Team Name: The Scribe Tribe

Chapter 17 - The Loss of Innocence

Read the previous part here




Cyrus heard and read a lot about Varanasi, dreaming of visiting it. When he decided to travel throughout the country, he knew where he would be heading to first. The prospect of Marijuana, interacting with Foreigners, peaceful evening sojourns getting high on the hash, and the hippie life style in particular intrigued him. Throughout his bike journey to the holy place, he could not keep himself from thinking of that place. 

Varanasi was all that and a lot more. Cyrus lost track of time. The hordes of people visiting the holy shrine, their eccentricities, and the dingy eat outs, narrow unruly roads full of shops selling glittering saris fascinated him, but the number of kinds of faces he saw everywhere left the largest impact on him. He has never seen so many different faces, each one entirely contrasting the other, as if they were competing in being different. He could not clearly remember many of the faces he met during his stay at the city, except that of Jeremy.  

Cyrus was sitting at one of the Ghats facing the river Ganga, smoking from his chillum when he heard a negotiation happening between the tall and good looking stranger and a Sadhu over the price of the hash the latter was selling. He demanded Three Thousand Rupees for the stuff he had, which the stranger was bargaining against. The squabble went on forever disturbing his peace, at which Cyrus got up and faced the stranger. 

“The stuff doesn’t cost more than 100 bucks. Stop the damn fight and smoke some of mine.” He handed his chillum to the stranger. He took the offer, flashed a smile and dragged greedily from the chillum, his eyes flaring red at the effect of the potent stuff. 

“This is insane stuff brother. Jeremy” He extended his hand.

 
“Cyrus.”

They shook hands and sat together at the same place. The Sadhu hurled abuse at both of them and left chanting loudly. Cyrus smiled and studied Jeremy for the first time. He was wearing a loose cotton shirt which had “Om” printed all over in Sanskrit, one of those silly shirts everyone wears once they step in Varanasi. He could be around 35 to 40 years, yet he seemed someone who doesn’t look out of place. 

It felt easy to bond with Jeremy. It felt good to bond with Jeremy. Cyrus felt as if they were both suspended from thin air to this place, just so that they can meet. They talked for hours, when they were exhausted they ate. They stayed in the same dingy hotel, drank and smoked together. For the first time in his life Cyrus found a companion. They didn’t share anything personal, but their friendship was easy. Till Jeremy mentioned Tara. 

Cyrus never knew that someone could love as much and as obsessively as Jeremy. While talking about Tara, Jeremy’s eyes portrayed the whole gamut of emotions he never saw in anyone else. There was lust in his eyes when he spoke of her body, poetry in his words when he spoke of her beauty, fury in his teeth when he thought of their split, jealousy in his mind when he mentioned Shekhar , and anguish in his heart at how he has ended up. Each of the emotion was at its extreme and looked dangerous. Cyrus wondered how Jeremy’s body took them all in without bursting. It felt unreal. He promised to do something for him. Wrong move.

***

Jennifer’s prod on his back brought him back from his reverie. The girl could not stop talking or asking about Aryan. Cyrus thought of asking her to shut up for a while, but thought better of it not to offend her after all that she has done to him, besides she has given him another chance to visit the Duttas when she asked him to take her to Aryan. 

An announcement came asking the passengers traveling from Bangalore to Mumbai to check in, as Cyrus started dragging his trolley towards the entrance. They went in together and took their seats. The excitement on her face looked unreal to him. How can someone be so excited looking forward to meet a person they never knew? 

***

As Cyrus got to know Jeremy better in their travel through the country, he knew Jeremy was not a man to be messed with. He found Jeremy interesting and dangerous at the same time, making him irresistible. As a man who travelled around the world, Jeremy had many stories to tell Cyrus, but whenever the topic veered towards Tara, he seemed a different man. Desire dominated his thought, word and creed. 

It took some convincing from Cyrus to tell him that killing Shekhar would not be a great idea, besides it would also be difficult getting away from it. He did not think Jeremy or himself would be so ruthless as to seek death of a man for marrying his lover. 

It was Cyrus who came up with the idea of the trip, which eventually led to his accident. Jeremy was also easily convinced as it gave him some time to spend with Tara as Cyrus promised him he would take Shekhar away from them. Jennifer proved efficient and they were all together in the Tornado Jeep before any of them could imagine how smooth it would be. 

Shekhar was easy. He proved a sucker for some conversation. Cyrus could not believe how easily he took the bait.  It all looked like a game of chess, and Cyrus enjoyed being in control.

He practiced “The Road Not Taken” speech. It was a simple and effective one written by Jeremy. It did not have any lofty words. It demanded Cyrus to create a situation and play on it, choosing the time when it had the maximum impact. Everything was falling in place till the goddamn accident. Cyrus didn’t see it coming. However, he didn’t think Shekhar would be back to his normal routine so quickly. Shekhar was difficult.

Their plan did not take Roohi into account. Once the little girl came in, the parents became alert, came back to their senses and left packing.

Jeremy left fuming. He said he would plan this time. It was a sinister one and Cyrus had to execute it. Or else, there is no telling what Jeremy would do. They have gone too far to the point of no return.

*** 

“We will be the last ones to get out, and you don’t know about Mumbai Traffic. Get your lazy ass up.” Jennifer was hollering in his ear.

Cyrus got up, rubbed his eyes and took his hand baggage following Jennifer. She was excited. He was filled with trepidation. 

“Aryan, what have you got for me?” He thought aloud.










                                                                                                 Read the next chapter here



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