Sake of truth

Chapter 5 : Wisdom dawns

I. JOURNEY TO WISDOM:


Being born and brought up in a family which had immense faith on me and have laid endless liberty in my hands I never understood twisted side of human beings. The blood thirsty carnivores hidden inside human body. So I ignored too many signs of time and paid for them dearly. I was famous for my innocence too. The combination acted as deadly.

I forgot in my panic that I have told Jhumamasi that I was coming to Kolkata to attend Chaitali’s marriage that meant they knew from the very beginning that I was escaping from them.

I still remember Keshav uncle’s last lecture just before I left Rajpur, he has asked me to do something which I ignored, because I was already filled up with repulsion for that duo. He gave me a lecture, the gist of that lecture was he was God, and the only thing which was saving me from the wrath of God was Jhumamasi. I guess that son of devil (or devil himself) sent his sons to Kolkata to prove himself right.

I ignored the fact that Seemana looked almost like Mr. Jain of Rajpur, so did Chaitali. Actually, Chaitali seemed quite friendly with her and used to come to see her quite often with Sanjay when I was not at home.

Seemana was friendlier with Mandals then her own in-laws. I have seen her creeping out of their rooms just after her marriage, though she knew that her in-laws hated it.

I ignored that Sanjay and Chaitali were more interested in Shiv and Seemana than me; so many times I have seen Sanjay sitting in the verandah after returning from Shree’s home. His excuse was he came to meet me and was going back.

I forgot that it might have been quite easy for Jhumamasi and Keshav uncle to buy Shiv and Seemana, they were submerged in debts.

I remembered years later that they had another deadly thing in their hands, my diary, which has been misplaced during my shifting to Mr. Jain’s home from Jhumamasi’s home. A diary which held a little too much information about my emotional life.

Not only that, they had all my belongings for next two years, Chanchal booked them before returning to Kolkata. I could only bring things which can be placed inside one suitcase; I could not raise their suspicion.



I failed to notice that Chaitali and her sisters came to my life after my first meeting with Keshav uncle and Jhumamasi, in Shiv’s elder brother’s marriage.

Not only that, since that date wherever I went, whatever I did I was sure to meet a medical representative, Chaitali worked in a local railway hospital.

That trio Chaitali, Saswati and Swati overwhelmed me with their doting. They had a huge group of friends. The second sister, Saswati was the most popular among them. I too was overwhelmed by her but later, just before shifting to Rajpur I distanced myself from them because I have come to know from someone else that they were not right type of women that is they ruin the reputation of girls by setting their boyfriends at their heel. Well, I too had this suspicion from their behaviour and that was the reason I distanced myself from them but later I forgot it all in panic.

I was offered a job by Chaitali, a job which wasted two thousand rupee and was the first spec on my clean sleeve. She offered me a job of medical representative, I submitted the caution money and met the regional manager, and he always met us individually in hotel, in a hotel just near my home. A spicy dish for dirty minds. He usurped the money and vanished. But not before leaving a trail of mud on my sleeve.

I can vow I met that man later, he was not a regional manager of some medicine company, he was a doctor practicing in the same hospital as chaitali. Two persons may look alike, may have same voice or mannerism but the combination of three is impossible. At least that’s what I believe.

Most probably devil (keshav uncle) had his eyes on me even before I went to Rajpur, he was spreading his net, with the firm belief that every one walks around with a price tag like him. Every human being can be corrupted and abused.

But, I failed to put these pieces together at that time; I was too scared and frustrated to think calmly back then. Later, when I distanced myself from that quagmire I slowly started to piece it all together.

I guess wisdom comes to an innocent person after extracting its full fees. When I look back I realize I was too innocent and noble for the world which was surrounding me, so I had to pay with the walk through raging fire to attain the land of peace with which I was blessed later.

The land of clear vision, which showed me every thing in a crystal clear way and made me content for the rest of my life. Content because that journey taught me the greatest truth, if one is certain to walk on the path of truth God comes down to walk with him or her and no matter how much devil tries, he fails.


II. Can of worms:

Shangri-la seemed to have transformed into a box of slithering worms in just two years. The two years I spent outside it.

It seemed the whole household was under control of Seemana, Shiv and Mandal duo.

As they did not bothered to share their unsavoury secrets with me all I could do was guess, and they might have been or not have been wrong. So many questions started to pop inside my mind.

To not confuse you I will just point them out by numbers –

1. Why did Chaitali and her sisters visited the house to meet Seemana again and again, even though Shruti was not there? They were not idlers, one of them was a intern, the other two were pursuing post graduation and graduation in science.

2. Why did Seemana called out Partho Mandal instead of me or Pathos’s mother whenever she was having a tiff with her husband. They used to get quite violent. Throwing dirtiest words at each other and physically hitting.

3. For whom did Seemana left the doors open in stealth? So many times I have locked it by my own hand in afternoons and evenings. We had a system of locking both the doors which lead outside at noon and after dusk. So I used to do it, and she used to come downstairs and open it stealthily. She was not a silent person; she was one of the noisiest persons I have ever encountered. A woman obsessed with noise. She could not even walk soundlessly, forget about opening a latch which was to made sound unless open extremely cautiously – I tried it couple of times and it took me more than two minutes to simply open that latch and place it in its place without making a sound.

4. Why was Chaitali so eager to prescribe me psychiatric drugs? If a bunch of goons are waiting for you outside your doorstep to fling filthiest comments at you, you are supposed to be upset. But that doesn’t require psychiatric drugs. Why did she picked up a fight after I coldly (not rudely) refused her? She immediately stopped meeting me.

