When Strangers Meet (50000 ebooks sold): 3 in 1 Box Set (Now with Sample Chapters from A GAME OF GODS)

by K. Hari Kumar

  ‘Yea right!’

  They stepped on the escalator that went upstairs to the platform. The train was already awaiting departure. They made it in time. As soon as they stepped inside the bombardier train, the doors closed automatically. There was an announcement and soon the train was in motion. The two took a seat near the door itself. The entire train was as good as empty.

  ‘Maybe they will fill up in the next station. Gurgaon is still 20 minutes away!’ Jai forecasted.

  ‘You would know better.’ Iyer surrendered.

  A brief stint of silence followed during which Jai kept on looking at his new acquaintance off and on. Something about him did not make sense. Was it his story that had excessively many similarities to Jay’s own life or was Jai missing something?

  Finally, Jai broke the sound of silence; he spoke sedately into Krishnaprasad Iyer’s senses, ‘Tell me do you watch the IPL?’

  ‘What?’ Iyer seemed to have come out from some kind of a trance, ‘What did you say?’

  ‘IPL, do you follow IPL?’ Jai repeated his query. Clearly, he was trying to start a conversation with the bulky man about something that did not remind him of his lamentable past.

  ‘Namma Ooru Chennai, I support Chennai Superkings da!’ He claimed joyfully like a little kid who had just been asked to select his favorite flavor of ice cream.

  ‘Oh! They are playing tonight!’

  ‘Is it?’

  ‘Yea! They face Bengaluru tonight.’

  ‘I never liked cricket, it was always cinema for me. I started watching cricket because of this IPL thing. It brought cinema and cricket together. But I am not that excited about it this time.’

  ‘Yea! I do not need to be an astrologer to read that. I am sorry I was just trying to keep you away from unwanted thoughts. You get what I mean?’

  ‘I am glad that you tried. Not many people have done that for me. I remember actor Vijay sporting yellow in the first edition, but now nowhere. But now I think Suriya is the best actor in Tamil cinema. I used to jealous of him in the past, especially when I saw his face on that poster of his first movie. It could have been mine.’ Iyer said with a tint of gloom in his eyes.

  ‘Look! Whatever happened has happened. There nothing you can do to undo it. You just do not do anything like that again. I don’t know, I cannot explain. Okay? Just understand what I just tried to tell you.’

  ‘Life has to go on. I realized it quite late in my life. I hope I can set an example for someone else.’

  I GUESS YOU ALREADY DID, thought Jai.

  ‘Ok, tell me just one thing, what was it between you and Padma? Were you like dating each other?’

  ‘Dating?’ The man was hearing that term for the first time in his life for sure.

  ‘Going out together, you know, like boyfriend and girlfriend. Get it? Dating?’ Jai explained as he crossed his index fingers in an alternating pattern.

  ‘She was a very good friend. I loved her… I think so. However, I gauged my love for Cinema at a much higher altitude. I did not realize how important Padma had been to me at all. Even after we decided never to meet again…’

  ‘You broke up!’ Jai corrected.

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘That’s what it’s called. Break up is the word. When you quit a relationship. That’s when you break up.’

  ‘Okay, and after we broke up I was not bothered to get back to her, apologize and at least continue that healthy form of friendship which we shared. It was my ego.’

  ‘Wow! I just asked a simple question man, you have gone deep! Chuck it! I do not really believe in this love shit anyway!’ He said as he picked his ear with his finger. The very face of Tania appeared in his mind. How he had ended it with her and all those moments they had shared. He sighed, ‘Love sucks!’

  ‘You will say that now. You are young. You probably have other priorities. But fifteen years down the line, you’ll realize that you had got all your priorities wrong.’

  ‘So, you repent the fact that you missed out on love during your golden days of life?’

  ‘Young man, the golden days of life began after I missed out Padma.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘But didn’t you struggle so much after you ran away from home?’

  ‘Yes, but that struggle yielded a good side of me as the end product. I may not have become an actor as I dreamt, but I became a successful individual. If I hadn’t run away I would have to struggle with my academics, score marks, earn a degree and then find a good job for myself.’

  ‘Like a sucking old maths professor?’

