Madhuri plugged in her earphone and switched on her playlist for a rainy day, she was dancing and Humming to some romantic rainy number, her music was interrupted by an incoming call. She was surprised to find Sam’s call, He generally doesn’t call at this hour, it was a video call, Sam was now in Europe on a Business engagement, she showed SAM how beautiful the climate was and he showed her the first snowfall of the season. She Picked her Hot Tea and walked back to the Balcony and had a chat with Sam, and asked, when is that you will return, He said maybe the work will be over in a fortnight.
Madhuri and SAM had been married for ten years now and both were very focused on their career. Madhuri worked in an advertising agency and SAM was Working as Sales Head for A software company, Both Their job demanded a lot of travel. When someone used to ask, both of you look so happy after so many years of marriage; SAM used to joke that,” we are weekend couples, most of the week we don’t meet each other and if lucky maybe we cross each other at home and if there is no travel we meet on weekends otherwise our married life is on Video calls….so where is the time for us to argue on any issue… Thanks to our schedule none of our parents are also willing to stay with us, so the major part of the conflict is also gone”, and he would laugh out loud.
Both made it a point every six months, that they would both take a week off from work and holiday in the most beautiful locations, switching off from work. But most of the time, the holiday would look like another business travel, as they feel they have stayed in the hotel before and the food they have eaten also was the same, so last few years they started renting cottages where they could cook and be by themselves, they would take self-drive scooters to go around the places, which they started to enjoy.
After a hearty long chat, she thought of watching a movie, while seeing the movie, she was looking at her mobile, if she has received any messages, she was checking in all her social media messengers but there were none. She also tried reaching Tushar, he didn’t pick up the call, it has been close to a week that Tushar is not responding, properly. She was worried.
She had to catch an early morning flight, so she thought of going to bed early, but she was not feeling sleepy, so she went to the balcony Sat on her easy chair set her alarm and started going through her Instagram account, she looked at Tushar’s page and started liking some of his old pictures and also commented on them, she was hopeful, he will call back…When the alarm rang, she never realized, when she dozed off, going through the mobile, She hurried herself to catch her flight.
While her meeting was on, she was getting calls regularly from an unknown number, at around Lunchtime, she called back the number and it was the number of a police inspector from her area, He was very rude, “why are you not picking up the calls?” She replied, Politely and a little worried, and asked what was the matter, I was in a meeting? Did anything go wrong at my house? She was worried, in a hurry, did she close the door, or did she not switch off the Gas stove?
He again replied, “Meeting my foot! You be in the station in an hour”, she said,” it is not possible as I am in Bangalore and only will be returning tomorrow morning”. “OH! That means it was pre-Planned, you killed Tushar and took the flight to Bangalore”. She was shocked and Choked on her own breath for a moment, she started shivering, she said, “what are you saying, I have nothing to do with that…but please tell me what happened to Tushar?” Inspector said, “We found him dead in his apartment, and we feel it could be murder or suicide, anyways we’ll find out! The last call on his mobile was yours and we saw a lot of messages from you on his mobile… How do you know him?” She said,” He is a good friend of mine,” He said,”okay…Come and meet me tomorrow first thing in the morning…”
Her post-lunch meeting was bad, She was not able to concentrate, Throughout her journey, she was thinking what would have gone wrong with him, She then called Mini, she was the person who had introduced her to Tushar; Mini said, “I am not sure, I am not in touch with him for a long time and are you still In touch with him? and how did you come to know about his death?” She answered mini that the police had called her looking at his call log. Mini asked, “Is he doing any work for you to be in touch?”, Madhuri was not comfortable answering, she said, “I'm in the airport and will call once I land”.
While waiting for her flight Madhuri recalled a year or more before while she was walking down to the Library to change her books in the society, Mini saw her and called her loud, she was having her coffee at society coffee house, after her usual greeting Mini, asked how the work was going on?, before she could answer, A handsome looking guy walked in and greeted Mini and apologized for being a little late, Mini introduced Madhuri and Tushar, She said He is an Artist, He does wonderful painting and also looking for some modeling assignments and asked him to show his painting to Madhuri and told, “I wanted you to get introduced to her and you are lucky that I could find her going this way”.
He showed photographs of his paintings, Madhuri was impressed with his work, she said, “let me check if I can help him in any way and was leaving and Tushar asked if he could have her Facebook ID so that he can be in touch, which she very gladly gave. Tushar had sent a friend request and it was around three months but never bothered to accept, but a couple of months later her company was looking for a fresh face to feature in their ad campaign and she recollected about Tushar, She called up Mini and asked for his number, but she said, she is not having it, she will look in Facebook and inform her, by then she also recollected, about his friend request, so she accepted and send him a message asking to connect with her and to her surprise in a few minutes she got a call from him, she reacted,” Are you online all the time? He laughs and said, “maybe for a beautiful lady like you”.
