Prologue
A middle aged couple with their daughter in her mid 20s took U-turn, in their black Mercedes Benz S class with license number ASR, to head home after taking an evening pleasure ride on the back roads of Mumbai at 40KPH. This is part of their every Sunday routine that they have been ritually following for more than 30years. A fully loaded truck, driven by drunken driver, pulled out from the side street at 110KPH colliding with the luxurious beauty in the blink of an eye. Wife and daughter died on the spot as the front end of truck crunched the car into the dark fields, breaking their bones into pieces. The body of the man, who is in his early 50s, was behind the wheel and thrown out the car due to sudden deadly impact taken by the car at its passenger end. The man laid helplessly and hopelessly almost dead on the grass field, staring at the twinkling stars as the silent tears escaped through his eye corners. He tried to utter a word through his painful throat while the thick red blood oozed out of his neck, slit from the sharp windshield glass bits.
Chote! was the last word he uttered before drifting off to death after 8 long painful hours.
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He closed his eyes as he sat in his first class cabin onboard to Mumbai, India. 19years of his life spent with his dad, mom, and sister flashed in front of his closed lids. He worshipped his mom like she is the creator of the universe and never denied any of her decisions. His dad was his super hero and role model while his sister being his driven force to achieve his dreams. A very close knit down-to-earth family who valued love, compassion, and faith in supreme power yet perceived life with open mindedness, is now broken into pieces forever leaving no room to mend.
Mr. Aran Singh Raizada
Mrs. Komal Singh Raizada and
Ms. Anjali Singh Raizada...
All three were pronounced dead 12 hours ago in Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai.
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The only son of Raizadas touched down on Mumbai land and was received by his uncle Manohar and they were soon swamped by media. He shouldered his way through the journalists ignoring their questions until he heard one stupid, rather a pathetic question.
What was your reaction hearing the sudden demise of your family? was the question from an inexperienced lady reporter.
Media has always been part of his life and yet he never understood its existence in the society. He tried to follow his dad but he never understood how tactfully his dad managed the media and their stupid questions.
He halted, removed his aviators exposing his blood red eyes and observed her briefly for few secs before answering on her face, I feel exhilarated and feel like having sex, would you share your bed for tonight? was his reply and he walked away spitting fire from his whole.
This is the first time he ever spoke or behaved ill-mannered in the 19years of his life. The young Raizada, who is known for his mischievous acts, charming smile, melodious singing, kind heart and down-to-earth personality, will soon start to fade away from his own self turning into a typical ruthless selfish business man beyond one's imagination.
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He stood by the three dead bodies and stared at them in denial. His face expressed blank emotions without a drop of tear in his eyes ever since he learnt the news, unable to comprehend why his happy-go-lucky life turned upside down in moments. He spoke to three of them just 10mins before the accident. His father even joked and enquired about his latest crush in the college.
People who attended the last rites were surprised to witness the young man's calm and composed state of mind. While some understood it as his state of shock, most called him as Mr. Soulless.
But the young Raizada who is always fondly called as Arnie or Chote just became Arnav Singh Raizada or the mighty ASR at tender age, a 19 year old final year undergrad student of Fashion Designing, in prestigious university in New York, Parsons The New School for Design.
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Thanks to Dumas for suggesting this pic of Arnav for the chapter!
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The moment he fulfilled the last rites, he lost everything that Raizadas own. Manohar, once most trusted man by his dad snatched everything beneath his feet faking bankruptcy, faltering financial accounts and abusing his power of attorney. His family, massive 10,000 sq.ft. Raizada Mansion where he grew up all his childhood, huge AR Empire that his father took 30 years to build and every single penny with the name of bankruptcy is lost to his greedy maternal uncle. And most importantly he lost trust on the people.
He would allow anything to be taken but not his dad's hard earned Empire and Raizada Mansion where his mom breathed and showered her selfless love on the family. The young man took a quick look at Manohar and noticed that nothing matched up. He closed the accounts and looked at Manohar for few mins, reading his motive. He mentally vowed to get back everything that belonged to his family and silently walked away feeling powerless.
The young Raizada was given 30mins to vacate the mansion.
He paced across the room hatching a plan to save the empire and house from his evil uncle. He made several calls but everyone shooed his pleas as if nothing mattered to them. He opened his wallet and gazed at his family picture as he trailed his index finger over his dad, mom and sister's faces. He felt something hard underneath the 2"X2" photo sheet inside the wallet. He remembered something and quickly ran to his room.
He found a small key beneath the photo and opened the hidden locker located behind the family picture. There are two envelopes neatly folded and many money bills worth of 30,000 dollars.
One enveloped read Open only when you reach 27.
The other envelope read Open if I am no more.
His fingers shivered as he read that line. His dad has always been a perfect planner. Be it business or family vacation. His dad has always meticulously planned everything and anything to each detail and he wondered how he missed evaluating these selfish men around him. He opened the letter and it read,
Chote,
How are you my son? The passive 5 word question tore his heart and tears trickled down his cheeks as he felt lump in his throat.
If you are reading this, I might have already left you alone to this cruel world. Forgive me son, I didnt plan to leave you alone, at least not this soon. It was not my decision but its our fate and you have to move on.
Dont become prey to people around you. Hide your insecurities, show them your best and weaken their abilities. I am sure you are going to rule the people and the day is not far.
My long time friend, Shashi Gupta will contact you as soon as he hears about your loss. He is my childhood friend and for some reason we decided not to meet until certain age. But if there is any angel who could help you, It will be him. Dont hesitate to leave him a message if you need help.
I dont know how many are going to help you but keep your ears and eyes open and look after yourself and my three lovely ladies, including your wife (wink).
You are my man, I will miss our man-to-man arguments. I will watch you from whereever I am. Make me proud my son.
Dad.
He covered his face with the letter and sobbed silently. This is the first time he broke down ever since he heard the news about their demise. He quickly regrouped, grabbed the items from the locker and shoved it in his backpack and left the mansion without turning back.
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How is it? Is it worth continuing... Feel free to let me know your honest opinion guys. New buddys, send me buddy requests if you wanna track the story. If you joined IF prior to Jan 2013 and if you are still Newbie, I will not accept your buddy request just to save some effort on both ends. My apologies, I dont mean to be rude. I am just being practical.
Love, Deeps.
Edited by deepthiya - 12 years ago
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