"I spy you!" - 77

But she was sure that Amruta was definitely been mistaken. Any day, Purshpahaasa was a gentleman and he would definitely not hurt Amruta.

Another doubt crept into her mind. If she is saying that Pushpahaasa attacked her, then where is SahishNu? She was sure that she saw him driving towards Amruta’s house. Is she getting confused between Pushpahaasa and SahishNu? It can’t be. Though both have the same build and handsome features, how could Amruta not recognize the father of her child? This one thing Vasu could not fathom.

Or was it her subconscious mind which is giving a wrong description? She does not want to believe that the man who sired her child could be bad? She must have had some hallucinations to give the wrong description.

Deciding on that she heaved a sigh of relief. The next moment another doubt haunted her. Had he come by any chance? May be he was following SahishNu. Why should he follow SahishNu?

All questions and no answers.

Most of her questions were answered by Durjaya’s next visit. He came as a breeze on a day when Vasupradha was hot and bothered. She did not know what to do. Amruta had become moody. She even pushed Vaasu when he went near her.

“Ammu! He is only a kid. If you are not feeling well, please tell me. I will take care of him” said Vasu and picked the crying child.

Amruta was as usual was somewhere else mentally. Vasu wondered whether she needed some psychiatric treatment when Vaasu was born. She had heard that there were many women who had a weak mind during delivery would behave very strangely and could be even dangerous.

She was contemplating whether to take Amruta to the State capital and get her see a psychiatrist.

She coaxed Amruta to start. But Amruta was strangely being rude. Vasu was thinking – Oh God, what a situation! Looks like Ammu needs a visit to the psychiatrist. But she is not budging.

When she was so down and out that she did not see Durjaya entering the house. He had come and silently sat next to her on the Deevan.

After watching Vasupradha for two minutes, he touched her shoulder.

Vasupradha almost jumped out of her skin. She moved her hand to hit out the attacker. Durjaya deftly caught her hand, faced her and smiled at her.

Vasupradha forced a smile on her face. After two minutes it dawned to her that the person who came was Durjaya. She had no right to treat him like that. She suddenly got up and rushed to the kitchen and prepared coffee and brought two cups along with kODu baLe in a plate. “Oh elder sister! I had forgotten the taste of this!” he exclaimed after eating one kODu baLe in one go.

Vasupradha smiled and asked him how he was. “I am fine. I have two news for you...” he said and then said, “No three! First the official news. There is this guy SahishNu.... he has been arrested and I am sure he would go be in jail for the rest of his life!” 

"I spy you" - 76

Vasupradha’s mind was in turmoil. What to do now? She felt that Amruta would be in trouble and needs her to be present.

She took some more minutes to think and looked out. As luck would have it, there was no one to mind the class during her absence.

She was very worried about Amruta. But she could not do anything. Added to this, a kid was little home sick and she had to give extra time to take care of the kid.

When the time came to close the school for the day, she was thankful and rushed home. Vaasu seemed to know her tension and kept silent.

She reached home and called Amruta. She was not seen anywhere.

She suspected that Amruta must have been taken a prisoner by SahishNu. Vasu was at a loss not knowing what to do.

Vaasu started making small noises which made Vasu to forget other things. She went to the kitchen and found that the food was prepared. Vasu frowned. The food was quite hot.

Does that mean Amruta was here all this time? Does that mean SahishNu did not come here immediately? Or did he come just before Vasu entered the house and took away Amruta? What would have done with Amruta? Suppose something had happened to her, what would happen to Vaasu?

The questions started swirling in Vasu’s head. But she removed her thoughts and fed Vaasu and after playing with him for a few moments, she put him to sleep.

She was not able to eat anything though she was hungry. She sat on a chair next to the bed of Vaasu and kept a hand on his chest so as to make him sleep well.

At that silent moment she heard a faint sound. Or was it loud enough for her to hear? She could not know. She got up quietly and went to the back of the house from where she was getting the sound.

When she saw the body lying in the bushes, she gasped for air. There, in the bushes, was lying Amruta’s body.

Body? She rushed nearby and found with a sigh of relief that Amruta was alive. She rushed back to the kitchen and brought a utensil full of water and sprinkled the water on Amruta’s face.

She whimpered and tried to get up. She was feeling the back of her head. Vasu touched the back of Amruta’s head and she found some blood stuck to her hand.

She forced Amruta to get up and slowly took her inside and made her to sit on the chair. With the help of an antiseptic lotion, she washed the back of Amruta’s head. The blow was bad. But not very bad to make her get admitted to the hospital.

