Off-Guard

Pavan Reddy a young, and very talented cinematographer,  with a big dream, He was trying to get a foothold in the industry, and He was putting in a great effort...he wanted to grow fast and wanted all the best things, all he wanted was too many things and in a short span of time.

He would make sure to be at all happening events and places, for him building his contacts was important, and didn't want to miss any opportunity and didn't want to leave any stone unturned. 

He was working in an upcoming gaming company but he was not getting the freedom to showcase his creativity, some of his friends suggested him to creating his own content and put it on Instagram which help him in showcasing his real talent.

To bring his ideas to reality he was looking at types of equipment which was out of his means and his parents who worked as government employees couldn't support him.  So he would feature himself in most of his content and whatever few he uploaded on his Instagram were very impressive.

Looking at one of his works, he got an opportunity to assist one of the renowned directors. He worked hard leaving his present job, he put his heart and soul into it.

He was dressed at his best and came early to the pre-launch party, he was very enthusiastic about checking the reaction of the people who had come there, people from the film world and a lot of journalists, He could see only the top crew members of the movie there none of his colleagues were present or they were not invited.

He found a place at the back in between all the press, The host started introducing the cast and crew of the movie, he was waiting for his chance, which never came, he thought maybe because of time only the important cast are being introduced.  

He was eagerly looking for credit in the movie, neither found in the beginning nor at the end, and he was shocked, After the movie was over, he approached the director of the movie and asked why he was not credited, Director smiled and said you were not invited why are you here? and slowly whispered in his ear, as you have come here enjoy the drinks and leave if you want to work with me in the future or in this industry, I have given you an opportunity and of course your payment as well. 

Dejected and Angry but without reacting he walked away, not wanting to rub the big guys on the wrong side, so he walks down to the bar and ask for a drink, all the guests were having a gala time, After a few drinks, he started murmuring to himself, The beautiful looking lady who was sitting next to him could get some idea about what he was saying.

She was a journalist, She thought she has got a story, and she pretended to help Pavan, She said, I think you are too drunk can I drop you...He was reluctant and said I will take an Uber...He was too drunk and was not in a position to even stand or call a cab, and so the lady journalist took the help of some attendant, was seated in her car, She sat next to him trying to find out what the whole issue was, Pavan had got an outlet and he narrated the whole issue...By the time he explained it was quite late in the night, She used his phone to call up one of the frequently called numbers and told him that he is drunk and not in a position to drive, she wanted to know where he lived so that she can drop him off there...

His close friend said, "if you are going toward the Club he stays right behind that", she said, "it's on my way if you can be near the Club gate, in the next half an hour I would drop him off." Arun waited and thanked Radhika Iyer for all her help, she gave her visiting card to Arun and asked him to ask Pavan to call if he need any help. It was too late so Arun decided to stay back, Pavans parents had never seen him in this kind of a condition when Pavan got up, he saw his friend sleeping next to him, he was surprised why he was there and how he is back home, his father got him a black coffee...

Arun asked, what happened, why did you have so many drinks, were you so happy? He said "NO", and explained the whole story, He said, "I would never like to do anything with the industry"....but he asked, how did I come back? Arun explained the entire incident and gave her visiting card to him. Pavan said Oh! God!!!! she is a Journalist, I faintly remember talking to her... Did I tell the incident to her? if she publishes I will not get any work from anywhere. He was not sure if he had spoken?

Arun said, why don't you just text to thank her to help you and request her not to publish anything if he had spoken, as it would spoil his career. As discussed Pavan followed the same and texted Radhika, She had written the story and was about to send it to her editorial team when she received his text, and the next text followed pleading not to publish anything or it will spoil his career... She felt bad for this young lad and decided to talk to him.

She called and asked, why is that you don't want to publish the story, He said, "I am from a Humble background, my parents are government employees and I had a dream to make it in the film industry, if you publish, it may be a piece of news for few days and then it will fade, but i will not get any kind of employment from any director? Don't you remember Uday Kiran Ma'am?

She said, "on the contrary, it will help you, people have appreciated your work and you may have a chance to get more work, " but pavan was convinced it will do harm and he pleaded with her not to do it. In a general situation, she would not heed, but she felt something, a connection and she said," okay, will not do it".

