Tresspass

Month of Asadh (mid June to mid July) was ending and Summer heat and dust were ready to
give way to Monsoon month of Sawan ( mid July to mid August). Some clouds appeared on the
horizon and strong but refreshingly cool winds blew in from the East. Celestial beings Narad and
Honi ( Fate) sat arguing on a tree limb and watched people below going about their business.
They were accusing each other of playing havoc with human lives. Honi accused Narad of
ruining love lives of many a couple with his mean spirited and vicious manipulations of their
circumstances and their feelings which ruined their love and life. Narad argued saying she was
the one who destroyed happiness with her untimely intrusions in human lives and taking people
away from their loved ones at some of the most inopportune times. Honi had more power than
Narad. She had a purer celestial pedigree and could also read Narad’s mind. Narad was born of a
union of Brahma (Hindu god of creation) with a mortal female. He did not possess some of the
powers that others of pure celestial parentage did but he had the mesmerizing ability of creating
feelings by playing his holy flute and stirring feelings in the objects of his attention. Honi saw
him looking at a group of girls coming to the Gurudwara. His eyes were focused on a tall and
very beautiful girl and Honi saw him concentrating on her love life. He found that she was
married, none too happily and was going to Gurudwara to pray for peace and harmony in her
life. Narad with his impish tendencies intended to interfere with those noble wishes of hers.
Seconds later he saw a handsome young man about her age pass her by from the other direction.
He began planning some moves and maneuvers to involve and complicate their lives. Honi saw
his machinations only too well. She liked the girl and to help her and to counter Narad she was
planning her own strategy.
He had finished his interview and was headed back to the bus stop. As he looked to his right side
he saw a Gurudwara (Sikh Temple) about two hundred yards away and he decided to go pay
obeisance to Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh holy book) before taking the bus home. Weather had taken
a turn for the better. From hot and searing temperatures suddenly it had changed to a strong cool
wind from the East and clouds covered the sky. It took him about ten minutes in the Gurudwara
building and he started walking back to the bus stop. There he saw a group of some college girls
walking towards him. He was about a hundred yards from them when skies opened up and in the
ensuing downpour he was drenched. He ran back to take shelter under a banyan tree. Because of
sudden burst of rain those girls walked very briskly past him .They were going to the Gurudwara
too but this sudden deluge of rain forced them also to turn back and take shelter under another
banyan tree next to the one where he stood. When they crossed paths he had noticed a tall light
skinned girl among them. When those girls ran back to take cover under the tree he saw her
looking intently at him. She was taller than the other girls and stared at him with more than usual
interest. Their eyes met and he liked what he saw. She had a smile on her beautiful face and a
slim and well endowed body. She had a pleasant inviting look in her eyes and he looked with
interest on her rain soaked Punjabi suit which was now almost transparent and had in effect
sharpened feminine contours of her body making it look even more appealing. She looked four
or five years older than other girls. The sudden cloud burst ended as quickly as it had started and
he walked to the bus stop. He stopped there and looking back towards the banyan trees noticed
that the tall girl was still looking at him.
She was surprised at her own reaction to a total stranger. She felt attracted to him and he too had
looked at her with interest. The way he looked at her she had seen other males look at her too.
What she did not remember was herself reacting like she did to his glances. She was going to
Gurudwara to pray for household peace and harmony and a safe passage on her trip to Kashmir
where her husband was posted. She had to leave next day to be with him.
Shamsher also liked this extra attention from a beautiful stranger and as he boarded the bus and
sat down her pleasant glances stayed on his mind. In forty minutes he had reached his village and
walked back to his house.
Summer this year was a turning point in his life. He was done with his graduate studies in
English and had passed his Masters’ degree examination in second division. He was looking for
a teaching job in a college. This was his fifth job interview and he was hopeful of getting a
position in this college.
On his way back home near his village he ran into a swarm of angry bees whose hive had been
disturbed by some kids. He was walking engrossed in day's events. Suddenly he was stung by
two bees and he ran away from the swarm and hid in a small hut near a farm well. He stayed
hidden in the hut for about ten minutes. By the time he peered through the door, bees had flown
away. He rushed to a medical practitioner in the village and was given a tube of Penicillin
antibiotic cream. He rubbed it on the affected area and within a few minutes the pain had
subsided. He reached home and his mother asked him about his job interview. He said he was
hopeful but would find out in the coming two weeks. He changed his clothes and took off his
turban. It was still slightly damp from the rain he had to walk through and spread it to dry on the
clothesline. He did not keep his hair long like most Sikhs do and also kept his beard trimmed. As
was the custom with many urbanized Sikh youth of his time any time he left his house he would
wear a turban on his head. He looked at his mail and saw two more letters from colleges with
dates for perspective job interviews.
His mother made him a cup of tea and after finishing it he went upstairs and lay down for a short
nap. He was excited about the possibility of working at this college. It was in a semi-urban
environment. The college had opened only a few years ago and catered mostly to students from
the town of Baghelpura and surrounding villages. After independence there was a strong push for
education in rural areas of Punjab to catch up with urban populace.
Now girls were also enrolling in significant numbers and there was a need to hire some female
faculty members. They already had a female D.P.E. (director of physical education) who was
also an expert hockey coach. She was the daughter of a well known Hindu family and her father
performed religious ceremonies at auspicious occasions in the area. He had donated ten acres of
land on which the college was built. College committee was later able to acquire more land
contiguous to that property and the campus was located on fifty plus acres of donated property.
Before India gained independence from the British and subsequent partition of Punjab province
between India and Pakistan he was a personal tutor to children of a wellknown Muslim family at
Baghelpura. The patriarch of the family Dilawar Khan trusted him to the extent that in 1947
when he had to leave Indian Punjab to go to Pakistan he had signed legal papers conditionally
bequeathing all his land holdings and other property to him with the stipulation that after the
sectarian disturbances between Muslims and hindu/Sikhs had had diminished he was to come
back and reclaim his property. He had full intention of coming back and retaining his ownership
of all his property once all the violence and upheaval of partition had subsided. To his chagrin
that was not to be. Even so, for first few years after partition he used to come and visit Parveen’s
family at least once a year. Newly formed border between India and Pakistan was porous and he
travelled without any official documents. Parveen’s father had trouble getting the farm land
transferred to his name as farms at that time could only be sold to persons who had been
traditional farmers for generations. This land donation and some money under the table greased
the wheels enough to get the property transferred to his name. National Government of India had
also changed the title transfer and property inheritance laws around that time to allow people
who were not traditional farmers to also own farm property. These developments helped
facilitate the transfer of this property in his name.
There were rumors of Dilawar Khan’s relationship with Parveen’s mother and each year after his
visit her mother would secretly dig up holes in mud walls and floor of their house and put
precious metals and coins in earthen pots and then bury those pots in the dug up holes and then
cover those areas with mud plaster. She had added color designs on the wall and decorative lines
on the floor to mark and limit the areas where she had buried those valuable items.
His annual visits continued till 1954 when there was a report of Indian Border Security Forces
having killed a Muslim smuggler who had Indian and Pakistani currency on him. After that year
his visits had stopped and after getting property transferred in his name, Parveen’s father made
plans to construct an additional house on the Baghelpura. This house was planned to have two
separate units. One part was to be the residential unit and the other one meant to be rented out.
Money from the farm rental, rent from this unit, and other rental properties coupled with his
priestly earnings could provide him with enough money for a comfortable living. They were a
small family of four with Parveen and her sister who was two years older than her as the only
children. Parveen was one of the brighter high school students in her high school at Baghelpura.
She had an independent streak of her own. Her parents were Hindu with strong ties to Sikh
religion and they often took their daughters to Sikh religious functions at Gurudwara (Sikh
temple). Right from her childhood she was more in tune with Sikh religious practices and views.
There was this down to earth attitude among the Sikh priests that Parveen liked. In school she got
into the habit of writing her name as Parveen Kaur. This is considered a Sikh name. Almost all
Sikh females have Kaur as the middle part of their name. At the time of her high school
examination she had to choose a final version of her full name. She again chose Parveen Kaur.
Her teacher knew she belonged to a Hindu family. He talked to her parents about her insistence
on the Sikh form for her name. She had already discussed the choice of her Sikh name with
them. Her father was agreeable and her mother gave in after some initial reluctance. She had
also discussed the religious ceremony she wanted at the time of her wedding. She insisted on
Sikh Anand Karaj. Her mother was of the view that the ceremony would depend also upon what
the bridegroom and his family wanted. They both let the matter rest for some appropriate time
later.
This new house was given as a wedding present to Parveen’s older sister Pratima. She and her
husband and his parents moved into it. Parveen’s brother-in-law Bal Kishan was an army officer.
His unit was deployed on the line of control between Indian and Pakistani parts of Kashmir.
Other than the inherent danger of attacks across the border and violent tactics of local militants,
the posting in Kashmir was considered to be a plum assignment. Beautiful surroundings in the
mountains and cool and refreshing weather in summer made Kashmir an attractive place for
army assignment. Bal Kishan and Pratima both liked to be stationed in the valley. They were
housed in tents and had to make do without some of the amenities but their youthful attraction to
each other and pleasant climate and surroundings more than made up for any shortcomings.
