Expressions

Getting a BE seat was like a cake walk for Somu. Though not a hard worker, luck has always been in his side. His parents managed to buy a piece of land when he was young. Blessing from the rain god and Lakshmi has always helped them to give a decent education to their only son, who always took advantage of his caste to get into reputed institutions and now has been selected for Scientist B position in BARC, Mumbai. The humble parents were so happy that their only son has become a scientist. Somu, who wanted to profit his parents ignorance to the fullest, demanded things to done ordering them to bring and do various things. His parents’ extra attention to him made him think that he has achieved the unachievable and became more arrogant and demanding. He started showing his arrogance to the poor and uneducated villagers and the villagers as a sign of respect fulfilled all his wishes and demands. Soon the time had come for Somu to join BARC. A grand farewell was given, with hired musicians, hired elephants to garland Somu, and with great pride Somu left his village. As soon as he reached BARC, Somu could not loose his demanding nature. He started ordering things to every person he met in the guest house and in the canteen. Initially the people just because of respect for another fellow human being, listened and carried out all his demands. He failed to realize that BARC is filled with high quality scientists and being an entry level scientist meant nothing to them. Soon his demands grew more and more and the people around him to whom he ordered became irritant and impatient. One day they decided to pull him out of the bed in the night and throw him in the mud water. So when Somu was fast asleep, the manager of the guest house, who was one of the victims, provided the key to his room to help others accomplish the mission. They silently carried him out of his room and swayed him and dropped him in a puddle filled with muddy water. The shock woke Somu from his sleep and he stayed still, trying to understand the situation. I, who had been a witness to all the happenings, could not stop laughing seeing the mud filled confused Somu. But as my laughter saturated, I heard a distant laughter from somewhere. I tried to look around and I felt like coming out a whirlpool. As I opened my eyes I saw my friend laughing overcoming her early morning drowsiness; she said “yeh, sapnon mein koi comedy film dek rahi thi kya??? (Translation: Hey were you watching a comedy film in your dreams??)”

Ananthi Sankaran