chapter six

The memories

It flashed through her mind at the instance the face became recognizable in the white light, it was Deepak. All those long pent up feelings rushed into her with a sudden gust and she felt herself sink under a tide of feelings unknown. the day before the Spring Festival, flashed across her mind as she tried to shut out the swollen face and blood satined shirt of Deepak int hat room...

Prakriti spirits were sinking with the setting sun. Spring was her favorite season and the time a few weeks after the Spring Festival was especially dear to her. That was when the weather would begin to warm a little and one could hear the merry chirping of birds as they flew from their nests to the fields to feed and then back to their nests. On the way, they would alight on trees, electric poles or wires, housetops and any other place they could for a few moments and then let loose a torrent of birdsong, dancing their necks in every direction, looking for their variation of love. Prakriti used to love watching the bird’s wing their way around in complete freedom, sometimes alone and sometimes in flocks that waxed and waned as they flew circles around the city skies. In the evenings she would delight at the invisible patterns their flights formed, as the birds tired themselves for the night, before they returned home.

“They look so happy, unconcerned and full of life,” Prakriti thought as she gazed absently at a flock. She wondered what the secret of their happiness was. Prakriti was feeling uncharacteristically heavy in her heart, as if something deep inside was craving for something indefinable, a feeling of loneliness gripping at her from the inside. Prakriti looked away from the skies to turn her gaze to the people around. Sitting alone on a park bench, she noticed a student couple sitting at a bench to her left. She stole a glance at them and then looked away a little guiltily as the girl looked directly at her. They were holding hands and were about to embrace when Prakriti had noticed them and her eyes had lingered on them a few moments longer then she intended. The girl had almost begun to smile at Prakriti, feeling a little guilty herself but seeing Prakriti look away, her smile died a premature death.

Prakriti looked up at the skies again, feigning disinterest in what was happening at the bench near her, trying to hide her own embarrassment, as if the act of looking up would erase the discomfort of the past few moments. But, Prakriti’s mind was beset with her own pangs of loneliness, a feeling enhanced by the proximity of those young lovers. Prakriti longed for the company of a male, who would hold her, kiss her, embrace her and even… Sometimes, nature or God, as some call that inexplicable force that seems to work in strange ways, responds in strange ways. “Prakriti Prakriti…” someone called to her familiarly. Prakriti turned to look at the caller and smiled as she saw Deepak. Deepak was her classmate but Prakriti had hardly ever conversed with him except on the odd occasion. She smiled at him, her smile appearing warmer than ever before. Deepak came and sat next to Prakriti. “Such a wonderful evening…it seems the world is a perfect place!” he exclaimed.

Prakriti did not answer. She did not know how to answer when she felt as she did.

“Have you had dinner?” Deepak asked, trying to break the wall of silence.

“Prakriti nodded though she had not.

Sensing her mood, Deepak looked at her, saying, “I guess, you don’t feel too communicative… perhaps, I’ll go alone…Bye.” And with that, Deepak got up and walked away.

Prakriti had not even had the time to say a goodbye and she felt strangely horrible to have let Deepak go the way he had. “Perhaps, he’ll think I’m snooty,” she thought, wondering what she could do to rectify matters. Deepak had already gone a long way and when Prakriti decided to go after him, she realized it was too late and that she would look like a fool chasing after him so she continued sitting at the bench, fossilized by the workings of her brain.

That night, Deepak’s diary had an entry that read, “I followed her all afternoon after school, keeping a distance so she would not see me. I walked behind her after class and went all the way to the park. She looked strangely lost in a way I have never seen her before. Finally, when she had been sitting on the bench in the park, I could not bear it any longer. Seeing the state she was in, I gathered the courage to go and sit next to her. I knew she had eaten nothing and asked her if she had, hoping she would join me for dinner. She nodded her head as if to say she had, lying. I think she does not like me and no matter what I do I can’t attract her attention. Perhaps, she likes another boy and finds me unattractive or unworthy of her. I wished I was dead then. I hate myself for loving a girl who does not even notice it. I feel like such a fool, a man who does not deserve to live."