May be because it was not required any more. She might have finished her task and just wanted an excuse to terminate the friendship. After all, it was she who has hung herself like a leech along with Sanjay Das, to accompany me every where I went. I later realized that even though she has been my friend before but she has never been out in public with me. Never before I returned from Rajpur. Were both of them unsavoury characters? Too ill-reputed? Or were they just pointing me out to their chums plus brushing their mud in my clean sleeve as much as they could.

5. Any way, those two leeches disengaged themselves from me after a year of my return from Rajpur. And I paid the price for next four years. Finally I left Shangri=la behind forever.

6. How come some of the students of a nearby type institute have stunning similarity with some of the girls, friends of Sulata in Rajpur? Shree has been a student of that institute for years.

The puzzles I pieced together was Sulata followed me to Kolkata with another woman. That woman most probably presented herself to people as me. She had an access to my rooms with the cooperation from Shiv and Shree. Shree used to invite me at her home for days and this mysterious woman used to use my rooms pretending as me.

When I met Sulata five years later, using another name and family, I noted that some of her staffs resembled spookily with the people of the tea-stall outside Shangri-la. And she had a staff whose voice and way of speaking was awfully similar to mine. Actually it was surprisingly similar, though we looked different and she looked like one of the girls of Rajpur.

Now I believe Keshav must have sent both of them at my heels along with sanjay. To scare me and ruin me. They followed me, or may be reached Shangri-la before me. When I returned they have already laid the foundation.

There were so many weak points to be encashed, Shiv’s extravaganza, Seemana’s easy morale. Adding up to that I heard that Shiv has brought a young girl from village to work for them and Seemana has thrashed her so much one day that she ran away from home. One of the shop owners outside our home saw her crying, and instead of returning her to her family, he took her home and kept her there. Quite interesting a story for me.


III. The stench:

My condition there was of any normal human being who has fallen into a pit full of worms and is trying to crawl out. The worms with their slithery body making it extremely tough.

All of a sudden I observed that I have created a lot of deadly enemies. No I am not one of those persons who love to create enemies. I had a great reputation for being too soft. Every one used to preach me to become a little selfish and ruthless. I usually give up my own right to avoid nastiness. But to my utter surprise I started to meet them again and again. They were mostly women or men of extremely repulsive nature and character.

That is why I later started to suspect that someone else has been using my name and identity with the help of Sulata and the second girl to ruin my life, to fulfill the prophecy of Keshav Devil. Though it might have been absolutely wrong, but that nagging feeling lingered inside me.

There was some thing very wrong in that household and that wrong has surfaced in the two years I was absent from there.

To my deep embarrassment the electricians refused to go to the house and fix the wirings of my room, they bluntly told me that it has become a den of anti social activities.

I heard from at-least half a dozen persons that antisocial elements lurk outside and inside that house. They even suggested me to keep the doors bolted from inside during day hours.

A suggestion which I was not going to take. The first thing I did was I cleaned up the jungle in the garden and placed a light in the garden.

I have noted that right after the darkness the activities all of a sudden jumped up in Mandal household. Men and women started to come in and out of there rooms. Partho’s comrade brothers and sisters were always eager to visit their rooms after darkness.

I never visited their rooms because I noted after my return from Rajpur that corruption has gone over the heads of that family. They have become very rich in two years. And the boy who used to call me aunty and wear Chanchal’s discarded clothes has followed his sister and was eying me.

The moment I dared to venture out in the verandah he used to appear like a disgusting apparition. The party office where he has dedicated his body and soul was visible from my verandah so it must have been the other way round too.

His shamelessness was beyond words. With wholehearted love of Shree, Seemana and Sumit his audacity was beyond limits. They just doted after him. Specially Shree and Seemana.

I was almost sure that he stalked me wherever I went but he was too sly, he always wore helmet and sat on the backseat facing away from me.

But with time I became familiar with the scooter and I heard his voice once or twice. A thing which is hard to hide.

I have seen his mother Shyama whispering to the passengers/drivers of a fiat, one of the models which have stalked me since my days in Rajpur. This was one car which has been almost my shadow. But I was only familiar with the cars, just like any panic stricken person I failed to read the numbers and I might have been panicked or Sumit might have been right. They were different cars, but were deliberately following me to scare me. To keep me under pressure or trying to make me panic so Keshav uncle can say that I am an idiot or lunatic.



When Mandal and Shiv noted that I have placed a bulb in the garden and am monitoring the movements they got the power line to the house disconnected.

They ruled the house in cahoots it seemed. An invisible understanding was always working within them. Shiv has always been extremely close to that family, it was quite a miracle that he did not married Doll, their daughter. He was not that obedient to his mother, may be he had some other plans. Too sly plans for an ordinary girl like me to understand.

In observing him from close angle I have realized one thing, that he was weaker version of Keshav. If he had money and power he would have pulled up devil from hell and would have captured hell.

So, the story went like this, after my return it was decided that from now on Mandal and co. will have to pay for their electricity bills. In the thirty years of their stay in that house they were paying something for the first time. It was decided that each family will pay for four months.

Well, when Shiv’s first turn came he did not pay the bill; the men from Electricity department came and snapped the line.

They both hooked lines to their portions and left the rest of the house in darkness. Their activities resumed smoothly.


IV. Goodbye past:

This time I left no stone unturned. As it was my area I tried every door, my relatives, police, I even wrote letters asking legal suggestions about how to put that activity to a stop. I was suggested to “get proof”, nice, very nice, so now ordinary citizens will have to become sleuth, gather proofs, lodge case in court and get orders to STOP CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES. I just loved that part.

