39
Shekhar couldn’t remember the last time Anahita and the kids were away on a weekend camping trip. He finally had some time for himself and thought the occasion was apt to call Rishab over for a drink. This wasn’t going to be just another friendly drink with his buddy though; he had planned on asking Rishab some uncomfortable questions. He knew tempers would fly, as would decibel levels. He wasn’t looking forward to it but it had to be done.
Pouring a single malt for his friend and a wine for himself, Shekhar got straight to the point.
‘The other day at the hospital, you were muttering something about a drug for Sagarika? What was that?’
Rishab almost choked on his drink. He didn’t expect Shekhar to mention it so bluntly. He hadn’t even realized that Shekhar had overheard him.
‘What drug? When did I say this?’
‘Rishab, don’t bullshit me. We know each other too well and for too long. You are up to something. I know it and I want you to tell me everything.’
Reluctantly, Rishab spilled everything out. But he kept any mention of Deepa out of it.
‘Have you lost your bloody mind? Have you gone crazy?’ Shekhar was extremely perturbed to hear the plan his friend was hatching.
‘You don’t know what I have gone through!’ Rishab said, defending himself. ‘And for your information, I haven’t even used that drug.’
‘That’s not the point, buddy! The fact that you’ve even considered it, is scary. It bothers me … it worries me that you’re thinking along such lines!’
‘DO YOU KNOW WHAT I’VE BEEN THROUGH?’ Rishab yelled.
‘Yes, I do,’ Shekhar said calmly. ‘Rishab, don’t forget that I’ve been with you throughout this entire ordeal. I’ve been by your side searching through rotting dead bodies. I’ve taken time out to ensure that you’re not alone in this situation. So don’t behave as if I don’t know what you’ve been through—’
‘She wanted to leave me,’ Rishab said, interrupting. ‘ME! Sagarika wanted to leave me for some penniless struggling writer in Mumbai. Can you believe it? After all that I did for her. What have I not given her? I’ve kept her like a queen. She led a life she had never dreamt of … And now, she wants to make a bloody laughing stock of me! Sorry, I will not allow her to.’
Rishab had now begun pacing the room. He was bordering on hysteria and Shekhar was even more worried. It seemed as if he was plotting some devious scheme in his head.
Shekhar walked over to him and tried to placate him. ‘This is no way to handle a situation. You need to relax and speak to her calmly…’
‘Don’t tell me how to handle this, buddy,’ Rishab snapped. ‘If it were Anahita, I would have seen how calmly you’d have handled it. Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches.’
Rishab drained his glass and stomped out of the house. Shekhar wanted to stop him, but he didn’t. He sat on the sofa and sipped on his drink. His best friend was slowly tumbling into a dark abyss.
This is sheer lunacy. If she wants out, he should let her go. Safeguard his money, his assets and just let her go.
40
Rishab returned home at night to find his wife watching TV. The driver had already informed him about Sagarika’s visit to Grand Foyer earlier in the day.
He could guess the purpose of her visit. Still, he controlled himself. He knew he needed to proceed carefully.
‘So, how was your day?’ he asked casually.
‘I’ve been visiting the malls in the vicinity. Since Deepa has vanished into thin air and doesn’t take my calls or return them, I’ve decided to spend some time shopping. I went to the Grand Foyer and found this delightful shop selling very artistic stuff. I bought some.’ She picked a big bag from the sofa and spilled out its contents.
There wasn’t a flicker of nervousness in her voice or face.
Rishab saw that she was unbelievably cool. After months of seeing her scared and emotionally wrecked, he now found it difficult to accept her in any other avatar.
I need to do something. Something which will make her realize that she can be safe only with me.
‘Hmm. This is interesting stuff,’ he said after examining what she had bought. He left the room hurriedly and locked himself in his study.
Sagarika messaged Akash to let him know that everything had gone off smoothly.
Rishab sat in his study, thinking. After what seemed like hours, he came up with a plan. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he realized the time had come for some desperate measures. He looked up his cellphone and dialled a number.
