EYES

What usually would be a sunny morning, had become a gloomy day. The dark grey clouds were just about to burst and pour. A lady in her black suit came running out of a tall building and waved to stop a kaali-peeli. A few passed by but none stopped. Annoyed, she took her phone out of her sling and booked a cab.

*Your ride is 5 minutes away*

“Madam , Apka location kaha ka hai?” “Ballard estate” “Ballard estate me kaha?” “Mint road.” “Theeke, me apke location pe 10 minute me aya”

Drops of water started blurring the screen of her phone. She quickly put her phone in her coat’s pocket and waited. A white Wagon R arrived and stood at the corner.

*Your ride is here* “Madam OTP dena” “8756” *Your ride has started, you will reach your destination by 9:37 am.*

The driver raced straight and stopped at the red light. He looked at the lady from his rearview mirror and asked,

“Aap gana sunna chahogi?

The lady kept gazing out of the frosty window, she had deliberately ignored what he had just asked. *Turn right on Dr. Dadabhai Naoroji road. * *Rerouting*

“Aap ne wrong turn le liya , aapko right lena tha “ “Uss road pe metro ka kaam chal raha hai toh ye apko jaldi pahucha

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dega “

The lady felt a vibration near her waist, she instantly picked up her phone.

“Hello, kya hua ? ……..Theeke me jald hi pahuch jaungi “

The cab driver moved his gaze from the road ahead to the rearview mirror and looked at her. The lady noticed him looking at her. She then shifted closer to the door and gazed outside the misty window.

The stairs of the Asiatic library were dotted with umbrellas. Men and women were strolling through the footpath, trying to avoid getting wet. As he drove further, the street had become peaceful, and the noise of the city bustle was replaced by a dead street with cars parked. The lady now knew she was in the Ballard estate area.

*Your destination is on the left.* *Your ride has ended, You need to pay 138Rs.*

The lady lifted her dripping umbrella from the car floor and asked

“Gpay chalega ?” “Nahi, book karte time toh payment mode cash hi tha toh aap cash hi dena “

With her umbrella in one hand and her phone in the other, she quickly searched her bag and then handed over a two hundred rupee note to him.

“Madam ye dekho , ye note toh yaha se fatta hua hai“

Her phone started vibrating again.

“Hello, me bas pahuch hi gayi hu I’ll be there in 2 minutes”. She kept her phone aside and then handed over another note and some coins to the driver.

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“Madam jaldi utariye dusre location pe jana hai . Late hua toh fine lagta hai”

The lady zipped her purse, opened the door, put up her umbrella, and left. The driver raced his car ahead, stopped at the junction, and turned behind. Her phone was lying on the leather seat, he smirked.

He reached the back seat to grab the phone and tried to unlock it.

*Failed attempt.*

He anxiously took out his phone and swirled his fingers over the keypad to dial a number, swung his key to start the car, and raced ahead. The car jerked as a flock of people crossed the road, The BEST bus kept honking and the crowd had now reached the end of the road. As he headed towards Manish Market, the roads started getting narrower and narrower. Vendors sat on the footpath, hawkers walked and yelled on the roads, and thousands of people carried their polythene bags and strolled, like the entire road belonged to them. The driver’s gaze moved right and left to find a good parking spot. He swiftly changed the gear, honked, and parked his car in a tight space, between the two cloth vendors.

He got down and disappeared into the crowd. After a while of pushing and nudging, he reached the shop. Strings of plastic mobile covers were hanging at the entrance of the shop. The counter had an endless number of mobile phones, but none of them looked new. A bright white light bulb lit up the dark and dingy interiors, a man sat on a rusty wooden chair in the shop. From mobile phones to computers and tablets, he could bring any broken device to life. People called him a doctor of sorts.

“Bade dino baad” “Kya kare, jabse Ola ke liye kaam shuru kia hai , bhade ke upar bhada milta rehta hai“ “Acha hai , par aaj yaha kaise ana hua” “Koi customer aj gaadi me phone chhod ke gaya, isko bas khol ke bech dalo, kuch extra paise mil jayenge “

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The shopkeeper had his own way of keeping his mundane life interesting. He would often collect the phones of his lady customers, keep them in his shop for a few hours and bug them. He would then return them back and stalk their life in his free time. Once, after being swept by a lady’s beauty, he had morphed a photo of her on the naked body of a pornstar. He then printed this image and stuck it behind the door of his rack. Wanting to share this thrill with his friend, he said,

“Ye phone toh khul jayega, par isse acha tareeka batau?”

