Muthuramalingam pushed hard on the brake as an auto rickshaw came screeching towards them on the narrow connecting lane that led to the main road and stopped at an angle in front of them. It was the same auto that had been parked by the corner. Vael swore from the back seat. Sarayu who had been sending a text to her grandmother, looked up in alarm as the car came to a sudden halt. Her seatbelt saved her from hitting against the dashboard.
Two rough looking men got down from the rickshaw and came towards them.
“What old man, can’t you see or what?” they started yelling in coarse Chennai Thamizh.
Muthuramalingam was still recovering from the shock of the sudden halt. He looked at the men, a little disoriented.
“You came on the wrong side and have dashed against our auto. Get down. Get down first. And see the damage you have done”, they shouted.
Vael got down from the car and went towards the auto. Muthuramalingam had recovered enough to take a deep breath. He too got down from the car and went forward to see what the supposed damage to the auto was. He didn’t think he had hit the auto at all for there was no sound of metal hitting metal, only the screech of the brakes.
And as Vael and Muthuramalingam got out of the car, two more men came from behind their car, from the street they had just left. Vael looked at the men in front of him and thought they looked familiar. As he heard footsteps behind him, he turned around to see the two other men approaching the car and looked at them with alarm. A part of his brain told him that one of them was the laundry man who had watched them going inside the handicrafts shop. The other man looked like the tender coconut vendor.
As Vael turned around to face the two who had come from behind, the men in the auto took hold of Muthuramalingam and pushed him towards the back of the car, forced him inside and got in beside him. The other man got in the driver’s seat and shut the door and locked it centrally.
Vael who was outside the car got manhandled by the laundry man and the vendor and was pushed towards the auto that was in front of the car. Vael twisted away from the laundry man who was holding him and freed himself. He kicked the other man, the vendor, on his shin and he went down yelping in pain. He twisted again and punched the laundry man full on the face, catching him right on the jaw. The man staggered back holding his face. He bent down and spat a bit of blood and shook his head and straightened up.
Sarayu had rolled her window down and shouted at Vael to stop.
“Vael Anna, stop! Stop!” she yelled.
Vael looked at her mystified. Why was she asking him to stop? Was she telling him to go with these thugs quietly?
Sarayu turned and spoke to the man who was in the driver’s seat. “Please, let me just talk to him for a few seconds. He will stop making trouble”, she said to him.
“Do you think I’m a fool to let you out of the car?” the man growled.
“Do you think I am a fool to run away when you have my Thatha as hostage?” she asked back.
The man turned and looked at his accomplice in the back. The guy held on to Muthuramalingam and nodded to the driver to open the door.
The man unlocked the central lock and Sarayu got out of the car and went over to Vael.
The two men were already up on their feet and were ready to take on the teenager together. They looked as if they had not expected this much trouble from him.
Sarayu went up to Vael and whispered a few words in his ear. Vael looked at her aghast.
“Are you sure?” he whispered back.
Sarayu nodded firmly.
“Ok then”, said Vael and stood quietly, facing the two men who were watching him with caution.
Sarayu got back inside the front passenger seat and locked the door.
Seeing that Vael was not going to put up any more resistance, the duo caught hold of him on each side and marched him towards the auto that was still parked in front of the car.
One of them sat in the driver’s seat and the other pushed Vael inside and sat next to him, holding him in a vice grip. The driver started the auto rickshaw and reversed it and turned it around and drove towards the main street. The driver in the car did the same and followed him out, going on a journey deep into the heart of the city.
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