*From To Sathish* - Thread 3 - Page 47

The Quest and its travails


Who,why,where,when are just a few basic questions that all of us at some point or some ask all the time in their life.Like a calf mooing separated from its mother,we lament loudly and in silence that tear in the fabric of our soul.I agree that a certain portion of the ache and pain fades away when in a temple,when in solitude or like me sitting on the sands of the beach waiting to greet the morning sun.But then the questions come back in force and they keep coming in waves and the more you think about it,the more you want to move away from the mainstream of life and lives for they become mundane and cliched and to be brutally honest,immature and petty.

One foot in the quest to get some relief for ones questions and the other foot in the daily life and soon your legs are split wide open and you end up with a pain,well you know where.

I went to the temple yesterday and a man clad in orange clothes,with a thick black beard that i envied stood with his right arm raised in act of blessing.He had rudraksha malas wrapped around like snakes around his neck and i wondered what his reaction would be if they turned to real poisonous snakes.well, just a thought.

The hoarding screamed shri,shri,pujya a...e something and it announced it bold letters that he was coming to give his holy blessings to all those who came to him.And in equally bold letters were words " donations welcome ,however big or small". And in the bottom was the photo of a the residing diety of that particular temple.

I as is my norm,rolled my eyes skywards and wisely shaking my head went on my way to wash my feet and hands in the two taps provided.As i was washing my feet,i was rudely awakened and brought back to earth and its two legged inhabitants when a man who thought that he would go and do one better than just washing his hands and legs,proceeded loudly to gargle water in his throat and then he went further and cleaned his nostrils.I by now after having been exposed to the sounds and his regimen was prepared for him to remove his clothes,have a bath,wash his clothes and then,then what for i slid,scampered from there and went to pay my laments,sorry respect to the huge ganapati.

lo and behold,the man,the same man who gurgled,gargled came and stood before me and well ganesha disappeared and i was treated to the darshan of the mans sagging buttocks.But frankly speaking i wondered if regular squats in the gym would prop up his sagging derriere.shame on me for using a beautiful french word and wasting it on this rather rude arse.

I again rolled my eyes and shifted to the left and went my way and thought that was the end of it but apparently the man was not done with me for as i stood in contemplation about my quest and questions in front of the shiva linga,i was treated to the loudest Fart,so loud that it scattered the crows in the trees who thought that diwali had come early,too early,so loud that i felt a ringing in my ear as if it had been assaulted by an exploding atomic bomb.

I turned in total anger and found to my shock and surprise the same sagging buttocks lying prostrate on the ground in salutations to the lord.

Okay what i did next is something that i advise all of you to do and in all likelihood is what you do and that was Run,run satish and save yourself,for today is not your day.

And just like that my quest for the day was over i thought but it was not so for some guy had parked his motorcycle just behind my car's derriere.There was a bit of clearance although very slight and i went to work and worked for nearly five minutes and got my car out and then hell came in the form of the same guy " he of the sagging buttocks and loud noises from it " who ran towards me and loudly apologised for it was his bike that was so rudely parked behind my car.He smiled and went quickly to remove his bike when his phone rang,rather sang " dharmam thalai kaakkum,thakka samayaththil uyir kaakkum ".

😆 That was really funny to read!
Spiritual solace can turn into a real nightmare sometimes.
I guess that's why we are constantly reminded not to take life too seriously.
It's not worth all the angst we suffer through in our daily lives.

Hi Satish,

Redemption-chapter 36

"Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received " hatred. The great creators " the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors " stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won." ? Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

When people saw police commissioner Rakesh menon,they saw not only his present posting in chennai.but in that instant they saw all of his previous achievements.From fighting maoist elements in the north-east regions,from tackling and putting down ruthlessly naxalites in the andhra region,Mr.rakesh menon had built up a reputation as a tough and a supercop that most politicians dreaded to have in their city or state.

One ruling party MLA who also was a state cabinet minister tried to bribe him to get his son released and when that failed,he tried framing the cop on false rape charges.But when the truth was revealed and the MLA lost his cabinet berth and also his membership from the ruling party,Mr.rakesh menon personally went to arrest him and that was another episode in the glorious history of the present police commissioner of chennai.

Police commissioner Rakesh menon acknowledged everyone's salute and greeting although it was clear that he was angry and on a warpath.So everyone there decided to keep their mouth's shut and open it to answer only when a question was posed directly to them.

Police commissioner Rakesh menon knew exactly what everyone there thinking for he had worked with such fear before and had come to the conclusion that the best way to treat it was with gentle and akind approach.

He looked at ACP Balaraman " well,bala have the forensic team come to any conclusions yet and what has mr.muthu have to say about the five bodies ".

ACP balaraman " i am sorry sir,but i just got here from mr.rahul agarwals house and i have yet to gather a report from the forensic team and the pathologist".

Police commissioner Rakesh menon nodded " I know bala and let me confess that i am glad that both the kids are safely home.But our bad luck for that case solved itself and now a new case has cropped up and more bodies.We will talk about it later and come now for maybe if we both listen to what our forensic and pathology team have to say,then there is a chance that we might just stumble on some clue or motive ".


Dr.sheela samson with a wide smile (she had a huge crush on the commissioner,in her dreams) " Good evening sir".

commissioner Rakesh menon nodded " Good evening ma'am and please accept our apologies for having to call on your services at this late hour ".

