She sat in the Starbucks cafe, sipping her coffee and staring out of the window. The blood stained knife lay next to her handbag, covered with her blue silk scarf. The muggy night was giving way to a muggier morning with the sun slowly rising over decaying buildings on the sky line. Aditi looked back at the turn of events of last night, the whole thing seemed so surreal and illogical that it made her almost burst into tears….and to top it all she had forgotten to dispose of the knife in the melee of the last few hours.
Her delirium of thoughts was abruptly broken when she heard a commotion outside the café. Impulsively she turned her neck to see outside the glass window. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw a Police car standing there with its lights flashing and two potbellied cops talking loudly to some passersby. “Oh shit! Not so soon…this is all I needed”, she almost exclaimed as she impulsively dropped the cloth covered knife back into her handbag and quickly surveyed the inside of the café. There were no other customers in the 24x7 café. The bored looking waiters were busy watching a dance show on the TV. But there was only a single door out of the eatery outside which the policemen stood directly opposite.
Her thoughts strayed to the back packing trip to Manikaran in Himachal just six months back with her Gujju friend from school days, Hetal. That evening, she and Hetal had moved out of Nirvana Coffee Shop after a coffee and sandwich and headed towards their lodging. She heard someone following them down the dim alley way and when she turned around she saw the gaunt frame of a hippie frantically waving to her. What does he want from us..she wondered tightly clutching her bag. “Lady, you just left your phone at the café…just came to return it” said the hippie with dread-locks and tattooed forearms. “Oh! Thank you so much” said Aditi as the hippie extended his hand with her brand new I-phone in it. “Sorry! I got startled…can't thank you enough Sir” said Aditi in an apologetic tone. “Ehud…that’s my name” said man as he extended his hand again and shook hers. “Aditi…..you can call me Adi!” it rolled out spontaneously from her. They met quite a few times in the next two days she was there. Ehud was an Israeli Army Veteran who was just taking a break, now that his conscription had got over. “You know India is very safe and cheap for us Israelis….and of course we get to meet beautiful people like you all the while” said Ehud with a wink of his left eye.
She left for Delhi and onwards to Mumbai thereafter. But their friendship blossomed and before she realized she was in love with Ehud. Ehud too on his part had no intention to leave India and following her to Mumbai picked up a regular job in an Israeli firm dealing in security hardware, finally shedding his hippie image. In a span of six months they had moved into the same apartment at Lokhandwala.
Aakash was her friend from school days, a straight forward lad with a middle class upbringing. She met him again in Mumbai purely out of chance at Hetal’s PG in Goregaon. She had gone there to pick up a few books when she found Aakash sitting in Hetal’s room watching the news on TV. She recalled that Aakash, though bright in studies at school had not joined college after that and had got into some family business, she could not remember exactly what. “Hi Aditi! Good to see you so many days after school, what are you up to?”, said Aakash smiling and giving her a hug. He smelt of sweat and Old Spice after shave. “Still studying…..masters in accountancy. What are you doing?” asked Aditi. “Oh! nothing exciting the same old family import export business. Operate between here and Surat.” The business didn’t seem doing too well thought Aditi sizing up Aakash’s ordinary clothes and slippers. Just the Hetal came in and said “Hi guys! Good you met. Hey Adi..we are planning a movie in two hours time….why don’t you join us.” Aditi looked thoughtful and uncertain. “Oh come on babes! You can of course invite that firang boyfriend of yours too. Aakash is here only today evening and he is going back to Surat in the night. We must enjoy the evening…for old times’ sake”, said Hetal. Aditi reluctantly agreed and called up Ehud. Surprisingly, he was more than game, “Will meet you all at the car parking at Inox” he said enthusiastically.
The trio soon took a cab and reached the Multiplex at Colaba which was a 20 minute drive. Aakash carried his small Rexene bag along as he was leaving for Surat after dinner.
Ehud was right there as promised, next to the parking. After brief introductions, the four moved into the theatre for the movie. The movie got over at around 9:00 PM. “Let’s have a quick bite and then drop off Aakash at Bandra Railway Station” said Hetal. A pizza each followed at Dominos. “I am feeling full and my legs are cramped. Let’s take a walk…..we still have time for the train” declared Ehud. They all left the pizzeria and walked along the dimly lit bylanes of Colaba. “I gotta go for a pee! just hang on here and I will be right back”, said Ehud and as the trio waited, and went around a wall about 20 yards away.
