In the Shadow of Destiny

By Bob Butalia

An ancient horoscope portends the coming of a versatile woman with attributes desirous of a consort of the Gods. In a male dominated society this is an unprecedented forecast.
Durga survives a terrorist ambush as a child and is safeguarded by Indra a woman insurgent. Later, Durga an outstanding talent launches a company that attracts US venture capital. On return to India, Kanta her foster mother a provincial politician is killed. This prompts Durga to fight, win an election and become a minister in the BJP government.
Brigadier Syed Ali forcibly retired from Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is determined to get India to relinquish Kashmir. Crippling multiple terror strikes are executed by Syed Ali against New Delhi. In parallel China stages a false flag incident by Captain Dingbang in North Eastern Kashmir. Durga Vadera is nominated as prime minister to handle the crisis.
Durga permits computer simulation tests of Irans nuclear weapon in a backroom deal engineered by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. A secretive crisis management group of eminent talent is set up to synergize Indian actions. India also instigates attacks in Baluchistan Province of Pakistan bordering Iran to disrupt Chinas New Silk Route through Pakistan to Gwadar Port.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Sep 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482857917

Bob Butalia

Bob Butalia is a former Indian Army tank corps brigadier with wide experience of both conventional conflict and anti-insurgent operations. He participated in the Battle of Basantar, the last major tank battle fought in the Indian subcontinent. He is currently an advisor to a well-known US multinational company in India. Married with two children, Bob has a wife with an unerring eye for detail, a son in the army whose spouse is a journalist, and a journalist daughter married to a banker, so constructive criticism is a constant companion. Bob has been through the mortification and chastening experience of losing an only copy of a draft of a book more than a decade ago and suffering a writer’s block thereafter. His weight-loss e-book Zen and the Art of Burning Belly and Butt Fat is a digression from his preferred genre. The feedback from readers of The Assassin’s Mace has resulted In the Destiny Trilogy. The Pillars of Destiny is the second book of the Trilogy.

Book preview

Chapter 1

THROW OF THE DICE

Go to sleep Durga. It is almost 11pm! Anita said to her daughter Durga.

Ma, my holidays start tomorrow. I just want to finish my book. It is about a dog that refuses to leave the side of his dead master even for food.

Durga indicated the remaining thin sheaf of pages between the forefinger and index finger of her right hand to her mother.

OK, turn off your bed side light as soon as you are done. Papa wants us packed and ready to move latest by 5 am tomorrow morning.

‘I’ll be ready Ma-you don’t have to wake me up. I still think there is no reason for me to go. It’s not as if Papa and you are going away for a week. I heard Papa tell the driver that he expects to be back before sunset tomorrow. And the only packing that needs to be done is by you-of something to eat."

Anita smiled and bent down to pat her daughter on her head and gently kissed her on one cheek. Both of us think it will be good for you to see a different type of school. Maybe then you will think twice about complaining when your teacher lets your class off late!

Ma, it was only once! Durga said looking up from her book.

Anita continued You have also complained in the past that the fans don’t work at school and there is no water in the washroom. One day you will thank us for this trip. It will give you a different perspective of how other children cope with life.

The next morning a few minutes before 5 am a battered Mahindra Bolero SUV drew up at the front of the house. It had brass lettering on a plate above the front bumper. It read ‘UN Adult Literacy Mission’. They were to pass through a former insurgent dominated area. As a matter of abundant precaution, since long term UN funding was at stake, a police escort had been ordered by the District Commissioner.

A Maruti Gypsy vehicle with five armed policemen with semiautomatic rifles waited at the gate. It would precede the Bolero as an escort. Anita and Durga climbed into the rear of the vehicle. Naveen, father of Durga strapped himself in and sat up in front.

Where are we headed for Papa? Durga asked after a few minutes. The narrow road was almost deserted early morning except for occasional cows sitting contentedly sprawled in the middle.