The strange response was from my family. I talked with them, wrote letters to them but all I received was nonchalance and ugly fingers pointed out at myself, why was I unmarried, and all of a sudden I started to hear that I was always suspected by them, well they sure wore their masks to utmost perfection because before going to Rajpur I lived under an illusion that they loved me a lot, whereas they have hated me since eternity, believing that I am indulged in filthiest activities.

May be they did not cared what was going on in that house. Or may be they did and were encashing it. I saw my uncles, the ones who wanted to sell the house having secret meetings with Mandal and his comrades.

This was also possible that my letters were intercepted because Sanjay took care of that before he left I believe.

Shiv’s mother and my mother had a joint fixed deposit. Chanchal used to send me the interest of that account every month. Earlier it was deposited in bank, but that amount was now in Jhumamasi’s hands because I transferred it all to Rajpur.

When Sanjay used to visit he once asked me how was I meeting my needs, I blurted out to him that it was with the money of interest I receive every month. He pried out the way it reaches me and for the next two months the couriers did not came.

Adding up to that, I noted someone used to enter my rooms when I was at Shree’s home because my money and other things were vanishing. So I ended up in dire straits. Chanchal said that he contacted the courier service and they said that the money has reached their Kolkata office. From next month chanchal started to send the money by post. I spent those two months eating one time a day.

Every letter that reached me came open. Someone brazenly opened them and read them. The only exceptions were when the post man handed them in my hands. He was a wonderful guy. Being a resident of that area he most probably knew the condition of that house, so he tried his level best to hand the letters to me, none else. He even used to take them back with him if I was not around.

He retired after a year of my return. The remaining three years I spent in Shangri-la were without a single letter in my name.

It seemed they were hell bent to make me leave my house and there boldness was increasing with every passing day.

Their kingpin was that dog, Partho Mandal, who was once fed by my own hands, treated as own nephew.

His behaviours resembled with those of a rabid dog. Most of the time his activities were not caught but sometimes they were. He seemed to hate every thing I liked.

He used to mercilessly chop of trees which I cared for, break the pots in which I left water for squirrels. No, there was no chance of teaching him a lesson; he had dozens of comrades scratching his back. He was their pet darling.

I slowly realized that I will only lose my own virtues by staying with those soul-less filthy animals. So I decided to leave that place forever.

Any type of discussion with my family members back-fired. It resulted in revitalized attacks. Getting dirtier and dirtier every time. So, after fighting like an idiot for four years, paying the price by ruining my reputation, I decided to erase that family out of my life. To treat myself like an orphan out of orphanage then onwards.

I thought that I have left them behind; my illusion was broken when they followed me to my new area. But by then I have become proof of all their monkey businesses, eaves-dropping, stalking, harassment at street. Cowards often compare brave people with themselves and turn out to be fools. I was only surprised that why were they following me.

Then I met Sulata and my questions were answered. I came to know that she was the manager of a company in which one of my cousins has worked for thirty years.

I recalled that this cousin of mine has placed a lot of my cousins in various jobs, including sons and daughters of both my uncles who were in cahoots with Mandal.

That daughter and grand daughter of that uncle worked in media. And my cousin was manager of a reputed bank in Delhi.

If they were involved with Keshav then I could realize their earnesty to ruin me. Their own blood, who was once adored by them.

I firmly started to believe that Keshav worked through families. That is he forced/lured his employees (?) to trap their own family members. In that way the business will run safely, a lot more safely than if they pick up at random and the families of their victims support them when they escape or are killed.

That is why I was not surprised any more when I met people resembling each other too much again and again. People who had ample amount of similarity with each other, like cousins or relations resemble. They all have one thing in common; they had some serious problem with me from the day one.

Well, two examples to make thing a little clearer, Chanchal’s mother passed away in Rajpur. We had a very close relationship. At that time I was working in an office in kolkata, there was a girl named Soma Dey in that office. I have never set my eyes on her face, yet when she came to know about the mishap she called for a party among her friends, and continued that for next seven days. She was always very cautious to hold all the celebrations near me.

The next office I joined after leaving Sulata’s office, the owner of that office was Marwari but he had quite a similarity with Soma. And I saw a woman in his family album who bore too much similarity with Sulata. They were different but the similarity was awesome. More than one thing happened with me while I worked in that office that can be termed as attempt to harm or kill. Two were quite serious, in both cases my physical agility saved me from being crippled/maimed or killed. Both could be passed off as accidents.

Then the next fraud institute I joined, it again had a young girl with stunning similarity with Sulata. A creepy fellow Arindam Guha, who has worked in my locality as a medical representative for more than ten years. In the area near my college. To add up to that, he lived near my home at that time. So one thing was for sure, Keshav was into something ugly and his dogs were going to be on my heels for the rest of my life.

There were so many things in blue star which were not at all natural. The immense wealth of the employees. Their audacity of mistreating their boss’s relatives. And another weird thing. The thing which first made me certain that there was some thing creepy going on in there.

Well, just like every office there were more than a dozen employees. Now each of them had a name of their own. And during the last month of my stay in Blue Star I became confident of one thing that the names remain same but the men change. They have bunched up people with slight or more similarity and keep shuffling them. A person’s every thing can change but his eye’s colours can’t change. I have seen one man with three colours of retina. No he did not wear a contact lens. Was it some kind of cover up? Officially he was present here but actually he was somewhere else, doing something?

Second thing happened in my swimming lessons; there were at least a dozen more swimmers when I joined. After a month or so they asked me about myself. I told them, they all vanished next day. I met one of the women later on street but her companion rudely called her away within a minute.

There was a visible disrespect for Keshav and Jhuma; I thought it was because of the type of their relationship but not any more. If it was something that trifle it would have ended in Rajpur, no one would have followed me back to Kolkata and hounded me thereafter.

