Rendition revisited!

A few days ago I watched the movie ‘Rendition’ and subsequently a few events took place in my life which I could relate to the movie. It’s amazing how life sometimes throws so many coincidences at you.

For those who have not watched the movie, here is a brief summary to put things into perspective. The movie is about the impact of US Foreign Policy post Sep 2011 that allowed US authorities to detain suspects in secret facilities (mostly at foreign locations) and interrogate them. Basically rendition involves detention and interrogation without a trial. The movie is a good one, albeit a little slow paced, it has a very good plot and two stories have been presented very well that gives the viewer enough to judge the policy.

Coming back to my story, a few days before we watched the movie I had received a call from my cousin who lives in Dubai. He calls me every now then, just for the usual family talks. This time when he called I was at work and was busy so I informed him that I would call back later. I called him the day after I watched this movie (Rendition), nothing spooky till now. Somehow I must have goofed up the number, because when I dialed someone at the other end picked up and acknowledged in Arabic (guess so). I had no clue what he was talking about, I tired English and a couple of other languages that I can speak but this fellow kept talking in his language. I tried repeating my Cousin’s name, hoping this was some friend of his who might have accidentally got hold of this cell or maybe someone who works with him. No luck, the person at the other end went on non stop. Frustrated (and a little scared), I said ‘sorry, wrong number’ and hung up.

If you are wondering why I got scared, it had something to do with ‘Rendition’. In the movie the person they detain is a good law abiding citizen who is detained only because the intelligence agency traced some calls to his cell phone from someone in the troubled parts of the world. Does that ring a bell?

Later that day, a little past midnight, a message popped up near the taskbar on my laptop indicating that I had received an invitation from a new contact on Skype. Apparently someone wanted to be in touch with me, nothing wrong with this until I find that the name of this new contact is ‘Pervez Khan’. I really got terrified, not just because of the name, but because of the things that had happened earlier that day and more importantly because I have never come across anyone with this name. This was too much of a coincidence for me, I immediately blocked the contact, turned off my laptop and tried to get some sleep.

Phew! What a day it was, I am hoping that the coincidences in my life related to ‘Rendition’ ended that day itself.