Pratima could be with Bal Kishan only in late Spring, Summer and early Autumn. In late autumn
and winter with colder temperature and snows it was not possible to stay in tents and Pratima
would move back to Baghelpura. In late November one year she was travelling back from
Srinagar towards Jammu when there convoy was attacked by Kashmiri militants. The bus driver
tried to drive faster to get away from trouble but the bus could not make one of the sharp turns
and it fell some hundred yards below into the river. Pratima and everyone in the bus perished and
Parveen’s happy family all of a sudden suffered this unbearable tragedy. Her parents were
inconsolable for weeks and it took them more than six months to come to terms with the reality
of their loss. Bal Kishan’s parents were anxious to see some semblance of normalcy restored in
their son’s life and asked Parveen’s parents if she could be married to Bal Kishan. Pratima and
Bal Kishan had a happy married life. Their temperaments and ages matched very well. Pratima
was of a quiet and pleasant disposition. She had this trait of indifference and subdued irritation
that worked well against her husband’s domineering personality. She was able to put up with his
haughty demeanor but when she was irritated she had this look in her eyes and this way of
ignoring him that would often get his full attention. With Parveen it was different. She was much
younger than Bal Kishan and had an outgoing and ebullient personality. She was a well regarded
hockey player in college and had now gotten the M.P.E. (Masters' degree in Physical Education)
qualifying her to become a D.P.E.( Director of Physical Education) in a college and a hockey
coach. With Baghelpura College opening its doors to girl students there was an imminent need
for female staff members. She was the first female staff member in the college and with her
training and personality,was able to establish herself as successful hockey coach for girls’ team.
In her second year her team reached state quarter-finals and with influx of more girl students her
team was expected to achieve even better results.
This marriage proposal was not at all to her liking. She and Bal Kishan did not get along and
when her sister and Bal Kishan visited her family Parveen and Bal Kishan tried to stay away
from each other. Now this tragic turn of events put Parveen and her future in an untenable
position. She did not want to marry Bal Kishan. She argued with her mother and in a show of
defiance threw a temper tantrum in front of both parents but they had already made up their
minds. She felt like a sacrificial lamb but did not have any viable recourse. In those days and
even now most young girls in Punjab are not expected to choose their husbands. They would
marry without much reluctance the person their parents choose for them. Bal Kishan was an
army captain and men of his position and caliber were not easy to find. A big consideration was
his large salary and if something happened to him Parveen was guaranteed a survivor’s pension.
Her parents could not say no to such an attractive match for Parveen.
Her wedding was a simple and somber ceremony.
After wedding they went to Solan for their honeymoon. They were quiet most of the way. The
conversations they had were about her food and other necessities that Bal Kishan tried to get her.
More often than not she refused those but she had to have lunch and tea at her scheduled times of
the day. Bal Kishan was trying to be attentive and considerate but she was in a pensive mood.
She was going over recent events in her life. How her sister’s untimely death had impacted her
life and she was made to bear some of the burdens that she was not either ready for or willing.
They reached Solan and they got in the hotel where Bal Kishan had rented a special room for
their honeymoon. Parveen took out their clothes put them on hangers and then fixed all the other
odds and ends. Bal Kishan had waited patiently and as she turned to sit down and rest he tried to
embrace her. She knew what was coming next and had half heartedly prepared herself for the
eventuality. She asked him to let her brush her teeth which postponed it for a few minutes. When
she came out he again took her in his arms. She had to give in and he was patient and
understanding. When he tried to make love she suggested use of a condom. He had not thought
of bringing condoms with him.To help her feel reassured he agreed to go find a store nearby and
buy a pack. He had heard some stories of hotel employees in many places in India secretly
watching or filming newly married couples in their rooms. With those thoughts in his mind he
did not intend to buy those items from stores within the hotel as that purchase could easily alert
the hotel employees to their status of a newly married couple. He put his shoes on and hurried
out. He had gone through the trauma of losing his loving wife that he felt he was compatible
with. Marrying her younger sister who was twelve years younger than him was unnerving. He
had been trying to forget his wife and was now trying to think of Parveen as his partner and love
interest. He had been an imperious and overbearing army officer. With Parveen he tried to be
gentle and she also tried to cooperate. Neither of them wanted to mess up the starting of their
lives together on their honeymoon. After his wife's death his emotional and physical needs
remained barren and unfulfilled all this time. Having a new life companion resuted in fulfilment
of his physical needs and in the prime of her youth she was not altogether indifferent. Her
youthful needs made her react and respond to his needs. He had his wish and she was hurting but
also was more responsive than she had imagined. She was in the prime of her youth and with her
own strong youthful carnal needs and desires she needed an outlet. Their honeymoon was
pleasant and uneventful.
After one week he was due to report for duty. He left for Kashmir and she came back to
Baghelpura. Seven weeks later she joined him there. He took her on many sightseeing trips and
bought her some nice Kashmiri dresses. She was pleased. He also tried to downplay his
aggressive and imperious attitude but his authoritative nature would rear its ugly head so many
times. They would have arguments and bouts of angry recriminations. He was used to giving
orders and she had a strong will and personality of her own. After months of unpleasant
exchanges and sullen put downs they tried to have a truce. In company of others if he had to ask
her to do something he had to stop and wait five seconds to formulate his words and expressions.
He was not going to order her to do anything. It was a bitter pill to swallow but he had to accept
that. She was to run the household on her own terms and he was to have the final say in purchase
of all big price items. They shopped separately except for those big price items. She was the
young bride in his household and he had to cater to her wishes. She was a beautiful and well
endowed woman and he liked her enough to compromise and heed to her needs and wishes. He
showed his cooperation and readiness to smooth out the wrinkles in their daily routine by letting
her do most of the housework and chores without major interference. To prove his sincerity and
positive outlook he even changed his life insurance make her his first beneficiary and in bank
accounts she was now the joint account holder.
This truce was helpful but they were both human and their true nature often lurked behind the
surface of civility and forced understanding. Only mitigating factor was their mutual physical
need for each other. He was a strong and willing partner. Age difference created problems in
their perception and understanding of each other and many times they had disparate and
incompatible viewpoints on politics and life in general. She was learning to live the life of a
privileged but unfulfilled wife. Her state of mind was more of a ‘Sukhi Banwas,’ or comfortable
exile.
She had too much time on her hands at home in Baghelpura and at her husband's army post there
was hardly any activity for most of the days. She had off and on toyed with the idea of working
on master's degree in English language and literature. Females with appropriate qualifications
and male teachers in schools and salaried employees in colleges could sit for an annual
examination for college degree as private candidates (i.e. they did not have to attend classes) and
on passing the examination would be awarded a year's worth of credit towards their degree. On
her trip to Ludhiana she purchased most of the prescribed books for first year of study in the
subject area and worked diligently for the examination. She had an adaptable and intelligent
personality and had read many works of English fiction in her college days. She had studied well
enough to get a passing grade in her first year's examination and started work on second (and
final) year's studies.
After a month in Kashmir she came back and learned that Baghelpura College has had
a spurt in the enrollment of female students. Girls this year formed more than one fourth of the
student body. College authorities felt a need for female staff and faculty members. Parveen
talked to the college principal about her qualifications. She had a Bachelors' Degree and then had
earned an M.P.E. (Masters' in Physical Education) from Physical Education Institute at Patiala. It
was not an urgent need but there was an opening in the physical education department for the
position of director of physical education (D.P.E.). Parveen was qualified and the principal
arranged an interview with the management committee. In the interview she told them about the
special talent in hockey in addition to her degree. She also mentioned that she had also passed
the first year's examination for Masters' degree in English. This enhanced her value in the eyes of
committee members and she was given the position of D.P.E. (Director of Physical Education) in
the college.
The addition to their house had been rented out to the elderly English teacher Ram Singh. He
was a widower and after retirement from his government college teaching position he had been
teaching at Baghelpura College. After two years of teaching he was unable to continue because
of his failing eyesight and a new teacher had to be hired. Shamsher and ten other applicants were
interviewed. There were two women among them. One of them had already been teaching for
two years in a Government College in a temporary position. She was anxious to get a regular full
time permanent teaching job and had applied here and at many other colleges. She also had
applied for a permanent Government lecturer’s position and had been interviwed for it by the
state board but was not sure if she could be assigned to that position for this year.
Shamsher had impressed the interviewing committee and they were willing to give the position
to him but this year this was the only open position and college management committee wanted
to hire a female lecturer. So Shanta Devi the lady, who had two years of teaching experience in
the subject area, was offered the position. Within a week of receiving the letter she had come to
Baghelpura and the retiring teacher and college principal helped her rent the place the elderly
lecturer was going to vacate. Ram Singh took her to the authorized agent who handled the lease
of this property. She signed the lease and went back home. On reaching home she found a letter
in mail informing her of her impending appointment as a permanent lecturer at Government
College for Women at Ludhiana.
