Thirteen Years and Counting.................(Part-20)

We spent that night at our places while I kept worrying about Ami as town was getting tensed at it grew dark.Security vigilance was tight across Faizabad district and aticle -144 was imposed in whole state of Uttar Pradesh. We were not sure how the day was set to start,so we kept our mobile devices open,charged and ready to be recieved through out the night.
All the lodges,hotels and guest houses were occupied by media persons as only couple of days were left to the event 'Ram Shila Pujan'. I had no autority to enter inside the town as only government officials,police,security personals and media was allowed to roam around. So,the whole night I was busy discovering the route through which I can reach to the hotel where Ami was staying,and successfuly I discoverd a route ,an isolated,rough ,crossing through many viallages and at the end connected to the Faizabad route,to the hotel where Ami was staying.

I took my old bicycle which I rode when I was in 12th standerd and reached to the Hotel Shan-E-Awadh to see Ami and assist her. Ami was all awake and waiting for me .She was tensed as she got to know that army and police were going to excercise Flag March across entire town in order to build the confidence level of residents of town who were already frightended,tensed and disturbed.
Ami was not sure if I would be able to cop up with the situation.She deliberatley asked me if I was ready. I nodded that I was firm to accompany her through tight security and tensed town.
We rode that small red car and headed towards Ayodhya.We could see police and paramilitary forcess all around .We sailed across chowk and noticed that each shop was closed and there was no presence of a single person on the streets.Only security vehicles were moving in Faizabad and towards Ayodhya. We reached Ayodhya and positioned ourselves at a cross road which connected National highway to the temple bylane--the road which stretched towards Hanuman Garhi. We were among our fellows,cameras--still and TV,media persons representing Indian and western media.Some of them have come from Delhi while some had landed directly from their respective countries. Like Sky news team had landed from Beijing to see how Ayodhya and the nation was going to react on one of the massive gathering after 1992.
It was 07:00 A.M. Not a single person on street,houses and shops closed.Security personals deployed on streets,in bylanes and above roof tops of houses.
We waited for the Flag March to start. And then we saw a police Gipsy announcing about the route of the March. Ami and me just had finished our conversation that which place could be suitable to cover the Flag Mrach and ended our meeting on to manage to get inside the moving petroling vehicles,paramilitary forcess and the horses which were part of carvan.
I must admit that Ami and me both were working like a soldier deployed in a warzone all ready with our arsenals.
And then the Flag March headed from the extreme north of the town to the place where we were positioned. A 'Paidal' batallion first, then motorcade,horsebattalion,motorcade and then again the Paidal battallion. Ami was already equiped her camera and sat down on road to snap a couple of hundred photographs in less than fifteen minutes. She was moving herself with camera faster than we type on our keyboards. And then I saw the expertise of her when she entered like a hurricane inside the carwan and began taking photographs. I waited for her as she waved towards me to get on roof top of houses so we may get some excellent photographs. Within a blink of eye we were on roof top of a house from where we took hundred of photographs of the Flag March. While we were negotiating the stairs we saw a lonely child crying without anyone to take care of him.I took him in my laps,knocked at a door handed him over to a neighbourhood who knew about the parrents and rushed to accopany Ami in a bylane. The Flag March headed towards the workshop where the stones for temple construction were shaped.


To be continued...................... Ram Shila Pujan and the problem without ID Card.