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’