Zero mile

Zero mile …………….. The man sitting in front suddenly whipped out his revolver and aimed it on the forehead of the guy sitting in front and asked, “Bol tere sath kya saluk kiya jay , mar diya jay ya chod diya jay?” The popular Hindi song of those days from the film Mera Gaon mera desh "Mar Diya jayey ya chod diya jayey, bol tere sath kya saluk kiya jayey" was playing loudly in another dhaba at a distance. This was the scenario on that night at Zero mile near Mokameh bridge of Bihar. The roads going to Delhi and Assam cross at this Zero mile. This incidence is of late 60s when near Zero miles both sides of the roads were scattered with dhabas for long distance truck drivers. That night two guys unknown to each other were taking dinner in a dhaba sitting opposite to each other. When hearing the song “mar diya jay “one of them who was drunk pulled out his revolver and held on the guy in front. Then another drunk sitting somewhere near by shouted,”Mar diya jay..”’ “Bam “the drunk shot the guy in front. Later on of course, the police came and rounded up the culprit, well that was Begusarai district where in Indian Oil Corporation, Barauni Refinery I spent 11 years. Our refinery township is about 6 or 7 kms away from the zero mile and often during my bachelor days me with my friends would go there late in the night for dinner in those dhabas. But that incidence stunned us, we stopped our adventurous dinner visits. It was like wild wild west. One Kamdeo Singh used to rule the Nepal-Bihar border for illegal ganja (marijuana) trade. He was so daring that during election time his jeep with him and rifle wielding goons would visit the polling booths openly threatening the voters. Then of course, Seshan was yet to appear with his electoral reforms. Kamdeo Singh was described thus in an article in India Today in 2014. .... Quote The man is as elusive as the Yeti. He carries an award of Rs 10,000 on his head. Police has been ordered to shoot him on sight. He maintains an army of gunners, mercenaries, and smugglers. This may sound like a fictional character out of a Zane Grey thriller, but it isn't. The man is Kamdeo Singh, his activities are centered in the Begusarai district of Bihar, and his hobby is to fight communists and 'bless' politicians during elections. Unquote ........... The refinery township was like an oasis in that jungle ruled by ruffians. We were lucky that nothing untoward happened in our township. We too avoided frequenting Begusarai town. As I was captain of Refinery football team, so during football season I had to confront some ruffians during the matches with local outfits. I was lucky to have Gopal Prasad Singh a refinery employee and part time Ganja smuggler as my sidekick in the football team; he acted as my bodyguard. Gopal’s trucks used to carry ganja for Kam Deo Singh. After I left, Indian Oil Gopal’s service was terminated from refinery, as there was police warrant against him. I must admit that Barauni Refinery posting made me a professional engineer from a college student and made me bold to face any kind of challenge, be it physical or mental. I guess rubbing shoulder with toughs transformed me. In 1978 i left Indian Oil Corporation for BHEL. I was offered New Delhi posting but i opted for project posting. My project stint started with Panipat posting in 1978 and then Singrauli Superthermal Power Station of NTPC, Wanakbori Thermal Power Station of Gujrat Electricity board,Vizag steel plant, Farakka Superthermal Power Station of NTPC. From 1978 to 1994 I was posted at project sites and faced adverse conditions day and night. My only son went through 8 different schools as i was moving with my family. The Barauni experience came handy in tackling technical and human issues. Yes i was confrontd by toughs in every site but it hardly deterred me in carrying out my task towards the set goal. It is true that " The tough time does not last but tough people do."

Losers' business

Hemant is a Marwari trader known to me. While returning from Jodhpur after attending a wedding, I saw him go out to market in the afternoon and return with an expensive astadhatu idol of Ram darbar. He told me that he bought it from an antique shop for 35000 rupees. While boarding the plane, Hemant carefully packed that with thermocol and put that on conveyor. I asked, "Are you taking it to decorate the house?" He laughed and said "No, I will sell it after one year. This kind of idol is very rare." After a few days later I met him on Park Street. -What are you doing now? I asked. - I bought a racehorse. That is very expensive! I reacted! Hemant laughed and said, "It is not what you think. Not a pedigree horse." I was a little surprised and said "Won’t you run it in the race?" “Yes, but not to win. Will only participate. The real race is between 3 or 4 horses, the rest is for the betting crowd, it is just to increase the number of running horses. The remaining 5 or 6 horses are just running. My horse is one of them. "Who pays?" "A percentage of that total collection is shared with us. My horse has a good profit margin excluding maintenance costs." "Stables and maintenance costs a lot to keep the horse."I interjected. "I will give you the figures. I bought this horse for three lakh rupees. The horse is in the race course stables where all the other horses are. You might have seen the horses grazing in maidan. I pay 12 thousand rupees per month. It earns double of what I would have got as interest if I had put the same amount in fixed deposit" I thought to myself that even looser can make money. I started thinking that maybe something like this happening in those numerous music completion held by all TV channels.

