The 3 Mistakes of My Life Read online

  Mama ran towards Ali. I knew I had to get out of the captor’s grip, grab Ali and pull him to my side. I got ready to move. However, I looked at Mama. The sight of his huge frame and a sharp weapon sent a fear inside me. And I wasted precious time thinking when I should have acted. Ish and I exchanged another glance and he saw my fear mixed with self-interest. What if the trishul ends in my stomach? The what-ifs made me hesitant, but I snapped myself out of it and made a dive to my left. I grabbed Ali and pulled him towards me. Mama struck, but missed Ali’s torso. One blade of the trishul jabbed Ali’s wrist. Ali would have been completely unhurt only if I had dived a second earlier. And here it was, something I didn’t realise then, the one second delay being the third big mistake of my life.

  Of course, I didn’t know I had made a mistake then.

  Ish did exactly as I thought, and banged his head against the captor’s to set himself free. It would have hurt Ish, but I think Ish was beyond pain right now. Ish took his captor’s trishul and struck it into the man’s heart. The man screamed once and turned silent.

  Ish ran to us.

  ‘He’s ok, he is ok,’ I said turning to Ish. I held Ali tight within me in an embryo position.

  There were two captors left and Mama. We did not want to kill anyone.

  ‘We just want to go away,’ Ish said as he held his trishul, facing Mama. Mama had a trishul too. Their eyes met. Mama’s men watched the impending duel. I ran with Ali to the other end of the room. The men came running after us.

  ‘Stop you bastards,’ the men said as we reached the end of the room. One of the men went and bolted the door.

  Ali lifted a bat from the floor. I picked one too, though not sure if I could really fight right now.

  Ali winced as his right wrist hurt when he lifted the bat.

  ‘Heh? Want to fight?’ the two captors said.

  Mama and Ish were still in their face off. Each had a stern gaze. Mama rotated his trishul in his hand.

  One of the men turned to go back to Mama.

  ‘I’ll take care of him, you finish the boy Mama,’ he said.

  ‘Sure,’ Mama said as he moved away. As he left, Mama struck his trishul at Ish’s toes. Ish didn’t expect it. He lost his balance and fell down next to the manager’s desk.

  ‘You are fucking weak, you know that,’ Ish said.

  ‘I can finish you now. Thank your stars you were born in a Hindu house,’ Mama said as he spat on Ish’s face. Mama came to Ali.

  ‘Oh, you want to play eh? You want to play bat ball with me,’ Mama said and laughed as Ali held up his bat.

  ‘Move away,’ Mama said to his men, ‘the boy wants to play. Yeah, you son of a whore, play with me,’ Mama said as he danced around Ali, just out of the striking distance of Ali’s bat.

  Ali pranced around as he stumbled on two cricket balls kept on the floor. Mama picked one up.

  ‘You want me to bowl? Eh? Play bat ball?’ Mama said and laughed, ‘one last ball before you die?’

  Mama tossed the ball in his hands.

  ‘Yeah, bowl to me,’ Ali said.

  ‘Oh really?’ Mama said and laughed.

  Another ball lay next to Ali’s foot. Ali brushed the ball with his feet towards Ish. The ball rolled to Ish. Ish sat on the floor leaning against the manager’s table. His toes whooshed out blood and he couldn’t get up.

  ‘Don’t come near me,’ Ali said to Mama.

  ‘Oh, I am so scared of the bat ball,’ Mama said and pretended to shiver in jest. He tossed the ball in one hand and held the trishul in the other.

  Ish picked up the ball slowly. Ali’s eyes met with Ish. Ali gave the briefest nod possible.

  Ish lifted the ball in his hand. The captor noticed but didn’t react. Ish threw the ball towards Ali with all his strength.

  Slam! Ali struck the ball with the bat. He had one shot, and he didn’t miss it. The ball hit Mama’s temple hard. Mama released the ball in his hand to hold his head. The ball fell on the floor and Ali kicked it to Ish. Ish threw it again, Ali connected and slam! The ball hit the centre of Mama’s forehead.

  Ali’s shots were powerful enough to get balls out of stadiums. At five feet range, they hit Mama like exploding bricks. Mama fell down. His trishul fell on the floor. Ish used it as a stick to get up. The captors ran towards Mama. Ish came from behind and stabbed one in his neck. The other captor saw the blood gush out, the killer look in Ish’s eyes. He opened the bolt and was out of sight in ten seconds.

  Ali kneeled down on the floor. He held his right wrist with his left hand.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Ali said, more in pain than surprise at what he had done.

  Mama lay on the ground. His temple had burst. Internal bleeding had made his forehead dark and swollen. He barely moved. Nobody wanted to go close to check his breath. His eyes shut after five minutes and I checked his pulse.

  ‘It’s stopped. I think he’s dead,’ I said. I had become an expert in dead bodies.

  Ish’s arms wrapped around Ali.

  ‘It’s hurting a lot Ish bhaiya. Take me home,’ Ali said. His body still trembled in fear.

  ‘C’mon move that wrist. Ali, you need that wrist, keep it alive,’ Ish said. He hobbled towards the door to leave. He used a trishul as his walking stick.

  ‘We saved him, Ish we saved him,’ I said as I shook Ish’s shoulders from behind.

  Ish stopped. He turned to me. He didn’t give me a dirty look, but something worse than that. He gave me the look of indifference. Sure, I had let him down for lots of reasons. But why was he behaving like Who was I? Like he had nothing whatsoever to do with me. Ish turned and started to walk.

  ‘Hey Ish, wait for me. I’ll help you open the door’ I said. I reached the door.

  Ish hand gestured me to get out of the way.

  ‘Ish, c’mon Ish, he is alive. We, we did it,’ I said.

  Ish didn’t say anything. He left me like I was one of the dead bodies and walked out.

  Epilogue

  The heart rate monitor beeped fast. Govind’s pulse had crossed 130 beats a minute.

  The nurse came running inside.

  ‘What did you do?’ she said.

  ‘I am fine. Just chatting,’ Govind said. He sat up a little on the bed.

  ‘Don’t make him exert himself.’ The nurse wagged her finger at me. I nodded and she left the room.

  ‘And from that day, exactly three years, two months and one week ago, Ish has not spoken to me again. Everytime I try speaking to him he snubs me.’ Govind ended his story.

  I gave him a glass of water as his voice faltered.

  ‘So what happened in the three years – to the shop, to Vidya, to Ali?’ I asked.

  He turned his gaze down and played with the heart rate monitor wire attached on his chest. He swallowed a couple of times to keep his composure.

  I did not prod further. If he wanted to tell me, he would. I checked the time, it was five in the morning. I stepped outside the room. The early morning sunlight filled the hospital corridors. I asked someone where to get tea from. He pointed me to the canteen.

  I came back with two cups. Govind refused as he wasn’t allowed one after a stomach wash. He didn’t make eye contact.

  ‘I need to find the Singapore Airlines phone number. I have to confirm my return trip,’ I said, to change his mood.

  ‘Omi’s parents,’ Govind said, his gaze and voice both low. ‘I can’t tell you how … destroyed they were. For weeks, the temple had visitors from the neighbourhood and the only prayers were for Omi, Dhiraj and Mama. At the funerals, Omi’s father cried as five thousand people descended from all over Ahmedabad. Omi’s mother became ill after not eating for a week. She had to be in the hospital for a month.’

  I debated whether to place my hand on Govind’s hand lying pale on the covers.

  ‘I didn’t go to the shop for two months. I tried to contact Ish, but … If I went to meet him, he’d shut the door on my face.’

  ‘Did you speak to Vidya?’

&nbsp