A cup of hot coffee is kept on the table but prof. Mathew chooses to stare at it. It is a sunny morning. Prof. Mathew has woken up early today to meet his psychiatrist, Mr. Sameer.
"Why today at a cafe and not your clinic?"
Prof. Mathew asks with genuine curiosity but Sameer watches him with narrowed eyes.
"Is this like your second time out of the college campus in like three months?"
"Third. But you didn't answer my question."
"Sometimes, the answer to a question is an even better question. Mr. Mathew, I know, you have zero social life except meeting me."
"This is not social. I am paying you for this right?"
"That's what I am saying. Get out of your house, maybe make a road trip somewhere. You have to be cheerful from inside to fight all your mental illnesses. I don't even know what's the name of your condition."
"I go out to teach my students. Cigarette?"
Prof. Mathew lends his cigar pack to Sameer.
"That's inside campus. And cigarettes? Really? How short do you want to live?"
Prof. Mathew chuckles a bit and lights the cigarette in his mouth. Due to early winter morning the cafe is empty except the two and the waiter. The two are sitting near the window to get some early morning sunshine. The smoke of the cigar begins to slide on the glass of the window.
"Tell me one person, Mr. Sameer, who is happy because he or she lived longer? Life is all about these temporary pleasures.And then you fucking die. You will understand it sooner or later."
A group of old people jog by the cafe, staring at Mr. Mathew, as if they heard him. The steam of the coffee and the cigarette intermingle on the surface of the glass.
"Why aren't you having your coffee? Did you want tea or something? I assumed coffee will be okay."
Sameer sips from his coffee while Mathew still stares at the coffee.
"I don't drink from opaque cups."
"What? "
"I feel a bit afraid. As in, there could be anything in there. A transparent or translucent cup is fine."
Prof. Mathew sighs a bit heavily and takes out a small copy. He sighed heavily everytime he placed himself in the shoes of Mr. Mathew. He jotted it down in his copy and stared at it. In a copy full of problems of all his patients, this one stood out to be one of the weirdest. But in the past few months that he has been with Mathew, it's just one of the least complicated psychological problems he has.
"Let's get out of the cafe then. How about the park?".
On Sameer's suggestion, they both get out of the cafe and walk past the road to get to the park. They make their way through various groups of people interspersed across the Forest Park. All of them involved in some exercise or the other. Sameer keeps looking at his small copy while walking while Prof. Mathew ogles at a group of children running around.
"Did you wake up today on the terrace again?"
"I forgot to put on my hand cuffs. They were anyways proving to be less helpful in stopping me from climbing the stairs in my sleep."
Sameer nods his head with a bit of pity in his eyes.
"Does that man still come in your dreams or nightmares? "
"Yup."
"Who is he? "
"I have no idea."
The sunshine is growing stronger and the park was looking greener. Yoga mats were placed all across the grassy field. Plant watering machines are also scattered making up for mini fountains across the park. A kid and an old man run by Mathew and Sameer.
"What about Angela and Kenny? Have you met them this year?"
"There's a reason we got divorced, Sameer."
Mathew let's out a puff of smoke from his mouth and watches it blend with the seemingly fresh air. Sameer looks at him with concerned eyes.
"What nonsense! Are you divorced from your own child? He is just ten. Go and spend some time with him."
"I have classes."
"What classes? Your memory is fucked. You are forgetting things day by day. What's the point of cheating your students and teaching them some random language that you created?"
Mathew throws his diminished cigarette towards one of the plant watering machines.
"It's not any random language. It's a mathematically calculated language. And my course doesn't affect the placement percentage of the college. All these students would go on to do some other courses completely unrelated to my course. A bunch of them might end up assistant prof.s in some college. So the Dean is letting me do this. These students are the only reason I get out of my house."
A bunch of kids run behind another kid and pass by the two of them. Mathew takes a deep breath and takes out another cigarette. Sameer gets up from the bench and looks up.
"Such a beautiful weather. Why don't you go and meet your kid?"
"Driving out of town? Maybe not."
"You must be taking the highway path. There is one that goes through a tiny village. Kind of a shortcut."
