The Story Behind Ek Neta Ki Maut

Ek Neta ki Maut (Death of a leader) is the latest of my published stories. Special thanks to 21 Fools for doing so. Here is the link for those who haven't read it yet, and would like to do so!

LINK

The story is an outright fiction and none of the characters or locations or context are meant to resemble anyone or anything existent in the real world. (Ha! You don't buy it right? Ok, then read on...)

I had been to Bangalore years ago to appear for an examination on the day following Kannada actor Rajkumar's death and was shocked to see the anarchic state of the city. This picture was etched in my mind since then, and was easy to recall when I decided to take on the subject of political idolisation.

The primary focus of the story is on hero worship of political leaders and film celebrities. Where better a stage to it than the place where both the Chief Minister and the leader of opposition in the state legislative assembly are both film actors! So I decieded to have Chennai as the location of the story.

The other elements portrayed in Ek Neta Ki Maut are the growing nepotism in politics and the ideologies of party leaders and party workers that are incongruent to that of the political party they represent. This in addition to opportunistic monkey jumping by parties to form governments and attain ministrerial berths are seen as the biggest indicators that politics ceases to be a life of passionate social service but a mere profession for money making. I'd hold the same responsible for the Communist debacle in West Bengal last week. (Link)

Moving on from politics, psychology has been my favourite real life subject of study. I continue to be amazed by the power of human brain and always curious to know how it works! So when I decided to fade out the end of the story as a dream, I chose to include certain psychology concepts as well.

I am sure everyone has had their own experiences of having noticed reality being reflected in their dreams. From the kid who dreams of honourably using a toilet while shamelessly bedwetting in his sleep to the scientist who sees his research elements dancing in his dreams, I am sure everyone's had their own share of experiences in this regard. That is why I wanted the nightmare of the character (the riot and its impact) to lead to his real life condition (eye burning sensation probably due to conjunctivitis) as he gradually comes out of it.

Also there is this ever intriguing phenomenon called deja vu. The weird feeling of having already gone through something that is happening now in the present, and trying to predict responses and reactions of others based on the clues the brain throws in! True genius of the human brain! The story ends with a deja vu for the main character as his friend tries to rope him into a situation that he had foreseen in his nightmare.

Now the million dollar question remains would he believe his brain's story telling abilities and refrain from the plan or will he actually go ahead and experience deja vu!

Cheers! :)

A Grandpa tale... Or Life Lesson?

The best way to come out of a writers’ block is to (re-) start off with something not so creative, yet delivering a satiating output, so that on the response to this output one can build upon. So here I am, writing about a story that I heard from my grandfather as a child. The story isn’t particularly great, but its got hell a lot of stuff for a thoughtful brain. So here it is...

There lived an old guy in some part of India in a small village (although not in any way relevant to the story, such a start helps many people identify themselves with the good old days of grandpa and grandma tales) He had a son who went to the town everyday to work. Now this old man was very old (LOL at the sentence), and he had a wish. He asked his son to bring him betel leaves while coming back from work every day.

The first day the boy brought some extra betel leaves. The man had some and stored the rest away (in a fridge? I don’t know!). The next day when his son brought fresh betel leaves, he chewed the ones he had put away the previous day and replaced them with the fresh ones. And this routine continued. The old man continued to keep the fresh leaves safe and chew the stale ones.

Probably I used to fall asleep by this point of the story, for I fail to recollect if there is anything further in it! Never mind, my interest lies only up to this part.

As a child, this story wasn’t anything fascinating. But as I grew up, there is something I found ingrained in this story that reveals itself only to its seeker.

‘The ability to discard’ is a character that we Indians, in particular, lack. To throw away anything, we think twice, thrice and endless number of times only to decide to put it away for ‘some’ use in the future (this fictional purpose shows up every time we think of discarding something but never after that!).

