Ramesh Mehta.
It was a fine monday morning, and he was, as usual, woken up by the morning arti, sung by his charming wife in her, not so charming, voice. He heard her arti to Godess Lakshmi, about how all Gods like Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva praised Lakshmi. “How true” he thought. “Lakshmi (money) certainly forms the core in everyones life”. But before he could ponder more on this thought, he heard a door-bell ring and his wife shout (cutting her arti in between), “ Mehtaji, that would be Sanju (the milk-man), get it, no?”. “yes, I am getting it”, he shouted back. So, he got off his bed, put on his slippers, got the container from kitchen, and went to the door. As he opened the door, he heard his wife shout again, “Sanju, bring two packets more tomorrow, Mehtaji’s chacha-chachi are coming.” “yes bhabhiji”, sanju answered. And wondering, exactly why she needed to tell the milk-man who was coming, he put the milk in the kitchen. However he did not question her. In seven years of married life, he had certainly learned, not to question her, on why she talked a bit more than necessary (specially when his relatives were coming, not hers).
And thus started a normal day in the life of a simple Indian guy, Ramesh Mehta. Living in Ahmedabad, at the age of 33, he was satisfied. He had a beautiful and bickering wife, Kokila, (he call her Koki), a five year old son, Manish(Manu), a low-salary job in a high-school, as a sanskrit teacher (the cause of most of the bickering), a small house, and the whole future planned out. His salary would increase gradually with time. He would have one more child, a daughter he would name Jigisha. he would make both his children Doctors (probably by paying high donations to south-indian colleges), and would marry them both to Doctors when they are of age. Then when he retires at sixty, he would open a shop of ready-made garments with his retirement money. He would name it “MEHTA AND SONS”. In short, Life was normal, easy and predictable. And he was happy.
However this simple man, had no idea, what the future held for him. How could he know that at this precise moment, someone was monitoring his each move, or that for the past six years, all his actions, his daily routine, his sanskrit classes, his evening walks, all were overseen. How could he know that Sanju( the milk man), was more qualified than him or Shilpaben (his house maid) was a PhD. He had never wondered why in past six years Ben (shilpaben), had never asked for a holiday or a salary rise. He had never even thought, how could Sanju still sell him milk at the same cost, with which he started about six years ago! Most of all, he never thought, why would the ‘Kasturba High School’ not fire a teacher, even when almost everyday the principal received complains from parents, saying “Mehtaji is incapable of any teaching”. For him life was normal.
BUT WAS IT??????
(So guys, tel me, “Do you want to hear the rest of it?”)
