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  Crocodiles 
 by Govind  

 

 CROCODILES

 A short story by Govind Nair.

DISCLAIMER: All the characters in the story are fictitious. All the main
characters are named after characters of my favourite tv shows and films.
For instance Stella the heroine of the story has been named after Stella
Malone , a character played by British actress, Chelsea Staub in Disney
channel comedy 'The Jonas Brothers' and Raj Koothrapally the story's hero
is the named after Indian american actor Kunal Nayyar's character in NBC
comedy series 'The Big Bang Theory'.

It was late in the night but Stella was not feeling sleepy. She just got
engaged today and was feeling both excited and nervous. Lying in the bed
she wondered at the manner in which her life had changed ,from being an
orphan in St.Catherine orphanage to being the fiancee of Raj Koothrapally
son of Anil Koothrapally, head of Goa Democratic Front(GDF) a prominent
political party in the state and the chief minister. Raj also had recently
joined politics and was currently the general secretary of the party.The
next assembly election was soon to be held and he was being projected as
the next CM candidate. Stella smiled to herself as she thought about Raj
and remembered the first time they had met.

It was an early morning Stella was returning from work. She worked as a
bartender in Elite Casino a well known after hrs. spot in southwest
Panaji. It was dark and silence seemed to scream out loud in her ears.
Anyone in her place would have been freaked out but not Stella. She was
used to being alone. She did not know her parents as she was raised in an
orphanage. She didnt many friends either and was not very close to the
ones she had and she kind of liked it that way. She was walking slowly
reminsicing her day when suddenly out of the darkness two figures lunged
at her brandishing knives.She backed out and tried to run when another guy
jumped out of the alleyway blocking her. She was trapped. One of them came
forward caught her by her neck and whispered in her ear. "Honey , we dont
wanna hurt u,so just give me your purse and quietly walk away. Normally
her purse wud have nothing except her cell and few make up items but today
was her payday so she had Rs.10,000 in crisp notes, het only source of
sustenance since she had moved out of orphanage and was was living alone.
Also she had to pay college fees next week.She wud struggle without the
money for the rest of month but here her life was on line so she decided
to hand the purse over and walk away. Just when she was contemplating her
action two bikes came by. Seeing them she started to scream for help and
the bikes stopped and turned around. The snatchers were probably first
timers because just when they saw the bikes they forgot about the purse
and ran away. Raj was one of the guys on the bike "Are u all right
miss?"he asked. "Yeah"replied Stella as she struggled to come into terms
with the events that happened over the past few moments. "Come , let me
drop u home"Raj offered. Seeing her hesitate he further added "Dont be
afraid miss . I m no goon. I m Raj Koothrapally . U must have seen me in
t.v. and papers. It was then Stella actually noticed who her saviour was.
"Sorry , I cudn't recognise u in the dim light." "No ,no need to apologise
.Let me just drop you at your place." Feeling assured and worried should
those snatchers decided to show up again she climbed behind him. "So where
do u live" "Just a liittle away from here. Go staight and take the first
right." After a five minute ride they were at Stella's place. "So u live
alone "Raj enquired seeing take out keys from her purse. "Yeah" "Your
parents" "I'm an orphan" "Oh sorry." "Yeah me too" "By the way what were u
doing out so late in the night" "I was on my way back from work. I m a
bartender at the Elite Casino" "Oh ok then.See u again . Good night" "Yeah
gud nite and thanks for the lift" "No worries miss ahh.. sorry i didnt get
your name " "Its Stella" "Bye stella . Take care."

Next day Raj dropped by at the casino.He was wearing a fake moustache , a
cooling glass and a baseball cap. He walked up to the counter were Stella
was serving. "Hi stella remember me from yesterday " Stella looked at the
stranger . It took her a moment for her to recognise him. "Oh its you. Why
r u wearing a fake moustache and being all secretive" "I m famous u know .
