Dreams Of Scent

 Note 1 this story has many hidden and subtle clues.Try to find them and it will be fun reading.

Note 2 Three different ends have been provided. Everytime you read a different end,read the last para again.else it loses the flavour.

Dreams Of Scent

The day could not be any longer for him.It just didn't seem to end .His body was too fagged and his mind even more weary. He crossed the road,rather dangerously, and dived towards the footpath. Along which lay an assortment of buildings which stood like match boxes stacked on each other.Somehow he felt these buildings were too high and too narrow, making them perilous to fall upon him. His weary mind hunkered even lower.Though he wasn't in a hurry to reach home,he didn't prefer to squander time on the road. The Road was raucously loud, and the air was sickening . Air had a blend of diesel and stench of drainage flowing beneath the footpath.Ram was a Gharwali,hailing from foothills of Almora.He had come a long way for job and a long way in environs as well..

When he couldn't bear the smell any longer ,he took out his handkerchief and covered his nose . The more he tried to divert his mind from this stink,the more obsessed he became for the stench. To add to his olfactory misery ,a whiff of cheap cologne from a man who just walked past him,entered his nose .He felt a pressing need to breathe some fresh air.Just by sheer happenstance he saw the entrance of the Central park next to him.He thought it to be more of a divine intervention rather than sheer coincidence .

Ram Murak saw his watch. .He could spare and spend some time on himself. He decided in a moment and veered towards the park.It was around seven in the evening and the sun was "struggling" to set in the horizon,even after having done it daily for eons. Soon the sun will gather all its colours of dusky twilight,he thought, from the face of earth and gently conceal them behind the horizon to reappear in some other part of the world as dawn . And it came across him, that while setting, Sun has some kind of haste of astral magnitude. Thus spilling few of it's gleaned colors ,which now smudged the erstwhile blue sky,with a colour riot.Just before turning it into pitch dark canvas. Such klutziness !

Too fixated on Sun's, clumsiness ,he almost misstepped himself on the stairs of park and came back from his reverie.He realised what dreadful feelings he was having for last few minutes.He had felt three or four similar episodes since he had left the office, but none was of such duration or intensity. He had to make a volitional effort to bring him back from his trance every time.Stumbling on steps served this purpose ,unintentionally ,this time.

Ram was a regular feature of this park, taking refuge mostly in the evenings.Whenever he thought he was too strung up or perturbed to go home, and needed to unwind a little, he made this park as his asylum. Mostly he just sat and watched the myriad conjectures of this park. Never has this park failed him on this purpose of unwinding and recharging. 

It was rush hour and most of the neighbourhood sought this park, for diverse purposes.He settled on the first vacant bench he saw. Luckily it was nearest to the fountain.He felt the mist falling on his face and felt the air to be fresh enough. He drew as deep breaths as can be.Deeper than his usual and lesser than than what would have caused all the inhabitants to die of asphyxiation. A couple was walking their baby in a stroller. A dog yanking on his leash and trying its might to prod the flowerebeds,perhaps to smell something familiar,like a dog pee.A child howling a little far Away, heard but not seen.Ram pitied the parents of this baby ,reminiscent of his own time when his son was an infant.For some obscure reason his long forsaken memories were flooding him since he has left the office. 

He could not resist to rest his head and pressed it against the back of the bench, closing his eyes. Again a whiff carrying that same cheap cologne entered his nostrils.He opened his eyes and saw a man walk past him.It was him perhaps who was wearing this cologne. Not because he disliked this fragrance particularly, but it was cheap.Cheap enough for him to buy even in his college days when he was barely making his ends meet.But why was he fixated on this particular smell today was beyond his comprehension. He saw couple of ladies,dressed too inappropriately for an evening walk ,too busy bragging,not bothering to even look around.

