Forest

“Why don’t you stay over tonight and go back tomorrow morning?” asked Anita’s mother.

“I can’t Mom! I really need to go home”, replied Anita. She really did need to go back home. “I’ve to get some work done tonight before office tomorrow”, she lied.        

“Fine. Send us a text message when you reach home”, said her mother as Anita got into the car.

“I will Mom!” said Anita. She got into her car, placed the container that her mother had given in the back seat, waved one last time and started on her journey back. She had just had a really nice and pleasant dinner with her mom and dad. Usually the meals with her parents were never that pleasant. The drive was going to take her around an hour and the road went through a forest.

She checked the time in her watch. It was almost 10:30. The forest felt creepy at this hour. It was dead silent. The silence was getting on her nerves. She surfed through all the radio channels, but the reception wasn’t good on any of them so she switched it off. As she approached a certain part of the forest, she suddenly became slightly anxious.

Suddenly she saw him.

A man.

Right in the middle of the road.

He was waving initially but now as the car came closer, he was shielding his eyes from the headlights.

She slowed down and stopped a little away from the man.

The man came towards the car.

He came up to the passenger door and Anita lowered the window.

“Do you know there is absolutely no range here? I’ve been trying to call you for almost two hours!” said the man.

“Yes I do know”, replied Anita. “Mom had made fruit custard by the way. Your favourite. She has sent some for you.”

“I just got out to pee and when I returned, you were gone” said her husband. “I  know I don’t get along well with your parents but next time if you don’t want me coming to their house, please just directly tell me instead of leaving me in the middle of nowhere.”

 

Heist

“Search him again”, said the jeweller. The security guards made Vikram take off his clothes and they repeated the entire process which consisted of metal detectors and even an X-ray machine. Vikram had never expected such a big room at the back of the jewellery shop with all this equipment. Also, he hadn’t considered all this when he had made his plan.

 

While one of the guards studied the X-ray, another went through of all his clothes and wallet. Even after this second attempt, they were unable to locate what they had been searching for.

 

A Rs. 2,50,000 ring had just disappeared. Vikram had been the only customer in the shop at that time. He had come to buy a ring and had even looked at that particular exquisite piece, dismissing it as it was out of his budget.

 

“Sir, he doesn’t have the ring”, said one of the security guards. There were always three security guards on duty at any time of the day.

 

“I don’t believe this !”, said the jeweller. “One of you stay with Vikram here, while the others search the entire room. Check the carpets, under the tables, chairs, everywhere! I want this ring found right now!”

 

“Yes Sir!”, said the guards in unison. Two of them made their way to the larger room out front where all the various items of jewellery were on display. Along with the assistants, they started performing a thorough search of the entire room.

 

“May I wear my clothes now? “, Vikram asked the Jeweller.

 

“You may not! Keep standing like that”, said the Jeweller.

 

Ten minutes passed and the ring had still not been located. The jeweller muttered a few cuss words, complained about his staff being complete idiots and decided to go out and search for the ring himself. The security guard was the only other person in the back-room now. He took pity on Vikram and let him wear his clothes.

 

“Don’t you have CCTV cameras?”,Vikram asked the security guard.

 

“No”, replied the guard.

 

“That’s too bad”, said Vikram.

“Actually, we’re getting them installed day after tomorrow”, said the guard. Vikram sighed. This information was not new to him. In fact this was the key piece of information that had made him choose this particular day to execute his plan.

 

Vikram sat there for almost two hours. By then he knew the entire family history of the Security Guard and why he had been forced to take up this profession. That was one thing about Vikram. People always opened up to him and told him all kinds of stuff. He was just really good at filtering out important stuff and using it for his own benefit.

 

Finally they let Vikram go. He stepped out, checked the time in his new watch and smiled. In all the excitement, the Jeweller had not noticed that Vikram had stolen his Rolex watch. He will probably realise it later when he finds the ring, which Vikram had slipped into the Jeweller’s back pocket.

Boy

            The boy woke up. He had just had a horrible nightmare. He wasn’t looking forward to the day either. The day was going to be a nightmare itself. But he had to be brave. He had to hold back his tears. The twelve-year old climbed out of bed and got into his usual routine of getting ready for school. There was going to be just one difference. He wasn’t going to pack his bag today.

Over a breakfast of cereals and toast, he looked at his mother who was silently standing in the kitchen. She knew what the day held in store for her family but she looked surprisingly calm.

“I have already told you the plan before”, his Dad said to him.

