Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 91 : Discussion

"Aunty... Uncle... Monika, I am sorry I don't mean to offend any of you, but then, every time I would see Monika in our house, taking care of Sophia, I would always dream that my parents were as great as her parents... they would teach my sisters to be good human beings and not be bullies... I wish I was your daughter instead…” Aamaya di replied.

Suddenly mom stretched her arms, touched her hands, softly pressed them, and replied “don’t say that dear… Your mom is probably one of the bravest persons I ever knew… she gave up her life just to make sure you, your sister and your brother are safe. Not everyone is courageous enough to live with such a burden on her heart…”

“I cannot say the same thing about your dad… but trust me… your uncle and I will make sure that your mom’s sacrifice would not go in vain…”

I saw tears in Aamaya di’s eyes however she was trying her level best to hide them from the four of us. Aunty Sengupta understood that Aamaya di was sad and suddenly she raised her left arm around her neck and tried to console her by caressing Aamaya di’s left arm. A couple of minutes later, Aunty Sengupta asked something to Aamaya di which was completely out of the blues. It was an unexpected question, which none of us expected…

“Can I ask you something honey…?”

“You can ask me anything Ma’am…” replied Aamaya di…

“Sweety… you might not know this, but I had a daughter who was killed in a car crash 7 years ago. You know, if she have been alive, she would be of your age. Ever since her death, I have always been a loner.”

“Sorry to hear that Ma’am.”

“That’s fine dear… it was not your fault… it was God's will… However, there is something else I wanted to ask you…?”

I saw aunty moving her head towards the right, looking at the oncoming vehicles and use her right hand to wipe the tears off her eyes and finally, she looked at Aamaya di once again and said “Once your dad is caught, it may be possible that you might need someone to take care of you… Do you think you can give this old lady a chance?” she paused and continued… “There is no hurry in replying… you can take your time and decide…”

It felt like dad was trying to say something but decided against it.

“Ma’am… I don’t have to think of the answer…” as she hugged Aunty Sengupta with both her hands and simultaneously trying to balance herself in the moving car. she finally let her go and replied “It would be my honor… Even though you all know it very well that I am not the kind of girl whom every parent would idolize for their children, however, you are still giving me a second chance… I can never ever repay you...and trust me you will never regret this decision.”

Suddenly dad commented “If that is the case… then there is something we want you to do… Try to change yourself… if you want, I can make sure that you will be surrounded by good people who will impart wisdom in you to be the ideal girl whom everyone will adore.”

Aamaya di looked at dad with watery eyes, nodded her head in affirmation “Yes… Uncle… I promise.”

I saw dad’s face in the rear-view mirror. He was smiling at her and commented “Well if that is the case… you should be smiling dear… not weeping…”

Setting aside her nerves, she presented her most beautiful smile and nodded her head to respond positively, “Yes I do…”

Aamaya di then looked at Aunty Sengupta and said “Well aunty there is one more thing that I had to tell you…”

“Sure honey… tell me?” Asked Aunty Sengupta.

"Well Aunty, given the chance, I would definitely want to grow up with you... but the truth is on the day of the k********g; Daniel dada came up to me in the morning and told me that my Brother and Dad are coming from Pune to take me home... he asked me not to tell anyone about it unless the situation demands... so I thought I would tell you all about this..."

Miss Sengupta placed her hand over Aamaya di's shoulder and said "Thank you for letting me know... but I would truly be honored to have a second shot at raising a daughter like you..." and then Aunty began to look outside the window again.

"You know Ma'am... I guess I might have done one good thing recently..."

"What do you mean kiddo?"

Well, aunty... a few years ago, I was sent to a trauma center for anger management... at that time I had some counseling sessions, and on one such session they hypnotized me. Some of my suppressed memories were revealed that day and one of them were how I came to be a Banerjee from a Harper..."

"What happened kiddo...?" asked Miss Sengupta.

The sound of Aamaya di's voice made me realize that she probably had tears in her eyes, or maybe she was struggling with a bad memory.  "When I was 4 years old, I was abducted, and do you know it was my Mom and my Granny Stella who was behind this... when the people were taking me away, my Mom didn't even struggle with the abductors and instead, the 2 of them, took a bundle of cash from the abductors."

Aamaya di was almost crying when Miss Sengupta continued "Honey, this might not be true... it might be possible that at the time of hypnotizing you, they might have implanted that memory so that you start hating the person who gave birth to you..."

I thought the same, but thanks to Sophia" she looked at me and said "and Monika who helped me get to the truth..." she paused and turned to look towards Mom and said, "I was able to get in touch with Daniel dada to find out the truth about my a*******n and he confirmed the same thing..."

