Resolutions- To honor or to break

“Quitting smoking is very easy. Mark Twain once mentioned that he did quit smoking a thousand times” Sujan said and started laughing. Sujan Chandy’s wife Mini Mathew frowned at him and added “I tell you friends that I could change many things about this man including his dressing sense and social etiquette but could not stop him from smoking”.

Sujan got up from his chair, walked towards Mini, placed his arms around her and said “Do not worry dear. I shall give it up”.

Many friends had assembled at the house of the Chandys to celebrate New Year eve with fun and frolic.

Pramod Kulkarni added “Talking of new year resolutions I should say that no one takes resolutions as seriously as Susie” referring to his wife Susan D’Souza. He continued “Imagine the stress both of us underwent as it was an inter religion marriage about two decades ago. Without any one asking for it she gave up eating non vegetarian food for my sake. Till date she has not touched it again”.

Everyone clapped and Mini said “Susan is of different DNA altogether. She has enormous amount of patience and adjusts to situations well”.

“Where is Rohit? Did you not invite him?” Subha asked Mini.

Sujan replied “We did invite him. We sent the invite to everyone in the Whats-app group a couple of times. You know Mini well. She sent messages to everyone and followed it up with a phone invite”.

Pramod took out his phone and dialed Rohit’s number.

“Strange” he commented keeping his phone down “His number is switched off”.

“Let me try Suruchi’s number” saying so Susan dialed her number. To her surprise it was switched off.

“This is very strange. These two guys are very active on social media and are the most accessible couple of our group and right now we are not able to contact them” she added.

Suddenly the mood in the gathering became glum and the group looked concerned about Rohit and Suruchi.

“Rohit’s 'last seen' in Whats-app is four days ago. Imagine a guy who is always connected, keeps checking at least once in 5 minutes and suddenly stops doing so. No updates on Facebook either” Balan said.

Everyone became busy with their smart phones looking for updates from Rohit on various social media platforms.

“This is worrisome now. I haven’t seen a single day wherein he has not updated in social media and now it's been 5 days since he has not said anything there” Balan continued “ Hope everything is OK with him. Neither he nor Suruchi are accessible now as their phones are switched off”.

The glum mood continued and the friends who had gathered to enjoy the New Year eve were silently having their drinks and occasionally looking at one another.

It was about 11 PM and the silence was broken as the calling bell of the house rang. Mini got up and opened the door and to her surprise found Rohit and Suruchi standing outside.

She shouted looking back “Guys cheer up! Rohit and Suruchi are here”.

Suddenly the group erupted in joy and all of them ran to the door. Sujan rushed to Rohit and giving a gentle blow on his stomach said “Where were you guys? No news and no updates on social media. We were very concerned”.

Fifteen minutes later the friends were sitting on the respective chairs and were in a very relaxed mood. Rohit started “I'm very sorry to note that you guys had to go through this because of me. In fact I was not happy about my over indulgence in social media and told Suruchi that I wanted to completely cut off my social media activity. I took a resolution to stop all my updates and since 5 days have not opened Whats-app, Facebook or other apps.

Yesterday morning we got a call that Suruchi’s mother was not keeping well. We took the next flight and reached Indore. Today her condition has improved and so we decided not to skip this get-together and started back.”

Balan was immediate to question “Then why were your phones switched off?”

Suruchi replied “I think you tried our numbers while we were in flight. We landed and came straight from the airport. Look I have the luggage with me and have kept it in the corner there”.

There was silence in the hall for a few minutes.

Pramod broke it and said “Rohit we do understand your concern about your over indulgence in social media. Totally cutting off is not an answer for that. Your resolution should be to reduce your time spent for it. Detachment from social media is not about completely coming out of it. It is more to ensure that your life is not dictated by it.”

Rohit nodded in approval.

As midnight started inching closer each one started telling their New Year's resolutions and hoped that they would honor the same the coming year.

Mini said “Everyone has told about their new year's resolution except Susan. What about your resolution Susie?”

Susan smiled and said “I do not make resolutions every year. A couple of them I have made and have been honoring them year after year. So my resolution on every new year's eve will be to stick to the resolutions already made.”

 

Beyond forty – part II , Reality bites.

Narrated till now …

Pramod gets the contact details of Vandana Joshi (his first crush) during college reunion. He is saddened to know the hardships she had to face in the earlier part of her life after engineering.

Narration continues….

