Detective Uncle

"Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective"

-John Buchan

I got my first real six-string, Bought it at the five-and-dime, Played it till my fingers bled, Was the summer of '69. Umesh Upadhyay listened to the song playing inside the Hard Rock cafe; Summer of '69, though he didn’t understand anything except for the phrase “Summer of '69”. It was a muggy and windless summer of Delhi at that time. He was sitting with his wife in the outdoor seating area of Cyber hub. Cyber hub- a three storey food and entertainment destination in Gurgaon. While the first two floors of the cyber hub complex consist of cafes and fine dining restaurants, the top floor is largely occupied by lavish pubs and bars.  In front of him was Hard Rock cafe.

‘Huhh.. What a boring place’, complained Umesh's wife Sushila. ‘We could have gone to the “Ambience mall” instead’.

Umesh ignored his wife and was busy in staring at his watch. It was 10:50 PM. He was getting impatient for the clock's minute needle to reach the number 12. He noticed a group of drunken boys and girls coming out of the Hard Rock cafe; shouting and howling; staggering and stumbling.

Umesh smiled scornfully and said, ‘These are our 21st century youth of India. They think that spending their hard earned money on weekends on gallons of alcohol is the finest thing they achieve’.

Sushila too moved her eyes toward the group. She noticed a girl in the group wearing a black shorts which was ending a mere ten inches below her waist.

She looked back at her husband with disgust and said, ‘Now I understood why you brought me here in Cyber Hub’.

Umesh turned towards Sushila and said helplessly, 'Sushila why do you take everything otherwise. I have an important job here to do rather than ogling at girls of my daughter's age’. He then looked down at his watch. It was just a few minutes left for 11pm. He immediately stood up and excused himself from his wife. He then rushed towards the elevator. As he entered the elevator, he pressed the second floor button.

Right from childhood, Umesh had a fantasy of becoming a Detective. James Bond movies like “The spy who loved me” and “For your eyes only” introduced him to the world of Spies. When he was in his early twenties, the indigenous detective TV series “Karamchand” had sown the seeds of spying. However, Private Detective is a profession which had existed in scarcity in India.  He was aware of this fact quite clearly and hence, didn’t have the courage to express to his parents that he wanted to become a private detective. He knew this profession was too fantastical and fictional for a common man. He knew his older generation parent would never approve of his radical thinking. If he had shared his feelings with anyone, he would have been a laughing stock.

He used to satisfy his desire of spying by doing silly detective jobs in college for his friends like finding the address and telephone numbers of the girls and leaking out question papers. He had to then curb his desire when he got in to a job and subsequently got married. But desires are like spring. The more you try to restrain them, the greater force they would bounce back with.

Six months back, an idea has struck him to resume his detective job, professionally. His daughter had gifted him a smartphone six months ago. She taught him to use Facebook. He didn't know what to do in Facebook other than just scrolling down the page and watching the posts other people shared. It is when he came across the concept of “Facebook Page”. Public and Private organizations, Service providers, Freelancers, almost everyone had their Facebook Page. His long lost desire of becoming a Private Detective began to resurrect. He thought that if musicians, dancers, Photographers, Software developers, LIC agents can have their Facebook Page, why can’t Private Detective too? This would enable him to attract some serious cases. He decided to make a Facebook Page of himself. But he knew couldn’t just name his page ‘Detective Umesh Upadhyay’. He knew he would definitely be ridiculed by his wife and relatives and would be a figure of fun among colleagues and friends. He had to think of an alter ego. So he came up with the name “Detective U”; the first letter of his first name and surname. Though he made the Facebook page, but he didn’t see any case coming. He used to keep on staring at his Facebook page all day, waiting for someone to message him. It was only a week before he got a notification in his inbox. It was a girl named Nisha. Nisha messaged him that she had a job for him and she would like to meet him at Cafe Coffee Day, Galleria Market in Gurgaon. It was a dream come true moment for Umesh. It was his first professional project which came only after the fifty years of his life. Better late than never, Umesh thought to take up this case with utmost sincerity. He went to meet Nisha at CCD, galleria market at the mutually agreed time of 9:00 pm.

Nisha was a software engineer working for an MNC. She was in a relationship with Vicky for past eight months. Her relationship with Vicky was, however, not very seamless. She always felt that Vicky was cheating on her and secretly involved with some other girl. To catch Vicky red handed, she decided to hire a private detective.

Nisha reached galleria market to meet her private detective, who named himself weirdly as “Detective U”. She was moving her gaze left and right to find him when someone whispered in her ears from behind. ‘Ms Nisha. I can’t meet you inside the Cafe. Let’s walk up to the back side of the market where not many people can see us’.

Nisha turned instantly with fear to see a man wearing a black overcoat. His head was covered with a hat and face was wrapped with a handkerchief. Only his eyes were visible. He was Umesh. He took his fantasy of becoming a Detective quite literally. When he was leaving from home, he thought to dress up as a typical detective to hide his identity; that’s what the detectives supposed to do! Though, he later realized wearing an overcoat was not a good idea in the summers of June.

Nisha stated at the strange dressing of Umesh and said, ‘Why can’t inside the CCD?’

‘Do you think I would be able to avoid the staring of people in this attire?’, said Umesh.

‘Then why did you dress up in this way?’

‘Youths of today ask such a stupid question. I obviously don’t want to reveal my identity!’

