Shrinkwrapped Secrets

2029 Varanasi, Dr. Karan Prakash MD, works as a psychiatrist in Aryavart Hospital which has multiple satellite clinics in rural areas of Varanasi and neighbouring districts. Dr. Shambhavi is a new doctor who has come to do her DNB in Psychiatry under him. It is their first meeting and together they would delve into the depths of minds and the truth of reality.

Dr. Shambhavi opened the door of the office of Dr. Karan Prakash. He was looking at some files.

“May I come in sir?” She asked.

Dr. Prakash looked up and through his thick rimmed glasses his eyes settled on her.

“Come in Shambhavi. Come in and sit down.”

Dr. Shambhavi entered the office and sat on the chair in front of Dr. Prakash.

“From day after tomorrow we would start work. Before that I would like to ask. Why do you want to become a psychiatrist?”

Dr. Shambhavi looked at Dr. Prakash.

“Sir, I know what it's like to suffer with mental health issues. And I would like to help people who are suffering with them.”

Dr. Prakash looked at her, and smiled kindly.

“You remind me of the young me. You are young, you are idealistic and since you are under me I would use the today to brief you about our job. You have to listen to me carefully. We would start working on cases from day after tomorrow and I would grant you leave for tomorrow to make sense of what I’m telling you today.”

“Yes sir,” Dr. Shambhavi said.

“Okay. Let me begin. Shambhavi, I know you are idealistic but there are bitter truths about the world and the country we live in. And psychiatry is a political discipline but we have to try to be as apolitical as we possibly can. Real psychiatric cases, in today's date, in 2029, are very less. The truth is people, we included, are neurological slaves of the rich. They exert neurological control on us with a technology that is not public and they micromanage the thoughts and lives of people. It's hard to know the real truth, but just know that all the people in positions of power are not there due to merit, but are selected. The rich control the middle and lower classes by employing lower class rapists and criminals who neurologically surveil people and families and manipulate, torture, deprive and in case of families, break them. Neurological possession is possible, in which an employed criminal takes control of body and mind of the person. You might have seen people in the villages, especially ladies, getting possessed by Devi or Bhoot. These are actually cases of neurological possession. It's all political and the smallest unit of control is a village and it grows into districts, regions and states. The control is mostly culture based in lower classes. It's basically money and sex. I tried to find a logic in all this, but there isn't, it's just a method of exploitation, in which people’s thoughts, memories and sensory and neurological data is exploited and used to make money. Most mental health issues are neuropolitical sabotage by this political entity, and a symptom of neuropolitical oppression. The current setup of this country if I guess it right, is that the ones in control of this country are coolies of whites and Muslims, and who use lower class people of all religions and castes as cannon fodder, beasts of burden and animals for slaughter. They freely access memories, neurosensory systems and bodies of people and control them at their will, and if they feel like it, play depraved and sadistic games with them and their lives. It's basically a financial system in which everyone who is not in the hivemind is a slave. This is the truth and the sooner you accept it, the sooner you will be able to help the patients. We can't help all our patients, but we can surely soothe them. You have to realise that dyslexia, body dysmorphia, gender dysphoria and homosexuality are all manipulations of the mind and neurology. The setup we are talking controls people through mind control and neurological manipulation. It's basically slavery, but there is nothing that can be done about it as the setup is foolproof and we don't know who actually is involved in it. The current political climate is making a religion as syncretic, inclusive and pluralistic as Hinduism into a dogmatic and superstitious religion. It's basically Islamification of Hinduism. You might have heard and read about cases of gang stalking and targeted individuals, these individuals are just individuals suffering neuropolitical sabotage who are too intelligent to become schizophrenics. We can try to help people as much we can, and learn more about the political setup of the country, the world and about reality. I hope you are ready for working with me. I know it's a lot to process, and so I’m granting you a leave for tomorrow. Process it and come back day after tomorrow so that we can start working.”

Dr. Shambhavi was dumbfounded with all this information. She stood up thanked Dr. Prakash and came out of his office. She was scared and yet glad that she had Dr. Prakash as her mentor. There were people to help and she decided to take a day off and come back to work for a job she loved the most, with the best mentor she could ever have, Dr. Prakash.

2082

It's 2082, the world has not progressed a bit since the 2020s. Everything is the same, except cars, all the cars in the world have become electric and consumption of fossil fuel by them has totally ceased. In India, an invisible coup has happened and no one knows about it. The people are now unknowingly controlled by a neurological mechanism which feeds emotions and thoughts into people rendering them as automatons. Boys and girls from good families are controlled like this in the India of 2082. They are neurologically possessed by criminals who are employed by those who orchestrated the invisible coup and then these criminals use these good boys and girls for their depraved games. The benefit is twofold, one, these good boys and girls can't rise up in society due to the neurological sabotage for the benefit of the ruling class which has total control over the government now, and two, they act as sources of depraved pleasure for demonic games of criminals who have been employed for the sabotage of these good boys and girls. The gods of depravity would be ashamed if they would see the depraved games being played with these poor, well raised souls. The demons in the deepest pits of hells will weep tears of grief seeing what the criminals do with these innocent. In this India, no one is safe, everyone's memories and sensory data including visual and auditory along with the emotions, feelings and sensations is stored at a centralised cloud. The bodily sensations of a man being cut into half is transmitted to the cloud until the brain is dead, these pain is stored and later relayed back to souls whom the invisible government wants to torture. Externally the world remains as it was in 2020. The technology of neurological possession prevents upward class mobility, and allows the elite an opportunity to play depraved games with real, living, breathing people. People are tortured on whims and fancies of the ones who control the neurological control apparatus. It's like the wild west just that middle and lower class doesn't have any power. Companies force people to buy their products by directly manipulating their neurology. Mental health has become an epidemic and Pharma companies are minting money by selling psychiatric drugs. The future from The Jetsons is nowhere to be seen.

