Thriller The ultimate choice 19

Episode 19

"Do your best. If you find them, I will give you a big prize." Suresh left the police station with a lot of frowning on his forehead. It was not as if he only depended on the police. Actually, he had scant respect for these khaki-clad guys, whom he thought were worthless. Suresh could never forget the favours he received form Rajan. He would never have passed the exams with flying colours, had it not been Suresh writing the papers by his side in the university. He was extremely glad that Rajan had agreed to join hands with him.

Therefore, he himself had engaged the best private investigative agency in the country, the Ravenous Eagles. While coming back from the police station in his SUV, Suresh rang Somnath, the head of the Ravenous Eagles in Southern India.

"Any updates? It's been ten days that you have taken the job!" The tone of Suresh was business  like.

"A good news Sir! We are closing in. Can't tell you at the moment, as the news is still unconfirmed. Please, have some patience. I will call you." The connection was cut from the other end. But, at last, there was a hint of smile on Suresh's face. He rang Rajan's elder brother.
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400 meters! Rajan's experienced eyes quite easily assessed the perimeter of the squarish ground. That meant he had to run 4 km nonstop!

"Oh God! Please help me!" Rajan knew it was an impossible task for him to accomplish, and he didn't want to be beaten either.

Rajan thought that 1 km was the most he could run at a go. He was highly apprehensive of being kicked by that heartless animal. So, after two and half rounds, he started to feel butterflies in his stomach. But, he himself was astonished to see he felt no shortness of breath or any cramp in the leg even after 5 complete laps.

"How come?" He wondered! Was the God helping him? He was glad. He completed 8 rounds without any hiccup. The animal like guy was announcing the rounds with a lot of disdain in his voice. He made it very clear that he didn't enjoy the fact that Rajan was finishing the job flawlessly.

But, during the middle of 8 round, Rajan started to feel a lot of discomfort in his body. Suddenly, his legs started to revolt, his lungs started to collapse. He was huffing and puffing like a steam engine. He was praying to the Almighty to give him enough strength to finish the task.

"You have successfully completed 9 rounds. That's incredible! Here comes your last round."

The Bengali guy announced this with no cheers in his rude voice.

Rajan was happy to know that. But unfortunately, his body was not cooperating. Rajan didn't understand that it was not the God, but it was the continuous hard work of a fortnight that was paying the dividend for him. But, his body was not prepared enough to run 4 km nonstop.  He needed a break of at least 10 minutes.

Rajan's legs showed red flags after the half-way mark in the last lap, and Rajan fell on the ground like a lifeless object. The failure might have given him a bad taste in the mouth, but his exhausted body got a new lease on life. He stayed on the ground motionless for 5 minutes. He would have loved to stay like that for few more minutes, but the masked Bengali appeared  on the scene.

"You have failed!" He announced, this time cheerfully.

"Water! Can I get some Water?" Rajan was having the thirst of a desert. Even a drop of water at this moment seemed to be priceless to him.

"Water? Ha ha! Yes, you can have a little bit of it. But, you will receive 10 extra kicks for that. Do you accept?" The masked guy showed the bottle he was holding in his hand. He might have masked his face, but a sinister smirk could be felt in his voice.

Rajan's body was worn out, but his mind was not. Rajan quickly looked at the bottle and estimated that there was not more than 50 ml of water in that run-down, dirty bottle. It appeared to Rajan that the bottle might have been picked from a bin, and it was filled with water from a puddle. Rajan had been a hygiene-freak for the last so many years. He would have puked to see it in a normal time. But, he himself was shocked to notice a dramatic change in his attitude.

"I agree. Please give the bottle to me."

"Ha ha!" The masked guy handed the bottle in Rajan's hands.

Rajan didn't take more than perhaps a nano second to open the bottle and pour the content in his one thousand-years-of-thirsty throat. Even this 50 ml of dirty water seemed like ambrosia to him.

