Iwas hurrying to reach my destination after visiting one of the remote posts of my unit. It was already getting dark. Suddenly, the sky was overcast, heavy rain and thunderstorm was expected at any moment. Although there was no information about movement of underground elements in this part of Zunebhuto district (of Nagaland), but the concern was always there. Moreover, I had moved with only one vehicle and that too without any protection.

It is not at all advisable to pick up speed in the narrow hilly road with sharp curves and bends. I instructed my driver to be very careful and hoped to reach my place (which was approximately 40 km) before the rain started. However, I was not lucky, the rains came; it was a heavy downpour. Our vehicle’s speed reduced considerably but even at that slow pace, we could reach by 10/11 pm which, though a ‘very late time’ by Nagaland standards, was still acceptable.

The road, though very narrow and curving, was generally good; we had to cross a newly constructed small bridge which was 20 km from my destination. The bridge, being very new, and the heavy downpour, coupled with the totally deserted area, was of great concern to all of us. The driver, inspite of my repeated warnings to go slow, picked up speed and as we approached the narrow bridge, he accelerated (till today I cannot figure out what made him do so) and suddenly the left portion of one of the pillars of the bridge gave away. Our vehicle, with the four of us inside, toppled but luckily, did not fall down, which would have been disastrous. We were in the midst of the broken bridge with the rains getting slightly less. With some difficulties, all of us managed to come out of the vehicle without anyone getting seriously hurt. We were happy that all of us survived by God’s will! The next step was to somehow contact our headquarters for help. The communication did not work at the lower height, hence I instructed my signal operator to climb a nearby hill and ask for help. I knew this effort would itself take at least two hours and there was every probability that he may not be able to contact our headquarters because of the rain, lightning etc.

It was an agonizing wait. The three of us, the driver, myself and my lone escort, were held up in the middle of a small bridge in an isolated and insurgency affected area. I felt the loneliness more than the other two, who started gossiping in their own language Gorkhali (Nepali), which I could understand to some extent. I was more worried about the operator who had gone up the hill to talk to my office. The boys continued to gossip and I was envious that they were enjoying the tense environment!

One of the sentences uttered by my escort suddenly unnerved me. I tried to listen to the entire conversation. I heard my escort telling the driver that he had come to this site about ten days back and had taken fifteen bags of cement for construction of the unit temple. He was saying that the Border Road people (who were constructing the bridge) were very helpful and immediately gave him fifteen bags of cement for a ‘noble cause’.

This utterance by my escort took me back to the activities of the previous fortnight. We were getting ready for the scheduled inspection of our unit by our headquarters (located at Shillong). It was decided amongst others, that the VVIP would inaugurate the temple which was under construction with the help of the unit personnel. Our Gorkha troops were deeply religious and whenever they had time, they used to offer help for the construction of the temple.

I was made the officer responsible for completion of the construction. It was not an easy job. The critical shortage of cement was worrying us. All construction materials, including cement, had to come from the plains of Assam. During the rainy season, the roads were flooded for the major part of the season. However, we were keen to get the temple ready and get it inaugurated at any cost. My reputation was at stake! I tried to get a few bags of cements from my contractor friends/government department. However, there was acute shortage of the same everywhere.

That is when a bright idea came to my mind. I was aware that the Border Road Organisation was constructing bridges and culverts in many places and the possibility of getting a few bags was very high.

I ‘ordered’ my subordinate staff to ‘manage’ some cement from anywhere, including the Border Road people. The inauguration of the temple by the VVIP had to take place as per our programme (which was already forwarded to the VVIP). Very soon, I was told that the boys had done an excellent job and managed sufficient cement. I did not bother to check from where and how they had managed the most precious item. I was only interested in the end result, the inauguration of the temple.

The VVIP came. Alongwith the other activities of his hectic schedule, he inaugurated the temple. I was congratulated for doing the impossible (everyone had given up hope). I was the toast of the day. The battalion’s reputation survived.

After a few days of festive mode, normal life was resumed in the unit. After a week, and as part of routine activity, I had gone to visit one of my sub posts. And now, on my return journey, the bridge had given away. One of the pillars of the bridge broke, my jeep with three of us barely survived and were hoping to be rescued soon by some divine force. The words of my escort, who said that he had taken cement meant for the construction of the bridge, made me feel extremely guilty. To please the VVIP, I had given wrong instructions to my subordinates. God does not get pleased by wrong means to appease him. God wanted to teach me a lesson and thus made sure that the bridge got destroyed while I was passing through. After all, it was my idea to please God by constructing the temple.

R Borthakur