PEPPERMINT- A refreshingly good experience


“We will be missing your services badly and you are always welcome in case you want to join us back” said Varun.

Varun was not the same since the day I told him about my resignation. Being a project lead he would definitely be missing my services and also my friendship. He has such a strong emotional bonding with his team; in fact he was crying with disbelief when I put down my papers. Anyways that’s history now. I had a great time at “Altius info pvt ltd” which offered me a better package in terms of responsibilities and pay which is why I left my previous company TCS with just an experience of 14 months and it happens to be the same reason behind my exiting this organization as well. With these passing thoughts I boarded the MMTS at hi-tech city.

The MMTS train stopped at Arts College and I took an auto to Tarnaka where my house is located. I reached home to find my bank statement lying in the postbox which read “Ms. Mrinalini Shastri” A/c no-000801516042 Rs 98,012.15 Cr. It feels good to have saved so much with 24 months of experience especially when I compare myself with my peers. They haven’t done much buying for their household nor did they save anything. I presented my parents with a set of wrist watches and a plasma television during my first year and continued it by contributing for our car Alto which we bought very recently. It feels so good when we accomplish a long cherished family dream. I had my dinner by 10:00, which mom kept for me, and went to bed in an hour. I just closed my eyes trying to sleep when some good thoughts passed through me like a sweet melody. I felt so good today to see everyone caring for me and begging me to keep in touch making me wonder if this was the sweetest day of my life. I wish I had a regular recap or replay of my entire today to fill me with confidence each time when I felt low. I was trying hard to browse and recollect any other events in my life which filled me with such a positive energy. Some of the salient ones amongst them were like this

My Eamcet rank - well it was a thrill but it doesn’t top those moments
My parents 25th marriage anniversary – Let me be honest, it was great but well….
When we bought an ALTO – yes definitely but still not convincing
and ……………..and..and…..hmmmmmmm well nothing is striking me now…… huh…...time to sleep

That night I had a bad dream. I just got down at the arts college mmts station and was trying to cross the road near tarnaka junction, as there was no traffic I hardly cared to look around while crossing but before I crossed half the road I heard a very loud squeal behind me. As soon as I turned back something hit me which set me rolling on the road ………… before I knew what it was I woke up from my sleep. Phew that was a bad dream. The clock on the wall showed 7:00 AM and I was planning to get ready for office when it struck me that I was relieved of my duty the previous day itself. With nothing much to do and a full week’s holiday before I join my new office, I was finding myself in a strange position. What can I or should I or will I do to ensure that it’s an eventful week. All my friends were busy with their own offices and they wouldn’t be free till the weekend. For sometime I kept thinking what to do after which I again remembered the dream I had in the morning. It takes my memories back to the accident I met with, a year back at Tarnaka. I was struck by a Motor Cycle which slipped when the driver applied brakes. The motor cycle struck me from behind that set me rolling and before I stopped something pierced into my stomach under my liver. It was the clutch lever of the motor cycle. I was down on the road, feeling very sleepy and the last thing I noticed was that a crowd gathered around me. It took me a couple of days before I regained my conscious and the first thing I noticed was my dad speaking over a phone with an unshaved face. Mom was sitting besides me and was the first to realize that I came to consciousness. After that I spent two more days at the hospital before I got discharged. It seems the guy who hit me suffered minor injuries as well and was extremely depressed after this incident. His family too apologized to ours and after that within a week life was normal again.

Not completely though; At that time I was working at TCS and my project mates gave me a new nickname “10 stitches” since I had 10 stitches during my operation which became famous. Ultimately I became very famous at TCS with the name “10 stitches”. Aah I just hated it but couldn’t help it and had to put up with all that mockery. Thank god it came to a halt when I left TCS. Somehow I feel good about it now.