Mathew lights the cigarette and takes up the first smoke and closes his eyes. He imagines his son, Kenny, running towards him to show his sand castle. The heavy winds ruffled his long hair.Mathew smiles at this memory and smokes some more. Suddenly his phone rings and he picks it up.
"Hello?"
"Mathew, where the hell are you? Did you forget you have an extra class with some of your students?"
"Oh maybe yeah...."
"Get here soon."
Mathew places the phone on the bench and looks towards the bunch of kids rolling on the grass.
"What happened?", Sameer enquires.
A dejected Mathew looks at him and pulls out some more smoke from his mouth. The sky is blue and his eyes catch the glimpse of a big, fluffy cloud hanging by itself. He is again transferred to that day on the beach with his son. The sand castle was half destroyed due to the wind. So they both begin to build a stronger castle with wet sands, near the shore.
"Huh?" Sameer asks again.
Mathew crushes the cigar with his feet. Both of them look towards a bunch of parents scolding their kids. Mathew stands up as well.
"Where is the village route?"
*********************
8 p.m.(the same evening they were caught) :-
Two cans of Diet Coke is placed on the table. Amit and Sasi stare at the super senior as he takes out a can of chilled beer for himself.
"I am Hussain.Hope you are not hurt very badly. As you both are sophomores,I assume you both are teetotallers."
Both of them nod their heads and look around Hussain's hostel room. The room is quite messy. The room has a mini fridge and dirty clothes scattered all around the room. It takes Amit some time to realize that he was sitting on one of Hussain's boxers. They slowly begin to open the can while Hussain gulps down half of his can. The two take small sips. Meanwhile, Hussain scrambles through his desk cluttered with earphones, chargers and some books. He takes out a pack of cigarettes. Both, Sasi and Amit, look at him as he lights the cigarette.
"What happened?", Hussain enquires and puffs out his first smoke.
"How did you....
7.00 pm that evening:-
"Good job, Hussain sir. Atleast got some juniors to feast on."
Four first year students including Sasi and Amit kneel down with their hands raised. Four seniors stand infrontof them, all ignited with terrible ragging imaginations.
"So what should we do with them?"
"Let's play the mask game."
One of the seniors goes into a room and comes back with four plastic batman masks. The speaking senior and Hussain look at it and give them to the juniors.
"Now, lovelies, listen to me. Wear the masks, run to the end of the corridor and turn right. Its another dark corridor. Go to the end of that corridor. You will find two semi opened doors. They are the hostel store rooms. Plunge your hands into the semi opened doors and bring it to us whatever your hand got."
The juniors begin to wear the masks. One of the junior raises his hand and asks a doubt.
"What's in the store rooms?"
The seniors chuckle.
"Diwali crackers. Pot bombs if you are unlucky. Now let your imagination work out what kind of ragging will you face with crackers. But we will leave two of you juniors free. But how will we decide? Well in the process of bringing the crackers, keep exchanging your masks amongst each other. Two of your masks will carry a certain mark. The game stops when you bring us two pot bombs. And at that moment, the duo with the marked masks stay here. "
The senior sips a bit from his beer can.
"It's not a conventional mark so no luck in searching for them on your masks. And don't be very wise in refraining from exchanging your masks. Because it could be your fucking mask carrying the mark. Go".
The juniors run towards the store houses. The seniors distribute some cigarettes and some chips. Amit slows down and asks them to stop.
"Wait. We have to exchange masks."
The four look at each other.
"Let's exchange it diagonally."
The four exchange and bring the seniors whatever crackers came in their hands. The corridor lights are quite dim. The seniors squatted on the corridor and wait for the juniors to come and go.
"Fuck, my hand is stuck. Motherfucking help me!!", one of the junior exclaims. The other three try to pull his hand out. His hand comes out with the pot bomb.
"Oh shit. Do we really have to give it to those Motherfuckers? They will screw us big time."
"But anyhow they aren't going to stop till we bring them two pot bombs."
They continue this manoeuvre while the seniors laugh at poor sex jokes. Hussain screams out loud.
"You sister fuckers. Bring in all the crackers and introduce yourself and your branch one by one."
They began to do so.
"You dumbfuck. Yes. Do your intro as a horny aunty. Come on!"
The junior becomes quite awkward.
