A friend in need - I

I finally decided to upload this short story I wrote long back. I had previously given it out to few people to review it and comment on any errors I had made. I've decided to post it online. I'm dividing it into three parts so that everyone can read it easily. Hope you find it interesting.

Update: This story is set in India. The dialogues between the characters are as spoken by locals. This may include ungrammatical English. To update readers on the vernacular language/references, I've included footnotes at the end of the story (part 3).


A friend in need
by Kirtan Acharya

Mohan had just returned from work, and was settling down to read his evening newspaper. Glancing through the paper, he commented to his wife, “Nothing but crime in the papers. Look at what is happening in New Delhi. That city is going to the dogs.”

His wife brought him his tea and sat down beside him. She turned to Mohan and said, “That’s true. Luckily, the situation is much better in Mumbai. With Priya’s call-centre[1] job, I would have been really worried if we were in some place like Delhi or Gurgaon.”

Mohan said while sipping his tea, “Oh yeah. Has Priya talked to her boss about her raise? She’s been working there for three years. They should make her the group leader by now. It will be a boost in her career prospects and will...”

His wife interrupted, “Don’t you think we should get her married now? I have had to make excuses so many times to Mona aunty. She was saying that she knows a few suitable boys for our Priya. Don’t let her work longer now, otherwise her marrying age will pass and then no one will marry her later.”

“But let us first ask her what she wants and when she wants to get married.” said Mohan.

“Why to ask her? You have spoiled your daughter to no end,” Mohan’s wife complained. “See, all her friends are already married.”

“But Sheila, are they happy?” Mohan turned towards Sheila and asked her. “These youngsters think it’s a fad to fall in love and get married. But do they take responsibility for maintaining their marriage? See how Radha’s marriage has turned out. She’s not even 23 and her parents got her married. Now what is happening between them? Fights, arguments and nothing else. Look at Priya instead. She’s just 24 but she can live on her own. She may still be single, but she can stand on her own feet. She’s responsible and I’m sure when she feels she’s ready she’ll herself say that she wants to get married.”

“Hope she doesn’t have a boy-friend. Guys, these days, can’t trust them. Just the other day, Mona aunty was talking about how one guy living in her society building dumped her girlfriend and ran away to Dubai. What would happen if…?” Sheila moaned.

Mohan interrupted, “That Mona aunty seems to take much pleasure in gossiping about other people’s misfortunes. Doesn’t she?” Mohan folded the newspaper and stretched himself. He lay down on the couch and closed his eyes.

Still worried, Sheila asked, “Why don’t you talk with Priya? Ask her indirectly whether she has a boyfriend. Do it at least for me. I’ll feel better.”

“Yes dear, you’re right. I’ll talk with her,” Mohan agreed, wanting to end the topic. Sheila took the empty tea cup from the table and stood up. “I better start preparing dinner,” she said and went to the kitchen. Still lying on the couch, Mohan spoke out to his wife, “Sheila, you remember Deepak? My friend from college?”

Sheila’s voice rang out from the kitchen, “Yeah, you told me about him. He was one of your closest friends in college, wasn’t he? What’s he doing now?”

“Yes, he was one of my closest pals. He was a quiet and an intelligent fellow. I didn’t meet him since he got married. But you know I saw him today while coming back from work. I was at a traffic signal and he was in a rickshaw just beside my car. I called out to him. He was on his way somewhere. He said he was looking for a place to rent a car for a few days. I told him to take Priya’s car instead. I gave him our address and invited him to our house for dinner. He said he will be here at around eight.”

Mohan stretched for the TV remote and fiddled with it. “Why isn’t the TV working?” Mohan asked. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. It’s not working since afternoon. I couldn’t even watch my serials,” answered Sheila. “Did you call the showroom? It’s not even five months since we bought the TV.”

“No, I didn’t have the phone number. Please see if you have their card with you. I don’t want to miss the final episode of the All India Talent Hunt tonight,” reminded Sheila over the whistle of the pressure cooker.

“OK, I’ll call them up. Don’t worry,” Mohan removed his wallet from his trousers and found the card. “Kkiran TV Sales and Service,” Mohan read out and smiled to himself, “It seems that even these fellows have caught the Ekta Kapoor bug[2].” He dialed the TV showroom’s number and asked them to send someone to look at the problem. He kept the phone clearly irritated. He imitated in an obsequious tone, “Yes sir, we’ll immediately send our customer support representative to deal with the issue.”

