Scattered Fates - Ram Garikipati (series like harry potter .txt) 📗

already did on the way from the airport,’ she reminded.

‘Hey, still upset? I told you I am touchy about my father.’

‘No, not that. It is just that I am really confused and in a new country. English is not my mother tongue, and you always misunderstand what I say. I am very stressed translating everything from Corean in my head before speaking. I hope you control your temper.’

‘I will try,’ Naga promised, walking towards his vibrating mobile phone that was being charged near the music system.

He looked at it and almost froze.

Shit. Big boss.

‘Who is it?’ Maya asked.

Putting a finger to his lips, he stammered: ‘Good morning sir… yes sir, I read the Deccan Herald and Island articles. I had the same document with me, but it is not genuine. A planted story sir, just to shake the markets… OK sir… I will try. I am on leave for a week, but will work on that angle from home… I have a guest from Corea… family friend… OK sir.’

‘Your boss?’ Maya guessed, as he put the phone in the holder.

‘Yes, my editor, he always calls up if I miss a story that appears in the rival newspapers. It was about some front-page articles that appeared in Deccan Herald and The Island. Corporate rivalry. I did not want to fall into their trap, and he understood.’

‘You report directly to your editor?’

‘No, actually I have to report to my bureau chief, but the editor has a personal interest in my stories. You see, his family group owns my newspaper, and is bidding for 3G mobile licenses later this year. Our rival newspapers carried a story on the issue.’

‘3G, you mean third generation? Wow! In Corea we all use landlines. Handphones are very expensive, and very few people can afford them.’

‘The cellphone market in Dravida is one of the most advanced in the world and boasts nearly 100 per cent coverage of its 270 million population. We have more cellphones than landlines now,’ he boasted.

‘Yes I read. I also know that your Internet speeds are the fastest in the world. I want to confess one thing. We still use dial-up Internet in Corea, that is why I could not use Skype.’

‘Is it? I thought you wanted to hide your face, anyway, good to know the real reason. Here, we can surf the Internet even on the road. We have free WIFI all over the city, it a new government initiative.’

‘Naga, can I get a temporary mobile phone. It is part of my research grant, but I want it soon. Can you help me?’

‘Sure why not, we will get it on the way to lunch with my friend Mathew and his wife. Everyone can get a connection in 20 minutes. Just don’t forget to get your passport along.’

‘Only 20 minutes? It takes two years to get a landline connection in Corea’. ‘I know. Just like Hindustan. I think we better start getting dressed, I don’t want to be late.’

‘Just give me an hour,’ she said, springing from the sofa.

#

Naga turned away from his sleek new iMac on hearing the door click, and noticed Maya emerging from her room. His study was just across the guest room.

He was stunned at the transformation. She looked different than in her travel clothes, actually exquisite, radiant in a red patterned short skirt and top. She wore hardly any makeup, except for a faint blush of lipstick, and her shiny smooth hair fell loosely on her shoulders. He had half a mind to squeeze her in his arms.

With a purse in the right hand, and a small package in her left, she walked up to him smiling. The familiar smell of ripe peach gently hit him.

‘That was fast. You took less than 2 hours,’ he quipped, staring at her.

‘Sorry, hope we are not late. I had to unpack and arrange my stuff. I got this for you,’ she said handing him the packet.

It was a leather wallet with the letters NP etched in the corner.

‘Thanks. How did you know I need a new wallet?’ he said, examining the insides.

‘Well, isn’t that the easiest practical gift to get a man?’

‘You look beautiful. Just give me a moment. Have to send an important email.’

‘Thanks. Work?’

‘No, it’s for you. Trying to setup some meetings with a few professors. We can meet them together and ask them some questions for a few story ideas, while you can do your research. There you go,’ he said, giving a final tap on the keyboard and getting up.

‘Why don’t you dress up, then we can go,’ she said.

‘What do you mean? I am dressed and ready!’

It looks so seventies.

‘Are you serious? Naga, before we go for my handphone, I think we should buy some clothes for you.’

‘What’s wrong with these clothes?’

‘Well, you look like an old Corean actor,’ she said laughing.

‘All right. All right. As you wish,’ he said, still not convinced that his clothes were old-fashioned.

‘Have you ever tried shaving your mustache?’

‘Why do you ask?’

‘You will look much younger, you should try it.’

‘Are you crazy? No one in Dravida shaves his mustache, it is a sign of manhood.’

‘You don’t need a mustache to prove your manhood, that is enough,’ she replied, looking down at the bulge in his pants.

Naga blushed and looked away.

She is flirting again.

Maya would not take no for an answer and kept pestering him until he finally relented.

A few minutes later, he came out of his room covering his lower face with his right palm.

‘Show me. Show me,’ she said, removing the palm. They were standing quite close to each other now, and she could almost feel his breath on her forehead.

‘It looks funny. People are going to laugh.’

‘It’s all in your head, you look handsome, it is also easier to kiss,’ she said.

Before he could think of an appropriate response, his mobile buzzed again. This time it was Mathew, calling to reconfirm the lunch appointment.

‘Let’s go’, he said, grabbing the car keys and switching on the security pod.

