Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Espionage - A Short Story

I

4:30 PM, in front of Hotel Highway Inn

She inhaled the smell of the tobacco leaves stuffed inside the Gold flake kings cigarette before lighting it. The aroma of it induced variegated sensations and feelings which she felt could not be matched by anything else. She held the cigarette in between the index and middle finger with the former over the tipping paper that covered the filter and the latter underneath the rolling paper in such a way that both the fingers were bent downwards. The way she held it gave a real masculine feeling to her. She lit it, threw the disposable lighter into a bin, sucked in the smoke and filled her lungs with it, then exhaled. It felt heavenly.

“We got to discuss about your smoking!” blurted Shameel much to the chagrin of Nikita. “Do you have any idea where this would lead to? Death darling! This is nothing but suicide”.

Nikita looked into his eyes with the same mischievous look that made and will make him fall for her again and again, “I like the smell of it, Honey! I feel myself while smoking”, a pause to continue the pleasurable inhaling and exhaling and then she continued, “I feel like a man. I should’ve been born a male. Guess the chromosomes messed up big time”.

“You’re impossible! Your specimen has to be kept in a laboratory!” retorted Shameel.

This dialogue is not new to either of them. But he never understood the meaning of “I feel like a man”. Does she really mean it? ”Of course you’re not a man. You can never be one! You want to believe that you’ve all the qualities of man but the truth, my dear, is crap”. He brought his face near her and uttered the sentence that was going to have repercussions that he would regret until he lived.

You’re just women, a weak creature. You cannot become a man just because you smoke and consume alcohol.”

She looked up at him with a reaction that asked “You really think so?” That was the moment when Shameel regretted saying that sentence. He anticipated the next to be “I’ll do it today!” As if reading his mind, she repeated it. ”I’ll do it today”.

 “No no. Please! Nooooooo”

Before he could finish the dissent, she picked up the gun from the holster and walked right into the restaurant. She moved swiftly to the fourth table, where three guys were sitting in a circular table sipping the beverage from the tin.

“Mr. Pradeep?”

The tallest of the 3 looked up. She pulled a paper out of her pant pocket and read it aloud.

Abhinav thinks that you don’t deserve to live in this word. For someone like you who loves adventures, death will be another beautiful adventure.

She stopped and looked at him with a cheeky face, “I think he’s a Harry Potter fan. Dumbledore says a similar sentence at the end of the first book”. Before Pradeep could comprehend what was happening, she pulled out the gun with the swiftness that trademarks an assassin and pointed it at Pradeep.

BOOM… BOOM… BOOM

II

4:15 PM, inside Hotel Highway Inn

Deepak circled the curls in his handle bar moustache and rested his folded arms on the circular table. He looked at Pradeep and then at his watch. “Why is he late always?”

“Says who?” countered Pradeep and Deepak fell silent at that remark. Just a minute or two would’ve passed when Ashwin joined them. A garrulous individual, Ashwin is and it didn’t take more time to show that off.

“I love these round tables. These create more intimacy than square tables. I read today morning that Louis Van Gaal has ordered all square tables to be replaced by circular ones.”

Deepak interjected. “You’re a big Show-Off. Please stop it Ash. I don’t care whether your Manchester United players eat in round or square tables.” He stopped to register his irritation and continued, “We’ve got a serious problem!” He looked at Pradeep as if to say go ahead.

Pradeep looked at Ashwin with a gaze that tacitly said those two magical words “I’m screwed”. He finally opened his mouth to reveal it.

“Abhinav knows everything!”

OOPS. Ashwin’s comprehension was wrong earlier. He wasn’t screwed, he was dead.

III

6:30 AM, Lake View Road

Mradula was sleeping peacefully. The cold temperature outside coupled with the air conditioning inside the room caused a shudder within her naked body. She pulled the blanket tight over her and when it didn’t provide the desired results, she pulled herself closer and tighter to the heat source lying next to her.

