CHAPTER FOUR- SOMETHING CALLED RESPONSIBILITY.

Gauri….she is such a beautiful girl…Oh my….All night I watch her from the top of her terrace and by the window sill of her apartment because I just can’t let my mind of her…Gauri, she is so good, so sweet and every night I keep walking along with her to her apartment and due to this I feel more secure with her, by her mere presence…just the scent of her body or just my hands touching her hair…the wind stays silent, even the night seems to go down for us and the stars…well why…should I look at them so far above, when I have got the most beautiful stars embedded in her eyes, stars just meant for me to look upon and fall in love…Oh Gauri…I hope this is love….
TRINGGG!!!
What the…!!! It was my morning alarm, Oh my…I was dreaming about my yesterday nights trip with Gauri to her place, we talked a lot and above all yesterday she held hands with me…It was so awesome…Oh Gauri…sweet girl…and when she was about to leave, she kissed me goodbye on my cheek…Oh great…I felt so nice….
DING DING DING!!!!
Anne!!!...Oh my Lord…she must have come with the breakfast, and I forgot that it was the seventh of October today and it was her birthday today….Oh my…how did I forget it…and with the door opened, she stormed in and just looked at me with those round staring eyes and asked me, “You forgot na” and with mixed reactions I said, “Well…no…well how could I my dear Anne…how could I…I mean…how did I…Oh well how did I forget it…I am sorry…slept late…Sorry Anne and happy birthday dear”. Hearing this she came to me and kissed me on my cheek and said “Thanks dear”. And embarrassingly I spoke, “Well I got no gifts too, but don’t worry tonight I will indeed bring you the best gift you ever got….I promise…so can we eat…Well…I am getting all late, so let’s eat”, and with a very sweet, soothing smile she said, “Lets eat boy”. And I was all set to eat, when Anne reminded me that before eating, I must at least brush my teeth and I ran off to the bath room…I just forgot about brushing my teeth between all this commotion. So I brushed, had a bath, ate the delicious tomato soup and toast and went to my room to pack my bag. Anne came in with the idea of packing my bag, but I refused for the reason that my Shadow Nova suit was in the bag and I didn’t want her know about it, she complied with me packing my bag myself and before we left she slid a small pack into my hand…To my astonishment, it was a ring, the very same ring that I had once asked Anne to buy me just for fun. And today she placed that ring on my hand and told me, “Thanks Reuben, for being my best friend and always remember, this Anne will always be with you as your best support till the end of her life, Take care boy”. My eyes filled with tears and I hugged her, tears even rolled from her face, but then she asked me not to get much emotional and to run fast to office as I was already too late. She bid me goodbye and I ran off to office with the thought in my mind that how much she cared about me…Dear Anne…indeed, she was my best support…take care Anne…
Even though I reached office late, Pandit was not angry as he had been busy with his secretary Ms. Chandini, so in such beautiful moments, he never lost his cool, because that might push off the pressure…So after the whole days’ work, I decided to go to the Cross-Mark store at corner 9 in Andheri itself for some jeans and t-shirts for Anne, also I had to take my earlier ordered custom made bracelet from there, which I had made for Gauri. The bracelet was designed in delicate platinum with the letters ‘S’ and ‘G’ etched together on it and it was able to display holographic images of both the letters getting animated with each other and for all this it was powered by solar energy . It was so beautiful, I knew Gauri would indeed like it; it was specially made for her only. After I left the shop with all those purchases, I decided to go to Gauris’ place, when, Sarjeet called me on my cell. He called me so as to remind me that tonight dinner was at Anne’s place and that I should not be late, I told him that I won’t be late and told him not to start the party without me and also told him that I would come for the party only after going to Gauris’ place. On hearing this he went all berserk and told me that this was not for any good and that going behind this girl, I must not forget my true motive as I usually do; I asked him to calm down and told him that Gauri is a good girl and that she won’t betray me and Sarjeet cut the line. I know he told me this because he loved me as a son and never wished that any harm come upon me, so he was angry, anyway I had less time and more work to do. So I went as fast as I could to the alley behind my house and kept my routine clothes and office bag along with the purchases, except the bracelet behind the dumpster. It was one place where no one would ever find them as only I knew about it and none, not even Anne and I got myself adorned in the Shadow Nova suit as before going for dinner at Anne’s place, I had to go to Gauris’ place with this surprise and I knew she would really love it. Gauris’ place was just few blocks from the main road entering our colony of buildings. The buildings from the main road area to Gauris’ place were all connected by large water pipes meant to bring water to the buildings in that area from the water recycling plant. It was raining heavily and also I didn’t want any kind of attention from civilians to come over me. So for me, that was the best route, as now no one would see me and I could come back in a jiffy too. On reaching the terrace of Gauris’ building, I decided to give her another surprise by entering from the back window of her pad. In order to do that I had to climb down from the terrace to the second floor parapet with the help of pipes and air conditioner units in order to reach Gauris’ window. I had brought along with me two big surprises for her, but she……she had in store the biggest shock of my life……She was sitting on her bed along with her pal, that journalist girl Soumya…and words that came out of her mouth, hit hard on my heart, the bracelet in my hand fell from my hand onto the parapet. She was telling Soumya, ‘that how useful it was to have a foolish superhero for a bodyguard for her and that how much more she can use me, like kind of for bullying people who go against her work at her workplace or for doing any kind of help for her, whenever she wanted at whatever time according to her convenience. Also that what a moron I was too believe that she is such a good, decent, cultured girl and that she will make sure that I will be always behind her just like a dog’……Sarjeet was right…I was always wrong about women…Indeed I was a fool, why did I become Shadow Nova, just for another girl to use me…that used to happen when I was Reuben too, so why the hell did I become a superhero, Why……I climbed off the pipes onto her terrace, probably she heard me climbing up, that’s why she came to the window and called me back, but I am no dog…I am Shadow Nova and superheroes are not meant to be pets….
I sat on the terrace of building near the alley, where behind the dumpster the purchases for Anne were kept. I cried a lot sitting there, even the rain seemed quite less to dissolve my tears in them; I removed my mask and looked at it and threw it off on a water-patch on the terrace floor. I was never fit to be a superhero, I never had the heart for good things, I was never able to recognise the true care that Anne bestowed upon me and rather longed for the shallow love of Gauri…Why….Why am I like this…If I wasn’t so now I would have been at Anne’s place celebrating her birthday with her….I am no superhero…just as my father once said, I am just a born loser who was never meant to be born as a human…I called Sarjeet and asked him to come by the dumpster so that I could send the gifts through him to Anne. He told he would come within ten minutes and that maybe Anne might come that way as she got a call 5 minutes back from Afreed that he will come near the entrance of the colony along with his cop friend Neelima Jha. So she has gone towards the entrance of the colony to guide them towards her house. So he asked me not to come in front of them and that when Sarjeet comes over there, he will come along with me to my place. I sat there besides the dumpster, with the rain still falling hard…hard on my heart more than my body…all because…CRASH!!!!!
It was an accident and when I sneaked from the side of the alley wall, I saw 6-8 thugs all armed with guns drag a woman from a car and to my utter horrors it was Anne!!! Oh my…I wanted to save her…I couldn’t leave her all alone there, to be torn alive by those bloodthirsty wolves, but……I was afraid…afraid because they had guns with them and they all were strongly built too, I was too afraid to even approach them but my dear Anne, Oh poor Anne…What could have I done, I was all helpless….Oh what a crap I was…I was all confused…I could hear voices in my head and suddenly I heard another car pull over besides the accident spot…It was Sarjeet…great God!!! He limped towards those guys with his gun and fired at one of them and when another guy tried to get hold of his gun, he punched him right on to his nose and he was going all berserk over them and when suddenly one of them hit Sarjeet on his head with a lead pipe and he fell down and still afraid to go there, I prayed to God to protect them….and probably God saw that I was such a big coward and that I was of no use to anyone…I heard a siren…It was Afreed along with Neelima…The thugs took for their heels and while they ran, they pushed Anne towards the alleyway wall from where I was peeping, I hid fast behind the dumpster so that she could not see me. And with that hope in my mind, I hid there motionless. Neelima fired on two of the thugs and had them down; she had them hand over to the constables who had actually accompanied her. Afreed helped Anne to get up and Neelima helped Sarjeet. Anne sat along with Afreed and Neelima in their car, while Sarjeet in his own, Before entering his car Sarjeet looked at me and spat on the ground….Sitting there all alone behind the dumpster, I felt real bad and ashamed of myself…I am a coward, not even worth to be called a man…With all these thoughts burning up in my mind, I walked home with the gifts that I had brought for Anne….I was no more Shadow Nova…He exists just in comics…and this was the fact…I was never meant to be a Superhero…I was never meant to even think like one…I was such a big coward that, even a spineless maggot seemed much more brave than me, Well….Dad was right, I indeed am a born loser….
