Sush...(completed)

4

Whatever Mr Sen said were twirling in my head, making me nauseatic and  forcing me to think whether I was sane. It was impossible for me to believe Shailza was my imagination. And it had reasons - I was not crazy. I might be a traumatic patient dealing with his past but Hallucination was not my thing. And second, Shailza looked very real to me. I touched her and I talked to her. I was quite sure, if it would be my hallucination then I would not have hallucinated such a beautiful, smart woman. I am a man of ugly nightmares and hallucinating beautiful women is out of my forte.  And third, it was Mr Das who introduced me to her. And he was the one who talked drivel about me talking to myself!

But I had to make sure, I didn't miss anything. After my visit to Aniket Sen, I headed to the Municipal office of the city. The people there would be able to tell me the accurate condition of the tree, whether the tree was infected with pests or termites or it was old and what was the reason of it to get uprooted suddenly. Looking at the irony of my fate, I chuckled. People visit Kolkata to witness the beauty - Victoria, Eco Park, Fort William etc. And here I was, run from the hospital to the municipal office during my trip. I felt so local.

"We examined the tree. Ped to bilkul accha tha. There wasn't any sign of disease or infection. And the tree was quite young. Roots were deep enough. I  am still wondering what caused the tree to fall." Said one of the higher counciler of the area.

"I see. Hawa ke jhoke se yaa kisi aur chheez se gir nahi sakta kya?" I asked.

"Na na..The tree was very strong as we imagined. It was young. Only a tremendous external force or an extremely powerful storm could have bent it not even uproot it. But here it was uprooted." The official brisked past me and dived into his other works after passing the information to me. I walked out of the office with a feeling to inhale fresh air. My temples were burning in confusion.  The day had just begun. I held my wrist up to take a good look at the watch ; it was noon. There was no use going to the field then, even if there were evidences, it would have been mutilated by the municipality while they were cleaning the site. But the next destination was clear for me. I had to catch hold of the person who was hell bent to make me feel insane. 

I called in a taxi. Lake Gardens was a posche area. Finding Mr Das exact address was tad difficult for me. New city, new area and there I was acting Sherlock Holmes. But somehow I felt the need to get my answers. I felt desperate. I didn't know why. But I felt it was important for me to know whether Shailza exists or not, even more than proving myself normal. 

The address I had in my phone notes led me to a cozy, two storied house built in a bungalow style away from the main road. It was the biggest and most luxurious house in that particular locality. The door was opened by Mr Suranjan Das himself. He showed me a place to rest my tired self in the living room, while he fetched some juice for both of us. In the meantime I looked at the decor of the living room. It was stuffed with unusual stuffs. The main door to the house had a huge, steel horse shoe hung to it. There were pictures of the Voodoo doll, Quija board, man killing, and other dark things framed on the walls. The room had no windows, and bust of rancid, dead, decaying smell filled the room. The house though looked luxurious from outside, it was hell different, stuffed, suffocating and uneasy from inside. Never in my life I wanted so desperately to get out of any place like I did that day. But i also needed my answers. After ten minutes Mr Das returned with two glasses of some juice. He looked perfectly normal, jolly as always. 

"I never thought that you would come here Mr Mehra." Suranjan handed me a glass and sat on the couch right in front of me.

"You introduced me to Shailza Mathur yesterday. And you are the one who said to people that I was imagining Shailza! Satya and Robi both saw her. And most importantly I saw her. So please stop doing this." I said.