Maze

The room is filled with absolute darkness barring just the light of the study lamp where a guy is sitting and typing to glory. His face is pensive and he is constantly twitching his eye brow and scratching his head. He is visibly unhappy with whatever has been written and he deletes it without blinking an eyelid. He is startled by a knock on the door. He gets up and opens the door and sees his mom standing there.

"What're you doing sitting in the living room all alone? And why are you sitting in the dark?" asks the mother.

"Nothing much, ma! Was just trying to write something. Haven't been able to conjure up anything."

"Have you had dinner?" asks the mother.

"No ma! And thanks for asking. I'm not really in a mood to eat. And please don't disturb me with your silly food-related questions. I'm trying to think of something important here..." the son says this and gets up to go back to his room and right then he is interrupted by his mother again who says "you perhaps need real inspiration."

"Huh? What did you say? Real inspiration? Could you please elaborate, ma?"

"Nothing son! I just meant that you can't really be a writer by sitting at home and reading up stuff on the internet. you need to know and experience the real world, first hand and meet real people and then perhaps, you know, you'll figure out what is it that you wanna write about"

"Thanks very much, ma" the son replies and goes back to his room. He bangs the door loud enough.

In the room he opens his laptop and stares at the blank screen; he sees his mom reappear in the room with a glass of milk. She gives him a glass of milk and vanishes. While going out of the room she looks at his son and leaves with a smile.

The son stares for a while before desperation and anger lead him to sleep. He wakes up the next morning and goes off for a little stroll around the neighborhood. He sees a barrage of people walking on the pavements - some with their pets and some alone - some with their spouses and some with their iPods hooked on to their ears. as the endless stream of people in front of eyes continue, the motion slows down drastically and he feels a mix of certain indifference from some passers by while receiving an odd "hi and smile" from others. After some time, he gets back home and goes up to his room. He opens his laptop and closes his eye for a brief moment.

As he closes his eyes, the visuals of all the sights he had encountered while walking and all the sounds that he had experienced plays in his mind. The sounds are muffled, though!

He opens his eyes and sees the visuals playing out on his blank computer screen and they are flying randomly towards him. He starts writing some random notes. He closes his computer and then takes a bath. He goes off again on the roads avoiding his mom's effort to feed him any breakfast.

For endless hours, he just walks on the road. He keeps following random people. He keeps walking the lanes and enters the by lanes of the shady city. He keeps looking at people and then keeps looking at their random interaction with random people. In some time, he just sits in a corner and his mood goes pensive. He lights up a cigarette and orders for a cup of coffee. While sipping his coffee and sucking on to his cigarette, he continues to look at people at the other end of the line. He witnesses them. He looks at them with curiosity.

He goes back home. He starts taking notes and does so frantically. He then starts disappearing from his home everyday at that certain time. He frequents those roads and the cityscape. He walks all the day and just follows random people. on one such day, when he is following a woman, the woman then turns back and asks him as to why had he been following her all this while. He asks for forgiveness and then goes off.

Back home, he flips open his notepad and the page reads "a maze". He starts scribbling notes and what we see is some incomprehensible, random, gibberish crap. Those are just incidents, anecdotes and pointers based on his observations all through the day and now made during the past week. He soon realizes what his mom meant... he reads his notes and those strings of info make little or no sense to him, but then something just hits his sub-conscious mind. His face lights up. He goes up to the window and lights up another cigarette. He then gets up to his study and picks up his camera. He browses through all the pictures that he had taken and stumbles upon the picture of a man. Something about this man grabs his attention. The man's chilling posture and cold demeanor sort of tickles his bones. After scrutinizing the picture, he identifies the place as "Evolve", a rock pub in the uptown.

Next morning, he gets up at a bit late and then finishes his rituals. He goes to the drawing room and sees his mom had laid the breakfast for him on the table ready for him. He quickly finishes that and gets up to go out when he is interrupted by his mom again… 'Where are you going, son? You've been spending a lot of time outside for the past few weeks… I hardly get to see you at home… I'm sorry if my suggestion has, you know, offended you so much. I'll keep to myself from now on." She says!

