Short Stories – BlueInk

It was a summer night of 1999. Nirav’s been sitting for hours in front of the typewriter. There was a deemed light in the room and a study lamp on the table. He could not write more than a few words that evening. He poured some whisky into a glass on his study table and lit a cigarette. He held the cigarette in his left hand and the glass of whisky on the right. Opened the door and walked out to the corridor. It was dark, he could not see a thing. He could hear the crickets chirping and frogs croaking. He switched on the light in the corridor and sat down on a rocking chair.

Once a renowned celebrity, Indian fiction writer Nirav Sachdev published his last novel four years back. Every writer in their lifetime experience a creative slowdown, a condition known as writer’s block. It passes with time. Its every writer’s nightmare, sitting in front of typewriter for hours and days and months unable to write a word. Emptiness inside the head is replaced with depression and psychological breakdown. Nirav’s been experiencing this for past four years.

In 1995, he moved to Ooty with a hope that change of place and environment might help regaining his creative abilities. His friend Vishal owned an ancestral house in Ooty, he was looking for a buyer as he was in need of money for his new business. When Nirav came to know about it he jumped on it and got a fair deal. He always wanted to live in solitary, in a hill station like Ooty or Darjeeling. He could write from anywhere and visit his publishers and managers few times in a year.

After success of his fifth novel – ‘The Man Who Stared at the Stars’ – a dark psychological thriller, he signed another contract with the publisher but they needed the first draft of his next novel in six months. A year had passed but he couldn’t finish the first chapter so the publishers stepped back. He had to return the payment to the publishers. After that his condition became worst. He started forgetting things. It was names and places at first but over the time he started getting memory lapses. He started writing for local magazines and some newspaper columns to make a living. He was married with a six years old daughter but his wife realized that they couldn’t live together any longer. They got separated last year. Now Nirav a man in his early forties lives a depressed and miserable life in solitary.

Nirav finished his drink and went inside the house. It was ten past nine when he noticed the wall clock. He slowly walked near to the study table and stared at the typewriter for few moments. He suddenly felt suffocated. He snapped and banged the empty glass on the typewriter. The glass broke into pieces. Then he lifted the typewriter with his hands and crashed it on the table. He just stood there starring the empty walls for few minutes. He picked the door key which was hanging on a hook on the wall and rushed out. He locked the door from the outside, put on his loafers and started walking.

He started taking a stroll and walked aimlessly. There was no street light on the road but he could see it clearly in the moonlight. After walking for few minutes he realized that he couldn’t walk any further. He felt an acute pain in his right leg ankle. He had gout because of his not so healthy lifestyle and excessive drinking. He stopped and looked around. He saw a bar few steps ahead. He thought to sit down for some time and have another drink and head back home.

Nirav walked to the bar. There was dimmed red lighting inside the bar. He was surprised to find a bar in a deserted place like that. He could see one or two men far in the corner. An English rock song was playing in low volume. He looked around, walked to a table and sat down. Couple of minutes later a waiter came to attend him.

‘Would you like to order anything, Sir?’ the waiter asked.

‘Yes, whisky on the rocks, large.” ordered Nirav.

‘And anything to eat?’

Nirav thought for a moment and said ‘No, only the drink please’

‘Sure sir’ the waiter left.

Nirav sat quietly waiting for his drink. He could hear the men in the corner talking, he couldn’t hear it clearly though. The waiter arrived with a tray. He kept the glass of whisky on the table and a plate with some fries.

‘I didn’t order the fries’ said Nirav.

‘I know sir’ replied the waiter ‘Its complementary’.

‘Oh, I see. Thanks’

‘Let me know if you need anything else. I will be around’ said the waiter and walked to the other table in the corner.

Nirav was enjoying his drink, he heard someone suddenly. ‘Excuse me! Can I join you?’ asked a lady standing next to him and sat opposite to him before Nirav could respond anything to her.

‘I hate to drink alone in a bar’ she said with a smile.

She was wearing a white fedora hat which was slightly aligned towards the front. The lighting in the bar was also deemed so he couldn’t see her face clearly. He could only see her face down from her nose. He noticed the dark red shades on her lips as she was speaking. She was holding a drink in her hand. It looked like cosmopolitan, the drink.

‘You are Mr. Nirav Sachdev – the famous fiction novelist, aren’t you?’ asked the lady in a curious tone.

‘Famous huh?’ chuckled Nirav criticizing himself.

‘Yes, I’m a big fan of your work. I’ve read all of your books- Tale of the Tears, Dark was the Night, The Day I Met You and The Man Who Stared at the Stars’

‘Stains of Blood’ added Nirav.