‘Yes, it’s me,’ he said. ‘Listen to me very carefully. She’s not to be hurt. She’s not to be touched. Just pick her up and keep her for a few days. Don’t worry, I will give you enough time to escape before the cops and I reach the place. Remember: she’s not to be touched. Meet me tomorrow at Ridge Road 7 a.m. sharp to collect 50 per cent of the payment. I’ll pay you the rest after the job’s done. Nobody is to touch her. Remember that.’
Once he hung up, he switched on his laptop and quickly copied a few photos to a pen drive. He would ask Sagarika to take them to a particular photo studio in Superplex Mall and pick up few printouts the next day, a Tuesday. He would also tell her to check out some shops selling boots and scarves. What he wouldn’t tell her was that Superplex, like most other shopping arcades in Gurgaon, remained closed on Tuesday. In a deserted mall, the men he had hired would nab her. He would then rescue her in heroic fashion and drive home the point that he was truly her saviour. She would begin to be dependent on him for everything, even her survival.
‘It’s a foolproof plan. Nothing can go wrong,’ he muttered to himself.
41
Rishab left the pen drive on top of the dressing table and a note on which he had scribbled: CALL ME. Like always, he had left home early while Sagarika was still in bed.
‘Yeah, tell me. You asked me to call you,’ Sagarika said on the phone after seeing the pen drive and the note. He told her what needed to be done. Sagarika happily agreed.
Vina was an extremely conscientious worker. Although dusting and cleaning weren’t part of her job description, she did it anyway. On Tuesday, she decided it was time to dust the gigantic desk, side tables and chairs in Rishab’s study. As she sat down with her dusting cloth and began cleaning, she noticed a sheet of paper that had fallen on the floor. She picked it up. She was learning English over the past few months, and whatever little she read on that sheet of paper was enough to alarm her.
Her heart began racing as she sped towards Sagarika’s room.
‘Madamji, oh madamji, open the door … madamji.’
‘What happened, Vina?’ Sagarika said as she opened the door. Vina thrust the sheet of paper in her hands. ‘Please read this, madamji,’ she said. It was an article from a news website:
What are the side effects of the forgetting pill? Can memory be totally erased or only …
Sagarika wasn’t able to read further. Her face turned white. She staggered a little. Vina held her hand, lest she fell.
‘Where did you get…’ Sagarika asked her, choking on her words.
‘In the study.’
Both of them walked quickly into Rishab’s study. Vina bolted the door from inside to make sure the other servants didn’t intrude.
‘Look for the other pages,’ Sagarika told Vina. ‘It has to be here somewhere.’ Sagarika could barely speak, trembling over what she read. The rest of the pages, all printouts, were in a bunch at the bottom of the desk drawer.
Sagarika could hardly breathe as she read through the contents. Disbelief gave way to fright. She panicked and stared at her domestic help, her only ally.
‘I need to get away. Now.’ Vina nodded. ‘Where do I go? What…’ Sagarika mumbled as fear gripped her. She couldn’t think, her temples were throbbing.
Akash! Sagarika remembered. She almost ran to her room, grabbed her purse, the phone and a jacket that lay on the bed. She was in no state to pause and notice that she was
in her sleeping suit. She just wanted to get away from the house.
Vina stopped her. ‘Madamji, don’t leave like this. Get ready. If you leave like this, the other maids will see. Who knows what they may do?’ Vina was sure the others had also been bribed like her.
As Sagarika threw on some clothes on herself, wrapped the Satya Paul scarf around her neck feeling dizzy and sick in her stomach, Vina came to her with a pouch.
‘Madamji, these are your medicines. Don’t forget to take them. You have money, madamji. I have put some cash in this pouch from my salary.’
Tears came to Sagarika’s eyes on seeing how much the young girl cared for her.
‘Vina … I don’t know how to thank you. I have money, don’t worry. You take care.’
‘May Hanumanji give you strength and protection, madamji,’ Vina said with folded hands. Sagarika gathered her handbag and sped out of the flat. As she waited for the elevator, she typed a message to Akash:
Meet me where we met yesterday. URGENT.