“Yes, Sir”, the boy replied.

“Good. It is all set. Your uncle has placed the mobile-phone triggered bomb in the front compartment of your bag. Your books have already been sent to school with your older brother. You know what to do. Place it near the dustbin outside Gate-A of the metro station. Understood ?”

“Yes, Sir”, said the boy. He didn’t feel like eating anymore and he pushed the bowl of cereals away.

“Great. All the best. Make us proud”, his Dad told him and then he went into another room.

              The boy got up and picked up the bag. The contents were much lighter than the usual note-books and text-books that he carried but still he didn’t feel like moving. His Mom came to him and she put her hand through his hair and suddenly burst into tears. He just held her hand tightly.

He remembered the first time he had realised his Dad was a terrorist. He had scored 50/50 in Mathematics and had rushed home and into his Dad’s room to show him the report card. There had been around 6-7 men in the room, mostly his uncles. Blue-prints, guns and other equipment lay spread out on the bed. His Dad had taken him outside and hit him for not knocking before entering. His Mom had come to save him from the beating as his Dad had already slapped him 4-5 times by then. When his Mom tried to pull his Dad away, he had hit her as well. This had happened two years back. Since then, he had slowly come to realise all about his Dad’s activities gradually.

All these thoughts were running in his mind when he suddenly stopped. He had reached the spot where he wanted to go. He took the bag off his shoulders and placed it behind a dustbin, well hidden from the public eye. Then before someone could see him, he ran away from there.

He kept running. Faster and faster. He didn’t want to stop. He was running and crying at the same time. All the courage and bravery that he had been convinced he could display, disappeared the moment he had started running from the dustbin.

He kept running till he reached a park and a bench right opposite the fountain. Sitting on the bench, he put his head in his arms and cried. He wondered if he had done the right thing by planting the bomb. He felt a hand on his head. The same hand had gone through his hair around 40 minutes back. His Mother hugged him tightly. A small suitcase lay near her legs.

The boy had quietened down when he saw a huge crowd develop outside a restaurant across the road. He ran to the restaurant and noticed everyone looking at the television. There was panic everywhere. On the screen, he saw what remained of his house. It was completely blown to pieces. The decision of placing the bag right outside his own house and thereby killing his own family instead of numerous innocent others had definitely been the best decision he had ever made.

The boy and his Mother stood there silently.

Motionless.

They weren’t crying any longer.

Suicide

Raj pulled the stool to a spot right below the fan. He got up onto the stool and tied a rope around the fan thereby creating a noose. He put his head through it, closed his eyes and stood in silence. He would be the second student of a reputed engineering college to commit suicide this month.

 

His phone rang at that moment which suddenly made him open his eyes. He took the phone out of his shirt pocket.

An unknown number.

He had half a mind to cut it and throw the phone but for some reason, he picked it up. “Hello”, he said.

“Hello Mr. Raj Srivastav. I am calling from NiceCall. I wanted to tell you about the new packages of ring-tones and caller-tunes that are now available starting from Rs.23 all the way to Rs.100”, said a female’s voice at the other end.

“Trust me, I am really not interested at the moment”, said Raj.

“Sir, but at least let me tell you about the packages. I am sure…”

“Will you benefit in any way by selling me one of these packages?”  asked Raj, cutting the NiceCall lady.

“Not exactly, Sir. But along with you, if I am able to convince many others to buy these packages and end up highest, then I might get some bonuses. So actually, in your small way, you could help me Sir.”

“Okay. Give me the most expensive one. Thank you”, said Raj, now getting slightly fidgety on the stool.

“Sir, but don’t you want to know what all you will get in this package? You will get all the ring-tones and caller-tunes from the latest Bollywood movies including…”

“No. That’s okay. I am sure it will be the best!”

“Am I interrupting you Sir? I am Sorry but I forgot to ask you at the beginning if you were free to speak.”

“Not exactly”, said Raj. “In fact, you might be the last person I ever talk to and I don’t even know your name.”

“What?!” the operator almost screamed.

“Have you ever thought about suicide, Miss…”

“It’s Sneha Gokhale. And I have, Sir. “ said the NiceCall lady.

“Really? When?” asked Raj.

“ Well normally, I won’t be telling a stranger about me but I think it is needed here.”

“Sure. Go on. Please do tell. I have all the time.”

“Okay”, she said, making it very clear that she didn’t like his behaviour given the situation. “ First tell me, why are you going to take such a drastic step?”

