The Court Marshal had assembled, and the judge Advocate looked at the other two members of the Court Marshal, one a captain and the other a Major, and said,” We shall start proceedings once the Presiding Officer, Commander Ronak Singh comes.” The Commander soon came, a regal man, almost 48, battle-hardened airman, but still a bachelor. He came and sat in the presiding officer’s chair and the Judge Advocate(JA) said, “Sir, can we start the proceedings by swearing in the members?”
“Yes, let’s start immediately”
The formalities were completed, and Ronak Singh opened the case details folder. He had received a telephone call from the Command Judge Advocate (CJA) nominating him to preside over a Court Martial in Jaisalmer. He was instructed to proceed immediately to try an NCO accused of forgery and misappropriation of (Service) property. He had been charged under various offenses of the Indian Penal Code. In addition, Section 65 of the Air Force Act which covers any Act Prejudicial to Good Order and Discipline was also slapped on the accused Ram Singh, an NCO of the Tech trade.
The first day of the court was over once the accused had been arraigned and charged with the offenses. Ronak Singh adjourned the court for two days. He instructed the JA to reconvene the court on Monday as Saturday and Sunday were holidays. He went to his chamber and perused the Court of Inquiry, and the Summary of Evidence and concluded that there was a watertight case against the NCO.
Jaisalmer is a lovely place with sand surrounding the city. With the sun setting, he decided that he would go for a ride. He rang up the NCO in charge of the office and told him that he wanted to go for a ride in the desert sand. The NCO immediately arranged for a horse from the nearby Army cavalry unit. He informed Ronak the horse would be ready in 15 minutes, and could Ronak come to the stables of the Army cavalry unit to take charge of the horse.
Ronak rode out into the desert. The sun was setting and now it was very cool and a soft wind blew all around. He rode for some time and then far away, he could see a figure standing under a tree. Curiosity got the better of him and he rode towards the tree and the figure under the tree. As he neared, he realized that a small oasis existed in the desert and there were many trees there. He rode to the tree and was foxed when he saw a lovely woman with a low sari standing there. She looked extremely picturesque with the cold wind blowing making her hair dance and adding an aura of mystery to her beauty.
Ronak could make out that she was a very lovely woman. He brought the horse close to her and asked, “Who are you?”
“What does it matter, “ she replied
“Yes,” he said, “it doesn’t frankly”
The woman now spoke, “You are the officer who is the Presiding Officer of the Court-Martial.”
Ronak was surprised that the girl knew about this and said, “Yes, I am but how do you know this?”
“I guessed it because I hadn’t seen a gentleman ride in a year in the desert for a long time.”
The horse was close to the girl who was standing on the dune, making her face almost level with his chin and he looked into her eyes and said, “You are very beautiful but it is very strange that you should be moving around here in the desert when it will be night soon and everything will be dark.”
She didn’t reply, and he asked her. “What is your name?”
“Guddu.”
“what does it mean?”
“It means a doll,” she explained.
Surrender
Something strange happened and by a quirk the horse became restive and it rose on its hind legs and shook wildly. Ronak was caught off balance and clutched the girl while falling to the earth. As he hit the sand he realized the girl was on top of him and wanted to say ‘sorry.’ He is 48 and his reflexes are a little slow, if such a thing had happened 10 years back, he would have controlled the horse easily.
He lay on the sand with the girl on top of him, and then something strange happened again. The girl began to kiss him. Ronak reciprocated and the soft lips and the tongue of the girl, probing his mouth, overwhelmed him. He began to reciprocate the kiss with all the ardor he had.
“Oh my Lord,” the girl whispered, “you are so strong like the warrior Bhima.”
“Bhima?” he asked involuntarily.
“Yes, like the time, the great warrior had fertilized 80 virgins.”
The girl bit Ronak and egged him forward. She had opened the buttons of her blouse and Ronak was in shock as she was not wearing any bra. Her peaks of desire looked almost virginal, and he involuntarily began to suckle her nipples. He had lost his sense of reason. In the darkening gloom of the desert, he unloosened the cord of her petticoat. She lifted her hips for him to slide it down. He pulled it off her and threw, it away. The clothing fell, some distance away. The wind was beginning to blow fast and the dress was carried away for many hundreds of yards, lost perhaps forever as the swirling sand buried it.
