Swiss chocolates

Swiss Chocolates
Chennai is a water-starved city. This south Indian capital is situated close to the beach and even has a port and harbor, but as with the classical axiom – water water, everywhere and not a drop to drink, despite having quadrillions of tonnes of water in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, Chennai is still a water starved city. The shortage of ground water and absence of any rivers close bye has more or less converted Chennai into an urban metropolitan desert with dry land and concrete, evenly interspaced with each other. Pretences of green were few and far between, because when drinking water was scarce, where would one go for water to spray the lawns and soak the plants? Thus, the half a dozen parks in the city were oases in the deserts, greedily sought by the patrons who wanted a few moments of cheer and happiness.
Happiness! That was the key word, which has stimulated, germinated and blossomed in his mind to such an extent that he had finally built up courage and taken the final step – To bring about cheer. To produce happiness! A few days ago, the newspaper had carried a survey about happiness. Different people in different parts of the world had been surveyed. Each one was asked how happy he or she was. Though the overall results of the survey were encouraging, he was unhappy to find that the Indian urban population was unhappier than its rural counterpart was. Moreover, of the four metropolitan cities, Chennai topped the list!
Topped the list of unhappy people and not happy people! He had justifiably been upset. He was unhappy to know that his city contained the maximum number of unhappy people. For that matter, he was not too happy himself. Therefore it took away some more happiness to know about the number of unhappy people around him. Thus, he walked out to Anna Nagar Park at 5.00 pm on a Thursday to produce some happiness. By making others happy, may be he too could attain happiness! Clutching the rectangular box in his hand, he rolled the swivel gate and slowly walked into the park. The park was busy and crowded. However, by 6.00 pm it would get over crowded. He would indeed have access to a lot of unhappy people whom he could make happy. He looked around to find a place to start his work.
The bench had a couple snuggled into each other at one corner. The other corner was both empty and inviting. He walked to it, sat down, and placed the large rectangular box on his lap. The couple was so engrossed in each other that they paid him scant attention. They were snuggled to one another and their hands were running over each other’s body.
“Just another hour darling, I know you can’t wait and nor can I, but we have to. Rohit will leave for duty only at 6.00 pm. We can not go to his locked flat until he leaves”
The man had cooed into the woman’s ears when his right hand was slowly twitching the fabric of her blouse above the areole. He continued
“But once he leaves, we have the flat to ourselves. We can stay the whole night”
In a sultry hoarse voice, the girl-woman replied ‘Honey! You know I can’t do it. At the most, I can give some excuse to hubby dear and be away till 9.00 pm. 9.30, maximum, but not a minute more!”
The lover cooed back “Two hours may not be enough to do all that I want to do to you, but I suppose that beggars can’t be choosers”
Sitting at the other end of the bench, our hero absorbed every word of this conversation. This was an already happy couple. He wanted to spread happiness amongst unhappy couples. He was about to get up when the girl-woman’s mobile phone started ringing. It was a soft melodious tone but had an electrifying effect on the couple, as if the sharp scissors of the Indian film censor board had cut through a lascivious romantic scene from an ‘A’ (adults-only) Tamil Cinema. The two of them hastily separated. The girl woman took the mobile phone to her face.
“Yes honey! I was expecting your call. I had left a message with your secretary; and you were in a meeting. Oh, ok then! That is cool. Okay, it doesn’t matter. And me! Well that was the reason I called you in the office and gave you the message. Actually, Amma is very sick yes! My mother!”
What happened next surprised the spreader of happiness because the lover seemed to develop a strange sense of perversion, on realizing that it was her husband on the phone. Boldly he placed his palm on her front while the fingers slid into her blouse and started slowly fondling her nipples. The girl woman’s face flushed but there was absolutely no change in her tone as she continued to talk on her Nokia
“What do you mean where am I? In the hospital of course. They have just shifted Amma to the intensive care unit and I have come down to the medical store to buy some medicines. No – No Not that medicine, the other one. Yes sorry honey, I was talking to the pharmacist “
The spreader of happiness, at the other end of the bench had suddenly moved as if pricked by a bumblebee on hearing the word pharmacist. This was because his pharmaceutical knowledge had something to do with what he had planned to do today. The way in which he had decided to spread the happiness. He looked at the cord-board box. The girl had suddenly said No No, not to her husband. She had done that because her boyfriend had attempted to unhook the top hook of her blouse. Though her mouth continued with an excuse to the husband about the pharmacy and medicines, her face and eyes gave him a clear message!
Buddy! I know you are desperate. I am desperate too. But this is a fucking public park and I am not into exhibitionism. Wait until six and we would go to your friend’s place. No No don’t undo the hooks. The pharmacist ran his hand over the box and gave an inward smile. He had found the unhappy person of today. The mobile phone girl-woman’s husband. He continued to listen.
