Nobby Roseate Uttam, End term submission

It had been 25 minutes since Yatharth had been staring at the office clock, waiting for it to strike 6:30, when he would be free to go home. Don’t ask him why he was sitting in such an uncomfortable position because he is certain to make you and anyone in a five meter radius privy to the stream of obscenities going on in his head. It is quite tiring to eagerly await something without knowing what you are waiting for and why. Had we been in his situation, we might have cursed our luck, or if we had been brave or theist enough, our respective gods. Fortunately just like us, this guy has no clue whom to blame for his aching neck.

Meanwhile, the second hand of the clock bypassed the much awaited landmark without a second glance, and just like that, it was time to go back home. It was a long way home and even longer for someone expecting something to happen. He hadn’t known that he was being pranked by his narrator, but in my defense I’d like to say that even beyond my own expectations, the metro ride back was too uneventful. No one so much as shoved the person in front of them, even at the Rajiv Chowk metro station.

He got down at Tilak Nagar, walked down the four flights of stairs and climbed back up two more to emerge on the pavement in front of the McDonalds. Today he wasn’t thinking about food for a change, and he took the right turn to emerge on the road so that he could take the bus.

One look inside his brain told me that he was still very pissed. Usually, his bad mood’s mileage was about 15 kilometers, or 30 minutes, according to average metro transit time. Sitting at one seat in the office must have been exhausting for the poor guy, let’s make him walk the remaining kilometer and a half to his Hari Nagar flat.

Walking had a calming effect on Yatharth and suddenly he decided that he needed to work off the restlessness he had been feeling since a few hours. The restlessness had first driven him to distraction and then frustration. Was it an ill omen or a good one? Was he about to die or get a promotion? Meanwhile he had this itch to slap the next person who barged into him, and so far the Delhi people in keeping with their usual lack of thoughtfulness, had refused to oblige him.

He turned into the next street going left and faced resolutely straight ahead, refusing the meet the irritating glare of the obscenely bright and colorful shops. Even the bikes coming straight at him were irritating, didn’t these guys know that high beam was meant for highways, not for a crowded and well illuminated street in one of the most populated areas in Delhi? Since he had been let down by the rude people of Delhi, he felt that it may be nice to go somewhere secluded for a little while.

I think instead of making him go straight ahead to his house, i should perhaps fulfill his wish for some seclusion. There is a park coming up on the left side. Looks a bit dark but hey, a fictional character can't get into any danger from which I can't save it!

There was a park to the right, with a tall floodlight, screaming at the world in pale orange light that they could come and gossip in its shade, conveniently passing around slander after dinner. Just like colors weren't completely discernible in its light, so were the allegiances of the gossipmongers. There was another park to the left, with a thick cover of trees at the boundary, filtering out such people who wouldn't go to dark and lonely places, choosing to hover around well lit places like insects in monsoon.

The park seems deserted. I can't see anything for him to do here. Let's stop in for a quick detour, just enough to make him feel a sense of adventure and then back to his place. Maybe I could make one of his exes text him something nice tonight. The poor guy deserves a break. It's downright sad to see him get so excited about going into a secluded park, at night, alone.

50 meters inside and already the flashing lights as well as the ever present drone of voices feels like a distant memory. He would've liked to lie down on the grass but it's too late in the year for that. Too much dew. The benches are a bit better. Suddenly he notices that the tall pole beside him is actually a floodlight which doesn't work anymore. That shouldn't stop him from exploring, since the torch in his phone was enough to illuminate his way. A few steps later he realized that it was a full moon night, or at least close to it since the moonlight was quite bright. He hadn't noticed this while under the trees but he had stepped out into an open area and now his torch wasn't a necessity anymore. It became something he was running away from, because the moonlight made everything clear. Nothing is a dubious color under the moon, it's either black or white.

The perfect stillness was broken by men running across his field of vision, most of them carrying clubs and wearing the garb of people who did not do 9 to 5 jobs.

“Did you see a man going this way?”

No, said a voice in his head. Yes, he said aloud.

This is strange, the autocorrect changed the no to yes. Not that it'd make any difference since I didn't make him see anything. Maybe I can get off with it by saying that he was more exhausted than he thought.

Yes, I saw some men, he said. I am really tired so I didn't notice them properly but I think they went that way.

”Okay.  person like you should be roaming after dark”, he said by way of thank you. Maybe it was a thank you in his own way. Or maybe he wasn't expressing gratitude but answering a favor with another.

That was a creepy guy. I wonder who is writing him and how did it cross over? It's not rare but it had been a while since it had happened and it is unsettling Everytime.

Yatharth walked a few steps towards the centre, expecting to see a large open space since he couldn't see any trees in the direction. Instead there was a railing. Intrigued, he walked on to find the railing forming the boundary of a huge depression in the Earth. He hadn’t heard of a giant pit in this side of the city and the place looked too deserted to be a construction site. He’ll have to explore it further during the day since right now everything looked too ethereal to be easily understood. And understanding was the key to self reliance.

I think even he is giving hints that he finds this place creepy and wants to leave it asap. I can't blame him that. I'm not there and the place is still giving me the chills. Also, The last line of the previous paragraph I think I just wrote because I wanted to sound philosophical.

Curious about this place now and anxious to be able to find it, he turned the brightness of his phone to the minimum and fired up the Google maps. Tihar lake. Bordered by one side by the shamshan ghat and on another by a moscue and a Temple.

He just covered his face with his fingers as if about to burst into a guffaw, and then inexplicably, unseen by anyone, he smirked. A tihar where lives were imprisoned. A Tihar where they were set free.

Hang on, I didn’t want him to smirk, I don’t even know why would he smirk right now? Why did he smirk?