Open the refrigerator and you can find food older than a week or eatables that got past their expiry date craving for your attention there. The best place to look for your family heritage, especially if you are living in your ancestral house, is the attic and overhead storage units that remain neglected since the time you have ever known them. You can be certain to find an old diary or photograph or sometimes much bigger elements of your ancestry there! In cities, we live in relatively small apartments with hardly three or four rooms but still manage to misplace something or the other every day. Like my mother frequently says, “Half of one’s life is spent in searching something or the other.” LOL!

And another thing with us. We associate everything around us to religion. Flowers, food, paper. You name it and I can find something religious about it! Until very recently (to be precise, until I completed graduation) it was a sin to shred paper before discarding it. I would be disrespecting Goddess Saraswathy if I did so. Throwing away food was beyond sin! Accumulating trash over trash, in the process! Health and hygiene – gone to the dogs! Don’t worry, God will take care of it. “Humbug” I’d say, if I were allowed to have an opinion on this one. But alas! That would be another symbol of my sinful irreverence.

So coming back to the old man and his betel leaves. He was a typical Indian scared of trashing eatable stuff. If God becomes angry, he may never get betel leaves again! But the truth is that even our religions teach us not to accumulate trash- physical or mental. Discard the ones that do not serve any purpose. For only if you discard the useless can you replace them with something good, something new and useful; and only then will life and lifestyle improve.If he had thrown away the stale betel leaves on one day, he could have probably chewed fresh ones for his entire lifetime.

So, Think fresh, Eat fresh, Be fresh! Make a conscious effort to never accumulate trash, in any form!

Cheers! :)

Image Credits: federico stevanin

Dhiru and sons- a chapter in modern mythology

Dhiru Mahadev started his career as an employee in one of the many British companies located in the coast of Aden. Although a humble beginning, Dhiru was always poised for bigger challenges in life. A few years into his career he met the two people who would become his working partners in future.

The first person was Brahm Dev, a man of impeccable knowledge and research experience. His intelligence was supreme and people felt he thought with not one brain, but four! The other was Vishnu Baba, an operations expert who knew to keep any plant running irrespective of any form of trouble, be it from employees or management.

So when they formed their venture ‘Hind Reliance’, Brahm took charge of R&D and was responsible for creativity and innovation, while Vishnu took charge of operations and plant management. Mr.Mahadev, being the biggest contributor in the venture, was responsible for final goods delivery and overall decision making. So he was nicked ‘Param’- meaning supreme.

Param meanwhile got married to Parvatiben, a good looking woman with a strong Gujrati background. The couple were blessed with two sons. The elder one was Ganesh Mahadev and the younger was Karthik Mahadev.

Ganesh was born with a speech disability. He was smart but would not talk. This made him very shy and tied down to his own world of books and stories. Very soon his friends started calling him Mook-esh (‘mook’ meaning dumb in Hindi). Karthik on the other hand was a very handsome extrovert. He was inclined to movies and show biz right from a young age. At one point he felt that his name Karthik was so not reflective of his ‘modern’ nature that he re-christened himself ‘Anil’ after his favourite star in Bollywood Anil Kapoor.

As years went by, Dhiru Mahadev’s company became big and it looked like its employees could form a nation of their own. Dhiru would often quip to his wife, “Sitting in the twenty fifth floor of my office in Nariman Point, I feel like I am on top of some Kailash mountain and can see the entire world from a bird’s eye view.”

Mookesh and Anil went to the best school in the country and after completing their schooling in India, they were sent away for graduating in business studies from the US. When it was time for his sons to return after completing their graduate studies, Param found that he was a deeply worried and concerned man. He feared that bookish education in the US would be a handicap for his sons to run Hind Reliance. He feared that their decision making abilities will be affected by their Americanised perspectives in business, especially in a completely Indian company like theirs.

So he decided to test them.

One day after they were back in India, Param called his wife Parvatiben and their sons Mookesh and Anil to his study. There he was sitting with his close friend Mr.Narad Muni. Narad was a shrewd businessman who spent most of his life travelling across seas and shores for running his business. When they were ready, Param spoke.

