Arijit stood in line at the US Consulate. The sun was beating down with all its intensity. The new cotton shirt stuck to his skin. But Arijit was oblivious to the heat. He felt as light as a bird. As the sound track rose to a crescendo on his mp3 player, Poltu, as Arijit’s friends preferred to call him, tapped his shoes on the pavement ever so slightly.
It was a hot Saturday afternoon as Arijit skipped across Shakespeare Sarani. His dreams were about to be realized.
The hard cricket ball thudded into his pads. Arijit cursed under his breath. Swarnendu Sir would beat the hell out of him if he would see him cursing when he was on the cricket field or during practice. The bat swing wasn’t proper. It just didn’t feel right. The under edge thankfully crashed onto his left pad, or else it was curtains for him during the net practice. Arijit took his stance again, the next ball was short again and as he pivoted on his right leg and brought his bat down in the arc that he had shadow practiced for hours, the ball kissed the top edge of his bat and flew to where fine leg would have been.
Swarnendu sir shook his head, visibly angry with Poltu’s feeble attempt at the pull, he asked him to take of his protective head gear so that he can get the balance right. The trick worked momentarily till tragedy struck. Relatively comfortable without the helmet, Poltu struck the ball neatly in the direction of mid-on perfectly in position while playing the shot, his head completely still. But he just felt that his left shoulder should move more towards square leg. Rahul’s next ball was in the slot of the pull through mid-on, but Arijit’s swivel ensured he missed the line of the ball and the red cherry struck him above his right ear, cutting his ear and thudding into his skull.
Swarnendu sir froze as Poltu slumped to the floor, by the time he was beside Poltu’s still body, Poltu’s split ear was bleeding profusely. The ambulance arrived at the Deshbandhu cricket academy within fifteen minutes. Poltu was rushed to ESI hospital. The CAT scan showed a hairline skull fracture.
The blow to Poltu’s head caused more damage than Poltu had realized. His cricketing career was cut short at the insistence of his parents and relatives. Swarnendu sir came to visit him once during his stay at the hospital ruffled Poltu’s hair, eked out a meek smile before leaving. Poltu had never seen sir emotional but that afternoon in the ICU of ESI hospital the middle aged cricket coach had indeed shed a tear. He had lost a prospective India cap to the Bengali middle-class grind and a freak accident.
The crowd at Kolkata international airport was thin in the wee hours of the morning. Arijit flipped through the pages of a cricket magazine. He looked at the full size picture of Rahul and an article on the newest fast bowling sensation of Indian cricket. Arijit felt his stomach churn a little, he recollected those sessions where he would knock Rahul all over the park at Swarnendu sir’s cricket nets after school.
Arijit looked at his luggage fondly; his life had taken a different turn after that fateful blow five years ago. Arijit hit his books with a vengeance once he was discharged from hospital, bringing all his competitive spirit into his academic career. He managed to get into one the most reputed engineering colleges. After which he just felt that he needed to do more. God had benevolent thought Arijit. He had never imagined that master’s from an US university was an achievable dream, but there he was, waiting for his flight which would take him across seven seas to a land where cricket was an unknown game. Arijit chuckled to himself as he contemplated taking interest in baseball. He could never give up his second love, cricket, the first being Ria.
Arijit saw her for the first time when he had gone to Swarnendu sir’s home to tell him about his admission to Jadavpur University. Arijit had seen Ria when she was a kid, but she had blossomed into a very pretty young girl. She brought out Arijit’s cup of tea as he sat talking to Swarnendu sir, Swarnendu sir was talking about Rahul’s magic ball to Sachin during the Ranji semi-final at Eden Gardens. Sir was sure that that ball was Rahul’s ticket for a call up to the under nineteen team scheduled to tour Australia during the summer. Ria kept the tray on the table in front of Arijit and looked up to him. His heart skipped a beat. He had never seen someone as beautiful as her in his life. Quickly he turned his face away, conscious that sir might notice.
As he was about leave, Ria came up and rushed up to sir and whispered something into his ear. Sir laughed and asked Arijit if he could manage to get Ria some passes to the fest at Jadavpur University’s up coming fest, her favorite local band was slated to perform at the event. Arijit promised to do the same.
The next time Arijit saw her was at the fest, swaying to the music of her favorite band at the fest. She had worn an orange salwar kameez; her hair was tucked behind her ears. Arijit stood close to her in the crowd. He could her smell her perfume. His senses clogged.
Ria liked Arijit the first day she saw him and the liking soon turned to a lot more. Especially after Arijit wanted to drop her home the day she went to his college for the fest.
This was his first time on an aircraft. Arijit got on to the American Airlines flight looked at the air hostess. They did look like those pictures he had just seen in one of the magazines. Keeping his luggage inside the overhead luggage cabin, Arijit sat down. Now he could read it. Ria had given him a letter and had instructed him to read it only when he had boarded the flight. There were seven pages on that letter, Arijit smiled, it was just like her. He noticed the last two pages just had “I Love You” written on it with a note at the bottom saying – “For all those times when I thought about it and didn’t tell you”.
Arijit unwittingly said “I love you too” aloud and then realized what he had done. Conscious of his mistake he looked at his neighbor on the flight. The bearded gentleman was looking at him suspiciously. Arijit mumbled something about his girlfriend’s letter but the gentleman didn’t seem interested and turned his face away.
Arijit went back to his letter. Ria had gone on and on about how she would miss him and how she wanted him to come back during his winter breaks. She wanted him to speak to Swarnendu sir that winter. Arijit closed his eyes, Ria really did love him. “U lucky bastard”, thought Arijit as he closed his eyes.
The blood was oozing out of his left wrist. He was curled up next to the restroom door. He couldn’t believe that this was happening to him. His co-passenger along with some other equally burly men was shouting in an Arabic dialect at the passengers and the crew, hurling them to one end of the aircraft. Arijit looked all around him. The passengers and the crew were in shock. It had hardly been thirty minutes since the flight had taken off. Arijit had stumbled over one of the passengers in the mini-stampede and stumbled on one of the hijackers which had prompted him to strike at Arijit with his knife.
The passengers were being boarded of the hijacked aircraft. The television reporter managed to get her hands on one of the airline carrier’s officials. This was the biggest story in a while and the correspondent didn’t want to miss out on the chance to cash in. The correspondent started quizzing the official on the turn of events inside the flight, the attempted hijack and the crew and passengers over-powering the hijackers.
Swarnendu sir switched on his television set. The news of the hijack flashed on all the news channels. The cup of tea in his hand fell as he heard an airlines official talk about the brave young man who had attacked one of the hijackers with an iron rod that he had snatched from another hijacker. The airlines official described how the crew had told him that the young Indian gentleman had swiveled on his left leg and crunched the rod into the skull of the hijacker.
Arijit had hit the perfect pull shot, but this time a bullet had gotten the better of him.
Showing posts with label Short Story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Short Story. Show all posts
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Embarassing Moment
After-youth wasn’t as much fun as Suraj had thought it would be. The pangs of that bulky EMI payment at the beginning of the month for a 650 square foot house in suburban Mumbai, checking BharatMatrimonial.com every night, hoping for some visits on his profile, the tension of his pending H1B visa application. Gone were the days when he could sit in front of the idiot box on a last Sunday afternoon, watching Friends re-runs, when he could jog for 5 minutes at a stretch without breaking a sweat, when he did not have to worry about his receding hairline and increasing waist line. After-youth sucked.
