The Rewind Button!!!

I was a small kid back then, may be studying in my second class, when there was a tape recorder in our home. A rigid body with a metallic skin sat right in the middle of the showcase in the drawing hall. Back in those times, this scene was one that will be beating today’s scene of a drawing hall with 42 inch plasma shining in the drawing hall.

Being a naughty kid, which I was then, I used to hide from everyone and stealing a chance, I would silently slid in a cassette, press the only red button on top the metallic body and blurt out my mind in all the voices I could get out of my small mouth. Then I would quickly press a button which said ‘Rewind’ on it and then merrily listen to what I blurted out and enjoy myself.

This used to be one of my favorite pastimes in those days!

Few days back, when I was alone, sitting on my bean bag, staring the lemon yellow colored wall, which was duller than my mood then, I had my mind just like a grinder grinding each and every thought that was sailing few minutes back. As it is known, the duller the thought, the hotter it is and just like any other hot liquid, it floats up and keeps banging the head from within.

I too had few of such thoughts banging the inner walls of the grey room of my body. Suddenly then, I saw the metallic body, the same metallic body that had been my friend in my melancholiness. The picture was bit blur, may be because of the dull colored wall or even may be because of the innumerable thoughts being grinded at no specific speed. But yet, that silver colored bright button glittered, just like a silver ring on the fair finger of a cute girl and the wordings ‘Rewind’ were still clear just like they were, years back!

A sudden thought came to my mind, but it had to wait at the bottom of the playlist until I played all the memories of my childhood till college days that were meowing like drowning cat.

Burying all my other thoughts, I decided to take a silent break and spend some time remembering my long lost friend. Immediately a number of memories, all of them sweet, sprung up from the bottom of my heart. Few memories from home, few on cricket ground, few with girlfriends, few riding on bike, few whiling lazily at bike stands and few laughing merrily with friends. Many of such scenes played on the stage of my brain while I sat on the front seat with mouth wide open.

After a long time it felt nice. The time silently passed like a silver cloud on the light blue sky without disturbing anything but still proving its presence. I sat up straight on the same bean bag and refreshed my memories.

Relishing my memory cells in my brain now was the turn of the thought that was struggling for its turn.

The Rewind Button!!

The caption looked catchy but the content seemed surprising. How could I leave you, my dear Sunday Readers, while walking through this thought? So here it is…

When the thought sailed up to the top of the playlist through the hurdles and the long wait, the first thing that came to my mind was the metallic body that stood majestically in every home back in the 90’s. I am not sure of the earlier years because I was not born and I don’t care!

The tape recorder! What a beautiful device it was. We could play any music which we wanted from it. Listen to radio as well. Upon all, record our own voices and replay them multiple times.

What if our own human body is put on a comparison board with this metallic body? Both would match at utmost everything except the human body would beat that poor tape recorder in two aspects – it keeps on eating and keeps on talking. The poor tape recorder on the other hand, speaks only when it is asked for and eats some of the electrical energy. But yes, it gets highlighted we come down one thing on the final aspect – the silver button, the rewind button.

Yes, in a tape recorder we have a rewind button pushing which we can go back to any song any music any recording and play it, again, and again. Do whatever you want; this is not available and not possible in our body and our life.

What if even our body had got that magical button? What if we could have that power; to rewind back and spin into the time we wanted and replay that wonderful time and relive those moments whenever we wanted.

Imagine a situation when you are stuck in a traffic jam, helplessly sitting in a window seat of a city bus inhaling the polluted gas from a vehicle standing with its ass just in front of your nose. You would be left with no option but to fume out your anger on everything except you. You now know you will have to spend 30 minutes of your life in this situation doing nothing. Now just imagine, for a minute, your body has a rewind button, say on your little finger, or may be on the back of your neck, or may be let’s keep it on your arm which would make it easier to press.

You press it and zoooooooooom comes a sound and a colored circle in front of your eyes. You see a screen after that with a list of the moments you want to replay. Selecting one of those, you go back to your school day. Back to your favorite cricket ground playing cricket forgetting all the tensions in the world. Running under the sun, sweating all over the field, catching the ball, throwing it to each other, shouting to a fellow team mate, yelling at each other for silly mistakes, fighting over every single run, playing your favorite shot, holding the bat with pride. What a moment it is to relive. A 30 minute childhood cricket game right in the middle of choking traffic jam.

