ONE NIGHT (26 page)

well.

Esha reached behind from her seat and rubbed Priyanka’s arm.

‘You guys are funny. Remind me again how you met in college?’ Vroom

said.

‘Forget it,’ I said.

‘C’mon Shyam, just ell. You guys never told me,’ Radhika said.

‘At the campus fair,’ Priyanka said I spoke at the same time.

I looked at her. We gave each other a formal smile.

‘You tell,’ Priyanka said.

‘No, it’s okay. You say is better,’ I said.

Priyanka sat up straight to tell a story we had told a hundred times, but

never got tired of repeating.

‘We met at the campus fair in second year. Both of us had stalls. Mine

was on female empowerment. It showed slides of problems faced by rural

women in India. Shyam had a video games counter. However, nobody was

coming to visit either of us—everyone just wanted to go to the food stalls.’

‘Then?’ Esha said, her eyes focused on Priyanka.

Then Shyam and I made a deal that we would visit each other’s stalls six

times a day. Shyam would come and see slides on hardworking farm, women

and female education programs. I would go and play Doom II on the

Playstation at his stall. By the end of the fair I was so good, I could beat him,’

Priyanka said.

‘No way,’ I said. ‘I can take you on at Doom II any day.’

‘Well, anyway—so over three days we visited each other’s stalls three

dozen times. And by the end of it, we felt…’ Priyanka said and paused.

‘What?’ Radhika said.

‘We felt that both the stalls belonged to us. And that as long as we were

together, we didn’t need anyone else to visit,’ Priyanka said and her voice

choked up.

My throat already had a lump the size of an orange, and I just nodded to

keep a straight expression.

We kept silent. I was hoping Priyanka would cry big time now.

‘Well, things change. Life goes on—move on to better things. It is like

playstation to X-box,’ Vroom said.

I hate Vroom. Just when Priyanka was all mellow, Vroom’s wise words

brought her back to reality. She composed herself and changed the topic.

‘How far are we?’ Priyanka said.

I looked at my watch.

‘Damn Vroom, it is past 4 a.m. How much further?’

‘Around five kilometers from the call center. I am driving slower now.

You want me to drive faster?’

‘No,’ all of us cried.

‘We’re going to get late. Bakshi will flip out,’ I said.

‘I can take a shortcut,’ Vroom said.

‘Shortcut/’ I said.

‘Next left there is an un-tarred road. It was made for construction

projects. It cuts through some fields—saves us about two kilometers.’

‘Is the road lit up?’ Esha said.

‘No, but we have headlights. I’ve used that way before. Let’s take it,’

Vroom said.

Vroom took a sharp left after a kilometer.

‘Ouch,’ Esha said, ‘you didn’t tell us this road will be so bumpy.’

‘Just a few minutes,’ Vroom said. ‘actually the ground is wet today from

the rains yesterday. That is why the ride is not smooth.’

We plunged on into the darkness, even as the headlights tried hard to

show us the way. We passed fields and construction sites filled with materials

like cement, bricks and iron rods. In a few places, there were deep holes, at

builders constructed the foundation for super-high rise apartments. I think

the whole of Delhi had decided to move to Gurgaon, and people were growing

homes along with the crops.

‘There, just one final cut and we are back on the highway,’ Vroom said

taking a sharp right.

Suddenly the Qualis skidded. The vehicle rattled and slid down an

inclined path.

‘Careful,’ everyone shouted and held on to anything that they could

find around them. The Qualis went off the road into a slushy downhill patch.

Vroom desperately tried to control the steering but the wheels couldn’t grip

the ground. Like a drunk tramp, the Qualis staggered down and into the site

of a high-rise construction project.

#29

The slope ended but the Qualis still kept rolling forward. It slowed down

as it slid onto a mesh of iron construction rods. Vroom braked hard, and the

Qualis halted on the rods with a metallic clang, bounced twice and came to a

stop.

‘Damn,’ Vroom said.

Everyone sat in shocked silence.

‘Don’t worry guys,’ vroom said and started the ignition. The Qualis

shook with wild vibrations.

‘Shut…the…ignition…Vroom…’ I said. I looked under the Qualis. There

was a floor of iron below us that was trembling violently.

Vroom’s hands trembled too as he turned the engine off. I think my

remaining alcohol in his body had evaporated in seconds.

‘Where are we?’ Esha said and opened the window. She looked out and

screamed, ‘Oh no!’

‘What?’ I said and looked out again. This time I looked around more

carefully. What I saw was scary: we had landed in the foundation hole of a

building, which had a frame of exposed metal rods covering it. The foundation

was a pit, probably fifty-feet deep and had a frame of reinforced cement

concrete rods above it. The rods were parallel to the Qualis and jutting out at

the other end—and they were all that supported us. Every time we moved,

the Qualis bounced, as the rods acted as springs. I could see fear in

everyone’s face, including Military Uncle’s.

‘We’re hanging above a hole, supported only by toothpicks. We’re

screwed,’ Radhika said, summing up the situation for all of us.

‘What are we going to do?’ Esha said. The contagious panic in her voice

made everyone nervous.

‘Whatever you do, don’t move,’ Vroom said.

A few minutes passed. The heavy breathing of six people was the only

sound.

‘Should we call for help? The police? Fire brigade? Call center?’ Esha

said as she took out her mobile phone from her bag.

Vroom nodded. His face had the nakedness of fear.

‘Damn, no reception,’ Esha said. ‘Does anyone else have a mobile that

works?’