“Do these guys charge so much for using such hi-fi language?” Mohan asked his wife.

Continue

A friend in need - II

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Mohan’s nap lasted for hardly fifteen minutes when he was woken up by the shrill ring of the doorbell. Sheila went to open the door and saw a man standing by the door. He still had one hand on the doorbell and he had a cigarette in the other. He seemed respectable but his clothes were all crumpled and soiled. She didn’t recognize the man and so she just stood there waiting for the man to speak.

“Hello. I am Deepak, Mohan’s friend. Is he here?” the man smiled and spoke.

“Oh yes. Hello, how are you? Please come in, please come,” Sheila invited him inside. “Hey man. How are you Deepak?” Mohan came to greet his friend. He hugged his friend, held his friend’s arm and led him to the living room. “So, long time no see man. Where have you been, Deepak? No contacts from you from so long,” asked Mohan.

“Yeah, it’s been a long time,” Deepak replied. “I’ve been sort of really involved in my work.” “Sheila, won’t you make some nice hot tea for my friend here?” asked Mohan. Sheila nodded, smiled at Deepak and went in the kitchen. “Hey that’s no excuse,” continued Mohan. “If I had your number, I would have definitely called, no matter how busy I was. So how are you? Where exactly are you working man?” asked Mohan earnestly.

“I’m in Pune, in a software company,” replied Deepak. “Good for you,” Mohan said. “You’ve always wanted to work with computers. So how’s the job? What do you do there?”

“Well, I’m a software designer. The job’s nice and the pay’s pretty good,” answered Deepak. “I’m sure it is nice, whatever it is that you do,” joked Mohan. “You know I don’t know anything about computers. Remember how you used to solve all those computer programs for me in college? That Saksena surely suspected something fishy but couldn’t catch us.”

Both of them laughed. Deepak replied, “The pay is excellent but it is too hectic. It eats up the whole day.”

“Hell, you were one clever student in school. I’m sure you can handle all that,” said Mohan. Sheila brought Deepak tea and some biscuits and set the tray on the table. She sat beside Mohan as he continued his conversation. “You didn’t even come to our marriage. What was the excuse? Too busy in your own honeymoon?” joked Mohan.

“No yaar. I was in Bhopal that time. Ramu had told me that you had finally decided to get married,” said Deepak and smiled. “Remember how you used to brag in school that you were going to stay a bachelor all your life.” He turned to Sheila and said, “Bhabhi, he was a real Casanova in college, I swear.”

Sheila rolled her eyes in mock anger. Mohan smiled embarrassingly. “But it’s a good thing you decided to finally marry,” continued Deepak. “Bete, tum bhi kam flirty nahi the,” Mohan said. He turned to Sheila and explained, “Deepak Mehra, romeo no. 1, they called him.” He turned back to Deepak and asked, “So how’s your married life?”

Suddenly Deepak’s face turned grim and he shook his head. “It didn’t turn out good,” he said. Sensing his discomfort, Sheila excused herself by saying that she had to make dinner.

“So Deepak, where are you staying tonight? Why don’t you stay over here? I’m sure we’ve a lot of things to catch up with,” asked Mohan. “No yaar. I’m staying with my relatives in Mahim. Maybe some other time,” said Deepak.

“Then at least have dinner. We’ve a quiet night ahead. The kids are not at home and the TV’s not working. We can talk till late night,” asked Mohan.

Deepak reluctantly agreed but his face brightened, “I’ll have to call them up and tell my relatives.” “Call them up and tell them. Also, why don’t you get fresh? Your clothes seem to be in a mess. Where had you been?” asked Mohan looking at Deepak’s clothes.

“Oh I came from Pune in a general compartment in the train. And it was really crowded,” replied Deepak. “Ha, ha. Try traveling from Dadar to Andheri in a local train[3] during rush hour. You’ll come home a squashed vegetable. Even the first class compartments are no good. Good thing I got myself a car. The peak hour rush is too tiring,” said Mohan.

“That’s good,” said Deepak while getting up to go to the bathroom. “Yes. It is much more convenient,” said Mohan showing Deepak the bathroom. “Third switch from the right,” Mohan pointed. When Deepak came back, his face was still down. Mohan asked him, “What happened, Deepak? Something wrong?”

