The moment they heard the whole from the boy, Daya told Abhijeet in an alert tone, "Abhi - hume dhundna chahiye - hum uss side se dekhte hai!" Abhijeet instantly looked at Daya with this tone of him! It seemed to him that his Daya is telling these things to him like those old days of their life - those past days of their journey of friendship!
They started searching for Raju's father. It was tough to find a single person here now - as last night was stormy, the roads were not clear - in some places the roads were blocked with the rocks... Their pace was slow - as it was tough to move faster in wet hilly road. To Abhijeet's surprise - Daya was handling himself so carefully even in this situation! But there was no sign of Raju's father anywhere. They had already moved far from their place - but there was no one here. Abhijeet was afraid of something bad. His instinct was telling him that he would not be able to give any good news to Raju, but Raju's teary face came in his mind, his feet stopped. Daya came near Abhijeet. "Kya hua Abhi?" he asked softly.
Abhijeet: (unintentionally) Bas yehi soch raha tha ki main Raju ko kya jawab dunga?
Daya: Tum aise kyun bol rahe ho Abhi?
Abhijeet jerked out and looked at Daya. He tried to smile, but could not. He was only able to utter these words, "chalo Daya - dekhte hai -"
After almost three hours, Abhijeet was pulled back with Daya's shout, "ABHIIIII - yaha dekho -"
That portion of the path was dangerourously damaged by land slide, and Daya was standig on the verge of the cliff! Abhijeet shouted, "DAYAAAA- hatho waha se -"
Daya stepped back a little. He had fear in his eyes. His eyes were fixed at the clough! Abhijeet moved towards Daya as fast as possible.
Abhijeet: (gasping) Kya hua Daya?
Daya did not reply, he only pointed to the deepest of the ravine below. There was a body stuck between the rocks below there. The ravine was about 1000 ft deep. According to Raju's description, both of them could easily identify the body by the dress. It was the landslide - that caused this! Abhijeet inhaled deeply. He looked at Daya, and then said in a composed voice, "Daya - tu yehi ruk, main niche jata hun -"
Daya: (fearfully) Neeche?
Abhijeet did not reply only patted his shoulder, and started to move down. But the stones were loose there, as there was a dangerous landslide last night. Abhijeet's foot slipped! "DAYAAA" - a scream came out of his mouth!
...
...
...
At the same time a scene flashed in Daya's memory - Daya holding the gun! And in front of his eyes Abhijeet was falling holding his chest... He was shot by his Daya only. Daya was looking at his own gun unbelievably ...
...
...
...
"ABHIJEEEEEEETTTTT!"
Daya gave a hand to Abhijeet who was trying hard to take any kind of support. Abhijeet felt this Daya screamed as ABHIJEET! not Abhi - He wanted to rush to him...
it took a few more minutes to Abhijeet to come up.
Here in Daya's mind, there were so many memories... coming back to his mind...
"Sir kuch nahi hoga Abhijeet Sir ko - aap fikar mat kijiye -"
"Daya kuch bol kyun nahi raha hai Salunkhe -"
"Sir, operation chal raha hai - Abhijeet Sir thik ho jayenge -"...
...
...
...
"Tere hote huye mujhe kabhi kuch ho sakta hai kya Daya?"
"Tujhe chorke to main chain se mar bhi nahi sakta!"
"Maut ko bhi tujh tak pahuchne se pehle mujhse guzarna hoga Daya -"
"Agar tere aankhon se ek bhi aansoo nikla na - to bohot bura ho jayega -"
"bas itna yaad rakhna -Tera yeh dost humesha tera saath hai - jaan de dunga tere liye"
There was flood of emotions in his mind - he suddenly felt the world around him was spinning fast - he was about to fall when a tight grip stopeed him, he felt the protective shell around him before losing his control - he felt someone patting his cheeks, "Aankhe khol Daya - Daya - idhar dekh - meri taraf- Daya - please - "
The voice touched the deepest of his heart! It was the voice he was longing to hear - not a dream - he was there - holding him in his arms - Daya tried to open his eyes with great effort - he wanted to see him - see him safe in front of him!
"Boss - t-t-tum theek ho - tumhe kuch hua to nahi na -", he finally uttered this one sentence with much effort.
This single sentence was enough to break all the controls of the tough guy holding him. He released those tears he was holding within him for so long... He hugged Daya tightly in his arms. He was sobbing like a kid! Finally his wait ended. Daya was now patting his back lightly, "Boss - bas - bohot taqleef diya na maine- bas - ab aur nahi - aur mat ro - please yaar! (trying to console like a mother)Shhh- Abhi - bas - chup ho jao - (concern) tum thik ho na Abhi?"
"kuch nahi hua mujhe Daya - kuch nahi - tere hote huye mujhe kya ho sakta hai?", he said with a soft tone, "taras gaya tha mera dil - tere muh se yeh BOSS sunne ke liye Daya - bas tu wapas aa gaya - mujhe aur kuch nahi chahiye -"
They separated after a few minutes, their faces were washed with tear.
Daya: (teary) Kitna rulaya tumhe Boss! kitna dard hua hoga na tumhe inn dino mei - aur kisi se to tum apna gham bantoge bhi nahi - kitna akela padh gaye honge - sab meri wajah se -
Abhijeet: (tear) Aur tera uss dard ka kya Daya? jiske liye tujhe maut se ladna padha -
Daya: (painfully) Ab to main thik hun na? To bhul jao na Abhi please - woh sab ek bura sapna samjhke tum bhul nahi sakte?
