Tete-A-Tete with SOUL

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The headlights flashed illuminating the murky waters. Screeching brakes killed the silence. Brief halt. He got back into the car. The vehicle zoomed on the concrete path, leaving behind a muddy trail.
~~~~~~~~~
The wind swayed the trees gently. With one hand on the car steering, she removed her hat with the other and threw it on the back seat. Combing the auburn hair with her delicate fingers, she pondered as to what life actually had in store for her.
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The doorbell rang. The maid was surprised to see the policemen at the wee hours of the morning. She informed Ananya about it. Some talks, few sips of hot coffee and off they headed in the police cars.
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The police headquarters was unexpectedly calm. A sudden complaint by a famous socialite was enough to raise eyebrows and have a hive of media people asking “important” questions. But situation demanded otherwise.
He was an industrialist with loads of good will. The big marriage was on the cards and the entire city was looking forward to it. And now the prospective groom had placed an allegation on the soon-to-be bride. The police had driven her to the headquarters and there was some serious interrogation to be done.
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Sam, the Chief Police Officer was to interrogate the suspected criminal.

Sam: We have Ananya here. Now lets talk about what the whole confusion is all about?

Sameer: Confusion… there’s no confusion! She’s been lying to me.

Sam: Lying to you. Hmm… and what makes you say that? You accuse her of murder, which by no means is a petty offense. It’s a serious matter. Hope you know what you’re talking about?

Sameer: Of course I do, officer. I am a respected citizen and I know my duties and responsibilities towards the society. So I stand by what I say. I believe she has done something wrong and no matter how much I love her, she has to answer what made her do that?

Ananya was quiet. She wanted Sameer to tell what all was on his mind.

Sam: So, Mr. Sameer please let us know what all do you know about this supposed murder. I know you have given a brief of it to the junior officer. But we would like you to please tell the happening once again.

Sameer: You want me to tell in front of Ananya, the murderer herself? Is this how you work? That’s amazing! And police complain that common man doesn’t “co-operate”! [He shrugs]

Sam: [Sternly] Please go ahead with what you have to say.

Sameer: Ok. So here’s my part of the chronicle.

My parents introduced me to Ananya. I liked her the very moment I saw her. She was absolutely normal until I went for a business visit to Australia. When I returned, so many things had changed. Life seemed all ruffled within a time gap of 20 days. Ananya wasn’t keen on meeting me quite often. She had these weird headaches for no good reason. Even if we’d go for a small party she would leave early with one or the other excuse. She had become irritable. Despite my continuous attempts to settle scores amongst us, there was no genuine effort from her side.

One day we were supposed to go for a cozy family dinner to my cousin’s place. At the last minute, Ananya told me that she was down with fever. Yesterday’s exertion had taken a toll on her and so she couldn’t make it. I didn’t reply anything on the phone. I just took my coat and started for her place. That was too much for me to handle. Yesterday she has this all-girls party and freaks out & today she is down with fever. I mean… she can be ill all of a sudden. But then… why didn’t she call me up & ask me to be besides her, the way she used to do? What’s been going wrong with her? Too many questions & lots of doubts… I wanted to find out if she was lying again or was it truth this time. I say ‘again’ because yesterday her best friend called me up to enquire as to what’s Ananya been up to these days. The friend wanted to invite us for a dinner party but Ananya didn’t pick up any of her calls or replied back to all the messages she had left.
Girl’s party… well… nothing of this sort was ever decided. It had been a month or more since the chirpy gang met!

But this is not all. When I reached Ananya’s place last night, before I could enter the fenced yard, I saw Ananya entering her car. She was in such a hurry. She slammed the car door & rushed. As expected I followed her to know where was she heading. A sick girl down with fever, fully clad in a long, black coat & tall hat, she looked suspicious. Never ever have I seen her dressed like that?

Sameer: Ananya… why? [He sobbed]

Everyone in the room was startled by this sudden cry. Sameer was given a glass of water to calm down. With Sameer’s confirmation that he wanted to go ahead with the narration, every one settled back. Tears rolled down Ananya’s rosy cheeks. This was the last thing Sameer would have wanted. His beautiful darling was hurt. But then he was almost devastated. It was a situation neither of them must have imagined they would be a part of.

Sameer: Ok. So as I followed her she drove to this spooky place near the lakeside. She got down the car. There was another suspicious looking man waiting for her. I was watching this all from distance. There were some loud words exchanged. I heard words like ‘liar’, ‘deceiver’, ‘opportunist’ and others. But what was obvious was that the 2 of them were fighting over some issue. The hand gestures, the shaking of the heads in disagreement…many small things indicated it was not a small fight. I was confused to see this guy… wonder how Ananya knew him? I’d never known she had been in some past relationship. Was he her ex-boyfriend? So many questions popped up in my head. I tried by best to concentrate on what actually what was going on there. The worst happened. Ananya removed a dagger from the coat and stabbed him on the back. He fell to the ground letting out a distressing cry. Ananya ran back into the car and left the place within no time. I was shocked to see all this. I was frightened stiff. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to go near a corpse at the middle of the night. But then I couldn’t stay quiet about this. I just took few steps towards the dead body and rolled it over. There lay a middle-aged guy with a long nose. All I could think of was to get into the car & speed back on the road.

I halted at the nearest phone booth & called the police informing them about the dead body by the lakeside.

Sam: [interrupting Sameer] Oh…so it was you who had called?

Sameer: Yes Officer. Even though I informed the police about the crime, I couldn’t sleep for a minute. I was loaded with the guilt of seeing a live man turn into a dead body. I didn’t know what to do about it. I just drove to the police headquarters. And here I am… telling you what all I saw. I feel so low right now. This incident… is it for real? A night and everything is changed!

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There were lots of discussions.
A witness confirmed that at the middle of the night he did see 2 ‘guys’ across the banks of the river.
