11 Hours

by Daniel Paul Singh

  “How are we as a pair?” she asked after sending the photo.

  I didn’t like him and that was the last pair on earth I would root for.

  “You both are made for each other” I responded.

  “I know, right. Yippee” she responded.

  I could never understand women.

  “I can never understand men” she texted me one day. “Why Bru, what happened?” “I met with an accident yesterday” she texted back. I immediately called her. I still liked her and cared for her wellbeing.

  “Nothing serious Rob, but I twisted my feet and have some scratches in my hand. I called him to help me. He came along with my roomie and they both took me to hospital and all that, he took care of me”

  “Then?”

  “Today I asked him to come home during lunch time, he came. I had some bandages in my hand and asked him to feed me, but he refused to”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “How would I know? Whats there in feeding me? He says that he will do all that after marriage. How insensible of him? I will never understand men at all”

  I didn’t know what to respond and I was equally surprised on the expectations women had for the simplest of things.

  “What did you do then? How did you eat?”

  “I struggled to eat and somehow finished it. I wonder why he dint bother meeting such a small expectation from me”

  “Some men are like that” I bit my tongue after saying that.

  “Can you talk to him sometime tomorrow? Cos you know me better than anyone else. Can you tell him what all I expect, how to be with me, how to make me happy?”

  “That wouldn’t be nice. It won’t be good if I do that” I resisted.

  “Come on Rob, You were my best friend. It will be perfect only if you talk some sense to him”

  I liked the way she stressed the word “WERE” – ‘Were my best friend’.

  “Sure, I will try”.

  She then gave me his FB ID, I had a look at his profile, but never gave him a friend request, saw a few photos of his and closed the window. I was never going to talk to him. He wouldn’t like it, if I advised him. The idea of intruding into Brindha’s love life sounded silly. It wouldn’t be nice - it would be awkward and uncalled for.

  “You know what, Rob. Sometimes I miss you. How we used to chat non-stop for long hours. I miss those days. He never does that. He doesn’t understand what I want. I wish he was as understanding and caring as you”

  “Bru. You shouldn’t be searching for me in him, you will never find me in him. He is your man, now. Accept him as he is. Don’t bring me into the picture”

  “I know Rob, still. I do miss those days. Wish you had proposed on time. Hmmm. Btw, tomorrow we are heading to Trichy”

  “We?”

  “Yes, he is coming along with me. I thought I will introduce him to my parents”

  “Great. All the best” I said.

  Brindha had never invited me home. Even when I offered to visit her place, she vehemently refused and told me not to come. She was definitely taking the relationship to the next level with him.

  “What did your parents say on hearing that he is coming along with you?”

  “They didn’t take it in the right spirit and were upset, but then they will have to face him as their son in law, some day” saying she laughed. I laughed along wryly.

  “So will you talk to him?”

  “I will try Bru. But I think, I shouldn’t come between you two. It will be awful. I will see what I can do though”

  “Fine Rob, you know better” she said and cut the call.

  Some people remain so close to us for so many years and then suddenly vanish into thin air. Brindha too went missing permanently from my life.

  She left to Australia on an onsite assignment and texted a few times from there, but there was no communications thereafter. She didn’t talk about her love life either. It took some three-four months for me to realize that she wasn’t using that number nor was she active in any of the social media.

  Somewhere between “You are my everything” and “I am my everything”, we all grow up. I tried reaching her in vain for the past few days without any lead. She vanished completely just like how she appeared from nowhere. I wasn’t sure if I would ever meet her again in my life. Everything happens for a reason. Brindha’s arrival and departure should also have a reason, which I am still searching for.

  I have tried to be as honest as possible about my past in this blog, as I trust all you readers. A few of you might like this blog, a few might find it boring, but I wanted to be truthful with myself and write everything as it happened. Before you could ask - yes, my wife was the first one to read this and she was totally cool with it (except for that imaginary love making sequence).Hope Brindha or any of her friends read this and contact me.

  Until I meet you all in another blog, this is Robin signing off, love you all. ₪ ₪ ₪

  Part 3

  The Chase

  Chapter 19 Trichy Trails How could someone with a heart do that? How could someone flick a phone from an accident victim. I felt like I lost my right hand. My phone had quite a many contact numbers, almost 3000 of them. I didn’t have a google cloud back up either. To add to the misery I didn’t remember the LOSER’s number. I wasn’t sure how he would reach me or how I could contact him. I remembered only my wife’s number whose phone was switched off and the only hope I had to communicate with her captor was gone. God! What would happen to my wife? Will the LOSER think I am dead and kill her?

  I looked at Prabhu, who had followed me to the hospital, with utter disbelief.

  He looked clueless too, when his phone rang. It was an unknown number. He picked.

  “Hey Prabhu? Are you still alive? Good Lord. Where has that Rob run away?” said the voice of the LOSER.

  I got the phone from him and answered.

  “I am alive as well Ganpath”

  “Who is Ganpath?” came the instant reply.

  “I meant LOSER” I didn’t want to give him any clue that I have traced his identity.

  “What happened to your phone? Why did you switch it off” he asked.

