Jaded

There comes a hunk, never seen this guy in our pub, yelled Jane. Her voice wasn’t heard outside her friends contingent because of the loud music in that boisterous pub.

Look at his height, must be from Netherlands muttered Jenni.

Hell no, he sounds American but it is hard to find a 2 meter American nowadays.

The girls were ogling at the new kid in the bloke. The man walked in and got a Heineken and had it in a single gulp.

Julie would be interested in him, she is just out of a relationship.
Why are you girls drooling at a stranger, asked Julie sipping in the 4th vodka. She just looked aside and saw the smartest man on earth. She gasped as Jamie came and sat near her. Jamie was well over 6 feet and 5 inches and looked pretty much like Hugh Jackman. He would weigh around 200 pounds and was blonde. Julie wasn’t in a position to take her eyes of him. Jamie started the conversation, “Shall I buy, you a drink?”. His voice was so very masculine and deep that the other girls near Julie were envying Julie’s luck. That night started a relationship which will not end so soon.

Jamie had all that a girl would like to have. He was tall, well-built with a husky voice. More than his physical appearance he was a connoisseur. He had completed his masters at Harward. He had his own business in Hawaii and had come here to spend his vacation. He was just 30 and was single. Julie is single yet again after a bitter second marriage.

They got along well, long drives and beach parties. They loved each other and Julie decided that she has met the man of her dreams. He was the perfect husband. But, she was afraid to make a decision quickly as she has already erred twice with the choice of her husband. But Jamie had it all. He spoke about anything and everything. He wrote love poems. He would discuss about Sri Lanka for a minute and would relate it with Chechnya within no time. He reads JK Rowling and would relate it with O Henry’s stories. He would explain the making of a jet and the next moment crack a joke with a flat face. He was an expert batter and a great athlete. He would rip apart Nolan’s movie with ease and expert comments. He was an art enthusiast and loved playing with Julie’s pug, Tyson. He was the best man on earth and Julie’s friends also liked him.

Julie’s first marriage failed because Jerome became far too serious and did not bother about Julie. Jerome was a Financial Accountant with one of the most reputed Accounting firms in the Country. She tried hard for 4 months to stick on with that relationship, but then she decided enough is enough and got her first divorce. Jack was a smart young man, who was a couple of years younger than Julie but was a brilliant stage actor. He had fans everywhere and Julie enjoyed her life with Jack for the first 6 months until the day she realized, that his IQ was no match to her. She sought divorce immediately and celebrated the day with a sumptuous dinner followed by a booze at the pub. That is where she met Jamie.

Julie got married to Jamie and they lived happily. Jamie would do anything and everything for Julie. He would caress her, when she feels low and would provide her advice ONLY when he is asked for one. He would always listen to Julie’s musing without uttering a single word of advice. He would come back from office and hug her from the back and would surprise her with gifts with every now and then.

He had a very high IQ which made even Julie, a member of Mensa envy him. He spoke in detail about the movies which Julie watched and was an expert in making cocktails. He was Julie’s pride. Until 2nd September 2009 when she had her first quarrel with him. It had been 11 months since their marriage and from that day, Jamie has done everything properly including the placing of the seat in the toilet.

Julie was bored of this Mr. Right. He was all that she needed. He seemed to act as if he perfectly knew what women want and had all the required stuff to satisfy her. But she was still unhappy. She felt that Jamie was probably much too perfect. They haven’t had a fight for the past 11 months and she did not like that.

“Get lost you moron. You do everything I need. Life is so boring. You know about everything under the sun and you are in the way I expect.I don’t like it at all. Life was better when I had those silly fights with my men. We become closer with every fight, but that is not the case with you”. Julie’s eyes were filled with tears and that is when Jamie was puzzled and was left wondering on what to do. He went to Julie and spoke about things which interest her, but she wouldn’t budge. All of a sudden, Jamie the hustler succumbed to pressure, he didn’t know what to do and started to behave like a jackass. Julie was bedazzled by this behavior and before she could think of her next course of action, entered Dr. Jose Watson.

Julie, hope you are having a great time with your new hubby?

He is no match, for me. He doesn’t suit me at all.

What? I guess he has all the characteristics which you expect of a man. He is probably the ideal man.

Yes, he is ideal, probably that’s why we lived together for 11 months and I don’t want to take this anymore.

Dr. Watson chuckled and called for Jane and Jenni who were waiting outside Julie’s house. They came in and removed Jamie’s shirt. Jenni kept her hand on Jamie’s spine and poked him. She then got a key from her pocket and inserted in the key-hole near Jamie’s spinal cord. They opened his back and stopped the super computer which was running.

