As a reporter in an esteemed News channel I was wondering what the hell am I doing here, of all god forsaken places that contained, the bowel, full of all the juicy news, news that did not mattered but had shock value in it and which will allow my career to move a bit forward. Say for instance the actual site of fire! But No! My handler (as I like to call him you may call him producer or manager) had to place me in the police station and like a government office during a dull summer afternoon, it was so slow that you could actually feel the second hand of the clock moving for fractions of second.

And then suddenly god left this place too, much to my satisfaction and thus the constable who was half asleep rose and rushed to a man who has just entered and they started having discussion in hush hush voice. That constable was stealing glances from me which to the life of me screamed there is your juice and you are sitting idly. So I moved to a more comfortable position of eavesdropping,

"But Sahaab, he is demanding more money I don't have that you know! I am just a taxi driver," said the now apparent taxi driver.

"Pay him this last time, there is too much heat here at the moment but we will soon look into it," replied the constable.

Don't get me wrong but I was amused as the constable used "heat" as slang for too much media presence in the same way criminals use to address presence of police! I was not amused because media was just unintentionally placed at same level of police and police at the level of crminals, I was amused because I could not decided whether its a good thing or bad.

"Sahaab, he says he works for a leading news paper and he will release everything if I don't pay him soon," there was too much plight in taxi driver's voice.

And thus the clouds of doubts were lifted, there is no doubt that it is a bad thing.

"Arre, go now, I think that reporter of P News is listening to us," constable said obviously pointing towards me with his index finger.

I still can't decide whether this apparent action of his to get my attention was done because he still had some conscience left or it was just a defensive measure to address the worst case scenario. But what ever it was, it was my cue to get into action.

And so I rose not too fast not too slow but in just right time so that the rise in itself was symbolic to solemn gravity that I carry on my shoulders or so I pretend to carry. The moment I looked in taxi driver’s eyes I knew I have succeeded as his eyes carried immense respect for me. Half the battle was won. I grabbed him took him to the corner and assured him of my authority by flashing the camera right to his face, little did I knew that it will make my battle more difficult because suddenly he became hostile in a manner that was suited for a domicile Indian, nodding his head in swinging motion which makes it hard to say whether he agree or disagree with me. I thought burden of my personality (too egoist for a daily reporter don't you think) is crushing this little guy and now I will have to give it a positive swing.

I told him I can make things happen for him and from what I gather from his conversation with constable, he is being blackmailed that too by someone from media, to be precise by a reporter of some daily national newspaper.

"I am from an actual TV channel, who will listen to him when i will say otherwise." I was desperately trying to assure him and so I added:

"Listen I can get you out of anything, I know you must have done something awful that’s why you are being blackmailed, but trust me I'll make a victim out of you, I will make what ever you did as the last choice you were left with and any normal man would have done the same. Later people will pay you to get the right to your story."

I thought for a second that he was not impressed with my influence and the magic I could do, he was, instead motivated by the prospect of getting money later much later! But i chose to deny it completely and it didn't mattered anyway as he started his story. I think it would be better for the reader to read his side of story in his own words so I am typing the tale in his own words as recorded by my tape recorder. As far as any thought of my views during that whole testimony are concerned, it can be summed up in one word "astonished". It would also be advisable for the reader to not get biased by the thought that I might have altered his testimony to make a victim out of him, what ever attempt, no matter how futile, to look innocent was his own, I have nothing to do with it.

"Sahaab, I am a poor man. I had a wife and a kid. As any normal taxi driver of Delhi, I drove taxi working in the harsh traffic and weather of Delhi for 12 hour straight shift and then I went on to have a drink with my buddies, just to blow off the steam."
"My wife never approved of it, we constantly had fights over it and no matter how hard I tried but under the influence of alcohol, I slapped her once or twice. You know how much i regretted beating her that later I made such immense love to her that she cried, you know with tears and screaming."

I cant help but comment here that I was desperately rooting and hoping for a term called pleasure when he accounted for sex with regret. I was desperately trying to see a tinge of love in his eyes but much to my despair I got nothing. Anyways he continued...

"No, matter what I did, she consistently tried to commit suicide and that evil women tried to kill my only kid my one year old son. One day she succeeded as I came back from work and there she was lying on bed with my son in her lap motionless. My god, sahaab, complete influence of Rs 60 bottle of "tharrah"(form of locally made alcoholic drink) was gone in a sec. I turned back called my landlord, you know we live in a single room as the other three rooms are occupied by my landlord and we paid Rs 2000 for such dingy room. Life is not fair, sahaab, I have so many bills to pay that I barely manage Rs 20 for a pauwa(quarter of alcoholic bottle)."