A man in green hoodie, around thirty ,came from Opposite side.He shuffled his pace as he neared these two damsels and,stumbled on a tile protruded slightly from the track.As a result he almost fell on one of the lady. In a flash he recovered and said sorry and started walking away. It took few moments before she realised her necklace had been snatched.She became intensely obtuse,unable to utter a sound.Her companion though assessed the situation quickly ,and screamed on top of her voice, looking at nearby people, especially Ram,who was closest to them and watching this .

More out of instinct than chivalry, he propped from his bench and raced after the chain snatcher. He was good twenty five metres behind and hoped to apprehend him before the park ends.Two people running ,even on their top lungs,didn't quite seem an oddity for people in park.So no one tried to hinder them.Just before the turnstile entrance gate the snatcher flinched and was befuddled whether to jump over the turnstile or swivel across this.

   Taking advantage , Ram hurtled himself on the snatcher and together they fell on ground as one mangled heap of legs and arms.One arm went into one pocket and flashed a knife,which looked ominous.Too ominous for a quaint evening in a park. Ram sensing danger, tried to extricate himself from this heap, but couldn't.The arm with a blade,the only free limb amongst two pairs,flashed at his face.Just in the nick of time he retracted his head with a jerk, before the knife could scotch his face.

Ram’s head hit the shoulder of the the man sitting on the bench alongside,who got a little startled by this sudden attack of head.He took his eyes off his mobile and looked at him flustered . Sorry was perhaps the right word for Ram to say. instead he muttered,

“ What happened?”

Now More baffled than ever the man with mobile raised his eyes , said nothing and once again drowned himself in his mobile.he was too grossly occupied in his mobile to care for head hitting, gasping,and a puzzling man sitting next to him.

It took Ram awhile and a few breaths to come back to reality. He realised he hasn't left the bench all this while.But where and when did he lose contact with reality?.Is he even sitting in the park or is it just in his weary mind.

Though he was sure he saw a chain snatching and he heard the shrieks afterwards, but did he ran after the thief. He suddenly put his hand across his face for any blood or injury. he felt something moist and warm.He brought his trembling hand in front of his eyes.It wasn't red. It was sweat and only sweat. He sighed. Sigh of relief and bewilderment.He discovered he was soaked. Had he run,and that too hard? why? , when?.But then all this sweat could very well have been because of his dreadful dream.

He again focused hard to ascertain where he broke within this continuance of reality and his dream.He felt as if he had lived this moment before.Many times. It was just like a person standing between two mirrors,with his uncountable reflection ,getting distant and fader with every successive cast Like a fainting echo off the hill. He drowned in hermeneutics of his suspicions and fears.

Ram tried but couldn't count how many times he had lived this moment.Though He wasn't sure of this moment even happening, yet he was sure of this moment's reflections. Ram got confused, shook his head and again tried thinking clearly right from the beginning. Sure there were two women and there was a man in hoodie approaching them .And then the chase and the knife.Yes he was clear now.It had happened Still there was an element of doubt in his mind So he looked at his neighbour for clues and help .

    The man wrenched his eyes from his mobile, bemused, started at Ram. Ram even pinched himself, and winced causing his neighbour to ante his baffling, and seriously think about leaving this bench.He looked around and couldn't see a vacant bench, and was compelled to stay here, beside this eccentrically behaving man.

Ram,ignored those looks and thought it would be prudent to ask him,

"Did you see any chain snatching here a few minutes ago"?Though while speaking 'minutes' he wasn't sure about the time frame .Still ,any answers would clear his confusion.

Man with the mobile saw Ram carefully.Sitting beside an outlandish man on a park bench is one thing but falling in conversation with him requires a different level of fortitude.His tenacity was leaving him fast.

Unanswered for his first question,Ram again asked him

“ Did I run after the chain snatcher?”this was the last straw for the man in a tracksuit.. He couldn't take this any longer.Infuriated,he rose in despair ,saw indignantly at Ram and just wandered off ,mumbling something conspicuously profane. Ram waited for a moment, just precisely in length after his ‘friend’ left, before he arose himself.He didn't want to give him an impression to the man that he was being followed.That would have really given him heebie jeebies.

