Never ever believe in Relationship… which is Not Real.
This is a trend that is picking up all around the globe…
Shongita was quiet and in her own, watching social media – probably dwelling on the Conspiracy Theories which we had discussed. I was desperate to work on my new book SHADYANTRA 3… I knew I had the idea for the book but I had no storyline for the flow I wanted… they were just about tits and bits of situations I could think of and I decided to compile them till I had a storyline – if the storyline didn’t materialize, then I probably could use these tits and bits in my other stories or books…
I was working on a chase sequence happening on streets of Kars in Turkey when the door to my room opened up and Shongita walked in a bit of confusion, “Hey! I was thinking about…”
I looked at her and held my hand up “Later… I am working on something…”
“Always busy…” she said in a huff wrinkling her nose, “When can I have an appointment with you honey?” she sarcastically asked me.
“Give me about 15 minutes and I may have completed what I am working on… what is it about?”
“I was thinking of AI…” she said and looked expectantly at me and I shook my head and asked her sometime so that I could work on the situation I was working on… I knew her young mind had many questions and maybe many ideas or fantasies and if she began I would not be able to complete what I had started. She wrinkled her nose in disappointment and left me working on what I was working on… I smiled at her young behaviour and upon a thought put aside what I was doing and started working on something else which may interest her and engage her mind…
It wasn’t even 15 minutes when the door to my room opened up again and she peeked in inquisitively almost asking if I had finished what I was doing and if she could now have a conversation with me… I looked at her with a bit of irritating expression to tease her…
“I don’t mind if I am disturbing you. It is my birth right to disturb you whenever I feel like disturbing you…” she said laughing at her own statement and looking at my expression of resigning to the fate.
“Ok… come in and disturb me… I guess it’s time to get disturbed by you…” I said with a poker face.
“I don’t care if you get disturbed. When I want your time, it is your duty to give me your time.” She said decidedly and pulled up a chair sitting next to me and looking at what I was typing on my laptop… “Actually, I am bit stressed out thinking of leftists and their ways. I want to break those thoughts which don’t seem to leave me after our deep conversations…”
“Sweetheart, they weren’t deep. We just skimmed on the surface of a dangerous topic.”
“They were deep for me and thinking about them, I am getting disturbing thoughts ever since… take me into a mysterious, fantasy world of your stories… not the serious topics but a thrilling fictitious tale about some mystery.”
“I have to think of one and I have been struggling to get a story.” I told her truthfully.
“Ok… then tell me, what your way is for creating those fantastic stories you create when writing a fiction. Perhaps, one day, I will be able to write a story like you…”
“When you start to write stories I don’t want you to write like me… I want you to write what you feel… only then will you be able to express yourself.”
“At least give me a hint of how you construct your stories – if you don’t mind…”
“I don’t mind that at all…”
“Aren’t you afraid of competition?”
“You can’t have competition when you write stories… I think I have told you this before, I was at a meeting of wannabe writers and authors at Bengaluru when a similar question was asked to me by a participant…”
“Did you share your secret of how to write interesting story?” she looked horrified at the thought of competition.
“I gave them a situation and then gave them 5 minutes to think what story they could think of on that situation…”
“So you let them compete with each other – clever idea… by the way what was that situation?”
“No… it was an experiment to see how people think and how many people thought on the same lines… the topic was… ‘At the dead of night around 2am when the lonely street light glowed a bit dim… I was watching from the window of my room when I saw a girl walking briskly not thinking about the risk of a lonely girl out in dark’…”
“Oh! A pretty topic… I think the girl was going to elope with her lover…” she was quick to react with her fantasy mind.
“There you go… now you are thinking of a story… similarly, the group I was addressing had various sides to this situation right from she was may be going to visit someone at a hospital to someone saying she wasn’t a girl – she was a ghost. Everyone thought of the same situation in a different way… so you see that even if a situation is the same, every writer/author thinks from a different perspective – how can they be competition to others… different strokes from different folks…”
“I understand that but what could be your story on this situation?”
“You wanted to talk about AI what was it?” I said trying to understand what she actually was looking for…
“Yes. But, I forgot what I wanted to ask… now I just want you to tell me a mysterious, thrilling story about anything. And I want to understand how to write a thrilling story… I want to understand how you write a story…” she seemed to talk like a student who was eager to learn something.
“Ok… let’s see how we can construct a story…”
“Again, aren’t you afraid of someone copying your style?”
“Why should I be afraid of competition? Nowadays, you ask Google and you get answers. You ask AI and AI will write a story or should I say writes a novel for you… it’s your thoughts and your ideas that matter. It is the plot that you can think of which matters. AI can write anything for you but you have to tell AI what you want only then AI will give you a write-up…”
“Ok… let us see then how your story goes about…”
“Normally I start with a cover. I make a cover which interests me and using that cover I try to think of a story. Or, I start off with the name of the main character which stimulates me and my thoughts… think of a name of the main character…”
“Umm… what kind of name do you want to hear?”
“Any normal common name which you find when you interact with people or any common names in India which are given to children…”
“How about Pappu?”
“Ok… that’s what many children in their young age are called fondly in any household… We can consider this name… now we have one male character what about a common name in girls?”
“Puja… how about that?”
“Good… so we have 2 characters now… Pappu and Puja and they seem to rhyme… now what are you wanting to write about?”
