Endless Voyage
Rise and fall of humanity
by
pradipkumar raol
&
prakash vaidya
Part - 2
In 1453 Ottoman Empire (Turks) took control over Constantinople; it was the largest and richest urban center in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the late Eastern Roman Empire, mostly as a result of its strategic position commanding the trade routes between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea.
Thereafter, Vasco-da-Gama, a Portuguese explorer, with a fleet of four ships started a historical journey around Africa to India on 8 July 1497.The fleet arrived in Kappadu near Calicut, India on 20 May1498.The meeting with the king Zamorin of Calicut did not go well. So da Gama returned home. However, the expedition had exacted a large cost – one ship and over half the men had been lost. It had also failed in its principal mission of securing a commercial treaty with Calicut. Nonetheless, the spices brought back on the remaining two ships were sold at an enormous profit to the crown. Vasco da Gama was justly rewarded for opening a direct sea route to Asia. His path would be followed up thereafter by yearly Portuguese India Armadas. Eventually, Portuguese established control over Calicut, Cochin, Div-Daman and Goa. Thus, in the 16th century they prospered through business in India. These Portuguese inflicted acts of cruelty upon other traders and local inhabitants. During his second voyage to Calicut da- Gama intercepted a ship of Muslim pilgrims, looted the ship and killed all the pilgrims. Nevertheless, his discovery of this sea route paved the way for global imperialism and colonization.
The time has unique way of moving ahead. Cruelty, killings, Wars, global multiculturalism and peace treaties and so on all have their rightful place in the history of humans.
Later on Portugal was defeated by Spain and their power diminished elsewhere also. In India also they faced defeat at the hands of English. They lost all important regions except Div, Daman and Goa. Even when India got her independence these regions were under their control. At last, in 1962 Diu, Daman and Goa breathed their air of freedom. Nevertheless, even today one can feel the strong influence of Christianity in the culture, tradition and customs of these people.
Goa is situated in the south of metropolitan city of Mumbai on the western coast line of India. Its capital city is Panji. Goa has always attracted tourists from all over the world because of its heavenly beaches. It is gifted with a rich legacy of glorious places of historical significance and its landscape is full of diverse characteristics along with its plethora of colorful communities. Local wine made from cashew-nuts called “Feni” is still favored by many. But above all this, the tourist liked its calm ocean and lively beaches the most.
In this Goa’s serene and charming atmosphere there was only one popular voice which always spelled magic in the air and that voice belonged to Cuckoo. She was a famous pop singer, singing was her profession. She swayed people to the tunes of her songs in many places like bars, nightclubs, parties, marriage function. The audience was spell-bound in her all shows and they became an instant hit. Her exquisite voice would captivate even a musical dullard.
Cuckoo had inherited her love for singing and music from her mother and she was named so because of her sweet voice. She used to sing at school functions at very young age of seven, and had won many accolades. Her parents were very proud of her and happy with her success. However, when Cuckko was thirteen years of age her mother succumbed to Hepatitis-B. Sky fell on this small family of three. Her father was in travail spirit and deeply affected by the sudden loss of his wife but he somehow managed to get hold of his feelings and took all the care in the world to support and raise Cuckoo. She continued with the same zeal to pursue her career in singing. She struggled hard but eventually won for herself name and fame. She completed her graduation along with her training in music. Her “superb loveliness” and “well-developed and voluptuous form” kept many eyes glued to her whenever she performed on any stage. Cuckoo got good offers from different singing groups from Delhi and she accepted few of them but later on she realized that they were financially taking advantage of her. Then she ultimately decided to become a free-lancer.
This demure beauty created a sensation when she set her feet in Goa. Once she came to Goa to present a program and she instantly fell in love with this place. In contrast to Delhi’s rush hour traffic, pollution and crowds this place was far better. Its natural beauty attracted her pure artistic soul. There was a good scope here to develop her career and she shifted here. Meanwhile, Cuckoo’s father also got retired, he too wanted peace of mind, and he also liked Goa and came to live with Cuckoo. It seemed things were going smoothly. But for a while only, till he suffered a fatal heart attack, leaving Cuckoo in this world all for herself. She became an orphan now. No love of mom and dad, no one to look after, she felt miserable in this vast humanity. It took more than a year for Cuckoo to find life again. There were the first months of utter despondency, loneliness, and fear of sleep because of the nightmares, then came a period of self-pity and drinks. And under such conditions of mental turmoil and sour lonely heart, suddenly she spotted one remarkable face. And that face belonged to Thomas Hardy.
When Thomas went out in the city he attracted attention of everybody. Elders watched him with respect; children kept staring at him with sort of curiosity and often flocked around him, while youngsters considered him as their role-model. Some even tried to copy his hair style, manner of clothing, and emulated his style of bike riding. Girls always took special interest in him, and tried to establish contact with him, but in vain. They secretly wished that someday he may take them for a ride on his dashing motor-bike.