Nisha was amused. She could see the white hair below his hat and wrinkles below his eyes. She figured out from this that the detective was an old man; probably in his fifties. Both walked up to the back side of the market. Nisha explained Umesh the current situation of his relationship. She sent a few photographs of Vicky, his mobile number and his address.

‘Let me be very clear. I wouldn’t be able to pay you much'’, said Nisha.

Umesh squeezed his brows. ‘I don’t work for money kid. You will have the evidences soon’.

Umesh turned to leave.

‘By the way what does the “U” stands for?’, asked Shraddha, as she saw Umesh leaving. ‘Is it Detective Uncle?’

Umesh preferred not to answer and left.

#

Umesh secretly began to follow Vicky. He followed his schedule for a few days and made a note of his activities. Vicky used to reach office in the morning at about 9. He then used to remain inside his office building for the entire day till 7 in the evening and then straightaway go to gym. From gym, he used to get back to his home by 9. Exactly same thing happened for the next five days. Umesh didn't find anything suspicious and began to wonder whether there was anything to suspect at all or Nisha was just an over possessive jealous girlfriend.

It was Saturday. Vicky, following his regular schedule, returned from gym. After he parked his car on the porch, he was closing the wrought iron main gate of his house. Umesh disappointingly began to return when he saw Vicky’s phone ringing. Vicky picked up the call.

‘Hey! Whats the plan girl?', said Vicky, as he was going inside.

Umesh swiftly walked near the gate and quietly opened it. After the car, there was a wooden door on the right which lead probably to the living room of Vicky and stairs on the left going up to the roof. Vicky went beneath the stairs, probably to remove his shoes. Umesh tip toed up to the car and ducked behind it.

‘Cyber hub. Done’. Vicky was still on call. ‘The DJ of Sutra pub starts playing after 11. So will meet there at 11’. Vicky ended the call and went inside his house through the wooden door.

Umesh quietly came out of the house and called Nisha to check if Vicky was talking to her. Upon getting the negative response from Nisha, Umesh thought today was the day when he could gather some substantial evidence against Vicky. But there was just one problem. What excuse he would put up in front of his wife. He generally came back to home by 10. But today he had to be at Cyber hub at 11. Moreover, he was not sure when he would come back.

Umesh returned to home and convinced his wife, Sushila, to go to Cyber hub for dinner. Sushila was initially reluctant but then agreed thinking that she wouldn’t have to cook the dinner.

Umesh quickly finished the dinner at a restaurant in the ground floor of Cyber hub and then sat in the outdoor seating area; waiting for 11 pm. When there were a few minutes left for 11’o clock, Umesh rushed inside the elevator to reach the second floor where the Sutra pub was. As he reached second floor, he could hear the loud beats of the music being played in all the pubs. He was particularly interested in Sutra pub. The pubs on the top floor were connected by an open air walkaway. He reached up to the Sutra pub. As he was about to enter, the bouncers standing outside the entrance stopped him.

‘I have a team get together going on inside. My colleagues are waiting for me’, said Umesh.

The bouncer stared Umesh from head to toe and was amused by Mukesh's get up. Umesh was wearing a formal wear awkwardly combined with a white Puma sport shoes. The bouncers gave him way to enter the pub. As Umesh entered the pub, he saw a terrace seating area to his left and DJ dance floor to his right. The dance floor was absolutely jam-packed. He wondered how the boys and girls were managing to dance without hitting each other. He then tried to search Vicky in the crowd. He finally managed to spot him in a corner, holding a beer bottle in his hand and dancing with his group of two girls and a guy. Umesh jostled through the crowd and reached near Vicky’s group. He quickly took out his mobile phone and raised his hand upwards to click Vicky's photo.

‘Hey’, said one of the Vicky's friends to Vicky, ‘see that uncle is clicking our photo’.  She had to scream to make her voice audible to Vicky, owing to the loud music.

‘I think this is uncle’s first time to a pub’, replied Vicky. ‘C’mon buddies, let’s give uncle some cool poses’. Vicky and his friends laughed.

Umesh smirked and kept on clicking the photographs. When he finished, he moved out of the pub and sent the photographs to Nisha through Facebook messenger. Umesh had successfully accomplished his first Detective case. With a proud smile on his face, Umesh returned.

#

Next morning, Umesh was again staring at his Facebook page, waiting for another case.  It is when he received a message. The name of sender was Vicky. Umesh was a bit surprised to see Vicky's message. Vicky asked him to meet at MG road metro station.

First the girl hired me to catch his boyfriend red handed. Now, I guess the guy is hiring me to find evidences against the girl. Today's generation doesn't have any idea about handling a relationship, thought Umesh.

#

Umesh reached at MG road metro station and was waiting for Vicky. Vicky had called him in the evening. Umesh again adopted his detective avatar; in order to hide is identity. He saw Vicky standing at corner.

‘So you are the “Detective U”’, said Vicky, as Umesh neared him.

‘What do you want?’, asked Umesh.

‘Thats what I want to ask?’, Vicky raised his voice. ‘I know you had clicked my pictures yesterday and gave it to Nisha. You must have been paid well too’.

Umesh stared at Vicky.

Vicky continued. ‘Yes. Nisha told me that she had hired you to gather evidences against me. You did very well. You would be glad to know that Nisha left me. You have spoiled my relationship with Nisha; just for money’.

‘It is not me’, replied Umesh, ‘It is you who have spoiled your relationship. You youngsters don’t take anything seriously. Everything in this world is a joke for you. You think it’s really cool to take everything lightly. You and only you are responsible for your situation’. Umesh blurted out his frustration he had on youngsters.