Dr.sheela samson " no problem sir,you can call on me at any hour,late or early " and then realising her poor choice of words " i mean,the dept can call me".

Commissioner Rakesh menon waited for her to gather her wits and then gently " doctor,can you walk us through the scene so that we can get a picture of what might have happened ".

He then turned to doctor muthu and " mr.muthu,could you please join us here and walk the crime scene along with the good doctor sheela samson ".

Police commissioner Rakesh menon looked at all of them and then asked all of his men to get closer and watch,listen and understand what was happening and what had happened.

Raising his deep,baritone voice " constables,head constables,sub-inspectors and inspectors,remember this.You can get promotions from studying hard and writing exams but you can also get promotion by helping solve difficult and notorious cases.Sadly,our training is very limited in its scope and potential and most of you might or might not get an this opportunity to learn from a case such as we here.so use this moment and think of it as a practical class.Our teachers are right now dr.sheela samson and dr.muthu.As they walk us through the crime scene,observe and learn how they read footprints,and how they judge the weight of the person or persons by their foot size and stride.Like you,i am also a student right now and afterwards you can ask me questions and i will answer and i hope that we will have a good discussion.Please put all your mobiles in silent mode and for godsake dont shoot any videos or pics.Our police dept is facing a challenge and it is up to us to rise and meet it.Okay ".

There were loud mumbles " okay sir,yes sir ".

This speech,these words right here by Police commissioner Rakesh menon was what made his men willing to lay down their lives for him and for his cause.This is what drew his team and the public towards him,soft,gentle but hard as a diamond when the need arose.


"A man must know his destiny... if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder... if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it."
George S. Patton Jr.

Redemption-chapter 37

Crime scene investigation is the meeting point of science, logic and law. "Processing a crime scene" is a long, tedious process that involves purposeful documentation of the conditions at the scene and the collection of any physical evidence that could possibly illuminate what happened and point to who did it. There is no typical crime scene, there is no typical body of evidence and there is no typical investigative approach.

Dr.sheela samson looked at dr.muthu who nodded his approval and then turned to look at everyone " Forensics and reading the scene of the crime whether it is a murder or a high profile burglary was made famous by one of the most beloved character and one who is still admired and worshipped and he is sherlock holmes.From blood to ballistics, from fingerprints to footprints, Holmes was 120 years ahead of his time, protecting crime scenes from contamination, looking for minute traces of evidence and searching for what the eye couldn't see.Holmes was the first to use ballistics, including bullet trajectory, as evidence in criminal cases. Long before modern toxicologists developed sophisticated tests for chemical analysis, Holmes was using scientific methods to detect the presence of poisons, which for centuries had been used as an undetectable means for murder.

The fictional Holmes revelled in tiny details, and caught everyone by surprise by defining a subject with details relating to height, weight, gait, carrying a load, occupation and other surprising summaries simply by observing a wet foot print in a garden. He also explained how the evidence led to his accurate conclusion. And when the perpetrator was finally discovered and captured, the physical description was uncanny.

In addition, his ability to reason backwards' (looking at the criminal act and working his way backwards to lead him to evidence) helped guide him to a conclusion, a motive and a culprit.From the very first story in the Holmes series to the 57th story (the Lion's Mane from 1926), 29 of the 60 stories revealed and solved footprint evidence. Footprints were found in soil, mud, clay. They were on carpet, in snow, ash and even on drapes and doors " each mark was worth discussion, each print told a story that was instrumental to the outcome.

Sherlock Holmes wrote' an educational treatise on the preservation of footprints, entitled "The tracing of footsteps, with some remarks upon the uses of Plaster of Paris as a preserver of impresses". The techniques so described have become a mainstay in preserving prints of shoes, tires, tools and other depressions by police departments worldwide.

But all that was then and although even today we solve crimes by using finger prints,blood samples,technology has come a long ways with the use of DNA technology.Photography and the use of video capturing has helped us in a major way for we can back to cases years after they have been committed.

For example,my team has photographed every inch of the crime scene and also captured the important evidences and bodies on video otherwise i wouldnt have agreed or given permission for this spontaneous tour of the scene.

Dr.sheela samson looked at everybody " all right,we are going to enter the scene and i request everyone to walk in a single file following the previous persons footsteps.This is because we don't want any more footprints to add to our burden.But that is just for caution since we all know the footprints or rather the shoe types you officers wear ".

Dr,muthu unable to resist showing off before the force jumped in " Okay,what we have here in the entrance of the scene is a dead individual,roughly the age between 25 to 30 who has been killed by a blow to the throat.The blow was struck with such force that death would have happened in 10 to 20 seconds.Of course only when i have this man on my table will i be able to tell you how the blow was struck.

Moving on to the four men you see lying dead here,one is of middle age,maybe between 45 to 55 and the others are all of the same age as the first victim.By the entrance wounds and the exit behind their skulls i can safely say that they were shot by an automatic rifle.And the most significant point in this whole scene is that the immense accuracy with which they were shot and that means the killer was well trained ".

Commissioner rakesh menon looked sharply at dr.muthu " killer you say in singular,why not killers.couldnt there have been more than one person who did the killing ?"

Dr.sheela samson " dr.muthu is right sir for apart from the foot prints left by these five,there was only traces of another persons foot print that we found here.So,i guess it is safe to say for now that we are looking at one killer and one who is highly trained ".

