World is Abstract

on my trip to the jungles of Chhattisgarh along with a local police officer... (Pix by Ranjan Basu, photo editor, The Sunday Indian) “ Heaven is a forest of miles and miles of mohua trees, and hell is a forest of miles and miles of mohua trees …” The dry season made it impossible to tread silently in the jungle. As we walked around restively, we trampled upon dead leaves. They let off a wave of loud crunching noises. Surrounded by five armed policemen, including three special police officers (SPOs-former Maoists), we were made to wait in the bushes in the forest touching Barga village in north Bastar, a Maoist-infested belt in Chhattisgarh, a region where death is a silent, invisible stalker. “Awaz kyun kar rahan hain, (Why are you making that noise),” hissed the Dhanera police station havildar from a perch behind a huge rock, his AK-46 in an assault mode. The object of his indignation was a gun-totting SPO, who dared to walk away from his assigned position. The only sound pierci...

February 2, 1995. Ashok Kumar was about to board the train at Chakmaru Station in Pakistan. His destination was Lahore from where he would cross over to India. Suddenly, two Pakistani rangers, appeared from nowhere and accosted him. “Why is there mud on your shoes?” the probing eyes of the rangers sought to know. “Sukumal gaon se ayah hun (I have come from Sukumal village).” Ashok replied. “What’s your father’s name, what do you do, what about your family, wife and children,” the barrage of questions did not stop. “Come to the rest room,” the rangers ordered.Inside, Ashok was made to take-off his pathani suit and his undergarments. The game was up. Ashok, spying for the Indian security forces since 1989 was caught. For the next eight years, this man would go through a nightmarish journey of terror and torture. The TSI team located Ashok and others from Dadwan and Kang villages in Punjab, who risked their lives for the nation, only to be left in the lurch, after being caught by the Paki...

February 19 2007. Deep inside the jungles of Jharkhand bordering Orissa, one hundred delegates, comprising the core of the Maoist leadership in India had gathered. The event was the much awaited 9th Congress of the CPI(Maoist). A protective umbrella was thrown around by the armed People’s Liberation Guerilla Army(PLGA). Several sentry posts were put up inside the thick forest to keep a constant vigil. Patrolling teams formed by the comrades of the Central Military commune, called CM-KC commune, continuously scoured the area for any slightest sign of enemy movement and the villages surrounding the forest had been asked to act as “eyes and ears of the Party.” For any trespasser or any suspicious character, the order was :”Shoot to Kill.” According to a document in possession of the TSI, homage was paid to two “martyrs”, comrade Chandramouli alias Naveen and his wife, a divisional committee member, Karuna, who were “arrested tortured and murdered” by the police. The document, while spe...