Rajan's happiness didn't last for more than 5 seconds. A heavy kick in his butt again brought him back to his time of agony. From the 9 more kicks that came in no time on his buttock, chest, head, arms, legs and even in his groin, it appeared that the Bengali guy might be an expert in martial arts.

After the harrowing nonstop running, this was too much for Rajan to withstand. He was writhing in pain, and started crying loudly. This made the Bangali guy to stop for few moments. He, too, was sweating. He opened two upper buttons of his blue denim T-shirt, and said,

"Oh! Did the kicks hurt?"

"Yes, very much! Please don't beat me any more." Rajan tried to touch the feet of the Bengali guy to plead mercy.

"Wow! What a  cute gesture! My heart has really melted. But you know what?"

"What?" Rajan asked eagerly.

"The word mercy does not belong to anyone working in this hell. I am sorry sweetie!"

The guy kicked 10 more times on every parts of Rajan's body to fulfil his words.

Looking at the sorry face of Rajan, the Bengali guy said,

"When I whistle, you must start running to complete the last round. Any more breaks, you will again get 10 more kicks. You have only 30 seconds to compose yourself."

                                               ________________________________________

To be continued on Saturday night

Thriller The ultimate choice 18

Episode 18

"It's just 15'. But, there is a condition. The condition is that you can't run. You have to walk your normal steps. That means you have to take around 15 steps. If you walk quickly you can complete the things in less than 5 seconds. Ain't that easy?" Again, there was a hint of exuberance in the Joker's voice.

Archana tried to visualize the situation, and she didn't utter a single word. So, the Joker continued,

"So, only 5 second of pain. I assure you it's nothing. You can do it without any trouble."

Archana remained silent. The Joker continued,

"The sensation of pain is nothing but a malfunction of your brain. If you control your brain, you can defeat it."

"I don't get it." Archana blurted.

"Okay,  I will explain in simpler terms. You have nerves in your body. They send various kind of sensations when your skin touches something. For example, when you touch an ice cube, your nerves send a signal to your brain. Your brain is trained in such a manner that it interprets it is very cold. This interpretation is completely man made. You are trained from your early childhood that this sensation was cold and it was bad. So, you immediately withdraw your hand from the ice cube. But suppose, if you were trained that this sensation was good, you wouldn't have removed your hand. Similarly, you have to think that the sensation of burning is good. You can even think that it's even heavenly.

Haven't you read the Ramayana? Haven't you read about Sita's "Agnipariksha"? You are a devout Hindu. I am sure you have read about that, and you believe that. Don't You?"

The Joker asked Archana, and it appeared that he would not take no for an answer. As a matter of fact, Archana was a firm believer, and she believed every word written in the Ramayana. So, she nodded her head affirmatively.

"Good", the Joker seemed to have been pleased with the answer. He continued,

"So, how do you think how Sita could overcome the sense of pain? Do you think it was some kind of blessings from the God? No it was not. She had trained her mind in such a way that she could control her brain, or should I say how to interpret the sensation of so-called pain? She could programme her brain in such a way that pain was interpreted in a positive way. That was the one and only one secret behind her success to pass the Agnipariksha."

Archana was awestruck. She had never thought in this way. No doubt, she thought many times about the Agnipariksha. How could a living person stay inside fire without being burnt into ashes was the question that came to her mind several times. But, Archana knew Sita was not an ordinary woman. Her extraordinary piety gave her extraordinary powers.

The flow of thought traversing in Archana's mind was cut short, as the lady standing beside the Joker piped up,

"There was no extraordinary power in Sita except for the fact that she trained her mind to overcome pain. She was in the fire for only 5 seconds. She was standing on a platform, but the people didn't see that. Within 5 seconds, the platform was pulled down, and she landed in the safe underground room. But, the people thought that she had vanished inside the earth."

"So, they are reading my mind again! How come?" Though this question occurred in her mind, she put it aside, as the situation was to grave to ponder over that issue.

