Sanna Kathe – Deepu

Chapter one.

Atop the terrace that housed an overhead storage tank, a couple of metal pillars that supported a rope-used for drying up the clothes and a Yagi aerial antenna. Sowmya, Divya, Ramu(Ram Charan), Jaggu(Jagadish) and Deepu, were playing robber and cop game (KaLa Police). Deepu was the thief and the police was led by Ramu- eldest of all.

Divya, Sowmya were sisters from a family that lived on ground floor of the two storied building while, Deepu lived on the first floor. Ramu and jaggu were brothers from the neighboring house.

Deepu, hiding behind the storage tank, was peeking to the other side. He saw a man who looked all so scary that Deepu would have eaten up all the food if his mother ever told “Eat all the veggies and finish the milk else the man on the terrace will get you”. Deepu had his reputation on the stake, for he has been the ultimate thief ever and he had no choice but to stay there all though the scary man was looking right into his eyes. The look was such that Deepu knew for once; something bad is going to happen. The scary man had a gunny bag with him. Deepu, in terror closed his eyes, and started singing “Jaya Bharatha Jananiya Thanu Jathe” –A Kannada song that school made him sing during daily morning prayers. That was the only song he knew comparatively well albeit broken.

Deepu felt someone standing beside him. He slowly opened his eyes thinking one of the cops has found him and he lost the game, but to his dismay it was even worst. It was the scary man! Staring right into his eyes. Deepu could see for a moment, there was evil in the man’s eyes. Deepu stopped breathing, his heart pounded with fear; it would have certainly left him traumatized. The scary man made a move to reach for his bag and to widen its mouth, that moment Deepu became conscious and starting running for his life.

The rest of them were equally appalled, they never knew where this man came from. The scary man was running behind Deepu. Deepu kept running towards the stairs but the scary man blocked him and came closer in a circumventing manner with a vicious smile on his face. Deepu had no choice to turn back. He ran towards the other end of the terrace but what lay there was a dead end. Deepu stood at the pinnacle and looked down, it was two stories high and a jump from this height would only mean suicidal. He then made his choice. He decided he will jump over to the top of next building. Deepu looked back and he saw the gunny bag closing in. He has to do something now. He leaped.

The flight never ended for Deepu, for he had missed the edge of the next building and was now airborne speeding towards the ground. He felt his head become heavy, his face swelled with all the blood in his body driven into it. His eyes popped out almost completely and he salivated profusely. He was on his way to hit the ground head-on,  but, he got a jerk in the air, someone grabbed his hand. It was deepu’s mother. Deepu in a delusion asked his mother “What are you doing here?”  His mother replied. “Wake up deepu, it’s getting late to the school. It is your first day at school for this year”.

Deepu reluctantly opened his eyes while his mother was smiling right down at his face saying “do not wake up from the wrong side of the bed…Say your prayer…praise the lord” He was saddened to the core. He really wished the scary man had taken him away, for the school is even worse. He heard his father yelling at his elder sister for not polishing his shoes. Deepu said “Oh god! whatever made you put me in this little pieces of hell. I curse it!” There it starts-the little tale of deepu.

To be continued …

A beautiful mind.

I seek serenity; I am as human as you are

alien I may come along; still I am my own czar

I opt to take my way; what tallies to my inner core

lest in denial I rot, leading  ego to an utter sore

One looks in the mirror; to reassert his appeal

I do so to talk to my friend, to share, to emote and to feel.

He is my comrade, the one who knows the real me

Reassuring me always saying, “I am here for thee”

I strain my mind with gawky musings and demented spree

In the twilight I sleep; to enter another realm where I fly free

I dream of driving on the highroad with wind in my hair

I find myself sleeping in the garage by the dawn, thereof I do not care

Treed I am into solitude, I lack the usual congeniality

Blacked out I get very often, science calls it a split personality

Call it emotions in my mind or chemicals in my brain,

Every soul is special, never call one insane.