“No honey! It is not necessary at all. You were never close to amma. Don’t bother and don’t trouble yourself. It is only a simple heart attack and my mother is not going to die. You go straight home and take it easy. You start on your drinks and I will come home for dinner. If your are too hungry, the food is in the fridge”
The pharmacist saw that the lover had now become really busy with all his ten fingers playing a tableau on her luscious, lascivious and lovely breasts which produced a strange flush on her face as she concluded her call to the husband
“930 Maximum. Not later than that! Thanks honey! You are so understanding. I love you. Bye” She disconnected the phone and the air was suddenly pierced with sounds of another mobile phone ringing. This ring tone was harsh and shrill. The pharmacist understood that this was not her mobile. The lovers’ hands suddenly detached themselves from her blouse as if there was a scorpion between her boobs. He quickly pulled out his phone and took it to his face.
“What do you mean where I am? Where do you expect me to be at this time? In the office of course. What! What do you mean that you called the office switchboard? How stupid can you get! Have I not told you so many times that they don’t allow personal phone calls on the office switchboard! Yes Yes! Yes. Well No! No to you. You know that I have a mobile phone. Why don’t you call me on that? Why have you to act so stupid and call my office switch board?”
The pharmacist’s lips widened into an open smile. He had found another unhappy person. Yes the lover’s wife. And the yes was because the girl-woman has started playing with his crotch, tapping a rhythmic tabla over his zipper which excited him in a strange sort of a way as he continued to scream at his wife calling her a stupid bitch
“Why do you keep asking the same question? I am not at my desk, but this does not mean that I am not in the office. I am with the accounts fellows. Now that you have called me, let me tell you that I would come back a little late tonight. I have to go out with friends. May be it would be about 10.00 pm or later. You have your food and don’t wait up for me!”
The lover clicked his phone and kept it in his pocket. He looked at his watch. She looked at her watch. The pharmacist looked at his watch! 5.30 pm! The pharmacist made his decision. He slowly opened the box and the fragrance of the chocolates wafted in the air and reached the cooing couple. He stood up and took two steps towards them.
“I see that you are happy! Please have a Chocolate”
Both of them looked at the box in surprise. It was a box of Swiss chocolates containing three rows of eight chocolates each. Twenty-four different sized and shaped chocolates rested in their sockets. The interior of the box had a brown plastic molding with the various slots.
“Life is like a boxful of Swiss chocolates. You never know what flavor your would find” He said with a smile. It was the girl-woman who darted her hand a little shyly and picked one up. He too copied her. The pharmacist waited until both of them had unwrapped the gold foil and popped them into their mouth. He gave a smile, closed the box, and walked out in search of an unhappy-happy person. The park was getting crowded and he spotted a young woman standing dejectedly beneath a tree. Clutching the box, the pharmacist walked to her.
He was an excellent conversationalist and could pick up a conversation with her. He asked her why she looked unhappy. She told him that she was waiting for her lover. Her beau was always late. She had already waited for the last hour and did not know how long more she would have to wait. It was not as if it was happening for the first time. This was a regular occurrence. Her boyfriend was never on time, and this was what made her unhappy. He opened the box of chocolates, gave a big smile, and proffered it to her. She hesitated a little but then picked one up. She gave a bite and then smiled as she bit into the succulent honey center. Closing the box, he gave a smile and walked away. He walked to the swing and found four children, two girls, and two boys. They were playing no doubt, but seemed listless and disinterested. He observed them and came close.
He picked up a conversation and quickly understood the cause of their unhappiness. They all studied in the same school and one teacher was a tyrant and martinet. The teacher was so horrid that they disliked going to school. Out came the box and this time there was no reluctance. Each child took two and the box was almost half-empty. Leaving the happy children munching the chocolates he walked ahead on his search. He found a dozen more happy-unhappy people. He listened to them talked to them and left, but not before offering them a chocolate. The box was almost empty and light. He opened it and saw a single chocolate. He pulled it out and tossed the box into a waste bin.
It was getting dark as he walked to an empty bench. This was probably the same bench on which he had first sat and met the mobile phone girl-woman and her lover. He slowly unwrapped the chocolate and popped it into his mouth. As the honey center oozed on to his tongue, he felt a strange bitterness. He knew the reason because each chocolate had been laced with a fatal dose of one gram of Digoxin, a medicine used for heart ailments. In six hours, the blood levels would have raised sufficiently to kill all the twenty men woman and children. As he chewed on the last chocolate, he only hoped that there was more happiness in death than in life!