“I am now in Hyderabad. First half I have some meetings and will go to Vandana’s office in the second half. I have spoken to her” Pramod told me. “All the best bro and have a good time with her” I replied.

It was around 4 PM, the taxi driver stopped the car and said “This is the office you are looking for”. Pramod got out of the taxi and told the driver to wait for him  and walked into the office.

 The thoughts that she had to go through a bad patch in her life and had to marry a person much elder to her made him feel sad. Sporting a pale face he walked to the reception. The office was a very good one with centralized air conditioning and well made interiors. He stopped at the table of the receptionist and waited as she was attending a call. He saw the name of the company “Naidu Rail Sleepers Pvt Ltd” written on the wall behind her.

She finished her call, smiled at him and asked politely “How can I help you sir?”

Pramod smiled back and said “I have come here to meet Mrs. Joshi.”

She gave a strange look and replied “There is no Mrs.Joshi working here.”

“Vandana Joshi”

“Oh you mean Vandana madam. Her name is Vandana Naidu. Please take your seat.”

She went inside the office and came back in few minutes and asked “Mr. Pramod?”

“Yes”

“Please come with me “she said.

He walked with her and found that it was a big office with more than 100 employees working.

The lady stopped in front of a cabin, opened the door and gestured Pramod to enter. He walked into the cabin. The lady sitting inside got up and with a huge smile on her face said “Pramod how are you?”

 “Vandana it is my pleasure to meet you after so many years” he said.

" Do you recollect our days during engineering?” Pramod asked.

“I have to recollect only if I forget. I have not forgotten you” Vandana replied.

She looked very beautiful and was almost of Zero size. She was draped in a sober colored cotton saree duly starched, with minimum make up on the face, well set long hair and looked very attractive.

They sat  on the chairs ,the office boy came in and offered water and hot coffee.

“Looks like you are in a senior position in this company” Pramod said.

Vandana smiled and replied “It is indeed a very responsible position. I am the Managing Director.”

There was a look of disbelief on his face. Few minutes earlier he had a perception about her as a struggling woman fighting to make both ends meet. Now he was sitting in front of MD of a big company.

He got back to his senses and asked “What do you manufacture? How could you get till here?”

She replied “Let me tell you the full story. The few years after engineering was a big struggle as dad passed away and I had to support the family. I joined Mr. Ramesh Naidu as a design assistant in Hubli. He was a railway contractor from Hyderabad and had started manufacturing of Railway sleepers (concrete blocks that are placed between the rails). After one year of association the chemistry between us became favorable. I was 22 years old and he was 34 years old. He had lost his wife and was having a 5 year old son. We decided to get married. Some resistance came from my family side as we are orthodox Kannada Brahmins and Ramesh is a Telugu Naidu and a non vegetarian but things fell in place with due course of time.

We built the company from scratch and today we employ more than 1000 employees and have three factories spread over 3 states.”

Pramod was listening to her with a blank face with his mouth wide open. It was like a story from a novel to him. He looked at her and said “You have grown really big in your life. Hope you do not have any problems now.”

Vandana looked at him and said “you thought that I would cry and you would lend you shoulder?”

Pramod smiled and said “You have not changed in this aspect. You are the same harsh Vandana, the girl who rejected my love proposal during engineering days.”

“It is not like that” Vandana continued “I was never harsh . I have huge respect for you and Susan. I always speak straight without adding any drama and that’s why am able to manage this big work force of 1000 people.”

Pramod clapped in appreciation and continued “How does your husband look?”

She took one framed photo in her hand and showing it to Pramod said “He is Mr. Ramesh Naidu, my husband and Chairman of our group.”

Vandana looked at Pramod and said “He is about 10 years elder to you and is a fitness maniac. He keeps himself very fit.”

They spoke for about an hour laughing heartily in-between.

Pramod got up from his chair and said “It is 6 PM now. I have return flight to Bangalore at 10 pm. I have to rush to the airport.”

Vandana walked up to him and stood closer to him and looking over his shoulder said “One selfie please.”

He smiled and she took few selfies.

 She escorted him to reception and as he was getting down the steps at the entrance he stumbled. Vandana held him tight and pulled him back. A jolt sort of feeling was sensed by both of them. She left his hand and stepped back. Pramod smiled at her and went towards the taxi. Vandana stood at the entrance of the office, watched him get into the taxi, waved at him and looked very satisfied having met him. 

