Neela: Victory Song

Unexpected Obstacles

Slowly, unsteadily, the three of them make their way across the bridge. Father leans heavily on Samar, who takes most of the man’s weight, but once in a while, Samar stumbles and Father gasps as his injured leg hits the ground. Neela walks behind them, carrying her bundle and feeling useless. Samar whispers that they are almost there. They can see the main entrance of the station. Samar says he will set them down on a bench and go get their tickets to Shona Gram.

But as they near the station, Neela realizes something isn’t going right. There are tall metal gates covering the entrance to the station. Samar says that they’ve shut the gates and bolted them. The three look around wildly. The sidewalks are empty at this time of night, since all the vendors have gone home. Only a few beggars still huddle in their rags by the station wall.

Then, they see someone else. The night watchman. They can hear the stomp of his boots as he walks up and down banging his lathi on the cobbles. Samar says that the man hasn’t seen them. They must hurry to get under the cover of the wall’s darkness.

The three of them lower themselves onto the concrete pavement near one of the huddled groups of beggars, who watch them in suspicion. Samar explains to them that he’s taking his sick uncle back to his village home, and they grow friendlier. They tell Samar that for the past week, night trains have stopped because of the activities of the freedom fighters. The station is locked from midnight to six in the morning.

Samar is worried. That’s a long wait. Neela can’t see his expression in the dark, but she knows what he must be thinking. By that time in the morning, the authorities will know the prisoners have been freed, and a massive search would commence. They are handicapped by Father’s injury, so they cannot avoid the soldiers.

Father tugs it’s Samar’s kurta. He says that he can be left there with the beggars for a day or two. He’ll be safe enough. Neela should go home tomorrow, and Samar should go back to the center. Father will make his way to Shona Gram on his own in a couple of days.

Neela cries that that will never happen. Neela is not leaving him again. They may catch him, especially with the bandage on his head. Or even if no one is caught, he is ill, so he won’t be able to get on the train by himself. She drapes the shawl Bimala gave her protectively around her father.

Samar nods and says that Neela is right. They can’t separate after all that trouble. Samar says in the morning, he’ll go into the station to check out the situation.

They eat a few mouthfuls of the food Bimala packed. Father is appreciative of the fried eggplant. He says he hasn’t eaten so well since Usha’s wedding. Samar says he will pass on the compliment to Bimala, even though it’ll go straight to her head.

Neela is too exhausted to even laugh. The day’s tensions had worn her out, but she’s too wound up to sleep. She dozes fitfully, starting at the strange night noises all around her. When she does wake up, she’s surprised to see it’s morning. The vendors are already setting up their wares, and the passengers have started to arrive, and Samar is gone.

Father says Samar went into the station to try to get tickets. Neela can’t help but worry. Why didn’t he wake her? How long has he been gone? What if there are police inside? What if the police are coming to get Father and Neela right now?

And then, a hand falls on her shoulder, causing her to jump. Samar says that it’s time for them to leave. He got the tickets. They agree Neela and Father walk in separately from Samar, and meet him on platform four. There’s a train that will pass by Shona Gram on its way to Bardhaman. Samar says it will look more natural for the father and daughter to go someplace together. Samar wraps the shawl around Father carefully so the bandage doesn’t show, and together, they stagger toward platform four and on towards freedom.

Fortunately, the train isn’t crowded. They settle themselves in the last compartment, which is empty. Samar breathes a sigh of relief when the train starts to move. He explains there were a lot of policemen hanging around near the ticket counters, asking questions. They stopped him, too. Samar had already bought the tickets by then, so he just stammered and acted half-witted, and told them he’s going to visit his sick mother in Bardhaman. Luckily, they didn’t check how many tickets he had.

Neela is fascinated by Samar pretending to act with a stutter. He has a vacant, cross-eyed expression on his face, and it is so convincing. Neela asks if the freedom fighters taught him how to act like that. With a shake of his head, Samar chuckles and says it’s natural talent.

Neela glances at her father to see if he finds Samar funny, too, but he’s gazing somberly out the window at the rice fields speeding by. Father says there’s so much that has happened to him recently. It turned his life around. He is simply trying to figure out the new him and what he thinks. He explains when he got to Calcutta, he contacted the Bengal branch of the Congress Party, and said he wanted to join in the Quit India march. He met such fine people there and learned so much about the freedom struggle going on all over the country.

Father explains he met some of the people that took part in the Salt March with Gandhiji. They believe the British has no right to tax Indians for salt because it comes out of the Indian Ocean. So, Gandhiji organized a peaceful march to the ocean. Neela nods. She likes what she’s heard of this Gandhiji.