“Sons, you are both very adorable, and we love you both. You have completed your education and have made yourselves eligible for bigger roles now. However, I would like to test you to know who among you is better suited at following me.”

“I have transferred Rs.1,00,00,000 to both your accounts. Now I will give you a maximum of one month to complete this assignment. Go and experience life to the fullest! Narad uncle will help you get your air tickets and all ready.”

True to their respective selves Mookesh remained sombre and unperturbed while there was a distinctive glint in Anil’s eyes. Within two days, Anil was cruising through the waters of Nile, while his elder brother Mookesh was slump on the couch watching Mind Your Language series on television.

Anil booked a Europe tour package that took him to the most exotic of places in the Europe. He cruised on the seas, went bungee jumping, yachting, rowing, and ice skiing and trekking through the Alps. He drank the most expensive liquors and slept with the most exquisite women from across the globe. He drove in the most luxurious of vehicles and interacted with many celebrities worldwide.

Meanwhile, his brother Mookesh preferred to stay indoors than outdoors. Much to the surprise of everyone around him, he went and joined Hind Reliance to help his father in business. In a matter of one week, he learnt the business in and out. By three weeks, he made Hind Reliance a profit of Rs. 50,00,000. Impressed by his effort at running the company, Param declared Mookesh as his successor.

When Anil came back from his tour, he was aghast to see that Mookesh had already been proclaimed winner in a contest that he considered uncompleted. Red faced, with a heavy heart he spoke to his father.

“Dad, you asked us to ‘GO’ and enjoy life. So I went out and experienced the best of everything in the world and came back. I learnt the best practices from everywhere and hoped to implement them in our company. But here I see that in spite of having not stepped outside the city, you have proclaimed Mookesh to be the winner. How unfair is that father?”

Param replied, “Yes, I asked you to experience ‘life’. By joining me at the company, Mookesh proved that ‘Hind Reliance’ was his life. What could have been a better reason to announce him as my successor?”

Not convinced at his father’s judgement Karthik ‘Anil’ Mahadev cried foul, vowed to never join his father’s company and walked out of the Mahadev family house.

Dhiru ‘Param’ Mahadev smiled. His wife Parvatiben cried. Their son Ganesh ‘Mookesh’ Mahadev looked expressionless, but his dreams sore high like a 60 floors tower worth US$2Bn in the heart of Mumbai city!

-Shyam

My Meeting with Mr.T

Mr. T is not a most wanted gangster or a high profile businessman as some of you would have thought. Far from it, he is a school going kid. A true millenium kid, to me Mr.T represents the generation of children who are fed on cell phones, computer games and countless other gadgets since birth. And probably because of such an upbringing, I do not see much difference in the levels of our awareness. Hence I prefer to consider him as equal and that is why the 'Mr.' part that I added to the kid's name is important.

This is how the conversation went. The way it went, I had an irresistable temptation to blog about it and by the end of the post I am sure you will know why.

Mr. T : Hey! I am ______

Me : [A little startled by the kid's boldness to initiate the conversation in no time] Hi dude...

Mr. T : Are you on facebook?

Me : [Now definitely shocked] Umm... Yeah! (followed by a 'So?' expression)

Mr. T : Will you add me on facebook?

Me : Umm.. Yeah sure .. Why not!

Mr. T : Whats your name on facebook?

[I tried to ignore that one, to go easy on 'facebook'. I prefer to keep my facebook activities very much restricted to close friends. But... ]

Mr. T : Whats your name on facebook?

Me : Uh? [followed by a 'talking to me?' expression] H-N-S-H-Y-A-M hnshyam

[Following this, I went into my 'I am thinking' facial expression. I do this whenever I want to avoid some conversation. But this time it was more to relieving me from the shock of this conversation I was having with a ten year old kid]

Mr. T : What's the full form of HN?

Me : (This is one question I have learnt to conveniently evade in the last twenty two years, simply because it calls for further explanations. So...) Umm.. Nothing dude.. Its a single thing.

