Part 3
The Food court was usually crowded in the mornings. Employees hustled in all possible directions carrying their plates of breakfast.
“Tell me, how did Vinesh die?” Shyam asked Deep with extreme curiosity.
“Today, Shankar met his ex-project mate in the train”, said Deep. “That guy witnessed Vinesh’s death.”
“What did that guy see? What did he say?” asked Shyam with his eyes wide open. He was unable to control his anxiety.
“He says Vinesh’s death was accidental”, replied Deep. “It was not suicide”
Shyam leaned forward on the table and narrowed his eyes at Deep.
“What are you saying!” he remarked.
“I will ask Shankar to arrange a meeting with him sometime later in the evening”, said Deep swallowing his last spoon of salad. “We shall discuss this matter in detail”.
Shyam nodded his head. They completed their breakfast and strode along the pathway heading to their block. As Shyam neared his cube, he found someone sitting on his chair. It was Suhani. She turned her head and looked at him. There had been no communication between them for the last ten days. She called him several times on his mobile, but he neither answered her calls nor bothered to call her back. The guilt-consciousness in him prevented him from talking to her. But after seeing her face and her beautiful eyes staring at him, he felt a pain, a strange pain in his heart.
Both of them remained speechless looking at each other’s faces.
“How are you?”, he broke the silence. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“I am sorry”, he said. She suddenly broke down and covered her eyes with her fingers.
Shyam held her hands and consoled her. As he soothed her, he felt that somebody was around. He could feel some eyes watching him. He turned back and looked all around. There was nobody around. The large room wore a deserted look. The other team mates in his project usually stretched their work in the nights and arrived late in the mornings.
The sun travelled lethargically from east to west.
The bus stopped at the end of the road. A group of employees got down and walked towards the station. Shyam and Suhani walked together followed by Kavitha, Shankar and Deep. Even though Deep listened to Kavitha’s conversation, his eyes were fixed on Sarya who was walking a few metres ahead of him. Shyam reached the stairway that led to the platform and stopped for a moment. A strange chill crept down his spine.
“Because of you, I am now feeling afraid to come to this haunted station”, Deep murmured in Shyam’s ear as they walked on the overbridge.
The climbed down the steps and reached the platform where the suburban train arrived.
“Shall we sit here?”, Suhani asked them standing on the last stair.
Shyam sat beside her. The other three friends sat behind them on the upper stair.
“Why are you silent?”, she asked him. There was no response.
The station was crowded with employees working in different software companies in that part of the city. Some people were discussing in groups, some were talking on their mobiles, some were listening to music on their iPods and some stood alone staring at others. Shyam’s eyes searched everywhere for Vinesh. And they finally spotted him. He stood alone in the centre of the platform. His dress was tattered and his face was bruised.
Shyam’s hands and legs started trembling. He turned his face and gazed somewhere else trying best to divert his attention.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you Ok”, Suhani asked him. He nodded his head.
“Why are you sweating a lot?”, she asked him.
“It’s very hot”, he replied wiping the sweat drops on his forehead with his kerchief. He did not want to disclose his strange problem to her fearing the aftermaths it might have on their relationship.
“Why is he killing me like this?”, Shyam wondered. Even though he loved his friend, he did not want to see him after he was dead.
“Shyam…”, called a voice from behind. Shyam turned his head backward.
“This is Rahul”, Shankar introduced a person. The guy was tall and dark in appearance. Shyam introduced himself to the stranger.
“I am sorry mate. I understand your pain in losing a friend”, said Rahul climbing down a few steps.
“At the time of his death, were you beside him”, Shyam asked him. Rahul nodded his head.
“Can you tell me what happened that day?”.
Suhani, Shankar and Kavitha looked at Rahul with keen interest. He appeared nervous as he began his version.
“Vinesh was standing a few feet away from me talking to somebody over his mobile. He frequently leant over the tracks to check whether the train was coming”, Rahul paused for a moment and heaved a breath of air.
“When the train arrived on the platform, our guy wasn’t aware of it as he was in a deep conversation. He was initially a little distance away from the tracks but he suddenly moved forward and leant over the tracks to check whether the train was coming. Then he slipped and fell down uttering a huge cry”, said Rahul shaking his head. “I was shocked. I couldn’t prevent it from happening. It was a terrible accident. I’ve never witnessed this sort of thing in my entire life.”
“Was it an accident……”, wondered Shyam. He moved his head and looked at the place where he last spotted Vinesh. He wasn’t there. Shyam stood up and looked all around. Vinesh was nowhere at sight. He had gone. Had he gone forever?
The train arrived on the platform. The employees who were standing on the platform thronged into it pushing each other at the door. Some hurriedly sat on the vacant seats and placed their hands and bags on either side reserving the seats for their friends who were getting inside the train.
“Look at those professionals fighting for window seats in the train”, commented Deep. The station grew deserted in a couple of seconds. A horn sounded and the train started moving. Shyam had one last look at the platform hoping to have a glance of his dead friend, but he never appeared again.
