So this is a story that I wrote while in college. I had this idea in my head of creating a short film of sorts and the story kind of became a bit like screenplay. Anyways this got published in the college magazine and my dear editor/ director friend Anuraj did promise me that he will convert this story to a short film one day. I am still waiting for that day :-D
It was just like any other day for Keerthi. She is used to this drill for the last two years of her life. Her day starts at 6 in the morning, with waking up from the heavy arms of her husband. She has pile of things to do early morning from cleaning the leftover dishes to preparing breakfast. She does everything diligently with a sense of calmness that comes from experience of same routine for last 2 years,people who lived near their appartment envied her life. At age 24 she seems to have everything, a well earning husband , a 3 BHK appartment, job as teacher at a nearby reputed school, a face that draws attention wherever she goes. In a world where marriage is a matter of convenience,the couple seemed to still have the spark within them.
By 8 am Keerthi and her husband start having their breakfast, in 30 minutes we can see both of them getting into their CAR which was bought just last week. By 8:50 Keerthi reaches school and her husband kisses on her forehead and bids goodbye. ‘A perfect life’, colleagues of Keerthi made that remark often with a touch of jealousy. Keerthi takes classes for 5th standard students. The only thing outsiders saw as missing in her life was a child of her own. keerthi somehow didn’t felt so, she genuinely loved students as her own children. She is a complete natural at teaching, one of those exceptions in her school who inspite of being the ‘best outgoing student’ opted against other professional courses which had attractive salary offers. Teaching, as she always used to say was her cup of tea, and students loved her for her wits and method of teaching.
On the 3rd hour of Morning session at 5 B, while giving students a problem to solve she noticed something. She saw one of her students stealing something, rakesh had thought that no one had seen his action of stealing the box. When the bell rang, Keerthi went to rakesh and asked him to come to staff room with her. rakesh still didn’t think that, his teacher saw what he did. He loved that box, couldn’t resist and took it.
“Rakesh, I saw you taking that Box”
“No Ma’am , I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie to me rakesh, it’s okay. I won’t tell this to anybody”
“But .. Ma’am .. I Did.. I didn’t….”
“I know you are a good boy. You should return that Box immediately and say sorry to Ishant”
“But Ma’am .. No one other than you saw it.. Should I return it?”
“God saw it son.. He can see all our actions. Now be a good boy and return it. Or Else God will think you are a bad boy which you are not.”
“What will God do if he came to know that I am a bad boy? "
“He will punish us for our sins rakesh, he sees everything..”
“Shit.. I am late.. hiran is gonna kill me for being this late. " , She said to Shyam.
“Stay a little longer darling. It’s Saturday na, hiran would be having some meeting in office now… Stay a little longer” ,
Shyam’s voice sounded too irresistable for her. His eyes spoke lot more and she really felt the urge to stay. She moved her face towards him as if to plant a kiss and gently moved away teasing him. He seized control over hands and whispered in her ears
“Not again.. You are too cruel dear”
“I really wish to stay Shyam. I just can’t . One week will pass quickly, hiran has this official trip coming up next week, we could meet up then. "
“Oh god.. One week feels like one year for me”, Shyam said still holding her hand.
“Next week when i leave , i will make sure you don’t complain Shyam”, with that she manages to get her hands off his grip.
“I will have a gift for you when we see next week”,Shyam said.
“What will that be? I don’t want any of those expensive diamonds like last time, what’s the use Shyam. I won’t be able to wear them anyways. hiran would ask questions…”
“Not diamonds dear, a piece of document… My divorce " , Shyam hugs her while saying those final words.
“You should present me the same gift soon.. I am waiting for it”, Shyam reminded her.
“Yes dear.. I will , I don’t want to hurt hiran now. I shall tell him after his official trip”, a tear fell from her eyes as she said this.Shyam saw her walking away from his house, he stood there in the balcony watching her take an auto to her home.
Images from his past flashed before his eyes. How he first proposed her while he was in 10th, How her father beated him heavily for sneaking into her room, how she smiled that day when she accepted his love, how the poor rich divide made him an ineligible suitor for her, how he watched her getting married to someone else, how determination and hardwork has made him one of the richest man in city, how he commited the mistake of marrying a girl who never understood him, how he met her again in the vastness of this city.Images from the past flickered through his mind.
“They thought i will loose her forever once she got married.I never lost her, She loved only me .. all her life, i was her love " , he said to himself.
She looks at her watch as she reaches home. hiran would be home soon and she knows it.She plans to make him some payasam, it is his birthday today.He was too busy early morning and was not able to visit the nearby temple like they used to. At 5.10 Door bell rang and hiran comes in swinging his briefcase, he accidently misplaces a framed photo while placing the briefcase. The frame which was made of glass broke into pieces as it fell down.
She was holding in a glass the freshly prepared Payasam when he said those words.
“Darling, our wedding photo fell down. I will fix the frame , so sorry about that.. I will fix it right away”
She felt her hands becoming sweaty, and for a moment she thought that she will drop the glass in her hand. She said with many pauses
" Don’t hurt yourself…. dear , the…. frame…. is made of …glass "
hiran looks at the photo once again and saw his wife and himself trying to smile at photographer’s wish to the background of a large cutout card which reads ‘hiran weds Keerthi’.
It was a bright sunday morning. While Jogging at DH park , hiran looks up into the sky and says to himself ‘Today is going to be a good day’ . It was clear blue sky all around, clouds seem to have gone for a vacation.His last two sunday’s were spoiled because of rain. He had planned to go out with keerthi on those days, but rain had other plans. He calls keerthi immediately and tells her that they will go out today.
