At
the outset, I want to make it clear that the main character Rama in this short
story has no resemblance to Lord Rama, who is perceived to the epitome of
righteousness and integrity. This is just the story of a guy who was named Rama
by his parents but was unlike Lord Rama.
The story begins…..
Everybody at the `Golden Deer Park’
agreed that it was tragic. Many said 27 is not the age for one to die. A few
recalled the philandering ways of the deceased Rama whose dead body was in a
pool of blood. It seemed the deceased had fallen off from the balcony of his 15th
floor flat or may have been pushed off.
The police began its investigations
and it was revealed that the deceased was a playboy. His recent conquest was Janaki,
daughter of Ravana his estranged maternal uncle. Ravana was not named at birth
as Ravana but as Janakan. Janakan was deeply influenced by Dravidanism and hence
renamed himself as Ravana. However, he named his daughter as Janaki, owing to
the pressure of his wife Mandodari, who coincidentally was named at birth as
Mandodari but revered the Hindu epics. Ravana was happy because either by his
new name or old name, he was the father of Janaki. He was short in stature and
temper but not in opportunism.
Ravana
was a merciless money lender. He had even besieged the property of his sister
Sita (Rama’s Mother) who failed to pay interest on the loans taken from him.
This had caused a rift between Sita and Ravana. After this incident, he was
looked down upon in his native village and came to Bangalore in search of a
living. He took to money lending and became instantly successful given that he
was more canny and ruthless in collecting money than Bangalore two wheeler
motorists are in negotiating traffic.
Sita
had a son named Rama who completed his graduation in commerce and landed up in
Bangalore looking for a job. His killer looks, Adonis build and sense of humour
floored many girls and even married women. Unable to find a proper job, he ended up as a CCO (Chief
Collection Officer) of a finance firm. By providence or design, he stayed in
and around the area where Ravana’s residence was. Once, Janaki saw Rama straightening
a pole whose bent posture was hindering street dogs from answering their call
of nature. She fell in love with him
much like children across the country get trapped in a deserted borewell.
Ravana was happy
on coming to know that Rama was his sister Sita’s son. However on
investigation, the truth emerged about Rama’s character and the fact that he
was confidant of his bitter rival Maruthi Financers. Ravana hated Maruthi
Finances because they virtually burned his business by offering loans at
interest which was 1% less than what he charged.
From that day,
Ravana never approved of the relationship between the two. However, as they say
passions of the youth and reasons for a traffic jam in Bangalore are
incomprehensible. The more Ravana tried to separate the two, the more selfies
of Janaki and Rama started appearing on various social media platforms. Once
when Ravana had gone on a business trip to Colombo, Rama and Janaki holidayed
and partied in Goa. Rama started blackmailing Ravana with a few video clips
taken during the trip. In return for the video clips, he demanded back his
mother’s property.
Ravana was
determined to teach Rama a lesson, and on that fateful day had come searching
for him in an animated way. These images were caught in the CCTV of the
apartment in which Rama stayed. Rama as per the autopsy report had fallen off
the balcony between 21:30 and 21:33 hours and the CCTV recordings suggested
that Ravana entered the lift of `Golden Deer Park’ at 21:18 hours. It was an
open and shut case; the police arrested Ravana for murder of Rama. Ravana
pleaded innocence. He said he was nearly 10 feet away when Rama fell off the
balcony. The police were not ready to believe him and most importantly the TV
channels would not allow the police to give a sympathetic consideration to
Ravana’s version. They kept on playing clips of his closeness with politicians.
Another channel conducted an interview with all the people who had taken loans
from him and faced his wrath. The third, a national channel which was adored by
the muddle err. middle class for the nuisance new sense news it telecasted,
played a simulated version of what might have happened on that day. Its chief
editor thundered questions after questions so much so that Ravana’s lawyer left
the studio in a huff looking for the next rocket to Mars.
Janaki
on coming to know about the video clips started hating Rama. She was happy that
he was dead. She believed in her father’s innocence. Deep down in her heart she
knew that her father would never commit something as ghastly as a murder and
leave behind so much proof. Though the best lawyer in town was hired, getting
bail for Ravana became as impossible as finding a parking slot on a Sunday
evening in Commercial Street, Bangalore. Finally, they chanced upon Smt.
Manthara, a private detective who was previously in police service but was
discharged on medical grounds because she developed a hunch back. She had
previously faced the wrath of Late Rama due to failure to make timely payment
of her loans.
Ravana had spoken of a few video
clips of Janaki that Rama tried to blackmail him with. Police searched for the
clips in Rama’s PC, Mobile, Laptop, etc but they could not find it. The police
concluded that Ravana was trying to mislead the probe and ignored his statement
to that extent. Smt. Manthara believed that the mobile phone containing the
video clips could save Ravana from the noose. Janaki also vouched that she had
seen Rama having two mobile phones during their trip to Goa.
She
and Janaki with the clandestine permission of the police entered Rama’s
apartment. They ransacked the apartment to find the mobile phone or the
clippings but were unable to do so. Disappointed, they went to the balcony from
where Rama fell off or was pushed off. The balcony railings were pretty high
and it would have required a huge effort on the part of a short Ravana to push
a very tall Rama off the balcony. There are many occasions in life when our
disabilities become our biggest strengths. Take for example, our zealous
convent schools who with their school projects sharpen the academic skills of
parents or for that matter Bangalore’s encroached footpaths ensure that pedestrians’
reflexes are always at their peak. Similarly, Smt. Manthara’s hunchback had
enabled her eyes to reach angles which a normal human eye failed. Peeping
through the balcony on a full moon night, she could see a black object stacked
in a lawn lamp which for aesthetics’ purpose was shaped like the lip of a
woman. She pulled Sita, rushed down the stairs and reached the lawn. Smt.
Manthara took a stone, broke the lamp and out popped a seemingly new black mobile
phone. They decided to charge the battery to check the contents of the mobile
phone. In case of it being found useless, Smt Manthara decided to retain it for
her own use.
The mobile phone on charging had all
the clips that Ravana was referring to. Smt. Manthara admired the fact that
Janaki had good love making skills at such a young age. These clips Smt.
Manthara contended would save Ravana from the noose but there was yet another
which they almost ignored and on seeing that both jumped with joy. It was the
clip of Rama in an inebriated state trying to take a selfie video of himself
and the moon on his head, tripping over the balcony, plunging fifteen floors
below and the mobile squeezing itself into the lip like shaped lamp.
Takeaways from
the story:-
- Name alone does not make anyone good.
- Does not matter even if your name is Ravana, you have buckle up when the wife orders.
- Titles of many stories are misleading to attract more views.
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This is not a fast food restaurant to have unlimited takeaways.
