Author's note..

This has been one of my far fetched fiction stuff, but I thoroughly enjoyed the making of this storyline. It has been a ripoff quite a few influences, though not directly, but has been a lot of fun to do. 

I would thank all my friends for have encouraged me to do this. Thanks Shre, for have listened to the whole thing and certified it as among my better stuff. Thanks Vasu, for have egged me on to go on full gear and get this done very quickly. 

I hope I have delivered a decent story and hope you enjoy it.

Thanks, and I'll be back soon.

Ever yours,

Vignesh.G/Chappli.. 

Chapter 9

He comes out with Mr.Mishra to find a knife on Kalpana's neck. Who would dare to do such a thing when he was around. It is none other than Srini. This has him aghast. Srini holding a knife on Kalpana's neck was so very unacceptable. The way he had known Srini for the past two days or so, it had carried some sort of an age long bonding. Srini seemed very happy at his act.

He very proudly claimed to Amit, "See, this is your last chance. Die or see your girlfriend dying. You have played enough with me, and I want this story to end right here, right now. You were behind the drug racket I managed. I tried diverting it to Vamsi's name, and you were well fooled. You started torturing Vamsi and his daughter. Beyond some point of time, his daughter went away from you and I didn't want any retrospection from your side. So I tried killing you, but you didn't die. My guys at VINDU did a pathetic job. Morever, I didn't realise that you had a picture of Kalpana with her dad's signature at the back. I saw this only at Tirupathi when I came as your guide. Multiple attempts at Tirupati and you escaped all of them. Then, I decided to kill Vamsi, so that you will stop nudging atleast out of fear. But, you don't seem to learn from your mistakes. You will soon."

Immediately Amit goes scared. "Srini, please don't do anything to Kalpana. Please let her free. You can kill me. But, please, I love Kalpana so damn much. Please, please let nothing happen to Kalpana. Please save her."

Hearing this, Srini breaks off into a villanous laugh. The laugh is broken by another one, that of Amit's!! Everyone is shocked.. How is Amit able to laugh? 

Amit says, "You think I will beg with you and have my ends satisfied? No. I knew you were the culprit ever since the investigation with the VINDU boys was over. I was waiting for a chance for you to proclaim yourself to be the villain. I'd have anyways arrested you now, but you've made my job easier. If you didn't know, the whole place is surrounded by the army."

This got Srinivasa tense. He took the knife closer to Kalpana, but then felt a sharp sting at his feet. He had been shot at the leg by a gun having a silencer. He falls to the ground and Kalpana rushes to Amit. Srini is arrested. 

Amit apologises to Kalpana for have suspected her father, and asks her if she will be with him again. The answer he gets is an obvious yes. Then, Amit gives Kalpana a hug, the eyes moistened, and thinks, one sees all highs and lows before coming back to where he was earlier in life. Life's a circle, indeed... 

Chapter 8

The guy Amit had caught was extremely familiar to him. And why would he not be, he was the same person as the one he had met in VINDU the previous morning. The doubt which had begun then, had just been confirmed. The guys in VINDU were among the culprits. He was aghast. He thought the people in VINDU had something to do with Vamsi, but never did he expect it to be in the negative sense. Rather they percieved him as in the same bracket as that of Vamsi, which means Vamsi wasn't part of the trafficking. 

The investigation was harsh, typical of the Indian police. The hotelier turned murderer from Nellore was questioned to a point of no return by Amit. Amit, who had his life's ambition pinned upon the kind of answers this guy gave, minced no words when it came to his style of questioning. He was particularly harsh with the hotelier who had once tried to grab his life away with a blast in the car, and had now taken away the life of his girlfriend's father. Finally, there came some positive light from the enquiry. Amit got to know in full what he wanted to know.

He rushed to Kalpana's residence. He met up with her and asked her for her father's documents. On scanning through them, he realised that her father was indeed innocent. He had in fact made plans with the prime minister to help the country get out of drug trafficking techniques. He had not let these things out, but all this was because that was a national secret, and national secrets could not be let out, even to the police. 

But, if people had to target him, then it was only due to them considering him to be dangerous. Why else would he be dangerous unless people knew he had the answers to some of their questions. This would have impossible unless there was some black sheep in the department. On further investigation, it was found that Mr. Rakesh Mishra, the Head of the Ministry of Atomic Energy was part of the whole thing. A call to his number, traced his present location to the Akshardham temple replica at New Delhi. 

He immediately told Kalpana that he was going to arrest Mr.Mishra. Kalpana wanted to see the person who had betrayed her father. So, she decided to go along with Amit. Srini also joined the two of them.

They reached the Akshardham temple. It was beauty personified. Visiting the place, was most definitely among the experiences of a lifetime. Kalpana and Amit had the same thoughts running through their minds. Why should a black sheep be arrested in a place as beautiful as this?