“I haven’t thought of anything… hey! How about the scenario you asked to the group of wannabe writers… a lone girl at dead of night walking briskly on a desolate road?”
“That’s fair… now for the cover let us see… either I can use scenery or a photo I clicked or ask AI to generate a photo for me…” I opened the window which had a photo and showed it to her and looked at her stunned expression.
“Hey! When did you click my photograph? When did I pose with my hands on my cheeks? Do you miss me so much?”
“Well I like to think about you when you are not around… look at her closely – it’s not you but someone similar to you…”
She looked closely and looked at me in wonder, “I don’t believe it. She looks almost like me. Now that I look close enough I can see that it’s not me but someone who can almost pass off as me… where did you find this photo? And if you wanted me to pose for a photo like this, I would have gladly posed for you…”
“While you were out, I decided to check my AI skills and here’s what AI generated for me… almost a person who looks like you.”
“Oh! Wow… I didn’t know AI can do this…”
“Now you understand why AI could be dangerous? I can ask AI to create a character like anyone in this world and people who have high AI skillsets can even generate a video using these AI characters and make them do anything they want to… like nuclear energy – it can be used to generate power or destruct entire humanity… so AI now is gaining power to construct or destruct… it depends on the mentality of the person who is using the AI…”
“It could be dangerous and it can be fun as you said…”
“Correct… ah! Now I almost have story in my mind… want to get along with it?”
“How did you get an idea?”
“A simple conversation with anyone can generate an idea for a story and all that we have discussed now gave me an idea for the story…”
“Okay… Let’s get the story done… it has to be thrilling and a mysterious one…”
I smiled at her, “That is why I ask you to read books and not watch reels on social media…”
“Again you mention about me watching reels? I told you I have stopped watching reels…”
“We may need few other names as other characters will come into the picture… in fact I will like to start this story with a third character – the girl who is walking on the desolate road. What could be her name? If you can’t think of a name – simply go to one of your social media accounts and scroll your follower list or someone you follow and select a name…”
“The first one I see is Natasha, my best friend. I hope you are not going to put her in danger…” she looked into her Facebook account and asked me a bit in concern…
“No I don’t think so… unless you want her to get into trouble…” she looked at me horrified as she didn’t want to think Natasha in any kind of trouble… “now when you read books and stories written by other people, you come to understand how those people start off with their stories… you want this story to be a thriller and mysterious one – I will say let us start with an intrigue… let me add some description to what our lead line of thought was…” I paused as I started to think about how to describe the start with lone girl… “This we call as first draft of the story… here I can write anything that comes to my mind which relates to the story I am writing… editing can come later after you have finished your story…”
She looked at me nodding in agreement to what I said and kept quiet so as not to disturb my thought flow… I started to type…
It was dead of night and a lamp post glowed spreading its light below. An occasional dog howled somewhere in the dark beyond the visible light. Natasha walked briskly on that desolate road her fingers crossed. She was tense. She hadn’t found any transportation and had decided to walk it out. She hoped that no goon was hiding in any of dark corners around and that she would reach safely. Her mind was crowded by thoughts as to what had happened and what was going to happen…”
“Hmm… seems quite intriguing…” Shongita appreciated the beginning of the story.
“She reached the gate of the hostel after a nervous walk on desolate roads and frantically knocked on the gate of her hostel. The guard peeped from inside and opened the gate and allowed her into the premise. He seemed tense too… it was the first time in the history of the hostel that police was in the premise. She walked in through the empty corridors and entered her room which was vacant. She half expected to see Puja there welcome her with her natural smile. She was not there. Even as she freshened up from the journey she thought of Puja who was not only her roommate but also her best friend and wondered where she was and in what condition…”
“Where is this story leading to?” Shongita wondered.
“I am going to pick up words you had said and try and convert them into a story. So you now have Natasha who we have established as roommate of Puja, your main character. We have to move further in this story as to why police are in the hostel and what happened to Puja.”
“I hope she has not committed a suicide.”
“Now that you say this, I would not want her to commit a suicide because most of the people would think that she did…” I smiled at her nonplussed expression…
“Natasha had almost finished freshening up when she heard an urgent knock on the door of her room. ‘Who’s it?’ she asked from the bathroom. It was the rector of her hostel who was outside the door asking her to hurry up and get into the main gathering room of the hostel. She quickly dried herself up and dabbed on simple makeup and hurried to the main meeting room…”
I looked at Shongita, “Here we will have to introduce to the police inspector – suggest a name.”
“How about Bhausaheb Kadam?”
“No can’t be… the logic says that it has to be a lady inspector who would be inside a girls hostel at middle of the night. So has to be a lady inspector… let’s go back to Facebook… Who’s the first in my feed? Here we go Sheetal but I don’t want to use her full name… so I go to search and type out Sheetal and there you go… so many Sheetals… alright here we have our inspector’s name… Inspector Shital Inamdar… how do you like it?”
“Hmm… seems a logical name for a lady inspector.”