I just messaged varun that I was bored and had a bad dream in the morning.
He replied “Explain me within 30 words in a sms what exactly happened”. Now this is varun’s habit to make a contest out of everything and I did it.
He replied again “Not bad…. I give you A-“
I messaged him “Ha-ha you would have scored an F” and then waited but there was no response from him.
I again opened his last message which read “Not bad…. I give you A-“. I kept smiling at his message when the word A-ve……started to flash……………………………………..A-ve -- something struck me all of a sudden.

I immediately approached my mother and asked “Amma last year when I met with an accident you said that you and dad lost hopes of me being alive again as there was no availability of fresh A-ve blood but how was I saved. Who gave me the blood?
Mom said “I don’t know. We just informed all our relatives and that’s all we did”
I asked “So who gave the blood?”
Mom said “I think it was a guy who was around 25 years of age who called your dad and came to the hospital. He said he saw about it in the computer”
“Oh you people gave any paper ad or sent any email” I asked
Mom said “I don’t know. We just know that he had seen it in the computer”.
“Did you take any contact details of that person” I asked
Mom (Tired now) “I don’t know just ask your dad”.

I immediately called up dad to check if he had any other details but to my disappointment he was quoting the same story. This created a sense of curiosity in me. I immediately went to the hospital and checked for the details. Initially they did not agree but when I assured them that the purpose was only to thank him they gave it.

It read as following

S.No Name Age Address Phone BG RH
1356. Rajendra Reddy 24 Nacharam, Hyderabad 040-55178068 A- X

I thanked the hospital staff and returned. On my way back home I was filled with a sense of achievement. I reached home and by the time I had a fresh up it was already 8:00 PM. I picked my mobile to call Rajendra & dialed the number only to hear “This Tata Indicom number has changed”. I called again and again only in vain to hear the same automated message. I expressed the same with my father during the dinner and it was then that dad asked me to replace the first digit of the number with a “6”.

“How silly of me to have forgotten this. The Tata Indicoms have the phone numbers starting with 6 for a year now. Oh yeah that was it… why didn’t it just strike me then. All the joy and excitement is back again. But Alas! It is already 10:00 PM and a bit too late to call a stranger” I thought

So I waited for the next morning. The next morning I dialed this number again by replacing the first digit and was praying god to hear a ring.

And God answered. The phone was ringing now…………….
“Hello” answered a lady. She appeared to be a middle aged woman.
“Hello aunty, my name is mrinalini and I was trying to reach Rajendra” I said.
“Ohh… but he went out, please leave me with your number and I will ask him to call you back” She said.
I did the same and was now impatient to speak to this guy called Rajendra. That moment a million thoughts flowed through me.
Who is this rajendra? Does he know me, if not how did he come to know about my case? Who was that friend who saved my life? Etc etc. I realized that I was very impatient to find out who Mr. X was. “ ‘Mr. X’, who saved my life by finding a donor for a rare blood group like mine, A help that I can never repay, A help for which I owe my life to him. It’s a help that could have been so easily denied had he chosen to be indifferent. Who are you Mr.X?” I thought.

Just then the phone rang and in no time I picked it up
“Hello” I answered
“Hi! This is rajendra and I got a call at this number from a girl called Mrinalini” Said a voice.
“Hi Rajendra, this is mrinalini here, I know this will sound a bit crazy but I wanted to convey my thanks for having saved my life”
“What! … I am sorry but I didn’t get what you mean” he said.
“Ok ... yeah last year when I met with an accident you saved my life by donating A-ve blood. This happened in august 1st week and I was at Bapuji nursing home…..do you remember”
“Bapujiiiiiiii… oh yes madam. Was that you…Ohh I am feeling so happy speaking to you today. So how are you doing” he asked
“I am doing great…. how are you doing... ok I actually called you to find this. When I was in the hospital with an urgent requirement of A-ve blood who told you about my case? “I asked out of impatience
“Well……oh yes…That night I received a scrap by a person in my orkut profile. Actually I am a part of “A-ve blood group Hyderabad” orkut community and I think he saw my profile there; he described the situation and asked me my number. I did the same and then he explained me your case over phone and picked me up from my home at 12:30 AM in the night to take me to the hospital where you were admitted. Then I met your parents and had undergone a basic check up in the hospital after which I donated blood. When I was done, he took me in an auto to my home and dropped me there. He thanked me and apologized very politely for the inconvenience. I invited him for a tea but it was already 4 in the morning and he felt it was too late and he left” he said.

