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Plot Pourri

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About Notion Press

Notion Press is a Self-Publishing platform to write, publish &

sell Print books and eBooks around the world. To learn more,

visit www.notionpress.com

Plot Pourri is a product of the Notion Press Author

Incubation Program.

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Plot Pourri

Various Authors

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NotionPress

5 Muthu Kalathy Street, Triplicane, Chennai - 600005

First Published by NotionPress

Copyright © Various Authors 2013

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9788192349947

This book is sold subject to condition that it shall not by way

of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or hired out, circulated

and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except

for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made

without written permission of the publishers.

This book has been published in good faith that the work of

the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make

the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher

disclaim the responsibility for any inadvertent errors.

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Contents

Congratulations to the Winners

1 1I wish, I LIVED - an Urban Tale

2 8 Amarnath and the Client Visit

3 23The Arrangement

4 34I will be back, I promise

5 3831st of October!

6 46The total non-sense man

7 5718 Till I Live

8 62Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out

9 66The Dark Prince

10 70The Ghost

11 78Repaid in Full

12 90Is life full of love or love full of life?

13 99Wish she could

14 104What Dreams May Come, When We Have

Shuffled Off This Mortal Coil

15 117Silent Glares

16 126God

17 134Change

18 143The Footballer

19 158Letter to Santa Claus

20 163 A day’s work

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Congratulations to theWinners

Winning authors of the Social Short Story Contest are:

Shiraj Abdul

Sudarsan S

Samvit G. Menon

Manoj Kumar

Yashwanth Subramani

Anmol Arora

Priyanka Saha

Swetha Shiv

Harini Rajagopalan

Srivatsan Krishnamoorthy

Soundharya Vijaya

Bhargav Srinivas



Nidhi Jain

Robi Banerjee

Chandni Narayan

Ananya Gambhir

Rhea Banerjee

Madhav Mohan Menon

Nivetha Annamalai

Karthikeyan Balasubramanian

The authors hold the copyrights to their respective

stories.

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1

I wish, I LIVED - an UrbanTale

by Shiraj Abdul

24 hours to go:

The PWD authorities had come for the final markings.

I can hear every other person talking about it. I have

no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no relatives and no

one to shed a tear for me when I rest my soul in peace.

I don’t know if people will miss me, but I love this

place and people a lot. They are the ones who gaveme a different world to live in. Living with them has

given me an enormous understanding of human needs,

emotions and life. My place will be taken by an IT tech

park. I was really happy when I first came to know that

this place would be used for a park, but later realized

it is a PARK with just tall buildings and no trees! Itpains to think that I have to leave a place which has

been mine for more than 100 years, but yet I am happy

that I’ll be replaced by something that will change the

way people live here. I want to scream at the top of my



voice and let them know how much I love them. It is a

mixed emotion which I’ll not be able to explain at all.19 hours to go:

When I saw the world for the first time, this place

was a forest full of trees, birds and a few animals. The

place used to be always chill with the wind blowing

gently all day. It was very pleasant and peaceful. Then

slowly people started moving in. They built a few hutsnearby and started to live. In the name of civilization,

I saw this place grow into a city. Huts were replaced

by houses, shops and malls. Roads were laid. Buses

started fleeing in and out. Every bus would stop near

me. Then they made me a bus stop. First, there was a

guy who had his banana shop on my foot. Later he was

replaced with a tender coconut shop and then a fruit

shop and finally now a juice shop. The marketing guys

used me for their advertisement. I was fully wrapped

with all kinds of posters from ‘Men and Women wanted

for Jobs’ to ‘PG rooms available’. During the night,

sometimes people used to sleep underneath me and

sometimes people used me as a toilet to attend theirnature’s call. I do hear what people speak and most of

them talk about their work, boss, family, friends etc.

There were days when I have felt Thank God, I was not

one among them . Every day was different and each day

had a different story. In a span of 75 years this place

had turned into a busy metro-city. In all this hustle and

bustle, I forgot to realize I was the only one standing

alive in a place which was a forest sometime back.

14 hours to go:

When people started moving in, there was hardly

anything for them here except a large dam nearby.

There were a few huts and a handful of people. The

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kids used to come and play, climb over and jump.

Initially, all this was really irritating me. I had a senseof discomfort. But kids enjoyed playing around me,

helped me accept their invasion. At one point I started

enjoying their presence. I started waiting for them to

return from school. Suresh was the naughtiest of all

kids. He used to climb to my neck and jump from there.