If i was seen here by any of those freaking journos . I'll be labelled as
drunkard and a gambler by media " "Oh. I didn't realize that. Anyway
what'll you have" "A root beer float please" "Ok.One root beer float right
up." "By the way when does your shift end today. I'll drop u home in case
those freaks from yesterday decide to show up again." "No worries onthat
count as today my shift ends at seven o'clock . Yesterday i was filling in
for a coworker that's why i was late." "In that case after the shift ends
lets go and grab a coffee" Stella intially refused but eventually gave
away to Raj's repeated insistences. Also she felt some sort of strange
connection to Raj. So the coffee dates became a regular affair and after
dating for a year when Raj dropped the marriage proposal. She was a bit
reluctant at first but after Raj assured her that difference in their
societal status wud never never be an issue in their relationship she
agreed. Today they decided to go and see the blessings of the two people
they valued the most .For Raj it was his father and for Stella it was
Sister Rose who ran St.Catherine's orphange where she grew up.They first
met Anil Koothrapally who was getting ready to go to attend assembly
session and could give them only 10 minutes . He said he was happy for
them and gave them his blessings. Sister Rose on the other hand seemed a
little unnerved by the fact that her Stella was an orphan her fiance,the
son of the most powerful man in the state.Still she gave them her
blessings and also accepted the task of arranging a priest who would
conduct the ceremony . After a busy day Raj had dropped Stella home and
was going to meet his friends when his cell rang . "Hello" "Hello Raj .
This is Sister Rose from Stella's orphanage." "Sorry Sister Stella is not
with me now .I just dropped her home." " I was sort of hoping he same . I
actually wanted to talk to u alone. Can u come to my house now. Its right
next to the orphanage. Raj was caught a bit offguard by the this strange
request . What i the world wud the good sister wanted to tell Raj which
she didn't want Stella to know. Anyway Raj decided to go to her house and
find out. "I'll be there in 10 mins sister." "ok" Exactly ten minutes
later when Raj reached Sister Rose's home he found her striding nervously
in the courtyard. As soon as she saw him she usherd him inside. "Do u want
tea,coffee anything " "No thanks sister.What did you wan't to talk to me
about . Is isn't something about Stella" "Yes" "What is it" "Ok. here's
the thing.. Do u know Stella is older than u ?" "Oh , thats what you
wanted to talk about "said Raj sounding relieved "Yeah its only a couple
of yrs. So its no big deal." "No,no thats not the issue.Years ago your
father was in college he fell in love with a young lady called Tracy,
daughter of a the Jacob who ran a small store in the same street where
your family bungalow is situated. When Tracy was in her teens Jacob met
with an accident and was paralysed neck down and Tracy took over the
responsibility of the shop . Your father used to visit the shop frequently
and he and Tracy fell i love and secretly got married without the
knowledge of either of the parents. Out of this marriage, Stella was
born,"Sister Rose cud seet'he looks of horror in Raj's face as he tried to
absorb the information but continued her tale"Your grandpa, Benjamin
Koothrapally a famous liquor baron in the state had just launched GDF and
wanted his son to marry the daughter of Mr. Anand Kumar a top political
leader of the state and the cofounders and the president of GDF .So he
planned to get rid of Tracy and her child.He sent your father to US on
some pretext and took Tracy to the crocodile farm he owned and fed her to
the crocodiles. He couldn't kill Stella as she was just an infant and
handed him to his driver Jose and asked her to leave her at an orphanage .
Jose who happened to be a distant relative of mine so he bought her to
St.Catherines and that's how she ended up here. The Sister then took her
purse and from it produce a faded black and white photo. "This is the
proof to my claims. Jose got this photo and asked me to give to Stella
when she grow old enough but I couldn't do that. I was afraid that if
Stella knew about her father and came to your father claiming to be his
daughter she would meet the same fate as her mother. " Raj took the photo
, his hands shaking . It had his father with a beautiful young girl whose
face bore a marked resemblence with Stella . "How did dad react to Tracy's
death and Stella's disappearance ?"asked Raj handing back the photo to the
nun. "His reaction was the reason why i never told Stella the truth. Jose
told me that your father was never told that Tracy was killed.Instead he
was was made to understand that Tracy and Stella were sent away to some
other state and it was in everyone's interest. Your father was a
consummate politician and understood that marrying your mother, daughter
of a one of the big politicians of the state will help him achive his
political ambitions and he wasn't ready to sacrifice that for anything.