  “Someone stole it” I said.

  “How? Why? It has my contact number, calls and messages” he was nervous.

  “How would I know? The men you sent almost killed us. We met with an accident and just opened our eyes in the hospital and my phone is gone missing. How in the world am I supposed to know where it is?” that was the second time I raised my voice against him. Desperation drove me nuts.

  “Look Mr. Rob, in this deal, I am the one who gives orders and gets to shout not others” he reminded me again.

  “Help me find my phone” I told him. Even though the loser could still contact me through Prabhu’s phone, he would want me to have my phone as it would be easy for him to trace me.

  “It’s switched off, but yes, I could still track it. It’s about 2 km away from the place where I receive the signal of this call, where you guys are talking to me from. May be if you go there now, you could get it. It hasn’t moved an inch for a while.” He said.

  “Really? Where exactly? Send the location over whatsapp to Prabhu” I told him and disconnected the call. The location came after 30 seconds.

  “Rob, you need some rest. You look like a zombie with blood stains on your shirt and all those bandages on your head and hand. See your shirt is also torn. You better wait here, let me go get your phone for you” Prabhu said.

  “You are hurt too Prabhu, what if the thief is strong and over powers you. It would make sense if both of us go together” saying I ran towards the destination. Half way down, I realized that running was a bad idea. I should have taken an auto. However, not knowing the whereabouts of who stole my mobile and what weapons he might have in store, going by foot seemed to be a better option. I didn’t want to warn him with an impending sound of an approaching vehicle. I thanked the LOSER for the first time for placing the bug in my phone.


  We reached the location in about 15 minutes. Right in front of us was a dilapidated house, our supposed destination. I looked at Prabhu. He signaled on one of us attacking through the front door and the other attacking from the other back entrance, to surprise the thief. I decided to go through the front door and carefully chose my steps.

  I brought my breath to a silent rhythm, made sure only I could hear it and took cat steps as I treaded towards the house. I heard minor movements within the house. House was the last thing I would call it, it was all but remains of an old bleak, broken piece of architecture. It didn’t have any doors or roof, but only corrugated bleak walls filled with algae and staunch smell of human excreta. I stepped inside the front door when I heard a ruffle. Someone was trying to do something in a room to my left. I rolled my wrists, readying to hit him on sight, and slowly barged in when my foot hit a rod on the floor. Clink, came the noise. I cursed myself for alerting the inmate of the house. I held my breath and waited in patience. There was silence. I could be attacked anytime and I had to make a move. Prabhu had still not arrived, but I knew he would come in for rescue any moment, if anything went wrong.

  I drew some courage and tried to peep into the room, to have a sneak peek of its occupant, through the corner of my eye. I couldn’t see anyone. There was an eerie silence which caused further worry. I was pretty sure the inhabitant was hiding behind the walls, anticipating my entry, rearing to attack. I could be killed if he had a gun, or a knife or any other weapon. I wasn’t armed.

  It was still dark inside. I got accustomed to the darkness and when I felt comfortable to see in that dim light, I gently slipped into the room, when a piece of object drifted swiftly towards me. At the very last minute, I moved my head and escaped narrowly from the stone that was thrown at me. I looked at the direction from which it came. What I saw took me by surprise.

  There stood a little girl of around 12 years, who was ready to throw her next arsenal at me, but hesitated after seeing my state. She was scared and confused. I wondered what she was doing at that odd hour in that odd place.

  “What are you even doing here, who are you?” I asked her.

  “I live here. Who are you?” she said in a timid tone.

  “I came looking for my phone. Do you live here alone?”

  “No, I live with my father. He has gone out. He will be back soon.” She was determined that I shouldn’t take advantage of her being alone.

  “Why did you attack me?”

  “I thought it was one of my father’s friends. He has lot of them, people who have given him money and people who want to get their hands on me and” she paused “eat me”. She said wryly. I never expected to hear that from a little girl.

  “Man…How old are you?” I asked her.

  “I am a girl and I am 17” she replied, but looked not more than 12. Malnutrition.

  “Why are you here?” she asked again.

  “To find my phone, I told you already”

  “Is this the one? “Saying she showed me, my phone.

  “Yes” I was relieved and got it from her.

  “Dad gave it as a gift, he told he found it near the Toll booth today” there was a sense of guilt in her.

  “I lost it there. There was a signal attached to it, so I was able to find it, thanks” I said. I didn’t want to tell her that her dad had stolen it from me.

  She aimed the stone right at me again. Fearing she would hit me, I bent down, only for the stone to hit Prabhu who had entered close in behind me. It hit him right in his forehead, though it was a small stone, it should have hurt.

  “Ouch. You little wimp” he screamed.

  “No no, don’t hurt him. He is with me” I stopped her.

  “Oh Okay” she said as she dropped the second stone she was aiming at him.

  “Prabhu, are you alright?”

  “Except that I can see a few tweety birds around my head, I am perfectly alright” he said rubbing his forehead where the stone had hit.

  I turned towards the girl and continued my questioning.

  “You stay here, in this rotten place? You and your dad? Whats your name?” I continued my questioning.