“Usual story”, said Raj. “I didn’t want to do Engineering. Peer pressure. Good in studies so got a good score in CET and thereby a good College. Now can’t cope with all the pressure. Failing in exams . Also my Girl-friend of two years left me recently.”

“That’s it?” she asked.

“That’s it?!” he snapped.

“Well, I was once an Engineering student like you. I wanted to become an IT Engineer and I had got into a very good college and pretty soon I made some great friends !”

“Can you please get to the part where the story turns dark?” asked Raj.

“Okay. In my SE, I met Rahul. He was from the North. He was the cool-dude rich-brat kind of guy and out of all the girls, he started showing an interest in me. I really wasn’t interesting in getting into a relationship at that time and I made it pretty clear to him but he was still always around me.”

“And eventually you started liking him too?”

“Yes, I did. Soon enough, we were dating and we were like the ‘It’ couple on campus.”

“What happened then?”

“My parents fixed my marriage in BE to the son of my Father’s friend from college or something. I told them that I wasn’t interested. That I wanted to work for a few years after my BE. But they refused to listen. I told this to Rahul and he just said five words.”

“What were those?”

“Let’s run and get married.”

“So you did?”

“Kind of. After graduation, I told my parents that I was going out and partying with a couple of friends. We took a train to Delhi that night and from there we went to his hometown by bus.”

“Sounds like a nice filmy ending”, said Raj. By now his legs had started paining and he took the noose out from around his neck and sat down on the stool, listening intently.

“His parents were obviously surprised at first but his Dad soon became friendly with me. However, his Mom hated me from the start.”

“Go on”, said Raj.

“I’ll skip all this part, Sir. Those few months were horrible. I had to just stay at home and do chores while Rahul would spend the day hanging out with his friends, partying and also spend his time learning his Dad’s business. He started neglecting me completely. We had a few fights and he started getting violent. In the end, it was all too much for me, so one day, I packed a few belongings, took some money from Rahul’s wallet and took the next train back to Pune.”

“When I went home, my Dad refused to take me in. At that time, my little sister was in the 12^th and my Dad announced that she was the only child he had. My Mom didn’t dare to speak against my Dad’s anger. I left and went straight to my friend’s house. She was with me in my Engineering College. I told her everything. I cried a lot that day. I don’t think I have ever cried that much in my life, Sir.”

“What happened then?”

“At that moment, I practically had no family, no friends and I had just wasted six months of my life. I tried to take up a job but I couldn’t get any. My friend worked at a call-centre. She pulled a few strings and here I am !”

“What about your family?”

“My Dad still refuses to talk to me. My Mom doesn’t either as she is scared of him. I am in touch with my sister though. My friend and I have now rented a flat. 1 BHK. I have a steady salary. I have made some good friends. I have recovered.”

“And when had you thought of suicide?”

“The time when I came back to Pune. Two months, I just cried through the day. Sulked. I had nightmares at night. I felt that nobody would even miss me if I did end up killing myself. However it’s two years since that time and thanks to my friend and my sister, I have managed to get out of it completely.”

“Wow. You’re right. My reasons are almost nothing compared to yours.”

“Exactly. You’re still in your SE. You can still explore your options. I know people who left Engineering even in TE because they had finally discovered their ‘passion’. Mainly, you have the support of all your friends and family behind you."

“I am really glad I took this call. I had half a mind to throw the phone”, Raj said and he started laughing. “I’ll work harder now. I am going to make the best out of my life. Thanks a lot, Sneha Gokhale. I really hope I can meet you some day.”

“You can actually. We can meet today. Right now”

“Now?!”

“Please don’t freak out when I tell you this. The story that I told you was completely real but I am not Sneha Gokhale.”

“Who are you?!”

“I am her sister, Seema Gokhale. Actually I am in my friend’s hostel room right now and a while back, I saw this guy trying to commit suicide in the hostel across the road. So I decide to save him.”

Raj started laughing at this sentence. “How did you get my number?”

“My friend is in your class-Neha. I knew your name since I saw you recently participate at an athletics meet. Neha had gone to an adjoining room, but luckily she had left her phone here. So I took the number and dialled from my phone as I knew you would have her number saved and you might have not picked up. And please don’t ask me why, but the moment you picked up, I pretended to be a call- centre employee and soon enough, I ended up telling you my sister’s story.”

“How did you come up with this phone-call idea?” asked Raj. He placed the stool near his desk, came to the window and waved to her. She waved back and said, “I figured it would be too late before I could get people up to your room.”

