There were many others who had joined in, whom Durjoy John did not know. He was not aware that when we try to hunt an animal or create a prey out of a creature which was previously not considered to be a prey, many hunters want the same animal, some find it exotic, some find it mouth splashing.

Hindus were violent, Muslims were violent, Christ’s children too were violent.

It was a massacre. There were all in one or one in all.

Many hunters hide in pure sight to hunt and such was Shrum’s case.

She was not beautiful but she was meek, believed easily, loving and understanding, sweet Shrum is how she had defined herself to Dr. John during her training.

Indeed she wished to harness good within her. But the lacunae of darkness was so huge around her, a black hole that no matter what, she had to move away from it or succumb to it to save herself. Darkness from a distance is darkness but within it lies the pure nascent light, only if you know to traverse the way through it.

Light again exists beyond the bounds of the black hole, away from it. So in order to be in the light, you have to journey, either away from the black hole or dive straight into it, strong enough to avoid, ignore and tolerate the gnashing dark wounds to travel to the bottom.

Interstellar showed it beautifully.

Well, now she was a little peaceful. She was not nagging when she heard claws digging the walls, scratching it at night, and then human footsteps running away.

Some days it was even the dog hiding it’s food.

When one day, a pig’s belly with it’s poo rested on her door. As she returned from office, she would have stepped into it, slipped and fell. A huge mass it was, she would have broken her leg.

But, God had not informed others that there was a torch in the hind of her phone and she would light it everyday making her way to the door.

She saw it.

Her father and mother cleaned it. Six months later her mother suffered from a cyst in her only breast.

We were scared, we ran to the only heaven in the world.

Tapeworm they said, it was removed. Biopsy confirmed. The neck one and the shoulder one stayed.

We could not help it, we did not tell her, since chances were that the pork won’t be infested. But unfortunately they chose one to play a prank. A prank was it? Fear it generated, but prank was it?

Furthermore, we did not know it since it was not planned entirely on phones we tapped.

She underwent a therapy for ninety days.

Karma it was, hers or theirs?

Was she a dump Yard? Manipulated conveniently to bear the karma of others.

It is here we introduced revolt in her life. It cowered down a few hyenas, but yet they did not leave her.

Meanwhile she was promoted twice, a nice compensation from the city, from the crowd to a woman who was taking the jolt of other’s karma with elan.

Suma called her a fool, Chitrangada called her a joker whom they could easily try to scare.

One day, the glasses of her office were washed clean, and the man hung from a rope beside her.

“We are trying to scare you.” Chitrangada said.

Chitrangada was unhappy to the core, she had to be the subject matter expert. After all, she was the dentist, who was Shrum basically, a masters in physiology amidst doctors made no sense.

All the years, Shrum worked as an SME, Chitrangada did not speak to her much, except slanted looks, a marriage invitation trying to defeat Shrum who was a spinster still, a child was a mockery to the woman’s distress, they thought. No one found out if Shrum would at all be impacted by these. She was not jealous to our benefit, and these attempts went in vain, flowing with the waters in the drains.

“How would someone’s child or someone’s marriage impact me?” She would say.

“I would be happy for them and not sad, not jealous, don’t they see?” We heard voices and saw faces which so much wanted her to feel jealous, so much. The faces felt defeated.

More hoardings followed, “Hell is back.”

“Boss is the boss.”

I thanked Buddha, he might have really been by her all this while. She was so calm, so unaffected by the battle behind her. She was at peace, innocently enjoying days, hurt by human behavioural pattern as a whole.

She read Paulo Coelho. In one of his books, he describes how an experiment on humans showed the pleasure with which a group of jailers enjoyed the pain inflicted on the prisoners. They were both experimental groups and were healthy adults before the experiment began, mentally healthy, practising general forgiveness, Christian, Islamic, Hindu brethren faith. They changed while they were given a chance. Humans enjoyed being in pain and also believed in inflicting pain, subconsciously, was a proven fact. Probably the only reason behind all this drama, and songs throughout the ages.