The Vetturi Tale – Part 2 (Scared of the Chaos)

“Hey! How the hell did you get into the truck?” shouted the truck driver and slammed Ram on his head.

Ram had overslept and did not realize that the truck had stopped. He quickly picked up his stuff, pushed the driver away hard and jumped off the truck. He ran off in some unknown direction. He seemed oblivious to the urban chaos that was all around him. His present motive was to escape from the driver.

Running out of breath, he stopped for the first time to look around him. Palms on knees, his back bent and head stuck out, he was amazed and shocked at the high rises, the vehicles, the rush of people, vendors selling stuff, people shouting and waving their hands at nobody, big billboards of movie stars, advertisements and the lack of simple order. This was a complete contrast to the place he ran away from.  Is this the place he is going to make a living in? He wondered if he could survive that day!

For the first time, he felt scared and questioned his decision. But he could not go back now. Anyway, he cannot come to a conclusion in an instant. He had just arrived there. Of course, anybody would be scared to get out of their comfort zone. He just had to live it through for a few days to get a hang of it.

“Sir, can I have some water?”

“That would be 12 rupees boy” said the shopkeeper placing a bottle on the counter.

“What? 12 rupees? You charge for water?” asked the puzzled teenager.

“Hey! Which bloody village are you from boy? You have ignorance written all over your face. Now get the hell out of here!” blasted the shopkeeper placing the bottle back in the refrigerator.

Isn’t anybody friendly here? First the truck driver and now the shopkeeper. At least the driver had a reason!

“I am friendly unlike him” said a voice as if it had read Ram’s mind. Ram looked back to see who was the source. A boy of almost his age was walking towards him showing all of his dirty teeth. He was wearing a tattered shirt and dusty shorts.

“Hi. I am Raj. What’s your name?”

“I am Ram”

Raj eyed him cunningly from head to toe, his smile not wavering even for a second.

Ram eyed Raj curiously from head to toe, his brow frowning and forced a smile upon his lips.

They shook hands and Ram asked Raj why his teeth were reddish brown in color. Raj gave another of his extraordinarily awesome smiles displaying  his wonderful teeth and said:

“Welcome to Hyderabad!”

To be continued…..

The Vetturi Tale – Part 1 (In search of dreams)

“Yes, I am ambitious! Now what’s wrong with that?”

“Ram, we cannot afford to send you away from the farm!”

“But dad, I am more than this! Why don’t you understand?”

That night, Ram Vetturi packed his bags and walked into the darkness. He did not have to rush. Everybody was fast asleep.  He would miss them. Of them all, he would miss Kavitha the most. All his childhood memories rushed through Ram’s head. They temporarily succeeded in holding him back. But, he had to go. It was now or never. He would come back. He would come back with lots of money and make them happy. He would take care of them.

14yrs ago, Ram was brought to this house as an infant. His mom had died during childbirth. Unable to orphan his sister’s son, Mr. Vetturi brought the little kid home. He gifted his wife a second child, a son, who was happily accepted by her and his little daughter, a tiny brother. Kavitha was overjoyed at the sight of the fragile being, which was later to be named Ram.

“Shut up Kav. Let me rest for a while, you little devil!”

“There is no way I am letting you sleep Ram!!”

Ram opened his eyes and instantly covered them with his hands against the harsh sun. Summers were always hot. The truck he had secretly smuggled himself into last night was slowing down. He had to jump off it soon, before he got boxed by the driver. Dusting himself off all the dry hay, he walked towards a shop selling eateries. He bought himself a bun and some tea. 9 AM in the morning and it was already damn hot.

“Sir, how far is it from here to Hyderabad?”

“A 100 more son”

“Thank you for the bun, tea and answer”

“Don’t mention it son! You look like another one of those dreamers. Wish you all the best!”

Ram understood the fact that there were many others, just like him. Now, it was all up to HIM and some real hard work to make things happen. HE and hard work was a deadly combination. Some called HIM luck. But Ram preferred to call HIM only HIM. He was a religious guy. He always visited the temple on weekends with his family. And dad would buy him and Kav lots of sweets as kids.