Every job I joined after returning from Rajpur had something to do with either Chartered Accountants, lawyers, people immersed in debt or people locked in legal battle.

And these employers and their employees were universally hostile to me. Hostile and nasty.

Keshav’s brother published a monthly journal on law and income tax. He had a strong customer base all over India.

Later Chanchal pointed it out to me, may be with his money and spies he is forcing me to always end up in the clutches of his victims or pet dogs. So that I end up frustrated or commit suicide or he could happily brand me lunatic or utter failure. Cite me as an example of fury of his “God’s hand” to his other victims.


During the last three years I was in Shangri-la I worked on myself and came out as a person I was satisfied with. A person without any attachment or weakness.

A woman they could not hit from any angle any more. Every time they ruined some thing from my life I conquered my desire for that thing.

After all, its desire which torments us. If we destroy the desire no human being will ever be able to torment us.

This mindset delivered me from all the filth and cruelty which the showered down on me.

They left me with only one goal, wherever or whenever I will get a chance I will share my story with others. So that they never get to ruin another innocent person.

V. lessons learnt by second meeting:


My second meeting with Sulata cleared half or may be more of my confusions.

She was now a daughter of a very rich Bengali man (LOL), wife of a manager of a reputed company and manager of another reputed company herself.


I have by then known that Sanjay was not Shruti or Chanchal’s friend. It was a black lie. They both denied ever knowing him. Even when Chanchal met him face to face a few times he did not showed any sign of knowing Chanchal from his college days.

Her staffs near my home (I will include Chaitali and her sisters and Sanjay therein) tried there level best to prove that I have psychiatric problems.

I was at a time surprised by the weird ways of their acting. Eavesdropping then brazenly letting me know, mocking me.

Then after my meeting with Sulata, after two or three failed attempts of killing or maiming me I joined a fraud institute. I was tired of being stalked by her dogs everywhere so I thought about doing something home based.


When I went to the original building I was referred to another address where they have shifted.

I firmly believe one of my net friends is either Sulata, some one she can trust or her Bengali mother. That person pried out my plans so expertly that I believe she is most probably a woman. So let me refer to her as “she”, she knew my plans of joining this institute. She was always in touch with me when those accidents happened, well, cell phones can be used to pin point your location or point you out in a crowd.


On my way to the institute I met Sulata’s Kolkata father. He did not note me but I did. Because he is a strikingly handsome man.
Next I saw one of her Kolkata staff’s Ragini Singh standing in a hi-fi shop there.

Finally I met an extremely hostile girl in that institute who had so much similarity with sulata that when I showed her sulata’s photograph she cringed.

Now this institute deals with psychiatric problems and their treatment. I noted with great amusement that the fears they were trying me to speak out were all psychiatric problems. Stalking, eavesdropping, hostility of strangers. Someone conspiring against you.

That office was situated opposite the office of the company in which Sulata was manager and my cousin has worked for thirty hears.

There are three types of people expert in stalking, detective agencies, media and intelligence. I had two of them in very close quarters. Media and detective agency. Mandal has worked for an agency which supplied security guards and worked as paid detective for years.

My uncles who have kept Mandal family in the home, one of their daughters has worked in media for years. She has even trained her daughter and placed her in media.

Small and big things exposed their game to me. I remember how Sanjay told me once; if you want to ruin someone’s reputation, don’t let her hear, let the neighbours hear the lies.

A thing I have seen happen to many times afterwards. They used to target the people I mixed with and slowly succeeded in alienating me in my own locality, well they had my family to help them; otherwise I don’t know how much they would have succeeded.

So, standing here I know that Keshav did had a deep connection with people surrounding me. May be for years.

I believe they must have mistaken me for a normal Indian woman who will commit suicide or go insane. They failed to realize a big truth, every one does not crawls or lies down to die. That is why truth is still alive in this earth.

I heard so many canards spread about me after my return from Rajpur that I became canard-proof. They destroyed so many things I liked that I rose above attachment. Every angle they chose to hit me they failed and I rose far higher above them.

The higher I rose the more determined I became that if I get a chance I will expose them, so that their dirty empire crumbles down to the hell along with them. The place where they belong.

Chapter 4 : Shangri-la

First step toward Shangri-la:



I did not wanted this sister of mine to know about my problems, but when I called up Shruti she said it will be best to let them know. The more people know about it, safer I will be there.



Shree was Shiv’s sibling, the cousin who was the main reason behind my not being eager to return home. They together with help of Shiv’s wife Seemana made their mother and younger brother leave home. I was a witness to all that drama and I really loathed them for that.



I have seen this woman for a couple of years, how shamelessly she chased her brother in law. No wonder her mother in law preferred to get away from there with him before that evil woman corrupts him.



She chased me for quite a long time to get me married to her brother which I and every one else refused because everyone agreed on one point, its dumb to marry among relations. It always complicates thing. If one of the relationships is strained the effects damage the second one. Any way, I loathed that creepy brother of hers, Krishno. He was too disgusting with his over eagerness to be over friendly with me. That’s one thing I really don’t like in people. I have simple way of acting myself; if I am madly in love with someone I will marry him. If I cant I will be just friend with him. Not lover or lover-like.



When they realized that I won’t give him an inch of space he married and Seemana never took the entire episode casually.





Shree brought me over to her in-law’s place first, which was a few minutes journey from my ancestral home.



“Stay here for a few days, and then we will see if I can shift you back to home. Shiv and his wife have turned it into pure hell. Their creditors are coming there and spilling out all sorts of abuses on every one who dares to enter that house.”





“You have not met Chanchal and ma in Rajpur, have you? Chanchal have joined Jhumamasi’s Delhi office a few months ago.”