When hiran reached home , keerthi was all dresssed up in a beautiful green saree. She truly looked flawless. ‘Age can’t wither her infinite beauty…….’ , hiran learned literature in college, he couldn’t help thinking about shakespeare’s account on Cleopatra. Keerthi was his cleopatra, the girl of his dreams. hiran did most of the things right in his life. After completing degree in literature, he set his eyes on civil service which he cleared successfully on second attempt. Choosing IAS as his career option was a right choice, saying ‘yes’ to a shy 22 year old girl was an even better choice. From the moment he first laid eyes on her on that awkward ceremony of ‘girl meets boy with a cup of tea’, he hasn’t stopped loving her. At times he wondered whether his life was surreal. He had everything he thought - Money , power in form as the sub collector of his own district, and more importantly a beautiful wife who makes every day of his life magical.
“Let’s go to temple. We couldn’t go yesterday for your birthday”, said keerthi
hiran looked at her again, ‘how lucky i am to have her’ ,he thought and gave a warm smile and a nod.
“I will freshen up and come quickly.”
When hiran came back, he had a visitor in like a man who is past front of his house. He seemed his sixties.
“5 minutes “, hiran said to keerthi and asked the man to come to his private study room.
The old man was carrying a briefcase with him which he opened in front of hiran.
“How much is it ?”, asked hiran.
“25 lakhs " replied the old man
“Okay, that would do .. I would pass the files tomorrow itself.. "
“Thanks sir, i need to go now..
I have a flight to catch “, said the old man.
“There won’t be any problems now.. You can ask someone to collect the documents tomorrow itself” , said hiran with his eyes firmly fixed on those notes.
“Sir, i would like to have the briefcase back.. It’s been kind of lucky for me”
“Oh sure.. Why not”, he carefully removed those bundles of notes one by one and placed at his table.As soon as the old man left the room, hiran started putting the money into his secret vault .
‘As i guessed, today is indeed a great day’ , he thought. He thought of all the things he could buy with 25 lakhs. He was planning on some heavy purchases and finally it seems like the right time.
“hiran … hiran … Come Quickly”, sound of Keerthi reached his room.
As he reached the hall , he saw some unexpected people. Few men were doing rounds in his house, he felt a pat on his back
“Sir, I am Nagesh from Vigilance Department, We have received a complaint from the owner of JK constructions… "
Hiran felt for a moment that he is going to be unconscious. He couldn’t listen to the entire speech of the officer. He only heard bits and pieces of what Nagesh said.
“… We need to examine your hands to see if there are any traces of chemical in your hand”
“…. We need to check your study room… Here is the warrant " hiran knew what had happened.
He has just fallen in trap of one of the con games of Vigilance Department. They would have put some chemical in the currency notes and having moved them from briefcase, traces of those chemicals would be in his hand too. He had been caught red handed. It was starting to feel like a perfect day, how quickly everything had changed. A suspension , time in prison - future doesn’t look bright as it seemed 10 minutes back.
hiran cursed himself and that moment when he decided to take that money. He was a honest person when he started out his career, but peer pressure and need for money made him corrupt just like everyone else.Every single officer he knows is corrupt, but none of it is gonna matter now, they weren’t caught for their action , he will be.
‘My life is over’, hiran said to himself.
Tears rolled down his eyes as officers put handcuffs. People who had saluted him before has a funny grin in their face now, the only thing he could do was bend his head down. He couldn’t face Keerthi, he felt pain beyond describing – all his life’s work is gonna shatter now.Keerthi was speechless at the turn of events, she stood there motionless.
When hiran was taken away in a vehicle, a drop of tear fell from her eye.She couldn’t believe that her husband was a corrupt officer. She wiped tears from her face and dials her phone.
“Shyam[pause], Don’t worry about divorce. It’s going to be easy now”
When vigilance officer Nagesh reached his home , it was 6 am in the morning. Arresting the sub collector was no small thing, he had answers to give to his various heads in department. He was so tired when he came back home.
“Nagesh, you look really tired .. Get some sleep”, his wife said.
“I ought to be tired, last two days were hectic”, he replied.
Meanwhile 11 year old son of Nagesh woke up hearing the sound of vehicle.
“Dad Did you buy that box i told you about”
“I went into shop yesterday son, they told they don’t have it. I will get it from a shop in town tomorrow”, Nagesh replied
“But, i saw it in that shop yesterday”, his son was definitely curious.
“rakesh, don’t you have a test today.. Go and learn it. I will be coming to ask you questions”, mom said saving Nagesh from a tight corner.
“Nagesh , why do you keep lying to our son?. Just buy him that box, you know what he did.. he tried to steal a similar box from his friend this friday.. His teacher called me to discuss about it… i was really embarassed”
“I am sorry hon, i was too busy over this week and kept forgetting about it.. I will buy it today itself.. By the way, what test he is having today ?”
“Moral Science.. Let me go and ask him few questions, his grades were poor last term”
“rakesh, you revised chapter 5?”
“Yes Mom”
“Let me ask some questions, give me your notebook”
“So what is chapter V about?”
“It’s about SIN mom”
“Okay . First question .. Give some examples of sin”
“Some of the examples of sin are stealing, cheating , accepting bribes ,lying etc "
“Good. Next Question.. What happens to sinners?”
“God Punishes the sinners for their action.”
“Okay very good . Next Question. What is hypocrisy?”
“That is a long answer mommy. I haven’t learned it yet”
“Learn it quickly. Don’t waste time”