Malignant humor in my head

Director's cut

2012-02-02T02:54:00.000-08:00

The three of them got down from the van and got the stuff out.

Deepak, cigarette dangling from his lip, opened the hatch and pulled the camera out.

“Deepu, dude. Maybe we should’ve listened to that shopkeeper. We don’t even know who owns this building…and maybe all those stories about…” Chetan said, getting the bags after him. “…are true.”

Deepak stood and looked at him.

“What?” Chetan said.

“Fuck you.” Deepak started walking to the building. Suraj, the third guy, closed the hatch of the van, locked it and trailed behind them.

“Guys..guys. Stop.”

The two men turned.

“Deepu. You think this is a good idea? We could’ve shot in the Socrates hall of the college you know. It’s no less spooky. It’s already getting dark, and…”

Deepak chuckled in disbelief. “I don’t believe you guys. Are you film students, or what? Come on. There’s no such thing as a ghost. It’s all here,” he said poking his head. “There’s no reason to be scared. Nobody cares a shit about this place. It’s on the outskirts. Some idiot abandoned it and went abroad. Yeah? It’s ours now.” He turned and continued walking.

They waded through the tall shrubs and bushes and reached the main door. Deepak, flashlight in one hand, kicked the door open. The main hall reverberated with the loud thud.

A strong whiff of musty and damp air hit their noses. “ugh,” Chetan said, waving off the cobwebs.

Deepak let out a whistle. “It’s perfect. You know, Hollywood spends a fortune recreating a set like this. And..” he laughed. “Here we are..a natural set for the perfect horror story. Perfect atmosphere. What say, huh Chets? Man? Dude? Wimp.” He grimaced.

Chetan showed him his middle finger.

“Ok, let’s set it up there.” Deepak pointed to a corner below the stairs.

Chetan got busy bringing the lights and tripods out.

“If we get this right, we’re in the finals guys. Finals.”

They shot for an hour. Suraj and Chetan were the only actors, and one of them was the spirit. It was a simple 15 minute short film about a spirit in a haunted house. This one scene, was just a couple of minutes long. The rest was shot in other locations.

“Ok, that’s a wrap,” Deepak said.

“What do you say, huh, Chets? See, no ‘Boo’ here,” Deepak said, waving his hands wildly.

“Fuck you, man,” Chetan said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Ok, I’ll just go take a leak quickly. You guys carry on.”

Suraj and Chetan waited in the van. Deepak came a few moments later, lit another cigarette and took a long puff. “Hmm, that was good. I’ll bet we’ll make it to the finals.”

The long winding road didn’t have any street lights and it was bumpy.

Suraj’s cell rang. Absently he just pressed the answer button and held the piece to his ear. “Hello?”

“Suraj, you sons-of-bitches…where the fuck you guys think you’re going man? I’m still here, man. Get back now.”

“Wha..how…?” Suraj said and looked at Chetan.

“Who’s it, man?” Chetan said.

Suraj gulped. “Deepak.”

“What?” Chetan looked at Deepak who was at the wheel, and then back at Suraj. “Is this some kind of a joke, dude? Deepak is right here. What ….?”

Deepak, still driving, turned to them and laughed. This time, in a shrill female voice.

*******

He can fly...

2012-02-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

“It’s perfectly normal for kids of that age to have imaginary friends, Neetu. Don’t worry about it,” Doctor Mamtha said. She patted Neetu’s hand and smiled.

“Hmm,” Neetu said and sighed. “ I guess I’m just being paranoid. It’s a new place, and maybe Shaalu’s just trying to fit in. She’s shy, you know.”

“Yes, I know,” Mamtha said. “Tell me something – this place you’ve bought. It’s a little way out, right? Did you buy it because of the low price…or..?”

“A bit of this and that. It’s closer to Rajan’s workplace. Plus, the entire campus is so pleasant. One with nature. The infrastructure’s good. And it’s well connected, not very way out.”

Mamtha nodded.

“Hmm. Ok. You know, it’s good you didn’t get Shaalu this time round. Give her some time. Her own space. Encourage her to make friends with the kids. Have a small kiddy party. Just for fun. Know what I mean?”

Neetu smiled.

******

“Mamma, mamma, today you know what happened? He flew. He actually did. Right from there, that rooftop to ours. Awesome, na, mamma?”

Neetu just smiled. Then she pulled Shaalu close. “Hmmm. What’s his name – this friend of yours?”

“Hanuman.”

There she goes. Neetu pulled a deep breath. “Baby... This friend. Is he Hanuman? As in Lord Hanuman?”

She’d seen the Bal Ganesh and Hanuman films where the Gods made friends with kids. She prayed it were so – even if it were Shaalu’s wild fantasy.

“No, mamma. I know Lord Hanuman no? He has a tail. He has all that – monkey face, wears the old ‘King’ style clothes.” Then she mocked a frown. “Mamma..I’m not so dumb. I know, I’ve seen those movies na?”

Neetu was worried now. “So then?”

“Soooo… this Hanuman is just like us. He is a person, mamma.”

“Beta you’re scaring me now, you know?” Neetu’s voice quivered.

Shaalu touched her cheek. “Why mamma? He’s..just…a person.” Her voice softened, and she looked genuinely puzzled at Neetu’s worry.

“Does he speak with other kids? Does Dinesh chacha talk to Hanuman?”

“No.”

“What about that guard uncle? Him?”

“No.”

“See? That’s what I mean. He’s not spoken to any of these people. He speaks only to you. And that worries me, sweetheart.”

Shaalu was silent.

“Will he come home if you invited him?” Neetu asked.

“Yeah,” Shaalu said, matter-of-factly.

“Ok, call him tonight then, ok? Where does he live? Does he work some place?”

“I don’t know mamma.”

“You should also make friends with other kids, no, beta? Introduce them to Hanuman perhaps. Then we can have a flying show.”

Mother and daughter laughed at that little joke.

“Yeah, mama, that’s a good idea,” Shaalu said. Her eyes shone with excitement.

******

As a special case that day, the maid arrived in the evening to do whatever dishes there were, and a round of mopping. Maids were hard to come by, and since they’d just moved, Neetu had had to ‘borrow’ the neighbor’s for a day. Neetu expected her to come with a lot of conditions.

Kamali, she called herself. She turned out to be chatty, as Neetu discovered pleasantly. As she scrubbed the dishes, Neetu got the pot ready for coffee. She was thinking of getting a cook also after a few days. She worked as well, and this arrangement was short-lived. A whole of arranging, sorting out, planning etc was on her mind.

“Akka,” Kamali called out. Neetu turned.

“You not from this city?”

“Meaning?”

“You come from outside?”

Neetu knew where she was coming from. She smiled. “We’re from this city. Only we used to live in the northern part.”

Kamali smiled and went back to scrubbing.

“This is good place, akka. Nice – many of us get job here because of this building. The owner no? Good man. He give all of us job. Even small house he built for us.”

That’s nice, for a change, Neetu thought. Who went to such lengths doing all this?

“Why? Were you living on this land before?”

“Here? No.”

“Then? Why did the realtor, err..building owner get you houses of your own?”

“Akka,” Kamali’s voice softened. “This place belong to circus.”

“What?”

“Yes. Circus. Hear about it? ‘The Great Bombay Circus’, Kamali said, like it were the name of a famous emperor. Neetu smiled and shook her head.

“Yes. But circus land was sold. Bad times for the circus man. We used to come see as many shows. I was small then.”

“That’s nice,” Neetu said.

They took a break and Neetu offered her some tea.

"Trees," Kamali continued. "Lots of trees here. We climb. For guava. I could not climb. But Hanuman could."

Neetu was about to raise her cup to the lips. She stopped. “Who?”

“Hanuman,” Kamali said smiling. “He work in circus. Strong and big.”

“You mean, there’s actually someone called Hanuman?”

“Yes,” Kamali said, amused.

“Oh, Thank God,” Neetu said, heaving a sigh.

“He jump high, climb tree just like Lord Hanuman, and get us all the fruits.” She giggled.

“Yes, yes. Just like flying, huh?” Neetu said.

Kamali laughed. “Oh yes. Hanuman can fly.” She then sipped her tea and remained silent for a while.

“Shaalu has taken an immense liking for this person, you know” Neetu said. “In fact, I asked her to bring him over tonight for dinner. You know how kids are, huh? Get attached.”

“Bring for dinner? Who?”

“Hanuman.”

“Who will bring?”

“Shaalu. My daugher? You know, I had a maid earlier – her daughter would read all of Shaalu’s books. She would even play with her. We don’t discriminate like that. So, you know - this Hanuman guy...my daughter's kind of taken a liking for him. So I asked her to...”

“No no, wait" Kamali said. "But Hanuman dead. Ten years ago. Hang from tree. A few yards from this building.”

*******

Unsafe

2012-01-31T12:03:00.000-08:00

The burglar knew his way around the house. He’d done his homework well. The residents were out of town. He checked his watch again. 3 am. Perfect.

He took out the flashlight and pulled a lone curtain that was pulled aside. He went to work quickly, filling his huge sack with whatever he could lay his hands on. He then went to the bedroom and looked for the safe. He knew the combination. The maid had earlier on given it to him. He pulled the chit out from his pocket and flashed the light on it. Good.. here goes – turn left till 5. Turn right again till 3..

Turn right till 4

He switched the light off. Somebody just whispered that. He remained still. Nothing. He pointed the flashlight at the chit and continued.

Turn right till 4

Turn left 43

What the... He quickly scanned the room with the flashlight. Nobody.

Sob.

That sounded like a little girl. Couldn’t be. He had a mind to scram. But he needed the loot. He turned to the safe and turned the flashlight on. He stood still.

Behind him. He turned.

Two kids. They smiled and waved at him before disappearing.

******

Not seeing...is believing

2012-01-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

The scary house at the mall was anything but scary. The weird noises coming from the speakers placed in the Plaster-of-Paris skeletons made Priya laugh more than get frightened. So much for paying through your nose for this.

“Did you see how the usher smiled at us when we got in?” Priya shouted above all the howls and screams. “Will be our scariest adventure, he boasted. And that sinister laugh of his, I’m sure it’s a fake one – for the show.”

Arun shook his head. “He’ll hear a mouthful from me, just you wait. This sort of a rip-off should be stopped.”

They could see the light at the end of the ‘tunnel’ and sighed. Out of this madness at last. As they neared the exit, they could hear the weekend rush getting louder. Relieved, they stepped out.

The mall was empty. They could hear the people milling around, laughing, talking, kids screaming, and all the other sounds of the mall. But they couldn’t see a soul.

Then the noise died down. Slowly until there was pin-drop silence.

