A short Story

Short Story (2500 words) submitted to Ashwin Sanghvi- Times of India

I never wanted to become a professor in life not even in my wildest dreams, but this impaired society and the tragedy that had struck me, forced me to be one. I stood in front of the college, the name board “st. Christ College of Engineering” the splendor had receded over the years. I looked across the road, where stood a reclusive tea stall. The signboard seemed newly painted. I went directly to the tea stall. Cigarettes and pan was hanging in front, with the poster of a hindi film. A few people, seemed college students, were smoking in a shed adjacent to the stall by a door.

5 years back, memories remained fresh. I still remembered during my college days, in spite all the facilities like canteen, bakery shop present inside the college, we had found it amusing to be in the tea stall; the fun really started when the juniors had joined so for the next few weeks, our cigarettes and juices had sponsors.  Our girls too joined us during the breaks and from there we take decisions on which movies was worth watching.

“What do you want” a voice interrupted me as I turned around to see the inadvertent face, I was expecting. Managal owned the tea stall and had no much change expect his receding hairline and graying on the side but one could clearly figure him out.  

Mangal looked straight into my eyes and seemed lost in thoughts to identify the face for sure he must not have forgotten.

“I know you before. Did u study here “ mangal inquired with his eyes piercing

“Yes, Abhijeeth Singh. B.Tech mechanical 2010 pass out”

Mangal, in a sudden sprout of action, grabbed my hands and completely in deference, pushed out words” How can I forget you Abhi..always ever since you left this college, I  always prayed for your well being..”

 I slowly took out my hands and replied unrequitedly  

“I have not forgotten either”

I walked away leaving him confused and stepped into the college, after a gap of 5 years. My first plan was executed.

I presented the appointment letter to the principal Mr. Hegde, who over the years had not changed except that his moustache now seems to grow at a faster pace.  Since, my time I have heard students say that he roams around the college even at night to ensure all’s well.

“I never had expected you would want to come back into this college. But you had your masters with a good grade and being an ex-student, the management decided to take your services”

“Thank you sir, and believe me I have come here to teach” My mind filled the rest of the statement TEACH THEM.

“All the best” Hegde gave a warm shake and I got up to leave, when he inquired

“ What was her name”

I didn’t turn back but with my eyes on the door “ Nithya “. The very mention of her name had brought tears in my eyes and as I walked out of the room without turning back; I had rushed into the toilet and throughout my journey till the door step of the college ,I had suppressed my emotion, I had let it out fully aware that the toilet was empty. I cried.

I never went to my department for my next duty after joining was to meet the HOD of mechanical section. I started walking around the college and I happened to find out the backyard wall, which was completely in a tattered state during my years, now was rebuilt and stood firm. “ Have they changed” my mind wandered as I walked to the canteen. That contained beautiful memories of me and Nithya together for it was where we first met each other , the new girl from IT department 1^st year and she had no change to buy something to quench her hunger(for she had been dropped in her college by her father with a 1000 rs note). She wanted to ask her colleagues but before that I already ordered, and asked the canteen boy to move the plate to her, she did not want to accept but her hunger took the toll and that began our friendship, and as an year passed by dating and by third year we were deeply in love. Ravi , the canteen boy who was there and one of the messenger in our romance , although failed to understand me.

I met George, one of my classmate who recommended me to take up the job fully aware of the tragedy. He was happy to see me back after a few years and hugged me; he was a supporting staff in the mechanical lathe workshop. I informed my status as professor to my WHATSAPP group , and received a lot of congratulations.

After a chat with the HOD of mechanical department, I decided to hit the classes and being a professor was not my taste but I did have plans in my mind. As I entered, the class room, I did not notice the students that stood up to greet me, but the classroom which had not changed after all the years, the very same posters and very same outlook.

“Good morning, I am your professor for thermodynamics and fortunately I am one of the ex students of this college. So, I think the best person, who can understand your emotions is me and I hope you all co-operate so I don’t disturb you much” There was a smile on their face and as I turned to the black board I said spontaneously” I will not be here for long”

I took room near to the college where there was a dormitory for the day scholars and the students were surprised to find a professor take up a room in there. As soon as I finished my dinner, I walked up to the backyard of the college. It was pitch dark and there were a few rooms that were lighted inside but I kept moving around keeping a close watch on the tea stall as well but to my dismay I could not find anything.