“They were about to shift to Rajpur, so you all could be together.”



“Of course I heard it from Shruti because Chanchal and ma have shunned every connection with us. I wish ma was back here, Shiv is making my life miserable. He is sucking me dry, I have to take care of his family while he throws away his money for fun.”



So Shiv has found out another host, after sucking his mother dry for years now it’s his sister’s turn. I really did not wanted to go back to that house but I did not had any other place to go. Shruti has told me she will meet me there as soon as possible. Till then stick there no matter what.



We were talking in her bed room. It was still under construction, she lived with her in-laws in two bedrooms in ground floor, the first floor was almost finished, only doors were to be fitted.



“Will it be alright for you to sleep in the bedroom upstairs with Mithu’s Ayah?” she asked.

As if I had any choice. I consented.

The stalkers:

Sulata has told me repeatedly to not tell anyone back at Kolkata what happened in Rajpur. I too had the same plans but the duo in train and dakshineshwar has shaken that resolution a little. Remaining was done by the news that chanchal and aunty were in Jhumamasi’s grip.

I spilled out the whole story to Shree and her husband Sumit. She heard silently and said she had similar suspicions.

I never liked Sumit or Shree much. Shree has always been a jealous and manipulative woman and God knows why she had always her eyes fixed on me. Sumit was one of the rudest and selfish people I have ever seen. His over eagerness to mix with me has caused a lot of annoyance in Shree’s heart so I kept a cold distance from him and he despised me for that.

I spent the night upstairs with Mithu’s ayah. I did not like that girl an inch. She was hardly seventeen or eighteen years old but there was a shadow of horrible corruption on her face. It appeared that she did not have much control over her animal instincts and that was too visible on her countenance.

Next day was Sunday, Shree asked me to get ready to visit my home, to check what the situation there is. Whether it is possible for me to shift there.

We reached the house within half an hour. Shree loved to walk whenever it was feasible so we did not boarded a bus.

The house looked like no one has lived there for years. We were intercepted at the gate by one of Shiv’s creditors. “Please tell Shivda that Sona was looking for him.” He said.

We opened the gate and entered, the house was full of bushes and overgrown weeds, forget about the garden, even the courtyard has given away to weeds. Quite big weeds have sprung out of the cemented pavement, wherever they have found a place to germinate.

Seemana came down from upstairs and on seeing me started to howl at the top of her lungs, “I am so glad you are back safe. Chaitali came to meet your brother; she said there were goons who were stalking you in Rajpur.”

Shree looked at me with an exasperated expression on her face. We left after a while. Seemana kept on asking me to return there.

We have hardly taken ten steps out of the house when I saw a car approaching us; it was of the same model and colour, same model of those cars which used to stalk me in Rajpur. The same model which I have seen from Shruti’s uncle’s home’s window. I felt like missing a heart-beat.

We took a bus to return but just before we were about to turn into Shree’s lane I saw a car of same model and make waiting patiently near it.

“They can’t be the same car, may be you are too scared or as they know where you are going they have hired similar cars to scare you.” Shree said after listening to every thing.

“I think it will be best if you shift to home. I will take care that Shiv and his wife don’t bother you. You will be safe there. Safer than any other place. I would have kept you here but my mother in law will create a drama.” Shree said.

It was decided that I will shift to my room next day.

 

Shangri-la

First of all, a brief description of Shangri-la and its residents. It was a spacious two storied building. Surrounded by quite a big garden this gave it ample enough of privacy. Especially because that garden had big trees, which have mostly grown on their own. So, they gave that house a flimsy curtain like covering. A thing which I loved in my youth, it saves you from the eyes of neighbours and passers by.

Right now there were two families living there. Shiv, seemana their daughter and another family, the Mandals, comprising of mother and son. This family has lived in that house for years, without paying a single penny, reaping the benefits of the quarrel going on between my father’s siblings.

They were requested to vacate the premises years ago, but two of my uncles asked them to stay there, in their rooms. That gave them immense power and spies to my uncle. Spies and paid guard dogs.

They were four, husband, wife and a son plus a daughter. The daughter had an affair with Shiv, but his mother and every one else objected because neither the daughter nor her mother were very chaste, so he backed off and the girl got married to someone else. She had a very bad relationship with her in-laws, extremely bad one but finally she walked away with her husband and was well settled. The son did not bother to study; he dedicated his life to the local party office and used to spend all his days and often nights serving them. So many times I have seen him scaling the wall past midnight, startling the dogs.

Two of my father’s siblings had their rooms in the house locked up, third one, Shruti’s father lived in Mumbai. They all occasionally visited the house.

I used to sleep in a bedroom in the first floor, but after returning I noted that Shiv and Seemana were using that room so I shifted to the rooms of Shruti with their permission. It was in the ground floor.

The Mandals lived just across the verandah of my rooms. The house was separated into two sections by a passage entering the courtyard.

Just like all old houses this house too had completely separate sections for the family members and outsiders.

The outsiders were not allowed in the inner courtyard. They had to wait in the garden, outer verandah or drawing room (my present bedroom).

A system which was maintained strictly even when Shiv’s mother lived in that house. A tradition which has been pulled down to dirt by Shiv and Seemana. I noted with great fury that his creditors used to go straight into the courtyard and holler for him.

I even noted them going upstairs without even knocking at the door.

Since my return to Shangri-la after my parent’s death I have noted that the residents of it maintained quite a distance from neighbours. This was quite normal because it took a lot of energy to cross the garden and communicate with other neighbours, and very frankly the neighbours too were not very keen to mingle with the residents.

