Sunset

Shankar was standing on top of the tower overlooking the sea in that small coastal town. This was his favourite time of the day, the few minutes between sunset and dusk, the twilight zone. Most normal people would consider sunset, dusk and twilight as almost the same, the time of the day during which the sky appears orange or red and we bid adieu to the sun to be engulfed by darkness. But Shankar is a man of science; he is working as a research scientist in a big pharmaceutical company in the town. Though he was never a nerd in school, he was always good in science. To him the three words represented three different phases towards the end of a day that are as distinct as chalk, cheese and vanilla ice-cream. Sunset is when the sun starts going below the horizon, dusk is the moment at which darkness falls and twilight is the glorious period between these two events. The romantics of this world will say, and there are plenty of them, why bother with the detail just enjoy the show. But to him the beauty lies in details.

Even though he appreciated the beauty of the nature in all its splendour he was not a romantic, at least he didn’t think so. He thought of himself as a rational man who took decisions after analysing the pros and cons with his mind and not with his heart. Actually that’s a cliché. How can anyone take decisions with their heart! Some people use their brains and others simply don’t. Luckily Shankar fell under the former category. So it was really a great surprise even to him when he first fell in love. That was five years ago. But it looks like yesterday! So much has happened in these past five years…

He checked his watch it was 6:13 PM. It was almost time; his date should be here any minute now.

Looking at the fading sun again, made him go into flash back mode. The tower, the soothing wind brushing his hair, the sea and the sand below all made him nostalgic. It is exactly during this time of the day and right here at the top level of the tower that he first met her…. Bhavna…

Five years ago

As was his routine on the days he got off early from office, he drove to the beach in his moped. It was a cloudy day so not much of the sun was visible. But still he rushed to the tower and climbed up, wishing the watchman on his way up who knew him from his childhood and smiled at him. As he came running to the terrace, the sun had already started setting but the clouds had totally covered the sun and the only tinge of orange that was visible was that on the cloud directly on top of the sun. Disappointed he turned around and started staring at the entrance door to the terrace.

Today was not one of the good days. It will probably rain in a few minutes and it was better that he left now. The chilly wind was soothing and he liked the way the cold got to his bones, a welcome relief from the pressures of his office. This was his getaway place. A getaway from all the tensions and problems of life. A momentary relief from the madness that’s life. A pit stop to refuel himself to continue racing. This place has stood witness to so many historic events. i.e. his personal history not world history! This is where he first came out with his friends. This is where he comes when he has a fight with his parents. This is where he took his first date, when he was 16 years old, tried to kiss her and got a slap! This is where he tried his first cigarette, his first beer and read his first playboy magazine in secrecy. And more than anything else, this is where he learned to enjoy the beauty of the Sunset.

While he was thinking about his personal history and his connection to the place the door opened and she walked in. At that exact moment the clouds parted and the sun came out as if to say ‘hi’ and the flush of the golden light fell right on her. Her hair glittered and looked reddish brown belying its actual black colour. Her skin glowed like it was gold coated and her eyes…. Her eyes…. Her eyes… Her deep brown eyes held him prisoner and walked in she did, right into his head!

She came in and looked at him staring at her.

“Hi”

“…Hmmm.. well yeahh”

“I am Bhavna”

“Hmmm.. Yeahh”

She was surprised that he didn’t even say his name. She looked at the sky and said,

“It’s beautiful isn’t it!”

“…..”

“Well I am sorry if I have disturbed you. You seem to be quite deep in thought”

“Thought…. Yeahh.. I am thinking… Yeahhh”

“I am new to the town, I came to the beach and chanced upon this tower and I thought I can just peep in. Sorry again. Bye”. And she moved to another part of the terrace.

Shankar was just dumb struck. He has seen quite a few cute girls in his life but none of them have caught his attention at first sight, like she did! May be it’s the sunset that enhanced her beauty. He kept telling himself, it should be the sunset. He turned around and looked at the sun. It had already vanished and left its shades on the distant horizon. He didn’t know what to do. He stole a quick glance over his shoulder and noticed that she was still there. He is not a romantic. He is not good at talking to random girls. But he felt compelled to do something! For all he knows, she may leave town tonight, or may have a boy friend or may even be married!