Priyanka and Radhika’s cell phones did not work as well. Military Uncle

didn’t have a mobile. Vroom took out his phone.

‘No network,’ he said.

I took out my phone from my pocket and gave it to Esha.

‘Your phone is also not working, Shyam,’ Esha said and placed it on the

dashboard.

‘So we can’t reach anyone in this world?’ Radhika said.

A rod snapped under us. The Qualis tilted a few degrees to the right.

Radhika fell towards me; Vroom held the steering wheel tight to keep his

balance. He froze in the driver’s seat, unable to think of what else to do.

Another rod snapped, and then another like feeble twigs under us. The Qualis

tilted around thirty degrees and came to a halt.

All of us were too scared to scream.

‘Dows anyone have any ideas?’ Vroom said.

I closed my eyes for a second. I visualized my death. My life could end,

just like this in oblivion. I wondered when and how people wound find us. May

be labors tomorrow or even after a couple of days.

‘Six irresponsible agents found dead, alcohol in body’ would be the

headline.

‘Try to open the door, Vroom,’ Military Uncle said.

Vroom opened his door. The Qualis wobbled and Vroom shut it

immediately.

‘Can’t, Vroom said. ‘Messes up the balance. And what’s the point? We

can’t step out, we would fall right through.’

I turned around to look out from rear window. I noticed bushes a few

feet behind us.

‘Move towards the left. No weight on the right. We have to stay

balanced until someone spots us in the morning,’ Vroom said.

I checked my watch. It was only 4:14 a.m. Morning was three hours

away. A lifetime. And people could show up even later.

‘Otherwise?’ Esha said.

‘Otherwise we die,’ Vroom said.

We stayed quiet for a minute.

‘Everyone dies on day,’ I said, just to break the silence.

‘Maybe it is simpler this way. Just end life rather than deal with it,’

Vroom said.

I nodded. I was nervous and I was glad Vroom was making small talk.

‘My main question is– what if no one finds us even after we die. What

happens then?’ Vroom said.

‘The vultures will find us. They always do. I saw it on Discovery

Channel,’ I said.

‘See, that makes me uncomfortable. I don’t like the idea of sharp beaks

rearing my muscles, cracking my bones and ripping me to shreds. Plus, my

body will be smelling like hell. I’d rather be burnt in a dignified manner and

go up in that one last ultimate puff of smoke.’

‘Can you guys stop this nonsense? At least be silent,’ Esha said and

folded her arms.

Vroom smiled at her. Then he turned to me. “I don’t thinking Esha will

smell too much. Her Calvin Klein perfume will keep her carcass fresh for

days.’

Beneath us, there were two sharp ‘pings’ as two more rods snapped.

‘Oh no,’ Priyanka said we heard another ping right below her. A flicker

of light appeared at the dashboard.

Everyone sprang to attention as my cell phone began vibrating.

‘That’s my phone,’ I said.

The phone started ringing. Everyone’s mouth hung open.

‘How did this ring without a network?’ Esha said, her voice nervous.

‘Who is it,’ Radhika said.

‘Pick it up,’ I said with my hand stretched out, unable to reach the

dashboard and unwilling to move too much.

Esha lifted the phone. She looked at the screen and gasped.

‘Who is it?’ I said.

‘Do you know someone called…God? It says…Good calling,’ Esha said.

#30

Esha’s fingers trembled. She pressed the button to take the call on

speaker mode.

‘Hi everyone. Sorry to call so late,’ a cheerful voice came from the

phone.

‘Err. Who is it?’ Esha said.

‘It’s God,’ the voice said.

‘God? God as in…’ Radhika said as all of us looked at the brightly-lit

phone in fright.

‘As in God. I noticed an unusual situation here, so I thought I would just

check on you guys.’

‘Who is this? Is this a joke/’ Vroom asked in a stronger voice.

‘Why? Am I being funny? I just said I am God,’ the voice said.

I narrowed my eyes. Apart from the fact that God using a cell phone was

unusual, I never thought my life was important enough for God to call me.

‘God doesn’t normally call. Prove that you are God. Otherwise, can you

please get us some help,’ Vroom said.

‘How do I prove I am God? Do I make this cell phone float? Or do I create

rain and lightning on demand? Or do you prefer magic tickets? Special effects

maybe?’ God said.

‘Well, I don’t know. But yeah, something like that,’ Vroom said.

‘So, to impress you I have to break the same laws of physics that I

made? I’m not into that these days. And I have plenty of believers. I thought I

could help, but I can hand up. See you then…’ God said.

‘No, no wait. Do help us…G…God,’ Esha said and turned slightly so she so

could hold the cell phone between all of us.

Radhika put a finger on her lips to signal Vroom to be quiet. ‘Okay, I’ll

stay,’ God said in a cheerful voice. ‘Tell me, how is it going?’

‘Help us get out. A few more rods break and we are going to die,’ I said.

‘Not that, how is it going otherwise? How is life?’ God said.

I am really bad at tough, open-ended questions like that. I hate to

admit the extent to which my life is screwed up.

‘but right now we’re trapped…’ I said and God interrupted me.

‘Don’t worry. The Qualis isn’t going anywhere. Just relax.’

I let out a deep sigh. Everyone was silent.

‘So back to the question, how is life going? You want to go first,

Radhika?’ God said.

‘You are God. Obviously you must already know everything. Life is

miserable,’ Radhika said.

‘Actually, I
do
know,’ God said. ‘I just want to find out how you feel