CONSCIENCE

 Brandon quickly glances around the restaurant to see if anybody is watching him.The restaurant is mostly empty with few people scattered here and there.A group of friends burst out into laughter followed by giggles at the last table of the passage.He goes through the menu and decides to order a veg thali with his heart beating at a rapid pace and shaking hands finding it difficult to hold the menu card properly.Then,he observes a man in white jeans and full sleeve black shirt,entering the restaurant.The man looks around the empty tables,hesitates for a moment and then approaches to Brandon.

-“Hello!Good Afternoon. Are you expecting someone?” The man asked.

-“Good afternoon.No, I’m expecting none.” Brandon replies in a quavering voice.

-“Would you mind if I sit here?”

-“May I ask why?”

-“ As you can see the restaurant is mostly empty  and I don’t like having my lunch alone.My colleague generally accompanies me everyday.Today he is on leave.So, I was thinking of meeting someone here and having meal together getting to know each other.”

-“Okay. I am fine with it.”

-“So what have you ordered?”

-“I haven’t yet; thinking to order a veg thali .”

-“Make it two.” A smile broadens on the man’s face.

-“See, I haven’t asked your name yet.What is your name?”

-“Lets not ask each others name. I am fine being a stranger.I won’t ask your name either.Nice tattoo by the way.”

Brandon is wearing a white t-shirt and a tattoo is visible beneath the left sleeve which is spread upto the wrist .

Brandon observes the man carefully.Some people are always reluctant to reveal their identity but this is very weird.The man himself approached him and now he’s denying to reveal his name.Brandon is not aware of the fact that he is biting his nail ever since the arrival of the stranger.

-“Are you nervous?”raising his eyebrows asks the stranger.

-“No.Why should I be nervous?” the voice sounds shaky.

-“You are biting your nail continuously & your eyes are constantly moving here and there.Is there anything bothering you?”

-“No, I am absolutely fine.” raising his voice unusually as if he’s convincing himself.

The waiter brings the two veg thali.His hand slips as he is about to place the plates on the table and a little curry falls on Brandon’s white T shirt forming a stain.

-“What the…”Brandon withdraws himself at the last moment.He grabs the waiter by his collar and yells ,”Are you blind or what?Can’t you serve properly?Now who will remove this stain,huh?Will You?”

-“Calm down,please,calm down.Have you lost it?Let him go.” the stranger pulls Brandon apart.

He offers Brandon a glass of water after sitting on the chair.

-“Feeling better now?”

Brandon nods.His face have grown red.

The waiter begs mercy and brings another fresh thali.The manager promises better service from now on.

-“I agree that was the waiter’s fault.But don’t you think your reaction was bit harsh?”

-“Yes, I think you are right.”

-“Though you have denied it earlier but I am now quite certain that there is definitely something that keeps bothering you.”

Brandon agonizingly looks at the stranger.Pain and remorse is clearly visible in his eyes.

-“Why should I tell you?We are perfect strangers in the middle of a meal.You have refused to reveal your name as well. I don’t even know you.”

The stranger holds his hand and looks straight into his eyes.After a brief pause he says-“If you don’t tell me you will suffer from pangs of conscience.Come on,tell me and you will feel much lighter.”

Brandon hesitates.The stranger leans forward and says “Listen I have also something to tell you which keeps me bothering.But first you have to tell me what’s wrong with you.”

-“Okay,fine.So tell me have you ever been betrayed?”

-“Not until recently.I believed in a person and he turned out to be a different man altogether.Still I believe I can retrieve that person and keep him on the right track.”

-“But I can’t. I have lost everything” Brandon gasps. “I came to Bombay from a small town,had to sacrifice and adjust a lot from the beginning.My father sold our house so that I could come to Bombay and get admitted in college. There I met Naina.She gave me a different aspect of this world altogether,a feeling that I hadn’t experienced before. We fell in love,got our respective jobs and got married. I didn’t have too much friend as I was an introvert. Everything was going like a dream until one day I found out she had been cheating me behind my back.And guess whom who’s she up to? It’s one of my friends.My whole world collapsed like a house of cards.The person whom I had known for 8 years,betrayed me.I still waited,hoping that one day she would confess to me.Weeks gone,months gone and she didn’t even mention it to me.I was discovering a new side of Naina which I wasn’t aware of a bit.Finally she told me one day that she wanted a divorce and her reason was that things were not working out between us and she wanted a fresh start.” Brandon pauses.

