1

Planning the Mega Event

It was a Saturday afternoon when Jitendra Chaurasiya went to meet Ravish Dhodakia to discuss his proposal of a mega rock concert wherein a rock star would perform in Ahmedabad. Jitendra had been into event management since his college days and had ample experience in the field. And he knew the correct man to approach.

Ravish Dhodakia was the son of Bhavesh Dhodakia, an MLA. Ravish and Jitendra had studied in the same college and were on good terms. Ravish was a lavish person when it came to money. After all, he was the son of an MLA; he had to be like that.

Jitendra explained the complete idea to Ravish, who liked it and discussed it with his father later that evening. Bhavesh Dhodakia was from Chandkheda area of Ahmedabad, which was under development, and people therein had not yet been exposed to such events. So he wanted the event to take place in Chandkheda, which he fondly called CK.

Later, Ravish told Jitendra that his father had ordered them to organize the event in Chandkheda. Jitendra was amazed at the choice of Chandkheda for such an event. But with politicians, one has to flow in the direction that they want one to. So Chandkheda was finalized for that night.

Jitendra knew that it was going to be a tough job for him, and he had to make preparations well enough to make the event a success. He started his work along with his team and divided the work expertly. The creative team and the budget team were the first to come into play. The venue management team had started looking for a venue in Chandkheda and found one in the form of a big party plot that was three kilometres away from Chandkheda bus stop. The venue was finalized by Jitendra and Ravish as soon as they saw it.

Inspector Madhav Thakkar, aka Maddy, was famous in Chandkheda for his persona. Everyone knew that if someone were to do something big in Chandkheda, it had to be known to Maddy. One of the lads in the venue management team told Jitendra and Ravish about Inspector Madhav Thakkar. Ravish, because of his ego, didn’t like it. But Jitendra knew that it was important to have Insp Maddy on their side. And he told Ravish that he would take care of it.

The next morning, they were in his cabin.

2

A Sweet Meeting with INSP Maddy

“Good morning, Inspector Madhav! We are extremely thankful to you for sparing your time for us early in the morning,” Jitendra began his flattery. Insp Maddy always got flattered easily. He modestly invited them to have a seat and ordered his subordinate to arrange tea for them.

Jitendra continued. “My name is Jitendra Chaurasiya, and this is Ravish Dhodakia, son of Mr. Bhavesh Dhodakia, the MLA. We are here to discuss a mega rock concert in Chandkheda. Mr. Bhavesh strictly told us to have a chat with you before we start preparing for it. We have heard a lot about you from him.”

Insp Maddy appeared to be on cloud nine, listening to the flattery. Meanwhile, Ravish removed a box of sweets from his bag and kept it on the table. He said in the least soft tone possible, “This is from Mr. Bhavesh Dhodakia!”

Insp Maddy said modestly, “Oh! I cannot take the full box, Mr. Ravish,” and went on to open the box. Ravish put his hand on Insp Maddy’s before he could open the box and said hurriedly, “You keep it, please. Otherwise, Dad will be annoyed and eat it at home only!” He emphasized the last phrase.

Ravish had put his hand quite forcefully. Insp Maddy decided to open the box at home only. Ravish gave Jitendra an irritated look. Immediately, Jitendra brought the attention back to the main topic of the concert and briefed Insp Maddy about it. He then removed a file from his bag that had the details about the event and politely asked him to go through it.

“Please have a look at the file and call me with your suggestions. We will surely be requiring your help during this whole event. We assure you that you will love the sweets. And they will be coming regularly!” said Jitendra, getting up from his seat. He extended his hand for a handshake. Maddy, who stood up as if he was giving respect to his CP, shook hands with both of them and saw them off to his cabin door.

He knew what kind of sweet it was, so he left it to be opened at home. He was now more interested in the file.

On the title page of the file was an image of the singing sensation of India with his initials written below in a decorative font—“SK.”

3

Dinu and Gattu

They were standing under a huge hoarding placed in Chandkheda. Pratap Gatiyala, aka Gattu, exclaimed, “Sumi Kapoor…live in Ahmedabad! Catch your favourite star SK @ CK! Wow, man. But where on earth is this CK?”

Meanwhile, Dinesh Singh, aka Dinu, was reading all the details. He replied, “CK is the short form of the area where a dude named Gattu is stuck at only SK @ CK on the hoarding!” He then moved Pratap’s head to focus his gaze on the lower right corner of the hoarding where the venue was mentioned: “RB Party Plot, Chandkheda.”

“Oh! Dinu, you are so smart. Momma will be really proud of you,” cried Pratap spontaneously. Dinesh replied with a smile and winked. They were always like this—light-headed, always making fun, sharing hilarious moments with each other, and making everyone around laugh. There was no one around at that time, though. It was 4 a.m.

At four in the morning, Amulya Café, on the empty IOC Road of Chandkheda, was waiting for them to get open. The milk containers came in around 4:30 a.m. every day from Gandhinagar. It was their routine to wake up early in the morning and reach Amulya Café before the truck did with the milk containers and distribute the milk, though not for free. Life was simple, yet it was not the way they wanted.

Pratap said with a slightly depressed smile, “Dinu, our day starts so early, brother. Until when will we keep distributing milk like this?”

Dinesh didn’t answer as Pratap used to ask the same question every day. But, somewhere in his mind, Dinesh was planning to get someone else as the local milkman of Chandkheda soon.

The truck came on time. As per the schedule, they went on with the work of unloading the milk cans, counting the number of milk bags, and putting them properly in the refrigerator.

Usually, people started coming in around 6 a.m. But that day, they got a visit from someone before that.

4

The Bag and Its Weird Contents

“Kill him, man! Kill him!” was the sound coming from the television set in Amulya Cafe. When no one was there in the café, Dinesh and Pratap used to use the TV provided to them to the best of their abilities while doing their chores.

“Until when will you keep selling milk to the people of Chandkheda?” asked a man. He was wearing a black suit. It was difficult to see his face because of the shadow of his cap covering his face.

Pratap felt maybe the question that he often asked would finally be answered! Whereas Dinesh, being the silent listener as always, was acutely concentrating on the man’s body language.

The man kept a bag inside the cafe door and left without any further conversation. Before Dinesh or Pratap could react, the man disappeared on the empty IOC Road.

Pratap, with slight fear in his heart, quickly approached the bag kept near the door. “Shit, man. He kept a bomb or what!”

Dinesh followed him. They were relieved when they found it was not a bomb but were simultaneously confused by the content in the bag.