Chap 3 - Purple Rain

Purple color signifies mystery

Shalini called out to Deepak and they held a furious conversation in an undertone. Vipin had no desire to listen to them so he went around the room once.

“She wanted to know if you would like to meet the deadly duo,” Deepak walked towards the chair and plopped on it. When Vipin looked quizzingly at him, Deepak told him about Madan and Mohan.

“You must be aware of the great composer Madan Mohan,” Deepak hummed an old Hindi song that was an all-time favorite of Vipin. “Well, Pawan made these two friends and Shalini began to refer to them as the deadly duo. It managed to irritate Pawan so I guess that was why she kept addressing them in that manner. Madan used to be Pawan's colleague. They used to be assistant professors at the same college before Pawan quit the job.”

“Let me guess,” Vipin interrupted Deepak. “This must have happened after Pawan married Shalini.”

“Bingo!” Deepak made the gesture to shoot Vipin with his first finger. “Madan kept dropping by to get free drinks. Then there was Mohan. Pawan had started an online company two years back. They would do SEO stuff and write blog posts. Stupid stuff! Shalini believes that the company was floated to hire Jia. In any case, there used to be two employees in the company. Mohan was let go after a year or so but he kept in touch with Pawan. They used to play chess matches in this very room and boy, they used to be really long matches. Shalini told me that once the match went on for six hours. They set the timeout to be 10 minutes per move. I think they wanted to prolong the matches. Shalini used to get bored watching them play so she used to leave them alone.”

“Did they come to visit Pawan on the fateful day?”

“Oh, yes!” Deepak leaned back on the chair. “Madan arrived at 4 PM and stayed for around an hour. By the time he left, he was reeking of alcohol. Then about 15 or 20 minutes past 5 PM, Mohan arrived. Pawan had set up the play date. The police confirmed it. Mohan and Pawan began playing a game of chess soon enough and Shalini left them alone, preferring to watch a movie than to watch the mind-numbing pace at which they made their moves.”

“She never checked on them?” Vipin poked at some books on the table. “To ask for tea or any refreshments?”

“No,” Shalini replied. Vipin turned on his heels to find that Shalini stood timidly just inside the room. “He forbade me to enter the room if he was entertaining any guest. Most of the time, the door stayed open but sometimes he would close the door.”

“Who would be with him when he would close the door?” Vipin asked her.

“Jia,” Shalini replied in a flat voice. “But it happened rarely and he would keep the window open so if I wanted to keep an eye on them, I could take a walk outside their room. In fact, he was the one who suggested it. He had a smirk on his face when he said that.”

“How long did Mohan stay in this room?” Vipin asked her as he looked at the various Cds that were pushed behind the books.

“He left just before 7 PM,” Shalini replied. “I remember that because he looked strangely at me as he stepped out of the house. I didn't understand why he looked at me in that peculiar manner.”

“He gave you that look only that day?” Vipin asked her as he gently picked up one of the Cds.

“Come to think of it,” Shalini frowned in an effort to remember, “there were times when he would give me that look. It was as if he were looking down at me. He would toss his book up in the air, catch it, and then walk away. And every time he would do that, he would leave the hallway muddied.”

Vipin looked at the CD of 'Purple Rain' by the artist Prince.

“Pawan's favorite,” Shalini noticed the CD in Vipin's hand. “He would love to hear it on loop.”

Vipin knew that the song 'purple rain' was a complex song about a desire that could never be fulfilled. He wondered what Pawan thought of when he used to listen to that song repeatedly.