This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 14; the fourteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.
It was Saturday night and Param was getting dressed. His mother came into the room and said, “Dont go out today, I have a bad feeling.” He grinned at his reflection as he ran a comb and put on some perfume, “What bad feeling Ma? I swear you’ve started behaving like those news reports, its all doom and gloom … bad economy, floods and earthquakes!” She looked at him sadly and said “Beta, I keep getting scared that one day you will go out, and then you’ll never return.” He smiled and kissed her on her forehead “Ma, I’m just going to a party, that’s all. I’ll return, I am like a khota sikka (counterfeit coin), no one wants to keep me, they just return me back”. His mother sighed and watched him go.
Param was a typical Delhite, young and a party animal. He forgot his mother’s anxiety the moment he drove the car out of the lane. He was young, single and it was his time to party, have fun. He met a group of friends and they went to a discotheque and wined and danced the night away. At about three in the night, he along with his best friend Sikand and Sikand’s fiance Richa left the party. The plan was to drop Richa home and then return to drink and party some more.
They left the disc and hit the highway. A Gypsy stopped their car. A man got out and said in an officious tone “We are a special task force from the Delhi police. We need to do some investigations, follow us.” Param remembered his mother’s anxiety. He was scared. He protested “Ask us your questions here itself, we will not come with you.” The man looked at them coldly and said, ” You have to come with us. You have no option. We need a lady police woman to ask the woman questions. Do you want me to send a police man to interrogate her?”
Sikand was drunk and he was shaking. He said “Param don’t get difficult, let us follow them”. Richa was sobbing, she said “I dont want a police man in our car. I want to return home safe.” Param had some misgivings but he reluctantly started following the Gypsy. He saw another car following them at a safe distance. He felt trapped. He kept wishing he had listened to his mother.
They were taken to an abandoned stretch on the Gurgaon road and ordered to get out of their car. They complied. The man took out a pistol and placed it on Param’s head and said “You want to return home? Hand me your licence and any other identification you carry.” Param said “I dont carry a drivers licence.” “The car’s registration papers?” asked the man. Param reluctantly gave the car’s registration papers. The man took Sikand’s and Richa’s identifications. Richa was crying “Please let me go home”. He said softly “Go!” They quickly got back into the car and returned home. Once the boys dropped Richa, they tried to make sense out of this strange theft. They then, just to be on the safe side, went to the police station and registered a case of theft of their papers.
They did not want to remember the incident, but the incident returned to haunt them after a week. They were called by the police. The police took both the boys to a place in Rohtak. A woman’s body was found, shot twice and the face was badly disfigured. The car in which the body had been found had Param’s car’s number plate. The dashboard had Sikand’s drivers licence and the hand bag of the murdered lady had Richa’s I.D.
“God! It is going to be difficult for us to return home easily now” thought Param, badly shaken.
The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.
Chilling stuff. I think you ve got a winner here.
Gee!! Thanks
Very Interesting story. Kept me engrossed all through.
Thanks Rumya
Loved it, Ritu. Didn’t expect this sort of ending at all. Very well written.
:D, thanks
😀 Amazing, I wonder what going to happen next =P Will there be a continuous of the story =3
Now I have two first chapters, this and my earlier post
This is a story that will remind our youth not to be hard-headed, though quite sad, the lesson is really good!
Mother’s instincts I believe seldom fail as I am a mother too! May young people read this and know the consequences of being hard-headed kids!
Goodluck Phoenix! A beautiful story packed with moral for the youth!
ALL THE BEST!
Thank you Amity
Well written Ritu.. I could feel Param…
–Someone Is Special–
Poor Param, I think this would put him off parties for a long long time
Brilliant… agree with Gyaan… I think we have a winner!!!
Thank you Sid
Brilliant take on the prompt 😀
Excellent plot and very well narrated 🙂
Cheers!!
Thank you CB
Beautifully narrated. Actually when I lost my purse with my election id and car RC book, I actually had the same fear – that some terorist organization would use my identity. Interesting how you used the concept in a story.
I misplaced my drivers licence and car RC. My overactive imagination made a story out of it …… and I wrote it.
scary..
Losing ID papers is scary – this is possible
Holy God…how did u think of this plot ???? Am totally shocked.
But gripping story-line…good job Ritu. 🙂
Misplaced my drivers licence and car RC. Two days of hunting for them and the “What if” scenarios my imagination built up resulted in this story
wow! real thriller!
Yeah …
Scary yet rooted in today’s reality. The mind boggles to think what would have happened hadn’t they reported the crime. Good one!
I know … thank God they had the presence of mind to report it
Ooh this story kept me engrossed throughout. Initially I thought that the fake policemen were a bunch of terrorists though.
But I suppose since they already registered a case of theft of registration papers….they won’t be having much trouble. 🙂
All the best for BAT!
