Misc. Erotica BODY OF SIN

[N D]

Lopa:


Around the time Akash was speeding through the nearby state highway headed to the airport, not far from were he was, a college student drove into her newly rented house.  She parked her Mercedes in the portico and stepped out. The breeze from the lake was good and cold and she knew she’d have to go to the terrace with her dinner.
Finding the right house had taken time, quiet a long time, two weeks and she had to go around her college to all the nearby towns and villages which weren’t many. To her a perfect house was removed from the clutter by the side of a road and an unobstructed view of the horizon, finding something akin to that was difficult yet given how she didn’t mind paying a good some to get one, she had settled on the one house that met most of her requirement. A newly built house, the owners son rushing off for new soft ware assignment in Europe which left them with no choice but to rent it out, hoping someone would take it. It was a village after all and that meant the rents were low and given how the house was new and all she found it to be a good deal. She hired professionals to clean up the courtyard, put a carpets in the hall and bed rooms and study, get few required furniture and the one thing she absolutely wanted, in a fairly big kitchen she wanted a comfortable kitchen island with a sink and place to cook and two people to sit and eat comfortably. She had always wanted one.
Lopa stepped into her bedroom, she had already changed into her pj’s and held a cup of hot tea. A cigarette would be a good way to start the first evening in her own rented house. She walked up to the terrace.
“Unbelievable…” the house owner had said, when he first saw the terrace, she had spend quite an amount on it and he took images from his mobile sending it to his son in Europe. The terrace had been painted over to make it water proof, an artificial tarmac, a small shade with wooden roof coated to withstand the harsh summer sun and a swing for two people. A small round table with few home made chairs made from processes vehicle tires and seats, a good ambiance for an evening of drink or casual conversation. She also had a small bar to herself, whiskey’s and vodka and few bottles of wine for dinners. Not that she drank much, it was once or twice a month she’d have a peg or two when she absolutely felt the need for it.
Easing back on the swing she lit her cigarette and took a deep puff, the first of the day, she hated smoking before she called it a day, she hated to have a tobacco breath. She tapped the ash gently into the nearby tray, affixed to the swing, in a quirky suggestion by the decorator something Lopa loved and agreed to. It now came in handy as she took in the view.
A huge line of paddy fields, a lovely lake, small temple at one end under a huge banyan tree and the hills beyond the lake, they all were now blanketed in the dark now and she couldn’t see it, but she would see it the next morning and she intended to see it.
Her mobile buzzed and it was Milee her college room mate, it was a message.

All settled?

Lopa typed in a reply.

Just about, lit a cigarette and having tea.

Good! Keep my room clean for the weekend.

Sure!

Lopa shook her head and stared back at the night sky taking a sip of her hot tea.
Milee was a striking contrast to everything Lopa herself was, reserved and with few words, it was like she was always thinking something. What she never understood?
Yet Milee was a good person, she rarely argued which didn’t mean they agreed on everything. It was just that they knew how to find the middle ground, a strange new experience to Lopa who was used to getting away with whatever she wanted. Milee was smart and liked to spend a lot of time online, going through the markets, keeping an eye on her meager portfolio, which she had made from conducting tuition to nearby kids during her school days. From a middle class family she was an ambitious woman who was desperate to make a good future for herself or as she put it, a home in the city and a good life.
Lopa had asked Milee to move in with her to the new house, Lopa had figured if she could share a room with her, Lopa could share a house and to her surprise Milee had said no and her reason was not expected.

If I come down and stay with you, I’d be a burden and that I don’t want to be, I would be living off you, which I don’t want to, all good friends fall apart because of one thing called money.

It made sense, how someone didn’t want to lean on another no matter how good friends they were. Lopa understood that though she had wondered if Milee would ever join her in her rented home.
But now all she had time for was the second cigarette and probably a movie or something and then ease back to having her dinner, another half an hour in the terrace and around midnight, get a good sleep.


