CHAPTER 7

Seventeen years had passed.

When the Lal bazaar jail door opened hawaldaar Ramu looked at the man who was being released . He was frail and thin, the stoop in his walk evident and yet his face and mannerisms commanded respect.

The old man walked aimlessly the whole day and in the evening he sat down on the shores of the Kali temple at Shayamnagar. Someone was distributing halwa puri to the beggars sitting near the temple. When he had finished eating the same his eyes fell on the newspaper strip in which he had received the food. It was carrying a picture of a lady , smiling to the cameras as she planted the trees. Underneath the headlines read ‘ MINISTER’S WIFE ARPITA GOES GREEN.’

That night the man slept like a baby. He had a wonderful dream in which he was kissing the woman he had seen in the picture. It was a complete kiss.

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The next morning a motley crowd gathered around a dead body near the temple. When the man’s wallet was searched (to find his identity) they found a few coins, three credit cards ,a picture of awoman whom they all knew as Mr. Arpita , wife of the state health minister..and a business card with the name ‘ PRAKARSH AGARWAL’ written on it.

Strangely enough , the dead man had a smile on his face.