.... continued from here.
The striking of 10 coincided with Uncle opening the door.
At the door, lay a man, in his mid-thirties. Casual shirt, cotton trousers, shoes. He was panting and sweating heavily. Fresh blood was coming out of his forehead, perhaps he had hit a pole while running.
Aa jao.. andar aa jao jaldi.
Thanks a lot sir. Aapne bacha liya mujhe. Please lock the doors and windows, don't open them. Usne shayd mujhe yahan aate hue dekh liya hai.
Uncle obliged. Aunty brought a glass of water.
*gulp-gulp-gulp* Thoda aur milega?
Aunty obliged.
After some 90 seconds of absolute silence, with continual hushing of tired, anxious and scared breaths, Uncle spoke.
Naam kya hai tumhara.
Ji. Rohan Mittal. I work as a Senior Business Analyst in i-Demand, an IPR firm. Bangalore mein posted hoon aur yahan abhi sister se milne aaya tha. On my way back, yahan se kareeb 1 km dooor, I saw two people firing at a car. I don't think the man had survived. kareeb 25 goliyaan maari hongi. main to saans roke dekh raha tha., but then one of them saw me. Police siren sun ke one of the guys fled on the bike while the other ran after me firing all the way along. Aapne bhi gunshots sune honge. Kisi tarah jaan bacha ke bhaga hoon. Wo to aap jaise bhale log hain jinhone mujhe andar aane diya aur meri jaan bacha li. I don't know how to thank you people.
I owe my life to you.
He told them everything he could in one breath, or two may be. Aunty was still gasping.
Ye to humara farz hai beta. ye aajkal ke logon ko pata nahin kya ho gaya hai. Ek-doosre ke khoon ke pyaase hain. Insaan ki jaan ki to koi keemat hi nahin.
The montage of the gory images of the deadly riots was playing in Uncle's mind while he was speaking. The mere thought of those days sent shivers down the spine.
Khair, tum fikar mat karo. yahan tumhe koi khatra nahin hai. wo gunda chala gaya hoga ab. raat bahut ho chuki hai, tumhare liye guest room mein bed laga dete hain. Raat bhar aaraam ka....
Arre nahin uncle.... main chala jaunga abhi hi.... aapne itna kiya, isi ka ehsaan zindagi bhar rahega. main aaplog ko aur taqleef nahin doonga. Main chala jaunga. You people don't worry about me, my car is just a km away.
Itni raat ko kahan jaoge? Aunty spoke for the first time. So jao... subah chale jaana. Raat ka koi bharosa nahin hai.
Arre humaari chinta mat karo. ye ghar bahut bada hai. Jao, fresh ho jao. Bathroom udhar hai.
Uncle and Aunty, aaplog mere liye bhagwaan se kam nahin hain. Ye mera card rakh lijiye. Bangalore mein kabhi aaye to please give me a chance to at least try to pay off the debt, though I know I can't, forever in this life.
Arre... abhi kya zaroori hai. Subah de dena.
Nahin Uncle. I'll leave early and aaplog ko disturb nahin karoonga. Please take it and whenever you come to Bangalore, do call me.
Theek hai beta. The first smile took its time to come up. It was midnight by the time lights went off.
.........................................
4 days later ...... 169 kms away.....
76 year old Ramgopal Mallik had finished his dinner by 9:20 pm, folded the newspaper, kept it on the table while Mrs. Mallik cleaned the kitchen when their only son, Rohan called from Atlanta, USA. He had got a promotion and a free holiday package for family in Sydney.
Mr. Mallik had missed the small news in the lower right hand side of the 'Region' page of the newspaper, which went like :
"An elderly couple found dead in their home, 36/7 Adarsh Villa, Gurgaon. The deceased were Mr. Suresh Prasad Sharma, a retired Manager in State Bank of India and his wife Mrs. Rajeshwari Sharma, both shot at point blank range. Police have registered a case of double homicide and robbery. According to initial sources, apparently no signs of breaking in has been found, which have led the investigators to cast their doubts on the relatives and servants. Interrogations are still in the beginning stage. The murderer(s) had also robbed the house of most of its belongings. No signs of struggle were found implying that murders preceded the robbery. While the public and human rights organisations are demanding immediate arrests of the culprits, police is repeating its usual phrase 'Investigations are still on.' Further reports are awaited."
Mr. Mallik was in bathroom when he heard two gunshots.
-------------- X --------------
The striking of 10 coincided with Uncle opening the door.
At the door, lay a man, in his mid-thirties. Casual shirt, cotton trousers, shoes. He was panting and sweating heavily. Fresh blood was coming out of his forehead, perhaps he had hit a pole while running.
Aa jao.. andar aa jao jaldi.
