11 Hours

by Daniel Paul Singh

  “What? What the heck did you do?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t do anything. I haven’t even talked to her after we broke up”

  “You guys broke up?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You told you were just friends all the while. You never told me you were in a relationship with her”

  “Rob, she was my first and only crush. The crush turned into friendship and friendship turned into” I paused as Prabhu looked at me with a look of contempt on his face…

  “Love, lust and sex?” he finished.

  “No. it turned into thick friendship”

  “What the hell is thick friendship? And what has that got to do with this guy chasing your ass?”

  “I could have been one reason for them breaking up.”

  “You slept with her?”

  “No ... no Rob. I would never dare to, you know me; I am a momma’s boy. I wouldn’t do that. I had always wanted to marry…”

  “Marry the girl of your mom’s choice!! I know that shit” he finished before I could.

  “So why do you think you could be a reason for the breakup”

  “I could be. I could be not. It could be his perspective. But as far as I know, I maintained a safe distance from her after we broke up. I was in fact happy for her new relationship. This is all news to me. I think we will find the answer only when we find the Loser” I said.

  Prabhu gave a sigh and continued to drive. He looked tired. The road was long, dark and scarcely populated. Diana would have enjoyed such a long drive.

  “Do you want me to drive?” I asked Prabhu.

  “You do that while we return back” he responded without looking at me.

  “Why should we return back?” I asked.

  “Don’t you want to save your wife?” asking he raised his eyebrows and pierced me with his looks.

  “I mean, when will be returning back?” I wondered why I asked the first question.

  “Depends on how quickly you can find your so-called crush turned friend turned thick friend turned ex. So how were you friend zoned?”

  “Let’s just not talk about it now. Once we return you can read my blog where I would have detailed it all “

  “Come on tell me. It’s a long drive, there is nothing much we could do now. I am trying hard to keep myself awake.”

  “If I tell that story now, you may doze off permanently.” I said and he laughed.

  “It just happens Prabhu. You would never know; you will be best of friends and you would want to take the relation to the next level and then one day you will end up just as a friend and the girl will not have any other ‘so and so’ feelings for you. She will share everything with you, except her life. But one major reason why I didn’t want to take the relationship to the next level is our religion”

  “Religion! I know, right. So, have you had sex with her?”

  “Prabhu, come on. I already told you, NO. I haven’t. Why are you always asking that?”

  “Cos’ that’s the driving factor for us humans. Tell me the truth, Rob”

  “Had I made love with her, I would have made posters and stuck it all around Trichy or Bangalore or even Chennai. She wasn’t someone you would want to bed, she is someone you would want to spend your life with, as your spouse.”

  “Oh, the homely type. Btw. does Diana know this?”

  “She does. I told her after our marriage”

  “I believe you told her after your honeymoon, else you wouldn’t have had one” he giggled. I smiled.

  I wondered how he could talk or even think like that, when my wife’s life was in danger but then realized that he was trying to ease the situation. We had only a slim chance of succeeding in our mission against such a sophisticated and well thought out plan by Ganpath.

  “Enough Mr. Prabhu. I believe in being truthful to my wife”

  “And she told what, on hearing it”

  “Diana is very understanding. All she said was, I don’t care about your past, I want to be your future and a memorable present”

  “How POETIC!” he stressed and simultaneously screamed when the lorry behind us came dangerously close to us and almost hit us.

  We moved to the left corner of the road giving the lorry enough space to overtake us on the right. But the lorry was keen on following us behind rather than moving aside. I was reminded of the message from the LOSER “You will have company till Trichy “. I didn’t expect the pursuing to happen in THAT way. They could have trailed us from a distance.

  “They are the LOSER’s men. They have been sent by him to watch over us” I told Prabhu.

  “Why are they stalking us?”

  “Don’t ask such silly questions Prabhu, just drive” I urged him.

  “I don’t think they are here to track us. It looks more like they have come to finish us”.

  “What do you mean?” I turned back to see the lorry hitting the trunk of our car.

  “Fasten your seat belts, my boy” Prabhu said and pressed the accelerator hard.

  The car’s speed increased from 120 to 160. We drove off as quickly as we could, losing the vision of the lorry behind us in that dark road. However, within five minutes, we saw the lorry picking pace and catching up close behind us.

  “Oh shit! Man!! He has planned to kill us in these roads to make it look like an accident” I shouted.

  “Do something Rob, text the Loser or call him and ask him to stop them”

  I called the LOSER Ganpath and he picked immediately. He should have decided to keep awake all night.

  “What Rob?” he was in a hurry

  “You told we are only being followed, why are you trying to kill us?”

  “Why would I do that? I don’t want you dead. Death is not suffering, living and seeing all your loved ones die is suffering. I want you to suffer, not die”

  “Then why are they eager to run their lorry over us?”

  “Hey Ram! I have no clue, let me check.” he put me on hold and came back in line after a minute.

  “Bad luck, Mr. Rob. They aren’t picking my call. I think they got my order wrong. I just told to watch over you guys and they are planning to send you over and above. Shit, those dumb a-hole minions. And that’s why I operate alone. Damn Rob. But wait, I am sure you will find a way out to survive, I know you will and I want you to” saying he cut the call.