Pining

The cigarette was still burning in the ashtray. He was standing near the window looking out at the stars. It was a lonely mansion at the top of the mountain, surrounded by a forest and at present covered with snow. He missed her. They used to come to this place every winter the the four years they had been together. Now, she was outside the country and he was alone, it didn't work out from her side. He had never trusted women in his life except his mother and then came her and it was like a dream, at least the four years they were together, and now he was alone at the family mansion his grandfather had bought when he was just a kid. He was alone in the mansion and trapped for at least a fortnight because of the snow, but since he had gotten all the supplies when he came, there was not much to worry. In the day he would drink coffee and read books, and at night he would gaze at the stars, sometimes missing her. There was this intense longing for her. The way she would snatch the cigarette from his mouth and smoke it her self. The way she would force him to get out of bed and make her coffee. The snow laden trees which would look bright and dull in the day would shine like radium in the moonlight at night. And here was he looking at the stars alone. He went inside, picked another cigarette from the pack and lit it. The electric fireplace had kept the room warm and filled with a yellowish glow. He was pining for her, but he was not feeling alone. He had no reason to feel alone, he liked it alone. Out here at the lonely mansion at the mountain top, under the countless stars it felt like he was alone in the universe. For some this thought might be frightening, not for him. He had entertained the idea of being alone in the universe before, at the same place. He just needed coffee and cigarettes, and her, but since she was not here anymore, just coffee and cigarettes. He wondered how people got cabin fever, he actually liked being trapped for days together in this house. He took a puff of his cigarette and looked at the a bright star in the sky. He played again with the idea of being all alone in the universe. This time not even thinking about her. Very narcissistic he thought, but then she had sailed away for better prospects, better prospects than being with him in the sheets and smoking cigarettes in a room yellowed and warmed by a fireplace in a quaint mansion atop a mountain. It's nobody's fault, and he knew that, and it's not his fault that his heart still pines for her. He went back to the idea of being all alone the universe. A scientific Adam, without an Eve. He never knew that an existential horror could be such a comforting idea. But at present, in the lonely mansion atop a snow covered mountain top surrounded by a forest, it was. 

Ardhanarishwar

 

Anandi couldn't understand why Bhaskar was avoiding her ever since she met him when he came to Pune. He had completely stopped taking her calls ever since he returned from Pune. They had met online in a chatroom and then they graduated to phone calls. They made love when Bhaskar had come to Pune. But after he returned back to Lucknow he kept ignoring her calls. She finally found Bhaskar's mother on facebook after much effort and connected to her. His mother called her to Lucknow without telling her about Bhaskar.

Here she was, standing outside a mental hospital. His mother has told that he was admitted here, soon after he had returned from Pune. She went in to meet him. The orderly took her to his room. Here was Bhaskar making drawings of the combined for of Shiva and Parvati muttering ardhanarishwar, ardhanarishwar under his breath. She went close to him, and he got startled. "Take IT away from me!" he bellowed, and the orderly politely asked her to remove herself from the room. The doctor of the facility was standing outside the room. He looked at her and calmly said, "See this? He thinks that he had sex with a transgender when he went to Pune. Has been obsessed with Ardhanarishvar form of Shiva and Shakti ever since." Anandi knew that was her and wondered what made him think of her as a transgender.

The Tiffin Box

 

Anandita seemingly was in love with him but he did not believe in love. He thought of love as just electrical impulses and chemical reactions in the brain but Anandita had left no stone unturned to let him know she liked him. They had met on a social network and had started talking soon after. They used to bitch about others on that social network, talk about universe and travel. He believed in transcation two people fulfilling each others needs and she was searching for her prince charming. his dark persona on the network attracted her and unlike him she was honest except for one thing, her weight. She was overweight and she hid it from him, why to reveal my only kryptonite in front of him, she thought. He was in his own world, thinking about the philosophies that run the world and thought of Anandita as a source of fulfilling his needs. We are giving each other what we need and that's enough, he used to think to himself. They kept talking, countless hours, and Anandita had started weaving the dreams of them being together. He was content talking to her but he wanted more, how strange for a man who thought of love as just electrical impulses and chemical reactions in the brain. He was about to fall in love and know that love is not what he thought of it to be, it was way more than that. He met Moushumi on the same network he met Anandita on. Do you know how a person feels when he is extremely thirsty and finds a lake of sweet water after walking miles in the scorching Sun? This was what he felt when he met Moushumi. He realized that it doesn't matter if love was just chemical reactions and electrical impulses in the brain. Moushumi made him realise that there was something in him that he didn't know even existed. He used to talk to Anandita about the universe but with Maushumi it was like a perpetually flowing galaxy of mishti doi connected their souls together. But he was arrogant and didn't want to give up on his beliefs, and yet he made an exception for Moushumi. He lied to Moushumi just as Anandita had hidden her kryptonite from him. He did not tell her that he was not as cool as his network persona. Moushumi worked in one of the biggest media corporations in the country and he was just a son of a farmer who wanted to be a writer. He never realized that he did not even need to tell this to Anandita, she never asked, it did not matter to her, and he never realized how rare it is to get a woman who doesn't care about a man's social standing. He was just too busy with Moushumi because she had made him a whole different person and he liked what he was when he was with her. He was unaware that he was about to wake up from this beautiful dream. And so it happened. Anandita and Moushumi started talking to each other and he, unbeknownst of this event, kept talking to both of them, Anandita, because it was a habit by now and Moushumi, because he was in love. One day Anandita told Maushumi whom he was in love with, the coolest guy on the network. It was a rude awakening for Moushumi who thought she was in love but she did not tell anything to Anandita. He was going to pay for breaking her trust in ways he can't imagine in his worst nightmares. She was a mediaperson and it was not hard for her to gather information about someone she had known only on a network and by phone calls but she decided to confront him for once. She called him and inquired about Anandita, he taken by surprise didn't know how to respond and he snapped at her and disconnected the call, he had suddenly realized that he was just a son of a farmer who faked coolness on social media behind a made up character and Moushumi was an actual big deal. he thought he will go offline for a while and talk to Maushumi when things calm down a little bit. He deactivated his social profiles and blocked Maushumi's number, and thought he will get in touch with her and resume that unprecedented romance when she calms down a bit. On Maushumi's side, this was never going to happen.

Abhay was lying on a cot at his farm holding a smartphone. His network persona was his only relief from the drab farm life. He dreamt of becoming a writer and did all sorts of cool writer tricks on the network, he wrote poetry, microfiction and clever oneliners on the network, and it was the same network he had met Anandita and Maushumi. He was unaware of what was about to happen to him and Anandita was as relentless as ever, Maushumi has started talking to him again but the romance did not had the spark as before. it didn't matter to him, he loved her and that's all that mattered to him. He thought he will get her on same page again, the mishti doi galaxy was not flowing again between the souls but he had his own mishti doi galaxy intact and thought Maushumi is just angry for a while and it will all be alright. There was a good news too, he was accepted for a job in a publishing firm in Indraprastha City, the city in which both Maushumi and Anandita lived and he was about to get a break from this boring farm life of his small town and actually live and work in a big city. 

The day arrived. He reached Indraprastha City and the first person he called was Anandita. He couldn't call Moushumi, because he was self-conscious. She was a big deal for him. But Anandita, he had always taken her for granted, she was his friend, a friend with whom he can share everything. Everything, except love. In IP City, Anandita did everything for him, from settling him down in a new house to shopping for grocery and daily needs. They made love too, of course him thinking that he was fulfilling her needs by doing that. In the meantime he kept texting Maushumi the most romantic songs he could find. He was busy in his job in the day and in the evening he and Anandita went wandering around the city, Anandita showing him wonders of a big city. The life was good. he was dreaming of meeting Maushumi and winning her over so that they can live happily ever after. 

