The Ride that was Awesome!

Hands cupped around my lips, head lowered and chest heaved, I took in one deep breath and made the cry of a Battle Trumpet – “SATSANG INU ORU YO KODUKK!”

And a Thunder struck inside the hall – “YOOO YOOO YOOOOOOO!!!”

PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

As if my hands and legs were about to drop off, I blasted from the end of the hall and dived into the stage, followed by the mad crowd of Party Animals behind me. I was on the stage and then off the stage, bouncing on and off and the entire auditorium had been uprooted from its seats. Boys and Girls bounced off their chairs, shook their legs and threw their arms about; it was one hell of a crazy spill. Just how the cultural event is supposed to be. The Biggest, Baddest party in the city.

We waltzed to rock and bounced to the melody, sang along for the solo and howled for the sing along! I could feel the ground literally shake beneath my feet as I sat down to catch my breath. But then this guy came to stage with this song and I lost control again. The event stretched into the night, and by then I had drained out every calorie in my body.

Dinner was a dim memory for me, as I made quick job of it and got back to my friends outside. “So when are you leaving?” one of the buddies asked and I told them of a wedding I had to attend the next day in the other end of the state at Trivandrum, which was a ten hour bus ride from where I was. “So, I will catch the mid-night bus!” and we walked around the hall.

******************

“When can I get a bus back to Trivandrum? I need to reach tomorrow night”, near the reception, I saw my little worried friend, the only other guy who had come from Trivandrum, and my mouth stretch into a idiotic smile. Because that guy over there, who was enquiring about the bus… I had met him about a week back at another party in Trivandrum… And he had a Brutal weapon! A weapon of Mass Destruction!

“This is no ordinary guy” I grabbed him by his shoulder and introduced him to my friends, “This… is The King of Chalu!” I announced with sufficient dramatic effect, “Come on dude, let these guys have a taste of your medicine. Go on, shoot your best stuff!” And that guy instantly forgot his bus booking woes and got to business. He cracked Chalus, until all of us could breathe no more! “Do you know which snack makes us scream? Any guess? It is Ice-cream (I Scream)” As irritating as Chalus can get, there is something addictively fun about it. It was Awesome!

“Come on, let’s have a Lime soda”, one of the buddies suggested and we walked to the little shop outside, the tirade of Chalus still continuing. “So when are you heading back?” I asked him, and we exchanged our travel plans. He was going to stay for the night and head back the next morning. “Alright then, my car is here?” He said heading back to the auditorium. “Where are you going to crash tonight?” I asked him and he told me that they had made arrangements at dormitory, some place close. I finished my Lime Soda.

And after one hour, I found myself yet again at the wrong end of the Chalu King’s tirade. Yeah, it did sound fun when the others had to listen to it, but not so much right now!

Since the next bus to Trivandrum was only at 1 am in the night, my host CA Sanal suggested that I stay at the dormitory till then. “Sanal ettan will take some rest over here and go home at some 12.30. On the way he will drop me at the bus-stop and I will catch my bus home.” I informed my plan to the guys and they took me to the dormitory. They had already started the party. A little tea party!

“Want some fresh air?”, “Oh sure!” I exclaimed and stuck my head out of the window to have a deep, full, satisfying breath of Fresh Air. Wow, did my lungs desperately need that. “Where is the tea?” I enquired. One of the guys pulled out a flask from the cup-board and poured tea into one cup, from which we took turns to drink.

“Hey guys”, the kid who helped manage the dormitory came in and told, “You are not allowed to have this over here. And if you really want some fresh air, please go to the terrace, or we all might fall in trouble!” He informed. He decided to stick our head farther out of the window for some fresh air… So that the smell of fresh air won’t linger around the room.

I don’t quite remember how many  cups of tea did I gulp in. I am pretty sure it is much lesser than the other guys, except the Chalu King and one other fellow named Sachin, neither of them had tea. But I do remember that there was a lot of music after that. We took turns to sing. I don’t know which song we all sang, but I sounded as if the night was whispering I some poetic breeze, with the stars dancing in the sky… and… and… and then it was all a blur…

******************

No! I am not going to blame anybody. I very clearly remember Sanal ettan waking me up. But then, I was so tired, and there was music, and they were my friends, and then there was tea, and I was tired… and somewhere in the middle of the night, I decided to stay back. “But what about the wedding you were supposed to attend?” The Chalu King, who will henceforth be called CK, enquired. “Oh sure! Drench me in guilt and now do you feel happy”, I thought to myself and said… what do you say when you don’t have an answer? Yeah, you just beat around the bush and talk about something else. I did that.

