Love and Revenge -- Part 2

Party at Ruby’s Tuesday

Half-heartedly, Padhi had to throw a treat to his friends in Ruby’s Tuesday. He had managed to suppress the secret of what had transpired in the flying Saucer by extreme application of will-power on his usual chirpy tongue. He didn’t know why he was hiding it from his friends, but he wanted to keep it that way currently.

Dark had already set in and rain was pattering on the roof and plastic canvas outside. Activities of the market were in full view from the seats close to the glass windows where they sat. An old 70s western classic song suffused an element of romance on an already wonderful ambience where vibrations of romance and youthful exuberance floated in abundance.

But Padhi looked downcast…

Not able to comprehend the reason behind Padhi’s dull mood— which was actually due to the unexpected loss of the three-eyed damsel and the dollar filled suitcase— Sandipan, Maneesh and KC sat clueless, sipping cold Beer and transporting, after every few seconds, a spoonful of Pasta to their mouths. How could they have understood the plight of Padhi? A loss of this nature, which they didn’t have slightest idea of, could bring even the liveliest of creatures to an abrupt state of depression. And Padhi certainly deserved a bravery award of the highest order for being inside the restaurant with the same people who actually were accountable, though unintentionally, for bringing that misfortune to him.

Sandipan, breaking the leg of a prawn from his right hand and adjusting his old-styled plastic-rimmed specs from his left, said in an intriguing tone, “What Padhi! You look not so happy today.” He had noticed Sandeep’s silence since his escape on the river bank. At the back of his mind, while asking this question, he suspected Padhi under the grip of some Atma that might have got inside Padhi during the Yamuna escapade. He remembered that Padhi had remained unconscious for a few minutes, and had gained consciousness only after the massage of Jhandu Baam.

Padhi just let out an artificial smile and said, “Nothing…it’s all fine, dude.” But a seed of suspicion had started germinating in Sandipan’s mind, and some remedies of the unknown problem, based on his suspicion, had already started to float in his mind. An immediate one was to get in touch with Tantrik Guddiyappa, revered like a god in Sarai Kale Khan. People claimed that they saw through their naked eyes many bhoots running for mercy just after they saw a glimpse of Guddiyappa. Such was his dread or atank.

Maneesh and KC were busy gulping down Beer bottles, giving least care to food lying over plates.

Maneesh said proudly, “My quota is over. Six bottles down under.”

To which KC responded, “Oh! only six. It’s Padhi’s dollar treat. Think about another six more.”

And they continued…

At 11:00 PM, all left the restaurant. Rain was still drenching the thirsty earth. Outside, Sandipan kept reading Padhi’s every movement, his downcast and lost expressions.

KC and Maneesh, who had started a conversation on Buddhist philosophy after having downed the seventh bottle in the restaurant itself, seemed to relish on the discussion even more in the rain—again quite oblivious to what Sandipan was up to and Sandeep’s unusual silence.

Soon all wished Good Night to each other and planned to meet again. Maneesh, after 5-6 unsuccessful attempts at his TVS Victor Bike when finally managed to awaken it, flew it like a Jet Aircraft on the rain drenched Delhi roads, giving KC many near-to-death experiences at every turn and signal. He said, “His concentration was at its best after gulping down a few bottles.” To which frightened KC didn’t respond and got down even before his stoppage came, lying to Maneesh that he had shifted his house to another location.


Love, a Sweet Poison




Love seemed more the reason than the loss of money behind Sandeep’s dismal demeanor. Flashes of those twinkles of appreciation and affection from those three eyes of the damsel erupted before him every now and then, jolting him from his sleep and giving sweet sensations. If she had been an earthly beauty, he at least would have the chance to search and find her. But a damsel of another planet and in a Saucer? Even if he managed to get hands on the fastest running plane, it would be difficult to locate her. The Universe was too big to find her.

His mood swings increased day by day. He also lost some pounds from his body. And whenever he ventured outside, he would apply a thick layer of Jhandu Baam on his forehead.

One day Sandipan, who by now was sure of some evil spirit behind Sandeep’s changed behavior, told KC and Maneesh about Tantrik Guddaippa. “A famous Tantrik…in a second our old Sandeep will be back to his original self,” he said popping in some groundnuts inside his mouth and grinding them.