Suddenly, Aditi heard a voice behind her- “Don’t move and hand over your bag!”, her heart skipped a beat when she saw a masked man in black dress stand behind them in the lonely alleyway with a knife in his hand pointed at Aakash and demanding him to part with his bag. The voice seemed vaguely familiar. “No, no…..I cannot do that” shouted Aakash. “Give it to him Aakash! Here take my handbag too…just leave us alone” screamed Hetal in a terror stricken voice throwing her handbag towards Aakash and the goon. The goon tried to snatch the bag from Aakash, who held it close to his chest. “Run, Aakash, Aditi” screamed Hetal and ran screaming out of the alley way. “Cowardly Bitch!” thought Aditi “Where the hell is Ehud….what is is taking him so long....”. Suddenly, the single sodium vapour street light spilling light through a dirty shade, went off probably due to over-heating and the alley was plunged into darkness. There was a groan and someone leapt at her, she heard the knife fall on the ground with a metallic sound next to her. Instinctively she felt around for the knife, picked it up and plunged it into the figure trying to push her. The lights came on as suddenly as they had gone off. She almost fainted when she saw what was in front of her. Aakash was lying in a pool of blood with the knife plunged deep into his chest, gasping for breath. “Oh my God! Aakash, I am sorry, I didn’t realize it was you in the darkness……Ehud, Ehud where the hell are you!” screamed Aditi, fully choked in terror. Ehud came running and was trying to figure out what had happened. “I was away only 3-4 minutes…what happened, why did you stab Aakash?” he yelled. “I didn’t do it on purpose screamed Aditi…” trying hard to comprehend and explain the situation. “Where is Aakash’s bag?......and where is Hetal?” asked Ehud. “I don’t know where the bag is. I think the goon took it..and Hetal the coward, she ran away. Quick let’s get him to a doctor” said Aditi. “Let me look for a cab” said Ehud his eyes searching the place as he sauntered away towards the mouth of the alley.
Suddenly Aakash gripped her arm and groaned “In your bag…..help me!” and then he collapsed. “Ehud! “ screamed Aditi as Ehud came and checked Aakash’s heartbeat and pulse. “Adi! he’s gone…he’s dead”. “Oh shit! …” exclaimed Aditi, “Let's get him to a hospital and tell the cops..” “Are you nuts, look at yourself. How are you going to explain all this and Aakash is gone, there is nothing we can do for him” said Ehud pointing to her blood stained hand and the knife plunged into Aakash. “Just get the knife out and let’s get out of here… let me think of something”. Almost in a robotic manner, she pulled out the knife, wrapped it in her blue silk scarf and dropped it in her bag.
They ran out of the alley and reached the road adjacent to it. It was late in the night and no cab was in sight. Finally, an auto rickshaw agreed to take them. “You get back to the room and pack a few things and wait some place, while I fix up our tickets to get out of here for a while- we can probably fly to Delhi and head back to good old Manikaran..just to let this cool off!” said Ehud. “Why don’t we go to the cops? We’ve done nothing wrong …I don’t understand and what if Hetal goes to the police”, said Aditi. “That’s a chance we’ll have to take…..”, said Ehud.
The Auto dropped off Hetal at their apartment. She took a shower, changed her clothes and packed her clothes and a few other essentials. She also checked her debit and credit cards in the outer compartment of her bag. There was a small brown paper wrapped package in her bag. “Wonder what this is?..guess I must have only put in some stuff and forgotten” She wondered trying to open it to check out. Suddenly the doorbell rang and she quickly dropped it back and closed the zipper of the bag. It was the doodhwallah- she sent him off saying that she didn’t want any milk until further instructions. She was just a wee bit surprised that none of Ehud’s things seemed to be around, not that he had too many possessions. She just shrugged and moved out of the house locking it carefully. It was almost day break. “I think I can wait at the Starbucks Café’ …in any case I badly need a coffee” she thought.