Amruta opened her eyes and smiled feebly at Vasu. She tried to tell something. But Vasu tried to shush her. Amruta was eager to say something. “It is the same person. He attacked me again!”

Vasu could not believe her ears. What did she mean? Pushpahaasa? Was he the attacker? She was perplexed to even think further. The name hidden in her heart’s depth had surfaced again!!

The continuation

What was I saying?
Yes, the suspense!
If we do not get answers to the mysteries which were spread in front of us during the beginning of a movie or a novel, the story is tend to be called a failure.
To avoid that, we should write with the end in mind. Once we decide the way we would end the story, then we can keep on asking ourselves, how and why.
The whys would lead us to imagine the situation. The hows would make us build the logic.
Take for example, my novel "I spy you!"
I wrote an eerie (or what I thought as eerie) scene to evince interest in the readers.
I had to give a few twists or tie a few knots so that those could be undone by the end of the story.
But come to think of it, as I have come to the end of the novel, now I am finding that I have gone overboard about the sequences. Now I have to tone down the scenes. But I need to ensure that the interest does not get waned.
Quite a balancing act I have to do. Right?
Let me see how I would succeed!

Just for practice!

No, No, I am yet to continue my novel, I spy you! Why have I not written? well, I do not know how to take it forward!!!
I came up to some level. Now, I have to give a twist to the story. But my mind is blank.... No, it is not! It is cluttered.
See, I started with some idea. I had even envisioned the end of the novel. But there are some ifs and buts...
For a suspense novel, the artery is the logic. If I have created a few scenes only to evince interest in the reader and if I do not give a plausible, understandable, acceptable solution - then the story falls flat.
Remember some of the old suspense movies?
The heroine starts walking like a zombie in the forest in the middle of the night. The hero, aghast (and may be scared) follows her. The heroine sings and floats. She comes in front of a closed gate and it opens by itself. The story continues and we come to know that she was not a ghost and was made to act. what happened next? Suspense............................

"I spy you!" - 75

It had started as any other day.  She had become the most sought after teacher in Bhavishya. Kids were attracted by her way of treating them. Vasu Teacher was her name in the school.

She was eager to get Vaasu into the school. He had just started walking. He was speaking 2 letter words. Amma, atthe etc.,

“He is too small to come to your school Vasoo!” Amruta used to laugh when Vasu showed interest to take him to school. She had grown very fond of him.

That day Vaasu was making a lot of fuss and Amruta was exasperated. She suggested Vasu to carry him to the school. The boy suddenly became quiet and came with Vasu as if he could not stay at home.

Vasu was surprised with this because generally the boy was fond his mother.

Vasu took Vaasu along with her to the school.

While passing the main road, she came across a big car. By chance she saw who the driver was. She could not believe her eyes. It can’t be true! She had seen him falling on the ground in front of her eyes.

How come he is alive and kicking?

By instinct she hid herself from his stare. It was good to hide from him, she thought, not actually knowing why.

The car zipped past towards her house. Is it going to her home? She thought for a moment and the next moment all the color must have drained from her face. He is going to meet Amruta, his wife, the mother of his child!

She thought of going back. But she had to go to Bhavishya that day at any cost since the assistant whom she had employed was not coming that day and she had to be in school.

She prayed that there won’t be any problem for Amruta. She reached her school, put Vaasu down and made a call to Amruta. But to her dismay Amruta’s phone was switched off.

For obvious reasons, thought Vasu. Is SahishNu harming her? Has he come back to take revenge on her?

She remembered vividly the scene when he had fallen in her house. Wait a minute! Did she see him die?

No! She was informed by Amruta that his body has been disposed off.

Does that mean that Amruta was telling a lie? If so, did she make a mistake in disbelieving Pushpahaasa when he had made odd remarks about Amruta?

Her head started reeling with all these confusions.  Somehow Vasupradha was sure that she did not make a mistake about Amruta and she was also sure that Pushpahaasa was utterly wrong about his opinion on Amruta.

But when she just espied SahishNu, her thinking process started suspecting Amruta. Who is the liar?  Was Amruta a liar? Or Pushpahaasa was right about Amruta? What was the truth?

"I spy you!" - 74

She had no time to think of it further since she was nearing the library. There was an old lady of about 50+ standing outside.

She smiled at Vasupradha and said “Vasu?”

Vasu was surprised for a second and then smiled and said, “Amruta has given my complete description, I suppose?”

