Where's the Magic?

Rain drops fall from the sky,

The little tadpole doesn’t wonder why.

Leaves turn yellow every autumn,

It doesn’t bother the fish at the ocean’s bottom.

But birds can sense a storm coming their way,

Bats use high pitched sound to find its prey.

In their natural instincts, the animals put their trust,

They don’t second doubt it, or they would bite the dust.

Man can ponder and worry a lot more,

A lot of times it stops him from opening a door.

Natural instinct is buried under so called logic,

But without it there simply cannot be any magic.

Gunpoint: Part 2

Please read the first part here.

“Agar hum logo ko nahi bachayega..Toh tu bhi nahi bachega..” 

The words of the masked leader, who I thought was probably very ugly looking, echoed through my numb head. If I had known, that getting this job involved being shot at, I would have bargained for a better salary. And a bullet proof vest maybe.

Earlier when the leader punched me, I had to pretend it hurt a lot to get some time to think. This time I really didn’t need to pretend.

Okay, so what were my options now? I guess I could wait for the police to ambush the bank and corner these assholes. But I think on the first sign of a police break-in, Mr. Ugly Eyes would kill me or injure me even more. 

So I have to find a way, to get myself at a distance from the robbers till the police arrive. Or I have to help the robbers escape. Right now I don’t know how to manage either. Time’s running out for me.

Through all the pain and confusion, suddenly something struck me. Maybe it would work.

I looked at the leader and said “On the first floor, behind the chairman’s office..Ek fire exit hai..You can escape from there.”

“Hmm thik hai..Chal exit dikha.” the leader said.

I got up. And fell down again. One of the robbers lifted me by my right shoulder. Touching gesture.

Hoping that this was not the last day of my life, I lead the robbers to the first floor emergency exit. It opened onto a secluded back alley, from where they could easily escape the police. The siren was still pretty distant. And surrounding the entire perimeter of the bank, would take the police some time.

The robber who was supporting my weight, laid me down on the floor in a not so gentle manner. The leader asked his five men to go ahead of him. Then he looked over his shoulder at me. Again his ugly eyes just couldn’t hide their triumph.

Smugly he said “Kabhi baap ke saamne shana nahi banane ka…Samjha?”

With that last retort he shut the fire exit door. And I could feel my mind veering towards unconsciousness.

About ten minutes later, but what felt like much longer, I vaguely saw two police officers accompanied by a worried looking Jyotsna, approaching me.

2 weeks later:

I have never been treated like a hero before. It does feel good though. But what doesn’t feel good, is my left shoulder. The doctor says that I won’t be doing any weight lifting exercises for a few months. I guess for once, I have a real excuse to avoid hitting the gym.

It’s been a two week long stay at the hospital. In a few more days, I’ll be back home. 

Though Jyotsna bringing me lunch every day was great. According to her, we are going to take things slowly. I don’t know what she means by that. But whatever it is we have, it’s good.

Yesterday I saw the bank robber’s faces on the news broadcast. Admittedly, the leader was not as ugly as I thought he would be.

Oh and I also got promoted. It’s the same work. Just a higher designation and better salary. Sigh, it’s all good.

What? Did I miss something out? Oh yes!! My master plan. My brilliant strategy which helped save the day.

Well it’s pretty simple really. I don’t bring my lunch from home. So every day I have my lunch in the back alley of the bank. Reasonable price, good food and female employees from various offices. What else can a bachelor ask for?

So this fire exit was a pretty regularly used short cut for me and a lot of other people in the office. And what we knew, and the robbers didn’t, is about Rocky.

Rocky, is an ex military man who owns a small biryani stall called ‘Army Biryani’. Not a very creative name. But when you are over seven foot tall and have handled some real nasty situations for your country, people tend to let these small things pass.

So what do you think does an ex-military man do, when he sees six men in black masks, with guns in their hands, escaping from the fire exit of a bank?  Well he shows those men, that they chose to mess with the wrong Biryani wala.

Tap tap tap tap...

Are those footsteps I’m hearing?

It must be almost lunch time. I think that might be Jyotsna walking down the corridor. I’m going to pretend to be asleep, so that she gently runs her hand over my face thinking that I’m not aware of it.