Acp balaraman " ma'am,this is the parking area of a very popular dhaba and it doesn't make sense that you found the footprints of just these five dead men and one another individual,when you must have found hundreds of other footprints ".

Dr.sheela samson " good point bala,but as you see the dhaba has been closed for repairs for the past one week and more significantly this area is swept and maintained very cleanly by its staff.Earlier this evening,the parking area was swept clean of litter and leaves and hence the footprints of only these five men and of other who logically must be the killer ".


Police commissioner rakesh menon clapped his hands and the rest of the team followed " bravo,bravo.simple and yet so conclusive.But tell me dr.sheela,have you restricted your work to this crime scene or have you also expanded it in all directions".

Dr.sheela samson " I was planning to do that during daylight but just for safety's sake i have sent two members of my team along with two constables to do a thorough search for any evidence.For you never know and might just stumble on the killer himself who might have been wounded during the gun battle or should i say execution ".

The large walkie held by sub-inspector thangarajan crackled with static and he lifted and barked " yes"

The voice came loud and clear from one of the constables who was also carrying a walkie talkie " sir,there are two more bodies here and both are dead from gun shot wounds ".

Commissioner rakesh menon looked at acp balaraman and the rest of the force " okay,spread out and widen the perimeter of the search.I think the body count is going to go up.dr.sheela and dr.muthu,please lead and let us go to the next scene of crime ".

After nearly and hour and after the rest of the five bodies were found in addition to the five in the parking lot of the dhaba,the search was called off.

Commissioner rakesh menon stood sipping hot coffee along with ACP balaraman,dr.sheela and dr.muthu and all were lost in their thoughts about the night.

Dr.sheela looked at rakesh menon " sir,those three were choked to death in expert fashion and the rest of the victims were shot dead in expert fashion.Whoever did this is a highly trained individual and i don't even have to talk about his motivation for he must be highly motivated to go about killing in this manner.From what i have seen,the person has first taken out all the targets which were placed in the outside of the main crime scene and then he has gone in and taken out the rest of the five men.Ten men dead and i think it must have all happened in a matter of minutes.Forget nabbing this person,even trying to nab him would lead to deadly situations and put our men in harms way.Frankly speaking,none of our men on the force are trained to tackle such highly trained killers ".

Commissioner rakesh menon " yes ma'am,none of men are so highly trained and this kind of training is given to men of the armed forces.believe me,i have been policing for a long,long time and not even the army has such trained killers.But then the army and the rest of the armed forces rarely divulge their training secrets.You are right that this is beyond our capabilities but that will not slow me down or my team and we will track and hunt this killer down.But that is for later for now we should concentrate on the dead men and try to find out who they are and what the heck they are doing here lying dead in my city ".

Long after the commissioner had left the night was turning to dawn and it found acp balaraman staring into the night sky whispering " Bloody hell Rudy,what are you doing and where are you going with all these killings ".

Bala knew that it was time he went and met rudran and found out in detail what was happening.He picked up his mobile to call him but thought he would wait for a few more hours.Acp balaraman went home to rest for a while before the morning confronted him when he would confront rudran.

Far away in the army barracks Rudran slept like a baby,gently snoring away while in the other corner of the city police commissioner rakesh menon slept with all the killing weighing heavily on his mind.

The hot shower did wonders to balaraman's mood and he fell asleep in minutes and drifted away into deep and dark worlds.

Redemption-chapter 38


"In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves." ? Laurie Halse Anderson,
Wintergirls

Rudran woke to feel the cloak of darkness all around him and yet he saw a shimmer in the distance and a familiar voice cried out and yet it cried not in pain or for help.Rudran felt the tug in his soul and he slowly made his way towards the light and found himself at the edge of a precipice which fell away into a bottomless abyss.His heart skipped a beat for at the edge,barely hanging on by fingertips was a figure and rudran rushed forward to help whoever it was that needed help.But just as he knelt down to reach out and pull the figure up,it turned its face and rudran was shocked to see himself,for it was he who was hanging at the edge of the abyss.His lips moved "Bhairav" and his twin smiled " are you sure ". Rudran shook his head not knowing what was happening and his image spoke " who died brother ? who is still alive ?.for your life has been like this,hanging at the edge of darkness.wanting to die for oneself and wanting to live for the other.How long can you hang on brother ? let me go,live in peace.let me go".

Rudran's eyes brimmed with tears " never,never.i will hang on however long it takes bhairav and until my last breath leaks out of this mortal body ".


The gentle knock on his door woke rudran up and although he had slept for just five hours,he felt refreshed and with his dream still whispering to him,rudran went and opened the door and found a corporal holding a tray that held a flask of coffee and a cup and saucer.

The corporal placed the tray on the table and standing straight saluted rudran and swiftly turning on his heels left the room.Rudran went to the bathroom to wash his faca and mouth and was pleasantly surprised to see that the bathroom was stocked with a toothbrush,paste,soap and shampoo.It also held a disposable shaving kit.
Rudran quietly thanked the army and quickly brushed his teeth,shaved and showered.

Pouring himself a cup of steaming coffee,rudran went towards the window and watched as the army went through its waking duties.jawans jogging,marching and as was the norm a huge sgt barking orders behind them like a rabid pitbull and rudran smiled and his thoughts drifted towards his mother.It had been nearly five days since he had been to the hospital and decided that he would go there first thing after leaving the army depot.