He quietly waited for some truck to stop so that he could sneak into the back. After a short wait of 15 minutes, he was bouncing up and down on his way to the Pearl City.

To be continued……

Last 3 Months

Moved jobs. Moved places. Moved moments. Moved circumstances. Moved my heart.

says-phoebe-17jan2006-morro-bay-marina_1625_1643crop (Photo credit: mikebaird)

Movement. Is it so relevant? The word did not play much role in my life. At least, i did not let it. I love change in the right sense. Change which changes me is not the right change. Change which enhances me is the right change. Moving away is compromise I feel. You always feel that if you change places, you forget everything that has happened in the past (cherish the good  moments and forget the bad ones…in fact you move to forget the bad ones in the first place!). Nah! You are running away from something. You just don’t want to accept it. 

Move on dude! Move on man! Stop it! It’s a belief that everybody can move on. Yes, we do move on! But that doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want or exploit the present situation to the fullest so as to make it one of the worst situation in the past in someone’s life!

Everybody is ready to give gyaan! No! I don’t want your blabbering! I already know all of it! It’s just that i cannot  apply it to myself. If given a chance, i can give you all the fundamentals i have ever heard or learnt in my life to make you unconscious! So chill boy/girl! I know you are concerned about me. Then console me! But don’t spam my brain with stuff that i already know!

The pain will subside but the scars will remain!(Courtesy Someone) Wow! Enough of these sayings! These sayings irritate me! I have crossed a point of accepting irritable sayings said by many.

In the Last 3 Months, i have not published a single post on my blog. Why? Let me tell you the truth, my dear friends (i wonder how many are still my friends!!!), I was wondering why i moved, why i moved on and am still moving on!! Moving on = Compromise. So don’t let those buggers and buggesses (thought that is the feminine version of buggers) eat you up and ask you to move on. Be yourself. Let you be you. Let me be me.

I hope the last 3 months will not be my Next 3 Months (nice title for my next post). Screw your moving on boys and girls. I would never want to move on your style. Yuck! I have my own version of moving on. And i will define it. Wait for it until next time!!!

And by the way, get ready to regret what you have done. This ain’t revenge.

THIS IS THE TRUTH.

Signing off…..

 

Another Like Me

21/12/2072

87 years old. And there are certain parts of my life that I would have wanted to change. To make it more complete and more fulfilling. Maybe I could have learnt an instrument, maybe I could have trekked in the Himalayas and maybe I did not want to meet someone who altered my path. And many more things. As a young man, I did not want to regret anything I did. But age changes you. Being an octogenarian and alone, I feel otherwise. I feel down, I feel weak. I can see the end of me. But nothing can be done now. End life with small regrets.

I walked with the help of an electronic stick towards the wall and touched a sensor. The digital version of the WSJ projected itself full scale on the wall with dynamic photographs. As I waved my hand in a flipping motion, the pages turned in answer. And then, an advert caught my attention. I aired my palm to capture that portion and clasped it. The advert zoomed onto me and created a hologram in midair. The video was promising. It was an ad about how a genetic company would extract people’s gene, store it and recreate the person at a designated time in the future. I wondered whether that was actually possible.

I called the company up and found out that they boasted of a 100 member clientele. That very day, my automated mobile drove me down to their office and I signed up for the program.

I will recreate a superior me with no regrets.

01/02/2073

They extracted the gene and stored it in a cryonic chamber. It’s time was yet to come. The rebuilding of an entire organism under controlled environments. They were experts at this now. 100% hit rate.

21/12/3000

I am created. A man took care of me. He said that he was not my father. He showed an old man’s image and told that he was my creator. He guided me in every aspect. He chose my school, the education that I have to undergo, the car that I have to sit in etc. One day, I inherited a huge property and loads in exchanges from the old man in the image for reasons unknown to me and my father left.

Things began to dawn on me as I started living in his house. He was me. I was him. Was he my father? Why do I look similar to him? Or did he want me to complete something that he couldn’t? I pulled out his records from the central computer and shuffled through midair. I asked the computer who I was. The computer tried to connect all the data available on storage and come to a probable conclusion.

“You are Mr. Raghu, Mr. Raghu. Here is the proof” resonated the computerized voice and threw me an output of images and documents.

