Call from Mr. D'Souza

Mr.Bakshi, 27, had just reached the office when the phone on his desk started ringing. He worked at a call centre. “Hello is this Sony service centre?” asked the person on the other end. “Yes sir” replied Mr. Bakshi. The person on the other end seemed to be elderly as he had a feeble voice. “I am Mr. D’Souza. Recently I purchased a Sny Bria 42’ inches LED television. Can you send some technician to give a demo for this tv?” 
"Yes sir, we received details from Vjai sales and we were about to inform you that we will be sending Mr.Rajiv to give a demo. He would be there by 7 in the evening.” Bakshi then went to cross-check the information he had gotten from Vjai Sales.

It was time for Mr. Bakshi to call Rajiv and give details about Mr. D’Souza. Rajiv was traveling by bus when he got the call. Bakshi gave him the residential address and mobile number of D’Souza. There was some construction work going on in the surrounding area, so he couldn’t properly hear the last word. Nonetheless, he had got the address which was ‘Star building, Flat no. 7, 4^th floor, Bandra-East’.

He reached the Star building at 7.30 pm. He was delayed by half an hour as he was busy completing other assignments. It was a tiring day but the demo would hardly require 30-45 minutes he thought to himself. He passed by the gate where the name of the building was clearly painted in bold letters ‘STAR APARTMENTS ’.

Rajiv was greeted by the watchman at the entrance. Watchman asked him where he wanted to go. “I am a sny technician and I am visiting Mr. D’Souza .“ The watchman asked for his Id card. He matched the photo on the Id card with the person who was standing beside him and wrote down the name of the visitor in the visitor’s diary. With his eyes gazing down at the register book he asked the visitor” Which D’Souza do you want to visit? The one on the 2^nd floor or …” By that time Rajiv was already headed towards the lift. 

Rajiv entered the building and was waiting for the lift. Another person was standing there who eyed Rajiv suspiciously. The lift finally arrived and the other person first got into the lift. The lift seemed to be very old not the automatic ones we find in shopping malls these days. Rajiv closed the door of the lift. Before he could press any button in the lift, it shot to the 6^th floor. He was surprised. The other person finally opened his mouth “You were too slow to press the button. Even my grandma would have done better…” he was interrupted by his cell phone. His ringtone was indeed scary. It reminded Rajiv of horror shows. Aahat was a show he never missed, but he never really believed in ghosts. He thought it was a fear instilled into weak minds to scare the damn out of them. The lift finally stopped on the 4^th floor.
 He walked across the floor and was searching for flat no 7 when another flat on the same floor smashed its door with a loud thud. Something didn’t seem right to him.

Rajiv finally rang the bell of flat no 7. No one responded. He rang the bell once more. Finally, a person in his mid-thirties opened the door. Rajiv had expected a senior citizen.

“Is this Mr. D’Souza’s residence?”

“No, I am not D’Souza.”

He looked at the paper on which he had written down the address.

“Isn’t this flat no. 7?”

“Indeed it is. I am Mr. Fernandes. D’Souza doesn’t live here anymore.”

“Doesn’t live here?” Rajiv was astonished at first. ” I had an appointment. He had clearly mentioned this address.”

“Mr. D’Souza died five years back. He had no children but lived alone. After his death, his relatives auctioned off the flat and I have been living here thereafter. It is strange that after five years someone came here looking for D’Souza. “

It sent a chill down his spine. How could a dead person seek an appointment? Many other questions now occupied his mind. But he remembered that he had the old man’s mobile number. He straightaway picked up his phone and dialed the number. No answer. He tried twice, thrice but all his attempts were proving fruitless. He started sweating profusely. He even dialed Mr. Bakshi to check the address and phone number. But even this call went unanswered.

The night was turning out to be spooky. Rajiv always thought that he wasn’t weak-hearted but his heart was now pounding with fear. But fear about what? Even he was not able to answer this question.  He thought that someone was playing pranks with him when his phone started ringing. It was a landline number.

“Hello”

“Is this Rajiv from sny?”

“Yes. Who is speaking?”

“I am D’Souza. I have been waiting for the last 45 minutes. Where are you?”

There was no reply from Rajiv’s side as he had already fainted. 

                                                  ....to be continued 
--Tejas Ekawade