Suhasini:

Suhasini or Suha as she was called by her close friends, stepped out of her office, spitting on to the road as she stepped on to her scooter. She started the gear less vehicle and throttled as fast as she could go.
At twenty seven she had just finished four years interning under the same boss, someone who was the lawyer to politicians and stars, a man of unparalleled genius and like all unparalleled genius with gaping flaws that would not have been tolerated by society in someone not so successful.
She slowed at the signal, waiting for it to go green, staring around. The world was obvious to the filth that she called her life, a lawyer who had not seen the steps of the court for four years, yes she had been to court, documentation and registering were all her headache, but she was never good enough to go for a sitting or a negotiation. The apathy shown towards her was stunning, those who had joined after her were already working on their first cases. All because they had no morals.
Yet she knew it was best to wait, there was a right time to pull the string that held her morals. There was always a right time, one error and the confidence in the two colleague of her’s would come down and then she had more than a career to be worried about. She had her own plans for her future, she had long decided on it, her life ahead and every day and every thing she did was making a move towards that one goal.
The signal turned green and she throttled off merging with the snail paced traffic, cutting through the narrow gaps between cars she sped to the front of the long line of vehicles. Buses belching out thick white plumes of smoke, cars that were loud next to bikes that were equally loud and above all, auto rickshaw’s that snaked between all vehicles clogging and congesting the already packed road. She snaked behind a car, not far from the signal, she had to take a left and crawl through the narrow suburban roads and head off to join the main road again. It was the road she usually took. That day was no different, she turned down the small lane, through pot hole filled roads she navigated out merging to a smaller parallel road which she would drive for good fifteen minutes before joining the same road she had broken off well after the clogging traffic signals.
It was already eight in the evening, her husband would have left by six thirty, he worked as a team lead in a BPO and had night duty for the week. She would cook something simple and probably call it a night early. She needed a long nights sleep, especially after what had happened that evening. She needed to keep the office stuff at office. Her boss the old lawyer had screamed at her much to the amusement of her two colleagues. It was all because she had yet to get the payment that the team was owed by a political client who had been saved from jail time. It had been pending for six months and it was her responsibility. The politician himself, if reports had to be believed, busy splitting the party to form a parallel political party to usurp power. That was what was being reported in the papers and she had closely followed it whenever anything came up. All she got through was the politicians accountant who had been avoiding her calls for a while. Her boss knew what was happening, it was in his favour for the politician to come to power and that could only happen if the later was held in debt.
It was all a game of politics, money would be thrown around as though it were no one’s business. She still had things to do. She’d have to go to the politician’s office and meet with the accountant and hear it from him directly.
Suha checked the time, another fifteen more minutes and she’d just in time to see her favourite television program, the hour news program called The Story of the Deal. Over the last few months she had been following it, she loved the host, Sanjana who had become an influential person in the country after hosting the show for past eight years now. It had been well received and was quiet popular holding it’s own sway against competition and over the past few years it had been the TV-Show with the highest viewing audience. Sanjana’s humorous and professional handling of the show, the way she didn’t prepare any script and the way she held her interview making powerful and mighty on the cold seat. She dissected the society’s problems in a very professional manner.
There was another reason why Suha followed the show, one that served her own interest, if things went according to her plans, she would need all help she could get.
Life was always unpredictable.
As she drove into the small gate of her modest house, at the outskirts of the city, she saw the familiar bike of her friend, Nithya, parked outside. Suha waved at her friend, throttling her own bike into the small parking lot by the independent house.

“You been waiting for long…”

“Second cigarette…” Tapping the ash of her cigarette into an empty pack.

“Why are you seated in the dark…” Suha asked, as she unbuckled her helmet and placed it under the seat and slammed it shut. Su joined her friend by the stairs, pulling out a cigarette from Nithya’s pack and lighting it.