As Natasha walked into the main gathering hall, she saw other girls waiting there tense for this was new to them… the rector grabbed her hand and ushered her into the cabin next to the main gathering hall… ‘She is Inspector Shital Inamdar who is investigating this case. Go ahead and tell her what you know.’ Saying thus she left the cabin and Natasha was now facing Inspector Shital Inamdar…
“Now I don’t want you to disturb me… this will be a one way conversation from me unless I ask you a question or ask you to suggest something… ok with you? This is so that I don’t lose my flow of thoughts…”
“Okay … I won’t say anything till you ask me.” Shongita promised and this is what I typed out on the laptop with Shongita reading each and every line as I typed it out… “I simply want to check how you add a thrill or a mystery to a story…”
“I am going to use almost everything you said to form a story and you just keep checking what I write… if you have any questions or suggestions just tap my hand – don’t say anything till I am ready… so here we go…” and I started typing out what I thought of as a story…
Inspector Shital looked at a nervous Natasha and asked her to take a seat and offered her a glass of water to calm her nervousness and then with a serious glance started the conversation…
“I hope you know why I am here and why you have been summoned. I am sorry you had to travel from your hometown and reach here at unearthly hours… but, I can’t help it, duty had to be done and on priority. We are dealing with one of the prestigious members of this town who has a political clout… I hope you understand the gravity of the situation.”
Natasha nodded affirmative and held her breath for the questions that were to flow…
“Here’s where you introduce to the main character called Puja…” I told Shongita
“Since when do you know Puja?”
“We have been together since the first year of the college and it has been 3 years that we are best friends and roommates in this hostel.”
“This means you and Puja share every minute detail with each other as normally girls would do… is that correct? Start from beginning.”
“Yes ma’am”
“Tell me everything you know about Puja…”
Natasha heaved a deep breath and looked at Insp. Shital and slowly in a low voice started, “Three years ago, I arrived at this hostel for the first time and was not aware as to how I would be staying here – if I will be alone in a room or will there be many roommates and how they will turn out. Will I be able to adjust with them? I had so many questions in my mind…
Fortunately I found Puja as my roommate and there were going to be only 2 girls in each room. Even she was first timer at a hostel… we introduced each other and found something in us telling us that we were going to be the best friends from there on… What we liked was that we were in the same stream and same class which will allow us to be together all the time except when we visit our homes…
When I saw her for the first time I was a bit uncomfortable because she is a very beautiful girl to look at… she has this wavy kind of straight thick gloss of hair which flows back over her swan like shoulders onto her back almost touching her buttocks. She is fair and has a lovely oval face which looks like it is chiselled out symmetrically. She is slim and has near to perfect figure of 36-24-36 and is tall – almost about 5’4”… her beauty made me nervous at first. She also is stylish and the overall look is like that of any famous model you could see on television…
However, when she smiled and we started talking, I found her to be quite a beautiful human being and a lovely friend I could trust. She trusted me like she trusted her own sister and our bond grew. Rather than saying she is my best friend I would rather call her my sister – she is so sweet and good natured.”
“So you are like sisters” Insp. Shital observed, “how is she or rather how is her behaviour towards boys – especially those in your class?”
“She was quite a normal girl – she has no air about her. She doesn’t have a high attitude and is friendly with almost everyone in the class.”
“Any boyfriend?”
“No… I don’t think so… if she had a boyfriend, I would have known…”
“Wasn’t Pappu her boyfriend?”
“Who Pappu? No way… He was a genius at studies but there was something in him that made girls scared of him and his ways. There was something sinister about him… maybe it was his aura which made girls feel so… even I didn’t speak to him much unless he forced me to speak with him. He was kind of rude… why do you ask this?”
“You sure that Puja wasn’t his girlfriend?”
“I am absolutely sure about it – Puja was frightened and scared of him. She wouldn’t stay a moment where he was if she could help. Being in same classroom was something one couldn’t avoid but let’s say we are sitting in canteen and he arrives there – Puja would leave the canteen immediately and many times force me to go along with her… I could sense that he was absolutely infatuated by Puja and her looks. In fact whenever he was around her she felt that at some point of time he may just grab her and molest her.”
“Oh! That’s news… I thought Puja and Pappu were pretty cosy. Other girls didn’t know much about how these two felt for each other. This is new light for me… Tell me how was Pappu when he interacted with Puja… did he ever touch her?”
“No. He could never touch her when I was around. But, I could feel his infatuation growing as the days passed. Almost to the brink of madness…”
“What is so interesting in Puja apart from the fact that she is beautiful to look at?”
“Since the time she joined the college, she has unanimously been chosen as Rose Queen every single year. She is friendly to most of the students of the college and she is a genius at studies – you can simply call her beauty with brains.”
“What is the main subject of your curriculum?”
“We study AI design. And she was second in her pursuit. Second only to Pappu… He was an absolute genius in the field of AI.”
Here Shongita tapped my hand in a bid to say something and I looked at her, “So you are going to integrate AI in your story…”
“No Sweetheart, AI is just a reference I will be using in the story. I may use effects or ways to use AI but I am not going to use AI for constructing my story… I never do…”
“Oh! Ok… carry on…” and she started reading as I typed out my story.
Insp. Shital looked at Natasha and wondered what could have happened… then she pushed a photocopy towards Natasha and asked her to read what was typed out… “This is a note found in Pappu’s room by his mother and handed over to us when we got there…”
Natasha nervously started reading what was typed out… The note read as following…
‘I am madly in love with Puja who is my girlfriend. We have been chatting since long and it was fun. She was nice, comely, exuberant, and equally in love with me. She sometimes was sensuous and extremely horny and I loved it when she was in that mood.