I reached home all drenched, both physically and mentally, and there was Sarjeet waiting for me and as soon as I entered my room, he came up to me and slapped me hard and held me by my collar and said, “Why…you coward, you call yourself Shadow Nova naa…And with this long cross etched over this pathetic suit, what do you think, the Lord will make your path easy, he will anoint your soul to heaven you fool!!! Are Saale, tu toh phir bhi Insaan hain, are jaanwar bhi khudke aur uske saathiyon ki raksha ke liye ladd padtha hain, tu toh unse bhi neechh nikla, kaayar!!! What the fuck…did you think, I didn’t saw you hiding there like a coward, Uhh…and you call yourself a superhero….pathetic son…pathetic…I hate myself for calling you a son…Why…at least you could have tried to save her…That little Anne, no matter what, she is always there for you and you go behind licking that other girls’ feet like a dog and in return what did you get a middle finger and a tag that will always be inscribed over your head that not only you are a born loser but also a born coward”. After all this I asked Sarjeet that whether, I can go and see Anne and he told me to go and never show my face to him ever again, then as soon as I could, I went upstairs to Anne’s pad to check whether she was fine or not. There stood Afreed, Neelima, Sarjeet and Oded along with Anne. Due to the accident she had got a deep cut on her forehead and also some bruises on her wrist and knee. Afreed asked me where was I and told me how this all happened and then walked off with Neelima bidding adieu to everyone. I sat besides Anne and asked Anne how she was and she answered, “You know Reuben, it has been three years since we met and from the very first day, I have felt a special bond develop between us…No matter what you are, I always believed that in you was a heart that very few people have today in this urban jungle…But boy, you know one thing, I have always loved you more than any other thing in my life re, You are just like my soul and you know when your soul betrays you, life seems worthless and the only hope alive seems to be death, I saw you there today, hiding there and that moment I wished that you would come there and save me, giving me my best birthday gift I ever got, the gift of love, but you never came there re, So with all love to you dear, answer me, do you want me to sleep along with you just like everyone else out there or do you want to love me like no one has ever loved me till date from the bottom of your heart? Answer me dear, today I ask you for it because I feel I am losing you and I don’t want to because I love you very much, much more than even myself dear, So tell me Reuben, do you love me? I bowed down on her lap and cried and cursed myself for not recognising her love and for being a coward, such a big coward, who never dared to rescue that girl who always lived for me and even in the midst of a such a down rated act by me, she still loves me…And I cried and hugged her and told her, “If this is what love is, then even I love you Anne, and never will I allow the twinkle in your eyes to fade off, nor the warmth of your heart to ward off and I promise you, never ever in your life will you have to cry again, I won’t allow anyone in this world to hurt you not even God…And dear you can proudly say your love is all immortal and that I am no born loser and that no one will ever say that….No one living nor dead”.
That night I sat in the shower for almost two hours with water gushing over my head and my mind distinctively alive in some other world, thinking about everything, from Anne to Shadow Nova, Sarjeet to my parents, everything from scratch…It seemed that the rain outside was laughing at me, the wind was booing at me…moreover, on my very coward approach. And I didn’t wish to blame anyone for that because; there was none other than me responsible for it. It was only my fault. The pain was unbearable and the only cure to it was somewhere hidden deep inside me, but still it felt like I was being ripped off from my soul itself and everything felt so deceiving that, I could hear voices in my head, voices from my past, from my school days, sound of my parents yelling at me, sound of Gauri laughing on me with her pal, sound of Anne and Sarjeet crying in pain and in midst of all these, I could hear a different sound, a sound quite familiar, a sound that was full of mischief, a sound full of utter disturbance…It was Shadow Nova, he was laughing at me, howling at me…I screamed in pain, the entire world seemed to break down in front of me, I could see him standing there in one corner of the room and teasing me, shouting at me, calling names… COWARD…COWARD…YOU ARE A LOSER…YOU ARE A LOSER…YOU ARE A LOSER…NA…NA…NANA…NA… “Oh please, God help me”……I yelled. Everything seemed silent…the wind, the rain, the voices in my head…all silent…silent as the night…bloody, dead silent. And suddenly I saw shadows on the wall…and on the bed I felt as though someone was choking me. I got off the bed and slept on the floor, with the blanket over my head; I tried to sleep…and kept on praying to God and I felt a little better…at least for now…
Next day it was Saturday, I called up Pandit and told him that I won’t come to office today as I had to look after Anne and it was all smooth from his part, because he knew how I felt, so there was no question of any kind of error. I prepared breakfast for Anne along with Oded, she loved it very much and also did some cleaning and washing too……All this work, yet, I wasn’t tired by not even an inch, probably because it was that twinkle in her eyes that made me go ahead, that very sweet smile of hers that reminded me that no matter how much pain it was installed upon, it would always be there for me, because, THIS IS LOVE AND LOVE HURTS…Oh dear Anne, I never…never did I consider her, yet she loves me so much…Oh Dear Anne…Before leaving, we both sat on the couch together, with her head on my shoulder and my arms around her and we heard the song, “SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD” over and over again, and with every word of the song I caressed her arms and gently touched her face. Weak and bit dull, yet, the grace of her face, her smile and every time she touched my arms and my face, made every word of the song much more meaningful and beautiful…Oh Dear Anne…I wanted to kiss her on her lips, I caressed them gently, she knew why I was doing that and moved up towards my face, her lips touched mine. It was cold, soft and beyond all unexplainable…I went ahead and she, gently kept on touching her lips to mine, I could feel her hand move over the back of my head and even I went ahead and looked in her eyes, that very twinkle for which I would die for and then we kissed, gently first on the upper lip, then on the lower lip and then slowly on both the lips. She was very good, taking care that she helped me in making it look like divine blessing, I held her tight in my arms and could feel her wanting for more and we still kept on kissing, it felt as though the angels came down from the heavens for us, the wind felt like music, the night silent with careless whispers simmered over it. It was as though time had frozen off and it felt like our souls were becoming one and the blend they formed in was pure love, passionate, yet beautiful, sweet and beyond all like what Dear Anne told me, Love-unexplained and untold, yet feels like you are made for it, just for it…Nothing else, Nor above…Nor below…
Later I bid her goodnight and kissed her on her forehead and then came out of her pad at around 10.40p.m. Or so and then at my pad, I sat awake till almost 4.00a.m. I sat on a chair in front of the table, on which, the superhero suit of Shadow Nova was laid on. I was all ready to face him, the moment he comes out of it; I would pounce upon him and throttle him. The sound of the ticking clock and the dripping water drops from the kitchen tap all seemed like echoes to me. The calm of the night, the shiver in the air all spoke about an upcoming storm…Tonight it was either going to be me or him. No longer would I allow him to tease me, no longer will he laugh at me…no longer will he call me names…I am no mad guy…he was mad…there was immense chemical imbalance in his mind and what the hell did he think that he would sneak past me, no way and then…I heard a sound, it was from my room, he escaped through the window which was open and the wind was entering the room through it. The wind chimes sang a song…a song without words and music…well it was music without any meaning. “I am not getting crazy…I am not mad…I know, I am not…” I said to myself and approached the mirror. I could see, myself in it, I was looking fine, my hair was all combed well, my teeth were all clean and sparkling white and even my…eyes…Oh, my eyes, something was wrong with it, It was becoming bloody red, Oh my Lord, what is happening to me and soon I saw, that my skin was all turning black…Aaaaaaa. I could feel it rip off from my body…skin, muscles, veins and arteries all turning black…I