So it was finally decided that Guddaippa should at any cost be called. Or some such arrangement be made that Sandeep could come before Guddaippa.


Wicked Plans of a Scorned Lover




“Hell has no wrath like a woman scorned,” said Shakespeare many years ago. The saying— which basically means if you hurt or make a woman mad, it will be worse than hell— has its applicability intact even in today’s world and will have till Universe remains.

So was the case with the three-eyed damsel. How could she forget the betrayal by a two-eyed Instructional Designer? Though her motive behind gulping Padhi inside the Saucer was pure business then, the communication happened through their eyes had done the damage that many mortals since the birth of this Universe have suffered. And that hope given to her romantic heart was taken away mercilessly by Sandeep’s betrayal and KC’s violent entry. They hadn’t yet any antidote against those bamboo sticks and Desi Tamancha. Otherwise, she would go immediately and teach both a lesson.

But soon came jumping a monster without even knocking on the damsel’s door, giving no time to the damsel to hide Padhi’s photograph that she had closely held.

“What uncouth behavior? Don’t you knock at the door before entering in a lady’s room?” she rebuked the monster.

“Oh! Beautiful Goddess of Zanzibar planet, the news is such that my feet lost control. Our underpaid scientists have finally developed a powerful response against those dreaded weapons.”

“Oh! Great news…let’s hurry up then and move our Saucer to the planet.”

And the Saucer zoomed toward the planet earth, cutting the thick veil of Zanzibar security layer to which no instrument sent by NASA scientists could penetrate.

Her plan was to finally kidnap Padhi and keep him as a permanent captive in an ice-cream parlor of Zanzibar where all varieties of ice-creams would be kept before Padhi, but his hands would remain tied. She was burning with revenge and she felt this punishment was the best. Even KC was going to face her fury as they had now solid response against Tamancha and bamboo sticks.


Talk with the Tantrik




Sandipan and Maneesh were already in Sarai Kale Khan talking to Tantrik Guddaippa. When the entire episode was narrated to him, he stroked his moustache, sharpening both sides like a pencil’s edges.

“Hmm!! It seems Pani Pret, found only around Yamuna, has possessed your friend.”

He added, “It’s nawt a naarmal Bhoot. Bhery-bhery straang (Guddaippa showed his command over English and told both that he was a graduate in Political Science at a time when it wasn’t such an easy thing.)”

He continued, “This bhoot drinks a lot of Yamuna water and the whole day eats different kinds of fishes, which makes him very powerful.”

After thinking a little, he said, “But there is one solution. You bring your friend to the same spot and I’ll throw Shamshan Ki Raakh on him and murmur Pisach mantra…enough for Pani Pret to go crazy and be back to Yamuna.”

Sandipan and Maneesh were really happy that there was a solution to the problem and said a few butter-laced phrases in praise of Guddaippa, at which the tantrik got very happy and uttered a loud laughter.

So it was communicated to KC that he would by some trick bring Padhi to Yamuna, and Maneesh and Sandipan would bring Guddaippa to the same spot to give Pani Pret a lesson of the lifetime.


Clash of the Titans




Crossing the Noida Bridge toll in his TVS Victor at 100 km/hr speed, with Guddaippa and Sandipan sitting on the back, and then taking a rough route amid thick bushes and thorns they finally landed down to the bank.

KC had already brought Padhi with him, by telling him a lie that a Dolphin had recently been spotted in Yamuna and there lay a possibility of catching a glimpse. Tantrik, Sandipan and Maneesh slowly crept toward Padhi whose feet were almost touching the water. This was a wonderful opportunity of attacking Pani Pret from the backside and bringing an immediate end to his kahani.

Guddaippa had almost reached near Padhi when a light flashed up above and from the Saucer jumped the damsel and other occupants, carrying some strange weapons. Guddaippa wasn’t prepared for this. In fact, he had never seen such ghosts in his lifetime. Before they could start their attack, Guddaippa started throwing ash toward the three-eyed monsters and loudly muttered pisach mantra. The effect was such that their strange weapons disappeared in the thin air and they were completely weaponless.