"So, what have I to do?" She asked the most important question for her survival. The Joker seemed to have been content with Archana's reaction. He calmly said,

"You don't have the luxury of training your mind like Sita, as you have to appear at the test right now. All I can do for your help is to tell you the thumb rule of winning pain for this test. Think something else when you walk on the singeing coal. Your untrained nerves will disturb you enormously, but you have to turn a deaf ear to them. Can you do It? Please remember you have no other option but to pass the test. Otherwise, you know what? Ha Ha!" This time the Joker's words sounded really cruel.

As soon as the Joker signalled, 4 masked men came down from the lift with a big drum. Very quickly, they put down singeing coals on the raised ceramic platform. Everything happened so quickly that Archana didn't find much time to compose herself.

"2 minutes! You have only 2 minutes to start the job. Your time starts now." The Joker announced sternly.

                              ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sixteen days have passed, and you are saying you couldn't trace him. What are you doing?" Suresh fumed at the officer in the local police station.

"Sir, we are trying our best. We have alerted all the states. The moment some positive inputs arrive, we shall act swiftly." The young, handsome policeman wrung his hands as he explained. Suresh was a very successful businessman who was known to have a lot of hobnobbing with influential politicians in the state. Rajan was his college friend. He was awaiting Rajan's arrival in India. They had a big plan to start a joint venture. When he knew about Rajan's abduction, he became mad in rage. He left no stones unturned to find Rajan. Both Rajan and Archana's families totally depended on Suresh to find the two missing persons.

"What are reports from the airports?"

"Sir, we have received inputs from both airports and railway stations across the country. Neither Rajan nor Archana could be seen to go anywhere. I am sure Sir, the kidnapper had taken them by car."

"Hmm! What do you think where could they have kept them for so long?"

"That's the million dollar question Sir. We are having inputs from our sources. So, far no one could throw any light on this mystery."

The next episode will be published on Saturday night 9PM IST 

Thriller The ultimate choice 17

Episode 17

Therefore, Rajan didn't say much, and only nodded his head from side to side indicating a negative answer.

"Ha Ha Ha Ha! Then you have got a big problem! Do you see the tracks? Today, your first job is to run along the ground 10 times. No time limit for this task. Take your position. When I whistle, start running. The condition is you can't stop before running 10 times."

"If I fail what happens?"

Being absolutely inconfident of his own running abilities, the question came out spontaneously like a burp.

"Ha ha ha ha ! 10 kicks for every break you take, and these kicks will be kicks of these leather boots. "

The ruthless Bengali guy pointed his index fingure to his size 12 leather boots in a very rude manner.

He didn't give much time to Rajan to compose himself.

"On your marks." He said in a stentorian tone indicating Rajan to take position behind the starting line. With heavily beating heart and trembling feet Rajan went there.

"Ready, steady, go", the masked guy blew the whistle.

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Archana was blindfolded, and taken to a place which she guessed from the movement and time taken by the lift, was in the first or second floor. When she was allowed to open her eyes, she was taken aback to see the Joker in person. The place  was the large open ground floor area of the mansion. This place was meant for parking of cars. But, Archana could see only a couple of them, a white-metallic Land Rover and a silver Jaguar XG, parked at a distance from the place where the Joker was sitting on a wheel chair.

Archana had always been a mediocre person; her marks had never crossed the 75% barrier. Before her marriage she was dependent on her father and her elder brother, and after marriage it was her husband Rajan who took all the responsibilities of outdoor works. Though she protested vehemently when she was accused of being unsmart by Rajan, in her heart she knew that Rajan was not entirely wrong. But, in this difficult situation, when life seemed to very cruel to her, she had to shrug off the baggage of dorkiness. Whether purposefully or not she didn't know, the place was very dimly lit. It was not easy to see things distinctly.