Julie was shocked at the turn of events and looked at Dr.Watson with anguish. The Doctor continued, you wanted someone who would understand you better and needed a good companion. We wanted to help you and hence planted a chip in your head which will pick your thought process and send it to us. The chip would also recognize your voice and record the same. We analyzed all this for a period of 6 months. Only after this did we create this JAMIE (Just Another Man with Intelligent Emotion). We have feed a total of 2695 books and 3658 movies into his head along with many other details. 6 doctors and 14 engineers worked on him for 3 months and only after that we sent him here.

But Alas, even this lasted only for 11 months. Julie felt as if the whole world was coming down on her and fainted.

Wonky

There comes the voluptuous buxom woman. She looks blonde. She appears to be in a lustrous mood and is staring at me with those big lively eyes. She comes towards me when I am walking into the arena. The place looks like a roman colosseum and I am walking in with my baseball bat, which I hold like the Caesar’s Crocea Mors. I am taking position to handle the fire ball directed at me. It is as big as the universe and is coming towards me, but just as I think that it would go past me, I could see Maradona stopping the ball with his hand and redirecting it towards me with his head. The ball was coming closer and closer and I could see myself in the courtroom in the middle of a trial where Daniel Kaffee, who looks pretty much like Tom Cruise is arguing with Colonel Jack Nicholas. The accused was defending himself against the crimes in the Somali Civil war. President Barre was not spared either. He was reading the work of Ernest Hemingway and was enjoying the Old man and the sea. The American actress with flaxen hair is still walking towards me. I am not comfortable in looking at her visage. I would not forsake my family for thee. Oh my God, she is coming near me. Give me the power to overcome this evil.

Shhhhh…… I have stabbed her with my Stiletto and could see the blood oozing out of her neck. I have not fallen for the devil’s trial. Thank you, God.

The next day’s headlines in NY post read, “Mad man kills daughter with screw driver”

The Red Shirt

Suraj came into limelight when he predicted that Murali Karthik will be Man of the match in the 7th ODI against Australia. Karthik was part of the commentary team when Suraj made his prediction. He also predicted that Manchester United will win its third consecutive PL title in 2009. It was a no-brainer, if someone has followed the Red Devils. He then sent a mail to a National Daily, with his predictions that Liverpool will finish at Number 7 in the 2009-2010 season. He had sent the mail on August 14th 2009, a day before the start of the season. The daily published it in a small column after getting in touch with him through mails. Since then, the daily was getting predictions from different ids, containing pdf attachments encrypted by the same public key as communicated in the first email.

The daily was boosting its image with Suraj’s predictions and Suraj had no problem in being under cover. Suraj’s biggest break came, when he predicted that Sachin Tendulkar will score 200 in a One-day match in 2010. He had predicted the number of boundaries and sixes too. The daily was waiting to get the next update from Suraj, which never came for the next 3 months. The emails sent to the secret ids bounced and the newspaper was fed-up of answering the mails regarding the mystery predictor.

Vijay was back from onsite. He had spent three months in Plano, where he went for KT. He reached his room by 3.00 in the morning. He was surprised to see that his room-mate Suraj was still awake. He was visibly upset and was sweating from head to toe. He was chewing his nails and was lost in thought when Vijay entered the house.

“What happened da? Why so serious?” asked Vijay with his traditional smile.
“A big air tragedy is going to happen, it will kill 160 people”, Suraj.
“Oh, my God, when and where is that going to happen”
“This morning, in Mangalore” stammered Suraj.
“Did you inform anyone? Did you call the airport authorities?”
“No da, I did not know their numbers to call and you had left your phone in India”
“Let us not waste time; I would call the authorities immediately. Is the broadband working?”
Suraj did not answer.

Vijay connected his laptop and to his dismay the BSNL broadband wasn’t working. They started their bike and looked out for a cyber café. They reached Velachery and found an Internet centre. Vijay googled for a bit and found the Airport’s contact number. He went to an STD booth and called the authorities. He informed about the danger. His call was snubbed as a routine anonymous call. In the meantime, Suraj tells Vijay that it is an Air India Boeing flight. Suraj called the authorities again, and was snubbed once again. After ignoring the Call, the control room authorities got in touch with the Captain of the flight to know if things were fine. The Captain answered in an affirmative node and confirmed that the flight was about to land in a bit. The flight over shot the runway and fell over a cliff in the next 10 minutes killing 160 innocent passengers.

They reached home and opened Vijay’s luggage and discussed about his stay in Texas.

“You should have mailed the newspaper about this da”
“You forgot a lot of things in the past 3 months. As if I know about Computers”

The whole nation was mourning for the biggest air tragedy in the recent past and Natrajan, security officer at the Mangalore airport had decided to do something. He called the National daily and told about the anonymous call and the predictions. He wanted to make people aware of the anonymous predictor and his valiant effort to safeguard the people. The newspaper was already on the back foot and with this news, the Chief Editor, Thomas was furious. He pressed some numbers on his landline and Nandna entered his room within a minute.