Look Raj i know it is difficult for u to understand let alone accept all
this and i would have never told you this but i had to as u and Stella
were about to get married and you know i couldn't allow that knowing
that......" "my half sister" said Raj finishing the sentence for the nun.
"Ah yes" "So what do i do know ? I tell her that the wedding's off because
the we are siblings" "No never tell that to her . Stella came to many
times as all orphans do asking about her parents but i never told her the
truth as i feared the repurcussions if she comes to know tht truth. So for
Heaven's sake find some other way " "Ok let me think about about some
way.Now may I take your leave." "Ok then" As she watched Raj leave Sister
Rose questioned herself whether she had done the right thing by telling
Raj the truth. After all he had a lot at stake and she had witnessed
earlier the extent to which politicians can go to protect their interest.
All she could hope for that Raj would be better man than his father and
grandfather. Meanwhile Raj was having conflicts of his own. How's he gonna
call of the wedding? He had to find an excuse that would satisfy no only
Stella and her father but also the local media. It was just a matter of
time before some pesky journalist got a whiff of the forthcoming marriage
of the crown prince of Goa. If he told Stellla the truth he feared how she
would react. If she decided to go public with the information just few
months before the election it could virtually destroy the party. Also he
couldn't marry her knowing that she was his sister. Also he couldn't any
reason to call it off either. So there was only one way left, even
thinking about it made him shudder,he had to get rid of her. But how'll he
do that without anyone getting to know about it. He suddenly knew it.
Crocodiles ,they would make her go away without leaving any evidence. It
took him a couple of weeks for him to get a plan in place. It was all the
more difficult as had to work alone. Also now ,as he feared media had
finally got the news of the engagement. and local dailies and channels
carried news items on Stella portraying her as some sort of modern day
cindrella . Anyway finally he was ready to carry out the deed. It made him
nervous having to kill somebody but he had no other option. There was a
lot at stake and it was his responsibility to ensure tha both the dignity
of his father and the foundations of GDF remain intact. Coincidentally the
next day was Stella's Birthday. They had already planned to celebrate it
at their farmhouse. He just had to make a few changes in it. Finally he
got everything ready. He had met with the guy who supplied medicines to
their crocodile farm and arranged morphine. The idea was to drug Stella in
her sleep and throw her to the crocs. Same way his grandfather and father
used to get rid of anyway who seemed like a threat to their position of
power. A missing person report would be filed,media would go overboard
formulating wild and even bizzare theories about the mysterious
dissappearances until eventually everyone got bored and forgot about it
while the missing persons rested in peace in crocodiles bellies. So the
plan was finally in place and ready for execution. Stella came to the
farmhouse at around 9 o'clock at nite and was to stay overnight . Raj had
planned to go on with the celebrating the birthday and the inject the
morphine while she slept. That way she would be unconcious and thus would
have a painless exit from the world. They decided to watch a film to pass
time till 12 o'clock. While the film was on Stella said she was feeling
sleepy and said she was going to make coffee. Ten minutes later she later
came with two coffee mugs.As Raj was having the coffee he felt his head
spin and it seemed to him as if he was loing his conciousness . After what
seemed like a long time he woke up and found himself in the centre of a
huge hall , his hands and legs bound. The hall didn't have any floor.
Instead it had five feet wide platform running along the circumference of
the hall. In one of the ends a ramp was built connecting the platform to
the centre of the hall where a circular platform was built were Raj lay.
This circular platform could be lowered on the pull of a lever to the
bottom of the hall which looked like some kind of indoor pond but was the
connecting point between the farmhouse and the adjoining crocodile farm.
