The debt we all owe- Chapter 1 : Detective Ravi Sharma

"The wrath of nature is quick and merciless, it strikes down all, the rich and poor, the proud and humble the wrong and the just..... and the culprits and innocents, there is no prejudice, but only retribution".

- A native saying.

Ravi Sharma is a police detective in suburban Bangalore, living with his fiancé - Riya. The two take a trip to a famous hill station named Mudukana Kota, which is primarily a tea estate. Riya very heavily insisted Ravi to go on this trip as his detective work was at the expense of his personal life and relationship with Riya. They reach their hotel and check in to their room, when they enter their room they are greeted by a family of wild monkeys residing there, which astounds Ravi.

This little incident reminds Ravi of what a taxi driver told him while on their way to the hotel, "Don't be surprised if you see a tiger in your hotel or other such happenings, we have invaded their home, we should bear the consequences", Ravi at the time laughed it off thinking the driver was joking but he was dead serious when he said so. While taking a walk around the hotel, he overhears some of the caretakers gossiping about the long unsolved disappearance of a little girl named Adhya.

Joining in their gossip, Ravi learns that little Adhya had visited the hill station with her parents, they were all tourists on vacation. One morning the girl disappeared as if into thin air and was simply never found later on, the caretakers go on to state that this incident cost the hotel quite a bit due to all the investigations and "outside" attention, Ravi picks up on the implication that disappearances seem to be quite common in this place, but in Adhya's case was different since she was a tourist. Ravi insists on knowing more and the caretakers conclude by saying that the only lead the police got was a ransom letter, which was traced to one Prateek Hegde who was prematurely arrested, and was formerly a gardener in this very hotel.

Later that day Ravi and Riya visit some local sight seeing places like an embroidery shop, a small native dance show and the rest, throughout the day Ravi is zoned out and is constantly thinking about the disappearance case, silently picking up on other local disappearances during his time sight seeing, all the more annoying Riya.

The next morning, without even informing Riya, Ravi heads out to the police station, while finding his way, he passes an old monk who is rambling prophecies, or so he claims, when the monk sees Ravi he grabs his hand and shouts a prophecy with a lot of ferocity-

"The wrath of nature is quick and merciless, it strikes down all, the rich and poor, the proud and humble the wrong and the just..... and the culprits and innocents, there is no prejudice, but only retribution".

Ravi is left quite shaken by this but anyway continues to the police station, using his badge to prove that he is indeed a policeman himself, and that he wants to meet with the currently captured Prateek Hegde, when that doesn't suffice he offers the police some money and is taken to Hegde.

He pleads innocence and outright states that the police framed him by planting evidence and concocting a ransom letter, "Why would I murder the child if I wanted to exchange her for money?", Hegde rightly points out, convincing Ravi that indeed, the real culprit is still at large and is the one responsible for continued disappearances, also easily inferring that the police is corrupt and has been probably paid off by the real culprit. When he returns to the hotel, Riya has already had her breakfast and is angered at Ravi's behavior, rightfully guessing that he was out investigating some case and is further dismayed that he actually brought his police badge when they were supposed to be on vacation.

Ravi apologizes and Riya is only barely consoled. The two continue their sight seeing and visit many tea gardens and the famous dam which powers the town, there Ravi learns that due to some unexpected weather conditions, they have more water in the river than expected and have been letting it into the town more than required as of late, causing a mishap where in one of the houses, the water controls was destroyed due to excessive water supply, and the house was flooded as a result. This seems to concern Ravi, who thinks back to the supposed warning of the old monk.

That night Ravi is visited by officer Saurav, who wanted to talk more about the disappearance case but restrained from doing so in front of his superiors and peers. He tells Ravi that he has also heard Hegde's claims and they are indeed true, the real culprit is out there and Saurav knows who it is, the whole town knows who it is - a man named Rajan Tilak who resides at the edge of the Shivanagiri hill and the foot of the forest leading to the hill, where some dangerous tribes reside.

When Ravi questions why the police simply ignore Rajan's wrongdoings, Saurav replies that though they don't want to admit it, everyone is afraid of Rajan, he is a ruthless and uncouth criminal who is plenty acquainted with the local native tribes, and along with them manufactures and deals drugs, and also kidnaps children and hands them over to the natives who sacrifice them as ritualistic killings, the townspeople also know to avoid the forest, as the natives lure children into the forest and kidnap them. Ravi now becomes very determined in arresting Rajan, and Saurav also agrees despite it costing him repercussions as well.

The next morning, Riya seems to have had it with Ravi and his blatantly inconsiderate behavior and decides to leave to Banglore, breaking off the engagement. Ravi apologizes but understands and the two split amicably, Ravi is somewhat relieved as the monk's warning is still on the back of his mind, he would prefer it if Riya is absent from Mudukana Kota if something bad happens.

The following day, Ravi and a nervous Saurav visit the feared Rajan, learning about his background on the way to his residence, Ravi learns of Rajan's rather tragic personal life, he was a tea estate owner many years ago, around the time he got embroiled in his illegal drug dealing business with the natives, he somewhat in retribution lost his wife and child to a deadly plague, and had a major loss in his tea estate, which pushed him more into the life of crime, addiction and prophecy. This background on Rajan again reminds Ravi of the monk's warning, "culprits and the innocent" and "retribution" ringing in his ears.

Rajan seems courteous in welcoming Ravi to his modest residence, since he is an outsider, but his tone quickly changes as Ravi starts asking about Adhya's disappearance and he says to Ravi, "You're new here, which is why I'll pardon you, but beware, there won't be a second time", warns Rajan. Later that day Ravi notices some natives trailing him and infers correctly that its Rajan's courtesy and thinks about questioning the natives themselves instead of going after Rajan.

The next day Ravi wakes up to unusually heavy rains and learns that many houses near the dam have crushed and 16 people have been killed as a result, Ravi again senses foul play in this incident but dismisses his suspicions, blaming it on his needlessly inquisitive mind. For the next two days there are wildly heavy rains and Ravi is virtually stranded in the hotel, he contemplates leaving Mudukana Kota.

Saurav makes a perilous journey to meet Ravi and dejectedly informs him that his residence was destroyed, Ravi guesses that it was washed away in the rain but Saurav says it was Rajan's men who ransacked his house because he had accompanied Ravi the other day.

Now enraged over Rajan's wrongdoings, Ravi decides not to leave the town and to go ahead to meet the natives. Saurav discourages him from doing so, pointing out that first off the natives live deep in the forest and given the violent weather it would be advisable not to go to the forest, and secondly, Ravi may all well lose his life if he actually goes into the forest to meet the natives.

Ravi anyway makes up his mind, and against Saurav's warnings, decides to travel to the forest.

To be continued...….