Beyond forty – part I , The reunion.

“We are always first to arrive in any function” Susan told mini sarcastically.

“But that is good habit” Sujan Chandy added “A punctual person is serious about the commitments made”. Susan and her husband Pramod had arrived at the 5 star hotel banquet hall where their engineering college reunion was being held. Sujan Chandy was their batch mate and he had come with his wife Mini Mathew.

The hall was huge and was dressed up beautifully with many round tables and chairs around draped in clean white colored clothes. The core committee of the reunion had not taken any chance and wanted the one day event to be enjoyable and memorable.

Batch mates started arriving with their families and soon the hall was filled with them. It was an ocean of happy faces beaming with joy and seemed as if they had rewound two decades of their lives. They were joking and laughing like teenage students.

I entered the hall and could see hundreds of my batch mates with their families busy talking and taking selfies with their old friends.

 Rashmi walked up to me and said “sir, how are the arrangements?”

“Mind blowing” I said and continued “You are a very good event manager.”

She smiled and continued “The podium is on the raised platform at the end of the hall. It is all yours now.”

I walked to the podium smiling, wishing my batch mates and after reaching the podium started “Friends, Good morning. It has been two decades since we passed out of our engineering college and many of us have crossed the wrong side of thirties and have entered the right side of forties. Looking at the expressions on the faces, the way guys are talking, laughing, gesturing, taking selfies and playing pranks on one another, it appears that we all are now twenty year olds with two decades of experience.”

 “Have we grown older?” I questioned and continued “Maybe the very fact that we are having reunion indicates that we have aged. We might have aged physically but mentally we are as young as we were during our college days”. I continued for another ten minutes and concluded the speech by saying “next couple of hours we have many of our batch mates sharing their experiences and will tell us how they have spent the two decades after completion of study.”

Raghu started sharing his experiences and I slowly walked down the podium and went to the table where Pramod and Susan were sitting. Pramod Kulkarni and Susan Dsouza fell in love during engineering study days, faced all odds, got married and have been living happily since then. I sat on the chair next to Pramod and started compering the event from there with cordless microphone. One by one enthusiastic batch mates started sharing their experiences and each one of their talk was received by thunderous applause from the audience.

After about an hour I announced “Friends now we have a surprise event. She was considered the most beautiful girl of our batch and today she is not going to share her experience but will do something else.”

Soujanya walked to the podium and the audience went berserk. Deafening claps and whistles raised the decibels in the room to an unbearable level.

Soujanya smiled and looked at the batch mates from the podium.

“She is still the most beautiful woman from our batch” Sujan said leaning towards me.

“Yes” I replied.

She started “Friends today I am going to sing a song from an old Hindi film”. She narrated the background of the song and started singing. She sang with sincerity, passion and looked like she had practiced singing for many years.

Chetan walked from his seat and came to our table. Looking at Pramod he said “I never knew about her singing”. “Neither do we” Pramod replied. Susan gave a stern look at the boys and said “Keep quiet. Let us listen to her singing and encourage her.”

Guys did not heed to Susan and kept discussing. Sujan Chandy commented “This is called Limelight issues. She was in the limelight always and now age had caught up and maybe no longer in limelight. That’s why she is into singing.”

I did not like the comment much and added “She is pursuing her passion. Maybe during our study days she did not find time to do so and now with grown up kids she finds time to enjoy her hobbies”. All of them nodded in agreement.

During lunch break I walked to Pramod and said “Do you remember Vandana Joshi?”

His face brightened up. “Where is she?” he asked.

I smiled and continued “I spoke to her few days ago. She is settled in Hyderabad.”

“But why in Hyderabad? She is from Hubli right?”

I walked away as Rashmi called me and started discussing about the post lunch session and the arrangements she had made.

The post lunch session started and I could see Pramod lost in thoughts. It was natural as his first crush in the college was Vandana Joshi from our junior batch. Pramod Kulkarni thought that since both of them came from the same place and similar family backgrounds, she would fall in love with him when he proposed. She rejected his love and later Susan entered his life and they got married.

Pramod came to me and asked “you have her contact number? What is she doing in Hyderabad? Is she married? How many kids she has?”

I smiled and gave her mobile number to him and said “Vandana’s father died immediately after her engineering. She had to take up responsibility of her family, her younger brother and sister. Those days opportunities were not many and she had to toil hard to make the family ends meet. Her mother developed high blood pressure and while we all were freaking out with our initial salaries, she was struggling with her life. She got married to a widower who is about 12 years elder to her.”

