The AMBASSADOR
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The AMBASSADOR
Satish was in high spirits when he received letter for his first posting in Kenya as India’s ambassador. He had passed out his Indian Foreign Services examination with a good ranking.
After getting down from an Air India flight in Nairobi, he was escorted to a nice bungalow in the posh area of the city. He was introduced to Jim, a stout young man who would look after him. After dinner, Satish entered the bedroom, a well-appointed room having all the facilities one would need. Tired after the long flight, he threw himself on the bed and within a few minutes, he was asleep.
At around 12:30 am, he was awakened by the barking of several dogs. He got up from the bed and drew the curtains of the window. He saw some 10-12 dogs barking relentlessly looking at a small procession of some 10-12 men carrying a coffin. In the dim light on the street, Satish saw all the men in the procession, they were well dressed but without their head. He was frightened. All the marchers moving in unison appeared like dead bodies without a head. The procession passed by his window. When it went out of his sight, the dogs stopped barking. He came back on the bed and tried to sleep. But he could not let the march go out of his mind. After trying for some time, he could sleep.
When he woke up, his attendant Jim was at his beck and call. While having breakfast, Satish casually asked, “Jim, last night did you see any procession on the road?”
“No. I was fast asleep.” Jim replied.
“So many dogs were barking which woke me up, and I saw some weird people carrying a coffin.”
“I did not hear anything from our staff also. May be sir, you saw a dream.”
Satish saw the attendant brushing off his experience. So he did not say anything further.
Around 11 am, Satish reported to his office. He completed joining formalities. He was introduced to the staff, and soon he became busy with important office matters. He forgot about the dream.
Days after weeks passed and quickly it was nearly a year that Satish was in Kenya.
One day he received a letter from New Delhi, appreciating his work in Kenya, asking him to hand over his charge to the new ambassador and to take charge of the embassy in Qatar.
In a couple of months, Satish was in the office of the Indian Embassy in Qatar. He was given a well-furnished flat in a high rising building on the busiest street. He noticed that the flat was designed very well and the assistance for him in the flat was courteous.
After dinner, Satish threw himself on the bed and was asleep in a few minutes.
At around 12:30 loud barking of dogs woke him up. He woke up and looked out of the window. A procession of 10-12 persons in Arab attire was carrying a coffin passed by. He noticed that all those men were without a head. He remembered the procession in Kenya. He had goosebumps. After some time, the procession went out of his sight. The dog’s barking mellowed out. He drew the curtains and went to sleep.
The next day, at breakfast, Satish enquired with the attendant about the last night’s procession. The attendant denied having noticed anything like a procession carrying a coffin. He was shocked.
After breakfast, Satish went to his office, got involved in office matters and forgot about the incident in the night.
After a successful tenure in Qatar, Satish was asked to take charge of the embassy in Trinidad and Tobago. He landed in Port of Spain and went straight to his allotted bungalow on Embassy Street in the isolated area. He was allotted a nice and cosy house with well-furnished rooms and facing the dense forest. He was impressed. He made himself comfortable. After a nice spicy dinner, he took charge of the bedroom, and soon was asleep.
Around midnight Satish was woken up by the sounds of an axe cutting a tree. He was surprised to notice someone doing such heavy work in those hours of the night. He opened the window. He found 2-3 persons cutting a full-grown tree with the axe. He was shocked to see them headless. Then one person picked up one large log of bark on his back, and passed by very close to the window.
Satish saw the person very closely, he was without any head. The person went behind his bungalow and dropped that piece of bark with a big thud.
Satish noticed that all the people cutting the tree had left the site. Nobody was to be seen. He did not dare to go into the backyard and look for the big piece of wood which was dumped with a big noise. He closed the window and laid on the bed wondering why these headless persons were following him whichever part of the world he was posted. That too just for the first night of taking the charge of posting.
But from the distant procession carrying a dead body, the site of their showing up was coming closer. In Trinidad, the headless person had close to the window. But nothing further. Satish was confused. Tired that he was, he slept sound and was woken up by the attendant when the sun shone brightly. During the ten months of stay in Port of Spain, there was no trace of headless persons.
A few months later Satish had to shift to Paris as the Ambassador of India to France.
He was allotted a well-furnished, superbly decorated flat on the 30th floor. He remembered the first night the headless persons would make their presence felt. He wondered how would they appear here in this very crowded place. He took the key to the flat and proceeded towards the elevator. His luggage had already reached his flat. He pressed the button to call the elevator. The elevator reached and the door was automatically opened. He stepped in. The elevator man pressed the number 30 without him saying anything. He was surprised. He thought the lift-man was informed about his stay by the reception personnel. On the 30th floor, the lift stopped with a tinkle to draw attention.
Satish stepped out of the elevator and while coming out he looked at the lift-man. Satish was horrified. The lift-man was headless. Before he could react, the elevator door closed and it went down. Satish tried to call the elevator back to his floor but failed, Suddenly he heard a very big bang. The elevator had crashed. Some security personnel came and checked up on Satish’s safety. They heaved a sigh of relief to find him unhurt.
The next day, Satish was informed that after the crash no body was found in the lift. He was shocked and puzzled.
Nearly a year passed by and he received an intimation of him being transferred to Mauritius. When he landed in Port of Luis, the capital of Mauritius, there was a long queue for immigration. In the queue, just behind him, he noticed a person was trying to draw his attention.
The person handed over a small note to him, and left hurriedly.
Satish opened the note and read the message.
“Dear Satish.
You may be wondering why a family of weird persons is following you everywhere you go. Read this carefully.
A gang of a large number of persons in our country is trying to uproot one ideology. They are acting by killing wonderful persons from our embassies who do not follow their ideology. They have killed more than 25 intelligent and dedicated persons during the last 15-20 years. The matter is hushed up by taking advantage of being away from our country. Please take care of yourself. You may be on their list. We do not want any more headless people in our family. Beware.”
Satish folded the note and slipped it in his pocket. Suddenly he noticed a person with a revolver aimed at him. Swiftly he dodged the bullet and attacked the person who had fired at him. He could capture him, and hand him over to the Police.
After all the formalities with Police, Satish called the Delhi office and narrated the entire incident. Within an hour a personal security guard joined him.
Soon the gang behind the conspiracy was nabbed.
Satish did not face the warning alarms by the headless persons anymore.
Vijay Likhite