‘I’m sorry?’ asked the lady.

‘You missed my fourth book – Stains of Blood’ replied Nirav. ‘The Man Who Stared at the Stars was my fifth’.

‘Yes of course. But what happened after that?’ asked the lady ‘I looked forward for your next novel but it disappointed me every year. Then I thought you probably retired from writting’

‘Yes I have been taking a break from writing. Thinking to start again.’

‘Oh wow! Whats the plot? I’m very excited to know.’

‘No plots in mind yet’ sighed Nirav.

‘Oh I see. It will be another trendsetter in the world of Indian mystery fiction I’m pretty sure’

There was a moment of silence as they both were sipping their drinks. ‘I have an interesting story’ the lady started. ‘A real incident actually’.

‘Really?’ asked Nirav curiously ‘Well, I have plenty of time’.

‘Not very far from here there lived a lady and her daughter.’ The lady started telling the story and Nirav was listening to her eagerly. ‘Her husband, man of the house was a writer, just like you. It was a small happy family. The man loved his wife and daughter very much. Days passed, the man was not doing very well in his career. He had not published anything notable in years. He used to drink but his condition soon made him an alcoholic. All his life’s savings was slipping down like a sand clock. His wife started selling her jewelries when her husband had no work in hand. She asked her husband to give up writing and take some other job. He was stubborn, he continued to drink all day and sit in from of the typewriter unable to write more than a few words.’

‘She paused for a moment, sipped the drink and continued. ‘They started fighting. A few times in a week at first, then a few times in a day. Finally, one day she gave up on him and decided to leave him. She packed her bags and went to tell him before leaving. It was a summer night just like tonight. He was sitting in front of the typewriter and trying to write something. She told him that she is leaving and taking their daughter with her. The husband couldn’t take it calmly, he snapped. They started arguing. He forced her to change her mind but she was committed to her decision. While he was trying to hold her hands, she pushed him. He snapped, grabbed a glass from the table and smashed it on her head. The glass broke into pieces and there was blood dripping from her head. She crashed on the floor.’

‘Their daughter was standing in a distance when all of this was happening. She started screaming in fear after seeing her mother’s condition. The man realized what he had done. He quickly checked on her wife’s body. She was not breathing. The girl was still crying and screaming. He ran to her and tried making her quite. He put both his hands on her face to stop her screams. She tried fighting to release herself but the man tightened his hands on her mouth. She struggled for some time and then stopped. She stopped moving. The man released his hands but she was not moving. He didn’t realize that his attempt to make her quite suffocated her to death.’

‘He held the girl’s body and cried for hours. He was sitting in the dark room with two dead bodies. After few hours he stood up and closed all windows and doors from inside. There was a store room in the back of the house, it was part of the house but seldom used. He pulled both the bodies to the store room. Switched on the old top door storage refrigerator. Lifted his wife’s body first and dumped it in the refrigerator. Then kissed his little girl and left her with her mother. Closed the door of the refrigerator and locked it. He cleaned the blood stains and moved the bags to the store room and locked the door. He thought to dump the body somewhere in the valley late in the night.’

‘After arranging the house to look like nothing had happened, he poured a drink. After having couple of drinks he dozed off. This horrific incident tormented his mind. Next day morning when he woke up, he didn’t remember a thing. He remembered that his wife was going to leave him and take their daughter with her. Everything that had happened after that was a long memory lapse for him. He called some of the relatives but no one knew where she was. Her parents had passed away years back so he couldn’t think of any other place where she could have gone. His condition became worst in the coming days, he started forgetting more and more. He drowned himself in alcohol and he could barely remember the face of his wife and child’

‘Excuse me Sir!’ Nirav heard a voice. He looked the waiter was standing in front him. ‘Sir, it’s time to close the bar. You should go home now’ the waiter requested him politely.

Nirav looked around. No one else was there. ‘Where is the lady who was sitting here?’ he asked the waiter.

‘A lady?’ the waiter seemed surprised. ‘Sir, I didn’t see any lady here tonight’

Nirav seemed uncomfortable. He paid for the drink, tipped the waiter and rushed out. He started running. He was limping due to his ankle pain but didn’t stop. Reached home in few mins. Opened the door and rushed to the store room. The store room key was in the same key chain. He opened the store room and saw a storage refrigerator. There was a tiny lock on it. He couldn’t remember where the key is. He picked a hammer from the corner and hit it hard. The lock was broken, he opened the top door. He was socked, there were two dead bodies inside it – a lady and a girl. Both the bodies were covered in ice. The bodies looked pale and were slowly rotting. He looked at the lady’s face and tried wiping ice from her face using his hands. His hands were shaking and heartbeat was thumping. He couldn’t recognize the face it was disfigured over the time. He started crying aloud and shut the door. He walked inside the house and cried louder and louder. He stopped at the study table and picked a piece of broken glass. Looked at the broken typewriter and pulled the sharp glass on this wrist as hard as he could. He screamed as loud as he could. Blood spattered all over the table, all the white papers turned red. He closed his eyes and crashed on the ground.

