CHAPTER FIVE- MUMBAI: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND???

The sunlight streaked over my spectacles as I was walking towards the railway station. It was Sunday and I had skipped church for something else. I was already late and I had promised Oded that I would meet him outside Old Mahalaxmi station by 11.00a.m. I was rushing through the crowded street and in my haste I bumped into a beggar...He held my hand before falling down...and man...it felt weird and as he touched my hand It felt quite hot as though his hand was burning or something...I withdrew my hand back and helped him to get up and as I looked into his eyes...his eyes...there was so much pain in it...it was very moist but sharp and determined, yet so full of rage...I felt as though, I was...somehow related to him...And suddenly he said, “I am sorry mister...very much sorry...”. “No Problem”, saying this I walked towards the station entrance...But still I couldn’t get my eyes of him...kind of weird...yet something that made me feel that there was more meaning to all this...more meaning...meaning left all alone...
“Alone, what the hell do you mean alone, lady? You have Mistry as your photographer and you just need to cover up the scene, that’s all and still you say that you don’t want to do this just because you are afraid of the night and that you want some rest....Come on, that’s mega-crap lady...This is my final decision, tonight you are going along with Mistry to the so mentioned...what is it...whatever (looking into the project papers)...colony in the inner parts of Andheri west and try to investigate much about this Shadow Nova thing...try to get at least something, gotcha Ms. Soumya Krishnan... because if you don’t want to do this, then fine, go find some other job lady because I got no jobs for people like you and this newspaper isn’t for charity, so go get me something hot...hot and fresh, I hope...I made it clear lady”. And I said, “Yes”. Even though I was part of the senior crime department of the not so illustrious ‘Mumbai Streak’ newspaper line, it was of no use, because whatever it was I had to go behind this Mr. Shadow Nova, so that I could keep my job and I had no other option because I had already signed a contract with them and now I was totally helpless...And above all I had to accompany that asshole Mistry with me...great, this is what they call HELL!!! See you soon Shadow Nova...Motherf*****!!!
By the time I reached Old Mahalaxmi it was 12.15a.m. Oded was still waiting for me; he just looked at me sharply, indicating me that tonight at the gym, which we made out of old equipments and some second-hand stuff, in the basement of the building where I lived, was the place where Oded would show me how to be punctual in his style...punctuality in practical form...In Odeds’ form. Man, it was going to be very painful, but for the time being we had many things to do and this issue of punctuality was not of much importance as for now. Me, Sarjeet and Oded had came upon this idea that even though I had learned the basics of defence, still I was much more prone to accidents while facing opponents and that I was indeed in need of the company of some good handy weapons, weapons that could relate to the flow of my body and that those which would co-relate much better with the rhythm of my actions. And according to Oded and Sarjeet, the best ones that would go along with these terms where modified shurikens (small metal objects mostly shaped like multi-spoked stars that could be thrown at ones opponents) or else a good set of samurai knives, but I wasn’t much comfortable with the idea of some knives; so instead of the knives, they went on to opt on for a long hollow metal pipe with high durability, but which weighed less. Oded decided that an alloy of aluminium and steel would make a better combination, so finally we were ready to develop my new set of weapons...HaaaHaaaa I was feeling naughty, imagine those which would come across these set of babies...HeeeeHeeee!!! According to Oded, Rahman Sahib, the metal dealer, who lived in an old Christian villa, by Renuka Chambers, across the old link flyover had the best of wares and that he knew the exact combination for blending metals. The Christian villa, where Rahman Sahib lived was way too old as much as some six decades old and was renovated thrice and was once the famous house of an old Bollywood film actress who hanged herself there some years back, after her estranged relationship with some other actor became public and the actor refused to accept her...Hmmm...Typical Bollywood masala...Well the