The Rampdown List - Episode 1

 The Laughing Buddha idol in the car dashboard seemed to smile more mysteriously as he made a sharp U turn. He was supposed to turn in the previous lane but missed the instruction from Siri.  He was usually a very careful driver and had a photographic memory of the layout after reviewing the route on Maps. In fact he stays the best navigator when he goes off to campsites. He was nicknamed the more sensible version of the Google Maps by his friends whenever they go out. But not today. 

To begin with, the permission to make this trip itself was too difficult with the covid-19 wildfire spread now. He had to make a couple of false excuses and a bit of a paperwork to make it happen. He just wanted to deal it off with. This was the first ever time he prayed this hard to want his judgment go wrong. 

Strings of sweat drenched his forehead and was aggravating to cover his full face. By rule, his hand went to the AC setting but found that he already reached the maximum. It is not because of the weather, he thought. Although the scorching summer was frying everyone in Chennai in the beginning of April, he knew that had nothing to do with his desperation for cool air. 

His head was hot and bursting. He was moving towards a destination he was not familiar with. To add on, he did not know if it would be purposeful too. But he decided to go with his guts and there he is now. The signboard read, “Kallupatti -  5 kms” and his heart skipped a beat. He felt his limbs go weak. He did not know now what to expect.

Nilan is a 35 year old software engineer working with one of the leading Software giants at Chennai. He is 6’1 feet tall and dark and handsome as words would describe him. He was athletic and always favored a more casual yet a stern look. He was staying alone at Chennai with occasionally visiting parents. A couple of good friends and a clean lifestyle was all his social behavior front. 

Today he is out driving in the hot sun with a permission much hard to obtain , about 500 kms from Chennai to a remote village to prove his gut wrong. He made the 4 kms in the same anxiety when he came to a halt at a closed check post. The Guard there beckoned him to come out. He took the papers and his mobile and stepped out when he heard the guard yell.

“Put on your mask sir.” 

This has become mandatory now and he followed it duly at Chennai. But again with the raising agony in brain and heart , today everything is missed. He took the mask from his glove box and wore it unceremoniously as if he was used to it like a pro. Initial days he had quite a difficulty wearing them as it came in between his almost curly hair. His hair was quite wavy and now with the hot and dry streak of weather it turned almost curly and got tangled in the elastic bands of the mask. He gave the papers to the guard.

“Which street do you want to go in?” The guard asked .

He felt stupid. He just knew the place. He never knew where to go theoretically. He played in his mind whether to voice his thoughts loud. He was silent. The guard looked up.

“Sir, I asked which street you want to go in.” He merely mumbled the name of the street he had given in the form for pass and he was let go. “Chennai is most infected. We don’t know what we carry till we are tested. Be sure not to come in close contact with anyone in this village and also if you need to pick someone up, please do soon and make a leave.” The guard was now more authoritative. 

He acknowledged the authority, returned to his car and started the ignition. The name Ganesan from the guard’s name tag flashed in front of him. He swallowed hard. Is it a sign now to start proceeding or stop proceeding? He was there to find his friend Shyam Ganesan and the deceased father of his friend , Mr.Ganesan already started to bring in signs, he felt. He drove in a trance now. He wanted to just reach there soon and get it over with.

He badly wanted to see him but his inner thoughts said its better he did not see him. He was bursting with thoughts when he suddenly felt a jolt. It was his cellphone on Vibrating mode. Aadea. Suddenly he felt comforted. He felt helpless from the second he entered the sleepy village clueless on what he is expecting to find. Now he felt sort of relieved. She was his teammate and a friend. They had a good understanding in a never-judge-the-other way. She was even more significant now as she was the only one who knew the purpose of his visit. 

“Have you reached? It showed in the map that you have reached. Sorry to be so impatient. But then I couldn’t wait to know what happened.” She seemed breathless. It was her plan to share his location in the WhatsApp as he started driving. “I should know in ten minutes’ time. I will give a ring once done. Don’t worry. I am safe here. I will call you back” He hung off without expecting a reply as he saw the big green gate with the board, DR.GANESAN(Late), Professor of Anthropology in golden letters. 

He was there some 7 years back when Shyam wanted to bring his then girlfriend Nisha home to meet his parents. Nilan was not exactly there to defend his decision but he was there to get to know Nisha too. He and Shyam had been good friends for the past 11 years from the time they started their career together. They were mostly on the same company, jumped companies and even travelled onsite together. It was Nilan’ decision to come back and Shyam’s decision to settle overseas that brought a distance to them. Otherwise they were quite together.