A few days had gone by. I was busy in the mornings for the preparing classes, as the previous nights I had less time to focus due to my night patrolling. That night after the dinner I was getting my torch ready when I decided to let my mind wander for a moment. I saw Nithya lying in a pool of blood at the backyard of the college, stabbed from back,  by the time we(my friends along) had reached up.I took her on my lap, when in an intermittent voice, she pronounced “ All star” and pointed towards the college. As she passed away on my lap, I didn’t know who had picked me from there and how I had reached the hostel. I did go through a very bad phase. All the years, I tried to recollect the words and finally I understood; it was the same All star tea stall in front of the college but her pointing towards the college seemed a mystery. Suddenly, I woke up from my dream and looked into my watch, it was late and I moved out of my room when I heard some students walking past by murmur” It is there tonight”

I ran downstairs and started running towards the college and in the midst of darkness no one noticed me. The tea stall was lighted today and i slowly went past the tea stall into the shed and hid in the corner, which I am acquaintained with, as of our bunking location from college. I I remembered an incident prior to Nithya’s death.

Nithya, had the habit of working part time in a local daily newspaper. She used to write articles and basically she was interested in highlighting the social evils engulfed in the society, typically influenced by films. Once we had gone to meet a lady, who stayed a few miles away from the college. I was surprised to see a small hut built of hay and leaves. When she had called out loud by her name Ayesha, a lady came out with a disgusting look in her eyes.

“No madam, iam not interested in two some” she yawned. “Already, I had enough with these college students, who come three and four together”

 I was surprised to hear it from the lady that I decided best not to stay around here and leave Nithya for dealing with her, for now I understood her intention to interview a prostitute. After a few moments, she had come back and looked sad. I asked her the reason but she never said and asked me to drop her back in her hostel. Later, after the incident, I went to the lady as I wanted to know what the lady had said that made her worried, but to my surprise , she was dead. An old lady came up from her hut and shouted at me” are you from the college. The same guy from the college killed my daughter”. I was going through her words when suddenly, heard some voices from outside the shed at the entrance of the stall.

“It is here, the kid will come and collect it.” the voice sounded strange but familiar, and the person receiving a small cover was none other than the stall owner Mangal. What was that in his cover and I was confused whether to barge in when I heard the voice again “  Three days after at the same time” .I looked my watch, it was 12 pm.

The next day, after a morning seesion, I rushed to the toilet, to find some students sharing and distributing something inside the cabinet. At first, I thought it must be some blue film CD, but I noticed a packet cover, the very same type carried by Mangal yesterday night. I jumped onto one of the student, whose name happened to be Ankhith.

“Show me what you have in your hands” I grabbed him and made him open the cover to find a white substance ; suddenly I got a few punch from the back that put me down, but I grabbed the leg of ankith and cried loudely” Who gave you this”  Two, three students started jumping on me, but I never released his leg and I cried out loud for anyone to rush in and to my delight a few lecturers came inside. The police was called in immediately and they confirmed that it was drugs, and as per their report there was a big drug mafia , that had vested interests in the college. I knew where to start and the quest for revenge embroiled me; I decided to take them directly.

I waited patiently that night inside the shed on the corner focused on the door for I knew the time. I saw Mangal coming in from behind as I felt a hunch. I observed him carefully as he walked to the door between the shed and stall. I knew that the time was running out but suppressed the urge to check my watch. I was sure that I would be able to grab the guy who delivers the packet and who picks it up; Probably one of them will have to give me an answer on Nithya.

“There was a problem inside the college yesterday” a new sound but seemed familiar.

“ I know for it was me who made that blunder” . It was him, the very same guy whose sound I had heard yesterday. I took a deep breath and started counting in reverse under my breath. “ten,nine,eight seven.. and with all the might I jumped out with a stick I had hidden inside my pant. There were three people there as expected and stood frozen for a moment on finding me inside. Mangal rushed to me. I hit him straight on his head, but by that time, the strange guy who was in his helmet had already grabbed a gun and fired at me..I knelt down and with that he started the bike and asked the ordered the other guy to hold me. In the light, the guy who came to grab me was none other than the canteen boy Ravi, the messenger for drugs inside the campus. I tripped him down and threw the stick at his master, as it hit his gun and whisked away from him. Seeing to grab this opportunity, I jumped immediately to grab the gun and one shot on his leg, who had already gone a few distance on the bike, as it crashed on to a tree nearby. I pointed the gun to Ravi and slowly moved to the bike.