villa was quite spooky with its dark, damp interiors and dry creepers hanging from here and there and the loner there, Rahman Sahib was no ‘Salman Khan’ either. He looked as though he just got out of the grave a few minutes ago. His wavy salt and pepper goatee which he kept on scratching continuously was very messy. His wrinkled face was slightly covered in acne and his moist round eyes resembled like those of some kind of goblin or sort. And to match that all he had the devilish grin, I had ever seen in my whole life. He somewhat resembled Oded, if the grin, goatee and stinky attire were excluded, as Oded always wore a complete black tight shirt with black pants and an always polished black boots. He had no hair on his head and was always clean shaved. He never ever smiled and always had a sharp and confident look on his face. He always reminded me of a character from a pc game that I used to play long back, a game called, ‘Hitman’. A fantastic game, one of my favourites and above all an inspirational one that helped me write some stories. And well Rahman Sahib, had very less hair on his head as compared to what he had on his armpits and the vest that he wore was all drenched in sweat and bore the smell of a thousand gutters...God, please do save my nose!!! His checked ‘lungi’ was no Mr. Clean either, as it had patches of mud and bits of scrap metal stuck on them and pulling his ‘lungi’ up slightly; he sat on a nearby chair, that squeaked like a rat being strangulated and while scratching his thighs he asked us what we came for. After showing him the parchment that Sarjeet had given to me, to give to Rahman, he told us that it would take him three days to make the delivery. I insisted that we will come here to make the delivery and that we didn’t want anyone from Rahmans place to come over to deliver the goods. We gave Rahman Sahib some advance money and as we left Rahman Sahibs place, I got a call on my cell, the person on the other end of the call had a very sharp, masculine voice and he asked me, “Is this Mr. Reuben speaking?” I said, “Yes, Who is it?” On which came the reply, “Very well then my dear friend, I heard you are the one who could help me meet Shadow Nova”. For a moment I felt quiet weird and confused and I cut the line saying that, “You are speaking to the wrong person...” I looked at Oded and told him that it was a crank call; he just nodded, looking at me. But somewhere deep in me, this call disturbed me and the only person other than Sarjeet, Oded and Anne, who knew that I was the link to Shadow Nova was, Gauri...Gauri Menon. As we were travelling in the train, I called Gauri but on the other end came the service provider response that this number was no more available; this made me much more angry, but I couldn’t show it off in front of Oded, because other-wise I had to explain it everything in front of him and that was much of a headache, so I decided to look outside of the window and look at all those marvellous architectural works that Mumbai was embedded with.
Indeed my history teacher at school was right; none could ever have imagined that Mumbai would change into such a perfect example of civilization within 50 years and today what we saw was the fruit bore from the seed which was planted long back by a group of architects, politicians, businessmen and engineers, which came to be called as ‘The Third I’, where ‘I’ stood for three things respectively – ‘Integrity’, ‘Inventions’ and ‘Intuition’. It was, ‘The Third I’ that formed the core of the government of Mumbai; they were the ones who held the roots to the most powerful city the world had ever come across. In school we would amaze at how majestic indeed was the creation of Mumbai, the city that we lived upon and that how within 5 decades the world came face to face with the mother of all cities, the almost perfect one, the one, the world nicknamed as, ‘The Eternal City’. Everything from scratch had been revamped regarding Mumbai. From it’s near to pathetic state during the initial millennia period to its new avatar, many things had to be worked upon. The Architectural infrastructures, the Civic body, the energy systems, travelling systems, tele-communications, educational systems, mode of living, political systems, employment systems, everything from A to Z, everything from alpha to omega, from 1 to infinity, everything was changed...changed to give rise to a new superpower. This new system spread like wild fire all over India and soon she became the most powerful nation in the whole world, the mother of all, and the one which was looked upon by everyone.
