MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter1: The Lady
After my first novel being published, which was widely acclaimed, I was gifted a new flat in a society in Mumbai by my Publisher. It was a high-rise building, Gym, Sports complex and a big central park.
I started the morning with my routine walk, my daily habit, being from a small town. It was a usual day, cool breeze with singing carols of birds. The light was gradually turning up and so was my body temperature and my heart rate, as I pumped up the volume of my headphones and accelerated my sprint.
While gazing the nature and the morning mist, my eyes passed by a girl sitting on a bench, wearing a baby pink coloured kurta beautifully handcrafted and numerous wedding bangles on her wrist. Her face was cracked up with water strains drawing uneven roads on her face, caught my attention.
I don't know what made me turn back and look at her closely. Diluted in her thoughts, she was sitting crossed legs bending the toes inwards, making unintentional art on sand. Her eyes were constantly hovering over a bunch of papers which she tucked tight in her fists, trying to slowly crush them.
...Continued in Caption👇-
#MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter5: The Unsaid
Holding those papers, standing on the road, I somehow managed to get back to my senses. That vendor was still looking towards me with open eyes as if he was the owner of a jewellery shop and I was a thief. With the help of 'Gandhi Ji' I inquired about the girl from him.
Her name is Pooja. She is an independent women, working as a journalist for "The Journal" despite facing all odds from her family being a commissioner's daughter in law. Her husband is a politician and will soon be fighting a state election. And the vendor also said in hush tone about the accusation on her husband, so he married Pooja, to get his image clean.
Sometimes destiny plays a vital role, few hours later to this incident, I received a call from "The Journal" and was asked to visit their office. I was told that I can continue with my book practice simultaneously and work for their "Open Pen" column as well.
A month ago, I denied their offer, but this time to keep a surveillance on Pooja, I accepted the offer.
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#MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter11: Revelation
I sat down questioning Rathi with my eyes, as I try to communicate with him in silence. For next 5 minutes, none of us uttered a single word. The room was filled with silence and our deep breaths, when Pooja broke it questioning "Where is Sumit?"
Astonished about how does she know that I met Sumit, I angrily cross questioned Rathi, "Why did you lie to me? She seems fine! What's going on"... Pooja increasing her volume ramping down my further series of question again exclaimed "Where is Sumit?"
Getting my nerves bursting out, my senses just as if someone crushed down the lane, I picked the knife kept on the table and placed it right on the neck of Pooja. Proclaimed Rathi not to make any moves and tell me the truth, the real truth.
Seeing my agitation, provoked nature and seeing his wife in danger, he started murmuring; Remember I told you that one day Priya came to our house for the scripts, that actually happened...
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#MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter8: The Syndrome
"It all started when you were in California. Priya was planning a surprise success party for your first book launch and also to make your relationship official. To do so, she engaged Sumit for capturing the play she enacted to depict your life journey. To help her out with the scripts, he introduced her to Pooja, his Sister, my Love, my wife.
Pooja and Priya turned out to form a very close bond and everything was going well, until one day, when Priya visited Pooja's place. Sumit opened the door and welcomed her in. She was holding few papers in her hand and wanted Pooja to incorporate them in her scripts.
They both sat down in her study and after reading those poems, Pooja became numb and started crying, when Priya asked Sumit for a glass of water. When he came back, he found Priya was lying dead on floor as she was throttled by her sister."
Mr. Rathi became silent after telling all this and took a deep breath before continuing further.
"Pooja is already undergoing multiple high-grade psychological treatments for Othello Syndrome and we are still trying to control her."
To be continued...-
#MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter7: Solving the Unsolved
The clock says it is 3:30am, but I am still awake walking in this awkward silence, where you don't hear anything apart from your inner-self talking to you loudly. I was continuously recalling each and every sentence from Ajay, trying to link them up, hook them together to find out the reality.
My mind struck hold onto the line "the same incident has happened again with someone else", so if I get hold of this, I can catch the accused. Also, if Mr. Rathi helped in closing the case earlier, he has all the information about him.
Seeking many answers, next day, I went to Mr. Rathi's campaigning site, where I saw Sumit volunteering for him. Sumit was Priya's new photographer whom I met on her first ever solo website Bio-shoot. I was easily able to recognise him because he was a big flirt on that set, specially with Priya and we had a little argument on that as well.