A gentle knock and the same corporal stood there " sir,colonel vasant has requested that you meet him in the officers canteen.He is already waiting for you there ".

Rudran thanked the corporal and told him to inform the colonel that he would meet him in the canteen in five minutes.

Mrs.sharada menon answered with her malayali english " hello " and then gently told her husbands personal secretary to hold the line while she woke her husband up whose loud snores had woken her and their pet dogs
long ago.She thought " the man has hardly had any sleep the past week and add to that he comes home late last night and once again his duty beckons.But she was perfectly aware of her husbands duty as the city police commissioner and never tried to intervene in any way.Her thoughts and opinions were always subtle and went to the extent of " rakesh,take it easy.remember to take your blood pressure tablets and eat on time " and with those daily mantras she gave him a wide berth and left him to his work and burdens.But once in a while,in bed he would voice his thoughts and frustrations aloud when he had the misfortune to have met a politiican on duty and that usually meant her calming him down and that invariably left them making love,after which she would jokingly remark " well,not bad the commissioner still remembers his duty to his wife and he has performed it pretty well ". This generally brought on a blush in rakesh's face and he would bluster " ma'am,a police officer never fails in his duty and is always there ready to serve,anytime he is called upon ".


Commissioner rakesh menon woke to his wife's gentle nudge on his shoulder and mumbled " yes,yes.okay i am waking up.what is it ?"

Sharada menon " your secretary is on hold and wants to talk to you urgently ".

Commissioner rakesh menon " well,if she is calling at this early hour,then it means something bad.goddamanit,i wonder when this streak of bad luck is going to stop.as it is i am sheduled to report to DGP Ashok kumar later in the morning and then i am meeting with the lady herself ( chief minister ) and now this blessed call ".

He picked up the phone next to his side of bed " hello.yes,good morning to you too.what is the problem ? what.where.okay.inform all the joint commissioners and the deputy commissioners that we are meeting in anhours time in the conference room.yes.thank you ".

Sharada menon with a worried look on her face " rakesh,what is it ? has something terrible happened ?".

Commissioner rakesh menon " I and my dept have been worrying about the amount of dead bodies we have been finding and now to that tally comes the discovery of semtex ( high grade plastic explosive) bombs attached to one of the cars we found last night.Also in the car were some coke bottles which still retained some powerful drug in its content.My instinct warned me that both the cases were connected and now they have been confirmed.It means talking to those rich men again who will be surrounded by power,politicians and worse lawyers ".

Sharada menon did not have a clue to what her husband was going on about and did the best thing and that was keep quiet and let her husband ramble on and find a clue for this is how he worked and all she had to do was,just listen without interrupting him.

Sherlock Holmes returns from his long exile.
Watson asks him-Tell me, Holmes, what have you done during these years, away from London?
sherlock-I travelled to Tibet, for example. I met His Holiness The Dalai Lama. I also taught something to the monks.
watson- Really? What could they learn from you?
sherlock- When I arrived, they could only repeat OM. Now they can say Holmes.

Redemption-chapter 39

"Every society needs heroes. And every society has them. The reason we don't often see them is because we don't bother to look.There are two kinds of heroes. Heroes who shine in the face of great adversity, who perform an amazing feat in a difficult situation. And heroes who live among us, who do their work unceremoniously, unnoticed by many of us, but who make a difference in the lives of others.
Heroes are selfless people who perform extraordinary acts. The mark of heroes is not necessarily the result of their action, but what they are willing to do for others and for their chosen cause. Even if they fail, their determination lives on for others to follow. The glory lies not in the achievement, but in the sacrifice."
? Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono


Police commissioner rakesh menon entered the office and smartly saluted his immediate boss,Director General of Police Ashok kumar who stood and greeted him with an extended hand.Both shook hands and DGP ashok kumar asked him to sit down " what will it be rakesh,coffee or tea ".

commissioner rakesh menon " I am good sir.maybe later.But what i have to tell you cannot wait any longer for it might have serious ramifications to our state and country ".

DGP ashok kumar leaned back in his seat " okay rakesh.you have my complete attention and you have also made me very nervous.just hold on a second ".

DGP ashok kumar picked up the receiver of a white phone " I don't want to be disturbed for the next hour and disturb me only if the home minister or the chief minister personally makes a call and wants to talk to me.understood ".

DGP ashok kumar placed the receiver back in its cradle " there you go rakesh.now tell me what is on your mind".

Commissioner rakesh menon " This is to do with the bodies we found shot dead in a parking lot in a popular dhaba near pallavaram ".

DGP ashok nodded ' yes,i got that news and the report has just landed on my table.why rakesh ? why do you look so worried ? "

Commissioner rakesh " well sir,add another five bodies to the already dead five ".

DGP ashok reacted with shock and looked totally startled with this news " what.five more.so that makes it ten.But even that isn't enough cause for you to call me on my personal number and request that we meet officially in my office.Bloody hell man,so there is more bad news.crap ".

Commissioner rakesh " yes sir,along with the bodies we found,we also found semtex,high grade explosives of the highest quality attached as a bomb under the body of one of the vehicles.Evidence of drug laced coke bottles were found in the rear seat of the car and after a thorough check of the vehicles by our forensic team,we found hair samples of two other individuals ".

DGP ashok kumar did not come to this position just by showing the whites of his pearly teeth but through hard work and brains and he connected the dots between the evidences that rakesh was presenting to him.