‘No! Why am I even thinking about all this! She is just a cute girl like any other. I should just forget it and let it go.’

At that moment she started moving towards the door. On her way out she turned and waved good bye to him. On an impulse he moved forward and asked,

“What was your name again?”

“Bhavna… Bye. It’s getting dark, gotta go back home.”

“Shankar”

“What?”

“My name - Shankar”

“Oh! Well… Bye bye Shankar”

“Coffee”

“What!!! Is that your second name?” She smiled mischievously.

“No. I mean, can we go for a cup of coffee?”

“Well, thanks for the offer. But as I said I am getting late and gotta get back home.”

That night they didn’t go for a coffee.

Lets not get into the ugly details of how he managed to follow her that night to find her address – yep Mr. rational did stoop that low! Then how he pleaded, begged and sort of coerced her into accepting his coffee invitations, which were followed by movies and dinners.

Between all this begging and pleading he did manage to find out some information about her. She was here on a summer vacation from London (that explained the accent). Her family was basically from the same town but had moved abroad a generation ago. She didn’t have a boyfriend but was sort of dating someone but it was not serious (‘Not serious!’) He didn’t want to delve much upon it and hoped that he can become something serious to her.

So after three months it was time for her to go. She was working as a lecturer in a university and had to go back before the university reopens.

Two days before she left for London, he proposed to her (No not at the tower that would have been too cinematic, he did it at a restaurant)! And of course she was confused and didn’t give any answer and went back to London.

Again lets not get into the details of how they kept in touch via phone, email, chat, scraps and wall posts, how she agreed at last, how she came back for the following vacation, how their families agreed after a little bit of a resistance (it helped that they belonged to the same cast!).

They got married the following summer and he had visited her in London once in between. Things moved pretty fast and every looked rosy…. Till marriage that is.

Two and a half years ago – six months after marriage

As with every married couple everything went on really well for the first six months.

Bhavna had quit her job in London and had taken up a position as Professor in one of the local universities. They had rented a small apartment and were having a great time. At first when they started having small mis-understandings, Shankar attributed it to the cultural difference. Because even though Bhavna was technically an Indian she was British by birth and by upbringing. So he didn’t think much about the problems and thought they will fade away after a while if they make minor adjustments. Then came the fated letter from London….

No it was not a love letter from one of her ex-boyfriends (between, she didn’t have any ex-boy friends!) it was a letter of admission from one of the prestigious universities in UK for their PHD programme. She had applied to it before marriage and had totally forgotten about it, as she didn’t expect an admit from such a high ranked university. But luckily or unluckily she got her admit and that created a huge stir in their married life.

She wanted to take up that course and Shankar didn’t want her to.

“Why shouldn’t I go?”

“Because we have got a life here”

“It has only been six months since we have been married. With your qualifications you will definitely get a job there, as I am a UK citizen you can come as a dependant and so Visa shouldn’t be a problem as well. So we can go there and start our life afresh”

“But I like my job here”

“I would like to do my PHD”

“Well in order to have a successful family we have to make some sacrifices”

“Exactly! So why can’t you sacrifice your job here and come with me?”

“But that’s impossible!”

“Why”

“Because we at the company, are at the verge of a break through in our research and it will suck if I have to quit now”

“Ok then I will go to UK first and then you can join me whenever you are done”

“No”

“Come on. You can live without me for a few months”

“The whole point of marriage is to live together”

“It is only a matter of months”

“But I don’t want to go to UK”

“Why not?”

“Because I like it here”

“It seems that everything in our marriage is based on your likes and dislikes”

“No it is not like that. I am suggesting what is best for the family”

“Right now our family consists of only two people. You and me. And I don’t like your suggestion, so I can’t see how it’s for the benefit of THE FAMILY”

“Bhavna now you are in argumentative mood, I don’t this will take us anywhere”

“This is definitely not taking me to UK”

“Ok that’s it. I am not going to UK. If you want to go you can go”

Finally she didn’t take up the PHD and decided to stay back, not whole heartedly though. It was the first of many storms to come…

It seemed that not even one day could pass without them having at least a minor fight. This forced Shankar to spend longer times in office and this made Bhavna feel lonelier and increased her urge to go back to her HOME country.