Aicha My sister

“Let’s stop whining and get out our act together” is what I said one day. Now the life is back to normal. I have found the perfect companion to keep loneliness aloof . An exercise, a simple stretch of the facial muscles around the lips accompanied by widening  of eyes with a degree of dilation in the pupils. This gesture internally  connects with all the organs of the body and then one feels like he has been presented with love of all the world. This is a very simple exercise and it is called smiling.

Now, again,  I have come to believe that my life is all botched up, and it is because of me. If things have to get back to normal, it must be done by myself and it is in none the  power to set me straight. No matter what “Rehab” I run into, and how many counseling sessions  I go through. I must have that want to become better. I  should smile, I should live, I should love, to feel love.There is so much in this world to learn, to explore, to share and most importantly, to get busy with. Why waste life complaining on things. There are issue of major concern, the real complaints, the ones that actually matter.

People are famished, there is ignorance everywhere, blind believes circumventing minds to surmount the feeling of universal brotherhood. There is tension.

There is a side which is supposedly the savior, the superman of the world who wants to suck all that is present in the deep rich mines, and there is a side which believes that they should fight for their religion and die as they do to attain Nirvana which is supposedly is filled with wine and beautiful women.

There is a quarrel between two groups over taking hold of a land that each claim to be of the religious origin.

There is side that is all so good to neighbors with good foreign policies and highly educated representatives who seem to overlook the fundamental problem,

and there is group which wants to uphold its heritage and thinks that can be done by building temples, monuments and by destroying those of other communities.

Why are we not looking at what we indeed are? We are no subject of a super power, we are no Hindus or Muslims or Christians, we are no Jews. Humans are what we are. The only enemy we all have to fight is Poverty as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul kalam states.

Here is a beautiful song for you all to go back smiling while you move out of this page.  Aicha from Outlandish.

[Verse1] So sweet, so beautiful Everyday like a queen on her throne Don’t nobody knows how she feels Aicha, Lady one day it will be real She moves, she moves like a breeze I swear I can’t get her out of my dreams To have her shining here by my side I’d sacrifice all them tears in my eyes [Chorus] Aicha Aicha – passing me by (there she goes again) Aicha Aicha – my my my (is it really real) Aicha Aicha – smile for me now Aicha Aicha – in my life [Verse2] She holds her child to her heart Makes her feel like she is blessed from above Falls asleep underneath her sweet tears Her lullaby fades away with his fears [1/2Chorus] [Bridge] She needs somebody to lean on Someone body, mind & soul To take her hand, to take her world And show her the time of her life, so true Throw the pain away for good No more contemplating boo [Verse3] Lord knows the way she feels Everyday in his name she begins To have her shining here by my side I’d sacrifice all them tears in my eyes Aicha Aicha – ecoute moi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8krO7Q3vSys Is the link to the song.

To all the sisters out there ECOUTE MOI

When you screw up your bowel.

It must have come as quite a thing to all of you who read my last post, for a few of you would have exclaimed “Ah! What a loser” and a few would have felt   sympathetic about it, but, to my surprise some of you have actually seen yourself expressing while you read that post, as I notice from the comments. I am glad I wasn’t the only one. And my sincere thanks to all who heard me out and wrote back their suggestions through comments.

Now, it did help me, as I have mentioned in my previous post, my blog indeed is my soul brother, for it did get out of my mind, after I read what I have written my self, I asked myself “What the fuck is wrong with me? I must shake this shit off and do all those things I mentioned I wasn’t doing”. So there I was strumming those crooked rhythms I had invented myself and started playing with my pet dog. It felt better and I felt I was having a break out already. And that very day some thing happened, which sort of brought in a little twist in my tragic story. I fell sick, I have no freaking idea where I picked that damn virus from, but it had me do the disco for one full week, the worst kind of fever I have ever had in my life, Acidity, depression, sucking at work and virus , a perfect recipe for what I call a total FUCK UP!. There I was, losing everything, it was like I was getting sucked by a big invisible leech, it felt, I was getting drained out of life ounce by ounce, day by day.

