Then, with some effort, he started walking towards the broken door, manoeuvring around the bodies. Blood had coagulated on the floor and become a thick, dark-brownish-maroon paste that stuck to his shoes each time he stepped forward. Most of the furniture and over a dozen bodies were burnt beyond recognition. Pinching his nostrils, he was about to exit when he heard a soft, pain-ridden voice. He halted, turned and carefully looked around again. He saw a body move slightly. He walked closer to where the sound was coming from and found a teenage girl writhing and moaning. She was badly wounded and unable to move. He rushed to her side and checked her pulse—she was alive. A moment later, using all his strength, he lifted her up. He put his right arm beneath her left and let her head gently rest on his right shoulder. He cautiously walked out with his delicate load on to the empty street which was engulfed in deathly silence. He tiptoed to his house and managed to get inside safely without anyone noticing them. He took her to the living room and put her on the cot. Then he went back to the door and through the peephole carefully scanned the houses around. Satisfied that no one was watching him, he locked the door and went back in.

Bibi Amrit Kaur, the beautiful teenage daughter of his best friend, was breathing, albeit heavily. He rushed to the kitchen and came back with a pot of warm water. Using pieces of cloth, he cleaned the wounds on her arms and shoulders. He looked at her injuries carefully. He could see a deep gash on her neck that had been bleeding profusely and now had a chunk of dried blood on it. Syed dipped the cloth in warm water again and cleaned the lesion very slowly and carefully. He then went to the kitchen and brought a tray containing three copper bowls of various sizes and shapes filled with turmeric powder, mustard oil and hot water. Like most elderly villagers, Syed too was well versed in home-made remedies and knew about the antiseptic qualities of turmeric. He put the hot oil and turmeric powder in equal proportions into the copper vessel, stirred the mixture and then ran a thread through the thick, yellow paste. He then sterilized the needle by placing it in the same mixture. She whimpered when he lifted her head and placed another pillow under it, but remained in a semi-conscious state.