  “What did he say?” Prabhu asked me.

  “He has washed his hands off. He also mentioned ‘Hey Ram’ all the more probable for him to be Ganpath as against a Gordon. We are on our own, he can’t help, do something Prabhu...”

  “What can I do man?”

  “Anything Prabhu, look out the toll booth is approaching. We will be finished if we reach there. We will have to do something before that” I could see death in front of me.

  “We can’t do anything now. If we hit them or they hit us, we will be the ones who will be dead.”

  “Prabhu, check if they are slowing down. Damn, I don’t think they are, they are speeding up. We don’t have a choice, but to keep moving” I said frantically

  “If you don’t know a way out, at least stop scaring the shit out of me” saying Prabhu steered his way towards the toll plaza.

  The toll plaza was just a few meters away. The lorry behind us, didn’t slow down. Prabhu reduced the speed of our car and drove it dangerously close to the median towards our right. Our right rear view mirror was thrashed in the median lane. The toll plaza was scarcely populated with just a few lorries and buses making their moves on either side. I didn’t know what plans Prabhu had in mind.

  I fastened my seat belt. Prabhu was focused and nervous at the same time. I wasn’t sure if he had a plan, I wasn’t sure if we could get away, even if he had one. The lorry hit our car. Prabhu took his legs off the accelerator. Our car was moving with the inertia of the force generated by the speeding lorry behind us. It didn’t seem to stop and its driver was in no mood to press the brakes. There was a sense of alarm in the toll booth with t
wo speeding vehicles approaching to hit them straight.

  A few barricades were tactfully placed and left only a minimal space for one vehicle to go into the toll booth at a time and in a considerably slow pace. With the speed at which we were drifting I was sure we would hit the barricades or worse, even the toll booth. I closed my eyes and hoped the air bags in his car worked fine. The impact could be within a minute… Our vehicles were dead locked. I prayed to the Lord to forgive all my sins and to somehow find a way to save and protect my wife. I looked at Prabhu for one last time.

  Just seconds before we could hit on the barricade, Prabhu steered the car’s wheel at its fullest to the right and our car took a sharp right turn, milliseconds before impact. The force of the turn was uncontrollable and our car was heading straight towards the other end of the road, spinning, as Prabhu was trying hard to bring it to a halt, when a bus from the other side of the road hit us, the impulse of which pushed us to the median again, resulting in a glass shattering impact. It all went blank.

  ₪ ₪ ₪

  Chapter 16 Bangalore Date My mind was blank. Brindha continued to praise her prospective partner Rakesh, at the other end. Every single word she spoke fell on deaf ears. How could she keep on talking about someone just by looking at his photo.

  “Are you even listening?” she interrupted. “Yeah, yes. I am. But what’s the hurry now for marriage? You are just 23”

  “My mom is already looking at me as an old aunt” she replied.

  “You are an old aunt, yes, but you are still 23”.

  “Just because I can’t slap you over call, doesn’t mean you can talk anything you want.”

  “The truth indeed hurts”

  “Duh. But, I am very happy you know. Rakesh works at Infosys and resides in Bangalore. He is a manager there and earns about a lakh per month. Brindha Rakesh also sounds good, right?”

  Somehow Brindha Robin sounded better for me.

  “Yeah, it does. Advance wishes. Hope everything goes well and you tie the knot soon”

  I wasn’t sure if her enthusiasm was real. If it were I didn’t want to be a bottleneck in her marriage. I was disappointed, yes. I was heartbroken, yes. But there wasn’t much I could do about it, with my own cowardice of not being able to bring myself up to talk to my mom. I didn’t have any other choice. The night went with me being lost in thoughts. I couldn’t sleep well and it reflected glaringly next day at office.

  My project mate saw my troubled face and asked me the reason for it. I told him the entire story listening to which he gave a different interpretation.

  “Maybe she wants you to propose her”

  “What?”

  “Yes man, reverse psychology. She wants you to feel jealous. Try proposing her” he said casually.

  “But she is going to be married”

  “She has just received a photo. That’s one choice. If you propose her, she will then have two choices in front of her to choose from.”

  “You mean, then she will choose me?”

  “She will choose the one best suitable for her. Anyways, give it a try. Propose her”

  I couldn’t even think of doing something like that. I wasn’t ready.

  “I don’t think I am ready at this stage of my career for marriage.” I told in a disappointed tone.

  “Rob, if you are shit scared, nothing will happen, at least go on a date with her and try to understand what’s in her mind. If she is really ready for marriage there is nothing you can do, but if she is ready to take the relationship with you to the next level, then it’s worth the effort. Give it a shot” he encouraged me.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, where is she? In Bangalore, right? It’s just six hours from here, go…”

  It sounded like a good idea. I had gone out with her in Trichy, but the idea of travelling to Bangalore to meet her was exciting. I could make her feel special and if all the gods permitted, I might even propose her. I was thrilled. I informed Brindha that I would visit her at Bangalore on the following weekend. She was equally excited and booked a room in a nearby hotel for my stay over the weekend.

  I departed from Chennai as planned.