When Samar says that the British will never hand India back unless we force them, Father agrees. But Gandhiji believes civil disobedience and nonviolence is the best and strongest strategy against them. Not only will India have right on their side, but the whole world will see that they do, too. They’ll see the villainy of the British and they’ll shame them into setting India free. Gandhiji is a great leader, and he has dedicated his life to the people of India.

Samar interrupts, saying that Netaji Subhash Bose has also dedicated his whole life to the people of India. His way of fighting is with their own fire, killing their leaders until they all get the message to leave.

Neela sees the two are at odds-end, disagreeing back and forth. Neela looks at both her father’s face and Samar’s. It distresses her because she cares so much for them both. Personally, she thinks Gandhiji’s peaceful way is a better one, but she can see why Netaji’s way would appeal to many, especially to younger people who want independence right away. And his belief, to give one’s life for one’s motherland, is heroic and attractive. Neela is tired and confused. There’s so many conflicts in the world and so many choices to make. It’s difficult to know what’s right.

The train stops at a fairly large station and they look out the windows of the platform. They see people carrying baskets of vegetables, eggs, and fish. Father says they’re already at Shaluk Para. There’s a big market at Jal Gram on another rail line. The name fills Neela with guilty memories of the day before she ran away. She would have to tell Father about the nice lady who wanted her to get engaged to her son. Neela hopes Father will understand why she’s not ready for such a big step.

Samar mutters that something strange is going on. No one seems to be getting off their train. The men in khaki are pushing through the crowd. Could they be police? Neela and her father watch as he slips out the door. Father muses that he is brave and intelligent and unselfish. Neela’s heart leaps in pleasure to hear her father praise Samar.

Father turns to his daughter, and says that when they get home, he has plans about educating the villagers about what’s really going on in the country, and he wants her to help. They must all support the battle for independence, one way or another. Neela is surprised and pleased. She’s proud that her father considers her grown enough to help him with such an important job. She’ll do whatever he needs.

Just then, Samar bursts into the compartment, his face tense. He pants that they are constables. A whole company of them, and they are already on the train. They’re searching all the passengers and no one is allowed to leave.

The train starts on its way again. Its rocking motion hadn’t bothered Neela before, but now she feels nauseous. What will happen to them? Both Samar and Father are trying to figure out a plan. Neela tries to think of something to help them, too. Father says at the very least they must save Neela. She should go to another compartment right now. He noticed a compartment just for women on the other side of the toilet. Neela shakes her head. She’s not leaving them.

Samar looks up the wall toward a scarlet sign that reads “To Stop Train, Pull Chain.” He thinks about pulling the chain himself. The train would stop and maybe they can hurry down and hide in the fields. Father shakes his head. He won’t be able to do it with his leg. But Samar would be able to outrun the constables if he needed to. He should go ahead. Samar says he can’t abandon them.

Neela looks around desperately. What will happen when the constables search Father and find the wound on his head? And Samar, too, probably has a big scar from his earlier injury. Oh, to have worked so hard and be so close to home and freedom, only to have it snatched away like this. It’s not fair. She gives the bundle on her knee an angry shake. And then something rattles inside. It’s Bimala’s makeup box. Neela knows what to do.

When the head constable walks in the last compartment, he’s in a foul mood. He and his men have spent an hour searching the train, and have found no one except foolish peasants with smelly baskets of fish and equally smelly babies. The informant is a shifty-eyed man who’d shown up outside the police station that morning. He told them a bunch of terrorists were on the train. Was he wrong? Or had he done it on purpose? They can’t even trust traitors these days.

Looking in, the constable sees the compartment only holds three people. One of them is a lanky girl, Neela, in a ragged dirty frock. He dismisses her right away. Across from her sits a young man, Samar, who looks like he’s crazy in the head. He drools and points at things outside the window and talks to himself. Every once in a while he slaps himself in the face. That also doesn’t look like the kind of person they’re looking for. Next to the girl lay a man, covered in a shawl, shivering and moaning. Now that looks suspicious. Why would he be laying down, all covered up like that, unless he has something to hide?

The constable yells at one of his men to snatch the cover off the man. Neela stands up, bowing differentially. She thanks the inspector for coming. They need help. The constable smiles. He likes being called “inspector,” even though he’s not an inspector yet. Neela seems polite and respectful, so he asks her what the matter is.

Neela explains that she and her father got on three stations ago. She’s taking him to the hospital in Bardhaman. Maybe one of the constable’s men can be sent along with them to help. As he can see, she only has her cousin with her, and he’s weak in the brain.