" rakesh,are you thinking what i am thinking.drug laced coke bottles could mean kidnapping and with the word kidnapping,rahul agarwals case jumps out screaming for two of his grand children were kidnapped and returned.
But then the killers would not have returned the kids if ransom was not paid and so we can assume that the ransom was paid.So what do you think happened.you think there were more than ten of them and they had a falling out over the money and killed each other.But why the semtex when the usual modus operandi of our kidnappers is knives and at the most a old pistol or country made hand guns."

Commissioner rakesh " sir,dr,muthu called me while i was coming to meet you and what he told me was not only strange but also puzzling.Four of the five men in the parking lot were killed by ak47s and the fifth was killed by a single blow to his throat.five more bodies were found away from the the main scene and they were killed while they lay hidden as security and to give advance warning to their men in the parking lot.Whoever killed them,attacked them first and then went to the parking lot and killed the rest of the five ".

DGP ashok kumar " you are right rakesh for this case has terrorist ramifications and it is better i call the central home ministry and pass on the information and see what they can make of it.But tell me this,did you not find any weapons in the crime scene.That is strange isn't it ".

Commissioner rakesh menon hesitated for a few seconds and DGP ashok looked at him with curiosity " well rakesh,what is it ? I know your instincts are telling you something but you are hesitating to talk about it ".

Commissioner rakesh " sir,do you remember the Phoenix mall case where three men were attacked and two of them died in and one is more or less dead.well that case and the the killing of those three criminals from delhi who were found dead in the posh area of alwarpet all have some kind of connection.My instinct tells me that maybe all three cases are connected and yet all those who are dead or injured are criminals involved in serious crimes against the state and public ".

DGP ashok kumar " what makes you think that there is a common link between all three cases rakesh and if so what does it all mean ?"

Commissioner rakesh took a deep breath " i think we have a vigilante in our city and one who is highly trained and highly motivated.something has brought him to hunt in our city and i doubt if we will be able to stop him from hunting more and more criminals.But i am sure that the answers lie with mr.kandaswamy mudaliayar's daughter who was one of the victims in the rape case and mr.rahul agarwal whose grandchildren were the victims in the kidnapping case.There is some common element linking both of them and their cases and it is just a matter of time before we find it ".

DGP ashok kumar raised his hands " hold,rakesh,just hold on and dont go where i think you are going with this train of thought.Those two names you just mentioned happen to be the two richest men in the city and among the top 20 in the country.do you know what that means ?.it means power my friend,lots of power and importantly political power and you cannot go around tapping their phones or putting them under surveillance.For the shit will hit the fan if word gets out and you know by experience that word always gets out.sorry,i cannot authorise that without the chief ministers permission.listen rakesh,i have at the most two years before i retire and you have maybe four years before you retire and do we both need all this tension and dirt hanging over our heads while we are made scapegoats and are kicked out.no dammit,no.i have worked too hard to upset the cart now in my old age.we will present the case to the state home minister and send the same details to the central intelligence and let them make the moves and let them give the orders and then we will go to work ".

Commissioner rakesh menon nodded smilingly " well my sentiments exactly.But i am just worried for the safety of the public and you know by experience that it is the innocents who are always hurt and killed and brushed off as collateral damage.we swore an oath to protect,defend and serve every person under our protection ".

DGP ashok kumar " i know rakesh but the situation is very delicate.so let us hope no innocents are hurt and hopefully we will get some information from the center.anyway,you are meeting with the chief minister later today.so keep her informed about what is happening and we will take it from there.Meanwhile get all our police informers to work harder and to also keep their eyes and ears open to any information.All the best.maybe it time that you and sharada came home for dinner.it has been a long time ".

Both IPS officers shook hands and then Commissioner rakesh menon saluted him and left,leaving behind a thorougly worried Dgp who after a few second of thought reached for the phone and pressed the speaker button " get me the chief secretary of the central home minister,yes right now ".

Redemption-chapter 40

Cowards are cruel, but the brave love mercy and delight to save.

After winning several archery contests, the young and rather boastful champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned for his skill as an archer. The young man demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency when he hit a distant bull's eye on his first try, and then split that arrow with his second shot. "There," he said to the old man, "see if you can match that!"
Undisturbed, the master did not draw his bow, but rather motioned for the young archer to follow him up the mountain. Curious about the old fellow's intentions, the champion followed him high into the mountain until they reached a deep chasm spanned by a rather flimsy and shaky log. Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and certainly perilous bridge, the old master picked a far away tree as a target, drew his bow, and fired a clean, direct hit. "Now it is your turn," he said as he gracefully stepped back onto the safe ground.

Staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless and beckoning abyss, the young man could not force himself to step out onto the log, no less shoot at a target. "You have much skill with your bow," the master said, sensing his challenger's predicament, "but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."

Murky sat leaning on a daybed staring into the blue waters that glistened like emeralds and sapphires off the shores of Thailand and the salty tears from his eyes mixed with the salty spray coming from the waves as they crashed on the beach.He had drank nearly half a bottle of scotch late last night and had only slept for a few hours.His eyes were bloodshot with sorrow and a splitting hangover.He had not known so much sorrow or had ever felt so sad in his life and it was a life that was nearly sixty years old.He thought back to all the killings he had done for many in power and for many who offered him money.It all had come to haunt him in the form of his nemesis and now it was too late for the one thing he loved more than money was dead.


