Aditi told me she would tell Minal about the physical relationship between us. She even threatened to use her influence and destroy my reputation. She swore to ruin my career unless I agreed to marry her.
As she began to exert pressure on me, I began frequenting bars. It was during one such visit that I met an almost-intoxicated former police dog handler, Chandrakant. He was a familiar face when I was a crime reporter.
This balding 60-something was spending the rest of his pension on liquor. His proclivity towards liquor had ruined his health, and family life. He had been kicked out of his father-in-law’s household and had been disowned by his wife and children.
We became a strange pair at the bar as my visits became more frequent. I loved dogs but never had the means or the time to maintain them. We began to discuss about dogs and Chandrakant would often talk about the techniques he employed to train sniffer dogs.
He talked about the four-week training course for sniffer dogs. It was during one such meeting that he spoke about pit bull terriers and how these dogs could turn deadly, if trained to do so. I had read books on dogs that mentioned that pit bull terriers were initially used to fight beasts and gladiators in Ancient Rome. The book also dispelled myths on how pit bull terriers were violent by nature.
The threats from Aditi had become unbearable and a source of nuisance. I had to act quickly to rid of this nuisance. When intoxicated, he would boast about how dogs could be trained to perform anything, even murder.
This statement made me think: Could I make Aditi “go away” forever. But then how, was the question. A mix of Discovery channel programmes on dogs and Chandrakant’s boastful talk on dog training techniques got me thinking - Would a dog be trained to kill?
I first had to placate Aditi. I called her for a meeting at Coffee Day and then began to make my moves. I told her that I had reconsidered what I had said and that I was sorry. I would marry her but that I needed a year or so to stabilise my position in the company. By now, I had held the position of senior media manager in Sharma Group of companies.
The next visit to the bar was a business meeting with Chandrakant. I spoke to him about Pit Bull Terriers and how they could be trained. Even though age and liquor had blunted Chandrakant’s appearance, his business acumen had not. He eyes twinkled and he licked his lips at the thought of a prospective business proposition.
After a lot of persuasion and haggling, he agreed Rs. 7 lakh as the “fee” for the “deed”. He wanted payment to be in cash only and the cost of the pup would be borne by me. Now the first task was to identify a place where Chandrakant could train the pup.
Half the amount was to be paid during the training and the final instalment after the “deed”. His opinion was that a dog would be ready by the end of a year for the “task”.
Meanwhile, between my busy work schedules I visited Aditi trying to calm her down by reaffirming my fidelity in our relationship. While this progressed, I convinced her that my relationship with Minal was just friendship. It was safe since Minal had not expressed her feelings about me to her father since she thought it was not yet the right time.
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