Suraj was a run of the mill IT engineer, whose only goal in life was to ensure that his CTC increased every consecutive financial year. Hailing from a middle class family in Bhopal, Suraj’s dream was to work in the Silicon Valley, drive a swanky car, and provide for his retired father and mother who was a home maker and to marry a girl, just like his mother, demure, non-ambitious. Utopia for every other Indian male.
His Silicon Valley dream was a work in progress, having applied for his H1B through a consultant. He had also bought a decent enough 2-BHK apartment in Mumbai, hoping he would be able to convince his parents to move from Bhopal to Mumbai. The EMI’s were a killer but his recent move to an MNC had somewhat eased his monthly woes with a fatter paycheck being credited to his savings account each month end and the daily auto fares being limited to a manageable extent since his new office was somewhat closer to his home.
Having taken care of most of his dreams and aspirations, Suraj had started work on his last and most important project- marriage. Though his mother had been after him for a couple of years now, but Suraj kept postponing the inevitable citing more pressing tasks at hand. But now the time was right, after-youth was fast progressing into middle age, the threshold of 30 was a year away, all hopes of getting a girl friend had been finally dumped, and one way love affairs just weren’t doing it for him any more.
One night, after having seen Hum Aapke Hain Kaun for the nth time on his laptop, Suraj finally decided to do it. He never thought he would have to but it was now or never. He logged onto the internet, opened a browser and registered himself on BharatMatrimonial.com
It had been three weeks since that fateful night and Suraj had received numerous enquiries. He had informed his parents about his intentions and they had given him a go-ahead. All they wanted was their only son to be settled in life. They wanted him to be happy, and oh yes, preferably to a kaisthya girl from the same community, not shorter than 5’3”, fair, and a graduate. That is all Suraj’s parents wanted.
These online matrimonial sites were such a blessing for guys like Suraj. Without them a majority of the geek population in India would be restricted to eyeing all those guys with females beside them at multiplexes, indulging in self pity in all the liquor parties during weekends, downloading porn and indulging in 2-3 minutes (time might vary in this large demographic, depending on a truck load of parameters, which we will delve into maybe in a different story) of arm strengthening activity at any point of the day.
Suraj had given his girl friend hunting aspirations an honest shot, but there was little hope in engineering college with 700 odd boys running after less than a dozen girl-like girls in campus. His five odd years in the IT industry had seen him falling in love a couple of times, but unfortunately before the fairer sex could know that this bespectacled geeky short stout guy was head over heels in love with them, they would either get married and pregnant or in one case become pregnant and get married.
It was the fourth week of Suraj’s momentous online activity; the most productive he had ever been on the internet other than his daily unmentionable download activities. Post lunch as Suraj decided to check his online profile, hoping for a profile visit, he found a mail; someone had visited his profile, found him interesting enough to have sent him a mail!!! He decided to visit the girl’s profile, to check out her snaps.
Interestingly, no matter how much guys talk about inner beauty, photographs are what drives them during arranged marriage initiatives probably it’s a secret convention to provide 3-D images of girls to prospective grooms.
Suraj’s search for “inner beauty” yielded satisfactory results and he immediately decided to take swift action. The plan of action would be to firstly inform his parents, provide them with the necessary details, so that the conventional exchange of dialogue could be initiated between the two households. Secondly he had to initiate contact with the girl and send a mail to her personal mail id.
Now this was the difficult task and beyond Suraj’s geeky skill-sets. Suraj decided to outsource this requirement to his good friend Banerjee. Banerjee was his close friend from his previous organization. A sweet and ex-frustrated geek like him. Suraj didn’t think too much of him till a year back Banerjee decided to drop the bomb shell. Apparently Banerjee had a girl friend in his hometown Kolkata, a college mate. Banerjee’s FOSLA club membership was invalid to start off with and was terminated with immediate effect. But this news had ensured that Banerjee’s stature had increased manifold in Suraj’s eyes.
The email task had to be executed by Banerjee and after some convincing Banerjee agreed.
Suraj’s multi-pronged strategy soon reaped benefits. The girls family was impressed by the fact that their daughter wouldn’t have to put up with prying sister-in-laws, the boy already had a house in Mumbai and the parents being in Bhopal, there would be no saas-bahu dramas. The boy seemed ambitious enough with a US visa pending approval, the time seemed ripe to reel him in. Convincing Suraj about keeping his parents in Bhopal didn’t take long. After all for the first time in Suraj’s life, he had found someone who would accompany him to multiplexes without 3-4 more guys hanging around, he wouldn’t have to fight to sit next to her, calling her at any time of the day wouldn’t warrant a second thought. Suraj’s dreams of a life partner seemed to be coming true, seemed like another unfulfilled task off his checklist.
The families soon decided to get the two budding live birds married later mid of next year, a date about 8 months away. Suraj had already started preparing, booking the marriage hall in Bhopal, evaluating honeymoon destinations, fitting things into his tight budget and preparing himself to see his 5 years savings getting hit to an unimaginable extent. But he hadn’t planned for Valentines Day. As soon as Banerjee heard of that, he bombarded Suraj with expletives, explaining how important V-Day was prior to the wedding, it could make or break his chances. Banerjee asked Suraj to keep his ears and eyes open, he couldn’t afford to slip up so close to his target. The Valentines Day gift had to be apt and perfect.
Following a brain storming session over a Sunday afternoon lunch at Banerjee’s place with Banerjee, Banerjee’s wife and Suraj, Banerjee’s wife struck gold. The best gift would obviously be a girl’s best friend (this wasn’t just a suggestion for Suraj) and a customized gift suggesting hard work and effort put into the process.
Banerjee’s wife was a worldly woman, keeping herself abreast with the recent happenings in tinsel town. She had read in one of the dailies that a tinsel town actor and gifted his actress girlfriend a cd of songs with his own commentary before the song, linking the song to some moment in their relationship. But Mrs.Banerjee suggested Suraj take it to another level, requesting him to gift his fiancée a DVD of popular bollywood love songs with his voice over before his song, talking about how the song was apt for them. Suraj cringed at the idea, he knew it was too cheesy but he kept his mouth shut and decided to do what he was told to, his DNA was programmed to be a robot since birth.
The diamond shopping was a walk in the park and he even managed to save on it because Banerjee bought a duplicate as well, for the idea giver. The DVD was more work than he thought it would be, but the final product was worth the effort he had put into it.
Prior to V-Day, Suraj couldn’t control his excitement and blurted out the surprise gift details over the phone to Ruchi. Ruchi was equally excited, a tad humored with the cheesy idea but decided to keep that to herself. She invited Suraj to come over to their place in Thane next day along with the DVD, they would watch it together, what better way to spend their first valentines day.
The next day Suraj, got onto the bus from Borivali, happy with his effort, happy that his V-Day drought had finally ended and he had someone who he could spend the day with rather than support the saffron party tirade against V-Day enthusiasts, gaining sadistic pleasure at seeing other peoples happiness being interrupted when he himself could not be a part of it.
