Yes, my uncle had my brother’s widow do his dirty work. The police took me away, registered a case, beat me in the cell, transferred me to Dasna Jail. After so many years, after all I’d done, it was a fitting fate. To be caught right back at the start. And what did I feel now? Nothing more or less than relief. A weight had been lifted from me. I was a chain snatcher, after all. I decided to give in to this. To let go of life, to let prison take hold. Inside, I lost all desire, I wanted for nothing anymore. I was left alone. My face, my scars, my air of decay, meant no one challenged me. I was neither hunted nor hunter. I lived like an ascetic. I was ignored by those men who look for fresh meat. If I was to catch my reflection, I knew there would be no trace of the “Chaddi Baniyan” Rastogi there. I did not catch my reflection at all. I assumed an air of disinterest; I was someone who could smile down on the follies of youth. That’s how I met Sonu, Manoj’s brother. He was a hothead, as I had been at his age. He was always eager to find someone who would hear his story. I listened to him. He said he had killed a man in a dispute. He had entered a showroom in Delhi and fought with a salesman over a car; this fight ended in the salesman’s death. Yes, Sonu shot him in the head. Now he had no hope of being released unless a vast sum of money could be found. Enough money to bribe everyone to secure bail. How will you find that money? I asked him. There’s only one way, he said, his eyes fixed in a violent glare. I’ll have my useless brother kidnap and ransom the behenchod responsible for all our misery. This fucker by the name of Sunny Wadia.
21.
Maybe things are becoming clear now? You think my rambling story is merely leading to this. Think again! We’re entwined more than you know. When Sonu told me this plan of his, I barely gave it any thought. It sounded like something I would have done in the old days, but those days were over. I didn’t think of that stuff anymore. I didn’t care for his dreams of revenge and escape, despite his goings-on. But everything changed, Sunny Wadia, when I saw your face. Up there, on the TV screen on the cell wall of one of the dadas inside. “There he is! That’s him!” Sonu screamed. “There’s the fucker who stole my life. I’ll take my revenge!” And everyone began to laugh at him. “How will you take revenge? Don’t you know who he is?” “He’s the fucker who ruined my life,” Sonu shouted. “Taking our land with his money, spoiling us all.” “No, no, no,” came the reply. “That’s not who he is.” “Who is he then?!” “He’s Bunty Wadia’s son!”
I said nothing while this debate was taking place. But back in the cells, I was a man possessed. I pulled Sonu aside, looked him in the eye, and said, “Get me bail.” He shoved me away. “Get you bail?! Why?” he said. “Get me bail,” I repeated. “What’s come over you!?” he cried. “Nothing,” I said. “I’m myself again.” “You’re talking nonsense,” he went on. “No, I’m talking sense. Now use whatever money you have to get me bail. Then I’ll kidnap Sunny Wadia for you.”
22.
Even a man as stupid as Sonu wished to know why. I had to come up with something. So I regaled him with the story of my life. Told him I was a dreaded criminal lying low, whose deeds had not yet been found out. But now I was getting nervous. I had been here too long. So for a small percentage of the ransom fee, I would commit the perfect kidnapping, leave the money with his brother, and hit the road. After hours of coaxing, he was convinced. From that point on I had to keep him close. Tell him nightly stories of my deeds as he arranged with his brother to pay my bail, until finally it was done.
That was three weeks ago. And now here we are, Sunny Wadia, face-to-face. And now the question you must be asking. What happened in that jail? When you appeared on TV, what happened to me? What is the real reason for my being here? Would you believe me if I told you that it was your face? Something in your face spoke to me. Something in your face left me transfixed. From that very moment, I was compelled, beyond my own reason, to escape and meet you in the flesh. You, Sunny Wadia, you were all I thought about. I had to get to you, and I had no understanding why. Even as I spent these weeks stalking you, working out a plan, waiting for the right time, the deeper reasons evaded me. I didn’t even know what I would do when I had you. Then the chance came. You and your friend, alone in that Bolero, in the middle of nowhere. We took it. We shot your friend. Crashed your car. Put you here. I pulled the blindfold off and looked into your eyes. I understood why I was here. I remembered those four lost days.
23.