Room mates

“I shall break down very soon if this goes on”, thought Shuchi as she dragged herself out of the boss’ office. Her boss had reprimanded her for missing the deadline, yet again. In a way, she was glad about it. This could help her blame the gloomy expression on the scolding and avoid the office jokes about the sky-high standards she sets for herself; something that’s considered a sin for people with comfortable, secure jobs.

Shuchi had been obsessed with perfection for as long as she could remember. This had been her identity throughout and had always set her apart. She would either be ridiculed or held in awe, subject to a person’s mindset. But she was certainly always judged; so visibly dominating was the characteristic. As is the case with any human, the jibes bothered her way more than the compliments elated her but neither of them could change her one bit. Mistakes were still unimaginable and the word “almost”, still hated from the very bottom of heart. “You cannot live with an almost perfect pulse”, she commented often. And plenty of good did that do to her career; her superiors disliked her for her inadvertent error-spotting (even in their work) and her colleagues feared her for precisely the same reason. But come crisis, it’s she everyone ran to; for you could rely on her to finish an 8-hour work in 4 hours if deadlines so demanded. Consequently, she had enough certificates of “appreciation” to fill her boss’ office and then some but that office, ironically, would never be hers because of the diligence that got her the certificates.

It was one thing to behave so in office and be isolated for everyone had to at least behave professionally and let her be except the occasional sarcasm but these compulsions can never be left behind at office unlike work. They tend to seep in to personal lives and define a person socially. Same was the case with her. She could stand the passive hostility in office but forced companions found it real hard to suppress their anger out of it. One of them was her room mate.

They had come in contact through one of the multiple online forums to find a room mate in the big, bad city. After meeting up over coffee where both hid a few minor details about self, they agreed to share the apartment, Aradhna had begun to deplore her within a month for precisely the same reasons as Shuchi’s colleagues. Not that she could do much about it as the security was paid and the contract demanded her to stay put for a year. A year is long time to suppress anger for any human being but more so for a woman who is fiercely aggressive and carries a dash of sadism as Aradhna did.

Five months in to the arrangement, both could no longer stand each other; Shuchi would clean the apartment to the point of dusting the ash tapped off Aradhna’s cigarettes from the sofa while Aradhna would blow her lid if someone as much as touched her stuff. Arguing and yelling their lungs out before falling asleep due to sheer exhaustion had become a norm rather than exception. Aradhna had developed a habit of intentionally dropping bits of paper or match sticks and pointing them out to Shuchi and Shuchi compulsively had to pick them up and throw in the bin, mouthing expletives.

That was month five. Having completed 11 months, Aradhna could not wait to move out and struck out days on a calendar. An eerie silence had taken over the apartment as they both knew it was about to end soon. Though relieved, Shuchi was somewhat sad about Aradhna leaving but blamed it on Helsinki Syndrome and went about business as usual. Aradhna, on the other hand, could not wait to finally breath in free air. So happy was she that she even went on her knees to persuade Shuchi to let her throw a party on the final night. Shuchi finally agreed under the condition that Aradhna would clean up everything before she left.

Alcohol brings out our inner self. Aradhna introduced the game of drop-and-pick which she had been playing with Shuchi all this time, and her friends began doing the same. For a while, Shuchi coped, picking up trash but humiliation finally took over, and she slapped one of the idiots. Taking a cue, everyone made a swift exit, leaving Aradhna fuming.

It was like the old days. They were both screaming at each other, calling names. However, both knew it was the end of it and they did not need to hold back. All the pent up anger was coming to fore as the argument got fiercer and louder. Finally, Shuchi could no longer bear the pressure and fainted. But Aradhna was not done. She had lived like a prisoner for a year and now Shuchi had slapped her friend and she had to avenge it. In a fit of rage, she lifted the dustbin and overturned it, dropping the contents on the carpet. Still not satisfied, she started pouring fluids from half empty bottles on the floor and went in Shuchi’s room with an aim to trash it beyond comprehension. She was still at it when Shuchi came to. Everything after that; the final stand-off, the smashing of bottles, the terrible realization, was a blurry haze. All she remembered was trying to clean the mess she had created.

A week later, Shuchi was happier than ever before when she stepped in to the apartment. With Aradhna gone, she did not have to fight every night and she would find the apartment the way she left it; no surprise trash waiting to be cleaned up or no book out of its shelf. She examined the living room and decided to get a new carpet. Those red stains on this one just would not go. 

Giving Back

Anchor: "Good Evening. Tonight, we have in our studio a house hold name who needs no introduction, but unlike most successful men, he does not have a woman behind him. But what he does have is a story about his struggling days and how he passionately worked towards achieving his goal. Ladies and Gentleman, let's have it for the Forbes Businessman of the year 2011, Mr. Kanav Satija."

