Part 1

He called me today. For money. I feel shameful to tell you that all the money he had given to me were spent not for the reason I borrowed from him. No profit only loss. Half of the amount I lost in gambling. Remaining cash is also running out. Tell me what shall I do now?

And he is right. He means Shirish. One year passed after I borrowed money from him. I agreed to return half amount after 6 months and remaining half in next 6 months. However, I couldn't give him back a single rupee. Now he has given me final warning. If I don't give him all the money back, he will send goons for recovery of the money. Goons can even break our bones, I knew. Today is the last day to return his money. Do you know the amount? Its 5 lakhs! Cash. He told me to come on the railway foot over bridge! Tonight, at 2 o'clock.

And yes, I am going to meet him there at the given time though I don't have money. You may ask how? Let me tell you first what happened in past.

Few months back:

I ran away from my native village to this metro city. Somehow I became friends with Shirish. He believed in me. He gave me money to start a new life, to start a new business. I hid many things from him which happened in my village with me. For example, I came to this city by committing many crimes in my village. My mother was not alive and father threw me out of his house. These and many other things!

On the same day when Shirish gave me five lakhs cash in a bag, with a hope for future in mind I decided to buy some material for my new business. I was waiting for a bus on bus stand. I wanted to go to a nearby city, in which I knew a shop where good quality material was available in wholesale for my business. I was hopeful but also worried because I realised that after I left Shirish's place, someone was following me, but I couldn't see anyone when I looked back. After some time, I noticed that someone sitting on my front bench was staring at me. I knew who he was!

I quickly rose and started running with my bag. He was a person from my village from whom I had borrowed 2.5 lakhs. He started running after me and got me by my collar and pushed me down in dust. I fell down. He threatened me to call police if I didn’t give him back his 2.5 lakhs. Probably, he saw me taking money from Shirish. He started punching me in my stomach. Finally I gave him back his money with interest. Total 3 lakhs. I requested him not to tell anyone in my village that I am living in this city. He agreed. But now it was difficult to start business in 2 lakhs.

I became frustrated. I left the bus stand but didn't go to the lodge in which I was staying temporarily. Later I felt hungry. I ate a samosa. On that day I wandered here and there till night. I saw many hurried people going to office. Few were busy doing business. Few were buying things, enjoying shopping. Everyone had a job. Though I was uneducated, I had tried to do work at different places in past but couldn't survive for more than 8 days in any job. Somehow I felt I am not made to accept orders from the bosses and owners. May be my arrogant and egoistic nature is responsible for it.

At night, I ate veg Manchurian rice on a Chinese stall. The bag with 2 lakhs was still in my hands. I was just wandering near a railway station aimlessly. Suddenly I noticed an advertisement pasted on a wall.

"Magical locket! Buy only for 500 rupees. If you do gambling on the same day you bought this locket, you will not lose!"

Gambling!

What's wrong in giving it a try? If luck favors me with this locket, 2 lakhs will become 4 and 4 will become 8 and 16...

My eyes tinkled with this thought. My inner self was preventing me from doing gambling. Instead it was suggesting to again go back to Shirish and tell him everything and get his suggestion. But, I quickly flung the thought away from my mind like in cricket, we throw the ball towards stumps to make someone run out. And my inner self became silent because it was run out.

I went to the address mentioned in the advertisement. It was a corner shop in deserted area. There I saw the locket vendor. I bought a locket. He engraved my full name on it. The locket had a red gemstone in it. He further gave me an address where I can play gambling. I went there. It was a dark, isolated place under a flyover bridge.

Four people were playing game of cards. They were betting on money. Liquor bottles were scattered here and there. With initial hesitation, I joined them.

In first inning, I lost one lakh, then in next lost fifty thousand. I realized that they were cheating. They forced me to play with my remaining fifty thousand also. When I resisted and started to leave that place, they started to snatch away my bag.

I started running away from them. One of them kicked me in the leg and I fell down. I got up again and started running with paining leg. He again caught me and pushed me down. I fell down. My teeth got hurt. Bag was still in my hand with tight grip on it. Suddenly I noticed a broken liquor bottle lying nearby within reach of my hand. I quickly reached to it, picked it up and smashed it in his head. He started screaming with pain. I ran away from there as fast as possible with paining leg and bleeding teeth.

I passed by the same road from where I bought the locket but the vendor was not there. Oh! That means he was also one of these gamblers?

Possible! Because the cheaters like me will encounter with another cheaters like these only.

Few weeks passed. The remaining cash is also about to finish…

Due to his business Shirish used to travel a lot. He was under impression that I was doing good business with the money given by him. He called me thrice for the money and I couldn’t gather courage to tell him that I don’t have money to give him back. But still somehow I promised him that I would return the money back. Soon, He was planning to reach this city to meet me.
And on one day, I heard a conversation between two persons and got an idea.