One day he was working at his office and police arrived there. They went straight into his boss's office. He was wondering the reasons of the arrival of police when the boss called him in his office. He adjusted his tie and entered the door of his boss's cabin shutting the glass door behind him. "Are you Abhay Anand?" the police inspector asked him. "Yes," he replied trying to make sense of the situation. "You have to come with us," the inspector said to him very rudely. "But why?" he asked becoming more and more incoherent. "You will know," the inspector said with almost as much rudeness as before. Abhay looked at his boss. There eyes met and his boss said, "I did not expect this from you." Abhay felt the blood leaving his face and his palms tuned clammy instantly. He knew something was very very wrong. He decided to go with Inspector without uttering a word further because he knew that he was not able to speak. He thought what is the worse that can happen to a normal person like him, he has never even hurt a fly in his life. The police put him in the van and brought him to the police station. He saw two men in suits were sitting and waiting at the inspector's desk. They saw him entering the Inspector's office with the inspector, looked and him and then inquired, "Is he the guy?" "Yes," the inspector said.

The inmate number 1268 was called upon, someone had come to meet him. This was Central Jail of IP city and someone had come to meet inmate number 1268. Abhay, now bearded and his hair disheveled, walked towards the meeting room. His eyes were dead from the torture Intelligence Bureau and National Investigation Agency had inflicted on him for the past 2 years. Two month ago the court convicted him of being one of the masterminds of a Bomb Blast in Ramnagar in which 37 people had lost their lives. For the court he was  Ashfaq, a muslim convert working for Islamic State. Everyone believed the police, even his own parents, everyone except, Anandita. She still brought him homemade lunch every Saturday and today was the Saturday. He entered the meeting room and was shocked to see Maushumi. "Hi there handsome," she smiled at him. Memories of Maushumi came flooding in his brain but he was just too tired to smile. All he felt was relief. Relief that Maushumi was still here. He sat on the chair facing Maushumi and looked at her, not speaking at all. Maushumi looked at him and smiled again. "Do you know how easy for media people is to prove someone a terrorist especially when they have relatives in the intelligence?" She clicked her tongue and spoke again, "And you know what happens when a small town gawar farmboy tries to trap a rich big town girl?" She said looking into his now dead eyes. "I will leave you with these two thoughts, farmboy". She let out a laugh and left the room leaving him staring at the window of the meeting room where he could see Anandita waiting in a line with a tiffin box in her hand.

Rose-tinted glasses

I silently sit and watch her making coffee for me as she keeps ranting about people at her work. I am always unsure about women, even though I have been lucky to be loved by so many of them. She smells very homely, not like roses or flowers or perfume as she smells when she goes out of the house. She smells like a happy household and I feel like sniffing her armpits which when I try, she makes disgusted faces.

There have been times when I have thought about a cottage on hills, and me and her, laughing and eating maggi. I have experienced heights of ecstasy when she has spoken in her native to me. I have smelled the fragrance of her hair while talking away the night with her. I have felt her skin, her delicate skin and her tender flesh. I have imagined her in my arms, bare. I have imagined her with our souls entwined, intermingled in each other.

But then dawns the reality. That it is all in my head. I remove my rose-tinted glasses for a moment and see the truth. I don't want the truth, not here at least. I put my glasses back on.

RIP

I could see her face in the half unzipped body-bag which was being carried out of the building. Apparently she had fallen flat on the her face after slipping on the banana peel and her brain had drained out of her nose. How can this happen, i don't know. She was a good and religious woman, in the habit of praying daily. She used to feed pigeons daily in her balcony and also provided them water in a little container, but now the little container that contained her brains had cracked and the pigeon of her soul had flown away to the almighty she prayed everyday to.

I couldn't help feeling sorry for her but then again, she had gone somewhere more peaceful so I decided to let it go. There was much police in the building, and the lifts were busy so I decided to take the stairs. Climbing stairs to the 10th floor is not an easy job especially if you are a chain-smoker since high school but somehow I am able to achieve this feat. My lungs were ready to burst and my heart was thumping like the heavy engine of my friend Avi's new second hand motorcycle. As soon as I open the lock and enter my room I realized that I had forgotten to buy milk. No coffee today, as I realized, my sorrow for the dead religious lady increased manifold. I believe that a caffeine deprived brain is a thousand times more capable of feeling sorrow  than a normal brain.

My apartment is not very big, the kitchen is the name of a rack in the room itself, and the bath barely has a place to stand. Good thing is that I get a balcony where I can sit and watch the traffic and people, and smoke my time away. On long lonely nights I sit in the balcony watching the string of cars traveling to their destinations, and people crawling the road like insects, on bad days I feel like spraying insecticide on them, or sometimes running their faces over with my car, but unfortunately I do not have car.

I was lying on my moderately comfortable bed when I started feeling hungry. I was sad by the demise of my pious neighbor, but as the elders say, life stops for no one. I decide to order samosas and coffee and in an automatic impulse I pick up my phone and order my food. I switch on the TV and was relieved to see that, my favorite TV series will only start after half an hour, when my samosas would've reached.
Finally, I hear the door bell and rush towards the door. After taking my packet and paying to the delivery guy, I make myself comfortable on my bean bag. The show had started. I dedicated my first samosa to the lady who passed away. Crunch!

Crutches..

Suman was limping hastily towards the school gate. He was late today. His crutches made sounds of 'click' and 'clack' while he dragged himself in a hurry. All his buddies who got off the bus with him were already inside. He tried to walk faster but one of his crutches met the wrong piece of ground, making him fall flat on his face.

He fell. A roar of laughter erupted, from the group of other latecomers who were walking behind him. Some good fellows came running to help him. But he refused. He got up. The uproar of laughter became louder when he helped himself in that weird fashion, which was the only way he could get up by himself. He did not cry.

Each of the latecomers received two rounds of the vast playground as their punishment. He was spared from the running and was given imposition of writing I will not be late two hundred times. Because, he knew, just because he was a cripple.

Life was different before. When he had legs. Two strong, beautiful legs. He used to jump two stairs, when ever he climbed the staircase. School was different. But things changed after the accident. It was all sympathy from everywhere at the beginning. Then the things started changing. People accepted him as a cripple before he could even accept himself. He was the favorite toy of bullies, who would take away his crutches, and leave him slithering on the ground helplessly. Life without legs is difficult.

A regular day got over. Bullies had punched his face blue today. He limped back to his bus and got into it.
When he reached his home, mother saw his face "You fought again today?" He did not say anything. "I told you beta, you know you can't fight them, you should avoid them", mother said kissing his face.

The evening passed in completing the homework, and watching other children playing football and then a few of his favorite cartoons.

At night, he was lying tucked in his bed. He looked at the clock. 12:30. He knew mom  and dad must've slept. He quietly sat up and reached his crutches standing near the corner of the bed. He slowly click-clacked his way up to the terrace and walked near to the edge. He stood there and looked down at the hard ground below and then up at the sky. Dropping his crutches, he flew away into the vast night sky.