He had hurt himself a lot of times but still came back toclimb over. He was different from all the others. When

other kids came to play only in groups, he was the only

kid who came to me even if he was alone. He used to

talk to me, throw stones at me only to say ‘Sorry’ the

next minute. If his mom or teacher scolded him I was

his complaint box. When he was hurt by someone he

used to come to me and cry. Strangely other kids never

used to include him in any game they played. It took

a long time for me to realize that he was a differently-

abled kid. Liking for him became caring. Each time I

wanted to say him I am your friend; play with me,

nature never permitted. I wanted to be one among the

kids so that I could play with him but could not. Iconsoled myself thinking, Maybe he would not treat me

as his friend if I was one among them .

Besides kids, the elderly people gathered underneath

for their evening gossips. Both men and women were

equally good at talking about others. Most of them did

irrigation for their bread and butter. They used the

water from the dam for their irrigational needs. There

were a few goats and cows always grazing around.

People kept hens and dogs as their pet animals. As the

years passed by, more people started moving in. There

were lots of changes that were going on around me

but still I could feel I was happier than before. Maybe

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I started loving the place and people. I was always

feeling light at heart when people were around me.Everything was so good and peaceful and that is when

that cruel disaster happened!

8 hours to go:

A few decades ago there was a heavy rain. It was

pouring day in and day out. What initially started

as monsoon rains soon became turbulent due to adepression in the nearby ocean. People started suffering

when the rain became prolonged for weeks. Everyone

from the location had been advised to migrate to the

highlands by the government. The dam had already

reached its maximum storage point. It broke one

midnight and there was a great flood. I saw people

screaming and running madly, grabbing everything on

their way. Within minutes, I could feel water moving

around my neck. It was impossible for humans to

survive in such conditions. The rain stopped in a few

days but it took weeks for the water to subside. The

entire place was a mess. It was stinking badly. I could

see many goats, cows, hens, dogs and a few humanbodies lying dead here and there; almost everything

was washed away. The whole site was crushing my

heart. A place which was so peaceful and happy just

a while ago was no more here. When I took a closer

look I saw a kid’s body lying very near to me. It was

Suresh! Tears ran down my eyes. My heart was soaking

in pain. Maybe in all the chaos he wanted to tell me

something, maybe he wanted to ask what was going

around; maybe he was afraid that he needed me; for

some reason he was running towards me, it was very

evident. For the first time in my life I cursed myself

for being so helpless. A kid is lying dead right in front

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of my eyes but I am not able to lift the kid, hug him

and cry aloud. I hated myself for what I was and thistime I had no reasons to console myself. For many

days I was standing alone, Loneliness made me feel

that even I should have been killed. Memories of kids,

people, Suresh and the place were making survival very

difficult for me. I have heard people saying ‘you’ll be

punished for your bad deeds in your next life.’ Maybe Idid something very bad and that was why I was being

punished.

A few hours to go:

It took many years for me to recover from the

disaster but by then people started moving in again.

This time people constructed houses and not huts,

farming landing was replaced by tall glass buildings,

roads were black not brown. There was a vast empty

ground around me and children used the place for

playing. The government claimed that they owned the

place. I was wondering how could someone own me?

But then neither could I ask nor question them. There

was development all around me. In the initial few yearsthere was hardly any bus crossing me during a day but

now buses flee every minute. Days started becoming

hot and the place started becoming congested. I could

hear people talking about airport, flights, ships and

all I could do was to wonder what they were and

how would they look? I would even wonder why

people went in groups into the tall glass building

and what they did there. The morning and evening

were called peak hours. Peak hours? – A time when

there was madness in people crossing the roads for

no reason. Too much crowd, No traffic discipline; the

entire place would be full of chaos. One thing that


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I could clearly distinguish was the behavioral pattern

of men and women, and their way of dressing hadchanged completely. I was thoroughly enjoying my life

looking at how a place could change from forest to a

metro city.

One fine day there was fleet of cars in the ground.

Men and women were neatly dressed. I was wondering

why they were wearing coats and ties when the sun wasat its scorching best. They measured the entire place;

included me as well in their measurements. Then one

guy said “Let’s sign the deal!!” and shook hands with

one and all. Children were asked not to stop play in

the grounds anymore. I heard people talking about an

IT Tech Park, what good it could do for them and the

place; they were all excited. Little did anyone think

about me, my love for this place and people!. It was a

hard pill for me to digest but again I did not have any

other option.

Last Few minutes:

The PWD authorities are here I may be cut down

anytime now. People have gathered in large numbersto see me cut. “Thank you” is a very small word to say

for everything this place and people have been to me.

