Mitron Dilliwala Read online

  MITRON DILLIWALA

  By

  Kamalakkannan Durairaju

  About the author

  A Storyteller who wishes to go around the world on his cycle. He was curious as a kid and he narrated his story at the age of 5. It was a fantasy about a clash between Plant and the Animal kingdom. That’s how it all began. He has managed to cycle 3200 kilometers across Tamilnadu in 22 days and 3300 kilometers across India. He is currently pushing his way into cinema as a screenwriter. If you are interested in listening to more of his stories, please let him know.

  Twitter https://twitter.com/kamal1haz

  This is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved to the author.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, at [email protected]

  Cover Design by Arun Shivam (Shivam_arun)

  Proofreading by Barath Sekar

  Acknowledgement

  It would be difficult to build a story into a book, without assistance. I would like to specially thank a few people who took this journey with me and helped me get it right.

  Director P. Arumuga Kumar – For encouraging me to write and teaching me to visualize the stories. “Mitron Dilliwala” is one of those visualizations.

  Director Delhi Prasad - For listening to numerous stories and supporting me through this journey.

  Director Balaji Tharaneetharan – For the great advice: “Everybody has a voice, a style, find it out and stick to your strengths. Do not be someone else”

  Kannan Anna – For being the support and strength when I wanted to give up.

  Kavitha Sakkaravarthy – The first author in our family. You inspired me to write and keep doing it, in-spite of any hurdles faced.

  Arunmozhi Rajavel – For being my go-to person. He took it upon himself to edit, discuss and guide me every step of the way. I can never think the way he does and eagerly wait for his work to be published.

  Himanshu Sekar – A true traveler. His poems and philosophy are a delight to listen.

  Dakshi - For his encouraging post: “Inspire us with more stories. Take us to different worlds.”.

  Aarthi Sivakumar – For the great advice: “A story cannot be anything if there are no emotions”. I will try my best and keep learning.

  Barath Sekar – For being “The Organizer”. He is good at everything he does and has been the first pillar where my crazy ideas are tested on. I am eagerly waiting for your first novel to hit the shelves.

  Ritika Raj – The extremist, when it comes to good and bad ideas.

  Vignesh, Anusha, Karthi, Bala, Durga, Sakthi and Padma – For patiently listening to all my stories. I wouldn’t be here, if not for you guys.

  Jayakumar aka Thalaivar and Manavalan - Jaikumar always had this question “Toppers from our school have settled in their respective jobs and lives, When will get there?” We have boarded a 11 numbered bus. It takes it’s own time. But we will get there.

  Lakshmi Elangovan – For being kind and listening to my stories with kid-like wonder.

  Manikandan – For being a great support: “You may be right, you may be wrong, keep working, and most importantly keep learning.”

  Anil Alur – For teaching me a ton when we worked together in Gomowgli, Mysore.

  Parthiban Madeswaran – For being a cool listener. According to him, “When it’s right, it’s right!”

  Sabrina John – For being a kind-hearted critic and a great proofreader.

  Arun Shivam – For designing this awesome cover and promotional posters. He is a curious kid who can elevate a tiny idea to an awesome level.

  And a warm-hearted thank you to everyone else, who said a kind word, gave an encouraging smile or just listened.

  And most of all, thank you my dear readers for making us authors.

  Please feel free to share your opinion on author’s twitter handle

  Chapter 1

  Delhi

  Mayur Vihar, Present day Delhi

  “Good morning, wake up” Its time. It was a girl”s voice.

  Kumar rubbed his eyes and checked his watch, it was 9.

  He realized it was late and he had to rush to reach India Bhavan, close to the parliament. Nalini Kaur and Grace Evangeline were standing there.

  He did not know how they invaded his room.

  Walking out towards the window, he was not sure whether the girls played a ruse on him by altering the time in all devices. It was kind of 6 o clock dark

  “Why is it so foggy at this time of the day?”

  “I thought Delhi bid Adieu to the Smog.” Kumar was still glancing at the fog through the hotel windows.

  He was expecting an answer from either of the girls

  “Where”s Ayyapa?” he asked Nalini.

  Grace laughed, Nalini smirked too and then he realized it.

  He was locked up in the washroom.

  “Punishment for his excessive flirting”, said Grace

  Ayyapa was shouting from the washroom to release the lock, Kumar tried to by-pass the girls but they blocked his path.

  Nalini said, “Promise us that you won”t flirt and get us into any trouble”

  Ayyapa”s voice was deep, “No. I can”t”

  Then stay there till you learn to say yes, said Evangeline

  “Kumar, buddy. Dei...” said Ayyapa

  “No. He won”t” said Nalini

  Behind them the sounds of the city grew higher, the buses, cars and people.

  Nalini, Grace and Kumar pretended to walk out and Ayyapa started worrying that they might leave him unattended.