‘Yeah.. I am wrong. I accept. But what did you do? Did you "wise and responsible" elder do anything to improve us?’

Umesh chose to remain silent. He had nothing to respond.

‘I accept it was my fault when I did not tell Nisha that I am going out with friends. She is a suspicious and jealous girl. I was not cheating on her. I just didn’t want to fight with her. But she hired you and you gave her exactly what she wanted. I am not expecting her to understand, I know her nature. But being an elder, at least you should have understood that what I was doing was not cheating. You should have collected a few more evidences before coming to the conclusion. Instead, you added fuel to the fire’.

Vicky waited Umesh to answer. But Umesh didn't.

‘The private Detective U has successfully solved the case by destroying a so called careless and useless youth’, said Vicky sarcastically.

Vicky shook his head and began to leave. He walked a couple of steps and paused. He turned back towards Umesh and said, 'You, like every other person from older generation, don’t like the younger generation. You think that we are your unworthy successors and you were far better than us. But did you ever ask yourself that when you were young, were your elders happy with your generation? I am sure that they must have the same impression of your generation as you have for us. But you are going to curse us the same way they would have been doing to you. Keep up the good work of making the life of youth hell Detective U. Good bye’.

Umesh kept on gazing at the retreating Vicky. He realized Vicky was right. He too used to think in his youth that he was a radical thinker and his elders were too orthodox. He realized that just to complete his job quickly and prove the youths wrong, he didn’t even evaluate whether Vicky was actually at fault or not. Umesh hung his head low with the guilt.

#

Nisha was leaving from office a bit late today. She was hurrying towards her car which was parked in the basement of her office building. As she reached near the door, she heard a voice.

‘Ms Nisha’.

She was freaked out by the voice coming from just behind her back. She turned quickly and saw Detective U. The panic on her face had now replaced by confusion. She smiled and said, ‘Detective Uncle, how come you are here?’

Umesh ignored her question and said, ‘So you broke up with Vicky’.

Nisha’s smile slowly faded away. She thought for a while and said, ‘Of course. He is a cheat. He doesn’t deserve me’. Nisha had absolutely no regret for leaving Vicky. She was quite assured that Vicky was dishonest to her.

Umesh sighed, ‘See Nisha, I have no right to interfere in your personal matters. But, I would say just one thing. It is very easy to end a relationship. It doesn't take much courage to break up. But, those who struggle through several differences and complications are worthy of being in relationship’.

‘What do you mean?', asked Nisha, though it appeared that she had understood what Umesh was trying to say.

‘You know what I mean. You cannot take a vital decision of leaving Vicky just on the basis of the photograph I have shared with you’.

‘But you yourself had given me the photographs; as an evidence of Vicky’s disloyalty’.

‘Yes. That was my mistake. Going out with friends is never a disloyalty. He is not cheating on you. His only fault is that he hid it from you. But he is not the only one who is at fault. You are equally wrong’.

Nisha frowned.

Umesh continued. ‘Yes. The amount of suspicion and possessiveness you imposed Vicky had made him to hide the truth from you. But that doesn’t mean he is dishonest. He loves you a lot. And he is shattered now’.

Umesh told Nisha everything about his meeting with Vicky.

Tears streamed down from Nisha's eyes.

Umesh took his hat off and continued. ‘I should have been a bit wiser. But I just found one incident and handed you the photographs. Vicky was right, we older generation just curse the youth for being irresponsible and impulsive. In a hurry to prove them so, we ignore to do what we are supposed to do: To lead them to the correct path’.

Nisha bowed her head in remorse.

Umesh kept his hand on Nisha’s shoulder. ‘Love doesn’t need a Detective to seek the truth. Go and speak to Vicky. He is not as bad as you think’.

Nisha raised her head and smiled. Umesh put his hat back on his head and turned to leave.

‘Thanks Detective Uncle’, said Nisha. Her eyes were still filled with tears. This time, it was tears of happiness.

Umesh smile behind handkerchief and walked away proudly. The case, in its true sense, had now been solved.

Umesh exited the office building. He had by now removed his hat, handkerchief and overcoat. He took out his mobile phone to book an uber cab for his home when he saw a message.

Umesh read the message and smiled with gleaming eyes, ‘A new Case’.

THE END

Point Of View

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for."- John Lubbock

‘Can I have your boarding pass please’, said the flight crew standing at the boarding gate. She scanned the barcode on the boarding pass. I was about to board 6E-304 Pune to Delhi. I was on an official trip to Pune. The term ‘Official’ was a misnomer in the context of my organization. While one think of an official trip as a suited-booted employee sitting in an air-conditioned office discussing business strategies, my job was entirely different. I had to stand in a boiling workshop of the component manufacturer for the entire day, howling on its employees and watching the welding of steel tubes.

‘Thank You Mr. Singh’, she said as she returned me the boarding pass. The security personnel checked the security tag on my cabin bag and allowed me to pass through. I entered the aircraft and kept my bag in the overhead compartment. I sat on my preferred aisle seat and closed my eyes. My eyes were burning because of the welding it were exposed to. I quickly wanted to sleep because I have to straight away head to the office after reaching Delhi.

It would have been few minutes I had closed my eyes when I heard a female voice, ‘Excuse me!’

‘Sorry about that’, I said as I stood up and moved out.

