What did I do?

It’s 7pm already? What the hell! Man, this office is really a dungeon. You really are in the abyss when you’re in here. “I should leave for home,” Raghu said as he got ready to leave the office. It’s been raining in Bengaluru for the last few days, and the roads without any proper streetlights are a real pain for him to navigate. He always tries to get out of Hoodi by 5pm max, but somehow missed it today. “It’s alright, I just need to follow the next vehicle. Simple enough.” And he left in a hurry on his Honda Activa 5G.

Raghu is yet another migrant who came to Bengaluru for a job and eventually settled here. Home, as he calls Bengaluru, has been super kind to him. He’s more of a local now, speaks Kannada well enough, and is a proud member of his society here. Raghu lives a content life with his kid, Malti, and Sarita, his better half. He’s a simple man.

“The roads are quite slippery today. I wonder why that is,” Raghu said as he kept hitting the brakes while navigating through nasty traffic. He regretted it. “Maybe I should have left sooner. What a drag!” He made it to his society gates somehow and continued through the crossroads. “Whoa, there’re so many people on the road today. Nice seeing people out after a long shower,” he said, looking around the crossroads. Zoooom! Suddenly, a scooter cut him off on the left. Raghu shouted at him, “Hey… watch where you’re going!” He tried to balance himself and moved to the side of the road. “I’m fine. Should be focusing on the road,” he mumbled.

As he rode through, that young fellow came in front of him again. “Why is he doing this snake motion? Is he okay?” he said. “I need to ride carefully.” Everyone around the road noticed how that person was doing stunts, but they went on. Nobody cared. It’s Bengaluru. The reputation of these kids precedes them. People are scared of sudden violence and road rage before they even choose to stand up against it. “I’m completely fine, just need to ignore him,” he said and continued to ride.

“Aeyy, rascal, what the fuck are you doing?” that fellow shouted at Raghu. Raghu panicked as he tried to balance his scooter from the sudden halt over a speed-breaker. “What did I do?” he said. “I was slow and didn’t even touch your vehicle.” “You piece of shit, what are you even saying, rascal? You hit me from behind.” That fellow charged towards Raghu with intense rage. “Are you fucking blind? Can’t you see the road? How can you hit me from behind on a straight road?” he kept shouting.

Raghu was frightened and kept saying, “I didn’t even do anything. I didn’t touch you. I rode slowly and carefully while you kept doing stunts in front of me.” “Stunts? What did you say? Stunts? Are you saying I’m irresponsible and was doing stunts on a busy road?” he argued. Raghu took a step back, looking to apologise and get out of this. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything. Let me go. If you think there’s any damage, I can compensate,” he said. “Compensate? Do you think I’m poor? Do you know who the fuck I am?” With extreme agitation, he pushed Raghu and kept jabbing his chest harshly.

“Please let me go. I’m sorry. I didn’t even do anything,” Raghu pleaded. People around him kept ignoring. A few stopped and stared at this ordeal as if it were entertainment. “Please help, I’ve said sorry but he’s still harassing me!” Raghu screamed for help. He kept slapping and hitting Raghu in the head. He fell face-first onto the road from a nasty kick to his stomach. “Ahh, it hurts. My shirt. Sarita ironed it today for me. Why did this happen?” He crawled and tried to collect himself from the road. Looking at his shirt, all muddy and stained, Raghu stood up. “Please try to understand. I didn’t wish to hurt you. Let me go,” he said. Raghu was nearing the end of his patience. Being the adult, he tried to behave**.**

“I’ll show you how to apologise, fucker. You hit me from behind and then accuse me of doing stunts.” Enraged, he pulled Raghu by the collar and again threw him onto the road. Raghu hit his head, and his backpack slid away. He ran towards Raghu to kick him in the back, and that’s when Raghu decided enough was enough. He got up swiftly, pulled his bag, and hit the young fellow in the head. The edge of his tiffin box, poking out of the backpack, hit that bully’s ear with a bang. “Aaah!” Screaming from the jolting pain, he moved away. “What did you do? My ear! Aaah! It hurts!” he cried in pain.

Raghu charged in and hit him in the face. Again. Again and again. His backpack ripped. His stuff spilled across the road. The tiffin box that Sarita packed for him in the morning rolled away. In sheer aggression, Raghu picked up his muddy umbrella, unlocked it, and broke the rod. With a disfigured face, the bully crawled away from the speed-breaker. As blood dripped from his face, it made a dark burgundy-coloured muddy stream by the road. “Please help! He’s going to kill me! Help! Help me!” he cried. People kept watching.

“Grr… grrr… grr…” Raghu dragged him by the leg and slammed him against the footrest of his scooter. Screaming from pain, he cried, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I had a rough day and just screamed at you in frustration. Please leave me.” Raghu pushed the rod into his neck. With blood all over the footrest, he kicked the umbrella’s handle. It went through, and he went silent. Blood gushed in from the tyres, turning into a small stream.

Raghu kept kicking his head, with blood and strands of hair splashing everywhere. Blinded by rage, his beloved muddy shirt had now turned red.

And then it snapped.

People rushed towards him and pulled him away. Raghu had become eerily silent. He was in shock, astounded by the bully’s head hanging from the footrest. He could see clearly now. All that blood. The gold chain. The intricate details of the tattoo on the neck he had just severed. He could see clearly now. It all came at once. “What did I just do?” he asked.

Crawling towards the scooter on his knees, with muddy blood on his hands, he cried, “What did I just do? No, no. What did I just do?” “I killed him. I killed a person. I really did kill him. No, no. I killed him. What did I just do?” he kept crying on his knees. He just wanted to go home in peace. All these people on the road had made him feel warm. But none of them helped him. They did not stand up to the bully doing stunts on the road. Neither did they stop him from this aggression. He just wanted to go home.

“What did I just do? I really did kill him,” Raghu cried as the rain settled in.