Chapter One

Finally, the day arrived, it was 5:45 AM and the rays of sunlight were breaking dawn. The car was moving at a really high speed. I took out the newspaper in the back cover of the seat, the headline read, "Oswald shares hikes the stock market." It seemed like a big deal when Oswald Inc. got the government project for building roads and flyovers. Frankly speaking, I never expected it to grow this much.

“What are you reading platypus?” Bali said pointing at the newspaper.

“Nothing,” I replied.

“Come on sour patch, are you still mad at me?” Bali said playing with the ring that he was wearing on his finger.

Giving him that wild streak I said, “I told you I’m not mad. I am just indifferent, okay?”

“I said I was sorry."

I was mad at Bali because he kept me waiting for half an hour, a far cry from my very punctual and timely behavior. I respect the time and expect the same from others.

"Hey, when did they install this poster?” Bali said pointing to a huge giant poster by the roadside as were heading to the flyover.

I bent down to see it from the other window as it was on the driver’s side, I saw a big poster of mine in a suite with a vectored city behind me saying, "We don’t make houses, we create homes. Oswald constructions."

“Yea, when did they install this poster, I never approved of this design,” I wondered aloud.

"Besides, the tag line is also very cliché!” Bali said smiling at me.

“Sir, this was not here yesterday. I think they might have installed it last night,” the driver said, joining the conversation.

As I was looking at the poster, I could see my face was shining with the focus lamps. “I have to consult with my marketing manager and tell him we don’t have to put up this poster,” I thought to myself. Then something came to my mind and I dropped the idea and decided to leave it be.

"You look smarter and younger in this picture compared to how you look in real life," Bali said holding up a magazine.

I could see my photo on the cover page of the Forbes magazine Bali was reading. It was titled "Entrepreneur of the year."

"Huh, does this all matter so much?” I replied without giving it a thought.

We arrived at the airport. The guard at the main gate asked us for our ID proof and checked the car. After confirming everything’s okay he opened the gates and let us in. Bashir was waiting for us at the airport.

“Good morning sir!” Bashir said sincerely with a smile while opening the door.

As soon as I put my feet on the ground, I could feel the cold breeze touching my face, I felt like it was whispering a subtle "good morning." Gauri always used to say that mother nature conveys something. If you observe it carefully, you can feel it. Even my $40,000 Armani suit couldn’t stop the breeze from embracing me, I could feel the cold wind touching my heart. I smiled back to mother nature.

The ground was still wet, and the runway was covered with fog. It felt like a sleeping child with a white blanket on it. All we could see was small runway lights. Bashir handed me a file containing my speech and meeting schedules.

Bashir is a graduate from IIM, and he is my personal assistant. He is a young man in his mid-20s with a bright skin tone and long curly hair. His eyes are dark black like a carbon ball and the pointed eagle nose. His masculine face with a gentle smile makes a complete match for a woman. I sometimes wonder why such a skilled young man is assisting me in running my usual tasks. As said in physiognomy (face reading) people with pointed eagle noses make an everlasting effect on others and are very ambitious.

In front of me was a giant G5 charter plane with the Oswald Airlines logo on it. As I was heading towards the plane, I saw a strange man with a black suit and a red dragon printed on it. He was like 5.5 ft tall with white skin. He was standing right behind my car. I couldn’t see his face clearly, he was wearing a round cap. I saw a snake stick with a high tensile steel sword hidden inside it. Seeing him, I got terrified. He was the same person whom I met earlier.

"Are you okay sir?" Bashir inquired seeing the terror on my face.
I took my eyes off him and nodded my head.

“Oye chal yaar!” a strong voice bellowed. It was Bali shouting from the main door. “We don’t want to be late! This bozo can only travel at a max speed of 700 km/hr., and what if we get stuck in traffic, nowadays everyone has their own charter plane."

I gave him a fake smile and gestured that I’ll join him shortly.

“See you in Delhi," I said to Bashir without looking at him as I wanted to avoid eye contact with the guy in the black suit.

"At your service," he replied with a smile.

Frankly speaking, I was a bit nervous about the trip, and besides seeing that man-made me more nervous. I boarded the plane through the stairs and a beautiful lady wished me good morning. Standing on the doors, I couldn’t resist myself from looking back. And as I turned around, I saw the man was still standing there giving me that evil smile.

"This way sir," the air hostess guided me in, I ignored him and went in, and the doors closed behind me.

Chapter - 2

“Seeing the bad weather, I don’t think we’ll be able to reach before 8,” Bali said sneaking out of the window.