could feel something trying to break through my chest, an yellow coloured cross tore apart my chest and abdomen to reveal itself out…I could see my nails getting longer, long enough to be claws…I yelled, “Lord help me please”, the excruciating pain grew much more, when over the newly formed black skin, grew yellow coloured streaks and to my utter horrors…when I saw in the mirror…I was no more Reuben…Oh no, once again I was him, Oh no I had become Shadow Nova and once again, I could hear them all…All those voices and now I could even see them…I saw Anne standing in one corner, her clothes all tattered and she covered in blood, crying. I could also see Sarjeet…but Oh Lord please no….his head had been ripped off from his body and he was holding it and still he was shouting at me…God no…please someone help me…Oh, no…They started approaching me, I could see something emerge from the shadows…It was some kind of beast, with red eyes and irregular body shapes and it was growling at me…I could see many of them emerge out of the shadows…They all were coming towards me and then…with a flash, they leapt at me and there was total darkness…SHIT!!! I woke up shouting, all wet and all petrified…It was a nightmare, I was just dreaming…the window was open and it was raining outside, I was perspiring heavily, oh God, it was just a nightmare…just a fucking nightmare…And why did it happen, just because of my own foolishness. Thinking about different factors that brought Anne and me together, different factors that pulled me down in different walks of life, different factors responsible for my success, different factors responsible for my failure…Still awake, I sat on the bed with the Bible in my hand. The wind brought in echoes of Anne and Sarjeet from the day of the incident. They felt like a thousand sirens going wild in my ears and I could see images of pain and utter grief all in front of me, charging towards me with immense speed and made me feel the pain that they felt…Once again I sat in the shower for…well…I don’t remember for how much fucking time or so…and I sat there, so that the pain, the disturbance, the echoes…everything would drain off with the water…but they never left and were probably forcing me to accept the fact…the fact that no matter where I was or what I became…the one thing that always pulled me down was the lack of responsibility. Indeed, that was the flaw in me, more than anything else…and if it had to be rectified, then…there was only one way…to accept this pain…to make those visuals get submerged in the depths of my soul and to make sure, they always reminded me of what I was and what I was destined for……
Next day, Sunday, I read from the Bible, a few chapters from, The Proverbs and Psalms section for Anne and then I prepared some of her favourite chicken soup, dashed upon which, was some mushroom and black pepper…“Bon Appetite!”, exclaimed Anne. We had fun over the soup being bit salty and then Anne and I played on her bed with some of her soft toys, she tried wearing the jeans I brought her, but the bruise on her knee made it hard for her to wear it upon. She had smiled whole heartedly for the first time in two days. It made me feel much better. Till almost eight in the evening, we played, joked, read some books and even tried to play some games on her gaming console. And whenever she failed she would jump over me and bite my lips and ears in fun…Then, the door bell rang. I opened it to find Teepu along with Oded. The perplexed look on their face told me that something real bad had happened, Teepu told me that, Sarjeet had gone to pick the teenage daughter, Khushnaaz, of his widow sister, Amann, from her tuition classes at around 5.00p.m. They usually came back by 5.30p.m. Or at the maximum they would come home by 6.00p.m. But today they didn’t come home till seven and then Sarjeets sister, Amann got a call from, the local rogue gang, The Wolfhound, that they had Sarjeet and Khushnaaz with them and that they would only release them if the cops release the other two members of their gang whom Neelima had arrested and if that’s not possible then, they asked Amann to pay them with money instead for the safe release of both Sarjeet and little Khushnaaz. Amann informed about this to Oded via Teepu and it was Odeds’ idea to come over here and tell me about it before the cops, because he knew this was the right time for me to revive Shadow Nova and to prove Sarjeet that I was no coward…It was time to be hero again…Anne looked at me and kissed me on my cheek and told me to that even if death comes in front of me, never to fear and just follow the path for which I am destined for…The twinkle in her eyes and her words both strengthened my belief and I asked Teepu to go back to Amanns’ place and tell her that both Sarjeet and Khushnaaz will return home soon. After that I asked Oded to wait for me and I went to my pad and took the Shadow Nova suit from my wardrobe and wore it…No one could stop me now…Not even my own fucking destiny…because it was time I became Legend…
The Wolfhound gang were holed up in their base, the dilapidated Andheri sports complex, as usual. The floodlights surrounding the stadium were all broken down, except a couple of them and they where howling like blood thirsty wolves out there, indeed that’s why they call themselves The Wolfhound gang…pathetic…I sympathize them as after tonight, they won’t be even fit to be called dogs…The entrance was guarded by two of the thugs; they both were indulged in their own talking stuff, and I…well was indulged in aiming my custom made cross shuriken on the back of their neck, and then with a flash, the shuriken went zoooom and they fell down, boom…The darkness was my playground and there was plenty of it now and the night well it was all set for me, for my ultimate debut show, simply I nicknamed it, The Freak Night Show…LIVE and EXCLUSIVE!!!
There were many of them inside the stadium grounds and far away I could see a vehicle of some sort near a bonfire and in the light of the bonfire I saw both Sarjeet and Kushnaaz sitting near that fire, with many of those rogues keeping guard over them. I sneaked to the upper parts of the stadium hiding behind the old concrete seats and saw another of those thugs, smoking and unpacking a bag or something. In a flash I came over him and literally he never knew what hit him. One hit on the side of his neck, had him go unconscious and when I looked into the bag, to my utter surprise, it contained explosives, possibly they were trying to blow up the stadium or something because I also found a detonator in that bag, Why no idea, but man this was turning out to be more exciting…Let’s go wicked, Baby!!! And slowly one by one, I took out all those guys planting bombs on the upper quarters of the stadium. They were never competition, as they all were drive-shots, no guts, just butts in the middle, acting like petty obstacles. Soon I was on the ground level of the stadium, there was enough darkness for me to play around, but unfortunately for them, darkness meant…OOPS and then, there was ACTIONNNN!!!….They tried to catch hold of me, but after all who had to win…indeed the superhero, so things went real good, as it must go actually and one by one they fell. During the fight, even I got hurt, but pain was something that had its epicentre in my heart, so this was nothing new and beyond all, negligible in this case. Slowly and cautiously, I went towards the bonfire where Sarjeet and little Kushnaaz were tied up. Seeing me, Kushnaaz started crying and asked me not harm her and that not to drug Sarjeet again. I tried to console her, but in vain, she started screaming and then suddenly she became quiet and starred at something behind me and in a flash I realised that something was not right, I moved, and in the very next second, someone hit the ground where I was standing with a machete; that hit actually meant for me, was so powerful, that an entire patch of grass and mud got ripped off real bad from the ground…It was Chandra; Chandra Rao Patil, the leader of The Wolfhound Gang, a product of the gutters of Mumbai……A 6 footer and a physique of a bear all pumped up with enhancers and alcohol…a menace for everyone in this colony, since the day he and his cronies made the stadium their base, since the last seven years…a nightmare for women…but, it was all going to end today, because today he got competition…a competition for power that will send him all the way back to those same gutters from where he came. He grinned at me, with saliva dripping from his tobacco chewed mouth, My eyes all clad in red looked back at him with anger and much more with hatred for touching my loved ones…He spoke, “You are fucking good with your hands, so lets play a fair game, no weapons, nor from my side, nor from your side, so let’s fight…Tujha Aaichha…” saying this he leapt towards me like a rabid wolf…But I was all prepared for this and dodged his move and caught hold of his neck with my left hand and had it chocked by my ribs and kicked his groin and said, “Nahi re, Aaj Maajha nahi, Tujha Aaichha Gho…”