Shyam was a real go-getter. The only son of an academically exceptional couple made him quite popular in the sleepy village. His parents were into research and travelled most of the time. So the paternal grand house became the actual house of Shyam. He too had acquired the right genes and was very brilliant. He had the real man’s charm which allowed him to get anything he wants his way. So a simple out of toe was bad for him. He really made a point that he was the alpha male everywhere. 

Nilan had his own thoughts to ponder upon and gave Shyam more of a thought of a spoilt kid. So he gave in too eventually and nothing made them fall apart. When he got a call one day from Shyam to met his girlfriend, he had imagined her to be quite a submissive gal who will give in to his whim in a jiffy. But Nisha was different. She had a free spirit and she glittered like a butterfly. She was an ultimate all rounder and Shyam could never give in to accept her success. Eventually they broke up. 

The only silver lining of the relationship was the visit to Kallupatti which proved effective in many ways to Nilan. He had a good detox getaway in the clean air and the little streams were most effective to his building back pain better than a Jacuzzi at a resort. Also Shyam’s mom was a great cook. Altogether the experience was memorable. 

Now Shyam’s dad is no more. His mom went to a meditation retreat after renouncing everything to him and he is supposed to be alone in this house. The house was left unoccupied after he left for overseas  five years back. 

He had come back a week before to India and suddenly the lockdown got announced. It was Shyam’s choice to work from this place. Though Kris offered to let him stay at his place like old times, he was not ready to accept because of certain misunderstandings at work. 

Even as things seem to go in a awry way as it happened , he wanted to see him so badly and clear things out. He parked a little far and stopped the ignition. He could feel his heartbeats now. "Please God, whatever I had imagined should be a complete nonsense" He worded his thoughts. He came out of the car and moved towards the gate. They did not have a calling bell. As he remembered now, there was a wind chime just after the main gate inside the porch.  He could recall toying with that now. 

He reached for the chime but it was not there. It’s been a long time, he thought. He knocked on the heavy wooden door with his knuckles.  No response. He tried again and again each time with a little more effort. It finally proceeding to pounding the door. Still no response. The house stood majestic on a lone lane in the village surrounded by a big garden with bushes and trees. The nearest house was a settlement of huts about 3 lanes away. Nilan grew more exasperated. He went back to the garden to see if he was there. The garden which was lush with green was barren now except for few big trees. 

Shyam was not there but the back door was open. He felt guided to go in. As he proceeded he felt pitch darkness and a shiver down his spine. He was about to switch on his mobile torch when he saw two blinking lights as though assuring him of a human presence. He felt encouraged to go in. It was the light from the Wi-Fi router. Two blinking lights usually meant the internet is not working. The universal solution to this would be a  simple plug off and plug in. 

He tried and groped on the walls to sense a light. He got the switches and pressed it on. The glare of the light blinded him for a second. He was about to go to the nearest room to search when he heard squeaks from the farthest room. It seemed a pack of rats were having a party by the sound of it. He ignored and was about to start exploring when he heard a lot of notification bongs from a mobile. Shyam’s mobile. He knew well. The Wi-Fi must have got the internet now and it had given the social life of Shyam’s mobile back. The notifications continued binging and it showed the presence of the mobile at the farthest room. As he started walking towards the room, he started getting a haunted feel. He felt claustrophobic and sensed something unexplainable. Then flowed a stench too much to bear. Something was rotting and the rats are feasting, but what? And why was Shyam’s phone there?

He entered and the stench grew stronger. He felt faint and wanted to back away when he saw the figure of a skeleton wearing Shyam’s expensive and favorite Rolex on the bed fed away by the rats. He screamed and screamed that some rats even chose to fled out. He tripped , fell and ran out disoriented to the garden. He screamed again. He ran, now out of the house with the fresh load of adrenaline till he reached his car. He fumbled with the keys and finally got in. He was sweating profusely and his hands were trembling. 

Tears started pouring in and he screamed again. The sight of a human remain devoured by the rats was too much to behold. He could not see anything clearly. He simply banged his head on the wheel again and again. The pain was too much to bear. It is Shyam, he believed. “I need to call the police now.” He muttered monotonously in despair and reached for his cell phone. His trembling hands could not type a single number and was about to manage to press one when there was a mail notification to him from Shyam. The subject line read, “The ramp down list”