The Mangoman

By Rishabh Dubey

1. A man alone is a Sceptic Put him in a group and he becomes Gullible.

2. Poverty is power. If the poor are with you never let them go and never let them be rich.

3. If you see a shoe shinier than yours then lick it. This will bring more shine to your own shoe.

These three may very well be called the three laws of Politics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Mar 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482871951

Rishabh Dubey

Rishabh Dubey, known by his pen-name 'Kridious', is a young author, poet and musician hailing from the city of Lucknow, India. Dubey is credited with writing and publishing six books so far in diverse genres of Science Fiction, Poetry, Fantasy, Anthology and Literary Fiction. He published his first book, The Mangoman, at the age of 18. A natural tech aficionado, Dubey pursued Computer Sciences as a profession whilst exploring Science Fiction as his passion. He is currently residing in the city of Mumbai, India and working on sequels to his published books. Rishabh also began an initiative, called 'The Voices of Silence', to give a platform to young aspiring authors of India to showcase their work without any hindrances.Website/Weblog: kridious.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/rishabhkridiousInstagram: @kridiousTwitter: www.twitter.com/rishabhkridiousGoodreads: bit.ly/kridiousgoodreadsEmail ID: [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2016 by Rishabh Dubey.

ISBN:       Hardcover       978-1-4828-7197-5

                  Softcover         978-1-4828-7196-8

                   eBook             978-1-4828-7195-1

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Statutory Warning

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

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26

27

28

29

30

References

About the Author

Preface

T he impossible of Yesterday is the Science of Today. The Digital Media has unified and enlightened the world to an unimaginable extent. Even Modern Politics is monopolized on the power of digitization. But the age old classical methodologies of ‘Divide and Rule’ remain intact. Polarization has been the key to the task and venture of winning the people. Take a bunch of people and make them realize their specific pitiable conditions in contrast to some other segments of society, they will empathize and succumb to your leadership. The world is now at a stage where there is a need for a true leader, who preaches unification over division, who holds the virtue of service high above the sin of domination. We need that one Ideal Hero possessing the virtues of the comic Super Hero.

You make a poker face when you see a cat being saved from a tree by a superhero, don’t you? Let me ask you. What would you do if you were given the chance to gain the superpower of your choice for an hour? If I say that you can use it every day for an hour, then what? For how long would it drive an emergent stimulus to take a stand against the evil? For how long would it seem more predominant than meeting your partner, having a cup of coffee, eating a pizza, sleeping or hanging out with your friends. The adolescent mimic, the young braggart, the middle-aged avenger, the old anguished, which one would use it for some selfless good? Let’s witness and watch these questions being passively imposed upon one Oday (pronounced Udai).

Oday is the silver-spoon fed son of a corrupt politician. All he has so far witnessed and known in life is the wrong. When an old blind lady wants to cross the road but is unable to, Oday would be the last one to help her. In fact, Oday would overlook her existence altogether. Moreover, Oday would never be out on the road to see her attempt to cross the road. He would rather be inside an air conditioned velvet-interior car. One day, God decides to grant him with the very power mentioned above (for specific reasons). The very first thing which comes to your mind is I was a better choice than him. Apparently, anyone is a better choice than him. But is it so?

‘The Mangoman’ is a political satire, where the untoward and comical amalgamation of modern Indian politics with a superhero story, takes a critical turn. The hero with a common persona yet a special aura, only that hero can change the world. And the world is in a definite need of a prominent change. It needs a leader with only needs and no wants. Can Oday be the Leader? Can he become The Mangoman?

Acknowledgements

T his novel owes its conception and existence to my dear friend Srijan Dwivedi, who introduced the concept of ‘The Mangoman’ or the ‘Aam Aadmi’ to me over a mid-examination and midnight telephonic conversation. The concept, originally introduced by my friend as a gesture to divert our minds off the seriousness of Chemistry, was soon realized to be a matter of discussion that turned quite serious. We ended pledging and promising each other that a day shall come whence we would be giving concrete shape to this concept. Thus I dedicate this work to us and our ideology of ‘Think strange. Strange is New. New is Good.’

