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The inspector stopped short in front of the glass door at the Arora Mansion.
Thoughts were swirling around inside his head ... the sub- inspector’s observations about Anubhav ... his wife’s sizzling tale about Jyoti ... His own views based on the timings and alibis. Nothing was convincing enough. A sense of urgency was rising within him. On the other side of the glass door, Rishabh and Arya got up from their seats, their tired eyes distant but their minds keen and ready to assist the inspector. In the next moment, the inspector rapped his knuckles on his forehead, pushed the door sideways, walked in and took a left. The decision was made. Forget everything and follow your instincts. And, the very first thing his instinct told him was – Pranav, stepbrother. Possible motive – Control of the company.He knocked on his door.‘Come in,’ Pranav bellowed from inside.The inspector hurried towards Pranav with his arm extended. Pranavturned around on his rotating chair in froRelated chapters
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The inspector played the different techniques he could employ to handle Jyoti in his mind. He had two lines of attack; one was through the expensive piece of shopping she had done at Solan, and the other about the last evening when she went snooping near Esha’s room. But, he was not going to confront her directly. The idea was to scare the truth out of the young housemaid. He did this twice every day in the police station. Fear was his ally.With a little help from Rishabh, the inspector had converted his room into an interrogation room. Four chairs with a small coffee table at the centre was placed right in front of the window. The room was blazing with winter sunlight and tiny worm-like particles could be seen against the rays, floating in midair. The variety of glass items sparkled from all the corners like secondary sources of light.I must squeeze a confession out of her, the inspector thought, biting his lip.Arya walked in through the open door and occupied the chair
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The door opened and Naina walked in. She was lean and graceful, her long black hair, tipped with golden streaks, floated in waves till her midriff. Her sharp nose and mascara-coated lashes accentuated her allure and her tight blue top accentuated her firm body.‘Hello ...’ She almost whispered. Her voice soft yet clear like a small silver bell. The inspector almost rose to offer her the chair.‘Thank you, Miss Naina for coming in,’ the inspector smiled, something Rishabh and Arya saw for the very first time.‘It is not a problem at all. This setup Mr Inspector,’ she smiled, ‘looks exactly like an employment interview. Three people staring at a nervous candidate while she rummages her brain for a pre-rehearsed answer. It is actually quite intimidating.’ She smiled like an air hostess welcoming the passengers on board.‘Are you feeling intimidated, Miss Naina?’ the inspector shot his first question.‘No,’ she smirked. ‘Why should I be? Interviews are dicey affairs. Most
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Meera’s left hand was trembling badly.She had a fleeting vision from the time when Mr Vishal Arora and his first wife had brought Esha into the family. Meera was standing at the door, her eyes fixed on the smiling baby, whose tiny fingers were extended towards her. The image was involuntarily replaced by Esha’s lusterless body gazing aimlessly into the emptiness of the room.She dried her eyes with the edge of her turmeric stained blue sari.‘You want to know what I was doing?’ asked Meera slowly. ‘I was in the kitchen with Jyoti. I was making tea and she was distributing it to the guests. She was supposed to make some snacks too. But she got engaged in a conversation with Mr Dhruv and I was getting late ... You might ask what I was getting late for ... TV serial, mother, son and daughter-in-law – big drama – I watch it every day at 5 pm. When Jyoti was back ... I dashed into the living room. The glass entrance door was open ... So, I closed it.’ She paused. ‘You might ask
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The air was uncharacteristically crisp for January.The gruesome image of his sister’s dead body replayed involuntarily in Rishabh’s mind as he walked over a bed of manicured grass, crossed the cobblestone path and sat on the wooden bench under the Peepal tree. Arya sat by his side.The blue envelope is gone.The sun was straight above them, the cool wind skimmed through Arya’s long hair as he watched Rishabh’s movements attentively. Rishabh’s eyes were fixed on the glistening snow that capped the mountains in front of them, but Arya knew that behind those dark grey eyes, the brain was processing a lot of information.‘What’s in your mind Rishabh?’ Arya looked uncertain.Rishabh exhaled but did not offer an answer.‘What is it? Are you not going to tell me?’ The uncertainty on Arya’sface rapidly turned into annoyance. ‘Are you w-worried that since I am not studying Engineering like you, I w-wouldn’t be able to process the stuff going on in that big brain of you
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Pranav lay on his bed, head on a pillow and a cigarette burning in his right hand. Children’s voices drifted through the open window. The curtains were drawn, and the room was semi-dark. Pranav’s motionless eyes were fixed on the ceiling. He was feeling something – what it was, he wasn’t sure. There was no simple way to describe it. Losing something you felt was yours and then getting it back. But, more importantly, he simply couldn’t fathom why he was forced to give up something which was truly his?You will make a very good director, son. Pranav could hear his father’s empty promise hanging in the silence around him.He felt a hot sting between his index and middle finger.He jerked himself up, threw the cigarette on the floor and watched it burn.The feeling of indignation fanned across his chest like a forest fire. He had done everything he possibly could to gratify his idealistic father. He worked with the labourers at the kiln, repaired cracks, carried buckets of h
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It was 5.30 pm. Darkness descended over Palampur, the green hill station in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It was eerily quiet. Crickets, which usually chirped ubiquitously in the darkness of the countryside, seemed to be away on a holiday. There was no breeze. Birds fluttered uncertainly on the treetops as they prepared themselves for a chilly winter night. Every now and then, muted sparks of lightning predicted impending rains. It was so calm, one could hear one’s own breath, a reminder that you were, indeed, alive.After their customary evening jog, the two brothers, Rishabh and Arya were resting on the porch outside their single-storeyed, ranch-styled home, Arora Mansion. The mansion was huge. It had a long, low roofline; its orange slats contrasted perfectly with the pristine white of its walls on which fluttered the leaf patterns formed by the street lights that shone through the branches of the trees.The brothers didn’t look like each other at all. Rishabh, the
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Arya wandered around his room for a while, and then collapsed on the sofa.His throat was completely dry. He reached for a glass of water, his eyes set on the framed photographs sitting inside the glass cabinet. He took a small sip watching the smiling face of a chubby toddler gripping the little finger of a young girl dressed in her white and blue school uniform. Looking at the picture, it was difficult to tell who looked happier – Arya, who was taking his first steps or his teacher, Esha. She had that look of a young girl who cannot control her happiness and why not – finally someone had held her hand.He found it difficult to swallow, as if a pebble was stuck in his throat and no matter the amount of water, it wouldn’t budge. The glass clinked when Arya finally kept it back on the glass table in front of him. His stomach lurched. With every breath, a hollowness spread in his chest. Breathing heavily, he tried to shut down his meandering thoughts.Two things that eat from
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When staring at the face of a tragic loss, one tends to look back upon life and understand what could have been done differently. The scars from the past start itching, a reminder that it was all real and the tormented heart then harbours only one question – Could I have prevented this? Anubhav knew exactly what he should have done. Looking back, it all seemed like yesterday and not a decade ago.In the spring of 2004, Anubhav reached Barcelona to study Engineering in one of the most reputed institutes. A distant relative of his, who worked at the peer, had arranged a one room apartment for him at Carrer de Balmes, a mile away from the huge Roman Catholic Church – Sagrada Familia. Anubhav’s room had just enough space for a bed, a cupboard, a small study table and a wash basin. He would have loved to have a television and a refrigerator but his scholarship money didn’t allow it.The light blue colour of the walls added a certain aesthetic appeal to the otherwise congested room.
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