Chapter 27

Arif woke up confused and angry.

He didn't recall where he was for a moment. He didn't recall how he had got here.

The last thing he remembered was arguing hotly with Sarla on the phone, then storming out of office. But after that, everything was a big black blank.

He was lying on a bed in what seemed to be a hotel room.

He got up, feeling the familiar throb of a headache pulsing in his skull, walked to the door and pulled it open.

He looked out at the ubiquitous carpeted corridor of a medium-level suburban hotel. He looked at the door he was holding open. It had a room number on it.

He shut the door and came back into the room. There was a plastic jug and a glass on the bedside table. He poured himself a glass of water and drank it greedily. It was cold and tasted slightly metallic. He shouldn't take a chance on it, should ask for bottled water.

He drank two more glasses.

Then he sat on the bed and tried to remember how he had got here, in this hotel room.

Finally, it began to come back to him: He had left that wretched Sin City party the previous night, had meant to take a cab to the Reay Road godown and execute the suicide he had been planning all day. But that woman who had smashed up his car earlier had come by, seated in a jazzy six-door car and she had offered him a lift.

He had accepted -- God knows why -- and had entertained crazy thoughts of going home, confronting Sarla and killing her and then killing himself.

He had come to his senses, asked Merlyn to stop the car, and had gotten out somewhere, he didn't remember where. He knew he couldn't go home in a state like that, couldn't do the things he was thinking of doing.

He had walked aimlessly down the darkened, deserted streets of old Bandra, he recalled. Past the Bandra Gym. Past Jogger's Park. Past Rajesh Khanna's old residence, Aashirwad.

At some point, he had come to a hotel. And had turned into the gate. Had taken a room, paid for it with his credit card, and collapsed on the bed.

And here he was.

Now, the question facing him was: What next? To live or not to live? To confront Sarla with his suspicions of her infidelity... ? And what then after that?

No matter what route his mind took, the end was the same: Death. This could only end with someone dying.

The only question then was: Should he die alone? Or should he kill Sarla too?