And then, behind them - they heard the usher laughing and telling someone -

"This will be your scariest adventure ma'am. Trust me."

*******

Must watch

2012-01-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

“Beta, can you please watch my seat?”

“Sure”

Later – “Thank you.”

*Smile.*

Interval.

“Beta, can you …?”

“ok.”

Later - “Thank you.”

*Smile*

That night on TV.

“…Apparently Varadarajan came out of Plaza Theater during interval, and was hit and run as he was crossing the road.”

Mug shot of the man on screen.

*Gasp.*

Framed

2012-01-28T08:10:00.000-08:00

The paintings were breath-taking. Rajani looked around. She was alone in the art gallery. She wondered why. The paintings were truly out of the world. No takers?

This one was atonement, she figured. That’s what the catalogue said. Oh, the pain in the eyes so well captured. She inched forward slowly, constantly referring to the catalogue. She saw a lot of faces. That was the subject of the painter. Hmm. She was looking at a woman now. Sad eyes. There was unspoken anguish. Wonderful. She made notes.

As she proceeded to the next one, she sensed a movement from the corner of her eyes. She turned. The woman’s eyes in the previous painting were following her. Oh, one of those paintings where any which way you moved the eyes looked at you. She smiled. But she could’ve sworn she sensed movement. She shrugged and looked at the one in front of her.

A sound. This time there was movement right behind her. She swung back. Again nobody.

She didn’t like this. She hurried through the rest of the paintings. It was late. She had to go. The gallery and the silence all around her was making her uncomfortable now. She came to where the entrance was. But there wasn’t any. How come? She continued along the paintings. Maybe it was around the next corner. She came to the sad woman again. Which meant she was back to square one. Where was the exit? She retraced her steps in the opposite direction; and after a while was back to the sad woman again.

Only this time, the woman didn’t look very sad.

There was a smirk on her face now.

******

Bulls-eye

2012-01-24T20:59:00.000-08:00

The marksman peered into the telescope of the rifle. His mark was smoking, in the opposite building.

He sighed and braced.

Now.

“Uncle, can you see the moon in this?” asked the lolly-pop sucking kid, who’d appeared behind him wordlessly.

"Wha…?” The sniper said, losing his balance and falling head first. All the eight floors.

What if...

2012-01-21T13:12:00.000-08:00

Just two letters. But they open up a whole world of possibilities, or shall we say - impossibilities? A whole different world of hope, expectations, desires, fears, apprehensions...Sounds silly but whenever I get a 'what if' in my head, it makes me smile. It reminds me of the present dimension that I'm in and the other dimension that is 'if'. So many times I've wanted the two dimensions to co-exist. Something like a spare tyre. If one goes, the other should carry things forward. But just imagine if (again, if) that were the case. There would be no disaster, no worries, no fears to face. The other dimension would kick in with a solution. But with it would also come other problems like the two dimensions confusing you into mixing people, places and even time!

Sounds like a sci-fi movie, but these are thoughts that often occupy my 'iffy' brain. But thankfully, it hasn't taken over yet. That would be disaster of another kind.

Human beings are animals of routine. We love to get into our own little comfort zones. We spend years and years trying not to come out of it. But just imagine, what if one day...one (not so fine) day, we come face to face with our own 'other' self, the 'what-if-I-were-this/that-self'?

This reminds me of a particular TV show that aired on this particular channel, Hallmark (isn't on-air anymore) - Sliders, a while ago . Showed the escapades of a young nerd (the hero), who had found a way, or rather, had accidentally discovered a way of slipping into the parallel dimension (world), and would have encounters with people identical to his own existing dimension. Except in the other dimension, these people were either crazy or criminals (obviously, else how'd the producers get the TRP ratings, huh?). But it came pretty close to my thought process. Used to watch every single episode. But after a while, it got tiresome. I guess it's just as well.

Fantasy must have stops too, however pleasurable the flight.

*****

Lifted

2012-01-20T06:18:00.000-08:00

Raj stepped into the old elevator. The elevator started with a loud thud and ascended. At his floor, he stepped out and stood. Strange. He didn’t remember pressing the button. Then how…

“It’s ok, you’re welcome,” said a voice from inside the elevator, chuckling softly, as the elevator started with the same thud and descended.

*****

Blink

2012-01-17T23:03:00.000-08:00

Rishi couldn't sleep. It was close to 2 am.

He dragged himself to the living room and drank some water. Then he picked up the day's newspaper and started flipping absently. He came to the obituary section and stopped. He stared at a picture in the section and thought,"Hey, I know this girl, she's familiar".

But he wasn't able to recall where exactly he'd seen her. He read the date of her death. Yesterday. Then his eyes moved to her birth date. "Shit, this couldn't be." She was born more than 85 years ago. They'd inserted a much younger looking picture of hers. He was sure he'd seen that face recently. Maybe grand daughter? No, couldn't be. The likeness was too sharp. It was indeed her he'd seen and not somebody who looked like her.

There was a loud thud outside. He went to the window. Nothing.

Shrugging, he returned to the sofa, back to the picture. Funny. Staring back at him now was the picture of a frail old lady, wrinkles and all. He blinked a few times, and rubbed his eyes. What the...

Then the old lady smiled.

Slowly, like in the Harry Potter movies, but unmistakable.

*****

Heads you win; tails I lose

2012-01-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

Raghupathy looked out his window and sighed. He was an Assistant Manager in his company and things looked up; he would even make it Manager in a year's time if he performed at this rate. But now, a dumb mistake in his personal life was about to cost him his job, and family.

It was a one-night stand as far as he was concerned, nothing more. But he hadn't reckoned it to be such a juggernaut, threatening to engulf him and throw him off the cliff. But there it was, and he couldn't ignore it.

As all cliched one-night-stands go, he met Pramodini on a business tour. Her pull was irresistable, and a few drinks later he'd found himself in her bed...not to mention life. Initially the arrangement was convenient and worked well for both. No strings attached, just some good ol' rolling in the hay once a while. But knowing the ways of the world, Raghu hadn't quite prepared himself for the emotional barrage that would eventually emerge. Pramodini wanted more than a fair share of her pie. And Raghupathy didn't have the time, energy or guts to fulfill her wishes. And he couldn't just wish her away. She was after all flesh and blood. And he didn't want to belittle himself and her by offering monetary compensation.

He'd tried it once, subtly though. But she'd seen through it. "Is this about money, huh Raghu? Don't push it, Mister. If it were about money, you'd be a pauper by now. Just be thankful for that."

And they'd left it at that. Would he leave his wife for her? "Pramodini, you know it's impossible," was his argument.

And it went on...and pretty soon, his worst fears started making brief appearances in front of him, like those annoying mosqitoes humming right into your ears. Only these weren't annoying, they were most likely to give him a heart condition. Pramodini threatened to go to his wife, Shilpa.

"This is going to ruin her life too, and you can't sit smug about it. She has a right to know the truth. And if you can't do it, I'll do it."

Shilpa was extremely senstive. And she couldn't bear to take the news. But he knew Pramodini was a determined girl, and one day she'd do it. He pursed his lips and headed back to his desk, thinking. Thinking hard.

*******

It was almost 9 in the night, when he parked his car a couple of streets away and walked briskly to Pramodini's building.

They hugged each other wordlessly as he entered the living room.

He walked to the couch as she followed him. He turned. "Uh, Pam..listen. Can you fix me a drink sweety? I'm all drained out..and, I want to talk."

"Sure," Pramodini said, heading to the fridge. "The usual?" Raghupathy nodded and stretched on the couch, loosening his tie.

"What about you?" He asked seeing a single glass in her hand.

"Me? No..you..you go on."

In reply he just rose and headed to the fridge himself, fixing her a drink. "You'll need this, baby, trust me," he laughed nervously, handing her the glass and plomping on the couch again. She was still standing.

"Cm'here," He beckoned her by his side, and pulled her to him soon as she sat. She squirmed.

"Pam sweety, I've been thinking about..you know, what you said..and I agree, it's mighty unfair on you.."

She looked on, her face slowly changing expression. But he wasn't noticing. He sipped from his glass and continued.

"I've decided to leave Shilpa."

He was expecting a hug from her. Instead, she looked at him silently and opened her mouth so say something. He waited. Maybe it was too good for her to believe. He'd always maintained that he'd never leave his wife, no matter what. He would take care of Pramodini as well, but would never ever leave his wife. So, maybe this was unexpected.

"I'm serious honey," Raghupathy continued.

Pramodini was still silent, tears slowly peeping from the corners of her eyes.

"Oh, baby," Raghupath tried to pull her to him. She shrank back. .

He hesitated for a minute, then sat back and continued. "Soon as I go home tonight, I'll tell Shilpa everything. And then..it'll be a while before I prepare the divorce papers, and...you know, the works."

He searched her eyes. Something was amiss. She wasn't herself. She didn't seem to be registering what he was saying.

"Baby, are you ok?" He reached out touching her cheek. She hastily wiped her eyes and got up.

"I'm, I'm fine..excuse me...," she muttered and headed to the bathroom.

She was back in a while and sat down. She gulped her drink in one go as he looked on surprised.

"Raghu..I too want to say something. I thought you'd never tell Shilpa about me. And I didn't want this life, not like this anyway. I couldn't take it anymore Raghu, I couldn't wait forever. So I..."

She could never complete the sentence as she gagged on her drink, clutched her throat and keeled over to the carpet. She had a puzzled look on her face as she coughed, trying to throw up the poisonous liquor that seethed down to her system, quickly immobilizing her.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Raghupathy said, fighting back tears. "I didn't have a choice. I..."

The small bottle, knocked by his hand, fell to the floor. She looked at it, her sight blurring slowly as she read the words 'Mortein'. She looked up at Raghupathy, trying to mouth the word 'why'. But he just sat there.

******

Back in the car, he made a quick checklist. He'd taken all the photographs of them together, anything that spoke of his presence in that house, anything that associated her to him and vice versa. He'd made sure no one saw him enter the house. He'd wiped off all the prints. He mentally ticked all these points and leaned back in his car. He felt awful doing this, but he had no choice. Time would heal this. In time he'd get past this and move on. He reminded himself not to repeat this mistake again.

A while later, a strange fear clouded him. Pramodini wanted to say something. Did she have copies of all the evidence? Had she informed someone? She was smart - capable. What if she'd arranged for information to reach the cops somehow. Or even the media. Blackmail. Anything was possible. What if the cops came looking, and found something that gave him away? And then there was the fact that he'd actually killed someone. It wasn't something that you did, as an honest citizen of this country. He couldn't negate the fact that he was now a potential suspect and this could cost him more than just his job and family. But he took a deep breath and crossed his fingers. Let's just get past things one at a time.