This thirty five year old Thomas Hardy was about six feet in height, weighing 95 kg., all pure steel muscles. He also was alone in this world and had become a dominant figure of the underworld especially for this area. He used to keep French-cut beard and gold-framed goggles were always seen on his face. Rarely did he use his black colored Mercedes Benz; it was only meant for special operations. But when he drove that powerful beauty in his white suit he looked like a MD of any large company; while on his motor-bike he resembled a college going chap. Nobody knew, when Thomas Hardy had arrived in Goa and from where. His style of walking was unique. His eyes were like a hawk, constantly searching for a pray.
Thomas took extra care to hide his true identity. Between 9 pm to 3 am he would invariably be there at the hotel Blue Hills. Lately, he was changing in behavior and attitude towards his life, even his friends took notice of this. He often failed to be there at the hotel. Actually, pop singer Cuckoo was responsible for these behavioral changes in him. Goa’s young hearts were crazy after Cuckoo and Cuckoo was crazy after Thomas. It was really a love at first sight. Daily both would meet at the beach and enjoy each other’s company. In their lonely lives flowers of love had blossomed.
As usual, both the lovers had come to their favorite spot at the Kolva beach. But their usual temperament had been exchanged, at least for today. Thomas, who used to be constantly talkative and joking in nature, was silent, and seemed to be absorbed in thoughts now. While usually silent and shy Cuckoo was in exuberant mood. Cuckoo sat close to her lover, their bodies touching, her hand clutching his arm. She was, however, sickeningly aware that the warmth she intended was not returned in equal measure. In fact she received none. Only a part of the intense man beside her was her Thomas; the rest of him was some strange guy to whom she had never met.
“For God’s sake, talk to me!” she cried, and started playing with his curly hairs, still annoyed with him. He kept mum.
‘Oh! Speak up please, why don’t you say something? Have you had a fight with somebody? Has something unexpected happened with your business? If you don’t tell me anything to whom will you tell it? She had asked loads of question. Thomas’s quietness started troubling her. He was drawing some random lines and figures on the clean sand of the beach. Cuckoo was watching his face intently which was still visible in the faint of glow of disappearing sun. Actually she was trying to read his expressions.
And he raised his head in a quick gesture, as if he had decided now in his mind to tell it all. He threw one glance at the waves which were dispersing after fast hitting the many rocks of the bank. He threw the small crunch with which he was drawing lines in the sand in to the sea water. Frightened by the throw, a couple of sea-gull flew away.
Cuckoo was seeing all these with anxiety. Abruptly he broke the stillness, “Darling, do you really love me?”
“You are telling me ‘darling’ and still you are asking?”
“Please, Cuckoo, give me the answer, ‘yes’ or ‘no’?
Now, even she felt that, they had never discussed this matter ever before nor they had confessed dying love for each other. May be he has some doubts; the matter is getting serious, she thought.
She took his hand in hers and kissed it lovingly and said, “Thomas, my darling I love you too much. Listen, many have tried to win my love, but frankly speaking I never took interest.
I had decided in my mind that on seeing a particular man when I forget singing the tunes of my songs and start singing the songs of love, then with that person I will sing the song of my life. And that is you; you are the king of my heart.
“Then, listen to me know, I want to confess one thing to you and you might change your mind hearing it. But I will not regret saying it. At least, it will take a huge load off my mind and I will tell the truth”, he caressed her cheeks as he said this, “Darling love…” but he could not carry on further. The time just stopped.
“Yes, carry on my beloved, carry on”, she prompted him. Her voice came on strong and loud. And in the dim light his husky voice vibrated in the silent atmosphere. ‘Me, Thomas Hardy is a criminal, I am not a big shot. I have no boss and no partners. I struggle on my own strength, I work for money, but I have never ever harassed innocent people, I …” Interrupting him in the middle Cuckoo said “Helped poor and needy men, done hardest & riskiest of the jobs. I also know you are vicious when you set out to hurt an opponent in the ‘business’, but outside it you are one of the warmest, friendliest, most soft-spoken guys one could ever meet.”
Thomas, looked at Cuckoo with surprise in his eyes, but his face showed no sign of fear on the contrary his eyes showed trust. But, breaking the silence she again spoke, “I have investigated thoroughly and know all about your shady activities because I love you and wanted to know all about you”
“What are you talking?” he asked with bewilderment, and disbelief. “Yeah, I did not know in the beginning, but I saw you with some guys who had once, say few months back created trouble in my public program. Thereafter, I started thinking about you, gathered some facts. You are involved in some kind of criminal activity, no doubt, but on the other hand you also helped that old lady Margaret who has no one in this world, and took care of many orphans regularly.