With strong hand on the gun, I removed his helmet and finding the most unexpected person incensed me further, it was george or George Allistar. As the name puts in, Nithya had pointed her finger at george who was standing beside me for she used to address him by his surname . I caught him on his neck and wanted to kill him but hesitated to know what happened to Nithya. George looked into my eyes for he was able to breathe properly once the helmet was removed and petulantly started speaking

 “I am not alone. You cannot imagine the people tied to this string. Nithya knew it because her friend’s boyfriend Ramesh had died due to over dosing. She came to know about this from Ayesha, the prostitute who used to provide drugs to the students outside the campus and also about Ravi, who helped us inside.  She had come that night to catch me red-handed with a few snaps, but we were already ready for her and I had to do that”

I cried empathetically

“George Allister,you bastard, How come you be in this shit?

He reiterated “I told you it’s beyond your imagination”.

Suddenly, a speeding car stopped by and as I turned back, from the half open windows a gun stood out followed by the shot . It hit me right on my chest and as the car came below a street light, I could see the thick moustache and face became visible. “ Mr Hegde..” I cried out loud and pulled the trigger on George at the same time. he deserved nothing short. Both Mangal and ravi had escaped and the car drove off. I put my hands into pocket and grabbed my mobile, which I ensured was in record mode all this time. I sent it to my whattsapp group and slowly typed in the message.

they r responsible..Hegde, Ravi, Mangal.. and many more

I closed my eyes as soon as I was able to hear the send message ring, and  I could see Nithya standing there , smiling with her hands stretched ready to grab me in her arms.

Sitaram yechury and Kerala unit of CPI(M)

I too am a fan of sitaram yechury, used to read his articles since my college when he was writing for the Hindu. He always had a very special place in the Hindu owing to the bond he shared with N ram, the then editor in chief of The Hindu.

I read from  various papers that Yechury had a disagreemnt from the kerala unit and they wanted S Ramachandran Pillai to be the secretary. Although, cpim has claimed all these gossips as baseless, but let us assume, if there was a tussle for the general secretary position in CPI(M) and let us assess the political stand why the kerala unit had taken this stand against yechury.

Left is completely demoralized in west Bengal. Only an alliance can save them now from the total loss they are incurring in Bengal in spite 27 years of a strong bastion in Bengal. Now a revival is required. Back in 1967, when the congress had the upper hand in Bengal, there was a split in the congress and under Ajoy Mukherjee, a congress veteran, a  new bangla congress was formed.   CPI(M) then aligned with the congress and resulted in a united front government with ajoy Mukherjee as Chief minister and Jyothi basu as the Home minister, the first stepping stone for the left in the government formation. After siddharth ray’s tenure and the emergency period, the left never gave up Bengal until Mammata Banerjee had routed the CPI(M) in 2011.

This history needs to be re-enacted in Bengal for the left to get back all their efforts of hard work to shape Bengal society, which now seems to be under threat by Trinamool’s , what left terms as goonda raaj. An alliance between the congress and CPI(M) is already being plotted in the next year’s state elections. As the left seems to be going along with the congress in the Rajyasabha to counter BJP, there seems a ground preparation going on for this unholy but practical union.

Kerala has a different picture to tell. The rise of communalism to an extent is curbed by both the major parties congress and CPI(M), who lead the two fronts  in the state and directly pitted against each other. BJP is attacking the left to unseat the left from the main political rival to congress, who already is secured with the caste and minority votes in their pouch. If elsewhere a union is formed between the congress and the left, the news savvy kerala public , would believe that the vote would be for the same side of the coin.  Hence, the kerala unit clearly requires a person at the helm, who is firmly against a congress-left alliance.

The picture is very clear although it is an internal ruckus and the media is portraying VS achutanandan, as the prime factor , the reason for kerala CPI(M) official faction’s allegiance to comrade SRP. But the media should know that it is more than just this small issue.

Why I named my son Vasisht..