Such was the new system, that there were no more numerous political parties emerging from the nooks and corners of India. Every State was allotted with having only that much number of parties which would relate mathematically with the number of people living in that state. Any state having more political parties, than what it should have, were imposed upon with the presidential rule and the newly formed unrecognised party was dissolved and all members of that party were either forced to do community service in various sectors like defence, residential, commercial, industrial, energy, etc. or else put to high level jail terms and the jails were hell as they were forced heavy duty labour, which mostly proved fatal and also were accustomed to third degree punishments. Also any person who has crossed the age of 52 years was not allowed to be part of any political party or any kind of political movement or agenda, so that the new generation could get a chance to enter politics. Even came upon a new rule that people with criminal background were not allowed to enter politics even if they have completed their term of punishment and anyone found violating this rule would be hanged to death. Even changes were made in the field of energy resources like electricity, water, fuels etc. Every household was allowed to use electricity to a particular amount depending on the size of their residential place and the number of family members. If extra amount of electricity has been used then they will have to pay an amount of fine based upon the amount of electricity used by them or else be asked to perform community service for a particular period. As for Industries and Commercial facility, they were allowed electricity as per their component output amount and by their working hours schedule which had a reserve slot of 5 hours per day for extra output facilities or maintenance. If this reserve period of 5 hours is not used for say, today, then it won’t be regarded for the next day, i.e. it won’t be added up to the reserve schedule for the next day. Any industry or commercial facility consuming more electricity than it should have consumed, even after consuming the electricity provided to them for the reserve period, then, they will have to pay an amount of fine for that extra electricity used and if they fail to pay the fine within 48 hours then their license will be cancelled and 10 percent of profit from their last three years of service will be asked by the government to be submitted for the recycling development programme. Extension of monthly electrical consumption was allowed but only if all the norms for the extension were met. These allotment structures and punishments were same for water consumption also and every state was asked to invest as much as possible in hydro-electricity programmes and conservation of rain water. Compulsory use of unleaded fuel was made so as to follow ecological rules and regulations. Any individual or facility found using or consuming any other type of fuel other than unleaded fuel would be imprisoned for five years or else pay a fine as allotted by the government authority. Oil rigs were specially asked to look into ecological problems affecting the marine life much more seriously and extraction of oil from deep ocean areas were specifically mentioned that only a particular amount of these commodities be extracted annually. Any rig or facility found violating these rules were subjected to the highest level of punishment by the Global Laws of Ecological Acts and Control Movement, which came under the influence of the UN. Special bio-gas facilities were installed at all residential, commercial as well as industrial zones. Solar energy was one of the most important sources of energy and government looked after the supply, maintenance and overview of solar panels and all the various equipments associated with them in the highest level. High security solar energy production zones were installed in many numbers across all the states. Solar energy had almost replaced all forms of energy and new methods of conversion of solar energy were being applied in a very large scale. The series of punishments imposed by the government for violating rules were same for everyone from the common man to the multi-millionaires that included all the celebrities, businessmen, politicians etc. Everyone were equal, everyone were fed upon with the same bread, breads of the same taste and nutrition but with different colours and none were above the mighty government, none were above, ‘The Third I’...
The streets were installed upon with infrared CCTV cameras at particular intervals of the roads and were directly linked to the PCS department (Public Control Soldiers) which had their posts at different intervals of the streets. They were the ones who controlled the streets and were responsible for maintaining peace on the streets. There were even patrol pods, specially designed armoured cars that patrolled the streets 24/7. The cameras installed had infrared vision in them and they were made so as to detect the presence of any kind of weapons or unwanted content being possessed by any civilian. However, the glasses of all windows of all residential and commercial complexes were infrared proof so as to maintain the privacy of the civilians and also every residential, industrial as well as commercial complexes had specially designed basements below them so as to contain people in case of any kind of nuclear or biological disaster or war. Round the clock mobile hospitals were made available and compulsory vaccination was made available to the people twice every year, so as to counter any kind of biological warfare problems. Special barcode data were embedded into the identity card of everyone. This data served as multi-functional device as with it one could access any kind of monetary transactions which included travelling, purchase of goods, educational, medical, salary services etc. Money amounting more than 10000 rupees were not allowed to be kept at residential places, while commercial centres were equipped with instant deposit counters, that would deposit money into the bank automatically. This card was nicknamed as the ‘God card’ by kids and anyone above the age of nine years were allowed to own one but use of this card for liquor consumption and/or smoking and/or purchase of any kind of smoking commodities and/or purchase or use of any kind of explicit content and/or purchase or use of any kind of firearms were not allowed until one has crossed the age limit of 18 years. Anyone found violating this law was forced upon with community service or imprisoned to 10 years or more depending upon the extent of the crime. Also the card was able to contain the data of as many as family members as possible so that a minor was able to purchase non-violable goods upon confirmation of parents displayed on the screen of the card. Also, a family was only allowed to have only two children per generation and anyone violating this law was forced upon a law which was very much controversial. The couple were forced upon to pay a fine of 10 lakh rupees which would go into the city’s infrastructure development fund, the male was forced upon to do community service in the central department of the recycling plants (The filthiest of all jobs) and the female was asked to undergo an operation through which the uterus was removed. The third child is allowed to be born before the operation of the removal of the uterus and then sent to a welfare department centre, where it will be looked upon by the officials and the parents as well as the child won’t be allowed to meet each other. The child will be educated properly and all the expenditures will be looked upon by the government and when it attains the age of 18 years, then it will be asked to join any of the three sectors, either the Defence department or the Research and Development department or else the Government Dexter Engineering Development Programme, which produces the finest engineers, this world has ever seen. This rule was made applicable even in the rural areas.