‘But, then why didn’t you discuss this with me?’
‘Yeah, you are right but as I came to know more about you I was also observing the changes in you. And because of this transformation, I am in front of you now. I also saw that you are slowly disengaging from your dark side. Moreover, when you mustered up enough courage to tell me about your real self, my trust for you became complete, I respect you for that, Thomas. It is another thing that I too was alone in this world and wanted some kind of emotional support.’
‘You are right in that sense, a person like me who never cared for anything in the world just started changing after your silky touch of unselfish love took care of me. I began to feel that there is someone in this world to whom I belong.
And then I decided that, I must reveal true facts about my life to you, but with that I had that fear of losing you. Nevertheless, my conscious kept biting my inner soul and I made up my mind as not to keep you in the dark, whatever may be the outcome. Yes, I want to leave all this, I do not want this life any more. I want true love. In the past, I had been hated and rejected by all. But, I see hope in your love.’
Cuckoo didn’t allow him to speak further, she put a hand on his lips and in an instant both were embracing intensely. Thus she declared her undying love for him. Few tears from Thomas’s eyes fell on the cheeks of Cuckoo. The stone had melted.
For few moments complete silence and serenity prevailed in the atmosphere of approaching night.
‘Let us live together and make our own little world,’ Cuckoo whispered excitedly. She never was happier in her life.
‘Cuckoo, you stole my words, but there is one problem. However, it cannot be termed as a problem, at least for me, but if I complete that job, I would get huge amount of money. Yeah, once I get this load of money everything would be just fine. This is going to be the last job for me. We will leave this country; go anywhere in the Middle East, Canada, America, or Europe. With this money we will open up a hotel business. You will do your singing and I will manage the counter.
“Thomas! My Love! After marriage, I won’t sing for others, I will sing only for you. I am tired of singing for others. However, but your story seems like a filmy one.”
“Life is also a big story, my dear….”
“Oh! My Romeo, but you were telling me about some work. What is it?”
“See, Cuckoo, it is a dangerous job, high risk and more money, you know? I agreed to do this job just in order to get out of this shady life.” He got up and started his bike. He left Cuckoo at St. Peters church, warmly kissed her good bye and went away in the darkness.
Cuckoo, watched seeing him till he was no longer visible. But a third person was watching both of them. And they were quite unaware of this. That person quickly took out his cell phone and talked to somebody.
That night Cuckoo had a disturbed sleep. Somehow, her mind had lost peace. Intuition akin to women only told her that, from now onwards things won’t be the same.
♣♣♣
Recently, in the hotel Blue-Hills new shows of ‘salsa’ and ‘Belly dance’ had been included. West Indian dancer Maria was gaining popularity for her show. There used to be lot of rush to see this show. It used to start from mid night and end at 3-00 A.M.
Right now, Thomas was sitting at the last corner table. He was looking slightly strange though, but in an impressive way. He was seeping beer from the glass. There were two empty beer bottles on the table. He was munching wafers and cashew nuts along with the beer. Thoughts were rushing fast in his brain: “Abdual Hamid Lucca would catch a flight at 7:30 am; for that he would have to get up at around 5:00 am. in order to complete his morning chores andhaving breakfast, a short visit to the kennel where his dog Moby resided and then… then nothing, he wouldn’t be able to do anything thereafter; yeah, he would definitely come there, near the kennel in the balcony to pamper his dog; it was a ritual that he observed without fail; he would always spend about five minutes with Moby”.
This much time was enough for Thomas. He would aim in the chest and fire with silencer attached pistol. He had never missed a shot in his life. In the wee hours nobody would hear the noise under the effect of deep slumber, only Moby would start barking and that would not attract much attention. Thinking thus he suddenly felt very excited and slowly caressed his weapon.
Customers were swaying with the loud music and were totally absorbed, while Thomas was only thinking about his job ahead. He once again thought over his plan in minute details. There should not be any error. An error meant question of life and death. Lot was at stake here. He had selected terrace of a school building which was exactly opposite to the bungalow of Abdul Hamid for his purpose. One can easily aim at the balcony of that bungalow from the terrace.
The magic of sensuous bodies of dancers were casting a spell on the spectators. Such was the terrific effect of combined atmosphere of dance and music. As the dance neared its culmination, the rhythm and pitch of the music also reached its climax and so did their excitement. The ‘show’ came to an end. There was thunderous applause. Everybody dispersed with a sigh. They had wanted more of it.
