Journey begins

“HELLO, BOY, GETUP, THE STATION has come,” the railway cleaner had roared into his ear. He wore a pair of khaki trousers and khaki shirt and stood before him at the S4 compartment of the Bangalore express. He was lean and had a sickly face with a few weeks of unshaven beard. A boy about the age of twenty two had opened his eyelids to look at him. Actually he was sleeping until the cleaner had given him a whack with his hollering voice. The boy, Gautam looked tired and his face was dripping with oily smudges, his hair was fallen all over the face. He slowly stretched his hands towards the window and spun out of the low berth and sat down on it firmly. He hadn’t slept until three in the morning, as gloomy and awkward thoughts were clamoring around his head during the whole journey from Chennai to Bangalore. But when the train had crossed the Katpadi station, the sleepiness had hugged him for quiet sometime. He was grateful for that. At least he would enjoy a couple of hours snoozing in the lower berth. “What happened?” Gautam asked, his eyelids were heavy to open fully. He started yawning, as snapped his fingers in front of his mouth. He was looking tall, had a small square face with rough features, mustache was about to launch in his face, and his eyes were large and brownish. He wore a local branded (ADDIDDAS was embossed in white letters across his chest) black T-shirt and copper brown cotton pants. You wouldn’t accept him as an engineer now, because his face couldn’t reflect the charming countenance which the students usually bore. “Huh, are you asking me what happened? Get out of here,” the cleaner shrieked. His coarsen and shrunken face was blowing like a fuse, now. In the background, the stocky blue engines were screeching in the railway station, along with it there was an announcement of different trains arrival and departure timings was echoing in a healthy lady voice. Of course, you can’t avoid the stench smell floated from the attached toilets in the coaches. “Why?” Gautam asked in a mumbling voice. “Harey baba, first tell me where you want to go?” the cleaner asked. He was sullen this time. It’s looked like he was going to beat him if Gautam wasn’t going to get down immediately. “I want to go to Bangalore,” Gautam said, a large confusion was writ on his forehead. He had almost crouched back with his stuttering fear because the look of cleaner was dangerous and grumpy now. “Hmm,” the cleaner gasped furiously, “this is Bangalore man,” he shook his head, as snatched the aluminum container to collect the garbage littered in the compartments. His sharp, barking tone had created a vacuum in Gautam’s mind. No, it was confusion mingled with curiosity, “Please tell me truth. Is this really Bangalore?” “Hah, why did you come here?” the cleaner asked, his hands on his hips now. His ear lobes twitched to make a plundering conversation with him now. “To search for job,” Gautam had innocently announced like a kid who would respond to the miss’s query. “What is your qualification?” Gautam didn’t answer quickly this time. He thought if it was good to share this information with him. He nodded his head and said, “Engineer.” Upon hearing this unequivocal word, the cleaner went to slap his forehead with his right hand. He shook his head furiously. “Huh, what are you going to do then? Will you join me to clean this compartment?” Gautam nodded him blankly. He was bewildered by his blunt question. Worse, he didn’t know how to react and fumbled, “No, I mean I came here to find a software job. Not to do this work,” he said with a panic stricken face, as pointed his finger at the aluminum container. The cleaner displayed his broad yellowish teeth and grinned at him, “Then what are you going to do?” he said, as his both palms joined together in a bowl shape and raised it up and down in front of him. Gautam was infuriated by this gesture, “Are you asking me to beg or what?” “Of course sir, what are you going to do here then, I have seen thousands of hundreds of people coming down to Bangalore and roaming in the streets with their empty hands. Still do you believe yourself having a job here?” the cleaner said, his tampering smile had never left his face. Gautam bit his baby nail and his face was shrinking lower now. He thought that he was going to get a decent job in a software company and become a big star in Bangalore. But the cleaner’s abusive and ridiculing talk had worried him more and more. Talking to him was the worst welcome he had come across initially in the Bangalore. He suddenly sprang out of the seat and plucked off his bag which was hung over the hook beside the window. “Thanks,” Gautam slammed the words from his mouth. The cleaner had already started scooping the littered empty water bottles, styrofoam cups, and waste papers from the floorboard of the coach. He finally looked at him as he flashed an impish smile, “I hope you will come back soon into this train to return your home,” he almost cursed him like a Satan. Gautam didn’t speak and hurried down through the narrow aisles of the compartment