‘Come on, Jessica. How long will you take to come down?,’ I mumbled to myself.
I looked at my watch again, and felt more irritated. Another 30 minutes had passed since I last saw the dials. My patience level was coming down and I could feel it. I haven’t got all day. I got up from my chair, and walked right across the lobby to another set of sofa chairs, stopping and picking up a different magazine from the table near by. I wanted it to look as though, I had shifted my position only because I wanted to read this particular magazine. I opened the book, turned over a few pages as though I read them, and then slowly looked at the lift and stairs. She had still not come down. I glanced for a full panoramic view of the hotel lobby. I loved the interiors. They had a good touch of traditional stuff like the tables and chairs but infused with modern stylish lighting and paintings giving the lobby a bold fusion statement. The hotel didn’t look busy. Thanks to the off-season time, the place was not swarmed with tourists. You can see very few tourists, who made it here either not knowing this wasn’t the best time of the year to be here or who were really desperate to just get out of their tight work schedules. There were a few businessmen or corporate people. They loved to have their conferences here. And, of course, a few like me who had come for their own personal reasons.
I glanced at my watch and at the stairs once again, trying my best not to make it look obvious. I didn’t know if was making a mistake by waiting for Jessica so long. Jessica was a beautiful girl in her 20s. She was very conscious and took very good care of the way she looked, and it showed well. She dressed up really smart. She was here to strike a business deal with a leading advertising agency to pitch for promos for her company’s new product. From the few conversations I had with her, I found her to be very ambitious and smart, who wouldn’t fall easy for anyone. And I knew, Jessica is going to be really tough challenge for me. But, when stakes are high, so would the risk be.
I took out a cigarette from my coat pocket and searched for the lights in the other pocket. The hotel manager, who saw me from the reception desk, immediately sprinted towards me.
‘I am sorry sir. But, no smoking allowed here,’ he said in a soft tone.
‘Just one? I have had a really bad day and things are just getting worse for me. Just let me chill out with one please’, I explained.
‘No Sir. It’s against the hotel policy. I really cannot let you smoke in this lobby. If you want you can go outside…”
‘Just one. Just one is all I ask’, I said staring right into his eyes. He stopped talking and looked at my eyes closely too. Continuing my staring, I gave a pause and then I continued explaining in whispers. ‘I have no doubt that you are doing your job to the best of your ability. But, you got to help me here. Just one smoke is all that I ask’
‘Uh.. Ok. One is what you want?.. Ok, you can have one’. I will take care of it,’ he said.
‘Thank you,’ I said, watching him go back to the reception desk without turning back. I turned the other way, whispering and giggling to myself ‘That was too easy’.
I lit my cigarette in this strictly non smoking lobby of the hotel. I felt relaxed after a long time. As I glanced across the table, I noticed a small girl playing with her doll. The face looked very familiar. I immediately took out a folded sheet of paper from my vest pocket. I opened it in frenzy and saw the fifth target on the list. Tanisha – daughter of Amit Agarwal – a fast emerging businessman based out of Delhi
I looked at the stairs once, and then turned my attention to the little girl. Target four or five, moving fast on whatever is possible is the wisest thing to do. She looked at me. I smiled at her. She gave a shy smile at me and turned away.
I called out to her, ‘Hi, little one.’
She heard it but pretended she didn’t. She continued playing with her doll, as if nothing happened at all.
‘What’s your name?’
She took a quick glance at me and turned away.
‘What are you playing?’, I asked in a louder voice.
‘School. Daisy is teacher’
Phew. Finally, a break. But I knew its going to take a lot more than just conversations to trap this girl.
‘So the doll’s name is Daisy? Hmm. And is she a strict teacher? Why don’t I show Daisy a small magic trick?’
She turned slowly. Curiosity always pays a price. I took out a coin from my pocket and placed it on my right palm. I closed it and waved my left hand over it. Throughout, I made sure I had the full attention of Tanisha, as this is very crucial. She kept looking at the hand. And, when I opened my palm, the coin was gone!.
‘How did you do that?’, she screamed and came jumping over.
‘Yeah! How did you do that?, said a voice from behind.
I turned back in a shock. It was Jessica. She couldn’t have picked a worse time to arrive. Just when I had lured my prey.
‘Hey, Jessica’, I said and sprung from my seat. Confused on which target to strike first, I looked at Tanisha and Jessica alternatively with quick glances.