She went back to Baghelpura next day and told the principal of this new development. She
intended to take the government job where she would get better job benefits and a secure lifetime
position. Only hitch was the house she had rented at Baghelpura. That problem had to be
worked out. She was asked to find a suitable tenant who could take over the lease but she went
back without having come up with any one.
The college principal also had the problem of filling this vacant teaching position again. He
consulted with the selection committee members and and after some discussions with the
president of the management committee settled on Shamsher who was their second choice in the
interviews and mailed the appointment letter to him.The selection committee members were
impressed by Shamsher and he also had liked the college and its environs and was glad to to be
offered a chance to work there. He had not gotten any job offers so far and was anxiously
waiting for one. He came to college the next day and he was greeted by the college principal and
Ram Singh. Both of them helped him with all the necessary paperwork and other related items
and he was asked to stay overnight with Ram Singh. Ram Singhshowed him the town and some
restaurants where he could arrange to have his daily meals. He was not too enamored of
restaurant food and planned mostly to cook for himself. .
He asked Ram Singh about renting some place for his residence. College hostel had vacant
rooms but no staff member stayed in the rooms meant for students. New residential quarters were
being built for college staff but they were not going to be ready for for more than a year. Ram
Singh showed him some places in the town. Shamsher was not too impressed by any of those.
They came back to his place. In the morning they were surprised to see two brick masons and
some laborers working on the perimeter walls of the house. There was a big stack of bricks lying
next to the side walls but both of them did not think much of it. Ram Singh asked one of the
brick masons and he was told that they were going to raise the walls to a height of more than
sixteen feet and then put enough glass shards on top of the wall. Parveen’s parents stayed in the
house till the construction was finished.
Ram Singh knew the reason for this sudden need to raise the height of exterior walls. A year ago
in Summer Parveen and her husband were going to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her
husband’s parents had asked them both to come back to Baghelpura and celebrate the occasion
with them. Her parents also had purchased a gold necklace set for her and two gold bracelets for
her husband Bal Kishan. They had purchased those jewelry items from a jeweler a day earlier
and had come over to meet them at Baghelpura. Parveen and Bal Kishan could not get out of
Kashmir valley when a convoy of army lorries on that road was attacked by a militant group in
the valley. Parveen And Bal Kishan had to turn back and they were able to leave for home next
morning. Parveen’s parents waited till late afternoon and when they realized she and her husband
were not on the last bus they went back to their house in Rajopura. Their village was only a little
more than half a mile away and they did not see any reason to stay overnight. They took the
jewelry they had purchased back with them. Their intention was to gift those items to their
daughter and her husband at the anniversary dinner. Some robbers had seen them at the jewelry
store. When they saw them coming to their daughter's house they assumed they had brought
those items with them and later at night invaded the house. What they got was far less than they
had anticipated and in anger shot both her in laws. The closest neighbors were some distance
away and when they heard the shots they waited for robbers to clear out and then came to check.
They took the elderly couple to a hospital in the town. Parveen’s father-in -law had died of his
gunshot wounds and her mother-in-law who was a diabetic and had lost her eyesight with the
disease was severely wounded with a gunshot to her head. Doctors were not sure of if she was
going to survive but the old lady pulled through. She had recovered but the bullet lodged in her
brain could not be pulled out. When she had recovered she was able to walk around and take care
of herself but had lost her hearing. She was able to communicate by talking to others herself but
was not able to hear or see what others said.
When Parveen got the job at the college, it created more complications. For the first six or seven
months they had to have someone watching the elderly lady while Parveen worked at the college.
Little by little the lady adjusted and began to realize that Parveen was not with her all day. She
had begun to walk around and take care of her needs. But she was not able to cook. To prevent
accidents and unnecessary problems with her mother-in-law Parveen made sure the door to
kitchen stayed locked whenever she was not home. When she had to go visit her husband in
Kashmir the lady either went with her or mostly they left her with Parveen’s parents. This did not
always work out but there was no other viable alternative. This year when Parveen went to work
her mother-in-law was able to take care of her needs. She was working on learning to spell some
words in Punjabi language using a crude alphabet system similar to Braille system. To help her
get the message Parveen would have one of her fingers trace the letters of words in the sentence.
Then her mother-in-law would speak each word and finally the completed sentence. This was
tedious and cumbersome and her mother-in-law did not always cooperate. Their house was not
contiguous to other dwellings so her closest neighbors were not able to help that much. The old
lady was a person of crabby temperament and wanted to be mostly left alone. Neighbors also
were not too keen to be with her.
The only common parts between Shamsher’s dwelling and main part of the house were a gate at
the perimeter and another door at the building entrance, which also opened to a stairway leading
upstairs. Once inside there were two other doors, one to the left and the other to the right, leading
into separate parts of the house. With those two doors closed there was a total separation
between the two dwellings. At the end of the backyard in the main part of the house there was an
enclosed shed that had a small door connecting both parts. It had remained shut for most of the
time as Ram Singh rarely went in there. Ram Singh did not suggest his own place as rental unit
for Shamsher. He was apprehensive of what could happen between Parveen and Shamsher. Last
thing the managing committee of a new college needed was an affair between a beautiful female
employee and one of its male teachers.
In the morning both of them went back to college after breakfast. The principal asked Shamsher
about his impression of the college and the town. Shamsher said he liked pretty much everything
but had not found a suitable place to rent for his residence. The principal suggested Ram Singh‘s
place. Ram Singh was uneasy at the suggestion but said nothing. He was surprized that the
principal did not think of the apprehension Ram Singh had in his mind. The principal was more
of the view that Shamsher’s occupancy could solve the problem of signed lease by Shanta Devi.
Ram Singh said he will write a letter to the owner as she was in Kashmir with her army officer
husband. He was perplexed at principal’s naivete about putting a handsome healthy male lecturer
next door to Parveen who lived alone with her deaf and mute mother-in-law.
Ram Singh got home and wrote the letter and Parveen got it in two days and discussed the
matter with her husband. She was open to having another college teacher as her neighbor but was
not sure of having a young male living within the premises of the building. When she asked her
husband he did not see any problem. Parveen was frustrated with his answer. She had mentioned
her concern. ‘Don’t worry, when he knows you are an army officer’s wife he will feel
intimidated enough.That should not be a concern.’
Parveen reacted sarcastically. 'Your being an army officer scares everyone'.
He was of the opinion that both houses functioned like separate units. Only common areas were
the stairs and front porch and small front and rear lawn areas and those were seldom used. Ram
Singh used the room upstairs only in late Spring and early Autumn. He was not around much in
Baghelpura in Summer.Parveen really did not feel new tenant's occupancy would be an intrusion
on her privacy but wanted to clear the matter with her husband. When her husband showed no
reluctance she wrote back telling Ram Singh to go ahead and let the new teacher rent the place.
He could show this letter to their agent as proof of their assent. She also wrote to the agent to go
ahead and rent the property to the new teacher.
After a week Shamsher came back to Baghelpura to prepare for his teaching assignment and
Ram Singh told him about the availability of his own unit for rental. Shamsher was anxious to
rent a place to live and liked Ram Singh's place. He signed the lease for the property. He had to
pay one month’s rent in advance.
Another teacher in the college had often talked to Ram Singh about renting out this unit. He was
a forty year old widower. He taught Punjabi in the college and after his wife's death two years
ago had led a dull and dreary life. Parveen with her exceptional looks had seemed like a mirage
that he was ready and willing to chase. When Shamsher got this unit he felt cheated and talked to
Ram Singh about it. Ram Singh told him the deal was done and when as he helped Parveen rent
this unit he had forgotten about about Jagat Singh's interest in the property. In fact Ram Simgh
sensed Jagat Singh's intentions towards Parveen and did not want to be party to the deal on Jagat
Singh's behalf. The matter for all practical purposes ended there but Jagat Singh resented this
unexpected setback.
It took two days for the elderly teacher to clear out and Shamsher was ready to move in. In about
two hours he had settled in and then went into the town to buy some of the essential items he
needed. He came back and took a folding chair and went upstairs to relax and check out the
materials for some of the first lessons he was going to teach.
Ten minutes or so later he heard some noise in the backyard. An elderly lady was peevishly
haranguing someone. Then he heard a younger female voice trying to calm her down. In a few
minutes the old lady came into his view and she sat down on a cot. Then he saw Parveen
bringing her a cup of tea. He felt like he had already seen her somewhere. It then occurred to him
she was the tall girl among the group going to Gurudwara when he had come to Baghelpura for
his job interview. She was the one whom he had seen walking to the gurudwara on the day of his
job interview. Tht day she had gazed at him longingly. When Parveen turned around she saw
him. She recognized him and stood there there frozen for an instant. Then she lowered her eyes
and walked back in. She had not known that the new college teacher tenant in her house was
going to be the guy she was strongly attracted to some days ago. She went into the kitchen but
seeing Shamsher sitting right there made her restless. This was an unexpected complication in
her life that she could do without. What scared her were the scandal that could erupt if she got
involved with him. She was already attracted to him and this unexpected development brought
back memories of their last meeting.What will happen now? She was concerned and also felt
some latent excitement. It all depended on how they would interact with each nother. That day
she was drawn to him and now he was going to be living so close to her within her own house.