A year later, as Suraj sat in his swanky cubicle in a start-up in California, he felt happy and sad. Professionally he was where he wanted to be but his bharatmatrimony profile was still active and on the eve of another V-Day, Suraj had nobody. Whenever Banerjee quizzed him about Ruchi in their frequest mail conversations and why the marriage did not see the light of day, Suraj decided to keep mum. Never had Suraj thought that not labeling his DVD’s would cost him so dear, especially with a Jenna Jameson unlabelled DVD lying next to the DVD meant for your fiancée’s. That V-Day afternoon in Ruchi’s house, with Ruchi and her parents sitting on the sofa looking with horror at the television screen expecting bollywood love songs, was the most embarrassing moment in Suraj’s life and one he wouldn’t forget in a hurry.
Suraj was a run of the mill IT engineer, whose only goal in life was to ensure that his CTC increased every consecutive financial year. Hailing from a middle class family in Bhopal, Suraj’s dream was to work in the Silicon Valley, drive a swanky car, and provide for his retired father and mother who was a home maker and to marry a girl, just like his mother, demure, non-ambitious. Utopia for every other Indian male.
His Silicon Valley dream was a work in progress, having applied for his H1B through a consultant. He had also bought a decent enough 2-BHK apartment in Mumbai, hoping he would be able to convince his parents to move from Bhopal to Mumbai. The EMI’s were a killer but his recent move to an MNC had somewhat eased his monthly woes with a fatter paycheck being credited to his savings account each month end and the daily auto fares being limited to a manageable extent since his new office was somewhat closer to his home.
Having taken care of most of his dreams and aspirations, Suraj had started work on his last and most important project- marriage. Though his mother had been after him for a couple of years now, but Suraj kept postponing the inevitable citing more pressing tasks at hand. But now the time was right, after-youth was fast progressing into middle age, the threshold of 30 was a year away, all hopes of getting a girl friend had been finally dumped, and one way love affairs just weren’t doing it for him any more.
One night, after having seen Hum Aapke Hain Kaun for the nth time on his laptop, Suraj finally decided to do it. He never thought he would have to but it was now or never. He logged onto the internet, opened a browser and registered himself on BharatMatrimonial.com
It had been three weeks since that fateful night and Suraj had received numerous enquiries. He had informed his parents about his intentions and they had given him a go-ahead. All they wanted was their only son to be settled in life. They wanted him to be happy, and oh yes, preferably to a kaisthya girl from the same community, not shorter than 5’3”, fair, and a graduate. That is all Suraj’s parents wanted.
These online matrimonial sites were such a blessing for guys like Suraj. Without them a majority of the geek population in India would be restricted to eyeing all those guys with females beside them at multiplexes, indulging in self pity in all the liquor parties during weekends, downloading porn and indulging in 2-3 minutes (time might vary in this large demographic, depending on a truck load of parameters, which we will delve into maybe in a different story) of arm strengthening activity at any point of the day.
Suraj had given his girl friend hunting aspirations an honest shot, but there was little hope in engineering college with 700 odd boys running after less than a dozen girl-like girls in campus. His five odd years in the IT industry had seen him falling in love a couple of times, but unfortunately before the fairer sex could know that this bespectacled geeky short stout guy was head over heels in love with them, they would either get married and pregnant or in one case become pregnant and get married.
It was the fourth week of Suraj’s momentous online activity; the most productive he had ever been on the internet other than his daily unmentionable download activities. Post lunch as Suraj decided to check his online profile, hoping for a profile visit, he found a mail; someone had visited his profile, found him interesting enough to have sent him a mail!!! He decided to visit the girl’s profile, to check out her snaps.
Interestingly, no matter how much guys talk about inner beauty, photographs are what drives them during arranged marriage initiatives probably it’s a secret convention to provide 3-D images of girls to prospective grooms.
Suraj’s search for “inner beauty” yielded satisfactory results and he immediately decided to take swift action. The plan of action would be to firstly inform his parents, provide them with the necessary details, so that the conventional exchange of dialogue could be initiated between the two households. Secondly he had to initiate contact with the girl and send a mail to her personal mail id.
Now this was the difficult task and beyond Suraj’s geeky skill-sets. Suraj decided to outsource this requirement to his good friend Banerjee. Banerjee was his close friend from his previous organization. A sweet and ex-frustrated geek like him. Suraj didn’t think too much of him till a year back Banerjee decided to drop the bomb shell. Apparently Banerjee had a girl friend in his hometown Kolkata, a college mate. Banerjee’s FOSLA club membership was invalid to start off with and was terminated with immediate effect. But this news had ensured that Banerjee’s stature had increased manifold in Suraj’s eyes.
The email task had to be executed by Banerjee and after some convincing Banerjee agreed.
Suraj’s multi-pronged strategy soon reaped benefits. The girls family was impressed by the fact that their daughter wouldn’t have to put up with prying sister-in-laws, the boy already had a house in Mumbai and the parents being in Bhopal, there would be no saas-bahu dramas. The boy seemed ambitious enough with a US visa pending approval, the time seemed ripe to reel him in. Convincing Suraj about keeping his parents in Bhopal didn’t take long. After all for the first time in Suraj’s life, he had found someone who would accompany him to multiplexes without 3-4 more guys hanging around, he wouldn’t have to fight to sit next to her, calling her at any time of the day wouldn’t warrant a second thought. Suraj’s dreams of a life partner seemed to be coming true, seemed like another unfulfilled task off his checklist.
The families soon decided to get the two budding live birds married later mid of next year, a date about 8 months away. Suraj had already started preparing, booking the marriage hall in Bhopal, evaluating honeymoon destinations, fitting things into his tight budget and preparing himself to see his 5 years savings getting hit to an unimaginable extent. But he hadn’t planned for Valentines Day. As soon as Banerjee heard of that, he bombarded Suraj with expletives, explaining how important V-Day was prior to the wedding, it could make or break his chances. Banerjee asked Suraj to keep his ears and eyes open, he couldn’t afford to slip up so close to his target. The Valentines Day gift had to be apt and perfect.
Following a brain storming session over a Sunday afternoon lunch at Banerjee’s place with Banerjee, Banerjee’s wife and Suraj, Banerjee’s wife struck gold. The best gift would obviously be a girl’s best friend (this wasn’t just a suggestion for Suraj) and a customized gift suggesting hard work and effort put into the process.
Banerjee’s wife was a worldly woman, keeping herself abreast with the recent happenings in tinsel town. She had read in one of the dailies that a tinsel town actor and gifted his actress girlfriend a cd of songs with his own commentary before the song, linking the song to some moment in their relationship. But Mrs.Banerjee suggested Suraj take it to another level, requesting him to gift his fiancée a DVD of popular bollywood love songs with his voice over before his song, talking about how the song was apt for them. Suraj cringed at the idea, he knew it was too cheesy but he kept his mouth shut and decided to do what he was told to, his DNA was programmed to be a robot since birth.
The diamond shopping was a walk in the park and he even managed to save on it because Banerjee bought a duplicate as well, for the idea giver. The DVD was more work than he thought it would be, but the final product was worth the effort he had put into it.
Prior to V-Day, Suraj couldn’t control his excitement and blurted out the surprise gift details over the phone to Ruchi. Ruchi was equally excited, a tad humored with the cheesy idea but decided to keep that to herself. She invited Suraj to come over to their place in Thane next day along with the DVD, they would watch it together, what better way to spend their first valentines day.
