Wine Glass

Wine Glass Ram’s guide had prescribed ‘wine glass’as the theme of the short story, allowing only four days for submission. If he fails, he might lose his internal marks for his MFA degree course. There were hardly seven days left for his engagement which also needed attention. So far he remained a teetotaler. Hence, he had no idea about the theme of the story. He was in a dilemma. Suddenly he had an idea. At 07.00 p.m, he was at Hotel Mass, Puducherry. With some hesitation he entered the air-conditioned ‘Aruvi’ Bar. He got seated at the centre of the hall so that he could see others. A waiter approached him. ‘Your orders please.’ ‘I would like to know the liquor with low alcohol content?’ ‘Beers such as Kalyani, King Fisher and Hay Watts 2000 etc.’ ‘One King Fisher with a wine glass.’ When the waiter served it, Ram’s tryst with the wine glass began; slowly he had the beer in gulps. But it was neither sweet nor sour, but something different. He felt sorry for not being a teetotaler. Meanwhile, he saw four young men got seated behind him in a table; he began to listen to them attentively. ‘It would be Arvind today. Are you ready?’ ‘Yeah. I will see that this hotel lose its star status’ ‘Good.. But earlier the best; otherwise, we would be more dizzy and may not succeed in our plan.’ Ram could hear their conversation. He felt something fishy about them. But he chose to listen to them carefully. Each one of them ordered a liquor of their choice; when the waiter supplied them, they cheered up, holding their wine glasses aloft and began to enjoy their drinks slowly. Suddenly he heard an altercation between the waiter and one of them. ‘Bull shit… can you see this cockroach in the wine glass? It came off from the beer bottle that you served. I will see that all of you are booked.’ ‘No, it can’t be. When I served it, there was nothing inside.’ ‘You mean to say that I am bluffing… You cheat… friends, he is making all of us fools… let us go..’ All the four went nearby the cash counter along with the beer bottle and the wine glass. Ram suspected some foul play. But he chose to watch them from his table. When they reached the cash counter, they spoke louder pointing out the beer bottle and the wine glass. There were heated arguments between them. Within minutes, one of them slapped the cashier. Another one was speaking to somebody over his mobile phone. Going further, all the four dragged the cashier out of the cash counter. Ram rushed to the cash counter along with other customers. Unable to see the atrocities committed by the four, he opened out: ‘All these four fellows are cheats. What they are doing is preplanned.’ On hearing what he said, one of them got furious and rushed towards him with a broken wine glass. Though Ram moved side wards, he managed to pierce through his elbow with his newly found weapon and ran away. Within seconds Ram got swooned. When he woke up, he realized that he was bedridden, surrounded by his parents and friends in a private hospital. It was the voice of his guide. ‘Ram, how do you feel now? I came to know about it through this daily.’ The news item showed by him was: ‘Two rival groups exchanged blows in the bar of a three star hotel, resulting in the grievous injuries to one person, doing his MFA at the Central University, Puducherry.’ ‘Sir, I will submit my story on the theme given by you as soon as I get discharged without fail.’ ‘Ok… Take care.’ But Ram never imagined that the news paper report would create havoc in his personal life. Ram’s fiancée Harini was upset with the paper news. Going a step further, her father said: ‘Thank God. But for this published news item, they would have cheated us. How blatantly they have lied that Ram was a teetotaler. But he got stabbed in the bar, while consuming liquor… I am cancelling the proposed engagement’ Wine Glass Ram’s guide had prescribed ‘wine glass’as the theme of the short story, allowing only four days for submission. If he fails, he might lose his internal marks for his MFA degree course. There were hardly seven days left for his engagement which also needed attention. So far he remained a teetotaler. Hence, he had no idea about the theme of the story. He was in a dilemma. Suddenly he had an idea. At 07.00 p.m, he was at Hotel Mass, Puducherry. With some hesitation he entered the air-conditioned ‘Aruvi’ Bar. He got seated at the centre of the hall so that he could see others. A waiter asked for his orders. ‘I would like to know the liquor with low alcohol content?’ ‘Beers such as Kalyani, King Fisher and Hay Watts 2000 etc.’ ‘One King Fisher with a wine glass.’ When the waiter served it, Ram’s tryst with the wine glass began; slowly he had the beer in gulps. But it was neither sweet nor sour, but something different. He felt sorry for not being a teetotaler. Meanwhile, he saw four young men got seated behind him in a table; he began to listen to them attentively. ‘It would be Arvind today. Are you ready?’ ‘Yeah. I will see that this hotel lose its star status’ ‘Good.. But earlier the best; otherwise, we would be more dizzy and may not succeed in our plan.’ Ram could hear their conversation. He felt something fishy about them. But he chose to listen to them carefully. They ordered a liquor of their choice; when the waiter supplied them, they cheered up, holding their wine glasses aloft and began to enjoy their drinks slowly. Suddenly Ram heard an altercation between the waiter and one of them. ‘Bull shit… can you see this cockroach in the wine glass? It came off from the beer bottle that you served. I will see that all of you are booked.’ ‘No, it can’t be. When I served it, there was nothing inside.’ ‘You mean to say that I am bluffing… You cheat… friends, he is making all of us fools… let us go..’ All the four went nearby the cash counter along with the beer bottle and the wine glass. Ram suspected some foul play. But he chose to watch them from his table. When they reached the cash counter, they shouted pointing out the beer bottle and the wine glass.There were heated arguments between them. Within minutes, one of them slapped the cashier. Another one was speaking to somebody over his mobile phone. Going further, all the four dragged the cashier out of the cash counter. Ram rushed to the cash counter along with other customers. Unable to see the atrocities committed by the four, he opened out: ‘All these four fellows are cheats. What they are doing is preplanned.’ On hearing what he said, one of them got furious and rushed towards him with a broken wine glass. Though Ram moved side wards, he managed to pierce through his elbow with his newly found weapon and ran away. Within seconds Ram got swooned. When he woke up, he realized that he was bedridden, surrounded by his parents and friends in a private hospital.He also saw his guide. ‘Ram, how do you feel now? I came to know about it through this daily.’ The news item showed by him was: ‘Two rival groups exchanged blows in the bar of a three star hotel, resulting in the grievous injuries to one person, doing his MFA at the Central University, Puducherry.’ On reading the news, he smiled. ‘Sir, I will submit my story on the theme given by you as soon as I get discharged without fail.’ ‘Ok… Take care.’ But Ram never imagined that the news paper report would create havoc in his personal life. Ram’s fiancée Harini was upset with the paper news. Going a step further, her father said: ‘Thank God. But for this published news item, they would have cheated us. How blatantly they have lied that Ram was a teetotaler. But he got stabbed in the bar, while consuming liquor… I am cancelling the proposed engagement’