My parents felt I need serious attention and took baby care of me, still nothing like that of mother’s. I miss that. However, there I was with Dr. Rama Reddy, the hero, he came like a ray of hope to me. He was my pediatrician and supposedly my mind and body is permeable only to his treatment. No matter what the diagnosis, I turn to him. He is like an Alchemist who has exactly the kind of “elixir of life” I want. After having listened to my diagnosis, he exclaimed, “Uff these viruses!, there should be a downpour in bangalore else more of such cases will be reported”. The first two days went only in treatment of my fever, for that was the prime concern and he was to work in a damage control mode. Then comes the fun part of that week.

My father and brother improvised on the complaints I was muddling with and gave my doctor all the reality bytes, he initially broke into laughter and then took it seriously after my father gave him a murderous stare.

It did not take too much of thinking for him to spot the culprit. It was that damn medical condition called GASTRITIS. All the sucking that I have mentioned in my previous post is nothing but the manifestation of Gastritis in its advanced form. I would rather like to change the title of my last post to “SYMPTOMS OF GASTRITIS” from “WHY HAVE I BEGUN COMPLAIN SO MUCH?”. The best part of it is that depression is one of the symptoms; I myself couldn’t believe I was complaining so much, but I was. Thanks to my stomach.

I had a couple of counseling sessions and it took only 3 days to completely cure my condition (After I got rid of the fever). I was told every habit of mine is good and especially liked the blogging part of it, he said it is a good habit. He asked  me if I am into watching porn, I told him, “not any more”, he said it is ok to watch as long as it is not made habitual and as bachelors we need help of porn. Eat regularly, drink hot water, and give myself a little heat treatment with hot water on the stomach to abate the swelling of the stomach lining. These apart I used Omeprzol regularly for 3 days. Today I am doing quite good, having healthy appetite and getting back to normal. As with steering my career is concerned, I have no clue yet, still trying to figure out what I must do. In all I want to make a radical statement, not sure how many of you agree with me. I think the word ‘Confusion’ should be branded the most vulgar word in the modern dictionaries. At least in my dictionary. This is what happens when you screw up your bowel.

WHY HAVE I BEGUN TO COMPLAIN SO MUCH?

There is this saying “This too will pass”, I had always kept to that, tiny yet one of the wisest quotes, in good and bad times of my life. Right from the time I was a struggling student to this point where I am a struggling software professional. It helped pick up my sword. The toughest time I have ever had is when I lost my mother and it took quite some time for me to get over it, as the time passed by, things got better and I was quite content with what I had.

But today, I feel I am missing everything, a total LOSER. I have lost interest in everything. Those of you, who know me well enough might take this as a joke and are probably expecting a comic twist by the time you read the end, but let me tell you, this is one complaining Daya who is talking now, not the jovial happy faced Daya.

A year back, when there was a guy complaining about something, I was the best free counselor he can look for, I was a vessel of positive thoughts with zeal oozing out of it. My best bet was that “What ever you are complaining of, is within yourself, it’s in your mind, look at it in it’s naked form and you will not a have thing to complain about”.

There was this time when a friend of mine was seeking my counsel when he was about to break up with his girlfriend, his complains were that she has developed rashes on her face and there are scars all over, I told him “Just for once, stop looking her through your eyes and use your heart instead”. Then he dropped the Idea of breaking up. But they broke up anyway, that girl dumped him for another rich guy. The point I am trying to make here is that the flipsides can be so extremely different, for Daya today is a not so confident, not so ambitious, not so funny, not so jovial introvert. Yes! an introvert.

My brother complains, I am lost, I don’t hear people out when they are talking and I am lost in my own world. His arguments were further revitalized when I narrated him the story GORE written by self, he speculates I am growing psychotic and might as well turn suicidal. He doesn’t have a clue of what I am going through, there is something I want and I am longing for it, what is that I want, I have no freaking Idea. My father thinks I am feeling alone and he should find a girl for me.