Now just think of all the moments you could relive – your first prize collection, your first day in college, your first crush, the moment when your grandma told you bed time stories, the moment when you hit your first six, when you were the hero of the colony, when you went for the first trip with your best buddies, when you celebrated a team victory, your college parking lot, the college style, the college heroism, the first job, the first salary and many more. Just think what not you can relive.

The weekend walks in and zoom… You would run into your childhood. Or say, you would go back to the moment you spent with your crush.

The whole world would be magical. It would be the best life. Enjoy any moment you think would be useless. There would be no need to be unhappy of missing anything back in our journey.

I then quickly listed out all of the moments in my life that I could relive instead of sitting with my dullest mood. Then I thought of every moment that I would replace with every other. It felt nice, but only for a few minutes. Then it seemed something like a life wherein I would be eating only sweet dish for my every meal. It would taste sweet for the first meal, then seems fine with the second, but as it goes on my tongue would get pissed off.

A meal should be a plate with every item of every other taste. Only that would make it complete meal and a perfect meal.

A life is very similar to a meal. All tastes and all experiences are a must. Moreover, few meals are one time meals. Meant to be eaten once and just remember them.

Memories are also pretty much the same. They are meant to be kept in our memories, to be remembered, to be cherished. They shouldn’t be rewinded and relived again and again, that would only wipe off their distinctiveness. They would no longer be our sweet memories. They would no longer haunt us in our depressed times and bring smile upon our sullen face. It's better to smile childishly sitting in that damn thick rubber-ed bus seat than to go back and play cricket. Right?

Memories are meant to be cherished, remembered, enjoyed, smiled over… They shouldn’t repeat…

Same is the case with each and every distinct experience that we go through. They are all meant to be once in a lifetime. Shouldn’t be rewinded as and when wanted but should be only remembered and smiled on.

Save your memories deep in your heart… Remember them… Smile as you remember… It’s better than reliving them…

Happy Memories!!!

Vishal…

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Article Number "10" - MONK!!

Dear Readers, I know most you all would be aware of this name as in ‘The Monk who sold his Ferrari’ but here, I am speaking of another Monk, who is equally impressing and just more brilliant and lovable!

Reading about a series may seem boring, but wait… This is not about the series, this is only about Monk! Monk!

Monk is an American detective mystery series created by Andy Breckman and starred Tony Shalhoub as Mr. Monk. Running over a span of seven years from 2002 to 2009, it had achieved an unbeatable fan followership, finale episode having 9.4 million viewers! It was mainly a detective mystery series solving most of the highest rated unfathomable murders but even had its own dull and dark sides and even the rightly timed comic touches.

Monk was not just a series; it was and still is a world in its own. Right from the brilliant writers to the right cast, Monk in many ways is just more than a perfect series ever created. Each of the episodes has been brilliantly scripted with each and every line supporting the moment with right timing. The dull and comic scenes come and go at the right times without ever disturbing the main plot of the crime. The right cast including The Captain, Lieutenant, and the two beautiful assistants just add more feathers to the scenes.

There are few things which I can never forget about this person – his silence, his skills, his thirst for solving the crimes, his strength in overcoming his loneliness, his strength in fighting the world’s taunts on him and last but not the least, his quotes!

Let’s walk through all of them minute by minute… I promise, your walk with Monk would not go wasted and would not take more than few minutes of your valuable Sunday!

Back to Monk, a former homicide detective with San Francisco Police Department and currently working as a consultant detective for them is an Obsessive Compulsive detective with a number of Phobias.  A number which is hard to remember! Upon this, he has his own way of living, brushes 12 times a day and flosses every 90 minutes. He takes 3 showers a day only with a star shaped nozzle. He wears only the same type and color of shirt which has even number of squares on it. His one and only favorite number is an even 10. He is so much obsessed with this number that in an episode when arrested, his bail is set at $900000 and he asks it to be rounded to an even million!