She smiled and slid through the gap between the two rows of seats to her seat. The window seat. I quickly got back to complete my sleep when I heard a male voice,’ Excuse me’. I didn’t say anything this time and just followed the entire procedure again. The guy reached his middle seat. I knew this initial disadvantage of an aisle seat, but I couldn’t afford to sit on a window seat for I am a flight-phobic. I wasn’t, but the series of plane crashes happened to our southeastern neighbors had just induced a fear of flight in me.

When I thought everything has settled down and I could get a sound sleep, the guy said,’ Hi I am Rahul.’

‘Hi! I am Priya!’, said the girl shaking her hand with the guy.

‘So you live in Delhi?’, asked Rahul.

‘Yes and No. My parents live in Delhi. For the past 3 years, I am living in Pune.’

‘Ohk. So you are going to meet your parents?’

‘Yes. What about you?’

‘I work here in Pune. And I have got some work in Delhi. By the way, in which company do you work?’ asked Rahul.

‘I work with Accenture. And you?

‘Reliance Animation’ said Rahul.

They won’t let me sleep. I cursed.

‘So you are off to an official trip. Right?’ asked Priya as she leaned back to the seat as the plane started to take off.

I hated this term.

‘hmm.. actually No’, replied the guy, ‘My parents have seen a girl for my marriage. I am going to meet her’.

‘What a coincidence!’ exclaimed Priya turning to the guy, ‘Even I am going for the same purpose’.

‘Oh great! So who is the guy?’

‘Some MBA graduate working with Management consultancy. And who is the girl?’

‘Some Fashion Designer.’

‘Cool man! You together will make a creative couple’, chuckled Priya.

‘Hehe.. but I was not interested in meeting her. I told my parents if they like the girl, then its Ok from my side’ said Rahul.

‘Why so dude?’ asked Priya in surprise.

I sometimes wonder how such short conversations make strangers feel that they know each other for a long time.

‘I am not good at judging girls. I have left this job to my parents. I have already created enough mess for myself’, said Rahul.

After few right and left rotations, the plane stabilized and the pilot turned the seatbelt sign off.

The flight crew came with refreshments. We pulled down the tray attached to the front seats in order to keep the refreshment on it.

Pssst! Priya opened the Coke can with a hissing sound and asked, ‘It seems you went through some relationship turmoil?’

‘Yeah! It took me almost three years to get over her.’ replied Rahul.

‘So what happened?’

‘It’s a long story.’

‘It’s a long journey.’ said Priya with a smiling face.

They are not going to stop soon. I thought.

‘Shalini. I saw her first when I was in 12^th standard. I won’t call it love at first sight. But, it was rather an attraction at first sight, which happens to almost every guy every now and then. I have managed to talk to her quite a few times. But never gathered the courage to ask her for friendship.’ said Rahul.

‘Oh hoo… childhood love!’ Priya teased him.

Rahul blushed and continued, ’We left the school and moved to different colleges in different cities. I thought I would never be able to meet her again. It's when my friend told me about Orkut. Facebook was not known to us in those days. And I am not sure it even existed at that time. I searched her in Orkut and sent her friend request. She accepted it. We started scrapping, then moved on to SMS. From Good morning to Goodnight, we kept on talking by SMS for the whole day. Then we escalated to the late night calls. Late night calling packs were boon for the couples.’

‘Typical lovers!’ said Priya.

‘And then came the day which I regret the most. The day when I proposed her. And she accepted. Everything went fine for few months. But I was feeling guilty from inside. It was not possible for me to marry her. I knew it. My parents would never agree. And I didn’t want to keep her in dark. The way she was attached to me, it was going to be very difficult for her to deal with this situation. So I decided to tell her the truth’.

‘Then?’ asked Priya resting her chin on hand.

‘I explained her that it is not possible for us to take this relationship forward. My parents would never allow me to marry you. But you are my best friend. I have never had a friend like you. And I will never have. I couldn’t stop myself from telling you that I love you. That’s why I proposed you. But I didn’t want to keep you in dark either. That’s why I am telling you the truth before its too late. I want us to be friends forever. I don’t want to spoil our friendship. And most importantly, I don’t want to lose YOU.’ said Rahul.

I didn’t look the expressions on his face, but his voice was clearly showing he hadn’t forgotten her yet.

‘Phew! What happened then?’ Priya raised her brows and asked.

‘She didn’t say anything. She didn’t say anything for the entire day. She messaged me next day. The message read: I always wanted to take our relationship forward. I won’t say I didn’t get hurt. But I know you are helpless. I won’t compel you to go forward for it would do no good to our relationship. But I don’t want to lose a friend like you either. We couldn’t make ourselves best couple. But we still are best friends and will remain forever.’ said Rahul.

‘Well, that’s a sort of Happy Ending! Where is the conflict then?’ complained Priya.

Rahul gestured with his palm and said, ‘Wait. It’s not over yet. We continued as friends for three more years. She couldn’t detach herself from me. She still cared for me the same way she used to do it before. This had worried me more. After college, I got a job and moved to Pune. She joined a software company in Bangalore. New environment, new friends. Our late night calls stopped. The number of sms reduced. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. But what I was not expecting was the message she sent me one day. It read: I want to end this Rahul. I want to end our friendship or whatever you may call it. I want to end this all. We, anyhow, have reduced talking. But, I want to cut it completely. I don’t want to keep any contact with you. I don’t want to talk to you ever.’

