Mahe's Men - Chapter 2

Mahe’s Men

Chapter 2:

All the characters in this series are fictional. Any resemblance whatsoever is purely unintentional /incidental. J

Suzanne woke up to a terrible headache. She had a nasty week throughout and was relieved that it was finally Friday. “Ah, this headache.” She thought.

“Suzanne worked for an IT firm and like most other IT employees she was also not entirely happy with her work. The past week had been miserable for her. She had to stay back and work till 1am almost everyday and it would be no different today. But thankfully for her today might well be the last day that she might have to slog like mad. The application she worked on was going live today and after this it would be handed over to another team.She was a star performer in her team and her 4 years of experience with the organization was well respected. She always gave her 100% at work. But of late she had been dumped with work beyond her potential which forced her to commit errors like never before. So she had planned a vacation to the Andamans where she thought it would be apt to spend some time alone and away from the maddening metropolitan crowd. Two days from now she would be in the Andaman Islands taking a dip in the amazingly beautiful Havelock beach. With this thought motivating her she quickly got out of bed to get ready for work. A long day was ahead of her.

She reached office and to her surprise the parking space was flooded with cars like never before. “Some goddamn client must have come in.” She mumbled to herself. She rushed to her cubicle and wanted to get over with the day at the earliest. She knew it was a tough ask but her thoughts were wondering around her mailbox and what new problems her on-site had in store for her. “Hey Suz, good morning.” She heard someone calling her name from a distance. “Good morning dearie.” Suzanne replied as she saw Pushpa walking towards her with a warm smile. Suzanne always liked it when someone greeted her early in the morning, especially at work. Her mother never did that and neither did anyone at work. Her father usually wished her as soon as she was up from bed but he was now in the US. “I find all zombies around me.” She usually thought.

“So what’s new Suz? Anything special for today?” Puspa asked her.

“No ya nothing at all. Just work.” Suzanne replied.

“Oh come on. Why do you always talk about work?”

Suzanne remembered how she used to get irritated when her friends spoke of their work even during breaks. And now she was doing the same thing.

“Well you’re right Push. Just that I’ve been going through a terrible time at work I tend to think of it all the time.”

“All the more reason why you shouldn’t be thinking of it all the time.”

Pushpa had scored once again she thought. She decided to change the topic.

“So you tell me, what’s happening at your end now? Any news?”

“Yes. I just got a new laptop. Dell Inspiron ’14. My hubby got it yesterday.”

“Oh that’s wonderful Push. Time for a treat then.” And she winked after saying so.

While saying so she realized that she was getting late. “Hey Push if you could excuse me, can I go to my cubicle now. I need to finish a lot of pending work.”

“Why do you even ask me. Please go ahead.” And they left for their respective cubicles after saying their goodbyes.

“I feel so good after talking to this woman. She is such a nice soul who doesn’t talk about work all the time.” Suzanne thought to herself.

Suzanne reached her cubicle and to her astonishment almost her entire team was there. They were all smiles as she entered the bay.

“Hey Suz. The go-live is postponed. It is to happen only after a couple of months. So nothing to worry about now.” One of her teammates shouted from the other side of the bay.

“Oh no.” she thought to herself. That was the last thing she would have expected as she thought she could get over with the headache today.

“What is the issue?” she asked bluntly not showing any interest in the postponement.

“I’ve no idea. That is for you to figure out and tell us in a way we can understand.”

“Don’t do any work. Dump everything to me.” She cursed her team for being such lazy idiots.

“Alright. I’ll do that.”

She had nothing much to do till lunch. With the go-live being postponed she had a relaxed day and had a chance to have some chit chat with her teammates.

Rakesh was her favorite reportee. He was the only soul who actually workedin her team and was quite a bubbly character.

“So tell me Rakesh what plans for the weekend? Which chick are you going to hang out with this time?” Suzanne asked very eagerly.

“Well, I’d love to take you along but your boyfriend wouldn’t let me.” He replied sarcastically.

“He is not my boyfriend for chrissake. How many times should I say that? And neither am I coming along with you.” She replied with fake anger.

“I knew this was coming. Your boyfriend or can I call him your ex?is blushing there.”

“Stop it Rakesh. I am looking for a Roman Catholic Syrian Christian guy. Did you get that? RCSC.”

Suzanne was very famous for this statement in her team. She was a Malayali and a Syrian Christian. She was teased with Subal one of her batchmates in the firm and she always retorted saying that she was only on the lookout for a Roman Catholic Syrian Christian.

“Ah. You and your Roman Christian. You’ll never find one. Subal is such a sweet guy. Look at him.” Saying so he winked at Subal and he smiled back.

“I will find someone. Roman Catholic Syrian Christian.”

There were smiles all around and for once the team was having a good time. With the mood upbeat in the team, they all decided to go out for lunch together.

“So far so good.” She thought to herself again. It was a pleasant day with very less work and no pressure as such. The lunch was good, though she had to bear the brunt of spending for the entire team. She also had the choice of leaving early but decided against it as she wouldn’t have such pleasant times in office very often. She was proud of having such a nice time with her. She realized that she was being too much of a workaholic and blamed herself for disliking her job all these days.

