Hemanth had been with us the whole time. We had actually asked the others, albeit not with as much venom as the CI could muster if they knew anything about the whole incident before we call the police. None replied in the affirmative, so we went ahead with the call to the law enforcers. I had previously come to the frightening conclusion as to the reason for the happening of the whole episode. Some guy who thought he had one too many balls had gone up to the terrace overlooking the cemetery and must have been sleeping, drinking whatever. Fuelled by my imagination, this thought led onto the sensational one that he had seen/encountered something out of the ordinary which freaked out the poor guy. In his obviously frantic attempt to run away from the apparition(?), he had been clumsy and must have either fallen or hurt himself after having struck something on the way, which explains all the blood. True, the theory had its gaping holes, but I was not thinking of those. Such things, I knew...humans, even the police could do nothing about. We didn't know what to expect from the police when they trudged towards us in the Jeep, but certainly this clear pin-pointed accusation was totally unprecedented.
All of us looked at him in shock. The guy seemed genuinely shocked too, but he could have been acting the part of his life. He was pleading with the police that he didn't know a thing. The CI looked at him for a second and impulsively looked at the rest and asked, "Take me to the terrace!"
So the entire bandwagon started up again. A friend of mine who was very very awed by the CI went over to him offering to take pics of all the blood strewn places on our way. The CI thought it was a good idea and asked him to do so. My friend obliged all the way, all the while beaming like the morning sun that was due in about a couple of hours. Anyway, we tried to explain all that had happened to the police as we went up slowly, showing the blood and illustrating the episode. He didn't say much but did not take his eyes off Hemanth and our hapless watchman. As we neared our flat, my enthusiastic friend offered to demonstrate what he THOUGHT had happened outside our door. He duly went up the flight of stairs leading to the terrace, made a good job of acting scared and flew down the stairs. While turning around to to take the next flight of stairs right beside our door, he made a shoddy job of falling on our door while doing so. That, he declared was why we heard the thud, sound on our door. I had a couple of doubts about it all, but didn't want to spoil his portrayal of the scared sprinter. He wanted to seize the oppurtunity to display his repertoire in method acting. We simply didn't care.
Once on the terrace and after having shown everything, the CI summoned Hemanth and asked him if he knew a couple of guys giving him their names. The manner in which he asked questions, even such simple ones really made us think again of the incompetence of the police. Surely, this man, notwithstanding all the foul mouthed language, knew how to deal with crime. Dint have a single doubt about that. Hemanth replied that he knew them and as the conversation went on, we could make out that these two guys once stayed at the apartment and still frequently came to our place. They had come that very evening according to Hemanth and he had had a rendezvous with them. This puzzled us, what did they have to do with all of this? We wanted to ask the CI but couldn't muster up enough courage.
As it was nearing 3 AM, the defining moment of the entire night came upon us. The CI after having taken our names and numbers, went back to the watchman and asked him, again a very simple question. "When did this actually happen?"
The moron replied, "Why sir, just about 10-15 minutes ago".
We sang out in unison, "Sir, it's been almost three hours, sir...".
The CI looked back at him and seemed to be searching for words to say . After about a minute of staring, even the loudmouthed CI had to give up. Such was the foolishness of our watchman. Legendary.
He instructed a constable beside him to take Hemanth and follow him. We could see the investigation seemed to have come to an end. The constable shouted into the night, "Ramesh, take him into CUSTODY" with the last word spelt with much emphasis. Hearing the orders being barked akin to a guy being taken to the deathrow, Hemanth was close to tears.
Once back on the road, the CI said that their work was done and he was about to go back into the Jeep. In the background, the other policemen were standing around giving poses to my over awed mobile camera happy friend. The scene looked so out of tune. To the CI's query as to what they were doing, they replied, "Sir, we have just been to an investigation. We need to take pictures with us right!!?" Indian Police!! And so, they went off, with a new passenger in their already congested ancient vehicle. As the vehicle went away spewing dust, we looked at each other, What Just Happened??
The epilogue to the whole episode was delivered the next evening by Hemanth himself. The two guys he was asked about the previous night had had an argument that night, and it resulted with one guy stabbing the other. Now the other guy in his bloody ordeal came running for Hemanth but forgot the flat he stayed in. Apparently, he came all the way to the terrace, realised that there were no more floors above, panicked and ran away the same way he had come. Luckily, on the road while running, he accosted the police station and went in to lodge a compliant. In that complaint, he named Hemanth too. The exciting part was that that was exactly the time the police team came to us. The call to the CI was the key to all of us this. In all, it ended that way. An inexplicable episode explained rather simply in the end.
I had mixed emotions on hearing it. Relieved to know that it was a mere stabbing and nothing more, but at the same time disappointed that there was nothing otherworldy like in the X Files!! No apparitions, no ghostly tinge to the incident. A very human and normal episode in fact. Anyway, I consoled myself, at least it was an exciting encounter if nothing else.
After this episode:
We Room mates: We try to open our door at the first knock.
Eager friend: Uploaded bloody pics to facebook.
