The Handprints.

Those days people would be very superstitious. Rumors would spread as fire. People in street no. 5&7 began to believe that some evil has engulfed them. Men had lost reason. Don't know who initiate it but a rumor spread in those two streets that it was all happening by the curse of a witch, who would come from the nearby Muslim cemetery. She was the one behind all these incidents. People would say that one by one she would visit the houses of those which were marked with black cross(X). She would knock the doors and ask for lemons and she would squeeze the lemon and blood would flow from it, if there would be no blood it meant that the residents of that were safe but blood would indicate fatal result. As the rumor spread people got furthermore scared. To avoid this every household was marked with 5 turmeric ✋handprints. In India, people have solutions for any curse.

Believe it or not.

Meanwhile, the vigilence at nights were turned more serious as from that night onwards, four persons were to guard each street. For adults, the situation was tense but for children it was a time of joy as nobody was allowed to go out even for studies. But for Pankaj, the death of Anju was an irreparable loss. She was the one with whom he could share his joys and sorrows. Even she had never hid any secret from her. She had told him how she disliked dancing on stage. She had told her mother many a time that she would hate her work, but her mother pressurised her to continue it.Anju's mother Rani was also a stage dancer in her youth. Now she was completely dependent on Anju as Bablu was an alcoholic and wouldn't do any work. Even he pressurised his sister to go and earn so that he could enjoy his drinks. He had also borrowed money from some goons.She was fed up of all this, and wanted to run away with Billu so that they could live away peacefully. But Billu was bound with his responsibility towards his family. So there was so immediate breather for her.

It was around 10pm when Pankaj heard noises coming from his street, he rushed out and saw that all the people of the street were gathered there panicked. Now what's the matter, he thought. He was told that all the turmeric ✋handprints were turned black ✋🏿.

Situation was turning uglier. Inspector Vijay was called , he reached the spot within 15 minutes. He too was perplexed as he had never seen such things in his career thus far. He was a man of logic, he never believed in superstitions. Therefore he ruled out the witchcraft theory of the people outright. But one thing he was sure of was that the case was not a simple one.

Three youngsters were killed so far and no clue was available. In addition to that these uncommon happenings.

Anju and Shammi were the two best stage dancers. They were highly in demand. Everyone wanted their performance at the weddings, but the wedding season in India is limited. So there was an unsaid competition between them. It was well known that they had a grudge against each other. But then both were dead. Inspector Vijay tried to investigate through every possible angle. He realised one thing that there were many other stage dancers who could get more opportunities then as both the best dancers were no more.

Pankaj thought that he should reveal the affair of Anju and Billu to Vijay, but he was in a dilemma. If he revealed it, things might get easier to solve the case but the family of Billu could get affected. So he remained quiet.

Inspector Vijay was working really hard on the case he talked to all the stage dancers of street no. 5&7.There were some important clues he was able to get.

Whenever it would get dark, people rushed inside their houses in an immense fear to what surprise they would get up with the following morning.

The next morning another surprise was waiting for them as above the black cross mark (X) something was written, but in some South Indian language. It was like this మీరంతా అపవిత్రులు .Nobody had any clue about it.There was nobody around who could get what was written and in which language. The whole matter was reported to Inspector Vijay, he immediately rushed to street no. 7 and saw the inscription. He found himself in a web where every effort would leave you even more tangled. What was happening? Who was doing it? How could anybody come and do so in spite of alert vigilence by four persons? what does this మీరంతా అపవిత్రులు mean? What kind of challenge was this? He decided to take the help of some Semiotic or polyglot.

He was there in street no. 7 when he received a wireless message, about the bare dead body of a young girl found at the cemetery. He immediately rushed there and found that all his investigation had come to zero, as this was the body of Seema, who was another stage dancer. Only yesterday he thought that he was close to solve the case , as after talking to all the dancers separately he came to know that after the murders of Anju and Shammi, it was Seema who got all their assignments. But then, even she was killed.

After sending her body for autopsy, he received a message that a polyglot is on the way to meet him. He remained in street no 7 waiting for the polyglot. When Mr. Raghav, a polyglot reached there, Vijay showed him the wordsమీరంతా అపవిత్రులు.He was shocked. Everyone asked him what those words meant. He said that these words are in Telugu, they stated, "Mīrantā apavitrulu! " which means All of you are profane( tum sab apavitra ho).