I don’t know how many people felt so but I felt as if the ground beneath me was falling, I had to sit down to make up some words. I just couldn’t believe what this guy said. It’s such a perfect display of commonsense, smart work and caring nature. I must admit that I was moved. Before the other guy thought I was lost I had to quickly make up my voice.

“Yesss…That’s so great of both you guys. I owe both of you a big treat but do you know who that guy was…. I mean what was his name how he looked like.” I asked
“Well.. I don’t remember his name but he was a normal guy 5feet 9 inches tall, dark face, normal built and decent looking. That’s all I can say now.”
“Ohh (with a groan of disappointment) …Thanks a lot Rajendra.. Could you tell me your email id so that I could add you in my orkut friendlist” I asked
“Sure… its raj_cool@gmail.com” he said.
“Ok then… Thanks a lot again…. We will keep in touch…. Byeee” I said
“Yeah bye” and he clicked the phone.

I put off my phone thinking if I had been through a fairy tale.

I met with an accident
Urgent need of A-ve blood
Mr.X coming to know about my case
He using a portal like orkut to get some immediate help
Picking a stranger who could donate me blood in the night and then escorting him home safely.
It was one of the most dramatic events in my life in which I was an unconscious recipient.

So the search for Mr.X was still on. The next thing I immediately did was to open my laptop and access my orkut. I found the profile of Rajendra through his email id and added him up. Rajendra seemed to be a sociable guy. He wore a friendly smile in his profile picture and had 153 friends with some 4000 scraps. Could you imagine…… 4000 scraps huh…. looks like he had a lot of time at his disposal.

So I went to bed that night feeling happy for what I have heard and a bit hollow for not yet finding out Mr.X. By the time the clock struck 12 I was fast asleep.

The next morning I was woken up by my dad who wanted me to check his mail for him. He wanted me to find out the email address of Mr. Gopi Krishna who had sent him an email once describing about an NGO that was involved in serving people undergoing emergencies. So I opened his email Account but I found no mail with the sender name as Gopi Krishna.

“There is no mail of Mr.Gopi Krishna here” I screamed.
“Ok… He actually sent it long time back… just go to my older mails” Dad said.

I did the same and then within 2 pages of flipping I found the mail dad wanted and handed over my computer to him. I went to the tv room and was watching morning news when a strange thought occurred to me.

“That’s it ……….yes that is it” I thought.

I checked with dad and as soon as he was done I took my laptop from him. I immediately opened my orkut and started browsing. It was 7:42 AM then.

Exactly around 11:30 I found out at last who that Mr.X was. It was none other than my classmate Chandra.

Chandra was a silent guy in our class who had a cloud of calmness around him. He never believed in showing off and was one of the most hardworking guys I ever met. He used to help people when it really mattered. He had this great habit of sending all of my classmates an SMS on the beginning of every month letting us know whose birthdays were due in that month. In that way we celebrated the birthdays of so many of our classmates who found it difficult to communicate and express about their birthday. All of us owed a big thanks to him. Chandra was also one of the toppers of my class; being a topper at a university level he was very down to earth and was found helping others in coping up with their preparation in those 11th hours. The striking characteristic in him was that he pulled most of it incognito. Perhaps it was one of those characteristics due to which I couldn’t even take a guess that it was he who helped me on that night. Both I and Chandra got selected into TCS and we were surprisingly part of the same project at TCS.