"Don't worry, ma! I guess I've figured out what you had meant. I'm going on for some field study." He replied and buzzed off.

He takes a cab and reaches "Evolve". He stands right at the gate and looks at his Mickey Mouse wrist watch. 11.45, it reads. He opens the pub door and gets in. He sits by the counter and orders for a drink. The music almost seems tailor-made for the occasion. The song "Perfect Strangers" just kicks in as he takes a sip of his single malt whisky. After a couple of drinks, he sees the door of the pub open and a figure of a man emerges through the shadow. The man goes to the seat by the window and comforts himself. Immediately, a waiter runs over and asks for the order. The conversation, though not audible, is symbolic enough to suggest that the order is the usual.

He keeps observing the stranger and keeps looking at his wrist watch. After sharp 45 mins, he sees the stranger pay the bill and walk off the pub. He also pays in haste and gets up to follow the stranger. He keeps sufficient distance from the stranger but is close enough to watch his moves and monitor him. He sees him entering a service apartment. He is quite taken aback by the expression of suspicion on the face of the stranger while he makes his way into the building. He decides to move off from the location sensing something fishy. He walks off the building and on his way out he takes a halt again. He turns back and looks at the building. He fetches the notepad from his pocket and then looks up at the building again. He goes off to a corner and stands there. He doesn't leave the site; but merely hides himself.

After nearly 25 mins, he sees the man emerging out of the building with a duffle bag. He starts following him. He sees the man then makes his way to a cafeteria. He follows the stranger. He moves into a cafeteria right across the road where the stranger is having a cup of coffee. He then looks at the time on his watch and then rushes back home. He reaches home and starts taking down the notes.

Next day, he does the same. He gets up and goes to the pub and has a drink. He sees the man emerge in the pub again. This goes on for another 3 days, till…

One day, when he is sitting by the counter at Evolve, the stranger after finishing his drink, gets up and walks over to the counter.

"Hello! Who am I?" asks the stranger.

"Excuse me!" he replies.

The stranger just calls the waiter and orders for another drink for both of them and then reverts to the conversation.

"Yeah! I asked you something. Who the fuck is you and why're you following me?" asks the stranger.

"Are you a cop or something?" asks the stranger again at seeing no response.

Just at the time, the drinks arrive. The stranger sips on to his drink and gestures him also to have his drink and start talking.

"Well! I, uh, am a writer!" he replies.

"A writer?" asks the stranger with a slant of cynicism in his voice… "And what would be your name?"

"Parthiv! Yeah, that's my name." he replies. "See, I know this is quite a sticky situation here; but I can explain."

"Please continue" replies the stranger.

"I am a writer. An amateur one. I do love writing short stories and stuff. And another hobby of mine when I am not writing is you know kinda observing people… Random people. No fixations! I kinda sit and observe them. There are times I follow them. See where they're going, what they do… what they eat, and how they behave and stuff…

"Interesting" replies the stranger. "But why do you do that?"

"No specific reason. I like to put myself in a kind of a detective kind of a situation and observe people's behavioral patterns and try and rationalize them in my head. May or may not be true, but it gives me some sort of notion to play with. It offers an endless spectrum of people's thoughts and their reactions. It kind of opens up a psychoanalytical avenue in terms of understanding people better. And I feel, it's better as a writer to do such stuff, you know." Replies Parthiv.

"Hmmm. Very interesting thought! You just said, Parthiv, that there's no fixation in your habit of following people; but then over the past few days, I have observed you following me. Why do I deserve this fixation? This attention? This generosity?" asks the stranger.

"What's your name?" asks Parthiv

"Manav" says the stranger.

"Well Manav, you looked interesting", replies Parthiv, while snapping out that picture of his which was taken before he started following Manav. He bends down to adjust his feet placement when he stumbles upon the bag.

"What's in that bag, Manav?" asks Parthiv. "I've seen that bag in your hands quite a lot of times over the past few days…"

Manav asks Parthiv to open and see for himself. Parthiv obliges. He lifts the bag and opens it. There's an expression of shock and surprise on his face. He immediately looks at Manav with shock.