“What the hell are you doing? When was the last time that we got some news from that mystery man?” he yelled on the top of his voice.
“It is almost 3 months, Thomas”
“Who is the one, who is sending such mails and why is that he did not inform us about this air tragedy” Thomas was shouting at the top of his voice.
“We don’t know Thomas. He sends mails from different ids every time but the pdf will be encrypted by the same password which he had sent us in the beginning”
“Look Nandna, we have lost an opportunity to make millions. Had he mailed us, we would have created a huge hullabaloo and our sales would have sky rocketed by now. You guys are fit for nothing”
“We can trace him only by his emails Thomas and that id too gets deleted after we receive his mails”
“I don’t need any explanations. You aren’t being paid for nothing here. Go and do some investigative journalism. I need the man. I want a front page interview of this guy. I don’t care, how you get that, but if we are not going to get it, you are fired!!”
“But, we don’t even know about his whereabouts Thomas” pleaded Nandna
“I don’t care a damn. I need this interview to be one of its kind. It should have details which may never come out in any source. Once we get him to the limelight, the competitors will squeeze his friends and family to get more details. I don’t want that to happen. This interview must contain a lot of unknown details about the mystery man”
“Will do that Thomas”

*****************

Suraj was in his customary white shirt and dhoti. Vijay was getting ready for his office.
“Did you call him da” asked Vijay
“Yes, His security officer will come here to pick me up” answered Suraj.
“You will be hailed in the media, if you can save the future Prime minister” said Vijay with a naughty smile.
“I hope, I can be of some use. Can you also come with me da?”
“I don’t have a problem but will they allow me with my red shirt”
“You can change your shirt and come along” said Suraj
Gowtham walked in along with a couple of his aides. He investigated Suraj and Vijay for some time and wasn’t satisfied.
“The person in question is going to be the PM in a couple of years and playing with him will lead you to face dire consequences. Do you know that?” His voice was stern and his face was emotionless.
“He has ESP Sir, he has already seen many things in his mind which will happen some time later” said Vijay.
“There are hundreds of people with such blasphemies. But, how do we believe you?” Gowtham’s voice was still stern.
“He predicted the Mangalore air crash Sir. We even called the airport from a nearby booth to inform them. But they did not believe us” Vijay
“Ramesh, take this guy to the phone booth and get its number. Check with the airport authorities and confirm, if there was any call from that booth on that day. Also cross check the timings”
Vijay was a bit hesitant to move and silently muttered, “He stammers a lot, Sir. Shall I also stay with you for the investigation?”
“I will take care, you better listen to what we say” Gowtham replied in a harsh tone.
“So, what exactly did you see in your dreams about him” Gowtham lowered his voice and asked Suraj.
“I saw a man with a red shirt. He stabbed Rohit to death” Suraj said in a quiet tone.
“What else did you see? Were you able to see the killer’s face?”
“No, I just saw his stomach and chest, he was wearing a red shirt and when Rohit Sir came near him. He was stabbed” answered Suraj.
“Will you get to know more about this dream?”
“I don’t know Sir, I normally get headache when I think about my dreams. If I continue to think about my dreams, I will get to know more information about them. But it does not happen always” stammered Suraj
Ramesh came back with Vijay and confirmed the details.
“You can go to your office. We will take Suraj with us” Gowtham left with Ramesh and Suraj.
Vijay locked the house and started his bike.
Nandna and Victor hid themselves behind the petty shop seeing Vijay come out of his house.
Nandna hugged Victor tightly and said, “You are the best, buddy!!! We are going to rule”

********************************

Suraj was escorted by Gowtham as he entered Taj Coromandel. This was the first time that he was entering a 5 star hotel and he was just awestruck on seeing the luxury. He was asked to wait in the reception and Gowtham called Rohit Mehta’s secretary. Gowtham asked Suraj to come along and they took the lavish lift to the 5th floor. It was a luxurious presidential suit decorated with the best of luxury possible. The room had only Rohit Mehta, his secretary, Gowtham and Suraj.

Rohit Mehta was a worried man. His Mom who was the PM was killed a couple of years back. He was supposed to take the leadership of his party and become the next PM in 2013. He had taken every step with caution and now this prophecy has come as a big bottleneck. Rohit broke the uncomfortable silence.
“How are the security arrangements?”
“It is all perfect Sir. The entire building is protected and this 5th floor has been closed. Visitors are not allowed in this floor” Gowtham was confident
“What about the red shirt?” Rohit asked with a quizzical expression.
“We are not allowing anyone with red dress near this floor Sir. The screens which were red have also been changed this morning” Gowtham answered.
“I don’t feel nice. I am pretty much uncomfortable staying here. I want you guys to stay here for a while” said Rohit with a troubled expression
“With pleasure” answered Gowtham.
The four men sat in the room and were trying to relax. Rohit’s secretary opened a scotch bottle and served drinks.

