Once yours,
Ramya”
Rajiv: See Rangaiah, your Ramya beti wants to divorce me. What’s worse she has engaged Rau as her lawyer to rub some salt on my wounded psyche. Oh how gleefully he would have taken her vakalatto upstage me. So, the one I slighted once is going to put me in the dock now. Can life get more ironical than that!
Rangaiah: I can’t believe that babu. There is something that doesn’t meet the eye here.
Rajiv: Whatever, didn’t I bring it upon myself? When did I lose my way in life? Could it be when I began to think I outgrew Rau? Oh how I took it for granted that he could be living somewhere in the wilderness of life suffering from an inferiority complex. How I was to know that fate would bring us together to let him catch me on the wrong foot! What a mess I’ve made of my life!
[Sound of the calling bell.]
[Exit: Rangaiah only to readily return.]
[Rangaiah talks to Rajiv (mime) and Rajiv’s colour changes.]
[Exit: Rangaiah as Rajiv goes to the entrance with apprehension.]
[Enter: Slesha in vardiwith a baton in her hand. She pulls out her ID card from her shirt pocket and flashes it.]
Slesha: I’m Inspector Slesha.
Rajiv: What brings you here Inspector?
Slesha: Investigation into a rape case.
[Rajiv is shocked but he quickly recovers.]
Rajiv: How can I help you madam?
Slesha: By giving truthful answers to my questions.
Rajiv: Of course, you can count on that.
Slesha: Do you know Ms. Divya?
Rajiv: Why not, she’s my friend Deva’s wife.
Slesha: She has accused you of raping her.
Rajiv: Oh God. How could it be!
Slesha: That’s beside the point, isn’t it?
Rajiv: Don’t you see I’m shocked no end?
Slesha: Why it’s apparent from the beginning.
Rajiv: How it can be different when the police come knocking at the door.
Slesha: The alarm of the guilty and the anxiety of the accused don’t look alike, do they?
Rajiv: How am I to know that?
Slesha: You would know when I begin my interrogation.
Rajiv: I’m no expert in these matters but I hear I can have my lawyer on hand.
Slesha: Besides the law, I don’t mind suffering your lawyer’s presence.
[Rajiv tries to call Nayak on his cell phone but the line is ever engaged.]
Rajiv: Don’t you think in use phones measure the ongoing gossip in society.
Slesha: By any chance, is your wife a gossiping type?