One day, while scrolling through Instagram, he came across Radhika Iyer. He couldn't resist the urge to reach out to her and sent her a message, asking if she would like to chat. To his surprise, Radika responded almost immediately. They hit it off right away and spent hours talking to each other every day. They shared stories of their lives, their interests, and their dreams. Pavan couldn't believe how much he had in common with Radhika and how easy it was to talk to her.

As days turned into weeks, Pavan and Radhika's conversations deepened. They shared their secrets and their vulnerabilities with each other. Pavan felt a connection with Radhika that he had never felt with anyone before. Eventually, Pavan mustered the courage to ask Radhika out on a date. She said yes and they met in person for the first time in the right senses. They had an amazing time together and it was clear that their connection was just as strong in person as it was online.

Pavan couldn't believe, Radhika was a mother of two children who are in their late teens and early twenties, They continued to talk on Instagram every day.  Pavan would ask her a lot of suggestions on his professional and personal front and Radhika was loving the attention she was getting from a young man. Radhika suggested him to make short movies and would introduce him to her connections in the industry, some of them did well on different platforms, His parents wanted him to get married as he was hitting his 30's, and as usual, he chatted with her on Instagram, He used to share the photographs of all the proposal to her and ask for her opinion and as a good friend she would also give her opinion.

At last, the family and pavan decided on Sunitha Reddy, she was working with a large software company and had all the chances of going abroad for her job, she was the only kid and her father had a lot of property, and as from the Reddy community, they had offered a handsome dowry to them. Radhika in her chat wrote, "It looks like a good proposition she looks pretty, only daughter to their parents, fat dowry and a big wedding, what else do you want?" 

He made some excellent clips for his engagement and his pre-shoot wedding which he personally did, it was a hit with Sunitha's friends and family. They had a beautiful chemistry between them. Pavan was asking for a lot of suggestions on his marriage arrangement to Radhika and she was more than willing to help, He even asked for suggestions on his wedding attire too, but On the day of the Wedding, she gave some excuses about not being able to attend because of some professional commitments and avoided the wedding...

From the word go things weren't great between Pavan and Sunitha, She was not happy with the surprise honeymoon destination pavan selected for them, She always fantasized to visit Europe for her honeymoon and wanted a destination wedding, but due to Pavan family's insistence they had to have a Hyderabad wedding attended by tons of people, instead she wanted only close family and friends to attend

The distance from her office to her new house was too far, it was taking a couple of hours to drive to reach the office, initially, she tried, but after a few weeks, she bounced the idea of moving to some closer place to her office as Pavans office was also there. Pavan's family was opposed to this idea. While they had issues regularly, Pavan would get back to Radhika to discuss in length all his problems and she would patiently hear out and gave suggestions as a good friend. Now chatting with Radhika was more about bitching about Sunitha than anything else.

Radhika once said," you should go to a counselor than to me", and put some laughing emojis. She was also surprised to see that both of them don't follow the other on any social media she asked," why you don't do so" and he said "what is there to follow her, She has only her selfies, she has not even a single photo of us together, she is very selfish".

It has been two years now and they have moved out of their parent's place and living close to the workplace, now the arguments had moved on to who pays the bills and who will do the work, Sunitha had lost respect for Pavan as she felt, she earns better than him and more qualified than him.

One of the days In between some argument, he said, "how I thought you would be half as good as Radhika??  and I always wanted a wife like her" in the heat of the moment she didn't give much importance, but the next day when she was thinking about, who this Radika was? She didn't want to confront him so went to his Instagram and tried looking for Radhika.

On the same day, while chatting with Radhika, Pavan asked her how do I resolve the regular conflict between him and Sunitha, Radhika suggested, why don't you take a break and take a holiday with her spend a lot of time together... for which he replied, "I don't find her any more attractive and don't feel like being with her, I wished she was dead," he continued," I find you more attractive and would rather go for a holiday with you than her..."

Radhika suggested, if you are not feeling the relationship going anywhere why don't you divorce her and  Blushed and encouraged him to chat more about her friendship and herself as she felt pampered....

That night Sunitha had a different plan, as Pavan walked in, she hugged him and said," I was thinking the whole day and thought I am being too demanding, I thought we should give ourselves a second chance and asked him to have a shower and dress and she would lay the dinner for him.

