Armor (Priya)

 When his inspector was instructing them on the action to be taken Cadet 1541 was trying
to remain calm. On the projector a map was shown. It was his city that was shown on the
screen, It was so strange to see the area where he grew up to be represented in lines and
rectangles. While looking at it he was looking for some familiar places he could see.
His city was famous for having small sidelanes. If a four wheeler took 15 minutes to reach
a place , he and his friends could reach in no more than 5 minutes. The whole network of
these sidelanes was fixed in his brain. If an outsider asked for a particular address it was
very difficult for them to tell the directions precisely. How could you tell an outsider to take a
slight left to the pipal tree and then again a slight left where Abdul chacha sells his balloons.
It was easier for the kids to take the outsider with them and drop him to the address.
When he looked at that map. The area where he grew up is shown as a big red circle. The
inspector was explaining that it was the most affected area. The communal riots were at
peak. People were hell bent on killing each other. It was unbelievable for him. He agreed
that Hindu Muslim relations shown in bollywood movies were over the top. But people he
knew were never thirsty for each other's blood.

He hated to sugarify the past and convince his kids that it was the best thing. But he
surely had fun without any money. His school was full of both muslim and hindu pupil and
same with teachers. Before exams gods and Pirs were asked for help irrespective of the
child's religion. There was a tree in his area where on one side there was Hanuman Ji and
on the other side Pir Sahab.

Kids had their network of sidelines Similarly women had their network on top of the
house. Women used to share their joys and sorrows while doing household chores on
terraces. A hindu girl may learn how to do kadhai from her muslim mausi and a muslim girl
could learn the basics of achar from her hindu bua. Grandfathers from both communities
fight over politics but grandmothers will surely send some homemade medicines if a child is
sick. They never see what religion or caste the child belonged to.

He was not sure how he was going to handle his emotions. People from this area were
burning each other’s houses, murdering each other.
But he has to do what his duty tells him to do. Otherwise his mother, sisters, buas and
mausis will never be safe in this situation. He has to control this situation for his people from
both sides by blood or by association.

Cadet 1541 got out his riot armor and secured on his body. Helmet was placed on his
head and baton in his head. He was ready to protect his area from the poison of communal
hatred. With head held high he climbed the vehicle to fight the riots.