"To a village named Konta in South Bastar Dantewada. It is about 100 km away. The UN has funded a school for adults there. I have to inspect it. I will perhaps recommend expansion in case the school is well run and if there are enough takers for further admission.

The school is located in a refugee camp. People fled there after they were attacked by Maoist insurgents last year. Incidentally, your mother told me that you did not wish to come along with us Durga?

Papa, what will I do there-I’ll be completely out of place? You have said in the past said that children should not be seen to be taking advantage of their parents official positions! Travelling with you, am I not doing precisely that?

Naveen responded I can see that like your Ma you have a memory like a steel trap. You never forget anything! This visit is a different ball game. It is a low key affair without spectators. You’ll see how the most deprived tribal people in India actually live and learn. Durga, you will also be able to help me with your feedback by indicating the changes that are essential from a student’s point of view.

My dearest, now that you are almost fourteen, we never want you to forget that we’re so much more fortunate than our tribal population. We should be pro-active and not simply be sitting on our good fortune.

Anita interjected "We should aspire to do so much more for India and the tribals in particular since we have the ability. All it needs is a little will.

This opportunity has come purely because of our education. It is because of the sacrifices of your grandparents. They denied themselves even food at times, to pay for the schooling of your mother and me. It gave us the openings to prove ourselves worthy of the trust they had in us. We cannot fail them!

Naveen added You will get some sense of what your parents could have ended up as today. It may be difficult for you to imagine but your mother and I never got a chance to study under an electric light when we were growing up.

Is that why Ma and you wear those thick glasses? Durga asked.

Yes. Occasionally a kerosene lantern was lit for a little while in the evenings. This was when there was money to buy fuel. It was only lit for long enough for food to be cooked. The strain of reading in almost nonexistent light, intermingled with smoke, resulted in us having poor vision today.

Anita said "We never told you before today about how little we had growing up. Now you are of an age when you can understand our background. We ate what the family grew. When the rains failed, as it happened every few years, very little survived of what was sowed. Our two acre farm permitted no margin for error. Neither of us ate more than two meals a day for many years; sometimes only one. Both our mothers looked like skeletons and 50 or more before they were 30 years old.

How did Ma and you first meet Papa? Durga asked.

Naveen said "A throw of the dice. It was ordained by our intertwined fates. Your mothers’ parents lived in the same village as mine did. They were also subsistence farmers and almost neighbors. That is how we have always known each other.

Fortunately we were able to go to the government school in the next village of Shapur. Our parents wanted us to be better off than them. Your mother and I walked seven kilometers either way from our homes to school.

Durga said Ma told me you had to sit on the floor to be taught. The only furniture in the classroom was a black board. I find it difficult to imagine such conditions!

Naveen continued We were lucky in many ways. Our teacher Shakti Singh was extremely dedicated. Single handedly he compensated for the poor surroundings. He instilled in us a thirst for learning. On a few occasions he even paid our school fees from his pittance of a salary.

Anita was smiling "Your father proposed to me when he was 11 years old. I was then 9. My parents just burst into laughter when I told them I was going to get married to Naveen. It took us another 14 years to finally do so. That happened only after he got a job as a Math teacher.

Your father and I have been singularly blessed. We have you, Durga and also each other. We carry a moral obligation to our country. We need to help make India into a nation which we are proud of. We also know in our hearts that when you grow up, you will do your best for your country. You will make us proud of you in our old age.

Tears in her eyes Durga committed herself. Ma, Papa I promise to make you both proud of me some day! I will do my very best for India. How I don’t know yet but I’ll think of something. There is time.

An hour later Durga had nodded off to sleep. Her head was on her mother’s shoulder. The blast of an explosion shocked her awake. At a pronounced bend in the road, where the driver had slowed to a crawl, the police Maruti Gypsy ahead had been flipped over by the detonation of a land mine under it. It was being raked by a hail of bullets from the jungle abutting the road.