Pavan was surprised but happy thinking, that Sunitha was thinking positively, As He came out he was surprised to see Sunitha dressed in a red gown, and the dining table lit with a candle and a bottle of whiskey, and some of his favorite food, he was moved, They kissed each other and she played his favorite songs in the background took some beautiful pics... 

Sunitha made him drink till he was knocked off, Then she unlocked his phone and went through all his chats took the screenshots and forwarded them to her mail ID, and deleted all Screen Shots and mail from his mobile. She also planted a clone app on his mobile, where she was able to know what he is doing with his mobile.

The next day she took a printout of all the chats with Radhika and other close friends Pavan was chatting with and spend a lot of time reading that, she was shocked, at what he has shared with Radhika. She was angry with him but wanted to have more proof, so she decided not to go home that night, instead went to her parent's place and called Paven very sweetly saying, mom is not well, and she will come back the next day, The whole night she couldn't sleep, she went on and on reading the chats of him and Radhika, She also looked at the profile of hers in Instagram....

Sunitha decided to put Pavan and Radhika in a lot of trouble, in the meantime, she saw pavan chatting with Radhika on the cloned mobile, Pavan had shared his and Sunitha's picture from last night for which Radhika put an envy emoji and asked all the problem has been sorted out and is divorce out of the equation? 

This was a final trigger to the ego of Sunitha...She decided that both of them will suffer, Next few weeks she was spending her time thinking about what she can do, she thought of handing the chat to Radhika's Husband then she changed her mind as at the max it might be a fight, but she wanted her to suffer more....she thought of putting it in the public domain but how will it make pavan suffer? 

All kinds of evil thoughts were on her mind, She also decided to leave Pavan...

Sunitha falls unconscious on her workstation, Rajaram her colleague sees that and tries to wake her up by sprinkling water on her face, but she doesn't wake up, by that time other colleagues had gathered around and one other colleague finds a strip of medicine lying next to her work station, so they take her to the nearest hospital and hand over the empty strip and tell the doctor we are not sure what happened, but we found her unconscious...

The doctor calls the local police as it was a Medico-legal case and asks one of the colleagues to stay back and rest to leave, Rajaram offered to stay back and he calls her parents and informs them. They Rush to the hospital and by time police also arrive and start questioning the parents and Rajaram...

Police mistook Rajaram to be her husband and rudely spoke to him, He got frightened and said, "Sir, I am her colleague,As she sits beside my cabin and i saw her fall unconscious, we all brought her to the hospital,"  Then he asked their permission and wanted to leave back to the office while going back he handed over Sunitha's hand bag to her mother.

Police asked them for the bag and started checking for the content, with so many things they also found a suicide note and it was a four-page letter, blaming Pavan, his family, and Radhika...

After a bit of effort from Doctor, Sunitha gained consciousness, Doctor said nothing to worry about, and that you can take her home after a couple of hours of observation, She had not consumed much to harm her.

As her parents walked in and looked at the police behind them Sunitha started crying a loud, parents asked her if you were facing any trouble, and why have you not informed us, the inspector stepped in to question her, Sunitha's father interferes and says," sir, if you are okay, I will come with her to the police station in a day or two and do all formalities,  he further said we would be booking your daughter under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The section states that: "whoever attempts to commit suicide  and does any act towards the commission of a such offense, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both."

He also said, "usually we take various factors into consideration before booking the case, such as the person's mental state, the circumstances that led to the suicide attempt, and the extent of harm caused, which is done to ensure that the individual is provided with the necessary medical and psychological help instead of punishment."  

He said," we are keeping this note with us for further investigation and would prefer you come tomorrow to the police station.

Pavan was not informed, Late evening, when he didn't find Sunitha home, he started calling her number, and her father picked up the call and told him, don't try to call my daughter any further, we will meet you in court" He was surprised, He said,  nothing has happened between us, and pleaded to give the phone to Sunitha, Father Refuses and said, "she attempted suicide."

Pavan got worried and called his parents, They asked him to come home immediately and they tried speaking to Sunitha's parents, they also got a similar response... 

Pavan was so scared that he locked his apartment and went to his parent's house and was not going to the office as well, After a couple of days a police jeep arrived at Pavan's parent's place and picked up all three of them...

They were booked under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code criminalizes dowry harassment, and states that any husband or relative of the husband who subjects a woman to cruelty, defined as harassment for the purpose of coercing her or her relatives to meet any unlawful demand for property or valuable security.

