first impression
First impression
She was bold and beautiful. A dazzling woman in her twenties. She had a perfect bosom that used to heave up and down with every breath. Her hips used to move but not sway during her walk. Her figure was such awesome that one could measure it even on her shadow. Thus saying she was no less beautiful but rather more attractive. Her hairs were always tied in a beautiful tangle and many would spend hours imagining how beautiful she would look with her hairs open falling right below her shoulder. But they were no perverts for she was like goddess APHRODITE to the suburban crowds of the city. But those who did not have that much a skill to imagine would rather watch her with her hairs open, when every night she would leave from her flat in a red car that came every night without fail to take her to the unknown destination. In the car she would be having a group of five girls all equally beautiful or rather attractive wearing dresses of finest silk. But she would always come home before the first rays of sun did dare touch her golden skin with a look of exhaustion on her face.
Her name was RITIKA, what it meant she did not know nor did she ever try to find it out. Now there were some people who knew what it meant, but then she had already broken her relationships with them, the day she had abandoned her parental house in pursuit of the things her conservative family would not allow for many future generations to come. So she lived alone in her one room kitchen flat. The living room cum study room cum bedroom was a Shangri-La of disorder. Nothing there was in any order of the world. The floor was littered with waste paper with the paper bin lying empty; on the bed were scattered heaps of unwashed laundry and her assorted collection of lingerie. The dining table had piles of files as well as the file for her recent treatment on piles. But if anything was in order then it was inside her cupboard. It contained stacks of neatly washed and pressed clothes, few bottles of perfume, a large mirror and in front of it an array of cosmetics.
She had come just 2 months ago in that flat and was attracting the attention of the entire locality, that is the stares of men were filled with warm fire of passion while those of their wives used to be filled with hot fire of the things the fairer sex has got in plenty. But when she used to stare at some roadside Romeo then one could hear his gaping mouth exclaim some four lettered words. What was her name, what did she do, where did she come from, where did she go was always a topic of chat among the men at the bus stop while among the women in their kitty parties. But her reticence added to the mystery, which no one could deflower. But the men remained contented by looking at her for anything more could have resulted in a nasty interrogation from their high command, which they always wanted to avoid. The women however had every right to know for they were the home minister and they could not relax with an infiltrator on loose. But that was not an easy job as they had thought. Nobody knew anything about her not even the local grocer nor the building secretary and not even PINKY the collegiate who was the honorary mobile gossip magazine of the society.
Then began the mission for the unknown identity. There started one of the biggest manhunt in history. The women workforce much against their nature started to work in coordinated and organized manner. Many days passed but still no result. Now even the men much against their nature were found gossiping and telling in each others ears about the failure of the ladies. However in country like India where freedom was synonymous with curtailment of others privacy one cannot hide his or her identity for too long. Mrs. Mehta by bribing the postman with some sweets did manage to find her name. But that would not suffice them nor did they have the daring to simply call her by the name and ask their queries that would have readily fetched them all their answers. But that lacked the skill or rather the kick they would normally get through their normal procedures. However finally they got the breakthrough they were eagerly waiting for. And the answer they got did raise eyebrows of many. It was ramlal the watchman who had managed to solve the puzzle. He had asked her what she did and she did answer him. And then poor ramlal felt obliged to tell about it to the ladies much against his wish for only on mercy of these women could he continue his affair with anuradha the house maid.
Finally summoning her composure the ladies head Mrs. SHRIVASTAV asked him to repeat the answer she had given him. Ramlal puffed with pride told them that he had asked in English regarding what she did, she was in hurry so she replied in haste that she was call something. I cannot remember but definitely she said she worked as call something. And then he left the scene baffled at why did his answer cause their faces to turn red with some emotion that he had failed to recognize. But he never gave it a second thought for he had given anuradha date in the park and he was already late for it. While back in the kitty party Mrs. JOSHI was telling others “I have read about these type of girls in cosmopolitan. They have very high profile clients and they try to maintain their secrecy by living in societies that house a lot of families so that no one suspects them. Before she could finish she was interrupted by Mrs. SEN who was furious shouting, “see her daring she openly acknowledges her truth, I have got two young girls what impression will it make on them”. The others who were well aware with the diverse affairs of both of her girls were seen giggling and whispering in each other’s ears that made Mrs. SEN blush. Seeing the situation slip out of hand Mrs. SHRIVASTAV, the head ordered that she will speak about this to the secretary while all others keep watch on that lady and their own husbands.
Next day with due credits to PINKY the news spreaded like an inferno. And the thing that most men feared occurred. Their wives had declared curfew on their all activities. Even they could not use the elevator if she was present in it. All windows facing her flat were closed bolted and tinted with newspaper. But all this was not applicable to the bachelors. They took this as a trip to paradise, having nothing to do the whole day. They were always found either staring at her or those who really had the balls were found stalking her. But again in INDIA the elders are respected and they consider it as their responsibility to lead those going on a wrong path. So when old grumpy granny who was also the mother in law of Mrs. MEHTA found one such bachelor stalking that lady she was first to slap him and threaten to complain to her son who was unfortunately his boss and a combined product of hen pecked husband and momma’s boy. The example she had set made the women more offensive and all the men secretly agreed to be on defensive. This mutual pact had such an effect that last Sunday when RITIKA was coming from shopping and she tripped, no man came forward to help her and the women they did not even touch her for they considered her as some animal for they had long ago forgotten that she too was one of them. To save every damsel in distress there has to be a Lord KRISHNA, so our hero ramlal who was as dark skinned as the lord but lacked his heavenly glow felt it as his duty to help her and gave her a helping finger at first and then the whole hand. And much to his delight she asked him to escort her to her room, but only till the front door. This moment of joy or lust did not remain unadulterated for in the evening anuradha who was not as rational as RADHA to forgive her KRISHNA instead slapped him in disgust and stopped talking with him.