Thomas came out last. He took out his Cuban Cigar, he preferred Cuban to the Mexican. It had slightly sweet taste in it. He lighted his cigar with a quick gesture and puffed at it few times. Its burning end glowed in the darkness of approaching night. He then threw it and looked around him. And he rode the bike and went away. He reached the predestined place and parked his bike at the back of a school buildings wall. He jumped over the wall in no time and entered the compound. He opened the grilled entrance with a duplicate key and entered the building. Straight away he climbed up the staircase and took his position stealthily in one corner of the terrace from where he can shoot his target. Only one night guard used to be there because it was just a school building and no valuables were to be guarded. There were only benches, tables, chairs & stools and cupboards so the guard always went to sleep after 2 am without worrying about thieves. As per his usual habit he was in deep sleep right at the moment.
The tower adjoining the school struck one loud bang indicating 4:30 am. Thomas also confirmed the time by looking at his watch. He thought that Lucca would now get up after half an hour. Till then he waited like a predator. The tower struck five noisy bangs and immediately his hand acted with lightning speed, he took out his pistol. After few minutes he saw that some rooms and the balcony were lighted. He guessed that Hamid Lucca must have started his morning chores, now he will have to wait and watch till he appears in the balcony.
Thomas was ready to spring into action. 5, 10 minutes must have gone by and Lucca was visible in the balcony. He was alone. As soon as Moby saw him, it came near to him and stood on two legs to show affection. Lucca too touched it on its head and caressed. Then he threw few biscuits in the air. The dog went after it. Lucca now turned, facing the road side. The moment came for which Thomas was waiting so anxiously. He took his position and fired. He saw Lucca falling; Moby left the food and started barking. Thomas thought that he had hit the target accurately. With lightning speed he descended the steps. As he was trying to start his motor cycle someone hit a powerful blow on his head. He blanked out instantly and fell to the ground. Two hefty fellows quickly came forward and lifted him and threw him in the van which had appeared from nowhere. The other fellow who had come with the van started Thomas’s bike. The vehicle moved away in no time.
Thomas, woke up, and opened his eyes slowly, his head was paining excruciatingly. In an instant he realized the situation he was in, and got annoyed with himself. First time in his life he was surprised like this. He was overpowered as if he was a common thief. Then he thought calmly, yeah, after shooting Lucca when he was going down the staircase, he was filled with thoughts. And with this rush of thoughts he was absorbed in the pool of varied emotions. That is why he was outsmarted like this. Actually he was lost in dreaming about Cuckoo, her company, a sweet home and all that, damn it!, now there is no meaning in brooding about that. Absent mindedly, just out of old habit he put his hand to the holster. There was nothing there. At the same time someone spoke in a deep voice, “Mr. Thomas, it is here!” He, turned and looked in the direction of the voice, he saw Hamid Lucca sitting comfortably in a chair. He could not believe his eyes. Lucca was playing with pistol.
He was smiling, Thomas looked at him angrily.
“Mr. Thomas, are you surprised seeing me alive and kicking? Your shot was accurate, planning was excellent. But you know, I was wearing a bullet proof jacket, and that is why I am in front of you, now. This whole plan was orchestrated by me, otherwise, who would wear a jacket like that in the morning. This was to trap you. My job is to deport you to Afghanistan’s border and that is enough for me”, Hamid Lucca said shrewdly.
‘Afghanistan? Why Afghanistan? What is the reason for me to be sent there? I am not your slave?’
‘I don’t know, when you go there find out for yourself. In this business, job is given and done with. They wanted a clever and brave person like you, I suppose. You needed no certificate, so I just had to trap you. You be better ready to move to Afghanistan.’
‘And if I don’t go?’ Thomas asked.
Abdul Hamid Lucca started laughing loudly. ‘Are you asking me this question being an underworld man? They are so cunning and imaginative that they expected this kind of behavior from you, so they took necessary measures for that.’
‘I do not understand,’ Thomas spoke.
‘Oh, you will understand, and also cooperate,’ saying this he took out a video disc and played it. Thomas saw that Cuckoo was tied up hands and feet and was crying for help. Thomas’s temples were throbbing with anger and he sprang quickly to catch Luca’s throat. His grip was firm, eyes angry, ‘Speak out you bustard, were is she? Who is behind this? If you hurt her then no one would be able to save your skin.’
However, Abdul’s men came and set him free. Abdul was gasping for breath, but still he managed to speak, “I do not have any personal animosity with you, this is strictly for business. We have never crossed each other’s path before. They wanted you, and that is that. This assignment was given to me, and I too was helpless. Their organization is big, very big. We are rats, just tiny rats in front of them. They can find anyone anywhere and they have taken Cuckoo with them; the rest of the work i.e. sending you to Afghanistan was left for me. And they instructed me to show this video clip, in case if you hesitate in obeying their commands. There is a flight at 10:45 tonight. Take this bag; there is your passport, tickets and useful things in it. No more questions, because I don’t know no more.”