The inner ghosts could be handled later.

"But what about the ones outside, Raagu? What about them?" said a voice behind him and he swung back sharply, spraining his neck.

"Shilpa? How the hell...were you inside all the time? When did you..," he tried to speak all at once, words failing him. His mind was reeling. He turned his bewildered eyes on the road for a moment to avoid any accident, and continued to look in the rear view mirror.

Damn, what was wrong with the mirror? He turned it a bit to see clearly. Then his heart almost leapt out of his mouth. He panned the entire back seat with the mirror again. But he couldn't see her.

His hands shook terribly as he turned back to the wheel and realized that she'd reacted to his thought, and not words.

"No point looking in the mirror darling," Shilpa said sadly. Raghupathy stopped the car without looking back.

Then he slowly turned back. There was something wrong with her hairdo. "What happened to your..." he stopped midway. It couldn't be. A portion of her head on the left was...was missing. It was just a big, lumpy, bloody mess.

"It's a bullet wound, sweetheart," Shilpa said smiling sadly. Then she suddenly laughed, before turning sad again.

"It's all over, baby. Pramodini called me this afternoon...and well, I couldn't continue living after hearing it, so..." She pointed sadly at her own wound, her eyes boring his. "I'm sorry..." Her eyes beseeched.

"I'm sorry too," said another voice suddenly. He squinted his eyes. Pramodini suddenly appeared beside Shilpa, a white froth slowly seeping out from a corner of her mouth.

Raghupathy turned back for a second, his head throbbing. He grunted and gasped, trying hard to breathe, but he couldn't. He clutched his chest, and quickly tried to unbutton his shirt. A moment later he slumped on the wheel.

*******

2nd Chance...?

2012-01-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

My daughter narrated an incident from school, about how an innocent guy in her class was victimized by some bullies - and how the class teacher came to his rescue.

Reminded me so much of this story I'd written a while ago... :)

********

It was late. And the play wasn't anything to write home about. And in any case, Damodar had gone there to please Suchitra (Suchi for her friends), who'd pestered him to buy the damn tickets.

"Please, Damu. For me?" She'd implored, with those beseeching eyes he'd fallen in love with silently, over the years.

"But.."

"Please Damu. It's for the eye-camp."

A beat...

"Eye-camp?" She'd repeated, looking him in the eyes.

He'd handed out the hundred bucks in silent resignation. Money-mindedness was the last thing he wanted her to guage him with.

Now he walked across the dark street (no street-light as usual, he noticed), and reached the main road that connected the grid-separator and the alley towards his home. Suchi had decided to stay back to help her friends change. She was one of the organizers anyway, so well..it made sense.

They were through with college a few years back, and still lived in the same neighborhood, but he couldn't muster enough courage to convey his feelings to her.

"Loser," Amit, his pal since first year, had hissed, as Damu silently watched that idiot Pritam whisk her away from under his nose. He hurried his steps as the memories bobbed up and down his head. Pritam had joined a year late, but was more popular and had even won the affections of Suchi. It was almost like those 'good-boy-loses-girl-to-smart-hero' movies he'd seen so many times. And here he was, his life an almost identical replica of...

Bang.

He turned his head. Fine time to burst crackers.

Bang... again.

Behind him. He turned and saw some commotion on the main road. A wail. Some shouting. He was in the alley now and hastened, his heart beating faster. Then he heard someone running into the alley. Behind him. And then a car turned into the alley, following the runner.

Bang. This time it deafened him and he lunged to the ground. He thought he'd been shot at. But no, it wasn't him. He looked up and right behind him, the runner was lying on the ground. Two guys stepped out of the car and pumped two more bullets into him and hurried into the car.

"hey, who's that?" A voice inside the car demanded. Then a command to shoot him also.

Damu started running. A bullet whizzed past his ears and entered a tree. His mouth all dried up, his first thought was - I'm dead.

He turned into a cross road. A voice inside his head commanded him to head into the construction site on the side; without thinking he ran inside and ducked behind a pillar. A few seconds later, the car stopped outside. A few muffled voices. "...probably hasn't seen us. Cannot identify us.." were the all-important words he heard. Oh please, make them go away, he prayed. Then the engine died, sending a wave of panic again. The doors opened and slammed shut. He quietly hid behind sacks in the inner room of the house.

"Come out, you rat," they were speaking in the local language. He wondered how many of them were there, in all? Probably four. Maybe he should just talk his way out. Then another voice in his head, "don't be a fool. They are here to kill you, and they'll do it anyways. Talk or no talk. So just be quiet."

Scuffled footsteps entered the room.

"You think he's here?"

"Let's find out. But first, ask these guys to move. We don't want cops welcoming us outside."

The other guy left and a moment later Damu heard the car come to life and drive away.

Just then the caretaker of the site walked in, sleepy. "Who?"

"Your in-laws, just shut up." It was obvious the caretaker had seen the gun, for he didn't speak after that. The second guy walked in again.

"Find him," commanded the first guy.

"Who...who's here, sir?" The caretaker squeaked.

"None of your business."

Damu couldn't believe he was watching a harmless play only an hour back, only to be facing his death now.

A hand moved the sacks.

"Just pump a bullet or two into all the sacks. That's how you kill rats."

Damu offered a silent prayer, thanked his mom and dad for everything, expressed his love for them...and thought about Suchi. "I love you, Suchi," he said in his mind. There. He'd said it at last. And having said that, he suddenly wanted to live. He didn't want to die like this. He'd been a loser all his life. He couldn't die without first proclaiming his love for her. Maybe things could indeed be worked out by a cordial talk. He stood up.

"Ah..there you are, you rodent" smiled one of the guys. He couldn't see them clearly but they looked like they meant business.

"Look..please leave me. I..I didn't see anything."

"Oh yeah? You think we're fools."

Come to think of it, they were..wondered Damu. All they had to do was do their job and scoot. Why the hell did they have to come after him? And now he'd really seen them. And he had to die for that. Drat.

"Look, you could've just gone away. I was shit scared anyway..Please.."

This made them think. Just then, two loud 'thungs' like a tuner fork rang in the air..and the two guys were lying on the floor. The caretaker was standing behind the gangsters, with a flat iron rod.

"Quick sir, go call the police. I'll tie them up."

"Yeah...ok..uh..hey, that was quick thinking. Thanks. But...are they..dead?"

They bent down and checked. They were alive. Damu sighed with relief and ran out.

*********

"Construction worker helps nab two dreaded gangsters. Saves possible victim's life."

Damu read the detailed report, his name and all...folded the paper and leaned back in the sofa..closing his eyes, with gratitude, and some guilt. He was sure Suchi would've read the report. He sighed again. Maybe he should've taken those bullets after all...

*******

Just another year...

2012-01-02T02:08:00.000-08:00

"So, another year, huh?"

Shrug.

"Hmm, I guess so."

Nod.

"So, what plans for the new year?"

"Same old. You?"

"Same."

Another nod.

"What do you think is happening. Do you see any change?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we meet here, on this rooftop every new year's eve, talk the same old things, you know - we never really discuss what we actually did the previous year; or what we're gonna do the next. We never really discuss about our observations. Know what I mean?"

"Oh yeah, that. True."

"So...what change do you see?"

Another shrug.

"Nothing, really. Except..."

"Except..?"

"It's a bit more flashier, everything. You know, the kids know a lot more about what's happening around them. The grown-ups know a lot lesser about the same. Somehow, the world seems to have shrunk into one little app after another. It's all about buttons and keys, know what I mean?"

"Hmmm - that's right. You've begun to speak the lingo too - app"

Laughter.

"Yes, yes, I noticed."

Awkward silence. Clock strikes.

"Happy new year."

"Happy new year."

Festivities yonder. Shouting, cheering etc.

"You know it's silly, doesn't really matter even...but..."

"Ask."

"Which year did you say you died?"

"1976 new year's eve. You?"

"1986. Same day."

Chuckle.

********

Dada's House (Redux)

2011-12-30T06:38:00.000-08:00

I love this house. More than my life.

Hariya brought me here when I was a little girl of five or six. I didn’t know him so well. Maybe he was my mother’s brother. I don’t know. I never saw him after the day I arrived here. I always thought he was my father. He wasn’t, obviously. I was happy he wasn’t. He never treated me well, and always hit me.

And before long I knew this was going to be my home from then on and no Hariya would return to take me back. I was glad, because I just loved the house the moment I saw it. It was huge and almost resembled a palace. Who wouldn’t love such a place? Three families lived here, I learned later.

My new guardian was Deewanji, the eldest of the three brothers who lived here with him. But for me he was ‘Dada’. I liked calling him that. The other children laughed at the word – they said it meant grand father, but I didn’t care. I gradually forgot all about Hariya and that horrible house. Everyone was so nice here. Dada was some important man in the King’s palace, they told me. I heard the word ‘confidante’ a few times. What’s confidante? Who knew? And who cared? Dada loved me and took good care of me. That was all that mattered.

A few months later, Kamala, the cook’s daughter told me as a matter of fact that I was Dada’s illegitimate child and that’s why I was here. I had no idea what that meant, but nobody talked about it openly. I don’t know how she learned about it. My mother died after giving birth to me, Kamala said. She was here during her pregnancy. She was called ‘choti maa’ among the children, but the grown ups never mentioned her name. I wonder why I lived with Hariya for more than five years before coming here? I guess I would never know. Kamala didn’t know either. I soon forgot about it. The mansion was always filled with guests and festivities. There was always a merry occasion which saw the house in colorful hues. There was fun, frolic and laughter. A typical joint family and I loved it immensely.

Dada’s wife was ‘Badi Maa’, a gentle and loving woman. She did not love me as much, but never ill treated me either. Soon, we both grew to like each other a lot. Twelve years went by happily until one day tragedy struck the very roots of the house. Raj Hans, Raj ‘Bhai sa’ to me, died of brain fever. He was Dada’s eldest son. A pall of gloom settled on the mansion. The family astrologer told that the house was built on a grave yard, and that each year, a curse of one of the spirits would take a life from the house until it was empty, deserted. This shocking fact silenced everyone.

‘What nonsense’, Dada said finally. He did not believe in spirits and such.

‘And why my son? Why now? Why hasn’t anyone died here earlier?’

The astrologer was quiet. When Dada’s volley of questions ended, he said, ‘It is a coincidence, but the curse was to come to effect whenever a child turned sixteen.’ Raj Bhai sa was the eldest son and had turned sixteen just a week before his death.

No more laughter. No more festivities. It was like all the laughter and happiness had been turned away at the doorstep. Conversations were muffled and the house resembled a graveyard with live people.