Thanks a lot sir. Aapne bacha liya mujhe. Please lock the doors and windows, don't open them. Usne shayd mujhe yahan aate hue dekh liya hai.
Uncle obliged. Aunty brought a glass of water.
*gulp-gulp-gulp* Thoda aur milega?
Aunty obliged.
After some 90 seconds of absolute silence, with continual hushing of tired, anxious and scared breaths, Uncle spoke.
Naam kya hai tumhara.
Ji. Rohan Mittal. I work as a Senior Business Analyst in i-Demand, an IPR firm. Bangalore mein posted hoon aur yahan abhi sister se milne aaya tha. On my way back, yahan se kareeb 1 km dooor, I saw two people firing at a car. I don't think the man had survived. kareeb 25 goliyaan maari hongi. main to saans roke dekh raha tha., but then one of them saw me. Police siren sun ke one of the guys fled on the bike while the other ran after me firing all the way along. Aapne bhi gunshots sune honge. Kisi tarah jaan bacha ke bhaga hoon. Wo to aap jaise bhale log hain jinhone mujhe andar aane diya aur meri jaan bacha li. I don't know how to thank you people.
I owe my life to you.
He told them everything he could in one breath, or two may be. Aunty was still gasping.
Ye to humara farz hai beta. ye aajkal ke logon ko pata nahin kya ho gaya hai. Ek-doosre ke khoon ke pyaase hain. Insaan ki jaan ki to koi keemat hi nahin.
The montage of the gory images of the deadly riots was playing in Uncle's mind while he was speaking. The mere thought of those days sent shivers down the spine.
Khair, tum fikar mat karo. yahan tumhe koi khatra nahin hai. wo gunda chala gaya hoga ab. raat bahut ho chuki hai, tumhare liye guest room mein bed laga dete hain. Raat bhar aaraam ka....
Arre nahin uncle.... main chala jaunga abhi hi.... aapne itna kiya, isi ka ehsaan zindagi bhar rahega. main aaplog ko aur taqleef nahin doonga. Main chala jaunga. You people don't worry about me, my car is just a km away.
Itni raat ko kahan jaoge? Aunty spoke for the first time. So jao... subah chale jaana. Raat ka koi bharosa nahin hai.
Arre humaari chinta mat karo. ye ghar bahut bada hai. Jao, fresh ho jao. Bathroom udhar hai.
Uncle and Aunty, aaplog mere liye bhagwaan se kam nahin hain. Ye mera card rakh lijiye. Bangalore mein kabhi aaye to please give me a chance to at least try to pay off the debt, though I know I can't, forever in this life.
Arre... abhi kya zaroori hai. Subah de dena.
Nahin Uncle. I'll leave early and aaplog ko disturb nahin karoonga. Please take it and whenever you come to Bangalore, do call me.
Theek hai beta. The first smile took its time to come up. It was midnight by the time lights went off.
.........................................
4 days later ...... 169 kms away.....
76 year old Ramgopal Mallik had finished his dinner by 9:20 pm, folded the newspaper, kept it on the table while Mrs. Mallik cleaned the kitchen when their only son, Rohan called from Atlanta, USA. He had got a promotion and a free holiday package for family in Sydney.
Mr. Mallik had missed the small news in the lower right hand side of the 'Region' page of the newspaper, which went like :
"An elderly couple found dead in their home, 36/7 Adarsh Villa, Gurgaon. The deceased were Mr. Suresh Prasad Sharma, a retired Manager in State Bank of India and his wife Mrs. Rajeshwari Sharma, both shot at point blank range. Police have registered a case of double homicide and robbery. According to initial sources, apparently no signs of breaking in has been found, which have led the investigators to cast their doubts on the relatives and servants. Interrogations are still in the beginning stage. The murderer(s) had also robbed the house of most of its belongings. No signs of struggle were found implying that murders preceded the robbery. While the public and human rights organisations are demanding immediate arrests of the culprits, police is repeating its usual phrase 'Investigations are still on.' Further reports are awaited."
Mr. Mallik was in bathroom when he heard two gunshots.
-------------- X --------------
9 comments:
Shit!! Thats bad... although I was expecting this guy to be a crook, I thought maybe not... damn sad... And unfortunately, these kinds of things actually do happen! Reflects on our society today... Nice post... good end to the suspense..
just 2 words... "MAST HAI"
Wow!!!
:(
@ SS
yup.... they do... and I really hope they don't.
Thnx.
@ Godiva
thanku thanku :)
@ Zee
its fiction... dont :(
do :)
me too :(
don't be ... :)
Good one !! Narration was tight and crisp !! Quite thought provoking as well !!
@ Sushantam
dhanyawaad :)
Damn!!! :( :(
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