I have started complaining about everything like food, beverages, movies and mostly my JOB. I don’t like the work I am doing, and yet I don’t know what other work I would want to do, I am paranoid about everything, I am surrounded by a puddle of confusion.

Let me know show you some screen shots.

-Acidity and loss of appetite.

-I am looking forward for an MS or an MBA but parents insist I join civil services.

-The project I am in, is one of the most complicated machine and one potential revenue source for the firm which is due for release only in the end of 2010. Still, I complain about this work.

-Lately I am finding it stupid to laugh, when a collogue cracks a joke.

-I will not have a shave until, my sister or my father says “Here, take these 15 bucks and go have a shave”

-I dress up, shabbily; my brother says “What is your problem? You sure you are an engineer?”

There is a guitar which hasn’t been taken off its cover for months, there a Cricket Bat which has been shelved up the attic by sister in law, for she thought I am never going to use it again, there is a Sexy Yamaha, which hasn’t been washed or at least wiped off the dirt in days, there is a pet dog which is longing for me to play with it and deny it. What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I punishing myself like this?

Only major incident that occurred lately is that my eldest brother had a spat with his in laws and there was a little rumble between the two families and it is all about to settle now, I have faced worst things than this in my life and never for once have I felt so low. It’s like I have lost my faith. I don’t feel like I should trust anybody. Most of the times it is this thought I am occupied with, I mean I should know what is fair in life.

Should I consider a different life style? Should I join Yoga? Should I enroll myself to the likes of Anger management or personality development programs? Or should I be part of a group therapy sessions that take place around the city? Should I take a break and take off to long holiday? Should I read a nice book? Anything else you guys can think of to allay my little misery here, I shall consider, I need to relive, I need to die and be back from dead and start over.

Having said all this shit, there is a speck of old spirited Daya crying  within , he says “Do not publish this post, this too will pass”, but I have always found my blog a soul brother to me, if it’s on the blog it’s out of my head, lets see if this works out even this time around. I hope this too will pass.

well

Please read this story chapter 1 through 11. DO NOT spoil the fun by reading the END. It is a short story so two rounds of reading will suffice.Do leave your comments for this is my first attempt and I value them a lot. Have fun reading GORE.

GORE Chapter 11

The next day everyone is at the court, for the amount of confidence Pranav had shown everyone was eager to to see where he is going to take it today. Sahan also made it to the court room today, there also was the psychiatrist Dr.Nanjappa.

The room sets itself to tone of dignity upon arrival of the honourable judge.

Pranav: Your honour I wish to take a few queries with Mr.Sahan.

Judge: Permission granted.

Pranav: Mr. Sahan, are you aware of the situation of the court here? I mean to ask you if you completely validate what Miss.Devi has presented yesterday?

Sahan: Full well Sir, her presentation sustains.

Pranav: Could you tell us the reason why Mr.Ram is being held a suspect in the case.

Sahan: He was at the crime scene, he was in panic and his body language suggested that he is the culprit; it forms a part of our norm to arrest such subjects.

Pranav: OK. Any other forensic proof you have that supports this allegation made against Ram?

Sahan: Finger prints on the victim’s lunch box and pen.

Pranav: Don’t you think a lunch box and a pen is way too less for a murder of such a gory nature?

People laugh at this remark.

Pranav: Any more evidences? Like on some things that are more lethal.

Sahan: Only a kitchen Knife, It had Devi’s finger prints. She was her room mate and that’s understable.

Pranav: You may step down.

Pranav: Your honour, I would like to call Dr.Nanjappa to the front.

Pranav: Dr.Nanjappa, I have learnt that you teach at NIMHANS, is that right? I mean to ask if you are only an academic or have you had your hands on some real cases?

Dr.Nanjappa : This is 27^th year in the institute, I have handled more than those many cases, I have switched over to teaching lately for reasons of my own.

Pranav : I didn’t mean to offend you Dr. I wanted the court to understand your credibility that’s it.