One year ago – Two years after Marriage

It was around 6:00 PM on a summer day, Shankar and Bhavna were walking along the beach, and the sun was setting in the horizon. There were not many people around them and it was quite peaceful. But it was only the ambience that was peaceful not their married life.

While they were walking along the beach Shankar was reflecting on all these events after marriage. He didn’t know how it all came to this. She was the love of his life and still is. But she had a knack of getting into his nerves. For the last few weeks they had even stopped talking to each other. Finally Shankar broke the ice and asked her out and here they were, a young couple at the beach during sunset but they hardly felt romantic.

Shankar started the conversation,

“It is very beautiful isn’t it?”

“… yeah…”

“I have very fond memories of this place”

“Is that the reason why you don’t want to go to UK with me?”

“Ah.. Come on Bhavna, Give me a break. I am trying to patch up and be nice and all you can do is go back to the same topic.”

“But that’s the most important topic to me! It is like India – Pakistan war. You cannot solve it without finding a solution for the Kashmir problem.”

“Please don’t make it much bigger than what it already is!”

“I am not. But you are not even ready to give it a thought. You just want to avoid it!”

“We didn’t talk of anything about going to UK before we got married”

“We didn’t talk about staying only in India as well”

“You know how much I love this town”

“You know how important that PHD was to me”

“Bhavna that was one and a half years ago and you still haven’t forgotten that!”

“It still pains Shankar”

“Is there any other alternative to get out of this issue?”

“No”

“So what is it that you suggest?”

“I have already made up my mind Shankar. I contacted my research professor in the university and he said that he would be glad to offer me the place again this year. So if I get it again I am taking it, come what may.”

“hmmmm”

“So will you even consider taking up a job in UK?”

“hmmmm…”

“It is time to decide Shankar. It is either this or that. You cannot get around it anymore”

“You are pushing me against the wall Bhavna”

“I have been suppressed for too long Shankar, I can’t take it anymore.”

“Do what you want Bhavna. I am not moving out of this town.”

After a couple of weeks, Bhavna got a call from her professor and was given a place for PHD again. This time she took it up and went to UK. Before going to the UK she applied for divorce…..

Shankar felt that the world was crumbling around him. He wanted to shout at her and tell her that she was making a big mistake and wanted to beg her not to go. But he was too proud.

‘She is the one who wants the divorce and if she wants it she can have it.’

Since both of them mutually agreed for the divorce they got it in six months. And that was the last he saw of Bhavna, six months before, when she had come down to finish the divorce formalities.

Today – on the terrace of the tower

Time just flew by. In the past six months after the divorce, he was living alone in the apartment which he had rented for the both of them. She didn’t even call him once after going back to the UK (and he didn’t call her as well). He tried his level best to get her out of his head. But it was tough, he struggled and suffered and finally believed that she was totally out of his life. So he admonished himself for thinking about the past. He thought it was all one big mistake and told himself that there is more to life than just Bhavna.

He checked his watch. It was 6:30 PM, the girl should be here any minute….

At that moment the door to the terrace opened and she walked in…

The golden rays of the fading sun descended upon her and her face shined in the bright light.

Her hair was reddish brown…

Her skin glowed like it was gold coated…

And…

Her eyes… Her EYES!!!! She had just walked in to his head!

“Shankar”

“… Yeahhh”

“What did you call me for?”

“Yeahhh…”

“You called me. Right?”

“Hmmm…”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Yeahhh…”

“So…”

“Hmmm…”

How much ever he tried he just couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying. All he could do was just stare at her.

“Ok Shankar. I gotta go. Bye”

“Bhavna!!!”

“…”

“Please don’t go”

“I have work to do Shankar. Please tell me whatever it is that you want to tell me”

“Please don’t go”

“Yeah I am waiting! Tell me. Quick”

“I mean please don’t go away from my life...”

“What?!!!”

She couldn’t believe her years! She had come down to town to visit her ailing grand mother and then all of a sudden she got a call from Shankar asking her if they can meet to discuss about some financial details which were left out after the divorce. When she came here, she didn’t expect him to say this!