As they approached the sanctum sanctorum, Amit signalled to Srini and Kalpana to stay outside and stay safe. He moved in, to get Mr.Mishra arrested. As he dragged Mishra outside, he witnessed the shock of his life...

Chapter 7

A Mercedes Benz came and stopped outside the Golden Temple at Amritsar. The door opened, and a boot came out. Then, it went again and two bare feet came out. Then, came out Amit in police uniform. He was back at his agenda. He remembered everything now, and was in full flow to capture Vamsi. Duty was back to top priority. 

He went into the temple in search of Vamsi, along with Srini. Kalpana saw them from a distance and alerted her father. They tried to move out without Amit noticing them. But you don't escape the eyes of the hawk that easily. They were in the pathway connecting the island temple to the outer side. Amit rounded up the pathway by the time they could get out of it. Kalpana panicked. She didn't want Amit to catch her father as she knew for sure that he would pain her father out of his brains. She wanted to somehow get her father to escape as she was very sure he was innocent. She had known him from the time she was a kid and she admired and adored him for his qualities so much that she was pretty sure that he could not be guilty of anything as serious as drug trafficking into the country.

In the meanwhile the police got on with their act.They surrounded Vamsi from all sides  and were going to arrest him. Kalpana felt terrible. The man she loved so much was coming with handcuffs to arrest her own father. The whole scene was so dramatic. Suddenly a bullet shot was heard. Vamsi was reeling in shock. A bullet had pierced right through his heart, and it wasn't a policeman's. Amit was running behind the assasin and ended up catching him. Kalpana was in shock and was all tears. She was slanted to Amit's chest and sobbing as all he could do was try to console her and tell her that he would definitely find her dad's murderers..

Chapter 6

It just pricked through him. The memories had come and gone. He realised that she had once been his. He was quite sure he hadn't committed a mistake of the goriest order. He wanted her back. He decided to rush to where Vamsi was going, immediately, and get it sorted out. On enquiring where he was going, he got a reply saying Vamsi was going to Amritsar. He decided to go to Amritsar. 

The flight was going to land. This was a very beautiful city to see from the top. But once he got in, he realised how hot the place was. Amritsar was not exactly the place to be in at around 12 in the afternoon, but he did not find any kind of difference. He seemed very familiar with the place. Srini was on with him here also, and they worked pretty hard to get the details of Vamsi's stay. What intrigued him was that everywhere he went, people addressed him so dearly. He seemed to be a very well known face in the city. But, he did not know himself, that was the problem! He so decided to go and launch a complaint on himself and find out who he was.

The police constable in the police station refused to accept the complaint. He tried forcing him into it, but even money would not do the trick. He got very frustrated and asked him, "Why won't you accept my complaint? I badly want to know who I am."

"You don't know who you are? You are, you are, the DSP of the area of Amritsar, Rana, Amit Rana...

You were a high profile guy in the society, and were in love with Vamsi's daughter Kalpana. You were right on the heels of Vamsi as you thought he was the cause of all the activities of the drug trafficking racket in the country. But you never managed to prove him wrong. His daughter sided her father pretty often which lead to routine quarrels between the two of you. But you decided Vamsi would be caught and punished, lawfully. You pinned his photo down as a criminal in all police stations."

He was like," Stop, now I remember." And he did remember indeed. The night when Kalpana left him, because he was against her dad. All the crying didn't help. She was sure her dad was innocent. He cried, "Please don't leave me." But, there was no reply on the other side. She was gone, forever. A very dejected Amit came to sit down and think about what he had done. He had been a very good policeman, one with a huge name amongst the public, a high profile girlfriend, but now, what had he done wrong? As he was thinking, THUD, something hit his head. The whole of his surroundings went black.

Chapter 5

"These are memories I will carry with me for years to come. This is where I found so many friends. This is where I found love. This is where I found purpose to my life. This has been all my life for four years now, and I can't even imagine a life in the absence of all this now."

As he said that and got down from the stage, there were shouts of 'Amit Amit' from the crowd. He was mobbed. Some were smiling, and some were plainly crying. But the whole atmosphere was so hypnotic, so magnetic. It seemed so very impossible for anyone to be normal at this instant. As he was being mobbed from all sides, his eyes were fixed to a direction. He was silently viewing the most beautiful lady of the evening, Kalpana.

It was their farewell, and he had just finished his speech. Kalpana had been his best friend all through college, right from the first day, when they sat together as she was late to class, and had no other place to sit. In spite of being best friends with her, somewhere down the line, he had developed feelings for Kalpana. Everytime he wanted to tell her, he was terrified about getting rejected. The four year B.Arts degree hadn't done much to boost his self confidence in this issue either. Kalpana was known at college to be the epitome of beauty, and today she seemed unusually even more beautiful. He was drinking her beauty with both his eyes, wondering if he would ever get to meet her again, wondering if he would ever get the chance to tell her his love.