As the effects of the drug began to wear off Raj realised that he was in
the crocodile chamber where his grandfather and father had punished
innumerable political opponents. This was the place were stella's mom had
met her end. And it was the same place where he had planned to make Stella
meet her maker.But instead how did he end up here?. Just then Stella's
voice came interrupting his thoughts "Hello Little brother" He was shocked
to hear address him like that "Stella , u knew? "he muttered his drug
affected voice still managing to find its way to Stella due to the sound
magnifying effect of the hall . "Yeah , I know" " So sister Rose told u.
she told me that she didn't" "Oh no Sister never told me despite my
repeated requests. It was Jose who told me. He was a family. friend . He
rescued me from the clutches of your grandfather and bought me to Sister
Rose. I used to ask Sister about my parents but she always maintained she
didn't know them. But Jose's wife used to work at our orphanage and once
she heard a conversation between me and Sister and took pity on me.Once
when Sister was out of town she took me to meet her husband and told me
the truth aboutf my parents. From that day I was thinking about the ways
to avenge my mum's death. "But dad didn't know that your mom was killed"
"Maybe it is true but it doesn't take away the fact he didn't try to find
us when your grandfather told he was missing" Raj didn't have an answer to
that ,so he kept quiet while Stella continued her monologue "So since when
i met you. I started to put a plan in place to get rid off you. This
birthday was also an excuse to gain access to this farmhouse so i could
eliminate you in the same way in your grandfather eliminated my mother. It
was then Raj realised he was in deep trouble. He tried to struggle free
but his hands and feet where tightly bound. There was no escape. "Adios
brother. Believe me I would have mourned your death if i hadn't found out
that you had similar plan for me ."said Stella taking out the syringe
filled with morphine from her pocket and waving it a hif face. At the same
time she pulled the lever and the platform where Raj lay started to lower
itself till it reached the water level. The last thing he saw was a great
jaw full of sharp, shiny teeth closing in on him. Now the mysterious
disappearance of one of the important faces in Goan politics caused a huge
uproar. As expected the print and electronic media went overboard with
their conspiracy theories some even getting it right to the extent of
linking this disappearance to the earlier ones. Stella played the role of
distraught fiancee in front of the media and the cops very well . Anil
Koothrapally , Raj's father and the state CM was shocked at his son's
disappearance and went into mourning. Later on another news came which
sent shockwaves throughout the state ,the passing away of the CM as a
result of a massive heart attack. The party president and the late Cm's
Father in Law Mr.Anand Kumar took over as the interim CM. One morning when
Stella was sitting in her front porch ,reading the newspaper wondering
about the chain of events which she had set off she received a call from
Jose. "Can u come to meet Mr.Kumar now . A driver will come to your place
in an hour to pick you . " "Has he found anything about Raj."she asked
sounding nervous. "No dear its nothing like that. Just come and Mr.Kumar
will explain everything to you." Despite the reasssurance from Jose Stella
felt nervous but assured herself by saying that as it was Jose who had
actually helped her to execute her plan to kill Raj he won't betray her.
Also the most powerful man of the state had commanded her presence and she
couldn't just ignore it. The driver arrived in time and within half an
hour of his arrival Stella found herself standing in front of Goa's CM.