Satisfaction..

He was lying on the bed his gaze fixed at her. The room smelled like any other hospital room.

'Do you really love me?', he asked.

'No', she replied.

Atul sighed and looked in her eyes, again,

'Do you love me?'

'No'

'Do you hate me?'

'Yes, too much...'

'I know that', he smiled.

He touched Gauri's cheek with the tips of his fingers. The tears from her eyes spilled out rolling down to his hands.

She kissed him before shutting down the life support.

A selfish hour on a saturday night..

He looked at the city from the bridge. It looked beautiful. The city lights twinkling from far just like stars in the sky only brighter. He then looked down in the river. The blue water looked the color of gray in the night but still as beautiful as in the day. He sat on the railing of the bridge and after making himself safe and comfortable took out his cigarette and lighter from his pocket. He liked it to come at the bridge at night. The traffic is less at night, just a few automobiles crossing the bridge and few policemen patrolling, whom he already knew. The first time he came at the bridge one of the policemen thought that he was one of those suicidal guys but then after so many days they have become familiar to him. He sees them, nods his head and gets a nod in return. Sometimes he shares a smoke with them but he never talks to them because he does not know what to talk and they to completely seem to understand. Generally policemen are not kind to people as they are to him but then he thinks he has earned that kindness and trust. 

He loosens up his tie and the collar of his shirt and opens the brown packet he brought along with him and takes out the sandwich and the coffee. It’s his way of spending the weekend. He never likes the weekend parties thrown by his friends, neither the family dinner. He gives the Friday night to friends and his whole Sunday to the family. He wonders about his friends who would be drunk in the pub by now shouting about their bosses and dads. He never likes it. Some things are better kept to self.

He switches on the Radio and plugs the earplugs in. It was his favorite band playing. He chuckled to himself. He took a bite of the sandwich and then sipped the coffee following it with a deep puff of smoke. His mind was wandering different places along with the lyrics of the song. Almost mechanically he repeated the same procedure, took a bite of the sandwich, and sipped the coffee and then a puff of smoke. He continued the process with a desire that it never ends but like all good things it will also come to an end and it should.

The Saturday always marks a new beginning for him just like it marks an end of the week. The time he spends alone is like a reward to him. A reward for the hassles of the whole week. It’s like a freedom from his stupid boss, nagging girlfriend and family responsibilities. He now looks at the watch. His Saturday time has ended and the time for others has begun. He has to submit the new project report on Monday and then has to get the AC repaired, his girlfriend's call is flashing on the phone screen. He stands up and gets back to his car. The police man waves at him. He waves back. He looks at the city again, nothing has changed but the lights seem dull. He looks at the water and finds its gray shade gloomy. It is still Saturday night but his weekend is over.

Chitra....

Part I

I am sitting in the balcony holding the mug of coffee in my hand. The morning is cold. The sun is trying to rise in the foggy sky giving it a shade of pink. I feel the warmth of the coffee mug in my hand and look at Chitra sitting on the cane chair besides me. Her face is blank but serene as always. I always find it hard to decipher her expressions because they are like codes. Her expressions are so subtle that you just can’t find out what she is thinking. I get an urge inside me, an urge to paint. I wanted to paint her with all her mystique and so I get up to fetch the canvass.

I am not a painter. I am just a boring programmer working in a software firm who paints to spend boring Sundays like today. I drag the canvass to the balcony and arrange my paint brushes. Chitra looks at me and smiles.

‘Do you want to paint me Jay?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

I start painting strokes on the canvass and strands of memories start appearing on the canvass of my mind. It has been 6 months since I am with Chitra. I would have become mad without Tanya Tanya was the girl who was my world before Chitra came in my life. I really can’t blame Tanya for leaving me because everybody wants the best life. She got a better man and left me to rot in the pit of loneliness. I had almost lost my mind when I met Chitra in a coffee shop. Past six months have been days of utmost bliss for me in the companionship of Chitra. My life is perfect, as perfect as never before with her.

I look at her eyes, my brush working to give the eyes on the canvass the exact shade. I love her eyes, the contrast between her large shining black eyes and her coppery complexion. Her hairs are long and black like the darkest of nights and her lips brown like chocolate. Her brown saree draped in a very elegant manner and face radiating the intellect she has. She has many similarities to my mother and that only makes me love her more. I am feeling a sense of inadequacy trying to paint her image on canvass but then I ignore it and keep painting. I wanted to give it my best shot.

‘See this,’ I called Chitra after giving the final stroke on the canvass.

‘Wow! She really looks like me’, She smiled looking at me, ‘Just a little better’.

I wanted to tell her that nothing can be better than her.

I have not told anybody about Chitra.  After Tanya I did not want to discuss my personal life with anybody. But now I want to let everybody know about her.

The first person I would be telling about her will be Ashwin. He is a doctor and my childhood buddy. He is the one who prescribes me anti-depressants for bad times. I really want him to meet Chitra. I would really like to know how the doctor and the social worker, two most important people of my life would get along.

Part II

Ashwin was in the clinic when Jay called his phone. On hearing that Jay wanted him to come over at his place he was little disturbed. He was my best friend since childhood. Locking the door of his chamber he was thinking about recent happenings in Jay’s life, suddenly someone pats on my shoulder.

‘Hey’, He found Jay standing behind him.

‘Hi, Is everything okay Jay?’

‘That is the problem with all you bloody doctors, always expecting something bad to happen to others’.

‘Not everybody, just you’, He replied Jay punching in his abdomen.

Jay laughed heartily and hugged him. ‘You know I found someone.’

‘Really? That’s great! Who is she?’

‘Her name is Chitra and today I have come to take you to meet her’.

They both walked out of the clinic and sitting in the car Ashwin asked Jay-

‘How long?’

‘Six months.’, Jay spoke starting the car.

‘Bastard, why didn’t you tell me?’

‘You are the first person I am telling.’

Jay took out two cigarettes from the dashboard and lit them with his lighter. He gave one cigarette to Ashwin and accelerated the car.

‘You know I don’t smoke much. My patients shouldn’t see me smoking.’

‘Yes, I know that and the guy who was caught smoking by the principal in school toilet is telling this. Wow!’

Ashwin could not counter this. He relaxed on the seat and both friends took a deep puff of smoke simultaneously.

After a drive of about half an hour they reached Jay’s apartment.

‘So you sit and I will call her’, Jay told Ashwin pointing to the sofa.

Aswin settled himself on the sofa.

“lookie lookie here she is”, Jay came back.

Ashwin looked and was shocked. He couldn’t believe it. He somehow brought back his expression to normal and managed to give a weak smile.

They had a bit of chat over coffee and then Jay dropped Ashwin back to his clinic.

