CHAPTER 2

Then came a curfew in Jammu and Kashmir for the Amarnath Yatra Land issue and he didn’t got any assignment for 2 months. It was hard for daily wagers like Sultan to survive in Jammu during that period. Whole family used to stay in home as there was no school, all the shops were closed, and all the roads were deserted. It was difficult even to get food. Army was there on every corner of the city with strict order of shoot on sight, and once going out you were never sure of coming back on the same day or ever.

It was the day of their 10th marriage anniversary. There was not much in home to celebrate or, to say the least, to cook. There was no money to buy food; they hadn’t even paid the rent for last 2 months. It was fine for the Landlords, but money you have to pay, you have to pay, sooner or later. A man came with an order to move some furniture from Jammu to Srinagar. It was good news after many a days, but curfew was still there, risk of life was still there. Sultan decided to grab the opportunity as it would give at least some days of relief to the family.

He was about to leave when Seema asked, “Where are you going?”
‘I got an order to Srinagar.
‘I will be back within 2 days, its not much of a distance.’
‘Are you mad, can’t you see what is happening outside’
‘and can’t you see, all our money is over. How’ll we feed our children?’
‘We’ll see how to manage, but you’re not going today. Please don’t go what I will do if something happen to you.’
‘I will be back for you, for our children. Just wait and see’
And he left without paying much attention to what she said afterwards as he knew he won’t be able to go if he would have.

Next day, today morning, the news came that a truck moving from Jammu to Srinagar was set on fire by a mob of unknown people and the driver, who was not able to escape, got burnt to death along with the truck.