The city has held me in its arms for more than 100

years now. I have admired its care when it gave me

some space. I have admired its love when it enjoyed

seeing me grow. I have admired its possessiveness when

it held me with it even in storm and heavy rains. I

have admired its patience; I have admired everything

about it. As I say this I can feel my heart grow heavy, I

can feel my heart melting for it. I have nothing to give

except my love. I’ll be dead. My place will be taken. I’ll

be shattered into pieces but my love for this city will

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never fade, my love for the people will never fade, my

memories will never fade. I wish I can tell them that Ilove this place and people a lot, and want to live here

forever. Maybe it is only me who loved them and the

other way was not true!

The axe has perished me, it is paining all over; I

shall close my eyes for one last time. I have yearned to

kiss this place once since the moment I fell in love withit but I have never been able to bend down and kiss.

Now that I am cut and lying down; I take a moment

before I die to kiss my love. “I love you my dear…”

When I meet God I shall ask him to help people

realize that cutting me down will only give them

monetary benefits but do a lot of harm to themselves.

The next generation kids may never get to see me, lot

of birds will go homeless, drastic climatic changes and

the count goes on but above all this what wrong did I

do to be killed? Even I deserved to live and be with my

love all life!

“There was a BIG tree there but NOT ANYMORE”


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2

Amarnath and the Client VisitBy Sudarsan S

The client visit had been scheduled for Thursday. Just

one day to go. Patterson would be visiting the campus

after four years. Amarnath, Project Manager, was strungmore tightly than Eric Clapton’s guitar. If only someone

could pluck him to check. Not that it was recommended

considering his irritability on account of two sleepless

nights to ensure that Patterson went back favourably

impressed.

Amar had imposed himself on each task, not unlike

a drunk stand-up comic in a seedy bar - making a

fool of himself and annoying everyone else, the only

difference being that the comic got paid for his act. The

word on the floor was that the only thing he didn’t do

was clean the toilets himself. To be fair, he pulled all

the stops (and the flushes) to confirm that the highest

level of quality was met.Twenty-four hours to go and everything seemed

perfect. Amar had so riled all the support groups in the

company in orchestrating this visit that fumes came out

of their ears at the very mention of his name. Yet, to

Amar, something seemed missing. What was it?



Every item on his checklist was cleared. The only

place left was outdoors. At the stroke of sunset, whenmost of the junior staff started trotting towards the

company buses, Amarnath decided to take a walk

around the campus. He watched from his third-floor

window as the teeming worker ants in pants headed

towards the parking lot for their bus. It was much more

peaceful outside without people.The concrete pathway had been swept clean of dry

leaves. The manual labourers working on phase 3 of the

campus had been asked to take the next day off so that

Patterson was not offended by the sight of them. The

huge 12-foot high asbestos planks that kept the Phase 3

development shielded were removed on request as they

were deemed unsightly. Wide open was the vast area

under development. A lone security person patrolled the

periphery to prevent unauthorised entry.

Good job, Amarnath hummed to himself, immensely

pleased at his dedication to detail. I guess it was

just a mental thing, thought Amar, of the ‘something

seemed missing’ thought. Then, it struck him. Near hisbuilding, on the lawn of Korean grass was a name

plaque that said, Arecanut Palm, Planted by Craig

Patterson, VP, C and S Financial Services, 2007 . No, the

plaque was not referring to itself but to a sapling that

the aforementioned honourable gentleman had planted

during his last visit. Much had changed since then, but

instead of a four-year old plant/tree, there was nothing

more than some blades of grass.

“Narendra,” the voice hit the ceiling of his mouth,

when Amar realised that Narendra was nowhere within

earshot and he frantically scrolled down his mobile’s

call log to report the missing tree.

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“Naren, the tree is missing,” shouted Amarnath

when he had Narendra on the line.“Who is this?” the voice shouted back.

“Amarnath,”

“Oh, Amar, I am driving and I didn’t see your name

on my mobile. Tell me what.”

“The tree is missing.”

Narendranath Dutta chuckled. “I am sorry. Formissing items, you need to log a ticket in the ‘Lost

and Found’ section of the ServeAll application. There is

nothing much we can do about your missing tea.”

“No, no, Naren, not my tea, my tree is missing.”

“Hold on, this is getting interesting. Let me stop the

car and talk to you.” There was a brief pause during

which heavy honking was heard, which Amar attributed

to Naren’s sudden swerve from his lane to the mud

track to slow down and stop his car.