Pradeep pulled her into his blanket and caressed her hair. “How beautiful she is!” thought Pradeep. “None can give her this happiness other than me! I can’t imagine her being so happy with anyone else!

He planted a kiss on her forehead and delve deep into an array of thought process that were self-appreciating, slightly narcissistic of having saved the girl from some unknown demon. At that moment when the thought process turned towards end result, the dreaded face of Abhinav came into his mind.

How long can this go on without him finding out? I shouldn’t be surprised even if he had setup a spy camera here.” Listening and Reasoning are virtues that Abhinav likes a lot but never follows. He prefers virtues like killing and abusing more. Pradeep thought of all the murders that Abhinav had committed in the name of protecting his sister.

Am I just hallucinating that I’m screwed or am I really screwed?

The tension increased his urge for smoking. He turned back to fetch the cigarette case on the top of the closed compartment on the head of the bed and lit it. The puffs reduced the anxiety and helped him channel his thought process.

But before he could think of something productive, Mradula awoke screaming, then looked at him and burst into tears.

Pradeep caressed her neck and hugged her, “Hey baby! What’s up? Any bad dream?”

Mradula hugged him tight and kissed his chest. “Yeah” said she, looking at him with eyes full of tears. “Someone was shooting at you. There was blood, brains…” she paused to control her tears but when she couldn’t she burst out again, “Oh Pradeep! I love you! I cannot lose you”.

To lighten her, he produced a fake smile and said “You got to stop reading all those books dear, that would reduce these dreams!” She was in no mood for stupid jokes.

Pradeep pulled her even more close to him and patted her back, caressed her hair, kissed her forehead to make her feel normal and to assure her that nothing was wrong. But he knew that it wasn’t long before everything could turn mental and the dream could become real.

IV

11:45 AM, inside the Mahindra Bolero standing near Lake View Road

Eyes staring straight ahead, with gritted teeth and a face that resembled a wild animal, he uttered his favorite phrase. “I want him killed

Although it’s hardly new to him, this day was different, the stake holders are different. This is personal, something close to his heart. There’s no room for tolerance.

“We shouldn’t be hasty, Boss” responded his aide.

He turned his head to look at his aide, the boiling face was slowly returning to his usual self. A sarcastic smile cropped up between his lips.

“I shouldn’t be hasty, right?” He laughed a bit and continued, “He comes every night to meet her and you’re using the word hasty.”

His voice was raising, “You want me to shut up and witness that bas….”, he stopped, “He deserves to get killed. Call Shameel! NOW

V

4:30 PM, inside Hotel Highway Inn

Ashwin stared bleakly at the stoic Pradeep who was walking till now on the thinnest rope possible, is about to fall into the abyss.

“How did…..” Words failed to come out of his mouth for the first time. Garrulous or not, fear has this extraordinary power to suppress the words out of even talkative individuals. He cleared his throat. “How did he come to know about this?”

“I saw his car when I walked out of her house. That moment I knew he knows everything. The worst part, I guess is that he wants me to know that he knows everything”.

“WHAT!?” interjected Ashwin. There was genuine confusion on his face.

Wait! Wait! What exactly does he know?

“I’m guessing everything about myself and Mradula”

Just that, right?

VI

4:45 PM, inside Hotel Highway Inn

The manager of the hotel heard three shots being fired. There was some gap between the first and the next two shots.  He rushed to the source of the sound and it was none other than the fourth table.

Before he could comprehend the situation, a tough young masculine hand whisked him away from the scene. There were many such “tough” young men swarming the place. They were escorting another trio from the crime scene.

When outside, couple of not so tough young men were clearing another dead body. The Hotel Manager cursed the 2 dead for creating this mess. His cursing didn’t leave out their family members too. Crap! It’s going to take a lot of time to come out of this mess.

He heard sound of approaching sirens. Looks like a lot of Vehicles. All the people in the vicinity of the scene were being escorted to safety by those tough young men.