"Well, this is what's there! And this is what I do…" replies Manav.

Parthiv shakes his head in disbelief and takes a sip of his drink.

Manav, sensing Parthiv's disbelief, just replies… 'Don't look at me like this! You don't have to act so shocked. Both you and I do same thing. There's no difference between the both of us."

Parthiv, now hardly able to make sense of this, puts up his hands in exasperation and looks at him with expectant eyes…

"You follow people, right? Don't you? And why do you do that? Because it enables you to put yourself in their shoes and think like them and "psychoanalyse" them, right? You do this because you want to decipher people's motivations and people's feelings… You do this to basically be better equipped to understand their minds and control them… Don't you? And have you ever realized what do you do in your attempt at doing this? You basically are intruding their emotional and mental landscape.

"I do exactly the same. You enter their minds to know about people and their motivations and compulsions… I enter their house. You steal their thoughts and expressions to better understand them… I steal their belongings…"We both are similar. We both are thieves. Don't give me your "moral obligations crap!" Manav says this and pays the bill and walks off.

Parthiv also pays his check and walks off. He goes back home. In the night, Parthiv stands at the verandah and smokes. He looks at the fan and then looks at people outside. He goes back to his bed, opens his bag and reads through his notes. He thinks about the conversation he had had today with Manav.

Next morning, he goes to Evolve and finds Manav there. A smirk runs across Manav's face. He welcomes him and after having a drink and a sandwich, Manav says "Do you want to join me?"

"What?"

"Yeah! You heard it right. There are things that you'll never understand unless you're caught in the action… Unless you've lived the moment…"

This word shakes him to the core. He is reminded of his mother's words.

"Fine! I'm in." says Parthiv.

Both Manav and Parthiv finish their respective drinks and go off. They move to a street quite desolated. Manav takes Parthiv to a building where there are not more than 6 flats. He walks up to the 3rd floor and sees a person going down. He wishes him and then gets back to work. He searches for a key when he is interrupted by Parthiv "You're carrying a hammer. Why not break the lock with this?"

"Nope! That should be our last resort… See, people are naïve. They've this trait of feeling too secure too soon. They also trust too easily. See if you can find a key somewhere here." Replies Manav.

Parthiv searches for the key and finds it under the rug. They open the door and get inside the flat. They close the door. Manav starts filling up stuff like crockery and other basic utility items. "These are easy to sell and not that easy to track" says Manav while picking up stuff. He asks Parthiv to hold the bag and dumps some stuff. Once they're done stealing, both of them go to the kitchen and open the fridge. They find a bottle of wine. Manav opens it and takes a sip and also offers the same to Parthiv.

While, sipping on to the wine, Parthiv asks as to what exactly is the point of him stealing stuff that is not expensive? What is the point of messing up the house and just consuming their wine and all that?

"As I told you right at the outset… my point is to not steal. The point is to not make money… The point is to make people feel that they are not secure. Make them feel that their lives can go kaput anytime. Make them feel that it's not their prized possessions that are at the risk of being taken away or being robbed; it's their more intimate self. It's their privacy that's being robbed. It's their intimacy that's being encroached upon. See there's stuff that even if it gets robbed, they can claim it back through insurance. But what about their memories? Their photos? Their privacy? The fear of being trespassed and being monitored all the time? No insurance claim can get them that!

After the discussion, they step out of the house after locking the door and placing the key under the rug. They stop over at a wine shop, pick up a few beers and go to their hideout.

Parthiv is visibly thrilled and he opens the can of beer and drinks it.

The joy on his face is also noticed by Manav. He looks the other side and smiles silently.

Parthiv goes back home and takes down the notes. He sleeps. Next morning, he meets Manav. To Parthiv's surprise, Manav already had that day's plan chalked out. They were going to do another robbery – only this time it was to be executed by Parthiv.