Archana observed that the Joker was surrounded by 2 gunned masked men in his front and 2 at his back. They were equipped with the most modern lethal weapons in the world: M4A1 and MK2. From the tall, muscular structure of the men, Archana was pretty sure, as she had observed in the US over the years, the guys were black mercenaries. There was another masked lady in complete black, who was standing beside the Joker, her right hand resting on the wheel chair. She was holding a belt in her left hand.

The Joker, even though he was in a  sitting position, looked like a very plump, short, old, around 75, man. He was wearing a brown leather jacket, black pant, and his hands were covered with black gloves. He was wearing a mask of a typical joker, white face, tomato red bulbous nose and thick red lips.

"Good evening! Welcome to your third test! Are you ready?"

The voice didn't seem that nasal as it appeared in earlier occasions. From his accent, Archana could not guess much. Surely, it was not an American accent, but it could be either British or Indian.

Archana's mind was full of spite for this weird guy, as he had been torturing her and Rajan for the last fortnight. In the house, Archana could not even think bad of this guy. Whenever she thought of something evil about the Joker, there was clatter of some metal objects nearby, or someone clunked outside her room, and every time Archana had to nip the thought in bud. Now that she was outside and the light being very dim, she didn't bridle the evil thought that came instantly in her mind. She thought of strangulating him with her bare hands. She gasped immediately apprehending about the reaction.

But, nothing happened. The Joker seemed to have smiled, and in a calm voice said,

"I am a man of my word. Have no doubt in your mind about the promise I made. Freedom is awaiting you as soon as you pass the remaining tests. But make no mistake about the fact that each test is very tough."

Archana interjected impatiently, " What do I have to do now?"

"Patience my dear! You will surely get to know about your task very soon. But, before that you need to listen something that will help you to accomplish the job."

Even in this precarious situation, a gush of laughter came spontaneously on Archana's lips.  The Joker wanted to help her! Devuda! Somehow, she controlled herself, and focussed on Joker's words.

Today, the Joker seemed to be totally ignorant of Archana's thoughts, as he continued,

"You have to win pain to pass this test. I just want to educate you one or two things about how to overcome pain."

Archana again gasped, thinking what pain the Joker was talking about.

"Look at your left side."

That far Archana hadn't looked at her left at all. She turned her head, and she saw something strange. There was a raised platform of some ceramic material placed on the floor of the ground. The area of the platform was around 15'x15'.

"That place will be covered with singeing coal. All you have to do is to walk the 15' bare foot. It's not a big deal, I promise." There was a sense of assurance in the Joker's voice. It appeared that he assumed that walking on burning coals was Archana's hobby!

"What?" Archana shrieked. Archana might not be over sensitive to pain, but walking on burning  coals? Archana could not even think of that

"You are bound by your oath, which you made in the name of your God, to obey my orders. If you disobey not only you invite the ire of your God for disrespecting him, but also you will be given harsher punishment than walking on singed coals." This time the Joker's voice sounded pretty ruthless.

"What punishment?" Archana asked.

"Look at the lady standing on my left. She has no heart in her body. She will peel off your skin with the belt that you can see is on her left hand." The Joker announced the spine-chilling words with unmistakable glee.

Archana understood that she had no other option but to pass the test.

The next episode will be published on Wednesday 9PM IST

Thriller The ultimate choice 16

Episode 16

"Hello! I am Chan. I am from Singapore. I was working in a massage parlour. One night, I was sleeping in my room, and when I woke up, I found myself here. I, too, have been in solitary confinement since my arrival here. What's your story?"

"Same! I, too, was kidnapped in my hometown. But, please tell me how can we escape from here? You guys have been here for some time, I guess. Have you thought of any way of escaping?"

Roger poured water from the jug to the glasses, and said, "First, you guzzle as much as water as possible, and gulp as many bananas as you can. A lot more work to do before lunch."

He followed up his words by guzzling 3 glasses of water in no time. Then he took off the peels of 6 bananas in a flash, and swallowed them quickly.

