Our Story Needs No Filter

by Sudeep Nagarkar

  ‘No, but Krishna has given me another task. What’s strange is this time he’s asked me to deliver the parcel alone and not collect any bags. Has he become suspicious of us?’ Chris asked, sounding worried.

  ‘He wouldn’t have assigned you another task if that were the case. And I’m supposed to deliver a parcel too, so I think we’re still in the safe zone here. Where are you delivering the parcels?’

  ‘Ambala. And you?’

  ‘Somewhere in Haryana, like last time,’ Raghu answered.

  ‘Did you manage to record anything?’ Chris asked.

  ‘Yes. But we’ll talk about it later. It’s not safe to divulge details on the phone. But do stay alert during the task. You never know when you get an opportunity to record something. Good luck,’ Raghu said and hung up the phone.

  After days of disillusionment and confusion, Raghu was now determined to gather all the scattered pieces of his life, and Chris was supporting him. Though Raghu wasn’t successful in extracting the reason behind Chris supporting Krishna in his illegal acts, he was able to convince him to expose Krishna publicly. The next day, Chris began his journey to Ambala in the assigned car. He reached the delivery destination before sundown. A few minutes post his arrival, an Innova entered the delivery compound, and like always, Chris delivered the parcels kept in his boot and sat in the backseat without asking any questions. He messaged Raghu saying he was on his way back but had been unable to record anything. Clicking photos wouldn’t have helped the cause as he knew they needed substantial proof to expose Krishna.

  Raghu replied, Don’t worry, we will soon find tangible proof. Just delivered the parcels. On my way back now.

  Chris put the phone back in his pocket and thought about the last few days. Megha still didn’t know of his involvement with the whole thing and he wondered how she would react once she found out. He would tell her it was important for him to get involved so deeply so that he could save Raghu from Krishna’s clutches. Chris knew from the beginning that Krishna was just a pseudo-nationalist and thus, he had taken this route.

  With a million thoughts racing in his mind, he didn’t realize when he dozed off. An hour later when he opened his eyes, he looked out of the window and realized that the driver had taken a different route to Delhi.

  ‘Why have you taken this route?’ Chris asked. Something didn’t seem right.

  ‘Sir, I got a call from Krishna who instructed me to take this route since there were some security concerns on the main route.’

  Chris wasn’t convinced. He was familiar with the routes in that area and knew that the road they had taken was in fact longer and generally taken by truck drivers. He smelled something fishy.

  ‘Krishna told you to take this route?’ Chris asked nervously.

  The driver turned around to answer, but before he could say anything, Chris saw a truck speeding towards them, head-on. ‘Look out!’ he screamed, but it was too late. Before they knew it, there was a huge collision and the car went flipping across the road, sending both Chris and the driver flying. Chris landed a few feet away from the car, his head oozing out blood, and specks of shattered glass all around him. He felt extremely dizzy, like the whole world was revolving around him. The driver was lying motionless a few metres away from him. Chris tried retrieving his phone from his pocket, but he was unable to move. He lay there crying out in pain. Finally, after repeated attempts, he caught hold of the phone and dialled Jai’s number but before he could say anything, the phone fell from his hands. ‘Can anyone hear me?’ he cried feebly.

  He wanted to run towards his friends—Jai, Megha, Raghu, Ruhi—but his body gave up and he lay there unconscious. Was it a tragedy or a planned strike? Whatever it was, he was pushed towards the doors of death.

  Eighteen

  Life had check-mated Chris but luckily, some passers-by spotted them and took them to the nearest hospital. The driver of the speeding truck had fled from the scene. Chris was taken to the emergency ward and the car driver was declared dead on arrival. One of the people who brought them in had the good sense to use Chris’s phone and call the last dialled number to inform them about the accident. Luckily, it was Jai’s number, and he left aside everything and rushed to the hospital with Megha.

  ‘How’s he? Is it very serious?’ Jai asked as soon as he reached. The group of people who had admitted Chris in the hospital was patiently waiting outside his room.

  ‘Don’t worry. Catch your breath first,’ one of them replied.

  ‘What are the doctors saying?’