Kanav: Thank you, anchor.

Anchor: How do you feel to be here?

Kanav: Grateful, proud and many such superlatives.

Anchor: And how did you feel about winning the Businessman of the year award?

Kanav: Surprised, excited etc.

Anchor: In the past 10 years, since you had won the Entrepreneur of the year award, your net worth has grown 50-fold. How do you feel about that?

Kanav: Now you are just getting on my nerves. Can we please have some relevant questions, Anchor?

Anchor: (Laughs nervously). I had only heard about your straightforwardness. Now I realise that the truth isn't far from legend. Formalities aside, I shall begin with the most basic of question: Please tell me about your journey from your home to Chennai.

Kanav: Hmmm. A question I used to dread when I first sat for placement interviews. However, I shall try to answer it as well as I can. I hail from a small town in Bihar called Talaiyya. My father had a little land there, the produce of which, allowed him to feed the family of three and in good seasons, a paltry saving too. When I came of age, he sent me to Kota to prepare for JEE and told me that he has bet all his savings on me. The burden lay heavy on my shoulders and though not as sharp as the others around me, I burnt the midnight oil day after day and finally managed to walk in to the promised land.

Anchor: And how did the 4 years there mould you?

Kanav: They taught me to know when I should be reasonable and when I must be stubborn. The place could have easily shattered my self-confidence had I looked up to everyone who demanded it. There were the professors who ridiculed us for being coached in Kota or Hyderabad. There were the seniors who made fun of us for having high and mighty goals. There were the batchmates who were smarter, from more affluent backgrounds and spoke better English; who looked down upon the rest of the students. And by the time we were in the 4th year, there was a covenant of research oriented students and professors who chided us for even aspiring for a non-engineering job.

Anchor: So how did you deal with, what seems to be practically everyone, breathing down your neck for not heeding?

Kanav: First of all, it was only a handful of a vast number but naturally, a thorn itches more than a fragrance soothes. The key, like I said, was playing between reasonable and stubborn. Perhaps it was my upbringing that taught me the essence of it. Those people, no matter how condescending, were better than me in some ways. And unlike most others, I was immune to their jibes and hence, could dare to get close enough to them to learn. In fact, I even befriended a few despite the differences.

Anchor: Moving on, your answer to the "bigass bank which pays obscene money to engineers for doing finances and valuations" when the interviewed you is part of IIT folklore. Would you like to recount the whole episode?

Kanav: Why not. Parth, the interviewer, had a look at my 9+ CGPA and asked me if I were really interested in Aeronautical Engineering and if I'd be happy running numbers all day long. My reply was, "Sir, I have seen my parents work really hard to get me here. I'd happy doing anything that helps me to honestly provide for them, even if that means washing cars." And wouldn't it sadden you that you shall be laying your 4 years' education to waste? I quipped, "Yes, I would perhaps be selling out my education but that's far less troublesome than the thought of selling my parents' sacrifices short. I believe there's a time for everything. I may later come back to it when I'm comfortable and seek satisfaction but right now, my goal is to secure bread for my family for the next few years." The reply hit home and he instantly took me on board. In fact, 2 years later, he took me as a partner to his start-up. The rest, as they say, is history. He later told me that he was looking for honest, hard working employees and not for the geniuses stuck in higher moral dilemmas.

Anchor: And how have you given back. Funding the entire Aeronautics Lab at your alma-mater. How did that come about?

Kanav: I guess I had always wanted to give back but I'd have forgotten all about it in my busy life, had it not for the jibes which the lovers of the branch, profs and students alike, threw at me.  They never let me forget. And when I finally had the resources, I did it. Funnily though, A few of my batchmates and my profs who criticised us for taking up banking jobs, welcomed my money and me with open arms. There were no uncomfortable questions about it and they even told the students that they always "knew" that I'll make it big someday.

Bhaskar had invited a couple of friends to boast about his old pal. But in one sentence, Kanav had made it clear that he had not forgotten. Though he didn't name anyone, Bhaskar knew Kanav was pointing towards him, among others. Today, when he was working on one project, Kanav's money was supporting seven similar ones, including his own. Back in the day, Bhaskar had never tired of questioning Kanav's integrity and loyalty for taking up a banking job. Kanav's legendary answer, in his view, was proof enough. But today, in a single statement, Bhaskar's hypocrisy was bared in front of himself. He stood naked facing the mirror of self-realisation, ashamed to even look at it. 

