Winners or Losers: The Pursuit of Satisfaction

By Saurabh Takkar

There are two kinds of breeds in this worldone who always thinks about the problems, who keeps on crying and blaming the system for it. Then there is the second breed of people, who understand problems and find solutions rather than leaving it for someone else.

Welcome to Winners or Losers, a story of two friends Sam and Jassi, who were sitting idly after completing their MBA. They were idle out of their own choice. They didnt take jobs as they felt that doing nine-to-five jobs were not their cup of tea. They were waiting for some miracle to happen in their lives, but parents and peer pressure was mounting every day. Parental support was weaning away, and friends had starting taunting and laughing at them. An idle son at home is a curse for the parents, and parents could no longer tolerate their idleness.

Sam and Jassi were known as losers in their circle, and neighbors had started looking down on them. Neighbors had started advising rather than compelling their children to abhor their company. Out of compulsion, they accept a difficult challenge from the parents. Did they win or lose?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Dec 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482881936

Saurabh Takkar

Saurabh Takkar is from India. He was born on July 27, 1985, in Amritsar, Punjab. He completed his graduation in electronics and communication engineering in 2007. In his personal life, he lives with his adorable wife, who is a professional singer, and a 2.5-year-old boy. Professionally, he works with BW Maritime Singapore, as an information architect.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Saurabh Takkar.

ISBN:      Softcover        978-1-4828-8194-3

                eBook            978-1-4828-8193-6

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Contents

Prologue

Fraud 1 Fear

Fraud 2 Passion

Fraud 3 Greed

Epilogue

For my loving wife Kakshi

&

Adorable son Sambhav

Sometimes it’s the very people who no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine.

-Alan Turing

There are two kinds of breeds in this world, one who always thinks about the problems, keeps on cribbing and blame the system for it. Then there is the second breed of people who understand problems and find solutions rather than leaving it for someone else.

Welcome to "Winners or Losers", a story of two friends Sam and Jassi, who were sitting idle after completing their MBA. They were idle out of their own choice, didn’t take jobs as they felt that doing Nine to Five job was not their cup of tea. They were waiting for some miracle to happen in their life but parents and peers pressure was mounting every day. Parental support was weaning away and friends had starting taunting and laughing at them. An idle son at home is a curse for the parents and parents could no longer tolerate their idleness. Sam and Jassi were known as loser in their circle and neighbours had started looking down upon them. Neighbours had started advising rather compelling their children to abhor their company. Out of compulsion they accept a difficult challenge from the parents. Did they win or lose!!!

Prologue

The press council was called at 1800 hours in the fountain area of Sector 17, Chandigarh and reporters from all the major newspapers and TV Channels were invited. Soft drinks and snacks were lavishly served and the reporters were having a gala time. The agenda of the conference was kept as a secret and guessing game was at its peak.

It could be a new singer or a launch of a new political party as elections are nearing. The sacred land of Punjab was once best known for freedom fighters, soldiers and Olympians but was now producing singers, musician or mostly corrupt politicians. Punjabi music is at its zenith as a Punjabi tune was a must for a hit Hindi film but politics was at is nadir. It was no longer a shining star of Indian sports or the producer of high quality grains.

One lady reporter was complaining; why they organise press conferences on Saturdays, that too in the evenings, I wanted to do some shopping for a wedding. And the worst part, they called for this press conference at Sector-17, the shopper’s paradise. Sometimes, I hate my job and pity myself for joining this profession. This was a noble way to pass time before the commencement of a press conference. It was a bit of gossip; a bit of knowledge; more of complaints and cribs.

It was 6:15 PM; two young boys came and stood beside the mike. Both of them were in their mid-twenties. Sam and Jassi! They started whispering to each other.

Sam and Jassi come to the stage and they looked little nervous. There was a bit shy and awe as almost everyone cried, Sam and Jassi!!! After all everyone in the city beautiful was talking about them.

Sam took to the mike and addressed the press, "Hello friends a very good evening from Sam (Samrendra Pratap Singh) and my friend Jassi (Jaswinder Singh Khurana) and I thank all the member of the print and mass media for taking out time and be here on a Saturday evening.

We were little nervous as we were addressing the press for the first time and knew that the reporter will tear us apart immediately after the announcement. We still had time to keep quiet and enjoy the fruits of our labour but decision had been made. Jassi was profusely sweating and his lips were dry. He was unable to speak and asked me to continue. I smiled after looking towards him and it was enough for Jassi to regain his composure.

I started addressing the press again, "You know our background; we have done MBA in Finance & Marketing from Chandigarh University and our life has been like a joy ride during last few months. We feel that honeymoon is over and we are here to make a confession.

