A
middle-aged man was running in an isolated housing colony. His bloodstained lungi was falling off and
his breathlessness was echoing through the street. He knew his end was near but
didn’t want to give up yet. He was constantly looking back to get a good look
at his attackers, when he felt something hard hit him in the stomach. He fell
to the ground without any resistance and coughed out blood. He saw the face;
the same face that had haunted him for days was in front of him. As he lay
motionless on the ground, his attacker asked, “Do you know the difference
between men and women?” The man on the ground was too weak and tired to answer,
so he just shook his head. “Men don’t like getting f….”
Sreedharan
was in a hurry to get out of his house, as his boss had summoned him.“Where are
you going?” asked his wife. “Have to go to the office” he replied. “But today
is a Sunday” said his wife, as a matter of fact. “I know baba, but the boss is
counting on me to finish some pending work” said Sreedharan. “Then would you
buy the groceries on your way home?” asked his wife. “Okay, I will, just make a
list and give it to me” replied Sreedharan. As soon as his wife left the room,
he took out his gun from the drawer and hid it under his shirt. His wife came
back with a piece of paper in her hand as Sreedharan was closing his drawer, he
placed the paper in his shirt pocket and walked out of his house and got into
his car.
Sreedharan
was stopped at the towering gate that protected the mansion inside. A guard
knocked on the tinted window of Sreedharan’s car. When Sreedharan lowered his
window the guard bowed a little and said, “Namaskaram saar.” The gate was
opened and Sreedharan drove his car to the entrance of the mansion. He saw Chacko
sitting at the door looking tired and disheveled. Sreedharan got out of his
vehicle and walked over to Chacko and touched his feet before sitting next to
him. “What happened?” asked Sreedharan. Chacko looked at him with his red eyes
and said, “PK left the party.” “What do you mean left the party? Were you not
going to give him the ticket during the next elections?” asked Sreedharan. “Yes,
we were. But he wanted to contest election this time. He knows he is the most
popular man in Kannur and he doesn’t need our party to win. He joined the CPI
(M).” replied Chacko. Sreedharan slid back into his chair, letting out a sigh
of frustration. Everything that could go wrong before the elections had gone
wrong and now the only hope that was left for his boss’ party to win the
elections had also been ruined. They were counting on PK’s support to win the
elections. “What do you want me to do?” asked Sreedharan. Chacko didn’t say
anything; instead he just lay back in his chair. After a while, Chacko replied,
“Call the boys.” In about 10 minutes, a Scorpio, driven by Sreedharan, was
heading towards Fort Road where PK was campaigning. He had 10 of Chacko’s men
with him whom Chacko called ‘boys’. Chacko had instructed them about the plan
of action. Sreedharan was not a goon like the others with him in the car; he
was just the brain behind all the “dirty work” of the party like quotation,
murder, kidnapping etc. He saw himself as the leader of the goons but not a
goon himself. After driving in silence for some time Sreedharan saw a fleet of
white Ambassadors at some distance waiting at the traffic signal. Sreedharan
explained the plan once more to the ‘boys’ and started driving again.
A
Scorpio slid in front of the fleet of white Ambassadors and open fired at them
through the windows of the Scorpio. The ‘boys’ got out of the Scorpio and continued
shooting. A man dressed in white got out of the fourth car in the line and
started running. Sreedharan saw him running off into a small street beside the
main road and decided to follow him because he knew it was PK. PK was running in
an isolated housing colony, his bloodstained lungi was falling off and his
breathlessness was echoing through the street. He knew his end was near but
didn’t want to give up yet. He was constantly looking back to get a good look
at his attackers, when he felt something hard hit him in the stomach. He fell
to the ground without any resistance and coughed out blood. He saw the face;
the same face that had haunted him for days was in front of him. As he lay
motionless on the ground, his attacker asked, “Do you know the difference
between men and women?” The man on the ground was too weak and tired to answer,
so he just shook his head. “Men don’t like getting fucked” said Sreedharan with
a gun pointed at him. A trigger was pressed and a loud gunshot was heard. Sreedharan slumped to the ground as the
police came running accompanied by Chacko. The constables picked up PK from the
ground who was critically injured in the firing earlier. “Now do you understand
why I told you to remain in our party?” asked Chacko with his eyes moist with glycerin.
“CPI (M) was trying to get you killed to show us in poor light and get sympathy
votes and this was the goon they hired”, he continued. “I thought he worked for
you” said PK. “Everyone has a price PK”, said Chacko. “Learn politics first
then you can become a minister” continued Chacko as PK started coughing out
more blood as he was lifted and placed in the ambulance. Chacko waited for the
ambulance to speed away after which he took out some money from his pocket and
placed it on Sreedharan’s dead body and said, “I am a man of my word",
saying so he walked to his car and phoned the "boys".