That evening, after dinner, the two of them went for a small walk. Kalpana started talking.
"It's been a rollicking experience of four years no?"
"Yeah!!"
"Remember the fun we had at Prof.Guna's class in the first year, or those pics we took at Malegaon in the third year? Do you remember how the lab assistant used to say hello??"
Memories had Kalpana in splits. But he was his subdued self.
Then she was like,
"Amit, tell me. You said you found love in college. Whom? You didn't even tell me, and I'm supposed to be your best friend. Fool!!"
"Yeah, I did find love in college."
"Tell me whom."
"No, pack."
"Tell me. Now!!"
Then, he knelt on his left knee and said," See, I'll be frank. I've been in love with you all through. I love you!!"
Then she said," Fool, no one proposes kneeling on his left knee."
She was mocking him! It was done.. His love had been rejected, or so he thought.
But then she said,
"But still, I love you too.."
He had no words to say. He just got up and gave her a tight hug. She couldn't see the tears of relief which clouded his eyes.

The memories teased through him, as he saw the helicopter making circles in the blue Tirupathi sky.

Chapter 4

So, RaviTeja turned about to find a means of escape. He could see the long oil burner used to light the lamps in the sanctum sanctorum. It was unmanned. He used this chance. He grabbed at it, and showed it at the people with the guns. It chased them away. Their gunshots misfired and it lead to a huge sea of people gushing against each other.

There was panic everywhere. People were running helther skelther. Ravi and Srinivasa rushed towards the outer area where Vamsi would go to catch his emergency helicopter. They rushed battling against the human ocean, to get to the helicopter area. They were rushing as Ravi dropped his photograph. He took a couple of minutes to just take it back, and in the mean while had lost Srinivasa. This suddenly instilled a new fear in him. He was unaware of the language, unaware of the man Vamsi, except for his name and a signature. All he had right now was the photograph of the doe-eyed beauty and Vamsi. 

He nevertheless, kept running towards the destination, that is the helicopter runway. He knew he could end up with something substantial if he reached there. That was what he was trying to do. End up with some kind of information about himself. He was out of the temple complex, and was running in the direction Srinivasa had shown to him. He kept looking around for Srinivasa, but he was not to be found anywhere in the vicinity. He took out his watch. It was 11 in the night, and would soon be a whole day of living without knowing his own identity. The very thought perplexed him and he felt uncomfortable about it. 

As he approached the helicopter, he saw a lady. Wait, it was THE lady!! The lady in the picture. Beside her was a man in whites. White dhoti and shirt.. Someone screamed, "Vamsi saab!" He turned around. Seeing him left Ravi shocked! He was gushed with a flow memories. A pinned picture of Vamsi flashed across his eyes. He could hear the words, "Please don't leave me" echoing in his ears. As the helicopter started to take off, he let off a cry. Kalpanaa.. They looked towards him, panicked for a few seconds, but were soon into the deep blue skies...

Chapter 3

He was walking along the route to the main temple complex, when he found someone selling pictures in full vigour. "5 Venkata pics for Rs.75. " That seemed quite cheap as the people around were flocking around him to get the maximum out of the offer. He went upto the person selling as asked him for five pics. Actually he was glad he had found someone who could speak English in this vastland. They started talking to each other. 

The other guy introduced himself as Srinivasa, self-proclaimed most famous guide in Tirupathi, and said he knew the town of Tirupathi to inches. Then the guy introduced himself as RaviTeja, the son of an industrialist from Britain, and so did not know his supposed mother-tongue Telugu. He was helped with a bit of English by Srinivasa.

The walk to the shrine was a long one. Srinivasa kept talking non-stop all through the way. He spoke about almost everything, right from mythology to sports to politics to business to what not!! It left RaviTeja wondering how such a brilliant guy could be doing nothing but selling pictures on the roadside! He was listening to Srinivasa talk, and he felt a long time bond suddenly. Such was the impact of Srinivasa on him. Srinivasa was a jovial character, who constantly set up questions and replied with witty answers, leaving RaviTeja in splits. At some point of time, RaviTeja asked Srinivasa about S.V.V.D.V.K. Srinivasa was like, "You don't know Vamsi!!" 

"No!"

"He is our big fat CM!!"

"You mean Chief Minister?"

"No! I mean Chota Mama. He is the advisor to the Prime Minister, and in the process does all sorts of dirt he can do to the country. The entire state is in awe of him, as he is from the state, but frankly speaking, I don't see what he has done for the state. He has been a big fat thief of the country's treasury."