and got out squeezing in between the people as he scrambled to get a taxi. There were plenty of black and yellow taxis queued up along the wide road near Kempegowda bus stand. The auto drivers were standing behind their vehicles, elbowed their one hand on the top roof of the auto, and waited for the passengers to come in. All were looked dark and brown, some had chewed pan and some had pulled in beedi, while talking with their co-workers in a friendly and provoking manner. Gautam was scanning their faces to get into the auto. The first two persons were taller and burlier, and he looked almost fainted upon seeing them. They were calling at him magane, dhosth, master, in several monologues, and it only created a mobbing fear in him. The third person was skinner than the others, and he was looking soft and having some amiable features. So naturally he went behind him and drew his attention. “Boss, where you want to go?” the thin auto driver asked in a casual strident voice. “I…I want to go Indira Nagar,” Gautam said. The other auto drivers stretched their necks to show their anticipation on hearing this. The first two auto drivers came near the third auto driver and said, “You shouldn’t take this person. He should come to travel in my auto.” “What are you saying master? I didn’t go and call him, he has come to my auto,” the third auto driver protested calmly. Gautam’s stomach was rumbling now. It was a dull and low pain earlier but it was getting up and up as time goes on. He wanted to badly shit off somewhere or should go earlier to the room where his friend was staying. His eyes were already started aching after sleeplessness throughout the journey (of course he was lucky to have a one hour sleep and haggle with the cleaner). “Master, you come and get inside my auto,” the first auto driver prompted him. His big arms were almost pushing him towards his auto. “Hello, he has come for my auto and I can’t allow him to enter into your auto,” the third driver’s face was slowly reddening now. He was shaking his finger at him with ferocity. A moment Gautam was stunned on seeing his lethal argument. He thought he was skinny and soft and all. But suddenly he was billowing into rage. He couldn’t believe it. “C’mon get inside,” the first driver pushed him now. Gautam was fumbled as his bag from his hand was slipped down, as its bottom was smeared with the spit of pan. “You don’t deceive my customer,” the third driver was furious this time. He stretched his hands and held the first driver tightly around his neck. The second driver was intruded between them and tried to release his strangled neck. Gautam had swallowed a big lump down his throat as watched this daredevil and nasty fight. He was terrified by their ferocity in banging each other. Now, he thought of walking down the road to Indira Nagar. He didn’t know the distance, but it was worth to walk down. He also had no idea about which bus he should take to go there, worst, the words written on top of the buses were like the knotted threads in the hammock. He didn’t fathom a single word. The fight between them was slowly blowing in hot stream, as Gautam scurried down to other auto and sat inside. He was relieved when the fellow had accepted to drive him. The auto had screamed along the road, past the Richmond circle and Trinity circle, as the towering shopping malls, roadside shops, and luxurious buildings were studded on both sides. He was unwavering when his eyeballs stared this silicon city with a fixed glance. Why not? After all he was a villager coming from Pudukottai, the deep southern district of Tamil Nadu. His eagerness to work in this ever glowing and bustling city was roaring inside him. He wanted to get a good job, he didn’t have no idea how he was going to get it. But his spirit was smoking up in his eyes. This was more like a dream than anything else. The auto swiftly (forget about bumping up and down along the road) past the intersection of the Murphy town and went further down to Indira Nagar. “Here you are,” the auto driver get down and showed his finger at the signboard at the far corner of the winding road, near water tank. Gautam pulled out his bag from the auto and looked up at him, “How much?” “Give me whatever you pleased sir,” he said amicably, a slight blush was escaped through his eyes. Gautam was really awed after hearing these words. He had never imagined an auto driver would ask this way. In fact, he was chilled and became cool in the coolest city. So, he fished out fifty rupees and gave it to him. The auto driver was terrified and a streak of aggression poured on his face suddenly, “What is this?” he said as showed that piece of note in front of him as if he had a shit in his hand. He then flew it hither and thither in front of his eyes. A look of frown was largely writ on his face. “What happened? Should I give five rupees more?” Gautam said and fished one five rupee coin from the corner of his leather purse. The auto driver was infuriated and his face was twitching suddenly, as if someone was shaking his head fiercely, “You should give