However, since past few weeks, she has been haughty, careless and rude. I told her that this change of her behaviour was offending me. But, she became ruder and started to insult me left, right and centre. I am almost in depression because of her behaviour and am contemplating to commit a suicide if she doesn’t change her behaviour toward me. I told her about these thoughts of mine in frustration today morning at about 5am and she said she couldn’t care less if I live or die… I can go ahead with my suicide plan if I was bent upon that and she won’t give two hoots about my death.
I am pained by her this behaviour and am really going to try and commit suicide. Hope she realizes my love for her after my death. So long…’
Natasha’s hand trembled as she read the detail in the photocopy she was given and looked at Insp. Shital totally nonplussed.
“Now what have you got to say about Puja, Pappu and their relations, Miss?” Insp. Shital had a bit of wile in her tone.
“I will still say that she was not involved and had nothing to do with Pappu or his death if he indeed has committed a suicide.” Natasha said this with confidence, “Me and Puja shared a fantastic relation as if we were sisters and if she had a relation with Pappu, I would have been the first person to know that. I can say this because I know of every crush of her, be it from movies industry to some sportsperson…”
“Then, what about this suicide note? It clearly tells about long chats Pappu had with Puja. And this is taken as evidence even by courts. Normally people who are about to die will not utter lies – that’s what has been established. So, Puja is held responsible for this suicide attempt by Pappu. She has been weeping all the time since we have taken her into custody and has neither denied or confirmed anything…”
“I would like to meet her first. I want to know the truth and if she is guilty I won’t say a word because I don’t know anything about it. But, if she is not guilty, remember I come from a family of prestigious lawyers… I will fight for her till the very end…” Insp. Shital could see the resolve on Natasha’s face and decided that she along with Natasha will return to the police station where Puja was being held. She had to get to the bottom of this case. After all, Pappu was the only son of a rich influential businessman in the city…
They got out of the hostel and travelled to the police station. Insp. Shital asked Puja to be brought for interrogation from the cell she was confined to. As soon as Puja saw Natasha, she rushed into her arms weeping inconsolably. It was sometime before she could stop weeping and settle down, knowing that Natasha will not ditch her and she would help her as much was possible for her…
“Did you and Pappu have a relation which you have been hiding from me?” Natasha looked straight at Puja who started weeping again…
Upon asking again and between her sobs Puja conveyed that she didn’t have any relationship with Pappu… She hated him…
Natasha looked at Insp. Shital, “I believe her and I have every reason to believe that something is amiss… She won’t dare to speak untruth to me and especially when in trouble… I guess we will have to investigate the matter further. From my family I have inherited a logical and investigative mind and I firmly believe this has to be investigated further…”
“Now that I have heard Puja, even I feel something is amiss and needs more investigation. I feel sorry for Pappu… he is dead and his family is in shock. I haven’t been able to interrogate them for any details. I had to take action based on the suicide note left by Pappu…”
“It is almost 6am. I believe in short time we can visit Pappu’s home and check what could have gone wrong… if you can allow us, me and Puja to be along with you when you investigate and interrogate his family… maybe, we can solve the case in the morning itself…” Natasha optimistically looked at Insp. Shital who thought for a moment and nodded her approval. Tea was ordered and they sipped at tea while the clock ticked on till it showed 7am… they started on their way to Pappu’s home…
“Here is a chance to steer your story either way…” I said looking at Shongita.
“I don’t understand what you mean by that… what is either way?”
“Like while they were travelling from police station to Pappu’s home, Puja with help from Natasha escapes police. Then you can vividly describe how she escaped, what she did after she escaped, how Natasha helped her when she was in hiding… it’s a game of cat and mouse with super chases you can think of… or… the other way is she doesn’t escape but travels with the police and Natasha to Pappu’s home where we will have to think of what happens when they reach his home… what will you like to do?”
“Hmm… Puja escaping from police and being chased will only increase the length of the story and will be typical movie like… We are trying to write a short story so I will like if she goes to Pappu’s home along with Natasha and the police. That would lead us to climax quickly… by the way what is the climax?”
“I don’t want to think of climax at this point… I would rather think of what happens when she gets there and what she finds out adding more intrigue…”
“Nice idea… ok we will go along with your style…” she seemed anxious to know where the story was leading her to but she refrained from being too nosy with it and kept watching as I started to type out the next part…
They reached Pappu’s house and both Puja and Natasha looked at the magnanimous bungalow in wonder as to how rich Pappu really was… they stood there waiting for the main door to open. After a long pause the door was unbolted and a middle aged woman looked at the trio… her face suddenly flushed with anger as her glance fell on Puja, “You are that girl who killed my son, aren’t you? What an audacity that you have the courage to visit his home after his death… had you visited before perhaps, he could have been alive and I wouldn’t have to deal with police…” and she rushed at Puja with upraised hand to strike her…
Insp. Shital quickly stood between them, “No violence please. We are here to find out the truth and your behaviour cannot lead us to the truth. If she is to be blamed, I will personally see to it that she is punished for playing with Pappu’s life… Now… Can we enter in and sit down to understand what happened?”
His mother stood there without speaking and controlled her emotions and then stepped aside beckoning them to enter her home. Obviously she was at unease to let in Puja who she thought was the reason for her son’s death.