While questing Pavan was asked about Radhika and where she lived, his Parents were ignorant about her. Pavan Said "She has nothing to do with this. and how do you know about her, she is just a good friend to me". Police said Sunitha has also mentioned her in the complaint, if you tell us it is fine or we will also go to her place and pick her up. 

Hesitantly he gave the number and a landmark where she stays to the police saying, I don't know the correct address.

When the Police went away, Pavan's mother asked him, who Radhika was and why she is being called into your and Sunitha's issue, He said she is the same journalist and I was in touch with her and would discuss with her over chat lot of issues.

Pavan's Mother was furious and said, "she is almost my age, did you not find anyone better, By the time Radhika came in as police called and said, Pavan was in their custody, she came with a lawyer to understand the situation, she was thinking it would be drunken and drive case, As she approached towards Pavan, her mother pounced in between and gave a tight slap on Radhika's face saying, don't you have shame to chat with my son, who may be of your son's age.

She didn't know how to react and was not clear about the situation, then the police inspector explained the complete situation and told her that she also has to be in custody as her name is also mentioned in Sunitha's suicide letter.

Now all of them are booked under section 305 (Abetment to suicide) and under Section 498A. Radhika looks at the Lawyer and he says both Section 305 & 498A of the Indian Penal Code is a non-bailable and cognizable offence. This means that a police officer can arrest the accused without a warrant and the accused cannot be released on bail easily, they have to be produced before a Judicial Magistrate within 24 hours of arrest. So, I will try to prepare a ground tomorrow in front of the Magistrate.

She is not sure what to do? and how she got involved in such a mess, she starts pleading with the inspector if she can be out of this, we used to have causal chat, nothing serious, I never got involved in his family, police officer remove a bunch of papers and puts in front of her and her lawyer, it was her last almost three years chat including photos they have shared, She was shocked and looked at Pavan and said: "You Moron, how did you keep all this on your Phone".

Inspector laughed "I think we got your motive, very clear now"

She got to her handbag to get her phone, which the inspector snatched and said, you can access all your belonging after tomorrow after we produce you in court, she said, I would like to call my husband, and request you to please give my phone, Inspector obliged.

As her husband rushed, he heard what has happened, and he was shocked, he was not sure what to do? He tried pulling up some strings to get her out, but nothing was working out and Sunitha made Rajaram post her suicide letter and her story on his Facebook, without thinking much people started bitching about Radhika and Pavan.

Sunitha staged her suicide with the help of Rajaram and also sort his help to make it public in the media, by the time police came to know of the Facebook post and pull it down the damage was done, not only on social media but also electronic media started discussing on moral values of our society and where it was going.

Radhika's kids also were shocked, when their dad arrived they asked, what had happened, and he said, wait I am sure there is some misunderstanding, The next day when all of them were produced to the court, Radhika's whole family was there to support.

The Judge pronounces judicial custody for 14 days. 

Radhika breaks down, she just cries loudly and requests the judge that she has not done anything, but she was taken away by the police. Radhika's kids run toward her, she hugs them tightly and says kids, I have done nothing wrong...Her husband Pleads to Sunitha, to get her out of the case, please understand it will ruin our family.

She looks back without any remorse and says, did she think what she was doing to my family....and walked away.

Radhika's family was the butt of all jokes in the society they were staying in, So her husband moved the kids to a different country for higher studies, in the process, they lost one academic year.

Days passed to months and her bail application was postponed all the time, Radhika's husband was alone standing, and none of her brothers or parents were in touch, coming from a conservative family they felt, the family image was tarnished.

After almost nearly two years she gets bail, and when she comes out of jail, she had no emotions, she was quiet, not talking to her husband also, she sits in the car, and the whole drive of nearly three hours she was quiet when her husband offers her tea or food, she refuses and says just take me home.

When walking from the parking to her apartment, she could see the eyes following her and gossiping about her. 

After a shower and she makes coffee for herself and her husband and sits in one corner of the sofa in the living room and Spoke softly to her husband, I have lost my job, my relatives, friends, and the status I made for myself over years for some harmless chat with a person, whom I didn't even know properly," and looked him in the eyes," do you think I have done a mistake or was cheating on you? your thought will matter to me the most."

He sat next to her and looked into her eyes," will I be here with you if I wasn't? let's work together to come out of this mess... She hugged him tightly and cried inconsolably...