A few seconds later the Bolero was also hit. The tires flattened.

Maoist ambush definitely! Anita, Durga jump out quickly. Follow me into the jungle Naveen shouted.

As Naveen opened the door to jump out another hail of bullets almost clipped him in half. The driver was nowhere to be seen.

Anita ran to her husband followed closely by Durga. Bullets clipped the ground around her as she dropped to her knees gently cradling her husband’s bleeding head. Naveen was already dead.

A dozen black uniformed figures emerged out of the woods. Two of them dragged a delirious Anita and a dazed Durga into the forest with a rifle held to their backs.

Walk and keep your mouths shut they were told by their captors. A brutal pace was set by them. Three hours later they crossed a stream and entered an even denser part of the forest. A water bottle each was flung at mother and daughter to drink from.

In a small clearing there were signs of a temporary encampment and cooking fires of firewood. More than thirty insurgents including four women were present. A heavily muscled short statured man who seemed to be the leader pulled up an exhausted disoriented Anita. He ripped off her blouse uncovering her firm taut breasts. He then pushed her behind a bush.

She is mine for the next 10 minutes! The rest of you can follow if you want. Unbuttoning his trousers in front of all his men as also the four women present he revealed a throbbing erection oblivious of the watchers.

As their leader disappeared behind the bush dragging Anita along a mad scramble broke out amongst the remaining insurgents to grab Durga. Torn and bleeding Durga was dragged by three men behind a line of bushes.

Two of them pinned her to the ground. They tore of her remaining clothes. The third slipped his hand between her legs. He was lowering his whole body on to her when the whiplash of a woman’s sharp voice froze the three men.

Pandu I will shoot your balls off. I will stuff them into your mouth to send to your mother if you don’t stop! She is only a little girl, younger than your daughter.

Indra what are you doing here-this is none of your damn business! You can have here once we’ve finished with her. We all know your sexual preferences. You would be a contented woman otherwise with so many men around. The insurgents around their leader sniggered.

Indra a slim dark skinned woman, with an unlit tobacco hand rolled beedi between her lips, moved with the easy grace of a panther. She prodded the barrel of her rifle into his mouth and shouted at him.

Just utter one more word Pandu and you can join your unknown father in hell! Now get out of here and take these two clowns with you.

Indra kept her weapon pointing at the three men until they had gone. Come with me child she said to Durga in a completely normal voice. I won’t let anyone harm you. You’ve suffered enough today for a lifetime.

In a state of shock at being so close to being gang raped Durga dragged herself to her feet. Just then a shot was fired in the near distance.

Where have they taken my mother?

Barely a 100 meters away in the bushes the fifth insurgent had forcibly mounted a limp and bleeding Anita. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a knife, dropped by one of her assailants, in the foliage a few feet away.

Harder, faster she urged the man riding her. The surprised Maoist had seen her comatose on the ground like a log of wood when his companions violated her body before him. He vigorously responded to her urgings. He slammed into her as hard as he could and allowed himself to be distracted.

Anita’s right hand closed around the hilt of the weapon that had been just out of her reach. She plunged the knife into his back almost up to the hilt. A mad rush of adrenaline gave her the strength.

Forgive me Durga! Anita muttered to herself. One of the men lined up saw the flash of the knife. At point blank range he blew Anita’s head off.

Chapter 2

SAVIOR

In a daze Durga followed Indra. Her world had turned on its head in a few short hours. She had stared death in the face. She has seen the police escort blown away by a mine. She had seen her father cut almost in two by a hail of bullets. She had been half dragged at the point of a gun through jungle and mountain terrain. This had been going on for more hours than she could remember.

Durga had also seen her mother being dragged away by a brute off a man. By the sound of firing sometime later Anita was apparently raped and killed. She hoped that she was wrong. She could not imagine life without her parents and in particular her mother. Durga herself had come close to being raped. She shivered at the thought. The event seems to have been merely postponed.