“I was a fool to let you walk away from me the first time. I don’t want to do it again.”

“But we are not married anymore, if you have forgotten.”

“So will you marry me?” (This time he did propose to her at his favourite location!)

“This is ridiculous. I thought you were a rational man!”

“Well I am tired of being rational. All I know is that I will be a stupid man, if I let you go!”

“Why this sudden change of mind?”

“Well I have always loved you.”

“But still you didn’t want to come with me to the UK”

“Well I never thought you had apply for divorce. I didn’t know the PHD meant so much to you. But I couldn’t ask you to take the divorce application back as I felt too proud.”

“So what has changed now?”

“When you just walked in, after looking at your for the first time in six months, I realised how much I miss you. I cannot take this anymore”

“So…”

“I will look at the openings available for my profile in the UK”

“What!!!! Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I will give it a try”

“But since we are not married anymore, you might find it a bit tough to get a visa and a work permit.”

“Oh! So you are going to leave me again?” He couldn’t hide the bitterness in his voice. He knew that he will come across as weak. But he didn’t care anymore.

‘There is no point in being strong and loosing the love of your life!’

“Well there is another option.”

“That is”

“If your Visa gets rejected, I would apply for the continuation of my research from one of my universities here, till we are formally married again!”

“What! If you can do your research from here, why didn’t you do it back then?”

“Well, I was really angry that you were not even willing to consider the option of finding a job there!”

“Oh! So all along, you knew that you could have done your research from here but still you opted to move away from me?”

“Well you opted to stay away from me.”

“Not again! So why should I consider taking up a job there when you can do your research from here?”

“SHANKAR! I thought you said something nice, so I just suggest an alternative. But if you go back...” He didn’t let her finish the sentence, he just kissed her.

He didn’t care whether he went to the UK or she did her research in India. All he knew was that it was so tough to get her out of his head the first time around and now that she has walked back in again it is going to be impossible to dislodge her from there! That’s a reality and he has to live with that!

The Sun had vanished and the silhouette of the young couple kissing was barely visible in the moon light…. A new life was awaiting them. But no one knew whether it was in the UK or in India!

Swimming

It all started a couple of weeks back. When we (my college friends and I) went to a beach resort for a party, most of us were a bit high (as usual). The current topic of discussion was swimming. I can fool you all by saying that we were discussing about this because we were sitting in the beach and there was a pool near by. But the actual reason is obvious. There were lots of girls over there in the pool. And only one among us knew swimming and he even succeeded in striking a conversation with one of them inside the pool. This put us off, and the rest of us vowed that we will learn swimming too.

We went to work immediately and had found a pool which had a coach too in our vicinity (Anna Nagar). We went and registered for a 15 day course (and paid a whopping amount of 2000Rs for that) then went and bought swimming shorts for 500Rs (I still remember the look on my mom’s face when she first saw the piece of cloth and mistook it for an underwear and I still couldn’t convince her that its really worth the amount). Our classes were over the weekend for one hour in the morning.

So now that everything is set we all set off to the pool all dressed with three forths, Nike T-shirts and Coolers (all this to attract the girls whom we were sure will be aplenty as the pool is situated in the heart of AnnaNagar a Posh area in chennai). When we first entered the building where the pool is situated in our Bikes and Cars (another add on to attract the girls as the pool is only at a walkable distance from our place) we saw around 40 children standing in line and then jump one after the other in to the pool. We thought that it was some sort of school outing then realized that it can’t be as it was a Sunday. After changing into our swimming attires (the same 500Rs piece of cloth, swimming glasses and cap) we entered in to the pool. There we found out to our horror that the children were actually professional swimmers in different age groups and were infact getting trained to increase their timings. What we wanted was a nice little swimming pool with lots of girls and a coach to teach us how to save our lives in case we get pushed to into a well or in to the sea. But in reality we had landed in to a professional coaching centre!!!!!!!!!

