The bigger a challenge, the greatest becomes the zeal to undertake it.
The first thing Batakrishna did after reading the news was to meet the news giver.
He folded the letter, straight into his pocket and headed straight to Loretto All Girls Day School on his motor bike. He signed a paper seeking permission to meet Bhargavi at the entrance of the convent. Not even once did he fumble to sign his name as her family. He was her family, in what way he didn't care, but he knew he has always been THAT girl's guardian!
The convent was big, surrounded by a sprawling green ground with occasional shades of banyan and Gulmohar trees. The sheer quietude of the convent, the arched hallways, and the echoes in the enormous waiting area amplified the restlessness that he had felt in his heart.
If Nakul was in police custody for a week now, his mind raced, god knows how many bones would still be intact in his body!
Time was ticking way faster than usual, he thought, pacing restlessly in the waiting area and Bhargavi was taking longer than usual.

"Miss, your brother has come to seek an audience with you."
The young Irish sister with her almost incomprehensible accent knocked on the half closed door frame of Bhargavi's dorm room, inviting an eye roll from her roommate, Revathi.

"Her brother?" The girl instantly narrowed her eyes and widened her mouth large enough for a large sized Roshogolla.

"Certainly Miss, a Doctor Roy Choudhary it says." The sister adjusted her thin rimmed small round glasses and read the name from a small chit held in her hand.

Revathi heard her and then dramatically burst into a fit of laughter.

Revathi was the youngest daughter of some Maharaja from the northern part of India who had taken admission in this prestigious convent for a more westernised study and in course had befriended Bhargavi on the very first day. It was a friendship of convenience initially, but in just a week she released that she would need this spectacled girl in more than one ways. She even had her father pull a few strings to make their arrangements in the same dorm room. Revathi, bright and beautiful, rich and powerful, and Bhargavi?
Well, besides her immaculate knowledge on Mathematics and indomitable bravery, she was the ugly duckling!

The sister was waiting. Revathi rolled her eyes at her friend zestfully.

"Stop that, will you?" It was Bhargavi's turn to return the gesture at the girl before she turned to the sister bowing in the manner of a newly learnt courtesy.
"Please tell him I'll be right there Sister, thank you." Bhargavi bowed with politeness and quickly picked up the hand mirror from her disarrayed study table. The sister left at once.

"Your brother, haan? Here here!" Revathi pursed her lips and threw a pillow at Bhargavi, as the duo exchanged a meaningful glance with each other.

"Stop, or else I won't write your Arithmetic homework." Bhargavi arranged the pleats of her midi skirt and kept the two neat braids forward on her shoulders.
Revathi pursed her lips.

"That you would anyway, Miss. I pay you handsomely, and you know how much your brother needs it, don't you?"

Bhargavi didn't reply as her eyes fell on Batuk's precious camera that was happily adorned on her bed-side table. Nakul had brought it to her, declaring his intention to pawn it for some money, and Bhargavi hadn't thought twice to borrow the money from her rich friend. She sighed, and then chewed her lips a bit to get a desired blood tint and then rushed off the door without sparing another glance at Revathi's smirking face. Revathi rolled on her bed, laughing, with the latest copy of a popular western fashion magazine kept lazily on her bosom.

The gigantic wall clock was ticking incessantly at the junction where the circular staircase spiraled down to the ground floor lobby. Bhargavi saw him while walking down that spiral staircase, from the gaps of the decorative wooden railing, pacing back and forth restlessly.

"Choto Babu." She called, doing an awkward newly learnt courtesy, and Batuk rushed towards her at once.

"Bhaggu... Tell me... Tell me everything." He spoke as if the words were held at his lips for a long time.
"Tell me from start to end... What happened that day?"

Bhargavi took a second to adjust, eyeing his anxious face and the sweat drenched shirt.

"It was that day, when he came for the letters.... and..." she narrated the incident in brief and looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "Nakul Dada would be safe, wouldn't he?"

Batakrishna didn't speak, for at that moment he couldn't conjure any words of encouragement to offer the young girl. He just took a deep breath and touched her head. "Do you have any idea which police station they took him to?"

"Dharmatala." Bhargavi gulped. Will you go now?"

Batakrishna nodded and let out a deep sigh, as if plotting his next course of action.

"Then take me with you, please." She urged. 

There probably wasn't any need to drag Bhargavi into this, she was probably a little too young, but Batakrishna , at that moment was too occupied to ponder over it. She asked and he didn't object, mostly because he needed someone to just be by his side, his mind wasn't working in the fashion it should have. Twenty minutes of a motor bike ride, Batakrishna speeding as if the fate of the world depends on it, and Bhargavi clenching the metal seat rest at the back, and clenching her teeth to counter it's acceleration. 

Dharmatala police station wasn't a big chowki. It was moderate, with Indian policemen, and local goons ornamenting the small jail within. They were meant to stay there overnight, sometimes may be a week, before there transfer to the Alipore court. Batuk parked his two wheeler somehow and rushed inside. 