  ‘He is out of danger. Luckily, we brought him well in time. Now that you are here, we’ll take our leave.’

  Jai and Megha heaved a sigh of relief. They thanked them for all their help and went to the on-call doctor to find out more about Chris’s condition.

  ‘He is lucky to have got away with a few injuries, considering the impact of the accident. You can meet him after a few hours, once he is well rested. Don’t worry, he’s a strong boy. So cheer up!’ the doctor assured them.

  ‘Thank you, doctor,’ Jai said with folded hands and exited his room.

  Outside, both the friends paced down the corridor impatiently. As they looked around, they saw a family crying over the death of their teenaged son; another was celebrating the birth of a baby. It made them think about the transitory nature of life.

  ‘Do you want some water?’ Jai asked Megha as she sat leaning her head against the wall.

  ‘No. Do you?’

  ‘It’s okay. I’ll help myself.’

  Jai walked towards the cooler to get himself a glass of water but something was wrong with the nozzle. A hospital staff member directed him to another cooler that was working. As he walked towards that direction, he saw Ruhi; she seemed to be searching for a room. On seeing Jai, she burst into tears.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Jai screamed.

  ‘Calm down, Jai, it’s a hospital, not your bedroom,’ Megha chided him as she walked up from behind.

  ‘I don’t care. Just tell her to go away from here. I don’t want to see her around me. We trusted her and she backstabbed us by joining Akhilesh’s party. That’s not what real friends do.’

  ‘Will you please calm down? Don’t forget we are here for Chris who is her friend too. She has every right to meet him. Why are you behaving like a school kid?’ Megha tried calming him down.

  ‘She can be a friend to no one. First, she betrayed Raghu and then us by joining a man who had once tried to harass you,’ Jai replied.

  ‘For God’s sake, calm down. I am requesting you. You can at least respect my words, right?’ Megha pleaded.

  As they argued, Ruhi kept her head down, shame-faced. She knew that in Jai’s eyes, she was at fault and that it was not the right time or place to explain her side of the story. So she preferred not to react to his allegations. Finally they all walked towards Chris’s room. No one spoke a word to each other until the nurse came out of the room and announced that Chris was awake and that they could meet him. Everyone rushed inside and the moment they saw him, they let their emotions flow. Megha and Ruhi couldn’t stop crying and held on to his hand tightly. ‘I told you not to drink so much you, idiot,’ Jai said in mock humour, concern lining his face.

  ‘You know I don’t drink.’

  ‘That’s why I told you to start drinking, you dumbass.’

  Both of them grinned, and Jai came over to give him a hug. He didn’t bother wiping his tears.

  ‘We thought we had lost you,’ Jai said, choked up.

  ‘I am not going to die till I find myself a girlfriend. Remember my grand plan?’ Chris winked. After a pause, he added, ‘I want to tell you guys something before it’s too late.’

  ‘Not now. You need to rest,’ Megha replied.

  ‘No . . . I have to, otherwise god knows what might happen.’

  ‘What is it, Chris?’ Jai asked

  ‘It was not an accident. Krishna planned the whole thing,’ he stammered.

  ‘How are you so
sure?’ Ruhi asked.

  Chris explained how the driver had got sudden instructions to take a different route, how the collision had occurred from nowhere and how the truck driver conveniently made an escape before anyone could catch him.

  ‘He wanted to kill me because . . .’ Chris’s voice trailed off.

  ‘Because what?’ Megha was getting impatient.

  ‘Because I was posing a threat to his organization. I’ve been hiding something from all of you,’ he said slowly. ‘I’ve secretly been delivering parcels for Krishna illegally. Raghu is involved in this too. It’s a big racket and now, since their work was done, they probably wanted to get rid of us.’

  Megha lost her calm with this admission. ‘Are you freaking serious? Even you?’

  ‘You have every right to be angry with me. But hear me out completely first, please. I joined him because I knew that was the only way I could expose him. Raghu was so taken in by his ideologies! When Jai told me he suspected Krishna’s involvement in a bigger scandal, I had to step in and do something myself. I won Krishna’s trust over a period of time by attending his lectures and agreeing to whatever he said. But he deliberately kept me away from Raghu so that we didn’t gang up against him.’