Pranav: If you have been briefed about the case here I would like to ask you some doubts please clarify that in front the court.

Dr.Nanjappa: My pleasure.

Pranav : Dr there is this condition that arises when people start impersonating themselves as one of the characters in stories. Isn’t there?

Dr.Nanjappa :Yes, quite common in people who have undergone too much stress, pain through out their lives, it buds when they mature as individuals and develops gradually. As with the majority of cases we have seen, the story or the movie should have some resemblance to their lives, but it could occur even otherwise.

Pranav : Causes of such disorder Doctor?

Dr.Nanjappa : Mostly caused by the what philosophers call it as fate, by that I mean those who have had rough childhood, without proper care, subjected to a lot of stress and pain, or may be have faced a tragedy of losing someone and things like these.

Pranav : When do such behavior manifest Dr?

Dr.Nanjappa : Well, Strong feelings basically, an emotion which quite intense, could be anger, happiness, jealousy .

Pranav:What about fear? Guilt?

Dr.Nanjappa: If strong enough, yes those feelings too can.

Pranav : Here in our case do you see the manifestation, can I argue that Seema did that to herself?  Based on the coincidence of her life with the story itself.

Dr.Nanjappa : Well it would be naïve to conclude that way without proper examination, some history of her psychology would be required to justify that.

Pranav : The victim has shown such a behavior in the past, will that be good enough?

Dr.Nanjappa : In that case yes, but I would not suggest the court to consider this without proper investigation. If her history has that record, she might have done that to herself.

Pranav: Thank you for your time Doctor.

Pranav : Your honour, I would to call Devi to the front.

Pranav : Miss, have you ever observed such abnormal behavior in seema in the past, if so can you give us some insight?

“That son of a bitch Ramesh. He said this was asked by Sahan, that bastard is cheating on the prosecution by leaking information to Pranav” Devi heard these words in her mind and she replied “Yes, a couple of times”

Pranav : Could you please tell us more about it? As in when exactly?

Devi : I remember this instance when she became suicidal after watching a movie. This movie was about a girl who gets murdered by her business opponents as she was growing stronger.

Pranav : Any relevance of Seema to that character in the movie?

Devi : The character name is Seema.

Pranav: Your honour, now we have established reasons why it is a suicide and not a homicide, the victim suffered a mental illness and her death is in no manner caused by my client, he is just another character in her “story”. The suspect to be declared innocent your honour.

Maya : Your honour, mere fact that she was a mental patient does not rule out the possibility of the murder, there is not enough evidence to suggest that she saw herself as the girl in the story written by Pankaja.

Pranav : Your honour, may I ask Devi again about the guy who Seema always referred to?

Devi : Purushotham

Pranav: Your honour, my clients name is Ram and it is Purushotham who is the murderer as presented by the witness. What seems funny to me is this guy Purushotham, has been with us through out the investigation and never did he show up in light. Your honour, Purushotham is the name of the hero who turns a serial killer in the story that seema has been reading. That leaves us with no doubt that it was a suicide and not a homicide.

The court applauds at Pranav for such good defense and kind of work he has done, it was beyond doubt that he has won.

Pranav: Your honour, no finger prints of the suspect on the weapon. Victim knew full well that she was going to be killed, she said it was purushotham who was going to kill her and she suffered this mental illness. The pieces seem to fit in well enough to complete this picture of my client being innocent.

Judge: Does the prosecution wish to cross?

Maya : No your honour.

Judge : After having contemplated the arguments and claims made by the defense and the prosecution and having understood what is presented by the witness, police and professional psychiatrist, the court declares that this is case of Suicide of special nature and the suspect to be dropped of the charges.

That was a happy ending for the case; all though Maya lost the case she was happy to have involved in this. Everything back to normal, Sahan will have to hunt a new bad guy and Pranav has to find a new client. Pranav and Ram agreed upon holding a party late that evening. And Devi left an Address with Sahan where she could be found if at all he needed her, it was her friends house address.

