SINS UNLIMITED

By Jyoti Saraf

He stood in the middle of the road. The question hung in the air. “ Can I go back? Will the society accept me after what I did? Will she understand? Was I not told that this was a one way traffic and if at any juncture I decided to take a U Turn, it would be impossible?” So many thoughts, so many questions, innumerable confusions and the fear of death, all these things made Raghu rethink his decision. “ What would happen to my only family, my younger sister, Rani , who was persuing MBA in Singapore? If they do not spare her, then what will happen? She doesn’t know about any of my activities. My life should not reflect badly upon her.” All these thoughts were putting pressure on him to change his mind.

Then a new thought came to his mind. Ria's beautiful and innocent face made him confident. She too did not know anything about his life. She was a simple girl from a middle class family. She lived alone as her parents lived in Kolkata. They had met in the strangest of situation. He knew it was not the time to think about any of those things.

Raghu, whose real name was Raaghav belonged to Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He was just a kid , when their mother had passed away while giving birth to Rani . Their father did not have enough money to take her to a hospital for the difficult delivery. His father was a Dom and spent his time only at the burning ghat, either doing the last ritual or taking gaanja. He was not concerned for his little children who needed him. In the course of years, he had caught some dangerous infection from a dead body which was incurable. That took his life. At the time of his death, Raaghav was twelve and Rani only eight. Since then he had taken up the role of a parent.

Raghu came back to reality. He had a huge stock of Cocaine in his backpack. He was supposed to deliver it to an idustrialist's son. He was a regular client and he further supplied it to his friends. Raghu was just a medium. His boss was a shrude man who believed in earning big money in most unscrupulous ways, that included, supplying the dangerous doses among school going children too. Nobody could trace him as he was always undercover. Police had been trying it’s best to catch hold of that criminal. In that process, while raiding a late night party at a night club, they had caught Raghu and he was arrested with a good stock in his possession. Somehow they had convinced him to surrender and tell them everything about his boss and all the clients whom he dealt with. The deal was his “freedom” , where he would be able to lead a good life, with his sister and with the girl he really loved, Ria. The police station was only one km away. He knew he was doing right. He had been wanting to do this since a long time. The journey so far had been really unethical and unlawful. His face started glowing as his decision was firm .

He had left his car a little away. Nobody, not even his closest aids knew about this. He was walking towards a new beginning and then out of the blue he heard a gunshot. The bullet had just missed him. They knew everything and were there to finish him off . This realisation was enough to make him run for his safety. He understood that he had no chance to run towards the police station as more gunshots followed, that too from that direction. He was quick to turn and started running in a zig zag way so that they would not be able to correct their aim. The road was full of traffic. It was office hours. Raghu even tried to get a lift but nobody stopped. They were seeing him running away from something dangerous. Without thinking he turned at a corner, which was a dark and a shady lane. Raghu was getting out of breath but could not afford to pause, even for a moment. The bag which he had felt heavier than it actually was. It also contained all his bad deeds which now were being thrown at him. He knew he would die on the streets from where he had begun.

Raghu saw a dumping yard on his right and immediately entered the filthy place smelling of rotting garbage. Life was precious, he realised, more precious than that unhygienic smelly place. He was absolutely exhausted and fell on the ground, not forgetting to cover himself with some sticky and dirty looking things. Even the rats did not bother him. For a minute his thought wandered in the direction towards the love of his life. He remembered the night when he had bumped into her. She was crossing that stretch, where there was that drug community was partying. He had thought her to be a part of it. She did not fit the place and the environment . Ria was elegantly dressed and was as pretty as a doll. Raghu went up to her and took out a packet to see her reaction. Definitely, Ria did not understand his motive. She thought it was a new kind of face powder which he was trying to sell. She was least interested as she had been trying to locate an address.

Till date she thought, he was a salesman. That night, Raghu was in a different world. He had found love of his life. He had walked behind her to find out where she lived. It had taken one whole month to convince her to become his friend. Later that friendship turned into a beautiful love relationship. They both were committed to each other. Just thinking about it, made him smile. He forgot all about that place. He needed Ria then, just to be with him.

