Mainak Dhar - Heroes R Us

'You come late to work almost every day, look sleepy and tired all day-I worry about you, my boy. Tell me if I can help in any way.'

Arnab realized that he had been so caught up in his night-time activities that he had totally neglected the rest of his life. He may not have loved his job, but certainly couldn't afford to lose it, so he tried to do some damage control.

'Jayantada, I've been preparing for my exams. I'm sorry; I won't let you down again.'

Jayantada shrugged it off and got back to his newspaper.

'You know, Arnab, this city is going to the dogs. So much crime every single day. There's this new 'Stoneman' they're all writing about. Six people killed in a month and nothing yet, because the dead are all poor pavement dwellers.'

Arnab suddenly got an idea and asked Jayantada for the newspaper. Why hadn't he thought of this earlier? Sitting in the library, newspapers and books surrounded him, and all he had to do to find high-profile cases was to scan the crime pages. He decided to take on the case Jayantada had mentioned. As he looked through the day's papers and scanned old copies, the basics were clear. Someone had been killing pavement dwellers in the Mathura Road area by smashing their heads in with large stones. All the attacks had been late at night, and there had been no progress in the case so far. It was just the kind of opportunity Arnab had been looking for.

That night, Arnab set out to look for this elusive 'Stoneman'.

***

Superman swooped down from the skies faster than a speeding bullet, Batman rode into action in his armoured Batmobile and Spiderman swung down from the nearest building spinning his web. Our superhero rode into battle in a battered old Delhi Transport Corporation bus. He had carried his sweatshirt and gloves in a plastic bag and was still wearing his glasses, as it was still quite bright outside and as far as he had ascertained, his night vision kicked in only when he took off his glasses in darkness. As he sat on the bus, he replayed in his mind all that he knew about the case. The papers had said that all the attacks had happened under flyovers. All the killings had been committed with blocks of stone located near the crime scene, usually left over from construction work. As Arnab reached the area, he walked around looking for a spot where pavement dwellers had gathered. He spotted two groups, about a kilometre apart, one of which seemed to have heavy construction work nearby. He put on his sweatshirt and waited patiently near that group, hiding behind a bus stand. It was a gamble, but he couldn't be in two places at once. As the darkness of night intensified, Arnab took off his glasses, and instantly, he could see everything around him clearly, once again tinged with the shades of green he had started to get accustomed to. With no more than one functioning streetlight within view, he hoped it would give him an edge over whoever this Stoneman might turn out to be. At about midnight, when all the pavement dwellers were fast asleep, he spotted some movement out of the corner of his eye. He watched with bated breath as a small man walked towards the group. He moved quietly in the dark and was largely covered in a dark shawl. To any observer, he could have seemed like just another one of the pavement dwellers. For all Arnab knew, that's what he was, but he decided to watch and wait. As the man neared the group, something totally unexpected happened. He signalled to someone across the road, and two police constables appeared, carrying a large bag. As Arnab watched in horror, they took out a dead body from the bag and placed it on the pavement. The man in the shawl picked up a large stone and brought it down on the corpse's face. Arnab gasped out loud and then realized the men had heard him. One of the constables shouted out, 'Who is there?' Not comprehending what was going on, and not knowing what to do, Arnab raced from the scene at top speed.

The next morning, Arnab picked up the paper to read that the 'Stoneman' had claimed yet another victim. He was perplexed at what was going on, and also frustrated by the fact that his mission had been a failure. He resolved to get to the bottom of the 'Stoneman' mystery, but for that night, he had an idea of someone who could guide him to some action closer to home. Khan had lived in the area for at least two decades, and there was little he didn't know about what was happening in the locality. That evening when he met Khan for his training, Khan told him they would spar to see what he had learnt. As the two of them circled each other and threw punches at each other, Arnab consciously tried to hold back, but even then when his gloved fist connected with Khan's shoulder, the old man winced and laughed.

'You are much stronger than you look, my friend, and you are learning fast.'

Over hot cups of tea, Arnab asked him what was happening in the neighbourhood.

'Times are bad. Ordinary folk have to struggle to just get by, and then you have the crime. Take Chilla village for example. A gang of thugs has been terrorizing people there, attacking shops at night, extorting money and robbing people. The police do nothing because they say the group is led by someone with political connections.'

Arnab considered whether he really wanted to get involved. Part of him told him that it was the right thing to do, and if he could help some people with his newfound powers, he should. There was also a part of him that told him to get involved to demonstrate to the media and others that he was no scam.

That night, he made his way to the neighbouring Chilla village, and waited in a sweet shop in the main market, waiting for the action to begin. Sure enough, at about ten at night, a jeep roared into the market, carrying five men armed with rods and hockey sticks. The crowd in the market scattered and some shopkeepers started lowering their shutters and turning off their lights, but it was too late. As the men began their rampage, assaulting the nearest shopkeeper and asking him to pay up, Arnab made his move. He slipped behind the shop and put on his sweatshirt and then emerged from the shadows. In the darkness, nobody saw him coming.

Three of the goons were inside the shop and two were standing by the jeep. Arnab ran towards the jeep at speed, and flicked his arms out at the two men as he passed them. Travelling at speed, he didn't really connect with anything more than a glancing blow with the palms of his hands, but it was enough. Both men flew several feet, landing in a heap. As Arnab stopped and turned to face the remaining three men, a palpable silence descended on the market. People gathered around to witness the showdown, but all Arnab was focusing on were his adversaries. All three were carrying hockey sticks and one ran towards Arnab, the stick raised over his head. He had barely brought his stick down, when Arnab's right fist connected with his jaw in an upper cut that would have done Khan proud. The man collapsed to the ground and didn't get up. The other two men rushed him at once. Before they could even come close to hitting him, Arnab struck one with a straight jab to the face and the other with a left hook to the side of the head. His balance was still far from perfect, and his punches tended to be off centre, usually connecting with the edge of his hand, but with his speed and strength, technical perfection was not really necessary.

But that was something only Arnab would ever know. The crowd saw just a blur of movement and the two men being flung off like rag dolls, landing at Arnab's feet. The fight had lasted all of ten seconds. As the astonished crowd looked on, Arnab ran off at high speed, virtually disappearing before their eyes. Once again, the enigmatic hero who emerged at night and moved with super speed had electrified the city.

The next morning, a Monday, Arnab reached college to see a state of virtual hysteria among all the students. Most were gathered around newspapers, and as Arnab looked at one paper, the headline screamed 'He's for real!' with a photograph that someone in the crowd must have taken in Chilla. Someone had taken it with a camera phone, and in the darkness, the resolution was quite poor. Yet what it revealed was dramatic. It showed two of his attackers being lifted off the ground-between them was a man-sized blur, with little discernible by way of features other than a mass of grey with the letters 'GA' in blue. That night, acting on another tip-off he received from Khan, Arnab reached another neighbouring village, this time encountering a group of thugs who were trying to evict the slum dwellers by force. There were four of them, armed with a motley arsenal of chains and iron rods. They had never expected any resistance, and when Arnab appeared in the darkness, they floundered around, trying to catch a glimpse of their unseen assailant. Arnab took full advantage of his speed and night vision-darting between the men, delivering blows when they were still trying to come to grips with the attacker darting in and out of the darkness to strike them down one by one. Once the melee began, a large crowd began to gather to watch the fight, which turned out to be a rout that lasted less than a minute. Once again Arnab sped away from the scene, leaving the thugs unconscious on the ground.