Somnath uncle was on ‘TOP OF THE WORLD’ and quite literally. He stood atop the tallest mountain peak in India. As he turned his gaze toward us we could notice how he was nothing but a tiny speck on the gravity-defying peak of Kanchenjunga. We could notice how where ever we saw we could only see three things. The mountains, the snow on the mountains, and Somnath uncle on the snow on the mountains. Yet as he spoke to us, the reader, his loud voice boomed across the mountain range. He waved at us. His hands swung over his head, crisscrossing at regular intervals, in an attempt to grab our attention.
“Hey. Hey you. Do you know who Balvinder was?” He addresses us. The reader of this story.
“Hey, you. I am talking to you, the one reading. Do you know who he was? Balvinder?” He repeated.
“No. Right? Well, let me tell you his story. Come a little closer.” As he gestured towards us to come closer to him, he panned into our vision. The tiny speck on the mountain, transformed into a highly animated hand-waving human machine.
“Have you been to India? There is this place called Jaipur there.” He said. His voice back to normal.
“Jaipur, the pink city. The City of Maharajas and forts and bungalows. He lived in one such bungalow. As a driver. The owners paid well. Three meals along with shared accommodation in the servant quarter were part of the compensation. With two other senior drivers in the house work was not much. Every now and then the youngest daughter of the owner would want to go out and inevitably she would ask him to be behind the wheels. Whether it is to shop or to go out dancing at night, the youngest daughter would always tease him. At times she would ask Balvinder to stop at a busy intersection and pull her dress down to reveal her breasts. She would then instruct him to keep looking at her while she rubbed herself to an orgasm. At other times after a drunken stupor, she would bring in boys into the car and ask Balvinder to watch while she had sex with them.
“Hello.” Somnath uncle had stopped waving his hands and was now gesturing for us to come back to reality.
“Listen, it is getting cold in here. My Sherpa tells me that there is a storm coming. He has found a cave just behind this rock. Come we will sit there, light a fire, and then I will continue the story of Balvinder.” Somnath uncle followed the Sherpa as he beckoned us, the reader, to follow him.
“Ah! See, now this is comfortable. The fire is lit. The Sherpa has checked the cave and there is no one in it. No animals. So nothing to worry about. Here eat this.” Somnath uncle gave us something to eat.
He continued. “This will give you strength and once you are done eating it we will have a shot of brandy. It will give us some much-needed warmth. The winds have intensified. So we will wait here till the weather gets back to normal.” Somnath uncle and the Sherpa sat around the fire.
“Yeah, so where were we? Oh yeah, Balvinder.” Somnath uncle said.
“Though he might have seen her naked scores of times, Balvinder never desired to go beyond watching. Initially, he was very uncomfortable but slowly he got used to it, in a “she-approached-him-and-he-could-not-get-it-up” kind of way. It was then that he realized that, he liked swords – curved, straight, thick, thin, all kinds.
To test his theory he decided to do something to confirm it. On a Wednesday afternoon, when only the maids were home, he decided to rape his fellow roommate. After his roommate came back for lunch, he pounced on him. He lay him down on the floor and punched him till he became unconscious. He then opened his clothes, turned him face down and spread his ass cheeks, and raped him. He had never seen himself that erect ever before. He was now sure that he was gay. With that finalized he took all the cash he could find in the room and left the house forever.
“Saala, all Balvinders are like that. Raping. That too a man. He is devil himself.” The sherpa cut Somnath uncle to express his disgust over what he had just heard.
Somnath uncle gave the Sherpa a nasty look, to convey that he did not appreciate the interruption in his storytelling. When the message seemed to have been driven home, he continued.
“ Balvinder was born in an upper middle-class family in Delhi. Growing up with two brothers and one sister, he had a very loving and providing set of parents. He got everything a child from an upper middle-class family could think of; except for freedom. His parents were so overly loving that they became claustrophobically loving parents. What he ate, when he slept, what he wore, what friends did he make, which college did he go to, they controlled every aspect of his life. Their behavior came from a place of love, from a place of worry that their youngest child might commit some mistake in his life. And Balvinder, the truly “obedient” son he was lived with it till about 17 years of age. It was then that she met Bidisha and his life changed forever.
“Bidisha?” asked the Sherpa. “Who is she?”
“She is the one because of whom Balvinder is where he is today.” Somnath uncle replied.
“Oh, I already like this Bidisha character.” Said the Sherpa gulping a shot of brandy.
“In the last year of his school, Bidisha arrived as a transfer student from Kolkata. Within a couple of weeks of her arrival, she became the talk of the school. To begin with, she was extremely good at academics, and she had an interest in almost everything extracurricular. Be it music, crafts, or sports, she was good at everything. So it did not take time for her to become the teacher’s favorite. She was also the only student in the entire school to have a pixie cut without being reprimanded for it. That made her famous amongst fellow students. Then to top it all she started dating Alok, the captain of the school cricket team. The hero of the entire school. All of this made her the object of desire for every boy in the school and a source of jealousy/inspiration for every girl in the school.