They settled down in the main hall of the house as Insp. Shital looked around, “I don’t see his father. I didn’t see him yesterday as well…”
“He is out of town and he couldn’t get transportation back. He should be arriving in afternoon today. He already is on a flight from Delhi to Mumbai. Once he reaches Mumbai, he has a cab booked which will get him here by noon or afternoon depending on the traffic conditions…” Pappu’s mother slowly explained his absence.
“Ok… now tell me exactly as to what happened when Pappu committed a suicide…”
A tear flowed from his mother’s eye as she recalled the happening of yesterday, “I had just about woken up and was in the kitchen to prepare tea and breakfast as usual when I heard Pappu scream within his room ‘Don’t think I am bluffing. I am going to really kill myself you bitch…’ I was taken aback as Pappu hadn’t used any bad words inside home anytime… I started going upstairs toward his bedroom to check what was going on when I heard a loud thud and I almost ran upstairs but the door to his bedroom was locked and I heard a girl’s voice saying she didn’t care at all…”
“Hmm… how did you open the door then?”
“I tried to open it but couldn’t… I ran outside and called my gardener and the servant who stayed in the outhouse and they came running to see what happened. They broke the door to his bedroom open and…” she couldn’t continue and between the sobs said, “I could see his limp body swaying from side to side. He had the bed sheet around his neck and the other end tied to the fan… he was dead. I called the family doctor immediately who upon arrival checked him and declared him dead. This girl here…” she pointed at Puja, “was online with him on a video call and kept blinking her eyes as if nothing had happened. No shock or an expression of remorse on her…”
I looked at Shongita and smiled looking at the attention she was giving to every line I was typing out, “Now here again I have a choice – either Puja is guilty of abetting his suicide… or, it could have been someone else who murdered him and made it look like a suicide and framed Puja… what side would you like to pick?”
“I think Puja was framed and she is innocent.” Shongita said after a thought and I smiled at her, so let us steer the story so that she is found innocent… and I am now going to approach the climax of this story… who do you think framed Puja?”
“No idea… maybe his own father who seems to be out of town. That’s how they show it on detective serial episodes on TV. The person you expect the least and the one who is absent from the scene normally is the killer…” Shongita said with conviction.
I laughed at her choice of killer, “That’s too obvious for people who see these shows regularly. How can I be different is what I need to think…”
“Then… how about showing his mother as the murderer? Or maybe one of the servants caught by Pappu stealing something from his house?”
“You still are stuck on the TV shows… you got to think different and be different… that will make your story more interesting… so Puja is innocent that’s what we will follow…” and I resumed typing…
“Are you sure that the girl you saw was her?” Insp. Shital pointed out Puja to his mother.
“I am 100% sure that she was the girl who was blinking coolly as he committed suicide and she didn’t have any remorse for what had happened…”
“Wait a minute…” Natasha interrupted the conversation and looked at Pappu’s mother, “When exactly did you see Puja blinking at suicide of Pappu?”
“That’s when we broke his door open… around 5.30am or so…”
Natasha looked triumphantly at Insp. Shital, “I have the proof that it wasn’t Puja. It simply cannot be her…”
“How can you say that?” both Insp. Shital and Pappu’s mother almost asked in unison.
“We had finished our term two days ago and we were going to leave hostel and travel to our respective homes yesterday. I had a train at 6am while Puja was going to board her train at 2pm… the whole of night we had been chatting and feeling sad that for 2 weeks, we would be separated. We were getting ready at 4.30am for the cab which was to arrive at 5am. Then we both travelled to the railway station as it was a bit early and we thought both of travelling in the cab will be safe. Again on the railway platform we kept on chatting and promising each other over and over that we will keep in touch over phone calls… she never used her phone even once since previous night till my train departed from the station at about 6.05am. This means someone else was chatting with him at that hour and saying that she doesn’t care…”
Everyone in the room looked at each other, “I had a doubt that something was amiss but if this was some cyber fraud then it’s going to be difficult for me to trace that killer.” Insp. Shital informed them while Pappu’s mother sure that she had seen Puja wasn’t able to comprehend the sudden change in circumstances.
I looked at Shongita and asked her, “Last chance to guess what I am thinking of a climax… any guesses?”
She looked wide eyed and simply shook her head suggesting that she was out her wits… and I started to type out the balance of the story.
“I would like to check his room to see if I can find any clues to this mysterious girl…” Insp. Shital said and looked at Pappu’s mother who instantly got up from her sitting position and led them to his room. The door was made to stand by the side wall because it was broken and had not been mended so far… As they entered Puja looked at his wardrobe closet door in disbelief… her photograph in a two piece bikini was stuck there…
“See, didn’t I tell you she was his girlfriend and I think the relationship was deep enough for her to pose for a photograph in a two piece bikini.” Pappu’s mother pointed to Puja again and looked at her in hate of taking her son away from her.
Puja looked nonplussed at her photograph in bikini on the closet door and couldn’t believe her eyes while Natasha looked a bit more closely and shook her head, “Aunty, Insp. Shital – this is not Puja. We stay at a hostel and we have limited clothes we get from our home maybe around 7 sets, one for each day of the week and maybe another exclusive one for any college function. I know her wardrobe very well and she doesn’t own a designer bikini which can be seen in this photograph… I will still say something is not right here…” Puja nodded affirmative to what Natasha said and looked at Insp. Shital who was thoughtful…
“Can you tell me more about Pappu – I mean what kind of person he was as a child and as a college going boy…” Insp. Shital prodded Pappu’s mother for information on his background.