For a while, Deepak just sat looking down. He clasped his palms together and spoke, “Nothing Mohan. I messed up my life and marriage. We had so many fights between us.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” asked Mohan anxiously. “My job used to eat up the whole day. I would hardly get to spend time with my wife. And my kids, they are not doing too good at school,” Deepak confided.

“Oh, marriage troubles. Hey, fights do happen between husbands and wives. Don’t take it to heart. I have had so many fights with Sheila. Try to work it out with your wife,” suggested Mohan. “Ours’ were more than fights. I’ve tried a lot to make it better. But now it’s too late,” said Deepak dejectedly. “What do you mean it’s too late?” asked Mohan, more shocked than surprised.

“I’m all confused as to what to do. Listen Mohan, I need your car for a couple of days,” asked Deepak ignoring Mohan’s question. “Can you lend it to me?” “Sure,” said Mohan.

“Are you sure it won’t be a problem for you?” asked Deepak. “No man. My daughter Priya’s got a car. And she works in a call-centre. So she doesn’t need the car during weekdays. It won’t be a problem at all,” said Mohan. “What’s up? Are you planning to going on a trip or something? You could use a vacation,” said Mohan and smiled at his friend.

“Yes, maybe I do need a long break from things,” said Deepak softly, and stared blankly at the wall.

Continue

A friend in need - III

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“Dinner’s ready,” interrupted Sheila. “Do you want to have it here or at the dining table?” she asked. “Serve it here only. We’ll have it here, like we used to eat in the canteen. Remember, Deepak?” Mohan stood up to clear the table of newspapers. Just then the door bell rang.

“I’ll get it. That must be the TV repairman,” said Mohan as he went to open the door. “Saheb, for TV repairing,” said the man.

“Yeah, come on in. You took a very long time,” said Mohan. “Saheb, I couldn’t find the building,” the repairman replied. “Oh ok,” said Mohan and pointed towards the TV. “Good thing you’re not working as a ‘pizza delivery representative,’ you'd be fired in just under 30 minutes,” mumbled Mohan.

“What, saheb?” asked the man, confused. “Nothing. Just find out what is wrong with the damn TV. And let me tell you it is still under warranty. So I’m not going to pay a rupee for any repairs,” warned Mohan. “No no saheb. We don’t receive too many complaints for our TVs. But I’ll check it up. It will not take a long time,” he said. He put his toolkit by the TV and started fiddling around with the TV. When Mohan sat on the floor by the table, he noticed Deepak again in a sad mood, nervously looking at the floor. Sheila had set up a couple of plates for the two of them. She said to Mohan that she would have dinner later. She served them both food and sat by the side quietly. She noticed Deepak eating very slowly and quietly. “Bhaisaheb, is the food ok? Should I bring salt for you?” she asked.

“No, no, bhabhi the food is excellent,” Deepak looked up and smiled. Mohan turned to Sheila and said, “Deepak’s planning to take a vacation for a few days. He’s asked for our car. I said that it won’t be a problem with us. But he’s worried that it will cause us inconvenience. But I told him that it will do him good to take a break from his hectic work.”

“Yes, it sure will be good. You can take our car. You are Mohan’s close friend. Why are you worried about the car?” Sheila said. “Thanks yaar,” Deepak said to Mohan weakly.

“Hey man. What thanks?! After all I’m your friend. Don’t you remember Roshni madam’s favourite saying? A friend in need is a friend indeed. She never got tired of repeating that to the whole class,” said Mohan and laughed loudly, almost choking on the food.

“Sahebji, I found out the problem. See I told you nothing was wrong with the TV. The fuse has blown in the stabilizer. You can never trust the electricity supply these days. But I have an extra fuse. Your TV will be working in no time,” said the repairman proudly, who had been working quietly and efficiently at the problem all this time.

“Oh, even my friend here could have solved the problem. He's an expert in electronics. I shouldn’t have called you,” grunted Mohan. He gulped down some water to clear his throat. “Right, Deepak?” he asked. Deepak managed a weak smile.

“Easy now, don’t swallow your food without chewing,” chided Sheila while she stood up to offer second helpings. “What is this bhaisaheb?” said Sheila when Deepak refused to eat any more. “You had so little. It seems that you didn’t like the food.”