  Jai, Megha and Ruhi listened on, too stunned to speak. Chris revealed every secret of Kraanti. ‘Please save Raghu. He was delivering a parcel the same time as I was and I’m sure they want to get rid of him too. I really hope he’s safe!’

  Ruhi remembered the conversation she had overheard. So the second person was none other than Chris!

  ‘Raghu knew you were involved, right?’ Ruhi asked.

  ‘Yes, but only recently, just before you broke up with him. He even told me he would get to the bottom of the whole thing because he made a promise to you.’

  ‘Oh, please.’

  ‘No, Ruhi, it’s true. In fact, these past few days we’ve been looking for an opportunity to obtain some sort of proof against Krishna, but haven’t been successful. Although, just before we left for our respective tasks, Raghu said he wanted to tell me something, but we decided on a later time since it was risky to do it over the phone.’

  Ruhi felt guilty for having misunderstood Raghu. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine it could cost him his life one day. Now she knew why he chose not to say anything on the matter. He had put his life in danger because he wanted to collect concrete proof against Krishna and his Kraanti first. Suddenly she felt a wave of concern for Raghu.

  ‘I will never forgive myself for putting Raghu in harm’s way,’ she cried.

  ‘Instead of discussing who’s right and who’s wrong, it’d be better if we save Raghu. His life is in grave danger,’ Chris reminded them.

  ‘Where could he be?’ Jai spoke at last.

  ‘Somewhere in Haryana. That’s all I know. Go save him, guys, he needs you.’

  ‘Where is Raghu?’ Jai asked Krishna after spotting him at a dhaba a few metres away from the university.

  ‘Why the hell are you asking me? Call him and ask him for yourself. I am sure you have his number,’ Krishna stated arrogantly.

  ‘Don’t act like you don’t know anything. Chris is in the hospital and you very well know why. So come out with it or we’ll get it out of you. And what have you done with Raghu?’ Jai asked in anger.

  ‘Are you drunk? What are you talking about? Firstly, I have no idea why Chris is in the hospital, and secondly, how will I know where Raghu is? He is very much a part of the core group of AISC and he’s a hard-working guy—we get along really well. So why would I do anything to him?’ Krishna feigned innocence.

  ‘Look, dude, I am warning you, if anything happens to Raghu because of you, I won’t spare you.’

  ‘Mind your language. You are a presidential candidate of the college,’ Krishna retorted.

  ‘Mind your actions. You too are one,’ Jai replied and walked off.

  Jai knew Krishna would not spill the beans so easily. There had to be another way out. He tried calling Raghu repeatedly, but his phone was switched off. Searching randomly all across Haryana was senseless, and would possibly be a waste of precious time. Jai went to Raghu’s hostel to see if he’d returned, but he was nowhere to be found and his fellow hostellers had not seen him all day.

  With a look of dejection, Jai returned to the college grounds where Megha was waiting for him. ‘Did you check his Facebook or Instagram feed?’ Megha asked as she logged on to her own Facebook account to see if there were any clues there.

  ‘He has not posted anything since last week. Neither on Facebook, nor on Instagram. Not even on Snapchat,’ Jai replied.

  ‘Should we file a complaint with the police?’ Megha could see no other option.

  ‘No, that would simply add to the confusion. Also, we still don’t know what Krishna has planned. I don’t want Raghu to be in danger owing to a small mistake on our part.’

  ‘While you were gone, Ruhi made calls to all the nearby hospitals to check if anyone named Raghu had been admitted recently, but that turned out to be a dead end as well,’ Megha added in a feeble tone.

  In another part of the campus, as she peeped into various classrooms looking for Raghu, Ruhi bumped into Akhilesh. ‘I heard Raghu’s gone missing? But why do you look so worried? It shouldn’t bother you now that you guys have broken up,’ Akhilesh said, rubbing salt on her wounds.