Miss Sengupta hugged her, as she was crying profusely, and then she said "Sweetheart... if someday you feel that you are alone... don't hesitate to contact me... I will always be there for you..." 

We kept talking about what she knew about her family and all other things, and then we learned the inevitable truth about her. After her days at the trauma center, she was subjected to some experiments, and in that process, she forgot how her brother looked like.

We kept discussing things and didn’t even realize how the time had passed. Suddenly it felt like we have started a steep climb. The speed of the vehicle is decreasing steadily. Until now dad was silent and was concentrating on the road ahead of us, however, as we started the climb, Dad spoke again. “Monika, Aamaya we think it’s time for you to know our plans. Since you have been asking me about our destination, it is to inform you that we are going to Kalimpong.” 

“Kalimpong… why there…”

“Well, the thing is, Brigadier Shahi and Captain Sagar’s hometown is Kalimpong. There is a village on the outskirts of Kalimpong named Pedong where they reside. Kalimpong is one of the oldest townships in India, mostly populated by many ancient Nepali Tribesmen.”

“Under the current situation there are only 2 places which are safest on this earth. One is Captain Sagar’s village and the other is my hometown Nongstoin back in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. And currently, Kalimpong is the nearest place we can think of. It is mainly populated by the Thakuri and the Magar Tribesman, the most dangerous and deadliest warriors of India.”

He paused for a few seconds and continued “Remember what you heard about Koushik and what he did to protect you. Now imagine the effect when a whole village do it collectively. You know these tribes’ men are so dangerous that in our army it is said that ‘if anyone says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or belongs to a Gurkha bloodline’. In the army ethnic Nepalis of Indian nationality are broadly termed as the Gurkhas.”

“It was once said that during the Indo-Pak war of 1965, there was a platoon of the Gurkha Regiment posted in one of the border areas. After continuous fighting for 19 hours their ammunition started depleting. Finally, the officer commanding Captain L.N. Thapa and his men took out their Knives, which they proudly call the “Khukri” and shouting their war cry “Ayo Gurkhali” (Here comes the Gurkhas) and started slashing the enemy with it. It was said that they captured 2 bunkers only with their bravery and slashed every infiltrator with their Khukri.”

“According to the brigadier Shahi, his village elders have promised to protect the 4 of you till the problem with Mr. Banerjee is resolved. Mr. Banerjee and his men will never be able to touch a strand of hair on your body.”

“Wow… uncle… the way you are talking about these men… it seems you might have the privilege to work with some of these Gurkha braves.” Asked Aamaya di.

“Well as a matter of fact I do… Your uncle… Lt. Col. Banerjee… Abhinu’s dad, his regiment was 8th Gurkha Rifles, and his unit was deployed on a special assignment in INS Baaz at Andaman and Nicobar Islands. I had the privilege to have met him during my first assignment in Military Intelligence. We became good friends and back then he got married to Abhinu’s Mom and a year later Abhinu was born.” Replied dad.

As I was about to say something, I saw dad trying to use the headlamps of our MD5 and began flickering at the car in front of us. It was Master Kaku’s car. He was probably giving them some signal which I didn’t understand.

About 5 minutes later the car in front of us started to slow down flashing their left indicator and parked off the road. Our car followed suit and so did Sagar sir’s car. 

Dad spoke “The temperature will be cold in the mountains, let’s get something warm to put on.”

Mom got down and opened the trunk of our vehicle. As soon as she opened the trunk the cold breeze entered the cabin and we started shivering. She took out a bag and gave me and Aamaya di a jacket each. I never recalled wearing that jacket given to me and upon taking a closer look I understood that it is a new one, even the price tag is still intact. I felt a little comfortable. Aamaya di and I decided to get down from the vehicle. Sitting inside the car constantly was making my body ache.

The temperature might be around 2 to 3 degrees. Mom gave Aamaya di a couple of bags and said “Dear… we have got these new clothes for you. We were not able to get anything from your home. I hope they fit you well…”

Aamaya di smiled at mom and replied sweetly “Thankyou Aunty…”

Mom smiled back at her. I checked my watch and figured out the time at 2:00 AM. The journey continued and since we were actually climbing a hilly terrain our speed was quite slow. We continued for about 2 hours and finally, we reached our destination.

“It’s very early dear… you guys rest in the car… we reached earlier than expected.” He paused and continued “we will have to wait till everyone is awake.”

                                                     TO BE CONTINUED...

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