Later that evening Ramesh came to the police station with some info which Sahan had asked him to collect as part of the investigation which was however a low priority task.

He Said “Sir, I found out the place where the book was printed it is this cheap printing services just a mile away from here.”

Sahan asked Ramesh to take the vehicle out for they have to see the printer. They reached the place in 5 mins and it was a old printing press which printed cheap pamphlets and bill books.

Sahan: Hey, do you recognize this book? It was printed here I take it?

Printer : Yeah sure, only book to be published by Kabalamma printers.

Sahan : Who placed the order for this print?

Printer : Some lady, I don’t remember the name.

Sahan : Pankaja?

Printer : Oh! Yes. She placed the order and some guy took the delivery by settling the bill.

Sahan : Can I see the Bill?

Printer : It will take a while.

In the mean time Pranav phones Ram’s house to ask about the party, he later learns that Ram is not be seen anywhere and a huge amount of cash is missing from their house and Ram had withdrew all the money from his bank the day before.

Back at the printing press, the printer finds the bill, and Sahan was thrown in to a shock to see the signature on the bill, it was of Ram’s. He was literally shivering and his mind started to swirl all around. He hesitantly took out a photo of his pocket and showed it to the printer. The printer started shouting, “Yes, this is the lady, she is the one. She is Pankaja”

Sahan could not stand on his feet, he became weak and sat down with his head in his hands he started to cry and said “No, it’s Devi!!” these words said by her when he first saw her “If you could get any close to point of catching the culprit, that will be me” resounded in his mind.

.

Ramesh: Oh! Mother of God what the hell is happening here.

Sahan : This explains why there was Devi’s finger prints on the Kitchen knife, she is the bloody murderer. We were all framed. Everything was staged we all have been fooled.

Back in the plane due to land in Italy,

Devi : I hated her so much, she deserved every bit of this. Good piece acting Mr. Engineer.

Ram : And I loved her so much that she deserved every bit of it . You played it pretty close to your chest Miss Pankaja/ Devi.

They started laughing out loud and kissed each other.

And that’s GORE for you. Please leave behind your comments about this first attempt of mine scripting tales. Thank you all for your support.

GORE Chapter 10

Back in the court room, everyone gets seated in silence as they hear “The court resumes”.

Maya: Miss, could you introduce yourself and explain your connection to the victim to the court please?

Devi: My name is Devi, I am a roommate and friend of the victim Seema, we are orphans born in chintamani, and we were brought up in an orphanage. Seema and I came to the city to pursue our Bachelor studies. As with my connection to the case as such, Seema used my identity.

Maya: Devi, please feel free to interrupt me when I go wrong while I speak this through. Your honour, as presented by the witness, Seema used Devi’s identity to deceive rich men whom she intentionally wanted to hurt by cheating on them. She was killed by the defendant for he knew she was going to cheat on him and he could not get over that. We have sworn statements on that by the suspect himself which were collected in the previous session.

Pranav : Objection your honour, defendant has only said that he was being avoided, and that does not deem to be a clear motive, I request you to declare this part of the argument wasteful.

Judge: Objection sustained.

Maya: Your honour, I wish to produce a witness which will clearly establish the motive.

Mr.Ram, do you recognize this book?

Maya held a book in front of his face, and Ram’s face lit like a lantern and one could figure he was very happy to be seeing the book, he said “yeah sure, this is the best”.

Pranav wondered what the hell he was doing, he had instructed him that there is no harm in accepting that he had read that book but his gestures made Pranav a bit uneasy.

Maya: Could you please tell us about the book?

Ram: Awesome book, it stands up to what it is called, Pankaja has indeed written a beautiful book, good entertainment. You want me to give you some bits of it?

Pranav wanted to shout out lout “what the fuck?” and slap Ram in the face, but he held on to his bench.

Maya: Please.

Ram: It is about this guy who falls in love with a girl and turns in to a serial killer after he was betrayed by his squeeze, he is good, and he drained the blood out of those bitches.

There was a chaos in the court, with folks laughing out loud, until the jury herself had to bring order to the court.