Ashwin opened the door of his car to go back home and he was still thinking about last one hour. He did not see any girl named Chitra with Jay. Jay was simply talking to air.

Part III

I drove back home from the clinic still thinking about the visit to Jay’s apartment. My childhood buddy has gone through a lot in his life. Since past one year I have been treating him. He was totally dependent on Tanya and when she left he couldn’t bear it and went into severe depression.

I reached home and directly went to the drawer where I keep the files of my patients. I searched for the name Mrityunjay Mehta. I spotted the blue file of Jay and brought it to my study table.

I lit my cigarette and started reading the file again correlating with the life events of Jay I knew of. Within the smoke of cigarette the things started getting clear in my mind. Each incident flashed in my mind with a new significance to it.

Jay’s mother was renowned social worker who was shot in a rally when Jay was 13. His father married again and Jay was never able to connect to his new mother and family again. He completed school and then his B. Tech. degree in computer science to get a highly paid job in a reputed firm and that is where he met Tanya. Jay and Tanya were together for almost three years when Tanya decided for a better future and left him. Now six months ago Jay met Chitra and is extremely happy, happier than he ever was.

I crush the cigarette in the ash tray and light another one. There are similarities between Chitra and his mother. Chitra too is a social worker with lot of similar characteristics which he told me during the talk at his apartment. The physical features of Chitra are just like Tanya.

Chitra is not real. It’s just a play Jay’s mind to save self. It’s a delusion. I can give it a medical term called schizophrenia but it does not matter. I need to save my friend but till then I want him to be happy in his blissful world.

 

  

The Real Valentine…..

‘Sasha, do you have money?’, Anushka asked Shashank.

‘How much’, Shashank asked her taking out his wallet.

‘Around 600 bucks’, Anushka said calculating in her mind.

‘Here! And can I ask for what?’, Shashank inquired.

‘I gotta buy Rajat a present for this valentine’, Anushka said snatching the money from his hands.

Shashank and Anushka had been neighbours and best of the friends since pre-school. Shashank blindly believed in Anushka in everything. Each word of Anushka was like a word from bible for him. He never raised any questions on Anushka’s choices except for the case of Rajat. He did not like Rajat. Not that Rajat was a bad guy or something but since he came in Anushka’s life Shashank had started feeling sidelined. But Anushka was trying hard to find someone for Shashank.

‘Sasha how is that one?’, Anushka would say pointing at a girl going on the road which would make Shashank frown. When Rajat came in Anushka’s life Shashank busied himself in other things like sports and painting. Anushka tried her best to manage time for Shashank. They had made a pact in class four that Anushka will do homework for both and Shashank will manage everything else. At that time he thought that he had fooled Anushka but now he had realized that girls have special power to foresee the future. With time the ‘everything else’ had increased multiple times the amount of homework.

‘Sasha can you drop me at the mall on 14^th please?’, Anushka asked him.

‘OK then 11’o clock’, She replied herself without waiting for an answer.

Sometimes Shashank wondered that what kind of a guy Rajat was. How could a guy not be bothered about a boy having so close friendship with his own girlfriend? But then he knew who Anushka was. She could convince a dog that it’s a lion and vice versa. He started planning what he would do on Valentine ’s Day. And then he realized that it would be same as any other day. He will sit with some of his other lonely friends and have smokes or two listening to some music or may be the best he would do was going for a movie.

On 14^th February Shashank dropped Anushka and came back. He was sitting and watching television when the cell phone rang.

“Hello Sasha, Come and take me home”, Anushka spoke in a very low voice.

“Why? I just dropped you there!”

“Are you coming or not?”, Suddenly there was anger in her voice.

“Ok ok”, Shashank got up picking up the bike key from the table.

When he reached the mall He saw Anushka running towards him with tears in her eyes.

‘Let’s go.’, She said to him as soon as she reached near the bike.

‘But what happened?’

‘Nothing, let’s go”.

“Unless you tell me we are not leaving”.

Anushka broke into sobs. “I will never see that bastards face again, he was lying to me all the way since start.”

“OK, But I mean what happened exactly?”,

“His real girlfriend came with Emotional Attyachar team”, Her sobs became even more violent.

“What? That TV show in which they catch cheating partners on camera?”.

Anushka did not reply.

“Hey don’t worry about that. My friend’s father is in the production team of that show. I will try to stop that show from being aired. Or otherwise I can get your face blurred in that episode at least so that nobody could recognize you.’

‘You dog! My problem is not that. He cheated on me”. Anushka cried.

‘Ok then let it be aired’.

Anushka knew that Shashank won’t let the show get aired anyhow. She did not speak further.

She silently sat on the bike.

‘By the way Emotional Attyachar was one of your favourite shows”, Shashank tried to lighten the mood only to get a heavy punch in his kidney from behind.

‘Shut up doggy”, Anushka cried.

Just then Shashank had to apply breaks. There was some Anti-valentine protest thing going on. He tried to turn the bike but the protestors already surrounded them.

‘Who is she?’, One of the protestors asked Shashank.

Shashank could feel Anushka’s finger clutching his waist tightly from behind. He knew that she was afraid.

‘Is she your sister?’, Another guy asked from the crowd.

Shashank did not know what to do.

‘Who is she?’, The same guy asked again.

‘Why would you care?’, Shashank tried to stop himself but words slipped from his mouth.

‘Ok so you are celebrating valentine’s day?’, the guy said with a sarcastic smile.

‘Now we will make your valentine’s day special’, the second guy spoke again.

‘Now speak that this girl is my sister loudly’, the first guy ordered Shashank taking out a rakhee from his pocket.

‘Today we will celebrate rakshabandhan’, the other guy spoke laughing.

‘I won’t’, Shashank said firmly.

SLAP! Shashank got a tight slap on his face from the first guy.

‘I said I won’t.’, Shashank spoke getting even more obstinate.

The first guy raised his hand again.

‘Stop or I’ll show you who I am!’, Shouted Anushka.

The hand of the first guy stopped in the air.

‘The Superintendent of police is my uncle, so slap him again and see what happens’, Anushka spoke showing a number in her phone’s contact list to the mob in front.

‘Oh! Then prime minister is my grandfather’, said the guy rolling his eyes.

Within no time Anushka dialed the call and handed it over to the first guy. He took the phone. The jaw of the 

first guy dropped within seconds he brought the phone closer to his ear.

‘Let them go’, He told the crowd, backing off.

On the way home Shashank inquired Anushka about the phone call.

‘What do you think, only you have contacts or what?’

He was looking on the road but he knew the exact expression Anushka had while speaking this sentence.

Later at home Anushka was sitting in Shashanks room tending his slapped blue-black cheek with a hot bag.

‘Bastard was like a bear’, she abused the guy who had slapped him.

‘You need coffee?’ She asked shashank.

‘Desperately’

She went to the kitchen to make coffee and came back with two mugs. Sitting in the room, sipping the coffee both of them watched the orange sun setting. Now the both of them were sure who their real valentine was.