 

The main gate opened on a narrow street, narrow but very busy. Traffic moved on that street all night through. The boundary wall was cluster free when I first returned but then slowly some small shops opened there. All these boys were great friends of Shiv and all of them were his creditors.

 

After returning from Rajpur I noted a new shop has popped up there, a tea shop. A man and his wife were running the show. Shree told me Shiv spends most of his time there. He has stopped going to office and spends most of his time either there or in our village home, an hour or so from here.

 

“He is selling off every thing there. He does not cares if it is his or the property of others. Every one is furious at him. But he has created a big stronghold in the village.” Shrre remarked.

 

The more I was listening the happier I was becoming that I had to re enter that house. Without any one to stand beside me, and the only residents of that place were the ones who had played direct or indirect role behind my landing in Rajpur.

 

I called Chaitali to tell her that I have shifted to my home. She promised she will be there in the evening.

 

I was in my room when she came. “Meet Sanjay, Sanju, and Shruti’s college mate.”

 

I just stared at that person. If I was not wrong he was the same person who has stalked me from Rajpur. “How are you didi? Where is Shruti?” he asked.

 

“I am so happy to see you back here safe and sound. We all were so scared for you.” Chaitali started to speak in an unusually loud voice, loud enough to draw attention of Mrs. Mandal and Seemana.

 

“Let’s go inside and talk.” I asked her. I instantly started to dislike her. There was something ruthless and sly in her face, a thing which I have never noticed before. But my main reason behind disliking her was her companion.

 

“I spend most of my time with Chaitalidi now. People call me her shadow.” Sanjay smirked.

 

I just could not understand how he appeared here and attached him with her. That means she had some connection with Jhumamasi, well that was not impossible because she was Shruti’s chum. So she might have been Jhumamasi’s agents or girls here. I decided to keep my mouth shut.

 

I should have done something else too, shun her from then onwards but I did not, I did not wanted them to get suspicious before Chanchal and aunty were warned.

 

So they both attached themselves like a pair of leeches to me.

Honey Trap: Chapter 3 : Hell Unravels itself

First brush with devil and his comrades:

1. Soma and sulata:

Soma became my shadow. Wherever I went she was sure to go (other than office) even when I visited Jhumamasi’s home she stayed there with me in place of going to her mother’s home. Even if she did, she used to return before my returning from office.

It seemed mystery was second name of Rajpur. Things started to disappear and come back on their own. I still remember the day when I first became aware of this disappearing and returning act. A bunch of letters arrived from my family, I was reading one of them when Sulata called me and I got busy with her.

I returned after half an hour and saw that the letters have vanished, I searched every where but could not locate them.

When I returned from office next day they were back, they were at a place where I always searched first… under my pillow.

That again convinced me someone is over curious about my personal life.. the only person who could smuggle those letters out was Soma. But to whom? Both Sharma and Jain family were hundred percent Marwaris.. though they knew Hindi well but none knew B of bengali.

My suspicion again reverted back to Ritumasi, it was not impossible for Soma to call them up and tell them that a bunch of mails have arrived for me, someone might have been waiting outside to fetch those mails. They might have been done it before without being caught.

As it happens, when an innocent person is forced to suspect, he or she starts to suspect every one.

I always had a feeling about Sulata that she was Bengali, and Abhishek though he claimed he was a Marwari born and brought up upto his college in Sawai Madhopur, looked like a typical bengali guy.

I still distinctly remember how I asked Rik if Sulata was bengali when I first saw her from the roof top, she was in the courtyard below doing something.

A deep suspicion started to form that they were living there with some other intention.

The thing which fuelled my suspicion most were the weird things Sulata used to say quite often.

Things which were often outrageous to my small town taste. She used to glorify the lifestyle and happiness of a friend of hers who became a mistress of a rich old man. I never had the taste of asking her if that man had another wife or not.

Or she used to do things which I have only seen sex workers doing on silver screen. The same gestures of body or eyes, which are trademark of these women.

I used to feel quite uneasy with these behaviours, even though I had deep sympathy for sex workers but I would have never loved it if someone thought her as one. So I one day blurted out some thing about these gestures and some offensive words about sex workers.

I saw the colour of her face changing. Though she recovered it instantly but for a second she lost her composure.

That one incident started a journey of nightmare for me I believe. Wise people say that if you call Jesus Christ evil he will forgive you, but if you call devil evil he will leave no stone unturned to destroy you, such is the fury of a guilty soul.



The harmless stalkers all of a sudden became menacing. Not only menacing they became filthy. Filthy as only human-beings can be. It appeared as if I have all of a sudden woken up from sleep and have discovered that I have been transported to the land of demons.

My sunny’s brake started to work haywire, it was not hidden inside the body, it was open and it started to fail magically. The vehicles out on the street started to get attracted toward me magically. And the drivers seemed to quite amused by the whole incident, the funniest part was they were either driven by extremely low class people or had well dressed women as passengers.

During the next few months I spent there I realized what hell looks like. How its dwellers are.

Then it dawned on me, I still remember that night, I was sitting upstairs when Sulata came with a plate of halwa. “I have made it specially for you.” She said.

She went downstairs and I took a spoonful and gave the remaining to Soma. She gobbled it up happily.

An hour or so later Sulata asked me if I can come downstairs and give her company for an hour. “Abhishek is not here, some of his colleagues want to download some thing from the computer, and I don’t want to stay alone with them.”

I felt a little uneasy, why I don’t know. I told Soma to call me half an hour later on any pretext and went downstairs. Yes, I am one of those who can’t refuse a request and suffer.



I settled down in Sulata’s bedroom, Sonu was sleeping peacefully in the bed. I was feeling a little drowsy Sulata asked me to lie down and take a nap. I refused. I did not felt very comfortable with the idea.

