Friends, have you ever been a witness to a murder. I have been a witness and also feel contributed to the reason. It is an old story; I just remembered it when I heard this song “Shoot me again”. You be feeling I am too cold, talking about a shooting / murder in such a tone, hear all this crap and make your mind.
It was 10 year back; we guys have got new licenses to drive and never missed a chance for a long drive. It was a cold winter, when my friend Chiku asked me to accompany him to Chandigarh and back. He has to drop some boxes of apple and to be back to the city on the same day. He promised to let me drive till Solan on the way. It was tempting offer and I was in. By the way, I forgot to introduce my friend Chiku. Chiku is Chika’s younger brother, so being vibrant and conflicting was in his blood. He was a music junkie and our taste for St. Anger bonded us like anything. He been a rally champ, not exactly of Raid de Himalaya type, but the unofficial road rash we had in our small city. And last not the least he was a hunter, hunter like me, who love to shoot, but shoot with his Camera.
We wanted to start early and be back in town before the sunset, but like usual it is never the plan but the will that works. We had some other plans and for them to work, we have to be late. By 5 pm, we were free from our work Chandigarh and started our drive back to the city. In a hour we had entered Himachal, when Chiku stepped down the paddle and told me that we are still too early to be back home. I did not get what he was up to, but I had the hint. He had planned it already “ We are going through the rough road from Parwanoo to Kasauli and then Kasauli to Dharmapur and back to Shimla. The rough road has no traffic and it is the best to drive fast and got the feel of night driving”. I was in, who will ignore such a tempting drive. I have already seen the road, it was treacherous till Kasauli and it was dense jungle.
We tossed the coin and it was Chiku till Kasauli and then it was I who was going to drive till Shimla. We had this 1000 cc Maruti , only bad thing about it was it felt heavy when talking right turns. We plugged in St. Anger and started off. Chiku had brought in a map with him and he wanted me to be his navigator. He wanted to be a rally driver, and I have seen him drive any vehicle will excellent maneuvering and control. 3 Km down the road, I had no plan to navigate and left him to find his way. I thought he will slow down without instruction but he had made up his mind to reach kasauli in 25 min. I imagine, he would have been the first man to do so. I took to music and closed by eye.
I think we thumped into something. We were hearing to “Shoot me again” when it happened. It was a powerful thump; I was woken up from my sleep. I saw Chika face and he has turned pale. He looked into my eye and said seems I have hit something. I was also terrified and was afraid to get out. I was able to see few lights on distance hills and I was sure no human habitats will be nearby. I asked him to take reverse and get out of here. He said he is not able to do that. We had a torch and I made up my mind to come out of the car and inspect.
I was just praying, it should not be a human. To be amazement we had hit a Cheetal and he was down in front of our car. It was a big animal, I assume it was 200 kg and too big in real. I asked Chiku to come out and see what he has done. He had panicked and he tried crying, for killing a deer. I said shut man, it is an accident. Let me first confirm for your kill. I do not know how to check the pulse or heartbeat of the beast. I did not see any blood around and so asked Chiku to bring in some water to wake him up. I splashed water and it was all in vain. I had comparatively less emotion then to Chiku, due to my hunter origin. To make it more worse for him, was enthusiastic wild life person. Anyhow, I did not wanted to spend the place in Jungle moaning for a deer, which we have meet 5 min ago. I asked to Chiku to push the deer of the road with me, down the gorge.
He refused to do so and started crying like anything. The panic has set in; the beast was too big for me to drag along alone. We cannot reverse the car, we cannot move forward. Chiku said to me that Deer must be alive, we should take him to the vet and try to rescue him.” That was the last thing on my mind. I got little more insensitive and took out his camera from the car and asked him to take few pics for our kill for record. Bad luck, we had run out of roll. I was hunter from origin and something took me over. Why do not take this deer to the city? How many people would have killed this big deer? And if someone asked us, we will state this to be an accident and will have some pics to keep the records of incident.
Chiku by now, was pushing the deer, but cannot move it, I too started pushing along with him. After an effort of 1 hour, we were able to push the deer into the back of our car. Who is going to drive the car now? It has to be me, Chiku was too crushed. I was sure, he will be happy, when people will talk about his kill. I took the wheel and he took to his handkerchief. I drive slowly. I was trying to convince him, it is not that bad to kill animal. But he was a nature lover and loving heart. I was cold like a hunter, thinking this to be surprise prized kill, to be talked in ample.
We have moved few corners towards Kasauli and Chiku by now has stopped crying. I was driving cautiously, the only thing in my mind was how we will explain this to his father or people back home. We have no business on this road. I asked Chiku to cheer up, but he was in deep grief after killing the deer. I was assuming it may be end of a promising career, wish If I would have navigated, he would have got more time to break. Any how I was sure people will like to cook and eat this beast. I have heard they taste good. I was in all mood to take mileage out of this kill and was thinking to have different versions of stories to tell different people, depending upon their maturity and sensibility.
Chiku has gone in state of shock, for him it was a murder of a living being and I tried my best to explain that this is a kill. Chiku was not in good mood to hear my logics and then I thought to sooth the atmosphere I should play some music. Metallica was back “Shoot me again, I am aint dead yet?” How cruel to be song of the moment. But I let it carry on, as other songs would have been more inappropriate for the moment. Chiku was still frowning like a frog. I was possessed to claim the prize.
We were just on the verge of the Kasauli town; I had started seeing lights, when something hit me hard on back of my seat. It was those rare moments when I got it right the very first time. I stopped the car on the middle of the road and asked Chiku to get out of the car; the beast was alive and kicking. We two were out of the car; I was in shocked state and was thinking about what will happen to the car, If I remember correctly I was shouting like hell. Chiku had a smile in face, he was contrast to me. He went toward the car and softly opened the door; the beast jumped out, stared at both of us and galloped into the darkness of the night. It all happened so fast, before I would have been out of disbelief, Chiku was at the wheel of the car and pumping the horn for me to get in.
I was silent for my restlessness, I did not what took over me there, it was a primitive instinct I thought. I was planning to cook the beast when reached home and my friend was thinking to moan for him for rest of his life.
We did not talk for the rest of the way, until the track “Shoot me again” played again. Chiku asked me not to talk about the incident as no one will believe us and will mock for rest of the winter and was sure it will go on for rest of our life. I said “We had the smell of a beast trapped in our car, it won’t go off easily”. He said shut up and listens to the music.
We never talked about this incident to any one and this is the first record of the incident. I am not sure how much you believe me, but I know Chiku will testify for this one day of his life.
You are hit by devil and taken away by angel, if you have lived blind till last breathe…………
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