A muscular young man, with an imperial moustache and a small wart above the moustache approached the hotel manager and shook hands. Before he could talk, his walkie-talkie buzzed with some disturbance. He moved away to attend.

A minute or two would’ve passed when he came back smiling. “I’m Vincent from Special Task Forces. We’re sealing the hotel and the whole place will be sealed until our investigations are over.” Now the hotel manager understood what was happening. Why did the two idiots come to this place to get killed? Damn them!

VII

For Pradeep, everything was like walking in a dream. Right from the moment the female showed the gun at him till the moment when her head exploded. The sniper was spot on.

He shuddered to think of the flip side. Had he missed the target? Well, Mradula might’ve to start looking for another boyfriend.

Both Ashwin and Deepak were in a state of trance, not knowing what the heck was happening. Was he right in bringing them into this and jeopardizing their lives too? Well, he can argue that he didn’t know that it would turn out this way.

He along with his friends, too were escorted to safety by the forces. There wasn’t any sign of the media yet. They’d want to clear the mess before that. Pradeep saw Vincent talking to someone. Vincent looked at him and smiledDoes it mean that Abhinav has been taken care? That’d be amazing!

Suddenly Vincent’s walkie-talkie exploded into life. The color on his face was draining slowly. Had the devil escaped?

He looked at Pradeep again and shook his head this time. It meant you’re on your own now. Mission Failed.

Brrrrr…. Brrrr…. Brrrr…. Pradeep mobile was vibrating announcing the arrival of a message.

 He opened it with trembling hands. The message read: “This is what happens when you mess with something you don’t have any idea about, spion, spiare or spy”.

He was shell shocked to see the sender. When he looked up, he knew what was going to happen next. The sniper was there, he knew who was behind that.

It all made sense to him now.

“She has played with me from the beginning.”

“Did she know how to use a gun?”

“What all does she know?”

“All she portrayed to him was a façade, deep down she was something else. “

“That harry Potter like quote, I should’ve guessed it”.

“How stupid I was.”

He laughed at the irony of getting shot by the same woman who shared her bed with him the previous night.

This time 3 shots weren’t needed. BOOM

Ashwin was right in the beginning. He wasn’t screwed he was dead. That too, this time for real.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Wild Fire - A Short Story

I

South Asian Games Federation (SAF) village, built to accommodate the athletes participating in the South Asian Games, now houses the most powerful bureaucrats of the city. None becomes powerful without garnering few-to-many enemies along the line. So for the sake of guarding them, there’s always a police patrol in and around the area. At the entrance of the campus, a small police booth was setup, where there’ll be always a police man during the time when those powerful folks pass the gates. Now just near that booth, stood Preethi, waiting for a car sent by her friend to pick her.

She gazed at the busy 100 feet road, taking in the busy traffic that could culminate into pure chaos and pandemonium in a while. It was 8:50 AM. On a different day, she would've been staring at the Oracle E-Business Suite Application, trying to decipher why the Automatic Receipts Generation Program failed for a specific invoice for the umpteenth time. But this was a unique day. When she thought about it, she felt the butterflies flying all around her stomach.

He had messaged the previous night that his chauffeur will pick her at 9 AM sharp. SAF was well known in the city and should be known to most drivers, so she gave that as the pickup point. She came early to the rendezvous so that her garrulous mother doesn't notice the extra excitement in her face. A sudden thought came to her, “What will she think if she finds out? She’ll first inform dad and then a mini mourn session will be orchestrated by her. She’ll tell her usual nonsense about honor, tradition and how my shameful act of giving myself to the guy I like the most has tarnished everything. Crap. Thank god I didn't have to hear her sermons again”. She smiled to herself. She can handle her mother. One problem could be the extreme scenario.

Preethi, at the disastrous age of 23, stood a 5 ft 7 inches, with a round face featuring grey eyes that radiates sensuousness, lips that are pinkish and that when parted displays perfectly arranged teeth. Life was extraordinarily smooth for her with a under graduate degree, a well-paid (She would say that it’s just a perception) job and this latest addition – A guy who’s jobless (He uses a much more euphemistic term called Entrepreneur) but has plenty of the piece of paper that matters the most in life due to a rich grandfather and a ridiculously rich father. Now this new addition is also at a disastrous age of 24.

