Once in A Dark Room

It was a very spacious room as could be expected from a building which had been converted from palace into a hotel. It still carried remnants of previous existence with small alcoves on the walls. Those had been transformed artistically. The room must command high price. He was thankful for the fact that his company was footing the bill.

He was still admiring the room when the light went off. It became completely dark in the room. Till that time he had not realised that the curtains were fully drawn and there were no places from where light could peep in. Suffering from mild claustrophobia, he almost panicked. He controlled his panic and decided to walk in the direction where he expected to find the door.

As he searched the walls with his hands, he found only smooth walls and his hands missed the door. By this time he had reached the heightened state of panic. Just then he noticed something moving on a wall in his peripheral vision. He was surprised that television was still working even without light.

It did not take him long to realise that scenes were being displayed on the wall facing bed and not on television. He should have looked for the door in the faint light of images on the wall, yet he was so much mesmerised by those images that he could not take off his eyes from the scenes being displayed on the wall. He remained standing in the corner of the room with his eyes fixed on moving images.

The room was similar to the one he was staying in, perhaps it was the same room. He had no means to confirm it. There was a throne like chair on the raised platform. There were other chairs placed on the floor in a semi-circle. It must be a place where king carried out his business.

He saw people entering into the room and occupying the chairs placed on the floor. A few minutes later a regal man walked in and occupied the throne. The people sitting on the chairs sat as soon as the king was seated, they had got up from the chairs when he had entered the room.

He was surprised when the king straightaway looked in his direction and asked the person sitting nearest to him, “Who is this person in the room in a weird dress? Who allowed him to enter into this room?”

Aman was shocked. How could king observe him when he himself was not real. He decided to stay silent. Perhaps king was referring to something or someone else.

The king looked him straight in the eye. “Don’t think I cannot recognise you, Raghu, while you are wearing this weird dress. I recognised you immediately after I saw you.”

Of course the king was not referring to him. His name was not Raghu, he was Rajshekhar.

The king looked towards his security personnel and ordered them, “Arrest him.”

To the utter surprise of Rajshekhar, the security personnel moved towards him and surrounded him from all the sides. He just could not imagine how they could see him.

The king looked towards him, “You are the one who snatched away my daughter. You will pay for your crimes.”

Then he looked towards his security people. “Take him to the public square. He shall be hanged there in full public view.”

The security personnel came closer to him where he could even hear their breathing. They made a gesture of lifting him. Rajshekhar was really afraid by now. Could these people really drag him to the public square to be hanged like a criminal of olden times. At least he won’t suffer that plight without any action to defend himself.

He looked for an escape. He realised that since there was some light in the room, he should be able to locate the door. He tried to move his feet towards the door but to his surprise they refused to obey him. By now his brain was in full panic mode and his heartbeat had reached alarming levels.

It could not be real.

….

The door of the room suddenly opened and the room was filled up with light.

He saw one of the hotel staff at the door. “Sir, there was some problem with generator, it did not start automatically when the light went off. The problem has now been fixed.”

He must have seen Rajshekhar standing in the room with a stunned expression on his face. “Are you alright, sir?”

Rajshekhar could only nod his head.

Rajshekhar looked around and found himself alone in the room. The king and the entire set of his counsellors had just vanished from the room.

He touched himself to make sure that he was alive. The room was well-lit and there was no sign that someone else had been in the room.

He wondered who was Raghu and what was his relation with Raghu. Had his fertile mind invented the scene?