He was now witness to her mons, curls, firm thighs, the flat belly, indeed, she was a sight to be witnessed by the gods. The Inevitable happened. They became all mouths and fingers and tongues and senses. Their mouths sought each other, a nipple, a clitoris. They lay entangled, moving very slowly. They kissed until the kissing became torture and the body grew restless. Their hands always found yielding flesh, an opening. The sand they lay on gave off an earthy odor, which mingled with the odors of their bodies. They tried to come in unison, but Guddu came first, falling in a heap, Ronak fell beside her, As Gudddu’s pleasure grew fainter, rolling away, dying off, Ronak bit into her tender flesh. In the paroxysm of her pleasure, Guddu didn’t feel the teeth buried there.
Now he was at the apex and with vigor lunged forward even as she allowed him to enter her siege and the sacred part of her body.
He lay panting on the sand in the darkness, and then he was conscious of the girl beside him. “Did you like it?” she asked.
“Yes”
“Will you do something for me?”
“Anything under the sun.”
Then she began to apply her hand to his phallus, and it rose like the Phoenix, the mythical bird as it rose from its ashes.
In between nibbles, she whispered,” Tomorrow and the day after are holidays and you can have me any number of times but on Monday you have to acquit Ram Singh.”
Finale
The words hit him like a ton of bricks and he began to wonder what would happen next. It was also bizarre, it was like he had eaten the forbidden fruit like Adam, and now he was into a paroxysm of delight and desire. The next two days passed so quickly that Ronak never knew when the sun rose and when it set. He was having a woman after years, and the desire to eat the forbidden fruit was tremendous.
In the middle of the night on Sunday, he had his last bout and marveled at the exercise of his power over her.
On Monday, the trial commenced, but Ronak was not the same man who had sat in the Presiding officer’s chair on Friday. Here was a different man smitten by something so lovely that all he craved for was a world of flesh.
It was the end of the District Court Marshal and the accused was brought and the JA asked Ronak and other members of the court whether they had concluded.
“Yes”, Ronak replied, “we have and I will read out the verdict.” He had made up his mind and very softly said, that the evidence was not substantive to convict the man and all charges against him be dismissed. The JA was surprised and he said,” But sir, the evidence is conclusive, how can you make this decision?”
“I don’t think so,” Ronak replied, and much later when the accused was brought before the court, the JA announced the verdict that the man had been acquitted of all charges.
In the judgment, he wrote that the NCO must immediately be posted to a forward area and serve time on active duty.
Ram Singh bowed his head to the presiding officer even as he exulted at the verdict. Things now began to move at great speed and Ram Singh was on his way to Ladakh.
It was evening and once again, Ronak mounted the horse and rode out into the desert. He was hoping he would see the girl again but as much as he moved around, he could not locate anybody and he came back to the mess The next day he took the flight back to his unit, but the enduring image of Guddu and her possession by him flashed again and again before his mind.
A month later he was just sitting in his living room and the orderly brought a sheet of files for him to peruse. He opened the first one and found a message from the headquarters informing him that one soldier named Ram Singh had passed away in a border clash in the Galvan Valley. He immediately got up and picked up the telephone to get confirmation of the news.
There was no doubt that it was the same man he had acquitted in the court, and now God had dispensed justice and he had gone to the land of Hades.
He had made up his mind and immediately typed out his resignation letter emailed it and left for Jaisalmer. He reached the camp station, and once again asked for the horse and rode out into the desert. He had an uncanny feeling that what had happened had to happen and the door to paradise had opened for him. As he rode far away to the same tree under the oasis, he observed a woman standing. He knew it was her and he galloped towards the figure. He reached it and soon realized that it was Guddu. She looked at Ronak with a quizzical look.
He rode up to her and within a moment, gathered her in his arms, and positioned her in the saddle in front of him
“What are you doing?”She asked.
“Something which God has asked me to do.”
He pressed the spurs, and the horse began to gallop forward. It was a furious gallop through the sand. He held the girl in his arms and pushed her forward. The skirt had already risen to her waist, he pushed her forward, and lo and behold he commenced the primordial act with her on the horse. It was a swift movement and he was sheathed inside her.
“No,”, she said, “no, you have sent my man to death. If you had not acquitted him, he would have gone only to jail but now he is no more.” Ronak was in no mood for anything and even as the horse moved forward he had possessed her completely. The movement of the horse as it galloped furiously in the sand added impetus to the exotic union.
The horse now stopped, and with Guddu in his arms, he slipped to the soft sand and whispered to her,” My love. I have come back.”
Ronak was in for a surprise because the girl slapped him and ran away.
Well, folks, that is the end of the story. What happened next? did Ronak get his girl after all? Did she realize that what had happened was only because the Lord had willed it? After all Lord Krishna has said that ‘not a leaf moves without my will on this earth.’
But that’s another story for another day and I will close now and say that sometimes the truth can be stranger than fiction.