As the elevator descended, Maya once again looked transfixed at the scenery outside the glass enclosure. This time, the clear blue waters of the Bay of Bengal were swirling angrily in front. She could notice a few ships at a distance, and a lighthouse to her extreme right. Naga was standing behind her, stealing glances at her tight body.

‘Last night I saw buildings and lights here,’ she said.

‘That was the west wing, this is the east wing.’

‘Oh, so this building is on the beachfront.’

‘Sort of, we are in Royapuram, north Madras, it’s an older part of the city. The main beach is in central Madras, where that lighthouse is located. It is called Marina and is a distance away.’

‘I have heard of Marina Beach. Isn’t it the worlds second longest beach?’

‘Yes, it runs from near our Parliament to Besant Nagar in the south, a distance of 13 km. The average width of the beach is 300 m. It is also the most crowded beach in Dravida attracting about 30,000 daily visitors during weekdays and 50,000 during the weekends.’

‘Good, I hope to go swimming someday. I miss the sea, ever since my parents shifted to Pyongyang from Incheon’ she said.

‘If you want to swim I will have to take you to some other beach. Swimming is strictly forbidden on Marina. The sea is very rough.’

‘What’s the use of a beach if you cannot swim.’

‘We can’t help it, nature does not check for our convenience,’ he replied, clicking on the auto security key.

‘Mind your head, the car has a low roof.’

‘Which are the most popular cars in your country?’ he asked, putting the key in the ignition.

‘Pony, Tico and Pride,’ she said.

‘Sounds like a band. Never heard of them. Corean cars?’

‘Yes, Hyundai makes Pony. It is our first mass-produced car, now exported to Europe and South America. Tico is made by Daewoo and Pride by KIA, also Corean companies.’

‘So you don’t have any foreign cars?’

‘We do, but not everyone can afford them, very heavy import taxes.’

Import taxes? Every economics student knows it’s called customs duties.

‘I am sure, your fat politicians drive around in foreign cars, while the masses are stuck with Pony and Tico. So typical of socialist countries.’

Naga was right, she thought. But her ego was bruised, and she could not stand it.

‘For your information, we are a democracy. Have been since our country got united after war. So it is the people’s choice, and we don’t seem to mind. My country wants to be self-sufficient and develop local industries first.’

‘I have heard that before. You are just fooling yourself if you believe your mixed-economy system will help. Look at Dravida, we have always been an open economy, since independence, and see where we are.’

‘Every system has its own merits. I could argue that Dravida is just a lackey of USA. Your country is only a pawn in its larger imperialistic game. Moreover, if there is crisis in the US economy, your system will collapse. Too much interdependence is not always good. You saw what happened in 1997?’

‘Well, we have made systematic corrections now. It will not happen again. Moreover, the US had nothing to do with it,’ he said, referring the large-scale regulatory reforms that took place in the aftermath of the 1997 economic shock.

He vividly recalled, the ‘IMF Crisis’ that brought Dravida, at that time the world’s 11th largest economy, on the brink. He had just joined The Hindu newspaper as their staff correspondent.

Like other countries in the neighborhood, Dravida heavily relied on short-term foreign loans and was open to ‘hot money.’ When the private enterprises started struggling to meet their payment obligations, international currency markets panicked. Currency traders sought to convert their Dravidian rupees into dollars, and the currency plummeted. That made it harder for Dravida to pay its loans, and it made imports suddenly very expensive.

There were other underlying causes for the financial crisis, including over-investment in real estate and other speculative ventures. The IMF made loan arrangements to Dravida to meet its foreign debt payments on the condition that it adopts structural adjustment policies.

The danger of economic collapse forced it to swallow a tough bailout package that closed big banks and industrial companies and led millions of workers to be laid off.

As many as 125 large companies shut down, while unemployment skyrocketed from approximately 2 percent to over 10 percent.

‘IMF suicides’ became common among workers who lost their jobs and dignity. Desperate families in dire economic straits left their children at orphanages who were labeled‘IMF orphans.’ IMF in Dravida became a symbol of every malaise that the country was going through, and literally became a catchphrase ‘I’M Fired.’

Thanks to the single-minded determination of its politicians and public, Dravida managed to pay back its loan from IMF in 2001, three years ahead of schedule. Within four to five years since the bailout, the economy was back on track.

‘We learnt a very good lesson, and it will not happen again. The problem with communist countries is that they are ideologically rigid and refuse to learn from their past mistakes.’

‘I told you Corea is not a communist country. We are certainly close to China, but we have our own economic system, and we are an independent country.’

‘If I wanted to insult you, I could have called Corea as China’s lackey, just like you did earlier. You do realize that Dravida is also an independent democratic country?’

Oops!

She smiled and deftly changed the subject.

‘Your streets are very wide and clean. You should see Pyongyang and Seoul.’

‘Yeah, I saw some pictures on the Internet. That is because of unplanned development and corruption. Your government never gave priority to infrastructure, and only concentrates on land reforms. You know the place where I stay used to be a nightmare before our independence. It had very bad roads, poor sanitation, infrastructural problems, traffic and congestion,’ he said. ‘However, our first President MGR gave priority to infrastructure and all the old areas of our major cities were entirely redeveloped.’

‘Wasn’t MGR an actor? All your Presidents so far are from the