“He was a shy and a quiet boy as a child and as a college student. He hardly spoke to us, his parents – perhaps… you can say it was the typical generation gap where children don’t speak up to their parents. He didn’t have any friends now that I think of and perhaps was lonely. Rich dad’s children are normally isolated by the normal children due to the status of their richness that’s what I understand. To think of it I have never seen any of his friends visiting or calling him. But, he was a brave and an intelligent boy… he secured high marks in his school, his under-graduate course and I believe, he was the best in his class in the college as well… like normal boys who come of age, he had these posters of actresses and models on the inside of his closet and wardrobe. This was around 6 months ago that I saw this photograph laminated and stuck on the outside of his closet. Unwittingly, I asked him who she was for I didn’t recognise her… I thought she was a model or an actress I didn’t know about and shyly he told me that she was my future daughter in law. I had asked him to get her over to our home so that I could see and judge her… he said some other time… he wanted to be big on his own and said that he was working on a project which will flabbergast people and he will be richer than his dad was once it was complete…”
“I wonder what project he was working on…” Insp. Shital observed, “You said that he had no friends and perhaps was lonely.” Pappu’s mother nodded affirmative to this statement… “Hmm… that’s a typical situation for a suicidal tendency. Loneliness causes stress and depression which can lead to suicidal tendency if not treated on time… I have seen that in many of the cases I have handled so far…”
“Where did you see her live when this happened?” Natasha’s mind was in overdrive knowing she had to get to the bottom of this if she had to save Puja.
“She was on live chat with him on his PC which is over there…”
“I never chatted with him.” Puja was now firm in her response even as Natasha approached the table where his PC was kept. She looked around and saw that PC was still ON and in sleep mode… she shook the mouse hoping this action would start the PC and hoped it was not secured by a password… Lo! The PC started to come out of its sleep mode and when the screen turned ON… they could see that Puja was LIVE and still blinking at them… a fascinating swimming pool in the background.
“How could that be? She is sitting along with others in Pappu’s room. How can she be LIVE on video chat and located at a swimming pool at the same time?” Shongita wondered.
“Still you have a chance to guess what the climax is in my mind… any guesses?” Shongita shook her head and looked on at the screen as started to type out again…
“How can Puja be at two different places? She is sitting here in this room and not on her phone or any video gadget and still I see her at an exotic swimming pool…” Insp. Shital wondered at this… a bit aloud completely foxed by what she was observing… the Puja on the screen didn’t say anything and just kept blinking at them in short bursts.
Natasha looked for window buttons and found the button to close that window, “Crazy guy… ok… bye…” Puja who was on the screen said even as the window closed on them… Natasha then clicked on the contents of the PC, “I think if we come to know who is chatting or what that person’s IP address is, we might be able to reach whoever is on the other side of this PC… let me look for it…” and she started searching the programmes on the PC. She checked which all applications had video links and started checking them… she could find nothing which could lead to any video chat history with anyone who posed as Puja.
“Puja, after Pappu, you were the second genius in our class – could you try to get details of this imposter?” Natasha looked at Puja who looked at Pappu’s mother who was still trying to understand what was going on and Insp. Shital nodded at Puja to go ahead and walked with her and sat next to her trying to check that Puja won’t be erasing any proof if linked to her…
Puja started to check the PC thoroughly to find some evidence that would come out as a proof that she was innocent and had nothing to do with this mishap… with every click and check; her heart was going down for she was unable to find anything which could prove that she was innocent.
“Check other drives…” Natasha suggested and she started scanning other drives. On E drive she saw a folder named Puja and looked at Natasha who nodded that it could contain something which could prove her innocence… with a beating heart, Puja clicked that folder open and it showed 3 subfolders inside. With trembling hand she clicked the first subfolder open… It opened a list of files in MsWord with serial dates on it… the dates started about six months ago… she clicked the first file and it opened a chat saved as MsWord document…
Pappu: ‘Hi. I am Pappu. I am in the same class as you and normally sit on the last bench if you have noticed me.’
Puja: ‘Hiii… Yes I have seen you and was wondering why a genius person sits on the last bench.’
Pappu: ‘Last bench is normally vacant and that allows me to concentrate on the lectures we attend. I want to make it big in this world one day.’
Puja: ‘I am sure you will make it big one day.’
Pappu: ‘However, I am alone and have no friends. Can we be friends?’
Puja: ‘Sure, I would like to be friends with you.’
Puja closed the chat to raised eyebrow of Insp. Shital, “I never had this chat with Pappu. I don’t know what is going on…”
“Well… this is in MsWord… may be Pappu typed this whole chat out by himself and stored it…” Natasha quipped in.
“That is a possibility… but, many things point to you Puja. The photograph in bikini on his closet door… These chats, if not typed out by him could only point out to someone who has been chatting with him as Puja – I can give you the benefit of doubt for I saw another girl online, looking similar to you at a swimming pool when you were sitting by my side… I will suggest use all your genius and seek the truth behind this chat and the person who was chatting with Pappu all this time… it is for your own good.” Insp. Shital was firm in her voice.
She opened another random file a few dates later to check what was typed out there…
Pappu: Hey, what’s up?
Puja: Not much just got out of class. You?
Pappu: Same here. Want to grab coffee later?
Puja: Yeah, that sounds great! What time were you thinking?
Pappu: How about 4 pm?
