Chapter 13

“Wake up you lazy bum” Joshi shouted as by the time Chandy and Joshi were back Arjun had dozed off on the chair.

“Had a tiring day and the chilled beer is quite soporific” Arjun woke up and stretched his hands.

“Mr Joshi Williams, have you brought some good food” Ajun asked

“Oh yes. As tomorrow is a holiday we have decided that we could have fun the whole night” Joshi replied while he was unpacking

“See we have bought a full bottle of Mc Dowels No 1 whisky” Joshi took out the square bottle with tile like design

“Where is the soda?” Arjun asked

“No Soda. We have chilled beer and the combination is really great” Joshi replied

“I presume that you are going to sleep here tonight. “ Arjun said

“I am going to be here tonight and none of us are going to sleep. Somesh Nair will also come in another 10 mts and we will play 28 the whole night.”

“Guys, I have told you my plans, rather dreams. Tell me what are you guys cooking?” Joshi asked as he opened the whisky bottle and poured into each of the glasses.”

“Pour me a small one” Chandy interrupted

“Why small. Today is the day for large” Joshi laughed aloud as he poured half glass for each of them

“Arjun, I thought you were planning to appear for Indrapresta Civil Service” Joshi asked

“I gave it a serious thought. Last week when I went home I met Aby uncle. As you know he is senior IAS officer. He is currently the Secretary to the Government of Indraprasta”

“He is a much respected officer. He is honest and upright and not swayed by political pressure. He is also a very good administrator and a visionary. So he holds a commanding position in the Government” Arjun continued.

“I discussed with him my plans. He had an interesting take on this. He explained in this in his gentle and serious manner” Arjun went onto imitate his Aby uncle

“Son this is a very honourable profession. You are expected to do a lot for the society. But with the kind of political interference we hardly get a chance to get at least 20% of what we would love to do. But even the 20% can make a significant difference.”

“Why only 20%. Isn’t it left for you to take the initiative and get things moving?” Arjun continued his play acting

“Yes and no. On one side you get caught up with so much of administrative mess that is created by many your colleagues and political masters with their hidden agenda. On the other side the same combination will hinder and block the progress of your initiative if it doesn’t suite their purpose. It will be two steps forward, one step backward and sometimes three steps backward. There is no point in fretting about it. Get moving with what you believe.”

“That can be frustrating Uncle”

“Then as you are aware. This job does not pay. Look around. The house I stay is palatial. Courtesy GOI. But the furniture is sparse as this is all I can afford. When I retire in a couple of days, I will move to my small flat in the outskirts of Indrapuram; because that is what I could manage with my salary. I am not regretting. I am telling you the fact of life. If you are a person who loves material comforts, I suggest that you try to get into IMI. When you graduate, your starting salary could be higher than what I get as a secretary. On the other hand if you are willing to sell your soul, sky is the limit for an IAS officer.”

“Quite an interesting point of view” Chandy commented

“You don’t have to sell you soul. You can sell yourself to a rich father-in-law”  Joshi laughed as he took a deep swig.

“Oh yes. I am not in any way planning to sell myself.” Arjun replied

“I am not going to study now. I have decided to enjoy my life for some time” Chandy said and took a sip from his glass. “I have asked my uncle who is the CFO of our company to get me posted to the Computer Centre. I will have a chance for on-the-job training on Computer Applications.  If I manage this, which I am sure I can, I will stay back in this company for a few years and get some good experience. I feel IT is going to the growth area for future. Later I will try to get into a reputed IT company which offers international posting. In the meantime I will get married to a nice girl from a well to do family. As the demands of this PSU job will not be much, I will be able to have a long honey moon here.  As my uncle is the CFO I am not going to have too much trouble from my bosses” Chandy described his plan with a grin.

“You are too smart Chandy. And also connected the right way. I am sure you will get some smart girl from a well to do family to get married soon. “ Joshi replied

“I don’t have such guardian angels and ancestral assets to protect my future. I am going to work hard on getting into IMI. With the background we come from it is not going to be easy” Arjun said.

“You will manage. You are a go getter.” Joshi replied

“Remember all of us flunked royally in the admission test when we tried in our final year.”

“Oh then none of us had done any preparation at all” Joshi said with a laughter.