The companion

 Kaushikbabu was in slumber in front of his TV in the drawing room, his caregiver a woman from the agency had gone out. He was running temperature since two days but he was sure it was not Covid as he had no related symptoms like not able to smell, body pain etc. He was 85 years old and a widower, his wife died 6 years back, his only son who had not married was a marine biologist was in Alaska. Whenever his son would give ring via WhatsApp, he would see his laboratory in snow clad mountain and lake. He often jokingly ask Bikash his son, “How is your Ice station Zebra?” Alister Maclean was one of his favorite writers. As such, he was fond of spy thrillers, James Bond was his favorite character. While watching TV, mostly spy movies he would assume the role of the spy. While not watching TV he would construct a spy story in his mind where he would be outwitting the spy of the enemy country. He as a spy would imagine playing roulette in some casino. In real life, he first visited a casino was in Kathmandu hotel, Soaltee , those days in 60s that was the nearest Casino of course at a later stage he visited casino in Schiphol airport of Amsterdam. As he had visited most of the cities of Europe so in his imaginary incidences he either would be riding bike in Amsterdam or would chase through the narrow lanes of Paris. That day also he was daydreaming about his adventure in Red Square, Moscow when the front door opened. He was not wearing his specs, a blurred figure wrapped in white from head to toe entered. He could make out the person was not his caregiver but someone else. “Mr.Bose you have Corona and I have come to take care of you. I am in PP kit so you are not able to see my face. I have asked your caregiver to go home. I have collected her mobile number and when you become alright I will give call to her.”’ Kaushik Bose was still in half sleep condition and spy chasing mode, he lifted his right hand in a way as though he was holding a Walter PPK revolver and shot an imaginary bullet at the intruder by making a sound, “Bang”. The PP clad intruder played along and feigned to have got hit, slowly crumbled down with sound “Ah”. Kaushik Babu by this time was fully awake tried to understand the situation. As such in his house the costliest thing was a 40 inches LED TV. His son had donated all his mother’s ornaments to Ramkrishna Mission. Most of his money was tied up in various term deposits which were fetching him monthly interest enough to run his monthly expenditure including the maintenance charges of the society. So he was not perturbed with the new situation of the intruder, there was nothing to lose. “I will take care of you, I have brought fresh vegetables , fish and egg. I will be here till you become well.’’ “But I don’t have Covid !” “Yes, you have, here is the RTPCR, I have emailed a copy to the society office so that this flat could be quarantined. Tomorrow sanitary people from municipality would come for sanitizing the flat and the corridor in front. Now no one would come near the flat from this complex.’ Kaushikbabu realized that he was a captive but he was liking the situation and wanted to play along.In his imaginery situations he had been in tight corner many times and came out successfuly from such situations. It was evening already so that guy who informed that he can be called as Tinu had removed his PP kit and prepared tea for Kaushikbabu.Kaushikbabu could see that Tinu was a youngman of thirty years or so age. Tinu helped him to get up and go to bathroom for freshening up. Tinu asked him what kind of food he would like to have for dinner. Kaushikbabu generally ate one chapatti and a lightly cooked subzi with less masala. Tinu in the meanwhile informed him that he need not be scared as he was not really a care giver but wants to spend a fortnight in his house. He had no bad intention but he would do all those things what that caregiving woman was doing. For Kaushik Babu it was a change from that dull woman to this educated youth. Tinu knew his routine so put him to bed by 10 PM after allowing him to watch his favorite OTT platform Netflix. He watched a spy thriller as usual and Tinu too joined him. While watching TV Kaushikbabu kept talking about James Bond when Tinu informed him that he liked Jason Bourne. First time after a long time Kaushikbabu got a good sleep even with the unknown young man in the flat. He could hear Tinu talking to someone through his mobile , with that low volume conversation wafting from the adjoining drawing room, he fell asleep. That singsong sound acted as a lullaby to him. At midnight, he could feel Tinu entered his room to check. Next day morning Tinu helped him to bathroom and was there whenever he needed. Kaushikbabu was not interested in latest news so Tinu did not force him to watch any news channel. Kaushikbabu wanted to discuss about books and was surprised to find that Tinu was well read. Tinu’s favorite character was Sarat Chandra’s Devdas but Kaushik Babu liked Srikanta. Before James Bond appeared in 60s Kaushik Babu would imagine himself to be Srikanta who moved from place to place with an overnight sling bag. In Srikanta’s gypsy like life women played important role. In case of Devdas too women played important role. Both of them got into analyzing each of the characters. Kaushikbabu had collection of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s books, Tinu would read loudly from those books for him.For the first ime Kaushikbabu realized the importance of mental fodder which he was not getting since his wife died and his son took the oversea assignment. Somedays they would discuss about Hitchcock movies , Hrithik Ghatak or Guru Dutt"s movies. Tinu was fond of the writings of Samaresh Majumdar and he loved Kaal Bela,Moushalkal. Kaushikbabu had read those books and slowly he was getting the idea of who Tinu was. Tinu was no criminal he deduced; his reading detective books helped him to asses Tinu. He had showed least interest about his bank balance rather he was spending money to get vegetables through Big basket. They would leave the commodity at the society gate and Dilip , the sweeper would pick those up and keep outside the flat. As such, the 80 odd occupants of the flats would rarely come out because of fear of Corona. A close group of 10 families who originally came in 1988 would keep in touch with each other. Kaushik Babu did not fall in that coterie, so he was more or less isolated. No one could know that someone had entered wearing PP kit and had not gone out. Kaushik Babu smiled to himself while analyzing the typical situation where he was virtually in captive condition but the neighbors were not aware of it. It was a typical situation in big metros where neighbors rarely keep information about others, as they were too busy in balancing their own complex life. Added to that Covid had created a situation with lock down thrown in where most of the people were scared to step out of the sanctuary of their house. Honestly, Kaushik Babu was feeling free because his mind could imagine various other things away from his imagination of him being a deadly spy with license to kill. He knew someday Tinu would leave him but until then he wanted to have more time with him. He knew it was Stockholm syndrome as hostage he had developed a special bond with the captor. Tinu also started becoming fond of the old lonely man. He scanned the net to pick up interesting facts to share with Kaushik Babu. The intelligent questions raised by Kaushik Babu forced him to brush-up his own knowledge. He knew his time was slowly getting over and had to leave for the next mission. After a fortnight Kaushik Babu found a letter on his bed in the morning. ‘Uncle, I had to leave though I wanted to spend more time with you. Your caregiver will come today. I have kept fresh vegetable, egg for her to cook. Please take care. I may come some day when everything becomes normal. Tinu Kaushik Babu heard the door open and the woman Ritu come in. He was in mental shock as though he had lost some close relative. That slice of life what Tinu gave him would not come back. He wanted Tinu to visit him regularly but didn’t know how to contact him. He wished Tinu all well in his mission which he knew would not be successful, many bright boys of Bengal dreamt for such change of society but the materialistic world has buried those idealistic thoughts.