“Make yourself comfortable, yaar” said Nandna
Vijay smiled uncomfortably and Victor chuckled.
They were seated in Vijay’s room and Victor was adjusting the camera.
“You guys are awesome man. You have known so many things but you are still maintaining a low profile. You are the real celebrities, I would say” Nandna
“Oh, nothing like that” Vijay told with a sheepish smile.
“No, I am serious. You have created email ids which would self destruct in 10 minutes to send the mails. You have used different PCs to send the mails every time. We were unable to track you guys for such a long time. You are just amazing man” Nandna
“Suraj did not want to get famous. He just wanted to make sure that people understood his ability”
“Oh, that is really sad. But does he have this ability from school?”
“Yeah, he got this power during his Class X. He was able to see his mark sheet before the exams. He had seen that he will score a centum in maths” Vijay
“But, did he really score one”
“Oh yeah, that is a funny story”
“Can you share the details; we would love to hear that. You narrate really well”
“He had intentionally left a couple of questions without answering in the exam. But even then, he scored full marks. Isn’t that hilarious” asked Vijay
“Oh yeah, More than the incident it is the way in which you tell, it makes it even more interesting” Nandna

The time was fifteen to one. Rohit was on his phone for quite sometime sipping his whisky.
“I am getting bored to death. These news channels are really crappy” Rohit was an irritated man.
“Did you get to anything more about my Killer, Mystery man?” smiled Rohit
“I am trying to get some more details. But I am able to see only the red shirt even now” said Suraj.
“You can leave, let him stay for a bit more time and get some more info.” said Rohit
Gowtham stood up and smiled at Rohit and left the room.

“He even made some predictions about India’s T20 world cup victory” Vijay
“Oh!!! really. You guys have so much info to share” Nandna was irritated by now
“Also, once when I was planning for a tour with my colleagues, Suraj told me the Car number before 2 days”
Vijay was ecstatic in talking about his friend in front of the camera. Nandna and Victor were starting to get bored as he was just singing praises of his friend in different scenarios.
“You look tired Vijay. Do you want to have something to drink?” asked Nandna
“NO, that’s Ok. I usually have my lunch by 2.00 only” said Vijay
“Of, it is time for lunch. Is it? But, Let us not disturb the flow of the interview. Victor, Can you get us something to eat” Nandna told Victor and winked.
Victor got the message and closed his camera. He packed it and went near his bike.
“You are a non-veggie, right?” He shouted when he was about to start his bike.
Nandna moved close to Vijay and put her arms over his shoulder and said, “I am still in a sense of shock. You are an amazing geek”

“Vini will be here any moment. Bring her to the room, Ahmad” said Rohit Mehta
The secretary looked at his boss and left the room. Rohit locked it from inside and sat in front of the TV.
“Make yourself comfortable, Suraj. Have some apples” said Rohit
“That’s Ok, Sir” answered Suraj.
“You dress like South Indian politicians. Transparent white shirt and a dhoti” smiled Rohit.
“I am not comfortable in pants Sir”
“Hmmm. I will freshen up and come. Have those apples”.
Rohit went to the bathroom and locked the door. Suraj took the knife and started to cut an apple.

“There is no camera now. Is there something which is unique about Suraj” asked Nandna is a soft tone.
“There is nothing like that. He is just a normal man with some abnormal powers”
“Is there something which he likes a lot or that he hates a lot” Nandna’s right hand was holding Vijay’s right hand now.
“No, there is nothing that he likes or hates. He is someone who is not affectionate at all. A very soft and meek person”
“Hmm, you started to speak about his Mom and stopped yourself, what was that”
“She died when he was 15. He thinks about her every now and then. He even cries aloud sometimes”
“How did she die? She must be young. He is the only son, right?”
Nandna was playing with Vijay’s index finger.
“She died of rabies. She was bitten by a mad dog. I forgot to tell you one thing”
“Yes Vijay, continue” said Nandna in a seducing tone.
“He absolutely hates dogs. He almost becomes a psycho when dogs lick him.”
“Go ahead, Vijay”
“He once killed a dog near my Office. It would take him atleast an hour to come out of that state, if dogs lick him. He moves to a state where he cannot be controlled by anyone. He will be absolutely dangerous then”

Suraj was hungry even after finishing the first apple. When he picked the second apple in his hands, the knife fell down by mistake. He bent and took the knife. Caesar who was sleeping under the sofa got up. He saw Suraj and started to lick in his legs. Suraj was moving to a different state. He started to feel uncomfortable. He pushed the Labrador aside but it would not budge. It came back and got on his lap. Suraj started to shake his left leg vigorously, his hands started to tremble and he was not in his control. He gathered force and reached out for the knife. He closed the dog’s mouth with his left hand and stabbed it on its stomach. The dog was trying to escape but the 210 pound Suraj would not let that to happen. He pierced it again and again till its last breath. Its corpus was on his lap and his shirt was soaked in blood. The front part of his shirt was full of blood. Rohit came out of his bath room and was stunned to see the state of his dog. He moved away from Suraj, but the man in the red shirt would not let that to happen. Suraj was in a different state of mind and he caught Rohit by his neck and stabbed him. Ahmad opened the door with the spare key and came running to his boss, just to see the man in the red shirt killing his boss.