But on the bright side, it was decided that I would travel back with CK, which was a relief for both of us. So we trolled around much of the morning in the dormitory. All that dancing and tea made us so tired, that we hadn’t taken bath till around 10 am. We had decided to take the bus at around 3 pm, but then this happened and that happened, and finally we decided to stay for the cultural, which would begin at some 5 pm, and leave after an hour or so at 6.30.

And that meant, dancing till your bones broke, howling till your throat cracked and celebrating till you had no more muscle left in your body! “Is he stealing that purse?” The host of the event asked over the mike as he saw me grab my backpack and sneak out of the hall. “No, it’s his bag”, my buddies bailed me out. “Alright, then can we have a loud applause for our guest in Trivandrum!” There was some cheer as I made my exit?

CK and I caught an auto to the bus stand and over there, We Were Stumped. “All Buses to Trivandrum are full!” Of course, it was a Sunday! All buses had to be full. And I had to be at work the next morning.

******************

“Any buses to Trivandrum? Any booking? Private bus? Transport bus? Anything” I called up half a dozen guys and nobody could help out. We were in deep trouble. Until we saw one glitter of hope – a deluxe bus that went till Trivandrum, “But you have seat availability only till Thrissur!”

“I guess we will have more buses from Thrissur”, I opined. “The odds or same as getting a bus from here”, CK responded. He had a point. “Well, let’s find out?” And we took the leap of faith by taking Thrissur tickets in the bus.

Ahhhh! Finally! After 3 days of travelling and dancing and partying and all that tea, the cushion seats of the deluxe seats felt Bliss! Thrissur was a 3 hour journey, so I could comfortably grab a nice, peaceful 3 hour sleep. Or so I thought.

“Hey, can I have your power bank?” CK shook me awake. “Oh sure, but there isn’t so much power in it. I think it can do for some 10%.”

“What about your phone?” He asked. “Never mind”, I said and quietly slipped into a nap.

“Hey!” I jerked out of sleep. “You know what, you should charge your phone. You only have all the contacts. We will need it when we reach Thrissur.” CK suggested. “Yeah, you are right!” I agreed drowsily and plugged my phone into the power bank! And off I go to sleep -

“Hey! Do have a data pack?” CK shook my shoulder and asked. He was so punctual. One second later and I might have actually caught some sleep. “Yeah, why?” “I want to check redbus, see if I can get a bus from Thrissur” I gave him my phone and turned away to shut my eyes.

“Bloody Blundaleomite!” CK shouted and shoved the phone back to me! I had no idea to what sin I was paying the price. I painfully pulled my eyelids open, grabbed the phone from him, put it in my bag and – “Hey, don’t forget to turn the data off. Takes up a lot of battery!” Why don’t you just killed me now??

“Hey!” ALRIGHT THAT’S IT! “We reached Thrissur” Well, I didn’t have much difficulty getting up, as I barely caught any sleep. But as I turned around to look at my busmate – CK, I swore that if he did this to me one more time, I would strangle him by his throat and catch my next bus to Viyoor! The Prison!

******************

Just one bus was available to Trivandrum. A super-fast transport bus and its seats had filled up. It was going to be a 7 hour journey, so we could not even imagine standing all the way. But it was not as if I was going to get some sleep anyway! “But there will be people who get down at Kochi, which is just one and half hours away. We can get a seat after that”, CK said. I felt that was a decent deal. We got onto the bus. I thought it was bad enough being woken up from my sleep 15 times in two hours, but then…

“What do you call a mother who always Prays? Premam (Pray Mum)” Apparently CK cracks substandard Chalus when he is bored. As if the regular Chalus weren’t bad enough!

“Alright! This is it! I can’t be the only one to suffer this fate. If I am going down, I am taking the world with me!” I announced and whipped out my phone. “Go ahead Bro, hit me with your best stuff, and I am going to post it all in our Whatsapp group” His face lit up like a 500 volt bulb and Chalus cracked out of him like… Crackers!