Rajan was disappointed, as he didn't get the answer he was seeking. But, he too, followed them by drinking and eating. It took about to 5 minutes for Roger to complete his breakfast. Then he opened his mouth,

"This is a very tough place man! Do you see me? I am 6' 6", 140 kg. I have the power of a lion but, I can run like a cheetah. One day, I saw no one guarding here. So, I ran fast, very fast, to flee. No one was following me. I reached the precincts of this place, which is roughly 1 km from here in less than 5 minutes. This place is surrounded by a 10 feet wall. But that height is no big deal for me. I had been a very good athelete. I could jump more than 6 feet with ease, and here all I had to do was to jump only 2 feet to reach the wall. But, as I jumped..."

He couldn't complete, as peals of a bell could be heard for 3 times, and his face turned pale.

"Go back quickly to your work place, else they will beat the crap out of you."

He and the Asian guy ran to their respective places of work. That was the first working day for Rajan. Besides, he was constantly thinking about what happened to Roger next! Why an athletic guy like Roger could not escape this place?"

Rajan was sure from the nature of the trees and the soil that this place was in India. The soil was alluvial in nature. That meant that it was somewhere near a river. Where it could be, and how come the police were completely unaware of the unlawful activities happening here. Rajan was sure that his relatives would report his kidnapping to the police. He wondered why police could not find him so far!

His brooding took him a lot of time and he reached the work place after 10 minutes of ringing of the bell. When he reached there, he was shocked to see a pair of handcuffs in the hand of the Bengali, from his accent it was evident, masked man. As soon as Rajan arrived, he kicked Rajan in the gut with force.

"Oh my God!" Rajan was gasping and writhing in pain on the ground. But, that heartless guy quickly handcuffed him, and started to beat him with his legs. He kicked Rajan at least 10 times before saying,

"This place belongs to the Joker, and he respects punctuality more than anything else in the universe. Before you perish, you have to obey the orders, and you have to be on time every occasion. Do you understand, you bonehead?"

"Yes, yes! I understand! Please stop beating me."

Rajan could not take anymore.

The guy released him, and said, " 15 minutes to recover. Start working again."

Rajan had to work for 2 more hours in the garden before lunch. After lunch, he was again assigned household works like sweeping and cleaning an entire 1500 square feet floor. He was then assigned to wash clothes and finally he had to clean a huge stack of utensils. At 6-30 PM, the masked man said,

"It's over for the day. Now you can rest. See you tomorrow at 6 AM."

When Rajan was selected for the IIT, his father broke the news to the family. Before today, that was the sweetest news that Rajan had ever got in his entire life. But, when the masked guy uttered those words, Rajan found them to be the real sweetest news he had ever heard. Every muscle in his body was sore and fatigued. Somehow, he managed to stay on his own feet. He thanked God for this miracle.

But, when he entered his secluded room, he simply fell on the carpet of the floor like a lifeless object. He would have stayed there for eons, had it been his wish. But, withing half an hour, another masked man entered his room with a glass of milk and few medicines. He was ordered to quickly consume them. One of the medicine, Rajan saw, was a painkiller. Generally, he avoided that medicine, as he read that it was not good for heart in the long run. But on that day Rajan was thankful to the Joker for sending it.

Today, Rajan noted that the masked guy didn't take the normal route. He was taken in the opposite direction of the garden. Rajan saw an agricultural field blooming with gorgeous yellow mustard flowers. The north-eastern wind was caressing the flowers, and it appeared from their sway that they were dancing in enjoyment. Rajan, being residing in the USA for many years, was not feeling any cold in this early February. All he was concerned about was his fate!

They walked on the narrow path inside the field. The field was quite large, and almost square in shape. At the end of the agricultural field, Rajan saw a football ground. From the well-trimmed lush green grasses, Rajan understood that it was well maintained. Apart from two goal posts and white lines associated with the game of football, Rajan espied that there were white lines along the side of the ground which indicated it was used as an athletics track.