These thoughts were pressing her mind and she was feeling a little excited and a little impatient
as she worked on her dinner.

More than ten days hadpassed and Shamsher was developing a routine going about his life as a
college teacher in a new town. His students liked his nuanced and easily comprehensible style.It
was not too hard for him to relate to his students. He was a Jat like most of them. Jats are a
farming community settled mostly in Punjab and in some neighboring states. Students felt he
was one of them and this feeling helped him gain their trust. In his living unit he had a Primus
stove in the kitchen to basically boil tea water for him. In the beginning he had been having his
meals at a restaurant. At night he would get some milk and store it in a covered glass sub-merged
in a bowl partly filled with water. In the morning he used that milk for making tea.

One of Shamsher’s colleagues Inder needed some help with a college related project and they
both worked on it till nine in the evening. Inder had walked with Shamsher to his place and then
came back. Ram Singh had shown Shamsher the latching and locking mechanism of the outside
gate. He closed the gate but had trouble removing the key after locking it. As he struggled he
heard some footsteps behind him and as he turned he saw Parveen. She looke quizzically at him
and he showed her the problem. She pressed a button on the side of the lock and got the key out.
This was a special lock given to her by a relative who had traveled to Hong Kong and bought
some locks there. He had an extra one and Parveen got that. There was a hidden unlatching
button and key would be ejected only after pressing it. He thanked her and told her he will
remember to use that button next time. She introduced herself and mentioned that she worked as
D.P. E. in the college and that she knew he was the newly hired lecturer and asked him if he
needed help with anything. He answered in the negative but she was in a talkative mood and said
anytime he needed anything all he had to do was ask. She was home most of the time he was
except in the afternoons Mondays through Thursday, when she worked to train girls' hockey
team in the college.
She invited him in for a cup of tea and they both sat down in the drawing room and chatted for
better part of an hour. He told her not to prepare any coffee or tea so late in the evening. That
could interfere with his sleep. Then he left and lay down to go to sleep. This somewhat
unexpected and pleasant encounter was on his mind. He was awake for more than an hour, going
over their conversation. She was a strong, fairly tall woman and had that extra touch of
femininity that can strongly attract young healthy males and Shamsher was not immune to her
charm. He had assumed her to be a Jat Sikh but was surprised to learn she was not.

After her talk with Shamsher she helped her mother-in-law go to bed and then went to her
bedroom. After this pleasant interlude she was not ready to fall asleep. She thought again and
again about Shamsher and his somewhat shy and inhibited way of conversation. She went over
his diffident but pleasant way of conversation and how his eyes were following her every
movement. If she looked directly at him he lowered his gaze and kept on listening to her.
Whenever she got up or did not directly face him his eyes were focused on her legs and waist.
Her well shaped legs and hips added allure to her slim waist and he was able to look squarely at
them whenever she walked away. She also was feeling the full impact of that passionate gaze.

She had earlier in the day decided that she was going to stay away from him as much as she
possibly could and not let him impact her personal life. Then this problem with the door lock had
drawn her to him and she did not let go. She had invited him in and asked him question after
question about him, his family, his education, and his interests. She also had told him about her
army officer husband and his posting near the Pakistani Border in Kashmir. He was an intent and
observant listener. He noticed the book selection in her room and remarked at choice of writings
of some well known Urdu poets. She was surprised to know that he knew Urdu. He picked up
Ghalib’s Diwan (collection of Ghazals) and opened it reading a ghazal. The ghazal he read
started with the line ‘Rahiye ab aissi jagah chal kar yahan koi na ho’. (How I wish I could dwell
in a place of solitude where no one is around me.) It was a poem that Ghalib wrote in a state of
depression wanting to get away from it all. The ghazal had a different type of effect on Parveen.
Her thoughts veered to some unknown faraway place in the blue sky with white clouds. She, in
her flight of fancy pictured herself lost in a deserted area and seeing a small hut in the middle of
nowhere found someone looking quite a bit like Shamsher living in there. Her flight of fancy had
him carry her to the hut in his arms then help her lie down on a bed and go out. She was
anxiously waiting for him to come back. That kept her lost in her reverie till she heard someone
calling her by her childhood name Pari. Shamsher repeated her name and she came out of her
trance like reverie. She was surprised at Shamsher’s use of her abbreviated childhood name. In
the last ten years or so no one had called her Pari. In the college when she was not around her
male colleagues referred to her by that name. Pari literally means a fairy but in Punjabi an
extremely beautiful woman is also referred to as Pari. This appellation fit her to a tee but no one
of he colleagues wanted her to know. Shamsher did not know this was going to surprise her but
she felt flattered. She told Shamsher she was often called by that name in her childhood but she
had not heard any one use that name for years. She said it felt very nice to hear it again from
him.
She then asked him how he knew Urdu so well. After Urdu had been dropped from the school
curriculum in Punjab, Shamsher had learned the language from his grandfather at home. She had
studied some Urdu at home from her father but she found learning it to be too tedious and
cumbersome and had given it up. She asked him if he could help her learn the language. He had
plenty of time at his hands and was only too willing to help his beautiful neighbor. Her interest in
him was deeper than her wish to learn the language. She had been drawn to him first time she
had laid her eyes on him. His eyes made her feel special and she wanted to feel the full effect of
his bashful but adoring gaze. She spent most of the night thinking of him and went to sleep in the
early hours of morning.
She came home from work and gathered all the first to eighth grade Urdu Primers. She had to
prepare her mother-in-law’s and her own meals and also coach girls later in the afternoon. She
got home after seven and waited for him. He was not sure whether she wanted to start her Urdu
lessons that day. When she knocked on her door he was sipping some tea. He told her he will be
with her in five minutes. It took him less than that and she read the first lesson from the second
grade book. She had difficulty with some words and needed to learn the use of ‘zabar, zer’ and
other vowels. She became an attentive student and learned the intricacies of pronunciation and
spelling. Again taking these Urdu classes were her way of being closer to him and she showed
strong interest in her work.
In the second week of Urdu lessons Shamsher asked her if he could use their refrigerator for milk
and other perishables. He planned to bring his own fridge from his home. But transporting it was
a problem. She told him he did not have to worry about that. She was going to prepare morning
and afternoon tea for him. Shamsher was surprised but was only too glad to accept her help. He
asked her about her husband. She said ‘obviously when he is here I will not be able to do that’.
Shamsher understood and agreed.
Some days later he was invited to a wedding. Baalan’s second brother was getting married.
Baalan invited Shamsher for some of the celebrations. Wedding party started on Friday. He was
offered liquor to drink but he politely declined. After having a sumptuous lunch he came back
home. He saw Parveen in the party. She and Baalan were playing prominent roles in the
festivities involving dancing and singing. He came back at one thirty in the afternoon and began
planning his lessons for the next week. He was going over a short story he was going to teach. It
was a Maupassant story. He had read it so many times that it was starting to bore him. But he
continued to review the story and think of its plot, characters, and finally the ironic turn at the
end of story. He fell asleep after about fifty minutes of reviewing and planning.
He was awakened by a shrill and painful scream coming from Parveen’s part of the house. He
got up and went to investigate. He saw Parveen coming out of her room dressed only in her
underclothes wincing and crying. Before he could open his mouth she cried out’ I have been
stung by many wasps in my back’. She was in a great deal of pain and he told her he had a tube
of Penicillin cream in his room that a physician had given him for wasp and bee stings. It had
worked for him. But he was not sure if it would work for her. She was hurting so much she
wanted him to hurry up and try it on her.
He went to his room picked up the tube and handed her it to her but she said she was stung on
her upper and lower back. She had danced vigorously at the Giddha (dance) party that women
folk usually have at a wedding and after coming home wanted to take a shower and had taken all
her clothes off when the wasps came at her. For some days they had started building a hive in a
crevice inside a wall of her bathroom and she occasionally saw one or two of those in there. The
crevice had also had an opening on the exterior and the wasps had built their hive in it. She had
in the past used a rolled newspaper to scare them away from her room. Now they had built a
large enough hive and ta colony of them had settled in it. Five or six of them had attacked her.
They had stung her between her shoulder blades and on her right hip. She had put her brazier and
panties back on when he saw her. She asked him to apply the cream on those spots. He was very
hesitant but she was hurting so much she asked him to hurry and lay face down on the bed. He
saw red sting marks and he rubbed some of the cream between her shoulders and it soothed her
pain. She was still trembling and moaning and moving her hands to her bottoms. Four wasps had
stung her there and it was unbearably painful. As he finished rubbing the cream between her
shoulder she hurriedly pushed her panties below her bottoms and he also had to apply the cream
at those spots. He slowly rubbed the cream and was also glancing at the well endowed athletic
shape of this young woman. She was crying and shaking but the soothing effect of cream
decreased her pain and her cries slowly simmered down to subdued whimpers. His right hand
was caressing her well sculptured beautiful bottom and he suddenly jerked it back. He felt he
was done applying the cream and even though did not wish to stop he could not continue any
longer. For the cream to have its full effect she could not pull her panties up for five minutes or
so. Shamsher got up to leave but she held his wrist and pleaded with him to stay with her. She
said she was scared and needed his company to assure her. His healthy youthful feelings were
being tested. She the object of his desires was lying there in front of him practically nude. He had
to be a gentleman had to show professional and courteous behavior in this difficult situation.