Sigh, I live for these small moments.

THE END

Gunpoint: Part 1

The gun was pointed at my head. There were perhaps a lot of other things also happening in the room. But the most significant and terrifying thing to me, was the feel of that cold metal against my forehead. 

“Tijori kidhar hai??” the man in the black mask said.

They don’t teach you how to deal with this kind of a situation, in the bank manager trainee program. I guess it’s the sort of thing, you have to learn on the spur of the moment. 

I was never really a good learner.

But I loved my new job. I had just secured the position of assistant manager, in one of the most reputed banks of Mumbai. The job basically involved, getting other people to do their work and signing stuff here and there. But if things went wrong down the line, I guess I would be the one to get the blame.

Ten minutes ago, as I had been walking happily towards my office, I felt something cold pressed against my head. And then I encountered this guy and his five team members in black masks. As they lead me to the ground floor, I saw the five security guards nicely tied up in one corner. 

Great! So the one time, they had something more important to do, than just opening doors, this is what happens.

“Abbe bol chu****!” snapped the guy in the black mask.

Maybe this is not the best time to relapse into a flashback story. Oh by the way, my name is Sanjay Paranjape.

Still unsure about what to do, I stared at the dark brown eyes peeking out of the slits in the black mask. They were not particularly beautiful. I mean if the eyes were this ugly, I could only imagine how horrible the rest of the face was. Maybe when you are this hideous, robbery is the only profession open to you.

Thwack!!

The black masked guy laid a punch in my gut. My stomach hurt slightly, but I pretended it hurt a lot, so that I could get a few more moments to think things through. 

There were five trigger alarms in the bank. One at the entry security check post, one at the cash counter, one near the bank safe and one each in the general manager and chairman’s office(Both currently chilling in the Delhi branch. Perhaps not chilling exactly. But at least they weren’t in this mess.)

My best bet was to lead the robbers to the bank safe and raise the trigger without alerting them. They might get to rob the safe. But hopefully the police should be here before they can escape.

Wow, not bad thinking huh?

“Uhh...Let me show you where the safe is.” I said

With the gun now pointed at my back, I lead them to the safe, underneath the ground floor.

Next to the huge steel slab forming the safe entry, was a small electronic keypad. When I entered a particular sequence, the safe door would open. However when I entered another sequence, the safe door would open and an emergency message would be sent to the local police unit. 

I paused in front of the electronic keypad, not wanting to seem too eager. And when I was tapped again on my back with the tip of the gun barrel, I took it as my cue to enter the code.

The safe door opened. The leader, five other men and yours truly entered the safe. The leader stood with the gun held to my head as the rest of his team got to work. It seems that they had already collected the keys from the cash counter, for the lockers within the safe.

I suddenly remembered that Jyotsna sits at the cash counter. I hoped she was okay. Yes, I like her. Though I don’t know what she exactly feels about me. 

So for the next fifteen minutes, I watched as the five men emptied all the lockers, I was supposed to be safeguarding as a manager. But if the police got here in time, hopefully there wouldn’t be any problem.

The leader looked at his watch and said “Oye bohot time ho gaya. Pack it up boys. Nikalte hai.”

Again with the barrel of a gun at my back, our merry group of robbers led me to the bank lobby. As I turned around and looked at the leader, I could see in those ugly eyes a certain sense of joy and accomplishment. 

He raised the butt of his gun to hit me and said “Chal bye, chu****…”

I guess being well mannered, is not a very important criteria to become a robber.

As the butt of the gun almost struck my head, we all heard the distant sound of a siren. Whew, the police were here! As in, almost here I guess. 

The leader stared at me angrily “Police ko kaise pata chala?? Tune kya kiya be?”

He struck an angry blow to my jaw.

“Shana samajhta hai khudko? Hamari marega sale bh******? Chal ab aur thoda shana ban aur police ko bhaga..Nahi toh..”

The leader fired a bullet and my left shoulder seared with pain, as a bullet passed through the fleshy area, missing the bone.

As I hit the ground almost senseless with pain, the leader crouched by me and said “Agar hum logo ko nahi bachayega..toh tu bhi nahi bachega..”

Damn. This guy watches too many Hindi films.

TO BE CONTINUED…