-“Here, have a glass of water.” The stranger passes the glass. Brandon finishes the glass at a one go. “So that’s what bothering you? It happens in everyone's…”

-“I am not finished yet.” Interrupting the stranger. “I told her to reconsider her decision.Little did I know that she had other ideas also to destroy me. I found out she had spent all my savings and a huge amount was debited from my account.I was compelled to sign the divorce paper.I filed a complaint of fraud but she had some strong political connections and nothing happened.I had to sell my apartment and she left leaving me devastated. The money which left was just enough to live as an tenant.I don’t even get to eat properly,most of the times remaining hungry.People say Money brings happiness. What Nonsense!”

-“You have to stay strong.We all go through bad phases when we feel there is no coming back.But we survive somehow and head to a new direction.”

-“Now you tell me what’s bothering you?”Brandon looks at the man.

-You will be surprised to know that my story is also pretty similar.But the main problem is, in my story, the character has anger issues.He’s not short tempered,generally very quiet.He wasn’t like this from his childhood,it became visible after he had shifted to a metropolitan city where he was bullied for his gentle nature; his dressing sense was being laughed at.He remained calm and adjusted well.Soon he fell in love with a girl of the same college and got married. He particularly didn’t like his few friends who used to bully him at the beginning but later changed.After few years of his marriage he found out that her wife was having an affair with one of those friends he wasn’t fond of.The deep buried rage was reaching the surface.He calmly observed and followed his wife.He also kept checking his bank balance and his suspicion was right.His wife was planning to leave him and run away with all his savings.He could have walked upto his wife and settle the matter together but he didn’t.Instead he let the anger to engulf him.He made his plan.He let her go and kept waiting patiently.After 1 year of their divorce one day he gets into the house where she lived with her present husband and stabbed her multiple times and disfigured her face completely.In this 12  months he didn’t contact a single time with her and kept himself isolated.The police didn’t suspect him a bit.Rather they suspected her present partner and arrested him.He thought he got away with the crime.”

-“He didn’t?”

-“He could escape police. But he couldn’t escape the judge within him.” he pauses for a moment at looks straight into Brandon.

“What do you think about the story,Brandon?” his gentle voice suddenly becomes stern.

Brandon’s face have turned red and stammers-“How do you know my name,huh? I have not mentioned my name to you.Who are you? A detective? A police? ”

-“We have stood against each other in last few days.Don’t we, Brandon?”

-“I don’t know you a bit.You are a complete stranger to me.You understand?We have never come across each other.What do you think? I will buy all your nonsense? Nah! I’m not buying it anymore.” Then he shouts-“Waiter,come here.I have to pay the bill & leave.”

-“Just admit it once Brandon that you have killed your wife.”

-“No, I haven’t killed anyone.”

-“Okay, how about this? You go to the nearest police station and surrender yourself.”

-“I am not doing anything of it. I’ll just leave right now.”

He pays the bill and left the restaurant.After walking for few minutes he realizes that he has left his wallet in the restaurant.He goes back to the restaurant,the stranger is nowhere to be seen.

-“You must have seen the man who was having lunch with me.Can you tell me where he has gone?” Brandon asks the waiter.

The waiter seems surprised. “Sir, you must be mistaken.There was no second person in your table.You had your lunch alone.”he replies.

-“But you brought 2 plates.Don’t you remember?”

-“Yes sir.That’s because you said you were hungry and you needed 2 thalis.”

-“Rubbish! Don’t you dare try to fool me.You understand?”

-“Sir,you have also left your wallet on the table.It’s still there.”

Brandon rushes to the table and finds his wallet intact.He counts the money,everything is fine.He finds a piece of paper on the table which contains only one word, ‘CONSCIENCE.’ More strangely, the handwriting is uncomfortably similar to Brandon’s own handwriting. He stands there bemused.

                               *************************

The stranger keeps walking along the pavement.The soft rays of afternoon sun give him enormous self satisfaction. A burden has been removed from his shoulder.As he rolls up his sleeves a tattoo becomes visible in his left arm upto wrist.

                                      **************

An excerpt from the newspaper of the day after as follows:

Brandon Gonzalez,a man in late twenties was arrested by police after he surrendered himself yesterday at a police station near the beach claiming himself the killer of the Sheetal Mehta; A murder case,whch Police had difficulties to solve. Brandon was Sheetal’s ex husband .Though Police had arrested her present husband,Ashis Mehta,the police gave an official statement in the evening confirming that Brandon was indeed the original criminal and now they have enough evidence to support the theory…