I knew what he was hinting but to recognize his hint meant deflating my ego and accepting the fact that he is more interested in money than the fame that I can grant him. So I said if you want something to eat or drink which he readily accepted and we moved to a little tea shop near by. I gently asked him to continue with his story but he said he wanted an advance from the money he is soon going to acquire. Helplessly and apparently hurt I gave him Rs 50 note. From the corner of my eyes I noticed my cameraman smiled at me, at that moment I wanted to rise and take both of them down under my claws, but in safety of time I realised I am not a tiger. So going by exact opposite standard I became a goat and urged him to continue.

"My landlord is a coward and much too fearing of police so he asked me to not to call the police and immediately take the bodies out of his house. So helplessly I put my dead wife and kid in the back of my taxi, can you believe, sahaab, that coward even refuse to help as it will involve him touching the bodies. So I drove till a nearby river, said my bidding goodbye and dumped the bodies in that river."

"Dumped the bodies", is this guy talking about his own wife and son who supposedly committed suicide, I couldn't help but wonder.

"Three days later Meerut fire happened and they were announcing at your channel only that they will give Rs2.5 lakhs to the family of victims and it dawn on me now I am able to see something positive in my life. So I came here told them my wife died in that fire, they asked to look at some corpse identify my wife."

Juicy juicy juicy!

"So I pointed at a corpse which was least identifiable, so that no one can catch me. But this is where my troubles started as it was a corpse of a man and the friend I brought along understood more than he should. He smirked at me. Anyways after bribing the constable I got another body and the paper work done. I told them I will need the money as the earliest as I want a proper cremation of my wife."

"Sahaab, sab gareeb aadmi ki mazboori ka fayada uthate hai,(everyone takes advantage of a poor man's misery), I got only 1 lakh as the compensation rest disappeared and I couldn't argue. And, by god, I did the most proper ceremony of cremation possible, out of remorse and regret."

"Two days later, a man came to me told me that he works for zz newspaper and he knows that I claimed the compensation money while my wife never died in the fire. He asked me Rs 50,000 to keep his mouth shut. I did the math, I knew I'll be left with Rs 30000 after this so i negotiated with him and offered him Rs 20000 to which he agreed."

"For the last one month, he repeatedly asked me for money, drying me completely and now I have nothing left and he is asking for more. I have tried before as today, to launch a complaint against him but these policewalas(police man) keep refusing to it. Gareeb ki koi sunvayi nahi hai (noone listen's to a poor man)."

My head was spinning with loads of questions. What about your son, no one asked for him not even the family of your wife? Why, when you are a culprit then police is eager to help you that too without formally registering your complaint. What kind of reporter is this guy from zz newspaper he is settling for Rs 20000 while he can make much more by publishing your story? And finally, did your wife really commit suicide or you killed her.

My journalistic instincts told me first and foremost I will have to discredit this other reporter so that taxi driver will start feeling safe. So I asked him where can we find this reporter guy. He said he can take me to him. So we went there to meet this fellow.

As soon as I landed my eyes on this guy I knew he was no reporter so I grabbed him by collar and told him I am a real reporter with P News and I am going to bust him. He started crying like a child. He confessed that he is no reporter actually he is a dhobi (washer man) friend of a friend of Taxi driver the same friend with whom he went to claim compensation. In a fraction of second everything became clear Taxi driver's friend understood his plot and decided to blackmail him but since he could not do it directly he used the service of his washer man friend. Taxi driver charged to beat the hell out of this guy to which I intervened and told him in a hush voice that if he hurts this guy it will be harder to prove that he is just a victim in this whole situation because as soon as the hero beats the hell out of villain all the sympathy for hero's suffering, dies in the audience.

Rest was easy, media made villain out of the police they made it look like if they hadn't helped this poor guy could not have done anything! They search the family of the body whom taxi driver cremated as his wife and when they found them it was 10 min exclusive showing them crying and asking for justice. Family of his wife claimed he never informed them of the demise of his wife and son. No one mentioned his friend and blackmailer; I guess it was more hurting to the cause of making a victim out of him as he paid them earlier which clearly shows he is guilty. He was asked to repay Rs 2.5 lakhs, he said he will do so after he sells the rights to his story. The story did not last long on TV as all the juice there was, was squeezed out of it within two days. So public moved ahead!

Few days later I visited him in the cell where he was awaiting trial. I asked him earnestly whether he killed his wife and son. He replied...

"Sahaab, she used to offend me too often sayin that she will commit suicide and she attempted a many times, so I decided to commit suicide just to show her the irony that all her attempts are futile and I will do it in one go! I bought the deadliest poison there was in market and I flashed it in front of her saying that tomorrow I will commit suicide and then I will see how she will manage without me. Then under the pressure of work I forgot about it. I think she waited for me to use it and then finally one day she asked me about it. I got angry I went near the bottle in front of her and I made it look like I am drinking it. Then I went out, little did I knew that she will use it!!!

Disclaimer: Above is a pure work of fiction, or is it!!!