The Mystic...

"Listen to what this mystic says...

Follow my advice to welcome good days...!

If your sorrows are many, I invite you here,

Take my blessings, get rid of your fear…!

If courage of lion is what you desire,

You'll have to befriend the blazing fire…!

Elham is sitting in his cubicle, doing nothing, just staring towards the photo-frame of his father placed on the corner of his desk. It is hard to guess if Elham is looking at his father or the brown leather messenger bag which is seen near the waist of his father in the pic. As a matter of fact, Elham is missing both.

After being in this position for more than few minutes, Elham, as if coming out of his reverie, gets up and goes to the pantry for a cup of coffee. He fills his cup and returns to his cubicle. The moment he enters his cubicle, he gets a pat on his back.

“Come, let’s have a ciggy break”

Elham turns to see Pramod and Jamal.

“You guys carry on; I’ve got some unfinished work to complete… and anyways you guys know that I don’t smoke. I’m good with my coffee!”

“See… this is exactly what I had told you Jamal, why would Elham accompany us… He’s now in the elite group…”

Pramod and Jamal were once in the same team with Elham, but now they have moved to Ad-Sales. Elham would often call them PJ.

“Bro, your brown leather messenger bag is a hit… as a matter of fact, it helped us crack a deal, didn’t it Jamal?”

“No doubt in it. All we had to do was to convince our client that your article was one of our publicity stunts, and lo! We cracked the deal.”

Pramod and Jamal start laughing. Elham is not at all impressed to hear this, and without responding, sits on his chair and gets busy with his laptop. He completely ignores them, or pretends ignoring them. Pramod and Jamal display a cunning smile and leave.

Elham screams at the top of his voice in his thoughts –

“Just get the hell out of here you PJ… Yes, I am in the elite group now and I deserve to be here”

However, his thoughts are not audible to anyone.

All the activities of the office are being captured through the numerous CCTV cameras installed in and around the entire premises. There’s a monitor room in the office, where on-duty security officer continuously monitors the movements through the set-up of numerous screens.

The big monitor screen is displaying the live footage from the CCTV cameras installed in the News Hour premises, but this screen is not from the monitor room of the News Hour office, but miles and miles away, in a plush office, from where one can have a panoramic view of the famous Vasco da Gama bridge.

Named after the renowned Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, the 17 kilometers long hanging bridge on the Tagus River was built after 500 years of Vasco da Gama’s historic voyage to India.

Yuri Green is a young man in his early thirties with athletic physique and a Verdi beard. If looks could kill, Yuri has the potential of being a great killer. Busy observing the monitor screen, Yuri is particularly keeping an eye on the movements of Elham, while sipping coffee from the Starbucks cup.

Yuri was present in the meeting in which the plans of sabotaging the Global Peace Summit were discussed, and he has been assigned to monitor Elham’s moves.

Yuri is smart, looks tough and has good connections across the globe. Yuri’s connections and the power of the nexus he is working for, can be gauged from the fact that he is getting the live feeds from the CCTV cameras of Elham’s office. It is not clear, as of now, if Yuri has hacked into the systems of the News Hour or he has a mole within the employees of that office, but one thing is clear – these guys mean business.

Yuri notices Elham leaving the office. He checks his watch, which shows 5:00 pm. He picks his coffee cup, goes towards the window and relishes the coffee while enjoying the view of the majestic Tagus River and the Vasco da Gama bridge over it.

Meanwhile, Elham is driving his MG Hector and the digital watch displayed on the dashboard is showing thirty past nine. Elham orders food online from a restaurant which has the facility of drive-through delivery. He makes sure to reach the restaurant just in time, takes his parcel, makes the payment through his card and drives away.

The moment Elham reaches the Noba Street, he recalls the previous night’s encounter, and slows down his car while passing from that dingy lane. Elham thinks for a moment, as if trying to look for his bag, and drives away.

Elham reaches home and finds his landline phone ringing. He presses the speaker button and before he can say ‘Hello’, a sweet voice of a female begins talking.