Bali was sitting in front of me. The diamond ring in his left ear was shining with the yellow light coming from the window. The temperature inside was cold. The warm sunlight from outside was giving the cozy feeling of early morning. The red rose in the vase looking through the window was a piece of admiration for me.

“Mother nature has wished me a beautiful, good morning and I am sure she won’t trouble us," I replied.

“Who puts all this kind of stuff in your brain?” Bali said, opening up the newspaper.

I wanted to say Gauri but I controlled myself.

Bali (Balraj Sinh Chouhan), my best mate, or should I say, my only mate, was coming to this event. With his combed hair, tucked ironed shirt, and polished shoes you can tell he is from an army background. He has large, intelligent grey eyes that are always filled with excitement. In his french styled beard, Bali seemed to me like Calvin Harris in his retro look. Bali and I are of the same age. He is my childhood friend, we were brought up together and we’ve always been together.

Extremely talented, he was born in the same small village where I was born, and we were neighbors. From the beginning itself, he had that fire of being an actor. His talent wasn’t recognised until he came to Bombay with me. I knew from the beginning that he will do something great in the future, so I always supported him in his silly decisions.

Right from our early days, Bali wanted to be an actor, but due to a lack of support from his family, he didn’t get that platform. His dad always wanted him to join the army. Today after becoming a successful actor and entrepreneur he can confidently say that his decision was right.

As the engines started and the plane was getting ready to take off, I felt a pump of adrenaline in my veins, I felt the same excitement the same way I felt it the first time I traveled by air, the only difference was that at that time I was flying in the economy and now I have my own airline! Still, it gives me the same excitement. I was looking through the window as the plane started, I could feel it throttle up, it was cutting the fog like a knife cutting a white vanilla cake. As the plane began to take off, I felt relaxed and all I could see was fog passing by.
“Good morning Mr. Kashyap.”

A lovely lady came with a tray and served us hot napkins. Still, I would say that the red flower was more appealing than the beautiful lady.

“Hey, heat up the sake, will you? “Bali said, pointing to the beautiful air hostess.

“No, man… we are not drinking; we are working right now,” I replied to him disgustingly. Being a Rajput, he was very fond of drinking.

“You are constitutionally Irresponsible,” I added as my dad used to curse when I was a kid. I think I was more irresponsible than Bali.

“It would be irresponsible not to drink,” Bali confirmed to the air hostess waiting for the order.

“Okay, one black coffee for me,” I said.

As she came to serve us our drinks, the rose aroma coming from the air hostess triggered memories from the past.

Chapter - 3

It was around 08:15 PM when I reached my hostel. After completing my 12^th I got admission in Engineering in computer science. My uncle had insisted that he will come with me, but seeing my aunt’s face, I said no to him, I said I will manage it on my own. I was having severe pain in my back as traveling through government buses on the roads of India is no less than a roller coaster ride. After 14 long hours of drive, I reached my destination. Though I appeared in a single piece, my internal organs were utterly shagged by the rough ride. Bali was supposed to come with me, but he had an essential wedding to attend. So he was coming next week.

As I got out of the bus, I saw that there was no one on the highway. My college was some 1.5 km away from the highway. I put on the luggage on my shoulder and started walking down the thin road going through a village called Oden. It barely looked like a village as all I could see was a few houses and some shops. I kept walking as I had no one to ask for directions. After walking for 15 minutes, I saw some lights from a distance. And I figured out that it must be my hostel. My hostel was on my college campus, and it had a giant gate at the entrance. There was a security guard post next to it. I tried to open the gate, but it was locked from inside. "Ke Naam hai taro chora?"

I turned around and saw a security guard in his late 40’s. He had a big moustache and was talking in the Marwari language. I didn’t know how to speak Marwari, but since it was a mixture of Hindi and Gujarati, I could figure out he was asking my name. "Kashyap," I said in a light voice. He then went inside and came with a notebook. "Kashyap Patel ?" He asked, looking inside the book. I nodded, and he opened the door for me. "Gujarat se hai ke?" I said, yes. He guided me towards the warden’s office that was next to the boy’s hostel.

As I entered the gate, there was a sort of some negative energy that I could feel there. Boys hostel was on the immediate right to the gate. There was a small passage with a grill door, and I saw a yellow light lighting up the area under which the boy’s hostel was wrItten.
As I entered there, there was darkness everywhere, and the central area of the hostel was lit up with the moonlight. I could see a few rooms light from the window, and there was pin-drop silence. One could feel the military governance there. I figured out that the warden must be really strict or else a boys hostel can never be such a calm place. There were stairs to my immediate right, and on the other side of the building, I could see a room that looked like some admin office.