Tambaku in Hindi means tobacco.
Tobacco usage is injurious to health. The writer does not support use of any tobacco products as they lead to cancer, heart attacks, lung disorders and other deadly disease. And asks everyone to refrain from tobacco usage.
The main character - TambakuMan, has been given the bad habit to expose the bodily harm done on prolonged usage of tobacco.
EPISODE 3:
Today
his boss had asked him to accompany him to a builder’s convention. All types of
construction related propaganda would be on display. An array of construction
equipment, right from Anchor bolts to Zoning law manuals would be found
in these stalls. He felt excited.
Browsing
through all the day’s events in a brochure, he knew which stalls he would
visit. The ones giving out goodies were his first targets. Escaping his boss’s
vigil he would return every half an hour with a new goodie. His boss eyed his
ever increasing goodie-bag, a safety helmet, some files, a can of adhesive,
etc. His boss was amazed at his employee’s talent of getting stuff out of these
bored stall volunteers. He himself had tried for as few, without success.
His
tobacco stained teeth shown as he smiled back at his manager’s goodie-bag, that
is, if you could call it that. A small paper bag with a “Men at Work” banner in
it. That banner was everywhere, it was the theme of the convention. By the time
the day ended, he could feel his boss’s eye pleading back at him to share some
of his goodies.
He excused himself, “Be back in a
moment, sir, going to the north side to check out those stalls.” He chuckled as
he added, “Will try to get extra freebies for you sir, if I can”
He picked up his goodie-bag and
decided to deposit it in the trunk of his company car. He had seen a stall
displaying shovels. They would come in handy sometime. "Sometime", he smiled at the
thought. He had already made one attempt at getting a shovel for free from that
stall, but they had not paid heed to his visit. He would try again, dinner was
a long time away. They sometimes even served free drinks at these events.
He headed for the shovel shop. Put
on his safety helmet and decided to change his accent , so that they would not recognize
him from the earlier attempt. He entered and saw the staffing was different, “A
shift change”, he thought.
He gave them his business card, and began explaining
his interest in ordering a large consignment from them. He could see a shovel
below the staff’s chair. “Sample Piece”, marked in capital on the transparent
plastic bag that covered the spade. He was encouraged and prodded on. He ended his well
laid out negotiation, “It would be great, If I can have sample shovel, please”
“Sorry
sir, we are out of samples sir”, the staffer said, “If only, you would’ve
visited us in the first half sir”
He had
come in the morning. The damn fool had not bought his story then. He pointed to
the area below the chair, “I can see, you know”
“Oh,
that’s Brandon’s, he’s out to lunch, he told me to hold it for him”
He
moved away, shoulders slumped. A void was growing within him. He had been there
in the morning and except for the fake accent he had used now, he had told the
same story to Brandon.
“Something must be wrong with this
Brandon guy. How could an employee keep a shovel sample for himself. Maybe he
was holding it for a customer”, his thoughts ended when he saw Brandon coming
back from his lunch hour. He saw him reach under the chair
and grab the shovel and then move towards the car park.
Following him was easy.
He went directly to an old jalopy which was parked behind two rows of cars.
This was going to be easy. The daylight had already receded, and streetlights
had come on. Shadows were cast everywhere. He could see it all happening
before he could do it. It was as if he was using some well-known key combination
while playing a video game. “Level Three Completed”, he could see the subtitle
in his brain as he stared at Brandon’s limp body.
He knew his boss's company car was parked two cars away. His hands went into his pocket and found his boss’s car keys.
“You don’t
drink right, so you are the designated driver”, his boss had tossed him the car keys. It
was all fitting and oh so perfect!
He opened the rear door of the van. It was
a construction vehicle, hence no back seats, a few tools lying around. He threw
in the shovel, still in hand. A few pulls and a shove and the body was in the
van. The smell of the blood on the body had invigorated him. It was as if he
had taken a shot of adrenaline to his heart. He entered the van and closed the
door behind him.
Using the shovel as leverage the false
bottom in the van was opened. It had been his own ingenious idea, to get all of the central area fitted with a false bottom. He had done the modifications whilst removing the backseats, and his boss didn't suspect a thing. He pushed the lifeless body into the mud, then lowered
himself into the hole. He kicked the body out of the way and started digging
with the new shovel. “How ironic”, he thought
The mud was loose, from the rain
last night. He dug quickly. His torso above the hole in the van, appearing only
when he stood straight. With each bend , he dumped a new load of soil onto the
van’s floor. His respiration increased combining with the smell of sweat and
blood. His thoughts went back to when he went behind Brandon.
Brandon was about to open the rear
door of his jalopy, when he had tapped him on his shoulder and made some small
talk about his sample shovel. He had been so mechanical, he couldn’t remember what
he had asked Brandon. At that time, it had just flowed out of his mouth. And
then, Brandon had of course handed him the shovel, for inspection.
“Is this your personal car, or a
customer’s”, he had asked point blank.
“It’s mine”, were the words which
made his blood boil and with a couple of swings had bashed the thief's face to a pulp.
The quality of the shovel was good, there had not been a sound.
He was now standing with his legs apart, in
between two piles of dirt, staring at the hole in the ground which was now big enough. He nudged the
body into the hole with his legs and filled the hole. He left the extra dirt in his van, so as to
not create a mound below the van. He would tell his boss, he was given a sample
at the convention. He would offer it to his boss for his wife’s garden.
He washed up and met his boss at
the buffet table. He was happy he had stopped an office supply stealing employee.
It was not until dessert, his mind went onto the plastic wrapping of the shovel. The one that
said “Sample Piece, Not for Sale”. He
knew he had smacked Brandon with the plastic on the spade. But, it wasn’t there
when he began digging the hole. So it must’ve flown off when he had gone to get
the body. He told his boss to meet him at the van and hurried out.
The search was fruitless, he did not
find the transparent bag. It wasn’t in the dirt, neither below the van. As he
drove his slightly tipsy boss home, he couldn’t help but wonder if his nemesis
had got hold of the plastic-wrap. He shuddered at the thought.
-------------- THE END ---------------------------------------
Click ‘Next’ for older posts. This is a series, do read earlier episodes as well.
Episode 1: http://tambakuman.blogspot.in/2012/03/tambaku-man.html
Episode 2: http://tambakuman.blogspot.in/2012/03/tambaku-man-meets-his-match.html