  He started banging the door and he shouted, “I won”t. I won”t”

  He pleaded, “It”s a Mallu thing to flirt but I will try my best”

  There were several continuous bangs on the door and after a while, he gave up.

  5 Minutes later, Ayyapa heard the sound the latch being pushed. By this time, he was resting himself in a crouched position on the door and he fell at an awkward angle.

  The hall was filled with laughs.

  To save his momentary pride he stood up and pretended as if nothing had happened to him.

  The girls walked out saying, “Will be waiting for you at the lobby, be there”

  “You never told me how you entered the room” asked Kumar

  Ayyapa stared at Kumar for a long time for the debacle that .

  Kumar wanted to say something but he chose to use a long pause

  Dressed in a navy blue shirt and white trousers, the boys made it to the Lakshmi Nagar metro

  The girls donned a similar overcoat in navy blue and a white bottom that were close to Patiala.

  “This is my mom”s favorite. She would be happy to watch me in this.”, Nalini said

  Oh! They are coming, right asked Grace.

  They will. They are heading to an ancestral village in Mehratpur to pay homage to our ancestors. For some reason I have been not able to reach them.

  The fog has dissipated a bit now and Kumar was able to see the Air Quality Index LED above them, the display showed 450.

  By the time, the boys made it to the lobby, an Uber taxi was waiting for them.

  Kumar threw a glance at Grace, she was
the one who does this often.

  “We could have walked”, “the nearest metro is 20 minutes by walk”, Kumar said.

  Ayyapa wrapped his hands around Kumar”s neck and pushed him into the Taxi.

  “He is waiting for OTP” Kumar said

  “Uber doesn”t ask for OTP,Sir” The taxi driver seemed rustic but his English accent was impeccable.

  Taxi”s radio was on. Blue FM was on air.

  “Is this even true, Delhi”s Chief Minister Bipul Sharma has gone to Amarnath temple to thank the Gods for providing Delhi with breathable air.

  Is it coincidence that he is visiting the temple and

  Did you notice, AQI has improved in the last two days, pollutions levels it has dropped 50%, it seems that our CM”s gamble to release a strain of bacteria has worked??”

  RJ over the taxi radio said.

  They got down from the taxi and crossed to the other side of the metro.

  A group of people that had foreigners led by an Indian dressed in orange T-shirt were cycling past them.

  Kumar stopped while his gang crossed the road.

  The cyclists stopped and let him pass. The Indian guy leading them waved his hand at Kumar.

  The train arrived and four of them got in.

  Almost the compartment was filled with boys and girls in their school uniforms, Ayyapa immediately transfixed his eyes at a girl in the orange-colored top.

  All of their ages were between 16-18 and this gang was no exception.

  Led by Kumar, their team was one of the front runners for the “Indian Orators Championship” and they were expected to be the frontrunners in this edition.

  Grace peered at him enough to make him feel disturbed but it didn”t work out, he was trained enough to ignore her Sauron gaze.

  Nalini and Kumar were having a conversation, she leaned towards them

  “Those guys I bet are going to save the planet”, Kumar said

  “Delhi by cycle guys”,

  “If only everybody cared to cycle a bit daily, our nation would be healthy and people would be healthy too”

  “I can understand cycling makes people healthy But where does the nation”s health come into the picture”, asked Grace

  “Good question”

  “That”s going to be long but I will try to keep it short”, he answered

  “In a city like Delhi and suburbs, On an average 4 million vehicles, say 4.5 million vehicles ply the road, so if a dedicated cycle lane is laid, people who are willing to take it, at least a million (not immediately, don”t look at me like that) will stop burning fossil fuels and as heavy import bills to buy, ship and refine fuel. Over time, with reduced consumption, expect inflation to go down, the first of which will be food prices.”

  “But if we stop using vehicles won”t it affect the economy over time, hypothetically speaking?” Nalini popped in

  “Yes but no”

  “If people adapt to using cycles, pollution will reduce by 20% henceforth which more people will take up cycling, remember government coughs up 36,000 crores on healthcare every year, it”s a a chain reaction that goes on and on

  Nordic countries like Denmark and Netherland are a living example, cycles rule the road”, he completed

  “Are you saying that public transport too should be avoided?” It was Grace.

  “No. Private vehicles are serial killers and public transport like a petty thief when it comes to pollution.”

  “Interesting!”

  The announcer said, “Rajiv Chowk”

  “Time to change lanes”, said Ayyapa

  They had to shift to the yellow line Metro and board a train that will take them to “Central Secretariat”

  Grace was surprised to see that by this time the girl was intently searching for Ayyapa.

  He hid behind Nalini while they walked towards the yellow line and got into the train.

  It started.

  Grace started chasing him within the train through the compartments shouting “You promised”

  The train reached the station and almost the entire train got empty.

