PUPPET

” Babumushoi, zindagi aur maut upar waale ke haath hai ... usse na toh aap badal sakte hai na main ... hum sab to rangmanch ki kathputliyan hai jinki dor upar waale ki Ungliyon mein bandhi hai”

My friend, life and death is in the hands of God ... you can't change it and neither can I ... we all are puppets of the theater whose string is tied in the fingers of God

 

As this famous Rajesh Khanna dialogue from ’Anand’ kept playing in his mind Raju Nepali was terrified. 

Realisation had just come.

His God was ’D’

 

Another Anand dialogue resounded 

’Kab, kaun, kaise uthega ... yeh koi nahin bata sakta hai’ 

(When, who, how someone will die ... no one can tell that)

He knew his end was near.

                        ------///------

 

Born and bred as Raju Shrestha in the small Newar village of Pyangaon, located in Lalitpur district, near Chapagaon within the Kathmandu Valley his transformation to Raju Nepali and the culmination to this thought process was an interesting story.

 

Raju was a bright kid.

His parents were poor -- very poor but he loved his parents and his younger brother and sister a lot.

He loved to watch Bollywood movies and his favourite was Rajesh Khanna’s - Anand.

Befriending the son of a video parlour owner he had watched this movie umpteen number of times and this movie dialogue was his favourite.

As a kid deprived of a formal education he managed to educate himself in the village streets. He had noticed that he had a keen sense and could bulls-eye targets with his homemade catapult.

His catty was one made of a ’Y’ shaped strong wooden branch fitted with a good rubber sling.

Slotting small hard pebbles as ammunition he could break the far placed practice glass bottles to clinkering smithereens by sharpshooting them with perfection.

Using his catty he also shot down fruits from trees with perfection for all of his friends to enjoy.

As his reputation grew, now a 19-year-old teenager, he was approached by Kanti the local goon.

 

Nepal was going through a political rough patch with the Maoist movement gaining ground and local anti-social elements gaining importance as muscle men.

Kanti was one such element whose connection was widespread even to the Dons of the Bombay Underworld.

Kanti had been asked by the Bombay ’D’ to scout for good ’talented’ deprived kids to join his gang.

The kids would be handsomely taken care of and he would receive a commission for the recruitment.

Raju fitted the description.

 

On his meeting with Kanti, he was introduced to a smart gentleman dressed in a well-tailored suit.

The atmosphere in the room was sinister and everyone there looked tense.

The gentleman who wore dark sunglasses and smoked a 555 brand cigarette was addressed with reverence as ‘Bhai’ 

 

Assessing Raju from head to toe ‘Bhai’ asked Raju to work for him promising to take care of his family for life.

He was handed over a bundle of notes by one of D’s aides.

This was the initiation.

Raju gleefully accepted it.

This financial input would now start taking care of his family. In return, he had now sold his soul to the devil who had now become his God.

He was a puppet in D’s hand.

 

Before leaving ‘D’ told Kanti in Bombay lingo — ‘Isse ‘ghoda’ chalana sikhao’

Assuming that he would be getting lessons in horse riding Raju was shocked when he realised ‘ghoda’ meant gun and not a horse in Bhai’s language.

This was the beginning of expanding his vocabulary.

He was handed over several sim cards and kauwas (mobile phone in slang) and asked to have conversations using only these sims and phones.

They were burner phones and untraceable sims.

He was also given a chidiya (pager in slang)

                        ------///------

 

Slowly and surely he would get used to other words.

In the coming weeks, he was given a desi ghoda and started his sharpshooting training in the woods. As he was already good as a catty marksman he excelled with his ghoda as well.

There was no direct communication with his puppeteer but he knew he was being played.

He started getting short messages on his chidiya 

They would be non-traceable one-liners — 

XXXX ko tapka daal - Roughly translates to "kill someone".

An address would follow.

He had to plan his strategy.

He had to make the kill 

He was the sharpshooter and lone gunman.

Once the job was done remuneration was received and he kept building upon this revenue and his reputation.

He was now a complete puppet in D’s hand.

 

A few months later he got a call on a burner phone.

It was from D himself.

In his spine chilling tone, he explained that a high profile target in Bombay had to be exterminated. 

The extortion amount involved was not in ’peti’ but a few ’khoka’

(Crore’s not Lakh’s)

The stage had now escalated from extortion to ’tapkaoing’ stage.

 

As ’section was garam’ the vigilance of the ’pandu’s’(police in slang)  had gone up.

They had their eyes on the known ’dedh shanas’ (usual suspects in slang) and hence D needed an unknown outsider for this mission who would operate singularly complete the mission and disappear into anonymity.

