Three Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat

(avery) #1

'Nothing, selfish bastard. He is a snake. He'll sell us if he could, Fucking
businessman,' Ish said and kicked me in the shins.
'Hey Ish, you want to get killed?' Omi said.
'Fuck you Mama, come in if you have the guts,' Ish shouted and walked up to
the door.
Omi lent me a hand. I stood up and leaned on him. I wondered if my intestines
had burst.
'I told you. Protocol,' Omi said.
'I didn't do anything wrong,' I said. I don't know why I said that. I had
unprotected sex with a barely legal student and my best friend's sister. It must be
up there in the top ten morally wrong things one could possibly do.
Mama's patience ran out after five minutes. He ordered his minions to break
the door. They pressed their trishuls against the door, but kept their distance.
'Right now, aim is to survive, not to settle scores,' Omi said.
Omi handed Ish the bat again. I held my wicket tight. We monitored the door. A
few more jabs and it would open.
'I'll let them in anyway,' Omi said and released the bolt.
'You want to kill me? Mama, go on, kill me. Why wait,' Omi said and opened
the door.
'Move aside Omi. Just tell me, where is the boy,' Mama said.
'You won't get any boy here,' Ish growled.
Mama's five men held up their trishuls. We lifted our cricket weapons. One
man attacked Ish. Ish blocked him with his bat. Ish struck the bat on the man's
arm, leg, thigh and groin. The man fell on the floor.
My hands shivered as I tackled another fat man. My wicket got stuck in his
trishul's blades. Our conjoined weapons hurled in the air as we tried to extract
them apart. He kicked me in my right knee and I lost my balance. He came
forward and pinned me to the wall.
The third man hit Ish on the neck with the blunt end of the trishul. Ish fell
forward. The man took Ish captive and pushed him against the wall.
Omi had crushed the toes of the fourth man with the bat. The man winced as
he fell on the floor. Omi kicked his stomach but the fifth man punched hard on
Omi's back. The man grabbed Omi from behind.
'Buffalo, you can't get free now,' the man said.
'Tch, tch. Stupid bastards. Like playing with fire eh?' Mama said as he sat on
the branch manager's table. The three of us were pinned to the wall. The three
remaining able men had blocked our bodies with their trishuls.
Mama sat on the branch manager's table and looked at us.
'I want blood. Give me the boy, or it will be yours,' Mama said. He took out his
hip flask and had a big sip of whisky.
'There is no boy here,' Ish said, 'as you can see.'
'You are not to be trusted, as I have seen,' Mama said. He threw the empty
flask at Ish. It hit him in the chest.
Two injured men lay on the floor. Mama kicked them.
'Go search,' Mama said.
The men hobbled and left the room.
'Nobody here,' they screamed as they traversed the various rooms of the bank.
Their voice had pain. Something told me they'd had enough.

Free download pdf