“Even in the dark the guys are making sure they get a good look…”

Suha shook her head grinning as she took a deep puff from the cigarette. She knew the trouble with the guys in the street, they’d never let a woman walk by with a risque comment. Maybe one day she should get Moe down here he’d straighten anyone out, the man was a wild beast.
Suha tapped the ash of the cigarette into the empty packet and blew a thick cloud of smoke, watched it dissipate into the night breeze, the stench filled shit smell of a city calling it a day. She never wanted this life for herself but one day she’d say goodbye to all of it and soon.

Sanjana:

Around the time thirty three million homes watched the fact based program that had become the biggest talking point in the town, it’s hose Sanjana sat in her home, glued to the television. Like she always did, she preferred to be alone when watching herself. She wanted to see like an audience. She wanted to know were things went wrong, what better she could have done, were she could have lightened the debate or were she could have focused.
It was all important.
Sanjana watched herself in the screen as the camera pulled up to her face, she increased the volume of the channel.

Good evening one and all, thanks for joining me in todays edition of The Story Behind the Deal. Before we begin the story, may I ask my audience one question, “HOW MANY OF YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOUR GOVERNMENT SAYS AND DO YOU BELIEVE THEY SAY THE TRUTH AT ALL TIMES?”

Sanjana quickly scribbled in her note book.
Shorter Questions Better framed

I know for sure the Government must not speak the truth at all times, becomes some truths, some facts are best kept away from people at the same time, some truths no matter how hard they are, the world must know, the people must know. We elected you, please give us the basic credit that we will understand, maybe not everyone will understand, maybe few will not be bothered, but still you have to tell because that is how a fucntional democracy evolves, advances, if we dream to become a Super Power one day, we need to begin to accept advanced responsibilities to our citizens and that is the first step towards bigger dreams and bigger ambitions.

Sanjana scribbled again.

Shorter monologue, to the point, vague, have a punch line.

She circled the punch line part. It was staring at her, she should have used it.

Tele Prompter for Punch lines. She noted.

Today’s story is about a decade old fight between a jungle tribe and the State and Federal Government. Yes no one owns the forests we are blessed with, no one owns the rivers and mountains, no one owns the air we breath, but haven’t we destroyed enough families, uprooted enough in name of development, in name of progress and have not have our share of destruction of the land we live in. Should we not make few exceptions, very few exceptions, not much but a little, tiny bit.

In today’s story behind the deal, we look at the Rarkan tribes struggle and like always we will cover both sides, who are we to judge, but we throw it to you to judge, because your judgment matters, who you favour matters, end of the day it is you, me, the hungry masses, the ordinary men and women who elect representatives and as long as such a system exists, your voice matters.
Remember if any body must be heard in our society it is the voice of the informed masses.

At thirty eight Sanjana hadn’t started her career as a journalist. She had joined the intelligence community of the country after her post graduation, trained to become one among the rare few who could significantly get information from a source, caress and smoothen a source and most importantly put them at an ease. Maybe it was because she was a woman, maybe it was cause she didn’t pose a threat or challenge and she knew how to play a man’s mind very well. Feed into his ego before cutting him down all the while tacitly pulling out information she wanted. Someone trained her to be an interrogator and she excelled in the role. It took her few years before finally sitting face to face with a celebrity who had come under the radar for his ‘alleged underworld contact’, the grueling interrogation had lasted twelve straight hours. It all began with him typically tongue wagging about the people he knew and the people he was friends with. She had patiently heard for a good hour and each question she asked was met with one lie or another or a threat. One by one she pulled out his story, using his own words to dissect his well thought out story. It wasn’t a movie, it was real life, she told him, the producer, the director, the script and screen writer, everything that was her and by end of the interrogation she told him straight to his face, you’ll be sitting on the same chair wishing you had started by saying the truth. He had rubbished her claim, using few choice words to insult her, her being a woman and the way he made woman cry rather than other way around.

“Of course I know that…” Sanjana had smiled, pulling out pictures of his old girl friend, face cut at several places and swollen black eyes, a torn lip.

