3-5. Chasing Shadows - Rani

"Uncle Lal, I just don't understand what's going on. I think Intelligence is targeting me!" "Why would they do that Rani! Who do you think you are?" Lal responded laughing, but with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I'm nobody!" Rani responded seriously. "It doesn't make sense. They have no reason to go after me. I was involved with your organization for a very short time, never played any significant or public role, and never did anything illegal. Any one of those things might have attracted their attention. Maybe it's because I'm your niece, but even that doesn't make sense. Why me and not Jyoti? She's active with your organization. I left years ago. I don't understand it, but it seems to be the case." "But, why do you think they're going after you?" "Everything that's happening is too consistent, systematic and organized. It can't be a coincidence that bizarre problems occur and issues come up everywhere I go and no matter who I deal with. The rumors being spread are vicious with little or no basis in fact. I don't know where they're coming up with these stories. I'm constantly harassed at work about the most petty, minor things. I'm excluded from anything social at the work place. I can't get proper medical or dental care. At some point, any professional I deal with gets hostile for no reason that's apparent to me. Right now, some people are claiming I'm the sixth member of that terrorist group, the Squamish Five, that got arrested a couple of years ago. Right after Air India someone was claiming that I was involved. Not only have I never advocated terrorism, even when I was involved with your organization, but I've openly and verbally taken a stand against it. I spoke publicly against what the Squamish Five was doing at a Union meeting, and still the rumors don't stop, and still people believe them. This isn't normal. Maybe it had something to do with that man who threatened me years ago at the demonstration in Ottawa. It's the only possibility that I can think of. Maybe he's doing this." "How do you know that?" Lal's tone was dripping with sarcasm now. "I don't know anything for sure, Uncle Lal. However, I don't have to know why the sun rises and sets daily to know that it does rise and set daily." Rani responded vehemently. "Well, capitalism is a corrupt system. Terrible things happen. The solution is to fight for social revolution." She found Lal's attitude endlessly frustrating. He had pat answers for everything and every problem that existed in the world was blamed on the capitalist system. He was short on solutions though except for vague assertions that communism would solve everything. Rani had never confronted him on the fact that when the Iron Curtain came down, the Soviet Union had been exposed as a far more corrupt system than anything that occurred under capitalism, including the shoddy social programs and complete lack of regard for the environment. So much for a society that was supposed to put "the people" first. His attitude on this problem was even more frustrating because every time they discussed it (and it had been discussed repeatedly over the years) he'd give the occasional hint that he knew what was going on but he would never openly admit that knowledge to her or give her any information that she could use to defend or protect herself. "And now, to make matters worse, my children are being targeted! What am I supposed to do, alone, with no help from anyone! How do I protect them. I'm a single parent. It's all I can do to handle the basic stuff that life throws at me." Rani felt her anger and frustration bubbling to the surface. "I arranged your marriage for your protection." Lal retorted. "He beat me, and refused to shoulder even the most minimal responsibilities that a normal husband and father would take on. So, I left." "He was a comrade. You should have supported him. He couldn't take on those responsibilities." "Other comrades do, and if he couldn't, he shouldn't have married me and had children! You're implying that if I had stayed married to him I wouldn't be in this situation. Well, this was going on when we were married, so what you're suggesting simply isn't the case. The only reason it wasn't that extreme at that time was because it takes time to build up to a harassment campaign like this. In fact, my marriage to someone in the left, and in a leadership position, like he is, could have legitimized making me a target, and things might be even worse now! It's not like he did anything to protect me or the children when we were married. The opposite was the case. He slandered and attacked us and allowed everyone else to do the same. He never took a stand to defend us even though he knew the slanders where outright lies." She could see Lal tense as the rage in his eyes slowly built up. As usual she had gone too far. All she had done is speak the truth. Something he didn't seem to be able to handle. In his world, all was fine if people just did what he told them to. When reality got in the way, his solution was to fly into a rage. Well, she was angry too. He didn't have to put up with this every single day of his life. He was making it abundantly clear that he was cutting her loose simply because she left her husband. She had been told by various people in her circle that he had been "denouncing" her in closed meetings of his organization. Included in these "denunciations" were her older brother (who had helped her leave) and her mother who assisted her by renting the downstairs suite in the family home to her. So, this didn't really surprise her. She'd returned to Vancouver after she married because her husband lived and worked there. It had been over ten years now since she moved from the East. The only positive contribution that man had made to her life was to give her two kids whom she adored. She had been very careful not to say anything negative about Lal to anyone because she wanted to keep the peace. She didn't want to end up being targeted by both Lal and Intelligence. Unfortunately, if she was reading this conversation correctly, Lal had targeted her from the moment she left her husband. This could explain the extreme escalation after she left. Rani glared angrily back at him, collected her children, and walked out of her brothers' house. Her brother had witnessed, but said nothing during the entire emotional exchange. He had consistently refused to be supportive to her during this entire period except for assisting her to leave her husband. Rani had never been certain how much, if anything, Lal had told him. She suspected Lal knew exactly who was targeting her, and why. She also suspected that Lal's purpose for also targeting her was to discredit her because he would look bad if people knew that she was a target and he had done nothing to protect her. All she had ever asked for and wanted was assistance in identifying the source of this malicious harassment campaign and building a legal case so that she could block anymore harassment by filing law suits against those involved. He had repeatedly put her off and refused to get involved in doing that. In her opinion, that was the only, and best solution, and that was the one thing that he refused to do. 2007.10.14