After The Storm The Sunshine

Shantipur is a remote small village, eight kilometers away from Raghavpur. The villagers, mostly farmers, laborers and petty businessmen were fed up with Sumedh and his vagabond friends. His father Parameshwar was the village head.  Most of the poor villagers were in the debt trap of Parameshwar and working in his lands as bonded laborers. 

One day, a group of people met Parameshwar with a request to stop his son from doing atrocities on innocent people. After hearing their troubles, instead of promising to punish the son, he  became angry and warned them not to come to his house again. 

 A young ex-serviceman, Chetan was unhappy. He took an oath before the people that he would establish peace in the village come what may.  Sumedh and his henchmen were  engaged in creating a vicious atmosphere.

The nearby villagers start calling this village as Ashantipur, which means unrest place. Chetan was sad for the bad name given to the village, where he was born and brought up. He wondered how Sumedh created bigger trouble only for self prestige.  Chetan had exceptional noble qualities like helping the poor, who are in trouble particularly old and disabled persons. 

After coming over to the village, he purchased a brand new tempo traveler ten seater vehicle by obtaining a bank loan in a self employment scheme. He, being an ex-service man, got the loan without any problems. 

Earlier, people go to the railway station or the bus stand by walking four kilometers. Most of them walked barefoot and suffered a lot.  During the monsoon, it was horrible. Majority of the villagers were agriculturists. Few people were selling vegetables, fruits, flowers, mud pots and bamboo baskets in Raghavpur.   All these people need to go to other places for one or the other purpose. 

Chetan was accommodating ten persons in his tempo.  The fare was nominal depending upon the paying capacity of the people. He used to make 4 to 5 trips daily to the railway station and the bus stand. He always keeps the petrol tank in full. The trouble creators' target was Chetan, tea shop, grocery shop, school teachers and the general public.  Nobody dared to protest against them. Sumedh derives happiness by giving trouble to them. 

Three months passed.

 One day, at 8 a m, Chetan's tempo traveler was parked at the usual place. Chetan was in the tea shop. Suddenly, Sumedh and his gang arrived and occupied all the seats in the tempo. The ladies and children arrived and saw there were no seats. Chetan became angry  and said, 

"Sumedh, I warn you to vacate the seats. Otherwise, I have to show my strength. I know how to mend you?

 You never understand the difficulties of others. Have these people ever given you trouble? You have already spoiled the character and the image of our village." 

"Chetan, do you know with whom you are speaking?  I can stop your vehicle all day here."

"Sumedh, I condemn your tendency to quarrel for no reason with innocent people. In fact, all these ladies and kids were waiting. You irresponsible and shameless boys vacate the seats," said Suma, elder sister of Sumedh.

Suma was an MBA and hated her brother and father for their cruelty towards the poor people.

"I will not drive vehicle till these rascals get down, '' said Chetan

By the time a group of people arrived with sticks and weapons, Sumedh was in aggressive mood and said,

"Chetan, you are insulting us. Do you know how powerful I am?  Suma, I warn you to go home. I also warn all the people to go home If I wish, I can seize your vehicle," said Sumedh angrily.

When the situation reached a climax, all the ladies along with the group of people took bold steps to physically pull all the guys from the vehicle. There was a tussle between both the parties. A large number of villagers arrived to teach a lesson to Sumedh and his gang. 

Realizing the danger, Sumedh and his gang members got down. It was a great insult to Sumedh. Earlier, there were a number of incidents and nobody protested. 

One day, Sumedh and his friends were driving two wheeler with maximum speed like a bike race. On the way, Sumedh didn't notice a culvert on the road and his two wheeler dashed it. As a result of this, he fell down with major injuries. Chetan saw his critical condition and took him in his tempo and proceeded to Dhanvantari hospital, Raghavpur. Reached there after fifteen minutes. Chetan requested the doctor to admit him in the hospital. After completing the procedures, he was admitted and treatment commenced immediately. On getting information from Chetan, Parameshwar left Shantipur along with his daughter Suma. By the time they entered the hospital, Sumedh gained consciousness.

Parameshwar enquired about his son.

"Sir, your son is out of danger now. You must be thankful to Chetan for his timely efforts to bring him here," said the doctor on duty.

Chetan was in the waiting room. Father and daughter went there and thanked him wholeheartedly. 

"Chetan, I am grateful to you for saving the life of my son."

"Sir, you know I am an ex-serviceman. My services are always ready for helping the people who need assistance."

"Chetan, tell me what kind of help do you need from me?"

"Sir, stop atrocities on villagers and exempt full interest on loans availed by them. Last but not the least, do not treat them as bonded laborers."

"Chetan, I promise you all your wishes will be fulfilled."

Sumedh was discharged from the hospital on the third day. He was completely recovered. On reaching Shantipur, he first met Chetan and extended his hand of friendship.  Both became friends.

Chetan was successful in his task of giving freedom to poor farmers from the clutches of the village head. With all these wonderful developments, Suma expressed her love to Chetan. He reciprocates his love to her.

Ashantipur retained its original name Shantipur after the storm, there was sunshine.