Now that was fun! CK and I laughed at our jokes as we passed it on to various Whatsapp groups. “Seriously dude”, CK looked up to me and ask. “How is this possible? I mean, how do you manage to party wherever you are?” I look at him and stated, in a matter-of-fact manner – “I don’t manage to party… I AM THE PARTY!”

******************

Have you ever felt bored in a bus journey? Have you ever looked out of the window and felt, “How much farther?” Well, the next time you are on a bus, stop looking around and close your eyes. Close your eyes and concentrate! Focus on the gentle sway of the bus; this way and that way, this way and that way. Listen to the sound of the engine, there is a beat to it. And hear the gear change? There is rhythm in it too. Occasionally you can hear somebody whisper behind you, maybe hear a child cry, or an uncle snore and kid yawn. You can hear the yonking of the vehicles outside and the sudden breaks of the bus. Feel all that happen around you with your eyes closed, and all of a sudden, everything appears to be magical.

You know why that is? Because when you close your eyes, you lose control of what happens around you. You are so accustomed to sight, so much that when you close your eyes even for a second, you feel yourself at the mercy of destiny. And when you are in this zooming bus with your eyes closed, at a deeper level you realise that you are not in control of anything at all. And that makes you appreciate stuff! The cry of the baby and the snoring uncle, all that looked irritating to you, will sound beautiful. You are just standing there idly, and yet zooming past vehicles and trees and bumpy roads at 60kmph, and you are still alive, still safe. At that moment you thank everything around you. The driver, the conductor,  the bus, the transport department, the other vehicles on the road and everything else.

And suddenly, all those little things appear to be pretty. Perhaps that is how it is with life, isn’t it? At Kochi we got two comfortable seats, and I continued to think. Little things that annoy us, little things that upset us – the ego within us, that we are in control of the world – isn’t that responsible for our depression? Maybe if we shed our ego, try to acknowledge the fact, that the reason we are sitting in front of this computer is so many  amazing people and amazing efforts around us, not even a fraction of which belongs to us, makes us feel so small. Makes us appreciate all those millions and billions of tiny things around us. And maybe, all those millions and billions of little things around us, that is called God.

At 5.30 in the morning we reached Trivandrum. CK caught an auto home and I took another bus home. It was cold outside, and I was still in the hangover of the past two days. The energy was buzzing in me, and at the same time, I was terribly tired. Maybe will have a nap for a couple of hours before I head to office. I dropped a message to the guys back at Kozhikode that I had landed safely. Even at the break of dawn, they were quick to reply. Some people can be so full of…

Love

Trivandrum and Kanyakumari

“Only the calm can sail the storm!”

Trivandrum

If you look at my blog, the 47 entries in Writer’s World including this one, I guess the one theme that has centered in most number of articles will relate to the most beautiful days of my life; and quite certainly for most of my readers too – GMCS. To those non-CA readers of mine, GMCS stands for General Management and Communication Skills; a 15 day compulsory soft skill development programme that every CA student has to undergo in his 2^nd and 4^th year. Some of you may understand my emotion and some may be aghast at this statement, but I can say it over a million times - those two tranches of 15 days each are simply the most magnificent things that have happened to me. Biggest chunk of credit goes to my dear friend and teacher – Mr. Suncy Varghese.

Living up to the hype, every memory connected with my GMCS is wonderful and holds a truly special place in my heart (and also my blog. I have so far dedicated 5 posts to GMCS). One of those sweet memories is about our GMCS II reunion which happened 10 days back. Yes, it was Awesome! There were friends, there was food and there were Chalus… Tooooo Manyyyy Intoxicating Chalus… so many that my fingers slip as I think of those horrendous jokes which can rip the brains out of any decent listener. And mind you, I am a Dementor of chalus. My friends could vouch for the fact that my Chalu… Is worse than a Dementor’s kiss. Beware!

Yes, it was Awesome! In spite of the fact that somebody could not turn up because he had to clean his Grandmother’s house, or somebody else couldn’t turn up because he had to work on a Sunday. As I saw my Chalu cracking, chicken eating, counter striking, football crazy, business heading, political stalwart, movie fanatic bunch of friends, I thought to myself, “Nothing can get me upset now!”

But one phone call did. My best friend said, “We got robbed!”