The next day Suraj, got onto the bus from Borivali, happy with his effort, happy that his V-Day drought had finally ended and he had someone who he could spend the day with rather than support the saffron party tirade against V-Day enthusiasts, gaining sadistic pleasure at seeing other peoples happiness being interrupted when he himself could not be a part of it.
A year later, as Suraj sat in his swanky cubicle in a start-up in California, he felt happy and sad. Professionally he was where he wanted to be but his bharatmatrimony profile was still active and on the eve of another V-Day, Suraj had nobody. Whenever Banerjee quizzed him about Ruchi in their frequest mail conversations and why the marriage did not see the light of day, Suraj decided to keep mum. Never had Suraj thought that not labeling his DVD’s would cost him so dear, especially with a Jenna Jameson unlabelled DVD lying next to the DVD meant for your fiancée’s. That V-Day afternoon in Ruchi’s house, with Ruchi and her parents sitting on the sofa looking with horror at the television screen expecting bollywood love songs, was the most embarrassing moment in Suraj’s life and one he wouldn’t forget in a hurry.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Generation Gap
17th February 2007 11:45 pm
Domestic Airport, Santa Cruz, Mumbai.
Inspector Shinde was dozing off. It had been long night. Just a year more and night duties would be history for him. After 30 years in the force his rest was well earned and long overdue. But these last couple of months had been troublesome. The commissioner had introduced the ‘partner’ concept into Mumbai police, all senior officers would be accompanied by a younger officer, to build camaraderie in the force and help younger officers learn the tricks of the trade quicker. And what better way to go about it than to learn from senior officers in the field of duty.
Shinde had been assigned a partner, sub-inspector Ashutosh Jogilkar, a fresh graduate of the Marol Police Academy. Ashutosh was a topper in his batch, a star in the making and apparently a personal favorite of ACP Degwekar. Shinde could ill afford to get into the bad books of Degwekar. Despite having spent 30 years in the force, Nilesh Shinde was yet to receive a gallantry award, and he had put in a special request to his senior so that ACP Degwekar could be convinced to award him during the upcoming Independance Day Parade for his role in the curbing the riots in Nasik last August. Though his role in the riots did not warrant a gallantry award but Shinde was hoping that the Nasik riot prevention force would surely have a quota in the awards and his seniority would be given due importance. Hence to get to that award Shinde would have to be good to the green horn.
The night duty at the domestic airport was a ‘soft’ posting. Hardly anything happened there except customers haggling with rickshaw drivers for over-charging them in the pretext of night fares and an occasional drunk loitering by.
Shinde had been observing Ashutosh off-late. He seemed like a bright kid but a little over-zealous for action, a product of watching too many Hollywood cop movies he thought. Shinde would often think to himself, young officers these days always look for an excuse to shoot and grab the limelight. “Shoot-out” cops were the order of the day and gone were the days of arrests and interrogations. He often wondered what was taught in these police academies, his generation never went to one and they turned out quite all right.
Ashu as Shinde preferred to call him was running one of Shinde’s silly errands, fetching his favorite cup of tea from a stall near Ville Parle. Though a favorite of ACP Degwekar, Ashutosh hardly threw his weight around. Shinde liked that about Ashu. But that was only one of the few things he liked about Ashutosh.
Ashutosh had just fetched Shinde’s cup of tea. Sipping the hot tea from the stained glasses Ashutosh seemed a little tense today. Shinde wondered why these young officers were like this. “Tense at this age!!” Shinde laughed to himself “Wonder what they’ll end up as when they get to our age.”
Close to 2 in the morning Shinde eye lids were starting to become heavy. He decided take a stroll and relieve himself. Ashutosh was standing near the entrance of Gate 2. Shinde laughed, the ever cautious police officer, “this generation is so stressed out”, he thought out to himself.
Nilesh had just turned round the corner when all of a sudden he heard a loud bang!! Rushing back towards the airport gate he found a man lying in a pool of blood and Chinese made pistol lying next to him. Ashutosh was trembling, his gun was still smoking. Inspector Shinde quickly asked Ashutosh to move away. A crowd had started gathering around the scene. Inspector Shinde called up the ambulance and also the nearest police station.
15th August 2007 10:30 am
Independance Day Celebration, Mumbai
Shinde’s eyes welled up. His childhood dream had come true. Receiving the gallantry award from the governor, Shinde felt proud. But he knew he would be indebted to Ashu forever. After the shootout Ashutosh filed a report stating that the shot was fired by Inspector Shinde. The man killed in the shootout was the famed gangster Abu Hasan, the kingpin of the Mumbai underworld. Mumbai had two major gangs, the one run by Abu Hasan and the other by Mukesh bhai. This shootout would definitely help Mukesh-bhai. In his report Ashutosh had stated that at 02:45 on the 18th of February 2007, Abu Hasan had come down to the domestic airport to catch a flight but Inspector Shinde on recognizing Abu challenged him to surrender and on being fired at by Abu, Inspector Shinde had shot Abu Hasan.
Ashutosh requested Inspector Shinde to concur with his story. It didn’t add up but Ashutosh said that he wanted Shinde-saab to get the credit, a well deserved reward for a long career. Shinde was stunned. He couldn’t refuse, but Ashutosh’s gesture completely changed his mindset. Indeed today’s generation isn’t all that bad he would think each night. Ashutosh had changed his life forever.
15th August 2007 9:00 pm
Somewhere in suburban Mumbai
Ashutosh sat on the sofa, holding his drink. Mukesh-bhai’s hideout was too dingy for him but who was he to complain. Patting Ashu on the back Mukesh bhai handed over a bundle of notes to him-“Here’s your gallantry award Inspector Ashutosh” he thundered and then laughed away to glory.
Mukesh bhai looked at Ashutosh.” Saab, you are way smarter than I thought. We gave you Abu so that you could kill him for us, but you gave the credit to that loser Inspector Shinde. The whole department is now raving about you. You may even become ACP within a couple of years. What a move saab, our partnership while thrive and we rule Mumbai”, said Mukesh bhai laughing hysterically, spilling a little drink on his silk lungi.
Ashutosh sipped his drink, lay back on the sofa, and looked at the slowly moving fan on the ceiling. “Shinde will never figure this out, the generation gap is too much for him to bridge”, muttered Ashutosh.
Domestic Airport, Santa Cruz, Mumbai.
Inspector Shinde was dozing off. It had been long night. Just a year more and night duties would be history for him. After 30 years in the force his rest was well earned and long overdue. But these last couple of months had been troublesome. The commissioner had introduced the ‘partner’ concept into Mumbai police, all senior officers would be accompanied by a younger officer, to build camaraderie in the force and help younger officers learn the tricks of the trade quicker. And what better way to go about it than to learn from senior officers in the field of duty.
Shinde had been assigned a partner, sub-inspector Ashutosh Jogilkar, a fresh graduate of the Marol Police Academy. Ashutosh was a topper in his batch, a star in the making and apparently a personal favorite of ACP Degwekar. Shinde could ill afford to get into the bad books of Degwekar. Despite having spent 30 years in the force, Nilesh Shinde was yet to receive a gallantry award, and he had put in a special request to his senior so that ACP Degwekar could be convinced to award him during the upcoming Independance Day Parade for his role in the curbing the riots in Nasik last August. Though his role in the riots did not warrant a gallantry award but Shinde was hoping that the Nasik riot prevention force would surely have a quota in the awards and his seniority would be given due importance. Hence to get to that award Shinde would have to be good to the green horn.