“Yes, Amar, I am back. You said your tree was

missing. You mean you had a personal tree in our

campus?” It was evident from the deliberate pauses

that the Administration Head was holding back fits of laughter.

“Damn it, Naren. It was not my tree. The sapling

planted by the client four years back is not there and

he is visiting tomorrow. If it is not there, what will he

think about us?”

“That InfoPro is good at delivering software, but bad

at growing trees.” Narendra was chortling.

“Naren, let’s get serious. The customer comes

tomorrow, he sees that there is a plaque bearing his

name and that of the tree he planted, but no tree, he

will be livid.”

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“Remove the plaque, then. Amar, you may know

that it is easier to milk a male cat than grow a four- year-old tree overnight.” Narendra was known for his

colourful metaphors and witticisms, but Amarnath was

in no mood to enjoy them.

“You may go and milk your cat if you want, but

I want a four-year-old nut tree at that very spot by

11:00 AM. Tell me you can’t do it and I will take thisup through the necessary channels. There was once a

customer to our competitor who wanted to go on an

elephant ride. Our competitor made it possible – in

Mumbai, inside SEEPZ. This is our own campus, what

is the problem?”

“Ah, the good old threat of escalation, Amar? I will

do it this time, not for fear of escalation, but because

it gives good comedy fodder for me and my team

in the Admin department. Trust me, I am sure my

grandchildren will be talking about your tree, 40 years

from now. Hang up now and don’t call me again unless

you don’t see the tree by 9:00 AM. By the way, Amar,

one last question before I hang up.”“Yes?” Amarnath asked suspiciously. Narendra was

famous for his ‘one last question’ during the quarterly

town halls and woe be unto him or her to whom the

question was addressed.

“For the past four years, you didn’t care about the

tree. But, all of a sudden, you want it when the client

comes calling.”

“What is your question, Naren?”

“Is that how you develop your software? Think

about it till I call you back.” Click.

Amarnath grit his teeth and drew in a sharp breath.

No, it was not how he developed software, he had


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wanted to shout back. But, Naren was right about

ignoring the tree.Narendra was the best there was. He had had

8000 square feet of office space tiled and carpeted to

perfection on the night before an inauguration. He was

known to work wonders and Amar could rest assured

that the tree would be there.

Back in the conference room to iron out the glitchesin the demo version of the new module, Amarnath

continued tweaking his presentation for the 15th time.

He meant to say so much in the journey so far with

this customer C and S Financial Services and the

relationship’s strengths, without droning on and on

about it, that he lost track of the versions of the

presentation he had created and each version looked

like one of its ancestors.

Amarnath let his tech leads leave at midnight. He

intended to go over his checklist again. He had already

sent a mail to all the team members to look their best,

not trawl through personal work, remove inappropriate

wallpapers from the work station and seem focussed on work unless called. And, no snacks or lunch at the work

desk.

At 6:00 AM on the D-Day, Amarnath reached home

to freshen up and get going for the client visit. His

mother was worried about her son staying up through

three nights, the father thought (as all fathers do) that

his son was an idiot and his brother asked why he was

carrying his laptop when he had no time to use it at

home.

At 9:00 AM, Amarnath was back at the parking lot.

He slowly ambled towards his building inspecting all

aspects en route. When he saw no signs of gardeners

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near his building, his heart sped. Has Narendra reneged

on his word? Amarnath tried sprinting to the site, buthauling himself and his laptop bag after years of inertia

wouldn’t permit that operation.

As he neared the building puffing, lo and behold, a

brand new 4-footer of a tree was standing in the place

where there was nothing the previous night. Need to

call Narendra and thank him.“Narendra, thanks.”

“Who is this?”

“Please let us not go over it again. Amarnath here…”

“Oh, Amar, you found your tree?”

“Just wanted to call and say ...”

“Don’t bother, Amar, just disconnect and turn

around.”

Amar did as he was bid and four metres from him

was Narendra with his mobile held in front at arm’s

length.

“Thanks.”

“No, no, Amar. Thanks to you, I have a great story

to tell my folks back home and a photo for proof.”“What? A photo?”

“What do you think I was doing with the mobile

held at arm’s length? Anyway, glad you like the tree.

Have a good day!”

“Hey!”

Narendra whizzed past to the next building leaving

Amarnath with no choice but to enter his own.

Everyone at their desks. Good. Offending wallpapers

removed. Good. High expectancy for the next hour and

more. Craig Patterson didn’t want to be picked up. His

hotel was dropping him off.


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