And I whacked him on his jaw with a punch……saliva, teeth and blood, all flew from his mouth. It was too hard; even I felt a jolt on my fist. He got up, he was slow, but had some real good stamina. He tried to kick me, but I sidelined his move and hit him on his ribs with a right hand and then on the left chest with a left hand punch, but before the left hand punch could do any damage, he gave me something more, that made my left hand punch seem like a pinch. He hit my head with both his hands…Oh my…it was too powerful, I could hear bells ringing in my ear and for a second my vision blurred, but it became clear when he punched me once more on my nose to open the gates, for the blood to flow from my nose…It hurt pretty bad. But I had to stand up, for every one of them now, because I could see crowds emerging from the entrance and exit points of the stadium. They came here due to this commotion and now, I had to keep their hopes alive, because for the first time they saw someone fight against Patil and his gang in full fledged action mode. “Yo, baby”, this excited me to my core and I kicked him on his abdomen and before he could think about what hit him, I proceeded on him with a clothesline move, which I learned from watching freestyle wrestling on the sports channel. He was down and now even he started bleeding, blood started flowing out his mouth…I could hear people shout…COME ON…, “KHATTHAM KARDE SAALE KO, TOD DE USKO…, FINISH HIM OFF, GO MAN GO…!!!” The sounds grew louder with every punch, with every kick, I could hear the chants get powerful…louder and louder…Finally people were becoming alive; they were coming out of their shells. They tied up the other gang members of Patil and untied Sarjeet and Khushnaaz. And I…well…giving Patil divine lessons of social harmony…He could take no more…he was all down, bloody, broken and out of shape. Sarjeet got up on his feet and when he saw me, he came towards me and said, “Maybe I was wrong” and looked up at Khushnaaz and called her to come here and meet me. She felt bit weird approaching me and then in a very sweet, petrified tone she said, “Thank You Mister…” I smiled at her and said, “Take care, little one”. One of the guys from the public approached me and asked me that who am I and that, why am I helping them, on which I answered, “I am just a common man, who knows, how it feels to be disowned, how it feels to be tread like maggots and that how it hurts when your loved ones, your dreams are crushed down in front of you and you can’t do nothing, but just stand and look helplessly, I am no God, I am no saint, I am just someone who wants to do his part for the people here, for every class, for this city itself and this is just for starters, there is more to come and more to go and I will be here forever…and ever, Amen”, saying this I put on my custom made metal knuckles on the fingers of my hand. The left hand fingers comprised of the text, “AMEN” and the first half part of the number four, in a vertically bisected type, in numerical form, both in an inverted text fashion; while the right hand fingers comprised of the other half of the number four in numerical form and the text, “ALL”, even they too in an inverted manner. And I took a look at Patil, who was trying to get up and then……………
THUMP… THUMP…
I had them, tattooed, literally, on his face with the help of the metal knuckles….It read, ‘AMEN 4 ALL’ which in pure form meant, ‘SO BE IT 4 ALL’…and this was what I had in store for every anti-social element walking the streets of Mumbai…the same punishment…a rollercoaster ride to hell and below…and I looked at the people starring at me and I said, “You can call me SHADOW NOVA and from today no one has any kind of nightmare and I will be here to guard this city from all evil…tonight, I proclaim my birth…and from tonight people, no one will ever harm you because this is where I live, this is where I guard and this is where I serve justice….” My reign had begun…I could see it, everything changing, a new dawn and there far away I saw Anne, despite all her problems, she had come here for me and she smiled at me and I gave her a flying kiss, a tear rolled down Sarjeets’ cheeks…he was right…it was only responsibility that I lacked and when I adopted it…my entire outlook about life changed…a new birth…a new vision had occurred…And from this day, Reuben will just be a part of Shadow Nova and this city will be my playground and well…in the case of all those bad guys out there…it’s time for you all to bump off.
Two months since, my new avatar, the media are now in the lookout of Shadow Nova…rumours about me spread like wild fire that, who am I…Am I a Ghost…An Angel…A Beast or Something else…they sneak in for a picture of mine, they catch glimpses of me in action…stories about me in different papers, about my origin…about my motive…all get mixed up in the media front and as far as crime was concerned, this…well is just the beginning…this in fact is just a teaser of the whole story…there is lot more action to come…and I was all set…So were many others, from different parts of the city, from different backgrounds, from different sections of the food pyramid…never did we knew, that soon our paths would cross each other and with this even fate had plans…plans that erupted in three different minds…three different bodies but, all set to end up in the same way…My name had its echoes ringing up in Krishna Vermas’ ears…the pain that he carried in him, possibly found a cure in me…not only a cure, but something more…technically speaking a shortcut for his plans…a better option actually…
So did someone, sitting quite high above the lives of many like us…there was something brewing up in his mind…something that made him to think…something that made him smile once again…or should I say someone more than well…this something…The newspaper on the table and the half-filled vodka glass in his hand, he smiled…he smiled upon the city and it’s hidden secrets and said, “Dear friend, Shadow Nova…maybe it’s time we met…and friend, maybe it’s time we shook hands with each other… or say…maybe it’s time we had a deal……” The glass in his hand, the grin on his face and the city below him…all set for him…all set for the deal…all set for the man himself…Raghavan……Raghavan Romanov……It was time...Indeed it was...

CHAPTER THREE- SCIENCE AND FICTION.

Science was what I was made of. Even though my parents gave me birth, it was science that was behind it all. From every cell to, every drop of blood, science was God and nothing could ever replace it. It is what I believe, that there exists no God but a mysterious layer of science deep hidden somewhere in this very existence of mankind. Every one of you might be thinking that who am I to say this, just another science freak as what my colleagues called me or just another scientist who left everything behind just for his passion, his devotion towards his ambition. Yes, I am both of them, a freak scientist named Krishna Verma. Since age 14, I started researching over my ultimate dream, the process of fast recreation from serums extracted from human stem cells. The regeneration of body parts within minutes based upon the person’s physical structure and the details collected from his/her chromosomal structure, with the help of these stem cell serums…Yes I know you people think I am mad, but I am not mad, today celebrating my 34th birthday along with test tubes and biological samples, I know I have almost reached my goal. Twenty years of hard work and passion were going to bear fruit soon and after that this world would no longer call me mad…not even my parents…
It has been 4 years since I saw them. Last time I saw them, when I came out of my lab, when my mother had been admitted to the hospital. They were happy for the fact that they saw me after this long span of time but, sad too for I never became a son that they wished to be. I was so engrossed in my research, that I left them long back twenty years ago. They were unhappy, but it was never their fault that they were my parents; it was my fault that I was their son. My Senior Research Supervisor professor Gaurav Bakshi had backed me since I was 20, for 14 years he stood by my side, even though people called him Mr. Mole, no matter for what reason. He was the only and the most supporting pillar of my research and soon I was going to complete my research and present it before the world that called me crazy….HAAA…Haaaaa…HEEEEEEEEEEEE.
What irritated me since the last two years was that, after all these eighteen years of hardship and turmoil, it took me a whole two years to stabilise the final structure of the last chromosome. Different patterns, different stabilisers, most modern graphic inclusions did never help in this case. And then finally from thin air itself I got the structure designed while I was bathing and they say scientists should not bathe because it might remove the urge from their current frame of mind to develop anything…What pathetic rubbish and to hell with the person who coined it!!!