She had heard enough tales about how Maoist insurgents treated women and prisoners. She realized that she was temporarily fortunate to have found a guardian out of the blue.

The sun had set and sudden darkness was pervading the forest. Indra halted at the edge of the encampment. Two women were sitting cross legged chatting softly and getting a small fire going. Durga was dead beat. The events of the day, the long walk from the ambush site, her protected childhood, all conspired to take a heavy toll of her youthful frame.

That mother fucker Pandu was trying to rape this child! Indra said as Durga collapsed in a heap.

The motherly instincts of the three women superseded every other thought. They straightened out her body. One of them put a small back pack under her head to make her more comfortable. They took off her shoes and massaged her feet. One of them splashed some water from a water bottle gently on Durga’s face. She then wiped it with her own dress.

Durga was oblivious to all this. She had passed out. Just before daylight Durga stirred. Indra lying close by a few feet away along with the two other women, gently stroked her face and forehead with a damp cloth and gave her some water to drink.

You saved my life-why? Durga asked in a croaked voice. You are a part of this gang of killers. You have killed my father and mother-what wrong have we done to you?

"Pandu is the son of a pig and brings us all a bad name but he is an efficient fighter. He has saved us from security forces ambushes time and again. He is a confidante of Kalu our leader in this dalam. We’ll talk later when there is time. In 15 minutes we need to move.

The search for us by the police has begun. Quickly go there-pointing to an area behind a large boulder. You can wipe yourself clean with teak leaves. Indra picked up a large leaf to show her making a sign of wiping her bottom. What is your name so it becomes easier to talk to you?

Durga she mumbled thinking whether she could run away from them.

Reading her body language Indra said Don’t even think of it! You will be caught before you take ten steps. Even I will not be able to save you then. Now go quickly and shit. It is already near daylight and hand me that gold chain around your neck. We can make good use of it later.

The Maoists were stretched out single file in a long column perhaps a kilometer long. The three insurgent women and Durga were somewhere in the center. Soon they heard the sound of a helicopter overhead. All of them froze. They had not been spotted as the helicopter carried on going straight.

As the sun filtered through the thick canopy of forest and could be seen overhead the column halted and rested. This was across a small stream from where they drew water and ate the boiled rice each carried. Herbs and wild fruit had been picked up on the march and added to the sparse meal.

You did not answer my question Indra-why did you save me from Pandu? Durga asked Indra.

"Because I too have younger sisters-five of them back home! There is no way I would let any harm come to them. The youngest one is about your age. I too have been physically abused years ago.

"I was raped by the Salwa Judum tribal vigilantes, our very own people. They were bribed to fight against us by the police. That was before I learnt to use this. Indra said waving her weapon. Now go to sleep. We will march again in two hours."

But sleep eluded Durga after the first night. She had then collapsed out of pure exhaustion. Images continued to play out non-stop like a kaleidoscope in her mind. Images of her father being cut to pieces. Images of her mother being dragged off before her eyes and of Pandu and his gang of cut throats forcing themselves on her.

Why don’t you just kill me? Durga asked Indra as the column commenced moving again. I’m sure no one will let me go free. The police will never waste time looking for me. I don’t matter to anyone.

Don’t you have a family aside from your mother and father- surely you have grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts?

There is no one except my grandmother on my father’s side. She is now very old and lives by herself. I’ve only seen her once, a few years ago. She lives near the Railway station in a place called Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh. When she hears about my father being killed she will surely die herself out of shock.

"Don’t give up hope child. While Indra is with you everything is possible. You will surely see your grandmother before the rains set in two months down the line. That is my promise to you.

In the meantime keep your mouth shut and your eyes open. Do what I tell you. I have told Kalu that we can hold you for a ransom payment by the Chhattisgarh State Government in due course. I have also suggested that we exchange you for some of our people caught by the police. I have taken an oath to keep an eye on you so you cannot escape.