He rose and looked around, but suddenly felt woozy and slumped back.He couldn't open his eyes as it seemed his eyelids were too heavy. After a few deep breaths he felt ok and tried to stand up again.

This time he could and found himself standing next to a person wearing a tracksuit and headphones, attached to his mobile phone. The Man with the mobile , was holding him by his arm as if preventing him from falling.Ram looked around him and found himself standing at the entrance of the park. His briefcase was lying on the ground beside him..

    “Are you ok?”Man with the headphones asked him in rather a shouting tone,while picking up the briefcase.

Ram felt the creeps and found it quite weird.He was sitting on the bench,just a while ago.And now here he was standing at park’s entrance, talking to a stranger whom he thought, have met before,talked before .He became flabbergasted and couldn't answer back.He kept staring at the man with the mobile.This was interrupted by two women entering the park.they were gabbling incessantly,hardly caring to look beyond.He noticed one of the lady was wearing a neck piece too loud for an evening stroll.It appeared as if he had seen this woman and her necklace someplace else.Where or when he couldn't tell.Why did this appears to be familiar,even if vague and indistinct.What was the reason behind this flashback.Who was this lady.

Ram took his briefcase from him and said thanks.He felt the air to be too noisome for a place like a park.In utter confusion he thought may be he has just entered the park He looked to his watch.It was 7:02 pm.It took few deep breaths and ambling down the trail before he recovered a bit.The path was lined by flowers beds on either side.It was nearing February end and spring had just started .The outrageous undressing of plants and trees, by autumn, in last few weeks is being covered by the spring now. And so had the flower beds started blooming up again,throwing their delightful fragrances. Roses,Alyssum,Stocks,they all had intoxicated the atmosphere.One particular nature lover was kneeling beside the flower bed to get a noseful of Roses. Ram over looked him,and had to overleap him to prevent himself from falling over. He suddenly felt a momentary lapse in his consciousness and looked all around to gather his bearings once more.The setting sun was hastily collecting and erasing all its colours,reckless enough to leave few dabs of orange and purple on the far end of its horizon.It seemed sun couldn't reach that far to reclaim them,and choose to leave them on their own.Especially with night pressing urgently on sun to leave the arena. 

It quizzed him for a moment , as to why is he was standing in a park when he was supposed to be at home this time. After walking for a few seconds he found himself a nice cosy bench hidden from three sides by the bushes,close to the only fountain in the park. He thought these were enough reasons to settle down here. Simultaneously a man in a yellow tracksuit selected the same bench ,for the same reasons apparently and quickly nestled on it.He did not spare even a moment to look around and immediately got busy with his mobile. Ram wondered if the man with the mobile even noticed him sitting there already. Ram had to dislodge himself a little to his left to make place for the gentleman, else he could have landed in his lap.He looked at him only for a fraction of second and noticed the nerdy looking man of approximately twenty , wearing a tracksuit, good quality and sneakers colourful enough to give a stiff competition to the colours of flowers on the nearby bed.He mused why do people come to park,wearing tracksuit and sneakers, if all they have to do is drown themselves in their mobile phones.

Cool spring air was heavy with, aroma from flower beds ,freshness of newly sprouted leaves and twigs ,smell of freshly trodden grass seemingly bursting from all over the ground.All these have spent the last few weeks in hibernation,and the joy of spring was evident in them. All this was tranquil enough for him to close his eyes and doze off.In this phantasmagorical state of mind he saw a necklace being pulled by a snatcher and him giving a chase to catch the thief.He very much caught hold of him,after a good chase, but was flashed a knife upon. He saw himself resisting with all his might to hold the assailant's arm and prevent that knife slashing across his face.The visual was disturbing enough ,even for a dream and he quivered.In an impulse he shook his head ,which got on his neighbors shoulder,startling him up.