me four fifty rupees more.” “What? Four fifty?” Gautam gaped at him. He was surprised as if he was suddenly got an emotional goosebumps on his arms. “Hah, what do you think about me? Am I doing free service or what, to get this rickety fifty rupees from you,” the auto driver grimaced. His hands were aching to smack at his head, and his blood was whooshing to his face which was turning into reddish purple. “But…” Gautam said and stared at him with his innocuous eyes. There was no talking further, as the auto driver immediately plucked the purse from his hand and fished for more money. There were five polished and clean notes were kept inside the purse safely. He yanked it out and rattled the engine and sprung out from there. * “Come in Gautam,” his friend had welcomed in. He was brushing his teeth with a Colgate 360 degree tooth brush at the entrance of the door in the second floor and watching over the people who were going in and out down the narrow road which leads to a bus stop. He was looking shorter, had a thin face and sprinkled black mustache beneath his crooked nose. He wore an orange bermudas and a white neck t-shirt. Gautam had flicked a reserved smile and entered inside the house with gratitude. Madhan was his close friend in college days, and they both had stayed in a same hostel there. “How are you doing man? It’s been three months since I had seen you in the college,” Madhan was speaking through his white Colgate foam filled mouth. His voice was low and rumbling, and the words were incoherently dropped down from his mouth. “Yeah doing good. How about you guys?” Gautam said, as kept his luggage down on the floor. You could see two people were propped on straw mat, and snuggled inside the colorful thick blankets which were covered up to their chins. You could also hear a roaring snore comes from inside the blankets, and abruptly one fellow was scratching his elbow in deep sleep, and another fellow was mumbling something with his dreamy girl (God know who was this girl?). “Of course, we are doing great here,” Madhan said as sputtered the runny white foam in the wash basin in the corner of the living room. There was a small mirror hung above it. He opened the faucet and let the foam drain in the gutter and looked up at him, “but don’t take my words serious boy. We are struggling here to get jobs you know.” Gautam was shocked and grumbled after hearing this, his abysmal confidence to get a new job in this silk city was shattered immediately. A moment he wondered if the railway cleaner had spoken the truth. His stomach was already started squeezing him. “Are you kidding me?” Gautam said, he wanted to cool off the fire which had just engulfed in his head. Madhan tossed the yellow toothbrush on a plastic holder and made him sit down in the chair, “See, why I should do kidding man. This is reality. We have been roaming around every software companies for more than three months now. But there is no luck. The only pretty thing that happened in my life is clearing the written test for Wipro. That’s it. In the technical round they had strangled my breath with the unwavering technical questions in the end, you know. The competition is fierce here man,” he glared at him. Gautam’s eyeballs were shrunk low, as fearful goosebumps was sticking out on his arms and neck. He swallowed a huge lump down his throat as he looked at his friend. His arms refrained to hold the armrests of the chair firmly, perhaps he was thinking of catching the return train to Chennai immediately. “Is it true? What about others?” Gautam said, as he pointed his lean finger at snoozing boys. Madhan flashed a rooky smile, as went down to kick at the rear end of one fellow, who was dreaming with his girlfriend. He rattled off his plump big body and suddenly threw up his glance as his fat face turned eerie dark and flummoxed, “What do you want man?” Kamesh said, he started scratching his bushy black hair, which was flopped down over his ears in masses. He was a big fellow in the room, had a huge dark eyes and large oval shape face. His face was milky white like the pretty models out there in the magazines. His green round T-shirt didn’t help much to conceal his round belly. He wore a pink track suit which was loose and the back of his brief was revealed with the top cleave of his butt. His body was full of hairy, particularly in the arms and chest region. To be surprise, his face looked blemish free and beard free too. Though he looked terrible with his mighty body, he had that baby look in him. He was never been dangerous to anyone and sometimes affectionate too. “I want to date with the girl you were dreaming, man,” Madhan said and guffawed, as he snatched off the blanket. He knew for sure because, he had seen the mouth water in his large face. He was trapped in front of him like a thief who snatched a chain near the police station and caught up by the police. Kamesh wasn’t ashamed now, but blushed as his eyes lowered like a girl. This one thing you couldn’t bear with boys, on seeing they are entering into the blushing mood. That too, he