Puja: Perfect! See you then
Pappu: Can’t wait! Love you
Puja: Love you too
Pappu: Hey, what’s the plan for tonight?
Puja: I was thinking we could watch a movie after coffee?
Pappu: Sounds like a plan! What movie were you thinking of?
Puja: Maybe that new romantic comedy that just been released?
Pappu: I’m game! Pick a show time and we’ll make it work
Puja: Okay, I’ll check the timings. See you soon!
“What nonsense, I never watched a movie with him… Natasha do you remember any movies we watched in a cinema hall ever from the time we joined the college?”
“Nopes… all the movies we watched were either in the central TV room of the hostel or on our laptops… I don’t even know the names of cinema halls in this town…” Natasha was quick to answer, “But, I am concerned… all these notes seem to be auto-generated and have your names as and when they were typed. How can this be possible?”
“Let’s try and find out… let’s see what is being chatted in other files…” saying thus she scrolled down to a file at a later date and opened that file…
Puja: Hi honey. I hope you enjoyed our night together.
Pappu: Yes I did. You were fabulously sensuous. Love you.
Puja: Even I loved the way you made love to me. I still feel your arms around me and groping at me and my body parts.
Puja quickly shut the conversation chat, red with fury and embarrassment, “This seems to be going out of hand… I am still a virgin. And I cannot think of talking sex with boys – let alone getting sexual pleasures out of them…”
She was not ready to click open the other chats for she felt that they could contain more embarrassing chats. Natasha realised this and took the control of mouse in her hand and started scrolling down… much down to a nearer date than yesterday she clicked on the chat…
Pappu: Hey, what’s up?
Puja: Oh, great. You’re finally talking to me. About time you did.
Pappu: Sorry, I was busy. What’s wrong?
Puja: Nothing’s wrong. Just trying to deal with your constant absence.
Pappu: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ignore you. I am working on the dream that would make us happy and rich.
Puja: Save it for someone else. I don’t want your apologies.
Pappu: Can we talk about this in person? I don’t like arguing over a PC.
Puja: You don’t like arguing? That’s rich. You never make an effort to see me or talk to me.
Pappu: That’s not true. I do make an effort.
Puja: Whatever. Don’t bother trying to fix this. I’m done.
They read the chat carefully and understood that Puja was extremely hurt by the fact that he didn’t have time for her or perhaps he was now ignoring her. She was in a complaining mode and was fairly upset with Pappu.
“Let us check the last file that was generated yesterday seemingly about 5.45am that should shed some light on this…” Natasha said and she clicked on the last file and they all started to read the file… they could see that Puja was totally sassy and rude to Pappu. The final lines caught their attention…
Pappu: You know Puja living without you is impossible.
Puja: I care two hoots if you do.
Pappu: Why are you behaving with me in this fashion.
Puja: That’s what you are worth.
Pappu: You know I love you too much and I can’t live without you.
Puja: As if I care
Pappu: Darling please don’t be this rude with me
Puja: I am being myself. Remember that
Pappu: Look if you keep on behaving like this… it’s depressing me every second
Puja: You are vain and you have no morals. You are not fit to live
Pappu: Do you feel so? Do you believe so?
Puja: Yes. I do feel that you and your life is not worth at all
Pappu: Don’t carry on like this. I am already depressed. I can harm myself
Puja: Couldn’t care less
Pappu: If you feel so. Then I am going to commit suicide in front of you
Puja: You are sick. Go to a doctor. You need a mental therapy
Pappu: Last time I ask you. Are you going to turn into the beautiful girlfriend you once were?
Puja: Who me? I was never your girlfriend.
Pappu: Check the chats we had and you will realize
Puja: To hell with you and your chats
Pappu: Darling, I really am going to commit suicide
Puja: Don’t darling me. I got nothing to do with you
Pappu: Why are you so heartless?
Puja: Oh! Finally you realize that I am heartless
Pappu: Final warning. I am committing suicide
Puja: Go to hell. I don’t care what you do
Pappu: Look at the hangman’s knot I have tied around my neck
Puja: I said I don’t care
Pappu: Don’t think I am bluffing. I am going to really kill myself you bitch
They sat stunned at what they read and looked at each other.
“This couldn’t be Puja. She is a soft hearted girl. We need to find out who was behind this and farming poor Puja. That person is dangerous and may harm somebody like Pappu.” Natasha said decidedly knowing that somebody had deliberately impersonated Puja and led Pappu to commit suicide, whoever this person was – was a sick person like the one who had created Blue Whale Challenge. It was a game that had led to many teenagers to commit suicide around the globe.
She came out of the chat folder and clicked on the second folder below… a lot of icons appeared. These looked like tiny thumbnails to various photographs. She clicked on the first thumbnail and it popped up a photograph of Puja which they had seen when she was blinking at them initially when the mouse had been shaken by Natasha.
It was a photo where Puja looking quite beautiful was holding her hands to her cheeks almost covering her ears with her lovely eyes looking straight at them… she moved with the arrow keys to the next photo… It was a similar photo… the difference was Puja was laughing merry at something. She moved the arrow key and a third similar photo appeared with Puja now showing a sensuous expression… similar photos kept popping up with various expressions of Puja.