He started walking.Perhaps this is the only way he can get out of this inextricable labyrinth of time.With every step he took in the park,he started coming back to the park.The walking trail in park was built roughly in a shape of two eights tied at their waist. It was covered on both sides by trees and foliage. To an extent that any walking person could not see ahead beyond a few metres. The track was wide enough though so did not posed much of problem while walking.He took five or six rounds of this walking track, initially ambling and later on picking up the pace He was walking at a pace good enough to catch up with a man walking good twenty metres ahead.The man was wearing green hoodie, looked jumpy by the way of his roving eyes and fast shuttering eyelids.

Brooding morbidly,Ram thought of this walkway as an allegory of life.He began to build up similarities in his own weary mind, some absurd some bizzare. Life, where a man can't foresee his future and unaware of what lies at the bend As well leaving behind the walked metres as new ones unfolded in front. He further pondered that the waist of two eights of the track is akin to the juncture in life where reality mixes with dreams and its difficult to fathom which path one is walking.Such was his state of mind.

Suddenly he smelt a whisper of cologne,the one he despised a lot.Not because he disliked it but because it was cheap.Cheap enough for him to be able to buy even in his college days when he was barely making ends meet. But why was he transfixed on this particular smell?

While walking,on the next bend he saw two women walking together, too overly dressed for an evening walk. walking a few paces behind them was the man in green shirt. After a few rounds he felt consumed and sat down on the same bench. The man with the mobile didn't even bother to look up. Ram wondered if this man would even notice if a murder would take place here in front of him .He looked at his watch and found its just 7:10.Quite drained,physically and psychically, he dozed off as soon as he settled on the bench and went into a lucid phase.His mind was too agitated and body too edgy.

End No 1

He felt nauseous ,and allowed himself to fall back limply on the bench’s back.even this he didn't feel well.Suddenly he saw his left hand flickering and flashes of bright light in front of his eyes.the sound of the surrounding became too deafening.That cheap cologne hit him again triggering all the senses into a frenzy.Immediately after this he lost contact with the surroundings and fell on the ground,convulsing.While falling he wondered if his neighbor has noticed his fall and felt precarious.

Someone was prodding his shoulder as if trying to wake him up.he half opened his eyes and noticed few people circled around him.There was a beautiful woman, wearing a heavy dress wearing a loud necklace, calling him .He drew a sigh of relief and closed his eyes once more.

End no 2

With a start he woke up.there were people standing beside him.One of them was a policeman. A particular man with earphones dangling in in neck, was kneeling beside him,giving him chest thumps and occasionally blowing in his mouth.He wanted to stop him,shout at him,tell everyone around about the chain snatching,but the voice never left his throat.He saw blood spilled all over the place.The policeman was furiously noting something on his pad.Among the crowd beside him he noticed a couple of women,who seemed familiar. He instinctively noted her neckline and found it to be blank.It went black after this.

End no 3

Even after sleeping, his restless mind could not be reined. It went berserk borne on his over excited senses and thinking.He was writhing and gasping.suddenly he felt a jolt.It seemed as if someone is trying to push him over the bench.he heard a distant voice. First faintly,then loud enough to cause him to wake up.His wife was standing over him, shaking him up vigorously. As soon he opened his eyes the shaking and yelling stopped.His wife was smirking .

“Don't you have office today."?

He looked at her lovely face and his eyes stopped at a beautiful necklace in her neck.He had gifted this to her on their anniversary yesterday.He recalled how he almost lost this necklace soon after buying,when he left it on the restaurant table and the waiter,wearing a green hoodie , came running after him to return it.He felt immensely obliged and tried to reward him but he declined. He smiled lovingly at his wife and caressed the necklace.Her wife was not in a mood so just brushed him aside and walked away.Before leaving she felt something touch her feet,bent down to pick it up and set it on the table.