“Of course! She did full justice to your description, please come” she smilingly said and got two chairs placed in front of the library.

“Let us enjoy the sunlight. Few days are left” said the librarian.  “My name is Savitha” she introduced herself. She held Vasupradha’s hand for a moment and sat on the chair.

“Few days are left for what Madam?” asked Vasupradha, settling in the chair opposite.

“My retirement” Savitha smiled. Then in a serious tone said, “I need someone to take care of my kids” Looking at the surprised expression of Vasupradha, she laughed and said, “I have a small school of very small children. They are so small to join even LKG. I want to take care of them, tend them to make them the best citizens of this country” the last sentence was uttered with a lot of seriousness.

“Tell me Madam. I was getting bored. Probably your proposition interests me” Vasupradha said smilingly.

“Yes! Amruta is right!! This smile is what I was looking for!” said Savitha, leaned forward and patted Vasupradha on her shoulder.

The next part of the discussion was the paraphernalia. Once she understood what things she had to carry out, Vasupradha took leave and went home.

Amruta was feeding Vaasu. “So, Vasoo, how did you like Savitha madam? Did you accept her offer?” the eagerness was very high in Amruta’s voice.

Vasu just nodded and smiled.

Another day passed. Vasupradha prepared some charts and made some dolls out of paper, wire etc., and left to meet Savitha.

Savitha approved all the things brought by Vasupradha and took her to a small building which was in a valley. It was a very lovely building. There was a good amount of protection round the building.

Vasupradha fell in love with the kids too. They were both naughty and intelligent. After getting assured that the kids are in safe hands, Savitha left. There was a temporary staff who had come from a foreign country showed all the things Vasupradha was to carry out and left.

Vasupradha’s life fell into a pattern. She was very eager to reach the school which was called ‘Bhavishya’. The kids also welcomed her with open arms. She had no time to think of anything, anybody, yes, even Pushpahaasa.

The time flew. Each year new kids joined and the grown up kids left ‘Bhavishya’ smarter. Everything was smoothly going on until that day out of the blue SahishNu appeared there!

"I spy you!" - 73

“Hey Vasoo! You are here only physically. What’s wrong with you? You are like a zombie since you came back” Amruta was shaking Vasu.

Vasu came out of her reverie. She was like this ever since she came back from Pushpahaasa’s clutches. Clutches? What are you thinking Vasupradha? Are you crazy? When did he hold  you in his clutches? It is you who was obsessed with him!... scolded her conscience.

She did not dare to reply to it. Come to think of it, it is already 6 months since she came back. Good thing she came back on time! Amruta was almost ready to deliver when she came to her home.

Home! Yes, she felt at peace at least by the lovely environment. She had just contacted Durjaya, who came running when he heard where she was. They talked for almost a day. This must have made Amruta very annoyed. She showed it in her action that she did not like Durjaya. Oh, she doesn’t like anyone else talking to me, thought Vasu.

Not even once the mention of Pushpahaasa was done. Vasupradha was very clear. Durjaya was welcome, only if he keeps her place as a secret.

Her resignation was accepted. She stapled the pages of her life spent with Pushpahaasa. No one should know what exactly transpired between them. It was something which she cherished. She did not want to share with anyone. She knew that it won’t last beyond the mission. She had saved some of her self-esteem by cutting short the stay with him.

Amruta had given birth to a boy. A lovely boy! Vasu took care of the kid and mother to the fullest extent. She felt so happy to be back. The boy became 6 months old. Amruta called her son as Vaasu, as a tribute to her friend Vasu.

Durjaya stayed for a day and left. Though Vasupradha felt bad about his departure, Amruta seemed to rejoice it.

“He is a good person Amruta!” Vasu told her about Durjaya. Amruta did not seem to care about his good virtues. As far as she was concerned he was hogging all the time of Vasu whenever he was in contact with her.

Durjaya had told about Mr. Padmanabha. He seemed to have missed his able assistant Vasupradha. He was appreciating her it seemed.

Vasupradha had just smiled. The time was moving quite fast.

“I am bored. What do I do?” asked Vasu.

Amruta who was feeding her child said, “Why don’t you go to the library which is nearby?”

Vasu thought that it was a good idea. She walked the distance. The weather was very pleasant. She remembered the day when she was about to fall off a cliff and how Amruta saved her. Her heart filled with gratitude towards Amruta. She is a very good woman, thought Vasu.

She suddenly remembered. But why did she give the description of Pushpahaasa as her attacker?