  Iyer chuckled, ‘But I ran away, I struggled on the streets of Chennai, I was bent and broken by the harshness of life. Instead of throwing up life, I started from the lowest point set by life and from there I began digging my way up. I was a graduate with a Government job. I rode my way without any big hand on my head. That, my boy, is a tough ask for any person.’

  ‘Hmmm… I agree! I give that to you, you were determined.’

  The computerized announcement system of the metro coach made another announcement. Their stop was almost there. The voice of a beautiful female first announced in English, shortly followed by a male’s announcement in Hindi. Jai got up from the seat, ‘Hey, we got to get off here. This one is the last stop.’

  ‘Is it?’

  ‘Trust me!’

  Thirty Eight

  Outside Ghittorni Metro Station

  09:00

  Hussain was told by the telephone operator that the Lottery Office was open only till eleven. He had two more hours till eleven and waiting for the metro to restart its operation faded to seem like a feasible option. He finally decided to take the longer route, catch a bus. It would take at least 3 hours for him to reach his destination by road owing to the heavy traffic on the highway, but at least he would be there. He had seen enough maniacs of the teenager who had been blabbering continuously. The boy’s face was engulfed by arrogance and ego. Hussain didn’t like him. He was a simple man who lived by the virtues of the Quran Saahib. Arrogance and ego both were traits of the Qafir. He wasn’t one, he feared Allah, more importantly he believed in Allah and his faith stood steadfast in all phases of his miserable life. Every Friday he would donate wholeheartedly at the Masjid to feed the poor. He himself would stay hungry for the night, but would never skip charity. He believed that anyone who earns must understand the pain and serve the one who’s needy. He was a man of values and imparted the same into his son, Arshad. He would never want his son to be like that teenager.

  He gushed outside and walked towards the bus stop that was almost a mile from the station. He knew which bus he had to board.

  Thirty Nine

  Bakhtawar Singh Chowk, Sector 38, Gurgaon

  10:11 am

  They got off the train, took an elevator and were outside the station after few minutes. Jai crossed the bustling road. Traffic was always scurrifyingly high outside the Huda City Centre Metro Station. This was the point of convergence for almost half a million Gurgaonites who had to commute via the Gurgaon Metro Service. This was the starting point. Iyer followed Jai closely. The rush was a lot lesser today owing to the metro accident. Jai walked towards the auto rickshaw stand. An auto rickshaw geared up, ready to take off, while four more waited in queue. Jai pointed towards the auto rickshaw and instructed Iyer, ‘We got to get into this. We will get off at Bakhtawar Chowk and walk towards Medicity or catch another auto if it’s tiring for you to walk a few steps.’

  ‘It is perfect; I walk miles every day!’

  ‘Oh Really?’ Jai stared at Iyer’s bulging tummy.

  As soon as the two were seated, the phat-phating vehicle took off from the auto-rickshaw stand. The short journey lasted 10 minutes. They got off at the junction and took a right and acceded on the Bakhtawar Singh Marg. The traffic here was meager as this was one of the lesser populated areas of mainland Gurgaon. Besides, it was 10 am in the morning. Most of the people would be either at work or at school.


  A temple complex stood upright on the left side of the road. One of them was painted completely with black color. This was a temple with Shanideva or Lord Saturn as the main deity. All temples in India where the presiding deity is Shanideva has this characteristic feature. Shanideva in Hindu tradition is believed to be dark skinned, as he was the born to the Sun God, Surya and Chaayadevi who is the Hindu Goddess of shadow. He is the God of Justice and unfortunately is one of the most feared deities in India. The sun gleamed in through thick dark clouds and bolted its photons on the black granite surface of the temple. Iyer prayed silently as they puffed past the temples. Jai observed his companion.

  ‘You seriously have a lot of faith in God?’ Jai pampered.

  ‘Who doesn’t?’ he reverted.

  ‘Hey! Talk for yourself!’ Jai pumped up his breath, ‘Just because you believe in your superstitions doesn’t make them solid science!’

  ‘God is real; He is the ultimate science of everything! Today everyone is researching in different fields of science, but in the end all of them will find the same inference- God is ultimate science!’

