HIDE-AND-SEEK

Preet is excited that she is travelling by train with her grandfather. She wishes Baba and Amma had also come.

A trip to Amritsar is always fun. She and Wasim play in mustard fields the whole day. Rizwan Chachu takes them to see the circus. And during Eid, they get new clothes and gifts.

When Wasim comes to Lahore to celebrate Diwali with them, they burst firecrackers the whole night. She has sweets-eating contest with him. He can really eat. She hopes to beat him someday.

Wasim is her best friend. Hide-and-seek is their favourite game. She believes this is one game she excels at. She has so many hiding places that he can never find her. Dada ji tells her that Baba and Rizwan Chachu also used to play hide-and-seek. The two families go back a long way.

There is something odd about this trip. Normally, they visit Amritsar during holidays. Amma is uncompromisingly strict with her sleeping time, especially when there's school the next day; she pulled her out of her bed and hurriedly got her ready.

Baba held her in a tight embrace and Amma began crying when she was kissing her goodbye. Dada ji covered her with a blanket before stepping out of the house. She could feel that they got on a tonga, but she wasn’t allowed to speak or remove the blanket. The best part about a tonga ride is to pretend she is a princess who is being charioted to her palace. This wasn’t so enjoyable.

When Dada ji uncovered the blanket they were already on the train. It was overcrowded with passengers. The people were pushed tight against each other. It was difficult to breathe. Every inch of the floor was occupied.

At least Dada ji managed to save her a window seat. A window seat is the most important part of a train journey. This is the only time she gets to see houses, trees, ponds, rivers and fields in one continuous glance. When her art teacher asks her to draw something, she draws a house against a mountain with a bunch of trees surrounding it; a rising Sun; a pond; a dolphin leaping in the air from the river; some grazing goats; flying birds; and a little girl. It’s her perfect world like a view from the train. When she closes her eyes pressing against the bars of the window, a strong breeze buffeting against her face makes her skin feel like jelly. She sticks her tongue out. A jet of air passing through the surface of her moist tongue feels like a mint sweetmeat.

This time window is closed. Dada ji isn’t allowing her to open it. She wouldn't be able to see much in the night anyway. Strangely other windows are also closed. Has Dada ji asked them also to keep it closed?

“Why is the mood sombre?” She wonders. Children are edgy and babies are wailing. She thought only children cry; apparently not. Her Amma likes to dress well when she travels. Journeys are meant to look good. It looks like all the women are not like her Amma. She can see some women on the train in torn sarees.

Dada ji is holding her so tight that it hurts. Normally the door is open. Men and older boys hang out, smoke and gossip in a huddle. Here they are guarding the door even though it is closed. And why are they carrying knives and sticks? Every impression of a train journey she’s had so far is shattered.

The train starts to move. Dada ji gestures to her to keep quiet. Really!? Others are also mutedly hunched. It looks like they are hardly breathing. Only babies can be heard and some simmering sounds. Lights have been put off.

She is bored. She decides to go off to sleep on Dada ji’s lap. She asks him to wake her up when they reach Amritsar. She can't wait to meet Wasim.

Dada ji wakes her up. “Have we arrived Dada ji?” She asks.

“Not yet,” he says. “We are going to hide-and-seek."

“In the train?” She asks befuddled.

“Why not?” He says.

“I’m sleepy Dada ji,” she says rubbing her eyes.

“Wasim is playing hide-and-seek on a train to Lahore. He said if you both stay hidden by the time he reaches Lahore and you reach Amritsar, you both will win as a team,” Dada ji says.

“Really! Me and Wasim are in one team. Who are we playing against?” She asks enthusiastically.

“Anybody who is not in your team,” Dadar ji answers sombrely.

“Where will I hide but?” She asks in a concerned tone.

“I know a place,” Dada ji says. “But you will have to do exactly as I say," he cautions her. “And remember, don’t come out or say a word no matter what you hear,” he emphasises.

A sudden flood of light blinds her. When she gains visibility, a big moustachioed man in brown clothes is standing over her. She recognises him from her textbook. He is a policeman. Her body aches from being crouched in a bag for a long time. She didn’t realise when she passed out. She remembers her Dada ji emptying the bag and shoving her in it. She heard strange sounds, but this was the first time she and Wasim were pairing as a team and she couldn’t let anyone else win against them.

“Who were you travelling with sweetheart?” Asks the policeman.

“With my Dada ji,” she says. “Have we won?” She asks.

“What do you mean?” The policeman questions.

“Has Wasim reached Lahore?” She asks.

“I don’t know,” the policeman answers.

“Where is my Dada ji? She asks.

The policeman shakes his head. He gazes at her for a moment, “Take the girl to an orphanage," he orders.

The screen goes black.

Harmeet turns to Preet as she takes the AI goggles off and introspectively looks out the life-size window overlooking a futuristic human settlement—with robots, self-driving cars, drones making deliveries etc.

“Grandma I have built an AI-enabled gaming platform for people to generate characters from their imagination and experience live gaming, but you are torturing yourself by experiencing your traumatic past again and again,” Harmeet complains in a half-serious tone. "You can make AI redesign your past with feel-good visuals as if it never existed. Now you can do it", he adds.

"That’s exactly why I don’t want to do it, because I can." Preet states and wheels off in her AI-enabled wheelchair.