He even has a peculiar way of holding his hands while studying the crime scene and in one episode he explains it not be funny. Instead, it helps him split the scene into parts and give attention to the minute details which he can pick up and tie up with the crime.

But, apart from this all, he is a man with Golden Heart!

His Phobias – His ‘103’ phobias (as he mentions in one of the episodes) keep hindering him from living happily and fighting the world. But it’s not about his Phobias. It’s all about how he faces the challenges of this selfish world carrying those phobias. How he turns around from the people mocking at him and just smiles at his victory of solving another crime and cleaning this world from another criminal. I remember the episode ‘Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike’ in which he is torn apart because of the smell of the uncollected garbage all over the city and his mind stops thinking. At first it seems how irritating his behavior is, but as the episode comes to an end you will recognize the fight he had in himself to overcome and finally solve the crime that had been closed as a suicide.

Now just sit back and think of one small fear you have. Don’t tell me you are afraid of nothing and unafraid of everything. Every person has one or the other fear. Just think of it and imagine yourself sitting right in front of it and even facing the whole world, remember the whole world is laughing at you for being a fear baby, and even in that situation trying hard to be normal. Now just multiply this with the number 103. This is what happens in Monk! And every time he wins!

His Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - While his obsessive attention to minute detail cripples him socially, it makes him a gifted detective and profiler; he has an uncanny ability to reconstruct entire crimes based on little more than scraps of detail that seem unimportant (if noticed at all) by his colleagues. But this obsessive compulsive disorder masks his brilliance and presents him to the world as a vulnerable person. His repetitive habits and irritating behavior keeps people annoyed at him, but at heart everyone can’t just stay away from loving Monk and respecting his brilliance.

A child keeps crying day and night, it may annoy us at times, but at heart, a child is always the most loved member of the family!

His Deductions - He is very particular and very persnickety in his examinations and his deductions. His attention to minute details is showcased in one particular episode ‘Mr. Monk takes Manhattan’ where he identifies the criminal just by the shape of his earlobe which he had seen (and still remembers) on the day of the crime. His character is inspired from the Great Sherlock Holmes and he, in the same way, pays attention to every detail in the crime scene and is able to relate anything he hears or observes or remembers with every other detail and build up the crime in the exact way it occurred.

His Quotes – This is the best part of Monk! Each of his quotes is more than worth remembering.

It's a gift... and a curse. Monk keeps on repeating this when someone asks him about his observational skills. He means it when he says curse because it just doesn’t allow him to live normally among others just like them, being careless and enjoying the world without any details to bother about.

Unless I'm wrong, which, you know, I'm not... Monk adds this line after he declares his deductions about anyone and tells them about it. I have never seen, in 125 episodes, anyone deny him once he says this.

You'll thank me later. Monk says this after he straightens someone’s shirt or cleans up any table or arranges anything neatly in the room. No need of further explanation!

I don't know how he did it. But he did it. Monk tells this to everyone trying to convince them but no one believes him until he ends up proving the ‘how’. The importance of this quote can be seen in the episode ‘Mr. Monk and the Astronaut’ where the murderer, an astronaut, is in space at the time of the murder. Yet Monk proves the ‘how he did it’ when no one believes him!

He's the guy. Monk just keeps hissing this modestly like a child when he solves any case in his mind and wants to declare his victory.

Here's what happened. This is always the first line of his explanation of the crime to the audience silently listening to him and amazingly imagining how right he has deducted it. Though his ‘Here’s what happened’ segments been wrong in two episodes which were deliberately directed to show out his weakness in fighting his phobias and his obsessive compulsive behavior, at the end his explanation of the crime scene and ‘Here’s what happened’ has always been right!

The theme tunes – It won’t take more than five minutes to go through (sparing you readers from the explanation) the wonderful and equally meaningful theme tunes created by Randy Newman.

Opening Theme – It’s Jungle Out There

It's a jungle out there
Disorder and confusion everywhere
No one seems to care
Well I do
Hey, who's in charge here?
It's a jungle out there
Poison in the very air we breathe
Do you know what's in the water that you drink?
Well I do, and it's amazing
People think I'm crazy, 'cause I worry all the time
If you paid attention, you'd be worried too
You better pay attention
Or this world we love so much might just kill you
I could be wrong now, but I don't think so!
'Cause there's a jungle out there.
It's a jungle out there.