Perhaps from this week onwards, I may begin my postings, I mean short stories in this blog.Pl await and co-operate. rabasure

I am not satisfied with what I am.

I am not satisfied with what I am. I am not satisfied with what I am. Of late I am worried about for being too lean.The constitution of my body is such.My father and grand father were too lean.Hence I am too.Perhaps,it is a hereditary factor. I was only 2.2 kg when I was born, but to the dismay of doctors, I was hale and healthy, despite being underweight.As I grew up, my mother had a regular watch over my body and carefully saw that I never remained undernourished. When I was admitted into a school, I was rather careful enough to see that I never got undressed for fear of being called a skeleton.Even then I looked so lean.I got acclimatised for what I was. When years rolled by I stopped worrying for being lean. When I was twenty five, my parents decided to seek a suitable bride for me, with a fervent hope,that my lean body might change after my marriage.But it was not that much easy.Our hunt for a bride over a period of five years repeatedly ended in failure just because I was too lean to get married.Finally,we managed to get a bride and my marriage took place in a temple rather simply. However,when I got married, the question of my body remaining lean again came to the fore.During my first night,my wife simply frowned at my lean body.After a lengthy discussion with my wife, we decided to consult a specialist to beef up my body at least to a reasonable extent. Then she consulted her close friends, her parents and of course my mother and conveyed our decision.My mother did not say anything.In fact my wife stepped into her shoes for worrying about my lean body. Finally she managed to fix an appointment with a physician ten days hence. Meanwhile,being more concerned about my lean body,she was more careful to nourish me with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian items of food.It was a terrible experience.I had to swallow many things as nourishing hitherto I had not come across in my life,all with a fervent hope that my lean body would get beefed up at least to some extent.Those ten days were nightmarish. Finally,the appointed day came for consulting the physician.There was a heavy rush in the consulting room.We waited almost an hour.When my turn came I was called upon and we were ushered into the consulting room.We remained silent for some time.It was my wife who broke the ice. 'Doctor,my husband looks so lean.He looks almost like a skeleton.He must be beefed up at any cost.' 'Does he suffer from any complaint such as tuberculosis or diabetes or hypertension?' 'No, no, he is very hale and healthy.He is just in his 30s,' 'Is he a vegetarian or non-vegetarian?' 'Non-vegetarian.Of course, he consumes, meat, chicken, fish and everything.' 'Does he take them frequently?' 'At least thrice a week.' 'I see,..Does he consume vegetables?' 'Nothing is unpalatable to him' 'Milk products?' 'Of course.' 'Does he smoke or consume alcohol" 'He is a teetotaler.' 'Then, what can I do for you?' 'Doctor, he is so lean and very horrible to look at.I am not satisfied with what he is.Some how or other he must be beefed up so as to present a decent and good looking personality.' Then the doctor turned at me. 'Do you suffer from any other decease such as stomach ailment or chest pain or gas trouble etc?' 'No, doctor.I don't have any such complaints.' 'Then, you must undergo a master health check up that includes a general X ray, a complete scan of your body and other lab tests involving your blood,urine etc.In addition you have to undergo a few more medical tests also' 'He is ready for every test doctor.'my wife was rather anxious. 'It may cost a few thousands.Can you afford to?' 'Sure, doctor' After subjecting me to all the available medical tests, the doctor advised us to come after ten days for getting results. After ten days we went again. The doctor carefully went through all the reports.Then he heaved a sigh of relief. 'You are perfectly alright.All your medical reports are normal' 'No, doctor, still I am not satisfied with his lean structure.Please do something to improve it.After all we have spent so much.' 'Ok,then I will prescribe some medicines.Mostly they are tonics and vitamin tablets.Let him have them for three months.Then let us see.' 'Will he improve after three months? Can you give guarantee?' 'No, No, I cannot.I am just prescribing all these things only for your satisfaction.' '...' ''Whatever he eats or whatever he takes as medicine, his body will remain the same forever.'

The Most Unfortunate Demand Ever Made By a Mother: Please Kill My Daughter.