My inspiration towards writing has always been and will always be my father Mr. Triveni Prasad Dubey. Although it is rather impossible for me to even touch his level of excellence, for it can never witness a tantamount in all dimensions of space, yet I have always tried my best to live up to his expectations. He will always be the glacier of all the rivers and streams of thoughts that I know and perceive.

I am indebted to my mother Mrs. Rama Dubey for almost everything from my very existence to this very book. Her undying support is itself a testimony to the universality that it is, for because of her I am what I am and am going to be. Also, my ever innovative sister, Ms. Smriti Dubey, has always been the one who has actively and incessantly motivated me to write more.

I thank my real idol my elder brother Lt. Cdr. Saurabh Kumar Dubey who has been my noble guide, and intrinsic inspiration at every turn of my life and has always cared for me like a dedicated parent; and also my caring sister-in-law Mrs. Deergha Dubey who is the philanthropic guide I turn to whenever I am going through tough times.

Lastly, I am indebted to the intellectual minds whose innovative creations have been used to beautify the concept of the ‘Mangoman’; And also, the ironical state of affairs of Indian Politics which moved me to compile it under one heading.

All in all, this book couldn’t have been possible without any of you. So an explicit and candid whole-hearted thank you from me. I owe you all, something immensely greater than greatness. I owe you my salient thoughts and my profound dreams.

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Statutory Warning

The Chapters hence contain minor incidences of harsh language being used. They are not meant to offend the sentiments of the reader and have been placed just to enhance the credibility of the natural dialect. I do not seek to promote it in any way and am myself a preacher of Clean Speech. The characters are mere subjects of my imagination and not an object of my opinion. Please tune in fine and enjoy. Thank you.

Rishabh Dubey

1

"O day …. Oday…. ODAY… first the earthquake and now this…" came the dramatic whisper drenched in the symphony of a hopeful woe.

Oday (pronounced Udai) lay senseless on the leopard-tiled surface as Arjun tried to shake him up. Both of them were wearing yellow masks on their faces. There was absolutely no sign of movement on the part of Oday whose body harmonically oscillated in wiggles through Arjun’s pushes and pulls. Nevertheless, ironically, the greatest problem right then was not that Oday lay apparently dead… although the problem was intensely affected by that mishap.

Why is he not breathing? asked Shalini who was also wearing a yellow mask.

Shalini was Arjun’s girlfriend. Arjun was intimately associated with her. Only a female can reflect curiosity in a rhetoric. The usual interrogative sickened Arjun Don’t you say it…. Just don’t.

What else should I say then? Shalini remarked.

Okay… Darling… Neither your questions nor their answers are ANYHOW helping… Let’s at least take him to the hospital, Arjun murmured loudly through his clutched teeth.

Calm Down… They’re still here Shalini said And also… what do you think we’d say once we reach the hospital? ‘Look…. Our Fish Fainted’. Her ignorance seemingly added to the turbulence inside Arjun’s head "Merman1…. SHOW SOME RESPECT WOMAN. Probably some of the ignorance was adsorbed by Arjun who instantly slapped himself to sanity Aqua… yes…. Water… How Can I? Arghhhh… Get useful… Get some water you haggard woman."

Haggard…. Produce it yourself you bastard Shalini said in an irritated tone.

Girl… We have no time to discuss the righteousness of my posterity and conception… OR your beauty… And whom are you texting in this free time of yours? My friend is dying… or possibly even dead… get some water fast… my angel… my love… my Cleopatra, Arjun gratified.

It is Ria. Her father passed away. It is the thirteenth day of mourning. Everybody was sending their sympathies on the whatsapp group so I thought I should join. Although I do not like the girl, Shalini said.

Give me the bottle already, Arjun said in a desperate tone.

Here’s the last of it, came the gullible hand grasping the bottle.

