’t see anyone else.”
Nanjappa replied,
“I will tell you everything tomorrow morning. The children seem very hungry. First give them this ragi ambali to drink,” he said, handing it to them.
For Prakash and the children, who were suffering from hunger, that simple ambali felt like a feast. After drinking it, the children were extremely tired and fell asleep within moments.
But Prakash kept remembering the death of his friend and continued to cry silently. He didn’t even realize when sleep finally took over him.
To be continued…
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