Gunday

They met one last time. Not in a warehouse. Not in a club. In a small tea stall near the Howrah Bridge, on a grey monsoon morning. Bala was out on parole. Bikram had returned for a dead comrade’s funeral. They sat across from each other. Two old men. The coal dust had long since washed out of their lungs.

He walked into the rain. Bala watched him disappear into the crowd. The gunday were gone. Only the brothers remained. gunday

The Holi heist worked. They walked out with the coal documents while the police were drenched in colored water. But Vardhan was waiting at their hideout. A firefight erupted. Bala took a bullet for Bikram. In the chaos, Nandini was revealed as a police informant. She had been Vardhan’s eyes the entire time. They met one last time