Kazira’s Grandmom

The historical fortress had turned into a bustling tourist spot. Kazira loved spending the weekends there. His grandfather, Sardar Singh, had once led the warriors that guarded this fortress. The telescope-like equipment which the tourists playfully touched, was the radar that helped him spot enemy boats.

Sardar Singh had once spotted a boat, floating around without a sailor or mast, with a woman lying unconscious in it. She was perhaps left there to die. He managed to pull the vessel ashore, with the help of the Naval Commandant. She lived on to become Kazira’s doting grandmother.

The island was rocked by a terrorist scandal, when projectiles from one of the cannons were fired at an approaching boat. The ammunition used was illegal, and Kazira was soon arrested. No harm was done to anyone, other than the people on that boat. The boat had capsized into the sea, with the force of the projectile.

He bowed before his grandmother, before being taken away by the police.

“Grandma, you are now a free woman. The people from your past, who came for you, are dead.”

The old woman wiped off her tears silently. She had lost her future, too, with Kazira’s arrest.

(200 words)

Inspired by Sunday Photo Fiction-April 2nd, 2017