That was the first jab, the knock out punch would come a good hour later when she presented him with evidence after evidence, one after another to decimate the delusions story he had made up.

“I know everything that has one has to know, the only reason you are here because I wanted to see you crying… like you make your girl friends cry and trust me by the time I’m done you’ll be pissing your pants… you are not even important to this case… you are just a message to people who we are after and now they know…”

“You are putting my life in danger…” he barked out, on verge of tears, “My family…”

“No… no… you did that when you asked for favours from the wrong people, you endangered your family… we are just reminding you of your mistakes…”

That was how the second half of the interrogation had gone, with him ending up like a mewling kitten, rattling out everything he knew, the sum total of who is who in the industry and how deep the dangerous nexus of Mafia, Politicians, Cops and Business was. He was just a link in a chain, a cog in a machine that was used to cement the case against the big guns, a pawn in a bigger game and like every game of chess, pawns were there to be sacrificed, unless one smart pawn figured a way to morph into a Minister.
That was her strength, to make one comfortable before she dismantled the whole house of cards, one card at a time till none remained, a method she used to this date. Though not much is still known about her life before journalism, the Wikipedia, page on her mentions she held a Government Job in Environmental ministry before switching to journalism.

That was her cover.
Just a cover.

Yet she had left the Intelligence Network she was beginning to like, growing delusional, knowing very well it was a man’s world and she had no place in a men’s club.

The switch to journalism came naturally, she had an instinct for hunting stories and when she was called for the interview by a well respected editor of a magazine, she could have walked in without a resume and got the job, but she didn’t want it like that. Instead of a job she was offered a three month training period and she excelled getting her first foot into the world of media. The switch from print to media happened years later and that too when the actor himself recommended her name to a friend who was interested in hiring a new face as a host for his newly started news and television media company.

“How do you know each other…” was what the friend asked.

“Neither of us will ever speak about that…” she had replied, “Once I spent a twelve long hours with him in a small room…”

“Many woman have spent longer hours..even days…” The friend said smiling.

“Well, but I’m sure he’d never want a repeat of that…”

The friend stared at the actor who just nodded the head, an old story, a bad memory a nightmare the actor talked about and the friend knew.

“So it is you…” that was all he had said.

The show wasn’t called The Story behind the Deal. She had a fifteen minute segment interviewing people for a different show and when that Anchor finally jumped the Channel, Sanjana had got her break.
There was no looking back from then. Eight Years after that she was today a partner of the media house and one of the wealthiest television personalities, making much more than her contemporaries in the movie industry over a year, she had become the biggest name, all because she could make powerful people sweat with her questions.

"So this is the moment you should all be keeping your eyes on," the television volume echoed in the empty hall, " on one side we have a minor group that had lived off the land for centuries and on the other… well today it’s them who knows who it will be tomorrow and that is something for you all to think. For now that’s it from my desk, good night and a productive weekend."

Sanjana switched off the television, as always she’d head back to her laptop and compare what her colleagues too had thought about the show and were they felt changed were needed. A successful show always evolved, the frame work may survive the test of time but minor changes always happened, punch lines, catchy punch lines that was what she needed. She typed out a mail to the Group. Her mobile buzzed.
It was one of her team members.

Still no news of Archana.

Sanjana stared at the message, she knew her team member Archana, that lady was one of a kind, she’d not be worried about the sudden vanishing act, the girl always reappeared and often with something that would become the highlight reel of the year.
Poaching, that was the personal goal and ambition for Archana, a story she wanted to work for four years and finally got the funding approval from Sanjana herself, a pet project for both of them. After eight long years, TSBTD, The Story Behind The Deal, had enough clout to bring out valid reports that challenged de-facto establishment. Sanjana knew once Archana got involved it was going to be exposed in every conceivable way and sometimes at great risk to herself too. One never knew.

All she had to do was wait and wait she would.