"Welcome to the tracks! Are you a good athlete? Can you run fast?"
                           
Rajan's throat constricted. Despite being born and brought up in a village area, Rajan had never been a good athlete. He was good at sudies, and since his early childhood, he understood that he had to carry the burden of his family. So, sports was the last thing in his mind.
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                          The next episode will be published on Saturday 9 PM IST 

The ultimate choice 15

Episode 15

5 AM was the time he had been waking in the morning since his arrival at this hell of a place. By nature, he was fond of sleep and a late-riser. In his office days, he never woke up before 6-45 AM, and the holidays? He loved the holidays simply for one reason: sleep. He slept till 8-30 AM in holidays, and after having lunch, he indulged himself in the pleasure called noon siesta.

But here, he had no option but to wake up at 5 AM. A very rhythmic, not-so-loud alarm bell started at 4-50 AM on its own. There was no alarm clock in the entire room, but there was a multipurpose meter on the western wall of the room. Rajan had never seen that kind of an electronic device in his entire life. The meter read the temperature, humidity, time, date, voltage, current, altitude and pressure. But, that was not all. It had many buttons embedded on its body. Rajan was sure it could  measure some other parameters as well. It was planted on the higher side of the western wall so that no human being can reach it even by jumping. But, Rajan was sure the rhythmic sound didn't come from that.

Rajan could clearly understand that the sound was coming from  top of the adjacent northern wall. But he could detect nothing from his naked eyes. Anyway, the sound lasted for only 5 minutes. That sound was not good enough to wake Rajan from his deep slumber. On his first day in this room, he had pretended not to hear it at all. But, he couldn't enjoy the coziness of his warm blanket anymore. Suddenly, the blanket seemed to have thickened. Rajan never tolerated anything coming between him and his love, sleep. So, he had immediately thrown out the blanket.

But that didn't help. The warmness of the room increased in every ten seconds. Rajan never opened his eyes to check the temperature of the room. But, when he started sweating heavily, and suffered from shortness of breathing, he could not ignore it any more. He immediately woke up, and saw that the time was 4-58 AM, and the temperature was as high as 40° C. Then appeared the frigging face of the Joker on the television monitor.

"Good morning Rajan! This is my house, and you are nothing more than a captive here. The value of  your life is nothing more than a cockroach's life in my view. You have to obey everything I tell you. Take me seriously, otherwise you may even lose your life."

At that moment, Rajan understood one thing that here he had to divorce his love, sleep. Then onwards, he always woke up hearing the sound of the alarm bell without fail.

Today was no exception. Rajan woke up even 10 minutes before the alarm bell rang. He quickly went into the attached toilet and freshened himself. The automatic door opened sharp at 5 AM, and Rajan followed a masked man, who seemed to be holding an important position in this mansion.

"What's in store for me today? How can I escape from here?" These two questions were reverberating in his mind.

Rajan contemplated thousands of time a plan to flee from here. In the last fortnight, he was taken to the garden in the morning. There was a beautiful garden, measuring not less than 1 acre of area, Rajan estimated, in front of the golf field. There were at least 100 types of flowers, and 200 types of other trees, ranging from small to big, in that garden. Naturally, maintaining this huge garden was a big task. Rajan was assigned the job of a gardener.

It was not as if he hated this job, as he himself had had a small garden outside his house. But, initially he was in a shock to assume that he alone had to take the huge load of 5 men's job. However, he was pleasantly surprised to see 2 other men, and they were not masked, in the garden doing the same job. However, the masked man, who guided him to this place told him in heavily Bengali-accented English that he was not allowed to mingle with them during the working hours.