The Finale Closing Theme – When I’m Gone

The time for us to say goodbye is near
The day I hoped would never come is here
Though many hearts are broken we must somehow carry on
Cause I think you're gonna miss me when I'm gone

I thought my life was over when we met
So little to remember, so much to forget
Though it was you who saw me through the darkness to the dawn
Still I think you're gonna miss me when I'm gone

I'm a modest man
And it hurts me to say these things to you
After all we've been through it's the least that I can do
So instead of just goodbye I'll say so long
And as for the light by which you see me leave it on
I'm a better man than I was before
Knowing you has made me strong
And I sure am going to miss you when I'm gone
Yes I sure am going to miss you when I'm gone

Monk never meant himself to be inspired by his phobias and diseases. But he always sent out a message on how to be concentrated on what we are best at and fight for it even amidst our struggle of own list of sufferings. He silently inspires us overcome our weakness and proving the world that right is always right, how powerful may be the strength of what keeps it away!

Monk is not just any normal detective to watch and a normal obsessive compulsive disorder patient to feel sorry about. He is a person who inspires on being strong, being right, proving right, fighting any power that might hinder us in our battle, ignore the world when it laughs at us and care for the same world when it asks for our help and keep ourselves neat and arranged and just many more…

Monk is always right…

Vishal…


#sundayreaders #monk #adrianmonk #ItsAGiftAndACurse

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And once lived a Geek Superhero!

Why every super hero has to die saving the world? Why every superhero spends his life lonely? Why every superhero has to face the wrath of others? Is it fair for every superhero to work only for a cause and never care for applause?

Why Batman had to be born in tragedies, live in dark and has to return back everytime only with 

Why Superman was questioned by the whole world?

Why Spiderman can never reveal his identity?

Why Sherlock Holmes is always immersed in solving crimes without taking credit of even one?

Why Monk has to have his dinner alone every day?

Similarly, why Nikola Tesla was never appreciated and only cheated?

Very few might have heard of this name, or even if heard most of them would have neglected it. Yes the name isn’t catchy unless for the word ‘Tesla coil’ invented by him. And by the way, this is not the only invention by him.

To give a brief introduction on who is this man, I would start by calling him what he really was – electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, inventor and futurist. His main contribution to this world has been Alternating Current (AC) that is right now powering your home and has been the lifeline of growth and survival of human growth.

Born on 10 July, 1856, he started his career, with immense knowledge in electrical engineering, by working for Thomas Edison. But soon he had to separate from him when Edison said; “Tesla, you don't understand our American humor” after Tesla fixed and improvised most of the Edison’s broken machines and asked for his payment.

He then went on to setup his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing, with the help of few of his financial backers but even that too fell off when his financers dint believe in his Alternating Current.  

Tesla then started a company, the Tesla Electric Company, with the backing of New York attorney Charles F. Peck and Alfred S. Brown, the director of Western Union. He then sat, unmoved, to go on working for his Alternating Current and finally succeeded in constructing alternating current induction motor. Still, he had to fight a number of battles to prove the worth of alternating current and the long list of its advantages, the primary advantage being long distance transmission.

If you guys thought X-Ray was invented by some nice dude, then the first of its idea was given to the world by Tesla.

The Radar, the Radio, the Hydroelectric Power plants, the Cryogenic Engineering, the Transistors, the Resonant Frequency of Earth, Earthquake machine and many more.

If you are thinking what these are, then these are the nicest of things given to the world by their inventors. And another truth is all these are based on either Tesla’s ideas or his patents.

Unfortunately, when he came up with these ideas it was either too early for the people to believe in his ideas then or he just fell short of his financial backers. He was truly a man out of this world. He imagined all the things entirely in his mind much before the world could either think of such a thing.

Wireless transmission of energy was to be his last and best gift to this world but again he fell short of luck, opportunity, finance, supporters and even life!