The constable points at Neela’s father and asks what’s wrong with him. She says that four days ago, he started having a terrible fever, and then yesterday red boils broke out all over him. The constable takes a step back toward the door along with his men. She wrings her hands and says they’re full of pus and have started to burst. She also mentions that the pain is terrible, and he’s itching and scratching until blood comes. Neela raises a corner of the shawl to show the constables a hand covered in boils and crusted with pus. It looks disgusting.

One of the constables whispers that it’s the pox. The men back out of the door as fast as they can, holding kerchiefs over their noses and mouths. The head constable shouts that she is an idiot. Her father has smallpox. They’re probably all infected. Hopefully they haven’t infected the constables as well. He orders them off the train right away.

Jerkily, the train begins to slow down when a constable pulls the chain. Neela cries desperately that they’ll be left in the middle of nowhere with a sick man. The head constable spits on the ground, and says that that’s her problem. And then, the constables make their way as fast as they can down the corridor.

Neela, Father, and Samar sit in a field of mustard flowers, watching the train disappear. When it’s gone, Samar falls back on the flowers, sighing with relief. He says that he was worn out from worrying. He didn’t think they could pull it off. But Neela was great. Where did she learn to apply makeup like that?

Smiling, Neela uses a corner of the shawl to brush some of the makeup from Father’s face and hand, which is all she had had time to work on. Neela says she was scared that the constable would want to see Father’s whole body, or even his entire arm. They were very lucky.

With a glimmer in his eye, Father says that she was brave and quick-witted. That’s really what saved them. Neela beams, suddenly unable to wait to see her mother.

Samar asks them how far it is to their home, and Father answers that it’s only a mile or so. And there’s a shortcut, past the weavers’ huts. Samar says it’s better if he’s not seen by the villagers. Perhaps they can make it on their own. Father nods, and tells him that Neela can help him from there.

Father and Samar wish each other the best and tell each other to stay safe. Samar says goodbye to Neela. There’s so much that Neela wants to tell him, but a huge lump of shyness seems to block her throat. Finally, all she can manage is a thank you and she asks that he’ll come see her when he can. Samar responds that if he is alive, he will.

These simple words strike Neela like a blow. Neither of them know what danger lurks in Samar’s future. Will he live long enough to see a free India? Will he ever be able to come back to Shona Gram?

Samar pauses as though waiting for Neela to say something else. But when she doesn’t, he turns and starts walking along the rail lines. Neela’s furious with herself. Now she’ll never get a chance to tell him what she wanted to say—how he had been her truest friend and had comforted her in moments of fear, how he helped her grow so she was returning to the village a stronger person. And finally, how much she likes him.

And then, a thought comes to Neela. She begins singing the “Vande Mataram” song. In the distance, Samar stops walking. He turns and listens to the lilting, beautiful notes of the song. It seems to Neela that he heard what was under all of the words as well. When the song ends he raises his hand and shouts back a thank you.

Neela and Father watch Samar’s figure grow smaller and smaller before finally disappearing into the fields. Then Father puts his arm around his daughter, and says it’s time to go. The two of them make their way slowly homeward through the golden mustard fields. Neela says that until she went away, she didn’t realize how beautiful their village was. So many colors are all around them. The dark green of the mango leaves, the bright green of the banana trees, the silvery-blue ponds, and the rich reddish-brown mud. And the gold of the mustard flowers. Father nods; that’s what Shona Gram is named for.

Neela supports her father as they make their way in companionable silence. And then, Neela points ahead and tells her father to look. There is a clearing in the grove of bamboos ahead of them, and Neela can see in it, their house. And a woman standing, dressed in a torn, old sari, as though she doesn’t care what she looks like anymore. The woman is tethering Budhi to a tree.

Neela calls out to the woman that she says she’s brought Father back. The woman looks up, and Neela watches the woman’s thin face break into an incredulous smile and begins to run toward them. It is her mother. Budhi comes gamboling, too, mooing so loudly that it’s a wonder all the neighbors don’t run out to see what’s going on.

Neela breaks into her run herself, not stopping until she’s thrown herself into her mother’s arms. How much Neela had missed her. How many stories Neela has for her. And what will Mother think of the way her daughter has changed and grown? And the baoul? What will he think? Soon, Neela hopes she’ll see him so she can tell him of her adventures.

Neela is aware of her mother’s hands in her hair. She smells her mother’s skin, and feels Budhi butting her side patiently, as she tries to squeeze between mother and daughter. She senses the smile on her father’s face as he watches the whole scene at the edge of the bamboo grove. Neela is so happy to be home.