Pramod looked dumbstruck and said “I cannot believe this. She was so beautiful and so good at studies and this is what life could offer her? I shall meet her the next time I go to Hyderabad on a business trip”…

To be continued in part 2…

THE GIRL IN RED, A TALE STRANGER THAN FICTION– PART 2

Narrated till now…

Shankar keeps discussing about a property deal with Daniel in an open air restaurant. His friend Khan who is a cop sees a beautiful girl in red sitting next to him every time. Shankar is surprised when he hears about her from Khan.

Narration continues…

“Park the car on the right side in the open space” Shankar said and continued “I shall show you the place where she is”.

Khan was surprised as he was walking and wondered why Shankar had come there with him. It was a cemetery and there were tombs all around.

They stopped at a place and Shankar pointing towards a tomb said “Grace has been taking rest here since six months after she died in a road accident”.

Khan was sitting on his chair in the office.

“Coffee for you” Shweta said and handing over the cup to him continued “You look lost in deep thoughts?”

He replied “I have come across a case which is stranger than fiction" and he explained about Shankar and the girl in red. Shweta Rathod was a junior officer who used to assist him in all the investigations.

“Looks like one more adventure for us in the reckoning” she said and smiled.

Khan closed his eyes and again got lost in deep thoughts trying to join the dots and get a clear picture of the plot.

Few weeks later Khan and Shankar were sitting in the restaurant.

Shankar looked upset and said “I still cannot believe that Daniel was trying to cheat me. He looked like a perfect gentleman and I completely believed him.”

Khan laughed and said “Brother do not go by face value of people. Many of the people out there are good actors and are always ready to put simple people like you in trouble.”

Shankar smiled and said “As long as you are around I need not fear anything. How could you find out this fraud?”

“Elementary my dear Watson” Khan said.

“Please explain it Mr. Homes” Shankar replied. 

Khan continued “After the visit to the cemetery I started putting the events in place in my mind.

I realized that Grace was trying to convey something to me while you were busy discussing with Daniel. Was it about the topic you both were discussing? I started wondering.

I spoke to my boss Amit Kashyap and requested him to allow Shweta and Samuel to assist me in the investigations.

Shweta started meeting friends and relatives of Grace to gather information and Samuel started meeting friends of Daniel.

None of your friends had seen Grace sitting next to you in the restaurant and she was visible only to me. Maybe she wanted to convey something to me.

Shweta learnt from Grace’s friends that she liked you very much and was fond of you. In fact she wanted to convey the same to you but was waiting for the right moment and fate had something else in store.

Daniel a cousin of Grace has a history of duping people and blowing the money earned in indulgences. He confessed to us that he had plans to cheat you in the property deal.

Grace or rather her spirit was trying to stop it and the only way was to convey it to me.”

Shankar looked stunned. He was motionless and after reconciling said “So many things were happening and I did not have a clue about the events. Guys like Daniel keep coming in our lives and we should be careful about them. I hope the law will take its own course and punish such people. But wonderful people like Grace are rare.”

“Very true” Khan said and continued “The world is filled with bad and crooked people but it has many good people too. We should look at the positive aspects of life and move ahead in our journey. You are a sweet person and that’s why I am always there to help you and Grace tried her best to help you”.

Khan was looking at the papers about a new case in his office. Though it was a holiday he had come to pick up some important details about the case.

He got a call on his mobile. He replied “Good morning Shankar.”

“Ashraf where are you?” Shankar said.

“In the office”

“Working on a Christmas day? Enjoy your holiday brother” Shankar said.

Khan laughed and said “I will enjoy. I am leaving my office in another five minutes”.

“I am sitting in the restaurant” ‘Shankar said.

Khan walked to the window and saw Shankar sitting with a beautiful young lady. He waved at him. Shankar waved back and said “Ashraf she is Sikha Sharma”  and continued “We are getting engaged next week”.

Khan’s happiness knew no bounds. He smiled back and his attention went towards the tree behind the chairs. Grace was standing near it and she was looking with contentment at Shankar and Sikha. She looked happy. She looked at Khan and waved.

Something strange happened. Slowly her image started fading and Khan realized that her mission was accomplished and it was time for her to go.

Tears started rolling from the eyes of the otherwise stone faced cop and he waved back saying “Goodbye benevolent angel”.