“So… you’ve reached home. How was the day? … and why the link of your article is disabled…? I’ve shared the link to so many people… in fact… if you had seen… no you haven’t seen… still… you know that I always share your links through my various social media accounts… it is because of me that your articles get so many views… and all of a sudden you disable your link… and wait a minute… oh! I get the picture now… you were talking about your… oh my god…! are you OK… I mean… did they hurt you… oohhh… I’m so sorry for your bag… and by the way…”

This is Ira, Elham’s only friend, who’s pursuing master’s degree in Archaeological Studies from Germany. Ira and Elham have been friends since childhood, and after the untimely death of their fathers’, their bond has grown even stronger.

While Ira is talking non-stop, Elham is busy having his dinner, which he bought from the restaurant.

“Elham… are you listening to me?”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing Ira… you haven’t given me a chance to speak… I …”

“OK dear… I got it… I was just worried about you… now listen… my calling card does not have much balance… just wanted to tell you that don’t forget to pick me from the airport tomorrow night at nine….

Before Elham can ask her anything, the phone gets disconnected. Elham tries calling her back but couldn’t connect the call.

Elham feels a bit relaxed… there’s even a faint smile on his face… however, his smile vanishes as soon as his eyes grab the attention of a newspaper article about the upcoming Global Peace Summit.

Elham then picks his mobile and records a voice message –

“I’m sure I’m going to make a blunder and have no idea how to avoid doing it… though it is a big opportunity for me, I’m not ready for it… you know how I feel… and have no idea why on the earth uncle Sharma has selected me for this conference? Entire office is talking about it… most of them think that I’ve influenced uncle Sharma… but the fact is that if I could influence him, I would have asked him to count me out… anyways… it’s good that you are coming… see you soon…”

Elham sends this audio message to Ira, while his eyes still glued to the newspaper. His attention from the newspaper gets diverted when his phone buzzes. He picks his phone, taps on the screen to hear Ira’s message –

“Chill man… just think how proud your father would have been if he was alive… you are about to fulfil his dream… relax, and focus on your potentials…”

Elham feels good, and after thinking a bit, decides to go on a walk…

There’s still an hour to midnight and the road is not as deserted as it was the previous night. While walking, Elham reaches near the other end of that lane where he was robbed of his bag. He looks at the lane, it is as abandoned as it was, and continues to walk straight ahead. After walking for a few minutes, Elham takes a break and rests on the bench by the footpath and once again listens to Ira’s audio message. Elham is lost in his thoughts when he suddenly hears this voice.

Next Chapter...

"Listen to what this mystic says...

Follow my advice to welcome good days...!

If your sorrows are many, I invite you here,

Take my blessings, get rid of your fear…!

If courage of lion is what you desire,

You'll have to befriend the blazing fire…!

Elham turns around to see a makeshift tent beside an old Matador van parked by the corner of the road. Elham is confident that he had not seen the tent while on his way to home from office couple of hours ago. He looks towards the tent curiously, and finds an old man, shabbily dressed, sitting with a lantern kept beside him. He thinks for a moment, then the man again calls him…

“Fear not lad… I know everything… I have the solution to all your problems & predicaments… all you have to do is to step in with all your worries and step out with confidence.”

Elham goes towards the tent and sits down on a small seat. The mystic looks at him and tells him that he can sense his problems…

After talking, or rather sweet-talking, for almost an hour, the mystic finally convinces Elham to follow a meditation – a simple procedure, post which he can gain enormous self-confidence. The mystic then hands over a parchment to Elham, on which the procedure of meditation is mentioned. In return, Elham hands him some cash. Before Elham can leave, the mystic tells him to make sure that the meditation is not interrupted, else it can have dire consequences. Elham nods his head and leaves.

Elham soon reaches home and after reading the parchment for quite a few times again, decides to give it a shot, though he finds it utter nonsense.

Elham makes all the arrangements as instructed in the parchment, like arranging twenty-one incense sticks in a small tumbler filled with salt, three candles and a lemon cut in four. He finds it hard to believe what he is up to. Since he finds it very funny, before starting the meditation, he takes a picture of this entire arrangement from his mobile.

Elham begins the meditation and soon starts getting a feeling that he is going in a trance. As the time passes by, Elham begins having a feeling that his pulse rate is decreasing… nevertheless, he continues as instructed by the mystic. Suddenly, his phone bleeps…

The sudden sound of the phone grabs his attention and the meditation he has been doing gets disrupted… Elham, whose pulse was already going down, suddenly sees darkness all around him and collapses…

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