Chapter 1.
Wed,2.15 am ,Jun-18-2005

'This Does not Look good',muttered Rahul. how long will this code run?
god!!! i've been here for the last 17 hrs even my arse has started to grumble.

Rahul,'Software Engineer', Vsnl,Mumbai Very talented young man taken up by VSNL from an obscure company in mirzapur,uttar pradesh,when it was working on a co-proejct six months back.

'Hey ,Man ! i'm here to rescue you',chimed amit.
and about time too,you know i've been waiting for the last 5 hours ,my shift is supposed to end at 9 pm,for crying out loud',shouted Rahul.

'I Know, I Know but please take into account the rains fella .Its been pouring down for the last 36 hours and yesterday i reached my place at 12 in the afternoon.,can you believe that.

'Ok, i forgive you but just have a look at this code.,I'll like to get a coffee, i just don't feel like goin away and as you have come over lets tackle this together.Remember you were hinting at a leak at the barc website someone was trying to break through, well that some one , well lets name him Mr.X has succeded.

At, 18.30 pm IST we got the news that there has been a breach , though the severity was low but still its a matter of naitional security and since we are the ones responsible for provinding the gateway the firewall breach will not keep us in good stead.So ,Mukul and i sat down and created a patch code to trace this Mr.X. The code has been running for the last 6 hours, seems like Mr. X had given us a good trail, set up at 'hamburg', germany, to paris hopping to london, then to dallas we followed it to sao polo ,but after that we can't follow it ,like it just vanished.

'Probably another pakistani kid',said Amit,'may be yes, the MO looks the same ,break into an indian Goverment site and create havoc but the way it was executed ,points more in the direction of a skilled professional.', 'The way this hacker of ours gives us a trail from hamburg , itself indicates that something is amiss , a piece of the jigsaw is missing.'

'Well , i am out of here need to get some rest please cover me for a couple of hours.Iin the morning, I'll try to come earliest by 10 am , and if anything develops keep me and mukul updated.

Wed,2.30 am ,June-18-2005
"Sahib ,mera chaata le jao to",Mahesh the night guard at the desk requested.
He liked Rahul,he was amongst the few people who smiled at him and joked with him.Who cared for a guard any way but not Rahul ,very warm and humble."Nahin Mahesh idhar station to nazdeek hee hai aur barish bhi todhi kam hai, main chale jaunga.

Mumbai at this hour looked perfectly serene A cool breeze was blowing inwards from the sea.
Rahul rushed throught towards the church gate terminus to catch the local train to santacruz. He reached the platform in time to see the train chugging out of the station.

"Shit, i hate it, first the hacker crap; now this ; God what i need right now is a hot bubble bath with a chilled beer.... Anyhow... I'll have to wait for the next train due in 45 mins.. ",he muttered.

"Bhai,zara chai dena ,aaj ye platform par litna anderha kyun hai.. ?",inquired Rahul from the railway vendor.
"babuji,woh baarish ki wajah se line down hai.. ab to subah tak hi thik hogi.. bus ye kuch inverter wale lamp lagain hain...",vendor said.


Rain had petered down to a light drizzle it felt good as the breeze flowing in created a wonderful effect.
In a humid city like Mumbai... this was a rarity ,but then how many people are stuck in the wee hours of morining at a platform on a rainy night... NOT MANY..
Drizzling had stopped and like magic the clouds had parted a little and suddenly the platform was swathed in an eerie glow of moonlight.

Sipping on his tea ,Rahul was strolling occupied in his thoughts when he noticed a silhouette of a woman standing about 50 feet away.

"Looks like I have company , but it seems weird ,a woman !!! at this hour!!!!!
Must be a whore returning from a hectic nights work...Who else will you find at this ungodly hour", He pondered.

That woman was advancing towards him slowly . Rahul was feeling apprehensive, a knot twisted in his stomach.

The platform was again in semi-darkness ,clouds preventing the moon light to filter through... the only light source the solitary lamp quite afar and the feeble glow of Rahul's Timex displaying 2.45 am .


"Where are you going", asked the mystery woman.
"to SantaCruz "Rahul said,"god she has a seductive voice, but who is she?? "he muttered under his breath.

"What a coincidence , me too ",the woman said.

"So you plannning to do something to night",said the woman.
"what do u mean?",Rahul gasped.."you know what i mean"
"I'm not interested",said Rahul getting figity.

"Oh ,but you will be ',said the mysterious woman.
"What do you mean???",just then a train screamed past the two of them; in the light of the train's headlamps Rahul saw that face."Sonya , is this you?",exclaimed Rahul."Yes, my dear it's me allright ",said the woman named Sonya., "But what are you doing
here?",asked Rahul.






Chapter 2


November-2000

"Happy Birthday to you Sonya, wishing you lots of happiness in life enjoy the day" said Rahul.
"Thank You Rahul, You are so sweet, a real pal!!!", Sonya said.

"Where's the food I’m starving cool environment baby great party, chicks look good though you're the best", Rajat who just arrived exclaimed.

"Rajat, stop ogling the girls and behave yourself,don't know why I keep up with you”, Sonya spoke flushed at Rajat's behavior.

"Darling because I'm the best thing that happened to you and you love me, by the way happy birthday to you couldn't find you "something decent hence brought you this”, saying this Rajat presented Sonya with a Red rose.

"Wow, Rajat it is beautiful, oh... I forgive you, come on lets get a beer".

"She is so intelligent can't understand how can she like such a guy”, interjected Steven.
"Aww, Rajat is a nice person just a little high spirited, though I wish she could have been on my side", Rahul said wistfully.
"Do you still like her??”

"What should I say, I like her yes I do; but if she is happy with Rajat why should I interfere".
"Well why shouldn't you, after all she still considers you a good friend”, said Steven” though I still can't understand why she left you in the first place".