Maya:Your honour, it could not get any easier, the message is quite clear. I am through your honour.

Judge: Does defense wish to cross?

Pranav : Yes your honour.

Pranav : Miss, do you as well recognize this book?

Devi: Yes Sir, Seema had that book with her, she gave it to me the day before she was killed.

Pranav: Did she tell you anything while she did so?

Devi: Yes, she said “He knows and he is going to kill me”.

Pranav : So it would not be wrong if we conclude she knew in advace that she will be dead the next day?

Devi: I am just here to testify, I am not to give any opinion.

Pranav: Fair enough, your honour, please note this point.

Pranav : Miss, could you give us the name of his? The one Seema was referring to?

Devi: Seema said it was a person called Purushotham.

Pranav: Point to be noted your honour. I am done your honour.

Judge: We are about to wind up.

Pranav: Your honour, I request you to facilitate the court with a psychiatrist for tomorrow’s session.

Judge: Request granted, one of the principal psychiatrists form NIMHANS will be summoned. Any thing else?

Pranav: No your honour.

Judge: The court is adjourned

GORE Chapter 9

The day had come, Pranav made sure he had all the documents ready to be presented in front of the grand jury and made his mental preparation, while Ram wore his best attire so as to look genuinely innocent. Pranav phoned Ramesh to confirm who was representing the prosecution; it was Sahan’s girlfriend Maya.

Maya had a reputation of her own, very skilled woman, talented enough turn suspect in to victim and victim to a suspect, but that was not necessary this time around. She has been secretly following this case with Sahan and every investigation Sahan has made was influenced by her, she too had made her arrangements for this challenging day at the court.

The court room was huge decorated with legendary desks which date back to time of pre-independence of India. It housed a grand bench for the jury facing which were two columns of benches. In front there were provisions made for the defense and the prosecution to be seated with tables.

Pranav and Ram arrived in the court room; they both gave a look at the prosecution team which consisted of Maya and her witness Devi and sat down. Devi gave a look of surprise for she never knew there was suspect in this murder case. There was a total chaos in the room until a voice called “All rise”.

The Judge arrived and asked everybody to sit down.

Judge: Yes prosecution?

Maya: Your honour, prosecution represents public and accuses this man Mr.Ram an engineering student of a Murder of his peer and girl friend Seema.

Judge: How does suspect plead?

Ram: Your honour, I am innocent, the victim was my girlfriend but I only knew her as Devi not as seema.

Pranav signaled Ram to stop talking.

Maya: Your honour, I would like to call the suspect to the front for a cross.

Judge: Permission granted.

Maya: Mr, Ram, since how long have been seeing Seema?

Ram: 2 years I guess.

Maya: How did you meet her?

Ram: College, we were in the same class, she made passes at me, I thought she liked me; I went to her spoke directly, it all happened in a week, we hooked up since then.

Maya: Have you had physical relationships with her?

Pranav : Objection your honour, prosecution is simply trying to buy time by making irrelevant cross examination.

Maya : Your honour, in matters of relationship, sex has been major motive for murders, we all know that, for a counselor of his stature, Mr.Pranav should understand that.

Judge: Objection overruled.

Maya : Thank you your honour.Mr Ram?

Ram looked over Pranav, seeking his counsel and Pranav made a gesture of agreement.

Ram : Yes.

Maya: Has she been avoiding you lately?

Again, Ram looked at Pranav and said Yes.

Maya : Could you tell more about this chapter?

Ram : I proposed for a marriage, 4 months back, I loved her so much, there was consent from the side of my family, I wanted her to ask permission of her family for the wedding. Since then she’s been acting very odd. She made up reasons for not returning my calls.

Maya: OK, could you please tell us what happened next?

Ram : I wanted to settle this for once and asked her to take me to her place so that I will ask her parents for permission, I thought she was afraid to do it herself, but she kept delaying that and finally told me it might not work and said sorry. I somehow got hold of her address and went to her place to seek her parent’s permission, all I wanted was to spend my life with her, she was my dream, my wish and my fantasy.

