Super Commando Dhruv !!

Now this one is from the time............ when consumerism was not quite as rampant as it was today.

Met D yesterday, poor guy is pulling off 18 hrs a day and has friends (sorry acquaintances!!), across globe. Bugger starts at Japanese standard time (Good Morning san!) and ends after bidding “Good night mate”, to his American colleagues............... while living in India.

I suddenly felt a little blessed................ am not that burdened.

He had incidentally bought a new mahogany bookshelf, and I was staring at the books lines neatly across rows. Seeing me stare he indicated, that a box above needed some help moving with and my length could be appreciated.

The boxes it seems were a minimum of 4 years old. I had plenty of experience moving stuff, and immediately tore the brown tape.

I was greeted with the sight of a super commando Dhruv comic book. I radically revised my estimate of the time frame of the boxes.

D shrugs sheepishly.

“My friends, I popped it in before moving the boxes out”, he says.

He took the dog eared books, and turned the pages, absently, saying” You know I used to rent these comics at a princely amount of Rs 2 per week and a deposit of 10 bucks”

“That is about the cost of 1 tea now”, I rounded off with a smile.

“This guy now is in States, he would be happy to hear about his Dhruv books”, he says flipping the pages.

Tring!! D’s phone rang, and I am not kidding here, it was the guy from states.

D dunks off all preliminaries and says” Super commando Dhruv, at your service", then there is laughter.

D walks out to the balcony to take the call.

It was a good forty minutes later he walks in all beaming” You know this seems to be the substance of your next blog entry”.

"Shoot away", I said looking for some munchies while I listened to his tale.

So................here it goes.

This guy is one of the rags to riches kind of story. He has a sister, and both of them are high performers.

For some funny reason this comic book sparked off an incident of a birthday party.Apparently this book was a bribe by his sister to him, when he was about 70% of his current stature physically and otherwise.

The reason for this bribe was a birthday party. A party that was of his sister’s best friend and ...........................pre teenage girls do not really like boisterous pre teenage boys at the occasion of a dainty party.

Consider it the kid’s equivalent of a girls pajama party.

“Yes, tell me about it”, I added wryly.

Now at the time of bribe my friend happily conceded. However he did not factor in the increasing utility of time on ..................a forbidden event or .....................the decreasing utility of the comic book with time

.

Now the day before the event, this guy stealthily drops in word to his mother about the impending birthday party and his desire to go with his sister.

Seems, that this information was a surprise to mom as well. Apparently dear sister was waiting to announce at the last minute.

It is just a birthday party!! , I interjected

Remember they are not financially well off, and in their culture, show off is rampant. The birthday was by a family which banked a little bit too much on ostentation and that was evident from the place of this event.

Now his mother was kind of unhappy with her daughter’s secretive ways. However, she conceded to the participation of her daughter in the celebration of birth canal expulsion event. In a mother’s way of getting revenge at the purported defiance of her daughter, she insisted that she take her brother.

Raves,rants and mean looks at her brother accompanied this dikat of her mother.

Mother however was firm, either both go or nobody.

Realizing the futility of arguing against discipline, sister dear agrees. However she stipulates the following,

“No fighting, no stealing balloons, and ……..”, waggling a mean finger she says …. “No gorging at the party”.

“You will say “no thanks” three times before accepting anything be it a gift or food”.

Mother dear agrees…………. brother looks victorious………… sister a bit morose

.

D-day dawns.

2 kids are dropped at the happening place. Sister dear, goes hysterical at the sight of her friends, however manages a mean look at her brother before going to join them.

“Remember, say no, thank you three times, for anything you are offered”

Brother nods, slightly intimidated.

Well cut to the chase. 

Poor brother here has a humongous appetite, and it is not everyday ................he can hog on exotics like cakes pastries, samosas.

Sitting morosely in the corner allotted sternly to him by his sister, he looked wistfully at the trays of food being passed around; hoping some soon comes his way.

His prayers were answered, as on girl (he told me it was the elder sister of the birthday girl), recognized him and came towards him with a tray of all exotics.

“Do you want to have something”, the sweet query.

Chubby hands itched, to grab out the delicacies. 

However the “no thank you” drill of his sister came to his mind. He was scared of his sister, but he loved food, ................what if the food was taken away after he said “no thank you” twice?

In a fix, he sought a logical way out, and his investment baking brain, in its formative stages, came to aid.

Eyes shining, Chubby says” no thank you, no thank you, no thank you”, in a speedy sing song way and then quickly takes some stuff.

The elder sister was surprised at this outburst and burst out laughing.She did suspect something was amiss so she left the tray at the nearby table, (much to the brother’s delight) and found his sister.

Now sister dear, happened to glance at her brother hogging, and gave him a dirty look. Seeing someone approach her…………added filth……..to dirtiness.

Chubby brother was mollified.

Sister dear hears the recount and without warning bursts into laughter!

Seeing the smile, brother dear decides all is well and munches on.

Indeed , it is funny what Super Commando Dhruv can bring about !