The cab driver now looked into his friend’s eyes. There was a sense of debauch in both of their eyes.Suddenly the phone rang, A tensed voice spoke from the other end,

“Hello!” “Haa, kaun?” “Mein apna phone aap ke Ola me bhool gayi hoon.” “Haa madam, phone mere hee paas hai.” “Kya aap mujhe Ballard estate laake de sakte hai?” “Ji, abhi me dusre passenger ko chhod raha hu, 20 minute me mujhe aap CSMT Station ke yaha miliye, mein aapka phone lauta dunga.“ “Thik hai main bas phoch rahi hu.” “Chalo main niklta hu.”

The cab driver drove his car to the CSMT station, to meet the woman. He leaned forward from his seat and looked at her with his male gaze. He then handed over her phone.

“Ye lijiye madam , aapka phone” “Thank you”

*One new notification from Jagdish* *Where are you?* *Near CSMT station, did you manage to find that?* *Yes* *Okay, I will be there in five minutes.*

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Jagdish, also known as Jaggu Bhai, was a local postman who delivered letters across the neighbourhood. He sat in the general post office from 9am-2 pm and then strolled through the city with his beige sling. He had door-to-door information about people’s whereabouts.

“Mr Rathi was at home yesterday, the lights in his house were switched on till 5 in the morning. A lady wearing a Maroon dress, with high heels and puffed hair left the building around 6 am. Mr Rathi then left his place at 8 am and took his car. Today I went to deliver a bunch of letters to his building, and the lady on the third floor told me that Mr. Rathi had a huge fight with his wife the day before.” “Okay, did you manage to get any photographs?” “No, I will try to get them today”

The lady put her phone in her coat pocket and walked towards the subway.

“5 pens for Rs 20, 3 shirts for Rs 500, Mobile covers at Rs 100 only.”

Dark and humid interiors of the subway with silver lights hanging down from the ceiling had clusters of people bombarding the crunched space. As she climbed the stairs, the screen moved up and down and vision was blurry. Suddenly, the screen was flashed with natural light with a better quality of vision. Fast-paced cars swiftly moved through the wide concrete roads. She kept her phone in her sling and kept walking. The vision was now all black.

“Aye, abhi kuch dikh kyu nahi raha?”, the cab driver asked worriedly. “Arey, Madam ne shayad apna phone bag me rakh diya hoga isliye“ replied the shopkeeper.

After about 40 minutes, the computer monitor projected some movement.

“Dekh, ab sab kuch dikh raha hai”

The cab driver instantly blew off his cigarette and entered the shop to sit next to the shopkeeper. The lady, exhausted, finally reached her

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home. A large wall with some photographs stood next to the tall floorheight windows that overlooked the city. The vision of her phone was very clear. The lady took her phone and put it on her charging stand. The vision was disturbed. A network of wires was visible. Then a series of cream-colored walls of the bedroom were visible through this network. She entered her room, gently clutched her hair into a bun, and then took off her coat. After a few minutes, she entered her room in her towel.

“Tujhe faida chahiye tha na, ye dekh faida” said the shopkeeper. The driver smirked and stared at the screen.

The vision was black now. The next morning, she stood at her usual spot and waved for a taxi. This time she made sure she held her phone tightly.

The vision was finally clear. Three women and six men were sitting in their black blazers and white neck bands surrounded by Piles of sheets, documents, and certificates, that were lying on the table. A bunch of photographs were pinned on a large wall. The lady sat on her rattan chair and kept her phone aside. The vision was clear, but only the ceiling fan was visible.

“Madam, chai?” the peon offered. The lady nodded. After a while, a shrill voice from the corner of the room said “Let’s, meet in the conference room, please”

The lady got up with some files in one hand and her phone in the other and headed towards the conference room. The vision was now clear. A series of documents and notes were kept on the table, and a discussion took place in the room.

“Mr. Patil just transferred the amount in our account.” “We need to manipulate this evidence before the court hearing tomorrow. “ “It is very important for us to win this case.“ “The other team has someone to testify against us“

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“Don’t worry, we have some information to hold against them.” the lady assured.

The two men sitting in a shop somewhere far away from Ballard Estate were shocked.

“Ye dekh, bade padhe likhe log bhi paiso ke jaal me fas jate hai “

As the clock struck one, the dead streets of Ballard estate started getting crowded. Men and women wearing their shirts, coats, sarees, and skirts circled around large multicoloured umbrellas. In the shade of these umbrellas stood some food vendors. Covered in sweat, they quickly moved their hands to pick up some puri bhaji and served them on shiny steel plates. The lady and her colleagues were standing under the shade of one such stall. Jokes and giggles burst as this group of colleagues chew their food.