At 9 AM, an Audi A4 came to a halt in front of her. The chauffeur, a traditional cinematic type, wearing all white uniform, adorned a white cap too, took something from his shirt pocket and looked at it for a second or two. Then his eyes moved around, searching for something, finally settling the gaze upon Preethi. He moved towards her and asked in perfect English, “Are you Ms.Preethi?”

For Preethi, this was the moment when she has to unshackle all her fears and nod her head. What if anyone she knows, sees her getting into an Audi A4? In a cosmopolitan, it won’t set the tongues rolling but one of the many relative setting their gaze on this very much conspicuous Audi A4 is more than enough to pay attention to who gets into it. She knows she’s thinking too much. He used to say that all the time, “Honey, You've got lot many assets from head to toe but thinking is not one of them. So don’t bother doing it”. As if someone gave her a kick to come back from the reverie, she came back to her senses and looked at the driver, nodding her head, said “Of course, I’m Preethi. Shall we get moving? ”

II

The ride to the farm house was majestic to her. She felt like a queen travelling in a chariot to King’s chamber to offer herself. This royal thought sent shivers down her whole body. It’s always better when the human mind behaves like a horse with a blinder. In those cases, what matters, is the destination and not the external factors. In her case, the blinders were sporadic.

It all started going haywire 15 days back. What started as a simple whatsapp chat session, went little complex. It was during that chat, the conversation became so intimate that it ended in a peculiar request from her. “Can you send your picture? I mean I want to see you without clothes

The next 15 days felt like an eternity. She was enjoying each and every moment of it. He brought out all her hidden fantasies, suppressed feelings. He made her long for him; He made her think only about him; In Short she was completely possessed of his thoughts.

And suddenly her phone sung his favorite song “In the merry month of May”, from the album “Rocky road to Dublin”.

It was her brother.

Again she felt the nervousness. “Did he see me anywhere? Otherwise why will he call now?” She followed the usual routine of disconnecting the call and was thinking whether to dial back or not. 

“If he had seen me, the first thing he’s going to do is call mom and innocently ask about my whereabouts. He’s a momma boy, who is more than candid to her. I don’t understand how he shares everything with her when I don’t share anything. He thinks mom understands him very well but mom can never understand me. For her I’m always an imperfection, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. If he had called her, then I would've got a call from either mom or dad. So it must be something else“.

She dialed his number.

“Hey Arun”

“Hey. Where are you?”

Don’t think. Just be spontaneous when not speaking the truth.

“I… I… am on the way to office.” She stammered but completed the sentence and waited for the reaction from the other side and then continued “Why? Is there a problem?”

“No. Don’t forget to recharge for my number.”

Phew. She can breathe easy now.

Now the smile was back on her face. She must go easy on her imaginations.

“Sure. I’ll” and she cut the call. She hadn't confided to Arun about her relationship. She wasn't sure whether he would understand it. Arun was extreme right and orthodox inside the house and the opposite outside. She wasn't sure which part was the true Arun or did he have anything individual? I can never share anything with him until he has a stable ideology and thought process.

Does she have an ideology? A stable thought process? If she had, would she be ready to bunk office to go to that guy’s farm house? This is all because of the sporadic blinder. She never thought about anything when she decided to spend time with him but from the morning she felt like the blinders were off and she could feel the pressure of the external factors.

III

The car took a left turn on the East Coast Road into a deserted street. Preethi was astonished at the sheer size of the bungalows on both sides of the street. The astonishment was slowly turning to fear the moment she realized the kind of society she has to deal with in case the relationship progresses into a marriage.

Stop thinking about your future and be in the romantic mood, please” she told herself.