  ‘Wow, what kind of logic is that? Whether we are in a relationship or not is none of your business. Just because I am a part of the SCI, I can’t be dancing around to your tunes all day. Raghu is missing; whether he is a part of the SCI or the ABCP or the AISC, I don’t care. All I know is that a student of MGU has gone missing. When Mani went missing, did you celebrate, Mr Akhilesh?’ Ruhi fumed in anger.

  Akhilesh stayed tight-lipped.

  ‘Don’t you see a strange similarity in both the cases?’ Ruhi asked.

  ‘You mean AISC and ABCP are both involved?’

  ‘Who said anything about ABCP? They were neither involved then, nor are they now. I don’t know about AISC either,’ Ruhi replied. She didn’t know if she could trust Akhilesh with the information.

  Raghu’s sudden disappearance had stabbed Ruhi’s heart and her conscience, and with each passing hour, she grew nervous and impatient. Slowly the news spread across the campus. Everyone had their own take. Some raised questions about Krishna, others pointed fingers at Jai and his team. Soon someone spread a rumour that Raghu was dead. Ruhi tried to look for the source of the rumour, but gave up soon after. She cursed herself for having mistrusted Raghu in the first place. Desperate, she kept calling on his number and although it was switched off, she sent him a message,

  I don’t know what to say other than that I am so sorry, I truly am sorry. I took out all of my anger and hate on you and I will hate myself forever for the way I treated you. I am sorry that it took me so long to realize that. I hurt you so badly and I didn’t even see it. I pushed you away to the point that you had to leave. We are all worried for your safety, including Jai and Megha. They love you. Come back—for them, if not for me. I love you so much. Please come back.

  The next day, Chris was discharged from the hospital. It was bad news for Krishna, but by then he had already politicized the news of Raghu missing in his favour. Within no time, he beat up the drum of discrimination and alleged in front of the crowds that it was the ABCP which was responsible for this. The party had plotted Raghu’s disappearance since he had backstabbed its presidential candidate, Jai. And just like that, Krishna’s master stroke right before the elections turned the wave of student favour to his benefit. Jai looked on helplessly, and both Megha and Chris could do little to comfort him.

  The evening of 12 July 2016

  Raghu was on his way back after completing his task and delivering the parcels to the designated location in Haryana. He was happy because he had finally managed to collect some proof against Krishna the other day—it wasn’t incriminating evidence, but still, it was something. Now he could finally convinc
e Ruhi of his love and that he had never intended to lie to her. He was merely a victim of circumstance who had unknowingly played into the hands of Krishna.

  Raghu thought of calling Ruhi to give her the good news, but then decided against it. It would be way nicer if he told her in person. He looked out of the window, imagining his future with Ruhi—a future full of laugher and happiness. But his happiness didn’t last very long. Suddenly, the driver stopped the car at a secluded spot. As if out of nowhere, a few men appeared on the scene, and after letting the driver go, they attacked the car with metal rods. They pulled out Raghu forcefully from the back seat and smashed his face with the rods, sending him tossing to the ground. He tried to get up in retaliation, but was too injured to do so. One of the men pulled him up and punched him in the stomach, and his head went banging on the car screen, shattering the windscreen.

  ‘Who the hell are you? Leave me!’ Raghu screamed.

  ‘Just keep your mouth shut. Don’t scream,’ one of them threatened. They dragged him back inside the car and turned on the ignition.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’ he stammered.

  Raghu could not comprehend what was happening. Dark memories of his last attack were still fresh in his mind. The man sitting in the driver’s seat called up someone and said they were about to reach. Minutes later, they stopped outside a building and pulled Raghu out of the car. They made their way inside an apartment where a man was waiting to receive them.

  ‘You? I knew you were behind this whole thing!’ Raghu screamed. It was Krishna.

  ‘Welcome, Raghu. I am so happy to see you,’ Krishna smiled.

  Before Raghu could understand what was happening, Krishna commanded the men, ‘Come on, guys, let’s give Raghu a special welcome. After all, he is my trump card.’

  The men pounced on him and started beating him up. There was no way Raghu could have defended himself. He was bleeding and had bruises all over, but they continued hitting him, until Krishna told them to stop. He came closer to Raghu and threw a glass of water on his face.