-RP (BlueInk Blog)

Traffic signal was red, Abinash rolled up the window shield of his car. Traffic is usually bad during this time of the day. It takes more than an hour to drive just a few miles from his home to office. He changed the radio station, It was playing a RJ programme; the theme was “old memories”. People who participated, sent messages about their old memories that they miss the most and the RJ called them to talk about it. In the end of the conversation they played a song.

The signal turned green and the vehicles started moving. Abinash followed the lane and crossed the signal. After driving for about five minutes he approached another red signal. He slowed down and stopped when there was no space to move forward on the road. The same programme was still playing on radio. After one of those conversations the RJ played a very famous Hindi song from the 90s, the song was “Chhod aaye hum woh guliyaan…”. It was one of his favorite songs but he hadn’t listened to it in a while. It ignited something in his mind. Some old memories from his childhood flashed back.

He grew up in a small village in Phulbani district of Odisha. His father worked in the forest department and his mother was a housewife. They lived in a small house which was allotted to his father by the state government. He studied in a government school. Most of the children in his class were from the same village and few whose parents worked in the same department as his father. Many of his father’s colleagues moved to other cities by taking job transfer, but his father liked it there. After completing his 10th, he went to a college in Sambalpur – one of the major cities in the western part of the state. He stayed in the college hostel and visited his parents mostly during summer vacations. After completing PUC he prepared for competitive entrance exams and ranked well. He went to an engineering college in the same city. After completing engineering degree, he got a job in a private firm in Hyderabad and after few years moved to Mumbai.

He’s been living in Mumbai for about two decades. His father passed away few years after he moved to Mumbai. He asked his mother to move to Mumbai and stay with him but she refused to leave the village. Few years later she moved to stay with her brother’s family. Abinash visited her once in a year and talked to his mother and uncle regularly when she was alive. She passed away four years back in cancer. Abinash was married then. He visited his uncle’s village with his wife Maya for his mother’s last rites.

It was 11 in the morning, he managed to reach office on time. He had a meeting with his manager that day. He is the Project Delivery Manager in a service based firm. He manages a mid-sized IT operations team in his division. He’s been working hard in the past few years to reach the top of the hierarchy. He was expecting a good news from the meeting with his manager. Probably a promotion. After quickly greeting his team and checking his emails, he went to his manager’s cabin. After few minutes he stepped out disappointed. He didn’t get what he was expecting. He rushed back to his daily schedule. He finished the day at work by 7 PM and headed home. Grabbed few bottles of beer on the way to home.

He’s been living alone in the apartment. Two years back he got separated from his wife. They didn’t have children. They both were working professionals and ambitious about their career. Before they could plan to have kids, they realized that they can’t live with each other. It was a mutually agreed separation.

After reaching home he fixed some eggs quickly and grabbed one beer. He was browsing through the TV channels and he got a call on his cell. It was an unknown number. He picked the call. It was his cousin Subhash, his uncle’s elder son. His uncle had passed away on the same afternoon and Subhash called to give him the sad news. Abinash was not very close to his uncle’s family but they are his only close blood relatives. Subhash requested him to come to attend the last rites on the eleventh day after the death. Abinash was in an uncomfortable position, he didn’t know how to react. He tried to express his condolences and said that he will try to come.

He couldn’t sleep that night. Few incidents from his childhood flashed back in his mind. He remembered how his uncle adored him when he went to meet him with his parents. His uncle was a selfless good man. He took good care of his mother when she needed it. Although he had not talked to him or anyone in the family in a while, still somehow the news shook him a bit.

Next day morning he woke up bit late. He was feeling little fuzzy; he didn’t get enough sleep last night. He was eating breakfast, his phone rang. It was Subhash’s number. Abinash picked the call, this time it was his aunt (Subhash’s mother). She asked him how he is doing. She was sobbing while speaking. She asked Abinash to visit them for the last rituals. Abinash assured her that he will come. After speaking to her Abinash felt little heavy in his heart.