Monday.It was 11.00 a.m It was the day for hearing grievances. There was a long queue in the Erode Collectorate. Jaya was standing in the queue for a few hours with a petition. She was visibly upset. At times tears rolled over her cheeks. At last at 02.00 p.m she could meet the collector and handed over her petition. When the District Collector went through her petition, he was shocked. ‘What? You want to kill your daughter by using euthanasia?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘Why?’ ‘My daughter is Madhumitha, a 14 year old girl; she is suffering from cerebral palsy. She can neither walk nor stand, but she can always sit in a wheel chair when I assist her or lie in a bed. She can neither speak nor hear, nor she can recognize me or you, but only thing she could do is crying silently. I could recognize her crying through the tears rolled down in her cheeks. I cannot see my daughter’s sufferings; I cannot see her any more in such a condition; I have already managed to keep her alive for over 14 years in the very same condition without any improvement. We have repeatedly tried to admit her in any one of the rehabilitation centers. But we failed. I cannot see her sufferings. I cannot see her crying. Please help me to kill her through Euthanasia.’ The District Collector felt sorry for her. ‘Of course, it is a most pathetic and pitiful case. But we are helpless and powerless. What we can do is consider your case most sympathetically and get your daughter admitted in any one of the cerebral palsy rehabilitation centers.’ ‘We have been unsuccessfully trying it for the past several years. Despite showing sympathy, they refused to admit her in their rehabilitation centers since my daughter could neither walk nor move .nor she could identify people. I mean she has no responses to stimuli. How long can she suffer. How long we as her parents see her sufferings? Please kill her through euthanasia…’ The District Collector again intervened, ‘Is she not getting any monetary assistance from the Government? ‘Of course, she is getting only Rs 1000/- which is hardly sufficient to meet her medical expenses alone. My hubby is a carpenter. I am only a house wife. In addition to mental torture, we cannot afford to spend more money for her. Above all we cannot see her crying without even knowing the reasons. Nor we can console her. Even if we make any attempt to stop her crying, she does not respond or recognize what we are trying to do for her. So we are helpless...Please help us.' ‘No, …law does not permit it. We can at the most try to admit her in a cerebral palsy rehabilitation center. Our hospital psychiatrist also feels so. Nor we can provide any additional monetary assistance. There is no rule. What to do? Jaya returned back to her home terribly disappointed only to see her daughter lying in a bed,tears rolling down her cheeks profusely. …… Euthanasia has always been a subject of controversy.Recently the Supreme Court of India dealt with a similar case wherein the petitioner demanded for a mercy killing of Aruna, once a famous dancer. After hearing the forceful arguments of the counsel for the petitioner, the Supreme Court finally yielded to pass a verdict suggesting passive euthanasia against such cases, besides laying down guidelines for applying passive euthanasia. By suggesting passive euthanasia, the Supreme Court of India meant to stop attending such patients and thereby allowing them a gradual and natural deterioration in their health leading to their death in the near future. Can Jaya apply passive Euthanasia to her daughter Madhumitha?Your views are most welcome.

Mischief-Monger

I was hardly ten years old. Only that year my father had admitted me into sixth standard in a rural school. I had to go to my school all the way by walk from my village. I had to walk three kilometers barefooted to reach my school from my village traversing agricultural fields walking through many narrow strips and then in a state highway. My family being an agricultural family had irregular income. Hence, my family could not afford to provide a pair of chappal for me. I had no other go but to bear with my family condition and so walk barefooted to my school. It was about 0430 p.m. The school was over. I was returning back from my school to home. Along with my few school mates, I was walking on the left side of the road. Some time I had sharp pain in my feet when I had to walk through small gravel stones on the road. Hence some times I had to pick and throw some of them away from my path but by not using my hands but by using my toes. I had to throw such tones at regular intervals. When I just finished throwing a small stone on the road, a passenger bus suddenly overtook us on the road. ‘Bang’ I heard a huge sound. A stone that I threw using my toes ricocheted on the road and hit the glass panel on the backside of the bus making a hole in the process. Of course, the small stone that I threw must have fell on a passenger inside the bus. After a few minutes, the bus that overtook us stopped and it was slowly coming back on the reverse gear. The bus stopped, when it reached us. ‘The bus conductor yelled: ‘’What the hell you are doing? Why did you throw a stone on the bus? You see .a passenger was hit by the stone on his shoulder. Luckily it did not hit him on his head. Many traveling passengers also climbed down from the bus and came to his rescue. ‘Who threw a stone on the bus? Tell me. Who did it?’ the conductor asked. For a while we looked at each other. It took some time for us to realize what actually happened. For fear of getting any corporal punishment I kept mum. The conductor again shouted, ‘Tell me who did this? If you don’t tell, I will get all of you and produce in the police station. Tell me .Who did this?’ For fear of getting punished for not doing anything, my friend showed his accusing finger at me. Immediately the bus conductor lifted me and threw into the bus. Then the bus proceeded. I was terribly weeping and repeatedly telling the conductor, ‘Sir, I did not do it wantonly. I just threw a stone away that pricked my palms of my feet. Please leave me. I must go back home. Otherwise, my parents will come to my school searching for me.’ Meanwhile, the bus approached the railway level crossing nearby our village. The bus stopped. A passenger got down from the bus. The bus conductor allowed me to get down from the bus with a severe warning, “If you repeat such mistakes, I will see that you are remanded in a jail.” I went to home weeping all the way. The story of my capture in the bus spread like a wild fire in the village. I was nicknamed ‘the mischief-monger’. Very soon I got a pair of chappal to go to school. But my nickname ‘the mischief-monger’ lasted longer for many years. Even today I cannot understand what mischief I committed on that day.