Mr. T : Really? You are joking.... Right?

Me : [smile] (and thankfully, the topic was changed)

Mr. T : You have a computer?

Me : Yeah, of course!

Mr. T : Can I use it?

Me : Sure. Come with me, let's go to my room.

In my room,

Mr. T : Oh, so you have this small laptop?

Me : Yeah, its called a netbook.

Mr. T : Let me add you on facebook. Whats your name you said?

Since my profile was already logged in, I did the honours myself. And he promptly logged into his id and accepted my friend request.

Mr. T : You know my bro has got a new tattoo on his hand! You want to see?

Me : [Startled again] Umm.. Yeah.. Sure.

Mr. T : (While loading his brother's facebook profile) You know, all his friends wanted to get his profile pic clicked with his new girlfriend. But he smartly avoided it.

Me : (Girlfriend!! WTF? Oh Btw his bro has just joined undergraduation) Umm.. Yeah? That was smart of him...

Mr. T : All his friends have girlfriends. You don't have a girlfriend?

Me : (Now this is terribly embarrasing, everytime!) No dude... I don't.

Mr. T : Oh... I see.

Me : [Relieved for not being asked 'Why?', and amazed by Mr.T 's maturity or thoughtfulness you may say!]

Mr. T : BTW you know I joined facebook only last week and I have 114 friends. How many 'likes' do you have?

Me : How many 'what' ?

Mr. T : (pardoning my ignorance) You know, my brother does dissection in his college. The other day they dissected a frog, and all the intestine were out but the heart was still beating!

Me : [Surprised to see this amount of science knowledge in a ten year old] Yeah? I dropped biology way back in class 11 dude. So I never had a chance to do any such thing.

Mr. T : (Hardly interested in my reply. Now showing me some of his brother's pics) You see this boy in this pic?

Me : Yeah.

Mr. T : His mother died. She was only 56, you know?

Me : Oh is it, thats sad... (Not expecting knowledge of any further detail from the kid, and also not feeling it right to quiz him on such a topic. But...)

Mr. T : Apparently she was sleeping in the back seat when the accident occured and the balloon (air bag) came only in the front seats. So when they finally tried to wake his mom up, she did not get up! She had died by that time.

Me : (Now, literally lost for words) Hmmm.... I see.

We moved to the living room, where his mom was talking to my parents.

Mr. T : [Looking at my phone] So you have a blackberry eh?

Me : Yeah.

Mr. T : [Turning to his mom ] Hey mom, the model of your phone is popular. See even he has a similar blackberry.

Me : [Shocked again. The first time I learnt about Blackberry phones was barely a few years ago. Here is a ten year kid discussing Blackberry phones with his mom! ]

Mr. T : You don't have games on you comp? What do you do with it?

Me : [Smiling in an effort to hide my mixed emotions at this strange question] I work Mr.T. So I have something or the other official to do all the time.

Mr. T : [Giving me a 'what a loser' look. Now looking at the golf club in my house] So who goes for golf coaching here?

Me : Golf 'what'?Err... No, no one does. I play around inside the house, sometimes. Haven't gone for any training and all.

Mr. T : Oh... [Browsing through the television channels] Did you watch any tamil movie off late?

Me : Yeah, I watched Enthiran.

Mr. T : Oh.. I watched Manmathan Anbu! Enthiran was long back, right?

Me : Yeah... I guess.

By this time, Mr. T's mother had decided that it was time for them to leave. And in matter of no time, Mr.T got himself ready to leave and he was ready at the door.

Mr. T : Ok dude... Tata! Take Care.

Me : [Now quite use to think of Mr.T as any other friend from college or work] Yep mate! You too...

Mr. T : Hey, is there any sports shop around here?

Me : Yeah, there is one right down this road.

Mr. T : Oh.. k!


I saw Mr.T off from my balcony, as he got into his Manza car with his mother and they drove down the road.