Rahul looked at Priya who was listening to him with her eyes widened. He continued, ‘I was astonished. I was shell shocked. What has happened to her suddenly? Why on earth she wants to end everything. I sent her several messages asking what happened. She didn’t reply. I then called her several times. She didn’t pick. When I was about to call her again, I received her message: Please Rahul. I said I don’t want to talk to you. If you call one more time, I will have no other option but to change my number.’

Rahul paused for a moment and continued, 'I thought she might be disturbed. That’s why she was behaving in this way. I waited for few days and sent her SMS. She didn’t reply. I waited for few more weeks and sent her a sorry-SMS. But she didn’t reply. If I had tried to call her, she would have changed her number. Three months had passed and we hadn’t talked to each other. I decided to call her one day. I dialled her number. The response I got was: The number you have dialed is out of service. I didn’t know when she changed her number. She had stopped using Orkut. In fact, we all had stopped using Orkut by then. We were friends in facebook. I quickly logged in to FB to message her. But she had blocked me there too. She told me before that she didn’t want to keep any contact with me. And she did it.’

‘You didn’t have any mutual friend’, asked Priya.

‘We had. But they were not in contact with both of us. After a year, I found once such friend who was in Bangalore. I requested her if she meets Shalini, try to get her number. Coincidentally, she met her the very next week. She gave me her number but said I shouldn’t contact her. She is dating some guy.’

There was silent for a moment.

‘It felt like a nasty blow in the stomach’, Rahul continued, ‘But I had to call her. I had to ask her why she left me. I dialled her number:

‘Hi’, I said.

‘Hi’, she paused for a while and said. She recognized my voice.

‘How are you?’

‘I am good. And you?’

‘I have been better’, I said. She didn’t say anything.

‘So it seems you are having a good time after our breakup?’ I asked.

‘hmm.. You can say so.’ she said

 ‘So are you going to marry him?’ I asked.

‘No’

‘Wow! Then you would have better passed the time with me. Or did you just get a better option?’

‘Rahul Please! Why don’t you forget everything? Whatever happened between us is not more than a joke to me now. Why are you cribbing over same old thing? For God sake please move on.’ she raised her voice.

‘It was all a Joke to you! For the past one year, I was just thinking about you. I used to call you every day hoping that I would be able to connect you. I sent you numerous sorry messages hoping that they would get delivered someday. And it was all joke to you!’ I lost my calm.

‘Yes. It was all a bad Joke. If it was not possible for us to marry, so why shouldn’t I just pass the time with someone better? And I don’t care at all how you lived for the past one year and how you are feeling now. Please don’t interfere in my life again. I don’t want to talk to you ever.’ She said and hung the phone.

My sleep had disappeared. I was completely drawn to Rahul’s story.

‘It was bound to happen. It was going to end some or the other day.’ Priya spoke finally.

‘I know. But I never thought it would end in this way. I would have fooled around her for three years and then told her that I am not going to marry her. But I didn’t. I told her at the beginning itself. And remember we were best friends for three years. The truth is that the moment she found someone better, she forgot me. I was nothing more than a ‘Product’ to her.’

Priya patted his shoulder and said, ’If someone had called our relationship as a Joke, I would have never talked to him. In fact, I would have bluntly said F*** off! Don’t know why you still care for her. Or even think about her.’

Rahul hung is head low and said, ’Had she left me the day when I told her that I couldn’t marry her, I wouldn’t be hurt this much. But what she did after three years was more painful. She used to say she couldn’t live without me for a second. And it took not more than a second for her to leave me. I had never expected that she would change in this way.’

‘People do change Rahul. And it’s not their fault. It’s the mistake of people like us who trust them blindly. People do change. And who knows better than Me.’ said Priya.

Rahul turned his head towards Priya and said, ‘What happened with you?’

‘Leave it. It’s a long story.’ said Priya.

‘Well, someone told me it’s a long journey!’ said Rahul with a smiling face.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen! We are going through some turbulence. The seatbelt sign has been turned on. You are requested to get back to your seats and fasten the seatbelt’ announced an air hostess.

Had it been any other day, I would have been stricken with panic. But, on that day, the intriguing stories of the two beings sitting beside me kept my aerophobia at bay.

The airplane was cruising at a speed of about 1000kph towards Delhi and it was still about an hour left to land. An hour back, I was cursing their chitter-chatter. But, the same conversation had pulled my mind towards it. I was waiting eagerly for Priya to begin her story.

‘I never liked the idea of dating a guy, sending sweet SMS, late night calls. In short, what typical lovers do. I had no particular best friend. We had a group of 3 girls and 2 guys. One of them was Nitin. We all were in the same class in B.tech. We had quite fun time together. I never wanted to fall in to a relationship. In fact I hated to be in a relationship.’ said Priya.

‘So it was Nitin.’ Smiled Rahul.

‘I was equally attached to all the friends in my group. But Nitin was more involved with me than anybody else. Be it in the canteen or in a movie, he always chose to sit beside me. He started sending various friendship SMS which I used to found damn silly. He used to talk to me for the entire day in college. Slowly, we started the then famous SMS chatting. He used to come to my home and was friendly with my mother.’ said Priya.

‘Where is the conflict then?’ Rahul imitated Priya.

‘Shut up!’ said Priya and continued, ‘In four years, we grew from friends to best friends. Through campus recruitment, I had got placed in Accenture and moved to Pune while he got placed in a Mumbai based firm. After two months, he resigned and came to Pune. Jobless. The reason he told me was that he wanted to live in the same city as mine. This decision infuriated me. The reason was as silly as his decision. We had a heated conversation on this I didn’t talk to him for a week. I picked his call after a week:

‘Hello’

‘Hi Priya. I am so sorry.’ he said.