Yeah ….. 😦
Should I be evil and delete that line?
Twists and turns! brilliant! all the best for BAT. 🙂
Thank you Maddie
A very interesting take!-kept me engrossed till the end.
All the best!
Thank you Jaspreet.
well its typical archer styled end , chilling one indeed. all the best very well knitted
Archer???? Hmmm, yeah it is like that – never struck me
I liked it lots when I read it in the morning and then I decided to do mine too 😉 . Something set a chain reaction I guess.
Best for BAT
I loved yours – necrophilia 😆
perfect…!!!
only one word says it all about your post..!!!
Thank you Ms. Meduri
A different take di.. Well put.. Will wait to read the later part of this.. 🙂
ATB di. 🙂
Will try to oblige soon 😛
Interesting take Ritu.
Must confess – the moment the guy asked for licence and all.. I knew what was coming up. Maybe it’s the Delhiite in me. 🙂
And it is the Delhiite in me that imagined my driving licence on a murdered woman …. and inspired me to write this. There is something about this town ….
Ah. One more thing. I think they took too much of a risk for those identification documents. Maybe they could have opened a photocopy shop.. 🙂
And lastly – how about a Dusht perspective – what if the woman who was found dead – in her pocket could be found Richa’s ID documents??? Total confusion then,,, lol.
That dead woman’s bag had Richa’s ID in it …. that is what I wrote.
Oh! Err.. Just checked.
Am sorry. God knows how I missed that part.
But then – I dont get you. What is the point of the theft now? I mean they knew the real Richa would obviously be found and so no point giving her ID to the dead woman?? am I misssing something?
The fact that the murdered lady must have been well known (her face was badly disfigured) and the desperation of the murderers to point the crime at someone else. If the theft was not reported, the kids faced jail, as it is, they face a prolonged court case and lots of money as bribe to prevent harassment. The planning was for a fool proof murder – and it almost happened
Okay. But if a well known person went missing, it would obviously be known to the world in less than 2 days… so, still they dont really hide anything…
Dont kill me Ritu… now that we know that both of us belong to Dilli 🙂
Kshitij, Grrrrrrrr
Fatte ! 😀
Thank you Kevin
cool!
I totally enjoyed reading this write .
ATB for BAT
Thank you very much
oh I am glad you left some hope for the kids to return…gripping story
Thank you Hypermom
chilling..interesting…waiting for next part.
Thank you Renu
Damn Ritu-u just confirmed the potency of a mother’s intuition,leaving me with the need to listen in carefully the next time my mom frets about another of the billion things that she thinks the universe is conspiring against me for !!
And what better proof can i proffer for the beauty of your writing !!
😉
Such a lovely compliment, thank you
Entirely Captivating !
Read a few of your earlier posts also.
You have a great blog Ritu !
Thank you so much
how did i miss this, I am sure i checked your site ahhhhhhhhhhhhh my blog roll seems to be not working at all…
but what a chilling story .. Now how do they return.. But then they had put a report earlier a week ago about theft of papers.. maybe just maybe they can hope on that
but then its indian police they dont leave innocent people so I do hope Param gets a helping hand from someone to RETURN…
I don’t know, I just thought a story …. not the further chapters. Will work on it
wow very well written and u know it reminds me of a incident which happened with a cousin sometime back… its too long to write here, I think I will just do a post
Yeah, do that!
A case of highly organized crime. Of course, we don’t know yet why the thieves/murderers wanted to kill her anyway. I hope there’s a good reason, otherwise the story isn’t making complete sense. I hope you will bring it up in a sequel!
Loved the narration. John Grisham’s books are as gripping as yours.
All the best for BAT.
Hmmm a sequel seems necessary now
Wow! That was one gripping tale! Amazing plot! 🙂
All the best for BAT!!
Cheers 🙂
Thank you Shilpa
wowwiee!
Thanks Sadiya! Welcome to my blog
interesting…. what a story…. loved the narration 😀
good luck 🙂
Thanks Rajlakshmi and welcome to my blog
OH MY GOD!! This is scary, Ritu!! You have immense power in your writing. Hats off!!
Good luck for BAT 🙂
That is one beautiful compliment. Thanks
Scary tale but says a lot about extremes of organized crime going on and a mother’s instinct. Loved your narration. I hope there’ll be a sequel to it, to see what happens next !!
I did not think that far you know … got to start now
We meet and be the ‘Param’ in real often, though not exactly! 😉
PS – This template really suits you blog well! Excellent choice well organized! 🙂
Yeah – that we do.
And thanks. I loved the template too, it is easy to load and looks good too
😛
PS – Just like that! 😀
Chilling plot. well written. ATB for BAT.
RESTLESS
when is the next part coming up?
Gosh! This is simply crazy, crazy!