So it was during one of those days at TCS when Chandra came to know what happened to me through my parents. He did whatever he could and wrapped up all that work mentioned above on that very day. And yes, hadn’t it been for that scrap from Chandra in Rajendra’s profile asking him for his mobile number, a scrap for which I had to browse some 84 pages behind his current page, I wouldn’t have know this fact today.

Sometimes in life we are helped and saved by some actions that are out of our influence. It is only then when we start believing in subjects like God, Moral values, Love and etc. And the only way we can keep these good things going is by returning that invaluable favor graciously.

“Ohh yess it is time to return the favor” I thought.

I immediately called up Chandra and thanked him very much for all that help. Few days later I, Chandra and Rajendra were sitting at Ohris Banjara waiting for our food and drinks to arrive. Oh yeah I kept my word of throwing a party to these guys who are possibly one of the biggest stakeholders in my life and then it occurred to me that this moment, this very moment was the best of my life till today. A moment which I will cherish for ever…



EPILOGUE

The character Chandra is an inspiration of a person called Venkata Gowtham who was my classmate during my engineering days and is one of my best friends. He bore some of those noble characteristics which were mentioned in the Story and I was always impressed with them. The rest of it above is creativity and coincidental which, I must say, made me feel good.

I hope you too felt the same. Thank You

Hyderabad
31-Jan-08

The Midnight Saint

THE MIDNIGHT SAINT



The sound of the chilly breeze that passed through the bamboos was making a flute like sound, though sweet but scary. I just had a look at my watch and it was midnight 2:00 o clock. I was tossing in the bed trying to catch up some sleep. Being just the second day in the new house I still wasn’t able to acclimatize myself to the surroundings moreover its quite dark in this house. Dan Hill is a new place that I just moved into. Two months back me, John, a medical practitioner moved into this town in search of a livelihood. I wasn’t able to find a roomy, so I decided to put up in a hostel, but the hostel climate was so sick that i decided to move into a new house. With great efforts I was able to find this home, apt to my requirements though situated in a remote part of the town. With the new wave of breeze I closed my eyes trying hard to sleep. I was almost asleep when I felt something walking behind my bed with a regular noise, I felt as if some one was in the room and I was conscious of "its or their" respiration. With every moment, the sound was growing more louder, noticeable and fearsome. Though i tried ignoring it, the sound was so incessant and unpleasant that I couldn't just do that. With one more breathing noise I was sure that there is someone in my room, my heart was pounding with fear now; I got up all of a sudden trying to look behind me when a sudden loud noise burst out in this entire calamity; It was my mobile phone which started ringing, the call was from an unknown private number. Then it occurred to me and I immediately had a look behind to see if someone was there but it was so dark that I couldn’t figure it out. Being unsure I picked up the call and with shivering voice I uttered “Hello”

“Mr. John” said a very husky voice.
“Yes it’s me” I answered.
“Mr. John it is completely immaterial for you to know who I am and what I do; what is more important for you to know is about the other person who is currently in your room. I would like to say only one thing to you which is that this man means no harm to you and it is better you co-operate with him. I once again reiterate that he means no harm to you and the best thing you will do this night is by being with him. You may call him as “JC”. I hope I am clear. Bye”
“ Hey..he just hold onn” I said in vain to only hear the clicking of his phone.

I was in total confusion when a polished voice called me out “ Mr John”.

By the intensity of the sound I could make out that he was some 7-8 steps behind me and was actually waiting for me since long.
“y yyes. Mr. JC” I replied being mystified

“That’s right, Firstly let me apologize you for approaching you in the strangest way ever and that too at this hour of the night” saying this he switched the light on.








“Oh lord! Give me some strength to withstand this” thought Andy who just kept walking along. He was not actually walking but swaying across the road. With every passing moment he felt as if he was loosing a quantum of energy and he felt as if it was taking a Herculean effort to be awake; in fact alive. The bullet had hit him somewhere below the right lung and above his liver. He already lost quite a bit of blood. To ensure that Tina, his only little daughter, was not conscious of it he carried her on his left chest. Nature too was playing the worst villain by sending across chilly breezes now and then making him feel enervated. Whenever he felt cold, he would just pause for a moment and take a deep breath then say something to himself and start walking again.