was a huge and bumpy fellow, it was disgusting to see how he was daring to do so. Can’t you forgive him? “Man it’s freezing chill here, give me the blanket,” Kamesh said, as held his both hands around his bumpy chest. It’s aphorism that your actions speak more than your words. But it is genuinely truth with him, because his each action spoke for himself. Now, in this case, he was behaving like a five years old kid when Madhan had plucked off the blanket from him. But there were times, when he would behave rudely too, so he was generally unpredictable like the seasons (who knows what this mother earth is going to bring in the next second?) “Turn and see who came here,” Madhan said, as showed his middle finger at Gautam, who was still lingering there with his nervous thoughts of going back. “Hello sir, when did you come?” Kamesh had teased him with fecundity. It was his way of addressing people sir, to make them quiver for a second. It meant there was a sarcasm and satire both concocted in his response. Though these guys had studied in the same college, they had stayed like separatists. He and Lawrence stayed together in the outskirts of the college, because these guys didn’t like the hostel smell. Yeah, particularly the reeking smell of potato curry comes from the back of the kitchen. In fact, he had vomited twice when he had stayed initially in the hostel, but only for two months. On hearing this news or tragedy, his mom had come from the Madurai (along with few neighbors) to quarrel with the administrator, who turned speechless after seeing her myriad reactions and closed his mouth like a dumb fellow. The interesting fact was that she had lodged a FIR against him for trying to kill her son with poison. So that’s how this bumpy fellow had stayed out with Lawrence, who always behaved like a sincere subservient to him. “Now only man. So, tell me about your job hunting journey,” Gautam said. He was looking tired, and his face was showing signs of wear and tear after the enervating journey. But he seemed least bothered about his sleep right now. “Tell him that you have been hunting behind a Marwari girl for more than two months, and she was still not able to find a second to speak with you,” a muffled voice escaped from the person who was laid down beside to Kamesh. This Punjabi girl would come often to Radha Krishna temple near their house, and he had a magnetic attraction when he had first seen her. And that day onwards he had never missed going to this temple and get the bliss and glimpse of her on Fridays. Kamesh was suddenly become furious on hearing this pricking comment and gave a nice kick on his butt to let him wake up. Lawrence was stirred by his mighty blow, and rose immediately, he was twisting in a snarl, “You bitch, don’t hit me at my ass.” “Where should I knock then?” he pointed his finger at his crotch. “You never change man,” Lawrence slapped his head with his right hand. He had a soft brown face, a pair of blue eyes, and crew cut on his head. He was looking fairer (still he wouldn’t beat Kamesh in milky complexion, you bet?) in the group; however he wasn’t taller but shorter than Madhan. His father was a retired bank officer and he had come from pretty orthodox family. He wore trendy dresses and if you go and see his suitcase in the room, you would come up with huge collection of perfumes and sun glasses (though he had never dared to wear it in front of Kamesh). He was the only person can speak good English and having a good grip on the technical subjects and leading a way beyond others, to grab a job. He can’t just keep his mouth shut when someone discussing the geeky stuff. “Okay guys, first let’s meet our new member of this house, Gautam,” Madhan said formally, like a new member had joined in the office. It was more like kidding. They were going to stay in the same room from now onwards, it was going to be a rocking experience for them. God only knows if it was going to be a rocking and panicking experience. “Welcome to Bangalore and to the royal house,” Kamesh said, as he extended his rotund hand to Gautam, who shook it weakly. “Hey man, don’t insult him in the first day itself,” Madhan said, countering against his gooey statement about the flat, “look at the messiness in the house. I have told you to remove the garbage from the dust bin for more than three days now. See, the last two days of food is smelling badly now, the remains of kitchadi is rotten and worms are living inside it. You must clean it today, otherwise we are not going to feed your large stomach.” No wonder the bachelor room is that untidy. It was a typical bachelor room. The living room was filled with the dirty clothes here and there. The books like C, C++, communication theory, microprocessor, digital electronics and many more were scattered around the room. It just looked like an exhibition, but nothing adorable you could see. Of course, the bed room was used as dumping area for their booze bottles. There were about few dozen bottles stacked up neatly behind the bedroom wall. There were two unopened beer bottles too, it