Chapter 8

Nagraj Yadav was a ruthless man. No one really messed with him. And tonight he was in a real bad mood. The British were looking for him and his group of thugs. As soon as they were to be found, the order was to hang them all. To avoid suspicion they had dispersed in small parties and were all planning to meet in Agra to become the uninvited guests of the landlord’s daughters wedding.
There we will kill, Nagraj told to himself.
He enjoyed killing. Tonight he was hiding on top of a certain mountain which had a river flowing through it. Accompanying Nagraj was Shera, another thug with untold records of killing and kidnapping against him. Both of them were dressed with checkered loongis and shirt jackets like the company sepoys. They possessed daggers, cords made of twisted leather, having a noose at the other end which if entangled on the horse or the man would result in his instant death.
They were expecting the British to be on the look out for them. But what they were not expecting was a seemingly poor man in a plain white kurta pajama sleeping on the stairs of a deserted cottage. The thugs closed upon him.
“He looks like a Farmer”
“What is he doing here?”
“He could be an informer, from the company.”
“But he is unarmed”
Shera grinned,” Do I care” and kicked the poor man in the stomach.
Nagraj taking lead took him by his collars and pushed him hard again to the ground.
Haji was taken by surprise. Nagraj slapped him hard, so hard that blood started oozing from his face. The thug then threw the cord on his neck and pulled it hard. Haji gasped for air.
“Why are u here”, Nagraj asked. It would mean nothing to him to kill this person but wanted to know what made this stupid man to sleep here.
“Why are u here”, Shera shouted again from behind.
“I…saw a dream”Haji just managed to speak.
Nagraj was intrigued. He loosened the chord.” What?”
“I saw a dream and I came here. An old man was to be here to tell me where I will find the treasure”
Shera burst in laughter. He fell down laughing, his hands on his stomach. He just couldn’t believe what he heard.
But Nagraj was stunned.
“Do you see it everyday?”
“Yes” Haji replied, breathing heavily.
“And now did u see all this. This place. This bridge…”
“This cottage. I saw all this. Everything. In my dream every night”, continued Haji.
Shera could not understand what engaged Nag so much.
“Whats your interest? Kill Him. What we have in front of us is a mad man. And only a mad man could see such a dream. And only a mad would think of following it.”, he questioned Nag.
“No he is not. I see a dream everyday. Just like him.”
He looked at Haji who was badly bruised with blood running on his face.
“And what I see scares me. I don’t know what Durga Maa wants to tell me.”
Haji asked him,” What do you see.”

“I see that I am walking to a hut which is at the farthest corner of a dusty village. There is a mango tree in front of the hut. A goat is tied to this mango tree and she is restless. I walk towards the tree and see the goat has dug a small hole in the ground beneath her. I dug further and further and you know what I find. Do u know what I find? I find Gold. Gold. Lots of it. In a number of pots. Then suddenly I see the door of the hut opening and a pretty lady is standing there. She smiles and asks me “have you found the treasure”
And then I wake up. I am seeing this dream every night. It scares me so much that I don’t want to sleep.”

Shera was shocked with Nagrajs confession. He was his best friend and still was unaware of the turmoil going through him.
“Why did you not tell me?”
Nagraj had released haji. He sat down on the stairs and in deep thought said,” I thought Maa would tell me. Make it clear to me. And she has now. There is such a place and I have to find it. This man is here for a reason. He is here for me. To tell me to go search for this place as he has.”

“But he has failed. He did not find anything. There is no old man here.”Shera tried to reason

“But I Wont”, grinned Nagraj twirling his mustache.

“So what do we do with him”, Shera removing his dagger for just one signal from his friend.

“We leave him”. Nagraj said with finality,” Go traveler, you have done what you were destined to do, Run, before I change my mind.”

And Haji Ran…................