It was only 10.00 a.m but that did not stop Murky from starting on his third large glass of scotch.But then drinking was not a crime,when sex tourism itself was not and that was what brought dollars into a country like Thailand and nobody gave a damn what you did with your time as long as you did it by paying lots of money.

The resort Murky was staying in was a very expensive one and it was called Secret Garden Beach Resort.Secret Garden is one of the oldest established Bungalow resorts on Big Buddha Beach in Koh Samui. It is set in the middle of the bay at the nicest part of the beach, not far from the Ferry to Koh Phangan,on the west coast of Thailand.

Murky was a predator and highly evolved one and the minute rudran had entered as a nightmare in his life,he knew that he was going to have major problems running his racket of prostitution,drugs,kidnapping and extortion even with political support.Murky was a smart one and that is why though he had come from a very poor background in madurai,he had escaped to chennai and then to delhi where he had settled and had been a king of the underworld.But then he had always known that the long arm of the law would reach out with its noose cast for his neck or freedom and had made plans and had been well prepared for it.For a man who had many passports and identities,getting away from delhi to Thailand was as easy as flying to mumbai and Murky had done that the minute rudran had killed the three men he had sent to follow him and to wait for the righht moment before striking the death blow.The moment murky had seen Rudran he recognised the policeman for what he was and knew that he was not someone to trifle with and that it would be better to lie low and wait for the right moment before retaliating.But then fate had played its cruel hand and once again it had been rudran who had entered his life but this time the casualty was the death of his son,his only son Maaran.

Selvam had been born to him and Selvi and they were the only true loves of his life.For a long time Murky had hesitated before bringing selvam to chennai but there was so much money to be made and he needed somebody whom he could trust with the money and his secrets.With Selvi dying of cancer,the way had become easier and father and son had bonded and like the saying evil begets evil,selvam took to his fathers evil and corrupt business with a flair for it.With an engineering degree he brought technology and revolution to Murkys empire and yet no one knew that they were father and son and but for a few, no one knew their real names and they presented to the world only fake identities.

Murky would not have got up from his drunken sleep but for work and work which meant lots of money.Even though he was far away from delhi and india Murky still had his men and his connections back home and they were connections that had been forged over many decades and they meant trust and respect.All it took was a call and murky got done what murky wanted.

He was awake because he was meeting two gentlemen from Indonesia who wanted to use his connections in india to conduct their business.Murky had made some calls and had learnt who the men were and what they planned to do.He normally shied away from that side of the business but now that he was living life in exile he did not give a damn what happened to his country or how many people died.As far as he was concerned money was all that mattered and yet even that did not seem to matter for what mattered now was revenge.

The shadows on his face blotting the sun meant they were here and Murky looked at them and asked them to sit down.

Abdul and Rasool were important figures in the Jemaah Islamiyah Islamist terror group that was affiliated to the Indonesian Al Qaeda branch that nearly died after the death of its leader Osama.But Osama bin laden who spent years on the run hiding in caves and other remote places knew that one day he would tracked down and put down by the mighty american forces who had satellites,drones searching for him day and night after he had brought down the twin towers in the worst attack on united states since the pearl harbor attack by japan during the second world war.Even though the word visionary is a bit too flattering to use it is justified in the case of Osama bin laden who sent his second rung command teams to spread out and take roots all over the world.Well funded,highly motivated they were waking up and plotting death and destruction on the world in the name of Allah and in the name of Islam.They had infiltrated local terror groups and had been training them and equipping them with guns and bombs and in the art of high tech terrorism.Osama bin laden was dead but his deadly legacy continued in the form of his ideas and doctrines.


Abdul and Rasool were the corporate front of the terrorist group in Indonesia and they were the ones responsible for planning and supplies of the group and they were here to meet Murky for they were planning attacks in the top cities of India.They needed Murky's organisation to move stuff across the bangladesh border and then to ensure safe passage of the goods to the places they wanted them moved.

Rasool looked at the nearly empty bottle of scotch and then at murky and murky stared back at him.

Murky looked at both of them " i am aware of what you want from me and i am ready and willing to do it.But i want a job done and if that is done then our deal is done and i will see to it that you get your supplies moved where you want them ".

Abdul slightly taken aback " we came here to talk money for your services and the account no and the bank name in which to deposit the advance payment.But you are mentioning something about a job you want done.I am not sure if we are following you and frankly speaking we dont do jobs but mostly pay people to get it done ".

Murky looked at abdul " get the job done and we will talk or else you can leave right now ".

Rasool nearly stood up but abdul stopped him and asked him to sit down " okay,we are listening ".

Murky stared at the blue jewel of a sea and wondered if the 2004 tsunami had touched this part of the waters and smiled to himself "I want a man killed and i want proof of his death.that is it.And it is not negotiable".

Abdul looked at Murky intently as if he was reading his mind and thoughts " This man must be special for otherwise you would have killed him by now judging by your reputation and since you want us to kill him,then he must be one hell of a tough customer ".

Murky emptied the glass into his mouth and then slowly poured another large one and lit a cigarette " yes to both your observations.But that does not matter now and what matters now is what you have to say to my proposal.Take a couple of days to think it over and come back and then we will talk ".

Abdul looked at Rasool who nodded " No need for two days to think it over or to talk it over.We will kill the man for you and we will bring you proof of his death.Then you will help us move our stuff into india.Do we have a deal ".