“I bought some study material and took some practice tests. My God! The outcome was pathetic. I could not complete even half of the maths section in which we are supposed to be good” Arjun said dejectedly

“On the other hand I could not even recognize half the words in the vocabulary section.”

“Man you need a different strategy and a lot of preparation to crack this exam” Joshi was sharing his experience on the basis of the GMAT preparation he was making

“In many of the sections, there will be few questions which may be easy to crack, but which will definitely waste lots of time. The trick to leave these questions and go forward. If you get time at the end, then you come back to these”

 “That makes sense. Let me try that idea and see how I manage” Arjun had a gleam in his eye.

“In GMAT the time for each section is 30 minutes. What I try to do is to attempt to do it in 10 minute. This stricter target will help you to be more alert” Joshi was giving further ideas.

“But getting my English Language skills, especially vocabulary up is going to be a gargantuan task. As you guys know I studied in vernacular medium in an ordinary school and hence my exposure in English is not up to the mark.” Arjun lamented

“Don’t worry, you will crack it” Joshi said in encouragingly

Chapter 12

Arjun and Udhi were classmates from Indraprasta Management Institute (IMI). They had become close friends during their term at IMI. They were almost like two bodies and one soul. It did not mean that they were alike in everything. It just meant that in spite of their differences, they had something that linked them to a common purpose and a belief.

Arjun came from a middle class family in a small town in Indraprasta called Tridevpur. He did his schooling in Tridevpur. His father was a priest in the temple. So they were not very well off. His father and mother encouraged him to learn the scriptures. He became quite proficient in these. He also read scripture of other religion and he was quite familiar with them too.  He was not deeply religious. He was comfortable at both religious and non-religious settings. He was not sure in his mind his religious position. One part of him was a believer; believer of heaven and hell. The other part could not put his faith in the concept of the immortal soul whose ticket to heaven was determined by his actions during few years on earth. However the religious background shaped his life’s values of decency, integrity and doing good to his fellow humans.

Arjun was good at studies. He came first in the school and got admission to College of Engineering Tridevpur.

He participated in extracurricular activities. He stood for college union elections and was elected as the student council secretary. He loved swimming from his school time and was a regular at Tridevpur swimming pool.

When he finished Engineering course, He wanted to do his management from an Ivy League Management school. He knew that was the only way to be catapulted to the higher echelons of corporate circle. But he know with the background he came from it was going to be difficult to get into an Ivy League school. He took up job with Tridevpur Automobiles as a Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET). They were a batch of 25 GETs Tridevpur Automobiles had taken first time as an experiment. This had created quite a shake-up in the company. The old timers who had come up from the ranks were not amused with these upstarts.

He and his close friend Chandi Varghese took up a studio apartment. This apartment was sort of an outhouse of a Bungalow owned by Mr Romeo Fernando. 

“My father has come up with a marriage proposal. He is insisting that I meet up with his girl” Chandi was pouring his heart out.

Arjun, Chandi and Joshi had got together on the terrace of their apartment. This was a regular pastime they had after their work. As usual they had their supply of chilled beer.

“But Chandi, it is too early to get married. I agree the job we have in this company is good. It pays decently. It has respectability in this community. But if we get married and settle down, our growth will be restricted. We will be like frogs in a well” Arjun remarked as he lit is cigarette.

“I agree with Arjun” Joshi added “ I plan to migrate to US. I have already started applying to schools in America.”

“You can dream about it Joshi. You are a rich man” Arjun replied with a laughter

“Fuck of. My popsy is not going to give me money to go to America. I am trying to get a scholarship” Joshi retorted.

“Oh Come on Joshi. You know it is not so easy to get Schol. Even if we get some partial schol, there is still going to be a big cost. I can’t afford that” Arjun said.

“ I have some ideas on how to improve my chance of getting into an ivy league school in US” Joshi grinned and took a sip of the beer.

“You always have many aces up your sleeve.  Tell with us your smart idea”

“Man ideas don’t come free.” Joshi replied with a wink

“Don’t act pricey. We are not trying to go to US and we won’t steal your ideas. But we are curious about your ingenuity” Chandy interjected

Joshi did not reply. His eyes were at the terrace of the neighboring building. Sheena, the neighbour's daughter was standing there with her pet Alsatian.

