The Cat on Fire (Oct 2014)

I was chatting with few of my neighbors early in the morning. We were discussing the most pressing problem of a cat stealing the milk packets that are distributed in the morning. The cat stole from one home or the other every day. We took all the precautions to avoid this. Every home had a basket that is hung on the gate so that the cat could not the milk and the packets were covered with a cap on the basket. I personally saw the cat climbing up the gate and sliding down the gate. On the way down, it could puncture the milk packet through the holes in the basket. As the milk started leaking down, it would happily open its mouth and drink. This was just my story there at the conversation. Other told funnier things that I could not really recollect.

Another conversation started out from this. Some 20 years ago, there was cat in a village that was so big that it looked like a small tiger. People were scared to even confront it without a stick or something to beat it with. Cats have a special psych. If you put a cat in a room and scare it, it will become a tiger. It can bite you or do anything to you. Everyone knows this and we don’t generally avoid doing such things.

The Large cat in the village had a habit of stealing hens from the village and eating them. Narayana Rao was a drunkard and had a lot of hens. He had the most number of hens in the entire village. Though this distinction, he automatically became the most impacted by the cat attacks. On a day when he was not drunk and in his senses, he realized he was losing a lot due to the cat stealing his hens. He went around and inquired how he could prevent it. Other People told him they would normally cage the cat does not attack anything in the cage at least during the nights. During the day, the women and children would guard the hens. For Narayana Rao this was not possible. He had too many hens and he was mostly drunk and cannot follow this.

Narayana Ro decided to help out the village folks by dealing with the cat differently. He decided to catch the cat. He decided not to drink one night and do this. He was barely awake till about 11 PM. The cat slowly walked to his home. He as watching it through the hole in the blanket. He had the stick with him and decided to beat the cat at the right time. When the cat was close enough, he pulled out the stick. The stick got stuck to a rope and this alerted the cat. The cat ran away and escaped the beating. Narayana Rao was mad at this and he went to bed. The Cat did not steal any hens that night. When he knew about that he felt happy that he could at least scare the cat.

The Next day, he decided he would catch the cat if it dares to come. He told a few people what happened and they praised him saying if he could do so well on a single day, he should continue doing good for the village. He went home in a good mood and decided to drink just a little to celebrate his achievement. He was not sure if the cat would even return after the scare from the day before. H confidently took the same position. A Small change in the plan was that there would be no stick. He would catch it with the blanket.

At about 11 PM again, the cat came again looking for the hens. The hens were sleeping under the tree and Narayana Rao was sitting very still beside the wall. As the cat walked past him, he threw the blanket over it and caught it. The cat was struggling to get out and tried to scratch Narayana Rao. He did not give up. He held the cat tight and tied it up in the blanket. The Tail was still hanging out of the blanket. He left the cat on the ground and watched it proudly.

He went ahead and had a couple of glasses of drink to celebrate his success. Not he did not know what to do with this. He could not kill a cat as it would bring bad omen to him. He thought and came up with a bright idea. He decided light the cat’s tail in fire and let it run away so that it will be scared for its life. He took some old cloth wrapped it around the cat’s tail and lit fire to it. The cat has realized what just happened and put its best effort to get loose. It tore open the blanket and ran over Narayana Rao. Before he could realize what the cat was doing, it ran right into Narayana Rao’s hut and set it on fire. The whole house was on fire and he could not put off the fire until it has burnt half of the house.

The Whole village gathered near his house and started scolding Narayana Rao. They were happy that the fire did not spread throughout the village and cause more damage. Narayana Rao was ashamed of how he followed up his glory event with his stupidity.

This was the best story I heard in last few conversations with the same group of neighbors

Indumathi - I (July 2014)

Not long ago, in a remote town in Andhra Pradesh, India there lived a old couple along with their daughter and a grand daughter. Their son was a doctor and lives in the City of Hyderabad which is a few hours driving distance from the town where the old couple stay.

Indumathi was in the 9^th standard. She returned from school that day started doing her home work. One of the exercises in the home work was to write about her family. Until that time Indumathi did not know much about the history of her family. Kausalya walked out of the kitchen with an evening snack for Indumathi. Kausalya never discussed her family history with her daughter. The Grand parents, Keshav and Suseela were in the hall watching TV.