Arjun splashed some on Oday’s face but nothing happened. Then he gained a certain degree of enlightenment and turned Oday’s head to show his neck. The neck, which might have surprised both the old as well as the new anthropologists. A large patch of nostril shaped grooves tightly held the skin. Something extra-terrestrial maybe. The holes opened up wide as soon as the water touched them. Oday regained his breath. His fin-shaped body structures protruded and retrieved back to toes and elbows and fingers.

YEAH…. HELL’S HEAVEN… BULL’S FUCKING EYE… MERMAN MY MAN Arjun’s exuberance surfaced.

Oday shouted in a furious tone Merman…. MERMAN…. NO MORE OF YOUR DEATH-MAGNET IDEAS. I would have punched you hard if I was not paralyzed.

Arjun got up and cleaned the dust off his pant.

Who’d have thought this day would come, eh? A Luhar against a Luhar and a Teja against a Teja… A battle on equal grounds huh? The rhetoric flowed sarcastically from Shalini’s mouth.

Yes… A Teja against two Tejas… Now who else would join the squad? My dad? Really… who’d have thought…? Never were there lies… There were just the wrong truths we ourselves chose… The reality was right there… Oday said as a heavy sound of a helicopter rotor started reverberating through the building.

That’s our return ticket… Your Butler’s here Shalini, Arjun shouted.

I hope he brought my vanity, Shalini remarked.

I hope he brought a sanitizer, Arjun followed.

Shalini’s Butler got down from the helicopter and aided Arjun in carrying Oday to the chopper. Oday was made to sit in a wheelchair inside the helicopter. Arjun connected a small plug hanging out of the chair to a small socket in the rear of Oday’s head. A man in a suit closely followed the copter staring down the eyes of Oday (who was wearing a mask revealing only his eyes). Oday stared back at him and remarked, You shall not survive the next t… Bro… Want some? Arjun interrupted waving an opened sack of McDonalds towards Oday. Dude I am having my mome…. WAAAIITTT… IS THAT A McCHICKEN CHEESE? Oday said drooling for a bite of the burger. Arjun helped Oday have a taste of the meal.

Chewing down the crispy edges of the burger analogically and somewhat technically as a modern bureaucrat does to a nation’s economic stronghold… he recalled how he did nothing better and worse still. His activated philanthropy, which was not so long ago dormant enough to be presumably negligible. The change was not so abrupt… Although it all sparked that very day. The day…. Oday recalled… Oday Luhar… the playboy spoiled brat of one of the most famous personalities in the state… the Chief Minister… Aditya Luhar.

I’m not that Oday anymore…, Oday said assuming a tense façade after chewing down the burger…. I’m just a nobody now… I am anybody…. I’m The Mangoman.

Not with that name again please…Let’s go already. Ananya must be waiting for us as such. Now let’s get back to our country, Arjun said.

2

O day Luhar was the eldest and only son and child of Aditya Luhar, the president of the ruling Ityadi Party and the Chief Minister of the greatest political centre of India, Uttar Pradesh. Aditya was known for his revered bloodline and political influence on other states as well. However, he was most famous for his generosity towards the younger generation. Not long ago had he started the student empowerment programme and had invested millions of rupees of the taxpayers to distribute laptops and smartphones to the students passing out of school. Never was there a first-hand witness… but reports were there that they had got laptops at the least. Although there was no guarantee that those laptops would get them into colleges and would pay their fees… but this was a good unpatented alternative to Aamir Khan’s ‘Aal Iz Well’. So good news for people who need laptops… you do not need money at all… You just need to have kids… Tadaaa… wait… What about the school fees? A HA…. I bet Mr. Luhar never thought of that. However, all was done in goodwill preserving the integrity of his family name. Mr. Luhar also promised on free education for Girls… but looking at the state of his state… he might have mistaken the word ‘education’ for ‘molestation’. But yes, everything was done in goodwill… so it does not matter… As such… Boys will be Boys. And why do we care? We are safe, right?