The night duty at the domestic airport was a ‘soft’ posting. Hardly anything happened there except customers haggling with rickshaw drivers for over-charging them in the pretext of night fares and an occasional drunk loitering by.
Shinde had been observing Ashutosh off-late. He seemed like a bright kid but a little over-zealous for action, a product of watching too many Hollywood cop movies he thought. Shinde would often think to himself, young officers these days always look for an excuse to shoot and grab the limelight. “Shoot-out” cops were the order of the day and gone were the days of arrests and interrogations. He often wondered what was taught in these police academies, his generation never went to one and they turned out quite all right.
Ashu as Shinde preferred to call him was running one of Shinde’s silly errands, fetching his favorite cup of tea from a stall near Ville Parle. Though a favorite of ACP Degwekar, Ashutosh hardly threw his weight around. Shinde liked that about Ashu. But that was only one of the few things he liked about Ashutosh.
Ashutosh had just fetched Shinde’s cup of tea. Sipping the hot tea from the stained glasses Ashutosh seemed a little tense today. Shinde wondered why these young officers were like this. “Tense at this age!!” Shinde laughed to himself “Wonder what they’ll end up as when they get to our age.”
Close to 2 in the morning Shinde eye lids were starting to become heavy. He decided take a stroll and relieve himself. Ashutosh was standing near the entrance of Gate 2. Shinde laughed, the ever cautious police officer, “this generation is so stressed out”, he thought out to himself.
Nilesh had just turned round the corner when all of a sudden he heard a loud bang!! Rushing back towards the airport gate he found a man lying in a pool of blood and Chinese made pistol lying next to him. Ashutosh was trembling, his gun was still smoking. Inspector Shinde quickly asked Ashutosh to move away. A crowd had started gathering around the scene. Inspector Shinde called up the ambulance and also the nearest police station.
15th August 2007 10:30 am
Independance Day Celebration, Mumbai
Shinde’s eyes welled up. His childhood dream had come true. Receiving the gallantry award from the governor, Shinde felt proud. But he knew he would be indebted to Ashu forever. After the shootout Ashutosh filed a report stating that the shot was fired by Inspector Shinde. The man killed in the shootout was the famed gangster Abu Hasan, the kingpin of the Mumbai underworld. Mumbai had two major gangs, the one run by Abu Hasan and the other by Mukesh bhai. This shootout would definitely help Mukesh-bhai. In his report Ashutosh had stated that at 02:45 on the 18th of February 2007, Abu Hasan had come down to the domestic airport to catch a flight but Inspector Shinde on recognizing Abu challenged him to surrender and on being fired at by Abu, Inspector Shinde had shot Abu Hasan.
Ashutosh requested Inspector Shinde to concur with his story. It didn’t add up but Ashutosh said that he wanted Shinde-saab to get the credit, a well deserved reward for a long career. Shinde was stunned. He couldn’t refuse, but Ashutosh’s gesture completely changed his mindset. Indeed today’s generation isn’t all that bad he would think each night. Ashutosh had changed his life forever.
15th August 2007 9:00 pm
Somewhere in suburban Mumbai
Ashutosh sat on the sofa, holding his drink. Mukesh-bhai’s hideout was too dingy for him but who was he to complain. Patting Ashu on the back Mukesh bhai handed over a bundle of notes to him-“Here’s your gallantry award Inspector Ashutosh” he thundered and then laughed away to glory.
Mukesh bhai looked at Ashutosh.” Saab, you are way smarter than I thought. We gave you Abu so that you could kill him for us, but you gave the credit to that loser Inspector Shinde. The whole department is now raving about you. You may even become ACP within a couple of years. What a move saab, our partnership while thrive and we rule Mumbai”, said Mukesh bhai laughing hysterically, spilling a little drink on his silk lungi.
Ashutosh sipped his drink, lay back on the sofa, and looked at the slowly moving fan on the ceiling. “Shinde will never figure this out, the generation gap is too much for him to bridge”, muttered Ashutosh.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Subbu's Car
It was getting really late. Anirudh glanced at the dashboard of his car, the digital clock in his dashboard showed 7:15 p.m. He had to reach his home in fifteen minutes, but given the traffic conditions, there was no way he would reach home by 7:30 p.m. He had another twenty minutes of drive left, provided there wasn’t any traffic !!!
He decided to call Mr.Subramanium.
Out came his latest N-Series, his pride and joy. Searched his phonebook for Subbu, he was too busy to punch in the exact name, and anyways he would get the spelling wrong, keep it simple he had reasoned to himself!! Anirudh chuckled at the thought of the nickname he had given his new boss Mr.S.Gangadhar, what an apt nickname for the SOB he thought
Subbu’s phone was ringing.
Anirudh – “ Hello, is this Mr.Subramanium?”
Subbu – “Yes I say, who is this?”
Anirudh – “Good Evening Sir !!, This is Anirudh Singhania, I have a telephonic interview scheduled with you today at 7:30 p.m. Is it ok to postpone the interview by an hour, Sir?”
Subbu – “ Hmm..ok, not a problem. But make sure you don’t delay it any further I say”
Anirudh – “Thank you so much sir!! I’ll give you a call at 8:30 sharp. Bye”
Anirudh was applying to this open position at a MNC. He had given innumerable interviews at the place, today’s interview was supposedly his last. He was scheduled to be interviewed by the MNC’s India operations’ head honcho Mr.K.J.Subramanium.
Anirudh was working for a firm in the suburbs of Mumbai, and it was difficult for him to appear for the interview in-person at the MNC’s offices in south-Mumbai at 7:30 in the evening. He had requested the HR handling his case to request Mr.Subramanium to agree to a telephonic interview. Thankfully Subbu had agreed.
Anirudh had certain documents to refer to before he called Subbu, and like a fool he had left it at home. He had to give himself at least ten to fifteen minutes before calling up Subbu.
But the traffic that day on Western Express Highway was unbelievable, for the last thirty minutes his car hadn’t moved an inch. Added to that frustration was this car behind him, which was constantly honking. The honking continued for the next five minutes. Unable to bear it, Anirudh got out from his car.
The culprit was a chauffeur driven jet black C-Class Mercedes Benz. Anirudh’s heart skipped a beat. His dream car!!
Keeping his emotion in check, he knocked on the driver’s window. As soon as the window slid down, ever so sweetly, Anirudh let fly a range of expletives, the best of the breed, the choicest collections from his four years spent in those dungeon like rooms spent in the REC-Suratkal student hostels.
Before the driver could react Anirudh ran back to his car.
He had noticed that the car had a passenger, an elderly gentleman, but that didn’t matter for Anirudh. Back in the safe confines of his car, Anirudh allowed himself to smile. The driver must still be in shock he thought. Content at having taught the honking maniac a lesson, Anirudh’ tension slowly disappeared, aided also by the fact that the traffic jam seemed signs of easing up.
But much to his horror, the honking resumed soon. Anirudh decided to wait this time a little longer before swinging into action. He was inching close to the signal. He waited for his moment, as soon as the signal turned green, seeing the road relatively maneuverable up ahead, Anirudh backed up his old Fiat and hit the C-Class’s front fender, before speeding away.
Victory !!! Anirudh punched his fists in sadistic pleasure speeding away.
“Bloody rich b******. Think you own the world !! Njoii!!”, he shouted while making a getaway.
