Benyamin - Yellow Lights of Death

There’s nothing more boring than watching an unknown person’s wedding cassette. But my Chettathi was obsessed with it. She could then pick up fashion trends in the mainland. And search for a prospective bride for her brother-in-law. Reminisce about relatives and friends. She found all this useful.

I wasn’t at all entertained by the cassette, and I sat there with them, flipping through the newspaper. In between, she hollered, ‘Hey, look, that’s a nice girl!’ By the time I turned my head, the scene was over. She then rewound it for me. True, it was a pretty face. The girl was there only for a flash, so Chettathi pressed the rewind button once again. She rewound it a little too much. A face appeared out of the blue. ‘Stop, stop there!’ I jumped up.

‘Um. Why, have you found another interesting one?’ Chettathi smiled. She pressed the pause button. I moved closer to the TV. Yes, no doubt, it was her.

‘Isn’t that Jyoti?’

Chettan was three years older than me. He knew most of the people in my class. He’d noticed her too.

‘Yeah, it’s Jyoti.’

‘You know where she is now? I asked him.

‘The cassette shows she’s in the mainland.’

‘No, where exactly is she? And what’s she doing now?’

‘No idea. Must have married someone in the mainland and got settled there. Has anyone who went there come back? That is, other than you?’

Chettathi had moved on to watching the next scenes in the cassette.

‘I need the phone number of the house where this wedding took place. I need to find Jyoti at any cost,’ I said.

‘Da, she is already married. See the mark on her forehead. You go for the girl I showed you. I’ve known her since she was a child. She has completed her graduation now.’

‘Please, I’ll think of the alliances later. Give me the number.’

She called up someone or the other and managed to get me the number. 0091 477 2261489. I called the very next day. A guy named Salu took the call. I asked for Dr Jyoti. He didn’t know anyone by that name. I asked him to watch the cassette and identify the girl. I repeated many times the part where she was appearing in the cassette and gave all the possible details I could.

Salu was a responsible chap. He called me back in three days. He said it was not Dr Jyoti, but Jyoti Prasad and that she was his neighbour who now worked in Alleppey as a clerk in the railways. I thanked him.

I felt sad. The difference between what we expect and what actually happens. Anita and Jyoti were not only the best in class, but also in the whole of the school. Within the range of dreams we were capable of at that time, we expected the two of them to become doctors. Neither of them did. That was not the problem. They were not meant to be a pharmacist or a railway clerk. They could have led better lives and got great jobs. They must have their own reasons to explain why their lives had deviated from our expectations. But I was annoyed with them. They failed my dreams of their lives.

The next morning, I got a call. As I was in the bathroom, Papa took it.

Rejected

WHEN I CAME out of the bathroom, Papa called me to his bedroom. He was getting ready to leave for work.

‘Papa, who was on the phone?’

‘Did you do the thing I’d asked you to?’

‘What thing?’

‘Don’t remember, do you? Poor memory is not good at your age. Especially for a novelist, who has to remember a lot of things in order, and on time.’

‘Papa, please don’t start lecturing in the morning. Just tell me.’

‘What happened to the withdrawal of that case?’

‘Oh, that. I swear I forgot about it.’

‘I told you to do it ten days ago. What were you doing till now?’

‘For the first three days, I followed your advice — to write laboriously. The next four days I was labouring under a fever. And for the last three days, I’ve been in labour, waiting for the details of a classmate.’

‘That means you’ve wasted two-thirds of your life. I’ll say you lived only on the first three days.’

‘Yeah, that’s fine. I’m getting to know a lot of people who are not even able to live those three days for themselves. Tell me who called. ’

‘It was from the Public Security department. Mr Vijay Mullikratnam. He has asked you to visit him this morning.’

‘For what?’

‘That I didn’t ask. Go — that’s fine. But by the time you’re back, the case shouldn’t exist, okay? I’ll be calling Stephen in the evening. Your papers for Australia are being processed, you know that, right? They’ll be ready any time.’

Without much delay, I went to the North Public Security office. It seemed as if Vijay Mullikratnam was waiting for me. As soon as I reached, he called me in. ‘Dude, how punctual you are! Within an hour of calling you, you are here. Good. Youngsters should be like this. I like it. Dude, if Chief Investigator Vijay Mullikratnam takes over something, that will be promptly done. You can ask anyone in the department. I called you here to prove that in person.’

‘Not sure I understand, sir. ’

‘I conducted a thorough investigation about the case we discussed. I’ve been on it for the past ten days. I’ve studied it from all angles. And I’ve found him. Dude, your complaint was right. Senthil had gone missing. But it’s not what you think, there is nothing suspicious about it. Unfortunately, he experienced pain in the heart while he was on a boat. The boat driver took him to the hospital. Bad luck. They couldn’t save him. Because nobody knew about his whereabouts, he lay in the mortuary for two days. That’s why he was missing. That’s all. But good, dude, it’s nice you were concerned for your friend. You were anxious about him going missing. These days it’s difficult to find people like you. Really, I appreciate what you did.’

‘I’ve been to Senthil’s house,’ I said casually.

‘Oh, I see. But that day you said you didn’t know where he lived.’

‘We don’t need great investigative skills to find a house in this small island, sir.’

For a minute, Vijay Mullikratnam was taken aback. ‘That’s true. It doesn’t need investigative skills to find Senthil’s house, just a wagging tongue. But for an investigator, finding Senthil is not the only issue. Or is it? No. I found the boat in which he had the heart attack. I found its driver. Went to hospital. Met the doctor who attended him. Met his parents. Found out that everything is correct and in order. Dude, it was only after that that I decided to close the case.’

‘Sir. what? Are you closing the case?’

‘Yes. It was the duty of the department to call you here and inform you about it. We follow strict discipline in every case. This morning, I talked to your Dad. He was depressed. I know him personally. Anyhow, that’s over. I hear you are going abroad for some higher studies. Good, you can travel anywhere. The department won’t have any objection to that. Dude, I wish you every success.’

I left the place without a word. I wasn’t too disappointed with such a response. I’d seen it coming.

Da Vinci

IN FRONT OF the Public Security office, as I was stepping out, a young man ran up to me from the verandah, calling, ‘Eda, Pachu!’

To be honest, I panicked. A chill went up my spine: an abnormal fear. It was after a long time that someone was calling me by the name which had once irritated and later amused me. Pachu had been my nickname in school, so I was sure it was an old friend.

‘Don’t you recognize me?’

I’d been staring at him. It took some time to identify him. ‘Vinod!’

‘No, da Vinci.’

We laughed.

‘Why are you here?’ I asked.

‘And you?’

‘The Inspector Director here is a relative, so I came to meet him.’