The room had not seen
a living soul for years. Completely shut off, it had housed a pungent smell and
some spider webs as the only forms of life. It was raining heavily outside. The
door shivered along with the wall it was a part of. Fresh breeze entered the
room for the first time in ages. One more kick and it almost tore off.
Vikram : Get back,
you can’t even kick a door down.
Another kick and the
door opened up, the bolt flying in to the room.
Vikram : That's how
you do it. Fuck, this room smells. Open the windows.
Pradeep : Open
windows? Are you crazy?
Vikram : I don’t want
to die of suffocation here. We’ll close them in some time.
Pradeep gave him a
disgruntled look and opened the windows. They sat down on the floor by the
door.
Vikram : What do we
do now?
Pradeep : We wait.
They sat in silence
for minutes, Vikram inspecting the spider webs in the room, Pradeep staring at
the floor with an unfading gaze. It was still raining heavily outside.
Pradeep : How long
have you been in the force? Two years? Atleast learn to live with smell, for
God's sake.
Vikram : So says the
man who can’t even kick a door down. Three years, is it?
Pradeep glared at him.
Vikram(Laughing) :
Relax brother. Just kidding. We need to kill time here. Almost another hour
before he arrives?
Pradeep : Yeah.
That's the news. See what comes out of your mouth or I might kill you too, you
know, along with the time.
Vikram : Ah ! Why are
you always so wound up? Easy, I was just joking. You can kick doors down,
obviously.
Pradeep : You are
just silly.
Vikram : Good, that's
what I was aiming for.
Pradeep : What…To be
stupid on an operation?
Vikram took a deep
breath.
Vikram : Look man. I
was just trying to be a little friendly. We need to work together, it would
help if we are friends.
Pradeep : And the way
to be friends with someone is to act stupid?
Vikram : Exactly. Now
you are talking sense.
Pradeep : Shut up.
Vikram : Haha. Think
about your best friends. Your closest friends. Who are they?
Pradeep : What do you
mean who are they?
Vikram : What I'm
saying is everyone knows many other people. Some are mere acquaintances. You
know, people you won’t be exactly comfortable stuck in an elevator
with. Then there are people bordering on being friends. People who know things
about you, not enough to make judgments not so less as to be called strangers
either.
Pradeep : Like you
and me?
Vikram : Well, yes.
Pradeep : But I make judgments
about you. You are too stupid to be in the force.
Vikram : Haha. That's
a bias. Not a sound judgment. Anyways, Where were we. Yeah. So then, there are
good friends. People you share things about your life with. You dont exactly
call them in the middle of their work or at 2 in the night, but you wouldn't
mind them calling you.
Pradeep : Chicks?
Vikram : Hahaha. No,
no. I mean yeah, everyone. Just not in the depraved manner you mean it.
Pradeep smiled.
Vikram : Good, you
are lightening up. That's good.
Pradeep : Hmm. Close
the windows now.
Vikram got up and
closed the windows.
Pradeep : Carry on.
Vikram : Yeah. So
these are guys you tell general stuff about your life. Laugh if they crack a
joke, shake hands at the end of a dinner and that's it.
Pradeep : That's good
isn’t it. That way you don’t make a fool out of yourself. That's how it should
be.
Vikram : And that's
the point. People are inherently silly. So the people with whom you can talk
rubbish or get drunk knowing they would either take you back safely or pass out
with you are the people who matter. With them, you can act silly and stupid
because you are not trying to defend a reputation.
Pradeep : What is
your point? Stop lecturing me and tell me something sensible if you can?
Vikram : Aah ! Leave
it. All I was saying is we could be friends, but you are too much of a thick head.
When do we call the back up?
Pradeep : When we see
the car. And don’t start shooting the moment you spot the car. We can't let him
go. This operation needs to be bullet proof.
Vikram : Don’t worry.
I know him.
Pradeep : You come
from the same town, isn't it. You must have heard stories about him.
The car stopped
outside. The rain hitting the tin of the car made a distinctly different noise.
Vikram : No. It’s
just that I have been silly with him.
Pradeep : What?
A shot went off. Vikram
stepped outside, closed the door, entered the car and drove away.
The room was restored
to its original state. Pungent smell, spider webs as the only form of life and Pradeep's
dead body.