Kanyakumari

Travelling to Southern Tamilnadu for audits is always awesome. Not just that the audits are a wonderful learning experience, but it gives us girls the opportunity to venture out of the comfort zone of our home town, it gives us the exposure to really big manufacturing units, the people are really nice down here and most importantly, there are so many nice places to visit during the weekends. Our destination this Sunday was Kanyakumari.

The highlight of the trip was of course the sunrise, so we set out on our two and a half hour journey at 3.30 in the morning. The wind was waking up the ocean, its roar was soft yet powerful and the view of its massive expanse was breathtaking. Ocean on all three sides, infinity of water which gently danced to the winds, changing colours from black to dark blue under the canvas of a golden sky to sky blue. From the depths of the Indian Ocean, the sun rose up to the sky, putting every metaphor in the world of a rising sun to shame! I stood there with my three colleagues, listening to the sweet wind and the glorious ocean, whisper in my ear like my mother and father, taking in the view in a way no camera can ever capture. It upset me that my mind could do so little to hold this memory. No, my mind couldn’t. These moments had to be relished right then, right there! Moments passed on as I bathed in the beauty of that view and finally the sun was up in the blue sky.

My friends went forward to have a dip in the sea, but I chose to stay back and watch the fun. There were many families around and little children spilling across the beach was a joy to watch. We spend more than an hour over there before we decided to head back our cab and continue our journey. There were a couple of beautiful temples in Kanyakumari and a waterfall the name of which I keep forgetting which we had planned to visit. So we walked back to the cab to find that the windows had been smashed. We got robbed!

Trivandrum

I almost dropped my bottle of Coke as I heard her voice. “Shreya are you alright? Where are you? What happened? Did you lose anything valuable? Where are-“ I launched a tirade of questions at her which was swiftly cut short by, “Pranav, I am alright! Can’t talk now, will text you the stories in detail!”

Suddenly everything around me seemed to lose colour. The people looked dull, the food was tastless and the jokes were ridiculous and annoying. Yes, I was worried sick about my best friend, but that’s how we are – Shreya catches a cold and Pranav starts sneezing.

Although an year older, Shreya was a younger sister to me. It was my sole responsibility to make sure nothing upset her. The slightest distaste in her voice and I would find out, and no effort from her part could hide it from me. I knew her so well that from the tone of her, “Hello”, I could find out where she was and what she was doing – Literally! And she reciprocated with so much more love and care. Well, that’s how siblings are, aren’t they?

And now I was worried sick to the pit of my stomach, so badly that the slightest whisper could put me on fire. I stuck my nose into the phone, oblivious to the jibes of others around me, waiting for stories from the other end.

Kanyakumari

We were two girls and two boys. Both of us girls lost our handbags, which contained our purse, an extra set of clothes, a credit card, my PAN card and my friend, a cell phone. “We have to inform the police right away”, the driver, a local, much older than us and someone who really understood the gravity of the situation told us. We followed his word at headed to the police station. What awaited me over there was a storm…

The younger boy had to sit back in the car and the three of us along with driver walked inside to file the complaint. We entered the Sub-Inspector’s office. It was a pretty wide room with the SI’s chair in the middle and a Police constable sitting by a table on one side. The SI was a huge man with a handsomely large belly and belligerent moustache, and he was accompanied by a typist who scrutinised us carefully. Needless to say, the room was silent and tense and did little to ease our fear. I, being the oldest of the three explained the situation. After I finished my story, the SI shot off his first question, the worst question that could be asked, “What are you two girls doing with two boys in Kanyakumari on a Sunday?”

The boy standing next to me clenched his fists and the girls who was already sobbing started crying harder. “Sir we have come from Chennai for an audit. We wanted to visit Kanyakumari for the weekend”.

“How old are you?”, “23”.

“Married”, “No”.

“And you two?”, “No sir, none of us is married.”

“Why have you two girls come all the way from Chennai with these two boys? Unmarried girls of your age… It is not as if there are no other audit firms from this city is it?” My friend was biting his teeth now.

“Sir, the client has its corporate office in Chennai and we handle the audit over there. Thus, we landed up doing the work over here also.” I said with a straight head and unblinking eyes.

“But why two girls and two boys?”

“One girl to accompany the other and a boy to accompany the other.” Also adding the name of the firm I work in the contact details of the manager who sent us.