Malavika Murder case

9^th July, Chennai Central, 22.05 hrs

“Why don’t you get out of my sight” Vinay told Malavika.

“Shut up, you idiot!!” yelled Malavika

“Come on dear, don’t be angry. Don’t talk like that Vinay” Raj replied.

“Hmmm, all because of this idiot” murmured Malavika.

“The train is about to start, you leave ma” said Raj.

“Miss me loads, Ok” Vinay told Malavika

“Idiot, shut up. Call me once you reach there dear” Malavika told Raj.

“Sure, take care” said Raj.

The Cheran Express started slowly and Malavika waved her hands at her husband Raj, without knowing that this would be her final good bye.

10^th July, Coimbatore, 06.25 hrs

“Welcome, welcome, welcome!!! We are pleased to have you here Raj” Mahadevan was excited.

“It’s my pleasure. I feel happy to be a part of this” said Raj

“You need not be so humble Sir; you are one of the most famous ventriloquists in the Country. We are really happy that you are doing this show for those poor kids”

Raj uttered a modest smile.

“Where is Vinay? The kids in the ashram are all excited to see him”

“Mr. Mahadevan how is your husband” asked Vinay in a high tone.

“Husband?” Mahadevan was embarrassed with the question thrown at him.

“Yes, I remember seeing an old movie, where the villain used to say, “Manathal Mahadevan , illai endral Maranadevan? “ [I will marry Mahadevan, if not I would die]

The crowd in the railway station started to laugh frantically on hearing this.

Mahadevan got irritated and said, “It was Mahadevi and not Mahadevan”

“Oh!! Is it? That’s news to me” Vinay chuckled.

“Shall we leave Sir, Vinay is always like this” Raj said in a polite manner.

They left the railway station and reached the hotel. Raj got ready and also dressed up Vinay. Raj was in his customary white linen shirt and black pant. He wore a black blazer and dressed up Vinay with exactly the same attire as his.

It was half past 9, when driver Bharathi came to pick them. They got into the white Lancer and drove to the auditorium. The show was scheduled at 10.00 in Gedee Auditorium, Avinashi Road.

The organizers were waiting for Raj and garlanded him. The puppet Vinay wanted a garland for him as well and there was chaos amidst the organizers for sometime. Though, Raj offered his garland, Vinay would not budge. The organizers garlanded Vinay after a brief interval and then Raj and Vinay moved into the auditorium.

The auditorium was almost full with kids from many ashrams in Coimbatore. Raj had accepted to conduct a show to raise money for the kids.

Mahadevan who was 5’2’’ tall welcomed the guest and announced that the show would begin in 5 minutes. The crowd was cheering for Raj and Vinay as soon as their name was announced.

Vinay took the mike in his hands and started, “I told Mr. Mahadevan to stand up and talk, but he is still sitting in the stage”. The kids started to laugh when their caretaker was mocked for his height.

“You should not talk like this Vinay” Raj scolded him.

“Ok, let me not talk anything” Vinay told in a sad voice.

“Should I remain mum till the end?” Vinay asked the crowd.

The response was a big NO. The kids and the elders answered in unison.

“OK, Let me check Vinay’s GK” Raj told in the mike.

“Who is the Cricketer who got married recently?” Raj asked Vinay.

“Yuvraj Singh” the reply came within a second.

“Vinay, think once again da. Answer me properly” Raj said to Vinay once again.

“It is Yuvraj Singh. I saw that he is pregnant. He has such a big stomach. You only told that newly married people will become pregnant” Vinay shot back.

The crowd was going berserk with Vinay’s wits.

“Shhhh. You should not talk like this in public” Raj scolded Vinay.

The laughter riot continued for the next 10 minutes, when Raj noticed something strange off stage. The organizers were hesitant to call Raj but were trying to get his attention. Raj excused himself from the crowd and stopped Vinay as well. Vinay was cracking jokes on “Paul the Octopus” and “Takoyaki” when he stopped him.

Mahadevan had come to inform that Raj’s wife had passed away the other night. Raj shook his head in disbelief and broke down. He made Vinay to sit in the nearby sofa and was in a state of shock. He wiped the tears that rolled down to his cheek. He looked around in dismay and felt as if the whole world was coming down on his head. He gathered back his thoughts and asked, if there was a flight to Chennai at this time. The ticket was booked and he vacated the hotel room and reached the Airport.