  “We call this home. My dad calls me Yazhini” she said.

  I looked around. It was quite unsafe a place for a girl of her age to be in.

  “Your mom?” Prabhu asked.

  “She hung herself, leaving behind her eyes for me” she said in a lifeless tone.

  I was startled and looked at her.

  “I was born blind” she said and stared at me.

  “That’s sad. I am sorry, here, have this” saying I gave her two 500 rupees notes.

  “No, my dad has asked me not to take money from anyone” she refused.

  “Think of me like an elder brother, just take it” I insisted.

  “That’s exactly what most of the men who come here say. I am fine with whatever my dad gives me” she continued.

  I was astounded. I didn’t know what to reply. I looked at Prabhu. He gave his card to her and said.

  “Thanks for the hit little one, in case you need any help, any day, give me a call”.

  “I dont need your sympathy, but I will have this card.” She said and kept looking at us, sending the message that we were intruding her privacy. We decided to return back to the hospital and the mechanic shop.

  “That’s one bold girl” Prabhu told as we returned. I couldn’t agree more.

  I switched on my phone. It sprung to life within minutes, brightening up my mood. It felt like coming face to face with an old long lost brother. The home page screen read as 5.20 AM. It had a photo of me and Diana smiling at the camera, as the display picture. My right thumb touched her smiling lips.

  I had received a couple of messages from the LOSER asking if I were still alive and why I had switched off the phone. Airtel also said that there were a couple of missed calls from an unknown number. Who would have wanted to call me at 5 AM in the morning?

  I dialled that number and on second thought, cut the call immediately and asked Prabhu to make a call to that number. Prabhu called and someone picked it immediately.

  I got the phone from him and conversed.

  “Hi, I had got a couple of missed calls from this number, may I know who this is?”

  ”I didn’t call to this number” said the other voice.

  “No no. Not to this number, to my other number. That phone is switched off now, this is Robin” I said.

  “Robin? Diana’s husband?” asked the voice from the other end.

  “Yes, that’s me”

  “Sir, this is Thomas from Galarena. We met earlier. Jesus! I found it so difficult to reach you. I didn’t have your number, Diana’s number is switched off. Then I thought if you had to come into my office, you should have left your phone number at the entry gate security and checked with him. Thank Jesus, you had”

  “Thanks a lot for making so much effort, Thomas, please tell me. You have got any information about Diana?”

  “Yes sir. I was coming out after shift today and felt like having a bread omelette, just as I was having it, the stall owner told me that Diana fainted near the shop yesterday evening and was taken in a car by a person accompanying her. He told me because, he had seen Diana coming with me to his stall usually and having bread omelette. He asked me if Diana was alright. I immediately wanted to inform this to you and was trying to reach you for the past half an hour”

  “Oh my God. What car? Did he note the number of the car? Any one knows how he looked. Have they seen him earlier?” my hopes of getting close to Diana’s kidnapper looked promising.

  “No, they had no idea about him. But an auto driver here has noted the car number. It is not everyday they get to see BMWs with fancy numbers and he has given me the car number. I will text you the same”

  “Thank you so much Thomas. This is a great help, great great help. I am indebted to you for this”

  “Sir, it’s my duty as her TL. I should have done much more than
this. Hope you find her soon. Did you register a complaint with the police?”

  “Not yet, will be doing it at dawn break” I said “And send the car number to this number you are talking to” I said and cut the call. There was a simmer of hope I could envision. A small speck of light amidst the world of darkness waved its tiny toes at me. Prabhu understood everything from what I spoke.

  “Rob, as you know my dad is in vigilance. I will ask him to find out whose car that is. Also, send that Ganpath’s photo to me. I will post it in my FB wall, tag you and check if he is known to any of our friends or any other contacts. Send me” he said.

  “I can’t transfer data to your phone, the LOSER is tracking everything. Is there a way I could transfer without him knowing?”

  “Lets do it using bluetooth, don’t whatsapp me” he said. I had been so addicted to being online and the internet that, even the simplest of things of transferring stuff offline from one phone to another, didn’t strike me. I transferred the photo. Prabhu also got a message with the Registration number of the car and he sent it to his dad to find out to whom it belonged.

  We both walked back swiftly towards the mechanic shop. As we reached the hospital, from a distance we could see that the car was missing at the mechanic’s shop.

  “Holy shit, Rob. Where did the car go?” Prabhu got tensed and started to run. I caught up behind him. “He could have moved it inside the garage or parked it sideways” I tried to pacify him. The shutters of the garage were down and closed.

  “Its not there and the shop is closed. That bloody robber” Prabhu was furious.

  “Why did he close it?” I doubted.

  “New i20. Owner isn’t around. Early morning. He should have taken it home. What a day! I lost my sleep, my car got hit, I was almost killed and now my car is stolen. Did he think we wouldn’t return? I will just call up my dad and get this guy behind the bars. Note down his mobile number on that hoarding, Rob. Let me call my dad now. He has named this as “Raja Workshop” and all he does is stealing” Prabhu ranted non-stop as we looked aimlessly at the road ahead.