‘What Sorry yaar! I have already told you why I am angry.’

‘I just can’t work there Priya. I was all alone there.’

‘What is the meaning of all alone? I was not your only friend in college. So how would it affect you if I was not there with you in Mumbai? You just ruining your career to spend time with me.’

‘I will find some job here soon. I have applied for few openings.’ he said.

‘This will not justify what you have done!’ I said.

‘Please try to understand Priya. It's just…’ he paused, ‘Its just I can’t live without you!’

‘Oh Please! Don’t behave as if you are my boyfriend.’

‘We are as good as girlfriend-boyfriend Priya. We have had a group in the initial years of college. But after that, it was just you and me.’

‘What nonsense!’ I shouted.

‘It isn’t. I know you hate being in a relationship and that’s what stopping you to accept the truth. I don’t think I would ever get a girl who can understand me better than you. And same stands valid for you too.’ he said.

I didn’t reply.

He continued, ‘I always wanted to say you but didn’t have the courage. But I have to say it today. I love you.’

‘I disconnected the call. My mind was boiling with anger. I decided to never talk to him again. he sent me several sorry-SMS for the next few days. His voice was echoing inside my head, It was just you and me. He was correct. After the first year of B.tech, we started spending larger amount of time with each other. Other friends were also there, but we were just too busy with each other. And I realized he was true. Even I wouldn’t get a guy who can understand me better than him.’ said Priya.

Rahul nodded just to confirm he is getting everything.

‘I called him after one month and told that I realized whatever he said that day was true. But the reality is that it is very difficult to take the relationship ahead. My parents won’t be very happy with our relationship and I would find it extremely difficult to convince them. He replied that even he would find it difficult to convince his parents but we both have to try our best.’ said Priya.

‘So you told your parents about him?’ asked Rahul.

‘Yes. Though my Mom liked Nitin, but his reaction was the most extreme when I told about us. My parents, like all parents, were strictly against love marriage. To worsen the situation, Nitin was unemployed. I lied that he is preparing for GRE and soon will go abroad for further studies. It took me a year but for my happiness my parents agreed. I wanted to share this with Nitin as early as possible. So I called him:

‘Hi’

‘Hi Priya. How are you?’ he said.

‘I have spoken to my parents about us.’ I said.

‘What?’, he exclaimed, ‘Why didn't you ask me before speaking to them?’

‘You said we both should try our best’, I said.

‘But you should have asked me before speaking to them!’

‘Leave it. The good thing is that they have agreed.’ I couldn't hide my happiness.

‘What have you done Priya. Why were you in such haste? You should have consulted me before doing anything.’

‘What happened Nitin? Aren't you happy that my parents agreed?’

‘I had tried to convince my parents too. But they are strictly against our marriage. And I was about to tell you that it is not possible for us to take our relationship forward. Please try to understand Priya. It’s not possible for me to marry you.’ he said.

I felt a sense of déjà vu. I had heard a similar situation an hour back.

‘Holy crap!’ said Rahul as he thumped his hand on the armrest.

Priya leaned back to her sit. She closed her eyes and said, ‘I immediately disconnected the call. I couldn’t control my tears. I cried. I abused him. Cursed him. I didn’t talk to him after that. Neither had he had the courage to call me again. He messaged me one day: I know I hurt you Priya. But my feelings still hasn’t changed for you. You were my best friend and you still are. Please forgot whatever has happened. We still can be best friends. I left my job for you because I didn’t want to lose a friend like you. And even now, I don’t want to lose my best friend.’

Déjà vu again. I thought to myself.

‘What a jerk!’ shouted Rahul, ‘First he refused to marry you and then he is saying to be your friend as before? What does he think of yourself? An idiot?’

Now that’s interesting. Why Rahul is displeased? Hadn’t he also done a similar thing to Shalini? I thought to myself.

‘We were still friends though not as good as we were. We hadn’t talked about it again. I told my mom about it. She advised me to get married. According to her, marriage was the only thing which can help me to get out of my past. But I asked for one year. But I couldn’t avoid it for long. Marriage proposals started coming in and I had no reason to refuse. But I had to be done with Nitin.’ said Priya.

‘Exactly!’ said Rahul, ‘How can you go ahead in your life when Nitin is still inside your head?’

 ‘I told Nitin that I cannot continue being your friend. We were best friends. We thought to take it forward. I even had done my part. But the truth is we both have to move ahead. Separately. And it cannot happen if we cannot forget each other completely. At least I cannot move ahead. So, I have decided to end it today. I don’t want to speak to you again. I don’t want to even see you again.’ said Priya.

I was expecting a different opinion from Rahul. After all, more or less, a similar thing had happened to him.

‘Hmm… make sense. You had given a try. If he couldn't convince his parents, he had no right to be even your friend. What did he say then?’ said Rahul.

Now that amused me.

‘He was behaving as if he was shocked. As if I had betrayed him. He said how I could do this to him. How I could just leave him after so many years of friendship? It was he who had asked me to take our relationship one step ahead and it was he who backed out. In the end, it was me who was the culprit. Nevertheless, I never cared how he had felt. I never talked to him after.’ Said Priya.

‘He was a complete idiot!’ said Rahul, ‘Don’t upset yourself thinking about him. Just think he was a waste of time. A bad phase of your life and an experience to learn. Just forget him and move on.’