Sacrifice....

All of his fellow soldiers were dead. He looked around and observed carefully. Trees were moving along with the wind. He was feeling strange walking alone in an unknown area but there were no other options.

He was somewhere in the punjab province of Pakistan. He and his fellow men were dropped there to destroy an important enemy base. They were successful in the mission but among all of his fellow men he was the only one who was successful in saving his life. He knew that he has to move from there before enemy reinforcements or Indian Jets arrive because both can be fatal.

He looked at his watch. 0200 hours. Indian jets roared in the sky. It was time for final showdown. He was outside the perimeter of the area to be bombed as it was briefed. He looked the light flashes and smoke from far away, feeling relieved about the mission.

He looked at his watch again. 0245 hours. He had reached the spot where he was to be picked up. He waited there for long but there were no signs of any help. The scheduled chopper did not arrive. He understood that either something has gone terribly wrong or he has been abandoned. In any case he was now on his own in this unknown area.

This mission was classified and they had an idea that it was going to be a suicidal one too. He had talked this to his mates just before the drop. Picking up from an enemy area just after a strike and that too air strike was not a very practical plan.

‘I knew that’, he mumbled to himself. ‘They aren’t going to come. The mission was suicidal indeed.’

If the mission was suicidal then he was the only one who failed in it.

0400 hours. It is winter and he is still hiding at the spot. With each minute approaching the morning his hope was diminishing.

‘The rays of hope are inversely proportional to the rays of light...huh’. Hiding in the bushes he joked to himself. ‘Shit... it’s not funny’, and definitely it was not. With this thought despair struck him like lightening. He was sure by now that he was stranded.

‘So what am I going to do?’, He started thinking. The whole world reeled in his mind. His family, his friends, his school, the National Defense Academy, his NSG training days, every event played like recap of a daily soap opera.

‘This is bad.’ He thought to himself. ‘Why they lied?’, But he was the only one alive to think upon this question.

His mind was racing. Reaching the base on foot was an impossible option. Only options he had were either killing self or getting captured or killed by the enemy. After much reflection he selected the former possibility. 

He took a breath and fixed the nozzle of his rifle below his chin and pulled the trigger. Clack! The AK didn't fire. AK never fails. His mind raced. There was a purpose to this.

After fifteen years.... 

A man in Karachi prison was cutting stones. The jailer came. 

"783 you are lucky. We have chosen you for exchange", the jailer said to him.

The man showed no expression as if it does not matter to him. But he had a purpose and this exchange was absolutely necessary for the purpose he had. 

Next morning 15 war prisoners were released on both sides and this was the first step.

Five years later, he had won the MLA elections. Standing in a parliament he was thinking how much he had waited for this day. He thanked the almighty for making it possible. A member of parliament has the power to change the nation and he definitely will do this.

The session started. The members were discussing over the president's rule over some naxal affected state. It was his turn to speak.

"Honourable Speaker and respected members of parliament. India as a country needs a reform in everything but most importantly it needs reform in our political skeleton. I not only support president's rule over these states but over the nation until our system is reformed and I will make sure today that this happens."

After his speech he opened his bag. After five minutes president's rule was declared all over the country. The explosion had killed all the members of parliament in the hall.

The pieces of his body were scattered all over the hall and with one of those indistinguishable pieces there was a badge lying. A red badge with swords and wings. A red badge with the word 'BALIDAAN' imprinted on it.

The Pinfall....

He sat there patiently waiting for someone to come at the seat next to him. His mind was torn apart between right and wrong. How normal he was just a year ago. Everything was so normal, so perfect.

Just a year ago he was a normal teenager with all the good and bad qualities of a normal teenager. He had an ambition in life, a goal in life but now nothing, no ambition, no goal not even a desire to live. Now his life was like a dark endless pit and with each passing day he felt like he was going deeper into the endlessness.

The cinema theater started to fill gradually. He was busy in his thoughts, still waiting for someone who will sit beside him and become a victim. He knew he was wrong but this was the only way to take revenge with this cruel world. He had read about a gang which does it, in the newspapers and now here he was doing the same thing. He tried to asses himself for a sense of guilt but there was none. He was sure that what he was doing was right. Not ethically, not legally but it was right. It was right in a very selfish way. He wanted to take revenge. The revenge of the humiliation he had suffered. The pain he had gone through. And that’s why it was right.

He never knew that an accident can change his life so much. Just after the accident when the doctor told him that he could have died from blood loss. He just couldn’t thank God much for saving his life. Within 3 months he was perfectly normal but the blood test which was done for the health certificate just before he was leaving for Russia for his higher studies changed everything.

These kinds of talks spread like fire. People would see him in a way that he couldn’t bear. The look on their faces would show disgust, hatred and what not except love and acceptance. ‘For God’s sake I am a good guy’, He thought. But people can’t understand. They can’t understand that it was the blood which was given to him at the time of the accident which was responsible for it and not anything else.

He knew that he would die. A dying person needs love and acceptance he was left alone without love. Even his family members avoided contact with him and this internal agony made him the man he is today. A man, who had nothing to lose.

Just 15 days ago he read about the gang and he at once decided to do it. There was no other better way to take revenge with the world then making them suffer what we suffer, he thought. The gang he read about used to place pins infected with HIV in public places. They would pace such infected pins in seats of cinema theatres, buses, railway waiting rooms and where not. They wanted to convert  the world to their own kind.

He looked at the pin which was perfectly placed in the chair. It would easily penetrate the skin of the person sitting on that chair. First he had decided that he would plant the pin and move away but then he decided against it. He wanted to feel the pleasure that sadistic pleasure of getting some one infected.

The movie was about to start but the seat next to him was still empty.


He grabbed a handful of popcorn and started munching. The couple sitting behind him was busy in their private conversation. He felt an intense desire to pick up the pin and prick both of them but then he looked at the muscles of the guy and stopped himself.

The dance sequence had started. A scantily clad model was dancing an item number. He felt sick. And just then a family entered the cinema hall.  It was small happy family with a father, a mother and a cute little daughter. The girl was about seven years old he guessed, with pink ribbons in her hair and a cream frilled frock. She was jumping and climbing stairs of the theatre. He looked at her closely and saw the innocence on her face. She was ignorant of the danger she was about to get in.

He felt as if he was just out of a dream. The little girl was near to the seat on his side. The seat he had reserved for giving someone a gift of AIDS. As the girl came nearer with a quick reflex he pushed the little girl away from the seat. The little girl fell down and started crying.  Her father came running and the people started looking at him. And just then the guy cozying with his girlfriend at his back pointed his finger to the pin in the seat.

“See there is a pin. He is a member of the pin gang”, the guy with the girlfriend shouted.

“I saw him looking at the seat many times, he could have removed the pin, I am sure he is the guy from the pin gang”, the girlfriend also supported his boyfriend.