The reporters looked at us totally stunned. There was pin drop silence in the gathering. The statement was a shocker for them as we had earned a name for our self. We were the idols of the city and every family wanted to follow our footsteps.

I said, Don’t be surprised; yes, you heard it right. We have called you guys here, to make a confession and let the entire world know about deeds or say misdeeds. Our rise was like Phoenix and fall too has to be sharp. There is some goodness in it.

Reporters started raising questions, why, what? Is this a joke or something?

Jassi whispered in my ear, "I am scared to my skin bro; are you sure that we want to do it?

I held his hand and told him, we have to do this bro. If you are feeling scared, you may leave the stage, I won’t feel bad and will take entire blame.

Jassi, told me that he will never leave me but he was feeling nervous. Go ahead, don’t worry. Jassi was looking determined and the reporters were getting restless to break the story

I told them that I can see curiosity in your eyes and believe me guys you will get enough masala for your newspapers. And trust us, we are really thankful to the media, you guys have always helped us and we owe a lot to you. You will thank us for the jump in your circulation, ratings and TRPs.

Jassi had also gained in confidence by now and was comfortable.

We were no different than the most of the unemployed and unhappy youth of Punjab. We were sitting idle at home and were dreaming of striking big and changing the world.

But unfortunately our unemployment was by choice and lack of opportunity and bad- mad world of competition and compromise was not responsible for our destiny. We were university toppers and there was a line of offers but we refused to join the Nine – Five crowd. We thought; we were different and we have been proved right.

We didn’t want to become employees of a top brand or company) rather wanted to create employment for our brethren, who were falling prey to vested interests and well known vices. Our dreams were big but pockets were empty. Starting a business was next to impossible. Instead of raising money for running the business, we become burden on our parents. We sat idle at home and waited for the miracle to happen.

Our life was full of drama. Initially, our parents tried coaxing us to take up jobs. Then they tried to threaten us with dire consequence and reminded us about the dark future. Our mothers were always begging us with eyes full of tears to take a call but it had no effect on us and our ideas. A time came, when our friends including girls, who had been hoping to join the big league, started to give up on us. You will agree that you don’t want to lose your girl and it was a wakeup call for us.

But that was not the reason for us to take up the challenge to break into big league. You are aware that an idle son is a pain for the parents and six months is too long a time for them to wait. My father and Jassi’s mother called us and threw a challenge at us. You know Jassi’s Father is no more with us. Late Col JM Khurana, who attained martyrdom during the Kargil War in 1999, was a decorated soldier. He had earned a name for himself and was well known in the army circles. But it was my father who had made life difficult for us.

He asked us, Do you guys have any plans or have set any timelines to achieve something in life? I have never seen such hopeless people in my life; I am feeling sorry for you jokers but I won’t waste my time talking about job to you guys. It is because of fools like you that the sacred land of Punjab has reached a point of no returns. He could go on and on for hours without having any effect on us.

We were used to this type of statements and were not paying much attention. Jassi was quiet as usual; but I could not control myself. I told Dad that we have heard it before but we can’t let our creativity sacrificed for earning a few rupees. We have plans but don’t have resources to put them into practice. We are not after money; we are looking for something to satisfy our souls. If you are really concerned about us, then arrange Rupees fifty lakhs and we will prove our worth.

Have you guys done anything creative work thus far? Sitting on couch and day dreaming won’t make you creative; it is sign of lethargy and idleness. Dad was back to his old way.

Nowadays, earning money is not difficult. With smart work; we can earn it easily, but that’s not our goal. I told him.

That was perhaps the chance our parents were waiting for; our parents gave us six months to prove our worth and earn Rupees five lakhs. My dad provided a decent place for us to work. He also told us that failing to earn the given amount would imply that we were making castles in the air and we were hiding behind the facade of creativity.

We could not sit idle thereafter and have to take up jobs without creating any fuss, drama or hassles.

We gave it a thought and realised that it could be a trap. But it was too late. We accepted the challenge and my dad took it in writing from us.

To earn Rupees five lakhs in six months without any active job was a difficult proposition, we started thinking of some unusual ways, we even thought about stealing, robbing and even break in for the money. Borrowing or taking a loan was out of question as our other friends were not in a position to lend and banks had become wiser after default by Vijay Malaya and various other big bigs.

We had to do something and we decided to exploit three basic human weaknesses to make money.

And what were those. Someone questioned

Very Simple, Fear, Love and Greed, was my reply. In other words, we played with the emotions of the people to make money. In fact, we cheated simple, unsuspecting and