Anirudh reached home just in time to glance through his notes and give Subbu a call.
Feeling pretty good about his evening’s exploits, Anirudh called Subbu.
Anirudh: “Hello Subb…err..Mr Subramanium. Good evening !!”
Subbu: “ Yes hello, tell me I say!!”
That was odd, thought Anirudh, Subbu seemed irritated, but he had called him sharp at 8:30 p.m.
Anirudh: “Sir, is this a good time to talk to you?”
Subbu: “ Well!! Err..carry on anyways, in Mumbai its never a good time!!”
Anirudh had his window of opportunity, he seized it.
Anirudh: “You are right sir, Mumbai, phew what a city, jams, pollution. It is tough Sir, especially if you are new to the city”
Anirudh knew Subbu had moved in from Singapore recently to head the MNC’s India operations out of Mumbai.
“Am I smart? Or am I smart?”, thought Anirudh to himself.
Subbu: “Yes, yes the jams. Pardon my saying this but Mumbaikars are animals on the road. I was on way back home from office, this maniac in his Fiat shouted at my chauffeur like a bl**** hooligan near a traffic signal on the highway!! And can you imagine he damaged my brand new car too!! My stupid driver couldn’t get his number or else I would have I sued the bugger for damages I say!! Sorry for bothering you with these details, but I’m really upset I say, is this the way to behave?...Ok, anyways, lets get started with your interview, tell me a little about your self..e..a..what was your name again?..Hello..hello..is there anyone there I say..hello..hello hello….?”.
He decided to call Mr.Subramanium.
Out came his latest N-Series, his pride and joy. Searched his phonebook for Subbu, he was too busy to punch in the exact name, and anyways he would get the spelling wrong, keep it simple he had reasoned to himself!! Anirudh chuckled at the thought of the nickname he had given his new boss Mr.S.Gangadhar, what an apt nickname for the SOB he thought
Subbu’s phone was ringing.
Anirudh – “ Hello, is this Mr.Subramanium?”
Subbu – “Yes I say, who is this?”
Anirudh – “Good Evening Sir !!, This is Anirudh Singhania, I have a telephonic interview scheduled with you today at 7:30 p.m. Is it ok to postpone the interview by an hour, Sir?”
Subbu – “ Hmm..ok, not a problem. But make sure you don’t delay it any further I say”
Anirudh – “Thank you so much sir!! I’ll give you a call at 8:30 sharp. Bye”
Anirudh was applying to this open position at a MNC. He had given innumerable interviews at the place, today’s interview was supposedly his last. He was scheduled to be interviewed by the MNC’s India operations’ head honcho Mr.K.J.Subramanium.
Anirudh was working for a firm in the suburbs of Mumbai, and it was difficult for him to appear for the interview in-person at the MNC’s offices in south-Mumbai at 7:30 in the evening. He had requested the HR handling his case to request Mr.Subramanium to agree to a telephonic interview. Thankfully Subbu had agreed.
Anirudh had certain documents to refer to before he called Subbu, and like a fool he had left it at home. He had to give himself at least ten to fifteen minutes before calling up Subbu.
But the traffic that day on Western Express Highway was unbelievable, for the last thirty minutes his car hadn’t moved an inch. Added to that frustration was this car behind him, which was constantly honking. The honking continued for the next five minutes. Unable to bear it, Anirudh got out from his car.
The culprit was a chauffeur driven jet black C-Class Mercedes Benz. Anirudh’s heart skipped a beat. His dream car!!
Keeping his emotion in check, he knocked on the driver’s window. As soon as the window slid down, ever so sweetly, Anirudh let fly a range of expletives, the best of the breed, the choicest collections from his four years spent in those dungeon like rooms spent in the REC-Suratkal student hostels.
Before the driver could react Anirudh ran back to his car.
He had noticed that the car had a passenger, an elderly gentleman, but that didn’t matter for Anirudh. Back in the safe confines of his car, Anirudh allowed himself to smile. The driver must still be in shock he thought. Content at having taught the honking maniac a lesson, Anirudh’ tension slowly disappeared, aided also by the fact that the traffic jam seemed signs of easing up.
But much to his horror, the honking resumed soon. Anirudh decided to wait this time a little longer before swinging into action. He was inching close to the signal. He waited for his moment, as soon as the signal turned green, seeing the road relatively maneuverable up ahead, Anirudh backed up his old Fiat and hit the C-Class’s front fender, before speeding away.
Victory !!! Anirudh punched his fists in sadistic pleasure speeding away.
“Bloody rich b******. Think you own the world !! Njoii!!”, he shouted while making a getaway.
Anirudh reached home just in time to glance through his notes and give Subbu a call.
Feeling pretty good about his evening’s exploits, Anirudh called Subbu.
Anirudh: “Hello Subb…err..Mr Subramanium. Good evening !!”
Subbu: “ Yes hello, tell me I say!!”
That was odd, thought Anirudh, Subbu seemed irritated, but he had called him sharp at 8:30 p.m.
Anirudh: “Sir, is this a good time to talk to you?”
Subbu: “ Well!! Err..carry on anyways, in Mumbai its never a good time!!”
Anirudh had his window of opportunity, he seized it.
Anirudh: “You are right sir, Mumbai, phew what a city, jams, pollution. It is tough Sir, especially if you are new to the city”
Anirudh knew Subbu had moved in from Singapore recently to head the MNC’s India operations out of Mumbai.
“Am I smart? Or am I smart?”, thought Anirudh to himself.
Subbu: “Yes, yes the jams. Pardon my saying this but Mumbaikars are animals on the road. I was on way back home from office, this maniac in his Fiat shouted at my chauffeur like a bl**** hooligan near a traffic signal on the highway!! And can you imagine he damaged my brand new car too!! My stupid driver couldn’t get his number or else I would have I sued the bugger for damages I say!! Sorry for bothering you with these details, but I’m really upset I say, is this the way to behave?...Ok, anyways, lets get started with your interview, tell me a little about your self..e..a..what was your name again?..Hello..hello..is there anyone there I say..hello..hello hello….?”.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Rakesh's Secret
Doctor Sunil Agarwal was a well known gynecologist in Kolkata. In his mid-30’s he had dedicated his life to the study of medicine and now its practice.
Due to the rigours of his profession, he never had any time to think about relationships. Let alone be involved in one. But much he was subject to a lot of pressure to “settle down” in life. Off late he too was feeling that living ones life alone probably wasn’t such a great idea and finding a companion made a lot of sense. So he decided to succumb to his parents wishes and decided to get married to a girl his parents had selected for him.
As soon as news spread in the Agarwal clan that the prodigal doctor was getting married, relatives from far and wide made plans to attend the last wedding in Sunil’s generation in the Agarwal clan.
Sunil had a lot of cousins, living across India, all of them were married.
One of his cousins, Rakesh lived in Mumbai. No one had seen him in a long time because he never came down to Kolkata for famiuly functions because of his work schedules. He was a business man and had his own automotive parts exports unit. Rakesh was Sunil’s mom’s elder sisters only son.
Rakesh was married for close to 7 years and had a baby girl.
Sunil and Rakesh were very good friends as teenagers and even went to the same school.
But Rakesh wasn’t as bright as Sunil and after the 10th moved to another school pursuing commerce and later moved to Mumbai in search of a career.