Balvinder was no stranger to her charm. On top of that, he was also her classmate. So naturally he was drawn towards her. So one fine day in the middle of the school year, he decided to propose to her.
With a greeting card that read, “The most awesome person I have ever known”, and a bouquet of roses, he went to meet her in the music room where he knew that she would be practicing for the singing competition. In his imaginary world, he was confident that all he had to do was give a card, a bouquet and go down on one knee and profess his love for her. She would leave Alok and would apologize to him for not choosing him in the first place.
His card and the bouquet fell to the ground when he saw Alok and Bidisha kissing in one corner of the music room. Alok was sitting on a chair with no arms. Bidisha was sitting on his lap. Her lips exploring his. Her legs wrapped around his waist, while their tongues played with each other’s. Alok’s hands explored her derriere under her skirt.
They did not notice the card and the flowers slipping from his hands and how he ran away from them. From the room. As far away as he possibly could. He went to his house and shut himself in his room for days. Crying. His parents frantically tried to make him come out. But when he slipped a letter from under the door, which read, ‘that if they did not leave him alone he would cut open his wrists’, his parents stopped banging the door.
After about 2 weeks of crying, he emerged hungry and puffy-eyed. Something inside him had changed. A new Balvinder was born. A Balvinder, who would not stop at anything to get what he wanted. A Balvinder who was ruled by his desires and wants. So when the new Balvinder came out of his room, Alok had to die. So one day, he bought a chef’s knife and drove it through Alok’s heart as soon as he could find him alone. And then he ran. Ran away from Alok’s falling body. Away from Bidisha. Away from his parents. Away from everything that made Balvinder who he was.
At the age of 17, he came to Chandigarh. There, after living in a Gurudwara for about 2 weeks, he joined a dog shelter. There he took care of the dogs and helped the owner of the shelter to get the dogs adopted. It was during one of these adoption drives that Balvinder met Seema. The 41-year-old housewife, who was married to one of the richest cloth exporters of Chandigarh. She had always wanted to buy a dog. So when her husband finally allowed her to keep one, she went to the same shelter in which Balvinder was working. During the drive Balvinder and Seema started talking about which breed of dog was most suited for her needs and house. Balvinder explained to Seema how a quiet pomeranian bitch would be the ideal pet for her. Seema, who had come to buy one pet, found two. Laila, the dog and Balvinder.
Balvinder was the pet boy toy for her, who would bring the spark back in her life, which her husband failed to provide. He would accompany her to clubs and eateries and places of culture and art. She started feeling young and alive again. Balvinder on the other hand got a source of money. She would spend her husband’s hard-earned money on him. She got him a house on rent near her place. She bought him a second-hand bike and paid for his daily expenses. This went on for good one year. During these six months, there were many a times when Seema aunty invited him to her house and initiated sex with him. But he never managed to get a hard-on. They assumed that he had Erectyle Dysfunction and so she started giving Viagra to him. Not surprisingly the sex with a young bull was what she had been aching for all this while.
Things started going downhill when Balvinder started dating a new girl from the dog shelter who had come for a two-month internship from Delhi. She had experienced a great tragedy at home and had been coping with it for almost a year now. When she could not take it anymore she decided to join the dog shelter. Balvinder and her immediately hit it off. She liked how Balvinder was quiet and stable. How he listened to what she had to say. How there was pain in his eyes. He on the other hand liked her because she represented everything that he had loved in Delhi. He loved that she did not want him for sex. That she actually cared for him.
It was only a matter of time before Seema aunty found out. In a fit of rage she took out her husband’s pistol and went for Balvinder’s house. She opened the door with the keys that she had, and found Balvinder and the girl kissing. What she did not know when she pulled the trigger was that it was the first time they were kissing and that she had a really bad aim. While she aimed for Balvinder, who was still leaning into the kiss, the recoil of the pistol changed her aim and it hit the girl from Delhi. Blood from her head splattered on his face while her lifeless body dropped to the ground instantaneously. The suddenness of all of this shook Balvinder beyond measure. So when he noticed the gun in Seema Aunty’s hand, he ran away from the house to save himself. Away from the dog shelter. Away from Seema aunty. Away from the dead girl lying on the ground. Away from everything that connected him to Seema Aunty.
In the middle of a quite posh locality of Chandigarh, Balvinder ran for his life as Seema aunty ran behind him, firing from her pistol. He was somehow able to dodge 4 bullets while running before he almost hit a truck while crossing the road. Having given Seema aunty the slip, when he got up from the road where he had fallen, he pleaded with the driver of the truck to take him wherever he was going. When the driver asked Balvinder about the blood on his face, he explained to him the entire situation and that how he was now being chased by the same woman who had killed his girlfriend. It was about then that Seema aunty fired the last shot in the pistol. The bullet whirled past the driver instead. Terrified at being shot at, the driver gestured Balvinder to sit in his truck as he ran for his life and took his position behind the wheels. The truck took off leaving Seema Aunty panting on the road.