One day, they decided to abandon the house.

“Let’s build our new home by the river, near the palace and the city area,” Badi Maa suggested.

Dada would have none of it.

“This house belongs to my father. The late Maharaja, the respected King’s father, gifted it to him for his loyalty and honor. We are not going anywhere.” His brothers did not have the courage to oppose Dada’s decision.

The family astrologer was consulted again. Surely there must be a way out. “There is,” he said. “A sacrificial ‘yagna’ (holy fire) and a fortnight of worshipping Lord Shiva. All the spirits have to be appeased.” Dada was reluctant but gave in after Badi Maa persuaded him. After all the family astrologer had said that all would be well after the sacrifice. And all his predictions in the past had been good for the house. Dada loved Badi Maa dearly and silently nodded his head. The sacrifice was conducted with all the necessary customs and the spirits were appeased. And true to the astrologer’s words, Lakshmi, Raj Bhai sa’s younger sister survived her sixteenth year, and when she turned seventeen, the house was drenched in merry making. The laughter and good times returned. The curse had been exorcised.

But I was the happiest.

Many years went by. My siblings grew and went out to see the world. But not me. That’s because I had promised Dada that I would always be around to take care of the house. You see, that night, a week after Raj Bhai sa’s death, when the family astrologer had left, Dada had come to me.

“Beta, please save me and my house from destruction. Your Dada loves you very much.”

As he filled me in his arms and wept, I embraced him back. I promised that I would do anything for him. Anything. He left silently after holding me tight for a few more minutes. I wondered how I could save the house. But I felt a sense of pride. Dada wanted me to save the house.
I loved Dada. He was my everything. If it weren’t for him I would never have had the good fortune of being in such a beautiful shelter and getting so much love.

“Don’t worry Dada, I shall always stay back and take care of the house. Nothing will ever happen to the happiness of this house".

I remember telling him that, as the axe fell on my neck that day, 200 years ago.

*******

Haar ki jeet?

2011-12-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

Jeet stood at the ticket counter. He pushed against the wall, as far under the sunshade as possible. The rain had formed a puddle on the uneven cement floor in front of him. He hated getting wet. The entrance to the cinema was around the corner, and he had to step out into the rain to get there. He looked at the time - 10 more minutes. Oh well...he might as well wait. They'd reel out all those ads and trailers anyway.

He first saw the girl. She rushed to the counter, and was disappointed to see nobody behind it. She turned to look at her boyfriend, who came running behind her. “What happened?” “Looks like it’s all sold out,” The girl moaned.

The guy ran a hand through his wet hair and looked around. “Shit, what do we do now?” He rubbed his palms together, beginning to shiver now.

Jeet clenched the single ticket in his palm and opened his mouth to speak. He had seen the movie before, and was here to kill time. This could be a good opportunity to get rid of the ticket. But...they were two, and he had just one ticket.

As if reading his mind, the girl looked at him. There were water droplets on her glasses, but she didn’t seem to mind it much. Probably used to it.

She squinted her eyes against the rain and murmured something to the boyfriend. Then she turned to Jeet.

“Excuse me, has the movie started yet?” That question actually was a hidden answer to a lot of other questions one would ask, coming to a theater like this. Old and unpopular, this cinema hall was the last place one would come to, but the movie was a smashing hit, and had also won critical acclaim. Being in a small town, the ticket rates were pretty low too. But as far as the regular works went, but for the small placard-like poster outside the gate, you could easily mistake it to be an abandoned structure. There were no show-timings on display, no grand gates, and no snack vendors inside the premises. Bottom-line, the movie was solely at the mercy of the single proprietor who ran it. He might start the movie any time he wanted. Or he might not.

Jeet answered her question with another – “Uh, do you guys want tickets?” She nodded. Jeet held out his crumpled ticket and smiled sheepishly. "I have just one."

The couple hesitated, unsure whether to term him stupid or generous. They were two of them, and this guy showed off his single ticket like he had an entire row in his palm. They conferred in hushed tones once again, the guy protesting every minute or so, and the girl trying to persuade him.

Then they turned to him. The girl stepped forward. “We’ll take it. How much?”

Jeet was about to talk about the arithmetic of number of tickets versus the number of people here, etc, but before he knew it, she’d grabbed it from his hand and stuffed the ticket fee in his hand.

He watched puzzled as the guy hugged her, and then quickly ran inside, throwing one last ‘thanks dude’ at him and blowing a kiss at her. Jeet was about to raise his hand, but didn’t; he just smiled back weakly.

“Thanks,” She said, smiling and pushing back a strand of hair from over her glasses. He just smiled back.

They waited for the rain to stop. She had a thick jacket on, but somehow the fact that she was alone now, made her cautious of the rain all of a sudden. He watched her as she collected the small drops in her hand, and smiled unknowingly. She suddenly turned to him, and he didn't know what to do. He turned away hastily, smiling nervously and looked at his watch, and then back at the rain. He didn't see her smiling back.

She continued playing with the water. He slowly turned to see. She was cute. And he liked girls with glasses. For some strange reason, he found them very sensuous. But he pinched himself and returned to reality. Maybe she needed a drop some place. But he was still curious why she agreed to take the single ticket. Why wouldn't she go in with him? And what kind of boyfriend left his girlfriend standing in the rain...for a movie? Weird. Maybe she didn't like the movie so much. But still...

“Uh…excuse me,” He said finally, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Umm...didn't you also want to...?"

“I know,” she said cutting him off. “It's ok if I didn't watch it. But he...he would give his right hand for this movie." Jeet couldn't believe she was saying this. She looked at his expression and laughed. "His favorite movie. And I didn’t want him to miss it.”

Jeet nodded, a little taken aback. Wow, what a girlfriend. Do they make those kinds these days?

They were silent for a while. It was her turn now. “We drove all the way from Bangalore, just so we could catch this movie here. You won’t get tickets back there, not for another week at least. We had other friends wanting to come with us, but...”, she shrugged. "They had other plans at the last minute. So - just the two of us.."

Jeet nodded. “So…do you have relatives here, somewhere you could go to? The movie’s gonna be about 2.5 hours, you know. You want to get dropped someplace?” He sounded concerned.

“Nah, don’t know anybody here.” There was an uncomfortable pause. “What about you? I'm sure you didn’t come to this hall only to give away your ticket. You didn’t want to watch it?”

“Oh, I’ve seen it once. Actually I'm also from Bangalore. I came for a family ceremony. Representing my parents actually. Didn't want to come in the first place, but you know how it is, right? Obligation and all...?"

She smiled, nodding in agreement.

"...And I thought of killing some time. A couple of other folks went relative-visiting. Wasn't interested. So...” He stopped mid-way, and looked at her.

"So, what do you plan to do now?" She said. The rain had stopped now, and they were still standing there.

He pursed his lips. "Um..don't know - maybe just head back to Bangalore. You?"

Umm...I think I"ll just head over to that cyber-cafe there. Facebook, chat..you know. Time pass." She giggled. He chuckled and nodded.

Then he suddenly remembered they'd not even introduced themselves. He extended his hand. "Hey...I'm Jeet."

"Oh," She laughed and shook his hand, perhaps remembering the same thing. "Mala."

"Hi," They said it together, and again laughed.

An awkward moment later...

"Ok then..I think I better go," Jeet said and turned to leave."

She managed a short ‘bye," and then "hey, thanks so much."

He just waved it away.

She was still standing there looking bored when drove out of the gates. He wondered what she'd do for 2.5 hours now? Well, it was her problem. She was cute, though. He shrugged and drove away.

********

Mala walked out of the cyber-café just in time to reach the theatre. People were slowly milling out. She spotted him and waved.

“So, how was it?” She asked as they walked to their car.

“Awesome,” he said, grinning. “Thanks, Didi. But…what did you do? I was kind of worried…”

“Oh, it’s ok. I went online like I told you, and chatted up with a friend.”

“Ok, cool. And what happened to the ‘crumpled ticket’?" He chuckled.

“Hey! Go easy on him, ok? His name's Jeet."

"Ooooh..Jeet. Proper intro' and all, huh? " He ribbed.

"Shut up. And, you should be thanking him," she said getting into the car. "But he left soon after.” She pulled the car out onto the main road.

“Hmmm, what a pity. I thought you guys would go out for a coffee or something. How come he didn't ask you? Your glasses put him off, huh - Nerd? ” He ribbed her and laughed.

"Shut up.”

"But don't tell me you guys just stood there and spoke nonsense, di, come on..." He protested.

"Arre..it doesn't always happen that way, Bittu. Our age group is different. Not like you guys - fataafat intro and then disco. And who knows, maybe he's already committed, you know?"

"Yeah, right. Or maybe he thought I was your boyfriend," Bittu said laughing again.

She mock punched him. "Aye...Behave now."

Then she turned silent. "Actually...he could've thought that."

Bittu was physically bigger, though almost six years younger to her. And she did look a few years younger. It had happened before. And his stubble made him look a couple of years older. Funny, it never struck her.

Maybe she should've mentioned that Bittu was her brother. He was a cute guy actually. Nice too.

Oh well..destiny.

********

Jeet parked his car outside and ran into the Theater compound, he was looking around when one of the employees walked upto him.

"What are you looking for, sir?"

"I think I dropped my two-wheeler key here somewhere." He'd carried along his bike's key as well in the morning and must've dropped it when he pulled out his car keys.

"Oh, ok," Said the employee.

"Why, did you find something?" Jeet asked.

"No..nothing. It's not a key." Then hesitating, the guy pulled out a wallet and rambled on about how easy it was for people to just lose things, and how easily the blame came on them, and so on.

Jeet was a little irritated. "So, call him or something na? There must be some document inside - his driver's license.."

"Is this it?" The employee pulled out a small plastic card with a stamp-sized picture on it. Jeet took it from him and read the name. "Bharath Sippy." And then he saw the picture.

It was Mala's boyfriend. Shit.

"What time did the movie end?" He asked.

"Just now sir, about 15 minutes ago. Why sir, you know him?"

"Uh..yes. Yes..I..actually we'd come together for the movie. Umm, give, I"ll give it to him." Jeet asked for the wallet.

"See, sir..I'm giving this to you out of trust..." The man started again.

"Yeah, I understand. Trust me, I know him."

"Then it's ok."

Jeet also saw a business card in the wallet. There were seven to eight of the same, so it meant he was the guy. No harm in trying. He dialled the cell phone number in it.

********

"Bittu, your phone's ringing, " Mala said. Bittu was napping. He woke up with a start. "Huh?"

"Your phone."

He looked at the unknown number and frowned before answering.