Kavitha and Shankar exchanged stolen glances at each other in the train.
“I don’t understand why he’s calling her a ‘princess’”, Deep whispered to Shyam.
‘Aatma Hathya Maha aparaadh’ said a sacred verse. Killing oneself is termed as a heinous act according to the religious doctrines and deserves the highest punishment. I still remember my father’s words, ‘We belong to the race of the great sage. We are born to serve the society. But as we commit sins, we are reborn. Reborn and reborn till our desires are fulfilled and sins are cleansed. But my son, tell this to your sons and grandsons. Refrain from killing yourself. Because your soul neither takes a rebirth nor attains salvation. You have to wander mercilessly witnessing the happenings of the world. You will be able see your loved ones, friends and relatives spending every moment of their lives. You will experience a strong urge to live among them and share their joys and sorrows. But you cannot! All you can do is to watch and suffer silently. Because you are dead. This is the worst of all punishments inflicted to a sinner.’
‘For how long should we suffer like this father?’, I innocently asked him.
‘Till the tenure of your birth in this world comes to an end’, he replied. ‘And you will be reborn again’
‘Then! Is there is no means to attain salvation’, I asked him.
‘There is only one way’, he replied. ‘The sacred verses show the path to eternal salvation. But if you misuse them, you will be cursed. A deadly curse………...”. The hair raised on my hands and legs after I heard the ill-effects of the curse.
He was no more but his words still lingered in my mind.
I picked up a broken mirror lying on the ground and looked my face into it. I screamed in disbelief and dropped it. This was not my face. But…But I have to be patient. I will get back my face. I will get back my body.
The brightness of the full moon lightened the road. I kept ‘ it’ safely in my pouch and touched it often to check whether it was safe. I neared the palace holding my sword firmly. I hid behind the bushes and thought of ways to get inside her room. The palace was heavily guarded and it was difficult to sneak past them. I walked stealthily towards the rear end of the palace. There was a dilapidated temple present there. It held a secret that very few know. It contained a tunnel that paved way to a secret entrance to the palace under the ground. It was constructed as a safety measure to protect the king and his family in case of a sudden attack by the enemies. I neared the temple. The guards were sleeping. But one of them was awake. I approached him from behind, closed his mouth tightly and ran my sword across his neck. He lay dead on the floor. I went inside the temple and sneaked into the large dark tunnel. I crawled inside it for a long time until I could see the bright moonlight again. I came out of the tunnel and stood at the backyard of the palace. I tip-toed into her room. She was sleeping on her bed. I moved closer to her. The maid servants were nowhere at sight. A gentle breeze blew and she slightly moved herself in deep sleep. I slowly leaned on her and stared at her beautiful face. At last, I had an opportunity…..
Shyam woke up suddenly and rubbed his eyes. It was a nightmare. They were haunting him repeatedly for the past several nights. He looked at the clock. It was four in the morning. He stayed awake till his mother offered him bed-coffee. He felt some strange pain in his body. He wanted to take leave from office, but he had an important delivery. He bathed, dressed up and left to office by the company bus.
After a lacklustre day at office, he accompanied Suhani to her friend’s place near their office. They walked on a dusty, narrow road until they reached a hut.
“Who is staying here?”, Shyam asked her but she did not pay heed to him.
He followed her inside the hut. A small boy was lying on a cot. A middle aged woman was serving him food.
“What happened to him?”, Suhani asked the woman who appeared to be the boy’s mother.
“He felt well until ten days ago when he developed fever, cough and chills”, replied his mother.
Shyam learnt that the boy’s father passed away in an accident a few months ago. His mother earned money by working as a house-keeper in their company and the boy sold peanuts in the train during the evenings. Since then Suhani had been financially assisting the family in continuing the boy’s education. She gave his mother some money for purchasing medicines and wished him a speedy recovery.
Somebody called out his mother’s name and she went out of the hut.
“What happened Ram?”, Suhani asked him in a low voice. His face turned insipid and his lips trembled.
“I witnessed a murder”, he replied.
Shyam moved closer to him. “When, where?”, he asked.
“My mom threatened me not to tell this to anyone. She is afraid that police will come to our house and question us”, said Ram looking at the entrance afraid of his mother.
“Tell me! I won’t ask your mother anything regarding this. What did you see?”, Suhani persuaded him.
“Last Friday evening, I was standing in the station carrying a basket of peanuts. T…then, then…”, Ram stammered.
“Don’t be afraid. Come on, your mother is coming inside. Tell me fast”, said Shyam.
“Then, as the train was arriving on the platform, a person was pushed from the platform onto the tracks”
Shyam and Suhani were dumbfounded.
To be continued....
Disclaimer: All events and characters in this story are fictitious. If it resembles any real-life incident or any person, either living or dead I am not responsible for that :-):-):-) .
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