With such a huge list of ideas and long list of patents, anyone can think of Tesla being one of the richest men on the planet during those times. Is it not?

NO! He was never rich. He was a Geek!

He never poke his head into selling his patents or marketing his things and ideas only because he was always busy improvising his skills and building new and better things. As true Geeks do.

Sad but true, when he died he was staying alone a New York hotel room living on milk and talking to an imaginary pigeon!

Why?

Why do such nice humans and true superheroes always meet with such a tragic end?

Why being busy and occupied in their world of improvising this planet is a fault?

Why staying away from fame is like being cursed?

Why being unselfish has such a great cost?

Why geeks are never believed at first and never remembered later?

Nikola Tesla’s birthday which was four days back, 10^th of July, will not go uncelebrated this year, nor any other year, at least until this wonderful planet is running with the help of his wonderful ideas and inventions and patents, at least until every home in this planet is being lit up with the help of his alternating current!

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla – the man who gave the real meaning and respect to the word GEEK!

You will live on until the AC current keeps on lighting this world…

Vishal…

#nikolatesla #geek #superhero #respect #july10

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Agumbe Ghat… Climbing Up…

It took few minutes for my eyes, once opened, to adjust to the dull light of the bulb glowing without any enthusiasm right above my head. I looked to my right; the face of the person standing beside me was duller than the bulb. I looked to my left; Sandy was standing beside me blinking his eyes as fast as he could. I bent a little and found Shetty staring in front of him. I too followed his vision and looked to my front. A man, who seemed to be in his mid fifties, clean shave, hair neatly combed just like Shetty, wearing spects, stood in front of us. Behind him stood the two kidnappers. Another person who looked similar to them except for he had a clean shave, stood far behind them leaning to the door smoking a cigarette.

The whole setup looked similar to the climax scene of the films of 80’s and 90’s!

“Where is the toy?” he said in a soothing voice after a complete two minute silence.

“Now don’t tell me people get kidnapped because of toys in this century when the kids are busy with X-Box” I whispered to God, who was busy playing his X-Box.

“Which toy?” Sandy asked

“The one he bought today morning near the beach” the man leaning to the door said, in his coarse voice, pointing at Shetty.

All three of us were dumbstruck and looked at each other with our eyes wide open.

“Search his bag” said the person, again with his soothing voice.

The person standing to my right walked to the corner of the room, picked Shetty’s bag, opened all the zips and started searching it. Within seconds his hands came out holding the wooden doll, a woman with her head oscillating in all the directions. Every time I saw her, she looked cuter, her smile her eyes neatly painted and her head that never rested in one position. But why was that so important all of a sudden?

The man with soothing voice, who was the boss, turned back towards the smoker. The smoker threw his cigarette and walked towards the corner of the room and took the doll and walked straight out of the room. 

Their sign of talking in signals looked cool, just like the films. I was so impressed by all that, I had almost forgotten we were kidnapped and still in danger.

Within minutes, he walked back and whispered into the ears of his boss. There was faint smile on the face of boss. He nodded without speaking anything and the smoker walked out of the room.

“Tie them up again” the boss said and walked out without even looking at us.

The three giants tied us tightly and walked out closing the door behind us. They dint bother to blindfold us this time.

We three were again left alone clueless.

“Shit man, they took my doll” Shetty said meekly

“Shut up. Atleast they left us alive” Sandy said.

“But why did they want it so badly?” I asked

“Who the hell knows buddy. If I knew if this is all gonna happen I would never have even touched it” Shetty said.

“There must be something about it. This is not as simple as it looks” Sandy said to which we both nodded.

We sat in silence for some time till even the faintest sound from the farthest land died down. It was dark everywhere, not even a sign of light, except for a white line between the window door from where the moonlight was trying to sneak in along with the chilled wind.

“We will run” Sandy whispered

“What??” both Shetty and I said together.

“We will escape from here” Sandy continued, “who knows what they will do? Who they are?”

“By the way they tracked us just for that doll, it seems they don’t like to leave trace behind them” I said

“Exactly” Sandy added

“Yes, you guys are right. Escaping tonight is the only way to get free. Once out of this forest, we can go to police” Shetty said.