He was signed up for his first assignment with Madhuri’s company and while the ad shoot was on, they both become good friends…. As a token of appreciation for getting him a break, he painted a portrait of her and gifted, she was very impressed with his work. Soon they started chatting with each other and liking each other’s posts and regularly were in touch on other social media as well.
Tushar would not leave any chance of flirting with her and she was enjoying the same, When on tour or alone at home she would have long conversations with him, She would share all kind of work-related and personal issues with him and he would listen to her patiently… as the time passed, they would meet up for a coffee or would go out for dinner sometime for movies. Madhuri had found a good friend in Tushar, but he was expecting a little more than that.
Whenever he would try to make advances, She would put him down, but after a few weeks of silence, she would get back to him to talk to him, she knew she had feelings towards him but was not sure about what that was… Tushar knew all about Madhuri but was very secretive about his life. He never had told her much about his life, she always used to wonder why, even though he was so Handsome, why, he didn’t have a girlfriend, why he had never talked about it.
As she was reaching her house, Tushar’s thoughts were still going on in her mind. The next morning, when she reached the police station She was taken to a chamber and was asked a series of questions about her relationship with Tushar and about her life as well. She said, “she knew him professionally and over a period of time had become good friends”. They asked her to let them know about where he was from and any idea about his family? For which she had no answer….
The Police officer asked her again,” what kind of relationship do you have with him?” She said, how many times will you ask, just because, mine was the last call to him doesn’t mean, I will know all about him. He smiled and said, “we have got all records of you having a chat with him and the Photographs of you both dining at many restaurants and visiting movie halls, so be clear and truthful, don’t try to lie with us. And moreover, we have found a lot of intimate pictures and videos of a lot of women with him on his laptop and we also found drugs in his house.
Madhuri broke down and said, “Sir, I have nothing to do with all this, I had taken him as a model for an advertisement and he was a nice painter and good person so became good friends,” the Officer gave a sarcastic laugh and said “Good Friends like he was with other women”, he further said, “we have not found any such picture of your with him as of now but we are still looking at his folders, You can leave now, but you should not leave the city without our permission.”
Madhuri was all shaken and wanted to call Sam and inform, but was afraid he would misunderstand, so she called Mini and wanted to meet her, she called her over to her house. Mini saw Madhuri visibly shaken, she asked what the matter was, as she narrated the whole story, Madhuri could find Mini getting worried, and asked what the matter was, Mini became very uncomfortable and with a lot of hesitation and worry Mini started narrating, “When we met last time, I was friendly with him and was swept over by his charm and sense of Humour, He would make me feel very special and I was bowled over by him, Once when I went over to his place he wanted to be intimate to me, I was okay about that, but that moment family crossed my mind and I said no to him, he was so good, he said he is okay with it and got me a cup of coffee, which he had spiked with some sedative, Later he stared blackmailing me for money, which I paid to get my photographs, but not sure he has any copies, that is why when you asked me for his number, I didn’t give. I hope my photos are not there with him or I will be called to the police station, my family will come to know and I will be ruined.”
After sometime when they both calmed down, Mini asked, “do you have any of your picture with him or”…. Madhuri said….”NO NO NO…. I was friendly with him, we used to go out to restaurants and would chat for long, but never had anything like that, but he used to flirt with me on chat and I never objected to that and Police have all the records of that and they feel I have a hand in his Murder.”
Madhuri went back home, she would always be tensed and worried, not able to concentrate on her work, she started missing her deadlines, her colleagues could make out something was wrong, they though, it could be some domestic issues, but no one was comfortable to ask her. Sam also found something amiss in her behavior, she would be lost most of the time, so he thought it could be work-related pressure, so never bothered to ask her and thought he should give her space, few months passed and there was no call from the police and slowly the story also died from the media. One day when she was in the office suddenly, she got a call from the officer and asked her to meet her in one of the coffee houses, She was surprised why is he calling her to a coffee house.
Without thought and not informing anyone she left to meet the officer, everyone in the office was surprised by her behavior….As she waited for the officer in the coffee house, she was nervous and sweating in an AC room, As the officer came, said asked in a hurry, what the matter was? He said, “Relax Madhuri, let us order something and discuss at length”, she said, she wouldn’t want anything but he still ordered for both of them something to eat and soft drinks.