Finally the five minutes were over and he was ready to leave. She carefully pulled her panties up.
He was about to give her the Penicillin tube when she asked him to keep it and implored him to
come back later and to apply that cream again. She said her hands could not reach the area in the
upper back and she was not able to see the area at her bottoms either. He was hesitant but she
insisted saying that she would rather not expose herself to any of the male physicians in the
town. There were four medical practitioners and an accredited physician in the town and all of
them were male. She did not think it was appropriate to go to doctors in the nearby hospital as it
was mostly for people needing hospitalized care. He felt reassured at her trust in him and was
only too willing to caress her back and her beautiful bottoms again. Later in the day many times
he relived with relish that image of her lying in front of him face down and semi-nude. Her lower
back was so sleek so nicely shaped and so feminine a Koonj (Siberian Crane) could not have
looked more graceful and delicate. He was entranced by that vision and he was only too willing
to help ease her pain.
She stayed away from the bathroom where she was stung by the wasps and on second day went
to the shop that sold insecticide materials and asked for their help. The shopkeeper sent his
helper with her. He had the material needed to kill the wasps and also brought a dhangi (a big
pole with a small hooked scythe at its top end) with him. He sprayed the wasp killer solution in
the crevice from inside the bathroom and about a dozen of the wasps fell down dead or dying on
the floor. Then he went outside and sprayed it in the crevice from there and a few more of the
wasps fell out. Then he used a ladder and pushed the pole with scythe, in the crevice and took
out a medium sized hive. That took care of the wasp infestation and she was able to use the bath
room again. A week later she had a workman plaster this and other crevices and some holes on
her property hoping to solve the problems of similar infestations.
He had to rub the cream three times on the first day and twice on the second day and after these
five treatments she told him she felt much better. She said she might still need one or more
treatments. Shamsher was intrigued by her request. On Sunday he left for a walk early and got
back around eight O’clock. Then he took a shower and went for a breakfast at a nearby
restaurant. He was home around nine O’ clock. She was waiting for him. She asked him to come
in and apply the cream again. He was perplexed now. When he was stung by a wasp he had to
apply the cream only twice. After first application his pain had subsided and swelling also had
decreased considerably. He had recovered mostly by the end of the day. She had been stung
many times and he figured all those extra stings had slowed her healing process.
When he came in she started boiling some water for tea. He was not too sure if he really needed
to apply the cream again but really was only too willing to be with her. In the meantime she
asked him to go ahead use the cream on her affected parts. This time she went to her bedroom.
Once inside she moved towards the bed and took off her Punjabi dress, putting her clothes on the
headboard. As she was removing her shalwar her half hidden shapely thighs looked intriguing.
Then she took the top off. She turned towards him and facing him she removed her brazier
exposing her full breasts. They looked firm and youthful and his eyes were looking again and
again at her taught nipples. She hesitated for a second then removed her panties too. He stood
there surprised. He had seen her bosom when she had to unhook her bra, and seen her bottoms
and pubic area too, when she had to push panties down for treatment, but now she had removed
them before she even lay down on the bed. The spots where wasps had stung her seemed to have
healed but there was some redness on her bottoms. His greedy eyes were looking at her athletic
and well endowed body and he was having hard time controlling himself. Her left side rubbed
against him as she walked by him to lie down. He sat down on the side of the bed and got ready
to apply the cream. He started at her upper back and then moved down to her bottoms. His right
hand was squeezing the right one more with lingering desire than for treatment and it took him
much longer to be done. Near the end his right hand involuntarily slipped between her thighs and
he squeezed her secret parts. It was only for two or three seconds and she reacted with a small
groan then pressed her belly down on the bed. He removed his hand quickly and shrunk back
feeling embarrassed and inhibited. Her breathing had quickened at his intrusive touch and she
turned to look at him. Her eyes had a pleasant glow of desire in them. He was looking nervously
at her naked shapely body that was so close to him. She seemed like a ripe fruit that he was
dying to taste but knew she did not belong to him and was too nervous to make further advances.
When he did not look back at her squarely she got up and again bumped into him as she moved
towards the headboard. Her back was turned towards him. She picked up her panties and slid
them above her knees and suddenly she turned and looked at him with eyes shooting a glance
drenched in desire. He too got up and moved a step closer.
His eyes were now filled with lust. She felt a thrill of passion inside her and pulling her panties
up walked towards him with measured but firm steps. When she was close enough he grabbed
her breasts. Her arms went around him and their mouths locked up in a long kiss. His arms were
squeezing her tightly and when the kiss ended she was panting. His hands then slid under her
panties, his right hand between her thighs, his left one peeling them down from her bottoms, and
he slid them below her knees, his right hand moving up again to feel her. She lay down and
helped him remove the panties by raising her legs. Then her arms opened for him and he was on
top of her and within seconds they were in their love embrace. She had been sighing at first but
now those sighs had changed into long and passionate love moans. Whenever his mouth was not
covering hers with kisses her loud passionate cries would start. His love strokes were hitting her
like slaps and if someone was within the perimeter of the house he could easily have heard those.
Her body moved in response to those love thrusts and her arms closed around him enveloping
him, full of desire. From the very first time he had seen her he had wanted her but was not sure
he was going to get his wish any time soon if ever. This encounter came upon him so
unexpectedly he was not sure it was real. He was youthful and strong and had body of a hound
and he kept her in his arms for a long time. She was very active at first and her arms and legs
were cooperating fully with his love movements. Little by little she relaxed and he continued on
with his lustful thrusts, looking at her face, feeling her bottoms, kissing and squeezing her
breasts, then greedily glancing at her middle, to make sure she was really with him.
When he continued on, she asked him how long he was going to continue. He answered , all day
and all night. She giggled and said what if she died with all those exertions. He said God will not
let her die. He wanted them both in their lustful and fulfilling love embrace. She looked at the
Primus stove and remembered she had put some water in a pot to boil on it. She asked him to let
her go so that she could make tea for her mother-in-law. Her mother-in law needed her tea at this
time every day. Parveen was in habit of drinking tea twice in the morning. Once she had it with
her breakfast and her second cup around this time. He was hesitant but got off her. Parveen was
going to make three cups but now made only one for her mother-in-law. She prepared the tea and
covering herself with a bed sheet went to her. Parveen was late with the tea and old lady had
called Parveen twice. Shamsher had kept her occupied and she had ignored her calls. Now she
was grumpy and Parveen had no way of assuaging her anger. Being deaf and blind she could not
see or hear Parveen. Parveen stayed with her till she finished her cup. Once she was done with
her mother-in-law she came back. He also left the room to get something he needed. He put his
shorts on and went to his room. Opening his suitcase he looked in a pocket and took out an eight
pack of condoms. He had gotten those when he had found one of the women Paro who was
working as household help in his home, attractive enough and interested in him. He used to meet
her in their animal pen which was a secluded place. When he went to graduate college he took
the remaining condom pack with him. He did not find any girl interested enough in him and
those condoms had remained unused. When he came back to the village having finished his
studies Paro had left. Her husband had found a job in the city that paid him enough and she could
work part or full time there to supplement their income. She was reluctant to leave but her
husband wanted to work in the city. After that he was not able to use the condoms and they
stayed in his suitcase.
He took two of those out and went back to her. She was in the backyard with her mother-in-law.
He had to wait till they were done. When she came back into the room he took the bed sheet off
her and she lay down. He looked at her intently. This was his first unabashed look at her in her
full natural splendor. He had seen her nude while applying cream to her upper back and her
bottoms and also a few minutes ago. But then she did not belong to him as she did now. Earlier
her bra straps and pulled down panties also had hindered his view. Now there was no hesitation
and no hindrance. He looked at her face then his eyes looked at her full round breasts. His look
was having an effect on her and her nipples were hardening. Then his eyes moved to the middle
and he opened her legs to see her pubic area. She blushed but cooperated and then he asked her
to turn over. That surprised her and she asked him why. He said he wanted to again see every
part of her body that had attracted him so much. She turned over and he kept on looking. His
hands again slid between her thighs. Now neither of them was hesitant or nervous. He squeezed
her secret parts and she sighed at the feel of his intrusive hands. She liked his caressing hands
and their lingering and loving feel of her secret parts. Within seconds her eyes started to show
the feel of desire. He moved his hand back, she turned over and opened her arms and they
resumed their love making. Before starting again he used one of the condoms. She was smiling
as she was watching him and remarked. Smart guy! He asked her why she had pulled her panties
up when first time she had gotten into his arms. She said she could not walk back towards him
with them at her knees. He did not realize it then but now he knew why.