‘May be it was all my fault. Sometimes, I feel I had overreacted. We could have been at least remained friends. He would have been the happiest person when he had learnt that I was going to marry.’ said Priya in regret.

‘It’s not your fault Priya. Remember you said ‘People do change’. He was you best friend. True. But did he respect your friendship? No. He asked you to take your friendship to marriage. Then he himself backed out. It was all his fault.’ said Rahul.

Priya was about to say something when Rahul spoke again, ‘Rather I sometimes feel, it was all my fault because of which she left me. I was a loser. I couldn’t give whatever Shalini was expecting from me. This is why she left me when she found someone better. Someone superior to me. I am a loser.’

‘No you are not Rahul’, said Priya, ‘It was all her fault. You were still there for her when she needed. But she was not there for you when you needed her. She left you for someone else. She lost a guy like you. She is a loser. Not you.’

Both looked at each other and smiled. Their conversation had ended. But a series of questions started arising in my mind. Who was right and who was wrong. Rahul, Shalini, Priya or Nitin?

When Shalini left Rahul, as per Rahul and Priya both, Shalini was wrong. But when Priya left Nitin, Priya was right for both Priya and Rahul. Rahul’s and Priya’s story are more or less same. Then why do we have a difference of opinion?

It's then when a concept of physics struck in my mind. The Frame of Reference! For a person sitting inside a moving train, the train is stationary and the whole world outside is moving backward while for a person standing outside, the whole world is stationary and train is moving forward. The motion appears differently through different Frame of Reference!

Similar things happen to our life as well. Sometimes, we cry over little things. We feel hurt because of someone. It is due to the fact that we are watching from our Frame of Reference. It could be very much possible that what other has done is absolutely correct in his Frame of Reference.

In simple words, it’s all about Point of View. Priya watched Rahul’s story with his Point of View and found Shalini wrong. Similarly, Rahul watched Priya’s story with her Point of View and found Priya right.

While I was pondering over the concept of Right or wrong and Point of View, I heard a male voice, ‘Excuse me!’ It was Rahul’s. Rahul was standing beside me while Priya was still sitting in her window seat and staring at me. ‘We have already landed and I think we should move out’ said Rahul.

‘Oh, Sorry’, I apologized as I got up. I took out my bag out of the overhead compartment while Rahul and Priya were also moving out of their seats. I was about to head towards the aircraft exit when I stopped for a moment and turned back towards Rahul and Priya. They glanced at each other seeing me.

‘You know. In our lives, there is nothing Right or Wrong but…. Point of View’, I said. I turned towards exit again and left.

They both were wondering what and why have I just said.

Blind Justice

"Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both."-Eleanor Roosevelt

It was 10:00pm. Women in our culture are supposed to lock themselves up in their home after dark! Or else some cultural & ethical man take up the job of teaching them a lesson for this sin. One such man was the cab driver whom she hired to get back home. It was quite an eventful day. She had given a presentation to her country head, went to client’s end for a meeting & attended a department get together in evening. The after effects of the exertions of the entire day were showing now when she sat comfortably on the back seat of the cab. She didn't know when she fell asleep. When she opened her eyes, she found the cab was standing in a secluded area. The cab driver was opening the door to move out. It was dark outside, still she could see the two figures standing outside.

His mind was suddenly brought to the present by the honking of a car standing behind him. The signal had gone green 5 seconds ago, but his mind was lost in the thoughts of the poor girl. He waved his hand as a sign of apology to the car driver. He kicked start his bike, released the clutch and pulled the throttle. It was the scorching summer of June in Delhi. He was riding the bike at a speed of around 60km/hr, still he was not feeling the breeze rubbing his body. He felt as if he was in a vacuum. Though he tried hard to focus on the road, but his thought again ran back to what happened the previous night.

She stepped out of the car and asked firmly, ’What happened? Why did you stop the vehicle here?’ Though she knew there was something wrong here.

‘Nothing happened yet madam. But there is a lot going to happen now’, said a man cheesily.

‘Shut up! Just take me to my home or else I will call the police’, she raised her voice.

‘Why are you getting angry madam? The weather is already so hot and you are just raising the temperature of your brain.’ said another man by tapping the neck of the girl by his fingers from behind. The girl turned and slapped the man standing behind. ‘What the hell do you think you are doing!’ shouted the girl. The man put his hand over the left part of his face where the girl slapped him and said, ’Look man! She is a wild cat. She will be extreme fun.’ The other two man standing behind the girl laughed at the remarks made by him.

‘Indeed’, said one of the man moved close to the girl from behind and pulled her hair. The girl cried in pain. But she didn’t give up. She moved her hands backward and held the fist of the man. She tried to open up his grasp. But it was too tight. She then further waved her hands backward to search for his face. The moment her hands touched his face, she scratched it. It was the area near his eyes. The man screamed in pain and released the girl. The second man angered to see this, slapped the girl hard. She fell to the ground. She understood she can’t outfight them. She got up and turned to run away, but the third man whom she slapped before, blocked her way. He kicked her in the stomach. She screamed in pain and sat on the ground.

‘Bitch! We wouldn’t have been so rude had you had surrendered.’ said the man with clenched teeth. ‘But you are going repent of what you just tried to do’ said the second man by joining his friend.

‘It’s all your fault madam.’ said the third man rubbing his right eye, ‘You shouldn’t have been outside for so late. You know, after a long tiring day, we need some refreshment in the night. And girls like you invite us to satisfy our desire.’

For the next half an hour, the girl kept on crying in pain. Yelling for help. But as always, there was no one to help her.