The car stopped in front of the wrought iron gates, which were taller than her. As if sensing the car, the gate swung open automatically to reveal the bungalow inside. She felt like a student entering the examination hall.
The chauffeur stopped the car in front of the double mahogany doors.

“You can go inside, madam” said the Chauffeur, pointing his right hand towards the door.

Am I really doing this? Having progressive thoughts on virginity is one thing but all those hold true only till the moment when a decision has to be made. How easy it would be if I didn't have to think about this? What if he starts hating me after this? He might think that I’m desperate for this. He was desperate too. But the guys are always afforded the luxury of passing the buck to the girl. But I don’t have that luxury.

Preethi dialed his number. The familiar voice of him soothed all her apprehensions.

“Hi”

“Hey Preethi. Have you reached?”

“Yes. Are you inside the house?”

“No. I had to check on an important work in office. My work will complete in another 10 minutes. I’ll come after that. I've informed my assistants there. They’ll take good care of you until I come”

“OK. Come soon”

The moment she hung up, she saw a couple come from inside, welcoming her to the house. “Are these two the assistants he was talking about?
They led her to the spacious hall which had sofas, arranged in an L shape, with one sofa placed adjacent to a staircase and another close to the wall. The cost of each sofa, she guessed, might be her six months’ salary. A glass teapoy had been placed in front of the sofas. She sat in one of the sofa.

“Boss told us that you’re a very special guest. Please tell me anything you want. I’ll get it for you” said the guy and he also introduced the woman as his wife. They both were the caretakers of this farmhouse.

“No. Thank you. Now, I know whom to ask if I need something!”

The last sentence brought a sheepish grin on the assistant’s face. “You can look around the house until boss comes”.

Once they left to look after their errands, Preethi started looking around the bungalow, where she might be living if things fell smooth into place. The grandeur of that hall fascinated her. Coming from a modest background where the home’s roof is touchable with a single jump, the high ceiling, the ceiling fans with lights at the bottom was new and beautiful for her.

“Mom and dad will be astonished to see this house. Mom will be talking about this to all her friends. How big and beautiful the house was and she will talk about this for years to come”

“Once I’m married, I should bring them here often. They’ll have the most unforgettable time of their life living in a bungalow near the beach. We can never buy such a house in our lifetime. Once they come here, they’ll want to come here again and again.”

A sudden unwanted thought came to her. Wait              

IV

“Will Dad and Mum want to come here again and again? How comfortable will they feel in this world? For them, the happiness is being content with what they have. Despite mom’s astonishing remarks about the upper class, she can never mingle with them. Of course dad too feels uncomfortable with upper class society.”

One incident stuck her sharply. When Preethi had invited her friend’s family to her house, her friend’s father took out his Business Card and gave it to her father. He didn't know the etiquette of Business Card exchange. He happily smiled at the card, caressed and felt the material, inhaled the aroma of the card and thrust it into his shirt pocket. Preethi can never forget the disappointment exhibited by her friend’s father. That guy went a notch higher and asked if Preethi’s father possessed any card. Without any embarrassment, her father replied “No. I don’t like using these cards.” That guy looked at her father for a while and left the house. Preethi stopped bringing her friends altogether to her home.

What if my would-be- father-in-law pulls a business card out of his wallet and look down upon my father because he doesn't have one? How bad of me to put my father in such an embarrassing position

Economics of the family and the way one person is brought up defines their thoughts, actions, decision making etc. With more sophistication comes the need for more luxury. Preethi, despite a high paying job, belongs to the class that looks at sophistication as a destructive thing in life. She could feel the blinders getting thrown away and all the thoughts collide with each other inside her head. Her head was trying to find its own “God Particle”, not to determine the origin of thoughts but to see if a clear decision making thought was plausible.

Her mind was racing now. “What the hell is happening to me? It’s like a dream; I don’t know where this thought process started but it has pushed me to a confused status. Yes, I was thinking how nice it’ll be for Mom and dad to live here but I know it’s not possible

“Love, marriage and economic state are interlinked. How much ever he likes me, deep down, he can never understand my thinking. It’s the same for me.”