As their car disappeared from my sight, I thought for a second about myself as a ten year old. I still remember the excitement of my visit to a McD (near Andheri station) to have a burger and softy, and getting my first email id '@usa.net' (I don't know how many of you remember it, but it was a craze in those days to have a usa.net email address). Those were probably the biggest things in my life until then, besides a few flight trips and eating American Choupsuey in a chinese restaurant! That was the extent of my exposure.

I looked at the calendar hanging on the wall. It said 'January 2011', and don't know why everything seemed to feel perfectly in place then.

I heard someone tell me, "Its just normal man; 21st century kid afterall! "

I smiled to myself affirmatively and walked into my room.

Tales From Ambalapuzha

[Inspired from a real-life story. First in a series of stories inspired by the lives of some people from my native place in Kerala. ]
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Time flies. Seems like yesterday, when I left my home and this beautiful countryside to work for the Marwadi in Mattanchery. I was young then, just out of my teens. Matriculation was considered high education in those days. My father, who was a singer in the court of Travancore king, did the best he could to support my education up to that point. With the four younger sisters after me and a toddler brother to support, I could not ask him for the money to pay for further education.

My friend Shastri who lives down the street proceeded with his higher studies and completed his B.Sc. at University of Travancore. He retired few years back as the Head of the Physics Department in the university which was later renamed Kerala University. My cousin Ananthu in Thiruvananthapuram could afford the cost of professional education and is a successful doctor today. But all that I could think of after my matriculation was to start earning and help father in supporting the family.

In those days, the country was going through a post-independence transition. Nehru was going strong in Delhi and Patel was getting the nation stronger across the region. Everything else was in a disarray. The partition had left a deep vaccuum in trade and commerce. Many companies in the Madras presidency were owned and operated by Muslims who fled the place in the fear of communal attacks. Some of them settled in the Kozhikode region seeking refuge under the Sultan of Mysoor, and many travelled further north in search of safer places.

Perhaps due to this politico-economic uncertainity, I could easily get a job as assistant to a Marwadi trader in Mattanchery, near the Jew synagogue. Fifteen rupees a month. To avoid excessive expenditure, I refrained from frequenting home. In six months time, the Marwadi recommended me and Sukumaran to a tea estate supervisor in Munnar. The pay was an unbelievable sum of Fifty five rupees a month! Sukumaran and I had adjacent tables in the otherwise dark dingy office that resembled more of a godown for the tea. The room had unmistakable scent of tea, and a lot many stinks were concealed under this smell. Besides the two of us, we also had an assistant Kuttan.

When it seemed life was settled, I got a letter from home. Mother felt that I must be close to my ailing parents and with the land feud with Govindan mama twisting deeper, they needed my support. I was disturbed. The comfort and good pay of this tea estate job on the one side, my parents and the problems back home on the other. And what about a job even if I decided to move back?

As if she had read my mind, I got a letter (again written by someone else at mother's dictation) saying that a job has been arranged for me at the Ambalapuzha Middle School, at a stone throws distance from home. Now I was definitely in two minds. Sukumaran and others tried to convince me to stay back. I was sure I could not get more than the salary or the luxury of the life I was leading there at the estate. In fact, I would not get a sum anywhere close to this one. But caring for my parents and siblings is not something I could turn a deaf ear to. So I decided to move to Ambalapuzha, the place where I grew up.

I joined the school for a pay of Twenty rupees a month. (Yes, from a lavish Fifty five rupees to Twenty rupees!) Life was difficult. I was working at almost one third of my earlier pay. There was just two earning hands and eight mouths to feed at home. Medical expenses, celebrations, fees for siblings, the list was infinite.

But like they say, even that phase passed by. I got my sisters married off. My brother got a job. Parents were with us for a few years. I got married myself after a couple of years. My son today works in the UGC division of the government in Delhi.

I am sixty five now. Personally, I have not earned much money. I taught at the school for thirty years and retired as its Headmaster. Some of my students have reached very high ranks in the society. The whole town today knows me as' Iyer Sir', an achievement I consider above the monetary benefits of a private job.