Finally he raised her legs and along with them her passions to their new heights and after many a
hard stroke, he climaxed in his love embrace. He was done after he had twisted her for a long
time and in the final moments of their love embrace she was crying out her loud full throated
love wails and he was looking at her middle again and again to see if it was really her he was
holding in his love embrace. His hands were going all around her feeling her breasts and
bottoms. At the end she clung to him like she did not want to let go fearing there was no
tomorrow.
Later she asked him why was he so nervous? He really did not have any answer. She had given
him opening after opening to take her in his arms but he was too inhibited to react to her
advances. She had shown her alluring and shapely body to him and he had felt her back and
bottoms and finally squeezed her secret parts. Why did he stop there? She complained that she
had to take initiative each and every time. His answer was that when he got started she was the
one who needed a break. He was greedy enough to continue his love thrusts for hours.
Later Baalan came to her place to see if she was well enough to join the wedding festivities.
Parveen went to her house for her lunch but did not stay. Baalan was not too insistent and she
came back after lunch. Parveen told her she did not feel any pain now but she needed some rest.
Later in the evening while working on dinner in the kitchen she was reliving all those passionate
moments. The thrill of passion and physical love she experienced with him had permeated her
whole being. She did not know it then but the deep and searing feel of physical intimacy that she
had felt with him was going to become a precious and cherished memory of her life with him at
Baghelpura. She remembered their first encounter near Gurudwara where she had turned and
looked at him twice. His eyes had started a physical yearning inside her like no other. That
feeling, that deep desire had forced her to turn amd look at him even when she knew it was
considered extremely inappropriate.
Baalan her favorite student had sensed some of her feelings and smiled pleasantly at her. Baalan
played hockey on Parveen's hockey team in college. She was from a well to do farm owner
family and Parveen had friendly little conversations with her every day. She was an amiable,
well meaning student, and was only too pleased to see her looking so intently at him. Neither of
them knew anything about him but Baalan wanted to see her coach fall in love with him. They
went to the Gurudwara and when bowing before the holy book Balaan made a vow of reciting
morning prayers for twenty five consecutive days for her coach to get her love wish. Baalan
knew she was already married and she had seen her husband. He was a decent looking person, an
army officer but he was twelve years older than Parveen. She had seen them argue many times
with each other. Baalan also sensed she did not really like her husband. For Parveen’s sake she
wanted her to have a soul mate that would be much more compatible and responsive to her needs
and emotions. Parveen was beautiful and well built. She needed a man who would be physically
and mentally compatible with her. This tall handsome stranger seemed to be an answer to
Baalan’s wishes and her coach’s needs.
Parveen prepared the dinner and served her mother- in-law and sat down inside the verandah of
her house. She was again remembering all those the times she had wanted to be in his arms.
There was something about his eyes and anytime she felt him looking at her she would have all
those deep passions wake up inside her. What intrigued her was he was so gentlemanly in his
demeanor and he rarely had looked straight at her. It was when her back was turned that there
was this searing passion that she felt inside knowing that he was looking at her secretly but
intently. If she turned around to meet his gaze he shied away. With these feelings of deep passion
lurking inside she wanted to stay in the line of his sight. It was not possible to be near him in
college or in the own. He was in the academic wing of the building and her office was at the
farthest end on the other side of the campus. In the town was preferable to stay away from him in
public and not let any kind of rumors get started. At home everyday he had taught her some Urdu
lessons and she kept this matter secret and had asked him not to mention it to anybody. She
wanted to be near him and Ghalib’s poetry had played its part in bringing them closer.
In their first face to face talk he had picked up ‘Diwan E Ghalib’ from the bookshelf in the
drawing room and had read a Ghazal ( a poem similar to English sonnet) ‘Rahiye ab aissi jagah
chal kar jahaan koi na ho’ (Travel to a place of solitude where there is no one else). The poem is
full of somber and depressing thoughts but she had only dwelt on the thought expressed in the
first line interpreting it according to her own feelings. She had wanted to be alone with him in a
deserted lonely place where there was no one else.
Daily lessons of Urdu became a convenient vehicle for her to be in his company. She had wanted
to learn Urdu but it was his company that she wanted more than anything else. After her lesson
was finished she would restlessly walk inside her room or take long walks within the perimeter
of the house. She had to pacify those strong physical yearnings she felt in her body when she sat
so close to him. He was careful and passive in his behavior but his eyes often betrayed his true
feelings.
She fell asleep after she had relived all her passionate moments with him. Next morning when
she got him his cup of tea she asked him to have breakfast with her. After finishing tea he hurried
out for his morning jog. He ran two miles and came back sooner than expected. She was in the
middle of preparing breakfast and he walked behind her and took her in her arms. She turned
around and he kissed her. He kissed her again and again. She had to ask him to let her finish
preparing food. She also had a complaint. She was hurting. When she told him he did not
understand. Pointing to her pubic areashe said,‘there!' He was not sure about what she meant. He
did not ask her to clarify and they had their breakfast. He had spent some extra time paying
attention to his beautiful companion and hurried out to teach his classes.
In the third period he had barely finished taking attendance and was ready to start his lesson
when a young man walked in with an unsheathed sword in his hand challenging one of the
students in his class for a fight. Shamsher did not have any inkling of their feud and he tried to
tell the intruder to leave his class alone. The student who was the target of the intruder also got
up and told the intruder to settle it outside the classroom. They both walked out and Shamsher
followed them. The intruder took the sword out if its sheath and other student took out a long
dagger that was tied to his leg and covered by his pants. Shamsher kept on yelling both of them
to stop but both kept on menacing each other. Then all of a sudden the guy with the sword
jumped and attacked the other guy trying to hit him on the head. The second student jumped
aside and when he was close enough to the attacker’s arm he stuck his dagger in his shoulder. It
went in inch and a half deep and the victim hollered with pain. Shamsher got between the two
and separated them. In the meantime the college principal also had heard about the fight and
quickly came over. The assailant was asked to wait for police and Shamsher went with the
injured student to the Civil Hospital. He was treated on emergency basis and doctor wanted to
fill out the required report for police. Shamsher understood if doctor filled out that report the
incident will have to be treated as a felonious assault and both students may have a police record
that could harm their future prospects for any government job. He asked the doctor to hold off
on that report. It took some persuasion on his part but the report was not filled out.
After the injured student was treated and bandaged Shamsher asked him the reason for this
altercation. He hesitated first and then told Shamsher, he was engaged to a girl in this college.
This other student was often seen talking to that girl and he had strong suspicions about their
relationship. Shamsher sat down and stayed quiet for more some time. He was too young to have
been involved in the matters of of passion that led to fights like these but he asked the guy if he
was willing to listen to his thoughts with an open mind. This kid had been hurt badly enough and
the wound had taken most of his anger out of him. Shamsher asked him if he had considered the
possible outcome of his rash action. Either or both of them could have been killed. If one of them
was killed the other one could end up spending all his remaining life in jail or could be given
death penalty. One or both of the combatants could also have hurt or killed someone trying to get
in between them. Maybe he should listen to Shamsher who was not part of all this ruckus and
may offer some sensible advice.
He asked Shamsher what he should do Shamsher was intelligent enough not to come up with a
sermonizing lecture but asked him ‘what kind of life he expected to live if he got married to the
girl he had to fight for? Would he be able to trust her? Would she be a good life partner if she
blamed him for the breakup of her romantic involvement?’
Parveen was sitting in Department Office when Baalan came in with the news. There has been a
fight between two students in Shamsher’s room. One had a knife and the other one a sword.
Professor ( Lecturers in Punjab colleges often are referred to as professors) Shamsher Singh was
in the middle trying to stop them. Someone had been injured. Parveen’s face turned white with
concern. ‘Who got injured?’ she asked. ‘I don’t know’. Baalan said. She asked Baalan to go
quickly and find out. Baalan left and Parveen sat there trembling with fear. Baalan came back
after fifteen or so minutes and Parveen asked her with baited breath.‘Who was it?’
‘Don’t worry it was one of the students, Baalan said with a knowing smile.
Parveen was relieved and embarrassed at the same time. So Baalan knows. She was not going to
open up to a student even to her trusted friend Baalan but wondered how she got to know about
her involvement with Shamsher?
She sat there for a long time lost in her thoughts Later she learned that Shamsher had to go with
the injured student to the hospital and did not come back to teach his classes. She came home
and anxiously waited for him. All day she had been planning a surprising welcome for her lover.
She took out a red suit and then took a shower and started dressing up. She put the new suit on
and then used some facial make up and put matching lipstick on her lips. She waited and waited
and it got to be about nine thirty in the evening. She was ready to give up. She felt disappointed
and took those clothes off and changed into a simple cream colored rough muslin top and white
cotton shalwar (trousers) her usual sleeping attire. She turned the lights off making sure to leave
zero Watt night light on inside the front door area and in her room.