10^th July, Chennai, 19.00 hrs

Raj entered his house and placed Vinay in the sofa. He walked amidst the relatives to have a look at his lady love. She was placed in the wooden coffin with a cloth tied around her face. She had turmeric in her face and a big red bindi. He saw her mom, sitting near her head. She was visibly tired after weeping for long hours. He looked at his love’s face. He knew that time was ticking over and he couldn’t see her face for more time. He bent down and cuddled her amidst the opposition from his relatives. He sat near her and started to cry. He started to murmur about the time that they had spent together. He cried like a kid. His friends and family were not able to console him. He was remembering the good old days. He shook his head in dismay as he could not believe that his wife who waved good bye to him before a day is not there anymore.

“23 isn’t the age to die” he murmured.

“She was everything to me; she has changed me so much”

He got tired and leaned at the telephone stand. He asked for Vinay and had it in his lap. He started to comb Vinay’s hair with his hands. He continued to sob till he became tired. He refused to have food or water and sat in the sofa nearby.

“We are taking her to Besant Nagar, Crematorium right? “One of the relatives asked.

“Police wants a postmortem to be performed. They will take the body now. We will get it only tomorrow.” Malavika’s father replied.

Amidst the weeping sound, Malavika’s body was taken to the Ambulance.

Tom and Sid left the house and got into their car.

13^th July, Raj’s house, Chennai

Tom walked in and introduced himself as a private detective. Raj was sitting in the hall along with his mother. The house was still gloomy and there was an uncomfortable silence. Raj had a 3 day old stubble and was visibly upset.

Tom broke the silence and started once again.

“I am sorry to disturb you once again Madam, but I need to ask some questions to you son”

“He is still not out of it, please don’t disturb him. Please get out of our house” Lakshmi said, wiping her tears with her pallu.

“It will take only 5 minutes madam, please” Tom pleaded and looked at Raj.

“My wife has left me, will she come back if I answer your questions” Raj yelled.

“I can understand your position Sir, but please. Can we talk for 5 minutes” Tom

“I don’t understand how heartless you policemen are” Raj was irritated to the core now.

“Ok, ask.” he consoled himself and told Tom. He took Tom to the next room, where his Mom could not hear them.

“Your wife had strangled herself to death. Can you think of any reason?”

Raj was silent and wiped his tears and started.

“We were very happy. She doesn’t hide anything from me. We were really happy and she had absolutely no regrets”

“From the postmortem reports it is clear that she had tried to kill herself with her hands first. She had tried to strangle herself with her hands and once that was unsuccessful, she had used the telephone wire”

Raj was quiet when he was listening to it. Tom continued.

“It looks as if she had tried to punish herself. Can you think of any possible reasons?”

“We were absolutely happy and I had no problem with her. She was a sweetheart” Raj replied.

“But Raj, we need to identify the reason. If you could help us, it will be nice. If not the police will start to enquire your relatives and it will become a mess”

Raj was unmoved.

“The reason for me being so very interested in this case is your publicity. The media are prying for some news and if something wrong comes out, they will tear people’s image”

Raj was disinterested.

“The media will go to any extent to defame people. Even if they are dead” Tom paused.

Raj started to say something but stopped.

“Your silence will trouble a lot of people including Malavika, Raj” Tom told in a friendly tone.

Raj started to speak without looking at Tom’s face.

“I am not sure, if this will help you. But I am just telling this to you as a friend. This needs to be within you and me. I don’t want any officer asking about this anymore” Raj whispered.

Tom nodded his head in agreement.

“No, nothing. I am not aware of anything” replied Raj.

“You are doing this for Malavika, Raj. Please”

Raj rubbed his forehead with his right palm as he placed Vinay in the other sofa. He looked up at the fan and nodded his head in dismay and continued.

“We weren’t having a proper life in the bedroom” Raj adjusted his hair and continued.

“She wasn’t able to please me and she felt really bad about that. But it was just a minor thing and I told her not to worry. But that stupid girl……”

Raj was not able to finish the sentence and started to cry.

Tom was quiet and put his hands over Raj’s right shoulder. He waited for Raj to finish and then left the place.

“Raj, can you please come to our Office by tomorrow morning. It is very close by and I won’t trouble you with our questions. We just need you to sign a couple of papers.”

Raj nodded in agreement.

Tom left the house and on the way, he took his mobile and dialed Sid’s number.

14^th July, Tom’s Office, Chennai

Raj was dressed in his yellow Polo t-shirt and light blue jean, when he walked into Tom’s office. He paused a bit at the entrance when he heard his name being mentioned.

“We cannot close this case just like that Tom” Sid told to Tom.