She left office with a happy frame of mind without thinking about her project, her work or her responsibilities as a team lead. Now her entire attention was focused on her trip to Andaman. She planned to leave her office SIM card back home and take only her personal number for the trip. Life was going to be fun and only fun for her. She had shopping plans for Saturday and packing on Sunday. And Monday she would be flying. The very thought excited her.

She busied herself on the phone with her friends who were to accompany her in the trip. Neelima, Suchitra and Revathy were her best buddies and buddies from school. They were always together and helped each other during times of crisis. Revathy, the most innocent of the lot was once forced to discontinue her studies in college owing to economical constraints. But Neelima, Suchi and Suz convinced her parents saying she was a bright student and that Suchi would be able to use her dad’s influence for a loan sanction without any surety. Revathylater continued her studies and came out with flying colors. She then joined a leading English magazine as a reporter and she still felt grateful for her friends for helping her out during difficult times.

This trip was planned ages ago but never got executed. Suzanne finally took the initiative of implementing it as she was the one most in need of a break from work. She planned out everything in a jiffy that the rest were not even ready for it. But somehow she managed to convince all of them into it. Now it was time to get set and go.

Saturday it was and Suzanne was all excited to start her day. It was 10.30 in the morning and just when Suzanne was just getting ready to leave, her phone rang. It was a landline unknown number.

“Hello.”

“What? You sure?”

“Oh my God!I didn’t expect this.”

“Oh eh alright I will.”

“Bye. Thank you .”

Saying this she slammed the phone down and fell down on the bed perplexed. She lifted her phone again and called Neelima.

“Hey Neels. We got a problem.”

“What is it? Tell me.”

“I am not coming for the trip. You girls please proceed.”

PS: Please feel free to post your comments and criticisms :)

Mahe's Men

Mahe’s Men

Chapter 1

All the characters and incidents that follow in this series are fictional. Any resemblance whatsoever is purely co-incidental. :)

“This should have been won by us. We let go of the opportunity without a fight.” Claimed Vishu with a sigh. “Speak up guys. Any suggestions or inputs. You can’t stay like this forever.”

“Bowling could have been better. No Yorkers bowled at the death overs. Too many wides. I must admit that am one of those to be blamed. “Sushil remarked.

Shankar pitched in with his comments too. “Fielding was pathetic. Good batting performance. No point in consoling ourselves by saying that we are new to playing with the cricket ball. Our fielding standards need to improve drastically.”

“It’s none of those. It is about the frame of mind with which we entered the game. We were not serious about it in the first place. When the game was in our hands, surprisingly, for the kind of preparation we had, we just let it off the hook. We never gave our 100%. No, not even 80%.Leave this one alone, how can we win any game?” Sridhar cried out.

“Sridhar is right. It is our attitude which cost us the game. I don’t think there can be a better explanation or an excuse for our loss than what Sridhar has mentioned.” Vishu said.

Silence prevailed for a while and Vishu spoke up once again. “Okay then let us try to forget today’s game and go ahead with the rest of the games. We have 2 more left and let us try and win them both. Any of you in for a practice session next Sunday just drop me an email. “

And they all departed to their respective vehicles and drove back home.

‘Zappers’, as the team was called had registered for a cricket tournament. It was called the ALPS League cricket tournament. Each of them were extremely talented cricketers but only with the tennis ball. They were new to playing with the cricket ball and were not very comfortable initially. This was the fifth match played by them and had lost all 5. They came very close to winning this one, the fifth, but in vain. Vishu’s efforts in trying to pull off a victory seemed a distant dream as he was running out of partners at the other end. Only Sridhar gave him some support in trying to score quickly but not for long. The tail wagged to an extent but they lost the game after coming agonizingly close to the required target of 183 in 20 overs. They could only muster 171 at the end of the 19^th over and were all out by then.

John and Sridhar were neighbors and were travelling together in John’s car. They didn’t speak much during the course of the journey as they knew they were at fault. About 5 minutes before reaching his house, Sridhar in a low voice said, “We must do it at least for Vishu. He has done so much for the team and has never showed off. High time we also have the same passion and commitment.”

“Very true. Unfortunately not all of us are that serious about the game. Anyways let’s do it next time.” John replied.

John was their team’s trump card as far as bowling was concerned. He bowled extremely fast and it was menacingly quick. Unfortunately he was at the receiving end in today’s game and was feeling completely low. He dropped Sridhar and went home.

Time went by and Vishu and John had caught up for tea in the food court. Vishu and John worked in the same office and were pretty close buddies.

“Do you think my captaincy is going haywire? Am I being too autocratic in my decisions? I only look at what is good for the team.” Vishu asked with suspicion.

“I don’t know why you have such a doubt. The fact remains that we all want to win and most of us want to win only for you for the kind of commitment and effort you have put in. So don’t worry about your captaincy. I don’t think there can be a better captain at the moment.” John assured him.

“We will have a practice game this Sunday. I’d love to win this one at least.” The captain remarked. “I hope Sridhar fires this time. He did well last game but I think he should also bowl well.”

