Coorg“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No! We are not doing it.”
“Why don’t you get the point? It is very difficult to make him understand anything. He is a very stubborn guy who listens only to himself and his old grumpy astrologer.”
“Then we will come up with an idea to make him understand.”
“I wonder how Kajal’s mother has been living with him. He is seen more with the astrologer than his wife. May be he has some affinity towards men.”
“Shut Up, Ram!” Ali said. You are talking about our friend’s father.”
“I never said he has. He may have…,” Ram said.
“Enough. Do not side track the topic.”

“I seriously feel he will eventually marry off his daughter to an astrologer.”
“Ram!”
“What? I was only talking to myself.”
“Let’s first talk about the present situation,” said Ali.

Ram and Ali were sitting on top of the hill talking about their plan to go to Coorg with their childhood friend Kajal Saha whose father they feared might not allow her to accompany them.

Kajal’s father, Mr. Anurag Saha is a retired person, settled in Bangalore along with his daughter, Kajal Saha and wife, Mrs. Rukmini Saha. He is a person who believes more in astrology than in his wife. At one time he did not talk to his wife as advised by the astrologer Narasimha Pujar who felt it would have drastic effects on Saha’s wife’s health. Mrs. Saha, a very religious and a shrewd person had to keep herself away from her husband to avoid him to speak to her. Mr. Saha even stuck notes with the words, “Do not talk to Mrs. Saha,” all over his place.

“Let’s go to Kajal’s place and say there is a pooja at a cousin’s place in Coorg. He will blindly say yes,” Ram said.
“Every one in town knows that your cousins are in America and you don’t have any relatives in Coorg,” reminded Ali.
“That’s the problem of being the son of a socially active father.”
“You have your own advantages. Say, how about talking to the astrologer guy Pujar to say something to Saha and make him send his daughter?”
“What would you say? Send your daughter to Coorg with two of her friends and one will become her husband in the future”.
“Definitely not. You know how Saha looks at me when I go to his house, as though I am not allowed.”
“He is only concerned about his traditions,” Ram justified and continued, “How about Mr. Kumar?”
“Who? Our Principal?”
“Yes. Let’s make him talk to Saha and….”
“Haan! And make him spill the beans.”
Two months back when Kajal could not reach the examination hall on time due to some health problem, which the principal would not have accepted as a reason good enough to let her write the exam, Ram and Ali came up with an idea. They went and said to the principal that Kajal’s father’s brother had passed away that morning and even then she came to take the exam. The interesting part being, Kajal did not even know about all this.

She was happy that the college was so considerate. When the exam got over, the principal asked her about her uncle and his demise. She was surprised that why the principal asked her about the death of her uncle, which had happened five years back.

“He was a good man,” she said. “I miss him a lot.”
“Don’t worry child. God is there,” he said. She went away in a confused state. When she came to know the reason, it took Ram and Ali more than a month to pacify her.

“Man! That would be suicidal,” Ram said.
“You bet,” Ali responded.
“How about a friend’s accident?”
“No.”
“Colleague’s marriage?”
“Yours! No way.”
“Right. He will ask about the Muhurat and all the technical stuff. College trip?”
“Which got over last month”.
“Black mailing the grumpy astrologer into blabbering something?”
“Hahaha. Shut up”.
“A gift to Saha!…A book on Indian Traditions!”
“He has loads of them.”
“My Father.”
“What? Gift your father?”
“No, let my father talk to him.”
“And let him know that I am also coming.”
“Yeah. Yaar why don’t these elders understand all this?”
“I have an idea,” Ali said.
“What?”
“We will tell Kajal to say to her father that she is planning to go to the trip with Sruthi. As usual her father will call Sruthi and ask her. We will talk to Sruthi about this and make her say that she has some family work and
she wants Kajal to accompany her. If we can take care of the questions, then we will make Sruthi act as though she is ready to go.”
“As expected, Mr. Saha will look into the Muhurat.”
“Not if we say that the work is related to some temple. He won’t go into all the details.”
“Man! You are very cunning. Good! Then we can board the train and make Sruthi get down at the next station,” Ram said.
“Yeah!” said Ali with an air of triumph.
“But what if Saha finds out our names in the list. He will surely smell something,” Ram questioned.
“Hmmm…We will take another coach and later on exchange it with someone.”
“Sruthi’s father is a regular at the library and what if he meets Saha over there? Suicidal!” Ram said.  He continued, “Let’s go to Saha and set things right. We will go and say that we want to go to Coorg purely for some
change of weather. We will convince him that we won’t pester him again for the next 6 months.”
“Yeah and if he says anything about caste and traditions we will say we all are Indians first. First comes our nationality and then anything else.”
“We will also take some fruit and flowers for the Goddess and some sweets for aunty. We will say that we are ready to take some classes in astrology and its importance.”
“What? Has your mind fell somewhere. Astrology from the killer himself!!!” reacted Ali.
“Any option left?”
“Sigh! Ok We will fight it out man. What ever comes we shall be united. Even if Saha is in a bad mood we are not running away. Deal?”
“Yeah, yeah let’s go.”
“And how about a shot of insulin for Mr. Saha??” Ram said.
“And also psychoanalysis. Sounds great, doesn’t it?” Ali said irritatedly.
“Fine! It sounds as though you need one right now.”

* * *

The gate of Kajal’s house creaked as they opened it. The dry leaves rustled ominously under their shoes and the trees were whistling as though telling them to run away. Ram dug his hands deep into his pockets. They were sweating despite the pleasant weather. Ali wasn’t feeling any better. He clutched Ram’s shoulder involuntarily. The house bore a deserted look and they started imagining Saha coming towards them with a big stick in his hand. They both trembled.

“Ram! Ali!” Kajal shouted. They shrieked and almost ran before they noticed that it was Kajal who had called out to them.
“Listen Kajal. We came here to talk to your father regarding the trip. Even if he…,” Ram said, trying to be bold
“Oh that! He said yes to the trip.” Kajal said nonchalantly.
“What?” they both said in unison.
“Yes. He agreed.”
“Great. That is so great.” They both clapped their hands.
“Wait. I will wear my sandals and come with you guys.”
“Man! Saha uncle is not a bad man at all. He is such a gentleman,” Ram said.
“Yes. We thought so badly about him. He does trust us.” Ali reciprocated.
When the three started walking, Kajal looked at them and said, “My father said we could go and since he has some work over there, he would accompany us on the trip. It would be so great. Hai Na!”

Yours Always,