“No it’s not like that. The food was lovely. It’s just that I’m in a hurry to go,” said Deepak.

“Go?! Where? Deepak, I’m not letting you go so easily,” said Mohan. “It’s been so long since we met, and you’re already in a hurry to go. What’s the matter?” “Mohan yaar, I know, but I’m in a hurry. I have some work to finish,” said Deepak. “OK, but I won’t let you go until you’ve had dessert. Sheila, bring out the ice-cream. I’m also done,” said Mohan while getting up. They both washed their hands and sat down on the sofa when the TV repairman finally stood up.

“All done, saheb,” he said. “Your TV will work now. Want me to turn it on? Which program you want to watch? Crorepati[4] dekhna hai? Ya CID?” he asked earnestly.

“Just turn on the damn thing and check if it is working properly,” said Mohan irritated by the obsequiousness of the repairman. The repairman turned on the TV, surfed through the channels randomly, and when he was satisfied, he finally stopped on a channel. Sheila brought ice-cream for both of them and stood behind the sofa. “Oh the TV’s working. Good,” she said. “Here’s your ice-cream,” she offered.

But Mohan and Deepak didn't pay any attention to her. They looked at the TV intently. The repairman stood by the side, remote in hand, looking smug and happy as if he had just revived someone through CPR.

The TV blared, “…was found in the bedroom by one of the neighbours. She seemed to be strangulated to death. Deepti Mehra was a house-wife and it is still unclear as to who could have done this. There seems no sign of a break-in or burglary. However, the police are on the look out for her husband – a software engineer, who’s still absconding. Neighbours said that relations between the two were very strained. The couple used to fight almost every night and there would be a lot of screaming and crying in the late hours of the night. This tragic incident puts a question mark on the relatively low crime rate in Pune and could affect its growing reputation as a major software city.”

The tray of ice-cream slipped from Sheila’s hand and crashed to the floor as she covered her mouth with one hand, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a scream. The TV customer support representative broke the silence. “What happened madam, are you not happy with the service?” he asked in a worried voice.

---x---

References:
[1]: What are call centres?
[2]: Ekta Kapoor's obsession with the letter K
[3]: Mumbai's local trains
[4]: Kaun Banega Crorepati - Indian adaption of Who wants to be a millionaire?


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Sigh.....

Larry Page & Sergey Brin’s ultimate fantasy

I was just thinking some time ago as to how I’m just wasting my time sitting idle. I thought I should be reading a book or learning something. As I was thinking about this a thought came to my mind. I was imagining if there would be some way to quickly assimilate a book. Faster than speed reading, some what like what sci-fi movies show robots doing. Reading a book in a minute or so. Then, I thought, I would be able to assimilate all the information in the world This led me to thinking about the mission statement of Google – “To make easily accessible to people all the information of the world.” Then I put two and two together and started wondering whether Google would someday introduce a tool to allow people to index and search their own brains. That would be Larry Page’s & Serge Brin’s ultimate fantasy come true. Here’s my description of what it would be like.

It would consist of a hardware chip installed behind the ear which would do the necessary indexing, preferably during sleep. It would draw electricity from the nerve impulses within the brain. To active the search, all you have to do is to touch together the tips of the index and ring finger of both your hands. Then say out the search query (or in a more advanced and private version, just think about it). Close your eyes, and the Google chip will display the search results directly on your retina. Say out (or think about) the serial number of the result you want to browse, and your brain will retrieve and display the memories to you in full vividness.

With such a tool, you’ll never feel the embarrassment of forgetting the birthdays of your girlfriends or your marriage anniversary. It will help you to remember your shopping list without writing it down. You’ll make and remember more contacts because you remember everyone’s name correctly. You’ll never need to take your camera with you anymore. Just sit back and surf back to that last picnic on the beach with all your classmates, to the first day you drove a car, to the day when you first went on a date. Whenever you miss your boyfriend or girlfriend, just close your eyes and do an image search. Post-it notes will be a thing of the past, with all the to-do lists stored in your brain and ready for retrieval literally at your fingertips.