Now comes the toughest part. We thought that swimming should be fun as it involves floating in water in the hot Chennai summer. But the coach had other plans. He wanted us to learn freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and all the other styles in those 15 days!!!!!!! The first thing he asked us to do was to take deep breath under water for 25 seconds. I couldn’t even do it for 5 secs let alone 25. The next thing to do was to float for certain distance without moving hands or legs. This involved keeping my arms and leg straight head bent down, holding my breath, ankles in the form of a fin. Man!!!!! who said swimming is all fun. As time went on the coach found out what I knew all along that my body is not flexible enough (being a software engineer what more can you expect) and the coaching session became a ragging session. The man was a tough customer and wanted us to do exactly as he explained us. To prove that it was indeed easy, he will do that himself. I wanted to shout,” but dude you and me are not one and the same”. He seemed to be born in the pool to a dolphin and a whale. I wanted to tell him, “I know you are good at swimming, come beat me in coding”. But I didn’t for the fear that he may actually do it and more importantly my survival hinged on him at the moment as the pool was 7 feet deep and I will drown myself without his support!

After the first days classes, inside the changing room I was confronted by a kiddo who came running in started shouting UNCLE UNCLE. Naturally I didn’t turn back. Because in all my 22 years no one has ever called me that. Friends and parents have called me so many things like lazy, dumbo, useless, wastrel and some unprintable words as well, but never UNCLE. When the kid came there and pulled my shorts and shouted at me again, then only I realized that it was me whom he was addressing. Before I could come out of the shock he said, “Uncle please help me remove the T-Shirt”. This triggered some nostalgic memories in me when I myself can’t change my dress and had to depend on my mom for everything. I felt sorry for the kid and even though he had hurt my feelings I decided to help him. When I tried to remove his T-Shirt, all of a sudden he started blowing siren with his mouth (like the ones you hear in factories). Then I noticed that I had accidentally poked his eyes with my bike key which I had in my hand. Then from out of nowhere like some 10 ppl came in to the room and everybody started looking at me like I had tried to murder the kid or something. I decided that the sound was my death knell and ran helter skelter from that place.

From the next day onwards, we all went to the pool (minus coolers and by walking) and tried our level best to learn swimming. And with considerable coaching help from the children in the pool, “UNCLE (again the same beckoning but I got used to it when we completed it, you know I am a grown up after all!!)keep your head straight, kick fast, take a breath once every two strokes” and stuff like that, I learnt swimming!!!!!!! I am not saying that I can ace Kutraleeswaran, but I know to save myself and the kid whose eye I poked (may be it will happen the other way around, but the point is if we are pushed in to the pool we both will come out alive).

So ppl who want to learn swimming contact me for more details about the pool and those who want to chill out stay away from it!!!!!!!

Running

Narain is not exactly good at running. He has an awkward running style, spreading his arms and legs as wide as humanly possible and with clenched fists, he looks as if he has fids while on the move. He is a software engineer and so need I mention that his stamina is not great? An eighty year old pregnant woman (if such a thing is possible) can cover more distance than him. But when it comes to a matter of life and death survival instinct takes over and even a tortoise can run like a hare. Narain was currently running for his life and so a software engineer had become Maurice Green.
While running he can feel his belly swinging up and down, his tongue was hanging out panting like a dog, his back was hurting like hell, he couldn’t see properly as his glasses fell out when he was running. In short he was sure he was going to die. If he didn’t die of exhaustion, he would surely be killed by the two guys chasing him! At that moment in his forward motion he caught a glimpse of the bus stop zip past him. The BUS STOP… Damn!!!!

It all started at the Bus Stop. He had been in London for around 6 months now. And he had never been in any danger before, let alone Mortal Danger. He took the tube to office and back. And walked the few meters between his home and the underground station. Today was no different, he went to office by train did his usual work and was about to leave office at 6:00PM when he got a call from his manager in India. That buggerrrrrr it’s all because of him!!! His manager had this great ability to talk for hours about a particular issue without making any sense. The call which started at 6:00PM ended only at 8:00PM. What the heck was the bloody guy doing so late in the night????? 8:00PM in London is 1:30 in India!!!! Doesn’t he have a family???