Hemanth: Wary of every guy who comes to meet him and terrified of khaki wearing people, Auto drivers included.
Bloody guy: Went through treatment worth a lakh of rupees!!
Our opinion of the IPS: Slightly bettered
Watchman: Being tortured every night by the nightly patrol team. (They visit every night and shout out his name, shaking him awake). Sadly, it hasn't helped with the foolishness though.
All of us looked at him in shock. The guy seemed genuinely shocked too, but he could have been acting the part of his life. He was pleading with the police that he didn't know a thing. The CI looked at him for a second and impulsively looked at the rest and asked, "Take me to the terrace!"
So the entire bandwagon started up again. A friend of mine who was very very awed by the CI went over to him offering to take pics of all the blood strewn places on our way. The CI thought it was a good idea and asked him to do so. My friend obliged all the way, all the while beaming like the morning sun that was due in about a couple of hours. Anyway, we tried to explain all that had happened to the police as we went up slowly, showing the blood and illustrating the episode. He didn't say much but did not take his eyes off Hemanth and our hapless watchman. As we neared our flat, my enthusiastic friend offered to demonstrate what he THOUGHT had happened outside our door. He duly went up the flight of stairs leading to the terrace, made a good job of acting scared and flew down the stairs. While turning around to to take the next flight of stairs right beside our door, he made a shoddy job of falling on our door while doing so. That, he declared was why we heard the thud, sound on our door. I had a couple of doubts about it all, but didn't want to spoil his portrayal of the scared sprinter. He wanted to seize the oppurtunity to display his repertoire in method acting. We simply didn't care.
Once on the terrace and after having shown everything, the CI summoned Hemanth and asked him if he knew a couple of guys giving him their names. The manner in which he asked questions, even such simple ones really made us think again of the incompetence of the police. Surely, this man, notwithstanding all the foul mouthed language, knew how to deal with crime. Dint have a single doubt about that. Hemanth replied that he knew them and as the conversation went on, we could make out that these two guys once stayed at the apartment and still frequently came to our place. They had come that very evening according to Hemanth and he had had a rendezvous with them. This puzzled us, what did they have to do with all of this? We wanted to ask the CI but couldn't muster up enough courage.
As it was nearing 3 AM, the defining moment of the entire night came upon us. The CI after having taken our names and numbers, went back to the watchman and asked him, again a very simple question. "When did this actually happen?"
The moron replied, "Why sir, just about 10-15 minutes ago".
We sang out in unison, "Sir, it's been almost three hours, sir...".
The CI looked back at him and seemed to be searching for words to say . After about a minute of staring, even the loudmouthed CI had to give up. Such was the foolishness of our watchman. Legendary.
He instructed a constable beside him to take Hemanth and follow him. We could see the investigation seemed to have come to an end. The constable shouted into the night, "Ramesh, take him into CUSTODY" with the last word spelt with much emphasis. Hearing the orders being barked akin to a guy being taken to the deathrow, Hemanth was close to tears.
Once back on the road, the CI said that their work was done and he was about to go back into the Jeep. In the background, the other policemen were standing around giving poses to my over awed mobile camera happy friend. The scene looked so out of tune. To the CI's query as to what they were doing, they replied, "Sir, we have just been to an investigation. We need to take pictures with us right!!?" Indian Police!! And so, they went off, with a new passenger in their already congested ancient vehicle. As the vehicle went away spewing dust, we looked at each other, What Just Happened??
The epilogue to the whole episode was delivered the next evening by Hemanth himself. The two guys he was asked about the previous night had had an argument that night, and it resulted with one guy stabbing the other. Now the other guy in his bloody ordeal came running for Hemanth but forgot the flat he stayed in. Apparently, he came all the way to the terrace, realised that there were no more floors above, panicked and ran away the same way he had come. Luckily, on the road while running, he accosted the police station and went in to lodge a compliant. In that complaint, he named Hemanth too. The exciting part was that that was exactly the time the police team came to us. The call to the CI was the key to all of us this. In all, it ended that way. An inexplicable episode explained rather simply in the end.
I had mixed emotions on hearing it. Relieved to know that it was a mere stabbing and nothing more, but at the same time disappointed that there was nothing otherworldy like in the X Files!! No apparitions, no ghostly tinge to the incident. A very human and normal episode in fact. Anyway, I consoled myself, at least it was an exciting encounter if nothing else.
After this episode:
We Room mates: We try to open our door at the first knock.
Eager friend: Uploaded bloody pics to facebook.
Hemanth: Wary of every guy who comes to meet him and terrified of khaki wearing people, Auto drivers included.
Bloody guy: Went through treatment worth a lakh of rupees!!
Our opinion of the IPS: Slightly bettered
Watchman: Being tortured every night by the nightly patrol team. (They visit every night and shout out his name, shaking him awake). Sadly, it hasn't helped with the foolishness though.
2 comments:
first 3 parts ended with very good suspense and gave way to the 4th... bhargav told me about the incident this morning ... i wish i was at your live narration
:) i tried to do justice to the written narration as well...
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