. Note; The books mentioned Kaal Bel and Moushalkal written by Samaresh Majumdar were about Naxal movement in Bengal.

Red tapism. ...

I have been doing watercolor painting for the last 4 yrs and paintings are in display in the houses of my friends and relatives. For the last 2 yrs I am getting yearly calendar made with my paintings. Polu, the caddy is an excellent golfer with single digit handicap, he is one of the admirers of my watercolor. I wanted to display my this painting in the Pro shop of a leading club but then they have their own complicated red tape...so I gifted the painting to Polu. I know that he will frame it up and keep in his house. After getting the painting he proudly showed to all caddies,each of them is better #golfer than most of us members. So a lesson learnt here, the social position is no criteria for getting admiration of your work,he is a golfer so he could relate the painting.

Sadhu and me

I have this penchant of being  drawn to Sadhus, it is not acquired now but as far as I can remember it is there from my childhood. During our school days in Delhi, we would be following Sadhus with Kamandal and Trishul  whenever they came to our area, as though they were pied pipers. They would be going round the houses to collect food grains or money and we would follow them around. Some of them would get annoyed finding us following them . However, a few would entertain us by singing bhajan or show some magic like producing something from the air.

I have interacted with various Sadhus during my adult life, in my earlier blogs  I had mentioned those.

I am not very clear whether Sadhus attract me or they see an easy prey in me to make a kill so they approach me, this boosts my ego as though I am the chosen one. One such Sadhu fleeced me of some money when I was in Barauni inspite of my wife cautioning me that the fellow was a fraud.

But now I will tell you about a Sadhu the conversation with him is still etched in my mind.

It happened long time back.

The meter gauge train from Gauhati was whistling out, I was waving at my friends from my first class compartment. Those days first class was a coupe of two. There were lot of women seeing off a Sadhu who was my co passenger. His devotees made the bed for him in the lower berth, my reservation was for upper berth, but it was yet not sleeping time. From the door, I looked back, the sadhu in plain white kurta and dhoti was sitting relaxed, I was irritated as he had left no place for me to sit. With irritation in my voice I said, “It is not yet sleeping time!”

