Red Post #3

"ivlo nerama,phone eduka??"
 "hey thoongitu irun-" unknown number calling.
I put her on hold and-"Red thana?"
 "ama nanthan pesaren"
“******* ***** ***** *** ****, ila kekraen ne enna avlo **** ***** ***** *****.... "
"yov yov ,yaruda ithu??"
 "unga ****** ****, senior kitayae 'da' va??? avaloda aalunu elarkitayum solitu irukiyam?? ***** dei,***** *****.."
He never allowed me to talk,after a few minutes,"nalaiku unna nerla pathukaren.. ****u sethada" -call ended. I was stunned and was analyzing the last five minutes to make any sense when I realized, she was still on hold .
 "intha nerathuku ,yarta nee ivlo neram pesara? enaku theriyum , antha nandhini dhana.nee lam thirundhavae mata "-call ended.
7:30 pm,
Next day.
 I was standing on the entrance to the street adjacent to Vetri Theater. The street was barely 2 feet wide. Earlier that day, I had called that number and tried to compromise. The least I could do was, gain an appointment with him alone.
The Instructions to me were clear.
 'walk straight through the street .make contact with no one till you see a petty shop and ask what I said to you,yeah it's my name'
Everyone glared at me; I realized I hadn't even completed a week in this awful city and had already begun to hate it. I felt i was in one of those dark parts of the Chennai portrayed in Selva raghavan films.
I reached the end and saw the shop, there he was; Sitting on a bench with three others who all looked double the size of me.

No one there looked remotely near a college student.They all fixed their stare at me as I approached ,too timid to back up now ,I stopped a feet away from them.
The biggest among them growled, "nna venu?"
"DOPEu.."

The reaction was instantaneous . Everyone stumbled and stood up.
The petty shop owner stopped and looked at me gravely.
 The entire street was now looking at me. [Later that night I learned that DOPE is the other name for drug and those four where the suppliers in Chromepet ] The biggest one who spoke to me,then begun to slowly draw a knife....
                           -RED