"I m from the ATS ..."
This statement was enough to shudder any anti social dirt in my country... Being the rungs alongwith some select 35 odd best spartans from whole of the state meant pride with sense of responsibility, and a pledge to choke out all the filthy dirt from my land. We did not believe in much of peace making policies... the rule was very simple for us...SHOOT TO DEATH... We implememted many brutal forms of torture and were seen as the worst side of Encounter Specialists...sometimes getting engaged in public shootings and thus constantly had a tiff with the Human Rights Commission... but like spartans....we had no mercy for the anti-social elements and we breathed success as we gradually brought the crime rate down to 70% in Mumbai... Combat operations, gureilla warfare, encounters... we took every single project with adventure with a deep sense of patriotism raging in our souls...Personal life was on the rocks for us...But still we managed to keep things intact because of the constant love showered by our loved ones and their understanding of our raw passion towards eliminating crime from the society...
November 26th: The overhead fan served chill and I felt lil shiver on my feet and thus pulled the blanket over them... buzzzz.... my mobile started to ring... it was an unknown number... I received the call and scribbled something on the cigarette pack cover lying nearby... Hushhh... my day had started... started at 3.00 a.m... the call was from my informer Y about a suspect terrorist named H... I threw myself out of my bed and got ready in a flash...after 27 mins...I found myself taking shelter in one slum near Churchgate... the night was raring to wake up and the street lamp wore a lazy look... I had a team of 5 for the Operation DECOD (lemme tell you...My operation names are usually absurd...this time it was merely the starting letters of names of my team involved for this operation) ... After bearing grunt of some creatures similar to mosquitoes, we caught sight of H...H was unassumingly hard to digest if one were to opine by looks... H was clad in jeans and some grey colored tee... had a large hand bag ... later discovered they were grenades and a pistol inside... a slight movement irked H and he started running for cover and meanwhile sensed being followed... in a whisk H took aide of a car parked nearby... D and O took no time to take guard and in a jiffy E was seen grappling H’s neck….uff…H was caught… that was pretty fast…. We rushed to the ATS division and took H under strict vigil and custody to initiate interrogations. It was 5 a.m and I thought of going back to my apartment and have rest for a lil while…but destiny had something else in store for me…I received a call from V, one of my old pal… He told he was at the CST and wanted me to go and meet him there… I was feeling lil dizzy, but I had to push myself and go ahead to meet V… V had just then arrived and was waiting for me… The station was already buzzing and I saw a few destitutes lying on the floor… I looked at them and thought how insecure their lives were…Unlike us… V had some work in the city and thus had come for a few days…I wanted to spend some time with V and thus authoritatively took V to my apartment… At 8 a.m I was checking my mails and was happy to find K’s mail… K, my brother, had some vacations and thus he planned to get mom along with him to Mumbai for a while… and they were to arrive after two days… I was happy that I could feel home for a few days… I was all happy that day… a few of our operations had bore fruit and we were at the verge of breaking into an important case… My senior called me and appreciated my efforts for the same and also hinted bout my possible shift to a higher role of responsibility… I was elated…… At the fag end of the day I realized the day was very good for me… I decided to pamper myself for the same by partying along with V… I reached Andheri and hopped out of my Safari to reach to the other end of the road to pick some roasted chicken from my favourite food chain and also to pick V from the venue… I started to cross the road…busy Bombay roads…as usual… Just then I saw a crowd… on reaching near the crowd I saw pool of blood and saw someone lying there dead… I was curious to know who it was and went near the body… I was surprised to see V there… No… V wasn’t the person who was dead… The person was definitely known to V and thus V was wailing and helpless amidst the pool of blood. I rushed to V and tried to console him… V wudnt listen to me kept on sobbing…. Beside lie a TAG HUEUR watch and it was similar to that of mine… I picked it up and looked at the body… The face wasn’t worth recognizing as it was disfigured… the shirt was almost torn and it was all in blood red… I then sat beside V and again tried to drag him from there…but he wudnt listen to me… I tried calling up my support team, but the guy couldn’t listen my voice… maybe because of the commotion….I tried cordoning off the area but even the people paid no heed to me… I then realized the dead body was clad in a jeans much similar to that of mine….I went near the body and tried recognizing… much to my disbelief… the person looked like me… I wondered about the level of similarity and on close observation… I realized the guy had a wallet which was the same one which I was carrying….Much to my horror I realized the body was mine… and what does that mean…. Was I DEAD? I sat there in a chill…. I remember crossing the road… but did something hit me while I was crossing the road…I was just 32 and I AM NO MORE… I had a family… I had some dreams… some aspirations… all gone to dust… But why was I killed… Had I done anything wrong to someone… I was by large the most honest officer… Is flushing out criminals from my land a wrong thing… Was there something called Karma … Hours later I heard news of terror strikes in Mumbai….And, in a flick, my hand reached my gun… But was I alive anymore?…. How much I wish I were alive…. Alive to have fought with terror…. My Mumbai is bleeding and needs me….But I had already bled to death….