Indumathi’s father died when she was very young. Kausalya brought up Indumathi with support from her parents and brother. Shekar, kausalya’s husband was a young Lawyer. By Profession, Kausalya is a tailor and owns a small boutique that is attached to the house they stay in.

Indu did not like to bother her mother with the family history thing as she understood how sensitive it was. While Kausalya was waiting in the dining hall, Indu went to her grand father and asked for help. They decided to take a walk outside and discuss about this. Keshav got up and Indu picked up her snack in hand and started walking out of the house. Keshav picked up a small box from the show case in the hall. He opened the box and started looking into all the papers inside it. Both of them reached the gate and Keshav found the first interesting piece of paper in the box.

Kaushalya and Shekar where married in 1990 on 20^th of August. Though they were not related they knew each other. When they got married, Kausalya completed her college and was looking for a job. Shekar was a Lawyer and was a very smart guy. He used to work as an assistant for a very famous lawyer in the town. People who needed legal help approached Shekar directly as he was easy to talk to. Mr. Sharma was Shekar’s senior liked Shekar and his work. He never had any objections in Shekar picking up clients directly. For a middle class family, shekar’s wedding was grand. Kiran, who was three years elder to Kausalya was finishing up his Medicine course in Hyderabad. He was the most active organizer in Kausalya’s wedding.

Indu looked at the wedding card in excitement. It was an old model wedding card that was more like a card unlike the modern day wedding cards that resemble a book. Keshav, took the card from Indu and put it back in the box.

Both of them walked a few yards along the same path they take every day. They met a few neighbors and wished them. As they started walking further Keshav started talking about Kausalya and Shekar. He had high regards for Shekar. Though Shekar and Kausalya lived separately, they visited Keshav’s home almost every day. Shekar’s parents where from the village and they had farm lands there. He did not have any siblings.

Kiran and Shekar were very friendly and casual with each other. They could never agree on anything in an argument. Still they kept that conflict healthy. Keshav recollected the topics that were discussed between Shekar and Kiran and the arguments and theories they would make up.

Keshav directed Indu towards a large stone in the park. He said that is where Shekar and Kiran would spend time on holidays to peacefully argue without bothering others.

Time passed and Kausalya decided to have a child. She gave birth to a baby girl. The happy life just got happier. Shekar started looking for names for his baby daughter. Kausalya had a choice in her mind but did not want to steal Shekar’s privilege of picking a name. Shekar spend 1 week looking at various books in the library and going through the attendance register of the school near by.

Keshav and Indu met Sunitha who is a close friend of Kausalya. Keshav started telling Indu how they struggled picking a name. Sunitha recollected it and said she prompted Shekar to ask Kausalya for a name. Kausalya’s Choice was Indumathi. Shekar immediately liked the name and agree to name the baby girl Indumathi. Indu was all excited to hear about the story behind her name.

Keshav continued. Couple of years later, Kiran got married and he set up his home and practice in Hyderabad. Kausalya and Shekar decided to Visit Kiran in Hyderabad. When they got down in Hyderabad Bus Terminus, they met an elderly man. Shekar immediately recognized him as one of his clients. The person was specialist heart surgeon. They spent a few minutes talking. The Doctor noticed Indu’s hair. He suspected something wrong with Indu’s hair. He told Shekar that they should get a few tests done on Indu as he suspected she could have a problem with her heart. Shekar and Kausalya were shocked and did not know how to respond. Immediately they rushed to Kiran’s house and told Kiran about this. Kiran was always consulted on Indu’s health. Kiran pretty much knew Indu’s health history. Kiran did not want to discount the Senior Doctor’s diagnosis. He took Indu to his hospital and ran some test.

Unfortunately, the tests were positive and Indu did have a heart problem. Though it was curable through a surgery, the doctors were not certain. Shekar had enough money to get the Surgery done. After a second opinion, they decided to go with the Surgery.

Before the Surgery, Shekar went back to their town and met the Senior Doctor Karim again to appraise him of Indu’s condition. The Doctor looked at the Reports and told Shekar to be strong and support Indu & Kausalya through this. He asked Shekar to come see him once he has considered all options.

The Operation happened as planned. The City Doctors were confident that Indu would recover. Indu was in the Hospital for a Month. The Entire Family helped Shekar to get through this pain.