He was embarrassed and with a folded hand invited me to share his bed, “Sorry for the inconvenience, my devotees in over enthusiasm spread the bed. If you wish I can roll it!’’

‘”No , please don’t, I will sit by your side.’’ I was ashamed of my rude behavior.

My luggage was below the seat; I pulled out my suitcase , took out my nightwear and headed for the attached washroom. After changing to casuals I comfortably sat by his side.

“Have you taken dinner? I can offer you some.”

“”Thanks, I had dinner at the station dining hall with my friends, you please carry on.”

“I don’t take dinner; I will take some fruits before going for sleep.”

Thus our acquaintance started. During the conversation, he told me that he has followers in Assam, Bengal and Bihar running to nearly a lakh.

He smiled at me and said, “From your attitude and questions I can make out that you don’t have much faith in God.”

I was caught, hesitantly asked him,’How do you know that the God exists?”

“Why your own Ramakrishna has said that if you believe then the God is there but if you don’t then the God doesn’t exist. It is the belief. You actually want to see or feel Him.’”

The discussion was becoming interesting; I was getting warmed up to the subject as I could feel that I was having conversation with a wise learned person..

He continued.

Have you seen Alaska? Have you seen Mars? You have not but you have heard or read about those. Similarly, you would get people who have felt Him or got some blessings from Him. I know you are a student of science and will look for scientific proof. Have you ever wondered who had produced so many species of leaving beings, the ocean and mountain? Can scientists produce a  tree where the water will be found like inside a coconut? Do you know that an albatross flies round the world without flapping it’s wings. Who designed those wings, which they flap only while taking off or coming down? It is believed they sleep during the flight, rarely come down and keep flying hundreds of miles without any rest, in their life period of 60 years or so they fly millions of miles. The aero engineers are studying the flight pattern and wings of this bird to design efficient airframe. Imagine a bird weighing 7 kgs or more flying on wing span of 12 feet across the continent miles after miles. Who has created this heaviest creature to fly?
There is God in every living being, you me and all.When you help some needy then you become God for him for that moment. We can not do faith healing but at least by extending our sympathy and empathizing with others problem we can give healing touch to their troubled soul.I don't perform any miracle or don't have solution for disease, that is the job of a doctor. i listen to others problems , try explaining the reason. 

Whatever he said on that day is the universal truth, there is no conflict of ideas, i was pretty impressed by his prabachan.

Well I was a skeptic but after talking to him I could know the limitation of my knowledge. Those days there was no Google to get instant information, one got to study books to acquire knowledge and then have to have intelligence to interpret those information. That Sadhu had read books and some realization had come to him which made him to adopt the life of a sage. To me he did not appear to be a fake like the modern ones we come across. He did not offer any magic potion to me like I have mentioned in my other encounters.

It was approaching bedtime, after bidding him good night; I climbed to my upper berth.

Next day morning the train reached Barauni, again there was a crowd of devotees to receive him. He smiled at me; I waved at him and got down with my luggage.

During my service life i was lucky to be posted in BHEL,Bhopal where apart from day to day work there were lot of social events. I was fortunate to come across some religious leaders like Jitamanand of Ramakrishna Mission, Rajeswaranand ( a muslim sufi turned hindu sage), the head of Digambar Jain sect, Shankaracharya of Kanchi,Mata Amritanandmayi of Kerala etc but that Sadhu on Assam Mail left an everlasting impression in my mind.

Virtually possible part 2, the deal

Virtually possible part 2, The deal

Santiniketan Express was about to pull out when Babulal and Soumaya entered the AC Chair car. Soumaya as usual was in his bomber jacket ,jeans with headphone strapped on his head , Babulal in light blue cardigan,jeans and a monkey cap lugging a rucksack on his back. He gave a broad smile to Samaranand. Soumaya took the window seat and Babulal took the middle seat next to samaranand who was occupying isle seat. 

“Finally we could seal the deal!” Babula said with a broad smile, he pulled out a bundle of two thousand rupee notes. Samaranad cautioned him with his eyes and gestured to put those back in his pocket.

Samaranand said, ‘’Yes,but let us not draw attention! I see, finally you could collect the other half of money from Sunil.”
"Yes last evening we collected the money, i left with the money but Soumaya stayed back to install the software."
The train started , Samaranand pulled out the book Sapiens and started reading, Soumaya took out his mobile and got busy playing video game, Babulal dosed off to sleep.
In the book repeatedly it was stressed that Sapiens are hunter and gatherer , he kept the book on the table in front and started thinking the events of the last few days, it was hunter and gatherer situation.