Natasha kept on scrolling using the arrow keys… suddenly the type of photo changed… Puja was now wearing exclusive sexy lingerie which almost showed all her body parts enough to arouse any male who saw that photo… the next photo was of a model which was exactly similar to the previous photo of Puja in that sensuous lingerie…
“Oh! I get it… the original photo is of this model wearing this lingerie. Someone has swapped the face and made the model look like Puja… one thing beats me… I can understand the face swap but how could same photos have different expressions?” Natasha wondered aloud.
“Is this possible?” Insp. Shital asked in wonder.
“Yes. Pretty much this can be done and there are many such applications that can perform these tasks whether on PC or even your android phones. It is a common thing now.” Puja educated her. Natasha kept scrolling and found that all exclusive photos of Puja were made with face swap application showing her in different poses and dresses, corresponding to those which were original photos of actresses and models posing for those.
“Nothing much in this folder let’s try the last folder. I really hope it contains some information on what was going on… hey! Wait a minute… if we check the IP address of those chat files we may be able to get to that person who was chatting with Pappu.” Natasha almost screamed Eureka…
“No… I don’t think so… I think those chats were generated by this PC and if we try we will get the IP address of this PC not the person who chatted with Pappu.” Puja said a bit frustrated, “Let’s see what is in the third folder…” and Natasha clicked it open.
The third folder had only one file in MsWord and Natasha clicked to open that file… It was an explanation and somewhat a kind of marketing and a promotional write-up… that’s where they found the answers to every bit of mystery surrounding this suicide…
“Can you guess what they found?” I asked Shongita and she again shook her head and I could see that she desperately wanted to know what I was going to type out…
It was a description of the project Pappu was working on… it was an AI based program for interactive chat. In many words he described what the features in his chat program were and how they could change humanity forever… Nobody in this world again would feel lonely… it was a program which enabled the user to define who and what type of relation… the user could select photograph which was preloaded or upload a photo of choice to create an AI companion. The note further said that anyone’s face could be uploaded and that someone could become the soul mate for the user…
‘Let us say that a lonely boy like me is attracted to a famous actress… he can upload the clear face photo of that actress and then the AI soul mate would take her face and interact with the boy. She could be romantic, sensuous, intelligent, sassy, sporty… anything that the user could imagine… here I am testing using the snap of the girl I am infatuated with – Puja. I had clicked her photo during the grand socials when in first year of college. This program also makes your ideas and imaginations come true as you can easily change the dress and getup of your soul mate to suit your mood – no limits… further the program saves the chats you had with your soul mate in a folder you designate. Wait for the twist… this soul mate chats with you using voice generator and you have variety of voices, both male and female to add to your imagination… and yes, it has human expressions… so using this app, you will feel as if you are on a video call with your soul mate and if you want to be really different – you can ask your soul mate to striptease and he/she will striptease for you… that video can also be saved using a prompt. Whether the person you are infatuated with accepts or declines your approach – you now have an alternative to make that person your virtual soul mate. I am giving you few prompts I have tried below in a zip format. I am waiting to formulate the commercial aspect and then make it available to every single and lonely soul in this world.’
Everyone looked at each other a bit stunned…
“So it was AI who was chatting with Pappu posing as Puja.” Natasha said in an unconvincing voice. She was still not ready to believe what she had read in that word file… “Puja do you think with AI this is possible?”
“Yes… however, one will require special skills to make it work this way and I think Pappu was really a genius who made this work. Look at ChatGPT… it is almost similar in the way it handles your queries… you ask anything and it will provide you the best possible answer or a solution… Pappu took it a bit ahead in creating this program… the only thing was AI is still in its early stage and programs like these are uncontrollable in their actions and thus dangerous. And his AI program did turn into a dangerous mode where he committed suicide. If you don’t know how to use AI, it’s better to seek help or learn to use AI but not rely on AI for everything… especially emotions… it is a self-run program not a human being.”
“I think this solves the case of Pappu’s suicide and I have a feeling that such cases are going to rise… not only in India but worldwide. People have started experimenting with AI left, right and centre all over the world. I hope someone brings sanity to the users…” Insp. Shital concluded and looked at Pappu’s mother, “I feel sorry for your loss. I personally would have liked such a genius to have been alive and working for betterment of mankind using AI… such a loss…” she heaved a sigh and turned to Puja, “You are a lovely girl and I am sorry you had to be in this ordeal. Try and make better use of AI and not like Pappu where AI can destroy your life…” she smiled at her and finally turned to Natasha, “I salute your staunch support for your best friend, sorry, your so called sister… you never let her go till the end. I wish I had a friend like you… and Puja, you can calmly go back to your home or hostel and make sure you pass out with flying colours…” and they got up from the seats in front of the computer. They took leave of Pappu’s mother after offering her their condolences…
“Wow! You managed to include almost everything we discussed in this single short story. I feel you are a genius…” Shongita said in awe and clapped with her hands, “what do you feel after you have finished a story and too a fascinating one?”
“I am famished and I long for a spicy dish to satisfy the need of my stomach as well I want to smoke away to glory… this is the first time I have written a complete short story in one sitting. I am impressed with myself…”
“Give me half an hour. I will cook a special spicy dish to satisfy your stomach.” saying thus, she walked toward the kitchen while I walked into the balcony and lit up a thankful smoke… “Is what I have written a fiction or a future reality? Will man be able to master AI or will AI rule the mankind?” thinking thus, I puffed a cloud of smoke toward the sky, “Only time will tell…”
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- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/