Prologue: Different rooms in the three-star hotel ‘Emerald’
have different stories to tell about each night and each guest. Let us have a
look at what happened in the hotel on the night of October 6th, 2014.
Room Number No: 001
The three-year-old girl in the picture, with her dad throwing
her up towards the sky, the girl was laughing and her eyes fixed on her father.
She knew he would never let her fall. Her mother shot with a 8mm
camera; it was then scanned to a floppy disk, and then copied to a DVD, now it
is in her father’s android tablet.
He was 32 years old when this picture was taken, now he is
71, lying in the bed, looking into the IPS screen and gathering whatever he
could recall of that day.
The girl in the picture was supposed to meet
him with her son for their New Year festival. She had not met him even once
after her mother’s funeral two years ago.
The phone on the coffee table began to vibrate, it was her.
“Hello Beta (child), where are you now?” The old man said.
“Daddy, I am still caught up at work, I’m sorry, but I guess
I’ll have to cancel tomorrow’s flight. The new marketing manager is dropping in
for a visit; my pretty face would be expected at the front gate to greet him.
You know, with being the new tech head and all.” She seemed to be walking
somewhere in a hurry.
“Kamla, but you promised me, baby”
“I know, dear, but what to do, weren’t you the one who
always would tell me that work should come first.”
“Yes, dear, work should always come first.” The pension he
got for 45 years of service allowed him to afford a room in this five star
hotel. But the social isolation, which came from spending too much time in
office, has led to no visitors.
“I will be there next season for sure alright, please ask
varadhamma to prepare my favorite fish curry when I come alright?”
“Varadhamma died last week Kamla.”
“What! Oh my god…”
Silence followed for a moment.
“Kamla, a lot of things have changed here, please drop by to
find out what all they are.”
“Alright dad, I got to go now, call you later ok?”
“Ok Kamla, it’s time for me to go to sleep as well, good
night.”
The old man was once very proud that his daughter was
abroad, working for a multi-national software company. He even supported her
when she expressed the desire to marry an American.
A few years later, he was by her side when the man left her and
their son for another woman. He trained her in meditation and helped her focus
her attention towards her career and the welfare of her son.
The old man would usually take half a pill to fall asleep,
today he mixed ten of them in his milk. He stirred them well and drank it in
one gulp, much like how he would gulp down MILO as a twelve-year-old.
He lay on his back and flipped through the images on the
screen once more, he saw his wife and daughter through the best times of his
life, the times he wants to take with him as he prepares to say goodbye to
everything else.
………………………………………….
Room No: 420.
The fan in the room creaked louder each time Jerry tried to
turn down the knob of the regulator.
“I swear to god, I am going to shoot that thing!” Santosh
said.
“George would find our room a lot easier then, but he would
be followed by the hotel staff and the police.” Jerry moves to the small coffee
table and picks up the newspaper.
“Why isn’t he responding, it’s almost midnight,” Santosh
checked his wristwatch, placed it near his ear to check for the ticking sound.
He leaned forward to hold a large briefcase next to the coffee table.
“He is a man of his word, must be stuck somewhere.”
“Where can he possibly get stuck at this hour?”
“He is on his way Santosh, now calm down.”
“Man, it shouldn’t be like last time, you remember how
narrow that was?” Santosh placed the briefcase on the table.
“That rat son-of-a-b***h actually did put bags of salt on
top; I thought he was joking,” Jerry said, “Hey, why are you opening the
suitcase?”
“To see how much stock we have hanging on our bellies,” He
opened and his eyes grew wide, Jerry leaned forward to look, four large
transparent bags, and within it, several clusters of smaller pouches, each
filled with crystalline silver powder.
“I thought its color is white,” Santosh said.
“They skip the last phase of processing until it reaches the
delivery unit so that crackheads like you don’t snort it off along the way.”
“That’s bullshit, I never heard of any such thing, I need a
whiff right now and I am going to try this s**t.” Santosh was shivering as he
held the briefcase in both hands.
“One whiff of this silver will blow your lights out the next
second you fool, and why the heck are you acting so weird? I thought you were
off it now, which was why I called you for this in the first place.” Jerry
said, as he got up, his hand went into his holster and unbuckled it. Santosh’s
eyes were fixed on the briefcase as it was like a treasure.
“Yeah, yeah, I am off it, but no man can resist a sight like
this brother, so much… I can see heaven before my eyes brother… heaven…”
“Santosh, close the briefcase right now...”
Santosh turned around to see a colt 45 pointed right at him,
he broke into a cheeky smile. “I was just joking brother, just joking… See my
hand…” He held out his fist at Jerry, It was firm.
Jerry lowered his gun and calmed down. “Business is business
Santosh, friendship can only take you so far, and I care for you alright… Now, let me just take a leak, keep the bag behind the television box now.”
“Alright, alright sir. I can’t beat you playing the
honorable one with the gun” Santosh zipped the bag, keeping a small pouch of
the silver into his pocket.
………………………………………….
Room No: 377
Sunil poured tea into two cups on the coffee table, clad in
a shower towel. Mahesh was reading the newspaper from the bed; he was nude except
for the blanket tucked around his waist.