The cop pulled aside the driver to ask him a few questions. I interceded and said, “Sir, he was with us all the time.” He then turned his attention to me and asked, “Alright then, give us a complaint in writing.” I obliged.

“We will let you know if you find something”, he said. I don’t know if I believed him, but in order to apply for a duplicate PAN Card, I needed a copy of the FIR and I had received it. The three of us headed back to the car, the boy still grumbling and the girl still sobbing. As we entered the car, the driver turned around and said, “I would have been in deep trouble if it were not for you!” His eyes seemed wet.

“Let’s go back to the guest house?” The other boy suggested.

“And what? Sit in the room and fuss about the drama? Let’s go ahead as planned, we will visit the temple and then go back.”

Trivandrum

Piece by piece she sent me the story by texts. Our get-together was over by 5.30 in the evening and I reached home after 15 minutes. Shreya called me up at around 6, “Is everyone alright now?” I asked.

“Yeah, everybody is fine. We are a little short of cash, so I have asked my father to send some. No problems!”

I asked her how she enjoyed the sunrise and other stuff and she asked me how the party went. I was tensed and almost spoiled the celebration. She was calm and made a party out of the whole incident.

“But still, how did you manage to remain calm through all this?” I asked her. She didn’t know the answer. “The driver later told me that he was stunned at the way I handled the SI… being a girl and all”, she told me. Quite honestly, I don’t think I, would have survived that episode.

Love

GMCS 2 - Affil Forever

Rarely does it happen that a sequel is as great as the first. And if that isn’t the case, those who have not seen the first part will not appreciate the second. But here, all norms have been broken, habits shattered, the successor exceeded the predecessor by unequaled proportions and… It was LEGENDARY!

I explained all the GMCS stories to my friend, and this is how he understood it. “So, GMCS is nothing but a normal 4 year college life – with the stress, worries and sorrows thrown away, the joy, laughter, fun and love filtered out and bottled up into a 15 day package?” To all the Chartered Accountants who asked us the question – What is GMCS? This is the answer!

It was perhaps everything that we missed out in our life. As we face another burden loaded onto us every day, this was a stress buster. For we felt lonely at times, we were showered with love. If we felt scared, we were given support. “Come forward and sing from your heart, who cares if you sound like a peacock!” All of it happened in that classroom. Mockery was replaced by encouragement, prejudice and jealousy was replaced by care and affection. I could indeed see traces of the utopian world. I saw the flaws of the world outside me being corrected.

And the most important thing – I fell in love. Yes, I fell in love with a handful of people. Not the love that somebody has for chicken, but the true love with all its desi flavours in the evergreen romantic package. As I read the messages on Whatsapp I fall in love. As I see the photos on Facebook I fall in love. And when I read my slam book… It feels as if I will never again feel sorrow in my life. I can touch the affection that my friends have for me. And what more, the firm resolve to be with them forever, only grows stronger.

Words falter me as I recollect my emotions. Do you know something? There have been millions of poems and stories about romantic couples. But how many stories have there been about the bond between a mother and a child. How many poems or songs or paintings describe that? That is because emotions as powerful as that are difficult to express. Right now, I am in a similar predicament. There are so many things I want to say – Like how much Team Sixers means to me! When somebody said that I will become a great writer, how deeply I was touched. When I was asked to write this blog as early as possible, how it moved me to tears. When I was told that I will be missed, how much I missed them. But… can’t paint them in words, I am sorry…

What about the Sun who shined upon us throughout this journey. The amazing soul who gave us so much to learn, so much to love and so much to enjoy. The real VIP of our GMCS – Mr. Suncy Varghese, we are forever indebted to. There are teachers who tell us about teamwork, who tell us about time management. But in which management course in the world do they tell us, to go to the person standing next to you, and say that I Love You! Suncy Sir, you have made us all better persons. And I promise to you, what you have given me, I will give back to the world.

When we all were in the brink of tears, one of our friends put it in the best possible manner. “I don’t understand why everybody is saying bye? As a matter of fact, this is the time to say Hi. This is a new beginning!” GMCS is not reminiscent of the love that has been poured over us. It is a promise to love you all – For a 1000 years or life, whichever is longer!