The Unforgettable Journey

The gentry in 3rd ac is no longer what it used to be, thought Somesh as he pushed his suitcase under the seat. The 5 minutes it took him to reach his berth from the door, amidst clamour and congestion had left him exhausted. After catching his breath in a few pants, he surveyed his companions for the journey. The happy and complete Indian family; a husband, a semi-educated wife, a shy daughter and two overweight sons. Why he never found a shy son and overweight daughters with semi- educated mothers, he could not reason. What he knew with certainty was that they were not going to make his journey any easier. A tad disappointed, he focussed on the other side. The occupants of the side berths were not in sight but the luggage, or the lack of it, told him there were no women and certainly not any his age. “Not worthwhile to sit uncomfortably and converse with the other two, in that case”, Somesh thought and resigned himself to finishing the badly written “If God was a banker” during the journey.

Somesh loved travelling by trains. He had loved it since as long as he could remember. So much so that he would take the onward journey to Mumbai by train and only return by flight, whenever he went to meet his girlfriend, Simar, over an extended weekend. Although this cut in to their time together and almost always resulted in a quarrel with her, but he could not help it; these journeys were equally dear to him. They gave him time to introspect, the space to think uninterrupted and the freedom to be what he liked sans the presence of familiar faces judging him. This speeding sea of humanity was the only place where he got some time alone and stillness of thought.

He had, though, one regret: quite a few friends of his boasted about chance encounters in trains whereas he, a veteran by travelling standards, had never even been fortunate enough to have female company of the same age. And this journey was no different. “It would be worse, if anything”, thought Somesh. In a mental game he loved to play, he played out the movements, actions, questions and responses of each of the passengers. He secretly prided himself on predicting with reasonable accuracy, which was enhanced by years of experience in stereotyping and travelling. His train of thought was broken by the ruckus accompanying the middle aged men, occupying the side berths, who had arrived and were now stacking their bags. As soon as they had settled, both took out their phones and began talking in fluent, loud English so that their position of respect was established among fellow passengers.

As the engine blew the final whistle, Somesh’s mind started jogging; all the men are sharing some information about themselves. Highly likely that the businessman’s curiosity is aroused by someone’s line of work and questions and responses fly. Without any deliberation, the conversation flows like the mighty Ganga, exploring a variety of topics and finally settling in the vast ocean of India’s plight, politics and leaders. Once out of words, the businessman takes out a Hindi magazine from his bag and the other two return to making authoritative-sounding phone calls. At this point, the two boys who had been sitting quietly begin quarrelling, running around and generally wreaking havoc in the compartment. The others won’t complain, their gratitude bought by the laddoos which the wife had offered everyone.  By 9 PM, the younger one starts wailing non-stop for an hour, finally falling asleep by 10. The elder one though, carries on uninhibited until about 1 AM. Somesh is only able to fall asleep after the kid runs out of steam. And even before having a proper dream, it’s 5 AM and the younger one is up, all set to rule the kingdom in the absence of his older sibling. Somesh is more tired at 6 AM than he was at 6 PM.

“This can’t be allowed to happen. I must appear fresh and energetic for the interview tomorrow”. Somesh scratched his head, thinking hard. And then, like a flash, an idea crossed his mind. He again played out the whole scene with a minor tweak. Confident of his little scheme, he relaxed, biding his time.

Soon enough, they were looking at each other, expecting someone to start the conversation. Somesh listened as the businessman explained his business and the two men elaborated upon their company and role. “We shall be rivals if I get through”, Somesh murmured.  It was a brief moment before he realised that the others were staring at him, expecting him to ramble on about himself. Gathering his courage and wits, he calmly introduced himself, “My name is Somesh and I am in to smuggling stuff”. “Smuggling what?” the wife asked before she could check herself. With a carefully placed grin, making him look sinister, he said, “You don’t want to know”.

As he hid his hardly controllable smile behind the spiteful novel, he could feel everyone shifting uneasily in their seats – even the children. From that moment the compartment went unnaturally quiet and remained so until he had alighted the train the next morning.

As he sat waiting for his turn, he reflected on the incident. Not only was he better relaxed but also felt more confident, thanks to the wily trick. The masterstroke, he felt, was Simar’s call when he spoke to her pretending she was a call girl. On the one hand, his girlfriend was pleasantly surprised by his “naughty” behaviour and on the other hand, his sleazy choice of words reaffirmed his identity as a low-life among his fellow travelers. Talk about one stone and two birds. Lost in his own thoughts, his lips had broken in to a silly smile by the time his name was called out.