Capitalizing on the wonderful opportunity, KC took his Desi Tamancha and bamboo sticks and beat them once again mercilessly, forcing them to take a u-turn toward the Saucer.

But before the damsel turned back to the Saucer she looked deeply toward Padhi. Their eyes were set on each others for some time. KC stopped his fury and went astonished and so were others.

But Guddaippa thought the damsel was hypnotizing Padhi and he again started to throw ash and mutter pisach mantra, at which the damsel too ran for safety in her Saucer. And in no time, after a few up and down movements, the Saucer disappeared from the sight.

Padhi looked dejectedly toward the disappearing Saucer and applying a thick layer of Jhandu Baam on his forehead said very sadly, “They say love is blind. But how can it be blind when eyes have a big role in this.”

Abduction of Sandeep Padhi by Flying Saucers - Part 1

Abduction
While loafing around the streets of Atlanta, with a cup of Starbucks coffee in hand, Padhi was half-absorbed by the reddish Sun setting fast in the West and half-absorbed in the thoughts of how to make quick money in a short span. He thought half of the life was gone in toil and sweat and another half would pass away like that only unless he thought out of the box. He thought the life would remain meaningless unless he at least possessed a red Ferrari and a swanky bungalow around Yamuna. Then, he could, whenever his whims allowed, go anytime around Yamuna beach with his love-of-life and do fish hunting.

He was slurping the hot, aromatic coffee slowly and slowly so it could act as a catalyst for prolonging his thought process. After all, he remembered the saying of an old Indian Sanyasi who had said this famous line “what you think, you become.” Padhi, a firm believer of this philosophy, was thinking on how to apply this theory to make him a rich man.

He went so deep in his thinking that in 5-6 hours that flew—during which birds went back to their houses, cooked their dinner, male birds gulped down a few pegs, and went to sleep—Padhi remained oblivious of the night setting in. He came back to his world back only when he saw a flying saucer rotating fast above his head. He certainly was in danger. Before he could throw the cup in the dustbin nearby (a good habit gained after spending 6 months in Atlanta) and leap back to his guest house, a white light originated from the saucer and gulped Padhi inside the Saucer. Now, he was among the creatures of different order. They were three eyed monsters—one eye on the forehead.

Padhi, seeing his untimely, imminent end, mumbled the entire Hanuman Chalisa that he had mugged up in his childhood in 5 seconds. As he finished, a door in front opened and from there erupted a beautiful girl, who with an eye on her forehead, which Padhi took as a Bindi, was very different from the girls on the earth, but so beautiful that Padhi’s eyes remain fixed on her for a while.

The girl in her sweet voice said, “So you are Sandeep Padhi. Have heard about your ID skills a lot in the entire Universe. What’s the secret?”

Padhi saw a fresh hope in those words that ringed like the twinkling of bells in a temple. What bad things he thought a moment ago disappeared and were replaced by an opportunity in front. “Great thinking Indian mind set into action by Starbucks coffee and Indian Desi Chole Bhature,” Padhi said in response to the damsel's question.

Padhi’s confident voice in such alienating conditions impressed the damsel to the core. She said, “Quite true you are to the words floating about you in the Universe. We’ll give $ 50,000 billion if you could transport your knowledge to our brains. There is a lot of Web 2.0 and Social Learning stuff going on in our planet and we seem to be quite ill equipped. People in our planet don’t even understand Bloom’s taxonomy and Gagne’s 9 step model. Wot say? Will you do that for me? Or I increase the money a bit more?”

Padhi, whose feet were already shaking after seeing such a beautiful girl, after hearing the billion dollar agreement, shook his feet so fiercely that he ran flat on the ground and his eyes closed for a moment. The beautiful damsel took Padhi in her arms and caressed his forehead and muttered, “Oh! such a cute knowledgeable man though with only two eyes.”

By that gentle touch, Padhi opened his eyes and immediately jumped back to life like an army soldier eager to go on front.

