The Indian Resurrection

Chapter1. IT BEGINS. Dawn was breaking as I eased my car into the parking slot. The drizzle the night before had left puddles on the cemented road. I stood there facing the wall in front and the graffiti on it. Most of it in Hindi that he could not read but there were pictures like a comic strip on the wall and I tried to figure out what they said. There was pin drop silence and the absence of the usual early morning sounds intrigued me. I looked around and saw no one and moved towards a doorway recessed in the wall. The door was slightly open so I pushed it and went in to see a flight of narrow stairs in front of me. There was water dripping down, it had a greenish colour and seemed sticky. I quietly crept up the stairs and soon was at the first landing. There was a black door in front of me and since it was ajar, I went in and flinched because I was hit by stench that made me gag. Putting a handkerchief on my nose I went forward and saw that the place was in shambles, papers and other belongings were strewn all over and there were many banknotes scattered all over. I moved forward slowly and entered the next room, it was empty, no furniture, nothing except something in the centre of the room covered with a blanket. I moved the blanket aside and could see what was the reason for the stink. It was misshapen mass of what looked like flesh with some green stuff oozing out. The mass was moving slowly, trying to creep forward . I moved back towards the wall and found a light switch and snapped on the light and looked at the mass again , it looked like a jelly like mass that glistened in the light and was leaking the green fluid from a small hole in the bottom near the floor. The light was causing some agitation and the mass started to pulse and vibrate. It started to change colour became more solid. There was a sound like the sound of breathing and the shape changed to that of a young woman who lay on the ground looking at him with vacant eyes. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and said “ Are you alright ? “ There was no sound from the “woman”, she just lay there looking at him and after a while stood up and looked around. “Where am I? “ she said . “Mumbai “, I said. There was silence and she stood there just looking at me. “who are you ? and what happened here ? “ I asked. I wondered who had called me and directed me to this place , I was expecting the worst and here was this strange scene that had me puzzled. She looked at me wordlessly and started to cry. “ I was in Delhi last night and don’t know what happened to me and how I woke up here “ she said. I noticed that the smell had vanished and so had all the greenish stuff. I asked, “what happened to you ? “ She looked dazed and shook her head and said , “ Do you have a mobile phone ? I need to talk to my parents .” I just passed my phone to her and looked on as she punched a number. She started talking in Punjabi , as soon as she got a connection and as she talked she became more alert and aware of her surroundings. “What is your name? “, I asked as, she started to sob. “Mansi “she said looking at me with her big round eyes. “ Who are you? “, she asked. “ I am a police officer, I got a call asking me to come here”. I was wondering what to do next when she told me she was hungry so I decided to take her out of this depressing place. I took one last look around for clues about what had brought her here but could not find anything at all. There was no trace of the green – sticky substance. I took her down to my car and we drove in silence until I came to a well-lit area. I spotted a café and I stopped outside it. Mansi staggered out of the car, she seemed very weak. Inside we ordered a bottle or water and coffee and a sandwich for her. She seemed frightened and kept staring at me. I asked her to tell me what happened but she seemed to have no recollection about what had happened to her. I drove her to a hospital and the doctor pronounced that there was nothing wrong with her physically. I called my senior officer for instructions and was instructed to keep her safe until her relatives arranged for her to be taken home. I drove her to a hotel but she was not willing to stay there as she did not want to be alone. I arranged for a woman officer to come and in the meantime sat with her in the lobby. She suddenly wanted to talk and started telling me all about herself and her family. Her father was a senior civil servant in the commerce ministry and she was the only child, a management graduate who had been working for an MNC for the last 7 years. She was a person with few friends and her life was routine. Her last memory was of sitting in her office in Delhi, getting ready to go home. She was puzzled about what had happened to her and relived that she was not harmed in any way, her purse was intact and nothing was missing from it.