  Jan 8, 2011:

  I had no clue about Bangalore and didn’t know Kannada. I had never been there earlier and was travelling all alone, all the way for a girl, of whose feelings for me I had no clue about. It was strange. The common things that we see in every other movie, seem extremely crazy in real life.

  It was very early in the morning when the bus I was travelling in reached Madiwala, where she stayed. I got down, boarded an auto and reached the hotel she had booked for me. All my dreams of her waiting for me in the bus stop, giving me a welcome hug and taking me to the hotel still stayed intact in the castle I had built in stratosphere. The receptionist (it was a guy, btw) of the hotel (it looked more like a lodge) looked at me, up and down and asked, “Single?”

  “Yes, but not sure if I will be the same when I return” I bit my tongue after saying it.

  “What?”

  “Nothing, single”

  He noted my name and checked his ledger, it was already there. He then marked his entry and asked me to pay the advance. I so badly wanted to ask if Brindha hadn’t paid already, but didn’t. I paid the advance and went into that small room in the first floor, carrying my luggage. It looked like someone had made a room out of my house’s kitchen area and left it for rent. I rested for some time, took a refreshing bath and then texted her,

  “I am ready, shall we go out?”

  “I will be there in half an hour” she texted back.

  The half an hour felt like an hour. I couldn’t sit patiently. She called me on reaching. I expected her to come up to my room, but she decided to stay at the reception area and was waiting.

  “So what’s the plan for today?” I asked her.

  “There is a mall close by, Forum Mall, shall we go there?”

  “I am the guest, you are the host, please lead the way” I said. She took me to breakfast at a local eatery. I had to stand and eat. She claimed with pride that, that was where she would have her breakfast every day. We then got a bus and headed towards Forum Mall.

  We did some random window shopping at Big bazaar. I wasn’t interested in buying anything. I wanted to spend some time with her, alone, but didn’t get a chance. She was quite occupied in checking out all the items in the shop that she had no intention to buy.

  The day was spent purposelessly. We decided to have our dinner in the mall and decided to return back to her place at around ten pm.

  “How about we take an auto” I asked her.

  “How about we walk and reach faster?” she replied back.

  “Is it safe? It’s almost ten”

  “It is safe. And I would love to walk” she said and we walked with a considerable distance between us.It was a full moon night. We walked along the foot path. Her face glistened amidst the moonlight and the yellow street lights. She was reminiscing about a lot of things throughout our walk. It felt like we were transported to a separate planet. I couldn’t hear the traffic noise, but only her voice. I couldn’t see the road ahead, but only her face. I was nodding silently to everything she said, as much as I wanted to bite her lips. I wanted to hold her hand, but resisted the urge. After 40 minutes of a memorable walk we reached her hostel.

  She was narrating some funny story about her room-mate while I was lost in her eyes. I so badly wanted to kiss her and hug her.

  “So what next?” she asked me.

  “I want to kiss on your forehead” I wanted to say.

  She brought her head close to me as If she heard my mind.

  We made wild passionate love. She was on top of me in that bed, her yoga classes had indeed worked. Her long dark hair was blocking the view of her breasts, I gently moved it aside to take a good look at her womanhood. I caressed her face, she bit my finger. It hurt. She moaned. It was a pleasure. She had the perfect physique. A deep burning fire within me was being satiated. I wondere
d what I had been missing all my life. My virginity was being ripped apart and I enjoyed every moment of it. Just as I was about to reach the pinnacle of pleasure, I heard the phone ringing with that familiar caller tune. Oh shit, not her, not now!

  “Not her, not now” I wished. I knew who it was with the peculiar ring tone I had assigned for her. I washed myself and came out of the bathroom finishing off my wild ecstasy self-help session and picked up Brindha’s call. It was quite a vivid imaginary love making session I had had with her.

  “Hey, what’s up, slept?” she asked.

  “No, was about to” I uttered disinterested.

  “I am not getting sleep, was thinking of you”

  “I was dreaming of us”

  “Dreaming of us? Like what?”

  “Like your senior dreamt of you” I wanted to say, but stopped and

  said.

  “I mean, thought of you. Just like that. I am here in Bangalore, I

  spent the entire day with you, obviously, I will be thinking of you” “You know, as you were about to leave from my hostel I thought

  you would kiss me. I thought you would hug me and kiss me on my

  forehead.” She said.

  I wondered how she exactly had similar thoughts as mine. “That’s why you brought your head close to mine?”

  “Then for what, for you to smell my hair spray?”

  “It smelt like coconut oil. Did you apply hair spray?” “Your smelling senses are as good as that of a donkey’s” saying

  that, she laughed her heart out.

  We talked for a long time that night. The next morning was

  different. The next day was different.

  Jan 9, 2011:

  We decided to go to Lalbagh Park on that Sunday. I didn’t know

  that it was the park dedicated solely for lovers. We bought the tickets

  and sat in the park benches and chatted all day. There was still a

  considerable distance that we had maintained between the two of us. I was so tempted by seeing all those couples locking their lips in every

  bench that adorned the park. Her lips were inviting too. “Hey bru, why don’t we get in that battery driven car and go