That day, I heard two person’s talking about a gang which sells forged currency notes. I approached them and demanded some money. They interrogated me first to confirm whether I am an informer of police or really the needy. Then they took me to an old house on its terrace. From them, I bought 5 lakhs of forged currency notes for 20 thousand rupees.

Present day:

A question still bothering me was why Shirish called me on foot over bridge at night? I asked him on phone but he didn't answer. Is he also a criminal? May be this is his black money. Whatever! I need not worry about that. And by the time he may find out that those are forged ones, I will be away from this city. I have already booked railway ticket. At 4 am, the train will come on the same station which has that foot over bridge on which Shirish called me.

It was 2 o’clock now.

I was carrying two bags in my hands. One my own small bag and another containing the money for Shirish. I climbed the bridge and started waiting for Shirish. The station was not much crowded. The bridge was also almost deserted. On looking down from the railing, I could see two stray dogs and only few travelers. Most of them were dozing off on benches. I was waiting for Shirish looking expectantly at the stairs.

Suddenly I noticed a shadow on the stairs. It was growing. I became alert. Someone climbed the stairs, turned at me. He waved at me and I also did the same as decided over phone. Then he started walking towards me slowly by looking at his left and right. Till now I couldn’t see his face properly due to dim lights on the bridge. He came much nearer to me and what I noticed?

He was wearing a mask! Why? Is he Shirish or someone else? But he must be Shirish because he waved at me as was decided over phone. Or can he be someone else who knew that Shirish and I were meeting here? Or Did Shirish know that I am planning to give him forged notes? Anything was possible.

He came in front of me but behaved like someone who doesn’t know me. He didn’t speak anything. His eyes from the mask were staring at me. Somehow I also didn’t dare to speak anything.

He gestured me to give him the bag and moved his hands towards me. I handed over the bag to him. I signaled at him that I am leaving. But he gestured me to stop. Why? He took out a torch from his pocket, switched it on and opened the zip of the bag. He started checking the notes.

"Oh", I thought, "He is suspecting the authenticity of the currency notes? Or he is just confirming roughly that the amount is correct?"

Thinking that he will surely find out the truth about the currency notes, I pushed his hand which was holding the torch. It fell down from his hand and moved somewhere else on the bridge rolling.

He got angry with my unexpected action and threw at me a venomous glance. I started running towards the stairs. He caught me at my wrist and pushed me towards the railings. He punched me on my cheek. I completely avoided his second punch. I was not able to return him the punches because he was so fast that I could not move my hands. He tried to hit me hard on my head but with greatest agility I moved away from there and he lost his balance and fell down on the railway track from the railing of the foot over bridge.

And a train was approaching towards him on the tracks. I didn’t wait for checking what happened with him. I took my both bags and climbed down the stairs. I confirmed by looking at my left and right. No one was looking at me. No one was doubting me because people just found that someone was lying on the tracks and train was moving on him. I caught the same local train which stopped luckily in this station and decided to get down at next station where my 4 o’clock train also had a halt.

In 3 minutes, next station came. It was risky to stay on the station, so I hurriedly went to search a nearby lodge and I got one: Shubham Lodge.

I felt a sigh of relief.

I asked the man on counter.

"Hey, Is any room available tonight?"

"No. All rooms are booked!"

"Check once again. I just need it for few hours till my train comes! If you say, I will pay you extra money. In cash."

"Yes, one room is there but lodge owner doesn’t give that room to anyone. I can’t give it to you!"

"But the lodge owner is not here. Is it? So you give it to me. I will pay you extra money. Don’t tell your owner. It is just a matter of few hours!"

I gave him two thousand rupees extra and the actual rent for a night was one thousand. In total I gave him three thousand rupees.

When I was climbing up the wooden stairs, the person said, "Saheb, One thing to remember! There is one more small room inside your room. Be anything but don’t open the door. That room is shut for years!"

"Okay man! Anyways one room is enough for me. It’s just a matter of few hours!" I said and went up. The corridor was deserted. I reached the room and opened the door.

I came inside the room and closed the door. I sat on the bed. The room was lit with a yellow bulb. The yellow light was giving a different feel to the room. There was white bedsheet on the bed. I had few of my belongings in my small bag. Another bag was also with me containing forged notes. Some authentic notes were also with me in my small bag.

I started thinking:

"The masked man whom I pushed was Shirish or someone else? Though unintentionally but I committed a crime. Murder! Yes. But wait wait. Did anyone see me there pushing him? No! One can also fall down by losing balance. So, no one can suspect me...

However, what will happen if someone comes searching for the masked man (Shirish?). He must have told someone that he was coming to meet me...

Let it be. Even if that is true, by the time they find me, I will be gone from this city. And I cant sleep in such situation. I will just take rest."

Resting my hand on bed, I sat on ground. Then I switched off my mobile phone thinking that I would discard the sim once I reach another city.