Oday was born on the 5th of September 1991. Although he had the minutest respect or even appreciation for any teacher. Nor any teacher had for him. Nevertheless, they behaved very nicely with him since he was buying them all. The only time teachers were rude with Oday were in class 10th and 12th because then the Board and not the teacher was the one at the receiver’s end. Politics in his veins had indeed made him a natural erratic businessman. Because of what he had seen during his childhood, Oday always thought that everything came with a price tag. And his righteousness meter was set aloof from what the average human records. Maybe because of his genetics. But mostly because he was conditioned to wrong so much that his mind’s framework could never accurately differentiate between right and wrong.

Except for the fact that he had millions of rupees of royalty money at his leisure disposal and had no interest at all in the human exploits, Oday was just like a normal boy in his early 20s. His lust for more had predefined his ventures, although his standards were too high. But just like any other guy his age, Oday could not escape the wrath and melancholy of love. The concept of love was monopolized completely on ‘choice’ for him. His uncle had once told him that ‘Man continues to fall in love… till the fall kills him’. But he had also always preached ‘Murphy’s Law2’ down Oday’s brain consistently. Therefore, relentlessly after many natural warnings of ‘break-ups’, Oday predominantly gave in to his erroneous perceptions of his uncle’s sayings, and went on a diligent scout for ‘the one’. This was one of the most prevalent of the few things that Oday ever did.

A doorknob turned, a door thrashed, and Oday rushed in to jump on the sofa beside Arjun to say one of the most non-startling things ever said by man She left me Man…

Arjun camouflaged his nonchalance, paused the PlayStation and turned to Oday to say the most common yet the most highly recommended phrase in this scenario Don’t you say…. That Bitch.

She left me man…. Now what will I do with myself man… And worst part…. She took EVERYTHING from me… Oday said as he wiped his tears.

Arjun thought, What did you ever give to a girl dude? Except for your virginity to Reena… which indeed you have taken back a gazillion times and then said, I never took Ashida for such a bitch.

Who Ashida? Oday asked negligently.

So not Ashida… then it must be that girl you met at the bar… Amaya.

I met Amaya at the Golf Course… and Sumedha at the bar… Oday said.

Then that girl you met at your dad’s party… wait that was Ashida Arjun said ambiguously.

Wait… Ashida was the one at the party… you’re right… she is a bitch, Oday said.

Then who’s the girl who dumped you?

Ohhh… Shalini Singh… can you imagine she left me because she saw me kissing Ashida… and then Ashida slapped me too… Now I recall that I met them both at the party… You know what… Them both are bitches, Oday said.

Shalini Teja Singh… the daughter of Rana Teja Singh the billionaire… and the sister of Kunwar Madhao Singh the Don… You left her?

Technically she dumped me… but I like the sound of that… and why are you giving me her resume… I already know that… her dad is a small investor for the Ityadi Party… Dad always tells me, Oday said as he started crying again.

Don’t worry man… I will try to contact her… I’ll try to fix it… she’d come back to you man… and this is a family matter too.

What do you mean come back? Should I dump Elena now?

Who’s Elena?

She’s my current girlfriend, Oday said.

This asshole, Arjun thought.

I’ll call her anyway… before things go turbulent, Arjun said as he walked out of the room with his phone. Oday wiped his tears, fidgeted and whistled for a while in search for some occupation… He then grabbed the PlayStation controller kept on the sofa and started playing.

Outside the room…. Arjun had been appeasing Shalini’s assistants to reach her directly. But they had not been very helpful. They completely acquiesced to the fact that Mr. Rehman (Arjun’s Alias) was calling to have a business-based conversation. The problem lied in the fact that they did not understand the relevance of their mistress Shalini on the other end of such a discussion. Arjun finally convinced them that this was regarding a surreptitious attempt of Shalini to impress her father and brother by making a brave and bold attempt at the Business Universe. So if they were not able to contain the stealth, then they might have very well given their resignations then. The passive threat alarmed the Assistants and they immediately reached for Shalini.