Prakriti went back to her dormitory late that evening, feeling like she had never felt before. She met her best friend and was telling her, “I saw him…out of the blue. I was sitting on the park bench when he called out to me and I looked up to find it was ‘him’. I was feeling so lost and so…lonely…” she struggled to say the words. “He asked me if I had had dinner," she continued, "and I nodded my head to say I would be happy to go with him. But, I guess, I did not say anything; hoping he would say more…perhaps, ask me again. And, suddenly, he got up saying he thought I was not communicative and left. I wanted to chase after him and tell him that I was hungry and would be more than happy to share dinner with him. But, he was gone in a flash, as if I was just another girl…as if I meant nothing to him.

Little did Prakriti know that Deepak had gone barely a few hundred feet and was waiting for her beyond the corner, hoping to catch another glimpse of her, hoping to ask her to join him again.

Neither Prakriti nor Deepak knew that the other had slept hungry that night...

Chapter - Five

§ The Surprise

She opened her eyes and felt sweat running down her forehead and into her, she tried to wipe it away and found her hands were tied. Where could she be? There thin rays of light filtering through some splints in the high ceiling. Initially, in the darkness she thought she was in a stable. Then she adjusted her eyes to the half dark and half-light of the room and found traces of mechanical devices and tools scattered and strewn in corners. This could be a garage or an empty factory, she thought. Trying to focus her thoughts on what had happened, she realized she had been kidnapped. She thought how could that be. It must be a mistake. Why would anyone want to kidnap? She wasn’t rich, neither were her parents rich. This seemed almost like a movie yet there was no real reason for a gang to kidnap her.
Then she thought, may be this was more of a random thing. May be they had just seen her and then kidnapped her, may this was one of those things that one thinks can never happen to oneself. She kept thinking might be there was some mistake. But as time went by and no one showed up her mind began to wander. She started thinking may be she was going to be raped. She thought,” wonder why this didn’t occur to her before. For my entire feminist attitude shouldn’t this have come to my mind first? Rape is only in the mind, nothing is going to happen to me, I can work my way out of this. What is important that I get out of this alive? I will do what these people say they want me to do, and I will leave here unarmed? Don’t have a ridiculous attitude, thought she, virginity is not an issue, you don’t want to die that is the most important thing.”
She steeled herself against all possible outcomes. But one thing she realized that she had to get out of this alive. She suddenly thought of Deepak, he must have been wondering where I am? She thought and she felt very alone and scared for the first time, and she felt warm tears washing her face.
Somewhere a tin scraped across the concrete floor, she strained her eyes to see but all she saw was dark mass of black. Then as turned around a sharp pull on her hair made her shriek with pain. Their was a strange looking man holding her, she could feel his sweaty hands groping her, as she shrieked again, cursing herself this time, she had to keep her cool, there appeared a burly man with a thick moustache, he walked straight down to her, and grabbed the other man and pulled him away, cursing him and calling him “Palan”. Whether it was his name Prakiriti couldn’t figure out. She was standing there stunned and dazed.
The burly man looked at her and asked her, “have you informed the police?” she was shocked. What could this mean? He raised his voice again and asked the same question. She denied having done anything. He raised his voice again and this time slapped the “Palan” across his cheek, whether he was mad or not, he cowered and kept saying that the girl knew something and he knew that. Prakriti was more and more confused. The big man called out, two smaller yet stout men came running in, Prakriti realized these were the same people who she had seen walking around. They grabbed her both arms and she didn’t fight them they dragged her, but she found her voice and said firmly that she would walk. Initially they didn’t listen or ignored her. Then she pulled her hands away from them and said in a loud voice in the vernacular, “I can walk by myself, please do not pull me I am not running away anywhere.” This caught the ears of the leader who turned around in his step and moved his hands to say that she was to be left alone and allowed to walk. Pagol had regained his stature and he hissed, “you can’t trust that bitch.” This was said presumably to the leader glared at him and motioned his two assistants. They prodded Prakriti. She walked quietly counting the men. One leader, his brother or may be not, two assistants, that makes four. They passed through a tin door into a stair case they climbed up a flight of stairs in front was a door that opened into a passage, this floor was white washed and not dirty although seems it had fallen to disuse. The corridor was closed with no widows, and it seemed like an endless journey suddenly, the leader walking in front of them disappeared, literally into thin air, before she could realize, the assistants grabbed her hands and turned her to the left into what seemed a glass room. It was dark except for the faint light form the corridor, the door closed behind her with a grunt, she turned around as someone brushed against her, then a light cam on somewhere, washing the whole room with a white glare, she lowered her eyes, as she raised her eyes again she saw a man tied to a chair in the middle of the room. She looked closely. Then suddenly she gasped as Palan went and pulled the man’s head up grabbing his hair.
***

