speak out

Ramu and Shamu were very good friends. Since school there had never been a day when they had never fought. Be it school or house, studies or play there had always been fights. And there had never been a day when their fight had not ended up with a hug.

Ramu was always calm where as Shamu was like a cooker on a stove which could blow off the steam anytime, but once blown off he too came back to normal. Their fights always ended with Ramu s talk of advice and Shamu s apology.

Days passed by Ramu had plans for further studies, he had to go abroad in a couple of days. Shamu on the other hand wanted to stay in ‘his country’, amongst ‘his people’.

One day Shamu had a fight with Sneha, his girlfriend. Like usual Shamu had no control on his temper, he said things that he should not have said. Hurt by this Sneha just left. Ramu had to catch his flight next day. When Ramu heard this he met Shamu and told him that what he did was not right. That he should have not lost his temper at Sneha. That she was hurt. And asked him to call her up right then and apologize. Shamu s temper had not yet subsided. Ramu became his next target

“Shut up ok!!! What happened between me and Sneha is none of your business. Don’t meddle in my personal life”

Ramu just took off. He knew that shamu would come back when he had cooled down. The next day Ramu left for his studies but shamu never came to see him off. ‘typical of him. Still the same kid shamu is. When ll you grow up shamu?’ told Ramu to himself.

Shamu never tried to contact Ramu for years…

One fine day Ramu returned. ‘Back to his country, amongst his people’ as Shamu used to say.

Ramu knew the first thing he had to do. ‘Meet Shamu. Scold him, beat him if necessary but take the apology which he owes to me’ thought Ramu.

When he reached Shamu s place he noticed that nothing about that place had changed. The same garden, same plants the same house welcomed him. But inside the house something had changed. Shamu was not as he was before. He looked very fragile on his bed. He was very happy to see Ramu in his room.

“Ramu I am so glad to see you. Forgive me my friend I was very harsh to you the last time we met. I said things which I should have never said. I am really sorry my friend. But you!! you always brought me back to my senses. Why didn’t you hit me that day? Why didn’t you scold me? Why did you just turn your back to me?”

“I am sorry too Shamu. I thought you were right. I had no right meddling between you and Sneha.”

“please do not say that Ramu. Do not make me feel more bad for what I did to you. Doctor told me that they had detected cancer in me… so I decided that sneha would be well off without me. That was the reason for the quarrel. I wanted her to be happy which she would never have been if she had stayed by me. I am sorry my friend, I should have told this to you, but I decided against telling you. it would be better for you I thought”

Ramu had no words to speak. It was hard to believe that his once strong friend was not there on bed so weak. He burst into tears…

“Shamu I am sorry, all these days I thought you were still the same old kid whom I had to persuade to talk to after any fight. But no my friend you have grown. I feel very small next to you. But you should have told me….”

“thank you for coming back. Now I am at peace”

“Don’t worry Shamu everything ll be alright. We ll get the best doctors in to treat you. I still have to defeat you in Cricket.”

“no pal. I be the champ forever. I ll die undefeated” said Shamu holding ramu s hand.

Soon Shamu s grip stiffened. He had drawn his last breath.


Never hold grudge on everyone… speak it out now … if you are sorry for something, express it now when you get a change… probably there might not be a tomorrow.

ಒಂದು ಇಲಿಯ ಕಥೆ

ಒಂದು ಸೊಗಸಾದ ಸಂಜೆ, ಇನ್ನೇನು ಮಳೆ ಬರತ್ತೋ ಯೇನೋ ಅನ್ನೋಹಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಒಂದು ಇಲಿ, ತನ್ನ ಬಿಲದಿಂದ ಮೆತ್ತಗೆ ಹೊರ ಬಂತು. ಅದು ಅಷ್ಟೇನು ಚುರಕಾಗಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಒಂದು ಸರ್ತಿ ಅತ್ತ-ಇತ್ತ ನೋಡಿತು. ರಸ್ತೆಯ ಬದಿಯಲ್ಲಿತ್ತು ಅದರ ಬಿಲ. ರಸ್ತೆ ತುಂಬ ವಾಹನಗಳು. ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ರಸ್ತೆಯ ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಬದಿಯತ್ತ ಹೋಗಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುತ್ತಾ ಇತ್ತು. 3 ಕಾರುಗಳು ಇನ್ನೇನು ಅದರ ಮೇಲೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು ಅನ್ನೋಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಅದು ಬಚಾವು ಆಯ್ತು. ಅಷ್ಟು ಆದ್ರೂ ಅದು ಮುಂದಿನ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ ಇಡಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಹುಷ್ಷಾರ್ ಆಗಿ ಇಡಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಪರಿಣಾಮ - 4ನೆಯ ಕಾರು ಅದರ ಮೇಲೇರಿ ಹೊಯ್ತು... ಅದು ವಿಲಿ ವಿಲಿ ಒದ್ದಾಡೋದನ್ನ ನನ್ನಿಂದ ನೋಡಲು ಆಗ್ಲಿಲ್ಲ.

ನಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನ ಕೂಡ ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ವಾ? ಬದಕು ಅನ್ನೋ ದಾರಿ, ಗೆಲವಿನತ್ತ ಪಯಣ, ನಾವು ಪಯಣಿಗರು. ತಪ್ಪು ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ ಇಟ್ಟ್ರೆ ಸೋಲು ಎಂಬುದು ನಮ್ಮನ್ನು ತುಳಿದು ಪಚಡಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಬಿಡುತ್ತದೆ

Corner Store(Part 4)

It did not take much time for Kashyap to realize that Omkar was dead. Anala had lost her consciousness, probably due to the injury on her head. Ambulance was called. Anala was coming back. Kashyap helped her to get up. Anala was given first aid and taken to hospital for a checkup. There she was declared to be normal. She just had a cut, and no internal injuries. She was soon sent home.

At Anala s place…
Kashyap had come to enquire her. “Anala what happened at Omkar s place? You were found at the site of murder. Why were you there, and how did you get yourself injured? Please explain everything”.

“Inspector last evening I had a vision of Omkar getting killed. So I came to warn you, like you had instructed. As you were not there I left you a note. Then I went to warn Omkar about this. I explained everything. He said he would be alright. I had dinner there and we were just having some conversation, I was very tired and drowsed away sometime in between the conversation. That s the last thing I remember about last night. And today morning I got up, the clock said 6. I was very thirsty. So went to the kitchen to get some water. There I saw Omkar down on the floor, blood all around. I lost control and fell down, something hit my head. That s the last thing I remember”.

The clock again. It was stopped at 6. And the calendar was marked on 25th March as D day. And Omkar was killed at 3 am on march 16. the murderer was playing a game. Killing people and warning the authorities of the next murder.

‘Could Anala be a suspect? She was found at the site of murder. And all the 3 victims were related to her in some way or the other. All the 3 victims were killed by an item bought at Corner Store. Anala had a vision of all the 3 being killed. But if she was the murderer why would she warn the police about about Omkar? No she can not be a suspect. But definitely there is something fishy’ thought Kashyap.

‘Omkar wore a thread on his right hand and reports said that it matched with the one found in Neha s hand when she was killed. Had Omkar killed the 2 girls? If so who killed Omkar? Was he one among the group of killer who were responsible for the murder of the 2 girls?’ many more such questions kept shooting in Kashyap s mind. And so was one more question. Who would be the next victim? March 25th was not very far away….

Anala was broken. She had almost seen 3 people get killed. Images of those bodies kept swirling in her mind.

One night when she was sleeping she saw all the murders happening, like she had seen it many times after Omkar s death. And the murderer too. She was shocked. How could this happen? Why was this happening to her? She had no solution. She was not in a state to tell this to anyone.

March 26th
Inspector Kashyap was tensed. 3 murders in his area. Immense pressure from higher authorities. If the serial killer was still active there should have been a murder last day. Why was nothing reported? Only solution he could think about was to visit Anala and ask her if she has had any vision on the previous day.

He had to make a forced entry into Anala s home as no one answered the door bell in spite of the TV being on. Right in front of the TV was Anala, sleeping peacefully, sleeping an eternal sleep.

Cause of death : sleeping pills, well beyond prescribed limit.

There was a diary on the table, with a pen in it. Anala wrote regularly.

Feb 11th : “why did I get that vision? I never had such problem….. “

Feb 12th : “I have lost track of time. I do not know where I was between 8 30 to 9 30 last night. Why do I not remember?”

