by Kunal Sharma
A Night for a Hunt
“Run!” shouted a heavyset guy, himself dodging people, vendor carts, dogs and potholes and lunging towards anything that resembled a pillar. Nakul tried to pick himself up from the footpath wrapped in banana peels, filth and wastage. He slipped to hit his head against the big metallic BMC bin lying nearby. Aware of the danger lurking in the darkness nearby, he shot up again and sped off down one of the narrow bylanes in Colaba causeway. Meanwhile, voices kept ringing in his ears: “there he is!,” “get him!” and he mustered more strength to sprint towards the popular eatery catering to scores of customers even at 3 AM in the morning.
As the eatery came in view, Nakul looked around for Prashar, the guy who had called out to him. He wished Prashar was safe, wherever he was shouting from. For a while, everything seemed quiet, reminiscent of a cold winter night working up a thin blanket of mist to spread over the weary patrons of one of the busiest nightspots of Mumbai.
Then a shriek and chaos reigned once again: “There! Stop!” Nakul jolted to see who it was, then instinctively flung his arm to run in a new direction, away from the commotion. He hit something.
“Ahh!” said a stockish man, as he tried grabbing Nakul around his mid-section and left more of his own sides exposed for another assault. Nakul tightened his fist and let him have it in his mid-riff, then with whatever he had in him, Nakul hurled the large guy outwards on to the concrete pavement. He did not stop to wait for a reaction from the thug and ran off towards the sea.
Nakul positioned himself behind one of the first gigantic rocks that he could outline. This time he waited long enough to make sure he was not being followed anymore. He waited until what seemed to be the first light of the dawn. Just as he felt he would fall asleep any moment, he mustered enough strength to pick himself up and hurry towards the darkness once more. He kept running in the shadows till his legs gave way and he made no effort to save himself from falling in the ditch dug by the waterworks on the side of the road. All this while, he was also thinking of Prashar, his dear friend. As his weary eyes closed slowly, he wished again for Prashar to be safe.