A new beginning! Let us begin each day with the same energy that we carried for those 15 days. Let us take up each task the way we played our games. Let us spread the enthusiasm that each event of Pegasus gave us. Let us spread the Love that we got over here, to the whole world. And the two most important things of all, read the newspaper everyday, and never stop laughing. Because I, Ramon Dharma Rajan, will always be there with you, with a Newspaper game and a million Chalus!

Love 

Herenow

Jayant could see the media frenzy at its top as he stepped out of his Mercedes. “Will your party finalise its candidates in this meeting sir?”, “What are the decisions expected to come out of this meeting sir?”, “Mr. Sinha is having a personal meeting with you first, what is the purpose of this meeting sir?”, “Sir, are you going to become the next Prime Minister?”

In response to all the flashes, the leader only said, “You will be informed after the meeting is completed… I cannot tell you anything right now!” As he walked into the fancy hall of his party head-office, Jayant smiled and said to him-self, “Everybody knows what is going to happen. Yet, you make news out of it, when somebody says it.” Statement of fact…

That day was to be the culmination of Jayant’s glorious political career. The party leaders were to meet ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and the call for the next Prime Ministerial candidate would be made. He knew that the party wanted him to take the lead – the people wanted that, the nation wanted that… He wanted that. Like a fairy tale, he had carried the dream all the way from school to college, from college to the Party’s student’s wing, then on to the head of the youth wing, MLA, state committee leader, Chief Minister and now… All by the age of 42. Nobody questioned that spectacular rise. Jayant was indeed a formidable leader, just, honest and ambitious.

“You wanted to meet, sir?” The Party’s grand old master, and Jayant’s political mentor was saluted inside his room. “Welcome comrade. Welcome, welcome… Very big day indeed, huh? Come sit…” Mr. Sinha greeted him. Jayant could barely sit. Like a little boy, his face was all lit up, hair all over his body stood upright, so did he. He was about to hear the news from his own mentor, the man who made him what he was - the very same master was about to crown him.

“You are not going to be the Prime Minister!”

… “What?” Jayant’s brain tried hard to delete the word ‘not’ from that sentence. But the Master was clear, and specifically clear about the word ‘not’. The reaction on Mr. Sinha’s face was in cognizance with what he had just said. “I don’t understand”, Jayant actually didn’t.

“Son, I understand your pain. But you have to understand that this pain, this is the very reason I cannot let it happen. You have to trust my wisdom on this as you always have.” Sinha ji was 80 years old and was the Founding leader of their party. The frail looking man, wearing a loose kurta was the Master who had taken the party from its incubation, all the way to becoming the Single Largest Political Party in the World’s Greatest Democracy. And most importantly, he took the party to every patriot’s heart. “Why?” the master’s child asked, anger and agony spluttering in his eyes.

“Because you want to…”, Mr. Sinha gave a deep sigh and said, “The one advice I keep giving you… Tell me Jayant, what is that one phrase, one word I keep telling you?”

Jayant looked at him confused and mumbled, “Be honest? Be true to the people? Never let your voters down?”

“No, no, no… I stopped giving all that advice ages ago… You have followed it so obediently after all. But there was one thing, only one thing that I have had to repeat? Tell me child, what is it?” Mr. Sinha always looked like Oogway in Kung Fu Panda, and now he started speaking like that.

“Be herenow!” Jayant said looking at the small man who was standing next to him. Mr. Sinha put his arm on Jayant and said, “Exactly!”

***************************

“Hey, did you know? Jayant will not become Prime Minister”, Ashok’s wife told him over phone as he signed the attendance register at office. “The meeting got over so soon?” Ashok enquired, quite interested in the subject matter, but unable to devote more than a fraction of his mind to it. “No, but Vidya Akka just called me. Apparently Jayant had a personal meeting with Mr. Sinha before the Party meeting and Mr. Sinha asked him to step down. Jayant called his wife right away, obviously! Akka is very upset by it”

“But Mr. Sinha’s word is not final, is it? I think the other leaders will still want Jayant to take it up. Who else is there?” Ashok pulled out the laptop from his bag, set it on his table, occupied his chair, and pulled out a file from the shelf behind him. But he did not open the file, the telephonic subject matter had finally caught his full attention as his wife started speaking, “But Jayant does not want to -”

“WHAT? Anu, I have known him for quite a few years now. It has been his Ambition since forever. That is what makes him breathe! What is he crazy!?”