“What will you do if someone snaps some obscene pictures of you and blackmails you or traps you in flesh trade?” she suddenly asked me.

I told her what would have I done, “If someone ever tries to blackmail me I will ask him to publish it in the newspaper or make a leaflet of it. And if someone plays some funny game with my core principles, I will leave no stone unturned to destroy him or her. No power in this earth will be able to save him or her from me.” Most probably my cold tone convinced her.

“But you know, if you make someone’s daughter suffer, someone will torture your daughter too.” She said.

Why I don’t know I suddenly remembered an incident, I have taken up swimming in a local club, Soma of-course used to accompany me. She used to sit outside while I went to change in a dilapidated changing room. Was Sulata trying to blackmail me?

One day she told me that some men were lurking there while she was sitting there alone, I was not alarmed because there were staffs of that club always roaming around. One raised voice will bring half a dozen of them there. But I knew she was a chicken so I asked her to wait on the steps while I changed inside. There was nothing to fear because the room was pitch dark, so any mischief from Soma would have shot blue sky.

“Didi I think someone was taking our photographs.” She said one day. A few days later I stopped going there because the temperature has dipped.

Sulata’s words all of a sudden brought that memory back to me and whatever sleep was creeping in my eyes disappeared because I had a deep suspicion that she sometimes followed me out in the street.

She always wore a helmet while stalking but one day, most probably, her hair gave her away. She had a gorgeous head of hair, more than knee length, and extremely voluptuous.

On Sundays I used to go to a nearby hill and sit there with soma, watch the other hills and the surroundings. Rajpur was quite an interesting place with lots of ruins, hills and peacocks.

On my way home I saw a woman traveling right in front of me and suddenly I had a feeling that it was Sulata, just because of body structure and hair. I tried to follow the vehicle but it was a bike and gathered speed, then it took a turn and went another way. When I returned home Sulata was sitting on the porch.

Next Sunday I took that road and voila!!! It was a dirt road to my home. Which was quite a big short cut too.
So on that night I stayed up like an owl, Abhishek’s friends left after midnight and I went upstairs with full determination to give Soma a piece of mind for not calling me.

I locked the door and went to her bed. She was sleeping like a corpse, actually I thought she was dead. I was so scared that I pushed her but she did not even made a sound only rolled away as far as my shove sent her. I finally placed my palm under her nose to confirm myself that she was alive.

That day I became confident that if I had eaten that halwa that might have been my doom.

Though I could not put my fingers on it but I guessed whatever was happening there Keshav uncle and Jhumamasi were part of it, and as they know every thing about my life, these things are also going on with their consent.

There were so many reasons to suspect them. Keshav uncle loved to play Mr. God and often boasted that he knew all about me, even though he lived miles away.

Then, if the people of blue star knew what movie I watched last night then how could he not know….

Jhumamasi has told me that none of her staffs knew Bengali but atleast half a dozen of them has claimed to me that they have been in west Bengal for quite long span of time, especially those who sat near me.

Why did a marwari girl like Soma born and brought up in rajpur insisted on listening Bengali songs? Watching Bengali movies? Laughed at Bengali jokes?

Before those instances I used to think that over protective Keshav uncle keeps an eye on me, and was quite grateful for that. But after those harassments started I became suspicious of something else.. it was not a caring eye, it was the eye of a sentry. Most probably they have massed up that wealth by some heinous means and Jhumamasi acts as their agent to West Bengal. With that fear inside me I knew one thing, I had to get away from that place. But how? If I gave the least hint that I have guessed their secret they wont let me out of Rajpur, forget about crossing those hundreds of miles alone in train.. any thing can happen in Indian Railway.

From the next night I started to do three things, keeping a canister of petrol in my room, and locking the door from inside and keeping the key under my pillow.

Then a plan popped up in my mind, I informed Shruti that some thing is wrong there, and someone was trying to kill me, I deliberately withheld the truth from her. I did not wanted to say a word before I reached safe shelters.

This time, knowing who were the masterminds I falsely blamed Ritumasi and her sons, saying they have appointed goons after me. I told her to inform the cops if I don’t make it there on the date I say. I told her that I will tell her after I make my reservations.

The very next day I went to Ritumasi and told her that one of my friends is getting married and if I don’t visit her she will come here and kill me.

I got the permission to go.

My reservations were on 2nd January next month, after twenty days. I told them I will be back on 15th.

A few days before I was about to start I saw a guy in Blue Star, he was standing near the girls and it seemed to me he was over eager to be visible to me. So I noted him quite clearly.

At home, Sulata grilled me to no end, but I told her the same story and I hinted her that most probably I wont be back because Ritumasi’s sons are trying to kill me.

She was quite sad.. till that time I mistook her as a good girl trapped in bad net, that misconception was to disappear forever after I met her again.. five years later, with another husband, daughter and family.. she was a Bengali woman then, and very rich. I could not recognize her initially but after a while I did, with the help of her photograph which I had at home. Even though she has chopped off her hair to shoulder length.




With the day of my leaving Rajpur approaching my vigilance became more and more bold.

I did not had a phone connection, I had to go out to make calls to Shruti and another of her friends back at my hometown. The moment I used to reach the phone booth, a few persons used to reach there and wait, standing as close to the booth as possible. That might have been a coincident or not but I preferred playing safe. Every time I called anyone of those two I requested them to inform police if I don’t make it back on said date.

The people of Blue Star started to play a funny game with me, a game which continued for quite a long time after my return from Rajpur. And they really scared me with this game, later when I remembered an incident the fear was dispersed.