Vasisht, as per mythology, was a sage considered as Maha Guru (Master), a master for all the humble who are ready to accept divine knowledge and who are true to their motives and intentions. In fact, the epic Ramayana identifies sage vasishta as the mentor of Rama and Laxmana. One of his greatest philosophical statement was that the habit of laziness is a disease that is responsible to bring unhappiness in a man`s life.

Around India, we could find a lot of temples with embodiment of the great mythological characters that have lived through the golden epics of Ramayana and Mahabharatha. But there is only one temple in India , which has the deity as the embodiment of the divine potential of sage Vasishta.  This temple located in Arrattupuzha, kerala and is dated back 3000 years old. There is a very popular temple festival called Arattupuzha Pooram, associated with the temple,  and as per tradition it is believed to be a conglomeration of gods where in Deities from the neighborhood shrines appear on caparisoned elephants lined up in a row. Their staging resulted in a spectacular show along with the fireworks. The tradition puts it that the deities appear together to commemorate sage Vasishta, as respect to the most privileged master and has been a part of the temple activities  since its formation.

I come from arrattupuzha. I have wondered on the effort taken by the villagers to ensure that this age old tradition is maintained for all the 3000 years the event is celebrated. Irrespective of the religion, the event has also become a source of living for many in form of festival lighting in the area, drama competitions that has become a part of this festival, small scale industrial units, caparisoning the elephants and the embroidery work associated and much more. One could feel the immense respect of human beings to each other to celebrate a festival , which neither has any historical importance like the victory day in France or geographical importance like a formation day of a nation. It is just a village event nothing more and it is the group of villagers’ responsibility to make it successful.

I named my son Vasisht, as a commemoration to all the people who had contributed to the success of this traditional event that was effervescent and resplendent during the 3000 years of its history.

India and World cup 2015...

Let me tell start with a story. A crow was sitting on a tree, practically doing nothing. A rabbit passed by under the tree. He saw the crow sitting on the tree and asked the crow “ Well, I love the way you are sitting doing nothing. Can I do that too” . The crow replied” Why not. Join me . You can sit under the tree relaxed”.  Rabbit sat there for a few minutes , when a fox came by , and one look on the rabbit under the tree, pounced on it.

Moral of the story: In order to sit simply, you should be sitting at the top.

Recently,  Virat Kohli and Steven smith has come up against the pitches in Australia. The pitches were flat and hence the bowlers had a very tough time in those pitches. The test series is followed by a one day series with England and definitely the pitches shall be once again under scrutiny.

Fist thing, India should understand is that Australia really needs to come back into the cricketing proficiency and this is possible only if they win the world cup. After 2007 world cup, Australian cricket saw some of the great legends that have ruled the pitch retire one by one. This includes Ricky ponting, Adam gilchrist, Mathew hayden, Symmonds, Macgrath and this really created a dent in Australian cricket for some time. This was clearly obvious in the 2011 world cup exit to the ultimate winners India in the quarter final,  although Australia had defeated India previously when they had played in the sub continent in 1988 in spite of a strong , rejuvenated Indian team.

The Sheffield Shield, Australian domestic cricket, has long been considered the best domestic competition in world cricket that produced champions such as Warne, Steve and Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Mark Taylor, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath in the 1980s and '90s. However, the ailing format of the game and declining interest in cricket in Australia is a serious concern for the board that is in fact eroding Australia’s status as a cricketing superpower.  The reason why Australia has sticked to injured Michael Clarke to lead the team shows the desperateness of Australia to bring back their lost glory or spell doom to cricket in Australia.

It is also to be understood that MCG (melboune), Adelaide Oval and SCG (Sydney) are the grounds where the final, semi and the quarter finals of world cup 2015 are scheduled. Australia will be putting their 100% effort this 2015 to bring the cup back to their showcase.

Looking in a broader point of view, Australians really wanted to know the depth of Indian batting in the recent concluded test and going to start one day series thus providing flat pitches. However, I am sure the relaxed attitude of Indian batsmen will not be there the day the world cup matches start for the pitches will definitely give surprises and nightmare to Indians as well as rest of world batting giant. I hope India does not sit comfortably as the rabbit in the story above to be devoured. Hope the 2007 World cup exit in the first round be a lesson for them.