"Hello? Yeah? Yeah, Bharath....oh, hi. Hey, thanks man..how did you..Oh shit. Really?" He searched his back pocket. "Shit..yes. Hey, thanks man. Yeah, no ..we're just nearing Srirangapatna. Ok..you will? Hey I hope it's not too much of a bother. Ok..no, we're not in a hurry. I'll wait here outside the town." He chuckled. "Hey, thanks again, dude."

He hung up. Mala looked at him quizzically.

"So..Mala madam. Do you believe in destiny?"

"What happened, who was it?"

"I'd dropped my wallet in the theater compound." he smiled.

"You irresponsible idiot," She chided.

"And guess who found it?"

"Who?" She looked at him and then at the road again.

"Crumpled ticket? Remember?" He chuckled and then laughed.

"You're kidding me."

He continued laughing. "I'm telling you. He's on his way now. Just pull up there na, near that dhaaba?"

She pulled over and turned to her brother.

Bittu looked at her sternly. "And now, Ms. Mala...please don't put on your nerd act again, ok?"

She mock punched him again and feigned anger, "Shut up, you..." Then they both burst out laughing.

*********

Thus far (redux)

2011-12-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

Wrote this about 5 years back. Changed a few things.

Swaram sat on the bench and watched the mountains. Beautiful. Every single time he came here, his eyes filled with tears. Nature was so humbling. It reminded him that everything and everybody was so insignificant in front of it. He gazed at the clouds slowly inching towards the peaks, and smiled.

And then he saw her. Standing at the railing, looking down. She looked all around and then turned, their eyes meeting. He raised his eyebrows, the corner of his mouth almost a smile; a silent greeting. She acknowledged his look for a fleeting second, and turned away, looking lost again.

He walked up beside her and stood. Neither spoke for a whole minute, both soaking in the wonder in front of their eyes.She then stepped back.

"Nice view," Swaram said, almost to himself.

She nodded. But her face was expressionless.

They looked at each other now. She smiled.

"So you can smile," he said, chuckling.

The smile grew wider now. "Yeah, so?"

"Nothing. It's just that...anyway, I'm Swaram. Hi."

She remained silent,just nodded her head. But she didn't introduce herself.

"I'm sorry I just came over without even..." he said.

"It's ok." She almost smiled.

He relaxed.

"They say nature looks its best from suicide points. And that's because it wants us to have a second thought about jumping and losing it all."

She still remained silent.

"Did you believe that?" He said and leaned against the railing, facing her.

She remained thoughtful. A pause again. "I don't know..maybe."

"Did you also come here for ...?" she asked, staring back almost.

Swaram remained silent now.

He turned back and leaned across the railing, guaging the depth of the gorge, and then stood back.

"Must be quite a fall. Huh?" He continued.

"Why are you asking me all these questions? I don't even know you."

He raised his eyebrows again.

She looked at the sun now, about to set. "Ask me directly, if you want to."

"Directly, what?" he said.

"Why."

"Why what?"

"That's what you want to know, right? Why I want to end my life?"

"No."

A pause.

"I wanted to ask you why you ended your life."

She had to hold the railing to keep herself from reeling. He held her shoulder and steadied her.

"I know. It's not something everyone can take. It's hard to admit that we've really died. It's ok, happens."

"Then...then..you..how am I able to...?" She looked down and then again at him, her mouth quivering and eyes wide with horror and surprise, all at once.

"I jumped yesterday. You..an hour back." He smiled.

He went over and sat, motioning her beside him; his gaze steadfast on hers. "We have all the time to talk. Let's begin with your name..."

********

'Red-faced and all..'

2011-12-15T21:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, these things normally don't happen...to me at least, but when they do, I'm all tongue-tied.

So, uh, thanks PV, for this:

(I'm sorry, I'm just horrible at formatting all this stuff on the web, so guys, please ignore the alignment, composing of the image etc. Maybe you can help me out here, PV?)

I'm really bad at receiving these accolades. I just don't know what to say! But I'll say this.

PV's a helluva writer herself. If you guys don't believe me, just go here. There's something 'spidery' about her writing. I know, that word sounds morbid, but what I really mean is, her stories just pull you into a web of feelings and thoughts.

So, thanks once again to the PS girl! You continue socking those rocks, huh? ;-)

Smoked out (55)

2011-12-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

Rishi lit his third cigarette and stood in the cemetery. He looked at his watch. 1.30 am. Fifteen more minutes. He chuckled. “One thousand rupees, here I come”. That was the bet.

“Excuse me?”

Rishi almost swallowed the cigarette. Heart pounding he turned.

“Could you please put that out? That’s what killed me you know.”

*****

Reunion

2011-12-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

She woke up with a start. The *ding* of the chat window did it, she guessed. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the time. Shit – 3 am. Last she remembered was googling her long lost friend Trixie (Trishala).

She looked at the new message in her chat window.

“Hi Vinny, Trixie here.”

WTF..how could she possibly know..?

She typed back – “hey..hi – was just..”

“I know – googling my name. *Giggle*”

“But how could you possibly..?”

“LOL…”

“No, tell me Trix – how? And how’ve you been? This is amazing” She fumbled for words.

“Am fine Vins, you tell me.”

“Where are you?” She typed and then realized the browser was still open where she was searching for her friend. Her hand went to close it, when she saw a link. She clicked on it.

“…among the dead are Trishala Mahadevan, Arjun Gandhi, Menaka Suvarna, Pritam Sarathy…”

The news article was dated about seven years back. With pictures.

Her fingers now wavering she looked back at the chat window expecting to see Trixie’s message.

Instead, she heard a voice from behind her - "Sigh, you found the link. Finally..."

*****

Fifty Five(s) - 1

2011-12-13T22:42:00.000-08:00

For the next few days (or probably weeks, don't know) I plan to try out this 55 word thingy. It's kind of like having a tequila shot to rid you of writer's block.

**********

Game over

Hostel basement. The TT room noise was getting to Saurabh, who was trying to study in the adjacent hall. It was nearly 1 am and these guys were still playing? Enough with it, he decided and marched to the TT room.
"Hey fuckers, why don't you...?" He stopped.

There was no one in the room.

*****

Spoilsport

2011-12-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

The cop knocked loudly. "Open up. Police."

"Yes, sir?" The house inmate peeped through the partly open door.

"I need to come in. This man here says you're trying to kill someone, says he watched it all from the opposite building. Said you'd tied someone to a chair and...what's up anyway?"

"What? what nonsense..." Then loud laughter. "Oh, that. We're practicing for our office annual day play, sir. It's a murder mystery."

Cop hadn't expected this. He frowned and turned to the other man. The neighbor cringed and then said, "Oh...but..."

"You just did what you had to, sir. Not to worry, it's ok," the house inmate said, smiling. "Happens all the time."

"Sorry,I...well, from the window it looked so real..." muttered the neighbor, barely audible now.

The man inside laughed some more and stepped back. "But please sir, why don't you come in and check for yourself?"

"No, don't bother. Carry on," the cop said. He glared at the neighbor and walked away, scratching his crotch, muttering something about jobless fellows.

The neighbor turned to leave too.

"Sir, why don't you come in for some tea at least?" The man from inside said, stifling a laugh, or so it seemed to the neighbor.

"Uh, no..it's ok. I'll be off," he said sheepishly. "Sorry once again, for the confusion."

The other man winked and waved his hand. "Tata."

*****'

"Can you beat it? They thought I was trying to kill you, even called in the cops."

Chuckle.

He pulled the curtains and turned to the other guy again. "Ok, I think we should continue like this now. Too many peeping toms around I see."

He adjusted the silencer over the muzzle and pointed it at the tied man. "This'll win you a filmfare award. And this..." he said looking at the muzzle, "..will make it look authentic, what say?"

He pulled the trigger. A second later he was looking at the brownish red mess on the wall behind. Oh well, he had lots of time to clean up. But sometimes he hated this job. So much more cleaning to do when you killed someone inside the house. He preferred doing it outside - point blank, out in the open. Let the cops clean up after. Sigh.

He looked down at the body. "Too bad, you can't do this once more. You know, like in those village dramas, where the audience shouts 'once more, once more' when a guy dies very convincingly?" He laughed at his own poor joke.

******

"Gaadi bula rahi hai" - Part 3 (concluding part)

2011-12-08T05:44:00.000-08:00

Read part 1 / part 2

Arati swerved left to avoid an autorickshaw who suddenly, for no good reason, tweezed himself in between a biker and her, and now trying to overtake.

"Moron," She scowled at the rick guy as she passed him. He growled back.

It was too late, she was already at the turning and there was no way she could apply the brakes. The huge truck was blaring, but it was somewhat muffled due to the loud music she was playing. She brought both her hands up to her face, screamed her lungs off and passed out.

*******************
"This had to happen. Why did that idiot Nikhil agree to keep the car if he couldn't keep it safe for two weeks?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe we can do some fire fighting here. What does her log say?"

"I don't know."

"What do you know?"

"I don't...err..wait, let me check." A brief pause and a soft whistle followed. "It says here 84. 86 at best."

"Now what's that supposed to mean, 86 at best?"

"Can't accommodate beyond 86, is what it means. But we could appeal, right?"'

"For what - like 86 minutes? You were supposed to keep a watch on her. It's what we all do. We don't mess with that."

Grumbling followed.

"What?"

"Nothing. Yeah, let us keep a watch. And the car?"

"I don't know, we should try to spook her somewhat. Make her ditch the car. It's not good for her."

"Meaning?"

"You know what it means, right? Those guys will come after her. Sooner or later. It's all there in the book, isn't it?"

"yes."

****************

Arati could hear someone banging at a door from somewhere far away. The ringing in her ears hadn't died down yet. She slowly opened her eyes, ready to face heaven. Wait a minute. It looked very much like earth.

She turned. There was a mass of metal piled up on her left. People were milling around it. But a huge crowd was onto her, ready to torch the SUV.

****************

"Oh great. Now it'll all be over in 86 seconds. You know, for an angel you're quite something. You were supposed to make that accident not happen in the first place. Now look what you did."

"What'd I do?"

"She's unscathed. BUt the truck's a mess. That never happens, you know. It's not destined that way. And you see Simon there? The truck driver's angel. I can see that frown on his face turning into a red mass of fire."

"What do I do?"

""I don't know, and what do I do"- is that all you know? I think I'll have to handle this myself. Get me the rewind hand-set. I'm going to get penalized for this, I'm sure. Newbie" He grumbled under his breath.

***************

Arati opened her eyes slowly and found herself parked in the same place where she'd started out from.

She looked around. This couldn't be happening. Where was the huge truck crash. The mob? Where was it? Was she dreaming this whole thing? When did she doze off? Last she recollected was cursing the autorickshaw

....and just then the autorickshaw passed by, the biker behind him. But...