“DH- 12 miles” read the mile board.

Andy’s face grew pale looking at that. He was walking with an expectation that he would come across a town within a mile or 2 but now he felt as if the thought of twelve miles was good enough to kill him. He stopped for a moment completely hopeless and thinking if he should give up, Tina, who hugged him tight till then sprung open all of a sudden. She was surprised at his long pause and asked him if he was alright. Andy replied with a cool tone that he was looking for the route and made her comfortable. At once he felt the stimulation and desire to be alive.

“I have to be alive; for my daughter since without me she is an orphan” thought Andy and started walking briskly.








He was a normal guy, 5 feet 10 inches, curly hair, slim and had an appealing face. He was looking polite but at the same time his eyes were questioning my comfort. After I saw him, I was a bit comfortable and then asked him

“How did you make it here?”

“Mr. John, I am afraid we do not have much time. Kindly come with me immediately. Just don’t ask me any questions; as he said I mean no harm to you. I swear again. Please come” he said.

At that instance I was a little irritated since I didn’t understand what was going on but something made me feel that there was a genuine intention behind and I agreed to his request.

Within no time I wore my coat and both of us had taken a seat in his car. He pushed the vehicle very fast as if it was so urgent. 100 miles an hour-the speedometer read.






The road ahead was almost opaque to Andy’s eyes. He was walking into darkness hoping to find some help. It’s already 3:00 and it still looks a long way. Few minutes back Andy passed a board that pointed DH to be 8 miles away. Chain of thoughts began within Andy

He had questions like

“Is DH a town or a village?”

“Even if it was a town, does it have minimum facilities at this hour?” He sighed and started walking.

These thoughts only made him weak. He was all tired and wanted to rest desperately. He just found a small stone at the side of the road over which he decided to sit for a couple of minutes. The stone was beneath a tree that formed a perfect basement. He sat there and leaned his head over the tree and fell asleep. He started dreaming of his beautiful wife when she was alive and his life. Andy Clutcher was a new broker who came to that village to establish his business. He fell in love soon with a gal who was the daughter of a retired cop. They soon married with the consent of their parents and had a daughter, Tina. Unfortunately Andy lost his wife during Tina’s delivery and he was left with his daughter. Since then Andy was quite responsible in bringing up his child and took care of her all the time to ensure that she never felt the absence of her mother. His three year child would love him so much that she would always hug him tight while sleeping and doze off as if she felt safe only then, Andy would look at her innocent face and feel the warmth of his loved one, and with a kiss to his baby he would sleep.

All of a sudden there was a deadly noise and Andy woke up his eyes to find tina not in his arms…






“Buy some scissors, tincher, distilled water, Orange Juice and one honey oat chocolate” said JC.
He handed me over some currency and kept his look firm on me while asking that. I went in and it took me around 5-7 minutes in fetching them. When I was back JC looked irritated
“Do them quickly we don’t have time”
“But why do I, you haven’t even told me who you are and I have been courteous enough with you till now. Tell me why I am made to do all these at the middle of the night”
“Patience” he said. Saying this he again pushed the car like a jet.







“Is this girl yours” said a stammering husky country voice that looked like a monster with tina in his arms.
“Yyy..yes” Andy replied.
Tina was awake and crying now. The man gave her into Andy’s arms and said
“She was wandering on the road; I thought it was an animal but later saw this tiny girl who brought me till here. What makes you sleep in winter under this tree mad fella” said he.

“ Well I am Andy … Andy Clutcher and this is my daughter Tina” said Andy
“ok”
“I am hurt and was traveling to Austin when my car broke down; I think I need immediate help”
“You need immediate help hah Austin is 200 miles away, will you survive till then. I think there is a town that’s 8-9 miles away from here. We can go there. Come with me”
“Is it DH” Andy asked
“Yes” He said.” It is DAN HILL”.