Rock Constantine (Nov 2001)

Recently, we moved into a new house in the countryside. Unlike in the
city, the houses were pretty far apart. You could shout at the top of 
your voice and your neighbor would hardly hear you. The Constantine 
family was our neighbors. Jack Constantine went to school with me. We 
attended V grade together. I had to go past the Constantine’s house to 
go to the school. There, Jack joined me and we biked our way to the 
school. Everyday, Mrs. Constantine would wave us as we started to the 
school. Mr. Constantine would sometimes wish me when he was out 
gardening. Since I was new to the place, Jack took me along to play and 
have fun. Sometimes, Mr. Constantine drove us to the school and my dad 
would pick us up after the school. Slowly our families got closer and 
we used to party together. A few months later, Jack told me that he had 
a younger brother Rock who was mentally retarded and was at a rehab 
center undergoing treatment. He also told me that Rock would return 
home to stay with the rest of the family. That very next week, Mr. 
Constantine brought Rock from the rehab center. Rock was literally a 
rock weighing roughly 180 pounds and was using a wheel chair because he 
broke his knee in a fight at the rehab. Virtually, none but Mr. 
Constantine could hold Rock if he misbehaved. This thought was always 
in the back of my mind. So I hardly used to say a word to Rock. As 
weeks passed by, Rock gained more weight become more immobile. Mrs. 
Constantine was stronger at heart than she physically was. She 
frequently had trouble with Rock. Sometimes I could hear Rock shouting 
at his mother and Mr. Constantine trying to calm down Rock. Personally, 
I considered Rock well behaved for what he was. He never troubled his 
parents when I was at their home. He just sat in the corner of the 
house glancing out of the window and now and then checking to see if I 
was still around. Our families hardly went out partying after Rock 
arrived. Few weeks later, Rock’s knee was set right and he was 
undergoing training to walk at the local physiotherapist’s office. At 
home, Rock always used the wheel chair even though he could walk. He 
liked going around in it. Mrs. Constantine had to do everything she did 
when Rock as unable to walk including the clean up. Jack never 
complained about Rock since Mr. Constantine explained to him why he was 
supposed to tolerate the behavior of his younger brother. As days 
passed by, Mrs. Constantine was becoming weaker serving Rock’s duties. 
She fell ill frequently and was hospitalized once. Now, it was time for 
Mr. Constantine to think about sending Rock back to the rehab. He made 
a few trips to the city and finally found a good rehab center for Rock. 
The warden of the rehab center came to the Constantine home a week 
before admission to see Rock. As usual, Rock was calm and quiet in the 
presence of the warden. The warden did his formal procedures and left. 
For that whole week, Rock never troubled his mother. In-turn Mrs. 
Constantine had good time with her son. The following Monday, I went to 
jack’s home right when Rock was leaving for the rehab. Tears rolled 
down the cheeks of the huge boy. Mrs. Constantine broke into tears as 
Mr. Constantine drove away in the car. 

The Warm Jacket (Sept 2014)

This was the Scene in the Relief camp set up for the J&K flood
victims. Jahangir was shivering as he reached the camp. He was rescued
by the army personnel from his roof top. His family had gone on
vacation to Nainital and could not return. It has been almost 3 days
since he got stuck. He managed to grab some fruits from the basket on
the table as he ran up the roof to save himself from flood water. He
was surviving eating those fruits.

A Volunteer from an NGO approached him to take the details. The
Volunteer pulled out an old dusty jacket from the donations sack that
arrived today and gave it to Jahangir. Jahangir took it and quickly
dusted it off and wore it. The Jacket was big enough to cover his
entire body as he sat on the floor in the tent. He gave his details
and the contact information of his wife.

Jahangir stuffed his hands into the pockets of the Jacket to keep them
warm. He felt an envelope in the pocket. He pulled it out and Opened
the letter inside it. It was addressed to Mr. Hargopal Shastry of
Chandigarh and was dated 10 months ago. It was from a credit card
company demanding the immediate payment of over 1 lakh Rupees.

For Lack of anything better to do in the camp while he is stuck,
Jahangir started reading the Letter and the Envelope. There were some
phone numbers written with pen on the envelope. Rakesh (9873945009)
and Madhu (8998099909). He started searching other pockets of the
Jacket to see if there was anything else. He found a ladies kerchief,
some credit card receipts, bills from the super market, a SIM Card of
a foreign telephone company, a small key probably for a suitcase or a
small locker and a hot towel pack from Air India.