The yellow coloured glowing demonstration samples kept in the cooling chamber were looking beautiful. And three days later she was going to be showcased in front of this world, which would no more remain handicapped once she was spread among the people. And in between all this excitement, I was thinking of an appropriate name for her, when Prof. Bakshi came into the lab. He asked for the patent sheets for my work as he wanted to do a final check on it and told me to sleep as the next three days were going to be hectic. We celebrated my birthday as well as the success of the research on some vodka and some salty cracker nuts and then I went off to sleep, handing over all the patent papers to Bakshi to recheck. While sleeping I dreamt of me standing in front of the delegation of the WSST(World Society of Science and Technology) and presenting to them my work and then suddenly all the people in the world suffering from different kinds of handicap problems were being healed and their loved ones hugging each other and crying…happily…It was very wonderful and among the crowd I could see my parents calling me and leaving everything aside I ran towards them and my Dad hugged me and my Mom pecked me on my cheeks and tears rolling from their as well as my cheeks…….not only because I was successful in my research but also due to the bigger fact that they got their son back and I got my parents….It was the best dream I ever saw in years or should I say in my whole life and soon it would no longer remain as a dream but a reality etched upon my heart…I love my family and for the first time in my life in twenty years I said God protect them because I only have them and they only me, so dear Lord please take care of my family and Good Night…Sweet Dreams…
Next day I got up late, it was too much vodka yesterday night and due to that I got up at ten in the morning compared to the four I got up, whenever I slept in my whole life. I had to go along with Bakshi to a meeting regarding the presentation of the research material. The meeting was scheduled for 2 p.m. and I had to travel all the way from the inner parts of Worli to the Science Commission Centre in Futuralis Dome at Bandra. I just don’t know how to get there and I had no worries about it, as I had Prof. Bakshi with me, so I just had to wash myself up and then have some food, no matter what it was and then report to Prof. Bakshi. So after all these stuffs I went to Bakshis’ chamber to get back the rectified research papers, but there was something wrong…Bakshis’ chamber was locked, the Digi-bar confirmed his departure time as 9.00am. In the morning. That was weird, he never would leave anywhere without telling me about where he would go, but today it was all wrong and also today he had to submit me the rectified research papers…It was all wrong and that too it happened at the very wrong time. I checked with the lab guards and they told me that Bakshi had just gone for a routine check-up with the transport officials and that he had asked them to tell me that I rest for some time, so that I get mentally prepared for the meeting. For a second I felt that I had lost everything and that everything was deceiving me, however after hearing what the guard said, I felt quite fine. When I told him that I didn’t want to rest, they told me that Bakshi had a talk with the delegation via phone and they seemed very much tough, hence Bakshi had asked me to rest so that I don’t get tensed up during the meeting. I came inside my chamber and opened my personal cooling chamber and took the Sample vial from the special unit cell and gazed upon it and then kept it inside still mesmerized with its yellow coloured beauty. I sat on the chair near my desk and then started surfing the internet and the guards came in and brought me some coffee and then switched on the air-con. And I sat there surfing the internet and also looking at the clock-pad on the wall, drinking coffee and then just for a while leaned back on the chair, slightly my mind dozing off into some kind of trance. The visuals surrounding me, the smell of the coffee, the chill in the air and my mind full of excitement, it all got mixed up to develop a real good mesmerizing effect on my mind…I began to dream once again….
This time it was slow, I saw myself surrounded in dense fog and some shadows approaching me. I could not see their faces and the next thing I saw was that they were heading towards a place that looked somewhat like the personal sample cooling chamber of my laboratory. I started walking towards them but I was moving at a very slow speed towards them, I was technically moving, yet I was still there rock still, I started pushing myself ahead and started shouting at them but I myself could not hear my sound. And to my horrors, they took the serum sample from the cell container and placed it on a portable coolant case and walked off, grinning at me and I…stood there helpless and then BANG!!! I could feel a bullet piercing every inch of my brain, tearing skin, bone and flesh and with the time standing still, I fell down all covered in my own blood……I….was still breathing but….once again….helpless…motionless and now all down….technically dead…but still awake….AWAKE….A-WAKE…A----WAKE…WAKE--UP…WAKE-UP…WAKE UP, WAKE UP VERMA….came the sound and I woke up but something was not right in this world too. I woke up in the electrolysis chamber…I was not supposed to be here, yet I was here…The sound from the speakers were familiar…It was Bakshi…
“Hi, there Verma, slept too much boy…we had to go for the meeting and you are sleeping…utter crap….or should I say utter foolishness boy…” I looked at my watch to find that it was 4.00p.m. in the afternoon, How the hell did it happen, this was all wrong….I slapped myself to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming then Bakshi spoke, “Hey Verma, you are not dreaming, you indeed are awake, but you know Verma, things never seem the way they look actually. You put on twenty years of your life on the serum research and me; I never put in even twenty days!!! Still today I own the research credits and you get yourself stuck like a moron in some chamber…weird life man”. “What the hell are u speaking Bakshi and why the hell am I here, open the door, I need to get out…Open up somebody, Open the fucking door…Open it up…” I shouted. On this Bakshi shouted, “Shut up Verma!!! You are here because it is me who works behind everything…What u thought, I would put a whiz kid like u for research without a cause…without a profit!!! You were just a host for me…or you can say something like a puppet…all work and no play or should I say better, All Fool and no sense at all. So here I put on a deal…either you can rot your filthy life as a dead experimental sample in some medical college or else we can join hands for a much better monetary benefit, we have got bidders from all over the world for these samples, so we just need to play cool so decide…And before you speak, have this too, the research is all set to be patented by WSST in my name and I have to specify the name of an assistant, so I can suggest your name and for starters I can give you a cool sum of 100 billion bucks, How is that now…” I saw in his eyes the greed I was not able to see twenty years back…It was Gods’ punishment to me, I had put my parents away, their love, everything for my own selfish prosperity and today that very same selfishness was standing in front of me, holding a knife on which stood my entire fate….There was no looking back…From the glass walls I could see the guards looking at me like wolves ready to tear me apart, their guns all unlocked and loaded, ready to spit out their metal slugs…I had to decide after all I had to make sure that no other child in this world will ever face such a situation…I had to make it sure…If it had to end then it had to end perfectly and if darkness has to go completely, then you must be a part of it to destroy it completely, so that next time there should not be a next time…And with a tear from my eye dropping on the floor I said, “You win, after all its money you want, they want and technically speaking me too…so I am in….”
I walked along with Bakshi to his personal chamber, guards following us everywhere and even he had some of them positioned in his chamber. We sat near the main table and he told me that how he had planned this many years back and that yesterday night and even today both my vodka and coffee were spiked so that he would get enough time to fondle with the research material without my presence. He asked me to wait until tomorrow afternoon at 3.00p.m., when he was scheduled to go to Berlin for presenting the research materials to the main delegation at the WSST HQ. He had booked a ticket for me too, in order to accompany him and asked me to pack the research materials and the vials into the special casing coolant boxes. He left the building by eight in the evening and I…well sat there in the room where the packing was meant to be done, The guards gave me the new access codes to the coolant chamber and even gave me the packing boxes and left me alone there, but still spying with the cameras installed on the ceiling corners just like a vulture preying on its victim…I thought indeed Bakshi was right, I was the most foolish smart fellow ever born anywhere, actually because I never thought about anything other than my research stuff and today I was all alone sitting in a room ready to face my hard work of twenty years to be snatched away from me by a class one cheat and in the end being smacked upon my face the label of being the most foolish person on earth…Haaa…Heee. But now I was going to do the biggest of all my foolish antics, probably I was going to redefine foolishness. I thought of what would be the best possible way to end this all and then my foolish mind came upon this foolishness in one sense, yet brilliant idea. I looked up towards God and prayed to him that, “Whatever I did was all wrong, I went onto create life without realising it’s true meaning and what I got was a lesson for everyone that; they must understand life before trying to emulate life itself” and by praying this to God, I thought of my parents for one last time and wished that I should have never been born to them and that whatever I did wrong to them, Lord please forgive me and I closed my eyes…I went and sealed the chamber door and then unplugged the gas pipe meant for the sample heaters from its plugging hole and then opened the cooling chamber and took out the case and opened it and placed each of the ten vials on the desk. I spread the research papers on the table and poured on them, the vodka from Bakshis’ shelf. I took the lighter from his desk and also his golf club that he had left here to play when he ever got bored and technically speaking today I was going to play it, possibly was going to strike a hole in one shot and then……….
I struck them off…I smashed all the vials and the remaining samples with the golf club and moved like a frenzy beast through the room covered by the sample remains that got splashed over me when I broke off the vials, I went on smashing everything I saw, glass, wood, metal and then…I saw the guards approaching the chamber, they tried to open the door but in vain, then they blast it open with the high frequency breach bombs that they carried with them always in their pouches whenever they felt the need for emergency and now it was CODE RED….BLOODY RED and now they rammed towards me in full force all set to put me down, but me too was all set…The gas still on and the lighter in my hand and the last dialogue on my tongue, “SEE YA IN HELL”…I lit it, it got reacted with the gas and the reaction came in fast, real fast……
BOOM!!!
Everything from bone and flesh to glass and metal, everything ripped off and there were all fireworks everywhere….and I fell like a stone almost eighty feet down onto the ground half-burnt and all smeared with the sample solutions…my vision started to blur in front of me, I could hear sirens and wailing people but no idea where I was, whether I was alive or not, I started rolling back and had no clue where I was heading to and then just like something washed of the gutters, I got washed off into the drains and then my brain dimmed off….