Abhijeet smiled forcefully, and nodded as Yes.
Daya: Abhi hume bohot kuch karna hai Abhi -
...
After some time, they both went down carefully to bring the body up.
Daya: (concern) Ab kya hoga?
Abhijeet: Tujhe raju ke liye chinta ho raha hai na? Dekh, uska loss to hum kabhi bhar nahi payenge - par hum itna to zaroor kar sakte hai ke usse ek achcha Bhabisya dilaye - Usse ek pehchan banane ka mauka to de sakte hum - aur yeh wada bhi kar sakte hai - ke zindegi ki kisi bhi raho pe wo kabhie khudko akela nahi payega...
Daya did not say anything. He just placed his hand on Abhijeet's shoulder silently in reply.
One Year Later...
It was a sunny morning. Daya was in the lawn, along with six boys of nearly 10 or 12 years old. He was reading a book to them.
A boy: Daya Bhaiya - Raju bhaiya kab ayega?
Daya: (smilingly) Aa jayenge beta - Abhi Bhaiya unse phone pe baatein kar raha hai - aur tumhe bhi Raju bhaiya jaisa Police Academy join karna hai na? To chalo, padho -
The boy nodded smilingly. Daya ruffeled his hair affectionately. Then started reading. Suddenly he stopped reading. As soon as he stopped reading, the boys turned around to look what was the cause of this interruption! It was nothing but a white qualis, standing just in front of the "New Life Children's Home". Daya stood up without uttering a single word. His eyes were shining brightly. Just then Abhijeet was coming out of the house with "Daya - woh Raju aur Vishal ka final exam bohot hi acha -" - but he stopped in between following Daya's gaze!
Abhijeet also moved towards the main gate, while the elderly person came out of the car! As soon as the person crossed the main gate the DUO came and bent down to touch his feet. The person was trying hard to control his welling up tears. He was only able to put his two hands on their heads. The DUO stood up with smiles on their face and tear in their eyes.
Abhijeet: (heavy tone) Sir, aap yaha -
ACP: Haan, ek case ke silsiley mein yaha ana pada - to socha tum logo se mulakat bhi ho jayega - wrana tum dono to kabhi aaoge nahi -
Daya: (cutting him to change the topic) Sir, acha hua aap aa gaye - humare bachche bhi aap se mil kar bohot khush hongey -
ACP smiled looking at him. But then he started with a very low but teary tone, "Bas itni narazgi Abhijeet - sirf phone karke Daya ke bare mein bata diya - iss ek saal mein ek baar bhi man nahi kiya ke wapas aa jao -"
Abhijeet immediately held his hands, and started with earnest tone, "Nahi - nahi Sir - narazgi kis baat ki? Aap please aise mat boliye -"
ACP: To phir aa jao na wapas, CID Mumbai is waiting for you - aur tum hi to kaha karte they Abhijeet ki jo beet gayi woh baat gayi - to phir kyun nahi aa rahe ho tum dono?
Both of them lowered their gaze for a moment. But only after a moment, they looked up and looked directly towards their Sir. There was an unknown glow in their eyes. ACP Sir felt something deep in their eyes.
He shivered from his core with the deepest voice Abhijeet started,"Kya hoga Sir - agar hum dono wapas jayenge to? CID ko do bahadur officer wapas mil jayenge - aur hum dono bhi mujreemo ko jai bhejwange - kitne logon ko Sir? 50 - 100? zyada se zyada 500 - hai na Sir?"
ACP Sir was just silently looking at them - the two of them were seemed to be so different to him!
As soon as Abhijeet paused, Daya continued with the same depth in his voice, "Par Sir, aaj hum agar yehi humara iss home me inn bachchon ke saath rahenge - to aise 50 Daya aur 50 Abhijeet bana sakte hai - Inn bachcho ko rahe dikhane ke liye koi nahi hai Sir - agarn inhe hum nahi rahein dikhayenge to aur dikhayenge? Hum to jante hai na, issi halat se kayi baar majboor hoke - kitney log galat rastey pakad lete hai - agar thoda sa saath mil jaye - to yehi bachche bade hoke aise 100 Abhijeet ya phir Daya banenge - par aaj agar isse hum saath na denge to kya pata - iss samaj ne inn phool jaise massom zindegiyon ko kya bana denge -"
As Daya stopped, ACP Sir placed his hands o the shoulders of both of them. He let his tears flow down. He said in a very soft tone, "I am really proud of you my boys - aaj mujhe lag raha hai - main sach mein bohot hi khush naseeb hun ke mujhe tum dono jaise beta mile hai -"
"aap chaliye na Sir - aap ko humare iss ghar ka sair karate hai -", Abhijeet said joyfully , "idhar aiye sir -"
ACP Sir started his tour with a contended heart...
After a few hours...
ACP: Ab mujhe jana hoga -
Abhijeet: Sir aap phir ayenge na yaha?
ACP: haan Abhijeet, kaise nahi aaunga? Yahan ka pyar aur inn bachcho ke masoomiyat - mujhe majboor kar denge yaha aane ke liye!
After ACP Sir started off along with the affection he had for his sons, there was a kind of respect too in his eyes - for these two persons - who left their past behind for a new future - a better future!
A/N: I know, I have hurt many of you by not returning the DUO back to Mumbai CID!
But -
"In a time of destruction, create something"
"We have to heal our wounded world."