4 MONTHS AGO (before all this crap satrted)
Krishnamoorthy aka Moorthy was returning home in a hurry, looking at his watch often, jogging like a frog with his old and weak body and holding onto his lungi (a single piece of cloth tied around the waist, covering the entire lower part of the body) and wiping is sweat with the arms of his dirty T-shirt. He reached his tiny, paint rotten house and unlocked the door. His wife Selvi was lying on the bed, without a movement like a statue, but her eyeballs rolled over to see Moorthy and she smiled. Moorthy, without giving a reply reaction, went to the kitchen. Selvi was waiting on the bed, watching a spider slowly moving on the ceiling. Moorthy came with a bowl of poridge, he placed it on a table nearny, made Selvi sit upright and then started feeding her. "Am I torturing u a lot?" she asked. "This is why people marry and live with each other rather than living alone, to take care of each other" Moorthy replied. She gave Moorthy a kind a smile but he didn't take time noticing it and started feeding her again. "This is why people marry and have kids too" said Moorthy. Selvi's smile dissapeared.
"You have to understand her situation too, she lives far away from us and we don't really know what's going on with her husband, it's not completely her fault" she said.
"The girl I raised was not like her, she changed a lot after she went to hostel for college and after loving him....loving that moron."
"He is our son-in-law, don't curse him"
Selvi suddenly started to have hiccups, Moorthy looked around him and noticed that the water bottle was not around, so he went into the kitchen and brought her some water. She drank it and said "enough food". "Eat a little more, this is not good for your health". "I can't, I'm full".
Moorthy then gave her medicines, made her lie down, changed her urine bag, locked the door and left for his work. Moorthy owned a batter shop, a 4x4 room with a huge grinder to grind the batter a slow-moving ceiling fan just like him which gave a mechanical sound while rotating and a dim tube light. His shop represnted the exact feeling of Moorthy. He made rice batter for Idli and dosa and also sold different kinds of pickles there, that is the only income for him and his wife.
Her daughter Devi got married and settled in USA and sends her parents money every month but the money is only sufficient enough for half of Selvi's monthly medicine and treatment. Selvi has been paralyzed for 2 years and Moorthy takes complete care of her. Devi hasn't visited her parents for 4 years, not even when her mother got paralyzed. This angered Moorthy a lot but Selvi always asks Moorthy to keep his calm while talking to Devi. She believes that Devi would realise her mistake one day.
As Moorthy was sitting in his shop, waiting for customers his phone started ringing, it was Devi who was calling. Moorthy felt like rejecting it at first but he remebered that he need a little more money for Selvi's treatment, so he attended it.
"what happened dad, you have called me earlier?" "Nothing much dear, just wanted to know if you guys are planning to come visit us this vacation." "No dad, I think he has planned a trip to Australia....." Moorthy squeezed his jaws with each other in anger but still replied calmly,"It's ok dear, have a safe trip." "Anything else dad?" "Ah, yes..... I met a doctor recently and he recommended a treatment for you mother..... he said that this will have a good improvement on her...but....it costs a little high..." "Dad, actually we are a little short on money too, we've got bills and EMI's..." Moorthy's rage increased but he kept calm for the promise he has made to his wife. Devi continued, "and I also showed the reports to a doctor here, he told nothing can be done to her and no treatment will help, I think the doctor is just trying to scam you, it will be a waste of money ultimately." Moorthy crushed his phone in anger, his eyes turned red, he started breathing heavily and face was sweating "OK, nothing else, BYE". He cut the call before his anger burst up. He then looked at his phone, the temper glass and the edges of the phone got cracked a little. "She is a B!t&#", he told himself.
The night started to crawl and the moon started to shine. Moorthy took a pack of batter for himself, closed the shutter of his shop, locked it and started walking to his house. On his way, he happened to cross a mobile shop. He stopped there for a minute and took a look at his phone, he then took a look at his purse, gave a sigh and moved on. "Maybe this is why she asks me to control my anger..... it has no use."
He kept walking to towards his house and with each step he took, he became slower and hatefull thoughts crowded his mind. As he was standing just outside his house he could hold no more and he threw the batter pack to the floor in anger. The batter flowed on the road, the old man was breathing heavily. "What a pitiful life I live". Suddenly his eyes noticed a letter peeping out of his letter box. He took the letter, the envolope looked really rich and attractive, it gave him a urge to open it right now and he did it. As he started reading the letter his eyes started to glow, the glow that you get on your eyes when an oppurtinity to turn over your boring pitiful life strikes you.
"An inivitation to a meeting in such a grand hotel?... to a commener like me.... A meeting hosted by ZAMBROX?..... but don't they know I got old already... or... is that the reason I got invited?"
The batter that fell on the road stopped flowing.....