However, they were given a break after 3 hours of continuous and rigourous works of watering and feeding plants, trimming trees and shrubs, fertilizing and mowing, weeding and keeping green spaces and walkways clear of debris and litter. In the first day of this tedious work, the masked man was continuously present with him, guiding and rebuking him from time to time. Rajan was panting like a steam engine, his back was on the brink of breaking, and his tongue was lolling like a dog. He never knew that gardening 33 decimals of land would almost take his life. But, at 8 AM, when Rajan's arms felt like they were made of tons of stone, and his head was spinning like a teetotum, and he was sure he would fall like a felled tree, the masked man said, "Stop. Time for 15 minute of break."

He pointed to a place 50 meter north from here with his stretched right hand and said, "That is a small refreshment centre. Go there and take rest. You can drink and eat there, too. Come back here after 15 minutes."  He went somewhere else, and Rajan went to the place he showed.

The refreshment centre was a temporary structure made of bamboo and wood. Big trees, such as banyan, peepal, mango and jamun, surrounded the place. The roof of the temporary structure was covered with jute and hay to protect it from the sun and rain. There was a small wooden table where there were few glasses, a jug, and a wooden bucket full of fruits. Rajan was pleased to see the two men, whom he had previously seen from distance, were also present at that place pouring water from a wooden water keg to the jug. But, Rajan was a bit disappointed to note that none of them were Indian: one was a muscled, tall, black guy, while the other was a short, thin, effeminate South Asian man. When they saw him for the first time, there eyes became wide open in amazement or whatever that Rajan could not assess, and they accosted him stopping the work they were doing.

The African guy grabbed his shoulder in a way that Rajan didn't like at all. The Asian guy took his hand in his hand in a way as if his hand was a flour which needed to be kneaded. Their behaviour was queer, but they were unmasked like him. That gave Rajan some hope, and ignoring their odd behaviour, Rajan asked,

"Hi! I am Rajan. I an an Indian. They have captivated me. Who are you? How did you arrive here?"

"I am Roger. I am an African American. I was a bouncer in a pub. One day, I was coming back to my home at late hour. Suddenly, someone clubbed me on my head with an iron rod, and I don't remember what happened next. But, when I woke up, I found myself here. I have been in solitary confinement since my arrival here." Roger spoke in English.

The next episode will be published on Wednesday night 9 PM IST 

Song: So intoxicating

Do you know that
Your are so intoxicating
Whenever you come close
My head goes spinning?
Spinning spinning spinning
My head goes so spinning
Spinning spinning spinning
You are so intoxicating!

Don't look at my eyes babe
My treachery will be caught
I don't know where to look
Cause you are so hot.
So hot hot hot
You are so hot
I don't know where to look
My treachery will be caught.

Don't seat near me babe
Don't ignite my desire
I can not control
I will be on fire
Fire, fire, fire
I will be on fire
I can not control
My burning desire.

Stay away from me babe
Don't send me love signal
I am a married man
Don't bring my downfall.
Downfall downfall downfall
Don't bring my downfall
I am a married man
Don't send me love signal.

Thriller The ultimate choice 14

Episode 14

Archana had no feeling of hunger, all she wanted was to sleep early. She knew sleep was a great temporary escape from troubles and tensions. She wished to switch off the single fluorescent light, and throw herself onto the bed. But, strangely there was no manual switch in this room. Everything in this room, or may be in this entire 10 storied building, was remote-controlled by the Joker.

So, Archana went to the bathroom to clean her face before going to bed even with the lights on. Just when she was getting up on the bed, the door opened. The strange thing about door was that it had no inside lock or latch. Archana had no control over the door. Like every thing in this mansion like building, this door, too, obeyed only the Joker's orders.

A masked steward with a stainless-steel, mobile centre-table entered the room. He shifted the food items from that table to the glass table on Archana's room. This had been a routine exercise since her shifting into this room. She would be given half an hour to finish the food. The steward would come again and take the leftovers.

