Novella

By

Ravi Ranjan Goswami

© 2017 Ravi Ranjan Goswami

This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, organizations, and incidents portrayed in it either are the products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual person living or dead, events, and locales is entirely coincidental.

Ravi Ranjan Goswami

To all security forces and intelligence organizations of India

March 1, 2016

Chennai, India.

Rajesh was inside his room at the Trident hotel in Chennai. Outside, a strong wind was blowing. He could see through the window outside. Dark clouds promised a heavy rain. Soon it started to rain hard. He could hear it pelting the windows. It was around 6 pm. He opened the mini fridge kept in a corner and found a few beer cans, and fruit. He did not like any of the items there. He picked up the phone, dialed room service, and ordered a large Black Label whiskey. Rajesh felt cold, so he switched off the air conditioner by its remote. Then he picked up the remote to the TV and turned it on. He searched channels to find something of his interest. He found a Ghazal program in Delhi Doordarshan’s Urdu Channel, which he liked. He sat on a couch and started enjoying that. After some time doorbell rang. He guessed there might be a room service staff. The door was not locked so he said, "Come in please.” The waiter came in with a tray carrying his orders. He set, whiskey, soda, and a bowl of cashew nuts on the coffee table and offered to prepare a drink for him if he liked. He said, “NO. Thanks”. The waiter bowed and left the room

Rajesh went to the door and put a ‘do not disturb’ tag outside, closed the door, and got back. He prepared his drink mixing enough soda with whiskey. Then he carefully lifted the glass, had a long sip, and waited for a few moments to feel its taste and effect. He felt a soothing warmth in his body. Then he began enjoying his drink and Ghazals.

Whiskey and Ghazals were complementing each other, influence of whisky made Ghazals more enjoyable and Ghazals were enhancing the enjoyment of whiskey. For a while, he forgot the purpose of his being there. His cell phone beeped. This was an alarm indicating his time to go to Airport to catch his flight to Singapore.