Who's the victim anyway?

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It was midnight. Baljit woke up in cold sweat, insides churning. An acidic bile rose in his throat and suddenly a weird idea popped into his head: I'm not going to survive this night, he thought. Frightened, he sat up.

Logically, it was nonsensical "" he was a healthy 40-year-old man, this was just indigestion. But then, his chest felt as if his heart was swelling up uncomfortably inside, and he just knew he had till 2.30 am to live. He frantically woke up his wife, and began telling her where all his papers were kept. "Can't this wait till morning?" she asked sleepily.

He explained, gasping for air and feeling sicker by the minute. She rushed him to the hospital where the doctors assured him nobody ever died of indigestion, and gave him antacids and a sedative.

He woke up the next morning, tears coursing down his face, sure that something was seriously wrong. His wife and father were convinced that Baljit was a victim of black magic, tantra.

He went to work that morning, his wife couldn't induce him to neglect the printing business he owned for even a day. His cousin Pradeep, who worked for him, noticed he looked unwell. When Baljit told him what had happened, he was concerned.

"Go home and rest, I'll handle everything!" Baljit thought to himself, "it was good that I brought my brother from the village to work for me, after all blood is thicker than water!"

Apart from the fact that every now and then he would ask Baljit to make him a partner (which Baljit refused to do because Pradeep had no money to invest in the business), Pradeep was a good man to have around. When his wife insisted they consult a renowned tantrik in Kurukshetra, he left the business for his cousin to handle and went.

"I'm surprised you're still alive!" said the tantrik to Baljit , "for very strong black magic is being done on you by a close relative."Baljit's wife and father were scared witless, specially when the tantrik said that his ill-wisher's name began with the letter P. Baljit pooh-poohed the whole episode. But he was worried about his health.

A reiki master, he always felt in tune with his body "" and the signals he was getting were not good. He was sure that something was amiss inside him. His wife then dragged him to two other tantriks. The first one echoed the first tantrik's opinion.

The second one said, "your enemy, whose name begins with P, is around you all the time. Maybe he's your brother?" Baljit turned to see Pradeep behind him, a concerned frown on his face.

Could his ill wisher be Pradeep "" his cousin and second-in-command? Maybe he was doing this to usurp his business, Baljit mused, thanking his stars that he hadn't made Pradeep a partner. Now that the seeds of suspicion had been sown, Baljit and his wife returned to the tantrik to for advise on how to counter the effects of Pradeep's black magic.

"Don't keep him close to you. This bad patch will be over by October this year, till then you'll have to be very careful," the tantrik advised.

It's been a fortnight since this episode, and Pradeep's been out of a job since. "I have no money, how will I support my wife if Baljit doesn't take me back?" he cries. He's begged all his and Baljit's relatives to intercede on his behalf, but everyone's steering clear of him.

They're not bothered that he's perhaps a bigger victim of black magic than the dyspeptic Baljit.