“I spoke with Raj. He sounds genuine. I am not interested in taking this case forward.”

“But, listen. Raj’s mom who lived with them for 6 months since marriage had left the house a month before. Also, the driver Murugan has gone on leave for 2 weeks. Things aren’t right, Tom” Sid said in dismay.

“These are mere coincidences. My instinct says that everything is Ok in this case”

“Raj may be innocent, but I am not sure if this is a suicide”

“Can you stop your blabber? Raj will be here any moment” Tom scolded Sid.

Raj pressed the calling bell and walked into the house. A couple of tumblers with water were stretched at him. He took the water and sipped. A young kid watching this from the other room came running towards Raj and asked, “Will Vinay drink water?”

“Yes, I will” Vinay replied and took the other glass.

Sid came with a couple of papers and Raj just skimmed through them and signed at the bottom.

“That’s all?” Raj questioned Sid.

Sid looked at Tom and he nodded in agreement. Raj turned back and walked.

14^th July, Raj’s house, Chennai

Dr. Mithran was in his customary white kurtha when he walked into Raj’s house. He spoke with Lakshmi for a bit and looked at Raj. He had an unshaved face and his eyes were surrounded by black circles.

Mithran was one of the leading psychologists in the city and was Raj’s family doctor. He sat in the chair and spoke with Lakshmi for a bit. He was disturbed in seeing the state of the family. Lakshmi was worried about her son’s health and requested the Doctor to advice him.

“He hasn’t even had water for the past 2 days. Tell him something Doctor” she told in a mild voice.

Mithran nodded his head in agreement and looked at Raj. Raj avoided the Doctor’s stare and looked down.

“Raj, I want to talk to you. Come inside your room” Mithran ordered and left without looking back. He went inside Raj’s room and waited for Raj. Raj walked in after a couple of minutes. Mithran peeped out of the door and then locked it from inside.

There was an uncomfortable silence inside the room. The uneasiness in the air was creeping up as Raj was playing with Vinay’s fingers.

“Raj “

There was no response.

“Raj” Mithran called in a slightly higher pitch.

“Hmmm” Raj replied without looking up.

“I want you to reduce the time that you spend with Vinay”

“He is the only one that I have now. Why do you want me to do that” Raj replied back in a cold voice.

“Spend time with mom and console her, rather than playing with him”

“But, Why? This is the only curative for the time being. I will not listen to you, this time Uncle” Raj avoided looking at Mithran.

“Listen to me Raj” Mithran sounded harsh now.

“I cannot leave him. I want to spend more and more time with him. What is your problem? ” Raj replied with his eyes still focused on the ground.

“I don’t have a problem. But if this goes on, you will kill your Mom too” Mithran yelled.

Raj was taken aback by Mithran’s words.

“What do mean uncle? Are you telling that I killed Malavika?” Raj’s eyes were suddenly filled with tears. Mithran did not reply. It was the Doctor’s turn to look at the ground now. Raj continued, “You know how much I loved her, don’t you? You were the one who arranged the marriage, but now you think that I killed her?” Raj was very close to a break down as tears rolled out from his eyes.

Mithran was slightly shaken to see Raj cry. He had seen Raj as a young toddler. From those days, he had been closely associated with the family. But, he chose to remain stern and continued.

“It is not your problem, Raj. But the problem of this doll” Mithran told in a pensive mood looking at Vinay.

“He is not a doll. He is Vinay and call him by that name uncle, please” pleaded Raj.

“It is the stupid doll which is creating the entire problem. Throw it away and you will be happy” Mithran shouted at the top of his voice.

Raj lost his cool and jumped from his seat. He placed Vinay in the next seat and in one motion, he jumped towards Mithran. “I am going to kill you too” he shouted and caught Mithran by his neck and shook him.

“Stay there” shouted Tom as he broke into the room. He was pointing his revolver against Raj’s heart and signaled towards Sid. Sid locked the door with his left hand and walked towards Raj with a pistol in his right. He took the sofa cover and tied Raj’s hands together. Raj was stunned by the flurry of the events and was unable to react. Sid pointed the gun at Raj’s head, while the police jeep entered the house.

Couple of policemen ran into the house. Sid pushed Raj towards the door and moved him out of the room.

“Don’t hurt him” pleaded Mithran.

“He is a bloody killer and you want us to treat him with respect. Get out you moron” Sid pushed Raj on the back of his neck and looked at Mithran.

“I accepted to help you only after you promised that you will not hurt him, Thomas” Mithran looked towards Tom, helplessly.

The police took charge of Raj and Sid came aside. The police inspector looked at Tom.

“Thanks Thomas and Siddharth. Not sure, if we could have closed this file so soon. I want you guys to come to the station and confirm your findings”

“We will come in a bit, Anand. You may proceed” Tom replied.

