Chapter-14

"Oye ek Benson Lights ka dibba de" Shouted the new S.H.O of Rajouri Garden in a crisp and harsh voice at the poor paanwala who wore thick gold chains and was so overweight that only god knew how he fit himself in that little thing he called his rozi-roti , he sure was poor every time he had to give a free packet to the new saheb he got poorer by ninety rupees and every time the saheb overlooked him selling suttas to school children and his special pudiya which was nothing but crappy locally grown weed which he always said was the world best maal , he just was just trying to cover his losses.
He took the packet from him and also the envelope which contained some malai which we call money. He always did the weekly rounds himself as he was new and wanted to understand the hierarchy of cuts and also because the new A.C.P. whom he had decided to personally deliver the packet had a very hot daughter. His mother had rightfully named him Krishana and Mr. Krishana Yadav always lived up to his name right from his teenage , though to many people's and his own amazement he had never had any sexual intercourse with any woman he gone around with and surprisingly a man of his varied eccentricities had his first time with a prostitute who was although quite beautiful but alas a used piece.

"Sahabji ACP ki chori ke saath kahan tak pahuncha?" asked Constable Ram Avtar, who had just one thing common with Lord Rama and that was the name and rest was just anyone's guess."Nahi yaar, hamesha uska baap ghar pe hota hai, jab jao saala dhang se usse taadh ne bhi nahi deta, lene ki baat to bhul hi ja " replied Krishana in a very dejected tone as if he had just lost the Olympic Gold Medal.

After the last stop at Abdul Kasai he and Constable Ram Avtar headed back to the station and under the peepal tree behind the station he and the Head Constable Kulwant Singh divided the malai into packets and he took his packet and the ACPs and head for his new Tata Indigo which had just purchased last week when he helped a local MLA get away with a hit and run case.
He unlocked his car and lit his cigarette and called up Mr. Walia the ACP of the West Zone and informed him that the file which he requested for was ready and he was on the way to deliver it to him.


Word Meanings-
Taadh (Haryanvi) -Stare
Sutta -Cigarette
Chori -Girl

Chapter-13

She unlocked the door to her small two bedroom apartment and entered the house and closed the door shut. She took off her shoes in the hallway as her feet were hurting a lot, she entered her room and placed the takeaway on the bed and went to the kitchen and got a plate a glass full of ice and a can of Coke.
She made herself an unusually large peg of drink and took a long sip of the cold iced concoction which tasted bitter sweet and she could feel the tinge of the rum on her tongue and as it went down through her throat. She let the alcohol take its effect , she could feel the giddiness which the rum had caused. A tear rolled off her eyes and then another and she clutched the pillow lying next to her and wept her heart out all the while praying to god for redemption and asking him forgiveness for what she has done and is doing.
She prayed to him to send her a messiah who would take her away from all of this to a different place where she would be happy and would be surrounded by people who cared for her. This was her 26th birthday and her memory had only faded memories of that one birthday which her mother had managed to give her a small party where her friends had gathered and she wore a lovely pink dress and cut her large aeroplane shaped cake. Every year she wished that someone would remember her birthday , any of her old friends would come and knock on the door and surprise her with a large birthday cake and a huge hug.
She wept for some more time before the rum had its full effect and she drifted into deep slumber.
She never had dreams or nightmares as a matter of fact when she slept, but somehow she had a dream today and it was no ordinary dream. She saw herself standing in her village as a little girl and she was searching for something or someone, she could see all the old faces of her friends her neighbors and even her mother and father yet she wasn't seeking any of them, she opened a door and stepped into a light a light so bright that it would've blinded anyone who saw it and then she saw herself sitting on the footsteps of a temple near a man in green kurta who looked at her and smiled and said "why are you looking for me? I am there with you!" and the man just smiled at her and she woke up abruptly from her sleep completely shaken and drenched in sweat.
She was confused and didn't understand what that dream meant and she thought maybe she was hungry or maybe it was some sort of sign which she wasn't able to understand. She got up from the bed and went into the kitchen and had some cold water and looked around for the pack of cigarettes which she swore she had left it in the kitchen. "Oh man I so need a fag right now, where did I keep them ..."

Chapter 12

Sometimes life takes away more than it compensates for , she started out in the business with an aim of quitting it once her father recovered and things got better.Fate as they say always makes all your planning fail and make you end up in some place exactly opposite from where you really wanted to be and yet you dont complain as this new place to is special in its own way , maybe not what you want but really something which you choose to settle with.
She lost her father two years later and suddenly the meaning or the justification which her heart gave to her was lost and yet she didn't want to quit as what she had now wasn't the magnificent or exactly to her liking but at least it was something.She had a family in a way in Isha and in some ways she never really wanted to get out of it all not because she liked the sex or the money but just the fact that she did not want to choose anything else.
She had one thing which we all crave and that is job satisfaction in a way the mere word satisfaction was the foundation of her business and then why shouldn't the employees be satisfied if they can satisfy the meanest and the most demanding of customers .
The world which we ignore and any respectable man or woman would like to be associated with existed right under our noses , everywhere you turn someone is spreading there legs for money.The cops spread themselves for money so do the politicians and so do we all and we are no different from her .

She walked out of Isha's room and suddenly she felt a tingling sensation all over her body and she felt sick in her stomach maybe it was just the fact that till date she used to feel guilty at times or it could just be the fact she had such little breakfast in the morning and the session had tired her a bit.She grabbed her bag and went down to the complex where all the other office-goers gathered to grab a aloo-patty or lassi or a sutta .
She went to the shop downstairs and had two hot aloo patties heated up for her and she took them with her to the corner of the office compound where people seldom came , the place overlooked a play school building and she loved standing there and looking at the children play and be merry.She missed her childhood and the innocence she once had , through those small glowing eyes of the children who probably never noticed her she lived her second life , the life of her inner child who had to give up her favorite game of staapoo to help her mother cook food for her paralyzed father.
Though from the years of crying her tears had dried up yet every now and then she would weep just to empty her heart out.
Today was a special day and she knew that because it was her birthday and all she wished was that someone would wish her , she hadn't told anyone when her birthday was and none actually ever bothered to ask her to, yet her heart always wished that someday someone would come and wish her and truly mean it when they say "Happy Birthday".
Every birthday she wept for a while and then wished for her angel , her mother had told her that a wish made on a birthday always come true and though she still had no angel in her life she didn't want to brake the traditon thinking this might be the lucky year when her wishes come true.
She called up Sweety and told him that she was feeling sick and would come tomorrow and she walked towards her Scooty and unlocked her and sped away to the nearest theka.
She got a bottle of Old Monk rum which she got hooked onto because of Isha's instance that she quit drinking Breezer and switch to an Adult Drink.She got a half litre bottle of Thumsup and ordered some tandoori-chicken for herself.In no way this looked like a feast for a girl who had 28" waist size , it was feast which Sweety would devour in minutes but she wanted to fill her emptiness and what better than Old Monk and chicken as Sweety would put it.
She went back to her apartment which she had rented last year when Isha had a brief fling with a Hotelier who promised to marry her but as always he left her before she could say Haku-nama-tata , but she was kinda sick of the man and also the fact she couldn't handle sex and sexual sounds at both work and home.

The place she rented was a little far from work but was really quite and serene and she loved the fact that she was the only one in the small three story apartment complex. She reached the house a little late because of the traffic and the fact she stopped for ciggys and the guy from the takeaway was sitting on his scooter, she quickly rushed to him and apologized for the delay and also tipped him ten bucks which made the smile return on his face.