So far, the food had been super-boring for a foodie like Archana. Waking up at 6 AM, followed by 2 hours of workout at the first floor gym and then came the heavy breakfast with 4 slices of bread with butter, 2 half-boiled eggs, 1 glass of milk and plenty of fruits. None of the items was favourite of Archana. Breakfast for her meant mouth-watering, lip-smacking puri or idli or dhosa.

Archana would have withstood that had the lunch been good. But, the lunch, which was served at 1-30 PM without fail everyday, was even more disappointing. A sandwich and a cup of coffee were all that she got for lunch.

 In the afternoon, she again had to go for 1 hour of yoga and pranayam session. The lady masked-instructor was the only one who spoke to her, that too in Hindi. She never spoke any extra word other than giving her necessary instructions, though. But still, this 1 hour was the only time that Archana could enjoy during the  whole day. At the end of that session, there was a very queer 10-minute meditation session.

The instructor for some strange reason would tell her to think very disturbing things during this period. For example, one day she told Archana to think that Archana was engulfed in a red, hot fire, and she was burning. Another day, Archana was told to think that she was thrown in a sea with her hands and legs tied to rope, and she was drowning slowly. But, Archana never thought those things. Instead, she thought of her pleasant past, when she lived a very happy life with Rajan and the two children.

She was served a cup of tea and 2 biscuits as supper at 6 PM. At her room, she was forced to watch tv programmes and movies, all of torture and horror types. She was forced to watch abominable pornographic movies, and the type was always BDSM. This mental torture would end at 8-30 PM.

The dinner was served at 9PM on dot. Unfortunately, the dinner was the most disappointing: baked chicken breast with the minimum oil, boiled veggies and plenty of salads. The cook seemed to be heartless guy, as he not only didn't give any seasonings in the chicken item, but also had always been heavily economic with salt.

So when the steward entered the room with the mobile table, she expected another boring dinner. But, when she looked at the table, she saw 6 slices of pizza, 3 bottles of different sauces and many packets of seasonings. Despite her pathetic condition, she felt the appearing of water in her mouth.

Then appeared the Joker on the television monitor.

"Let's celebrate your success Honey! You have successfully passed your second test. So, you got this chicken golden delight as the prize. Enjoy your dinner, and don't forget to see a chit pasted on the back of your plate when you finish the dinner. The monitor went blank, and by that time the masked steward had already left the room. The door closed immediately on its own.


The sense of refreshment that she got after watching new tasty food didn't last long. A sense of fear again gripped her mind. Would that be the the third test? What kind of torture would  that be? What if she didn't pass it? Would the Joker kill her husband, or would he kill her? How could she escape from this hell? These questions started reverbating in her mind like a swarm of angry bees, and tears started to roll down her cheeks.

 An evanescent thought of not eating the dinner appeared in mind. But, she knew if she tried to do such thing, the Joker's face would immediately appear on the television monitor, and she would be again subjected to mental torture. So, she ate the dinner very fast, and without waiting for the steward got onto her bed.

 The pizza might have been prepared well, but her unwilling, terrified tastebuds didn't enjoy it. There was a digital multipurpose meter on the wall. It showed date, time, voltage, temperature, humidity and few other parameters that Archana didn't understand. The time showed 8-50 PM and the date showed first February. That meant she had been in the Joker's captivity for the last 15 days. She wondered in which state this place might be! How come no one was coming to rescue her! Very tired, she slept immediately.

To be continued on Saturday night 9 PM IST 

You should have studied hard

You were supposed to study hard
But you could never focus
Your friends said not to worry
They will do some hocus-pocus.

Hocus-pocus, that's what you love
Astrologers are on your side
Always finding auspicious moment for you
The rings on your fingers are your pride.

The centre was not in your town
That made your temper sore
The questions were doing too much
You couldn't keep your fort anymore.

Your friends, too, fell like ninepins
The guard called you a blowhard
Results out, you all scored 5 out of 10
You should have studied really hard.



The picture is taken form the Internet