Samaranad’s mind flashed back to the lake and his usual morning walk . It happened the very next day after he had received the video of him being driver of Devanand in the song sequence of the film Hum Dono, Mein Zindagi ka sath...

He was walking fast on the track when he heard a hesitant cough, he looked back and found those two young men who were following him last few days were there. He stopped when one of them came forward and said, ‘’Can we talk?”

Samaranand pretended as though he did not get the drift of his talk,he raised his eye brows and asked,”About what?”

“About Babulal!”” the older of the two replied.

Samaranand thought there was no use of dodging it was better to face the problem squarely.

“Ok,let us sit down and talk!’’ He walked towards an empty bench by the side of lake.

The older guy introduced himself as Sunil Maity and his younger brother Anil.

-Anil knows Babulal well as Babulal with the help of Anil sells guess papers to 3 schools. We also know that there is one Soumaya who is a computer geek and has developed an algorithm for video where he can doctor it, mix new with old etc.

Samaranand;

-Why are you telling me all these. Why don’t you talk to Babulal as I know him casually and I am not involved in his business.

Sunil hesitantly said “We are not able to contact him but he had talked about you , how initially you helped him financially and looks up to you as a mentor. When you solved that case about planchet then he brought some of his friend to lake and showed you from a distance. One of them has identified you to Anil when we could not locate Babaulal, so that is why we have been following you lest Babulal meets you. Will you help to fix a meeting with Babulal? We have a better commercial proposition than what we offered last.”

Samaranand also wanted to close the issue and also thought it was a small algorithm developed by Soumaya and nothing further, so if those two boys could make some money from that deal then it would help Soumaya to purchase some modern computer hardware to develop video games which was his ultimate goal.

Samaranad said,’Ok, I will discuss with them and come to your office. Babulal told me that you run your office from your house in Lansdown and he knows the location of your house. He will call you and fix the time.”

Sunil ,the elder brother was happy and said, “’Let me promise you that you won’t repent!””

Samaranand had already judged Sunil and Anil, they were typical upper class Bengali with big ancestral property, as a matter of fact these type of young men only are getting into IT, cable or restaurant business. Their life style is sustained by the rents what is collected from the buildings they own, very often he had come across such characters in golf course. He was confident to handle them.

Those two young men left and Samaranand rang up Babulal and gave him some instructions about the meeting fixed for the next day.

Next day all three went to Sunils house at Lansdown. It was a sprawling old house. It looked as though the house had been renovated recently, it was a four storied building with a portico in the front. Gopal stopped the car in front of the gate, opened the big iron grilled gate and parked the car under the portico. Hearing the sound of the car both brothers came out with a third person who looked to be a Marwari guy.

They were ushered in a big drawing room with high ceiling. Samaranand could see the hooks for hand pulled pankha on the ceiling, now of course  modern fans with long down rods were hanging from the ceiling. In the front there were big windows and three doors of which two at two ends leading to inner sanctum.. It reminded him of his own ancestral red bricked house in Allahabad. The furniture were mix of antique and modern. The sofas were old style ,wide and leathery with a marble center table. The walls were decorated by pictures of ancestors and some paintings of English painters. Samaranad thought it was a classic Satyajit Ray movie setup with a big piano and brass phone missing. He was impressed. Babulal and Soumaya were totally nonplussed, they were just gaping at those trophies, antiques , wall hangings. Samaranad approached the sofa with those three when Babulal and Soumaya started going round the walls and touching those antiques.

“I am impressed by your this drawing room, how old is your house?’

“It’s about 150 years old! My great great grandfather built it, he was a stevedore , with his own company and warehouse along Khidirpur   dock. Now of course we have sold that company, so many other ports have come up in India, the business opportunities have reduced with major old English companies of Kolkata going bust .”

“Yes I know some of those old company owners who still do the job of stevedore in addition to expanding in restaurant or some other such business. I have come across them at Tolly Club.”

In the meanwhile Babulal and Soumaya after taking round of the room came and sat by the side of Samaranand.

‘Ok what is your proposition?”’

‘”We know that Babulal and Soumaya has no reach in the society. Initially we want to sell the products, I mean videos made to order in close circle. Let me introduce Khaitan who as you know is from a business community where there is a big community link. We can share 5 percent from that earning.”

“”But how much is the up front? Plus how do we know how many you have sold and at what price?”

“’We have not yet decided about the price as it will vary from  case to case plus the buying capacity of the person.”