March 6th : “again, I do not remember where I was between 11 30 and 12 30 this noon. It was in this time interval that Neha was killed.”

March 20: “I keep getting dreams of the murders over and over again…..”

March 25th : “ same dream again. But this time I saw the murderer. It s me. I killed the 3 of them. Something is wrong with me. I must surrender. I must not be the murderer of one more innocent life….”

Next to the TV there was one more diary. It said Jwala s property. A pen in it. Anala s photo on the cover page. Kashyap could not understand it. But flipped through the pages. Last few pages…

“ Poor Anala. She thinks that it is her who killed the 3 people. She tried her best to save them. To save them from me. But I am Jwala. Anala is nothing compared to me. She was about to prevent Omkar s murder and break my series. But I succeeded. Anala should not live. I am better with out her. Say good by anala….”

Reports said that the finger print on both the pens were that of Anala s. Past medical records said that she suffered a mental disorder. Anala would imagine people getting killed and Jwala killed them in the exact manner. Or Jwala planned to kill people, and as Jwala was part of Anala, she too would get glimpse of the plot…

PS: Anala s death occurred at 6 pm on march 25th

Corner Store (part 3)

Couple of days had passed by. Anala was finding it hard to forget the 2 incidents. She found it very difficult to spend time alone. So during most of her free time anala could be found at the Corner Store, flipping through the latest books, CD s or dresses. One such day, she found a guy, in mid 20s probably, eyeing at girls in the store. She gave him a stern look. Their eyes met. The guy probably felt embarrassed and left the place. But there was something in him. A voice from somewhere deep within Anala told her to meet him, to talk to him. Anala was not sure why she wanted to talk to him. ‘forget it’ she told herself and carried on.



Next day after work Anala was having coffee in the Corner Store, when the guy appeared again. This time trying to make eye contact with her. Anala tried to ignore him but when the guy started to approach her, she decided to leave. Noticing this the guy hurried towards her and said “hi I am Omkar. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I am sorry for yesterday….. I did nt mean to….”

Anala interrupted “You don’t have to justify you actions to some stranger. You are blocking my way.”



But a voice inside her was telling ‘it is alright. I want to talk to you. Please make me stay. Do not let me leave. I don’t want to be alone at home’



Some how the guy built up a conversation and they started talking like they knew each other from ages.



There was something in Omkar which had attracted Anala towards him. She did not get attracted to him exactly, but something or rather some voice in her was telling her to be in his company. They became friends, met frequently. Anala was happy after a long time.



March 15th evening.



Omkar and Anala were having coffee at corner Store. Omkar wanted to decorate his place a bit. So had bought some wall hangings, show pieces, and beautiful brass flower vase. He wanted to do some more shopping but Anala was not feeling very comfortable. She felt some kind of uneasiness. Some kind of restlessness. Anala thought of having rest and took off.



Soft music and a love story were enough to pacify her. Soon she drowsed away.



Omkar got up from the couch to get a cup of coffee. The TV was still on. He had hardly moved. It all happened within a flash, and Omkar was down in a pool of blood. Someone had hit him with something gold like in color.



Anala suddenly woke up. It was 9pm still 15th March. She knew exactly what it was. ‘The Murderer’ had planned to kill Omkar next. The reason was not clear. She rushed to the police station only to find that Kashyap was not reachable. So she left a note saying that Omkar was next, and left his address and mentioned about her vision.



Next she went to Omkar s house. He was watching something on the TV, and was surprised to find her at this time. Anala explained everything and Omkar began to laugh. “bull shit. Who on earth wants to kill me? You know what? I have read a bit of psychology. You stay alone right? And you hardly know anyone here right?”



Anala nodded.



“that the root cause for all the problem I guess. You stay alone. But you don’t want to stay alone. So when you get close to someone, deep within you there is a fear that they would ditch you. That fear makes you visualize them going away from you… going away to a different land… to the land of dead, from where no one returns”



Omkar tried hard to convince her that nothing would happen to him. Finally she agreed.

“ok take care. But can I stay for sometime and then leave?”



“are you sure?” asked Omkar with an wicked grin.



“Do not get ideas. I am hungry and do not want to eat alone do you have something to eat?”



