Chapter 1

Intro

My bike is usually parked in the basement of my office building. I was thinking something and unlocking my helmet from the bike when I saw this gleaming object lying on the floor. A gun!! Whew!! I had never before seen a gun in my life. I mean in real life. I was thinking whether to pick it up or not. There was no one in sight. It was well past 8:30 and most of the people in my building are the 9 to 5 job type. So there was this urge in me to pick it up and I went right ahead and picked it up. It was quite heavy. As heavy as those plastic steam irons that we get nowadays. You can pick it up with one hand and aim and all. I picked it up and put it right inside my bag. Before anyone else could see. I was not thinking anything. I was just mesmerised by the thought of having a gun.

Ever since childhood I have practised shooting. With my index finger pointing straight ahead and thumb upwards. I have had my chances at holding guns too. You know, the Diwali ones. Every child as soon as he is able to walk and run wants a gun. And people say violence is bad. If violence were bad then why would we have the urge to have guns at all? We are all descendants from animals after all. The other day I was watching discovery channel and they showed these two huge horned deers or something playing. And how do they play? By locking horns and hitting each other. Same with lion cubs. And ditto for monkeys too. How can we be different? I think with civilisation and all we have actually become a bit too peaceful. Maybe thats why our population is increasing so fast. But, I am deviating from the subject.

So I had the gun inside my bag. The feeling was undescribable. A part of my nervous system was making me twitch, another was making me feel cold behind my spine. The
frontal lobe on the other hand was thinking whether the relative merits of owning a gun would surpass the danger from police. But then I am a banker, okay still too young to be called a banker, but nevertheless I am one of those breeds. I dont think police will have anything to do with me. Why would they check me at all? Unless... Unless they have put surveillance cameras around here and are watching me right now.

I looked all around me. No one was there. I looked at the ceilings, only cobwebs there. Could the camera be in some vehicle like they do in the TV channels nowadays. You know making bakra and all. There's this other one by a sardar which is also time pass. But bakra is the best. Anyways, I looked around, squinted a lot but couldn't make out if there was any buffoon watching me. Then I saw this huge fly or butterfly or whatever. It was just going round and round. Could it be some CIA sponsered espionage trick? God knows. I tried to look closer at the thing and found to my relief that it was only a big smelly fly. By that time I had one or two drop of sweat hanging by the twitching nerves on my head.

I once again looked around and then made up my mind to give the gun to the police and let all my apprehensions go. There's a police station right infront of my office building. So i sat on my bike and started it and came out of the parking area. To go to the police station I have to go right around my office building because the parking outlet is on the other side. I had to take a left turn and keep turning left until i reached the police station. But usually I turn right at the gate. Habit takes precedence. I turned right instead of left and then realized my mistake. But I am also pretty lazy so I talked myself into keeping the gun till tomorrow. I decided first thing in the morning I will give it to the police.

So I was on my way back home. The road is full of auto rickshaws as the place harbors almost all the head offices you can think of. One of those bastards took a sudden right turn and I had to put my brakes hard on. My back tire skidded a bit and I was temporarily shocked. The shock gave way to anger and I just thought I would kill the bastard with my newfound gun tonight. I accosted him and started yelling at him in perfect mumbaiya and he like a cow said sorry and turned around. All my hopes of killing a man went bust with him saying sorry as my heat came down suddenly.

I went on, and while going realized what a big mistake it would have been if I had even taken the gun out of my bag. There were so many people all around. I would have been lynched before I could even figure out how to unlock the thing and fire. And even if I did get to fire the damn thing then what? Whew!! That was a close escape.

Chapter 2