‘I am sorry, Daman . I was caught up with some calls with my business counterparts here’, she said.
‘No problem. I was just getting to know this lil one’, I replied. She looked ravishing.
‘So, shall we go for lunch now?’, she asked, looking at her watch.
‘Tell me how you did it. Teach me’, Tanisha shouted frantically realizing that I had to go.
I kneeled down to her and said, ‘I really have to go. But I will be back within an hour. I promise. Will you be here by then? If you are, I will teach you this trick and lots more too.’
‘I will. I will. Don’t forget to come back, uncle’, she said, holding on to my hand.
‘I will. How could I not’, I said and walked away with Jessica, with a smile on my face. It just shouldn’t be this easy.
We walked a few meters, and Jessica turned to me and said, ‘That was an impressive magic trick’
‘Thank you. Just learnt a little something so that it comes handy at times like these’
I pointed to a corner table at the Lunch area. We sat down facing each other. I intentionally picked this table, as the lighting was good on the faces here, and it was a relatively less disturbed spot. I asked the waiter for the menu card. She looked at me, trying to observe my eyes.
‘So, a really busy day for you’, I asked
‘Yes. Very busy day indeed.’ she replied. As she spoke her phone rang. She searched her bag and found her cell after a struggle.
‘Hello. Ranbir. Can I call you after an hour? I just came here for lunch… What? .. That meeting was not supposed to be till 5…’ she spoke in a frustrated tone. She listened silently.
I knew something was wrong. And I would be missing my moment. I started calculating in my mind the best time I would get. One minute, I thought from the time she kept her call and left, considering the seriousness of her voice over the call.
‘Ok… I understand… I’ll be there’, she said. As soon as she cut the call, even before I could say anything, she just got up from her seat.
‘I am really sorry Daman ’, she said. ‘I have to leave. My advertising agency’s boss is catching a flight to Australia
‘Just give me a minute. That’s all I ask. You can leave after that’, I said.
She looked at me surprised and said ‘what can you do in one minute? I am sorry, I have to leave. If time permits, we’ll meet tonight for dinner’. She started walking towards the lift.
If time permits? Time will not permit. I have two targets to finish. And I missed on her now, after wasting 2 hours waiting. I got up and followed till the lift. I started talking to her and stared into her eyes. She looked at my eyes, stared into them too, but there was no change in reaction. Whatever I spoke or the way I looked at her did not have any impact on her. As I told earlier, a difficult challenge it is, when the target is always drowned in some other thought. She gave me a sad and sorry look from inside the lift. I kept staring at her eyes till the lift closed. I was about to lose my cool, considering I missed my target. I then turned the other side to see if Tanisha was still playing there alone. She was there. I took one step towards Tanisha and stopped. I won’t get another shot at Jessica. A bad plan is better than no plan at all. I turned the other way towards the stairs and I climbed up the stairs in frenzy. Over the past 2 days I had observed her actions, her room’s position, and whatever detail could serve as information for me later. Her room was in the 4th floor. I ran, without hesitation or fear that this new plan would fail. I have no choice. Damn!. I should have stopped her before she went inside the lift. I cannot afford to miss my target. How else will I prove I am the greatest?
I reached the 4th floor. I could hear the sound of the lift opening. The room was closer to the lift than to the stairs, so she would reach faster than me. By the time I reached the corridor to her room, she was already in and closed the door.
I walked till her room. I was breathing heavily and panting from the 4 floors I climbed up, but tried to control the breathing so that I don’t give myself away. I reached her room. The corridor was empty. I took the object from my coat pocket and held on to it tight in my right hand. I hate to do this. This was not what I was trained for. This always used to be my last option. But, I am left option less now, and this seems my only choice. The few seconds seemed like ages. I started wondering if she would take another 2 hrs to walk out. Should I ring the bell?
The door knob turned. I held on to the object more tightly, and took correct position. She opened the door. I moved quickly in front of her.
‘Jesus. You scared me’ she shouted. Then she took a second to realize something wasn’t right here and asked, ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Just listen to me for a second’, I said, staring into her eyes deeply, trying to get full attention of hers to my eyes.
‘Daman , you are freaking me out. I think you should leave’, she announced.
My last stint didn’t work out. I had no choice. I drew out my hand from behind to the front, got it high in the air, and dropped a part of the object holding only an end of it. The diamond pendant of the chain hung in the air with a jerk, with me holding on to the chain from the top with my hand.