was there purposely because whenever they feel like their spirits went down, they would start gurgle it down copiously, and you know what they had believed it would bring cheers to them. It’s like first aid medicine box for them, the only difference between the elders and these buffoons was that these shoddy fellows addicted to binges and they were addicted to medicines. You don’t have to know about the kitchen, because it will make you retch too like Kamesh. In fact, they thought it would be shameful if they had governed their rooms like library and pretty clean. “Nah, it can’t be done. I couldn’t pull it to the garbage dustbin. It’s awfully in a bad condition. If I go close to it, my stomach is retching out the food. No, I can’t,” Kamesh threw up his hands in the air, as his face was grimaced. “That’s your job man. You should do it. Who else can do it otherwise?” Madhan fisted his hand as charged in front of him, as if he was going to knock him down. “C’mon idiots, don’t mess up in the early morning itself. Let’s at least cheer for our new roommate,” Lawrence said, as he turned his gaze at Gautam, “What’s happening man? Did you finish enjoying your honeymoon period in your house?” Three of them laughed synchronously. “Oh God, no. It was boring like hell in the house, and my mother had stopped feeding me. That’s why I am here now,” Gautam said, feeling aghast. After finishing his college, he directly went to his home. His parents had welcomed him like he had done a marvelous contribution for the society. There was mutton paya in the morning, chicken fry in the lunch and crab gravy in the night. He enjoyed the feasty food prepared by his mother, and this sumptuous food went on for a few weeks. The only thing he had done was washing his hands and slouching in the bed and looking into the TV (in the late nights he had ogled with models who wore parsimonious dresses). After one month, his father had started cursing him for being idle and lazy in his home. From there, the troubles were started to flow into his head, because his mom also had criticized him once for not helping her to draw the water from the well. “Huh, I thought you are enjoying in your house. But you are saying something unusual man,” Madhan interrupted. “It’s true man. I have travelled up and down to the city and house to get a job. But it was no use, you know. In fact, I have done two months short course on C++ to horn my skills to get a software job,” Gautam said. Yes, he had gone to Chennai to study this course in T Nagar. His father had requested his relatives to accommodate his son in their house. Gautam had stayed there for close to three months and attended some of the interviews while doing his course. “Is it? How much you paid for that?” Kamesh asked, his large eyes were stayed unwavering. “Twenty thousand man, also they said me at the end of the course will show some companies to get a job and all,” Gautam said, he had created some empathy with his somber eyes. “It’s huge amount for a single stream of language, man,” Lawrence said. He was a nerdy fellow comparatively among this gang. He had known well about the rousing C language, and he knew how to deal with the pointers (its concept of C software language) and all. That’s what his huge potential to claim his job in the electronic city. The other fellows merely knew arrays and structures and a few miscellaneous basic programs. That’s it. If you ask Kamesh he would blink his big eyes, because he didn’t know to do even simple programs like swapping the numbers and prime number generation. “Tell me what happened? Did you get a job?” Madhan asked, he was excited to know his friend hadn’t got a job yet. Of course, it wasn’t about jealous or ego or something, but only fear. If his friend had received a job, it would give a headache for him, sometimes heartache too. That’s why he was so curious about knowing whether he had received a job or not. Don’t you think it’s a genuine question, yet? “No, I was turned out of the course with empty handed,” Gautam said. A smothering shame was smeared on his face. He couldn’t look at his friends steadily because he thought he was reckless after he had gone through the course and was turned out with upset. The worry was still embedded in his heart still now. Madhan immediately got relieved by closing his eyelids for a few seconds and propped his palm over his chest, “Boy, I thought you got a job or something. You just fueled milk in my stomach, you know. Thanks man,” he said with a stupendous relief from his soul. Yeah, really it sounded like that. You should have seen his face now, and it was impeccable and somber as if he had been released from the prison. Kamesh punched his fisted hand on his arm and said, “Man, I even felt afraid when he was telling us about the placement and all. Anyway, he is our fellow in this hustled and bustled group,” he cheered relentlessly. Actually shivers went up from Madhan’s arm when he was punched by this huge and bumpy fellow. “Oh c’mon boys. This is why you two are not getting the job yet,” the nerdy fellow Lawrence