She was shivering. She called Nikhil again.

"Where are you?" Nikhil asked gruffly.

She gave him directions and got out of the car. Nisha called.

"Nishu, you won't believe what just happened to me..I'll be there in a while sweety." She hung up and sat down at the culvert, still shaking. She looked up. She was sure she was going to die. It was all so real. How could it have been just a dream, for God's sakes? She looked up and thanked her lucky stars.

**************

The senior angel muttered, "You're welcome."

Then he turned to his junior. "As for you...be alert. For the next 86 earth years, yeah?"

********

"Gaadi bula rahi hai" - Part 2

2011-12-07T09:27:00.000-08:00

Read part 1

Arati felt like she wasn't alone in the car. She looked at the rear view mirror and her heart stopped for a minute. Was it her imagination or did she just see someone duck in the last row of the SUV, as her eyes fell on the mirror?

"Any...anybody there?" She mumbled feebly, feeling stupid the moment she said that.

She slowly pulled the vehicle over near a park and killed the engine. She lowered the window and looked around. It was a bright and sunny day, traffic milled all around her, pedestrians walked by, giving her and her ride the usual curious looks, doing as they normally do looking at something different on the roads. She just sat there for a minute soaking in the atmosphere, feeling normal.

She chuckled. "Aru, you're a nut case," she said out loud. What could possibly be wrong in the car?

Her brother's call again startled her. She cursed him under her breath and picked up the phone this time.

"Aru, I'll kill you...where are you?"

"Relax, chotu - am fine, and..what's with you? What's the big deal if I took the car, huh? Your friend's not gonna return today and snatch it back, right?"

Nikhil was the younger sibling. And she could bloody well take his car when she wanted. She shook her head and disconnected even as her kid brother was shouting on the line.

She looked at her cell phone for a moment. What if he actually had a good reason to stop her from driving it? Nikhil was known to have some rich kid friends who she suspected were involved in what would otherwise be perceived as nefarious. Could be anything - incriminating evidence...maybe controlled substance of some kind. Boy, this kid.

She turned and looked around the SUV. It smelled nice, surprisingly. She hadn't noticed it. She'd have thought it reeked of alcohol or cigarettes. None of that. Pleasant fragrance. Manly, she noted especially and smiled. On a hunch she released the boot and got out.

She looked around and slowly walked over to the rear of the car. She clutched the handle and slowly opened the door. Nothing. It was clean. Hmm, that was strange. She could've sworn there was someone. "Shit, Aru, now you've really lost it. That happened only in movies."

The cell phone on the front seat rang out again. She swore and walked over to the front again.

It was an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Get out of the car now, and walk away."

"Excuse me?"She frowned and turned. Was someone watching her?

"listen girl..you don't want to be in that car now. Just walk away."

"Hello, you listen. Just fuck off ok?" She hung up and dialled Nikhil's number.

Funny, now he wasn't answering. She looked around for some more time, then got in. She half expected cops or commandos, or whoever it was they showed in the movies, to surround her from all over and command her to exit, their machine guns pointed to her. She laughed at the absurdity. "Too many films, Aru, too many..." she chided herself.

She sighed and brought the car to life. Sweet. Oh boy, what the heck. She'd always wanted to drive one of these. She stepped on the gas and roared into the main road, leaving behind a cloud of dust.

(Now...what could happen next? Watch this space)

"Gaadi bula rahi hai"

2011-12-06T01:33:00.000-08:00

"Ma, I'm going to Nisha's house," Arati announced, as she tumbled out of her room as usual, her sling bag in tow.

"Ok, did you hand over the cheque to Pa?" Mom shouted from the kitchen.

"Shit," Arati muttered under her breath. "I'll do it on the way, ma..."

She could hear her mother grumble something inaudibly from inside, but she was way past the living room to the corridor that connected to the garage.

She pushed through the door and flicked on the light of the garage. Her favorite hatchback of 3 years sat gleaming in the tiny bulblight. She patted the bonnet lovingly and was about to get in, when she stopped. Turning back slowly she discovered something. She looked at it, and then at hindsight went back into the house.

Her mother, oblivious to the world...turned and jumped when she saw her daughter standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Aru..please tell me when you come and stand like that," her mother said, a hand on her chest, breathing heavily. "You scared me. I thought you'd left."

"Ma, whose car is that?" Arati said, ignoring her mother's protest.

"What car?"

"Ma,come on...that one sitting beside mine."

"Oh, that. belongs to Nikhil's friend's. He's handed it over to your brother temporarily."

"Meaning?"

"The friend has gone to the Us for a few weeks, so he wants Nikhil to take care of it." she mumbled something else and continued her work.

Arati looked thoughtful.

"Why has Nikhil not taken it to work, then?"

"Arre I don't know. Ask him."

Arati turned back and headed to garage, dialing her brother's number.

"Nikhil, can I use your friend's car for today?"

"Aru, no, no no...don't touch that car - I can't give it to you..." he hadn't even completed the sentence. "thanks," Arati said and giggled.

She pulled the keys from the key-chain hanging by the garage door. All car keys hung from there.

She blew a kiss at her car with a short 'sorry baby" and got into the friend's car. It was a huge monstrosity she'd always wanted to drive ever since she'd learned driving a couple of years ago.

She revved the engine and let out a long whistle. Her mobile rang. It was her brother. She disconnected it and backed the car out.

*********

A little past the first traffic circle, Arati turned right. That was when she noticed something was wrong.

(I know, I know....but to be continued)

Tequila Shot Redux

2011-08-03T02:33:00.000-07:00

- A teaser (coming to bookshelves near you - only don't ask me when)

Two am. The petrol bunk was deserted. Stray vehicles passed by. Followed by silence again. Around the bend, the punctuated sounds of fist-blows almost reverberated the air. You could mistake the sound for wood-chopping by day. Not now.

"Hold him still, motherfucker," The man with the knife growled.

His two friends gripped the hands tight, while the subject in question literally sagged in their clasp. His eyes were rolling skyward, too tired to make contact with any of them. His bloodied nose too stuffed to even breathe, he tried to make contact with oxygen through his half open mouth, its condition not too good either. Swollen lips don't allow a lot of muscles to move.

"You dare defy our command, huh, you bastard," the knifer said, his fingers clenching and unclenching the hilt in relentless spurts of anger.

The man in question was far from replying, ready to accept his fate.

The harsh lights of the car that turned the bend wasn't something they had expected so the collective gasping and breathing, both the angry and the tired ones, stopped.

The lights approached them slowly and the car stopped about 20 feet away. The lights went out soon as the driver of the car killed the engine. The door opened, and she stepped out slowly.

This was the night. They couldn't believe their luck. Not only could they make mince out of the meat in their clutches, now they could feast on the one coming out of the car as well. The leader of the pack chuckled, and the sniggers followed.

"Nice, huh, scumbag? Your worried girlfriend has come to your rescue. How sweet is that?"

He turned to the car - "Come hither pretty one."

Come to think of it, she was. She slowly advanced, unsure at first, then more confidently.

"Please leave him."

"Please leave him," mimicked the knife-jacker. "Oh...love. I absolutely love this. What boys, I'm warning up front. I get to taste her first, yeah?"

More laughter followed.

She came nearer.

"Tell you what, guys - you have two options". Surprisingly, the voice suddenly turned cold.

"Yeah? I'm all ears," he said.

She brought up both her hands, something gleaming in them. The click of the safety lock confirmed it.

The attacker's expression turned from smirk to frown in precisely two seconds.

She continued. "One - you leave this guy now, and safely walk back to your wives, God bless them."

She clasped the gun tighter. "Two - you stay back here, and let me watch you guys playing marbles - with those collective balls of yours that're gonna roll. Take a pick."

"You fucking whore you...," the knifer said, advancing approximately a foot before crying out in pain and buckling to the ground. The quick 'thup' of the silenced barrel was at the most audible just a few feet away, but the cry could invite dogs.

"Shhhh..you'll wake up the neighbors," she said and looked at the others. "What say boys, marble time for you as well?"

The fallen hero now clutched his knee and continued yelping.

"Get up," She said.

He tried to get up but fell again. The other two had already left the "punching bag" and were trotting away.

The hurt knifer limped out of sight in the next few minutes.

She approached the bloodied form who had by now fallen to the ground in a heap. She pulled out a pen torch and flashed the light on his face.

"I looked for you all over. Pretty time to be walking in the neighborhood."

"Who..who're you?"

"Oh, let's just say I'm your guardian angel. But you know what? I hate it when they take the fun out of my job. Look at you." She tch-tched some more.

"Wha..what job?"

"Oh, sorry, didn't I tell?" She giggled.

The next minute she pointed the muzzle at his face. "Thupp. Thupp."

"That one. Good night."

She walked back to her car, brought it to life and drove away.

*****

Between the lines (concluding part)

2011-07-30T00:23:00.000-07:00

Read Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5

Akanksha and three others sat at a table facing the door. Akash suddenly felt like a bumbling college student appearing for an admission interview. What was this pretty young thing doing with these no-nonsense looking men? Wait a minute, she’s alive. What the hell was going on?

“Akanksha…?” was all he could muster.

“Yes. But now, she’s no longer known by that name.” The guy in the center spoke out.

“Who’re these …?” Akash started, when Akanksha put up her hand. “Come, sit Akash. And from here on, we’ll do the talking. Ok? Let’s get it over with now. Not much time.”

Akash sat and looked at all of them.

“You’ve been taking your ‘mystery writer’ role a bit too seriously, I see – at least the last few months.”

Akash laughed nervously. “But..I thought you had..”

“Died.”

Akash didn’t know what to say.
“Ok, let’s keep it at that. I’m dead – at least on paper.” Akanksha looked at the other men and continued.

“It wasn’t meant to be like this, you know. But you involved my sister, so I’ve had no choice but to make things clear.” She paused. “..and also because, well, we don’t want to jeopardize innocent civilian lives.”

“What do you mean?”

The burly man on the far left spoke now.

“Mr. Akash – your curiosity, and to a certain extent Ms. “Akanksha’s” friendly banter with you…” he looked at Akanksha, who shrugged, “…has, for want of a better word – made our ongoing work, a little difficult to progress.”

He went on some more about patriotism and national security. Akash sat blankly, not sure if he wanted to be there anymore, pretty girl or no pretty girl.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of RAW, Mr. Akash,” the man said. Akash broke out of his trance. “Huh? Yeah.” He looked at Akanksha. “I’ve heard of it.”