‘Wow. What’s this?’
‘A gift for you. A gift for you’. As I spoke, I started swinging the chain in a pendulum motion. And, I started whispering. Her eyes followed the diamond pendant. I waited till she was completely in my control.
‘You will do as I say. You will obey me. I am your master’ I said.
‘Yes, I will’, she replied
‘Now you will let me in’
She stepped back a few steps. I put the chain inside my pocket and went inside and locked the door.
‘You will get me the twenty five lakh cash in the suitcase that you have brought along to give to the advertising agency. You will believe you never got the cash to the hotel. You will believe that you left your suitcase in the train by which you came to this hotel. You will forget this whole incident. The last you will remember of me is the meeting at lunch. You will snap out of this only when your cell phone alarm rings.’
She listened to me, took a few seconds and went straight to the cupboard. She pulled out a red suitcase from below, and she handed it over to me.
‘You will now lie on your bed and go to sleep. You will believe you never got the cash to the hotel. You will believe that you left your suitcase in the train by which you came to this hotel. You will forget this whole incident. The last you will remember of me is the meeting at lunch. You will wake up when you listen to your cell phone alarm rings. You will snap out of this as the cell phone alarm rings’
As I spoke, she lay on the bed and went to sleep. I took her cell from her pocket, set it to silent mode, and set the alarm to night 9 pm. It’s a good 6 hours time for me to execute my other tasks and leave. I kept the cell near her pillow. I turned the door knob lock on the inside and closed it as I went out. When she wakes up, she would find that she locked her from inside and slept off, so no one could have come in. As perfect as it can get!
I walked over to the lift, went down to 2nd floor. And stopped at my room. I went to the cupboard and placed the red suitcase on top of the other suitcases I had got from Targets one, two and three. Four Targets done, one more to go. I took out the sheet from my pocket, and struck out Jessica. I wanted to take a minute here and bask in glory for the ingenious deed that I had just done, but it was getting late. I can’t afford to miss Tanisha. I walked out of my room, locked it and headed straight to the lobby.
Tanisha was still playing with her doll. Seeing me, she jumped with joy. ‘You’re back’, she exclaimed.
‘How could I not?’, I replied and smiled.
‘Show me that trick again’, she said
I sat at the sofa, and showed the trick again. She was too thrilled about it.
‘Here is another trick’, I said. And I moved my right wrist across to her ear and pulled out a coin. She was awestruck. I pulled another coin from her other ear. ‘How much more do you have?’. She broke into laughter. I took a careful scan across the lobby. No one was watching.
‘I have one more trick. Look into my eyes. Just keep staring and you will see the greatest trick you would have ever seen’
She looked into my eyes, and I knew in 10 seconds, that the fish got the bait. My fastest hypnotizing record, I must say!
‘You will do as I say. You will obey my command. You will go to your parent’s room. They would have a flat blue box in which there would be a diamond necklace. You will search for that and you will bring that necklace to me. You will hide the necklace in your doll and get it to me. You will be really careful and make sure no one sees you or catches you. You will do this as quickly as possible. Now, go’.
She walked away. I just sat there. This is just too easy. But, that’s not surprising, is it? When I can hypnotize a hotel manager, and let me smoke in a non smoking area, how much can a kid resist to my hypnotizing eyes. After all, I am one of the greatest hypnotists in the world, and by executing the five tasks; I become the greatest hypnotist ever.
I must admit. Hypnosis is a developing field, and there is not much scope in it now. Especially, there is no fun in being a Hypnotherapist. Even though I can hypnotize, by just staring into their eyes for a few seconds, all that I am permitted to do is hypnotize clients who come for re-habitation, and creating an aversion to alcohols and drugs. This could probably be the lamest use of hypnotism. In an age, where military uses hypnotism to instill hatred and remove fear from soldiers, and government secret agencies use hypnotism to create false memories or remove memories from leading politically influential people, there is not much use for a Hypnotherapist. And, someone as great as me, is just seen as an underachiever. I don’t care for the money. All I want is to be recognized as the greatest hypnotist who ever lived. And this is going to get me just that.
Tanisha returned. I checked if there was anyone following her. She was alone. She came straight to me and took out the diamond necklace from below her doll. The diamonds sparkled like anything from the sunlight coming in from the window and lit up small spots of light on one side of the lobby room. I immediately grabbed it and put it in my pocket. I quickly took a scan again. No one had seen or noticed that. Very lucky I would say.