"I am Doctor Batakrishna Ray Choudhary, you have arrested my assistant an week ago, Nakul is his name. May I know the reason why?" Words came out relentlessly before Batuk took a breath. 

The officer in charge knew very well who this young man was. He had very clear instructions from his uppers. He simply looked up and smiled at him, a smile that could boil blood. 

"I demand his release now. It is unlawful to hold a boy up for no reason." Batuk spat anger. 

The boy, well, he is dead." The officer in charge chuckled, awaiting to incinerate the young doctor further. Batuk looked demented, and then the officer added, " Not yet, but soon." he smiled cruelly. 

"May I know his crime?" 

"Kranti... the same old, same old", the officer smiled again, "The boy had secret message on him, a desi revolver without license, what else do you want Daktar babu?"

"Nonsense! he can't have all those, i am sure of it." Batuk spat out.

The officer looked at him for a few seconds. "You see Daktar babu, you screaming here won't do much help. In fact I can lock you up right away for this misbehavior." he paused to eye him for a few more. " So why don't you run home and fetch your big brother, and we will deal with him directly. We too wish to know why would a man under his patronage hold a gun against the British Raj, Its concerning, isn't it." 

"Why my brother?" Batuk widened his eyes in disbelieve. "What has he to do with all these? Nakul is my assistant and..." The officer didn't let him finish.

"What kind of an assistant Daktar babu?"

Batuk swallowed his rage, "Valet... sort of, well, he is learning Compoundery under my guidance."

"Compoundery, I see. So Daktar babu, your compounder seems to be in big shit. I know your influential big brother would want to put his magic at work, but just tell him not to be too late, Custodial death's are too common these days, cholera you see, we don't have any hand in it." He started chuckling evilly. 

"Where is he now, Nakul? Did you keep him here?" Batuk chewed the words, realizing he has already lost this battle, and now it was time for him to prepare for the war!

"Could be here, could not be here... who am I to tell you... Go, go Daktar babu, until my nicety lasts. Get the Barrister, and we will see how far this seed of Kranti runs in the family." The officer murmured, recalling the words, "Pull the ear and the head follows, automatically!

It was almost midday, dejected, defeated, Batakrishna walked out of the police station. Once inside this deadly Shrighar , it is almost equal to invoking the Yamraj to grant a rescue. And involving this Dada was the last thing Batakrishna wished to do. He had squabbled meaninglessly with him, with everyone in his family, just to keep them away from the dangers he was going to be in, and now, how could he just drag his Dada into that very mess! He knew the risks, from the very first moment he had agreed to undertake the assignment from Satyakirth Sen, from the first day that they had blew the Ray Bahadur mansion, till the Chattagram armory raid, all according to his plan, and now Batuk knew he wouldn't want to back off from this for the love of all his gods. He had pledged his life to his country, and he knew the risks. Nakul knew it too, and still he had agreed to be the confidant. But how could he just let go of his confidant without a fight? He wasn't even sure where Nakul was kept at that moment! What would he do? What should he?

Batakrishna walked unmindfully and crossed the street, lost in thoughts, temporarily unable to conjure up anything but rage and frustration when he heard Bhargavi called out his name, 

"Batuk dada, O dada!" Batuk turned around and saw Bhargavi stand beside a shade of a closed teashop. She looked anxious. "I called you Choto babu so many times, you weren't listening. So are you going now?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"Where?" Batuk looked puzzled, and then sighed loudly, "Oh yes, I will drop you to your school. Come." 

Bhargavi frowned and looked around hurriedly, before she pulled him by his hand into the narrow empty lane beside the tea stall. Batakrishna looked quizzically at her face. 

"Choto babu, are we going to BoroBazar Police station now?" She asked him in an adrenaline stained voice. "The two darwans at the police chowki were talking, they said Nakul da was taken to the BoroBazar Station last night." she breathed, "They had to move him discreetly last night, and that they couldn't get any sleep."

Batakrishna frowned, as his muscled tensed up at once. 

"They told you this? They were discussing this in front of you?" he asked and Bhargavi nodded her head vehemently in negation. 

"I was standing here," she explained," and those two were having tea, and they saw me, one of them asked me who i am in Bangla, I was a bit scared, so i didn't reply."

"Then?"

"Then one of them asked me in English and I replied back in English." Bhargavi lowered her voice. "I wished them not to know about me, so I told them I do not understand Bengali, and that my father is from the west and he has gone to a nearby shop and will be back in a minute."

"They believed you?" Batuk asked and Bhargavi grinned innocently. "So they started talking among themselves in Bangla and discussed all about last night. O Choto Babu, are you going to BoroBazar station now? and also, these two are meant to follow you, they were complaining about it, and said they are keeping an eye on your motor cycle. The moment you ride..."

"Na. We aren't riding that. We will walk from inside this lane, and take a Fitton."

"To BoroBazar?"

"Na. We are going to another place, Bhargavi. Sit tight, because this ride is not going to be a good one." He smirked.