shrieked in an uncontrollable spirit. In this atrocity he had forgot the fact that he hadn’t yet earned a job. Of course, there was a big chance that he might get placed in coming days, but it won’t promote any good intention with his friends. Kamesh was infuriated about this accusing comment as his bulged face was dribbled with embarrassment, “Fuck. What about you then. You still don’t have a job, buckaroo. Mind it.” “Hah, I know that fatso. You better stop knocking over me,” Lawrence said, little flustered by now. Gautam was shaking his head after seeing this kid fight between them and felt like the dizziness was shooting up from his forehead right now. He felt like wanted to meet a Physician straight after taking his bath here, because their conversation was bit hard and sturdier. “Guys, please stop. I don’t want anyone to knock anybody with vehemence,” Gautam said, taking charge over them. He thought he had to talk now, otherwise its looked like they were going to bang one another with their wristy fists. No joke, the fatso was scrunching his bushy eyebrows at Lawri. His hot blood was raising and falling at his each steamy glance at him. “So tell me about how strong you are now in C++,” Madhan asked, his hand on his cheek now. He wanted to know the entire caliber of his skills after pursuing this course in Chennai. Gautam was stunned after hearing his blatant question, because he was still in the basic level to learn the polymorphism and inheritance, “Hah, I am still learning it. I have learnt about classes and constructors.” “C’mon, that’s only basic in oops concepts, isn’t?” Lawrence said and perplexed by Gautam’s answer, and you know ‘oops’ is another software term to call the C++ language. “Hah, that’s all I have learned in there. Man, truly it is tough subject. My mind was spinning like a kite in the air, while the trainer had lectured about this language,” Gautam said. His face twisted and his lips puckered inward to show his grimace. He was better in enunciating different emotions while he had confronted his parents. It had helped him a lot in difficult situations like this. “Same pinch. I don’t even know who had invented this language?” Kamesh said, perhaps he was happy for sharing a common space with him for his lack of intellect. His joy was immense and overshooting the sky. Indeed, it was nothing fancy to show his loftiness, but he usually did. “Bjarne Stroustrup,” Lawrence echoed majestically. His shoulders were jerking up and down, as he responded to them. It shows what nerd he was, isn’t? He simply can’t hide his rousing enthusiasm to respond such tickling questions. On the other hand, Kamesh and Madhan were winced at the terrible question. Don’t you think these fellows had won many hearts? You bet, the girls would love them to have a coffee with these guys. They somehow love to hang on with those wishy-washy guys than the super nerds. “Jokes apart. Tell us seriously about how many companies you have attended there in Chennai?” Madhan asked. There were plentiful questions kept banging on his mind as of now. Again, he won’t sleep if he didn’t know answers for these stomping questions. Really there was nothing like he was pretty intelligent and wanting to know this. It would give him a chill feeling if he had quoted less companies than what he had done himself here in Bangalore. “Five man. Three top MNC companies and two small companies,” Gautam said. His voice seemed exhausted as if he had made a century in attending interviews. Yes, he had attended TCS, Infosys, and Patni Systems. He was glad to attend the TCS written test, guess why? Yes, he thought some of the beautiful girls in the country over there. Though he wasn’t that tongue wagging boy to admire the girls, he felt it was better to focus on them than to curse the unfathomable written test paper. “Is it? Wow, great! Share your experience,” Kamesh cajoled at him. He had attended four top MNC’s in Bangalore and he was immediately scuttled out of their premises by securities after his breaching attempt done at written test itself. “Man, I tell you, the aptitude questions asked in MNC companies were clueless and I was merely flabbergasted by the scrupulous questions. What to do, I just randomly filled the answers in inky ponky style,” Gautam nodded his head at him. Everyone had guffawed at him. “What happened then?” Lawrence prompted him. “Hah, I was out of the office building when the results were announced after the written test. But, one good thing is I had cleared written test in a new company called Liza software inc.” Again calmness shrouded past them as everyone screwed upon each other. Particularly, Madhan was dreaded as his eyes were motionless for a moment. You could hardly say that he was alive now. “Don’t worry, the technical panel was very generous to reject me after a few probing questions,” Gautam said. “Ware wah. You are my boy,” Kamesh had stood up and ran his large hand over his shoulder. “C’mon get ready. We will start our job hunting together from today,” Madhan said, he was enthused after Gautam’s successive failures. *