Madam… Mr. Rehman is calling regarding business…

Who Rehman? What Business?

What is she saying? thought one of the assistants… they both stared at each other and somewhat agreed through a gentle nod that this must be their mistresses’ forced indifference to maintaining the integrity of her covert plans.

It is for you Ma’am… we don’t know anything else…

Give it to me then, Shalini said as she grabbed hold of the phone.

Hullo! Who is it? Shalini asked.

Ma’am… I represent Mr. Oday Luhar… I heartedly apologize for any misunderstanding, said Arjun.

Misunderstanding? He kissed that bitch right after he bade goodbye to me, Shalini complained angrily.

No Madam, you get it all wrong. There is a mistake… She kissed Oday… he was reluctant on kissing anybody but you… And I really hope that this misperception might not lead to some trouble between the two families…. I mean professionally.

If you are vouching that much for him then I might just fade out those ideas… yes… but he really has to work to get me this time… tell him to meet me at my father’s Aliganj restaurant tomorrow at four in the evening…

Yes Ma’am… Affirmative, Arjun said as he hung up the phone.

Affir What? Anyway… I am going to need a new addition to my wardrobe… Shantiiii… inform him to ready the helicopter… I am leaving for Delhi ASAP… Shalini said as she kept her phone down.

Your father will need a reason miss…

Absence of Vuitton and Gucci from Lucknow is more than a big reason… Shalini said.

Arjun walked inside the room where he had left Oday, looking up the notifications on his phone Dude I got you another chance with her… Don’t screw up this time. Oday was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly Oday rose topless from behind the sofa That’s nice Man… I owe you one.

Yeah… don’t mention it… hey why are you topless?

A girl also rose from behind the sofa.

Hey … you are Ashida right…. Yeah… Arjun said.

Yeah… Hey…

So… What’s up? What brought you here?

Oday’s ignorant expression or what is commonly known as a poker face gave in the scenario to Arjun Ahhhhhh… now I understand… at least lock the front door man…

Thus, Arjun left the room Damn that bastard… that lucky bastard… and here I was starting to care about him and his family.

*     *     *

Inside a private chamber of the Shalini Intercontinental Luxury Restaurant sat Arjun with all of his nerves tending to leave his body… desperate to find the appropriate lie. Things could not have gone wrong with Shalini. Rana Teja Singh was the heir to the throne of the state Rajputana. His political influence was even greater than that of Aditya Luhar. But the real power was his Money. And it came from his business, which was expanded all over the country. From Textiles to Mining, from television to contraceptives, name anything, and the Shalini Corporation Ltd. had a tag on one of those. The Magnus Primus of these was his monopoly in monopoly… that is Casinos. Teja was a prevalent shareholder in almost all of the Casino outlets in the country. The easiest solution to convert black money to white is through casinos. Thus, his casinos formed the centre of all money laundering in the country, which further linked him to the country’s Mafia. His son Kunwar Madhao Singh controlled Teja’s foreign outposts. Rumour was that the son exceeded his father in influence on these Mafias. Mostly because he had like one foot in Dubai and the other in Japan. Overall, the family had money enough to buy a state for themselves… or better… Michael Jackson’s boots and gloves at the auction. And had enough power that with their help U.S.A. could have actually won a war after ‘imposing sanctions’. The Luhars needed them more than anything. Senior Luhar was soon going to make a move towards the Union Government. Without Teja’s help not only would that move would turn a drastic failure but also he would end up losing his control over his beloved U.P…

Who are you? came Shalini’s voice.

Arjun looked up to see the shining beautiful face, with glimmering hair, talking in front of him.

I’m …. I’m, Arjun stammered.

Let me tell you who you are… NOT Oday… this table is booked for us today…

I’m Arjun… his friend, Arjun stood up and said.

So where is he? I am ready for the apologizing and all, Shalini said.

"Yes… I heartedly