Time has changed a lot. Ambalapuzha has changed equally. Three buses a day from Alapuzha has now grown to more than fifteen. People from all over South India come to worship the big temple, which used to be the temple of this town and its people. The beauty of the place remains intact irrespective of all these developments.

I read in the newspaper yesterday that Sukumaran has become Managing Director of the tea company, today Kerala's No.1. Had I continued with him, even I would have become someone. We would have had a lot of money, a bungalow perhaps and my son would have become a doctor or engineer or a lawyer. He would not have had to take commerce simply for getting a job quickly. Yes, things would have been different, very different.

Today, I do not have wealth but I have the satisfaction of having taken care of my parents and supported the family when they needed me the most. As a teacher I have the satisfaction of shaping a few honest and dedicated people who will play significant roles in the future. The honour of being in such a noble profession and the respect I get everywhere I go.

They were two different roads entirely. When I die in a few years from now what I shall be remembered for, will be decided entirely by that bus ride I undertook on a rainy afternoon from the elevated tea estates of Munnar to the low lying plains of Ambalapuzha.

It is the one decision that truly changed my life!

The war that never ended!

I was riding on our strongest horse Heera, a black thoroghbred gifted to Tipu last month by some foreign visitors who had come to see the kingdom. Tipu was ahead of me by a few metres when we could clearly see the enemy occupying the fort.

They had a fairly impressive army consisting infantry as well as cavalry. This being a totally unannounced attack from their side, we were hardly ready with our full strength! Then Giridhar took out the conch and started blowing it.

The Nokia music sounded clear and loud.

'Dude, where are you?' I heard Mradul (aka Duck) speak.

'Uh? Yea! mm.. well..I guess I am in Bangalore. I can see some big buildings. So would you guys be coming to Majestic?'

'No man. Change in plan. You will be coming over to my place. Shanky is here too! Get down at Indira Nagar'

'Cool. Done! '

We are now almost 300 metres away from their first line of soldiers, and then suddenly someone close by shouts, 'Indira Nagar! Indira Nagar!!'

I open my eyes wide! Spring out of my horse and take my backpack and get to the street. I am suddenly attacked by a buzz of auto drivers speaking in foreign tongue. Must be the enemies spies I think. Fearing a mass attack I call up the military base number. But they surrounded me and from the looks of it, they were arresting me and planning to take me to the enemy camp.

'Yeah dude, got down? Do one thing, hand over the phone to one of the auto drivers. I will talk to them', I heard duck quack loudly into my ears!

'Illa... avadhu... pizza...gothu...murugeshpalaya.. avadhu...' spoke the spy in the code language. Was duck also a part of their spy? How could he speak their secret language? Hmmm...

At the end of the conversation, I was pushed into a vehicle that was powered by engine and in no time I was speeding towards the enemy camp. Duck just now sold off our kingdom to the enemies! I needed to think fast so that I can escape from the enemies and save my kingdom. With Tipu nowhere in sight, all hopes were pinned to me!

Suddenly it occured to me that I must somehow make them feel uncomfortable in the new place that they will leave our kingdom and go off on their own. Lack of time and ideas were falling hard on me as I could literally see the enemy camp where they would chain me to a huge rock and behead me in public.

Me, the bravest warrior in Tipu's army should not end like this. The kingdom looks up to me and the people believe in me. I must do something!

It is winter and the weather was getting very very cold. I am gritting my teeth and my body is shivering. My body is exhausted after the long battle and my brain needs oxygen.

Just then, like a rainbow out of the grey clouds or like a beam of light coming from a tunnel, the idea struck me! Yes, this idea that could save my kingdom, my people and restore Tipu's glory and Mysore's pride back in place. Yes!!!

All of a sudden I felt I was being hit on my shoulders by enemy soldiers. I opened my eyes and it was Duck!