Lakshmi had fainted after seeing the flurry of events. The maid was helping her out and Dr. Mithran checked her pulse.

“Nothing to worry. She needs some rest. Take her to the bedroom” he advised and came out of the house.

Tom and Sid were waiting for him.

“Why did he even kill her, Doctor?” Sid asked in a puzzled tone.

“It is not clear that he killed her, right? Do you have the proofs?” Mithran shot back.

“We have loads of proofs Doctor. This is a well planned and well executed cold blooded murder. Sid, can you brief him through the series of events” Tom looked at Sid.

“Sure. Raj had planned this murder perfectly. He had sent the driver on leave before a week and has left his car in the service centre the day before the murder. This means, he had to take a call taxi to the railway station. He had booked a white indigo. He had boarded the train, so that people would not doubt him”

Sid paused and continued.

“He knew the train route and where the train will slow down. He had asked his friend for his white indigo on the day of the murder and had parked it in the station, where the train will slow down. He had jumped from the train there and had taken the car and drove back home. His house wasn’t far from Central, which has also helped him immensely. He killed Malavika and then drove to Arakonnam, and boarded the train once again. The train reaches Arakonam in an hour and this psychopath has executed all his plans by then. He had called a friend after boarding the train just to make sure that he would prove as a witness if he gets caught”

“But, how do you say these things confidently?” questioned Mithran.

“The day before his arrest, he went to Arakonnam to pick the car and return to his friend. We tracked the kilometers and also enquired the neighbors”

“This doesn’t prove anything right? You told me that you had the proof and you wanted me to help you. Where is that proof” Mithran was upset now.

“Let me complete Doctor. The first day, when we came to the house, we saw some black and grey powder in Raj’s room. It was black carbon and charcoal which is mainly used in lifting fingerprints. The forensic experts did not start their investigation by then. It sent us some warning bells but the absence of any other finger prints in Malavika’s body confused us. We then saw him in the TV and something struck us.”

Tom started from that point.

“That is the time; we decided to investigate Raj a bit further. He played the crucial impotency card to shut us down. We just needed one missing link. The important link about the fingerprints. But when Raj came to our Office, it was all over. We lifted the fingerprints from those cups and as expected one had Raj’s fingerprints whereas Vinay’s fingerprints matched exactly with Malavika’s. It was game, set and match then. Raj had come to the house and used Vinay’s hands to kill Malavika. We investigated some of the shopkeepers who sell forensic chemicals and they confirmed that Vinay got a new fingerprint in the last few days. Hope you are clear, Dr. Mithran” Tom concluded.

Mithran nodded in agreement and continued

“This was on the cards. I desperately wanted to avoid this from happening. But I failed” he shook his head in dismay.

“Why do you say this Doctor? Do you know the motive behind this?” Sid questioned.

“You need to know about a couple of things, if you want to understand his motive. The first reason is his childhood days. He lost his father when he was a kid. He had spent all his life with his mother and had tried to please her in every possible way. In trying to please her with every action of his, he had lost his boyhood. He did not lead a normal life. In other words, he did what his mother loved and not what he loved. Though, he wasn’t living a normal life, the desire for a normal life was always there. But he had put it down for pleasing his mother. When he grew up, he wanted an outlet and hence created this puppet, Vinay.

Vinay was all that Raj wasn’t but he was Raj. This may be confusing but that is the truth. Raj wanted to tease people, crack jokes and make fun of them. But he would not do that because people would get offended. He likes to ogle or pass lewd comments but wouldn’t do that because of the society. With Vinay’s arrival, he could do anything that he likes. You are what you are in the dark and Raj was a cheap pervert like many of us. He just got an outlet through Vinay.

Over the years, when he was preparing for those shows, he had started to impersonate Vinay onto Raj rather than doing it the other way. This is a catch-22 scenario where Vinay was the alter-ego of Raj. Over a period of time, Raj started to love Vinay more than anything else and started to spend more and more time with him. He was talking to himself more and more and was alienating himself from the external world.

When we decided to get him married, we underestimated the impact. We thought that Malavika’s entry will make life better, but that too turned futile.

Whenever Malavika was scolding Vinay, Raj felt that he was being scolded. Raj started to feel that Malavika’s aversion towards Vinay as something directed at him as Vinay was nothing but the crude impersonation of Raj. This made him hate her more and more. Also, after being married, Raj had to spend some time with Malavika leaving Vinay aside. Raj also hated this and wanted to punish Malavika for separating him from Vinay.

All this had made Raj lose his mind and indulge in such a crime. But, this is a psychological problem mainly created by his childhood days. “

Mithran took a deep breath and looked at the detectives.

“Whatever be the reason, a killer is a killer is a killer, Sir. We got to leave now. Thanks for your help”

Tom looked at Sid and he got into their blushing red i10.