All his colleagues had left by then, so he had to go on his own. And just when he reached the Liverpool underground station near his office there was an announcement that all the district line trains were closed because of a signal failure. He again cursed his manager for his bad luck and started walking towards the Aldgate bus stop to take the 115 to East Ham(where his home is). It was 9:00 PM by the time he reached it. There was no one in the vicinity. And it was freezing cold. He had his jumper on and the long coat and a scarf to go with it. But the cold was unbearable. His chins and ears were burning. Around 15 minutes went by and still there was no sign of 115. Now to think of it he had acted stupidly. He should have taken two buses and reached East Ham safely instead of waiting for the direct bus. But then he was lazy by birth and the arduous task of changing buses prevented him from doing it. Another 15 minutes went by and still no sign of the bus. He cursed his manager again (which was a pleasant exercise that gave him immense satisfaction) and looked around nervously. And suddenly he noticed two guys running towards him. And he felt a ball sink into his tummy! He had heard so many stories of mugging. He had also heard that they will definitely kill you even if you give them all you got. His marriage was scheduled in another month’s time and he was about to leave for India in 15 days and he didn’t want anything bad to happen. So for fear of his life he started doing something that he detested even more than his manager – “running”.

After crossing the Bus Stop, he looked back to see if he was followed. And there they were chasing him at top speed and even in that darkness and without his glasses, Narain could see clearly the madness in their eyes, he was sure they had kill him even after giving them his valuables. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to run, every new step was sending shock waves through his body. He decided that it was better to die at their hands rather than commit suicide by running. He stopped and looked around for a place to hide. At the end of the lane there was a small garden at the back of a house. He decided to make a last ditch effort of running towards that garden and jumping in. To distract his followers he took out his wallet and threw it on the road, he hoped and prayed that they would take that and go away without troubling him. After that he went towards the house with the garden and to his horror he found that the compound wall was too high, at least for him. In the condition that he was in it will require a humongous effort to get his fat body to the other side of the wall. He had already removed his coat and scarf while running. He threw his coat in and then removed his jumper too, because every little piece of cloth around his body was an added weight which pulled him down and prevented him from performing his jumping act. Finally on the fourth attempt he managed to roll over on top of the wall. It was not a clean jump, but hey this is not a high jump competition he was doing it for his life and he achieved his target. He was lying on the garden floor, on the wet grass. His shirt was torn completely so he removed that too. The icy dew was piercing his skin but currently it felt like a warm cup of coffee on a winter morning. There was a brick missing in the lower corner of the wall. He peeped through that to see what was happening outside. On cue, the pursuers had taken the wallet that was on the road but even after that they didn’t stop running and his worse fears became true. They came very close to his hiding spot and found his scarf lying outside. Oh shucks he had left it outside by mistake and now he is going to pay for it.

Suddenly he could hear a siren in the distance, he heard it even while running. He thought it was an ambulance on the move but up-close it sounded like that of a police car. Can this be true? Has he got a life line from GOD? Has God answered all his prayers?

There was just a wall dividing the pursuers and their prey. Through the hole in the wall he could see just their legs and didn’t know what they were contemplating. Then he heard them saying, “Lets jump over”… Narain could feel his spine chill. He hated to think about death and that too in a foreign land in the garden of some god forsaken house where he was semi nude in the London winter! Life can’t be more cruel. Again his survival instincts came to the fore and he went and hid behind a dense bush which was at the northern most corner of the garden. The moment he went inside the bush he heard a small thump followed by another. They sounded like his death knell. The chase was back on. Now the space is restricted and it was only a matter of minutes before they caught him.

SILENCE…. For the next 10 minutes there was absolute silence. The adage “Pin drop silence” would have suited the situation like a T. Narain was fidgeting. He didn’t know what to do. To his knowledge, his pursuers, had not found him yet and where just waiting for a sound from his side to catch him. He couldn’t take it anymore and decided to give up and accept defeat in this game of Cat and Mouse. But finally before dying he decided to call HER. After all he was going to die and if he didn’t call her now when is he going to talk to her again. He believed in Rebirth and had thought that at least if he spoke to her now there is chance that they may unite in the next life. Mind plays wild tricks when under threat and without a care in the world he picked up his mobile and called her….

It was 10:59 PM in London i.e. 04:29 AM in India. The phone rang once, twice, thrice and still no answer. Tring tring….