'Kya tu so raha hai! Chal... Ek ghante me mysore ki bus hai. Ab fresh ho ja, baaki us bus me so lena...'

... and there ended my dream, and with it this unwritten episode in the history of Mysore!

The Great Indian Novel of Thuvakudipuram and Garnet Society

Hey folks! This is Captain Shyam Krishnan from Dwarakpur! Today I will be meeting my cousins with whom I spent my childhood. I have five cousins- Dharmashanky, Bheem Nagi, Abhyarjun, Sabanakul and Vijaysahadev. My brother Balrachit and I have spent many of our childhood days in their company and even teamed up with them for a grand fight with the most despised DOTA gang (Sathyo´D´hana, Karnaditya, Kravindan and Somanatham). Today I will tell you about that story.

Dharmashanky was the eldest among us and a natural philanthropist. Naturally he was the leader. Bheem Nagi on the other hand was the gentle giant of the gang. Now the first one thought with his heart and the second with his limbs, who would think with his brain? Abhyarjun; he was the gang´s strategist. A six feet package of shrewd and clever ideas, he was also the most handsome among us. Naturally the only one behind whom the girls of the village flocked! The twins Sabanakul and Vijaysahadev are inseparable individuals with very identical thoughts and opinions. It was speculated that no one had ever seen one of them without the other. Sabanakul had a craze for collecting KPN bus tickets and was an active KayPeeNatelist (something like Philatelist) and Vijaysahadev was crazy about English music! I dont know how much time has changed these people, and I am very excited to see them today! My brother Balarachit is also arriving tonight from the USA!

Coming back to our story... Once for vacation all of us had come over to my place at Thuvakudipuram . Our family owns a house in the Garnet society there and since it was unoccupied we thought it would be the ideal place to spend our vacation. But only after we reached there did we realise that Sathyo´D´hana´s parents had purchased the adjacent house to ours and he had come over with his DoTA gang to spend the vacation there. I really dont understand why, but our gangs never got along well with each other. Some small issue or the other cropped up and Dharmashanky had to act as mediator and settle it every time.

Now in Thuvakudipuram lived a beautiful girl called Pragnya. She was so beautiful that people from around 60 countries fought against each other to win her! Pragnya was a shy girl and never spoke to anyone in the village. She used to spend most of her time in the ´Surya Computer Centre´ at the village junction where Sathyo´D´hana and his DoTA gang used to practise DoTA. While they were there Sathyo´D´hana fell for Pragnya´s beauty and wanted to propose to her. He made KRAravindan write a blog post about her beauty and himself got her a brand new wrist watch from Tux Vendors.

Meanwhile Pragnya happened to see Abhyarjun with us at the Shakthi Tea And Fruit Faloodaa (STAFF) canteen in the village when she was there with her friends. She whispered to her close friend Festy that Abhyarjun looked so much the ´chocolate boy´ types like fimstar Madhavan and that she had fallen for him. In matter of no time she became a good friend of all of us and a very special friend of Abhyarjun. He used to tell us how he fell for her smile. Yes, her smile did win many a hearts! Hmmm...

Anyway, so when Sathyo´D´hana was all set to propose to Pragnya after doing all the preparation, he was shattered to know that Pragnya was already committed to Abhyarjun and he challenged us for a game of DoTA. Though none of us except Vijaysahadev knew anything about the game (and Vij was no better actually!) Dharmashanky and Bheem Nagi felt that it would be cowardly to turn our face away. So we accepted the challenge for Pragnya and Abhyarjun.

Vij tried teaching us the game and told us about the game strategies. Dharmashanky vowed to play the game only if it was linux compatible and the complexity demanded a 32GB computer. He felt anything less than that was below his level. Bheem Nagi wanted to incorporate networking protocol algorithms into our game strategy (and was naturally hushed off! ). Abhyarjun wanted to put to use his Hindu paper memorising talent into the game strategy. He wanted us to follow the pattern established by the Polyester Prince. That was his contribution to the game plan. Sabanakul wanted us to use the KPN hard algorithm for ´traveling sabarish´ problem for deciding the game strategy. My brother wanted to incorporate the patterns of Ragas in music (I still dont understand what he meant, but he used to be obsessed with this Raga thing those days). I had only one opinion, it must be economically efficient!