“I suggest that you pay an amount of 50 lakhs to Babulal and Soumaya as upfront , we don’t bother about how much you earn. Let it be one-time deal as it will be difficult for us to monitor your day to day activity plus we want to be disassociated after signing the confidentiality clause of the deal. The software will be yours to use the way you think commercially viable.”

“That’s too much, you give us time till tomorrow to decide.”

“Ok, we meet the same time tomorrow.” Samaranand got up, Babulal and Soumaya followed him.

Those three walked them out to their car. When the car came out of the gate Samaranand asked Gopal to stop the car. He got down with Babulal and walked towards the beggar woman. It was Pagli, he gave a ten rupee note to her and Baulal hunched before her and started talking in low voice. Samaranand walked back to the car and after sometimes Babulal joined him.

In the evening they met at Samarnand’s flat in Golf Green and discussed strategy to fix the price.

Next day at the same house in Lansdown they had the meeting. 

“We can offer you 25 lakhs with a promise that if there is any glitch then Soumaya will help to solve it.”

Samaranand was happy that talk was going as per his scheme, at least the offer has jumped to 25 lakhs from their initial offer of one lakh.

“’In yesterday’s talk Soumaya’s requirement was not there so you pay 20 lakhs for that and the amount becomes 45 lakhs, it is less than what we asked yesterday.”

“Let seal the deal at 40 Lakhs.”” Khaitan said.

“You pay 20 lakhs now and Soumaya leaves the hard disc with you. When you pay the other half he would help to install in your main frame. If you want we can sign the contract on a stamped paper.” Samaranand said.

Khaitan pulled out a paper with the amount already written, Babulal and Soumaya signed as co-owner, Sunil and Khaitan signed from their side. They handed over a brief case full of money and asked Babulal to count. Soumaya handed over the hard disc.  They all shook hand over a cup of tea.

Samaranad jerked back to present hearing jhali muri fellow shouting near their seat. 
 It was Soumay’s idea to give a treat to Samaranand, they knew he loved to go to Santiniketan and so the trip. Soumaya had duly installed the software next day and both collected the remaining money.

Samaranand patted Babulal for his bright idea of bugging the drawing room of Sunil. When they first entered then both Babulal and Soumaya were busy in putting bug behind those big picture frames but pretending to be awed by those pictures. In the morning of the same day Babulal had instructed Pagli the beggar woman who generally sits in front of the lake to station herself in front of that house in Lansdown Road.While coming out he handed over the recording device to pagli, as the bug cannot transmit beyond 100 meters so it was required to position someone within 100 meter range. The same day evening Babulal collected the device from her and played back the same during their strategy session. From that recording they could know that Khaitan had already contacted ad agencies to make videos with the software. The acquaintance angle was red herring,as Samaranand had given an offer of 50 lakhs so they decided that they could go between 30 to 40 lakhs rupees. Having known their internal discussion it was easy for Samaranand to pull off the deal. The bugs were not touched, pagli was permanently placed in front of the house in Lansdown Road.

The train left the platform, Babulal and Soumaya exchanged seats. Soumaya took out his lap top with a wifi dongle and fired it up. Then he started teaching Samaranad a video game called Tomb Raider . He created an Avatar for Samaranad who looked like a Chinese warrior and then he showed him his own Avatar, it was Tintin. In the game both are partners. Samaranand was thrilled like a child to learn that virtual game. Soumaya showed him a chat box at the side where they can discuss their strategy privately. He told him that both can play the game from any location. Samaranad got busy with the game by himself against some other players may be located at US,UK or any place in India.He did not notice that train had stopped, Soumaya got up to get down at the platform to stretch his leg, Babulal was snoring away.

The train started with a jolt, Babulal woke up and said “Where is Soumaya?’’

The train picked up full spead, Babulal checked the toilet,Soumaya was not there. They both split and searched the full vestibule train but Soumaya was not there.Soumaya had vanished.