Her mind was getting some clarity and she felt her mind moving towards a decision.

“It’s easy to sleep with him today but at some point, I've to take a decision; whether he’s the right man for me or not.”

“Until then let’s hold these thoughts; keep them aside; be good friends.”

“I shouldn't drag this. I should call him and inform him that I cannot do it today.”

At that very moment, she heard the sound of a car followed by footsteps and the handsome figure of Harish entered the house. He came straight to her and hugged her with all the comfort he can offer.

“Sorry Honey. I made you wait for a long time, is it? I’m extremely sorry”. And he planted a peck on her cheek. “Shall we go upstairs? I've got to show a lot of things to you”

With all those earlier thoughts taking a back seat, she followed him upstairs. Again the horse blinder analogy came to her mind. She felt the blinders too. With each footstep, she forgot all fears, complications and problems. Now all she had was anticipation and desire to give him the best possible love. He was her jockey; she trusted him to drive her.

The complicated feelings, she had earlier were replaced by pure burning fire inside her. A wildfire. The fire that pushed her to travel to his farm house overtook all the other emotions. She just hoped that she doesn't regret her decision.

She hugged him from behind and went close to his ears and murmured sensuously “I’m all yours!”

Friday, January 3, 2014

A Strange Company

I

The bus had all the signs of total deterioration. The broken chairs with torn cushions, nothing in many places where glass windows should have been present, made the bus look like wizened old man waiting to see his end. The condition of the bus showed the concern that the policy makers had for the people travelling in it. The best part was the so-called “socialism” involved where irrespective of the collar, blue or white; the travelers have to undergo the same comforts or difficulties.

With the ticket price at 33 Rupees, Harish had very less options, in fact no option other than utilizing that bus. The other options were much more expensive. His office transport, 3000 rupees a month, deducted from the monthly salary, did not help the cause. His office broke the myth of “Public sector is bad and privatization is the need of the hour”. “However bad the public sector, we can be still worse” seemed to be the retort from the private players.

Harish ran to the bus stop carrying a laptop backpack, which did not have a laptop in it. All it had was a Tupperware lunch bag with a square shaped lunch box and a spoon, John Grisham’s A Time to Kill for killing the time during the 90 minute travel, a small reminder pad for noting down anything or something important although there was literally nothing important and a ball point pen to write those important things that doesn’t really exist for him.

The first important thing he did was to take the window seat and the next important thing was to close those windows. It’s a usual ritual for many to run to a bus to take the seat close to a window to just close it and stare at whatever is there beyond that transparent material. Harish was no different from the herd and he continued that exciting tradition of closing the window, thereby denying that right to another fellow traveler. The pathetic souls, who were showered with travel sickness, have to just put up with them.

Harish obtained the ticket and held it in his left hand behind his Sony Smart phone. On his lap, John Grisham was showing to him how the 2 white bastards were raping a little 9 year old black girl. Having engrossed into the book, he paid little to no attention to the figure who sat next to him.

II

The co-passenger stared at the book for a while before staring straight ahead when the gaze of the reader turned to him. Harish looked at the person next to him and the first word that crossed his mind was “Weird”. He couldn’t make out the height but must weigh in between 60 and 70 Kilos. 

The most conspicuous feature was the smile on his face. The smile was sandwiched between a moustache that resembled a pencil sketch and a beard that looked heavy on that face. Harish turned his attention to the book. Again he could feel the eyes staring at the book.

He closed it hastily with his index finger becoming the bookmark and looked at the person.

There was no change in the emotion on that face. The smile was still there. He opened the conversation.

“What book are you reading?”

“A Time to Kill by John Grisham”

“Is it good?”

“Yeah. It is till now.”

“So you like stories?” he paused for a while, and then continued “written by some foreign writers?”

Harish stared at him for a moment and answered in the affirmative.

“What is the story about?”