The game was: they used to pretend as if they have seen my clone at places where I of course was not at that time. Suddenly I had a panic that they have procured a look-alike of me and they may never let me escape from Rajpur .. what if they imprison me and send my look alike there.

It was my first experience of a whole office lying to scare a person, a person who has never done them any harm. So they sure got me in that game.

Later when I returned to my hometown, Shruti’s friend Chaitali and some of her friends tried to play the same game with me. They said that they have seen me in my hometown when I was in Rajpur. They gave me quite a vivid description.

Well, they might have tricked me if I had not remembered, suddenly, that Keshav uncle had seen “jewel thief” thirteen or fourteen time.

I was so happy when I remembered that incident, only I know and God knows. A stone was removed from my heart.

Those of you who have not seen this legendary movie by dev anand, the gist of its story is he was tricked by a group of criminals that there is a look-alike of him. He was absolutely convinced so were the audience.

Now back to Rajpur. There is only one incident left to say, my horrible experience of 31st night. I will never forget that night.

Mr. Jain was Mr. Amicable as I have said, and my family culture did not permitted free mixing with men, so I always kept a distance from Abhishek and Mr. Jain. I mainly mixed with Mr. Jain’s kids and Sulata.

It was 31st evening, I was in no mood to go downstairs but Rik came upstairs and begged me to go and join them. They loved to play loud music and dance. As they both were tiny children, one five or six years old the other ten or eleven years it was fun to watch them dancing. So they often displayed their dancing skills to me. And this time too he begged until I gave in and went downstairs.

Mr. Jain appeared from his rooms after a while and I could feel he was drunk. He headed straight for me, and started to stroke my shoulders and back. I got up and left the place instantly.

Soma insisted that she will watch the New Year Eve program and I went to sleep in my room. I was lying there almost sleeping when I heard a loud banging at the door.

It was Mr. Jain, fully drunk. Soma asked him what was the matter and he told her to open the door.

I noted with absolute horror that Soma was about to obey him but saw the door is locked.

“Uncle the door is locked.” She said.

“Find the key and open the door.” Was the reply from outside.

“The key is not here, I cant see it.” She said. Well, she could not have seen it because it was under my pillow. But if I had not locked the door she would have opened it to that inebriated man.

Sometimes our instincts save us from unsavoury incidents. The next morning when I went out Jain family was not there. They both have left for their respective jobs and the kids went to school.

When I left for Kolkata next morning even then they were not there. The children bade me goodbye. Sulata cried like she is bidding her own sister goodbye, hearing some snide remarks from Abhishek. I would have guessed about her mask then but I did not.

 The train journey to kolkata:

It was decided that I will go to kolkata and Shruti’s uncle, maternal uncle will pick me up from Howrah station. Then I will decide if I will stay with them or return to ancestral home.

So I started for Howrah from Rajpur on 2nd. Sulata, Abhishek, Jhumamasi and Keshav uncle came to bid me goodbye on the station.

I settled on my seat in the three tier compartment. There was a couple on the opposite seat, an elderly person and his wife. A few minutes after the train started to roll a young boy came to them. He had quite a striking face, dark complexioned, handsome and wore a pair of spec. soon another young guy joined him and I was almost certain that this one was the guy I have seen in Bluestar, the man who was over eager to show himself to me. He was even wearing the same tee shirt, a light yellow coloured tee shirt, which was to become quite familiar to me in the coming months.

I noted that whenever I left my seat or went down from the train to buy something or fetch water etc those two used to follow me. Like a pair of watchdogs.

I reached Kolkata early in the morning after spending a semi sleepless night in train. Shruti’s uncle was waiting for me when the train rolled in.

I reached home. Shruti’s uncle asked me what was the matter, why were all those calls made by Shruti to inform police etc. etc. I tried to tell him the matter but he told me to not say single word against Keshav uncle or Jhumamasi because his mother hated to hear a single word against them.

A few minutes later I went out to fetch a glass of water and saw them in an extremely jovial mood, as if they were celebrating my doom.

I was standing on the window in the evening when I saw a car in the road outside, it was honking its horn in the empty street and it was of the same make as the cars which used to stalk me in Rajpur. A chill went down my already panicked body.

It took me a few more years to guess that whatever they did they needed women who were completely willing to work for them. And for those who kicked them on their face and left them they had these dirty tricks in their hat, to terrorize them in such a cunning way that every one else will think that they are paranoid.

My journey has just began and I was acting just as they wanted me to act, hyper panicked.

Next morning I went to offer puja at Dakshineshwar, I felt absolutely filthy after spending that year with them. We have finished the puja and were coming out when a taxi stopped right in front of me and the duo of the train stepped out of it.

They either did not noticed me or pretended that they did not but I did and watched them keenly to confirm.

I remembered that I have told Sulata that I will go to Dakshineshwar the very next morning I reach Kolkata.

Shruti’s uncle was quite rich. He worked in a shipping company and made quite lot of money. He had two homes in kolkata and one in Darjeeling. All three made by himself. So naturally he had a battalion of maids. A woman and her three daughters worked for him at that time.

I was sitting in the drawing room listlessly and the daughters of the maid were talking with me. Suddenly one of them narrated a story to me, I was quite uneasy because the same story has been narrated to me by Chaitali’s sister Mitali. It was a personal incident, so it was quite a surprise that exactly same thing can happen to two different persons and they both react to it using the very same words. I decided then and there that I will return to my ancestral home.

That evening one of my cousin sisters came to see me and asked me to return to my ancestral home and I decided to do that, without waiting for Shruti to come. I did not want to spend another night there.

Somehow I was piecing together the mystery behind soma’s Bengali knowledge and Shruti’s uncle’s immense wealth.