WHAT WILL BE; WILL BE....

As a young boy I had a rather mischievous nature and was considered a comic and a prankster by my peers. My mischievous nature was kept under control and subdued by my rather domineering parents as long as I was in school. On entering college I began to slowly shake off the control that my parents had exerted over me and only then did my mischievous nature really come to the forefront.

There are many such cases of mischief and pranks that I performed during this period, both within and outside college, which I entered in circa 1976 A.D. If I were to put all such incidents together, I am sure that I would be able to compile a voluminous tome but I had desisted from doing so only because the incidents were performed when I possessed a rather immature mind (not to say that it has matured now, for I am still proud to be sixteen going on fifteen).

Today I would like to narrate one such instance that happened in my neighbourhood. I used to have a couple of classmates who lived in a Government Colony or rather a Government Servants Quarters named Peter’s Colony located in Royapettah area of Chennai. Though I did not really live in the colony myself, I would walk almost a kilometre from my residence and spend most of my waking hours - barring the little time I spent in college - at the colony with a batch of youngsters to whom I was introduced by my classmates.

Most of these youngsters were either drop outs or those who had failed their exams and were awaiting the next round of exams while a few like me were fresh entrants to college life. All of us used to smoke a lot of cigarettes and most of us were either abusing liquor or drugs at that point of time. We literally used to terrorize the residents of the colony and target young girls who happened to be fancied by one of us. We used to spend our time on the steps of the apartment blocks or on top of a huge covered well from which water was pumped by a motor to supply to all the residents. At times we would hang out on the sidewalk just outside the colony enjoying chai and cigarettes in one of the roadside chai shops. At nights we would climb up to the empty open-air terraces of any one of the apartment blocks and spend our time doing a multitude of nefarious activities.

Just behind the colony was one of the early multiplexes in Chennai, which housed three movie halls, named Sathyam, Santham and Subham. Whenever we had sufficient money amongst us we would spend time watching a movie in one of those theatres and soon we made friends with the staff there, so that we could walk in free anytime we wanted to watch a movie.

The incident I am about to narrate began while we were having chai on the sidewalk on a July morning just outside the colony. We spotted a pot bellied fair North Indian chewing Pan and hovering about rather furtively. Such North Indians are generally called ‘Seths’ in Tamil Nadu and these ‘Seths’ were mostly pawnbrokers who had small hock-shops in almost every nook and corner of Tamil Nadu. They made a living by lending money at exorbitant interests while collecting gold jewelry and other valuable items as collateral for these loans.

Noticing us observing him he came up to us and without our asking him informed us that he had come to collect on a loan from a Telugu family who were occupying a flat within the colony. The head of the Telugu family was a mid level Government bureaucrat and his wife a rather rustic middle aged housewife. They lived with their only child of about eight to ten years of age in the flat on the ground floor of ‘E’ block (obviously not the actual block number). We wondered why this Seth as we called him had come up to us and given us a reason for his presence without our asking him and realized that it was because he was guilty and up to no good that he had volunteered a reason so as to avoid our suspicion.

We therefore became more alert and closely observed the Seth without him realizing that we were observing him. After a while the Seth went to the apartment, which he had mentioned to us and stayed there for about an hour after which he left. The Seth started visiting the apartment everyday and we soon realized that there was a pattern to his visits. He would arrive everyday at nine thirty in the morning and after waiting on the side walk for about fifteen minutes he would go to the afore mentioned flat and spend a couple of hours inside before leaving. We wondered what was happening and why the Seth had to visit the flat everyday to collect on his loan.

As days passed and as we observed him more closely we realized that the Seth would not appear on holidays and weekends but would only appear on working days. We also observed that the head of the family who was the Telugu Government servant would leave his house, exactly at nine thirty a.m. to catch a bus, which would take him to his office in Parry’s Corner where he had to report for duty at ten a.m. Once the government servant left there would be no one else in the flat except the house wife since her child would have been sent to school at eight a.m. itself.

We soon realized what was happening and concluded that the Seth was having an illicit relationship with the housewife under the pretext of collecting his loan. At this point, mention must be made of the housewife. As mentioned earlier she appeared to be a rustic woman in her mid thirties and rather illiterate; but that did not take away her earthy beauty. She was quite beautiful in her own buxom way; well built and well endowed in the right places in the right proportions. No wonder then that the Seth behaved like a fly attracted to a jar of honey.

All the members of our gang were sorry to see the frail looking Government servant being cuckolded and we decided to intervene and drive away the Seth from his wife. However, we had no plan on how to go about doing this and kept our dumb brains working extra time to think up a plan to stop this illicit activity. Being the principal mischief-maker of the gang, I was given the onerous task of coming up with an idea.

The next morning I reached the colony at nine a.m. and parked myself at a vantage location from which I could observe the front door of the ground floor flat. At exactly nine thirty a.m. the Government servant stepped out with his briefcase and umbrella in hand and proceeded on foot towards the bus stand, while his wife stood at the doorstep flashing him a radiant smile and waving goodbye to him. The moment her husband had turned the corner of the block the Seth appeared and rushed into the flat.

Once I was sure that both had settled themselves down inside the house, I ran behind the government official and caught up with him just as he was crossing Sathyam theatre. I ran behind clapping and hailing loudly. The gentleman turned around and seeing me rushing towards him waited. On reaching him I breathlessly asked him, “Uncle, are you the person who just came out of E-1?” The official looked puzzled and replied in the affirmative. I then said, “The aunty from that flat was calling you rather urgently but you had turned the bend by then and she therefore asked me to run and convey the message that you are wanted rather urgently”.

On hearing this the poor husband hurried back retracing his footsteps wondering what it could be that made his wife call for him so urgently. On reaching his flat the gentleman kept ringing the doorbell wondering why all the windows were completely shut. After a long wait the door was finally opened by his wife who appeared to be in tousled state. On entering his apartment the official found the Seth also looking rather nervous and in disarray.

Our gang had gathered outside the house waiting for the explosion from within and we were not disappointed for the uproar that ensued from within made us understand that someone was being beaten up badly inside. Within seconds a harried looking Seth rushed out of the front door holding up his pants with both hands and ran towards the main entrance of the colony with all our gang members chasing him with whoops and war cries.

That day all of us were really pleased that we had done some good for their family and felt like scouts who had obtained their first badge of honour. Peace reigned in that household for about a month. It was then that we spotted another similar looking gentleman hovering on the side walk and entering the house at the given time. We were all disappointed but now realized that nothing could be done about it unless and until the woman changed her basic nature. 

What will be, will be.......