Zombies

Happy and painful events come down on all of us. Most often we are caught unawares. It all started on a fateful evening when the Indian Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi was shot by her Sikh bodyguards. ‘The Zombie fever’ gripped Delhi for a few days. To turn into a zombie, one has to be scratched or bitten by a human-like ghastly figure who itself was once a normal human once. It is assumed that zombies feed on humans and they generally have hollow eyes, wide-open mouths, dark nails, torn clothes, and missing pieces of skin. It is also believed that zombies are dumb and they have no mind. They turn into mindless creatures. So in the evening, after a few hours of the Prime Minister’s assassination, Delhi streets were packed with these Zombies. These zombies were dumb and mindless.

The following night, Pummy and his family came to their house for protection. They were Sikhs and seemed nervous. The intentional killing, of Sikhs, had started in Delhi and other cities as anti-Sikh rumors spread like a wild jungle fire. The zombies roamed the streets of Delhi to avenge the killing. The infection spread to neighboring villages as zombies marched to Delhi in large numbers. There was no police or army to halt the march of the infected zombies. They were trying to save themselves.

‘You need not worry about anything sister. We will give our lives to save you. They first need to kill us to reach you.’ Arnie’s grandpa tried to calm down Pummy’s mother who was terrified. They called him Nanu.

The mattress was spread on the verandah and young men like Sebastian, Sanjay and Amanullah joined the elderly men to discuss the strategy to save Pummy and his family. Theirs was the only Sikh family in the Kucha. They were an influential family and it was easy to single them out because of their popularity. The government machinery was misused to select the targets. The residences and commercial properties of Sikhs were located through ration cards, identity cards, and electoral rolls. The white-collared men who never visited their constituencies after elections were toiling hard and leading the groups of zombies to the targets.

Zoheb, Sameer, Mazhar, Pummy and Arnie stood on the balcony to discuss the situation. All the boys were in their teens and they pledged to save Pummy and his family. But how would they do it, nobody knew.

‘Sikhs have always laid down their lives for Hindustan. How could they forget the sacrifices of Sardar Joginder Singh and Sardar Kewal Singh? Why blame the whole community for the wrongdoing of a few people?’ Pummy said in frustration.

‘Yes, Pummy is correct. My Ammi says that the Sikh regiment reached Pakistan villages in the war of 1965. Their generals admitted that the Sikh regiment had made all the difference in India and Pakistan war.’ Mazhar agreed.

‘shh… stay quiet. Pummy, you need to come here. It’s too dangerous for you to stand there.’ Nanu advised Pummy.

The main iron gate of Kucha Qabil was closed and a small window in it was also chained and locked. The residents had stocked enough food and milk. There was a full chance that the curfew would be extended for a few days. The elderly decided to make two teams which would be led by young men of Kucha Qabil. They would be armed with wooden sticks and iron rods. All the teams would have teenagers under them. It was decided that the teams would patrol the main gate on a shift basis. Pummy’s family was asked to shift into the inner room which was behind Uncle Sanjay’s room.

‘I still remember the 1947 riots. History is repeating itself.’ Nanu said taking a deep breath. All the elderly who witnessed the partition agreed.

‘This riot is different. It’s not like the one we had seen between Ballimaran and Katra Neel,’ Zoheb’s Uncle gave his view.

‘There is no Sikh family living in Ballimaran. But, I believe a few Sikh families live in Katra Neel,’ Nanu said as he looked at Sanjay.

‘I have talked to my friend. He confirmed that they have also made patrolling teams and all the Sikh families are safe.’ Sanjay replied.

‘I don’t understand what goes into people’s heads when they turn into rioters,’ Mazhar said.

‘And I don’t understand what goes into people’s heads when they turn to wars,’ Arnie said as he looked at Pummy.

‘People are the same everywhere. It’s just that they react to their emotions differently sometimes,’ Nanu explained.

‘Few crooked ones take advantage of people’s emotions.’ Nani commented this time.

‘Yes, the crooked politicians,’ Mazhar said.

‘It’s wrong to blame the politicians’ every time. God has blessed all of us with the power to think and use our brains.’ Sebastian said as he returned with this team for dinner. Arnie was happy to see him back. He wanted to embrace his father tightly.

‘It’s getting worse. The government should send Army soon or it will go out of hand,’ Nanu said as he looked worried.

Around midnight, the mob who behaved like zombies for the whole afternoon tried to enter Kucha Qabil. They stood at the main gate and argued.

‘We know you people are shielding a Sikh family. You need to hand over them to us,’ a zombie shouted outside the gate.

‘You need to believe us. They all went yesterday,’ Zoheb’s uncle said.

‘Why don’t you let us in? We will check ourselves,’ the zombie leader argued.

Nanu came down to the gate and said, ‘We have our women here. We won’t allow outsiders to come inside. Please spare our Kucha, for God’s sake.’

‘We are leaving, but if we get to know that you have shielded them, I promise that you all would be sorry.’ The zombie leader warned.

The next morning, a few rowdies shouted and spread the rumor, ‘Zombies have entered.’ Pummy and his family followed Mazhar hurriedly into the verandah of Amanullah’s house to save themselves. Mazhar and Pummy slipped and fell down as they were caught in the frenzy. Mazhar held Pummy’s hand and bundled him into the secret room beneath the verandah. The secret room saved a lot of lives in 1947, Amanullah admitted. When the hysteria was over, they all realized that it was just a rumor. Arnie ran to the main gate to see if Sebastian was safe. The patrolling team was busy arguing with rowdies.

‘Whose blood is this?’ Amanullah asked.

‘I don’t know. I was not here. I went to see Daddy at the gate,’ Arnie replied.

Mazhar and Pummy came out of the secret room. Both were bleeding lightly from their knees and elbows due to injury. Surprisingly, in spite of scratches, both of them remained humans and did not turn into zombies.