Virtually possible

Samaranand got down from the car in his fleece jacket , his favourite cap on for his morning walk at the lake. The night temperature has already dived to 13 degrees. Monkey caps are out but still there were those who were brave enough to defy the winter breeze in their shorts. Samaranand thought that the winter is the time to show off the latest woolens procured during European trips by the business community or those nouveau rich Bengalis. With all colour and shades on the morning walkers the lake wears a different look. As usual at the left side ground some youngsters were playing India’s favorite game cricket. He speeded up his walk on the walking track near the lake, two youngsters who were watching cricket broke away from the group and started walking behind him. It was nothing usual,Samaranad did not bother much. Slowly he started overtaking the other walkers, those two young men sat down on a bench which of course Samaranand did not notice. After his usual round he was walking out of the gate and those two youngsters followed him and watched him go out. As per his daily routing he gave alms to three fixed beggars near the gate and got in his car, Gopal his driver dove him back to his flat in Golf Green. In the car he was immersed in his thought about Babulal who had not met him for the last two months, he had tried to contact him in his mobile but it was switched off.Next day morning again like every day he came for his morning walk, those two young men again started following him upto the cannon and back, but this time he noticed them by chance, his shoe lace had come out so he bent down to tie when those two too stopped abruptly, though he noticed them but did not bother much. But the third day he became alert about those two as they would start shadowing him from the cricket field keeping a constant distance. To check whether he was being followed he suddenly sat down on one of the benches when those two stopped and looked up at the trees as though trying to locate migratory birds which come from Siberia in winter,they took a few snaps with their mobile, Samaranad immediately knew that they had included him in their snap. He wanted to confront them but then thought of observing their movements instead. He was missing Babulal, he would have used Babulal to find information about those two rascals. His mobile started ringing, it was unknown number, he generally did not attend unknown number but on an impulse he pulled out his mobile from his jacket pocket and pressed the green button. He was startled to hear the voice, it was Babulal.

“Hello uncle, you must be wondering about me and my this new number. There is some development with Soumeya, he is programming video game and has been able to create some simple games.!”

“Ok,so,why are you missing? I know every computer geek is fond of video games, no big deal.”

“No uncle he had found out a way to produce CGI (computer generated image) and mix it with existing videos. Right now he is on it and then would switch to game. I like a fool shared this information in that English medium school where we generate guess paper for examination, one of the boys started showing interest and started pressurizing Soumaya to sell the programme as they wanted to put that in commercial use. Then one day that boy with his elder brother visited my room in Tollygaunge slum  and started pestering me. We refused because Soumaya is not yet ready and we don’t know the real value of that software. These guys offered one lakh. I told them to give us some time to decide. They left, we vacated that room and moved to a slum near Sealdah station and kept my mobile off. This is my new number,please store this number.’

Samaranad felt as though he was getting pulled in some kind of cloak and dagger game.

“So you guys are in a jam, where are you now?”’

“I am in the lake a few benches away from you, I am in disguise. I have been coming to the lake to warn you but somehow those two rascals have come to know about you so they have started following you lest I come and meet you.”

“Ok, now I know why those two are shadowing me, now I will go back and will like to meet you to understand about that software.’

“Ok,uncle, I will meet you with Soumaya by tomorrow.”

Babulal disconnected the mobile but Samaranand pretending the talk was continuing held the mobile by his ear and kept talking. He suddenly got up and loudly said in the mobile “Ok,I am coming to the hospital!’

He walked fast crossing those two startled young man and went out of lake the lake.

Then he started making plan for meeting Babulal and Soumaya, he rang up Babulal and asked him to come to the golf club next day morning.

Samaranand generally plays solo golf. Babula and Soumaya got down from a taxi and met Samaranand near the course. Sankar,the caddy took the bag all four started walking to the course. He took them to the shack near 6^th hole. He ordered daab and asked Soumaya to tell him about the software.

Soumaya asked him whether he had seen the movie Forest Gump.Samaranand nodded his head.

“Do you remember in that movie Tom Hanks who acts as Forrest Gump is congratulated by the president Robert Kennedy ,that movie was made in 1994 whereas Kennedy was killed in 1963.So how was that made possible? Of course the programme which was used then is obsolete now, CGI has become like real. I am able to put any person in any 3 to 4 minutes shot of some film. Now supposing I ask you with which favorite film actor you want to be seen in a sequence then I will put your image in that sequence.”

“Is that possible? Ok, put me in a sequence with Devanand.”

“Ok, tell me some songs of Devanand in YouTube, then I will see where I can put you. I have your images in YouTube.”

“Mein Zindagi ka sath nivaataa, Mana janaab ne pukara nahin,Dil kaa bhramar karey pukaar….choose any from these three.’

“I will send it to your email address by tomorrow.’

They finished their daab and got up to go.

Babulal said, “I will not be able to meet you for some time, those boys will also stop following you when they will find that you are not meeting me.”

Babulal and Soumaya left, Samaranand played a few holes and wound up golf for the day.

Samaranand could not concentrate in his work that day, he was eager to receive the mail from Soumaya.

As usual next day he went out for his morning walk around the lake and those two young men as usual followed him, he did not bother much about those.

After returning home he accessed his mail in his mobile and found the mail from Soumaya with attachment of a video.

He excitedly like a child with a new toy downloaded the video and then played it.