It was lunch time and everyone was given some hot soup to drink and a
some bread to eat. By now Jahangir was active and started talking with
the volunteers and helping them where needed. His only worry was about
his friends in the neighborhood and his family. He wanted to
communicate to his family that he was safe and wanted to make sure all
his friends were safe in the camp. He started looking to see if could
locate any of his friends.

By evening he could not find any in this camp. He was told there were
3 such camps and people were distributed. He was now looking for food
and a place to stay warm. The soup was served again and there was some
bread again. Had some bread and sat at the lamp post that was setup
beside the tent. He pulled out all the stuff he had seen in the
Jacket.

He started with an assumption that the jacket belonged to Mr. Shastry
and he was in some financial troubles. Rakesh and Madhu are friends or
relatives of Mr. Shastry. If they are close friends or relatives, why
would Shastriji write down the numbers he would know the numbers
already. So Rakesh and Madhu are not close friends or relatives,
thought Jahangir. May be they are from the Credit card company or
people that promised help with the financial trouble.

Shastriji, could be a well off person that traveled to other countries
on business or pleasure, he had the international SIM card and the wet
towel from the airlines, or may be that was from the only trip he
made.

Now he started looking at the bills and credit card slips. The Bills
had grocery codes and were in 500-1000 Rs Range. He looked at the
Stores where the purchases were made. All of them were in Chandigarh
and neighborhood areas. He started looking at the credit card
receipts. He found that they belonged to and were signed by Kousalya
Sharma. Jahangir started reconstructing his theory. There are 2
persons associated to this Jacket. Shastriji and Kousalya. He assumed
they are both related and proceeded with other findings. The Kerchief
probably belonged to Kausalya. May be the Jacket belongs to Kausalya.
one of the credit card slips was a Merchant Copy and had a phone
number written on it. May be the phone number belongs to Kausalya. The
Last piece was the key. It looked more like a suitcase key than
anything bigger.

Jahangir felt happy about his theory and analysis and stuffed
everything back into Jacket. Things started getting back to normal.
His family went to their home town. Jahangir returned to home and
started cleaning and revamping the place. It took about two months to
bring his home to a livable condition. The stores opened up slowly.
Vehicles were repaired and restored to working condition. Power was
restored in a couple of weeks. Petrol and Diesel stations started
operating.

Finally after 3 months, Jahangir decided to bring his family back. His
wife and 3 kids came back by train and he picked them up in a taxi.
After the family was all settled, one night, his wife asked him how he
managed through the tough times. As he started telling his wife about
all the happenings starting with the rain, the flood waters and rescue
operations, he remembered the Jacket. He rushed into the store and
pulled out the Jacket. It was dusty again. He dusted it out and showed
it to his wife. He told her about what he found, how he built his
theory and passed time in the camp. His wife suggested, he could find
out how much of that theory was true. They laughed at the idea and
went to bed.

Next day, Jahangir recollected what his wife said and decided to just
try and see if his theory about the Jacket was correct. The first
pieces of information were the Phone Numbers. He called the number on
the credit card slip. The number should belong to Kausalya. The phone
was answered by a female middle-aged voice. "Can I speak to
Kausalyaji?". There was confirmation "Kausalya Speaking". Jahangir
explained why he was calling. Kausalya was surprised to hear about the
Jacket. She confirmed that it belonged to her and she bought it in
Meerut about 5 years ago. She gave it away to some worker in her house
as it was old. He asked if she knew Shastriji? She said she did not.
Jahangir took the details of the worker who took the jacket and
thanked Kausalya for providing him the jacket when in need.

Pumped up with the success of his theory, Jahangir called the worker
the next day. Monty answered the call. He said he sold the jacket the
same day to a person at the bust stop. As it was raining, the person
bought the Jacket for 200 Rupees, may be just save himself from the
rain.

Jahangir continued to build his Theory. May be that person was
Shastriji. The connection was lost. His next contacts were the two
phone numbers on the envelope. He called the number against the name
Rakesh. As he expected, it was the number of a manager at the credit
card company. This turned out to be serious. Rakesh immediately took
Jahangir's details and asked him how he knows Shastri. Jahangir
explained the whole story and Rakesh told how Shastriji's payments
were default for a long time and he was in some financial trouble.