Next morning Kashyap arrived and found the note. Soon he rushed to Omkar s house. It was around 7 in the morning. Newspaper and 2 packets of milk were lying outside. A song was being played. Kashyap was not sure if it was TV or music system that was on. But no one answered the call. When he turned the knob the door just opened. And Omkar was lying in a pool of blood, a wound on her head, weapon – a brass flower vase.

Corner Store (Part 2)

When Anala came to know about the murder, she didn’t know how to react. It was tough for her to decide whether it was a coincident that she had a vision of Mehak getting killed or she really had some kind of 6th sense. But who would believe that she had a vision of the girl getting killed? And for all she knew the girl she had seen might not have been Mehak in the first place. She might have just imagined some girl getting killed – effect of reading and watching lot of murder mysteries. Finally after a long argument against her other self Anala decided that it was just a coincidence.

March 1st.

Anala was again doing her favorite pass time at her favorite place – shopping/window shopping at Corner Store.

A lady was trying to decide on which knife to buy. As Anala passed by she saw the lady admiring a dragger. Their eye s made contact. She said “nice thing to hang on wall”

“nice thing to use on someone too.” Anala replied with an evil grin on her face, and then winked. Both smiled at each other.

“I am Neha. I have shifted to this place recently”. She introduced herself. Anala too introduced herself

After the shopping was done Neha said “Why don’t you come down for a cup of coffee. Not that I make very good coffee. I do not know anyone here and I feel lonely. It would be nice if you join me for the evening.”
“Sure. Anyways I do not have anything to do. But promise that you wont use the dragger on me.”

“Ok I wont use it this time.” Said Neha with an evil smile.

After spending the chatting all the evening with Neha, Anala decide to return back. She returned home, prepared a quick dinner, after dinner sat down with another murder mystery novel. Anala had lost track of time. She had dozed off within minutes after she started to read.

Anala was in a room. Very familiar but definitely not her s. She knew that she had been in this room before. But could not tell when. Then she heard a voice and soon Neha entered. Then she realized that she was at Neha s place. Neha was telling something and suddenly a hand slit open her throat with the same dragger that Neha had bought the previous day. Instantly Anala got up to find herself on her bed, in her room. The clock said 8. It was already morning. ‘Neha must be awake by now’ she thought. Finishing her ablutions Anala rushed to Neha s place to warn her. She told her about the recent vision she had and also narrated the whole of Mehak incident to her. Anala told Neha to be careful. Neha told she would, but that she did not believe in 6th sense.

That evening Anala paid another visit to Neha and was happy to find her still alive. Some days passed by and nothing eventful took place, for which Anala was very happy.

March 6th evening. Around 6
Anala and Neha had planned to go shopping. Anala had been waiting for Neha to call her. But finally she decided to call Neha and ask her where they would be going.

“tring tring”…. “tirng tring”. No one answered initially. Anala was about to hang up when a harsh voice answered the call. “Hello inspector Kashyap speaking. Could I know who I am speaking to?”

After a long silence….
“I am Anala, Neha s friend. I was waiting for her call, but she did not call me so I called her up. Is everything alright inspector?”

Neha s body was laying in a pool of blood. Her throat split open by a dragger. A cold blooded murder. Again the inspector was confused to see that there were no indications of any kind of forced entry. Also there was no sign of struggle. Everything looked to have happened in a flash and the murderer had not left any trail.

But every murderer leaves a trail. And Kashyap was bent on finding one such trace, a trail. And he found one very soon. Between neha s fingers kashyap found a piece of thread, the ones that people wear around their neck and hands. Kashyap also found something strange. The time piece in Neha s room had been stropped by someone. And the time it showed was 3. Strange he thought. Something more strange was the calendar in her room March 16st was marked as D DAY in thick black ink.

When Anala came to know about the murder she immediately rushed to Neha s place, met the inspector and told him about her dream or vision or what ever it was. She also mentioned about seeing the murder weapon in both the cases. Inspector did not believe her initially but when she mentioned about the murder weapon he was shocked as no outsider knew about the actual murder weapon. He was partly hoping that she would have seen the murderer. He asked her to come straight to him if she got any more such visions.

“could the 2 murders be interlinked? If so what is the link? Who might be behind them? What could be the reason behind these murders?” many more such questions haunted Kashyap s mind.