CHAPTER FOUR

§ The Message
“It’s midnight, who the hell is it at this hour?” muttered Prakriti, as she opened her eyes with much effort to look at the cell. “Great, it is Deepak. No doubt ready with another cock and bull story.” She thought with disgust what sort of lame excuse the message would contain.
<00:29> Let’s meet in front of the Metro Station at 1.
What a stupid message, she thought, no explanation and on top of that literally a dictate. She decided she was not going to go. Why should she?
***
Next morning when she woke up she read the message again, and last mornings thought crossed her mind, did she make a mistake with the date? She decided to call him, but his cell was switched off. What a ridiculous thing, she thought again, and finally after her dance of indecision she made up her mind to go and meet him.
The heat outside was unbearable. The monsoon was delayed and the city was boiling. The humidity was energy sapping. The light breeze was as if from an open furnace, burning the very skin the moment it came in contact. The roads were empty except for a few passersby who themselves where scurrying for shelter. Everyone was indoors trying to avoid the May scorcher. Prakriti cursed herself for not carrying a cap to protect her head. She felt as if her brain was simmering like a sizzler. This didn’t help her temper at all, she thought, “Deepak is in store for a lot of verbal bashing.”
“Who decides to meet in this heat outside at 1? What a wonderful time to choose? He has certainly forgotten what the heat here can be like.”
She waited under the little shade of the building, averting her eyes from the glare outside. Everything seemed to be burning or melting. It was so horrible. It was 1:05 and still no sign of him. This was getting too much.
There were two men walking listlessly towards the building, she thought, “there are two more fools who our out for a walk in this weather.” She was smiling to herself when she noticed a Van slowing down and inching towards her deliberately, she suddenly remembered that Deepak had a car, she thought “may be he has finally had some brainwave and here he is with the car, thank god.” She peered eagerly but the tinted glass was so dark she could not make out who was inside there was a driver and a passenger; she kept wondering whether it was his dad inside. The door slid open and she tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness inside. She was about to say “thank god!” when she felt two powerful hands pushing her, she was surprised and irritated. As she turned around to give a piece of mind to the uncivilized person for pushing her so hard she saw the same two men who were walking listlessly,behind her. Someone from the van grabbed her waist and pulled her in before she could understand, she was on the seat of the van and three men climbed in and the van started.
She realized with a sudden fit of physical outburst that she was being kidnapped, she tried to push the man holding her down with all her might, she screamed and shouted and threw her arms at anyone she could see. After a while she started sweating in the air conditioned environment, she realized the van had music playing and her screams where drowned in that. She tried to fight the men with all her strength but more and more she realized she could not fight them for long. With one final surge of energy she kicked and thrashed with her arms at the man trying to hold her down and hit his groin. He nearly collapsed. As the grip loosened she tried to get up still fighting the other two, scratching them with her nails, and biting them even, pounding the window glass, with her shoes. But her strength gave away as she struggled to breathe, then all of a sudden the car stopped. She felt this was her opportunity she lunged at the door and it opened, but before she could free herself, someone pressed a rag on her mouth and nose. Before she had realized what had happened she had breathed in gulps of air through the rag and then it dawned on her this was some chemical. But it was too late the chemical had started taking its effect, and she saw the bright yellow light fade out as she collapsed back on the seat.