Well, as u could see we had no idea of DoTA and naturally we lost the game against Sathyo´D´hana and his pro-team. Sathyo´D´hana was a computer wizard. His best friend from ´B section´ in school Karnaditya was a smart and pious chap. He used to help people get employed through his contacts but himself preferred to be a farmer. Somanatham and KRAravindan were twins who got their diplomas in manufacting. Both were smart workers who knew how to put in least effort and yet make maximum profit!

Since Abhyarjun and Pragnya were already in a relation, they did not bother to ask her out now. Instead they asked us to shoo off from the place for 14 days so that they can have the society playground all to themselves for these days. So we (along with Pragnya) went to our uncle Shakunan´s place. He is believed to be the most crooked one in our family having made himself infamous in the most popular Banana scandal that rocked Thuvakudipuram administration.

Uncle Shakunan told us a master plan to get even with these guys and save our reputation in the society. He told us to seek support from his friend´s son Ashwatnami. So we brought Ashwatnami into our group and told him about what all had happened. We had just one day in hand before the commencement of school and we had to settle scores. After our defeat at the game of DoTA Pragnya was also upset. She told Abhyarjun that she would be his girl only if he defeated and humiliated Sathyo´D´hana.

So we decided to use Ashwatnami´s gulti-friendship with Sathyo´D´hana to bring him alongwith his gang to the Garnet society pond where we will launch surprise attacks at them. Since they will be unarmed for the fight, they will be caught by surprise and we will be able to defeat them easily in public.

On the fifteenth day when we got back to Garnet society, we positioned ourselves as planned and sent Ashwatnami to Sathyo´D´hana. When he and his friends reached, we launched water missiles at them and made them lie flat on the ground. Bheen Nagi´s strength, Abhyarjun´s sharpness and Dharmashanky´s wisom were our strengths. But things went out of hands after a while. Sathyo´D´han and his gang were mighty strong compared to ours. They soon got back on their feet and started attacking us with water missiles. It was a closely fought battle with neither team conceding defeat.

At last I thought of an idea. I discussed it with Abhyarjun and he was happy with it. We asked Ahwatnami to stay outside for a while and made Dharmashanky to inform Sathyo´D´hana that his gulti-firend was not feeling well. On hearing it he dropped his missile and Bheem Nagi got him on his knees with one strong one on his legs. His clothes were torn and he was humiliated in public. The happiness on the face of Pragnya who was witnessing all this was shining like a bright sun.

With Sathyo´D´hana out of the battle, the others could easily be brought down by my songs! All I had to do was sing a few lines and the rest of their gang surrendered their weapons and conceded defeat!

And thus we won the great battle of Thuvakudipuram. Abhyarjun proposed to Pragnya and she happily accepted. They were bonded into an everlasting relationship. Dharmashanky and I decided to be the best men on their wedding. Meanwhile my brother had gone off before the fight to continue his research work on Morning Ragas and so he could not be a part of it.

After we parted ways then, there has never been a vacation we were together. And today all of us are going back to Garnet society to spend a week there. And guess what, I just heard from Karnaditya that Sathyo´D´hana and his friends are also going to be there. Lets see what is in store this time!

:-)
Cheers!

(L to R): Bheem Nagi, Somanatham, Vijaysahadev, Shyam Krishnan, KRAravindan, Dharmashanky, Karnaditya, Abhyarjun, Sathyo´D´hana.
Missing : Balarachit and Ashwatnami.

Disclaimer- This is purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to living or dead beings, or locations is simply coincidence! :P And a special word to conspirators of NITT- please do not try to decipher unintented meaning out of any part of the story. It is entirely meant for fun! So hav fun!!! :-)