“Vidya and I felt the same thing. But - Jayant will not keep one step ahead of Mr. Sinha’s word. And it seems Jayant Bhai was rather convinced about the decision. He will take up the responsibility for the election campaign. He is not bothered about Prime Ministership for the moment.”

“God save him!” Ashok cut the call and opened the file. The Balance Sheet of Balram Automobiles Ltd was to be signed that day. Just another cursory look at the numbers and he would place the file on the Partner’s table to get it signed. “Share Capital… Reserves… Long term…” He whispered to himself, but not a single digit registered in his mind. “Non-sense!” He slammed the file on the table and rest his head back on the chair, “I am the one who is to sign this Balance Sheet. Me!”

Ashok had been the Senior Manager at Hariharan & Co, Chartered Accountants, for over 8 years and Partnership was just an arm’s length away, eluding him year after year like God’s cruel joke. His career dream, for some reason remained so – a dream that throbbed his head with agonizing pain every time he sat on his chair. Rubbing his forehead with closed eyes, he pulled out his phone and called his wife, “Anu… Did Vidya tell you why Jayant decided to step down? What did Mr. Sinha tell him?”

“Vidya told me something, but neither of us understood. Mr. Sinha said, ‘Be herenow’”

***************************

Vikas entered his house, tossed his shoes away, walked into his room and slammed the door shut behind him. Anu barely noticed her son enter the house. Half an hour later, Gita’s scooter stopped outside the house and she rushed inside, “Sorry madam, got 5 minutes late. Was a little busy – “

“Don’t worry Gita”, Anu told her son’s tutor, “Vikas just reached home, some half an hour back I guess. And he seemed a little upset I think, why don’t you go and have a look?” “Oh sure!” said Gita and carrying her bag, which was rather heavy for the slim figure, entered Vikas’ room in the first floor.

“What’s up kid?” Gita taught maths, but she was so much more than a tutor to every one of her students. Just 24 years old, fresh out of college, pretty and always wearing a smile which people could rarely see in a metro city, this teacher was loved by boys and girls alike.

Vikas who was lying with his head down on his table, got up to Gita’s voice, rubbed the tears off his face and returned Gita her smile. “Ummm… terrible day!” The boy was wearing the football jersy, so Gita deduced it had something to do with the school team selection. She pulled chair next to him, held the boys tightly by his arms and said, “Tell me…”

“I had been attending soccer classes for the past three months – Everyday”, he started sobbing and his words were not audible. Like re-tuning a radio, Gita patted the boy and he continued speaking, “You know how much I love football. I don’t miss a single game – EPL, ISL, whatever it is… There is nothing that makes me as crazy as football, and to get into the school team, it was my dream every since I joined school. I tried two years back, didn’t even make it close. Tried last year again… And this year I took special classes. Every day, three hours of training after school – and again!” the 13 year old boy burst into tears. He continued, “My knees hurt so badly everyday. I don’t even have school bus after training, I have to come by cycle, after that. And then all the homework, and preparation for exams. I haven’t even watched TV for 3 months now, because I have no time. I am also controlling my diet to stay fit, no chocolates, no ice-creams, for the past three months! All this pain and still…” Vikas burst out again. “Next year I will be in 9^th Standard. I don’t think mom and dad will allow me to play. I wanted to make it to the team so badly. And I played so well… I HATE THAT COACH!”

The young teen turned around to look at his teacher’s face which was staring at him in… “So?” That kind of look! Vikas didn’t understand her expression and Gita started explaining, “Mokku Fellow! Vikas, I can’t understand what is there to be upset about this? You are not a good player and hence you didn’t make it to the school team!”

Vikas widened his eyes in disbelief! “Listen kid, learn this mantra very carefully – Be Herenow! Here’s the trick, if you want something, don’t want it. Don’t even think about it! Focus on the game, love the game and don’t you dare think about the team. Don’t discontinue your soccer classes. Go on, play the game, play the game without wanting to make it to the team. And trust me, you will!”

“Yeah right! Anyway, thanks for the lecture sis. Shall we get started, I have wasted enough time with football, haven’t prepared a thing for my tests next week. None of this will work Gita!” He told his tutor with a smirk. “I finish this class and walk out of the room. And at the hallway - you will believe in me”, Gita announced and started the class.