He did not respond to any of the accusations and the noises became indistinguishable. Within no time the crowd became a mob and started beating him. He was feeling pain in every part of his body but his mind was in trance. He was feeling like Christ.

The theatre owner called the police. The police and the paramedics arrived at the scene and dispersed the mob. The paramedics checked him and began the CPR.

The little girl was watching standing on one side holding the finger of her father. The scene to her looked like a wrestling match. The paramedic was trying to revive him…”One”…, “two”…, “three”…. It was a wrestling match indeed. A match where the paramedic was the referee and death won by pin-fall….”One”…., “two”…, and “three”.

The fourth war.....

He located his enemy and 'whoosh'....'whack'. The projectile hit on the enemies head. The soul has departed from the body of the enemy with that hit.

He picked up the projectile again and  then checked out the ammunition in his gunny bag.

"1..2..5...8...10.. hmm".

He then saw another enemy walking by. Tracking him he went just behind him.

'Whoosh'....''whack'...the enemy suffered same fate as his comrade.

 Ammunition was scarce at this place and that is why Captain D'costa hated fighting in deserts. He would have loved to fight on Himalayas.

In 2212 AD the world was now divided into two parts. One belonging to believers and one the other non-believers.

Captain D'costa was a believer. His great grandfather had fought in the third world war and that time the world was divided into fragments called countries. Countries don't exist now, after the third world war the world split into two parts, believers and non-believers.

Believers were those who believed in supreme power God or whatever they called it. Non- Believers believed in themselves.

Captain D'costa started searching the body of his just slain enemy but he got nothing except a diary.

He opened the diary and on the first page there was a quote-

"I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein.


D'costa picked up the stone again and kept it in his gunny bag.


As he was about to turn.


'Stack'..., Somebody hit him with a stick from behind.


After the end of the war and the victory of believers he was declared a martyr and his statue was erected with a stick in hand and gunny bag of stones on shoulders.

The boy in blue sneakers....

"No.. that can't be right.", Andy expressed his surprise.

"You don't need to believe me, see for your self..truth is a truth.", Satya spoke.

"Vihan can do this?', I still don't believe it.

"Hm", Satya didn't speak anything further.

Vihan was famous in the park and he had those blue sneakers that too since childhood. He wore them to school, parties, functions, everywhere. Every year the same shoes since his 3rd class, only thing that changed since then was the size of the shoes. 

Nothing could part him from his blue sneakers the best he wore ere a pair of shining ones from Puma during school. Even the principal of the school was fed up with him. It seemed like those shoes were glued to his feet. He was the only one during his engineering that wore blue shoes and for worse he even went to his job interview wearing those. Obviously as you can guess he did not get the job.

"You mean he left those freakin sneakers for Tripti"... Andy spoke again after moment of silence.

"What should I do now... record a video of him?", Satya got irritated.

"what the fish man!", Andy was disappointed and even he did not knew why.

"I don't like formal shoes on him, that guy is losing his individuality", Satya spoke again.

4 weeks later....

Andy was sitting in his verandah. 

"Andy!!! I saw Vihan in blue sneakers again.", Satya shouted running towards him.

"Really..??? Stop panting like a dog and rest your bum on the chair.", Andy spoke pointing to the cane chair.

"I saw him in the market wearing brand new blue nikes",Satya grinned ear to ear.

"Oh man... I know what it means"..Andy spoke sighing.

"Hm... He was the coolest guy man.... never paid attention on any girl and see what happened to him".,

"I knew Tripti was a bitch... I knew that..." And spoke further..

"How can one dump a guy like Vihan man!".. Satya spoke looking genuinely sad...

"That's what happens when you lose your individuality". Andy said thinking...

"So our hero is back again.", He added further.

Just then they saw  a girl walking on the road in front of the house. They forgot about Vihan in an instant and busied themselves watching her.

"Wow...", She walks nice. Wish I could see her face", satya said watching.

They scanned her up to down and found her wearing blue sneakers....

"damn that reminds me of pain of our dearest friend', Andy said, "Anyways cut the crap I need to see her face let me try once', Andy spoke smiling like an naughty child.

"WheeewwwWheeeeww..." , Andy whistled his lungs out.

The girl stopped and turned,  their eyes poopped out in surprise.The girl in blue sneakers was none other that Tripti.

The bandit in the oasis....

He was walking alone in the vast desert. He had refused to kill the little girl while looting the caravan and had to pay for it. He was beaten and left for dead in the middle of the desert. But after gaining his senses back he stood up. He was not a bandit now. He was a soldier, a soldier fighting for his own life. He kept on walking.

He had been walking since long. His eyes were desperately searching for water. No sign. The sun was getting hotter as the noon approached and he had no idea where he was. His eyes were burning and his mouth was dry, his throat was scorching with thirst. He tried to swallow his thick saliva in order to relieve that burning. He looked up at the sky. It was bright with a hot sun shining but it would get hotter. He needed to find water. He shifted his rifle from right shoulder to the left and kept on walking.  

His eyes were searching the vast emptiness when he saw that. He couldn’t believe it. It was an oasis in the middle of the desert. He thought his mind has started playing tricks on him. ‘Is it a mirage? But I am going to die anyway.’ He thought. He gathered all his strength and ran towards that oasis.

He reached to find out that it was not a mirage, it was for real. He entered the oasis to find out a beautiful garden with a fountain of fresh water. He leapt towards the fountain and quenched his thirst. He had never drank this much water in his life. His senses started getting clearer. He saw rabbits hopping around on the velvety green grass of the garden. Doves of pure white color sitting on tree branches there were parrots of different colors too. He took a deep breath and the smell of the different color roses filled his nose. He looked around. There were roses of almost all colors. He had never seen a green colored rose but it was there. He noticed that all the trees were laden with fruits. Banana, apple, orange, grapes, mango, water melon and every other fruit he could think of. But he noticed one thing, every tree was similar. Same leaves, same height, only the fruits differed. He was hungry so he plucked fruits, one of each kind. He had never eaten better fruits in his life. After a satisfying meal of fruits he lied down on the green grass. The doves flew from tree branches and gathered around him. He closed his eyes, he was in bliss. And then one of the dove pecked him in the arm.

His delirium broke. Five vultures were sitting around his body and one of them had a big chunk of flesh from his right arm in its beak. His other hand held his rifle tightly and with one quick movement the vulture eating his arm was torn apart by the flash arising from the rifle. The others flew away. He pulled out flesh from the beak of the vulture and tied it in his cloth unsure of what he would do with it. He got up again. He had to find water and if he survived then he would find the other vultures, not the ones that flew away but the ones who scavenge on money and lives of people. He was not a bandit any more. He was a soldier, a soldier who fought for lives of other people.  

Rakshasas....

‘Mini…. go to sleep or the rakshasas will take you with them’, mother shouted from the kitchen.