John didn’t bother to reply and they left the place.

It was Sunday and the practice game was about to begin. The opponents were put into bat and John opened the bowling as usual.

Not the best of days for Vishu for he looked pale for no reason, but John did a pretty decent job with his bowling. His captain’s trust in him to open the bowling paid off with John picking up 3 quick wickets and nailing the opponents.

The score read 46/3 in the 14^th over and it seemed a great start for Zappers. Vishu tossed the ball to Sridhar to bowl the 15^th over. The rest of the team was amazed at the move and Sridhar himself didn’t expect this to happen.

“What are you doing Vishu, are you out of your mind? He leaked some 20 odd runs in the previous game in one over.” John came running from third man to the bowler’s end to say this.

“Hey we have so many bowlers who can do wonders for us. We are in such a strong situation. Then why give it to Sridhar?”Sushil was angry at the move. He was furious with Vishu for this move.

“Let him bowl. It’s ok.”Vishu snapped back.

Sridhar was given the ball and was smacked for 17 runs off his first over. The fielders were cursing the captain but that did no good. The following over was bowled by Ram which was pelted for 10 runs. The batsmen had come to form and were milking the bowlers for easy runs.

The following over was also bowled by Sridhar. At this, Sushil was furious. He ran up to Vishu and at the top of his voice he shouted, “Have you gone mad or what? This is the only practice game we have before our tournament game and you give the ball to Sridhar again? One over was fine. We saw what happened in that over. Another one? This is ridiculous Vish. This cannot happen. If you want him to bowl this over, I am leaving the ground.”

“Okay. Leave. I will manage with 10 players.” Vishudid not even think twice before retaliating that way.

Sushil and the rest of the team was shell shocked at the reply. Sridhar was ready with the ball and was stunned by the kind of faith his captain reposed on him.

“I will never play a game with you as captain again.” Sushil charged out of the field to take his car and just drove away. The team remained mute spectators to what was happening around and watched the incident with awe.

“Sridhar, go and bowl. We are one fielder short, but we are fine with it. Get us a wicket now. Sushil’s absence should not be felt and it depends on your bowling. I want you to bowl with all your might and fetch us a couple of wickets. These two batsmen at the center need to be back in the stands by the end of this over. Here is the ball. Do it for me.” Vishu seemed to speak out those words straight from his heart.

Vishu continued to cheer his team. “Come on guys, let’s do it. Sridhar is going to do it for us. Cheer up!”

And he did. He bowled two full Yorkers off his first two balls which swung a bit and uprooted the stumps. Call it luck or fear, Sridhar did it and was ecstatic after the fall of the two wickets and he was on a hat-trick now.

A new lease of life entered the team and it seemed to come up from nowhere. There were hi-fi’s everywhere, fielders looking real pumped up and were now ready for the challenge. The over was done without the hat-trick and drastically slowed the flow of runs. John was back in the next over and bowled a maiden.

Sridhar continued in the next over and picked another couple of wickets. The team just witnessed an outstanding bowling performance by their bowlers and very importantly Sridhar who was considered to be more of a batsman than a bowler created magic out of nowhere.

The game went by and opponents were bundled out for a paltry 92 runs.

During the innings break Vishu gave instructions to John to lead the team in his absence as he was going out for a smoke. He said he felt tired and asked him to ensure that Sridhar opened the innings.

“What’s between Vish and Sridhar? I have never seen him this biased. Maybe he has a plan.” Thought John.

“Hey Sridhar, open the innings with Sandeep. Vishu is not here and he asked me to inform you that you’d open the innings.” John told him.

John was the only player who could captain the side when Vishu was not around. Almost all the players had a fair amount of respect on him and also obeyed his decisions at Vishu’s absence.

Sridhar and Sandeep opened the innings and finished the game in less than 12 overs. Everything seemed to go the Zappers’ way in today’s game. But the captain was missing.

Sridhar was the man of the match and after they spent some time teasing each other they decided to leave. John called up Vishu to enquire about him and learnt that he had already reached home by then. He asked John to come to his house as he wanted to talk to him for a while.

“What a weirdo he is. Has he fixed the match or something. Well, no way.” John kept mumbling to himself and was wondering what caused Vishu to act so weird in today’s game.

The team dispersed and all of them left home. John dropped Sridhar and went to Vishu’s place. “Hey Vish. What happened da? You were behaving so differently today. Anything wrong?” John asked him.

“Yes John. There are a few problems.” Saying so he started weeping.

John didn’t expect such a reaction from Vishu. He was usually an emotionally strong person. Even during his tough times he never let his friends intervene in his problems. But today it seemed something different.

“What’s wrong?”

No answer. He wept.

“Tell me na. What is the issue?”

“Sridhar will not be with us for long” saying so he started weeping bitterly without a break.

“What? Why? What’s wrong with him? He seemed perfectly okay while playing today?”

“Yes. But he won’t live long.”

“But why?”

“Because, because, I poisoned him.” And I could hear reverberations of his weeping across the walls of the house.

“What the f***? What do you mean?”

to be continued........