Monday, August 29, 2016

The mystery box

   When I was a child, I was very close to my grandfather. We were a big joint family. My grandparents, their three sons and their families, one aunt who was yet to get married (of whom I have very little memories before her marriage) and countless relatives who visited us all the time, were too many people for us as child. So many things to do, so many events all the time, so much people altogether. Of those so many things to do and so many people to hang around, I was particularly very fond of my grandfather. I liked the things that he did, the way he did it. As a child I thought of doing things like he did when I grow old.
      He had many peculiar things like the old wooden radio, which was more than thirty years old but still was in perfect condition, a table clock with brass keys to keep it running (I liked the sound the clock made when I turned the keys so much that I fought with my sister once when she tried to do it) or wooden bed with large box storage where he slept. 
          Of all those things I liked his bed the most, a wooden bed of about three feet in height, one door to open the storage, locked with a large iron lock the key of which my grandfather always kept tucked in his waist. When you pull the door by the handle of the lock, it makes little opening in middle, through which you can put some paper, money into the mystery box.  He never allowed anyone to open it, never allowed anyone to sleep in his bed. It was a mystery for us as child, what was inside that box. My grandfather was a retired driver in a govt. office, he bought a mini truck from all the money he got when he retired. There was a driver and a handyman to drive the truck, with one of my uncle overseeing them. But it was my grandfather who kept the book and managed everything. In the evening when the truck returns from the daily business and everything was done, he would pull the door, put the money in his hand into the mystery box through the little opening. I always wanted to see what was inside it .
               I had never seen him open the box until that Sunday. The previous night was very peculiar, something which I have never experienced all my life. All the male adults were arguing about something very loud, my father was shouting, grandfather was shouting, uncles were shouting. All the females were holding each other’s hand and were crying. We were so scared, we did not know what happened. Some neighbor brought all the kids to their home, and said we would be having dinner and sleep at their home tonight. All the kids except me were happy to have dinner in some other's place, they didn't have any clue that something odd was going on.

 Still loud shouting and scolding was audible from our home, I knew something terrible had happened. We slept there that day. I was scared, I wanted to run my home, sleep in my grandfather's arm in his box bed, to hear him chant the name of Lord Krishna hundred and eight times as he always did. I wanted to feel safe , I was scared and alone.
           On Sunday we were home, none of the adults where speaking loudly, everybody was sad, felt like somebody had died or something. After a silence lunch came the moment that I was waiting for my whole life, as a surprise. My grandfather called me, locked his room, shut the windows and opened the lock of the box. He invited me to help him and go inside the box. I was scared again, for the second time in two days. I mean that was the moment I was looking for, but when it came I couldn't gather the courage to look inside it, leave alone going inside. Grandfather smiled at me, " Are you scared my boy, don't worry. Everything will be fine, I am still here. Just go inside and help this old man. " 
           
             He hold my in his arms, put me inside the box. I couldn't open my eyes, only thing I remember was the crying the hundred and eight times the name of Lord Krishna.


      

The Clown

    "Come on every one, pedal forward, once again. Okay, good ". Deepak tried to pump up everyone on board of the small river raft, but in vain. A few of them on the boat were not even able to speak now out of shock, leave pedaling forward. The moment the raft toppled over the fast flowing river, Deepak knew that he would have hard time with the guests. 

       In fact, this is not the only hard time that Deepak was facing recently. Life already had been tougher for him throughout the year.  He never had any good grades in college to get into a job to earn his livelihood. Like most of the other boys from his village, he also didn’t like spending his time in studies. Most of the time during college he stayed away from studies, with friends doing adventures, trekking some hills, riding bikes for long journeys. They were careless about the future, never had any career goals. But at some point you got worry. Once college was over and everybody in the family started expecting him to do something good, earn them some money, he had nothing but some useless mark sheets to wrap in a file and stand in long queues for interviews, of which he was sure of not getting one in this life. When he got tired of hopeless job interviews, with no capital or ideas to start a business, he was confused. Life seemed to have extracted all the adventure out of him.
Somebody during that miserable phase of life introduced him to the manager of an adventure club, who started river rafting trips in the river nearby. With a dam, which released its water into the river during the overflow, monsoon season was like a boon for the business. During peak season, water was released twice daily into the river, making it a very good place for rafting. The rocky bed of the river, the quick and rapid turns and an uninhibited stretch of ten miles were like the best place for them. Deepak, one of the many local boys employed on contract in the club had their fair amount of money during the season, off season they had to struggle hard for their livelihood.

They had some basic training as guide, and there was not any competition for business. For the initial couple of years life was not bad at all. But last few years there have been new adventure clubs and trip organizers budding in the area, some of them were branches of large travel-business chains. They had the money to employ experienced and specialized guides for river rafting from northern India, some even from Nepal. Deepak's club never had such experienced and well trained people. In comparison to the professionalism Deepak and his lot were nothing to them .
    
      The flamboyance and catchy online businesses of the other new trip organizers were a big threat to Deepak. Their manager also wanted to hire some high profile guide from up north. Anyone having a bad record was on the verge of being fired. He had to do something to be in the race. He was nervous these days .

      That day also he was nervous, but the fake smile and adrenaline rush that he had to show to the guests of the raft he was leading was hiding the fear and uncertainty inside him. He indeed had a good start. The catchy tag lines and funny names that he invented of the group really pumped up the six girls and 4 boys. Every time he would say something funny, the group would cheer him up. So loud did they cheer on that funny named boat, that other guides felt jealous for some moment.

"Bolo Champa, Bolo Tara", the group would scream " Ah ha " at the top of their voice. Everything looked in sync.

      But the successive rapid turns that came, did the harm. Deepak was confident to get the boat past the whirl, thought to present the group some real adventure.But somehow he didn't have any clue what was coming. One big splash and the raft toppled over. Everything seemed to be in chaos. Some one was holding the rope, someone was flowing fast towards the bank, and somebody was below the raft. Though other boats joined and rescued all, few got minor injuries, somebody drank much water, almost everybody on the boat was in shock.
   
         Deepak knew he was going to have a bad day ahead, may be got fired by the manager who was waiting for a mere excuse to fire them. The news must have already reached his manager. And if someone complaints about him, he would definitely lose this job. Still he had to try, only one more mile was left for the stretch to end. He had to encourage the guest, he had to make them smile, he had to make them feel good and hope they don't complain much. He had to be the clown.

     ”Come on, this is adventure, such small things happens all time. Don’t lose heart . Cheer up, say loud together Bolo, chidmidi Chidimidi dhoom dhadakaa ", his ears waited to hear some cheering voice from the boat, but there was none. Only thing he could see were the pale faces.