But this game could not be continued for long. There were rumors about her floating in increasing numbers with every day and the society people really began to worry about her stay. So it was decided, a meeting was held presided by the secretary himself. He reasoned that as she was paying the rent so the owner of the flat was contractually bound to keep her as the tenant until her lease expired which was still 11 months more also she was much more regular in paying the society the maintenance money much against the routine of all those present there so they could not go to the consumer court. The bullying kids who had just graduated ventured to threaten her but all the parents disapproved it by saying that such girls may be having contacts with underworld dons but in real sense they did not trust their children’s intentions. Now there remained only one way, which they had thought of avoiding, but now it was not possible and hence they approached the social branch of the police.
The inspector they met was a budding young man with warm eyes and a look of stupidity or rather innocence on his face however any of these things were not at all suitable for a policeman and hence they believed that he was found in the social branch and not in something important like crime. All who knew him also knew this fact except one man and that was he himself who instead of changing his style of working was in constant need to impress his seniors that had already landed him in troubled waters many times. Yet again when he heard about the case he saw it as an excellent opportunity to please his seniors for these days he knew such gals were spawning at large but were difficult to detect because of the secrecy of there work. He was already dreaming about the flashy headlines of newspaper with his name and the numerous interviews he would give after busting a scandal as big as it and then if it had big names involved then he might get some money also and at last no one could rule out the possibility of medal from the hands of chief minister himself on the forth coming independence day. And thus he decided to devote himself into this case and produce result, the result that he had already foreseen.
The next day the inspector got up early, wore a nice ironed uniform, dabbed on some cologne and then left for the job. As per his instructions the police van was already ready accompanied by half dozen lady constables and a whole battery of press reporters. The inspector who was eager for his medal decided that it would be a surprise raid and thus skipped some of the routine procedures of investigation. Like a prince going for war he marched into the locality with police sirens howling. People for whom this raid was not that surprise had already assembled in the ground. The secretary very enthusiastically pointed towards her window. While the women folk was busy narrating their stock of stories to the reporters. Not wanting to share credit the inspector warned everyone to stay behind till he conducted his investigation and entered the building. Everyone was staying behind as per his orders but actually they were neither interested to go with him for they felt it was more appropriate to watch him do the job while they all contended themselves with freshly baked products coming from Mrs. MEHTA’s oven that too brand new microwave oven imported directly from china. Unaware of all this she was sleeping soundly in her bed exhausted from the last nights workout. Suddenly she awoke to hear the continuous ringing of the doorbell. She wondered who it might be. Though it was not an odd time for visitors, she seldom had any and that too without any prior appointment was impossible. Getting to her sense she opened the door to find a uniformed policeman with a stupid look standing outside, who was still ringing the bell as if he had obtained its musical rhythm. She wondered what would she have thought of his profession had he not been wearing those khaki uniforms. They both smiled at each other never understanding what pun their minds had thought of. She had presented herself in a pink nightdress that exposed her cleavage to a certain extent. And like all males looking at her the inspector thought that this case was going to be really interesting. Not wanting to alarm her he told her that he was on a routine inquiry and just enquired about her profession. And the answer she gave sent a chill in his spine. He turned numb, his legs went cold and he was rapidly losing his balance. Somehow he managed to stammer, “Can you please show me the requisite documents proving it”. She returned inside for a brief period and returned back handing him a file full of some white papers. He gave the papers a glance and the stood still for a moment as if hit by a sledgehammer. It had never took him long time to realize his folly and he cursed himself for skipping the normal procedure of investigation for it could have saved him from the catastrophe that was awaiting him. He recalled the women tell him that she had told ramlal that she was call something and that was not call girl but call center executive manager. That idiot ramlal had failed to understand her English and had passed the wrong information but he had never told anything false only the women had given it the direction and he was fooled to accept it. But then this was not a time of self-examination he had to do something. He knew that exposing his fault could seriously limit his career but the reporters had already assembled below and then if he did not tell the real thing to her she could even sue him in court and that may practically end his career. And he was not a wise policeman enough to make someone scapegoat for his mistake. Then he remembered that pleading was the only option left and without giving it a second thought he started pleading at her feet and narrated the whole incident and there she was laughing till her cheeks ached. Downstairs people were getting restless thinking why it was taking them so long to come. Still they did not move from their places but had they known what was awaiting them then they would have preferred to go for a long holiday. Finally she arrived accompanied by the inspector with a wide grin on her face. And someone even commented at how shameless she was to still smile. The inspector just requested the cameramen to shut down their equipment and then she explained the society people about the misunderstanding they had about her. All of them listened to her with their heads down in shame and then all pleaded the reporters not to make issue of it and much to the relief of the inspector they even agreed to keep quiet if he was willing to give them a party for which he gladly agreed. All the men apologized to her still standing one feet away from her for the fear of their wives. But their wives they had already fled away which she thought might be due to shame of their act but actually they were hunting for the creator of this chaos, ramlal. But no one knew that he had already foreseen what his fate might be was now boarded happily in a train leaving for his native place shortly. After all he was not that idiot.