Of course, one problem with this kind of technology would be faced during gameshows. Everyone will become a crorepati dwitiya times. In exams, students will be able to access their brain for page to page, word by word description of the answer. A solution to this would be to install lockable rubber caps on finger tips of students while exams so that they rely on their natural memory. But then in such an age, why would anyone want to rely only on their memory anymore?

Some of this seems too fantastic to be real today but I’m sure one day, technology will reach a level when using such a tool will be as common as using a computer.

What would such an application look like? Here’s an example. Hold together your fingertips and close your eyes! :-)

The world is flat

Some time back, I had heard a lot about the book 'The world is flat' by Thomas Friedman. I finally got the chance to read this book, and I must say that I'm pretty impressed by it. It starts with how Christopher Columbus, while searching for India, reached America instead and realized that the world is round. Thomas Friedman says that he, on his visit to Bangalore, found that the world is flat.He goes on to describe the concept of outsourcing and off-shoring, and how the two main players in this, India and China are changing the global landscape.

Other than outsourcing and off-shoring, he talks about other flatteners such as the Internet, Netscape, Google etc. He talks about how important it is in today's world to be specialized otherwise one can get lost in the rat race and be nobody. The book is pretty detailed yet easy to understand. I believe anyone involved in the IT industry should read this book sometime or the other. A pretty accurate description of the rapidly changing economies of the developing world and how they will affect the developed world.

Tags: books

Terrorism in India

Yesterday evening, Varanasi was rocked by multiple bomb blasts, one at a temple, two more at railway stations. Another terrorist act made easier by the lax security provided by the authority. The government is to blame too. After such an incident happens, it does not waste a second in criticizing the act and doing ‘ninda’. Furthermore it will announce some compensation to the kin of the affected. But is this the right way? Shouldn’t the government and the police ensure that these things do not happen in the first place? America after 9/11 sealed its borders tight, and increased its internal security to a level which ensures that such attacks do not take place in the future. Does India need its own 9/11 to wake itself up from its slumber? Even if such a bold attack would taken place on India, I think the government would hardly do anything than doling out money to the affected. I am not saying that compensation should not be given. But ask the family of those injured or killed by such bomb blasts, and they would infinitely prefer having their family members close to them to having one lakh rupees.

The fact that terrorists are able to target places of worship, education institutions (IISc, Bangalore) shows how big a gap we have in the internal security of the country, and how complacent the authorities are. The adage, “Prevention is better than cure” applies more to our countrymens’ psyche than to anything else.

The point is that the government should put its reserve police force into continuous protection of such public places, so that such instances can be prevented in the first place. These days, we do see a couple of policemen patrolling in each of the long-distance trains, but that is not enough. There should be proactive checking at railway stations. On our part, we should stop grumbling and understand that such security checks are for our own good.

India is ‘shining’ in so many sectors. Don’t her people now deserve some security and safety in their own cities and neighbouroods? Don’t the people deserve a surety from the government that they or their loved ones won’t be suddenly blown apart in their own land? Don’t the people of India need the confidence to go to work in the morning and come back to their homes safely in the night? The government should take a leaf out of America’s Dept of Homeland Security - which was set up after the 9/11 attacks - and have a similar setup which is responsible for proactively maintaining peace within the country. Even the CBI or any centrally located investigative agency can take the responsibility by dedicating a branch for this.

Luckily, the people still haven’t lost their cool over these attacks. But this doesn’t mean that the government can take it easy. It is time that the heads of the country take a step further from offering condolences to the family of the bereaved and doing kadi ninda of such incidents. If the government wants India wants to become one of the top nations of the world, it is time that the average citizen receives protection from such terrorist attacks and a promise that within India’s borders, her citizens are safe.

Best playback male

Well well, it seems that Himesh Reshammiya has finally carved his name in history. By becoming the best playback male in the recently concluded Filmfare award. Too bad he wasn't sure of himself winning the award that he didn't even attend the function.

It seems that after writing a long rant about the fellow, he has finally proved himself. But in my defence I have to say that I never questioned his popularity. It was clearly evident that this song, like his other songs, was bound to become popular with a part of the audience. What I want to know is the criteria of selecting the winners in each category. If the winners were chosen on the basis of viewer votes, then there is no doubt that he would have won. But if the winners were chosen by a panel of judges I would like to know the criteria used for the selection.

With his new album already making good sales, he shows no sign of stopping. I can only shut my ears in protest and scream out loud.