I turned to Tanisha, who was still in the trance and I told her, ‘You will forget everything that happened now. You will forget taking the necklace. You will forget having met me. You don’t know me. You will come out of this trance when I snap my fingers.’
I snapped my fingers. She shook a little and she looked at me. I didn’t react. She gave a shy look, turned away and played with her doll. I couldn’t control my happiness. I smiled a little. I got up from my seat. I walked back to my room. Every step was a step of pride. A step of success. I have achieved it. The title of being the world’s greatest hypnotist ever. I was born to be a hypnotist, my mom used to joke to me. My name Daman stands for ‘Controller’ or ‘one who controls’. It’s so true now. And the foundation of my training was this simple basic concept. The Placebo. The placebo is an inert substance which does not directly cause anything. In simplest terms, it is something that does not exist, but contributes to a change. Like a doctor mentioning ‘Eat this pill. It is guaranteed to make you better’. The pill wont, but the thought that you will become better is what you wanted to hear, that will have the psychological effect and will make you better because your mind believes in it.
I opened the door to my room and placed the necklace on the red suitcase. I sat on my bed. It was 4 pm now. The deadline for the challenge was 5 pm. I finished my tasks a good 1 hr before. The way I conjured all the plots was running in my mind. Jessica was the toughest, and the only person I had to use extreme hypnotizing method, else for all others, my eyes were enough. I took out the sheet of paper from my pocket and struck out Tanisha. I kept it beside me. I was looking at the details on the paper. Everything was given to the finest detail. The name of the targets, room number, photo, a little description on what they do, a bit of their background, the exact prize I needed to collect from them, colour of the boxes and suitcases, timing, and everything. I had 2 days to collect the details and 1 day to execute.
I took rest for sometime and then walked down to the lobby. I checked out and went to the Coffee Shop nearby. I ordered a cappuccino. I sat by the window. I had almost completed my cup, when an elderly man came and sat in front of me. I looked up at him. It was Fergus.
‘You don’t say..’, he exclaimed.
I put the paper on the table and pointed to the suitcases. ‘Here is the list, the suitcases and the necklace’
‘It’s just not possible. You got the contents from Jessica? She has a mind, which cannot be penetrated.’ he replied in a shocked state.
I gleamed at him.
‘In that case, you are undoubtedly the greatest hypnotist ever. There is absolutely no competition here’
I smiled. Hearing these words from Fergus is the biggest achievement of all. It was my most proud moment.
He spoke, ‘You have won the challenge. The challenge where you had to hypnotize five totally different and unique people and trick them into doing something totally impossible, without getting caught. The challenge, where you had two days to observe and one day to execute the five tasks. The challenge, which if you win, I will make a public statement declaring you the greatest hypnotist ever. You are, indeed the greatest hypnotist ever. When I snap my fingers, you will forget the challenge, meeting me and everything that ever happened’
Snap!. In front of me was Fergus, drinking a cappuccino.
‘What am I doing here?’, I asked him.
Fergus looked shocked, and shouted back ‘You tell me! I was drinking a cup of cappuccino when you just came and sat in front of me. What is it that you want? Are you here to pass unwanted remarks at me or throw a challenge at me?’
‘No.. I just .. err’, I stammered wondering what did I do to get the great Fergus agitated? Fergus, was my competitor in this field and considered the greatest hypnotist till date. He too claims he is the greatest. He is an inspiration to all hypnotists of my generation, but there is something too great about his capability that we don’t want to accept.
‘I don’t have time for you. I am done with my coffee. I am going out. Can you give me a hand with my luggage? I am a little old to carry them. I need to take it to my car’ Fergus said, taking a sheet of paper from the table.
‘Sure. I will be glad to help’, I immediately agreed hoping to cool off his anger on me. I carried the luggage to his car. He thanked me and left, and I came back to my table. I had tried to stare into his eyes so hard, but Fergus being the greatest hypnotist, his eyes could not be penetrated.
A Placebo. A Placebo is all it takes to hypnotize. Need to find that something, that a person would want to hear and it’s easy to enter that person’s mind. Some day, I will think of a placebo for Fergus. I will use that on him, and I would be the greatest hypnotist ever!!!
Unexpected turn...!..
ReplyDelete