She couldn’t wait to understand what he had to say, so she asked,” what happened to the case?’… Officer smiled and said, that it is solved, He was involved in drugs and blackmailing so, he was murdered by one of his clients. Madhuri couldn't believe but had a sigh of relief and smiled… Officer immediately said, “you look good when you smile. She Thanked him and wanted to take leave she said, “I have to go back to the office” …. He asked, “what are doing today evening can we go out for a movie?” Madhuri was caught Surprised! Instead of leaving she sat back, and asked, “what makes you feel I will go out with you? “forcing a smile, she said. “I know you will come…. And he pushed his mobile toward her and asked her to have a look, she was shocked….
She said, “the Pictures are not mine; they are morphed!!!” He said, “true, very true… but with the chat records, I have of you and Tushar and if these pictures are put together, And I give it to your husband, will he ever believe you or better if I pass it to the media?” She asked, “what do you want?” He coolly and calmly said,” I am just asking you to come for a movie with me, when you can go with him, why not with me.” She said, “it is not possible, I don’t want to” … He looked at her, smiled, and said, “I will give you some time to think, I will call you back later and, in the meantime, pay the bill and go back to your office with a smile and for the record, you look nice with a smile” and he left.
She called up Mini and wanted to inform that the case is solved and what the police officer is trying to do, her mobile was switched off, so on the way back home, she dropped into her house, her son opened the house and informed, mom is not there and he was not sure when she will come….by then her husband came from behind and asked Madhuri to come in, she said, it is fine and asked where Mini was, He said they have decided to part ways on some issues and she is back to her parents’ house at Kolkata.
Madhuri was more worried now, many thoughts crossed her mind, she became quieter, whenever there was a message or a ring on the phone, she would be paranoid, her work was suffering and would get into an argument with anyone on the slightest pretext. The same was happening at home as well, Sam was surprised with her behavior, she would be angry with him for coming home late from work, which had never happened till date, she was not even bothering about the maid, Normally she was very particular. Everyone was noticing the change, she was not allowing Sam to travel, she was acting like a kid, she wanted him to be around her always….
As the officer’s harassment increased, she decided to go out with him, she called him to a park on the outskirt of the city and said, “I can’t take this harassment anymore”, so he laughed and said, “so you have decided to give in to me”, with a wicked smile. She said, “no, I have decided to end my life” and showed him a bottle of poison and a suicide note blaming him as the reason, and she tried gobbling down the bottle, but he was quick, He pushed the bottle aside and snatched the suicide note from her. He took her to a nearby hospital and told her not to do any stupid thing like this and he would surely show the things to her husband if he was blamed.
She reached home late and straight went to bed. Sam was getting worried about her health, He called up her close friend in office and asked if Madhuri was facing any work pressure or any problem at the office, She said, “we were thinking otherwise, that she is having some pressure from home, her behavior is not at all normal for the last five to six months”, He said the same to here. He thought he should take her for a holiday and asked her if she was keen…. She said, “I know I have only been trouble in everyone’s life…and started crying”, He was not able to understand what the matter was. She said, “I want a break from all this, I want to take a holiday, I want to go to a place where I don’t know anyone”.
She sent a message to her boss that she wanted off for a few days…. She told Sam that she will shop some stuff from the market and do the packing, and you take off from the office and come back. He agreed. Evening, Sam was in the lift, Madhuri looking at her mobile, carrying some shopping bag came into the lift, she was so engrossed in the mobile that she failed to notice Sam in the lift, he thought, she might be busy reading and he was behind a couple of people, as all of them got down and the lift reached the 25th floor, Sam got down, but Madhuri was lost in her thoughts, as the door was closing, Sam shouted asking her to get out the lift, He was shocked with her behavior and though there is some serious problem, rather than just stress.
A week’s holiday it was more like two strangers living in a room, she would hardly speak to him, but wouldn’t allow him to be out of sight, she wanted him around. She would be reading a book, wouldn’t like to come out, nor would like to dress up or take care of her and any notification on the mobile would make her go nervous.
Sam knew the problem is bigger than just stress, He called his doctor and informed about the Situation of Madhuri, He suggested him to take her to a counselor, While having their dinner he asked her softly, brushing his hand over her hair, “Should we visit a counselor”, she said,” I am okay”, without blinking.
After prolonged treatment, she went back to the office to resign from her job and discarded her mobile number and closed all her social media accounts and told Sam she would like to be at home rather then working at least for a few years, she said, I think it is time to expand our family, And came close to him and hugged tightly…. She also said would prefer you to take a transfer to some other place where she would love to have more fresh air….
Very interesting Sir!!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed a lot