  ‘Why are we talking about this?’ Jai cut the conversation. Iyer was clearly disheartened at the boy’s attitude. ‘Look, if we walk a little faster, we can reach there in 5 minutes.’ Jai informed.

  ‘Sure!’

  They picked up pace, from far front rose a bunch of closely packed new-age buildings with huge glass windows.

  ‘See those?’ Jai asked Iyer.

  Iyer focused his black eyes on the buildings and nodded.

  ‘That is Medanta- the Medicity.’ Jai told Iyer.

  ‘Oh My God!’ Iyer exclaimed in surprise, ‘is this really in India?’

  ‘I bet it is!’

  ‘Adada! Superu!’ Iyer exclaimed. He had never seen such a structure in his life.

  ‘Yea, whatever!’

  ‘The metro, the malls, and those glass buildings everything looks so much American! This place does not look anything like India.’

  ‘But most of the people here are typically the same, narrow minded.’ Jai remarked sarcastically.

  ‘This place is beautiful!’

  ‘And you will find lot of South Indians in Medanta. All those nurses are from your part of the world.’

  ‘Kerala! They must be from Kerala. Malayalees make good nurses. You will find Malayalee nurses all over the world.’

  ‘What’s the difference?’

  ‘A lot! The language, food habits, culture.’

  ‘Oh wait! Do you mean they don’t speak Tamil? I thought everyone in South spoke Tamil.’

  ‘No dear, we speak Tamil, Malayalees of Kerala speak Malayalam, Telugu is spoken in Andhra and Tulu and Kannada are spoken in Karnataka. It is a huge country, and we all have our little differences which make us one of a kind.’ Iyer declared proudly.

  ‘True!’ Jai nodded, ‘and this whole area to the right was once used to be stronghold of the Jaat community of Haryana but now Malayalees have outnumbered the localites here. All nurses working at Medanta have reside here and it is almost like a mini-South…err…mini-Kerala here. There are two or three hotels too, one of my friends used to dine there frequently until he got a stomach bug.’

  ‘He must have eaten beef fry, Malayalee hotels are famous for their Parotta and beef fry. I am telling you, both these things are not good for your health. The maida flour in Parotta and worms in beef are killers.’

  ‘I don’t know what he ate there, but it sure had to put an end to his dining streak.’

  ‘My roommate is also a Malayalee, he used to bring Parotta and beef fry regularly on dinners. He could not live without it. He was a Catholic, but never went to church.’

  ‘See? There are people who did not believe in God.’

  Well, actually, he loved a Muslim girl and that had got him ousted from the local community. He was stranded. He would pray and confess at our room itself.’

  ‘Oh! Hardly matters. When it comes to women and money, people tend to look over God!’ he commented.

  ‘Well, I looked over woman for the sake of my dreams.’

  ‘You are an item! A specimen piece from the museum of freaks! What else can I say about you?’

  ‘Hahahaha!’ Iyer heartily chuckled upon hearing Jay’s words, ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘Oh come on! You were foolish to have run away from home! I think that was the biggest blunder that you had done in your life. You could have stuck a little longer at home, bear your Appa’s attitude, survive everything and after graduation pursue your dream. You could have, you know?’

  ‘What would you have done if you were in my place?’ Iyer asked Jai.

  ‘If I were in your place, I would have never…’ Before he could complete his sentence, Jai realized what he was going to do that day! He was indeed in Iyer’s place. He was himself running away from home, away from his dictating father, away from a life dominated by mathematics. He was running towards his dream of becoming a Bollywood actor. His story until now was not much different from Iyer’s story. Iyer had run away too.

  There had been just two differences, the place and the fact that Jai still had time to recover from his action. He still had time to go back. He gazed into the huge building in front of him; the clouds had parted and made way for the sun to shine brightly on the glass windows. The glare from the glass woke Jai up from his revealing thoughts.

  ‘If you were in my place?’ Iyer tried to know.

  Jai ignored the question. He ran his right hand over his head and declared, ‘Here we are. This is where your father has been admitted.’

  ‘Okay, I will come vunly till here.’ Iyer declared his words in Golden letters.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Jai confirmed.