While driving to office he was thinking about the past memories one after another. After reaching office he dropped a mail to his manager for leave. He hadn’t taken any time off in a very long time. He wanted to escape all the chaos of the city for few days. He booked a two-way ticket to Bhubaneswar with a week gap. His uncle’s village was about 300 kilometres from Bhubaneswar airport. He thought to take a car on rent from Bhubaneswar.

In the next few days he called Subhash and his mother few times. He also offered financial help for the rituals, but they refused. He also talked to his cousin sister Sushmita (Subhash’s younger sister). She is married with a four-year-old son. Shubhash has a son and a daughter.

On the day of travel, he packed few pairs of clothes, couple of books and few necessary things in a travel bag. His flight was in the afternoon. He took a cab to airport. His flight landed Bhubaneswar airport around 2:30 in the afternoon. He was carrying only cabin luggage and a laptop bag so he didn’t have to wait at the language belt. He was feeling hungry so grabbed a sandwich before leaving the airport.

He booked a cab from the airport to the car rental store. He had enquired about it online. It was month of July so the weather was bit hot and humid in Bhubaneswar. He’s been living in Mumbai for many years so it didn’t bother him much. In few minutes he reached. He had to submit few documents and details for renting a car. He chose a compact SUV for the journey. He rented it for two days as he didn’t intend to stay there for too long considering the circumstances. He thought to stay in a Hotel in Bhubaneswar after returning back from his uncle’s house. Thought to call and meet few of his old friends before returning to Mumbai. His return flight was after 4 days so he could stay for couple of days in Bhubaneswar.

After completing the formalities, he got the car key. Got inside the car and started his journey. His uncle lived in Daringibadi. A famous hill station in Odisha. It’s also known as Kashmir of Odisha, sometimes in winter you can witness snowfall in the valley. It was a pleasant day. He left from Bhubaneswar around 3 PM. It was a 5 hours’ drive; he was expecting to reach there by 8 PM. He was not familiar with the route so he used Google maps on his phone for navigation and thought to call Subhash for exact location after reaching Daringibadi. He was very excited about it.

After leaving Bhubaneswar he approached NH16. he felt nostalgic after seeing the rice fields, lots of coconut trees and there was some sort of affinity in the wind. After driving for couple of hours he stopped at a tea hut, lit a cigarette. In few minutes continued his journey. He felt free. Free from his confined life, daily schedules, all the noise of the city and all the meaningless things he has been doing for years.

The sun was slowly setting down, the sky looked reddish. It was past 6 in the evening. Abinash was feeling little tired after the flight and driving for 3 hours. He will reach Daringibadi in couple of hours. The sun sets little late in Mumbai, he didn’t realise it will get dark so early in Odisha. He was driving through a valley, it had very sharp hairpin curves. He was driving very carefully as the road was narrow and other vehicles were passing from the other direction. It was getting dark; he could barely see anything other than the road that the headlights were focusing on. Suddenly a truck crossed him from the other direction. Its headlights were so bright. It flashed in Abinash’s eyes. He couldn’t see anything for a moment. He lost his control and pressed the accelerator in panic. The SUV got derailed, lost track and fell down from the height. It stumbled on the rocks and Abinash hit his head on the steering wheel. Before he could gain consciousness it crashed on a tree from the top.

Abinash opened his eyes slowly. It was dark so he couldn’t see anything. He was lying on the ground. His head was hurting; he was feeling like he had a concussion. He woke up slowly. He was suddenly happy that after falling down from such height he was not injured very badly. He was able to walk. He couldn’t see anything but some tiny light spots far from there. He started walking blindly in the darkness. He stumbled on rocks and tree roots but kept walking. After walking for an hour he found a muddy road which led him to a village. At the entrance of the village there was a light bulb hanging on a bamboo pole. There was a tea hut in the corner. He walked to the hut and sat on a bench lying outside of it.

He didn’t feel like eating or drinking anything. He was suddenly feeling alright. His head was not hurting any more. He was not feeling tired after walking miles in the darkness. It didn’t seem right. He had survived a major road accident without even a bruise. A black & white TV in the hut was playing a news programme in regional language (Odia). Abinash didn’t know where to go from there. He couldn’t find his cell phone in his pockets. He stood up and walked to the man sitting inside the hut and asked – “Sir, which place is this?” The man didn’t respond anything. He was going to ask him again and just then he saw something on the TV. It was showing a picture of him. A passport size photo which was in his wallet. He couldn’t find his wallet either. He walked near the TV and started listening to it. He was shocked. It said that a man named ‘Abinash Nayak’ met with a road accident today and his body was recovered from the valley. The doctors examined the body and declared him dead.

-RP (BlueInk Blog)

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