Cristiano Ronaldo

How could a jury say Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world.  Just because he has won UEFA championship league for real madrid. That’s not fair cause the Real Madrid has Karim Benzema, Rodriguez , Angel di maria all world class players to support him. What Ronaldo is doing is just finishing the business.

The so called world class player has played three world cup and has scored just 3 goals. A world class player need to be identified by the way he brings the team through the qualifying stages to ultimately the pinnacle of glory i.e the world cup or even the Euro cup. Achieved by Diego Maradona in 1986 or to an extent Roberto Baggio in 1994 world cup (although Italy lost in the finals), or Marco Van Basten for Holland in the 1988 Euro cup, such examples need to be set as the benchmark while  considering  the question of a world class player. Cristiano Ronaldo has not reached up to the expectations of such genuine gems of world football.

The Bus Journey and MODIfication..

There is a scene in the movie, Rajanikanth starrer,  Shivaji. Rajanikanth calls up all the Chartered accountants of the business firms across Tamil Nadu (or India..i don't remember)  for a deal and asks them to reveal all the details of  black money stacked up by the firms. Majority of them refuse and Rajanikanth , in response, offers them a discussion in an adjacent room, where he unleashes his hired goons to beat them all up and agree to his demands. Finally, we see all the CA professionals lining up to help Rajanikanth…

Recently, our PM, proabably inspired by this movie, have asked the bank chiefs to travel in a Volvo bus from Mumbai to Pune where the PM will meet them at a retreat to brainstorm and prepare a blueprint for an action plan to reform the banking sector. This comes shortly after RBI governor Raghuram’s word of caution on Modiji’s “Make In India” policy. Dr Rajan said that 'Make in India' assumes an export-led growth path similar to that of China and it should rather be largely 'for India'. This actually equates to increase in absorption of goods by the domestic population and make possible larger supplies of goods, which in fact requires an increase in the purchasing power of the domestic population, which can only be attained by efficient redistribution of income. Although, Raghuram Rajan did not exactly opend the doors for a socialist thought, but clearly the word of caution contained to avoid an export led growth pattern.

Now, our PM must interfere for all his business adversaries are awaiting the real estate plan of “Make In India” to go on floors along with the overseas financial support. But such a statement from the RBI governor would send wrong signals in the market and fruition of the project would be a distant dream.  Thus the bus ride has come into picture and participants for the bus ride are none other than Raghuram Rajan, and major commercial banking chiefs , who are lend sharks to the hidden real estate plan of “Make In India” campaign. By the end of the journey and when they reach Pune, I am sure they all would have been MODIfied..

Deregulation of diesel price

I was surprised to read about people supporting deregulation of diesel prices. One gentleman (or woman) was saying that de- regulation is essential due to massive use of Diesel for powering private generators, telecom towers and SUVs of rich etc. According to him, de-regulation will ultimately eliminate the imponderable effect of subsidy on the economy like high inflation, tight monetary policy etc. Well, I need to explain one small thing to him and to all who believe in supporting de-regulation.

First, diesel is not just an ordinary tradeable commodity. It is absolutely critical for agricultural production and for transport of both goods and people. So do not even dare to consider diesel as an ordinary commodity considering its utilization by the vast majority of the indian population. The only thing the government would need to interpret, would be any utilization of this commodity for extravagant purposes, which would include the category mentioned above by the proponents of de-regulation. Less the disposable income on basic food materials and transportation, more would be the purchasing capacity which would ultimately thrive consumption and more money to the government.

The second thing is actually how could a country ,with a sequestered statistical calculations showing earnings of 32 rupees per day to be considered not poor and  in spite had 28% below poverty line, be considered par with the international trading rules? Are our wages the same as global wages and per capita income or standard of living equivalent to global standards. Regarding the minimum wages act, India has not officially ratified the ILO Conventions 87 and 98, which deal with the right to organization and collective bargaining. We close our eyes on such important aspects to be put in par with world standards but regarding trading a commodity that’s useful for the common man, we bring up unwarranted claims.

The simple truth is our government is OF the market, For the market and BY the market. When forced to go to the “market” for its borrowing needs, and to borrow from the “market”, it must remain creditworthy in the eyes of the “market”, for which it must pursue such policies as are approved of by the “market. This is the only Modi government agenda .