Bablee (Part – 8) —

(Recap- In the previous part, we came to know about the acquittal of Ganak from the criminal case and how after that, circumstances changed. In between, his mother passed away and his elder Manik brother accepted  the proposal to become priest at some remote located temple and left the house. Behind, deserted house became disorderly and Ganak felt a conviction to get married any how.)

In the last part of the episode, I described about the location of my personal office in the mini-bazaar . My shop stood as a part of row of shop, on this side of the road. Just across the road, another row of shops had some unique kind of arrangement. Firstly, there stood three shops, then situated a Gurudwara (worship place of Sikh community.) From the side of this Gurudwara, a side lane bifurcated , that led to inside locality. Again after this side lane, the row of shops continued, the number of shops were around ten to twelve only. These shops were constructed under some government scheme i.e. “Special Component Plan,” for backward and oppressed category people. these shops had been allotted  to the present owners through a “lottery system.”

These shop keepers had to pay the nominal rent to the the local authority. The only condition annexed to this “lottery scheme”  was, after a period of twenty-five years, the entire rent collected as such by the government, would be considered as the ‘ sale consideration’ and they all be granted the permanent ownership. Till now, about sixteen years had elapsed of this allotment. Out of these shops, one belonged to the “main lead character” of this story. I meant Bablee. Bablee was operating her shop for last two years.

Prior to that, her younger brother managed to run a “scooter- repairing center” there. This younger brother was not a mechanic by himself. For  this purpose, he had hired the services of a mechanic named Ranjit on partnership basis. Since, the shop was allotted under the “special component scheme” and for this, the father of Bablee, who by cast was a mason had been eligible, since he had a valid certificate for that. When he applied for the shop under the scheme, luck favored him and he succeeded in getting the shop allotted in his name.

Till the time, there ran the “scooter repairing center,” younger brother of Bablee used to remain present there in person regularly. He was an educated boy and remained there to supervise the income of the shop. Seldom, old aged father too visited the shop. I had good acquaintance with both of them. Then, two major incidences took place one after another. First was, this younger brother managed to obtain some job in some private Company. Now, in his place old father began to visit the shop daily to supervise the business. But his old age and fragile health didn’t allow him to stay there for the entire day.

Second issue was, the mechanic of the shop Ranjit; he too belonged to some “backward caste.” People around the market now began to poison the ears of old man, though it all was false but enough to prick the ears of old man. They invented the story that Ranjit covertly was visiting the office of “Special Component Plan” and it seemed he was trying to manipulate to get transfer the shop on his name. Although, the possibility of this kind of ‘transfer of allotment’ was to a nullity. But once old man got suspicious about the intention, the idea to evict Ranjit from the shop began to germinate in his mind.

Old man had three daughters. The eldest been married in a family of a distant province of Punjab. The second was married to a local boy but she had some sort of nuptial- disturbing story related to her marital status. the third one was Bablee, still unmarried. The family of Bablee had been migrated to this city about three generation ago and they claimed their cultural connection with the province of Punjab. This affinity with Punjabi culture too was evident by their looks and features.

Long back, Bablee’s younger brother had in a chat told me, ” brother, all my three sisters are so beautiful and good looking.” But at that time, I had not given my ears seriously to his bragging. It occurred, when old father began to hand over to shop to them and Bablee along with her elder sister made the appearance on the spot, it startled me. The younger brother was true to his contents regard his claim. Now, it needed to narrate the cunning plan of old man, how he managed to snatch back his shop from the hands of Ranjit.

If old man would have demanded  Ranjit to vacate the shop at once, it was supposed to deteriorate the situation and a possibility hovered, Ranjit could refute to vacate the shop. Under the planning or conspiracy, old man gradually convinced Ranjit that he was planning to make two partition of the shop. In one partition, Ranjit as usual could ably run his “scooter repairing center,” and in the second partition , his daughters would run a “tailoring shop.” Both the partners might be at ease to earn their own ‘bread and butter.’

The truth was, Ranjit was an intermittent visitor to the house of old man and he was well aware of and in contact with his daughters as a family member. Old man knew, Ranjit was fascinated by the beauty of his daughters. Ranjit mechanic,  too was in his prime youth and unmarried. He found a golden opportunity in this proposal of old man to remain in constant contact with his beautiful daughters. some where in in his heart’s corner, he had “soft corner’ for Bablee and old man’s experienced eyes had already read that. Ranjit got entangled in the “honey trap” of the old man.

At this stage, the new entrant character ‘ Ranjit” needs some description about his behavioral mode. It’s in itself is an interesting story and needs some space. That I will narrate in next episode. (End of part-8, contd.) Penned by — Vinay Pharasi —–