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#MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter10: Swamp
Helpless yet again, I took Sumit to a doctor for a check-up and was told that due to low BP he fainted as his stomach seems to be empty and needs to be kept on glucose. With no clue to what's happening, as one says Pooja is the culprit, other says she is not, whom to believe and whom not.
I went to office to get some clue from Ajay, but he was not in office that day, so to extend my investigation, I visited the PathLab later that day. They denied to disclose any information, but agreed to check in their system whether the reports were generated from their lab or not. And yes, the reports have a valid report ID and seemed genuine.
Gosh!! If she was raped, then why Rathi made that fake story to portrait her own wife as the culprit. Also, why is Pooja tortured in the asylum. Sumit was reported missing, then what was he doing in the asylum, pleading for her sister.
Banging my head in confusion, I decided to meet Rathi again, so I went to his home directly to seek answers yet again.
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#MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter2: Papers
I was anxious to talk to her, but held myself back and hid behind the bushes, stretching my arms so that no one can see me in that awkward position bluntly gazing at her. May be, I didn't want anyone to follow my sight and notice her frozen tears.
Soon she stood up and started walking towards exit. I tried to stop myself but the writer inside me, having many mysterious questions, wanting to know her story, started following her.
As she crossed the gates, she took a deep breath and bought a water bottle. Gulping in some water, she used the rest to clean those tear-stains.
Suddenly, to my utmost surprise, she crushed and threw those papers in the trash. In curiosity, I didn't even bother about anyone, anything and I plunged to grab out those papers like a hungry rat crawling over a dump in search of food.
I was shocked, aghast, stunned, muted (you can add all the other adjectives) and I went numb for few minutes after seeing the verbiage on those papers.
To be continued...-
#MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter13: Dark Truth
"Rohan, I know it is a tough time for you and not sure at what stage you will receive this letter. But by the time you will get this letter, I will be far from your reach to help you out. It's not that I don't want to, but can't risk my family anymore just like the other day, when I came rushing to your apartment to astray you; with my father on gun point. I thought you would read my body language and my fear, but you were entangled more into the reports, leaving everything unperceived.
Sorry for lying to you that day, I didn't have an option at all. But I always wanted to bring the truth to you since the day Pooja told me everything she found.
She was an intern with us and with time we became close friends. Sumit and Rathi were child hood friends and Rathi was dating Pooja. Few months back, one day she called me up in the middle of the night, crying louder than rains as she found the rape reports in Rathi's cabinet with a suicide note directly accusing Rathi and Sumit.
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#MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter9: The Verse
Priya was standing on the boundary of the terrace, all sweating and crying. Standing beneath I was shouting 'Priya don't jump, Priya don't jump' and a sudden push. 'Priyaaaaaaaa...' and I woke up from the dreadful dream. After 48hours of continuous surprises and tiring sleepless nights, the only scene I could dream when I finally got some sleep.
The clock says it's 4am, restless I stood up in all anger, picked all my findings and went to the Park, sat on the same bench, trying to sum up the entire scenario.
- Pooja sitting on a bench with my poems and crying.
- The medical reports shared by Ajay, depicting rape.
- Ajay stating that Mr. Rathi is a good person and he is helping us.
- Sumit's kidnapping.
- Then Mr. Rathi telling about Pooja's syndrome and marking her the prime suspect of the murder.
If Pooja is the murderer, then why Rathi married her? And what about the reports, they stated rape! How can reports deny very evident wind choking and report rape!;
•••• Continued in Caption 👇-
#MyDiaries
~Illusion
#Chapter3: Loop
I stood at the same spot with pale, expressionless face for 20 odd mins, until a 23-24year old guy came up and woke me up from that deep sleep. He was the vendor from whom that girl bought the water bottle.
"Sir, क्या इरादा है.. देख रहा हु सब, पहले मैडम का पीछा कर रहे थे, फिर dustbin में मुँह डाल के ये कागज़ निकाल लिए। Commissioner की नई बहू है, अंदर जाना है क्या साहब".
I was listening to everything but my body was not responding to any of the external force, either be his questioning voice or his gentle push to bring me back to my senses.
In those 20 odd minutes, my life became a flashback movie, screening all the memories I had with Priya, as those papers were none other than my handwritten poems written for her.
And the series of incidences once again left me even more puzzled. Who is she? I have never seen her before.. Have I? Where?
From where did she get these poems and kept them so safe for a long 1year since Priya's death.
Now the voices inside me were louder than the growing traffic on the road, is there any link between her and Priya's demise.
To be continued...-