The Home

I was searching for my mother for the past two months. She left my home quarreling with me and my wife. I enquired about her whereabouts from my relatives but to no avail. But I knew that she was not a weakling to lose her life by committing suicide. Nor she had health or money either to travel by train or car to go to a far off place; nor did she have any close or even a distant relative to seek refuge under such circumstances. Hence, I was rather confident that she must be alive and was somewhere nearby in an unknown place.I did not have any other idea for searching her. My wife suggested that I might prefer a man-missing complaint in the police station and in a vernacular daily or any other media such as local cable TV channel or DD Pothigai channel etc.But I was afraid to make any such complaints for they might flare up the news among my relatives and friends and they might look down at me. Hence for fear of being rebuked or speaking ill of me by others I kept mum. Perhaps my ego played a crucial role in my passive attitude. But something was haunting me day by day ever since my mother was missing. After a month or so, my cousin called me over my mobile phone. ‘Mother had telephoned to my mom and dad. She is at a Home nearby Cuddalore.You can call her over phone’ and he gave me the phone number also. I heaved a big sigh of relief. I rang up the telephone number. Somebody else, perhaps a person in charge of the Home answered. I introduced myself and then enquired about my mother mentioning her name, age and complexion etc. ‘You mean Santha Ammal from Villupuram?’ ‘Exactly, How is she?’ ‘She is fine. But while joining Home she told us that she was an orphan.That’s why we admitted her.This is a Home meant for destitute, orphans and poorest among the poor. Then we cannot accommodate her. Take her back.You may have to pay for her stay here for the past two and half months.’ ‘Ok, Mam.’ ‘But your mother is hale and healthy. She is very helpful to us. In fact, she is very much interested in doing service here; she attends to the disabled people; consoles destitute; Despite her age, what is her age... you said 75, isn’t it? She is very helpful in maintaining this home. She helps in cooking too. Ok, when do you come?’ ‘Tomorrow, morning’ The next day I went to the Home in my scooter. The Home was situated at the top of a hill. My scooter refused to cooperate with me after some distance. I left it down the slope and walked about 500 meters. When I went to the Home, there was a studied silence. It was in a natural habitat.and the climate was so good. I also saw some natural fountains nearby the Home from which pure and fresh water was gushing out in plenty. I could not resist my temptation from drinking some water that was so cool and sweet. When I entered the Home it was about 11 a.m. But what I saw in the Home was simply heart breaking. Unhealthy, aged, physically challenged and destitute people, a few so thin children, but all of them were in rags. I looked for my mother. She was in the kitchen giving some instructions for the preparation of mid day meal. ‘Mom’ ‘ …’ Perhaps still her anger against me was fresh. I spoke with the person in charge of the Home. I paid the dues as demanded by her. When I tried to take back by mother, she responded as follows: ‘Ram, I am not coming with you. I do not have any grudges or ill will against you or your wife. I have already brought up my grand children and now they are grown up and well settled. They no longer need my help or support. But see these people. They always need help. So I want to stay here and spend the rest of my life meaningfully. I am really enjoying what I am doing here. I help all these hapless people and I have immense pleasure in doing this. You may even frown at me. But I don’t mind. But these people deserve our help, sympathy and support. I am going to just provide what they need in the rest of my life. I have already spoken to the management of the Home. They appreciate my gesture. You need not pay anything to the Home for my stay here. If you want to see me, you are always welcome’ Then my mother went inside the kitchen of the Home.I waited for some time. But her decision seemed to be final. I left the Home quietly with mixed feelings. I was in tears even after reaching my home at Villupuram. When I told my wife what happened at the Home, she frowned at me. I had no idea how to convince my wife but I really felt proud for my mother but I could not express it openly at my home.

An Uncanny Act of Peeping into the Privacy of the Celebrities

An Uncanny Act of Peeping into the Privacy of the Celebrities