"I will…will try sir. I am Rohan Joshi. I am from the branch of mechanical. If you meet me, I will give you anal."
The seniors go into a ruckus of laughter. And give him a round of applause.
"You! You give your intro like there is a dick in your mouth. Start!".
"Hi. I am Amit Kumar. I am from the branch of maths and computing".
The seniors look disappointed.
"What the fuck was that? You just did a plain intro. Maybe the dick wasn't long enough. Why did you imagine your own dick? "
Another round of laughter and the seniors begin smoking. The juniors continue exchanging masks and the seniors make Sasi and the other junior do a couple dance and do their intro. As the seniors laugh hard,the masked juniors again gather in front of the doors.
"Guys, guys listen to me. I have thoroughly seen the masks. I don't think there are any marks", Amit says.
"I think it's the size of the hole for the eyes. Maybe its a bit different for two of us."
All of them fall silent.
"Maybe it's true. I also felt the same thing", the other junior says.
The four look at each other.
"No, no. I think there are very minor differences in the size for the holes for eyes."
"Don't forget they are fourth year assholes. And one of them has even fucking graduated. So they have done this ragging shit quite a few times. I don't think they will fail to see the difference."
Sasi sits on the corridor and looks up. Amit begins speaking.
"So should we exchange masks?"
The seniors laugh out loud while Hussain looks towards the dark corridor.
"What happened, Hussain?"
Hussain looks at them and crushes his cigar.
"Why the hell are they murmuring? Let me go and see."
Hussain enters the dark corridor while the seniors try to blow up the empty chips packet.
8 p.m. that evening:-
"How did you save us?", Sasi enquires.
"There was never any mark on the masks. It would just be the duo who bring in the pot bombs."
Amit and Sasi look at each other with open mouths. After Hussain had gone into the dark corridor, he forced the other juniors to force their hands in and bring the pot bomb out.
"What would you do with the pot bomb?"
Two large bombing sounds occur and the Two if them are taken by shock. They try to look out of the window. Sasi catches tow silhouttes running in moon light.
"Burst it infront of the Dean's house. And what lovely timing than when the Dean is urinating in the open."
Amit and Sasi look towards a relaxed and joking Hussain with grave intensities. Sasi leans forward with a doubt in his mind.
"Why? Why would you save us?"
********************
It is a starry cool night. Inspector Srikant sits at his apartment balcony with little Aakash. Srikant feels the rough stubble on his cheeks and decided in his mind to shave tomorrow. Aakash looks at the stars curiously.
"Dad, why did the God hid the sun at night, right when it was needed the most?"
Srikant looks at the boys and ruffles his long hair.
"Do you know Geography?"
"What's that?"
Srikant scratches his semi bald head.
"Because when God did bring the sun out, these guys called it a day and took the help from God for granted. Son, in life, we take many things for granted. Which we shouldn't".
Govind leaned on the wall watching them and giving a sly smile. Srikant looks back and waves at him.
"But father, what are the things that we shouldn't take for granted?"
"Like your homework,respecting your elders,…",Srikant looks back at Govind, "your real father there".
Aakash looks back and also waves at Govind.
"Hello, real father!"
Govind smiles and jogs towards the two of them. He hugs Aakash.
"Aakash, I think its time you call him only father."
Srikant pats Govind at the back. Govind adjusts his spectacle with his eyes welled up with tears. Aakash breaks out of the hug.
"I will try".
Aakash runs away from the two and goes into the house. Govind sits near Srikant and both look up for a bit.
"I told Pradip about this."
"About our kids getting swapped at young age? How did you decide that some scum like Pradeep will have the empathy to understand the situation?"
"Well I was a bit sad and he was the only one around. I don't know if that drunkard even understood anything, but you know, I felt light.Suddenly, I wanted to thank him. Sometimes, we never come to know but we end up doing a lot by just being there - by someone's side."
Raahil, Srikant's real son, sees them sitting while he clutches hard at the rods of the balcony grill.
Next day:-
The police jeep pulls up at the Rohini complex beside the house of the receptionist, Hakim. Srikant, Govind and inspector Pradeep press the bell and stand there with their hands at their back. An old woman opens the door slightly and peers through it towards them. The policemen, with the background of a colorless sky ask to let them enter.