"Oh ok, he is of such a designation is it? I had never heard of him before. What name did you tell his was?"

"Vamsi. Vamsi Krishna!"

"Oh! Alright!!"

"By the way, I forgot to tell you. He is in Tirupathi this evening. He has come here with his daughter."

"Oh really!! I want to meet him. Tonight!!"

"Yeah we can. He is here to supposedly cleanse his daughter's sins. She was in love with a Jat for some seven years, and broke up very recently. Vamsi wants to cleanse his daughter, and then get her married for a lump sum amount!"

"I least bother right? I want to meet Vamsi. That's all!!"

As they were walking towards the sanctum santorum, RaviTeja just pulled the picture out of his pocket. He saw the doe-eyed beauty and wondered who she could be. He just wished he got to know more about himself. 

As he was staring at the pic, he found a couple of people with guns in their hand. Supposedly terrorists had broken into the temple. Srinivasa was shouting, "Its all Vamsi's fault!!" RaviTeja was blank. Then he got an idea...

Chapter 2

It was the Andhra Pradesh Corporation Hospital in Nellore. The guy was lying there, with a minor injury on the leg. It had been a very close shave for him. He was lucky to be alive, even after being at the blast area. He knew that, he knew that he would make the person who let the taxi ablaze pay. He did not know who though. All he had with him was a pic, and a signature. Wait! Was that all he had right now? No, there was some address written in Telugu on the pic. He called a nurse immediately and asked her where this address was addressed to. He was told it was addressed to the temple complex in Tirupati. He decided to take a trip to Tirupati to find out what was happening to him. So he set out on the self identification tryst to Tirupati.

As he was going, he started trying to recall his name. He wasn't able to. Thoughts never got him anywhere. He decided to call himself RaviTeja, a common Andhra Pradesh name, so that no one would suspect him. The journey by taxi was a long and tiring one. It was kind of interesting, with typical Indian rural life being part and parcel of the travel experience. As he reached Tirupati, he couldn't travel beyond a distance, thanks to the huge group of human heads in front of him. This was vintage Tirupati. He walked into a computer centre to google about the place. He realized that Tirupati was one of India's most ancient temples, touted to be one of the most powerful ones as well. It was the richest place of worship in the country and had second most number of visitors ever. With this minimum background, he undertook the 'pilgrimage' of walking towards the temple complex. 

The walk was a long tiring one, typical of Tirupati. There were screams of Jarakandi, Jarakandi and Govinda Govinda everywhere. Whatever all that meant, he wondered! As long as Govinda helped him find himself tonight, he thought!! The walk was one heck of a journey, and he was moving slowly towards the temple complex. He thought, destiny had it that he be here tonight, and he was not going to leave without a stable result to this visit. What was it going to be? Where would it place him? He had no idea. But, he had to get an outcome somehow.

At Vindu, in far away Nellore, a call was recieved from Tirupati. The call said, "Satya, the plans are ready. The operation will be a success. Do not give a damn about the lives. All that matters is the cash!!" 

Chapter 1

He opened his eyes. All he could see through the small creek, was some light entering the room. He tried remembering who he was. Where was he? He did not have a clue. Was it some short term memory loss? He was trying to recollect. The place seemed very familiar. All he had with him was a photograph of someone, on its back was signed S.V.V.D.V.K. That made no sense, whatsoever to him. The photograph was that of a girl, someone felt he had known for a long time. He could not recall who though. 

Suddenly, he felt a sting in his stomach. He was hungry. He had no idea about when he had eaten last. All he knew was that, he was really very hungry, and wanted to gobble something immediately. He went to the door, expecting it to be locked. Surprisingly, it wasn't. He went out, and went searching for a restaurant in the neighbourhood. He hadn't seen this place before. He walked into a restaurant which read VINDU, and looked into the menu card. It was all written in some language he did not know. He asked for one in English, and the waiter immediately got him one. A peek into the menu card and he knew what he wanted. Meals they were. He ordered for a typical Andhra meal, and started washing it down his belly. After he was done, he walked out of the restaurant, when the people working there caught hold of him, and started asking him for cash.He did not have any. This got them worked up. They started giving him blows, when the photo fell out of his pocket. The beauty of the lady in the photo had the other guys hooked to the pic, while one guy flipped it around to see the initials. He showed the others the initials, and this sent in them tremors. He started screaming at others in some arbit language, which the guy did not understand. Then, he said something to the guy with folded hands, which so obviously seemed like asking for forgiveness. He was escorted till a taxi, which was booked to Tirupati. As the taxi started moving, the guy started feeling uncomfortable. Why was he given so much of importance? Who was he? In a few seconds, there was a blast. The taxi was in pieces.

A call went from the old creeked house in which the guy was kept to Tirupati. "Amit cleared. The path is free.", he said on the phone.