Both Manav and Parthiv enter a studio apartment in a posh area. Parthiv wears the surgical gloves and uses the hammer the break the door glass. He opens the glass and unlocks the door from the inside. In the apartment, Manav and Parthiv start checking the drawers and the closets of the flat owner. Parthiv enters the bedroom and opens the almirah. An album falls down from the almirah. He picks it up and opens. He is astonished to check out the photo inside the album. He calls Manav into the room. He shows her the photo and says that she is the lady who had followed for the first time and she had caught him following her. While moving around the place, Parthiv's hand accidentally scratches a sheet of broken glass. A piece of his coat tears up and falls on the carpet and a few drops of blood drop on the floor rug.

They steal some pictures of hers, leave the drawers and the closets open and then leave the place.

Parthiv goes back home and relaxes. He then doesn't show up to meet Manav for a few days. He then gets a call on his mobile phone. It's a call from the police station. The cops call him to summon him to the police station. He is interrogated there at the cop station of his suspected involvement with burglary and the petty thefts happening around the neighborhood. They particularly cite the instance of the woman's flat and said they got the leeway on him thanks to some incontrovertible evidence.

Parthiv manages to dodge them successfully, at least for sometime and then comes out of the cop station. He then goes back to Evolve and sits by the counter. He orders a beer and a sandwich. He starts eating them when he gets a call on his mobile phone. It's Manav. Parthiv stares at the phone screen for sometime and then answers the call.

"Where the fuck have you been all this while?" asks Manav

Parthiv gets really fuzzy! He gets tensed to listen to such a scream in Manav's voice. He asks him as to what's the matter and Manav says "Fuck! Someone called on my cell today and said they have the pictures and other evidences linking us to the burglaries taking place in the neighborhood and that their silence can be negotiated at 5 million."

Parthiv gets tensed. He lights up a cigarette and orders for a drink. He gulps down his drink bottoms up and then talks "Alright! I'll do it. But this time, I can't have you around. I will do this on my own. Is that an agreeable condition?"

Manav agrees to it.

Next Monday, Parthiv gets dressed and walks up to the flat of the woman where he had robbed last, and dropped his blood. He enters the house this time by finding a key under the rug. He opens the door and enters the living room. He opens the safe and starts unloading the cash and right at that moment, a gun is pointed on his head from behind. Shocked at the instance, he immediately turns back and with the hammer in his hand… as a reaction, the sharp end of the hammer cuts into the person's stomach and starts bleeding incessantly. As soon as the person the falls down, the sweat drops fall of Parthiv's face and he turns cold. The body is revealed to be a woman's. Parthiv immediately checks for pulse and discovers she is dead. He gets himself together and gets back to unloading the cash when a file falls from the safe. This photo shocks Parthiv no end. He is baffled. He is startled for sometime. In that file, there's a photo that is similar to the woman who is lying there dead. The name in the file reads "Deepa Raghavan". The moment he reads the name on the file, the visuals of the name plate at the main door of the apartment that read "Vijay Raghavan and Deepa Raghavan". He turns the file pages and he turns cold again. He is shocked this time beyond belief. The page holds the joint account form of Vijay Raghavan and Deepa Raghavan along with their photos. The photo of Vijay Raghavan baffles him. He goes up to the loo and washes his face and comes back. The image of him having seen Manav sitting lonely at the cafeteria and the pub start playing in his mind and that keeps repeating with the image of Vijay Raghavan.

He loads the cash in the bag and moves towards the place where Manav and he used to meet often. He reaches there and finds Manav standing therein the terrace. Manav is slightly tensed; but as soon as he sees Parthiv, his expression changes from being tensed to now being relaxed. As he lays the cash bag on the table, he looks at Manav, fetches the picture of Vijay Raghavan from his pocket and lays it on the table. Manav looks at the picture and looks at Parthiv. Manav smiles at the hapless state of being Parthiv now found himself in.

Right then, a voice shakes Parthiv.

"Thank you so much Parthiv for everything! You been of great help!!" emerges a voice from behind Parthiv. He turns back and sees a woman emerging. He is in complete disbelief and recollects the woman he had followed first and asked for forgiveness. Also the picture he had seen at that studio flat for the first time emerges in his mind. He recollects everything, all the images in his mind and then looks at his shadow and smiles out of sheer hopelessness…