Part 3 (1/2)

Gujjar had chosen a brilliant site in Rajabazar. He didn't require a front here, since the entire area was a front for him. Most women here didn't speak to men, and mostly kept to themselves. No one questioned these women, or disturbed their privacy, for they would then incur the wrath of the men 'protecting' them. This society was possibly one of the most patriarchal ones in the city, and therefore, women here were not looked at twice.

This time, I had to work a little harder to locate the area. There wasn't enough s.p.a.ce to walk, and the constant pus.h.i.+ng and shoving didn't really help me much either. I finally came to one small two-storied building. The paint was wearing off, and it almost looked like it could collapse any time. The building wasn't really the main attraction though.

In front of the building were standing two muscular men, staring straight into s.p.a.ce. That was an immediate giveaway. I was surprised that n.o.body ever questioned the activities there, but then I thought that they probably knew about it already. Some of them may even be customers.

I walked up to the guards and tried to go past them.

”What's your business here?” asked one, in nearly flawless Hindi.

”My business is the same as everyone else's.” I replied, happy to s.h.i.+ft back to Hindi.

”I've never seen you around here. How did you know about this place?”

Things were getting weird here. The guard at Shyambazar let me in without even much of a query. This was probably a high profile centre, I thought.

”A friend of mine told me. He said he had the best time over here.” I replied, taking out a hundred rupees from my wallet.

”Okay, go in”, said the guard, as he pocketed the money without the slightest change of expression.

I was greeted by another man inside. He seemed more pleasant.

”Do you want the regular stuff or extra?”

”Regular, but I want someone specific.”

”All our girls are the same quality. You won't need specific.”

”I want only her. I won't go for anyone else.” My tone of conversation and choice of words surprised even me. I didn't know that I could ever talk this way about someone.

”No. You can't have specifics.”

”Then I won't have anyone.”

”Get out of here then. We don't need such people here.”

I knew I had to do something quickly, or I would be thrown out in no time.

”Let me be with her!” I shouted at the top of my voice.

”Stop raising your voice, and get the h.e.l.l out of here!” he hushed back.

The trick worked. Soon, the women and girls came out of the rooms to see what was happening. A crowd was gathering.

”Pappu! Come here now, and throw this man out!”

”Why can't you let me have her?!”

The guards were here, with the same expression that they had when I came in.

”Get out of here”, one of them said to me. I a.s.sumed he was Pappu.

The girls were all out, but I couldn't see her in the crowd. I needed some more time inside. ”Let me be with the girl I want to be!”

”That's it”, he said, and pulled out a knife. He then tried to grab my arm, but I made a dash in the opposite direction. He ran after me, and managed to grab my arm, slas.h.i.+ng my forearm slightly with his knife.

In the commotion, I saw the one face I needed to see. The girl was there. I didn't know what I had to do next, but I did know where I had to do it.

The guards dragged me out by my arms and threw me on the road. Most people didn't even care to turn and look at me. Apparently, people were often thrown out of this building.

”Come when you can adjust to our rules, or don't come at all”, said the guard to me.

I stood up, dusted my clothes, and walked back to the main road. I took a cab, reached the station, and took the next train back to Kharagpur. My leave period was ending today, and my day's job was done.

CHAPTER 10.

”What did you do this time?” Niki was furious. She had just seen the cut on my hand, and a.s.sumed that there was something wrong.

”I haven't done anything! My hand just got scratched against the railing of the stairs when I was running down today. Chill, things like these keep happening!”

”He must've cut his hand again,” added Ayu, equally furious. Sitting and studying with these two people, while often helpful, put me in a terrible situation at that point of time. They knew nothing about what I was up to, and I intended to keep it that way.

”When did he cut it the first time?” That was why I hated such situations. I knew I had had it now. There was no way I was getting out of this. It was best to go with the flow.

”Niki. I'm sorry. I just got too frustrated with the academic pressure, along with the work that I do in my society. It's just a lot of hard work. I got irritated with all of that, and in my frustration, ended up cutting my hand.”

Silence from both of them. What was about to come next would definitely be bad.

”It's such a small cut,” I said, pointing to the two inch long gash. ”It'll go away soon. I won't do it again, I promise.”

Niki and Ayu both slammed their laptop screens down, as if my head was under them. Both of them got up and left, giving me angry stares in the process. The noise attracted the attention of every person sitting in Hall 4 of the library. I was sitting there, a little shocked.

”Just what I needed right now,” I said to myself. ”I run around between Kolkata and Kharagpur, get thrown out of houses, visit brothels, get slashed on the hand by people, just to save her, and these people think I'm going around slas.h.i.+ng my hand out of frustration. I can't even tell them the truth! I have no idea of how I'm going to handle them. I hope they cool down soon.”

I picked up my stuff and left quietly. I cycled around for a while, and then went to the Nescafe of my hostel. I really needed a cup of coffee, so that I could stay up at night and study for the cla.s.s test that was coming up the next day.

”So, I hear you're going home way too often nowadays.”

I turned around to see Chas and Surya walking up to me.

”Yeah man. Got some work to do back home. How's the midsem preparation going?”

”Don't ask about that. I'm failing in SigNet and Introduction to Electronics. Even studying this stuff doesn't help me understand. It doesn't matter though; I'll probably do an MBA later.”