The calendar in Mehak s apartment was marked for March 6th, mehak s watch was stopped at 12 and Neha was murdered 12 in the noon on 6th of March. Was this a co-incidence? Or were the 2 murders done by the same killer? The victims were in no way related to each other. If the 2 murders were related could the indications be of a next murder? If so it should happen at 3 on March 16th.

Corner Store (Part 1)

Feb 11th.
It was Friday evening. Anala was doing her weekly shopping as usual at the Corner Store – the super marker of her locality. She was in the ‘Clothes’ section. A girl – sweet, good looking, may be in her early late teens or early 20s was talking to someone on her mobile phone and searching for a belt. After a long search she got what she wanted. But she never hung up. ‘She is not mentally present here’ thought Anala. The girl had stumbled at a rack, dashed someone, let her purse slip, and after paying the bill forgotten her credit card (only to be returned by the clerk), had the guard not warned her about the signal she would have been in hospital or worse dead by now.

‘Such an easy target for a thief’ thought Anala after observing the girl, who had somehow managed to get into her house almost opposite to the departmental store.

Anala was just about to leave the departmental store when everything went blank. She lost track of where she was. Everything was fine now, but she was not in the departmental store but in a house, the girl smiling at her, the same girl whom she had just seen in the stores. Anala could not understand what was happening. Suddenly a hand appeared, it had a belt, the same one which the girl had just bought. Then the strangled the girl with the belt. There was nothing that the Anala could do. Within no time the girl was on the floor, dead. And then everything came back. Someone had sprinkled water on Anala, who was down on floor now, people had gathered around her. The guard had a bottle of water in his hand and offered it to her. It took some time for her to comprehend what had happened. She had just passed out. This had happened couple of times before. But never had she seen anything like what had happened today. She didn’t want to tell anyone about what had happened. After some time Anala got up, thanked the guard, told she would be alright and was on her way back.

‘why did I see the girl getting killed? Is this an indication of something? Na, I am normal. Of lately I have been reading lot of murder mysteries. May be that s the reason I imagined the girl being killed’ thought Anala sitting on the couch drinking juice once she reached home. ‘It has been a hectic week and a hectic Friday. I need some rest. Let me sleep’ she thought. Within no time she was in her bed and fast asleep.


Feb 12th.
Saturday morning around 8. 2 police jeeps. Journalists waiting outside to interview the inspector and ask for details. Detectives searching hunting for clues, flashes of camera. Reason: a girl aged 22 found dead in her apartment. Murder. A brand new belt - the price tag still on and mentioning the name of the store from which it was bought – Corner Stop. No trace of forced entry. No trace of robbery. No finger print other than the girl s found. And not much struggle thought the Inspector.

The girl Mehak, did not answered her boyfriend s call, which made him pay a visit to her house in the morning at around 7 30. looking at her lay down dead had petrified him. After the initial shock he had called the police.

Inspector Kashyap found something strange. Mehak s watch showed 12. It was forced to stop at 12 in fact. In the struggle the murderer might have hit the button though the inspector initially. But when the autopsy reports arrived he was sure that something fishy was going on. According to the reports Mehak was killed at 9 pm. Murder weapon – The Belt. So the only possible solutions were either Mehak had unknowingly stopped her watch at 12 that noon, or the time was changed and watch stopped in the struggle during murder, or the murderer had changed the time to 12 after the murder and stopped the watch. Instinct told him that the third one might be the solution, but why would the murderer stop the watch at 12? Was he trying to tamper the evidence. Coming to evidence the murderer had hardly left any evidence. And if this was an evidence, it did not make any sense. The watch did not have any other finger print on it.

Inspector Kashyap had found something else odd too. In a corner in Mehak s bedroom room there was a calendar. There was noting special about it at first glance. But as he flipped through it he found that March 6th was marked as ‘D DAY’ in bold black letters. The letters here were definitely different from the ones found on the other pages. Which meant that it was not Mehak who had marked March 6th. What was so significant about March the 6th? This is not an easy case to solve thought Kashyap

yellow rose or red rose...

Today was 'the day'. Pratham was waiting for it for months. He had seen himself in the mirror for the nth time over the last 30 minutes or so. Each time he saw himself in the mirror he decided to make some or the other change in his appearance. Today was Feb 13th, one day before valentine s day, and her birthday too. The very thought of her drifted him to a different world.