Chapter THREE

§ The Darkness
Deepak slowly opened his eyes, his eyes got used to the pitch-black darkness around him. He felt he was sitting on some kind of a chair, not very stable, his hands were painfully twisted round to his back and tied with adhesive tape. The same substance covered his mouth. He felt a throbbing pain all over his body, but he couldn’t feel anything specific, except that he felt nauseous from time to time. He had no idea where he was, what time was it? He felt hungry, sometimes, he felt he was going to throw up but he had nothing in his stomach to throw up, he tried to push down the feeling. His nostrils burnt and slowly his head started throbbing. He kept thinking something was going to happen now, and slowly his senses started to dull.
He must have dozed off, when a bright light pierced his heavy eyelids. He fluttered his eyes open, only to close them tight as the light hurt his eyes. He tried to turn his head sideways to avoid the direct beam. He heard shuffling footsteps coming towards him. He opened his eyes adjusting to the glare. He made out a couple of figures.
“What is your name?” they asked.
“Deepak.”
“Don’t lie.”
“Why have you brought me here? How dare you? Do you think you will get away with this?”
“But we already have” said someone from the corner.
“Don’t act smart with us. We know who you are.”
The lights suddenly were switched off, then someone splashed a bucket off cold water on his face, Deepak nearly choked, shocked and cold, he tried to make out the faces of the assailants. But he could not figure out their features. A big, stout man came forward and he seemed to be like the leader. After a observing him, the man asked one of his assistants, answering to the name “Kana”, to frisk Deepak.
They found his cell in his pocket. There were several missed calls, and messages, they asked Deepak to read the messages. And tell them who they were from. Deepak saw that the messages were from Prakriti. He thought he could get away by lying, and since he didn’t feel that scared he tried to put up a brave front.
What happened next astonished him.
The big man, possibly the leader waved his hand, someone whom Deepak had not noticed emerges from behind his chair and snatches the cell phone from his hand. The leader threatens Deepak with a firearm that if he tries to act smart he will get two bullets in his head. Deepak tries to think but his mind seems like a blank, there is no thought. Before anything else can happen they leave. Deepak is dazed and confused. He was being kidnapped why was he not being asked any questions. Strange! Then it occurs to him, they must have taken the cell phone with him to make a call to his home for the ransom demand. That made sense, and he figured till the next confrontation he must think out what to say and what to find out.
*****

