Ravi – The Rebel 6.0

This is the sixth part of the series: The Goregaon Girl. If you haven’t read the first four parts, please start here and follow the link at the end of every part.

With the person’s touch on his hunched shoulders, Karthik experienced a dreaded feeling. Fear choked him so deep, making his mouth dry, leading him to a state of pursed lips for a few seconds. He turned around. It was the man who gave him the book. He heaved a sigh of relief. The man asked Karthik with all assertive response,

“Do you want masala vadas? It’s Guntakal’s famous savory.”

Looking at the oil-drenched soft masala vadas with evident perfectly fried tangible finely chopped onions, green chillies, and baby chickpeas (chana dal), Karthik did feel like having them. However, the book was literally calling for his attention. A weird desire to finish the book. As if the book was destined to be in Karthik’s hands for some greater good reason. Something was waiting. He guessed it did.

Respectfully nodded, Karthik rejected the man’s offer and said thank you.

The Invisible Community
Rajendran K

Rajendran continued in his book…

Ravi: The Rebel

We all are a little revolutionary. It has always been in our blood. Battling for our independence, our basic rights, right to education, right to equality and what not. To rebel against something that we desire. To bring change – amidst out family, friends, community, etc.

One such kind of rebels was Ravi. A 30-year-old, 5’11” tall, stout, and broad shoulders with a stroking dense moustache twirled at the end. With a debonair personality and born as the only son in the family of a freedom fighter, he owned a wholesale distribution business named “RR Traders” for essential services – including cereals, fruits, and vegetables.

Ravi contributed a major part of his life selflessly helping the under privileged people with food. This primarily led him to be a centre stage for most of the revolts. These included protecting the homes of the poor from being demolished by some private real-estate builders. Technically, he did not share a very positive relationship with the real-estate builders and state government.

Recently, Ravi was introduced by one of his friends, a politician, to grow his wholesale business. The objective was to provide basic necessities of packed food, essentials to the hotels, hostels and nearby residential areas. The business deal was signed by the government and his company for a year worth Rs. 20 lakhs.

Ravi was on cloud nine when he shared this success with his wife Ramya and his five-year-old kid. They planned to enjoy the occasion by having dinner in a restaurant. And in the following week, consignments started flowing in like a river. He became super busy delivering orders to different areas of Rameswaram. The business was skyrocketing, reaching every nook and corner of the town.

One fine afternoon when most of the deliveries were rolling on the streets of the town to reach the destination, Ravi receives a call from a hostel about the requirement of a month’s essentials for over 100 people. Looking at the sheer volume of the request, he paused and asked,

“Can you repeat the order volume?”

“For 100 people”, the voice reverberated like a long resounding gong on Ravi’s ears.

Ravi’s eyeballs popped hearing the order volume. He quickly noted the details of the address and reached the destination with some sample deliveries. After reaching the destination, he found the place uncanny. It looked like a mansion. An archaic place from the outside, where he was skeptical if 100 people stayed in such a place. As he scrutinized the place further, he found CCTV cameras installed on the outside and a wireless voice intercom doorbell.

Looking at the technology wonders, he smirked and imagined of raising the quote of the orders and book more profit. Standing in front of the gigantic door, he rang the bell. The door opened automatically, and Ravi saw a woman at the reception area in her mid-20s.

She flicked her long black shining hair back that streamed out in the wind. Looking at her beauty, his mouth tightened into a thin line. A train of thoughts slipped away into the stream of the gust. As she turned around, the sun hit her beautiful green eyes, that seemingly would melt into oceans and drown someone.

Ravi’s eyes betrayed what his lips had to say after gazing her for a few seconds. The board inside said, “Welcome to the Invisible Community”. However, Ravi mustered the strength to introduce,

“Hi, I’m Ravi, owner of RR Traders. And I have come to have a conversation with Naveen. He had requested for a huge order today and show him the samples and discuss the details with him.”

The lady quickly responded,

“Naveen has left the community for another meeting and would not be available. He wanted you to leave the samples and take the advance payment for the whole order. Is there any message that I can take?”

Ravi was amazed by the magnanimous actions of Naveen. He pointed at the truck to indicate he will bring the samples and get it inside.

No sooner Ravi brought the samples of packaged foods, cereals and fruits, the lady had already made the cheque on the name of Ravi.

Ravi holds the cheque with both hands and places it on his eyes and forehead, treating the money as a sign of respect. He flashed a smile and thanks the lady at the reception. She smiles him back and shows the way to the exit.

However, Ravi turns around to ask, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t get your name.”

The receptionist answers,

” Oh, apologies. I missed out in the event of time. I’m Maya”, she gives a poker-faced smile.

Karthik’s mouth go wide open on reading Maya’s name. With a parade of emotions from the mind’s theatre, his mind begins to race in a million directions.

Next Part Soon!