Terror on the Divine - Part 1 : Behind the mask

Chapter - 5, The tale of an innocent prisoner

I immediately wanted to change the subject, so I moved forward to ask her about what had happened right now. "Well, could you tell us what happened with you and how you are locked in a cell?"

She hesitated to tell me; instead, she asked, "Can you guys please safeguard Kushi. Please take care of her." She didn't tell us a single word about what had happened with her. But, I didn't leave her; I asked the same question again. "Would you please let us know what happened with you?" I demanded.

She became nervous, and I guessed she might be feeling uncomfortable to speak in front of us, I mean in front of boys. So, I asked the other three to leave the station with the kid.

I went close to her and asked, "Nanditha, don't hesitate; think like your brother has come to help you. If you could tell me everything, I will see how best I can help you."

Her eyes were wet; she stood still and said, "Sachin is my friend, we met online. He came here to meet me a couple of times. Our relationship grew day by day, and a few months before, we understood that we are in love. So, we exchanged our thoughts, and we planned to get married after our academics." Moving towards the wall, she said, "Then he started visiting Goa much more frequently, and he always stayed in the same hotel; he had made friends with the hotel manager and a few of the people working there." Wiping her tears, she continued, "Four months before he had visited Goa to meet me on my birthday; he had arranged a party in the hotel he was staying in, and he had invited the hotel manager and few others from that hotel. The hotel manager had brought a few of his friends to that party too, and drinks were served. The hotel manager asked Sachin to smoke, but he avoided. The hotel manager asked me to smoke, even I avoided. But, in the next few moments, he came again and asked me to smoke; then Sachin told me not to disappoint them and asked me to smoke at least two puffs. I did as per Sachin's instruction; I felt relaxed, my mind started floating, supporting my hand on Sachin, I said, "This is too good, I feel as if I have no worries." I smiled at him. After a few seconds, I was fine. The party lasted for a long time; by 1 AM, the manager came to me and said, :It's your party, have a blast this night with your boyfriend." Saying, so he handed over a beer bottle and two packs of cigarettes. We moved to the room and Sachin asked me, "I know you drink, but you didn't have anything today; drink with me now." Saying so, switching off the lights, he lit a candle on the table. Opening the beer bottle, Sachin hugged me saying happy birthday. We had drinks and cigarettes in between. And, we drank like anything and passed out in the balcony while we were having the last cigarette of the pack.

"Next morning, when we woke up, we continued drinking and smoking. This went on until we fell unconscious when finishing the last pack of cigarettes given by the manager. We woke up again by night. Sachin noted that his flight was scheduled at 11 PM and it was already 8 PM; in a hurry, he packed everything, and we left the room. The manager handed over another two packs of cigarette saying 'Branded from America'. In a hurry, he took the cigarette pack and left. On the way to the airport, he realized, 'I am going home, anyway I can't smoke at home; can't even smoke in the airplane, so you have this, but remember and don't make this into a habit.'

"I carefully hid those packs in my room at home. I think it's a human psychological tendency; I went against to my thoughts and had one cigarette, and I tried to control it to one per day. And it became a habit; anything which is continuously practiced for 21 days becomes a habit as per psychology, and it happened with me. I got addicted to cigarettes, and I was in search of the same cigarette brand given by the manager. I searched in almost all the shops, but I wasn't able to get it. Again, I went to the hotel manager asking for a cigarette. He handed over two packs to me at the cost of 500 rupees and said they were imported. He said, 'You don't get them anywhere else; you can come and buy them from me whenever you want.' And, every time, I completed my cigarette quota, I use to go and buy a cigarette pack from him. It continued for three months."

"That was the day when I felt, I can't leave without a cigarette pack. I again went to that hotel manager to buy cigarettes; he said that the cigarettes are not in stock and asked me to visit him after 8 days. I went mad, I started acting crazy as if I would die without smoking, and I turned aggressive. I started shouting at him, saying, 'You are the reason I learned smoking, you are the reason for me getting addicted to cigarettes. I don't know from where you get them from but I need it at this moment.' He stood without reacting; customers in the hotel turned towards me, and a few came near the reception desk where I was shouting irrespective of the others around them. The assistant office manager came to me and whispered into my ears, 'Madam, please calm down, give us little time, we will fulfil your requirements. Please wait in room number 201, we will arrange it at the earliest. Please, don't shout, it affects our hotel's reputation and also it affects our job. Please understand.' He requested me and I agreed and took the key of room number 201.

"I was waiting for more than half an hour; my addiction might have turned into a disease. I was losing my temper, and I was behaving very badly at that moment. I was not in the position to resist the urge to smoke. I was ill; I picked up the landline and connected my call to reception. The assistant manager answered the call saying, 'How can I assist you?' On hearing him, my temper went into a high pitch. I started shouting like anything. 'Madam, please calm down; the manager is on the way to fulfil your requirement. Please cooperate,' he said politely; in the meanwhile, the doorbell rang. It was the manager of the hotel, along with him was a foreigner. I observed, that the foreigner had the cigarette pack in his hand.

"'Hello, madam,' said the manager. My eyes were looking at the cigarette pack in the hand of the foreigner, my expression showing my desire for smoking. 'Madam, he is our customer from Kenya; he has the brand of cigarette which you were eager to smoke. You can take the cigarettes from him. But, he has a condition.'

"My desire for smoking was increasing every time I looked at the cigarette pack in the foreigner's hand; at that moment, I wanted to smoke, and I was ready to accept any of his conditions. My mind was blocked, and the only thing which I wanted was a cigarette. Without foreseeing the trap which I could fall into, I accepted the condition applied by the black foreigner. He gave me a cigarette to smoke after fulfilling his desires. Due to my endless passion for smoking, every day, a new foreigner offered me a cigarette after satisfying his desires, it went on continuously, and because of this, I am now a prostitute," She said her story while crying and wiping her tears. I was speechless; she continued, "Sachin has no idea about this; if he comes to know he will also reject me the same as this society around me. I am also worried about Kushi; if she gets to know about all this, it will affect her very badly." She continued to cry like a kid. I was speechless, I stood still looking at her.

After a while, Constable reminded me by saying, "Sir, you have only 2 minutes left. Complete your conversation before that and move from the place." I said yes, nodding my head.

"But Nanditha, I too smoke, I am also a smoker, but I have never felt like dying without smoking, it can easily be quit. There must be something hidden behind that particular brand of cigarettes which you are mentioning." I was a bit confused; meanwhile, I was confident about the words 'can be easily quit'.

The constable interrupted again, "Sir, time up. Please move." He forcefully started pushing me.

While walking from cell number 02, I said to Nanditha, "Don't worry, we are there for you. You will get justice. It's my promise."