It was decided that Sunil would have a sort of a get-togethar come bachelor party at his place before the day of the marriage, where some of his really close cousins would be there with their wives. Rakesh too had given his word that he would be present for the occasion, after all this was Sunil’s wedding.
On the day of the party, Rakesh arrived with his wife. Rakesh’s mother was baby-sitting his daughter for the evening.
Sunil was ecstatic on seeing Rakesh and his wife, whom he was meeting for the first time, becase Rakesh had married against family consent to a Maharashtrian girl in Mumbai itself.
As the evening wore on, drinks started flowing and everyone started having a lot of fun.
But something was bothering Sunil. He felt that he had seen Rakesh’s wife somewhere, but couldn’t figure out where it was.
Probably it was the alcohol which was getting to him he thought.
He mentioned this to Rakesh, but Rakesh brushed it off, saying it couldn’t be possible because she had never been out of Mumbai.
Sunil said that he had been to Mumbai on business visits once, for a couple of days, nearly 2 years back, maybe he had seen her then.
But Rakesh took no notice off it and started asking Sunil about his fiancée.
But Sunil still couldn’t help but try and figure out why Rakesh’s wife seemed familiar.
A little disturbed Sunil turned towards the mini-bar to pour out a drink for himself.
As he turned, he saw Rakesh’s wife standing next to him, teary eyed. Sunil asked her what had happened.
She broke down and held his hand thanking him.
Rakesh spotted her and came to her side and tried pulling her away from Sunil, apologizing to him for her behavior. He said she was a little unstable because she was under medication for a medical problem and probably it was the alcohol which was talking.
On hearing this Rakesh’s wife shouted out, asking him to stop with the lies.
The room went silent.
Wiping away her tears, she thanked Sunil again for saving her during her delivery in Mumbai 2 years back. She said her condition was very serious and all the doctors said that there is this visiting doctor from Kolkata, Dr Sunil Agarwal who could save her.
She thanked him for her life and for her giving her, her daughter.
Suddenly it struck Sunil. Now he knew where he had seen her. But before he could stop himself from speaking, he blurted out that she was the wife of that cab driver whom he seen for a really complicated caesarian delivery.
There was a palpable hush in the room.
Everyone looked at Rakesh’s white face. He looked at Sunil sheepishly and then at his wife and walked out of that room with her without speaking a word.
Sunil knew, that would probably be the last time he would get to see his favorite cousin again.
Due to the rigours of his profession, he never had any time to think about relationships. Let alone be involved in one. But much he was subject to a lot of pressure to “settle down” in life. Off late he too was feeling that living ones life alone probably wasn’t such a great idea and finding a companion made a lot of sense. So he decided to succumb to his parents wishes and decided to get married to a girl his parents had selected for him.
As soon as news spread in the Agarwal clan that the prodigal doctor was getting married, relatives from far and wide made plans to attend the last wedding in Sunil’s generation in the Agarwal clan.
Sunil had a lot of cousins, living across India, all of them were married.
One of his cousins, Rakesh lived in Mumbai. No one had seen him in a long time because he never came down to Kolkata for famiuly functions because of his work schedules. He was a business man and had his own automotive parts exports unit. Rakesh was Sunil’s mom’s elder sisters only son.
Rakesh was married for close to 7 years and had a baby girl.
Sunil and Rakesh were very good friends as teenagers and even went to the same school.
But Rakesh wasn’t as bright as Sunil and after the 10th moved to another school pursuing commerce and later moved to Mumbai in search of a career.
It was decided that Sunil would have a sort of a get-togethar come bachelor party at his place before the day of the marriage, where some of his really close cousins would be there with their wives. Rakesh too had given his word that he would be present for the occasion, after all this was Sunil’s wedding.
On the day of the party, Rakesh arrived with his wife. Rakesh’s mother was baby-sitting his daughter for the evening.
Sunil was ecstatic on seeing Rakesh and his wife, whom he was meeting for the first time, becase Rakesh had married against family consent to a Maharashtrian girl in Mumbai itself.
As the evening wore on, drinks started flowing and everyone started having a lot of fun.
But something was bothering Sunil. He felt that he had seen Rakesh’s wife somewhere, but couldn’t figure out where it was.
Probably it was the alcohol which was getting to him he thought.
He mentioned this to Rakesh, but Rakesh brushed it off, saying it couldn’t be possible because she had never been out of Mumbai.
Sunil said that he had been to Mumbai on business visits once, for a couple of days, nearly 2 years back, maybe he had seen her then.
But Rakesh took no notice off it and started asking Sunil about his fiancée.
But Sunil still couldn’t help but try and figure out why Rakesh’s wife seemed familiar.
A little disturbed Sunil turned towards the mini-bar to pour out a drink for himself.
As he turned, he saw Rakesh’s wife standing next to him, teary eyed. Sunil asked her what had happened.
She broke down and held his hand thanking him.
Rakesh spotted her and came to her side and tried pulling her away from Sunil, apologizing to him for her behavior. He said she was a little unstable because she was under medication for a medical problem and probably it was the alcohol which was talking.
On hearing this Rakesh’s wife shouted out, asking him to stop with the lies.
The room went silent.
Wiping away her tears, she thanked Sunil again for saving her during her delivery in Mumbai 2 years back. She said her condition was very serious and all the doctors said that there is this visiting doctor from Kolkata, Dr Sunil Agarwal who could save her.
She thanked him for her life and for her giving her, her daughter.
Suddenly it struck Sunil. Now he knew where he had seen her. But before he could stop himself from speaking, he blurted out that she was the wife of that cab driver whom he seen for a really complicated caesarian delivery.
There was a palpable hush in the room.
Everyone looked at Rakesh’s white face. He looked at Sunil sheepishly and then at his wife and walked out of that room with her without speaking a word.
Sunil knew, that would probably be the last time he would get to see his favorite cousin again.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The Hypnosis
Rohit and Tanmay were the best of pals. They were high school classmates in a CBSE school in Jamshedpur. Both of them grew up together in the small industrial town and had known each other since they were toddlers.
Rohit and Tanmay had just appeared for their standard 10 board exams and were enjoying their holiday’s at home.
Jamshedpur a town in Jharkhand, is quite small. It has grown up around the TISCO factory, were both Rohit and Tanmay’s fathers work. Comprising of primarily middle class families, children in the industrial town were encouraged to be academically oriented and almost every child in Jamshedpur grew up dreaming of one day going to an IIT.
Rohit and Tanmay were a little different. Though sufficiently pushed and coaxed by their parents to concentrate on their studies, both harbored a secret desire to become movie stars. Rohit had come to learn as a young child that his mother’s elder sister’s father in law's cousin’s son was the famous movie star, Mithun Chakravarty. Ever since that day, he never missed a Mithun flick, whenever it came at a nearby theatre. Rohit’s passion soon became Tanmay’s too, as it would often happen between the two of them. Tanmay always did what Rohit wanted or asked him to do.
The exams had gone off reasonably well for both of them and they had two months before school re-started post the results being published. Most their friends had already joined private coaching classes preparing them for the IIT battle two years down the road. Rohit and Tanmay’s fate was no different.
However, today was a Friday. The day movies changed in theatres across the country. A Mithun Chakravarty flick was being screened in the only theatre in Jamshedpur, there was no way Rohit, and Tanmay were going to miss the screening because of their physics tuition classes.