“Kal tu hamare liye teri famous Biryani leke ana “ a loud voice said.

Tapping on the back of his friend’s head the shopkeeper said

“Ye kya dekh raha hai, ismei kya maza hai” and they both laughed.

The lady, along with her group of colleagues, reached the office. The office was located in a grey stone building called the Prime chambers. The Arches of this building had seen the lady working in the office for about six years. She was a forty-two-year-old who was one of the senior- most employees in the office. It was also said that once Mr Singh, the head lawyer of the firm retires, she would sit on his chair.

She rotated the doorknob to enter the washroom, entering another space sealed by a wooden door, she unbuttoned her pants. The two men sitting in a small shop, in the dense network of Manish market were drooling over this visual.

Every afternoon, the driver would cancel his Ola rides and meet his friend to watch these visuals. It had become a routine for them to creep over images of women, both young and old, and trace their

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lives. The back of his rack door now had a huge collection of morphed images and posters.

One evening, the immense downpours of Mumbai city had completely stopped all the operations in the city. The bucket of wet umbrellas kept outside the office became empty as her colleagues left for home. Unbothered by this, the lady sat on her rattan chair, sipping her usual lemon tea, scrolling pages of some thick document booklet.

One new notification, Group chat - Kal tu teri famous biryani leke ana

Only two fans swirled in the entire office, one over the lady’s head and another at the far corner of the room. The lady now got up. Pointed heels that adorned her feet made a sharp noise until she reached the corner of the room. She tapped on her colleague’s shoulder.

“What are you still doing here?”

After a small engaging conversation with him, the two left. As they stepped outside the office, a dark empty street stood in front of them. Heavy stone masses that surrounded them were completely dark, it seemed as if there was a power cut in the city. Oblique strands of the intense downpour blurred their eyesight. No man, no road, nothing could be seen. It was just the two of them.

The situation was completely different in the other part of the city, Inspite of the heavy downpour, the streets of the Manish market were booming with the crowd. People nudged each other making way to walk through the dense network of umbrellas. Street vendors sat on the dirty muddy footpath to sell their goods, the dusty steel shutters of almost all the shops were open. In one such shop, two friends were bawling their eyes at the screen.

“Madam aur sir toh akele hai, pata nahi ab kya kya hoga “ “Aj toh apni aish hai, ab toh asli maza shuru hoga” they laughed in perversion .

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The moist sound of her heels and his shoes were the only two sounds audible. A flashing streetlight finally lit up the space, trees projected their shadows on the footpath, and some part of the road could now be seen. At the corner of the street, a small restaurant was open, faint music played in the background.

“Bhaiya ek plate biryani dena” the man said

The waiter now disappeared. Biryani was now served. A few seconds later, A loud scream was heard. When the waiter came outside, no one was there. An empty plate of biryani was lying on the table.

The waiter felt a strong blow at the back of his head. A hammer smeared with blood fell on the floor. Along the stream of the flowing blood, lay a pair of Black pointed heels. A silhouette in the dark dragged the two bodies. The bodies stumbled over the uneven stones of the footpath, a finger fell off.

The silent streets heard the barks of a thousand dogs, but not even one of them could be seen. At the junction of the road, a few dogs appeared, they notoriously ran behind the silhouette. They aggressively stabbed their canines into the dragging bodies, nibbling on the flesh. The stream of blood now started flowing faster, It merged with the rainwater to form a puddle.

The silhouette turned, A grey stone building called prime chambers stood ahead. Swiftly sliding the metal catch, it entered inside. The silhouette continued dragging the two bodies to the pantry. A few seconds later the scanner at the end of the office lit up, the paper shredder was also on.

Pieces of flesh lay on the transparent screen of the scanner, a warm white sheet came out of the printer, and strings of flesh lay inside the dustbin beneath the shredder. The silhouette picked up these pieces and smirked.

The next morning, the air in the office had a strange smell. The floors were all sticky, Mr Singh, yelled at the sweeper.

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“Aj tune ache se saaf nahi kia”.

As soon as it was lunchtime, the lady wearing her black pointed heels walked toward the pantry. She opened the fridge door to take out a box of biryani. As she heated it up in the microwave, the foul smell grew stronger. A few minutes later, Men and women in their black coats gathered around the box of biryani and said,

“Arey waah, tu finally aaj apna famous biryani leke ayi .”

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