They enter the house and see all the members standing in a group. All of them go into a bit of shock upon seeing the police.
"Hakim receptionist? Where is he?"
A middle aged man comes out of the dense group of homo sapiens. He is clean shaven and us wearing a red polo shirt. He has worried and puzzled expression.
"I am Hakim. What happened?"
"We are here regarding the college murders. Please come with us and cooperate."
The family members give blatant and puzzled stares towards each other. Hakim looks sideways to his wife and stresses his forehead skin into a Wi-Fi sign.
"Sir, can we talk at the college? I have some problems here."
Inspector Pradeep goes ahead and faces Prashant.
"Sir, we waited for you yesterday at the college. You have to come with us."
Prashant calms himself a bit.
"Sir, please try to understand. I have some family problems here".
"What prob... "
A huge shriek comes from the upstairs and all of the family members look up. It was the voice of probably a teenage boy. The shrieks get louder and louder. One of the family members shakes her head in disapproval and looks down. The shrieks and the shouts stop and is succeeded by dead silence in the room with everyone, including the policemen, having a dreaded look on their faces.
"What was that?", Srikant asks.
"That's what I was saying, sir. Sir, can we please talk at the college?"
Pradeep takes out his gun and snaps at Prashant.
"Are we your servants,dumbass? Don't do this 'talk to me later' shit with me. Where is that devil? Upstairs?"
Pradeep dashes out to the stairs and climbs up the stairs fast. Srikant and Govind look at each other and follow at a slower and a steadier pace. They reach a closed room. Rest of the family members take sometime recovering from the sudden shout-out by Pradeep and run to the base of the stairs and look at the three policemen infront of the closed room. Pradeep knocks at the door with his gun.
"Son, please calm down and come out. Just resolve this shit."
There is no response. Pradeep now knocks hard to the door.
"Now! "
There is a sudden growling shout from the room.
"Why? Who the hell are you?!!"
The three look at each other with a sigh. Pradeep looks at the door and shoots at the door knob. Srikant and Govind back off as a sudden response. The door opens up and Pradeep plunges into the room.
They witness a teenage boy sulking, trying to breathe after a lot of crying, sitting cross legged in a corner of the room. He turns around and shouts.
"How the hell..."
Pradeep holds him by the throat and points a gun at his forehead.
"Keep quiet. Otherwise I will shoot a hole in your fucking head and will force you into self reproduction. Can you imagine that, motherfucker?"
The kid, visibly scared, gets up slowly and points out a big knife towards Pradeep with trembling hands.
"Back off", the kid nervously screams.
Pradeep goes behind a couple of steps, keeping the direction of the gun towards the boy. As he stands up from his cross legged posture, two other knives fall down. The policemen look at it. Pradeep tries to come near the kid.
"No!! ",the kid warns.
Hakim runs up to the room and stops at the door.
"Munawar, stop! Enough. Sir, please forgive him. He's a dimwitted fellow."
Srikant and Govind take a closer look at the knives.
"Those are blood stained!", Govind proclaims.
All of them look at the troubled teenager with shock and unbelievability.
"What did you do with these knives?"
The boy grasps for breath and tries to clean all the tears and mucus from his nose on his face with his hand.
"None of your business.Stay the fuck out!".
The boy begins to inch towards the big glass window.
"Just stay there, kiddo. We aren't doing you any harm. Pradeep, keep your gun down".
Pradeep slowly bent down to keep his gun down. The boy, with shivering lips and a nervous look, runs towards the window and crashes through it. The policemen run towards the window. The family members hear the crackling sound of the window panes breaking and rush upwards.
"Call the ambulance. Right now!", Hakim shouts and rushes downstairs. A blood pool is formed on the black road. Hakim's wife breaks down on the road crying, holding tightly at his skull and neck, to prevent bleeding. Her hands are covered with blood, and the rest of her body with tears.
"Suicide. My son tried slitting his wrists multiple times. Even though we would often save him, he would try cutting himself with other knives."
All of the family members and the policemen try looking away from each other or maybe lost in their own thoughts, while the sound of the siren of the ambulance grows louder and louder.