July 25th

Disclaimer: This is a true work of fiction and is not meant to hurt anyone’s sentiments. Hope you take this in the right sense.

July 25th, Friday 1:10 PM. As usual I was damn hungry. I kick started my 125 CC Shine and rode towards Koramangala. On the way my mind was totally engaged with the thoughts of Megana. If only Megana was close to my place. It was almost 1:20 PM and I was near Madiwala check post. Some accident has taken place and I saw people running towards the spot. Should I stop and check? I asked my self. No way, I was dying to meet Megana and the last thing I wanted was to get delayed because of an accident. I ignored the crowd and moved towards Adugodi, Star Bazar to purchase a gift for my friend. While coming out of Star Bazar I heard the sound of crackers. Why are people bursting crackers now? I thought. The test cricket against Srilanka has just started and there is no way India would have beaten them by now. Might be some dumb ass who has passed CCNA, I thought. Soon I saw Megana at a distance. My mouth watered automatically. I parked my bike and entered Megana, the place where you get the finest Chicken Biriyani in Koramangala. The biriyani was superb as always. On my way back my phone was constantly ringing, but I didn’t take the call. I was used to getting promotion calls from Vodafone at this time of day and I didn’t want to waste my time answering the phone. Soon I reached back home. As soon as I entered my house the first thing I noticed was the high intensity crackers which were lying on my shelf. I had bought them for the last Diwali and it was lying there for some time. May be because of the crackers that I had heard, I was in a good mood to do the same. I took two and lit them . Whooh !! What a sound!! I thought.

I was alone at home and it was almost 2:15 PM. My phone started ringing again. It was my friend Dannie.

“ Dude, I have being trying to reach you for the past 15 mins. Where are you now ? “,Dannie almost screamed at me.

“At my house “, I replied back.

“ Good, don’t roam around. 5 Bombs have already been detonated at Koramangala “, said Dannie.

“What? Are you kidding me? I just came from there. “, I replied back.

“I swear. Check the news if you don’t believe. Alright, will call you later”, with this Dannie ended the call.

I hurried towards the TV set. All the news channels where filled with the stories of the blast. The bomb blast did happen.

I glued my self to the TV set. Ohh, my God! What a narrow escape? The accident at the check post was indeed a bomb blast and the sound that I heard from Koramangala was not that of a cracker. By now the blast area was full of police personnel’s. One of the police was examining a broken plastic material which he got from the blast area using his bare hands. After fiddling around with the piece for about 2 to 3 min’s he threw it away. The NDTV news reporter was on the spot describing the whole scene. From the looks on her face we could make out her excitement. It was as if she was waiting for an incident like this to make a public appearance.

“IT city, shattered once again when series of bombs blasts within a span of 60 mins. I am standing just next to the Madiwala check post where the first bomb had blasted at 1:30 PM. A women was killed on the spot .. “, she continued.

Forensic experts and the dog squad reached the place. It was as if the Dogs where less interested in the bombs and more interested in the cameras. One of the dogs kept posing to the camera. Might be he is too bored of sniffing bombs and wanted to be the next Hutch dog.

One of the forensic experts covered his hands with gloves and picked up the plastic materiel with utmost care which the other policeman had thrown carelessly. For him there was nothing more valuable than the plastic piece at the moment.

All the news channels were in full josh with the kind of news flooding in. They were literally fed up talking over and over about Saif -Karina relationship which was not going any where. When most of the news channels reported 5 blasts, Times Now started talking about 7 blasts in which 2 according to them has not been confirmed yet. I looked at my box of cracker’s and thought to myself, “Wrong time to play with crackers, I guess!!”.

I was rostered for the night shift and thought of sleeping for a few hours before the happening got into my head. Questions like who had planted the bomb? Why they had kept it? Etc haunted me. By any chance were they targeting me? Before my ideas turned ever more drastic I went into a deep sleep.

My shift was at 12:30 AM and I work up at 11:00 PM. The TV was still ON and the reports of the blasts were still running. Bangalore was at red alert and as per the reports police were hunting for the suspects all over the place.

Fear started building inside me. I will be leaving to the office at midnight. What if cops stop and question me? What if some police men accidentally fire at me? I looked at the mirror. Do I look like a terrorist? My French beard was looking ugly and was giving me a rough look. I asked my friend, “Should I shave this “?

“What? “, my friend asked.

“My beard “, I replied.

He took a torch came close to my face and asked,” You call this a beard “?

It was Friday night and in our company no one dresses in formals. I didn’t want to take any risk. So I shaved my face, dressed in formals, polished my shoes and again looked at the mirror. Do I look like an IT professional? I did some adjustments to my hair style and started towards office. On the way I need to pass Madivala Check Post where the bomb blast had occurred. I imagined the scene full of police men and media persons. As I came close to the place my heart beat increased. It was drizzling lightly and a sense of cold wave start spreading inside me. At last I reached the spot. To my amazement not even a single policemen or media person was there. Instead an ugly looking street dog was at the spot sniffing, as if to prove that he is better than the dog squad. I moved on to my office hoping for a better day.


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Comments

Priyan said…
As usual, nicely put!
Dhanya said…
I so wish the bombs were indeed planted with u as the target. We could have exported your daily meals to the somalian kids who would make a merry out of it for years together ;)

blog is neat, a light read for a topic on which the nation is submerged in. Good angle.
Rosh Ravindran said…
That gloves incident didnt get that much punch...
Ravi said…
Where is this Megana Restaurant?

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