"I don't want to talk about it”, said Rahul.

Sonya the most beautiful girl in the batch, a diamond in necklace, a prized catch.
She had arrived 4 months back from Banglore resplendent with her share of tales about the famed IT city and everyone was eager to lap it up, after all wasn't IT cool.

Combine this beauty with brains and you had a winning combination the toast of the entire batch a minor celebrity in such a short period.

"Come on Steve let’s move on, got to check on the program I was trying to make."

"Like hell, Mr. Gizmo man, why can't you be normal?"
"But I am Steve, I just think differently".

"Well if thinking about security breaches tapping into people's email accounts is normal then I am abnormal right".

"No, mate it's just harmless fun, by the way I’m upto something new this time, remember I told you I created a patch so that I can access yahoo id's well I have made a modification so that when I am chatting with the person on yahoo messenger I can trace his IP address simultaneously and access his system".

"You, gotta be kidding me", Steve exclaimed, "How can you do that?”

"I can do anything, lets move."

"Hey Rahul, you dropped your keys, but why do you have this broken RAM still with you?”

Back in the safety of his room Rahul remembers the day when he got this RAM the day he met Sonya. Sonya beauty with brains, which Rahul grudgingly came to acknowledge.



July-2000
Rahul was as usual working in the computer lab. And she came in, flustered, tired and livid cos’ her computer was not working.

“Excuse me, are you the assistant?”“ I need some help my PC just arrived this morning and since I was attending classes I didn’t had the time to set it up.”
“Now when I tried it its making weird noises could you help me? pleaded the girl.

“Well I am kind of busy?”
“Oh, but it will take only a few minutes, please”.

“Ok, lets go.”

“ The motherboard seems to be fine, oh! There is the fault the RAM it is broken, must have chipped off.”

“Oh my, what am I going to do don’t worry miss I’ll get you a new one in the meanwhile I’ll arrange for a replacement from the3 lab.”

“Thanks Mr…”
“Rahul, that’s my name.”
“And I am Sonya, hey great to meet you So how long you’ve been working here?”Sonya asked.
“I don’t work here, I study, fiddling around the lab is just one of my past times.”

“I’m really sorry, didn’t knew that, I dragged you along for this chore”, she told him.
“Never mind, listened just manage today I’ll get you a new piece in the morning see you then.”

“Hey kind stranger I mean Rahul, here take this and Sonya shoved one half of the RAM into Rahul’s hand.”
“What will I do with it?”He inquired.

“Oh, I’m sorry I just wanted to say thank you and as token of our friendship give you this piece." "Will be waiting for you in the afternoon."


“Hey, Steve! Guess what?” shouted Rahul as he rushed into the reading room.

“What? I don’t have time; have to complete my assignments.”

“Today I met the new girl, the transfer student.”
“You mean Sonya, wow! She’s a beaut, but why would she waste time with a nondescript like you. I’m the only one who listens to your plinth.”

“Stop your grumbling and listen to me.”
“I’m all ears though where it’s leading to I don’t know.”
“So, she came up in the lab late in the afternoon, I immediately recognized her had seen her in the morning lecturer, but I remained indifferent. She thought I was the assistant.
Looking very hysterical, had some problem in her computer, and I fixed it for her.”

“So you were a technician big deal to fix someone’s computer.”

“Yeah, but not this”, and Rahul showed Steve the broken piece of RAM.
“She gave this to me saying this will seal our friendship.”
........................................................................................................

“It’s a wonderful place, what a splendid view I can see the whole city spread down below from here. Sun setting behind the mountains it’s fantastic. How did you find this place?”

“Well it’s a secret I’ve been coming to this place since I was in class 10, it’s my brooding place whenever I have some problem I come here.”

“So you mean to say I am your problem, u naughty boy?”
“I didn’t say that”
“Yes you did ,nutter.”
“Sonya!!” exasperated Rahul.

“Rahul would you like to kiss me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Haven’t you kissed a girl before? Here give me you hand.”


Sonya gently moved her fingers across Rahul’s face, clasping his hands behind her back, moving them closer.
Being in such close proximity of Sonya made something stir inside Rahul.
Nervously he brought his face closer to Sonya’s face.
She was turned on herself, with a hungry passion in her eyes.
“Now, now we do have a man here”, saying this Sonya locked her lips with Rahul.

When Rahul felt Sonya’s lips he felt numb, as if the whole world had stopped and he was falling into a vortex, a vortex of ecstasy, her perfume, her lipstick, all seemed out of this world.
He could feel the heat as he caressed her skin. It was heaven.

“I can’t do this”, and Rahul moved away from Sonya.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean its too early Sonya it’s just 1 month, I hardly know you.”
“So to kiss me you have to know me, next you’ll say lets get married because I want to have sex with you. Grow up Rahul ,you are not a kid anymore, stand up and take your decisions yourself.”
“I though you to be a mature and sensible person but you are still a boy.”

“But Sonya listen me out try to understand me.”
“No Rahul its over.”

............................................................

“It happened so suddenly Steve;I was wrong to ask her that I need some more time.”
“No I guess she was not cut out for you, back to your computer and your world.”

The continuous beeping sound broke Rahul’s daze, a message was flashing on his computer screen. Another attempt to hack into the digital movie portal was a success.
He was still the best.

Chapter 3.
Wed,2.45 am ,Jun-18-2005


"You did not answer my question. what are you doing at this platform in the middle of the night?",asked Rahul again.
"Waiting for the train so that i can go home".
"You live in Mumbai !!!!!!!, since when ?"
"Just about 2 months, i have shifted from bangalore, i am working in the advertising field now"

"Hmm... all that is good, but what are you doing here at this hour?",Rahul persisted sensing something is wrong.

"I have come to meet you, one last time