The Alien Who Took Padhi's Breath Away




Padhi sipping the cold coffee from the glass that he had forgotten to throw in the dustbin on the Atlanta road said, “Real knowledge requires a calm mind. Only when the mind is focused, that real knowledge goes in. It’s like you cannot cram an already filled box with more stuff. You first need to make it empty.” He took a pause and took another sip, during which the damsel and other creatures looked toward Padhi in awe. “A mind that has understood Indian philosophy is a powerful mind. It’s focused, clean, with all cobwebs removed.” “Oh! we’ve heard about the Indian mind and its rich philosophy,” shrieked the damsel. Padhi at the back of his mind knew he was gaining control of the situation.

He told them, “If you want to gain knowledge, you’ll have to take the saucer to Yamuna where the energy is in dense form and there knowledge transfer will be quick.” The reason Padhi said this was if there was any danger he could jump into Yamuna and being a good swimmer, which he learnt in a tubewell, he would swim to the bank.

So there zoomed the saucer toward Yamuna…


Padhi’s Friends and Their Rescue Plan



Padhi had a wonderful bunch of friends who were equally talented as Padhi himself. After all, a man is known by the company he keeps. Padhi again believed in this philosophy. Among his best friends were Maneesh, KC, and Sandipan. All from different corners of India and belonging to the same profession as Padhi himself was in.

Maneesh held some strange interests. In his idle hours, he would often get astrayed to Yamuna and click photographs of flying birds and Yamuna herself from his old mobile phone and then posted them in Facebook, which garnered him a lot of praise. KC and Sandipan praised his skills and egged him on to continue with this killing-of-time. Both felt life was a great Maya and whatever one did, it didn't make any difference. Acceptance was the key.

And there floats another set of pictures of Yamuna on Maneesh’s FB account. “What! This is Padhi, our own Padhi. And those monsters around him,” KC exclaimed as he saw one of the pictures that captured the clouds above Yamuna. On straining their eyes, Sandipan and Maneesh could also see Padhi talking to the three eyed monsters.

KC, to whom Sandeep had promised of a treat after he returned to India and another expensive offer, wanted to rescue Padhi at any cost. So did Maneesh and Sandipan. They too were to be offered the same treat, after all. The plan was made, according to which KC would stealthily climb in at the roof of an Indian Airplane and jump to the flying saucer when the plane went above it. He would take with him the most dreaded weapons: a Desi Tamancha and 3 powerful bamboo sticks to beat the life out of the monsters.

Once KC rescued Padhi, he would jump along with him in Yamuna where Sandipan and Maneesh already waiting in a boat ferry both of them toward the bank. And then Sandeep would have to throw a gala treat for rescuing him.



Padhi’s Gyan Session and Rescue Bid

Now, the creatures and Padhi were over Yamuna, hiding behind a cloud that was effectively captured by Maneesh’s old mobile phone. Padhi said, “Meditation stills the mind. All thoughts that are dispersed soon take a direction and that energized thought become so strong that things start materializing.”

The damsel got so impressed that she drew herself closer to Padhi and summoned one of the creatures to take the suitcase out that contained the dollar currency.

A suitcase is brought soon. Padhi, seeing his dream getting fulfilled, continued, “World is a divine Maya. If you are aware of it, you’ll not unnecessarily get bound by rules, illogical customs, and your free mind will make you fresh like a butterfly floating in the sky.”

Suitcase was almost near Padhi now.

Just at that very moment, an Indian Airplane flew over and a loud thud was registered at the saucer’s roof. In the next moment, the window was flung open and KC unstoppably, like a wild horse having gone berserk, flew the bullet from his Desi Tamancha in every direction. He took out bamboo sticks too and beat the three eyed creatures mercilessly—all to the wonderment of Padhi who rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

As Padhi could understand, KC dragged him toward the door and jumped into the Yamuna.


Boatmen (Padhi's Friends) and Their Demand



Maneesh and Sandipan, who had by this time captured a lot of fishes from Yamuna, when saw Padhi and KC coming down, took the boat swiftly to the spot where they were about to fall and ferried both to the bank.

After a massage of Jhandu Bam on Padhi’s forehead, he came to life again. And immediately, Maneesh, KC and Sandipan demanded a gala party for having rescued him by putting their lives in danger. It was agreed that KC deserved a special treat.

Padhi applied more Jhandu Bam on his forehead, grabbed his head and said, “Friends in the hour of wrong need are not friend indeed.”