  Once out from the metro everybody put on a mask and continued with their journey. Wondering at the number of people flocking towards the secretariat, Nalini glanced at Kumar and said

  “If people were comfortable with the rolling wood they invented, we would have never progressed further beyond that”, Nalini was expecting an answer

  “So”

  “So we need a balance between progress, needs, usage, its impact and ways to predict its future, unlike the gloomy doomy situation in which earth is being rendered inhabitable.

  Before it”s too late”, Nalini completed

  “Hopefully”, he said

  Ayyapa and Grace were nowhere to be seen amid the crowd, since Kumar was taller he was able to spot them.

  Kumar raised his hands and waved at them.

  Grace saw Kumar and pointed to him that she”ll wait at the gate towards Secretariat.

  Nalini broke into a laugh as she saw Grace holding Ayyapa by his ears.

  He tried to get out of her grasp, he wiggled and shouted.

  “I told you that”s a Mallu thing”

  Grace retorted “This is a sister thing”.

  The secretariat loomed in front of them.

  Rubbing his years to enable blood flow, Ayyapa said

  “Isn”t this a bit too flashy for an All India Oratory championship?” as they crossed the massive 50-foot arch made of vegetables from all across India

  Chapter 2

  Hebbal, Bangalore, India

  8o” clock

  Unlike the uneasy traffic on a weekday, Bangalore is easy on its commuters on Sundays. And that too only till evening. Those who have gone out of the city shall return back to haunt with horn sounds and abuses in all Indian languages for those who miss the deadline to be back.

  In a quiet corner of Hebbal, a meet-up was happening.

  “We have to live by ourselves, not for ourselves”, pointing out to his terrace garden that had vines and creepers hanging onto the sticks, tomatoes, and eggplants filled the floor space. There was an ethereal glow, thanks to the greenery all around. The upper half of the terrace had a tent from which creepers like Bitter gourd, ridge gourd, bottle gourds and little gourd were drooping down, while the corners were filled with flowers that could easily decorate a rich Indian wedding.

  The crowd consisted of kids, their parents and a bunch of youngsters who showed signs of being brought unwillingly. But as the session went on, they were enamored by the colors and of course, the food provided.

  “Do you use manure?”, a man in his 40”s questioned.

  “Yes. But no chemical fertilizers. I use a combination of “Panchagavya” made from Cow dung, urine, milk, ghee. It”s basically a mixture of 5 things propagated by veteran Subash Palekar.”

  “Plants can”t fix Nitrogen by themselves, that”s why nitrogen fertilizers are used”, a lady with her baby tied to her baby sling informed.

  “Yes, in our terrace garden we are using a symbiotic relationship between species.”, pointing out small patches of molds that surrounded the vegetable plants.

  “That”s….Alfalfa..!!”, she recollected the name of it.

  “Not just Alfalfa, there”s Hesaru Belle” (Moong Dal in Kannada).” These provide an environment for a species to thrive. Tenants will come in and they will support the plants by fixing Nitrogen for them”.

  “Who are the tenants?”, asked the lady.

  “Azetobacterium, Proteobacteria and co.” Hasan was visibly excited.

  The audience were still figuring out how it worked.

  “The drinks and food that you had were all cultivated here, right here, on our garden.

  It”s been four years since I went to the market. There were occasional buys for my children, like Paneer and Ice creams.”

  Ayesha was standing there, she had a phone in her hand, and it was ringing continuously.

  Disturbed by the continuous r
inging of the phone, Hasan had to stop and introduce her.

  “She is my wife, Ayesha”, She greeted everyone and showed him the phone.

  He signaled her to keep it but she said, “There”s already Ten missed calls.”

  “Wait, I”ll come..”, he said. The tour was nearing its end. He took all of them to his backyard and showed them around. One of the kids refused to walk beyond the septic tank as its lid was partially covered. His mother”s persuasion to get him to the other side didn”t work.

  Watching this, Hasan said, “I know it”s open, but there won”t be any smell.”

  The kid refused at first but somehow, he decided to give it a try. There was a no putrid smell from the tank. Hasan said, “There are anaerobic bacteria which happily considers these human remains as food. In fact, the water can be used for drinking, but you will have to filter it and boil it. Now it”s fed to the herbal plants lining my garden.”

  There were bamboo shoots sprouting cheerfully. Ayesha was standing there with the phone.

  “But it”s Sunday..”, sighed Hasan.

  “But they are trying to reach you. Maybe there is something far too important”, she replied..

  “That”s it people.. We have come to the end of the tour. Hope you learnt something.

  Do implement it and you can always reach me.

  I have this dream to see Bangalore living on itself.”

  “Hasan Rameez, Thank you”, people expressed their gratitude.

  The lady with the baby sling walked towards him and said, “You are a geneticist by profession but yet you are bent on spreading organic awareness.”