Murky nodded " yes.we have a deal".

Rasool " okay now that is out of the way.Tell us who this man is and where we can find him ".

Murky smiled to himself and then to the surprise of both the men there,turned to them with tears in his eyes " his name is RUDRAN ".

Deep in the forests it woke from a deep and ancient sleep and it felt the whispers and it felt the name being mentioned and it woke for the time had come again to do battle on these lands.The angels of light would stand as one to fight the demons of darkness and heaven would battle hell for that is the law of the universe.

"Of all the ways we have found to hurt ourselves, the worse has been through love. We are always suffering because of someone who doesn't love us, or someone who has left us, or someone who won't leave us. If we are alone, it is because no one wants us..." Paulo Coelho, Warrior of the Light

Once there was a sage who asked his disciples to carve out names of the people they cannot forgive on potatoes, one potato for each name. Then, the disciples were asked to put all their potatoes in a sack and carry it with them at all times for one week.The longer time went by, the heavier the potatoes seemed to have become. To make the matter worse, those carved potatoes also started to rot and smells bad. It was such an unpleasant experience for the disciples.

At the end of the week, the master asked,"So, what did you learn?"

At once they disciples told the master that they now realized that holding on to grudges only brought negative things to them. Asked how they should go about correcting it, the youngsters said they should strive their best to forgive everyone that used to cross them and made them angry.

The master then asked,"What if someone crosses you again after you unload this present load of potatoes?"

The disciples suddenly felt terrified at the thought of having to start all over again with new potatoes, week after week."What can Tao do if there are still other people crossing us? We cannot control what other people do to us!"

At which point the master replied,"We haven't even reached the Tao's realm yet. So far we only discussed the conventional way to approach forgiveness, that is, to strive to forgive. Striving is difficult. In Tao, there is no striving."

Seeing the disciples completely at a loss then, the master further suggested,"If the negative feelings are the potatoes, what is the sack?"

The disciples finally grasped it,"Ahh the sack is something that allows me to hold on to the negativity. It is my inflated sense of self-importance!"

And that was the lesson of this story. Once we learn how to let go of the sack, whatever people say or do against us would no longer matter. The Tao of forgiveness is the conscious decision to get rid of the sack/self altogether, not just the potatoes/negative feelings.

Redemption-chapter 41

"Tragedy depends on the way you see it. If you chose to be a victim of the world, anything which happens to you will feed that dark side of your soul, where you consider yourself wronged, suffering, guilty and deserving punishment. If you choose to be an adventurer, the changes - even the inevitable losses, since everything in this world changes - can cause some pain, but will soon thrust you forward, forcing you to react."? Paulo Coelho, Warrior of the Light

Rudran did not know what it was but something was gnawing persistently at his primitive instinct warning him that he had overlooked some vital clue that if left alone could come back and pose a great threat.But things had been happening in quick succession since the time he landed in chennai and it had only been a week since he had left delhi.Rudran decided that once he met his mother and worked out how best to protect her he would sit later that night and put every bit of information on a board and also every person involved in his life in the past seven days and try to work out what he had overlooked.He also knew that he would have to return to the capital and get back to work soon although a deeper sense,one that had served him well over the years told him that he should stay put here in chennai for something bad was going to happen and his presence might just tilt the balance towards the good guys.

Rudran decided that the next work for tonights agenda was to get in touch with the intelligence wing and his boss General veer singh and talk to him personally and voice his fears for he was one who always spoke about listening to your gut and instinct and actively encouraged him and their team

Importantly Rudran had not forgotten Murky for a second and had just pushed him away temporarily and knew that both their paths would cross once more and when it happened it would be a violent confrontation.He had seen the fear spark in murky's eyes when he had confronted him in his den in delhi and knew that only made a man like Murky more dangerous and volatile and there was no telling how he was going to react and repay the damage that rudran had done to his criminal activities.Ever since Murky had fallen off the radar,Rudran's senses had been on high alert and knew that logic dictated that he would be on top of Murkys hitlist.But Rudran had encountered many a criminal like Murky and had learnt to be calm and watch for their moves and movements.

Parking his car Rudran was about to enter when Acp balaraman called him and rudran knew that there was no avoiding his friend and answered it "Bala".

Acp balaraman " please tell me it was not you in action in that pallavaram dhaba.Please be honest and tell me that for you owe me that ".

Rudran sighed " No,i will not lie to you.Not now or ever and yes it was me".

Acp balaraman " god no.bloody hell.ten people,rudy you killed ten people".

Rudran " calm down please or someone might hear you".

Acp balaraman " where are you right now?"

Rudran " i have come to the hospital to spend some time with mother and i will be here until evening ".

Acp balaraman asked rudran to stay put in the hospital and he would be there in half an hour and that they needed to talk and talk urgently about something very important.

Rudran said okay and went into the hospital.

He knocked gently on the door and a second later,Babu opened the door and welcomed him with a big smile " Thambi vaanga.It is so good to see you.It has been nearly four days since you came to see your mother and i was wondering if i should call you but i stopped myself for i know how difficult your job is.Good of you to come.I will just go to the canteen and get some coffee and i know you are not going to say no to i.I could call them on the phone but it takes them at least ten to fifteen minutes to bring what we want.so i will just run and be back in a few minutes.It is so nice to see you ".