I stumbled and balanced myself against a wall. This is impossible. A man with no regrets?

 

21/12/3087

87 years old. And there are certain parts of my life that I would have wanted to change. To make it more complete and more fulfilling. But no man is without regrets. But the idea is to overcome them strong. I am happy with what I have got in life. There is always something better than what we have experienced. It is a loop. We get stuck in that loop. Thank you, old man. If not a man without regrets, you have created one wiser.

“Computer, I have no regrets. Demolish”

The house came crashing down on me as I sat on the couch, holding my stick, a smile on my face.

INSHIRA

“Hahaha. That was a good one. You have a wonderful sense of humor my friend” observed Julian.

“You praise me too much my friend. I definitely can’t beat the jesters from the east mountains”

They thumped their empty ale mugs down hard on the wooden counter and wiped their wet mouths smiling. This was an indication for a refill. The heavy footed tavern keeper refilled the mugs instantly.

“So Andrew, what is this all about? Is it really what I hear?” frowned Julian, surprised that such days had already arrived.

Andrew nodded in reply. His face all turned into one similar to that of Julian, all his humorous vein lost.

“They have started moving their troops from the north. We must make pace and surprise them at the hills. We have no chance down here in the plains. I need not tell you about their swordsmen and riders.”

Their voices were muffled, hardly audible to the tavern keeper walking close by. The heavy guy made all attempts to catch some of the words but in vain. The men looked like from some other place, definitely not from around here, he thought. And they were secretive about something. What is that they were talking about? Innkeepers and tavern holders had the habit of overhearing matters and news. It was an integral part of their profession. They knew everything and anything. They were the knowledge repositories and cauldrons of first hand information. More reliable than anybody else.

The men paid up and started walking towards the door. The tavern keeper was sad that he could collect nothing other than money. He watched them step out of the inn.

Andrew whistled with two fingers in his mouth. After a few moments, a magnificent white horse started towards him from the dark neighing and snorting. Andrew raised his eyebrows at Julian and laughed.

“I haven’t trained mine to be a doggy yet Andrew” retorted Julian walking towards the stable at the back of the tavern.

“You stop being jealous now! I can train yours for you, if you would like it! But I wonder whether it would respond to you then!”

They rode together in the night stopping nowhere.

“How far is Inshira from here?” inquired Julian.

“About ten leagues. We should make it by day break.”

The horses kept galloping at a constant pace beside each other. They were so much in unison that their gallop sounded more like one and that of a much larger horse. Andrew and Julian had a kind of a focused look on their faces. Their objective right now was to reach Inshira at the earliest and ready the troops. They had very little time on hand.

Their warrior blood sought war but their hearts were instilled with fear. Even the greatest of warriors face fear but they are courageous enough to overcome it.

120

I was lying on my bed staring at the ceiling. The ceiling becomes an object of interest. At least I try to make it one. Soon I lose interest in it. I start staring at the ceiling fan. That gets boring too. I pick my cell phone up and start fiddling with it. No updates or messages. Even the ones that I had received a few hours back hurt me more than give me any kind of happiness.

I get up and walk around the room trying to find something to do. I open the cupboard twice and close it. I walk to the book shelf and pick up a random book. A book that I would have bought ages back but never made time to read. I open the first page and quickly lose interest. My mind is only interested in one thing. Like how the most unhealthy things on earth are the most satisfying like liquor or cigarettes. Your mind tends to seek something which cannot be attained or should not be attained. It doesn’t understand the concept of pain. Yeah, I know what you people are thinking. Why am I not referring to the heart? The reason is that I do not want to refer to it.

Ah! A cigarette! I lit up one and started blowing puffs of smoke towards the fan and watched it demolish them instantly. Entertaining! Only for a few minutes! Now what to do? I looked under the bed to find something that can keep me engaged for some time. Fortunately, I find a ping-pong ball. Delighted, I start bouncing it against the wall across the bed. Tik-tak..Tik-tak..Tik-Tak..crazy! Not fortunate after all! This is boring! I crush the ball under my feet and enjoy its brutal demise.