Shamsher came in after ten O’ clock. He had to go take student back to his village and had a talk
with his father. The family was grateful and they treated him for lunch and afternoon tea. Then
he came back to college and told the principal about day's events. Finishing the customary tea it
took an hour for him to be done with him and as the was ready to leave he saw College
Management Committee chairman General (Retired) Labh Singh’s car pull up. The General had
heard about a serious incident in the college and had come to find out about it firsthand. Another
hour and a half was gone before Shamsher was able to leave the premises. It was almost nine
thirty now and he decided to eat his dinner at the restaurant. By the time he got home it was
some minutes past ten o’ clock. Parveen heard the door open and in a sudden rush of anger went
to her room and made it look like she had fallen asleep. She was upset at all her plans for the day
had been dashed by the unforeseen fracas at college. Shamsher was not a party to the fight but
had to spend all day helping out and then trying to work out a satisfactory peace deal between the
combatants. He was not responsible for all the hassle that was thrust upon him but he had to deal
with it. She understood all that but in an irrational fit of anger Parveen was upset at him for being
so late. Shamsher entered the front area and found her door closed. He went to his part of the
house and after brushing his teeth lay down to sleep. He was very disappointed at the turn of
events. This was the day that he wanted to be with his woman but it seemed like a total
disappointment. He was dozing off when he heard the door open very slowly and then he heard
footsteps coming towards his bed. He feigned sleep and she slid next to him. He put his arms
around her and kissed her. She said she was not going to talk to him. ‘Who is thinking of talking’
he answered and moved his hands under her kameez (top). Moving rough muslin cloth up, he
started caressing and feeling her silken belly. All his fatigue melted away and he gave her a long
passionate kiss. His hands were now exploring her and as his probing touches got really intimate
she suggested they go to her room.
‘Shouldn’t we use my bed?’ She asked. Shamsher liked the feel of that soft mattress where he
had made love to her and agreed. He went to his suitcase and then they quietly and carefully
went to her room. With those dim zero Watt light bulbs they were able to find their way and see
each other. Once in the room, Shamsher’s hormones played their part and he barely gave her
time to undress. She lay down and he removed her shalwar and panties together. When he got on
top of her and got a little too impatient Parveen had to urge him to wait till she had removed her
kameez (tunic or top).
Parveen was in his arms and all her unfulfilled wishes of the day were now being realized.
Before Shamsher she did not have the luxury of being in the arms of her dream prince. Now, her
wishes and her dreams were all real and she was in a blissful union with her lover. She was
fulfilling both her latent and conscious feelings in a love embrace with a man she only could
have found in her dreams. Here he was with her in her arms and she was spending first of many
nights she hoped she would have in his intoxicating joyful and passionate love embraces. In
lovemaking he was indulging so much in lascivious talk and his playful hands searched her
youthful body all over and with so much feeling and passion she felt she was in primal rapture.
When they were done and it was time for him to go back she insisted on him staying in her room
for the remainder of the night. Another happy consequence of that wish was one more session in
early morning of his virile lovemaking and resulting feel of lingering frisson in her. Her young
body had often needed a man’s love in the morning and today she had a feel of the passion that
she had so far only longed for.
She now was truly the bride of her own secret lover and all her unfulfilled and unrealized wishes
were getting assuaged one by one. She had the satisfaction of his so very physically and
emotionally satisfying love that she did not want or get from Bal Kishan. She had felt the
intensity of Shamsher’s looks in her emotions. She was fulfilling those intense desires that were
triggered by those deeply searching eyes of her lover. In his company her thoughts and feelings
were filled with suggestions of lust and of erotic wishes. Now that she had been the recipient of
his passion and of forceful and passionate love making, his hands had become the instruments of
an unabashed an unfathomably deep passion that was transmitted into her body by their every
move, every caress, and every squeeze. He had felt every inch of her body not just to satisfy his
lustful desires but with the love of an ardent lover who appreciated and enjoyed the sensuality of
his woman’s body. If it was a fleeting little fascination he would have had his fill soon enough
but he continued to explore, to feel, and to look at her so very beautiful, so very sensually
exciting, and so beautiful and enchanting body. His hands and his eyes were the instruments of
his love, of his appreciation of what he had been fortunate enough to possess at least for the time
they were in each other's company.
In the morning at college Baalan came by and saw her. She saw some of the signs on Parveen’s
face she had been searching for. Baalan looked at her half open eyes and her lowered eyelids and
smiled. Her face showed a certain innate joy that she did not have before. There was a glow of
happiness and satisfaction on her face that is seen only on the face of a fulfilled woman. Baalan
remembered when her older brother got married her Bhabhi (brother’s wife) before her
pregnancy had that look many times on her face. Baalan felt her prayers had the desired effect
and she happily left for her classes. Parveen was sensing this ‘I know what’s going on’ attitude in
Baalan’s demeanor but was not ready to share her secret with anyone.
Parveen started her day normally but this day was anything but normal for her. She was in a sort
of delirium without being overtly conscious of her new affair but her whole being was getting
swept in a state of subdued exhilaration a feeling of rapture that was permeating her whole being.
If this is the thrill of being in love then she was experiencing it in her bones, the very first deep
and joyful experience of her life. When she walked her legs had a little more verve, her feet a
little more feel of the ground they were treading. He had felt and squeezed her bottoms with his
hands and the love and passion that they transmitted had simmered down but was still
permeating her whole being even now. Her eyes had that glow of satisfaction, a reflection of the
joy that her body had been privy to.
Her lips had an imperceptible smile as she remembered their conversation early in the morning.
Before beginning their love making he wanted to brush his teeth. She gave him her brush and
tooth paste. As he was ready to start brushing he asked her if his use of her brush wouldn’t result
in her ‘bhitte jaana’ (becoming impure). She was surprisingly amused at his dig after all that had
happened between them. Her answer was that she did not know he belonged to an untouchable
caste.
She came home after one O’ clock. It was time for her to rest now. Within minutes she fell
asleep and enjoyed a deep enjoyable sleep for close to an hour. She got up made two cups of tea
and after helping her mother-in-law she finished hers and got busy reading a Punjabi novel. Most
of the time, she was in a glowing joyful state of mind and was ready to begin her coaching
session with girls. Her coaching session was a spirited one. She ran girls through brisk sprints
and ran along with them. Girls were sensing a new energy and vigor in her and they enjoyed
their invigorating practice.
She came home and after preparing dinner sat down on a chair. Her mother in law ate her dinner
and she waited for Shamsher. Shamsher waited long enough to let her finish her daily chores
and then closed the outside gate and locked the main door. Then he knocked on her open door.
She was waiting. Without much ado they got into a tight embrace. She had relived her last
night’s blissful union many times and she was now ready for him.
He also had thought of her many times and those beautiful nude images of her in his arms had
danced through his mind all through the day. He told her he was going to undress her. He sat
down on the side of the bed and she stood in front of him. His hands slipped under her kamiz
(top) and he got the drawstring knot of her shalwar in his hand. One pull opened the knot and
then he slid her shalwar down. Then slowly with caressing hands he slipped her panties to her
ankles and she got out of them. His hands then moved her kamiz up and he removed both her
brazier and Kamiz and she stood in front him in her full natural splendor. After looking at and
caressing her for some seconds he got her to lie down. As she was about to, she saw a wasp in
the room. She jumped up in fright and grabbed and rolled up a newspaper sheet. After those
unbearably painful wasp stings she had developed a phobia for these insects. She swung that
rolled paper sheet many times at the wasp and it flew out and she sat down on the bed with relief.
Shamsher had looked at her legs and her beautifully shaped bottoms when she was fully clothed
and also when he was making love but was now watching her running around the room and he
was able to see the well endowed naked beauty of his woman. Her healthy and athletic legs and
hips under her taut waist made her look alluring like an apsara ( a beautiful heavenly female) as
she was jumping around. Muscle movements of her hips and thighs in unison were so enticing
and lovable they could bewitch any mortal. He found her shape unbelievably captivating and
entrancing. He had often looked at her legs and her back with strong lascivious and lustful
feelings and now he was in a mood of uncontrolled lust and desire and in their love embrace he
explored her body and her bottoms with extraordinary passion. She was in a rapture of her own.
When Shamsher's eyes looked at her middle with their searing lustful look she felt deep
penetrations of desire within herself. When he started making love she was actively reciprocating
his every move and feeling the deep piercing feelings of his love and of this searing desire that
was engulfing her.
Again when he did not stop for a long time she implored him to let her go for some minutes to
help her mother in law go to bed. Finally he got off her and she walked away with Shamsher
enjoying a view of her alluring lower back as his eyes remained focused on that area of her body.
Her walk with those beautiful hips in motion was an enchanting, and a sensually exciting sight.
She wrapped her almost translucent gown around her and went to her mother in law. She had
spent almost fifteen minutes with her mother-in-law and when she came back Shamsher was
waiting like a predatory animal ready to pounce on her and he mounted her and took as if he was
devouring a prey. He raised her legs and kept on going with his powerful love strokes fueling his
love passions. She lay under him and her own desires becoming a volcano of raging lust. He was
ravishing her but she was in rapturous thrill of her own and wanted her lover to become more
active and even fiercer. Her arms kept on squeezing him with each passionate thrust and her
thighs opened and closed around him in a movement of passion with which she tried to fathom
his intensity and her own need for his probing physical demands. He kept on looking at her
middle and those exquisitely shaped thighs. His feelings and his passion were transmitting their
intensity to her through his looks, through his movements, and through their bodies locked in
their magical embrace of love. Her long protracted wails surprised him but she told him not to
stop and not to worry. She gripped him and he kept on going and at the final moment she had
him in her clasp and in her grip as if she did not want to be separated from him forever.