Doubts were raised & answers were given.
Everything was settled.
Sameer & Ananya left the headquarters happily.

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Sameer: I never knew you were that brave!

Ananya: Yeah! Me neither. [Giggles] But when Uncle Sam asked me to help him out, I couldn’t say no to him. He’s been a father figure. Also, dad told me to go ahead. Earlier dad was a bit skeptical as our wedding was on the cards. But I believe life comes before anything. So eventually both mom & dad agreed to it. I helped law and am glad I am with you now. I am sorry that I didn’t take you in confidence before I agreed to do this benevolent deed. You were off to the foreign lands for a critical meeting and I didn’t want to you to get all worried for me. So I…

Sameer: Hey sweetie, don’t explain all this to me. What you did makes me feel more proud of you. I am surely going to marry someone who will be my ‘better’ half.

They hug each other tight. They get into Sameer’s car and leave for home.
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[Back in the police headquarters]

Sam: [To his junior officer] So you see… everything’s fine now. [With a mocking smile] And they say… you cannot hide truth.

Jr. Officer: Don’t you feel Sameer believed us too early - Ananya helping us out, doing that river side drama to trick a suspected criminal and accidentally just injuring him.

Sam: Well, that’s all what you are thinking about? We have to move. Get ready.

Jr. Officer: Where are we going now?

Sam: To relate things. I’ll drive. I just want you to come along, not the entire team. Lets go!

[Off they headed in a normal car.]

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[At Sameer’s home.]

Sameer: I am just completely exhausted. A quick shower and some tea would do wonder, what say?

Ananya: Sure dear.

Sameer goes to take a shower. As Ananya turns back to get some coffee, she notices an open briefcase with something peeping out. Ananya is shocked. Meanwhile, Sameer comes out in the room

Sameer: Oh ho! So now you know too much…

He snatches the gun and the fake passport from Ananya’ s hands.

Ananya: [Trembling with fear] So you lied to all of us.

Sameer: Yep! So now that you know ‘too’ much, goodbye forever my love! [He holds Ananya at the gunpoint.]

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A gun shot. A scream. A cry.

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Ananya: Uncle Sam. [Ananya sobs and runs towards Sam.]

Sam: Don’t shed tears for this cheat! He would have ruined your live. I know you are too stunned to see all this happen so quickly. But we were waiting to track down this beast for quite a while now.

Jr. Officer: Sir, how did you expect some action here in the house tonight? And our doubts about Sameer were indeed true! You knew he was lying at the headquarters. What was the missing link?

Sam comforts Ananya.

Sam: [Turning towards Jr. Officer] Well, remember the guy who pretended to be the witness, the one who saw 2 guys across the banks and all…

Jr. Officer: Yes sir, I do remember. What about him?

Sam: He’s the same guy Ananya “killed”. [He laughs.] Sameer never recognized the dead guy, the long nose and all rubbish. He never went near the corpse. All he had to do was to hide the truth, not tell a lie. But he wasn’t good enough.

Jr. Officer: [Amazed with surprise] What?

Sam: That’s what I felt but didn’t utter when the witness entered the room. I was expecting Sameer to jump off the chair and identify the ‘corpse’. But he was as cool as a cucumber. He didn’t budge at all. That’s when the things got connected.

Ananya: But… it was dark near the riverside. Sameer might not have recognized him properly?

Sam: A man having a big scar on the left cheek… well, very few brains would forget that face. Long nose! Who had that? You, him or me? No one! It was all made up. He never had to even attempt describing the dead guy. Even without that he could have proved Ananya to be a law-breaker.

Jr. Officer: But how did Sameer come to know about our plan?

Sam: Well he never knew the entire plan until now, before he died. He heard half-truth and constructed the remaining, only to fail miserably. Remember when we came with a search warrant to Sameer’s house, only to find he had gone on this business trip, Ananya was on the phone?

Ananya: Yes. I was talking to Sameer. You gestured me to disconnect the call, which I did.

Sam: Well, you disconnected. But Sameer had called you, hadn’t he? Besides you were so surprised to see us that you made the golden mistake that brought us here.

Ananya: [puzzled] What mistake?

Sam: You just kept the cordless instrument on the coffee table. Sameer overheard whatever I told you about helping me out in nabbing a suspected criminal. A rough looking guy with a long nose!

Jr. Officer: Ok! So that’s where the fake appearance description given by you to Ananya misled Sameer. Poor chap.

Sam: Sameer assumed that Ananya would just help us nab the ‘criminal’ and not kill or attack someone. Never in his dreams might have he guessed that it was him we were trying to get hold of. He was this ‘ideal’ business tycoon. Catching him red-handed was a distant dream for me. His now-and-then foreign trips were raising alarms in the entire department. He was happy to know that by committing a serious crime like murder, now entire media focus would shift to Ananya and he would emerge out as an ‘respected’ citizen!

The other guy at the river and the witness and the ‘criminal’ were all the same person… I just wanted to test how a criminal mind would react to some live criminal act. Sameer tricked me by informing the police of the murder committed by Ananya. I expected him to protect her and try hiding the truth. That’s were the equation got sorted!

Better name to his credit so that his bad deeds don’t see daylight for some more time – let the ‘bride-to-be’ become the hot news! Sympathy & support all would pour in from the people & media. I doubt if he ever wanted to get married, he must have given up to parents’ pressure.

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With loud wailing sirens, several police cars arrived at Sameer’s house.

Now the ‘investigation’ would begin.
No one would be projected as brave.
Media would ask “important” questions and the papers would scream out the ‘truth’ as told to them.
However, there were things to be unraveled. Each single day out of those 20 days must have harmed humanity quite a bit!


Hiding truth and telling lies – there’s a difference.