Her chain of thoughts was broken by the ringing of her mobile. Ehud was trying to reach her. “Oh God! Hope no other screw ups..” she thought. “Adi..where the hell are you. I have already reached the Airport. Flight to Delhi leaves in three hours at 9 o’clock”, said Ehud over the phone. She explained her current predicament in hushed tones to Ehud, “……and on top of it I still have the goddamned knife on me” “Oh my God! …… by the way did something fall out of Aakash’s bag when the robber was snatching it?”asked Ehud. “I don’t know and I don’t care…I just want to get out of here” she said with a tinge of irritation in her tone. “Sweetheart! just relax..I’ll find a way” said Ehud before hanging up. The cops seemed to be in no mood to leave as they sat in their car having an early morning snack of vada pau from the road side vendor.
About half an hour passed when she saw Ehud enter the Café’ after alighting from a cab. “Why did you come here?” She hissed. “Couldn’t leave you here all alone..” He sat down next to her and ordered a coffee. “You look pale..Why don’t you go to the wash room and freshen up, while I conjure a way to get out of here safely and also get rid of the knife.” Aditi was actually relived to see him and she needed to use the rest room. She went to the washroom, leaving her handbag and mobile on the table. Ehud immediately unzipped her bag and rummaged the contents, stealing furtive glances to make sure no one was observing him. He was careful not to touch the knife. He suddenly saw a small packet wrapped in brown paper and neatly tied in a string tumble out of the bag. Excited, he glanced at the washroom door- Aditi was still in. He tore the wrapper with his nails and almost yelped in excitement as he saw the glitter of its contents. He quietly pocketed it, as also Aditi’s phone, as he left the café and hopped back into his waiting cab.
The bewildered waiter was still looking for him with the coffee he had ordered as Aditi returned back to the table. She too looked around for Ehud puzzled. She searched for her phone to call him but could not find it. She opened her bag to see inside, to find all the contents topsy turvy. Her phone wasn’t there nor was the little brown package, but the knife and other things were very much there. “Madam…sir left suddenly. He was searching for something in your bag.” said the waiter as she cleared the bill with a generous tip. “Can I borrow your mobile please?” she asked the young waiter. She dialed Ehud’s mobile and hers as well on it- both were switched off. Her stomach cramped- she knew something was wrong- drastically wrong.
The cops had left by then and the sun was adequately bright as it was almost 7:00 AM. She took a cab and reached the Airport in about 40 minutes owing to traffic. She jumped off and rushed to the board displaying arrival and departure timings of various flights. There was no flight departing for Delhi at 9:00 AM. The last one had left at 7:00 AM and the next one was at 12:00 PM. Instinctively, she saw the board displaying international arrivals and departures- her heart almost skipped a beat when she saw the third entry from top displaying “El Al Flight No EA-468; Destination- Tel Aviv; Departure- 7:45 AM; Status- Departed.” She ran to the small counter of the airline and explained to the girl at the counter that she wanted to know the details of a friend who was travelling. The girl reluctantly saw the list of passengers- there was no one by the name Ehud. Aditi insisted “Please see if any male passenger aged about 27 years is travelling alone”. “You know Ma’am I shouldn’t be giving you these details without permission- but there is no person of this age travelling single on this flight. Just a Mr Yehuda Meir travelling along with Ms Hetal Jain to Tel Aviv” said the girl.
Exhausted and broken, she sat at the waiting benches and glanced disinterestedly at the LCD TV screen telecasting the morning news- still trying to figure out what the hell had happened. The visuals suddenly appeared familiar- it showed a blood soaked body which looked very much like Aakash. She went closer and heard the telecast carefully. “Mr Aakash Gandhi an Angadia of Gandhi Gems, the top diamond trader of Surat was brutally murdered and robbed last night at Colaba. It is reported that he had in his possession one of the largest uncut diamonds brought into this country in recent years valued at about Rs 5 Crore. He was to leave for Surat in the night, when he was robbed and murdered. The identity of the assailants is not known. He was reportedly last seen with some friends in the evening. They have not yet been identified nor has the murder weapon been found. The police is on a look out for them.”
Why do I trust people so much? She wondered…..can’t believe it was my best friend and my boyfriend…. they had me playing to their tune all this while. The police cars with their sirens blaring were already entering the precincts of the Airport.
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