“Akanksha is a field agent, involved with collecting intelligence information involving external threats to the country. Just like how terror outfits have sleeper cells, we have counter-intelligence outfits monitoring their moves. It is too complicated for you to comprehend all this now. Just know that we’re on a mission. And we want you to stop your curious moves, starting now. Clear?”

Akash nodded sagely.

“But, that car accident, and...your sister? Does she know?”

Akanksha cleared her throat. “No, she doesn’t – but dad knows. He’s an ex-serviceman. For now, my mother and sister could pose serious problems if they come to know I’m involved with RAW. They’ll also know in good time. But from us. Me – not from you, if you know what I mean.”

“Ok.”

Then he remarked. “But Deeksha seemed to know what I was upto, so…”

Akanksha smiled. “I know. She did some background work behind your back. She called Benny, the lobby manager at the Planter’s Haven resort. Benny, is in fact a RAW officer himself.”

“So, you were in that resort on a mission….” Akash started and trailed off, suddenly remembering he wasn’t supposed to be speaking about this a lot. “Ok, I get it.”

“Thanks.”

“You are advised to cut off all contacts with her sister and be to yourself.” Burly man said.

“But Arun? Why was he killed?”

“Ah him,” the burly man continued. “We need to thank you for that bit, though. You know of course, that we’ve been watching you and Akanksha’s sister. And we were glad you guys stopped this ‘detective’ work for a while. We were almost convinced you guys had given up, when you went and contacted this journalist. And we found that he was in fact with the other guys. He wanted to alert them about us, as he was doubtful about the accident himself.”

“And you …,” Akash wondered.

“We had to eliminate him, Akash,” Akanksha said.

Akash whistled. “Oh boy.”

“Real life, as you know it, is no mystery novel Mr. Akash. We mean serious business here. And you, were almost in the cross-fire.”

Akanksha interjected – “but not anymore. Please go back to your life – get your book published and well, do well as an author.”

Akash sighed. For a minute he wanted to pinch himself. He was talking to real agents, and instead of feeling elated at the opportunity, he wanted to scoot from here. His mind was filled with questions, about Shashank, and the other occupants of that burnt car – but he knew what the answer would be. He thought it best to leave these agents with their work that they knew how to handle.

“Ok, I get the message. But you know Akanksha…I was ..you know, thinking,”

“Don’t think Akash. No point thinking anymore. This is beyond you. I only wish I hadn’t spoken to you that evening.” She looked at her seniors who looked on grimly.

*******

Six months later, Akash sat at his book signing. The usual drill, interviews with papers and magazines. His book was received well.

A couple of weeks later, he received an email from an unknown sender – spirited_reader@gmail

“Nice book, Akash. I hope you win the booker for it. All the best for your future.”

He smiled and shut the message window.

The End

Between the lines (5)

2011-07-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

Read Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4

Akash completed the final draft of his book a couple of weeks later and took it to the publishers. He hadn’t met Deeksha the last couple of months citing health reasons and professional commitments. She had conceded and agreed to meet if any developments happened in the mean time. After that innocent statement, Akash was wary of her and now didn’t trust her as much. Deeksha hadn’t shown any interest in the matter either. They decided it was a one-off incident, though Akash didn’t think so. But he didn’t want to involve himself beyond a point. After all, it wasn’t something he asked for.

Priyadarshini, his editor, asked him to relax in the lobby as she had to wrap up a meeting with an international publication. “Roopa will take it from here, Akash. I’ll meet you in a half hour, yeah?” Apparently, she had taken a look at the soft copy he sent her earlier on request, and had some pointers to polish the draft. She said her staff would take care of it, but that he should be aware of the changes. He’d agreed. First timers don’t have much of a say, anyway. He was just glad his book was on its way to the shelves, finally.

He opened his laptop and launched a browser. The office was wi-fi enabled. After browsing for a few minutes, he went to his favorite online newspaper for the days headlines. On a lark, he decided to look into the archives. What was the date Deeksha had mentioned? Ah, yes – July 26^th, 2009. He was registered with the paper and logged on. He smiled at some of the headlines from back then. He was about to scroll down, when the link caught his eyes. “Car crash on the Mysore-Bangalore highway”. He clicked.

Nothing out of the blue. Four occupants, he noted. Akanksha, Shashank, Roger and Fasal. Those were the names. He quickly read the report, and then some related links. He frowned. Some accident that. But it was just an accident. What did Akanksha’s spirit have to say outside of this accident, he wondered. Come to think of it, the whole incident seemed weirder and weirder. Why hadn’t her spirit made contact again?

The more he remembered her face, the more he got drawn into it. He sighed. He read the story again. Wait a minute.

The car was on its way to Bangalore, when the accident occurred.

But didn’t Deeksha say that Akanksha was on her way to Mysore? A lot of things didn’t quite fit here, but he wasn’t able to put his finger on any one. Unless he had access to the investigation files. Which was next to impossible. Then he remembered, Arun, his friend from college, worked at one of the reputed papers in the city and covered crime. He used to at least a couple of years ago. Could he pull some strings? He wondered. But for that, he’d have to tell him the truth. Would he believe him? Would he laugh at him? He might outright refuse him. But it was worth a try.

******

The number you’ve dialed, does not exist.

Damn.

He decided to visit Arun personally.

He found Arun and a colleague smoking near the stairway, when Akash waved at him.

“Akash. Hey,” Arun said, throwing the butt out.

They pumped hands and clapped shoulders. “Long time, man.”

Akash nodded and laughed.

“So, what brings you here? Still with that company, umm…,” Arun tried to recollect.

“Yeah, still there. But I’m writing a book, and …”

“wow, cool. Really?”

“Yeah. And I wanted your help on some research.”

“Sure – shoot.”

“Umm, it actually involves a real case, happened a couple of years ago.” Akash feigned vague remembrance.

“Yeah? Here, in Bangalore? Which one?” Arun was all ears now.

“Yeah, related to Bangalore. You still doing crime?”

Arun sighed and smiled. “Stuck to it like glue.”

“Good,” Akash said.

“Hmm,” Arun said. “Chalo, let’s go to the canteen to grab a coffee”.

In the canteen, Akash told Arun about the accident, and Akanksha, skipping the parts.

Arun tried to rake his memory. “I do remember faintly about that one. I got it from one of those press statements they give us at the Commissioner’s office.”

“ok, do you remember the cops doing any follow up investigation?”

“Don’t see a reason why they should have. These guys have enough of crap to deal with inside the city, than to waste their time on a pretty straight-forward accident. Highways are, well, you know – accident prone, and they can’t do much about it.” Arun scratched his beard.

Akash nodded. Arun continued – “unless, the accident involves a politico, or some public figure. You know.”

Akash again nodded. “But you know, from what Deeksha told me, it didn’t quite match. She said her sister was bound to mysore. But the report says the car was on its way from mysore.”

Arun laughed. “Akash, I can’t believe you’re asking this question. Printing errors happen all the time. Even names get mis-spelt. Ages are written wrongly at times. It happens.”

Akash got a sinking feeling this wasn’t going down too well. Arun shook his head. “Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’ll try to find out who the investigating officer was on that case, and put you through. That work ok for you?”

Akash nodded. “that’ll be great, man. Thanks.”

Arun winked. “Anytime.”

******

Akash learned that a certain Inspector Dinesh Singh of Maddur District, was the primary spot officer for the accident, and the case was then handed over to ACP Bhargav, Traffic, South Bangalore – as the car was registered under the Southern RTO in Bangalore. ACP Bhargav was not in office currently.

Akash went over several newspaper stories from the public library, carrying the accident story and gathered mixed reports. Some reports said the car caught fire near Maddur, others even said near Mandya, a town about 16km away. He was confused now.

He visited the Bangalore South traffic police station, and met the public relations officer.

He stepped out of the police station, a while later, flustered, and confused even further. There was no record of such an accident, and the PR officer outright refused to comment on the subject.

“Please, sir, I have a lot more work to attend to now.”

What was the big deal about a road accident anyway? He learned about the deal the next day when he read the papers. The headline was buried in the third page, city crime news, but when he looked closer, it took his breath away.

“City crime reporter found dead in his apartment.”

Akash had to rub his eyes and read the report all over again.

“Arun Jadhav, a senior crime reporter was found murdered in his apartment, in the early hours of Monday. His wife and son were out of town and learned of the incident later. Arun was on the crime beat of this renowned paper for the last seven years…”

He almost jumped when his cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

No answer. All he could hear was a hissing sound, like static from a television.
“Hello?”

The line went dead.

He was perspiring now. A few minutes later, his cell rang again.

He looked at the display – it was an unknown number. He slowly pressed the green button.

“Akash?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t ask any question. Meet me at…”, the caller gave him the location and hung up.

Akash tossed the phone on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. He quickly bathed and changed. He had exactly three hours to be at the location.

Three hours later, a blue van slowed down by his side as he was waiting for the caller.

The door slid open and he was asked to jump in. Before he could even notice the occupants of the van, he was blind-folded and asked to keep quiet. His heart pounding, he obeyed silently and sat for what seemed like eternity. None of the occupants spoke during the journey.

When his blind-fold was finally taken off, he had to squint hard at the harsh light. It was late afternoon, he presumed. He was asked to alight. The van sped away leaving him standing in what looked like a school building.

A friendly looking elderly man approached him from inside the building.

“Come with me.”

He was escorted to a class-room. The door was open. He stepped in.

“Hello Akash.”

Akash stood mortified for a second, as he saw the person in front of him.

Concluding part here...

Between the lines (4)

2011-07-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

Read Part 1/Part 2 / Part 3

The hatchback sped past a small town , splashing muddy water from a puddle. A stray dog got out of the way in time.

Inside the car, Deeksha dozed, oblivious to the steady drizzle outside. Akash was silent as well, his mind going over the events of the past weeks, both at work, his book and now – this. They’d decided to take off on a weekend and make a single day trip to Sakleshpur.

A rough patch on the road woke up Deeksha.

“Where are we? I’m sorry, I think I must’ve dozed off,” She said, her voice a bit groggy.

“Hey, perfectly ok. Umm, I think we’re nearing Hassan.”

“Oh, already?”

They started out at day break. Not that it made any difference outside. It still looked like daybreak, what with the wet weather outside, and the Sun deciding to take the day off himself.

“Do you have any plan in mind? What are we looking for there?”

“I have no idea. Thanks to my publisher, I could get a member reference, so we’re allowed to go and just look around.”

Deeksha nodded, looking out.

They stopped at Hassan for breakfast, and got to know a little about each other for the rest of the journey before reaching Planter’s Haven around eleven.

******

The lobby manager smiled as they walked up the stairs in the portico and stepped into the waiting lounge. Not many guests were around, spare the usual staff, walking around with the same look of urgency Akash had noticed several weeks ago.

