Benyamin - Yellow Lights of Death

‘We’ll be in a silver Innova, this is its number. ’ Salim told him. ‘How will we find you?’

‘I’ve a black Splendour bike. I’ll call if I can’t find you.’

We had to wait for only about ten minutes for Salu to find our car.

‘I’m Salim, and this is Priyanandan, my friend,’ Salim introduced us.

‘The film guy Priyanandan?’ he asked.

‘No,’ I smiled.

‘Get in, we’ll be back in a jiffy,’ Salim invited him to the car.

‘My bike.’ Salu hesitated.

‘Leave it here, we’ll drop you back.’ Then Salim addressed Salu with theatrical seriousness. ‘Salu, we are from the Interpol office in Thiruvananthapuram. You are in our custody now. I need clear answers from you to our questions.’

‘Oh, I see, okay, ask me your questions,’ he said calmly, without any panic. I figured it would be difficult to dupe him.

‘Who is this Chuang Tzu?’ Salim asked.

‘A Chinese philosopher. Why do you ask?’

‘What’s his connection to Andrapper?

‘Which Andrapper, sir?’

‘The one at Diego Garcia.’

‘I also got a call last week asking about this guy. Was it you, sir? It’s his Orkut profile name. Chuang Tzu.’

‘How did you meet him?’

‘He first called me to ask about the Jyoti you mentioned. Then we became friends on Orkut. He called me regularly after that. And we had met once.’

‘You met Andrapper?’ I abruptly broke my silence. Andrapper had been just a name so far, and here, next to me, was someone who had actually met him. Andrapper, my dear anonymous writer. I felt a strange sense of joy. I touched him casually. It was like touching Andrapper.

‘Where did you meet him? Salim asked.

‘One night he came to Alappuzha, without any notice,’ Salu said. ‘He said he was returning from a relative’s place. We went to Jyoti-chechi’s house the same night. From there he took a bus to Ernakulam.’

‘Who was he going to meet?’

‘He didn’t tell me.’

‘You’ve not been in touch after that?’

‘No. There was no reply to my messages on Orkut. Then I moved from Orkut to Facebook, and that relationship ended.’

‘Everything you’ve said is true?’

‘Yes, sir, absolutely true. Sir, what’s the issue?’

‘We suspect that he is an international criminal. We are trying to locate where he is now. Can you help us with that?’

‘Sure. What can I do for you?’

‘Let’s go to your house now. We’ll stay in the car. You go inside and get us the stuff he left with you. Can you do that?’

‘Stuff? What is that, sir?’

‘His notes. He titled it The Book of Forefathers . We’ve got the rest of the content, that’s how we came to know about the portion that’s with you.’

There was no defiance in his tone when he said, ‘Okay, I’ll give it to you.’

I was overjoyed. ‘You actually have it with you?’

‘Yeah. Must have been with me for around six months. Came by post,’ he said.

Around the same time I got the first part, I calculated. So, everyone was sent their portion at the same time. Some got it by email and some by post.

‘Why didn’t you give it to anyone till now?’

‘He had specially instructed that I should give it only to someone responsible. I guess you guys fit the bill.’

He directed us to his house. When we reached, he pointed out Jyoti-chechi’s house. I wanted to meet her and ask about Andrapper, but Salu said she was in Ernakulam for some medical treatment. ‘Now that we know the house, we can come later,’ Salim said. Meanwhile, Salu went inside his house and came out with the envelope. I grabbed it from him eagerly.

Salu M. Philip

Vettikkoottathil Veedu

Alappuzha

I wanted to open it and read it right then. But I resisted till we dropped Salu back at the bus stand for his bike.

‘Okay, if we need any more help, we’ll call you,’ Salim said with a straight face when we reached the bus stand.

‘Interpol’s Thiruvananthapuram office, right?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘When did Benyamin sir join Interpol?’ his question came as a jolt.

‘Benyamin? Who is that?’ I tried to salvage the mission.

‘Huh, don’t try to fool me, sir. I recognized you the moment we met. I’ve seen a photograph of you. I was waiting to see how long this Interpol game would go on for. When you’re playing a prank, I felt I should return the favour. It was Chuang Tzu who told me about your book. We discussed it quite a lot. Both of us liked the book. In his covering letter sent with this packet, Chuang Tzu wrote that he bought your book from a stall in Ernakulam, and that someday, you’ll end up buying his book from Ernakulam. And that I shouldn’t give these papers to anyone other than you. I suspected the last call was also from you. But then I was guarded just so that I could make sure it was you.’

I was left speechless. My head stooped in shame. But Salim was more embarrassed.

Salu bid us goodbye, requesting us to tell him if we happened to meet Andrapper. The two of us were so mortified that we kept quiet throughout the drive. After a while, I opened the envelope and started reading — the third part of Chuang Tzu Andrapper’s life story.

A Rainy Morning

DAWN REVEALED A rainy day. Diego had no distinct seasons. It could be warm or cold or stormy or wet at any time of the year. Things could change any time. Tropical depressions made the weather unpredictable. Diego’s sky could gift a shower any month of the year. This was one such unexpected shower.

Though I felt like writing something in the comfort of the rain, the body was too lazy to get up. Only someone who can tame the needs of the body to the aims of the mind can become a good writer — true not just for a writer, but to achieve success in any profession. I tried to make myself get up. I scolded myself. But I failed. My body rejected all the demands of my mind. A lazy body is like a curled-up old dog. When I say I loafed around till noon, you’ll get the idea — how demanding my body was.

I heard the doorbell ring, but didn’t care to get up. I turned the other side, ignoring it. It was only when Momma screamed from the stairs, ‘Eda, you’ve two visitors!’ that I scrambled to get up. ‘For me? In this rain? Who could they be?’ This time, I didn’t guess. I washed my face and went downstairs.

Melvin! And Sudha, whom I’d met earlier.

I was amazed. ‘Come, come in. A surprise visit? In this rain?’

‘It’s nothing. We were just passing by. So we thought we’d drop in on you. That’s all.’

By then, Chettathi joined us. I said, ‘Chettathi, look who’s here. You met at Mariam Church, she was with my classmate Anita. We gave them a lift, if you remember.’

When Chettathi recognized Melvin, she embraced her as though they were long-lost friends. ‘Oh yes, now I remember. Melvin, right?’ Then she held Melvin’s hand and made her sit on the sofa, next to Momma.

‘Momma, I was talking about this pretty girl that day. Momma’s son is not bad, huh? See, with one meeting, he’s made her come to our house. If you want, we can even consider this a formal engagement ceremony and take things forward. What do you say?’ Chettathi laughed aloud, amused by her own comment, while Melvin and I felt uncomfortable.

‘Ayyo! Sudha-chechi said she wanted to meet Anita-chechi’s friend,’ an embarrassed Melvin explained to Momma.

‘Meet me? Sudha-chechi. what’s the matter?’ I asked.

When Sudha did not say anything, Chettathi quickly figured out the situation. ‘Come, Momma, let’s prepare lunch. Let them sit and talk,’ she said.

‘No, no, we won’t be staying for lunch,’ Melvin hurriedly told Momma.