Why am I even feeling sad in the first place? Why am I feeling helpless? I light another cigarette and start walking around in circles. It was like I had no place for a walk on this earth and the only place left was my little bedroom. Few minutes later, my legs give in and I jump back on to the bed.

Why am I like this? I was never like this! I always had something to do. I always kept myself occupied. I fall sick and feel down more often. What is the reason? Thinking over all this crap for the umpteenth time helped me in passing a few more minutes.

Even thinking over what has happened or is going to happen turns me mad. I get headaches. How can anything end up such a way?  Hey! Idea is not to brood over what has happened. I switch the fan off and start my hunt for an old magazine or book that is thin and long enough for me to use as a hand fan. Why this insanity? For time pass. I get back onto the bed. One hand behind my head and legs crossed, I start waving myself with the temporary hand fan, a TOPGEAR magazine.

Hand hurting, I turn the fan back on.

1:20 A.M.

I open my laptop and start writing this post. Initially I think over what to write. But why not write what you did just some time back? Actually let me just write it instead of thinking too much. I know this post will make no sense but I feel like putting it down. My heart hurts (yeah I can refer to it now) a little lesser while I write these words. But it still does hurt.

It will hurt for days to come……

A Day of Love

2.15 P.M.

I kept looking at her over the table. Hoping that she would look at me. Look into my eyes and understand what I am trying to convey. But she kept her head down going at the food. Lifting it up occasionaly to smile at me. Maybe just to not make me uncomfortable.

“How is the food?” I blurted.

“Hmm? Yeah..Ok” she replied.

“You know I had planned this so much in advance!”

“Is it? Ok”

Whoa! Where is the excitement? Am I expecting too much? How does she manage to respond in monosyllables to every statement of mine?

4.00 P.M.

“Two Cappuccinos please”

She seemed more comfortable now. How did I come to know of that? She is smiling more! Anyway, I tried another shot.

“So..thanks for the time!”

“That’s ok. I should thank you too”

“For what?”

“For your time”

“Ok”

I closed my eyes for a few seconds. I imagined myself standing in an open field. It was vast and extended till my eyes could see. Then suddenly I heard thundering sounds all around me. I took a few steps forward to see hundreds of people running from all directions towards me.

What the hell man? Who are these people? Wait a second. They are me! 1000s and 1000s of me came running towards me at full pace. I had no escape route. They came close enough to scare the shit out of me. I put my arms to my face out of instinct. Then they stopped. I mean many of me stopped. They were staring at me. I withdrew my hands and stared back turning my head all around. Suddenly they started laughing at me. Laughing at the top of their voices pointing towards me. It was so insulting and scary that I shouted at the top of my voice…Noooo!!!

“Sir! Your cappuccinos” interrupted the waiter.

“Ohh..Yeah..thanks”

5.00 P.M.

“I guess it’s time for you to go home now”

“Yeah. I should be back. I got something to attend to” she replied.

I drove the car at around 50MPH. Not any slower. Not any faster. Just in hope that she will have something to talk to me. But in vain. I wished for all the signals to turn red. And all the ones that are red to stay that way longer. I wished for the worst traffic jam ever on earth. I wished that I had a flat tyre.

I wished for all those things that would keep me longer in her company. But as usual, nothing happened.

I made excuses to take longer routes but all the routes seemed to come to an end in no time.

“Damn it!”

“What happened?” she asked surprised.

“Err..nothing…seems to be some problem with the engine. I just got it serviced recently. The idiots did not do a good job I guess”

“Ohh..ok”

Why? Why can’t you understand? I have been trying so hard. It hurts. It hurts real bad. My heart weeps.

6.00 P.M.

I drove through her lane. I was scared that I had to drop her off now. Her gate seemed like an arch enemy to me. I braked in front of it.

“Ok. Thanks for your time. Will miss you!”

“OK. Thanks”

I watched her open the gate, wave a goodbye to me and dissapear. Hey wait a second. Did I miss something? I said I will miss her. She did not respond to that. Hmm.

6.15 P.M.

Driving a little away from her house, I was thinking to myself. No I cannot give up so easily. I can’t lose hope. It is just a matter of time. I just have to be patient.

Smiling, I raised the volume of the music and raced home.