“Ah, the author. How’re you, sir? A very good morning to you…and to you, ma’am.”

Akash smiled, wincing slightly at the reference. “How’re you?”

“Great, sir. I was told about your arrival. Mr. Rao personally called me. Make yourselves comfortable, sir. Ma’am.”

He then left to attend to his other responsibilities.

Deeksha immediately decided she wasn’t going to like the pesky fellow. She smiled artificially and looked around. Then her eyes caught something at reception desk, and she tugged at Akash’s hand.

Akash turned to her and she motioned at the large garlanded photo.

“Shashank,” She whispered.

They stepped closer to get a better look. The lady at the counter straightened up. “Yes, sir?”

Akash just smiled without replying. She went back to her work. It was obvious they weren’t interested in checking in.

Akash looked at the photo for a few moments.

Later they walked by the pool-side, each carrying a glass of juice they got from the restaurant. The rain had stopped for some time now, and the Sun was peeping from the clouds.

“He definitely looks familiar. Wonder why I didn’t notice his portrait before.”

They went to the patio where Akash ‘met’ Akanksha, and took a table facing the mountains, and the serpentine road leading to the resort. It was a beautiful sight.

“It’s funny how real she looked. I still can’t believe she’s…”

Deeksha smiled vacantly at him. “Dead.”

Akash nodded. “I do think she wanted me to meet you, though. I don’t know why. But she did.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Just think. She used your name, gave me clues about where you worked.”
“Yeah, but if she really wanted, she could’ve just told you where I worked, right?”

“Hmmm. True, now that you mention it, she could have. I just presumed it was the usual girl act – playing hard to get, and all that. Or, maybe she didn’t want to reveal a lot about herself. After all, I was a stranger.”

Deeksha nodded.

“Hey, while you were here, you ate and then sat here, right? How come nobody noticed it? I mean, you both must’ve ordered something. Somebody’s bound to have seen her, right?”

Akash turned serious now. “You know, I’ve been thinking about that right from day one. After the dinner, we didn’t order anything. We were pretty much to ourselves. It could’ve been just me they saw.”

“Yeah, but maybe the pesky manager can tell.”

Akash chuckled at the reference. “Pesky. I like that. And that he is…”

“He did deny anybody checking into her room 207, right..and ..” her voice trailed off.

“Yes, he just told me that to get me off his chest. The club policy is they don’t share information about their guests unless it warrants a police investigation. Then the red tape…you know the drill”

Deeksha frowned. “Damn.”

*****

They left the resort at around four in the evening, disappointed. Deeksha didn’t want her mother calling her; as it was, she’d already called her a million times.

It was close to nine by the time Akash dropped Deeksha and headed home. He just hoped it was all a dream and that he didn’t hear or see Akanksha again. She hadn’t made contact the last few weeks, so it was fine with him. He suddenly wanted to get on with his life – though he felt guilty for thinking like that. But well, it wasn’t his fault, right? And maybe Deeksha and her folks also would forget about her. It could’ve been a one-off case. Maybe the place somehow brought out some sort of a psychic power in him, which would go.

He parked his car in the basement of his apartment building and walked to the elevator. His mind went back to the events of the day – the ‘pesky’ manager (he smiled at that).

As he stood waiting for the elevator car to come down, he realized, though he told Deeksha he’d met Akanksha at the resort, he’d never really told Deeksha about his ‘search’ for Akanksha that day – him walking up to Room no. 207 and the manager shooing him off.

“He did deny anybody checking into her room 207, right?” Her words rang in his ears.

Continued here...

Between the lines (3)

2011-07-25T03:21:00.000-07:00

Read Part 1/Part 2

A week went by. Akash had to complete a lot of work at office, not to mention work on his final draft, and Deeksha was producing a road show for the radio – promoting a new film. They decided to stay in touch in case Akash ‘heard’ anything (from Akanksha), or saw anything. She called him up in between a couple of times, just to be sure. Nothing had happened so far.

*****

Deeksha reached home at around 10 pm and entered the house using her set of keys. Her mom, who usually dozed off on the couch in the living room until she came, muttered something about girls returning at un-Godly hours and cursed the radio job some, before dragging herself to the bedroom. Deeksha’s found her father reading by the bedside as usual. Their eyes met briefly and they smiled.

“Hi pa,” She said.

He smiled and blinked in reply. The warmth in that face was reassuring.

She looked at her parents and sighed. Deeksha hadn’t mentioned about Akash. It wasn’t time yet. She shut the door of her room and changed. She opened the door of the attached bath and was about to get in, when the wardrobe door made a small creaking sound. She turned. The window was open. Probably the wind, she dismissed it.

When she emerged, she found the wardrobe door ajar.

“Ma?” She cried out.

“What?”

“Did you just come by my room?”

“No. What happened?”

“Nothing..”

She was about to shut the door when something caught her eye. She reached out and pulled it from the top of her clothes, which were neatly ironed and stacked. It was a business card. She flipped it over. Nothing. She sat on the bed and looked at the card.

“Planter’s Haven.”

Her heart pounding, she called Akash.

“Hi Deeksha.”

“Akash. I found something in my wardrobe.”

“What?”

“A business card. It says - "Planter’s Haven".”

“You found it in your wardrobe.?"

“Yes.”

“So? You said it belonged to Shashank’s father, so your sister might’ve had it. Right?”

“Akash.”

“Ok, ok I’m sorry.”

“I happen to pull clothes out from the same wardrobe everyday. I didn’t find it this morning. I found it now.”

She recounted about the creaking of the wardrobe and the open window.

“You think Akanksha…?” He said.

She was breathing heavily now. “I don't know...maybe?"

*****

Next day...

Akash was sitting in his car when Deeksha crossed the road and came over.

She got in beside him, catching her breath and sighed loudly.

“Take it easy,” Akash said and smiled.

She smiled back. “Hi.”

He nodded.

She pulled out the card from the hind pocket of her jeans.

Akash looked at it blankly for a minute.

“This is crazy.”

“Why do you think so?”

“I don’t know Deeksha. I mean, I hardly know you folks. Your sister passed away two years ago, nothing happened. And now, she’s trying to communicate with us. Starting with me – a total stranger. And at a time when your folks …,” he stopped. “Have you told your parents yet?”

Deeksha shook her head.

“Hmm. Good. I don’t think they should know of this yet, at least not until we make sure what this is all about. I guess it’s a no-brainer where we must start.”

“Planter’s Haven,” Deeksha said. “You think we should tell someone else also about this?” She bit her nails, reminding Akash about her sister. But she it was more like thinking out loud.

Akash frowned. “Like, who?”

“I don’t know. Appa, perhaps?”

Akash thought for a moment. “Would he believe us?”

“No. He doesn’t believe in spirits and the other world. And it would just pain him further. He loved Akku to bits. But he’s not the one to show his emotions openly. This might just…”

“Wrong candidate, then.”

She nodded.

“Cops?”

“Ha, you must be kidding,” Akash said and chuckled.

“Are you saying we do this ourselves?”

“Do we have a choice?” Akash waved a hand through his hair.

Continued here...

Between the lines (2)

2011-07-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

Read Part 1

They stood in silence for some time. Strangers, meeting for the first time, introduced to each other under paranormal circumstances. After the initial run-in, they now felt awkward. They had no choice but to sort this out.

Deeksha had not informed her parents about the change in her schedule. The evening slot of seven to eight was hers, and she had asked Meera to fill in for her. Her mother would always listen in the first half hour of her segment – it was her way of knowing her daughter was well and at work. But not tonight.

Deeksha received the call promptly at 7.30.

“Haan, ma. No, I’m ok. Yeah..no, I have a headache. Uh huh, no. I’m fine, really. Amma, please. No, don’t send Pa. I’m fine. Giri will drop me. Yeah, ok. Bye”

Akash looked at her as she flipped the cell shut and turned to him. “Mothers.”

He smiled weakly and nodded.

Deeksha looked at the traffic below. “Ma is extra worried for me, after Akku.”

Akash nodded again.

“So, how did it happen?”

“Car crash.”

“Where? Here, in Bangalore?”

Deeksha shook her head. “Outskirts, they were on their way to Mysore. I wasn’t very comfortable she leaving in the evening. Late evening, that too.”

Akash waited.

“We received the call around midnight though.”

Akash frowned. “They hadn’t reached yet? It’s not more than three hours…”

“I know, and I found it strange. The car collided with a truck coming out of one of the town roads, near Maddur. And that town’s just midway.”

“What did the cops learn, didn’t they investigate it further? How many of them were in the car…?”

“Hey, slow down, ok? I’m not an investigative journalist. It was bad enough we lost Akku, I didn’t have the energy to..”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to..I was just..you know, concerned about how it would’ve happened.”

Deeksha nodded. She understood. “Well, nobody knows what happened inside the car. Nobody survived. So the cops too had no way of knowing what happened. Moreover, in the crash, the car caught fire and all the bodies were burned beyond recognition. We identified Akku through a bracelet I’d presented to her.”

Akash didn’t want her to go through the pain.

“Deeksha, it’s ok. Leave it. I don’t think you should recount all that. What’s the point now?”

Deeksha grit her teeth and pursed her lips. He knew she would’ve broken down had he not stopped her.

But she continued.

“They were three of them aside from Akku. I knew one of them – Shashank.”

“Shashank?”

“Yeah. You know him?”

Akash shook his head. “No, but the name is familiar.”

Deeksha shrugged.

“Anyway, what surprises me is you met her..I mean, her spirit, in some resort, where did you say it was?”

“Sakleshpur.”

“Hmm. There. It’s strange. Why would her spirit..if at all it was, meet you there, of all the places?”

Akash sighed and shook his head. “I have absolutely no idea, Deeksha. It all feels like a dream, really. And I wonder why she hasn’t appeared again, in all these weeks.”

“Yeah. Strange.”

They were silent for a few seconds.

Deeksha suddenly turned to Akash. “Wait. What did you say was the resort’s name?”

“Umm..I don’t think I mentioned the name. But, it’s “Planter’s Haven”, or some such..I think it belonged to some big shot coffee-planter there.”

“Planter’s Haven. Shit…”, she said and flipped her cell again and called someone.

“Hello, Preetam? Hi, Deeksha. Heh, hi..hey, listen. You were talking about some resort in Sakleshpur a few months ago, right? Planter’s Haven? Uh huh..hmm? Yeah, yeah…oh..right. No..nothing, it came up in a conversation. Yeah. Thanks, dude. Bye.”

She looked at Akash.

"Planter's Haven belongs to Shashank's father."

Continued here...