Harish was genuinely irritated now. The last thing he wanted was this conversation with this stranger. But he couldn’t lash out at him. Even though the guy was weird, Harish was little bit sympathetic with him.

“It’s a story of a 9 year old black girl getting raped by two white men in America. The girl’s father decides to take law into his own hands and shoots the 2 white men. What happens to the trial etcetera forms the rest of the story.”

What Harish failed to notice was the reaction of the guy when he uttered the word “rape”. The face that was smiling had all the color drained from his face. His facial features were trying hard to suppress the poignancy emanating from that face. And slowly but steadily the tears started to drop from the eyes of that “Weird” guy.

Harish, with a bewildered look, was wondering what on earth was happening.

“Sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

Then that happened. He shook his head, opened his mouth and started talking.

III

“Sorry. I couldn’t control my emotions on hearing what you just said. No. Nothing’s your fault. What was the age of that kid who got raped? Hah yes, nine, right? An age meant to enjoy the world. You know something? Kids lose their preciousness, beauty, innocence and everything that’s unique to childhood, the moment the elders start showing sympathy. It should never be that.”

The non-stop monologue from the co-passenger was stirring some different emotions within Harish. The delivery of the rhetoric was evoking some heavy feelings, the kind of feelings that were buried deep inside a human heart. 

Harish for the first time that morning did not want to open his mouth. He wanted to listen to what this strange guy had to say. Even though the stranger had not revealed anything, Harish felt that it was like a moment before a storm.

“My life turned upside down because of a rape. It was 10 years back, on a hot summer night; I did the mistake of my lifetime. ”

His voice cracked when he uttered the last sentence.

“I took my wife and 9 year old daughter to a movie. The movie wasn’t great but we had a happy time enjoying each other's company. When I recollect all the events today, it feels like all that happiness was for that dreadful finale.”

He never looked at me. He spoke those words looking straight ahead, with tears rolling down one at a time. Each and every tear was tearing Harish. He felt like crying too. He understood what he’s about to reveal next.

“There were 4, I think. It all happened very fast for me. I shudder to think how slow time would have passed for them. I felt a metal striking the back of my head. I’m not really sure whether it was metal or something else. It struck me hard and everything went black in front of me. When I regained consciousness, what I saw first, was the torn and destroyed dead body of my daughter”.

IV

“Do you have a daughter?”

“No. I’m not married.”

“Then you might never understand what I felt at that moment!”

The truth is Harish could understand what the stranger would’ve gone through. But he didn’t have the guts to say that. Instead he was just shaking his head.

“I felt like killing those bastards but” he paused and looked at Harish, with eyes that didn’t have any trace of anger, “I don’t know who did those heinous crimes.” He pleadingly looked at Harish. The obvious helplessness was evident in his eyes.

“All I remember was silhouettes of them and nothing else.” Then looked at Harish, with eyes peering into the eyes of Harish, “When my anger subsided a little and my thoughts were clear, I decided not be like them”

“Didn’t the police find out who did those crimes?”

The sarcastic smile said everything. Harish felt numb. This man was clearly beaten by everyone.

All that was said after that was just sound and nothing else. He had never met anyone like this stranger. The most surprising part was the sanity the man still possessed, ironically, whom he thought was weird. It would have been totally justified if he had taken the law into his own hands. But he didn’t. Although intellectuals and psychologists might argue that this man would’ve become a vigilante, if he had known the identity of the culprits. But for Harish, none of that mattered. He felt if a human being can abate his emotions even after going through such horrific moments, he’s not just a normal person.

The stranger destroyed the prejudices that were lurking within his conscious. He thought of all the moments in his life when he had pre-judged people; People who unfortunately couldn’t show the face that society likes and loves. Those people had to endure the humiliation he had showered upon them with his judgmental attitude.

When his destination arrived, he stepped down a different person, bidding his good bye to the stranger, who was actually on his way to visit his wife, who is now in a rehabilitation center.

A stranger’s company wasn’t bad after all.

Did he tell his name? hmmm, Does it matter?