“Let’s untie each other as quickly as possible” I said.

Shetty and Sandy moved and sat in such a way their backs touched each other’s and they started untying the knots. It took longer than expected with lots of confusion and fuss, but finally they did it. Once free, Shetty untied me while Sandy tried to open the window.

I quickly ran towards the door and kept my ears to it trying to grasp any sound I could hear but everything was so silent it seemed like we were the only guys in the whole house.

The window cheated on us, with iron rods put in so close that not even a snake could sneak in.

The only option left was the door, which was bolted and even might be locked from outside.

“We can break it open and just run” I said

“Are you mad? They are outside. They will wake up” Shetty said

“That’s the only way. I remember well, this is the first room from the main entrance; it’s just a few steps to the left of the door. Break this door, run towards main door, open it and just run into the forest. No one can find us in the forest.” I said.

“We can hide in forest till sunrise and then find our way out” Sandy said

“Let’s do it. Let’s show these guys we can beat them” Shetty said.

Sandy held the handle of right door and Shetty held the handle of left door. They would pull it open and I would run towards the main door and open its latch. We would then run towards the first direction we saw but would run together.

After a highly inspirational planning, it was time for some really perspirational action!

Both of them waited for few seconds and pulled the door together with all the effort. There was a small creaking sound but nothing moved. They waited for few seconds and repeated their act again. Yet another creaking sound.

 “It moved a bit” Shetty whispered.

They waited for few seconds and pulled again with all their might and this time, the door came along. The latch broke off with a not too loud noise and door moved back as both Shetty and Sandy slipped back.

I suddenly tried to focus out of the room in dark, but before my eyes could focus I ran straight out of the door.

Thud!

I hit something hard and slipped back. Behind me was Sandy who hit into me and both of us fallen on something. Upon us stumbled Shetty.

Before we could realize what happened, the lights were switched on.

Slowly getting up, I realized we had hit into the giant kidnapper and stumbled upon him. The other kidnapper was standing right beside the door with his hands folded and the wickedest smile on his face.

Again we three were held and pushed into the room. Again our hands were tied, more tightly. Then the smoker walked in furiously and stared at us.

“I knew you three would try this” he said looking at us with all the anger he could spit out from his eyes.

“That’s why I had them guard this door” he continued lighting a cigarette.

“You are really a psychic” I said, to myself.

“Before the boss comes, you will be gone far” he said puffing out smoke on our faces.

He then turned to the giant on whom we had stumbled upon and nodded to him. The giant nodded back, scratching his beard, in the exact way he scratched while holding gun at our faces few hours back at the Agumbe ghat.

The smoker stepped out of the house. The two kidnappers walked out of the room and went out. We could hear whispers but nothing was clear.

I bet all three of us were now damn real scared. The boss had meant business, but this smoker meant destruction. His eyes always looked like they enjoyed salvation. His silence always wanted a disturbance from a cruel act to entertain him. The two kidnappers also seemed to belong to the same cult. Their hands always twitched for some action.

But the worst part was this silence. They just tied us and left us in that room not even locking the door. Anything could happen any moment. Our minds, that had been highly active few minutes back, were now totally blank. One wrong step and the landmine would blast throwing us in air. All three of us looked at each other again and again, blinking our eyes. The lines on my forehead, caused by the tension building up, seemed like the tight strings of guitar. I could literally feel them.

The two kidnappers walked in without any emotion on their face. The way they walked in, was like the assassins walking in exactly like the Hollywood flicks.

How I wish we walking in like the heroes and saving other three guys instead of being the goats.

The giant, who seemed more pissed off just because we fell on him, pulled out a gun from behind his back and pointed at us. He turned towards another kidnapper with the shabbiest beard I had ever seen in my life and smiled.

Ah, now I understood why they stepped out of the room for two minutes. They took a toss on who would shoot us and the giant had won the toss. I wanted to share this profound information with both my buddies but the time and the place was more than inappropriate.

Banggggg!

There was a loud sound. The loudest sound I had ever heard.

Banggggg!

There was another shot. These two were the gun shots, I realized.

But wait! Gunshots? Who the shit shot them and to whom?