He stopped his bike and breathed heavily to control his temper. The girl was brutally raped and no one in the city could help her. No wonder why it is rewarded as the national rape capital of India. He pushed the gear change lever from his left toe and took out his fury on the throttle. The speed of the bike reached 100km/hr.

Police will find these men sooner or later. But that’s not going to do any good. Even if the case goes to fast track, it will take another 6-10 months for the court to come to the conclusion. Even if they are sentenced to death, they will plea to High court, then Supreme Court and so on. There isn't going to be any justice. Our judicial system is literally blind. Sometimes, justice has to be delivered outside the court. Sometimes, justice has to be done outside the law, he thought.

He reached Chandni Chowk. The conditions at late night were just the opposite of what it would have been in day. It was silent and few stray dogs roaming at this point of time. The road was illuminated by the yellow hue of the street lights. He took a left turn towards the Nayi Sadak- the road which connects Chandni Chowk with Chawari Bazar.

Nayi sadak is quite wide as compared to the other streets of Old Delhi. It was flanked by multiple storey buildings on both sides. The lower storey buildings are essentially the shops where generally, pirated copies of all sort of books are sold at almost half the original price. For this reason, it is pretty popular among students.

He stopped his bike in front of a building. He pushed the side stand down by the heel of his left foot and rested the bike on it. He swung his right foot to get off the bike. He then pulled out a black woollen Balaclava from the back pocket of his jeans and worn it over his face. The balaclava covered his entire head and face except for his eyes. There was a narrow staircase going upwards towards the first floor.  He climbed up to the first floor and found an iron grilled gate to his left. He saw three men sitting inside and playing cards. He can also see bottles of alcohol lying around them.

One of the three was playing a video on his mobile phone. A sound of a girl’s cry was coming out from the video. ‘What a hot clip man!’ said the man.

‘Yeah! And It’s hotter when you were the part of it’, said another man by throwing a card in his move. They all guffawed.

Watching from outside, he clenched his fist in anger. ‘These scoundrels made a video of that poor girl’ he thought to himself. The anger made his face shiver. He gathered all his rage and kicked the iron door. The door opened with a bang.

All three of them looked at the door in surprise. The first man stood up and said, ‘Abey O! Who are you? What the hell are you doing here?’

He lifted a wooden chair kept on his right and slammed it on the man approaching towards him. The chair had struck with such a force that it got broken in to two pieces. The man fell on the ground holding his head and screaming in pain. The man felt warm liquid coming out of his head slowly. It was blood.

He lifted the broken pieces of chair again and hit the man lying on the ground several times until he stopped screaming. He was about to turn towards the other two men when he saw second man swinging his hand towards his face. He felt a hard blow on his face and stepped backwards. He shook his head to get back to his senses.

‘Who are you?', said the second man and again swung his arm to hit him. This time, he was aware and ducked immediately. Taking the support from the ground with his hands, he lifted his left leg and kicked the second man below the belt.

The third man ran towards him but before he could hit him, He held his neck. He tightened his grip on the third man’s neck and threw him on the wall. The man’s head banged on the wall and he wailed out in pain. He walked back to the second man who was trying to get up. He clenched his collar and hit on his face several times until the blood gushed out of his mouth.

‘You were feeling hot by listening to the cries of the girl. Now it's my time. SCREAM!’, shouted the man and hit him on his face.‘The screams of the poor girl are still echoing inside my head. Your screams should be louder than her! SCREAM you bastard!’ He hit several blows on his face. ‘Your screams should overpower the screams of that innocent girl. SCREAM you scoundrel!’. He  kept on hitting on his face until he found his body has become motionless. He didn’t know the man has died or just passed out. He got up and walked up to an iron trunk kept on the corner of the room. He picked it up and smashed it on the man. He has died now.

Finally, he turned towards the third man who was still holding his head. The third man cried,’Who are you? That girl’s brother? Or father? Or husband? Why are you killing us?’

He pulled his hair to make him stand up. ‘Do you think I am avenging for what you did to her?’ he said, ’This is not a revenge. This is JUSTICE’.

He smashed the man’s head several times on the wall.

‘Please don’t kill me. Please take me to the Police station. I will accept my crime. I will accept all the crime I have done till now. Please don’t kill me’, said the man as he was losing his consciousness.

‘People like you are like virus. Viruses that are infecting our society. Viruses that are spreading Epidemics. And viruses can never be contained. They are always killed. Viruses like you have to be uprooted from the society.’

He took him towards the opposite wall which was facing the street. There was a glass window in the wall. He kicked him in his stomach. The man’s body hit the glass window. The glass broke and his body flew out of the window.

He reached to the window to see the lifeless body of the man lying on the road.

Next morning he was at his workplace, sitting with his elbows on the desk and hands covering his face. He was thinking about the incident of last night.

‘Sir’, a man called him. He didn’t listen and was still in lost in the thoughts of previous night. ‘Sir’, the man called him again but he didn’t listen.

‘Inspector Prabhat’ the man has to call him by his name. Listening to his name, he removed his hands from his face and turned towards the man calling him. It was constable Gopal.

‘What happened?’, he asked.

‘Sir, we have found the culprits of that girl’s rape case’, replied constable Gopal, ’But they are all dead! Someone had brutally killed them last night in a house in Nayi Sadak.’

Inspector Prabhat stared at constable Gopal without any expression on his face. But inside, he was smiling with satisfaction. Justice had been served.