Jahangir asked if there was a contact number or address that belonged
to Shastri. He took those details and called up the number. It was not
answered. Next day, he called up the other phone number. A male voice
responded. Jahangir asked for Madhu. "Hold one for a minute. Madam is
speaking to a client now". Jahangir Provided his details and left a
message that he would like to know about Shastriji. In five minutes,
he got a call back from Madhu. She said she was a advocate and Shastri
was her client. She said Shasrti was missing for past 6 months.
Jahangir Explained the entire story to Madhu. He told her about the
jacket and what he found in it. Initially she did not worry much about
the details, it suddenly stuck her may be there could be clues. She
asked if Jahangir could give her the Jacket. By Now, Jahangir
developed a sentiment towards the Jacket. He considered that it saved
his life" Jahangir said he could not give it away but could show it to
her.

A few days later Madhu called Jahangir to tell him she will be
visiting Jahangir in 2 das to inspect the Jacket and the contents.
Very next day, a person arrived at Jahangir's home. He introduced
himself as Hari and that he was a Jewellery Merchant. He said he
trades Jewels and he happened to get Jahangir's contact from a list
and wanted to sell some Jewellery. He displayed a very small
collection of Jewels from his briefcase. He said those were models of
the real Jewellery he would sell. Jahangir politely refused to buy
from Hari. Before leaving, Hari asked for a glass of water to drink
and thanked Jahangir.

The next day, as planned, madhu reached Jahangir's house in the
morning. Madhu told Jahangir about Shastriji. She said Shastriji was a
Diamond Merchant and due to some business decisions, he lost a lot of
money. He later became unstable and left home. His family has been
searching for him everywhere for past few months. Jahangir's wife
reminded Jahangir of the Jewellery salesman that visited him the day
before. Jahangir told Madhu about that. Madhu opened Shastriji's Photo
on her mobile phone to show to Jahangir. It was the same person though
a little older and work out from looks. Madhu was excited to know that
and asked if he left any business card or other contact details.
Jahangir said he did not. Now the surprise and shock for Jahangir was
How did Shastriji know about this and why did he come to Jahangir's
home?

While puzzled, Madhu looked at the contents of the Jacket and the
Jacket itself. Noting unusual about it. It is a more ladies type
Jacket with interior pockets. The Key looked like that of a Suitcase
and may be belonged to Shastriji. All the other items were of not much
use.

Madhu went to the local police station to let them know she was
looking for Shastriji and that he was reported missing in Chandigarh.
She left a copy of his Photo with the police requested them to help.

A few days later, Jahangir called up Madhu to find out if there was
progress in finding Shastriji. Nothing moved further. He inquired in
the local police station if they could locate Shastriji.

After a week, Madhu called up Jahangir to tell him there was progress
in finding Shastriji and Jahangir listened in surpise. Kausalya was
Shastriji's friend and he was hiding in Kausalya's house. No one knows
if he was really mentally disturbed or not. He was sent for tests at
the local hospital. Al the while, he was hiding from the debtors.
Monty Singh was a lair and he was directed to do so by Kausalya.

There is still one un-answered question. What is still not clear is
why and how did Shastri come to Jahangir's house? Kausalya did not
have Jahangir's details and Shastri did not get it from her.
Jahangir's phone was associated to his hometown address and nobody
lives there now. Jahangir's last thought was Rakesh that had taken his
details. He told Madhu about Rakesh and that he had shared his details
with him.

Few days later Madhu called again. This time to tell Rakesh was
questioned by the police on Shastriji's financial dealings. Rakesh is
a good friend of Shastriji and they were together misusing the funds
from the credit cards. Shastriji was looking for a key to the locker
where he was keeping details of his assets. He knew he had left it in
the jacket. He wanted to ask Jahangir about it and take it from him.
He did not know how much Jahangir knew about the jacket, therefore he
was not willing to take a chance at letting Jahangir know that the key
was valuable. He left Jahangir's home assuming he could take a chance
again and visit him a few days later to speak to Jahangir and take the
key. Madhu informed Jahangir that he needs to handover the locker key
to the police from Chandigarh.

Next day, a police man came to Jahangir's home and officially took the
key from Jahangir and gave him an acknowledgement. Jahangir and his
Wife sat down at Tea and recollected the entire story. They laughed at
the whole incident and looked at the Jacket that was still hanging
behind the door.