“Mr Joshi, Turn this side. You are getting distracted ” Chandy said

“Oh I was just looking at the beautiful bitch” Joshi replied

“The four legged or the two legged one” Arjun asked.

“Come on guys. Be a sport”  Josh replied

“Son, don’t lech at  Sheena. She has an elder brother who is a police inspector. He will help you to count your ribs and ours too” Arjun tapped Joshi’s head and said.

“Come on. I was only looking. No comments, no winks, no smile. Just enjoying nature’s beauty. Joshi said with a mock protest.

Arjun lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.

“Joshi, tell us about your master plan” Chandy implored.

“Arjun pass me a fag” Joshi asked

He was getting ready for his narration.

“I am planning to join this NGO called ‘Tribal Arts’. They work among the tribes in one of the most backward regions of Indraprasta. They help to market the various artifacts made by these tribes. “ Joshi started

“That is a very great work they are doing” Arjun replied

“What are you going to do? You have no sense of art” Chandy asked laughingly.

“Oh I am going to be based in one of the villages deep into the forests” Joshi replied

“I will be teaching and helping the tribes on how to do their business better” Joshi continued.

“I have variety of roles to play. I will teach them basic arithmetic and basic language skills, help them to package the products well. Will help them in their inventory planning. Based on the feedback from the corporate office of NGO I will help them prioritize and focus their production so that they can maximize their revenue and return”

“That is a very honourable thing you are doing” Arjun said appreciatly

“I agree” Chandy added

  

“The international Ivy League schools give lot of value for such work from their prospective students. If I spent two years doing a serious job of this, I have a pretty good chance for my admission. Anyway I have a decent score for GMAT, my graduate results are pretty good and I have some good reco”

“Man you are something. You are determined. I am impressed” Arjun said

“But Joshi, how are you going to spent two years in the forest. It can be so boring”

“That is the price I have to pay for what I want to get. In the process many tribal people are going to be benefited”

“Wont it be quite boring and lonely there?” Chandy asked

“I already made a visit to the place. The forest is quite scenic. Quite a lot of trekking opportunities for my weekends. I am sure there can be some good fun with nice weed and may be there is some good mushroom there” Joshi replied

“The king’s daughter is quite a chic” Joshi continued with a wink

“Man don’t mess around with the King’s daughter. They will catch you and castrate you” Arjun replied

“Oh no. No fooling around. I will marry her” Joshi replied nonchalantly

 “Marry her?. But you are going to be there only for two years. I don’t think she will be able to adjust to city life” Arjun

“Who asked about adjusting to city life” Joshi asked

“When my objective of getting admission is met, I leave. She stays” Joshi continued

“But that is not fair” Arjun replied

“Everything is fair in love and war” Joshi laughed

“This is neither war nor love” Arjun commented

“Winning in your career advancement journey is a war and my love for admission to Ivy League School is unconditional. I am willing to pay any price for it.”

“ You can rationalise. It is still mean” Arjun commented.

“Look at this way. She gets a first class husband for two years. She is not worse of. As Barnard Shaw commented a woman would rather have a one tenth of a first class husband than full of a third class husband. She gets to have a first class husband for two years”

“You are really vain” Arjun took a swig of beer from the mug

“When you leave her and go after two years she will be devastated” Chandy said

“For some time. Then the hormones will start working and she will look for another mate.”

“You are a rascal. I hope you won’t make a baby” Arjun remarked with a serious note.

“It is a point. That way I will have no head ache. On the other side, should I not leave something for her to remember me”

“Have you told all these plans to the NGO who is sponsoring” Chandy asked

“Are you out of your mind? All these ideas about marrying the King’s daughter are just dreams” Joshi replied

“I hope your dreams don’t come true for the girl’s sake” Arjun commented.

“I was just letting my imagination run wild a bit.” Joshi suddenly changed the tone.

“One thing is sure. I am willing for a two year sojourn in a forest if that will help me the admission I want”

“Let us go and get some food” Chandy got up.

“Arjun you wait here. I will hitch a ride in Joshi’s bike and get some nice Paratha and Chicken”