Up to date recce and ’fielding’ would be obtained and this info would be provided directly to Raju (now titled as ’Nepali’) by D himself

There would not be any middlemen.

                        ------///------

 

Raju arrived in Bombay, his first visit to this sprawling metropole, a day before the targeted killing. 

The address for his stay given was a kholi in a Boisar slum.

He arrived at his address as planned and found the key of the door of the dilapidated garishly painted room under a broken pot near the entrance.

The puppeteering was in full scale.

In this dimly lit square of a space called a house, he found under a dirty pillow a shiny sparkling 9 mm bore automatic pistol, which was equipped with laser light and is manufactured by Brazilian company Taurus 

 

Taurus pistol priced between Rs. 30 to 40 lakh is an advanced piece of a firearm and is banned. The laser light in the pistol, which has a range of 80 metres, helps even a shooter with weak or shaky arms to take accurate aim. It fires hollow-point bullets, which expand inside the body to cause maximum damage.

If such investment could be done on this firearm his God surely had a big return for this investment.

Spare ammo was also provided.

Raju trusting his own skills knew he would not need them.

 As per ’fielding’ info on his ‘chidiya’ which he knew was direcrly from D tomorrow would be the best day to take the shot at Rakesh Chourasia the industrialist.

In his kholi he also found a colour photograph of the target, address of the location, a roughly sketched plan of the ‘spot’ and some cash.

Raju Nepali was operating alone and did not come in contact with D’s chokra’s(boys)

Rakesh Chourasia would be attending the family puja at the local Ganpati Mandal that he sponsors every year.

It was a busy evening at the Maha Pooja and would be highly attended by the locals and outsiders.

D had briefed him on the burner phone. 

As per the plan, Raju Nepali would slip into the crowd closest to the stairs.

As Rakesh Chourasia got down from the mandap after performing pooja just for that few moments he would not have bodyguards with him 

Raju would have to take aim and take the fatal shot.

In the commotion that ensued Raju would have to drop the unmarked, unidentified gun and leave the site immediately.

The crowd control would be an issue.

He would straight away leave Bombay and return to Nepal.

In the meantime the crime weapon would disappear from the crime scene.

The whole act was choreographed to the T by the Puppeteer. 

                          

                        ------///------

At the given time the sound of gongs and bellowing of ’shanks’ at the Maha Aarti announced the end of the ceremony.

It was packed ‘crowd pushing’ scenario --after all the chief guest was in attendance with his whole family. The extra special occasion was the birth of the industrialists grandson.

His daughter had brought the few days old kid for Bappa’s darshan 

The blaring music from the loudspeakers and the glaring lights painted a picture of rejoicing and festivities.

The chants of ’Ganpati Bappa Morya. Mangal  Murti Morya’ resounded all around.

 

Raju had planned the trajectory and was ready at the right distance.

He had taken a high ground giving him a straight shot.

It was the time for Rakesh Chourasia to descend from the bedecked stage and the wooden staircase.

As per recce the industrialist would pause on the stage  at the head of the steps to wave and acknowledge the crowds.

This would be his pause before his life and death steps

The puppet was all set to make his move.

He lifted his gun and aimed.

As he felt his finger press on the trigger he noticed something and stopped.

Rakesh Chourasia was walking down holding and hugging a small baby. 

His grandson had been entrusted to him by his daughter after the aarti and now happy and playfully holding the baby the industrialist had stopped before descending the steps.

Cradling Baby on chest with one hand  he stopped facing the crowd waving to the crowd with his free hand.

Shouts of  ’Ganpati Bappa Morya’ filled the air.

 

Raju Nepali realised the kid would also die with his shot.

Raju Shrestha’s conscience overrode the marionettist intentions and the marionette moves.

He froze.

He could not kill the baby.

He instantly made up his mind.

He would not be a puppet and kill this innocent child.

 

                        ------///------

Babumushoi, zindagi aur maut upar waale ke haath hai ... usse na toh aap badal sakte hai na main ... hum sab to rangmanch ki kathputliyan hai jinki dor upar waale ki ungliyon mein bandhi hai

 

He had to cut off the attached strings.

Slash Slash Slash!!!

 

’Kab, kaun, kaise uthega ... yeh koi nahin bata sakta hai’ 

These words reverberated in his brain.

NO -- He knew when and where this puppet ’uthega’.

“Mangal  Murti Mor————yaaaaaa”

 

He held the gun on his head and as he felt the cold steel of the metal rim on his temple he pulled the trigger.

 

”Jab tak zinda hoon tab tak mara nahi… Jab mar gaya sala main hi nahi”

(Credit for images — Internet)