Soumaya had chosen Mein Zindagi ke sath and Samaranad was thrilled to find his image as driver driving the jeep for Devanand during the song sequence. He played the clip a few times more to absorb the feel good emotion. Then he realized that this itself has a big market potential, who would not like to have himself seen with his or her favorite celebrity in a video clip for a tiddy sum also it can be expanded to many other use like say in ad films or in wave series which has become latest craze.

He rang up Babulal and said, “It’s amazing. Soumaya is a genius but ask him to work on variations. Let me think about its market potential but in the meanwhile you remain invisible, if you want you guys can go and stay in my Delhi flat.

Babulal said, “ ok,I will come back to you soon on that.”

  

Me and Babulal

The apprentice…part 2

…………………………..

After two rounds  i leisurely walked towards the bench by the side of lake to enjoy the cool breeze blowing. Not much crowd was there, i was enjoying the solitude in the cool shade of the tree.

I heard a feeble coughing sound, looked up from my book and found Babulal standing  with a broad smile. I was pretty surprised to see him though I had given him 500 rupees about two weeks back but I could not keep my promise to engage him in some work. I rather hesitantly asked him how he was managing to keep himself engaged.

“I used a part of the money given by you to purchase some dot pens and rest I spent for food.” He said unabashedly.

So many questions were crowding in my mind about him so I asked those related with his shelter, spending time, earning money etc ,the usual things required for sustenance.

He disarmed me by his reckless answer.

“I have managed to make friend with that muscular guy who used to chase you for massaging, of course I promised him that I will help him to convince you in getting messaged by him. He took me to a football club located at the other half of the lake facing Menaka cinema hall and introduced me with some young men of my age. One of them took pity on me and offered a bed in the shanty near Tollygunge.”

I remembered to have brushed off that muscular guy who very often would try to befriend me. It was my mistake that initially I exchanged some pleasantries with him when he told me that he did massaging, he had a rolled up yoga mat with him. Then I understood his interest in me and I started avoiding him and now Babulal has again brought that fellow back. Babulal could sense that I was not happy, he hurriedly said, “ Don’t worry about that guy I will manage to keep him away from you.”

I was relieved and asked, “ Ok! Are you doing any work?”

“I told you I purchased some dot pens, I sell those pens in front of temples. Just now I was selling opposite to that Lake Kali temple. Seeing you I quickly changed my dress and came here. When I am selling then I am dressed up as sadhu, you know that I was with sadhu so I have that garb with me. I sell these dot pens at 200 to 300 rupees whereas I paid 2 rupees each.”

“Why someone will purchase the silly dot pens for that kind of money?”

With a beatific smile he and said, “ The scam runs like this “ and he narrated .

I have targeted a few temples and this one at Lake is one of those. I have fixed up some street urchins at each of the temples. I put on my Sadhu garb and sit outside the temple. These boys surround me keep on shouting , “ Show some miracle! “

I will pick up a retractable knife and push that on my cheek, for any onlooker it will appear that I have pierced my cheek. All will be in awe. Then one of them would ask ,”what do you eat?” I will show them coal and pick up a lump of coal and will start chewing it. By the time a crowd will gather around me. Then one of them will ask, “Have you brought those miracle pen which my friend purchased from you before the examination?”

“You mean that pen where I have put special power so that any student purchasing that and using in exam will pass?” saying that I will pull out three sealed boxes and say , “Last night I could put mantra in three only as moon was visible for a very short time.”

Then that boy will ask me the cost. I will say, “ It is 400 but to you I will give for 300.”

As he is my side kick so happily he will pay 300 and take one sealed box of pen. I will warn him not to open the box now. He should go back take bath and should open it when no one is around. Once he did the purchase there will be scramble from other on lookers to get the magic pen as the final exams are within one month. After that selling the first one other two hardly takes 10 minutes ,as you know every second a sucker is born.

“Wait wait not that fast!” I said.

“The retractable knife thing I understood but chewing lump of coal! How can you digest those? They are unhygienic!”

He laughed loudly and said, “No no those which I ate are not coal, those are black sugar crystals kept in the heap of coal.”

That was very clever of him.

He quickly told me about his ploy of the magic pen. “As the exams are one month away so till then merrily I can sell these pens in front of temples. I pay some 10 buck each to those urchins and I have a neat margin. As of now my business of selling the miracle pens is going well, later on with this capital I will think of other schemes or you may have some assignment for me. I am usually available in front of that temple in the morning.”

I was impressed by his business acumen and timing. Those  parents who purchased those pens with divine power will never know that they have been fooled. If the students pass then it will be because of the pen and if they fail then the parents will conclude that even God could not help their son or daughter in passing the exam. It was neat trick where fooled guy doesn't declare that he has been cheated.

I patted him, to keep him in loop gave 500 bucks and promised to call on him for any exigency.