Walking in with a swagger, feeling supremely confident, he looked up to read his interviewers. In an instant, his face became the second thing to fall, right after his confidence had bungee-jumped without the safety rope. That his body did not follow suit was nothing short of a miracle. Sitting in front of him, were the two middle-aged men from the train. He wanted to turn around and run, run back to yesterday evening and re do that one moment when he had lied. Little beads of perspiration were now forming on his forehead and the back of his neck was itching. “Get ready to be slaughtered”, he told himself as he mumbled good morning.

Shamelessly sneering, they offered him a seat and glass of water. He only has hazy recollections of what happened next. Questions were fired and inadequate attempts were made at responding for a while. He kept gulping water until they had closed his file and returned it to him. He remembers the word congratulations and his hand being shook. What he clearly remembers is the instruction, “You are clearly gifted when it comes to convincing people. However, you are going to stop lying from now on.”

Hungry Couple Revisited

Like always, the police team, headed by inspector Rabindra Narayan Khanna Chakraborty, could not prevent the crime. They arrived at the Chaterjees' abode moments after Rajath and Ayesha had sliced through the blue-eyed child. What could have been a case of kidnapping, turned in to a murder case because the head constable, Nakshatra, could not hold his bladder a while longer. A little while earlier, he had created a ruckus and forcibly stopped the Police Jeep to relieve himself, while urgently rounding up the area, following a tip-off. Not strangely though, he was convinced that the neatly cut body parts are better evidence than a traumatised six years old boy. And because of him, the Police now have a stronger case.

As is every organisation's wont, the district Police heralded the valour and bravery displayed by constable Nakshatra in tackling down Rajath to public, politicians and media. While once among the secure, secretive grounds of the department, he would be ridiculed and cold-shouldered by even old friends who believed his wooden bladder had cost a boy his life and a couple, their child. All this could not and did not deter or disappoint him for he knew that they will come around like they always have, forgiving him through a twenty-year long career of goof-ups. Besides, he did act bravely, and somewhat stupidly, in pinning down that violent Rajath alone while letting the lanky, uncoordinated inspector, Rabindra, handle the feline woman Ayesha. That Rabindra came through the scuffle with a lot of scratches and bites is not his problem.

Despite the exhaustion and the odd wound, he had insisted a return to the house along with the investigation party. What the team found was as strange as strange itself. The couple had been living a life as respectable as was possible in this dilapidated house; the floor was clean, although it was missing entire blocks in places. The remains of a mattress, what served as a bed, were made as properly as the rags covering it would allow. There was even a make-up box which had been used recently. The Chaterjees could have very well been a couple who had fallen on hard times were it not for the grotesque stench emerging from the kitchen. Roughened-up, as the team was, two of the members still could not hold back their vomit and puked all over the place, part of the liquid even landing on the recently cut-up boy's arms.

After the sick men were rushed out, Arnab, olfactory tolerance heightened by a lifetime of cooking fish, opened the fridge. The sight could make Idi Amin proud; a fridge stacked up with human bones and dripping with blood, probably human too. The top shelf was filled with skulls while the longer arms and legs occupied the lower shelves. Backbones were neatly cut in to two; perhaps they were too long to fit in any shelf. Even the egg slots were put to use by storing fingers and toes there.

As he took in the sight and comprehended the magnitude of the arrest, Nakshatra silently swore that he would not let them die easy. They will have to pay for what they have done. The court may take its course and deliver its verdict but until then, he will personally make the hungry couple's lives a living hell. The department was used to such practices to extract information out of detainees. There would be, however, no bargaining and hence no stopping this time around. 

Every day, for the next week, Nakshatra would get up early, go straight to the station and lock himself up with the monsters. One after the other, punishments followed like a schedule. First, they were hung upside down and beaten until he tired. Then they were suffocated alternately in a plastic bag for 3 mins. each. When they used to pass out, they were jerked awake by mild electric shocks. After forcing them to lick their lunch from the ground, with hands tied behind their backs, he spent the evening watching them shivering on giant ice blocks. 

His superiors silently agreed with his ways and turned a blind eye to the daily ritual. Nakshatra had been asked to take just one precaution; both the convicts should have their hands tied behind them whenever he left the cell. He was free to undo the cuffs and even some joints when inside the cell. On his part, Nakshatra followed it to the tee until the 6th day.

Nearing retirement, he had decided that this case shall be his absolution. This couple will be punished for every soul they had tortured and he will win some respect in the bargain. Through the cruelties meted out, Nakshatra could virtually see his colleagues melting and accepting him. The coldness displayed on the first couple of days was now lukewarm, if not outright warm. And this kept him going on through the pleading eyes, the desperate screams for mercy and the repeated begging to put a bullet through their heads. Yes, no colleague of his could stand all this and carry on imparting justice.