Narain was going crazy listening to the stupid English song which was the ring tone. He hated Rap songs and that too at this instance he was in no mood to listen to it when his skin was freezing in the cold.

At last on the fifth ring she picked up….

“Hellooooo”, followed by an irritated yawn…

Narain got to the point directly, “Hey it’s me, Narain. I am about to die and I just wanted you to know that I love you and always will”…

“Hello, who is this?”

“It’s me NARAIN”.

“Narain from UK?”

“Yeah from a garden in the UK without wearing a shirt!!! Wake up….”

“What the hell are you doing calling me so late?”

“I just wanted you to know that I love you before I die”

“What the F***? Are you kidding? Why are you going to die? Are you going to commit suicide?”

“I don’t have the courage for that. Else I would have done that long ago”

“Then how?”

“I am going to be killed. I am being pursued by two rogues and about to be murdered”

“Then what the heck are you doing calling me. Why can’t you use your bloody brains and call the Police?”

“No use there is no time for that. Anywayz, I just wanted you to know that I love you”

“NARAIN!!! I am Married!!!!!”

“Yeah I know that”

“And you are going to be married in another month”

“Now that won’t happen because I am going to die…”

“Narain calm down and think of the best possible option”

“Noooo… I won’t die without telling you that, you were my first and one and only love. I am sorry I didn’t get the guts to propose to you. If there is a next genma, I want us to be united and…. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh”
“Narain what happened?????”
“Narainnnnnnn”

Beep beep beep…. She could just hear the disconnected tone…

Her husband turned around in the bed and asked who it was. She said it was a crazy guy and then threw the phone away in anger. She tried to sleep but couldn’t. Finally after 3 minutes. She picked up the phone again and searched in her contacts and dialled a no. which read –“Narain-Home”.

The moment Narain made that terrible wailing sound, the lights came on, 4 to 5 kids came out of the house, few elderly ppl started talking from inside the house the guys who were pursuing him walked out of the shadows and were looking terrified.

Narain was talking to her on the phone, when a hand was laid on his bare back. It felt like a knife in the windy cold night. He shouted and turned back to see a petrified kid and passed out.

The kid who was playing hide and seek came out to see if any of his friends were there and touched the prostrated body of a man who seemed to be busy talking on the phone. Then got scared by seeing a semi nude man shouting from the bottom of his throat and poked his eye and ran back into the house.

After two hours, Narain woke up and found himself in a hospital bed and still couldn’t believe that he was alive. The last thing he remembered was a kid touching him and then the lights coming on. So he believed that by God’s grace he was saved. God had come in the form of the kid to save him from his pursuers.

He enquired the nurse who was there in the room about the pursuers. She said as far she knew he was admitted in the hospital by the owners of the house in which he was found and the police were waiting outside to enquire him about what he was doing there in the middle of the night.

The Sergeant came in and Narain told him about his pursuers. And the way he ran for his life and how he managed to hide behind the bush even without his shirt and coat.

The Sergeant started laughing and Narain got irritated hearing this. He has just escaped by the grace of God and was rescued from the Jaws of death and the Sergeant finds it funny.

The Sergeant went out and came back in with two guys. Looking at them Narain got scared and climed out of his bed. The Segeant and the guys looked and him and laughed in unison…. Then they said something…

As a stroke of lightning the thought occurred to him…. “I am not dead!!! Yeahh great... But is that good or bad!!! Ohhhhh my God!!!!! The phone call… What have I done???? I spoke to my first love who is married and who is also a close friend of my Fiancé and proposed to her!!!!!”

Then he let out a wild shriek….. Louder than the sound that he made in the house when the Kid touched him… And started spilling out words like,” What have I done… Oh my God….. My Life….. Ohhhh my godddd”

The next day there was a small news in the fourth page of the London Paper,“Indian male, 27 years of age, working in a respectable organisation was found semi naked in the backyard of a house. He believed that he was pursued by two guys who were actually running away from the police after crashing their car on to a wall (without injuring anyone) and were worried that they will be caught for Drunken Driving. The above said male has not recovered from the shock and is still muttering incomprehensible words that sounds like he believes that his life has been destroyed. He is currently treated for shock in the Local Hospital.”