Raj smiled. “You have saved my life, Seema Gokhale.”

“I am really glad I could”. She smiled back.

 

Jane

             
           “It’s good for the plants, Mrs. Williams”, said Jane. But as usual, Mrs. Williams didn’t understand anything that Jane was saying. She made the same disgusted expression that she made almost every day and went inside her house. Jane ran into the bushes separating her and Mrs. Williams’ house. She kept running till she reached her ‘spot’ in the bushes and then she sat there. Soon enough, she located the green shoe that was almost not visible now because of all the plants growing around it. It was Andy’s green shoe.

She lay down there and thought about the first time she met Andy. She had been just five years old and she was living at Uncle Tom’s farm at that time. All day long, she would be running and playing around the fields. Uncle Tom used to grow several fruits, vegetables and herbs on his farm. One day, accidentally she had fallen into a well. She screamed for help but no one could hear her. Then all of a sudden, a boy had jumped in. He took her in his arms and brought her out. Later on she realized that it was their neighbour’s son, Andy. She had seen him a couple of times but had never really interacted with him as he was much older than her. She had always been kind of shy. Even till today.

The sprinklers in her garden had started and she was brought back to reality. It also reminded her of her fear of water which had been triggered by the ‘well’ incident. Since the day Andy had saved her, they had become really great friends. She would run around with him in the fields and play ball with him. Those were really good days-- lots of fresh milk, healthy food and plenty of exercise. Unfortunately good times don’t often last forever.

Jane could still remember that day. Uncle Tom had become really old and expenses too had greatly gone up. He was going to sell his land to one of the various land-hungry hotel owners and then go and stay with her daughter abroad. Exactly two years since the ‘well’ incident, Jane could remember sitting in Uncle Tom’s car on way to his niece’s house. His niece stayed somewhere in the inner part of a city. As he was leaving in a couple of days, he was going to leave Jane there.  Jane wanted to stay with Andy. You could see it in her eyes. But Andy was off to college.

Andy had accompanied Uncle Tom on the ride to his niece’s house. Jane sat on Andy’s lap silently. She didn’t know what to expect. When they reached their destination and she saw the family that she was going to stay with, she just wanted to cry. Not that this new family weren’t good people or anything, but they weren’t Uncle Tom and Andy. As Andy and Uncle Tom were about to leave, Jane ran outside taking one of Andy’s green shoes and hid in the bushes. She reasoned that Andy won’t leave without both his shoes.

Andy came out of the house and he saw Jane immediately hiding in the bushes. He didn’t go towards her but instead said a few words to Uncle Tom’s niece, Maria and her husband, David. “Jane is really shy and never really demanding. She also doesn’t show her emotions that easily. Do take good care of her. Hopefully I will be able to come and meet her again sometime”, he said. Andy then got into the car with Uncle Tom and they left. Jane had come running out as the car left the drive-way and she saw Andy looking back and waving at her. She just stood there, motionless.

Many months had passed since that day. Jane had pretty much settled into her new home and family but whenever she was frightened or irritated because of something, she would come to this spot. The same spot where she had hidden Andy’s shoe. Then Jane would be completely at peace. The shoe had a positive effect on Jane. Also, she had hidden the shoe in such a location that Maria, David or the gardener had not discovered it till now. It was even more difficult now with the flora growing around it. Many days, she just spent lying down near the green shoe and thinking about Uncle Tom and Andy. She also secretly hoped that one day Andy would come back for his shoe and then probably take Jane along as well.

From her spot, she could see Mrs. Williams stepping out of her house and heading towards Jane’s house. Jane came out running and stood in front of the door of her house. Then she started barking at Mrs. Williams. Jane’s tail was wagging furiously, as it always did whenever she was excited.

“You stupid dog”, Mrs. Williams shouted at Jane. The noise coming from her garden made Maria come running out and she swiftly pulled the Dalmatian away from Mrs. Williams and tied her to the fence. She stroked Jane’s back with her hand and calmed her down. Then she took Mrs. Williams inside the house for a cup of tea. Jane could hear Mrs. Williams’ voice even outside.  “Your dog has been messing up my garden again! You really should keep her tied up all the time” she shouted. Maria calmed her down and said. “I don’t know what makes Jane go over to your side! But anyway dogs always tend to hide their bones and so they do dig little holes around in the ground and it’s supposed to be good for the plants as…”