I don’t remember when I got up but I knew where I was, I was still in the drainage waters floating on some branches and plastic waste, all heading to the recycling plant in full force. For a second I thought this was hell and I was going to face the Devil soon for all my antics, but then I saw the city lights and heard the recycling plant siren and also realised that I was able to move my hand and also my legs, I wasn’t feeling that cold even though it was the rainy season and I tried to wade myself off to the mud patch near the banks of the drainage waters. I tried my best but still I couldn’t get there and then I started shouting for help and I saw somebody standing near the banks of the water and that guy pulled me up by throwing in some rag clothes and pulled me over to the land. And before he could ask me that, whether I was fine or not, he ran away on seeing my face and kept on yelling, “Bhoot…Bhoot”. I just could not make it out why he said so and before I could think more it started raining and I was almost naked with some pieces of cloth stuck on my skin and burnt flesh due to the heat and solution sample, I tried to remove it, but it was way too painful and I was almost dead tired, my entire body was aching and despite it raining heavily. I felt quite hot and pathetic of all, I could feel my skin getting peeled off itself and it all started to feel rough and I smelled weird…With nowhere to take some shelter from the rain, I took a plastic tarpaulins sheet from the garbage dump and wrapped my body in it. I still felt too hot and was literally sweating even though I was sitting beneath the roof of the backyard of a building or something. I then decided to wrap it over my waist, so that I could hide my nudity off and sitting there I observed that the skin on my legs were partially burnt with some cloth and plastic traces on them. And when I looked upon my hands, I saw that they were all dark green in colour with small speckles emerging over them and those speckles they were very hot, something kind of hot steam coming through them. I didn’t know what was happening with me or what was I getting converted into but I was damn sure that this was something too weird and gave me my answer to why that beggar ran off on seeing my face. I searched the alley for something reflective enough, so that I could see my face on it, but I never got anything and in my utter despair, suddenly I fell and in the water puddle I saw my face….Oh my God, Shit…Oh God…I was not even close to what I used to look like….that beggar was true…I was some kind of ghost…a living ghost…or else how could I survive that blast in the science lab…this was something else…, “My face….Oh my Lord…Why…why me…Why lord…why….Oh God you could have killed me..why dear Lord…why…” and I sat there crying, in the rain…the city night life swallowed my cries, all wet and desperate I cried and I felt even God didn’t care about it and I couldn’t do anything but just cry and between this commotion of mine, I heard someone else cry…Suddenly a mugger pulled by the alley where I was and he held a knife in one hand of his and the other hand he was dragging a girl, probably in her early teens inside the alley. He tried to pull off her clothes and in vain tried to tear them off with his knife, like a beast prowling on the innocent…I asked him to stop it and in return he asked me to shut up or else he would cut my tongue off…I still moved towards him and tried to push him by his leg, but he much more stronger than me kicked me on my face…and in a fit of rage I yelled, “You got a mother at home, then if you are that hungry, go fuck her, asshole”, on which he slapped that girl and came at me brandishing his knife and swished it at me and in self-defence I tried to stop him by my hand and the next thing I felt was that something trying to push through the speckles on my hand and suddenly with a blast and some real, heavy green light, he got slammed off to the electric pole on the other side of the road…How did I do that…even I didn’t know how it happened, I could feel immense heat erupting from those speckles and I felt it coming out of my entire torso and head. That mugger took for his heels and I saw that girl running off from the alley and just by the bend of the road, she looked back at me….Even in this immense pain I could see her lovely face looking at me, probably saying thank you and I felt in my mind, a sound, a different, yet sweet and feminine sound saying ‘thank you’ And She ran off and I sat there yelling in pain, unable to get up, confused and then with a big bang, I felt immense heat erupt from my body with a flash of green light and everything surrounding me in the alley got all fired up and I realised I am able to stand up…

I stood up and in the light of the street lamp, I looked at myself, I was all different, physically weak but all green with speckles over my hand and face spread in an uniform fashion…What was I…How did this happen…Why the hell did it happen to me…Out of which technically speaking, I had the answer to only one question-Why; to some extent…And the answer…the answer was somewhere hidden in the mugging attempt incident that went all bad for the mugger and real lucky for that girl, some moments ago…I felt much more better than what I felt earlier tonight…And for the first time in the whole day…I smiled…technically speaking I grinned because, even though I was no more Krishna Verma, I was turning out to be something better, something bit weird, yet something much, much more powerful…The night began with a new cause and every cause should have a reason to it and also attached to that reason must be a solution…I had the perfect reason-Bakshi and I, myself, was probably only half the solution and the other half I knew……I would find it in this city itself…A City Unknown…Dark…hiding the solution in the hollow depths of its…… Shadows’….HAAAAA…….Probably, Science was all turning itself into some other form….Realistic as Usual….Yet Fictional……………Haaaaaaaa……

CHAPTER TWO - A NEW IDENTITY.

I lay on bed for one whole week. Pandit was no happy man now. My part in his new project was behind by almost a week and it could mean that my position at Octoden was going to be shaky. However, whatever he was, Pandit had a good heart and I realised that, when he told me that neither he would cut my salary for that one week holiday but also he would request our clients to give us some more time. Even Sarjeet helped me a lot; he used to bring his servant Oded to clean my house, while Anne would spend all day long besides me mending my wounds. Even my family came over and asked me to come over with them, but I knew that if I went along with them that would mean a full stop to my new plan. My parents really liked Anne, even though they knew what she was. Even my cousin brother, an animator came over to see me, so that he could show off his generous nature in front of everyone. My parents were on no talking terms with my uncle since the last 4 years…Ah…that’s some real long, boring story. The salary of 100000 bucks that I got for my job, I used to sent 20000 of it home, because whatever it was I always love my parents and no power in this world could question me on it, even though I was living separately. My house rent of 12000 bucks was good and then there were these insurance monthly premiums as well as some investments which when mature would fetch me a good some in the future, which all would total upto somewhere around 20000 bucks. With all that over life was good with 48000 to some extent. It was 2050 damn, and level of expense had increased tenfold with the ever increasing trends of basic life itself. My hospital bills had piled up and Anne helped me a lot. My father did repay it back to her, as he was angry of the fact that I was living the life of a fool, that to a fool in a complete mess…that too of all sorts. And this mess was all due to the courtesy of one bloody, gay, rich, influential man. I was ashamed of myself, probably I should never have taken that step, I saw the pain in my parents’ eyes and I saw how Anne had to toil over a big mess like me. I felt sorry for them but more than that, I felt sorry for Shah. It was time people like him knew, what it was to mock someone’s emotions, it was time Mumbai got a makeover, it was time……
I took me almost one week to get back on my feet. I joined work from the very next day and started working on my very new job too. After work at Pandits’ that day I came to Sarjeets’ shop and asked him to work over my brand new uniform. He was not sure about it in the first place, but then after hearing my intentions he started work over it, but still somewhere in his heart there was a small patch that made him feel that i was just wrong, completely wrong. And then it was time for Oded to play game. He would give me martial arts lessons for the next one whole month on every weekends, rough workouts everyday and Sarjeet…boy…boy he did a hell of a job and my new attire was black, shining and ready to wear upon. Oded taught me the basic moves, he was silent, calm and steady and beyond all way too rough when he would hit me right on my ribs!!! Everything was going on in place; my new body tone was being liked by the ladies at my workplace. This working too well, even Anne felt that I was looking quite sexy, nowadays. So she suggested me that I get some of those bashings from Inder all the time, because it indeed brought a new wave of energy in me…I was no more Mr. Nobody and ‘Shadow Nova’ was finally taking shape….It was time I hit the streets…
I felt afraid of the well quite fact that how the hell would people react after looking at me or will this be the biggest blunder of my life…But my mind had decided upon it and I was ready to roll. The best way to approach was through the alley way; however some people noticed me and they became suspicious and started mumbling about me. I decided to pace up, the tight suit was taking a toll on my balls, but that was fine I had enough padding to make it feel fine and made my way to the rail pod. The darkness of the unprepared section of the station helped me a lot to hide and when I saw that the area was clear, I ran towards the pod and jumped over it, carefully not touching the electric lines above me. Then with the train, I zoomed ahead, bystanders looking at me with awe, that what was I, was I some kind of beast or bird, or was I something else.