Ram started to weep, while the whole court fell silent and Maya didn’t know how to react

Maya: Please Ram, do continue.

Ram: That’s it, I went to her place and found her hanging by the nail in the wardrobe. It was hard to sink in, I just sat down where I was, I never knew I would be suspected for a murder.

Maya: Well would have rather escaped from the scene if you knew you would be?

Pranav: Objection your honour, prosecution needs to understand that my client is a suspect and not a convict.

Judge: Objection sustained.

Maya: Last question your honour, Mr. Ram, are you sure, seema was dead by the time you saw her?

Ram: I would mam.

Maya: Please note this point your honour. I am through.

Judge: Does the defense wish to cross?

Pranav: No your honour.

Judge: The court is in recess.

While Maya is busy talking to Sahan on the phone, Pranav and Ram get busy discussing the ongoing.

Pranav: Never ever lose your hold on the fact that you were there only after the incident took place and not while it was on going. I have checked the case file and this is one loop hole we ought to take advantage of.

Ram: OK.

GORE Chapter 8

Back in his house, Sahan was reading this book by pankaja, which starts with a sweet tone of student life, how boys and girls enjoy their lives when they are together in college portals and how love sprang between them. It then continues to depict how the hero of the story and the girl fall in love, how they get lost in dreamy world of their own forgetting all the odds and how content they are to have each other. The love scenes were so good that the readers must smile and say “This book is indeed beautiful”.

Then strikes a tragedy when the girl is murdered in such a gory manner that it set the tone into totally different genre, it was not love anymore. It was just hatred and conspiracy all over, it finally turns out that the hero himself was the killer who grew psychotic after he realized his girlfriend is cheating on him.

Soon after he finished reading the book Sahan logged in to the internet and started googling for information, and he soon learnt that it was going to be tough to convince the judge to punish this suspect Ram and it is going to be even tougher if the defense gets hold on this info he was holding through google.

Back in the police station Ramesh sat alone, thinking through how he should make his conversation with Devi, and how he would shield others from knowing he has had this conversation. There was but only one way, that was to make deal with the lady constable, but that meant there would be a weak link in the chain and another share.

“Hey” said Ramesh to the lady constable.

Lady: Hey, Mister.

Ramesh: Can I talk to you for a minute?

Lady: Sure, you want me to come out?

Ramesh: Please, if you could.

Ramesh: Thanks for obliging. It’s actually nothing, I am going to have a chat with the witness in there, but no one should know about this including Sahan, I have strict orders from himself that this is to be totally concealed, you understand the gravity of the situation here right? I am sure Sahan has briefed you about it.

Lady : Well my deputation here itself is off the records, which makes it less professional by nature, so this little thing you are asking doesn’t sound any different, how much time you need?

Ramesh: Blink of an eye.

Ramesh: Hey, Miss. How are you feeling?

Devi: Like I have lost my best friend I guess.

Ramesh: Well, I am here to ease things out; you will have to answer a few questions.

Devi: Shoot.

Ramesh was really shocked at the remarks Devi made and he noted all of them down.

In no time, he was out of the room. He gave a smile to the lady constable and headed out of the police station and walked fast to the next street for a phone booth. He took his diary out and dialed a number.

“Hello?” said the voice from the other side.

Ramesh: Boy, I don’t know where we are headed but I have all the info you wanted from her.

Pranav: Good, what do we have?

Soon after hearing to what Ramesh said, Pranav wore a wide smile on his face and he confirmed when the hearing in front of the grand jury going to be. It was in the very next day.

Pranav phoned ram over and said “Do you know anybody by name Seema?”

Ram: Nope.

Pranav : Does Neralu sound familiar to you?

Ram: Nope.

Pranav: Fine, come to office right away, we’ll have a rehearsal of tomorrow’s hearing.

During rehearsal Pranav told Ram that he shall not speak unless it’s absolutely necessary.