‘I am afraid..mumma’, Mini called.

‘Go to sleep… if you close your eyes and remember God nothing will happen to you’, mother said again from the kitchen arranging the dishes.

‘When will papa come, mumma?’

‘He will come day after sweet…. now you sleep’

Little Mini went into her bed and covered herself with the quilt. Mother finished doing dishes, came to the living room and switched on the TV. The city was in curfew. Somebody had killed a religious leader, giving rise to riots.

‘Bam!, Bam!,Bam!’, Mother heard a loud banging on the main door. Before she could respond the door broke open. Men with various weapons were standing on the door.

Little Mini had the clear view of the men from inside the quilt from her own room. They seized her mumma and dragged her out of the house. Her mumma kept on shouting. Little Mini was afraid, she closed her eyes and remembered God as her mumma had said, and really nothing happened to her. They couldn’t find little Mini hiding in her quilt.

In the morning police came to the house. They found little mini hiding in her quilt. Inspector took her in his arms.

‘Beta, where is your mother?’

‘Uncle, in the night momma was not sleeping so rakshasas took her with them.’

Hearing little Mini’s words a picture of body of a young woman lying in the front of the house flashed in the mind of the inspector. He clutched little Mini more tightly, closed his eyes and could only mutter to himself- ‘Rakshasas……  Sure they were.....’

The Locket......

The bus was running at full speed. I was seeing the greenery and electric poles running past. The crowd was singing and cheering in the bus but I was not in the mood. I tried to feel the cold wind coming through the the window and looked at the locket in my neck. It was a "split in to two" heart shaped locket,
she gave me just a month ago. She had taken one part of the locket for herself and one part was for me, together it united to form a single heart. I felt the smoothness of that locket and looked at the setting sun through the window, things were going rough between me and her.


15 days ago I had asked her to accompany me to this school picnic. This is our last year of school and after that we won't be having any school picnic, I tried to convince her with this fact but for her math olympiad was important. We fought on this and I couldn't control and threw the desk in my anger in front of everybody in class. She stopped talking to me after that.


Her friends told that she wept all day that day. But I did not go to ask sorry. Why should I? Every time it is my mistake? At least this time its not my mistake. I thought, let her come to me. But she did not come. She is one hell of an obstinate girl, she will die she won't come. This time I really wanted to test her obstinacy.

Then something happened that was beyond my imagination. Arindam a friend of hers started getting close to her. I really did not like it but there was really no way by which I could have really known the truth. Only way to believe was what I see from my own eyes and then I saw them both in the school corridors hugging each other. I left that place as soon as I saw them I had no power left to confront her. I wept that day, Aditya Parihar the prefect, the football captain, the dude, he  wept like a child.


Still my heart did not believe my eyes, I had to ask Arindam the truth. I went to her and asked. He told me things I couldn't have imagined about Neha. He smiled with an expression of perversion and asked me if I wanted to know more. I lost my control and hit him. I would have killed that dog if my friends hadn't stopped me. But he kept smiling like a devil.


That was 7 days ago. I have not talked to Neha since 14days. I am trying my best to hate her but I really can't hate her.I was looking out of the window watching the colourful scenery getting darker as the sun was setting.I had really thought to stay back and show her that I didnot want go for the picnic or anywhere without her. But I couldn't do it being the school prefect. Anyhow this is my picnic. Sitting along and craving for Neha but everytime I picture the corridor scene in my mind a surge of hatred overcomes me. I don't know what to do.

The bus was crossing the bridge, I was still lookingout watching the railings passing by. Suddenly something happened and the bus was filled with shrieks and in a few moments it also filled with water. I felt inability in breathing. The bus was in water, I realised. I had to get out. I broke the emergency window and came out, I caught hold of two of my juniors and reached the river bank. I was seeing that many local people had also jumped to save lives. I went back in the water and I dived to get into the sinking bus, I got two more of my juniors and again swam back. Now at the bank I saw police and rescue workers. The had started the rescue work. I was amazed at their speed but in these times we can't think much about anything except saving lives.

Everybody was saved by collective effort of locals and the rescue divers. Our teachers counted again and this time One person was missing. They inquired about the missing person. Somebody called Arindams name.

'The bus has gone very deep, its very risky in the dark and I personally don't think he must be alive by now, we would have tried if we had oxygen cylinders.', told the leaders of divers.

I heard him but still I don't know what happened to me I jumped into the water, I did not want anybody to die, at any cost. I reached the depth. It was dark inside the bus, Arindam was trapped between two seats I went and got him out of their. My  breath in my lungs was diminishing.., I pulled him out and reached the bank. I collapsed with him. Doctors caught hold of Arindam.

'His pulse is still there', doctor shouted. Everybody cried in joy.

I was smiling and kept my hand on the chest to feel the locket. It was not there. My heart skipped a beat. I can't let it go. It was the last thing I have of her. I jumped into water again,... the bus had reached even deeper. I dived and reached inside. I searched everywhere. I was unable to think properly because of tiredness and the depth still I searched. At last I found it at the place where Arindam was trapped. I held it in my hands and clutched my fist. It was not going anywhere and I was not going to lose it at any cost. My lungs gave up and I inhaled a lot of water..last thing I remember was seeing her face.

..............................

I woke up in a white room with beeping of machines. I see Arindam lying besides me. He smiles looking at me and this time not like a devil but like a cute little rabbit. I couldn't help but smile on seeing this.

'Thanks for saving my life', Arindam said with a smile filled with grattitude.

'I would have done it for anyone so I did it for you.' I told.

'You tell me, how come I am alive.' I asked.

'The divers went for you when you jumped, they did not wanted to lose a hero'. He smiled again.

'Okay. You recovered early than me, I guess?', I asked him.

'Ya, I got conciousness yesterday, It is two days now.', he said.

I didnot spoke anything further.

'She did nothing', He spoke again.

'what?'.

'It was my plan, I had a crush on her, I wanted to get her.' he said.

'And that day in the corridors?', I inquired.

'We just bumped into each other, her locket and my tie got tangled', He said.

'Locket again!', I thought.

I closed my eyes. It was such a relief. When I opened eyes, she was standing in front of me.

I took the locket from the table and clutched it tightly in my hand. I closed my eyes. It was such a relief. When I opend eyes She was standing in front of me.

'I am sorry', She said.

'How come?', I asked laughing.

'Shut up, I am coming since two days to see you and you are still making fun of me.'

'Okay, How was the olympiad? by the way?', I asked.

'I won it', she told.

'I knew that'.

'He told me what you did for the locket'. She told pointing at Arindam.

'I didnot do it for the locket, I did it for my self.' I said smiling.

'You dog! I always knew how selfish you are.', She came smiling and clutched me me in her arms.

Smiling, I felt the the smoothness of locket in my hand and I know that there are even more smooth things in the world, one of them is her touch.