Also a family of four were allowed to equip only one automobile, that too only the ones which completely followed the terms of the Global Eco-Energy Act. If the family is to buy another automobile then an extra percent of tax will be added onto their annual income tax percent. Also that politicians and personnel’s associated with the higher level of the government were strictly allowed only one set of wheels. Public transport was increased to a very large extent. With smaller, yet wider train pods replacing the older train bogies and the Auratron, a different set of buses that replaced the older version of the buses. The Auratron were long buses where at a time 40 people could travel standing and all the passengers had to travel standing, as once you enter the Auratron then you are asked to wear a headset by the android that controls all the systems of the Auratron and the android is controlled by another person at the Auratron headquarters. The headset relaxes the brain of the person wearing it either by the help of soothing music, as desired by the passenger or by relaxing one into a small moment of rest and until you reach your destination you are in a state of sleep and thus one gets to relax while travelling. In the Auratron passengers stand with their backs to the outer sides of the vehicle. Thus it has 10 passengers standing on its left side and 10 passengers on its right side. These passengers stand inside a cryo-tube like installation filled with aromatic mind relaxing incense and these tubes have large hinges on top of them. These hinges are meant to lift the tubes up and down in a right angled fashion so that the other set of tubes behind these tubes be exposed for the passengers to stand in. Thus behind every tube is another tube and thus behind the set of 10 tubes on both the sides of the bus are 10 more tubes in which passengers can travel. Thus, 40 cryo-tubes for 40 passengers in all. The passengers travelling in these tubes are supported inside by a set of soft, highly flexible self A.I. controlled rubber tubes and also the inner walls of the tube have a transparent layer of rubber, that can with-stand all kinds of shock from the exterior of the tube. The details of the destination can be entered by the passenger into the touch screen of their identity card and before entering the cryo-tube of the Auratron, they must swipe the card by the panel on the right side of the tube, so that it can read the destination the passengers wishes to go and also will take in the required amount of fare for travelling. Anyone who doesn’t swipe their card by the panel on the right hand side of the tube and then tries to enter the tube will be warned three times and on the fourth time the identity of the person will be marked upon and the person will be arrested within one hour and will be fined or else put onto community service. Indeed most of the punishments were based upon community service and this was one of the reasons why Mumbai was way too ahead in cleanliness and had the best recycling department in the world. Indeed the Auratron was the king of public transport which ruled the streets with it’s soft disco lights and also a fast reliable mode of travelling.
Also any person who has crossed the age of 18 years must be employed and if is unable to find any kind of job, then they must approach, ‘The I-Employment Cell’, and within 24-48 hours they are granted a job based upon their educational qualifications. Anyone who doesn’t approach the Cell and still idles off their time will be monitored by the PCS department for a week and if still the person is idling off then, that person will be forced to approach, ‘The I-Employment Cell’ or else forced to join the Defence Forces. Also that the retirement age of a person working in any government sector was cut down to 54 years and that of private sectors to 52 years and if they still wished to work then they would have to reappear again for a specially designed form of interview for the post-retirement public. If they pass out the interview, then they will get jobs specially designed for the post-retirement public, mostly in the commercial sectors. Education had to be made available to their wards by either the parents or by their guardians in a compulsory manner so as to press down illiteracy. If any non-school going ward is found after he/she has crossed the age of 5 years, then strict action will be taken by the government on their parents or guardians. If the parents or guardians can’t afford to educate their wards due to any kind of genuine reasons like monetary problems or health problems, then the government will take care of the matter and make sure that they look after the wards education until the ward has achieved a degree or any qualification most closest to that of a degree. Mumbai had indeed changed. The Mumbai that our history teacher taught us about was flashy yet shallow, but this Mumbai that we see today was not flashy, but the closest thing to perfection.