With fingers shivering in the cold and the horror of what she’d just found out, Sagarika didn’t notice that she’d shut her phone before clicking on Send. The text remained in her Drafts folder, unsent.
‘Take me to Grand Foyer,’ she barked at the driver who looked surprised as he’d been instructed to take her to Superplex. He quietly started the car and sent a message to Rishab: ‘Taking madam to Grand Foyer.’
Rishab received the message, but his face didn’t reflect what he felt inside.
She must be going there to meet him. Maybe I should give orders to thrash the guy to pulp.
He tried to breathe normally. He couldn’t afford to show any anxiety. He informed his aide about the change of venue.
Meanwhile, as the car made its way to Grand Foyer, Sagarika tried to calm herself. She massaged her palms to stop them from trembling. Even the efficient heating in the car didn’t help. She pulled out the bunch of printouts and read them again.
The pages contained detailed research and contacts of doctors who dealt with a certain memory suppressant drug. The research was being conducted by scientists in MIIT, USA, and they believed the drug could be beneficial for treating war veterans suffering from acute PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), victims who had witnessed horrific crimes and torture. Careful dosage could help erase the painful memories which inhibit patients from living a normal life. Nicknamed the Forgetting Pill, the use of the drug was being questioned by many practitioners of medicine.
Rishab had scribbled details of scientists who were working on the drug. The printouts also had email exchanges with several of them. His queries were disturbing, to say the least: ‘If administered to a person, do they forget everything … or only a few things? Does it alter the person’s core? What kind of side effects does this drug have on the nervous system? Is there a risk of the person becoming a vegetable? How can I procure this drug in India?’
The more she read, the sicker she felt. She could taste the bile rising up her throat and a mild throb in her right temple.
‘Madam, Grand Foyer,’ the driver said as the car stopped in the basement parking area.
As she quickly stepped out, the driver asked, ‘Madam, can I go for a cup of tea? It’s very cold.’ He was doing exactly as he was instructed.
Sagarika nodded and he drove off. It was only after the glowing red light of the car had gone out of sight that she realized she was all alone in the almost deserted parking area.
Why did he drop me here, in the basement instead of the entrance?
She had been too engrossed reading the printouts to notice. She could see only a few cars scattered in the huge, semi-dark basement. She shivered and nervously pulled her jacket tight around her. It was cold all right. She began walking quickly towards a glowing sign that said: ENTRANCE TO MALL.
Suddenly, she heard a car pull up from behind. She moved to one side and continued walking towards the entrance, still some 20–30 metres away. She could now hear the sound of running feet. When she turned around, she saw a man running towards her.
She didn’t stop to think. She just ran. She didn’t know if the man was going to harm her. She just knew that she had to run to safety. She didn’t cover much ground, though – her flimsy slippers flip-flopped and threatened to come apart. She could feel the man closing in. As a last effort to save herself, she ducked around a pillar to gain some distance and she almost stumbled and fell, banging into someone.
‘Hey! See where you’re going, woman!’ A voice said. A man’s voice.
Sagarika recoiled in horror as she steadied herself, staring at the huge muscular man she’d collided with. In the semi-dark basement, he looked menacing.
‘Please help me … please … that man … please save me…’ she cried, shivering uncontrollably. She clutched on to his sweatshirt, unsure if he was someone out to get her.
The man looked at her, her dishevelled condition, her frightened face. Then he looked at the man who had been chasing her – he had stopped in his tracks.
‘Get inside the car,’ he told Sagarika, and dragged her towards his Santro, parked a few feet away. ‘Get inside. Lock the doors and don’t open.’ He thrust the key in her hand and walked towards the man pursuing her.
Sagarika got into the car and watched him beat her stalker to pulp. She breathed a little easy.
When he got back to the Santro and sped out of the basement to the sunny street, he halted the car near the security gates to make sure Sagarika was at ease.