Finally something happened that they were not prepared for. Shamsher’s condom burst at the end
of their climax.
He had thought about her comment after their first time when she said he was hurting her ‘there!’
He thought he had figured it out and did not realize that application of baby oil would weaken
walls of the condom . She had meant exterior of her secret area was hurting but he
misunderstood and applied the baby oil on the condom weakening its skin. Parveen had another
concern, she could now get pregnant. When she expressed that concern to him he tried to
reassure her.
‘Shamsher you don’t know what I really want! I want to have a child!’
‘Then what is the concern?’
‘He will find out!’
‘Well that is a problem.’
‘I’ll handle that. From now on you don’t have to use these things.’
‘You really want a child!’
‘I want one from you!’
Parveen started planning for all the eventualities. She was leaving Sunday for Kashmir. When
she got there her husband had planned a camping trip to Leh area. They were going to drive there
in a Jeep and camp for a week. They packed their belongings and left. With the help of his
orderlies he was able to set up camp in two hours and then they rested. In another hour it got
dark and they were ready to go to sleep. He took Parveen in his arms and when he went to the
suitcase he did not find the condom packs. He asked Parveen. He had given her two packs and
asked her to pack those. She also searched the suitcase.
She had put those packs on the side and when she closed the suitcase she intentionally did not
pack them in it. Her husband was not ready to give up. He wanted her with or without condoms.
She asked him if he was ready for the consequences. He was. He had wanted to start his family
even sooner. It was Parveen who told him to wait for some more years. She now agreed and they
spent their camping trip without using condoms. This time he found Parveen to be more aloof
and somewhat cold in their love making. When he mentioned it to her she blamed it on cold
weather and lack of amenities in the mountains.
College year was progressing along and Parveen was getting into routine of daily love trysts with
her lover. At night when she was alone with her deaf and mute mother in law, she would ask
Shamsher to come in and spend hours together with him and get to fulfill all her wishes and
desires she had missed in her marriage. Shamsher also considered himself privileged to have this
unexpected boon of love fall in his lap. He was looking forward to a normal life of a college
lecturer and in near future he would have gotten married. His parents would have arranged his
marriage to a suitably educated girl of an upper middle class family. Having this exquisite
creature of heavens fall in his lap was an unexpected and unbelievable stroke of luck.
Only problem was she was married and this affair could last only a few months or at the most a
year or two. Life had to continue at its normal pace and all the events good or bad, lucky or
unlucky last only for so long and then this hammer of fate strikes and we have to wake up to a
life that is only normal and mundane and mostly uninteresting. Sometimes there are jolts in life
that one is not ready for and their impact stays with one for long time.
It was a cool and refreshing Summer morning and Bal Kishan was heading for his new post in
his assigned Jeep. His assigned driver was a twenty five years old Kashmiri Sikh who knew the
area well and had been a driving army Jeeps in the area for more than two years.They were about
to cross a steep bridge on the river when he saw two people walking towards them from the
opposite side, on the other side of the bridge. One was a postman who had his mail bag on his
back and the other guy was a young man in military uniform carrying a bag in his right hand. As
they got closer the uniformed guy rushed towards the Jeep and trying to swing his bag onto the
Jeep but in his nervousness he was not able to get both straps of the bag off his hands and the
grenades exploded and his body was blown to bits. Bal Kishan's Jeep fell into the river and the
impact of the explosion and resulting fall into the river killed his driver and Bal Kishan was
serioucsly hurt and he tried to swim out of the river. Because of the swift current of river and
injuries that he had suffered the resulting crash expended all the energy he had and he swooned
and river's current carried him many miles.
The postmam also had disappeared and was presumed dead from the explosion. The postman
and the militant were both obliterated along with a big portion of the bridge. Two bodies were
seen floating and river's current carried them across the border into Pakistani controlled part of
Kashmir.
Investigations conducted at the explosion point were inconclusive about the identities of people
killed in the explosion. Postman's bag was discovered downsteram but its contents had either
been destroyed in the explosion or had floated away. On explosion site some items that were
recovered included parts of an army officer's uniform with some of the metal decorations and
crowns belonging to an army major.
Ram Kishan was going to his newly assigned post and militants had known about his transfer. As
he did not know anyone at his new station he was targetted to be killed and the militant was
expected to assume his identity for two or three days. This would have provided the militant
organization with enough of valuable intelligence secrets about army movements and access to
some of the stores of army weapons. As it is with the best laid plans of humans many times
things do not work out the way they are planned.
Ram Kishan was unconscious but as he floated away at a bend in the river he got stuck between
two limbs of a tree that had grown on the river bank and some of its branches had grown over the
river surface and two of them had been bent enough by teenagers who used to swim and play in
the river to dip about a foot below the river surface. He was spotted by a woman who owned the
fields adjacent to the river there. She at first though it was a piece of green cloth but when she
got closer she saw Bal Kishan and with some effort pulled him out. He lay there for some
minutes and slowly he regained consciousness and asked her in Punjabi where he was.
'Bhagan waliya ! teri kismat changi si toon dubiya nahin te main tainu pani wichon kadh liya
hai.' ( Lucky man ! thank your stars that you did not drown and I have pulled you out of the
river.)
'Tere taan satt lagi eh. Chal toon holi holi tur ke mere naal chal te aram kar. Mai thodi bahuti
malham patti we kar daoongi.' (You are hurt. Walk slowly with me and rest for a while. I will
bandage your wound after I put some ointment on it.)
“Where am I ?” He askd her. “Rawalpindi te pichhe reh gayi Shamal wall tun te aithe mere
khtiyan wich aa tariyan ein.” ( You have left Rawalpindi back up north, and you have swum
farther and now you are standing in my farm).She asked him his name and he showed her the
tatto. “ Je main parhna jandi te tainu kyon puchhdi?”( If I could read why would I have asked
You?). Bal Kishan had to think fast and he answered,“mainu Dulla kehnde nain.” (People call
me Dulla.). “ Chal theek eh.Mera naan Rashida eh.” ( Good and I am Rashida) She answered and
they walked towards a large house adjacent to the farm.
She gave him a change of clothes consisting of atunic and shalwar (baggy pants). He hurried to
change into those clothes and also rushed to get all the hidden currency in his uniform and
shoes.He also took off all the dentifying tags and rank markings from the uniform and hid them
in dirt in a corner of the animal pen. He was planning to dig up a hole later in a marked area on
the farm and hide these securely.
He had more than twenty thousand rupees of Pakistani currency hidden in his clothes and shoes.
Keeping dry notes (which were sealed water tight in his shoes) for himself which were about half
of the total he gave the rest to Rashida to dry those up.
“Toon kitte Hindu taan ni? Kadde kadde ithe zinda yaan murda Hidu we rurh aonde ne?”(You
are not a Hindu, are you? Sometimes some of them, dead or alive float into this area.) She asked
hin nonchalantly.
“ Je Indian Hindu hunda taan eh note mere kol kithe hone si?”( If I was an Indian Hindu, where
would I get this Pakistani currenc?.” He asked her.
This seemed to convince the gullible woman and she gave him some ointment and bandages that
she had at home.
“We bhai toon darya wich kiwen aa digya si ?”( How dis you fall into the river ?”) She wanted to
know.
“ Mai daku mainu lutna chahnde si. Jad mai ladan lag paya taan oohna mainu darya de pul ton
dhaka de ke sit ditta.” (Madam, somme robbers wanted to loot me. When I fought back they
threw me into the river from a bridge.)
Rashida was living alone for more than five years after her husband was killed when some
militants had gotten into a fight among themselves. He was an innocent bystander who was not
able to escape and a stray bullet had hit him through his forehead and when the gunfight was
over and by the time someone could get to him he had died of the gun shot wound. She had hired
a poor midlle aged couple to help her with household chores and also two farm workers on
yearly contract.His employees had taken a day off today to watch a fileld hockey tournment in
another village.
Dulla had fallen int her hands like ne'imat ( gift of providence) from the skies and after checking
some cursory details about his family and personal life she was ready to offer him shelter. He
told her his parents were dead and he was not married. When she asked details about his village
he said he belonged to a village in Indian side of Kashmir but had wandrerd into Pakistan some
years ago and travelled in the area looking for work. He did not give her name of any village or
town pleading that he had suffered a severe trauma to his head and was not able to think too
clearly.Rashida was satisfied with his answers and he was give a cot and he was asked to sleep
on it in the room next to the animal pen.
Bal Kishan sat down on the cot after his night meal and started figuring out his options. He was
put in this untenable position when his Jeep was attacked and he was thrown in the river and
ended up in Pakistan. He got some lucky breaks and this simple farm woman was ready to offer
him shelter. He will have to blend in and find out where exactly this dwelling is and how he can
plan his escape back to India.