What The Eyes Don't See

23 | Taken Away

In the evening when Anay reached the hotel room, he found Kautuk sitting in the lobby waiting for him.

"I reached an hour ago but didn't call you. Was chatting up with Pradhan here. He has such great stories of the old times to tell!" Kautuk said cheerily, pointing at the hotel manager who was sitting with.

"You boys carry on! Have a nice time." Pradhan smiled and took their leave as Anay walked up to them.

"Oh, I was away," Anay said. "But come let's walk outside for a bit. I have so much to tell you."

"No, not outside," Kautuk said. "Let's go upstairs. Order some food, please. I am as hungry as a wolf."

"All right, come on then."

They walked up to Anay's hotel room. The food was ordered first. Kautuk kicked his shoes and sat up on the bed and Anay followed. As they began to feast on the fried rice and chicken chili with large glugs of Coke to wash it all down, Anay brought him up to speed.

"Wow!" Kautuk said. "They should make a movie on you, man. Whatever this thing turns out to be at the end, it has all the ingredients of being a smashing potboiler."

Anay cracked a rare laugh. In his mind, he was seeing it now—the end of this wretched affair. He did not know what lay at the end, and whether he'd be out of it at all, but he could see that he was hurtling towards a final revelation. Then he said, "I am thinking of going home tomorrow."

Kautuk stopped chewing. "Home? Where?"

"Indore, man. My family's home."

Kautuk's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure?"

"I think I need to do this." Looking at the much-crumpled magazine that was on the bed, open on the page with the photograph, he said, "Just look at this bloke. Looks like he's telling me something."

Kautuk looked at the guy's face and then kept it down. There was an unexplained emotion in his eyes. Deep Mishra's photograph looked more alive now, as if he knew people were talking about him.

He placed his hand on Anay's knee. "Well, if that's what you feel like doing, you must. Yes, you must go. It's about time. It's best to get this thing out of your head, if you think so strongly about it."

Anay sprang up from the bed and began packing the leftovers of their dinner. Kautuk grabbed the plates and kept them on the tray for disposal. For a minute, they were engaged in this very homely activity and then Anay sat on one of the two chairs by the window and lit up a cigarette. "Yes, I should do that." He was talking more to himself than to Kautuk. Looking around at the room, he said, "Are you listening to me, whoever you are? You, who have converted my life to this tragicomedy, and stopped just short of killing me? Yes, I got your message too, from my friend whom you almost killed. Now, I'm trying to find out the reason why you are so pissed. Let me do that."

His declaration was met with a stunned silence. Kautuk shivered for a bit as if he really felt the presence in the room, but Anay sat rock-solid. It was as if he had worked up a determination that nothing else would faze him.

Kautuk pulled the second chair closer to him and sat. Borrowing a puff of the cigarette, he patted him on the back. "That's the spirit. You will find a way."

"It will also be a good thing to see my mother and brothers after all these years," Anay justified things to himself. "I just left them when I walked out of home. All that is bad karma. I will call her and say I'm coming. She'll be pleased."

He stood up, and Kautuk's hand slid off his back. Still in his stupor, Anay said, "Yes, and I shall call up Shanaya and tell her that I am going. I'll try to convince her to come too."