"Hello Stella, please take a seat"said Mr.Kumar smiling and pointing to a
chair placed right in front of him. "Thanks"replied Stella taking the seat
her voice betraying a hint of nervousness she felt . Jose was also sitting
in a chair on one sid of Mr.Kumar and having a familiar face around was of
little assurance. "So Stella i know all about you including your little
incident with my grandson Raj." Stella gasped . She couldn't tell what
shocked her more the fact that Mr.Kumar knew that she killed his grandson
or that he refered it as 'a little incident' "Don't worry dear i do not
hold the fact that u killed Raj against you in any way.Anyone in your
place would have done the same." "What?" said Stella her shock turning
into surprise. "Look dear, Jose helped you to plan the Raj's murder.He did
so in my instructions.All this events which are happening now are a part
of a plan ,my plan in which you were also involved albeit without your
knowledge for which i truly apologise . I didn't know how would you react
if i told you everything from the start . So i decided not to risk it and
wait until the time is right. Now is the right time, I'll tell you
everything from the start. Raj's grandfather Benjamin Koothrapally and me
were the co founders of GDF. He was a ruthless man but an excellent leader
. Except the first election since our inception we won every other
election we faced and have been ruling the state for ladt 25 years, a
terrific achievement by any standards. The reason behind our victories
have always been good and corruption free governace and of course owning
some stake in almost every media house and the largest crocodile farm in
the state also helped.Also the fact that Goa simply adored him." "Thats
because the public didn't know that he was in fact a ruthless murderer who
was behind the death of many people including my mother."said Stella , her
tone accusatory. "No they didn't" said Mr. Kumar but didn't add anything
to it. "Where were you when my mom was killed." "I don't know exactly when
your mom was killed. Its true me and Benjamin were close friends but this
whole incident was kept a secret from me. Anil feared that if i came to
know about the incident i would not only back away from the alliance
between his son and my daughter but also leave his fledgling political
party. It was only 10 years ago after death of GJose told me the entire
story. As you know Jose was the one who rescued you and had you sent to
St.Catherine's. After Benjamin died , his son retired Jose and got himself
a new driver. It was then Jose came to work for me. Benjamin and I have a
habit of drinking which no one knew and it was Jose who used arrange
liquor and sometimes even join us in our sessions. This continued even
after Benjamin's death and it was in one such session Jose told me you
story. Intially i found it hard to believe but i did some background check
of my own and found out it was true. I was shocked but decided to keep it
to myself and never use it. But after a couple of years after Benjamin's
death things started to change for worse. Benjamin's son Anil took over as
the CM of the state. Anil unlike his father was corrupt and a weak leader
and as a result massive scams started to break out. For the first time
since we started our political journey the credibilty of our party was
being questioned. First 5 yrs. we tried to keep things under wraps using
all our strength and clout but in the past few years things reall started
to go out of control. Things reached its breaking point when a couple of
month's ago a newspaper came out with a revelation that a government
contract worth millions was awarded to a company owned by Anil's cousin at
a much higher price than it was quoted by some other companies who bid for
the tender. The central govt. had ordered an anti corruption bureau
investigation to the involvement of the CM's office in this case. This was
when i realised things have gone totally out of control and something had
to be done to save the party. Our 25 year reign in the state cannot simply
come to a end. When you have been in politics as long as i have you will
realise that in this field power is the only thing that matters. Nothing
and no one else matters here. So i came up with a plan and collected all
the details about you and came to know that you were waiting for an
opportunity to avenge you mum's death. So idecide to help you with your
endeavor and set up a meeting between you and Raj. I know Raj loved
playing hero and also that he used to race bikes during early mornings and
also he used to take the same route u take while going home from work. So
all i had t do was to alter your shift for a day and send some of my boys
to "rob" you so Raj got a chance to rescue you. After that rest of the
things i left to Raj's weakness for beautiful girls , your hunger for
revenge along with occassional triggers from Jose so that things remained
under control . It was I who suggestedthe plan to get rid of Raj. It was
one of my boys who arranged who arranged drugs which Jose gave to you mix
in Raj's coffee. It was i who ensured that investigation of Raj's
disappearance was closed before it reached anywhere near you and Anil
Koothrapally didn't die of a heart failure he was killed in his sleep
using diemethalphine an illegal drug use to induce heart attacks." Stella
let out a gasp as she tried to get a grip of the enormity of the
information the old man sitting in front of her was telling . It dawned
upon her thatMr.Anand Kumar not only the one of the most respected leaders
in the state but commanded huge respect even at the national level was
actually a ruthless man who had scant respect of human life and relations.