“This is an emergency medical store, what you want me to do now.” I asked
“Find out if they have some A-ve blood, we need 1300 ml of it” said JC “Also bring in your mini medical kit” He looked very serious
.
It now started occurring to me that this man wanted me to treat someone ill for which he could have asked me, may be he did not have enough time. I rushed back with all the medications, tools and Blood along with 2 saline bottles and other miscellaneous things. For the first time the man looked happy with my responsible conduct and he gave me a smile of gratitude.





“Have this rum, it keeps you warm” said the monster. Saying this he offered a jug.
Andy savored it and indeed within minutes he felt a little energetic and warm. Tina was sleeping in his arms and they were cruising at a good speed to reach Danhill any time in the next 5-7 minutes.
“Who are you and where are you going” Andy asked
“Keep this card and tell me when you want some woodwork to be done at your house” they call me “Christie”.
“Where are we going but” Andy asked
“Dr William Johnson a specialist in treating injuries. How did you get this one”
“My daughter” said Andy, “she out of innocence played with my gun taking it to be a toy. It hit me right here” he showed the wound. “She doesn’t even know what happened to me and I have to survive, she has no one in this world” said Andy wiping his eyes now.

“Look at that” said Christie showing few lights. The milestone that just came across read Dan hill (DH) 1 mile away.
They arrived in dan hill and waited at the new residence of Dr. William Johnson to only find his house locked.

“Patience” uttered Christie to Andy’s impatient looks.





There was something queer about JC. He wouldn’t utter a word but regularly check if I was comfortable, he would glance at me periodically and then ensure that the needle is not falling below 80 miles an hour. We were rushing in the car and it looked like we were nearing my locality for sometime. Within a minute my doubt was cleared as we ran down the street in which my house exists. At the end of the street I could find a parked vehicle with a stout man waiting outside my house.

When I got down he greeted me with a nod and showed me Andy who was half asleep.
“He is a nice fella called Andy and he needs your help immediately” said the man.
With the help of the two people I could manage safely in resting Andy onto my bed. We did the necessary arrangements to start off an operation.
Something occurred to me then. I found the man’s voice quite special. The man who brought Andy here in his vehicle. I felt as if I heard that voice. I knew that voice.

“What are you waiting for” asked JC “start off” he cried

I all of a sudden recollected myself and began my arrangements and preparation for Andy’s surgery. I required some timely help now and then for which both JC and the other man were apt. It took me almost 5 hours to complete it after which I could bandage Andy properly and let him sleep off. After the entire effort I came out. JC and the other man asked me questioningly “Do you need any help”

“No” I said.
“Ok give this chocolate to the girl” said JC(with a smile).
“Yeah she must be awake” said the other man.
I too being tired had gone in and freshened up. I gave the chocolate to the gal and then came out to offer my guests some coffee when I found no one in my corridor. I went out of my gate and looked at the road but there were no vehicles and no sign of these men. There were no signs of vehicle tracks also on the road covered with little snow.


Where did they go, did they vanish I thought.


That very evening Andy handed over a card to me saying that he wanted to convey his sincere gratitude to the man who helped him in the middle of the night and requested me to call the person showing his card. But there was nothing over it except the two letters JC.

I told Andy what happened and he was surprised about my experience too. He told me that this man called Christie knew that I was Dr. William Johnson and I treat injuries.

But I never knew him or his face earlier.

“Why not” I just thought, it just occurred to me that the previous night’s call was made by the same man. It was the same husky voice that interacted with me and told me that some one was in my room.

But who are these JC’s. What do they represent? I wondered when I just saw the backside of the visiting card which made my legs weak

The Visting card given by Andy had a message behind it. It had a water mark of Lord Jesus Christ with a sentence
.
“He initiates, he mediates and he finishes it safely” Jesus Christ (JC)


Ravi Shanker
July 17, 2007