The requisite coldness was a rare quality. If only he had been a bit more careful or had that crucial bit of luck on his side, he could have retired very high up. For he was brave, smart and decidedly apathetic to criminals; traits that could guarantee success, but he always let things slip at crucial junctures. The bank robbery where he mistook the robbers as civilians, the drug-raid where he accidently sniffed a bit too much and passed out, letting the smugglers escape. After every such mess, his colleagues sniggered behind his back while his seniors denied him promotion after promotion.

Everything was going the same way as the past six days. So much so, that Nakshatra was a bit bored and wondered if he should introduce some new methods. It could be interesting to see their reaction. The couple had been trying fruitlessly to search for a shred of warmth by covering each other on that ice slab when Nakshatra’s bladder revolted again. So much was the pressure that he ran straight to the toilet, foregoing repeated instructions to cuff them. It had not slipped off his mind but what could the battered bodies do in a couple of minutes.

As he returned from this exceptionally long bathroom break, he kicked the cell door which refused to budge. Surprised, he kicked again and almost at the same moment, found the reason for the door’s stubborn behaviour. A handcuff was tied to a rod in the door and to another in the door frame, holding the door in its place. He cursed himself for having left the cuff-key inside the cell. His angry eyes blazed fire, searching for the couple in the cell and the expression changed to pure astonishment as soon as he spotted them.

Crouched in the corner farthest from the cell, the couple was hugging and kissing each other silently. Oh no, it wasn’t hugging and kissing. The couple was biting each other’s neck off and digging nails in to the other to check their screams. As he frantically tried to undo the cuff with a pin, he could see blood dripping from both necks. He finally took out his service revolver and in the third attempt, shot the door open. As he ran towards the strange creatures, they desperately took one last bite and collapsed on the floor. When Nakshatra separated them, all that was left was two lifeless bodies with large, gaping holes in their necks from where blood spluttered out. He then spotted tears on those calm faces.

Disclaimer: Only the names are inspired, not the characters.

Private Demons

Your happiness is no secret,

with the joy on your face, writ large.

The news excites me too,

My smile for you isn't a farce.

I know you will react the same,

when you know of my good fortune.

If I was just elated before,

your smile will take me to the moon.

Things are different though,

when it comes to sharing sorrows.

I shall listen and help but,

the concern won't go beyond my brows.

So just be glad for my joys,

do not try to share my burdens.

For men may share their angels,

but every man has his own demons.

*Remotely inspired by this excerpt from Anna Karenina: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"

The hungry couple

She was anxious. He had been gone since morning. He had never been away that long before. But times were such. A fortnight ago, a couple had rang their doorbell looking for directions, having lost their way in the vast non-descript countryside and there was no other house in sight. That was the last time they had some fresh food. The couple provided them with enough food to last a week and they had been starving since.

“I’ll go to the city and try to find some food”, said the husband and walked out of the door, famished and desperate. It wasn’t always such. They were a typical family, living a typical life in the suburbs of the city. There was nothing of note to distinguish them from the family next door, or at the end of the lane. They had been to a few, clandestine wild places to satiate their innermost fetishes. But then, which family doesn’t have its own embarrassing secrets.

Something, though, had changed over the past year or so. The sensation was strange and each of them kept it to themselves until they could no longer hold it and confessed to each other. They were surprised to learn that both of them are going through similar condition. They promised each other to not share it with anyone else and tried to ignore it.

They put up a façade for sometime but first the family and then friends, colleagues, the entire world started noticing the changes. Invitations from the social circles decreased, greetings from familiar faces ceased and then one day, he was asked to look for a job somewhere else. That was the first time in her life that she felt hunger pangs. He had then tried to grab some food and run from the store. He was caught; they were declared unfit to inhabit a civilised society and ordered to be put under care. They managed to escape this time around. After treading through the country side for days, surviving on the kindness of a few drivers who pulled over to help, they had come across this isolated house in the wilderness.

They knew that they wouldn’t be accepted in any town or city and so they decided to live there. It was old but intact and the nearest town was only a couple of hours’ walk away. “I got some meat”, declared the husband, breaking her chain of thought. “Now clean it and cut it up while I light the fire.” She hurriedly took the sack from him and thrust her hand inside. It was still alive and started screaming as soon as he saw her. She cut through with one strong, precise swing with the knife, and the head of the boy rolled over the floor, spewing blood all over the place as it went. “Can’t you ever do it cleanly? I’ll have to clean the floor again!” he yelled. “I don’t like the screams. Why don’t you ever kill them yourself?” she retorted and began hacking the limbs off the severed body.