‘Madam, you are safe now. Don’t worry. Tell me where should I drop you?’ He wasn’t interested in her story and why the two goons were chasing her. This was Gurgaon.
‘I can’t go home. It’s not safe,’ Sagarika said. ‘Can you … can you drive on for a little bit further? I need to think.’ She was still shivering from the aftermath of the incident.
The security guard at the entrance signalled at him to proceed. Just then his mobile rang. As he manoeuvred the car around the under-construction roads, he put the phone on speaker:
‘Jay, where are you? You know I’ve to go to buy medicines.’
Sagarika stared at Jay on hearing the voice.
‘I’ll be home soon, Dia. Just ran into something.’
‘Okay. Listen, please buy some bread, eggs. Also, get me my usual ciggy. Come soon. I’m waiting.’ The caller disconnected the phone.
‘Okay,’ Jay said, turning towards Sagarika. ‘So, have you decided where to go?’ He sounded a bit irritated.
‘Who was that?’ Sagarika asked him. She didn’t know Dia, but she recognized that voice very well. She was almost stunned beyond words on hearing it.
‘My friend. Why?’ Jay couldn’t understand why she was curious.
‘Take me to your place,’ Sagarika said, fastening her seatbelt.
‘Listen, you’re being ridiculous. There’s no way I’m taking you home. And why? Why do you want to come home with me? Tell me where I should drop you. Where do you live?’ Jay was almost beginning to regret having rescued her. ‘This is why people don’t help strangers in need. You never know what you’re getting into,’ he mumbled to himself.
‘Listen, I wouldn’t cause any problem for you. I promise. I just want to meet your friend Dia and I’ll leave.’
‘Why? Why are you so desperate to meet her?’
‘When I meet her, you’ll know. Let’s go now. Please … Jay, you’ve done a lot for me. Just do this last little thing. Please.’ The pleading nature of her tone made him change his mind.
If Dia is who I think she is, she has a lot of explaining to do. I’m sure it is who I think. I’m not wrong. Sagarika stared out of the window thinking about the morning’s events. She rested her head on the cold window pane, not even for a minute worrying about being in a car with a complete stranger headed towards his house.
What could be worse than what has already happened? I found out my husband is probably drugging me so that I don’t remember. A few goons attacked me and tried to kidn
ap me. What could be worse than this?
42
Akash, unaware of all that had befallen on Sagarika since morning as he never got her text, was busy making plans to help.
I need to help her get away from her husband. As long as she stays with him, she’ll never remember her past. She’ll never remember me, us and everything that we shared.
He had already written to Roohi on Facebook.
Dear Roohi,
I’m Sagarika’s friend, Akash. I’m sure you know about me. She is in grave danger. I trust you know about her accident, the coma and the subsequent memory loss. She’s in Gurgaon and is in need of help. Please call me asap on 9819710965. Your best friend needs you, Roohi.
Akash.
Roohi, however, had been in a monastery for the past few months, totally cut off from civilization. She had no access to the Internet.
If I can get Roohi and Sagarika’s mother in Gurgaon, there’s a chance of taking her away from Rishab. She can’t be here with him. What if Roohi doesn’t reply? Can I contact her mother … No, that’s a very bad idea. How will I introduce myself? Ma’am … I’m the man your daughter had a wild affair with. Now she has forgotten me but I’m the love of her life and want to take her away from her husband … Aaarggh! This will not work at all…
It was at that moment that he received a call on his cellphone. It was Sagarika.
‘Why aren’t you picking up?’ she asked him. ‘You need to meet me now! I’m in big trouble.’ She was almost out of breath, fumbling for words.
‘Where are you?’ Akash asked her. ‘What happened … Cheeni, are you all right?’
‘I’m fine. Just get here as soon as you can. Here … Jay, please give him the address.’ The phone was passed on and Akash heard a deep baritone. He scribbled down the address on a piece of paper and asked for Sagarika again.
‘Who is this man? Are you safe?’
‘Yes. I am. Please reach as soon as you can.’
A Forgotten Affair Page 14