Inder was at his club, playing well…dirty games. I hid behind the billboard facing the alley behind his club, where his car was parked. There was just his driver there, probably armed, but it didn’t matter for me, I was prepared for the worst. It was raining and the music from the club put me on a very freakish trance… perfect for a superhero to make an entry. I approached the driver cautiously and tapped the boot area of the car to distract him or moreover lure him towards my trap. It was perfect…he approached the back of the car and got whacked of by me, something that Oded taught me, a move called, ‘The Neck Chop’. He lay flat there and I dumped him into the garbage dumpster and stood there for my prey. As soon as Inder approached there he was bit confused to see his chauffer not in the car and that the music still being played on the stereo in his car. He never expected what would come next… The moon hid behind the clouds and I grinned. I jumped off from the top of the billboard wall and over to the grilling bar on the first floor window. He still didn’t notice me and then like a beast from the darkness, I pounced upon him and the rest…well there was nothing left to explain… He cried and I gave him pain and I kicked him off onto the street. The electrifying music sound from the club and the rain both ate his crying wails and I kept on bumping him off to the next alley, a much darker alley and I loved it… He was pleading for mercy but I actually left it back home… He couldn’t believe his eyes and before I could slash his throat off he asked me, ‘What are you?’ and I said well in Hindi, ‘Tera Baap!!!’ And tore his face off. Bleeding, broken, almost dead he crawled towards the alleyway wall and looked towards the beggars standing there; I recognised them as the same beggars whom Inder had got bashed by his club bouncers, just for the sake that they were standing in front of his club a few days back, hoping that someone would lend them some alms or that they might get some left over food from the club. Inder was begging them to help him…pity his state was so bad that today he had to beg for help at those same beggars and all the money and credit chips in his wallet just was of no use…I looked into their eyes and I saw that they were happy…happy for the fact that he got what he deserved…I had him in pieces, still I didn’t feel like killing him, probably because of the teachings and values taught into me by my parents, I felt that I should not take that step… He was already way down and I left him there itself, covered in blood and muck and the rain water to flow it off to the drain. I took the money from his wallet and gave it to those beggars, not thinking about charity or something just because I knew how hard it was to earn money in a city like Mumbai and that if you are a loser then it was way tougher. On the way I did something more mischievous, I burned down Inders’ car and the explosion shattered of the fibre works of his club exterior. It was fun; I felt much more satisfied, like as though I did something that I should have done a long way back…I felt that there was some kind of power in me, some power really… That I didn’t have any kind of feelings for Inder and looking up in the sky, I asked God that what I did; was it right or wrong…I got no answer but probably I think God had an answer in store for me Somewhere…Sometime…in Some or the other form…
Walking back home, drenched in the rain, I saw people emerging from the alley ways looking at me…because I was something that they never ever saw…something fearful yet friendly maybe…I climbed over the back side ladder of an old building and climbed upwards towards the terrace because I didn’t want anymore people looking at me, it could cause too much problems and moreover the black tight suit with a large yellow Christian cross over it was way too intimidating. Sitting on the rooftop of the rail pod back home, I discovered that there was some skin from Inders’ body in the extended nails of my black suit. Seeing this I made myself clear that, indeed I was vicious tonight. Jumping of the pod at the Andheri station I started walking towards the wall besides the track because for me getting out from the main exit gate was way too impossible as there were circuit cameras’ installed there and I would easily be caught even in the midst of prime darkness as they had night vision enabled on them. The wall adjoining the station was uneven as there was the main pipeline going underneath it and the wall was built over it. None of the government officials rectified the unevenness of this wall and it helped me to go away undetected. Sneaking back home I came across another good for nothing rascal, a mugger who was trying to do something too dirty on a woman. And when she tried to electrocute him with her stun gun, he caught hold off her hand and tried to twist it. However she didn’t cry, because she saw something behind him, something in black with red gleaming eyes and a grin that pissed of that mugger. As soon as he left hold of her, he tried to punch me, but I dodged it and went on to lift him by his neck and slammed him on to the wall, still holding his neck, suffocating him. After all I was 6’ 1” and now I was trained, that too in real military style. He smacked my jaw with his brass knuckles…and I saw blood coming out of my mouth. He had hit it pretty hard and it was way too painful…I wanted to shout aloud but, the fury in me didn’t make me to do so, instead I retaliated by punching him on his stomach and then blocking of his second blow by holding of the hand that wore the brass knuckles and gave it an almighty twist. A sound came and he cried…I had broken his wrist bone off and was still pressing it hard. His cries echoed through the streets and the rain too found it hard to contain his shrieking sound. Blood was oozing out of his arm as the claws on my hand ripped through skin,flesh and bone. And I was pressing it still hard, but the woman standing there petrified by something, which made it clear that now she was much more afraid of me rather than that mugger. I gave him another blow on his head and walked towards her. She held her stun gun at me and I said, “Look lady, I don’t intend to hurt you, I just came over to help you…I hope you understand”. But she was still standing there all cold and confused and I said, “I am just another normal guy, trying to mend these wrong things right, so that everyone can smile upon their future rather than cry”. I was being too philosophical, but it did strike her and she placed that gun in her purse and told me that she was returning from her workplace when she came across this mugger who was trying to play dirty with her. She said, “I am sorry, but who are you? And by the way…Oh my Lord, I don’t get it…what are you?” and seeing her tensed face I smiled at her and seeing this she exclaimed, “Wow! You can smile too.” And I asked her where she stays and she told me just few blocks to the right and I told her that I would leave her home. She agreed but still was quite curious about me, after all I was all clad in black and had a very big yellow Christian cross on my chest, and I even smiled according to her, which was way too exceptional for a freak like me according to her. She introduced herself as Gauri Menon and that she worked in a software company and I was really way too happy to walk along with her. She was talkative, yet graceful. Probably more than ‘Shadow Nova’ it was Reuben now walking along with her. She said, “I live here along with my pal Soumya Krishnan, who is a journalist and she is on leave and has gone to her native place, hence I walked home late tonight. By the way where do you live and sorry to ask you but do you have a name?” She felt bit awkward asking about it but had a naughty smile all through it. I said, “Yeah, you can call me ‘Shadow Nova’ and I too live in a house, but aren’t superhero identities meant to be secret”. She laughed over it and by the time we could speak more we reached her building. I bid her bye by saying that, “Gauri, next time whenever you travel at night take care that you have along with you someone reliable and if u still don’t find anyone then call me up”. “And how the hell can I call you, do superheroes like you got any cell number or something” she asked and I smiled and told her, “Yeah, but it would be better if u look up in the sky and call my name, I will be there for you and if u still need any help call on this number, it belongs to one of my human friend and do give a miss cal on this number or it would be better if u sent an sms on it”. We laughed over it and walked away in opposite directions. That human friend of mine was none another than me myself…Hehe…Hehe…I was getting too naughty tonight. Probably I felt something special for her in my heart, but this special feeling always starts to occur whenever I come across any beautiful girl and Gauri was an angel…Oh my I was going back again to my special attraction stuff towards girls and this was not the right time to think about that. I was too tired and I had to go for job the very next day, also it had started to rain and so ‘Shadow Nova’ zoomed off to home sweet home…
My door scrapper had no message over it, as I had told Anne about my new avatar and she was excited about it, yet worried about me because she cared more for Reuben rather than ‘Shadow Nova’. I drank a full glass of milk and went to bed thinking about my escapades tonight and frankly also about Gauri. Before sleeping I went on to set an alarm for 7.00 a.m. on my cell phone and I saw that there was an unread message on it. I t was Gauris’ message, it read, “Hi frnd of ‘Shadow Nova’, do thnk Nova boy on behalf of me, dat he indeed was my saviour 2nite & dat it’s indeed my blessin’ dat I’ve got a frnd in him & do tell me ur name 2 coz after all ur d bridge connecting me 2 him, so Good Night, sorry to disturb & cya”. Though this message was send to me, it was however not made for me, it was designed for ‘Shadow Nova’ and probably even she felt the same feeling that ‘Shadow Nova’ felt towards her…a different feeling of attraction…With the warmth of this feeling, I slept with most of the city fast asleep, waiting for another day to rise, but some were still awake working on something big, somewhere in this big city itself, all ready to showcase their ideas to the next sunrise…But fate had some other plans and we were going to be tangled by it, unknowingly, we slept, dreamt and worked upon the new future…

CHAPTER ONE - GENESIS OF A SUPERHERO.