" I understand why you killed Raj's father but why help me kill Raj?" "Raj
was of the same mould as his father. He had friendship with many
industriallists and used his position as general secretary of the ruling
party to dole out many undue benefits to them. It has only been a coupl e
of years since he joined the party but he already had amassed millions. It
was only apparent that he would only continue his father's legacy . So we
had to take him out of the picture too. An unfortunate but neccessary
act." "I got one more question. why tell me all this?" "Now that's an
excellent question. The reason i told you all this is because the next
state elections are going to be held in 2 months and i want you to be the
next CM. Jose told me you are currently pursuing Masters iin political
science and also that you wanted to join politics." " Yeah i wanted to do
it so that i get a platform to voice my opposition against all those
people who were responsible for thee death of my mother." "Well i helped
to you avenge your mother.Now its your turn to help me ressurect my party.
Look you are the fiancee of the missing heir of GDF. The disappearance of
Raj and death of his father has already attracted the sympathy of the
voters, You a woman, a bereaved fiancee,leading tthe party can help us
cash on it and the scam stories will be forgotton and we can start again
from the scratch." "But to become the chief minister i have to be a MLA
first and for that i need a constituency from where my victory is
assured." "Yeah we had cosidered that matter too. You being a first timer
there is always a possibility that an experienced opponent could defeat
you. So in order to avoid that we did some research and found out St.Aden
the smallest constituency in the state with only 8 voters. And we have
ensured that all of them vote for GDF. You'll be our candidate frm
St,Aden. I hope this clears all your doubts.. "Yes" "Ok. So you can go
home now. Take rest.Tommorow we file the nomination papers and within a
week our election campaign begins. You have to deliver speeches. So day
after tommorrow we meet up with our campaign directors and discuss the
strategy. Jose has shown me the videos of your debates and speeches in
college and i must admit that you are a very good orator." "Thanks"said
Stella managing a weak smile as she got up to leave. After Stella was gone
Mr.Kumar thanked Jose for giving him the perfect puppet who'll enable him
to excercise absolute control over the party he cofoundedfor the first
time. "U know Jose having Stella as a the face of the party will serve
dual purpose. One get the attention of the voters away from the corruption
cases and also prevent Stella from exposing the truth about her parents to
public as she is now herself is the custodian of the organisation whose
image will be affected by her revelations. Thus we have effectively bought
her silence. With your help i studied Stella quiet a bit during last few
months and i came to understand that like her grandfather whom she so much
despises power is her biggest weakness." FOUR MONTHS LATER...... Stella
was sitting in her bedroom of her new house, Goa CM's official residence
reading the day's newspaper. She was just back from the day's work and was
waiting for dinner to be served, when her secretary Sarah came running.
She was out of breath and her face looked as if she was about to cry.
"What's wrong Sarah?" "I have some bad news Ma'm. There's been an
accident." With those words Sarah took the remote control lying in the
table beside her and switched on the t.v. and selected a news
channel.There were airing a breaking news. Mr.Anand Kumar , president of
the ruling party of the state the Goa Democractic Front has met with a
severe accident when the car in which he was travelling collided with a
trailer. Mr. Kumar and his driver were taken to a nearby hospital where
they were pronounced dead on arrival. "I'm so sorry Ma'm but i think we
have to go to the hospital . Also reporters are waiting outside waiting
for the your reaction." "Yes , yes Sarah just go down and send the
reporters away . Tell them that there won't be any press conferences until
i have visited the hospital.And give me some time to organise my thoughts.
I'll be right down." "OK ma'm" After Sarah had gone Stella closed the door
of her room, opened the locker and took out a simcard replaced the sim in
her cell with it and dialled a private number. After two rings a gruff
voice answered,"I was waiting for your call madam.Hope you heard the news
" "Yes . I saw it on tv. Good job." "Ok . What about the remuneration ?"
"It will be wired to your account at the Cayman Islands within 48 hrs." "
All right then . It was a pleasure dealing with you."and then the line
went dead. Stella then took out the sim , broke it into half threw it in
the toilet and flushed it. As she was getting ready to go to the hospital
the tv was still running and news channel was now showing the various
videos of Mr. Kumar and she remembered his words she heard over the
microphone which she had discreetly placed under her chair when she had
went to visit Mr. Kumar the first time."I'm nobody's puppet old man"she
said loudly to the picture of Mr.Kumar that was being shown on tv "If you
try to pupteer me . You die"

 THE END  
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