The graveyard

The year was 2000.I was in the 10th grade. Every Sunday morning I would wake up early and get ready for the tuition classes at 12pm. And I used to go to Venky’s tuitions back in school. I still shudder when I recall those days. On one Sunday morning, as usual I woke up early got ready and revised the lessons so to avoid getting whacked by His [un]Holiness for not being able to answer his questions. The day was bright. I felt good. I had studied well. I felt he couldn’t whack me for answering the questions. So I got ready and I took the usual route to the bus stop. I walked through a now nonexistent graveyard so as to reach the main road quickly. I had done this for years. That particular morning while I was passing through the graveyard, I noticed a skull and a few bones of some dead human being lying around. The bones were probably lying there for a few days. Or weeks. I don’t know. I panicked. It looked so gory back then. Something told me a partial skeleton lying in this fashion was not right. I felt there could have been a murder a few days ago and the body decomposed and all that remained was the skull and the few bones. Back in high school I was in love with Forensic science. I was crazy about it. I knew something was wrong. I had to go to the police station which was a good 3 km away. Back then I didn’t have a cell phone. So I couldn’t call anyone for help. And the bus that I usually take to tuition passed right in front of the police station. So I took the bus which arrived just seconds after I managed to reach the stop. I was puffing and panting. I had to act fast. I kept thinking I had discovered a crime and I was going to help the police crack the murder. I did act fast. I was still puffing and panting even when the disgruntled bus conductor asked me where I wanted to go. I told him police station. He nodded and asked for 3 rupees. I pulled out a 50 rupee note and thrust it in his hands. He flatly refused to give me change. I could barely conjure words to explain I didn’t have change. I kept pleading him. And he just ignored me. Luckily one middle aged gentleman asked me if I wanted change. I managed to say yes and he paid for the ticket. I couldn’t thank him enough for the help. He asked me if I was alright. By now I could breathe a bit more easily so I explained that a murder had taken place a few days ago and that the bones were scattered around. The gentleman panicked and said not to worry and go call the police. The bus screeched to a halt in front of the police station. I thanked him and jumped off the bus and ran straight into the reception where I was greeted by a stern looking constable. He asked me nonchalantly what the matter was. I was very nervous because I’d never uttered the words “dead body”, “murder”, and “skeleton” in a serious tone. I mustered courage and told him that a murder had taken place close to my place and that there were a few bones scattered around. It was then that I managed to capture his attention. He immediately pulled out a register and started asking me questions. I obliged and when I was asked which class I was studying in and who my class teacher was, I felt that was way too much detail one could be asked for. I thought how does it matter who my class teacher was or which section I belonged to. I felt that was unnecessary and a waste of time. But I had no more courage left to protest at that. So I sheepishly gave all the unnecessary details he was worming out of me. Then a fat policeman came toward me and asked me even more details. I gave him the most accurate description of the “crime scene”! He asked me if the body was male or female. I had told him it was just bones and there was no way of finding out the gender. I told him there was no skin, hair, teeth etc. It was just bones and that’s it. I was irritated when the cop asked me if the body was male or female. I raised my voice and told him the same thing again. He somehow understood. I felt relieved I was not going to get arrested for shouting at a cop. He then went in and a few minutes later he asked me to show him the “crime scene”. I hoped onto his rusty police scooter and directed him to the exact spot. We arrived at the spot and even before he’d stopped his scooter, I jumped off and ran pointing toward the bones. He parked his scooter, unclipped his helmet and started scanning the “crime scene”. At the same moment my neighbour’s driver happened to pass by the same spot and he recognized me and asked me what was going on. I was in no mood to speak to him and the cop suddenly started yelling at me. Before I knew it the driver joined in chorus and stated that those bones were dug up by some dogs and that he’d seen them lying around for several weeks! The cop was controllably furious at me for wasting his time!
The driver added fuel to the fire and laughed when I told him it was a murder. The policeman was mighty pissed off at that point! I just could not believe I was so silly and I imagined that there was a murder all thanks to my passion I had for forensic science! I just wanted to crawl under a rock and die! I had nowhere to hide my face! And all this happened in about an hour.
I usually left home 2 hours before the start of the classes as Venky was just waiting for one of us to come late so that he could satiate his carnal desire of whacking us for coming late. So I never took any chance and used to leave home early. Luckily after all this drama I still had an hour to go and the bus journey to the class was about 30 minutes and another 5 minute walk from the bus stop to the class. Luckily I managed to reach the class with 20 odd minutes to spare and I joined my friends who were busy mugging formulae and what not while I was still red with embarrassment and I gulped a bottle of water and felt like I wish I could drown in the water instead of embarrassment!