21.enough;just/barely enough/adequate= after a fashion

                21. enough;just/barely enough/adequate= after a fashion

                  

Fashion, Fashion, Fashion all the way

Fantastic façade fashioned out of fine marbles from Jaipur of a huge swell [stylish; elegant] housed a freaking out fashionista [dressing according to latest fashion] Mr. Pehanaava Patel who was especially very generous in spending on all latest fads. He was surrounded by some fashion loving friends, one of whom was lawyer.

The bonding of this beau monde [fashionable society] was based purely on fashions and not any real friendship. This chic youth brigade which moved around in haute couture [highly fashionable] attire and dernier cri [latest fashion] shoes was the cynosure of the fashion loving metro. There were two things that were common to this entire bunch, they were all foppish and easy go-lucky guys, thanks to the huge amount of unearned wealth that they were sitting on. They naturally conducted themselves after the fashion [in the manner or style of] of insolent 18th century royals. They were so arrogantly flaunting their wealth that sometimes they fashioned [converted, made, formed] the bigger currency notes as wrappers to role ganja and the smaller ones as fidibus [a paper spill used for lighting cigars or pipes] to light the ganja.

Add to these Patel was about to inherit a huge wealth from his childless paternal uncle. To ensure that he should not face any legal hurdle and to avail of legal consul he confides this to his lawyer friend who tells him that he need not worry at all and at the appropriate time he would advise him as to how to go about it.

Super abundance had its flip side. They hardly respected anyone who rendered real service to them. They were predominantly pampered with pelf and perceived people through the prism of pamphysicism [the doctrine that material nature is the source of all phenomena]. They respected and listened only to those with good bank balance and fashionable attires and à la mode accessories and showed utter lack of concern for human values. They not only fashioned [modeled/patterned] their life on those of models, film personalities, the only intellectual activity that found fashion with them was whenever they gathered at some bar they would parrot-fashion [repeat without understanding the words like a parrot] the interviews of models and film stars.

However, they had a smooth life cocooned in their filtered in fashion [in style] circle of comfort loving and cozily living group. Patel had a very faithful driver, Parek, a man who was not a fashion victim [someone who buys too many fashionable clothes] and therefore was spotted with his out of fashion [old fashioned] dress which was out of sync with the entourage of people steeped in fashion [in style]. Parek smelt something was going wrong from the body language of the lawyer and two of Patel’s other friends.

Inevitably his suspicion coupled with his concern for his master goaded him to closely follow the lawyer and the other two, but he never ventured to tell anything about this to his boss because he would not allow him to talk on such issues. He planted two of his friends to spy on the lawyer and the other two, they did their job, followed him discreetly everywhere, tracked his calls and hacked his mails to the other two friends of Patel.

Of  late, they were meeting very frequently, at a cafeteria, of course without the knowledge of Patel. Unfortunately they were using some code language which neither Parek nor his friends could understand. However, he knew they were planning to do something detrimental to Patel. He wanted to caution Patel but he was hesitant because he wanted to make sure that he does not land himself in the firing line of his boss. Finally he found out that the lawyer had hatched a plot along with his other friends to murder Patel after he inherits his uncle’s property. Finally Parek plucked his courage and conveyed this to Patel who, for a change believed after a fashion [almost but not completely] what Parek had told him but not the entire details and denouement of the plot because Patel felt some of the details were not in tune with the normal attitude of the lawyer friend.

Naturally and soon Patel realized it is out of fashion to believe that lawyers can have normal behavior and he also noticed that of late the lawyer gulping too many pegs of whisky like it was going out of fashion [ taking too much of it very quickly] and was over polite and abnormally nice towards him.

Abnormal nicety always has lurking motives.

One day Patel made the lawyer get totally drunk with specific foreign liquor that he fancied most and mimicked the voice of his other friend and lawyers being prone to verbal diarrhea at the slightest ignition, let off everything about the plot and so Patel got to know of the plan which was true as Parek had informed.