From the pages of an unopened book(2)

As the day dawned, he continued staring at the sky through the open window of his bedroom. He had occupied the couch next to the window more than 6 hours before after an half-hour's effort to get some sleep proving futile. As if the sight of the orange sun gave him new energy,he suddenly stood up and looked around himself. He noticed that nothing had moved since the time he had occupied the couch, including his friend who lay peacefully asleep on the bed next to his.

He had always envied his friend ever since he had known him.His friend was so calm even in nerve-wrecking situations.He had often wondered how.But,today the sight of his friend's calm face was testing his nerves.Impulsively, he went and shook him. His friend grinned with half-open eyes on seeing his tensed face and muttered, "Hey, chill dude.It'll turn out alrite". Unconvinced, he gave a watery smile to his friend who had drifted back to sleep."I mustn't annoy him too much. It'll mean trouble for me only.",he thought,rebuking himself. He paced the bedroom a few times befor picking up the file that lay on his bed. He held it carefully and flicked through the pages .Curriculam vitae,certificates,transcripts,... yes everything was there. He took a closer look at the transcripts to see if someone may realise they were fake."No",he thought "I'm just being too paranoid."This file was the result of 48 hours of hard-work.It looked too perfect for anyone to doubt.He wondered if he had forgotten to include something."Passport,perhaps?",he questioned himself,"Did they ask for passport during job interviews?".But he had no chance of knowing as he had been unemployed from the day he had dropped out of college.

Today's was once in a lifetime opportunity. It could make or break his entire life."No",he told himself "I'm not going to spoil the day by being tensed.In the end, the confidence with which I speak is only going to prove decisive.Even if they ask for passport, I can make some excuse."

The clock struck 7 times indicating the time. He rushed to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast for him and his friend. He returned with a tray having 4 sandwiches and 2 glasses of milk. His friend who had woken up by then, grinned and took the tray from him.By the time he had finished his glass of milk,his friend had devoured the sandwiches and the milk in his glass."We'll start in an hour.And buddy, you'll mess it up if you look so tensed",he friend said walking out of the room.

Exactly an hour later, he was driving the scooter with his friend at the back. They reached the police checkpoint and there was a long queue ahead.He had anticipated this. But,he knew his nerves wouldn't stand the wait.To his friend's surprise,he cut the queue and drove towards the policeman.Before his friend could come of the shock and rebuke him for his hasty action, he was already talking to the policeman. The policeman watched disinterestedly as he rambled on about how crucial this job was to him and if he didn't reach the place in another 20 minutes,it was as good as gone.

"You think the other people in the line are standing here because they want to?Are you the chief minister's son or something?",the policeman shouted,glaring at him.
"Saab,please saab.If you leave me early, God will bless you, my ammi,abbu,my entire family will bless you.Saab, please I really need this job ..."he pleaded.
The policeman cut him short saying, "Acha, you are begging so much so...".Then he came closer and whispered"100 Rs."
His friend who was really amused by now took out a fresh hundred rupee note and slid it into the policeman's half-outstretched hand. The policeman gave a brief grin and moved slightly back allowing them to proceed without checking.

He started the scooter and drove at full speed. Just after he turned around the corner, he stopped the scooter and got down.He wanted to jump up, throw his hands up in jubilation but he didn't want his friend to think he was too excited. He carefully removed the packets of cocaine tucked carefully on the inner side of his jean which were held tightly with his belt.As he handed them over to his friend, he said "That guy didn't even ask for the file to see if I'm really going for a job interview".
"I told you that policemen in this country aren't so thorough.They just want money we give them.Ok, then I'll go and deliver this to the party.I'll tell Salim bhai how good you were.He'll be really pleased to hear how you managed to escape without checking and he'll allow you to join our gang also. We need young people like you. Toh kal Salim bhai ke adde pe aajana"