I opened my eyes and found Sandy and Shetty standing in disbelief just like me. Our eyes were open so wide, that even our eye lids couldn't touch each other!

I turned to my front and saw the giant lying down in pool of blood. He was still struggling, while another kidnapper lay without any movement. On concentrating, I found blood flowing right from his stomach.

I turned back and was more surprised than I was surprised looking at the two kidnappers being shot.

It was the same person who was following us while we took a walk on the Agumbe Ghat.

Everything seemed happening so fast, that my reflexes slowed down.

“Bend down” he shouted at us.

We bent down and heard another shot.

Turning back I found the smoker falling down. But he had missed the shot and was now getting up quickly. Another shot and he bent down again moving out of the door.

All three of us moved behind the door while the person standing outside the window took a better position. We heard a few shots but couldn’t really make out what was happening.

Finally the shots died down, but the person outside the window stood unmoved. He signaled us something, which atleast I could never understand. He then suddenly bent down with the sound of another gun shot.

Then we saw the smoker slowly crawling towards the giant’s body trying to get hold of his gun.

Suddenly Shetty kicked his bag and it hit the smoker taking him by surprise. We three then fell down on him creating more confusion. There was hue and cry and some rolling and kicking.

Before I could realize anything, the follower was in the room with his gun pointed at the smoker. He signaled us to get up. We got up and then he asked the smoker to kneel down with his hands held behind his neck. He then collected the two guns lying on the ground and went for the third gun fallen in the other room. The giant, who no more looked a giant and fearsome, was still struggling for his life.

Then followed a time, moving slowly, when our hands were untied, two jeeps screeched in front of the house, police ran in, arrested the smoker, gave a first-aid to the giant, declared the other kidnapper dead, searched the house, took control of the scene.

It all looked like a Hollywood bust! And we three sat silently on the corridor of the house, still feeling our heart beats in that crazy chilled wind. Now and then the sound of gunshots echoed in my ears though there were no more gunshots.

After a long wait of two or more hours, in which none of us talked, the person who had been a follower few hours back, but a hero few minutes back, walked to us and shook our hands.

“You three are really brave” he said with a simple smile.

We looked at him in surprise and smile widened looking our confused faces.

“So here is what happened with you since this morning” he continued, “these guys are drug traffickers. They transport drug in and out of South India and they control the coast of Karnataka. The doll which you guys bought this morning was one among the pack that has drugs hidden in it. The boy at the shop dint knew this and sold it to you. I am an undercover cop working on tracking this. At first I thought you would spoil everything and started following you, but now I must really thank you guys for you brought me till their real hideout. Once the owner of the shop realized the boy sold one of the dolls to you guys, the whole team got active on tracking you down till that bus. And then they started following the bus right from Udupi. It was good that I followed you guys instead of covering the shop. The puncture just was their luck and you three taking a walk helped them more.”

“But what would have happened with one doll?” Sandy asked

“Slightest sign of smoke leads to the place where fire has been lit. If police got hold of that one doll and the information of the shop, we could have always tracked them down. Even a small disturbance hits heavy on this business”

“And if this was all about drugs, why did they keep the doll for sale in that shop?” I asked.

“It’s exactly how the drugs get transported without being noticed” he said turning at another policeman and signaling at him to take out the jeep. He then guided us to the jeep and continued, “A whole package of dolls is easy to be tracked down. They send this doll into shops and then they themselves come independently, buy the dolls just like normal shoppers, like you did, and then the drug travels easily, untracked to its location.”

“The only mistake that happened today was the special doll that had to be sold only to special customers was sold to you by a new boy in the shop. And you, how did you select that specific doll out of hundreds other dolls?” he asked turning towards Shetty.

“It looked cute. How could I know it had drugs in it?” Shetty said.

“Anyways it turned your purchase help us crack a major drug bust. All is well that ends well” the undercover cop said starting the engine of the jeep.

“Dude, your kick was awesome!” Sandy said looking at Shetty and gave a hi-five to me, to which I responded obediently and all three of us laughed together, after a long time which seemed years to us!

Inspired from the one of the finest novels I have ever read, Jugari Cross!!

Vishal…

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