Rudran embraced him gently and watched Babu leave and then he came and stood next to his mother who was fast asleep.She looked so frail and weak on the bed and Rudran's heart broke seeing her like that.He sat on the bed next to her and tenderly grasped her right palm and stroked her fingers the way he and bhairav used to do when they were young.They used to yank at her fingers and toes to crack her knuckles and the tiny noises used to delight them immensely.Rudran wondered if she remembered anything at all for her condition had now become more complicated with the onset of Alzheimer's which had been discovered a few years back.

The loss of bhairav had brought on a condition called Psychogenic amnesia,also known as functional amnesia or dissociative amnesia which is a disorder characterized by abnormal memory functioning in the absence of structural brain damage or a known neurobiological cause. It results from the effects of severe stress or psychological trauma on the brain, rather than from any physical or physiological cause. It is often considered to be equivalent to the clinical condition known as repressed memory syndrome.

There are two main types of psychogenic amnesia: global amnesia and situation-specific amnesia. Global amnesia, also known as fugue state, refers to a sudden loss of personal identity lasting a few hours or days, often accompanied by severe stress or depression and often involving extended periods of wandering and confusion. It is very rare, and usually resolves over time (although memory of the fugue episode itself may remain lost), often helped by therapy. Situation-specific amnesia is a type of psychogenic amnesia that occurs as a result of a severely stressful event, as part of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma, which manifests itself in constant re-experiencing of the original trauma through flashbacks or nightmares and avoidance of any stimuli associated with the trauma, as well as increased arousal (such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger and hypervigilance).

It is most commonly associated with traumatic events or violent experiences involving emotional shock.Freudian psychology suggests that psychogenic amnesia is an act of self-preservation, where the alternative might be overwhelming anxiety or even suicide. Unpleasant, unwanted or psychologically dangerous memories are repressed or blocked from entering the consciousness as a kind of subconscious self-censorship, but they remain in the unconscious.Such repressed memories may be recovered spontaneously, years or decades after the event, triggered by a particular smell, taste or other identifier.The constant remembering and re-imagining of traumatic events causes them to be reinforced and re-consolidated time after time, and the memory is so strong and realistic that it is encoded almost as a new current event each time, rather than as an old memory.

But a few years back during a routine check up,they had found that his mother was showing signs of early onset of Alzheimer's and the doctors told rudran that the best way to treat her was by giving her a quiet life without too much disturbances and a calming ambience.Rudran thought of buying a small place in kodaikanal and sending his mum and babu there to stay but Babu had put his foot down.

Rudran recollected babu's words " tell me if there is a better place than our very own home and it is a place to which she is used to and if at all any recovery is possible then dont' you think she stands a better chance in a place which is filled with memories of her family.Moreover kodaikanal will get bitterly cold and then for those few months we have to come back again to chennai.don't you think all the travel will be too much of a burden on her frail health ".

So it had been decided that his mother would stay back in their home in chennai and with his work consuming him totally rudran sometimes forgot that he had a mother and a place called home but secretly he wondered if he was deliberately avoiding thinking of chennai,his mother and home for the trauma was too much to bear,though decades had passed on.And more importantly he did not have to go to chennai to be home for his soul was always filled with bhairav and that was enough for him to go,to live on and to exist.

All the thoughts and recollection brought tears to rudran's eyes and they rained on his mothers hand who gently clasped his fingers and even though she was in a deep sleep,her lips moved " Bhairav,you have come back.please take care of rudran.you are his saviour,you are his guardian.dont leave him alone ".

Rudran took a deep breath and let it out in a huge sigh " sorry amma,sorry that i failed you and Bhairav.But it is me,rudran and i love you as much as bhairav did ".

Rudran's mother's lips moved and whispered " bhairav stop joking and stop fooling yourself.a mother knows who her children are and i know you are bhiarav ".

There was a knock on the door and with tears still brimming in his eyes rudran turned to see if it was babu who had come back but saw Acp balaraman standing there.

Rudran hurriedly wiped the tears away and " come in bala.i guess it has been a long time since you saw my mum".

Bala came and stood next to rudran " how is she doing? any improvement ? ".

Rudran shook his head " no and i doubt if there will be any.But that aside,you are here to talk to me and we will talk.just wait for babu to come back and then we will go someplace quiet and you can ask me whatever you want to ask and i promise i will answer them honestly".

After babu had come,Rudran and Balaraman walked to the end of the corridor which was a dead end and both stood looking at each other.

Acp balaraman " what happened last night?".

Rudran looked at Balaraman with a smile and with a twinkle in his eyes " Bala,who do you report to and who is your superior from whom you get all your directions and orders from ".

Acp Balaraman " what kind of question is this ? you bloody well know who i report to and that is the police commissioner Rakesh menon.But why ask me this when you know the answer and what kind of reply is that to my question on what happened last night ".

Rudran " Bala,you report to the police commissioner of chennai and who does he report to.Okay,he reports to the DGP of Tamilnadu police dept.The DGP reports to the Central home ministry".

Rudran paused for a second and looked at his friend who he was very fond of " I report to a even higher authority and that is the Prime minister of India,who holds both the portfolios of home ministry and defence ministry.Now take a deep breath,think and then decide if you want to know what is happening and if you want to get involved in things which you are neither quailifed for nor have clearance for it ".

ACP Balaraman's mouth hung open for this was not the answer he was expecting and it left him totally confused and his shoulders drooped and he sat on a chair nearby and went over what rudran had just told him.