  Positive! You please go and give that money to my mother. My father’s name is Raamasamy Iyer. He is in room number 336 attended by Dr. Jaydev Singh.’

  ‘Okay, let me give this then. I will be back soon. Don’t worry!’ Jai consoled and started walking away from Iyer.

  ‘Young man, listen!’ Iyer called Jai from behind.

  Jai turned back and asked, ‘Yes, What is it?’

  ‘I don’t know you or your name, but I would like to give you one small piece of advice. Take it from this stranger’

  ‘Hmmm…’

  ‘Never hurt your parents, their feelings. Especially that of your Appa. He has worked his whole life for you, sacrificing all comforts, and it’s not wrong if he wants something minute in return for all his efforts.’

  Jai looked below; a feeling of shame slashed at him. He had a lot to learn from this fat man’s story.

  Iyer continued, ‘You know, this Earth and our fate have something in common. They are both round! Where you start is… where you end. What goes around,’ Iyer took a deep breath and continued, ‘comes around!’

  Slowly Jai raised his head and looked at the wrinkled chubby face of Krishnaprasad Iyer; an essence of deplorable wisdom reflected from his face. He had seen it all and he had shown a part of it to Jai. Jai nodded in a forfeited agreement. He had surrendered unto Iyer’s story. He had finally chucked up the sponge that had kept plunging in and out of his mind during the past few hours of his life. His eyes dilated mildly. A thin layer of tear vaguely replaced the dryness of Jay’s eyes. He smiled and lauded Iyer, ‘You are a good man, and you’re good! Wait here, I’ll be right back.’

  Jai turned around and started walking towards the gate. He walked towards the central building as told by the security guard. Soon, he disappeared into the building and the clouds reappeared in the sky. They covered the sun and the brightness was soon glittered by dullness of grey. It was going to rain again.

  Forty

  Jai walked towards one of the many receptionists. She was busy typing huskily on her keyboard. There was a sign hanging above her desk that read ‘General Enquiries’. Other desks had different names on their respective signboards like General Medicine, Ortho etc. It was a busy place as he could see from the way people
were running here and there around him- doctors, nurses, patients, and people! Impatiently scurrying through that corridor.

  Jai committed his elbow on the receptionist’s tall wooden desk. She looked up at the teenager standing in front of her. Jai greeted her with a mild smile. She smiled back wholesomely, unlike the way the woman at the metro station had. The smile was genuine and never looked forceful at all, these women were trained to look overtly attractive and to smile that way.

  ‘Good morning Sir, How may I help you?’ She asked in a fluffy voice.

  ‘I….Well…I am looking for Mr. Raamasamy Iyer. He…He has been admitted here for….Ummm…’ He jittered nervously. He did not know the exact illness. Iyer had not told him. Jai made up for that, ‘Room no. 336, attended by Dr. Jay…Jaydev Singh, yea!’

  ‘Are you related to the patient?’ She said as she typed in some keywords on her keyboard.

  ‘Oh…Well! No, I am not. I know his son. He is a…’ Jai stammered for a microsecond and finally pronounced, ‘He is a friend of mine. He sent me here to deliver something.’

  ‘Oh! Very well, May I know your name please?’

  ‘Yea sure, my name is Jai Sharma. Jai Prakash Sharma.’ He said Prakash proudly, it was his father’s name.

  ‘Thank you dear, the patient’s on 3rd floor. Take the elevator, then sixth room from the right.’

  ‘Thank you very much!’ he smiled gratefully.

  ‘You are welcome!’ She smiled back. Her breasts tucked perfectly in her white shirt, revealing just about nothing less than the perfect fantasy.

  He hated taking the elevator. He was scared of elevators and other enclosed spaces. One of his friends had told that he was claustrophobic. Indeed, he was, and as he stepped inside the elevator, the fear crept in. He pressed the button that read ‘3’ on the metallic wall. The door beeped and closed, and the elevator jumped into motion with a shake. It shook Jai from the deepest of his nerves. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He prayed for the journey to end quickly. Then there was a beep again. The lift had stopped. He exhaled in satisfaction and waited for the door to open. The door did not open for a few seconds. His heart started beating faster again. The air around grew thinner or he was feeling that way.