In the next four days Durga moved a few steps behind Indra in a daze. She was barely able to keep up, although the group moved slowly to minimize sound. This also permitted the scouts in front of the column to reconnoiter the lay of the land. The scouts were to ensure that they did not walk into any trap set by the security forces.

We have covered more than 120 km so far. We have crossed over the interstate boundary into Andhra Indra explained to Durga. Another day of marching and we will be safe-unless the Greyhounds find us first.

In spite of the ordeal she was going through Durga retained a childlike curiosity. Durga could not help asking Indra Greyhounds? But I read that grey hounds are dogs used for tracking? That means that the dogs will surely find us. It hasn’t rained to destroy the scent of the column!

Indra explained They are far worse than tracker dogs! The Greyhounds are just named after these dogs. They consist of the best men from the Andhra police force. They are trained as commandos and keep moving in compact bands of 15-25 each. The small size of these groups helps in infiltrating deep into the jungle where we normally live.

You sound as if you are scared of them, so there is a pecking order in who petrifies whom? Durga observed The police escorting my parents were scared of you Maoists. I spoke to the police escort before we started from home. They sounded distinctly unhappy moving into your areas.

Indra said "Last year we bumped into the Greyhounds once and lost 17 people. It will be an unequal fight if we run into them again. They are properly equipped with night vision glasses, bullet proof vests, sleeping bags and dry rations.

The Greyhounds have first-hand knowledge of the districts where they operate. Many of them have been born there. They are also in a better position to gain intelligence about our movements from the local population.

"Indra, how come you joined this dalam?" Durga asked.

Indra took a vigorous last puff and stubbed out her beedi before answering. "My father was accused of being an informer in a trial conducted by Soma one of the senior Naxal leaders six years ago. Before my father another villager accused of being a traitor had been punished with a death sentence. My father was told to carry the sentence out or give a son as a recruit to the dalam."

Wide eyed at this disclosure Durga asked What happened then?

"Since I have no brothers I volunteered to join the dalam so my father would not have to shoot the man. I was to have got married the next day. The moment I agreed my father was acquitted.

Even then two of my sisters were badly beaten up with a stick. Then a rope was put around the neck of the person sentenced. I was forced to pull one end. Soma pulled the other until their prisoner died! I have not been back ever since. I will surely be arrested by the local police if I go.

"So you were basically blackmailed into joining the dalam? Durga could not conceal the anguish in her voice. What happened to the man you were to marry?

With a note of disgust Indra responded. "There was not a sound out of him. He was present at the trial. If he had volunteered to join the dalam Soma would have agreed to the replacement. I would still have been happily at home.

"That evening in the camp Soma completed my initiation by raping me. Two days later a Greyhound sniper shot and wounded him in the chest. It took Soma many hours to die.

I was told to look after him-I made sure he suffered even more. I dropped a handful of salt on his wound. None of the men dare mess with me anymore!

Soon after the Greyhounds found Kalu’s dalam and set up an ambush. This was near an east west flowing stream along which the jungle trail followed on one bank. With the sun at their backs the Greyhound group of 15 men waited. As the scouts went passed they were shot in the back and head by a sharp shooter with a silenced AK 47.

What saved Indra and Durga was the fact that Durga was so exhausted that Indra and she had dropped well behind the end of the column. They were still resting when the ambush was sprung. The rest of the Maoist column was caught by enfilade fire from the flanks in the selected killing zone.

The fire fight was short intense and entirely one sided. Indra had in the meanwhile dragged a terrified but courageous Durga into the shadow of the forest.

"We will wait them out. Unless they have taken prisoners the Greyhounds will probably be itching to get back to base. They will celebrate this victory. If someone is alive from the dalam rest assured they will know about us not coming into the killing zone. This will happen within an hour of the Greyhounds starting interrogation of the survivors."

An hour later it was dark. Indra whispered "Stay here Durga-this is our chance to