And why it wasn’t perfect because despite all these new add-ons into the system, there were still cracks at different places. Cracks caused due to the only vice that never let go off the face of any city - Corruption. It was a form of cancer that would go down taking along with it the whole city or else it had to be contained. And now corruption had a new level of practise, it was much more sophisticated, much more trendy and above all corruption was the most smartest thing to do in between all these new add-ons. However, now the people had a new option to face corruption and that was none other than to put a superhero to fight corruption; at least to some extent. And who better than me...that is Shadow Nova...The beat of the city, the lights of the streets, the pace of life and Shadow Nova, perfect for a thriller movie. I wish some director was looking into my matter much more closely through the newspapers which had reports of me in different stories, stories that actually never happened....Say, new age format news, write down those things that never happened and don’t consider the public because after all, what the public always looked for was masala, so why bother, just give them what they want most...news about, which actress had a wardrobe malfunction was much more asked for rather than anything that concerns their future...the future of the nation...the future of mankind...
Finally, Oded woke me up from my day-dreaming session when we finally reached Andheri. When we reached home, Oded asked me to go get some rest by patting on my back and pointing me towards my room and waved my goodbye, as I was looking way too tired, probably tired of thinking too much and he told me that the exercise session for tonight will be done tomorrow morning. As soon as I entered my pad, someone hugged me from behind and kissed my neck. I gently moved my hands over that angels waist and held her tight in my arms and kissed her lips...lips so light as flower petals and I looked into her eyes...My Anne, sweet and gentle...here on Earth so that I could love her forever...The television was on and the music channel was airing a music video from an old Hindi movie and the lyrics indeed went on to blend with our love...Anne slowly removed my shirt and kissed my chest. I picked her up gently and walked slowly towards the bed. As I was walking, she gently caressed my cheek. As I placed her on the bed and approached her...she slowly removed her t-shirt and I kissed her neck and caressed her arms...The calm of the night and the chill in the air made us to hug each other much more tightly...The aura of her body was so nice and warm that I felt as though the moonlight had hugged me. The smell of her body made me feel as though I was in heaven...Oh My dear Anne...She bit my ear and caressed my face with her gentle, delicate hands...I undressed her slowly and kissed her navel moved my hand over her back and onto her neck and caressed her soft, silky hair. She rubbed her legs to mine indicating to me that, tonight she was ready for anything...We pulled the silk sheet on our bodies, which went onto blend like one...our souls went onto blend together...It was Love...and the night...witnessed this moment of passion, as the wind held us much more tight together as we became one forever...The chime sang its sweet, serene music and it felt as though the entire city had slowed down for us...as though every sound in the city had been clamped off...just for us...for this very moment of love...The lyrics of the song in the video on the television, went on with my feelings for Anne...with the sweetness of her body, with the grace of her love...with our passion...I said, “Main Agar Kahoon...Tumsa Haseen...Kayanath Mein, Nahi Hain Kahi...Tareef Yeh Bhi Toh, Sacch Hain Kucch Bhi Nahi......” We made love all night...it was indeed the night of love...while we were making love...someone was crying for love...crying for his lost love....
It was Afreed...his room all covered in writings in blood and he sat near a life size picture of a girl...and looking at her he spoke..., “Why did you leave me....Why dear? Please come back to me...please dear, come back...I am all alone here...all alone and scared, but you don’t worry I am not mad...and I will never hurt you my dear...But he has to die...I will make sure that he falls...” Tears rolled down his cheeks and he kept on crying there...probably helpless and basically alone...And on the table nearby Afreed, was a newspaper cutting which had the picture of Shadow Nova on it and smeared on the picture was blood and a knife...and with it he ripped off the picture like a maniac and grinned, “You will have to die Shadow Nova...because Anne was always mine...and always will be mine..no matter what...And you will never be the one between us...no one ever will be...not even your love...not even this whole world...not even God....Because we are destined to be together...and no power above nor below can change it...My dear Anne...she is always mine and will always be mine...My dear...Anne...”
My cell was ringing, but I had put it on vibration mode before going to bed with Anne and it was just ringing all the time, but at the moment, only our moment of passion was important and the cell nor the incoming call on it nor the person calling from the other end was not important, even if it was someone very much important...even if the person calling was none another than Raghavan Romanov. He hung his phone down and sipped on some limed-vodka from his glass and he said looking into the panoramic view from his penthouse balcony, “Soon you will have to pick up the phone...very soon, friend...Or else...I will make you pick up the phone, My Dear Friend...”