Chapter 2

§ The Confusion
What just happened? It is so confusing. Before Deepak could understand anything, his attempt to help the guy in the Van with an address, turned into a nightmare. He felt the pressure of human hands pushing him into the Van, as hit the floor, he tried to stabilize himself, by that time he was under the trampling feet of two guys and one more got in stepping on his hand. Before he could say anything or raise his head, someone pressed a wet rag on his mouth, it smelled of chloroform, he knew he was being kidnapped, but why he had no idea. He tried to fight the chemical, but it was too strong. The last thought in his mind was, Prakriti will be waiting for me.
On the other hand, Prakriti stood in the burning afternoon heat, for 2 hours and still couldn’t figure what was wrong, she tried calling his cell, but since he was on roaming, his network continuously failed and she was unable to reach him. It was the worse situation she thought, she didn’t call his house not to unnecessarily alarm his parents. May be she was also a bit miffed by his irresponsibility. It was impossible to tell whether she thought he would eventually turn up, she would make up her mind that she would leave in another 15 minutes if he did not come or call, but those 15 minutes added up to a total of 2 hours. After which exhausted and nearly fainting she hailed a cab and went back home fuming.
She vowed she was not going to call him or remind him anything. There was no point in being upset with someone who doesn’t care about other’s time. The worse kind of offender in her eyes. It reminded her of her ex- boyfriend, the worst mistake of her adult life, she wished Deepak had been a little less supportive and told her to get out of the doomed relation. But she knew all that hardly meant anything now, both of them were to start a new life. One of professionalism from the next month.
The two years of separation for their respective MBA’s had been scary, sometimes she felt on tenter hooks, the mood swings worsened but through it all there was the happy face of her ‘Happy Guy’. Deepak, and even his thought made everything well, everything fine and nice. She never could think of losing his friendship. It was too much of a nightmare to even think about it.
But she hated to think about her Ex, and here Deepak made her think about just him. This uncaring attitude towards other people’s feeling just got to her. She started to wonder may be she had heard the date wrong. Could that be?
She felt stupid, for having stood there for such a long time, when she should have simply called his home. Then again she thought, why should she call, she will wait for him to call, no use putting one into a false position. She felt tired and faint, she reached home, and took a long shower, and sat to read a book with a glass of iced tea.
Deepak bounced as much was possible under the feet, he was half conscious of the pain in his chest, was he having his asthma attack, he couldn’t think, he kept hoping this was a nightmare that would soon be over.
He heard the voices, they were saying something in vernacular, he couldn’t concentrate on the words, there were other sounds that distracted him again. He closed his eyes, the darkness was better.
************

THE STORY WITHOUT A TITLE

CHAPTER 1

The Morning

“Today I am going to straight to the multiplex, I will meet Prakriti and then we will catch a movie. I think we will have lunch outside. I will be late, say 10. Should I get something for you on my way, ma?
Then I am off.”

I suppose, I ought to have met her more often, this time everything has been such a mess, I can’t believe, in two days time I will have to go back to Mumbai and then the office routine will begin. I was looking forward to starting a new job, but now I feel I had some more time to spend here. I hope she isn’t too upset. She sounded rather formal.
***

“Well, dad please drop me off in front off at the Metro.”
“Where are you going?”
“I will take a Metro to the Multiplex.”

Really, what does he think? Any day he will give me a call, I will cancel all my work and meet him. I guess I am over reacting. He has just two days more, before he leaves, I guess he really wants to meet me. I can’t think, he will join work in Mumbai, I guess we will hardly get time to meet the next time Deepak is here. Two professionals, and no longer friends, I guess one has to grow up sometime.
How many years has it been? Five long years. The first day in college and since then, such a long journey, so many heartaches, and heart burns, and we always found each other. Such friendships are so hard to find. I wonder at times what if he had responded to my infatuation with him in the first year of college, I think we would make a good couple. But if the relationship hadn’t lasted I think I would have lost my best friend.
“Taxi.”
***

It is so sunny, I can’t believe it, and I shouldn’t have asked her to come out in this heat. I hope she doesn’t fall sick. Where is she?

Oh god! I think I will faint in this heat, what an idiot Deepak is!
“Excuse me!”
“Yes! Me?” “How may I help you?”
“Could you tell me where this address is?”
“Address? Well, let me see … hey what the hell? What are you doing? Stop it. What the hell? Is this a joke?”
***

Where is Deepak? Always late. Ufff!! I can’t believe this.
***

I AM ...

i am a writer, or so i would like to believe, but writing is a passion with me, writign let's me open up find new thoughts that sort out and answer so many questions on my mind.
i have always been an avid reader. writers fascinate me. their ability to spin such tales that leave us spell bound. i imagine one of my adolescent dreams was becoming a writer. may be not of world renown, but atleast of some repute (good!) and read by people. i think i would like to know from the readers about what they when they read my words.
i have always believed that words have a lot of power, and 'blogging' has given a new menaing to sharing one's thought with people. it gives us a huge number of audience that will appreciate and criticise our work and in these interactions perhaps lend us some insights that will change our lives.
i hope the stories i spin here bring something to each one who reads them.