He waited outside the hall and watched his son through the windows. The son had his head down and was writing furiously. He smiled as he thought that his boy was writing his exam well. He was never comfortable with studying and examination but over the last few months he had at least accepted about not having about studying and writing examinations. Outside, a teacher was busy distributing corrected answer sheets to a set of students. A few of his son's classmates were collecting their papers from the teacher. He saw his son's name on the paper at the top of the corrected answer sheets. He craned his neck and attempted to read the marks on the paper but could not. He looked at the teacher annoyed. How can he distribute the answer sheets when the class is writing an examination and why are the children collecting the papers and not writing the examination? The scene reminded him of people selling tickets in black outside a cinema theatre.
He was sitting on a bench with a teacher when his son walked up to him. He could not identify the teacher but it seemed that he taught one of the subjects to his son. As his son sat opposite to him the teacher mentioned "You should do better the next time!" His son shook his head in acceptance and looked at him sheepishly. He could not remember the identity of teacher who had distributed the corrected answer sheets earlier but believed that it was probably this one. He looked at his son and asked "How much did you get?" His son responded "21". Embarrassment and pain flowed through his body and he said "You did not even pass! You should at least pass in all the subjects!" His son did not say anything. He asked to his son "Which subject?" and received the response "Kadhakali". He was shocked as he did not know that his son learnt kadhakali at the school. He looked at the teacher and wondered if he was the kadhakali teacher. In his modern attire, the teacher did not look like a kadhakali teacher.
He was standing in a queue with his wife and son. The queue was long and it was not obvious for an observer why the people were standing in the queue. His slipped his hand into the right pocket of his trousers and was surprised to find something that he did not expect to be there. He took it out and was shocked to see a small pistol. It was not his and he did not remember anyone giving it to him either. He looked at it for a moment and suddenly a thought struck him. He decided to rob the bank with the pistol. He got out of the queue and walked into the bank with his wife and son following him. He waved the gun and announced that he was robbing the bank. Someone laughed and said "With that!" He responded "Yes!" The person laughed again and said "That looks like a water pistol". He looked at the pistol concerned. He showed it to the ceiling and pressed the trigger. Everyone realized that it was not a water pistol.
He walked out of the bank in a hurry with his son and wife following him. No one tried to stop him. They went down the stairs and walked towards the door. As he walked out of the door, his way was blocked by a few cops running in. They looked at him for a moment but let him pass when they saw his wife and son. They walked out of the door and continued walking at a quick pace away from the bank. They turned left at an intersection and continued walking. They were in the commercial part of the city with shops and offices lining the sides of the road. They continued to walk briskly as policemen ran towards the bank. Soon they found themselves in a residential area. He did not know what to do. He looked at his wife and son. They looked back at him. He saw an autorickshaw approaching them. He asked his wife "shall we go to the railway station and leave?" He did not hear his wife's response. He waved at the autorickshaw but it did not stop.
They continued to walk. He tried to remember where he had kept the loot from the bank. He did not remember but somehow it did not matter. Once again they found themselves in the commercial area that they had crossed earlier. He decided to get into a hotel with his wife and son. When they went inside they realized that it was not a hotel but an office. The receptionist looked at them enquiringly. He did not tell her anything and she let them stay. They went up the stairs to the third floor and walked around the third floor reception. It was at that point that he realized the trouble he had pushed himself and his family into. The whole area was covered by CCTV, which would have captured all his actions. He looked at his wife and said "I will surrender to the police and take the complete responsibility. You stay out of this with our son." She did not say anything. He looked at his son and felt a pang of pain run through him. He realized that his son will not have his father for many years. He will miss his son. He felt tears rolling down his cheeks. He took hold of his son's palm and walked up to the glass partition that overlooked the road. He found a cop walking on the other side of the road holding a smartphone in each of his hands. He was requesting the passers-by to look at the screen of the phones and tell him something. One of the passers-by stopped to look at the screen. He then turned and pointed at the building to the policeman. To his shock, the policeman looked directly at him. He did not move but looked back at the policeman for a moment. He closed his eyes.
He opened his eyes, turned his head to the right and looked at his son.
No comments:
Post a Comment