Raghu could not think of coming out then, as he was hearing few footsteps at a distance. Some crunching sounds made him alert. Though he was scared, he could not control his emotions when he started to think about where it all had begun. The dead father had been lying beside him. His younger sister had been crying with hunger. The twelve year old boy did not know what to do. He tried to look for some money in his father’s sling bag. To his astonishment and fear, there was no money . He got only marijuana. He did not know exactly what it was but knew that his father wasted all his income on that stuff which brought him some kind of pleasure. He took that gaanja to some foreigners who were sitting on the ghost and confidently showed them what he had. They gave him good amount of cash for that drug. He looked satisfied. Raghav did his first deal when he was that young. He bought some milk and food and went back home to find his sister asleep next to their dead father. He woke her up , fed her and himself. After doing the last rites of his father, he along with Rani boarded a train for Mumbai . He had heard of it a lot and knew he could make money there. Raghu was always a smart boy. He found different unique ways to get inside the drug selling circle. After doing small work for a long period, he became his boss's favourite. He never was afraid and was always confident. Only thing that troubled the big time drug dealer was his little sister's future and her safety. Lying down in that dump of garbage, Raaghav kept thinking about the evil and devilish life he had led till then. “ Was I born selfish or the conditions in my life has turned me into a Demon? How could I think only about one child, Rani? Why did I supply drugs to those innocent children? I am sure this is God's way of teaching me a lesson. I will accept whatever comes my way but let Rani and Ria be fine.”.

He was feeling really guilty. After ages, he felt tears in his eyes. Silently, Raghu kept asking God for forgiveness . He did not realise that footsteps were approaching him. By the time he understood, it was too late. One little movement, and he would be finished. To his horror, he heard some familiar voices. Two people who were trying to locate him were talking to each other. Those voices belonged to none other than his own younger sister and the love of his life . He was shocked, “ How can this be possible? I am hearing wrong. Why will they do this? Is something happening about which I don’t know?” He had no idea what to think.

Ria had taken out her phone and dialled a number to speak to someone. The name she took, almost gave Raghu a heart attack. She was talking to his boss. They were discussing him. Then Rani took the phone to speak. She was trying to convince him that they would find her brother soon. Hearing all this, Raghu knew that nothing could protect him. When the people he loved had become enemies, then there was no chance for him to survive. He gave up all hopes and started crying for everything he had lost. With that sorrow , he came out of the hiding. Raghu threw the gun away and fell heavily on the ground. They immediately turned towards him. They had no emotions on their faces. With the gun pointed towards Raghu, they ordered him to stand up and walk with them towards the car. They wanted to take him to the boss so that he could decide a punishment for the betrayal.

Raghu broke down and asked why had they done that and how did Rani and Ria knew each other. Very wickedly they looked at him and then Rani told him that Ria was Rani's friend. The money which he used send his sister would never be sufficient. She wanted lots of it. One day Raghu's boss contacted her and told her about her brother's work . He wanted young and glamours girls in his business as they could bring more profit and attract bigger and richer clients. For that, Rani would have to take over, all the business which her brother had been doing. The saddest part was that never even for a minute, she thought about the sacrifices made by Raghu.

As she could not afford to be seen, she contacted Ria and influenced her. Ria, from the very beginning had been over ambitious. She understood the risk and invited herself to become Rani's partner in crime. Then began the journey of deceit. Raghu was madly in love with her. Though they had not planned the things to go that far, but his sudden change of heart had made everyone insecure. His boss would not let him do that. When Raghu decided to surrender, then the chase had begun.

There he was, in front of his two most beloved people. He felt the earth moving below his feet. He started trembling . He knew that inspite of being wealthy, he was the poorest. He felt empty handed . He knew what he was doing. Without waiting to hear any more, Raghu started running away from them and from himself . Rani and Ria also did not have time to wait. Without thinking about the repercussions, they started firing.

One bullet each in his legs, two in his shoulders, one in his forehead and one in his heart. Raghu fell with a loud scream and wail. The wicked girls won the game . They had killed him. Raghu had paid for his sins with his life . The journey began for the girls.

No guilt, no fear, no thoughts.. Only a sinful game which needed to be won!! The boss had succeeded and was celebrating his victory. His lopsided crooked smile spoke volumes.

By Jyoti Saraf