“What did you order for dinner?” Mahesh said, flipping
through the pages of the menu.
“Steak for you, Pasta for me,”
“You ordered soup?” Mahesh said, looking up.
Sunil smiled.
“Oh, you did… which one?”
“One of your favorites, of course,”
“Is it Sweet corn?”
Sunil nodded, handing Mahesh a cup of tea.
“Oh my god, I love you,” Mahesh leaned in for a kiss while
receiving the cup from his beloved.
“Don’t be so excited, I am going to taste it before I let
you have it this time.”
“Oh come on sweetheart, I am sure this place has good cooks, let us leave that little diarrhea episode behind us. At what time are we
supposed to arrive at the embassy tomorrow?”
“11:00 a.m. I have called my friend Karan there, he said Mr.
John, who will be interviewing us is a very reasonable man. It will not be much
of a hassle when we present our case. He also feels that John might even help
us, but we need to present both our offer letters and everything.” Sunil said
he looked down intently and had a slow sip of tea, “I can’t believe this,
everything is happening so fast.”
“You think we are
rushing into this?” Mahesh came closer and ran his fingers through Sunil’s
hair.
“No, it's not that at all, please… Just that, I wonder why it is so hard to live the way we aspire to in this country.” Sunil said,
staring at the bed lamp.
“Hmm… Yeah…” Mahesh said.
“I mean, why should we run away to another country to get
married?” Sunil said.
“Let’s save this discussion for the next generation shall we
Sweety,” Mahesh said, “For this one, this is the only option that we have.”
“I wish I could see him one last time before we leave.”
Sunil said, his head lowered.
“Who?”
“You know him, my brother Santosh. He was the only one who
spoke on my behalf when I revealed my sexual identity before my dad.”
“Even he got into trouble later on didn’t he? Isn’t he the
one who was pulled up for rehab?” Mahesh said.
“Yes, he is a very gullible person, easily influenced. I am
sure that it was his friends, getting him into trouble.”
The room bell rang. “Room service,”
“One second,” Sunil said, as he quickly put on a pajama lying
on the floor. He proceeded to open the door.
The young boy, must be around thirteen, entered the room,
dragging a tray with two platters. He looked very flustered & jittery as he
was serving the food to each plate.
“What happened boy?” Sunil said, glancing at Mahesh for a
second.
“Nothing, sir,”
“Look at me,” the boy looked up at Sunil, “What is wrong?”
He asked slowly.
“Well, Sirji, there has been a death in room number 420, a
young brother there consumed something and died. The police and all came you
know, the top floor is congested now. I saw the man as they took him away on a
stretcher, blood coming from his nose and eyes, it was scary… There was another
man with him at the time it seems, they are all searching for him now. I have
just started work last week and this is so...” He bent down and wiped his
eyes.
“Oh my god, don’t you be scared young man…” Mahesh came
forward to comfort the kid, but the boy moved away, slightly repulsed.
“Hmm… Don’t worry, everything will be alright, I have been
here many times before, suicides are becoming very common in star hotels these
days. Have a seat; I will make you some tea to calm you down.”
The young man jumped up, “That’s alright sir, I have a few
more deliveries to make. Thank you, bye.” He rushed towards
the door.
Sunil leaned forward to shut it. He turned to Mahesh, “You creep
people out sometimes, and you know that?”
“I am sorry baby.”
………………………………………………..
Room No: 969.
Kamla was slowly opening her bags and arranging the clothes
on the bed beside her. The room door bell rings. She proceeds to open it.
“Oh my god Kamla, you look so different!” Laina shrieked.
Kamla grinned widely, “You have gorgified yourself too a
lot!”
“Is it some new American word or something? I don’t remember
reading of ‘Gorgified’ anywhere in the dictionary.”
“Haha, but hey, let me show you something that is truly…
American.” Kamla slowly took out a bottle of Jim Beam, “Tadaaa”
“Wow girl, Whiskey!
It’s a woman’s best friend.” Laina said with her eyes wide.
“I thought it was diamonds,” Kamla said, slowly handing over
the bottle to her childhood friend.
“Diamonds are expensive,” Laina said, receiving Jim Beam
with both her hands. “Oh, by the way, when are you meeting your father, and
what’s up with this surprise thing?”
“Oh, that, well, I just thought of connecting with a few of
his old friends through Facebook, arranged a meet-up at the Hyatt this weekend,
a super grand reunion of sorts you can say.” Kamla took out two glasses from
the table and handed one to Laina. “He needs to get around, you know, I keep
hearing that he hardly leaves home these days,” Kamla said.
“Well, that’s sort of true you know, I remember how uncle
was always so busy with his job and everything, but now he is free, but he still is at
home all the time,” Laina said, she opened the bottle and started pouring the
drink for both of them.
“He kept very little time aside to build relationships with other circles, then what makes
you think he is going to change now?” Kamla dropped two cubes of ice for each
of them.
“Let’s hope that your surprise helps him then. To Uncle and
his social life,” Laina raised her glass.
“To my dad and his good health,” Kamla raised hers. “Oh, I
forgot, I should call dad and tell him that I won’t be able to make it
tomorrow.” She picked up her phone and started to dial.
The End.
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