I left my family 3 years ago and moved away from the suburbs of Mumbai to the much more urbanised streets of Andheri in Mumbai. Born to Benjamin Koshy and Susanna Koshy, I, Reuben Koshy am someone who lives in the future rather than the present. So for me a shift from the suburbs of Dombivli to Andheri was something really big. This place had always fascinated me for its sheer sense of urbanised medium and above all its entire aura. But since the last 3 months I feel that I have committed one of the biggest mistakes in my life by moving over here. My 2 room pad was bustling with echoes of the sirens of nearby cop cars that have been suddenly on the run since last 3 months or so when they got news that smuggling lord Raghavan Sinha and his legendary granddad Romanov Voltar are back in Mumbai. These so called cops had spent almost 30 million rupees on special task force agents from Russia in order to catch Raghavan. But no one knows where those guys went and then no one heard anything from them until after 2 months of their departure, the cops got a gift on Christmas, some seven severed Russian heads, with maggots all over them. That was the power that The Romanovs held over Mumbai. And well that was the indirect reason why since the last three days I have been unable to decide an ending to my much anticipated (only by me actually) superhero comic, entitled ‘SHADOW NOVA’.

Well this was no where going to get solved up, as the government was the same old corrupted one since decades and they…were never going to change, if anything had to change then it had to be just nothing…simply nothing because even though it was year 2050 and India was the most powerful nation in the world, there was total shallowness deep inside this motherland. Everyone right from the smallest petty waged worker to the highest earning business people, everyone survived some or the other way on corruption, even me too!!! As my house owner owns 3 buildings across Andheri which never had any kind of license and I was staying in one of them. My house owner, Sarjeet Bhatia, an ex- military officer, who lost everything when he lost his right leg during some battle somewhere near Kashmir. Well, that never stopped this never die guy, who brought up these three, 3-storeyed buildings with the entire greenies he ever earned in his life. And what today you see is, instead of a rifle he holds a needle and thread instead of a grenade as he now owns a small tailor shop in his Blue Star building, which is just 4 blocks away from my…well the building in which I reside. As my mother said, “All is well and good if u make out the time to pray”, I left aside my problems and started praying and before I could say Amen, the door bell rang…I said Amen and opened the door to find dear Anne standing there right in front of me all drenched because it was raining too good. Anne, the girl living on the floor above my pad was too sweet to become a hooker. She told me long back that she became a hooker just for the reason that she always got kicked off by love. Love was the only thing in her life that poisoned her life completely, be it her sadistic experiences with her step-father or the encounter with a boyfriend who gang raped her along with his friends and that too for a whole two days. Or was it the law who brushed off her innocence by proclaiming that she was a hooker by profession just like her mother…Something that always haunts her, that, her mother left for the heavenly abode long back during her childhood days. There was total darkness in her life after that decision by the law and then she fought with life throughout without a break, but still fate never let her go off that tag, the tag of a raped girl. It was 2050, it was India Poised, yet innocence was just a pity piece of cloth that got washed off in the gutters of Mumbai…

Sitting next to me, she strokes a puff of smoke on my face, the cigar in her hands, the skimpy clothes and the knife on her belt, all show me a new Anne. She came today actually to give me my mp3 micro chip. One of her DJ friends had asked for some new tracks sung by the ultimate desi rock band, ‘Drive-shot Alley’. She gave them to me, asked me that whether I had dinner, because whatever she was, she was always caring towards me. Many days when I slept without having food, then she would cook food for me and then has it along with me. After giving that mp3 stuff, she pecked me on my cheek as usual, bid me goodbye and slammed the door behind me…as usual.
Next day, even though yesterday night was a mess I had to get up by 7.00a.m. because I had to earn my bread and butter and that could only be done by working at ‘Pandits’ Paradise’…actually Mr. Pandits’ visual effects studio (Octoden). He called it heaven because there he would never find his ever nagging wife. And luckily even she never used to come over here as she was a lazy…well pig. And Pandit…he would love anything without his wife…even if it was ‘Bajrang’, the local Bihari babus’ stinking ‘vada pavs’. Life at Octoden was good, with good amount of work, a moderate pay and beyond all, some good curvaceous show-off by the ladies. So today it was as usual, except that today at afternoon, we witnessed some real gruesome stuff by Romanovs’ mob party. Right in front of the traffic signal near our office building, they bumped off two guys, who later came to be identified as the contract killers who some months back, decided to play dirty with Raghavan. That was Raghavan, silent yet dominating. I was always fascinated by this guy for the sheer reason that how he turned this city into his own playground, pawns working for him without a concern for their own lives and weapons went on just like toys for him. And with the blood being washed off the streets into the gutters even that day dimmed itself into the fading nightlife of Mumbai. And like a damsel wrapped in black, the night started off with music, YO!!!
I had to go to one Mr. Inder Shah, a comic book publishers’ nightclub to present him with my debut comic artwork. He asked me to come over here, though it was suspicious enough, I never hesitated because the night was calling me in. He was sitting in his private room with some…well…not that covered up girls, who were…just playing around, flashing there assets over his face. He asked me to sit besides him and then he…well…asked me to do something that made it clear that his intentions were never good. He was bloody gay and wanted me to play around with his pole. He was ready to publish my comic and even offered to pay me in advance, but I decided to pay him instead…with a kick on his filthy groin. And the next thing I could remember was me being bashed around the club by his bouncers…well gay bouncers maybe and then they threw me out just like a piece of crap right into the garbage dump. Probably I slept there for an hour or so, because they really played around me hard and it was paining bad and with all this around…it started raining. With the rain to accompany me I started walking slowly towards the nearby rail pod station, fortunately they didn’t take away my rail card along with my money. Well tonight everything went wrong all due to the reason that I was a nobody and nobody likes a nobody, everyone likes a somebody…no matter what…

I reached home late, there was a message on my door scrapper, it was from Anne, she was worried about me, as she tried calling me on my cell, but that wretched thing…I forgot to charge it yesterday, so she had scrapped me to meet her as soon as I return. But meeting her in this state would mean bashing no.2, so I decided to lay down myself so that I could let my pitiful soul take a break. It was Saturday next day and my body just wouldn’t let me go for job, so I just helped it in dozing off again. My door bell was ringing hot, and my ears were banging out, I knew it…it could have been none other than Anne. I opened the door and the next thing I got was well pure, crystal clear unholy sermon with a very good mixture of all those ‘F’ and ‘S’ words. But as soon as she saw my swollen lip and bruised arm, she felt bad and enquired about what really happened. After telling her what happened, she called up Pandit to tell him that I won’t make it up today and well Pandit he got his pant tight when she spoke to him because Anne was someone who always…well…seriously excited him to the core. She brought in some medicines, gave me a shot on my ass and then cooked some very good tomato soup for me. Later in the afternoon, after she left I noticed that, yesterday’s incident had damaged my artwork, which I took along with me to the nightclub. Some of its pages were stained with rain water and there were some pages that were purposely torn off…It took me 3 years to write them down and they ripped it off within 3 seconds. I had to do something, I went up at this guy’s office and shouted in front of everyone that what a big pile of shit he was and even kicked him once again on his sweet spot. Within hours I came across his reaction, I was being searched around by cops throughout Andheri and if it was not for Teepu, our sweeper boys’ information, they would have picked me up long back. This pig was quite influential, he had some very good contacts, he not only brought in a search warrant but also got Sarjeet arrested and they really had him go down on his knees. Even Anne felt the pain when they arrested her on the pretext of divulging information about my whereabouts, but tried to molest her in the jail instead, but by Gods’ very good grace, I came there at the right time and well…my just pitiful state got much more pitiful. Anne was released on the spot and I got kicked hard on the spot. Next day with the help of Afreed Biscuitwala, a 30 something criminal lawyer, one of Anne’s prestigious, yet helpful clients, I got out of that scum shell. The cops had messed up with almost every bone in my body and Inder with every emotion of mine. Sarjeet was good and recovering, Anne was all fine as, Afreed always takes good care of her. But my state was no less than that of a corpse. But that is where, really for the first time in my life that I felt that it was time I let my long hidden emotions come out and take some real good shape, some form that would really turn out to be a remedy for this city and I just knew where to look out for it…