Triveni Journal
1927 | 11,233,916 words
Triveni is a journal dedicated to ancient Indian culture, history, philosophy, art, spirituality, music and all sorts of literature. Triveni was founded at Madras in 1927 and since that time various authors have donated their creativity in the form of articles, covering many aspects of public life....
THE NIGHT PARTYtc "THE NIGHT PARTY"
On 31st March 2000, Mr. Gopal’s house was busy. It was his fifth marriage anniversary. He had invited his friends Mr. Mohan, a detective, and Mr. Raj, an inspector of police. Their wives had also accompanied them. Everyone was enjoying the party with food and drinks and music was played very loudly.
About 11 p.m. they all sat for dinner. All were happy except the servant who looked perturbed. Some thoughts seemed to run across his mind. When the dinner was over by 11.45 p.m., Gopal said, “Friends, do you know the reason for this get together?” Yes, it is your wedding anniversary” came the response.
“That is only a part of the reason. I have another reason behind it,” said Gopal to the amazement of his friends. Then he said, “For the past one month I have been receiving anonymous phone calls, which say ‘I will kill you’. The other day I got a gift pack. I opened it but was startled to find a cobra inside. But the frightening thing is the letter I received today which declares, ‘I will kill you tonight at 12 o’ clock’”.
Everyone was surprised. The ladies were very much afraid and beads of perspiration ran down their pale face. Now everybody’s eyes were fixed on the clock. Even the detective, Mohan, was restless. Utter silence pervaded the entire room. When the clock struck twelve, a gunshot was heard and all the lights went off immediately.
After a few seconds, the lights were on and to everyone’s surprise nothing disastrous had happened. Everyone looked at each other and felt relieved. Mohan suspected Raj as he had his pistol with him. When others also looked suspiciously at Raj, he declared his innocence and wondered how he could imagine killing his own friend. When the guests were pondering over this issue, a loud voice was heard from the garden. Someone shouted, “Gopal, if you have guts come out. I will kill you”. This voice once again frightened them all.
Instigated by this, Gopal ran towards the garden. Raj wanted to accompany him but Gopal pleaded with him to stay inside for others’ security. Everyone looked through the window to see what was happening there. Under the cover of darkness, they could just make out that Gopal was manhandling someone there. A loud shriek was heard and immediately Gopal emerged from the garden with blood stained hands. Seeing Gopal entering the house, everyone rushed down and enquired, “Are you all right?” “Yes” said Gopal. “Who was that? What happened to you?” questioned the detective.
“Well, my friends”, said Gopal and asked them to look at the calendar for the day that was. Understanding that it was April 1, everyone was relieved and rejoined the party at 1 a.m.