After some time the truck driver stopped at a Dhaba on the highway where Balvinder washed himself up and wore the loose pant and shirt the truck driver gave him. They reached Amritsar, where Balvinder helped the truck driver offload the cargo. Then they visited the Golden Temple and it was just outside the Golden Temple that Balvinder decided to work with the truck driver. Initially, he became the driver’s assistant. In a span of 2 year, he traveled across the country to deliver cargo of all types. Some legal. Some illegal.
He had started learning how to drive a truck and had become trained enough embark on his first journey as a truck driver. In the journey from Amritsar to Kota the truck driver was the assistant. Balvinder drove all day. When night fell the truck driver took over. In the wee hours of that fateful morning when Balvinder went back behind the wheels, he missed noticing the brown cow camouflaged against the brown field. As soon as the realization dawned on him he swerved right to avoid hitting. And in that process, he hit the car on his right which in turn hit the pavement on the right and toppled over. He stopped the truck, which is when the truck driver pushed him to get away from there. ‘There is nobody who has seen us. Look around. If we get down we will get stuck. It is best to run away.’ The truck driver had said. So Balvinder listened and they reached Kota.
Once they reached Kota, Balvinder decided to go to Jaipur and stay there. He bid his farewell & took a room on rent to stay in. The room wasn’t great but the rent was pretty cheap. Plus they served good food at cheap prices. So he stayed. During the day he would scourge for some work and at night he would watch the TV in the common room. After about 4 weeks of following this mundane routine, he got a job as a driver in one of the bungalows of Jaipur. Accommodation was a part of the compensation so he shifted there. This is the place where he raped his roommate and ran away.
Since the bungalow belonged to an influential trader, the news of rape in his house spread like wildfire. The police and the trader were hell-bent on catching him as soon as possible. So they approached the media and within a day of him running away from the house he could see his picture being flashed on the news.
He got scared. He feared being caught. So he started living next to a mazar, of an unknown saint. He would help the people who managed the mazar in return for 3 meals and a place to stay. It was a small mazar, which hardly anybody visited. He thought it was the perfect way to stay hidden. And it worked. For almost 8 months nothing happened. Then one day he saw a huge crowd waiting in line to visit the shrine. Some blogger had posted on his youtube channel how praying on this shrine fulfilled his wish. Since then every day the number of people visiting the mazar increased manifold. This meant that big money started flowing in. The people managing the mazar created a management body in which Balvinder was a member. The body took care of day to day operations of the place. Balvinder was given the responsibility of managing the people visiting the shrine. It was then that I met Balvinder.”
“Oh. I thought you already knew Balvinder.” The reader of the story asked Somnath uncle, gulping his shot of brandy.
“No. No. I had been very sad and was not getting peace anywhere. So I started visiting temples to find my inner peace. When I could not, I expanded my search to all religions. I visited Gurudwaras, churches, mosques, and whatnot, yet that inner peace was elusive. It was then that I heard of the mazar on youtube. So I decided to pay a visit. While I was standing in line, I had a heat stroke. I became unconscious and fell to the ground. It was Balvinder who pulled me out of my line & poured cold water over me. This brought me back to my senses. I profusely thanked him and even tried to give him ten thousand rupees. But he refused. So I told him, that if he wants he can work with me. To that, he said yes. And ever since then he gave me massage twice a day, massaged my legs in the night, & did household chores.”
“Oh. He is a unique character. Where is he now? I mean what happened next?” the reader asked Somnath uncle.
“He is right here.” Somnath uncle replied in a very matter-of-fact manner.
“You mean the Sherpa is Balvinder?” the reader asked.
“No.No. The sherpa is a sherpa. He is not Balvinder, but Balvinder is here.” Somnath uncle answered.
“Where?” the reader asked, confused as there were only 3 people in the cave. Somnath uncle, the sherpa, and the reader.
“Right here, in this bag.” Somnath uncle pointed at his bag placed next to him.
Confused at what Somnath uncle had told them, both the Sherpa and the reader looked at him. Then it struck both of them together. And the look of confusion gave way to horror.
“Yes. You guessed it right. After about 3 months of working with me. One day I asked Balvinder to try a new scotch with me. It was during this drinking session that he got drunk and revealed his life story.
You see the boy he killed in his school was my son. While we stayed in Jaipur, my son always wanted to stay in Delhi, so we enrolled him in a Delhi school. On his death, my daughter entered into severe depression. So after a lot of therapy, she decided to go to a dog shelter, where she was shot at by Seema Aunty. Devastated at the loss of both our children we were broken. On one of our trips from Delhi to Kota, this truck hit us and my wife got killed in that accident. I lost everything. My entire family was wiped out. I became suicidal and it is because of this that I started visiting temples and other places of worship.
So when Balvinder told me that he was responsible for the death of all my family members in some way, I just could not control myself. Seething with anger I killed him. I avenged my family. Then I cut him into pieces, embalmed him with chemicals that would help slow down the decay of the body, stuffed it in this bag, and climbed this mountain.
It is said that if you do not provide the last ritual to the body the soul will never find peace. So on the highest peak of India, I will throw his body parts. The cold will ensure that his body will never decay. I will hide the body at a place where no one will ever find Balvinder again and his soul will never rest in peace.”
With this Somnath uncle laughed maniacally while the reader and Sherpa ran away from the cave.