It was a regular Bollywood action thriller with the hero despite his age wooing his lover as a college student and later killing his nemesis in a pitched gun battle in the streets of Mumbai. But this movie was different because Mithun’s character had shades of grey in it. Mid way through the movie, he is tricked into evil ways with the villain hypnotizing Mithun and commanding his every action.
Rohit and Tanmay thoroughly enjoyed the flick, especially the part where the villain hypnotizes the hero in a dark room by rhythmically moving a pencil torch in front of his eyes.
Entertained and satisfied with a day well spent Tanmay headed to Rohit’s home to spend part of the evening gossiping at Rohit’s place and gorging on the hot pakoras that aunty made for him every time he visited.
On reaching the house, Rohit found that his mother was not home. She had probably gone to the market. It was then that the idea struck him. He suggested that he would try the movie hypnosis trick on Tanmay. As always, Tanmay agreed. Rohit managed to retrieve a small torch that his father had in his toolbox. Tanmay sat in the chair, in Rohit’s darkened study. Moving the torch in front Tanmay’s eyes, Rohit asked Tanmay to repeat after him that Mithun Chakravarty was his father. Both laughed but Rohit asked Tanmay to play along with him and to take the game seriously.
For 10 minutes, Rohit kept repeating the same thing until he lost interest and switched on the lights of the study. Tanmay had fallen asleep. Rohit was very pleased with his effort and woke Tanmay.
After gorging on the pakoras prepared by Rohit’s mother, Tanmay trudge home slowly. His head felt a little woozy and he was feeling really tired. As soon as he reached home, Tanmay crashed. Suspecting he was tired from the physics tuition, Tanmay’s mother decided not to bother him.
The next day morning, Rohit was rudely awakened in the morning by his mother. She looked flustered. On asking her what the matter was, she blurted out that Tanmay was missing. Rohit could hardly believe what he had just heard. How was that possible? He must have gone out for a morning round of cricket with his friends. Rohit soon rushed out to Tanmay’s place. Tanmay’s parents were worried. Some of his clothes and a bag along with his sneakers were missing. Surely, Tanmay wouldn’t carry that entire luggage for a cricket match or a morning walk. The police were informed. The whole town was awakened from their Saturday morning slumber.
Rohit, stunned with the happenings of the day, headed home. What could have happened to his best friend? Morning turned to noon and then to night. Tanmay whereabouts were still unknown.
Rohit sat silently on the sofa. His brain racing, trying to reason with the happenings of the day. Soon his father returned from his duty at the factory. Disgruntled, he looked at Rohit and scolded him for his obsession for movies. Rohit was confused. What did his obsession with Bollywood flicks have to do with any of this? On asking him the reason for his outburst, Rohit’s father said that the police had interrogated a few porters at the local railway station. One of them had seen a boy matching Tanmay’s profile. Apparently, he was asking a few people about trains to Mumbai, because he wanted to go and meet his father, the famous movie star Mithun Chakravarty.
A cold shiver ran down Rohit’s spine!!!! The hypnosis had worked!!!!!
Rohit and Tanmay had just appeared for their standard 10 board exams and were enjoying their holiday’s at home.
Jamshedpur a town in Jharkhand, is quite small. It has grown up around the TISCO factory, were both Rohit and Tanmay’s fathers work. Comprising of primarily middle class families, children in the industrial town were encouraged to be academically oriented and almost every child in Jamshedpur grew up dreaming of one day going to an IIT.
Rohit and Tanmay were a little different. Though sufficiently pushed and coaxed by their parents to concentrate on their studies, both harbored a secret desire to become movie stars. Rohit had come to learn as a young child that his mother’s elder sister’s father in law's cousin’s son was the famous movie star, Mithun Chakravarty. Ever since that day, he never missed a Mithun flick, whenever it came at a nearby theatre. Rohit’s passion soon became Tanmay’s too, as it would often happen between the two of them. Tanmay always did what Rohit wanted or asked him to do.
The exams had gone off reasonably well for both of them and they had two months before school re-started post the results being published. Most their friends had already joined private coaching classes preparing them for the IIT battle two years down the road. Rohit and Tanmay’s fate was no different.
However, today was a Friday. The day movies changed in theatres across the country. A Mithun Chakravarty flick was being screened in the only theatre in Jamshedpur, there was no way Rohit, and Tanmay were going to miss the screening because of their physics tuition classes.
It was a regular Bollywood action thriller with the hero despite his age wooing his lover as a college student and later killing his nemesis in a pitched gun battle in the streets of Mumbai. But this movie was different because Mithun’s character had shades of grey in it. Mid way through the movie, he is tricked into evil ways with the villain hypnotizing Mithun and commanding his every action.
Rohit and Tanmay thoroughly enjoyed the flick, especially the part where the villain hypnotizes the hero in a dark room by rhythmically moving a pencil torch in front of his eyes.
Entertained and satisfied with a day well spent Tanmay headed to Rohit’s home to spend part of the evening gossiping at Rohit’s place and gorging on the hot pakoras that aunty made for him every time he visited.
On reaching the house, Rohit found that his mother was not home. She had probably gone to the market. It was then that the idea struck him. He suggested that he would try the movie hypnosis trick on Tanmay. As always, Tanmay agreed. Rohit managed to retrieve a small torch that his father had in his toolbox. Tanmay sat in the chair, in Rohit’s darkened study. Moving the torch in front Tanmay’s eyes, Rohit asked Tanmay to repeat after him that Mithun Chakravarty was his father. Both laughed but Rohit asked Tanmay to play along with him and to take the game seriously.
For 10 minutes, Rohit kept repeating the same thing until he lost interest and switched on the lights of the study. Tanmay had fallen asleep. Rohit was very pleased with his effort and woke Tanmay.
After gorging on the pakoras prepared by Rohit’s mother, Tanmay trudge home slowly. His head felt a little woozy and he was feeling really tired. As soon as he reached home, Tanmay crashed. Suspecting he was tired from the physics tuition, Tanmay’s mother decided not to bother him.
The next day morning, Rohit was rudely awakened in the morning by his mother. She looked flustered. On asking her what the matter was, she blurted out that Tanmay was missing. Rohit could hardly believe what he had just heard. How was that possible? He must have gone out for a morning round of cricket with his friends. Rohit soon rushed out to Tanmay’s place. Tanmay’s parents were worried. Some of his clothes and a bag along with his sneakers were missing. Surely, Tanmay wouldn’t carry that entire luggage for a cricket match or a morning walk. The police were informed. The whole town was awakened from their Saturday morning slumber.
Rohit, stunned with the happenings of the day, headed home. What could have happened to his best friend? Morning turned to noon and then to night. Tanmay whereabouts were still unknown.
Rohit sat silently on the sofa. His brain racing, trying to reason with the happenings of the day. Soon his father returned from his duty at the factory. Disgruntled, he looked at Rohit and scolded him for his obsession for movies. Rohit was confused. What did his obsession with Bollywood flicks have to do with any of this? On asking him the reason for his outburst, Rohit’s father said that the police had interrogated a few porters at the local railway station. One of them had seen a boy matching Tanmay’s profile. Apparently, he was asking a few people about trains to Mumbai, because he wanted to go and meet his father, the famous movie star Mithun Chakravarty.
A cold shiver ran down Rohit’s spine!!!! The hypnosis had worked!!!!!
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