One and a half hours of Mathathon and the exhausted student-teacher duo walked out of the room – student would drop any minute and the teacher was jumpy as ever. Vikas walked his teacher to the door and at the hallway, his parents announced, “Gita! Congrats!”

“Oh! Thanks sir, thank you Ma’am” she turned towards them and said cheerfully. Vikas looked stunned. “When did this happen?” Ashok asked – “HOW did this happen?”

“Uhmm.. I have been around for a lot of social activities and charity and all that. A few months back one of the Party leaders saw me give a speech at the Agriculture workers and Environmental Activists seminar. He asked me if I would like to volunteer for Party work – you know, they do a lot of socially relevant activities. So I joined, I put forward my own initiatives also and… some of them very quite impressed it seems. It was totally unexpected though, I was glad with the work I am doing right now!”

“A ticket for the Lok Sabha election! That is big!” Anu exclaimed.

“Well, as I said Maam, I never wanted any of it. I was happy doing my work… Well, I guess you get only the things you don’t want huh?” Gita gave her student a wink… Ashok made a long face at that comment.

“So, will you continue classes?”

“Oh yeah, I will. Till the exams get over! Anyways, I have to start! Bye!”

Love     

Bloody Blundaleomite – forgot two things. One, to say that and two, to wish my dear friend a very Happy Birthday!

Memoir

Day 1

I rushed to the cell-phone to call him up, but as I opened the flap of its cover, “11.55” glared at me on the face. Bloody Blundaleomite, what now!?

George – my childhood buddy and my best friend – We were always there for each other. He would do absolutely anything for me even at the darkest hour of night, and I had no shame in exploiting that right. Yesterday too I called him up at 11.30 pm to ask if he had read any review of “Happy New Year” and we ended up conducting a 2 hour virtual convention of the history of “SRK Cinema – How it fares against the rest of Bollywood”, accompanied by guest lectures on “How to succeed even if you have no talent” and “Why you fail even when you are bloody talented!” Yeah, the talk was a vulgar waste of time – But! the point is that I can use him like how an Iphone owner uses Siri. Well, the consequences did follow today morning.

My class starts at 6 am. I woke up at 6.10.

I remember very little of what happened today morning, just a few fragments of memory. Like, I remembering running outside my house and slapping my forehead when I reached the main-road – only then did I realise that I hadn’t brushed my teeth that morning. I also remember jumping, Literally Jumping into the first auto rickshaw that came my way, shouting “Mylapore! Quick! Take whatever you want!” Trust me, the most stupid thing you want to tell an auto-rickshaw driver in Chennai.

But from the second I reached class, each memory is as clear as crystal – unmarred by even the lightest finger-print. I stood outside the door peaking inside to know where I could find place to sit. Classes are usually full by 5.55 itself – Translation, “I was DOOMED!” I tenderly walked inside the classroom, squeezing myself between the desks, looking for the slightest gap in farthest corner and finding absolutely no luck. Within 4 minutes I had completely run the teaching faculty off his patience. A shockwave passed through my body as I heard, “Aye! YOU!”

Slowly, helplessly, I turned to face my guru – not such a good sight. But he was a nice man, before I could come up with a story he shouted, “What do you think you are doing disturbing the class and spoiling my lecture! Settle down!” As if I didn’t want to. I looked around frantically, Somebody? Anybody? Help?

“Aye! Come…” Oh no! “Come and sit here.” He directed me to the chair that was literally under his nose. A drop of tear ran down my cheeks… the last time I cried before that was when Dad refused to buy me a water-gun. And if sitting in the front bench, in front of the entire class that stared at me continuously for 5 minutes as I walked to the front and settled down, wasn’t bad enough, I also had to listen to a lecture – not the normal ones, but the really Angry ones, the ones you don’t want to hear. A lecture that ran for one full hour about being “On Time”. I felt a thousand fingers point at me for each word he said.

Today morning I had learnt, the hard way, that I cannot afford to stay up a minute after midnight and swore to repeat it never again. Until the clock ticked to 11.55 pm. I had to make the call…

I stared are the cell for 4 minutes. I had my classes, I had a promise to keep, a reputation to hold, an embarrassment to wash away – there was no way I could be late again.

But… but… the clock struck 12, and I made the call…

To be continued…

Love