He had a hard time choosing the flowers. Yellow or Red rose. Initially he thought of giving yellow one today and red tomorrow. Start up with friendship and end up a step higher. But finally decided that today was the day. ‘let me tell her right away. I have waited for long time now. One more day is too much to ask. And if it’s a reject better today than on valentine s day’.

Pratham had talked to Aditi only twice before. For him it was love at first sight. There was something in her. She was so beautiful yet so innocent, so bold yet so gentle, so cute yet so humble. The spark in her bright eyes had hypnotized him at her very first glance. His mind was filled with everlasting images of her cute smiling face. He could still feel her stuffing a huge piece of cake into his mouth…

Hmmm Aditi… It might have been a bit less than 2 years now when Pratham first happened to meet Aditi. It was a summer morning. Sun red as an apple. Not yet harsh on people where his rays. Warm enough to make you sweat on your jog. Pratham had come early today. As it was a Sunday he could hardly see any one. Like he cared… with music on he always drifted to a different world. Music was the only companion he liked during his early morning jogs. As he passed through the corner of the park he an old man falling down. Pratham helped the old man get up, took him to his room which was very close by. Provided first aid. Luckily not a fracture, just a sprain. And the he dropped the old man to his house. It was here that Pratham was hit by an arrow right through his heart by Cupid. This was their first meet.

And exactly one year ago Pratham had got a call from the old man asking him to make a visit that evening. It was Aditi s birthday.

Those were the only 2 occasions on which Pratham had talked to Aditi. Plucking up every bit of courage he had from every corner of his body Pratham went to the park where Aditi came every morning. He didn’t have to wait for her for long. There she came. An angle. Sunrays falling on her face through trees. Few of her cousin’s kids were with her. Looking at him she smiled and waived her hand. He felt as if someone had pressed his ‘mute’ button. No voice coming out.

Letting the kids free to play she came towards Pratham.
“hi pratham how are you?”
“happy birthday.
“Thank you”
“ Beautiful…”
“I am sorry?”
“Beautiful day is it not” corrected pratham.
“ya it is a beautiful day. The flowers are beautiful. Thanks for them”
“I wanted to say something…”
“Ya , go ahead. Permission granted”. Aditi wanted to have some fun…
“the first time when I saw you….”
“ya…”
“It was because of your grand father. How is he now? Long time since I met him”
“ya he s doing good”
“it has been long time since I met you too… you look the same. Have not changed. … as beautiful as ever…”
“thank you”

After some non sense chat Pratham blurted out “iaminlovewithyou”

“what? I didn’t get you”
“I am in love with you. Ever since I saw you for the first time at your grandfather s place. Wanted to tell this before but could not muster the courage.”

“what made you tell it now” asked Aditi with no change of expression.

Pratham had drained all his strength and was left with nothing to tell.

Aditi was silent too. Then with the same cute smile she held his hands. “I fell for you the same day. In this harsh city who has time for a stranger - an old man. Some times even my cousin does not help my grandfather. But you did….” After a long pause “ and you look good too”

‘Was that a yes?’ Asked Pratham to himself. And then when they sat on the bench hand in hand watching the kids play he thought ‘yes that definitely was a yes'



A little distance apart unnoticed by Pratham, Riya was walking with her friend.
“Riya is that not Pratham?”
“ya that s him. How do you know him?”
“what s he doing here alone, flowers in his hand”
Riya was in love with Pratham… like she was with many others before him. But Pratham was never attracted to her. Now she didn’t like him.

“Riya I first met Pratham at my grandfather s place.” And narrated the incident. “and I fell for him. But what is he doing alone in the park. He seems to be waiting for some one. He seems to be talking to someone.”

“yes Aditi. He is talking to someone. He is talking to himself. Or he imagines someone to be sitting besides him. He has lost his mind. Some kind of mental imbalance they say. Don’t remember the term…”

“Aditi s eyes were moist"



Pratham was still talking to Aditi. Mesmerized by her. suddenly Aditi said "is that not Riya?"
"yes it is her. Do you know her?"
"i do know her. Used to spend most of my time with her when i was here. But have not yet met her this time. Who is she talking to?"

"May be a friend, whom she imagines to be with her right now. may be you... She is undergoing treatment. She s always in her own imaginary world, with imaginary people."