22] After the regular closing time=after hours
Alumni
meeting after 40 years
After almost
four decades our group decided to assemble for an afterparty
[ a small party held after a larger event, such as a pop concert or
film première, to which
only a select group of guests is invited] after play followed
by an afterpiece [a short dramatic piece performed after a featured play]. The
party started off and since all were meeting after four
decades after the initial inquiring after each
other’s family members [to ask about the well-being of someone].
It was not the usual aftershow bash
but a more of oldies get together, as all of us were well nearing our sixties
and some even beyond sixties. All have turned up spick and span
in their best attires and the fragrance of the after shaves combed
the nostrils.
The inevitable
introduction session started. After all it was a small
closed group, so it was decided to share about each one’s present profession,
family strength and if they feel like they can disclose details of family
members and their activities and some unforgettable event in the past four
decades that impacted their life either positively or negatively and reminded
them of their school day s. We had a small brief about our good old happy
school days.
First it was the
turn of Adikesavan , the naughtiest of the whole bunch who started off,
“well friends, I must confess I totally regretted in afteryears
[the years following a specified event] my
lazy and laid back approach to studies in school days coupled with nasty
naughtiness which brought cheer to all of us but in the end did not bring any
cheers to my life. I ended up as doing a variety of things starting from
working in a cowshed cleaning, feeding and milking the cows till the afterings [last milk drawn when milking a cow] and
taking care of
the afterwil [locking the barn after the cows have been let out]; then for a
very brief period worked as an afterguard in
a ship [work the aft sails
at the quarter deck or afterdeck], followed by all sorts of
menial works which I may euphemistically term as blue collared
including carrying huge and heavy logs at a timber depot , thanks to
the good physical afterload [the natural muscle strength that
helps to contract ,stiffen and also rest the muscles]and strong bones
I could do that . Still ultimately after all these
hard work my family is pathetically poor and now I have become
physically old and weak so for the livelihood of the family my eldest son is
doing some afterschool [after attending school]jobs
to pay his school fee and I work at a factory as a sweeper afterhours[after regular closing time].
So I have come a full circle and experienced the after effects
of irresponsible youth”, and he continued , “ to
add to all these my wife keeps after me [ continually reminds me to do
something ] to work somewhere to pay off the accumulated debts”.
After the storm comes a
calm [Things are often calm after an upheaval after
something very harsh ]. Then Bhaskar got up, always a happy go
lucky person, cheerful and focused. After listening to that rather very
unpleasant tale from his childhood mate he did not want to sound too
much otherwise and hurt the afterwise [wise after the event; or
wise when it is too late]feelings of Adikesavan,
So , said in a soft tone, “ I am looking after
Asian operations of the much
sought
after brand mobile phone sale. How I wish we had mobile
when we were at school.” Murali interrupted, “you mean you are the Asian head
of sparrow killing machine”. Everyone laughed.
Vaidhyanathan ,a neuro surgeon by profession, named after [given the name] his late
grand -father and not because of his profession [ in Tamil VAIDYAN means
doctor] a specialist in treating anomalies of the afterbrain[metencephalon=the anterior
section of the
hindbrain, comprising the cerebellum and pons]his
wife ,also a doctor was running an aftercare [the care and treatment of
a convalescent patient]center and he
continued “I am searching after someone who can manage the
maintenance my wife’s aftercare center with staff under
his disposal and after listening
to Adikesavan I am keeping the doors open for him for that job and I can look after the
educational expenses of his children and his family expenses and in addition
I can assure to pay a good salary too”, there was a deafening applause.
He continued “I always used to think I wish I had the energy
and talent of Adikesavan in our school days to cheer my patients”. As a
doctor I believe in doing only one thing after the fact [after something has happened]
i.e. remedial action. I have often felt what ultimately is the big
benefit in chasing
around after [seeking for in many places ]material benefits
and hanker
after [long
for] physical comforts throughout our life without caring and sharing
and I am really thankful to God that I have got one more opportunity to do
that”. And turning towards Adikesavan, he said, “ Adi but looking at
your frail body you must look after number one [to take care of yourself first]”.
Then it was the turn of Madhumitha, “I am a gynecologist
enjoying my profession, Murali again interrupted, you mean the butcher of afterbirth [n. - The placenta and membranes with which the fetus
is connected, and which come away after delivery.]”. She
giggled it off, while the rest could not catch the joke. She continued “but I
had a disastrous married life, I had a wonderful child, got
divorced and my son is with his father.” The afterimage
[a visual image or other sense impression that persists after the
stimulus that caused
it is no longer operative.] seems to
have popped up and the afterlight [a view of past events; retrospect.]
jolted her emotionally she went into tears while Murali came near and
consoled and calmed her. After all is said and done the aftertaste [remaining sensation following an unpleasant experience, incident] of a bad marriage is
difficult to get rid of mentally.
Sanjay Patel, whom we all use to trot after [follow]in our school days
as he was the richest guy then and who sponsored all our good and bad deeds
now had a successful travel agency business and who patterned it after [to use something as an example or model
when making something ]the top
international travel agencies, began with his usual patronizing tone and
typical marketing jargon of starting off anything only in first person
plural, “ we offer the best packages, escort services , tourist guides and
hotels to stay at different places and I as a owner of the
business would like to offer a short trip with two days stay at
GOA for all of us free of cost .”It was at once welcomed with high
decibel cheers.
Murali asked, “does it include alcoholic beverages too”.
There was laughter all around. Patel continued, “ of course yes, by God’s
grace I am really very well off and my business is doing well, initially I
was throwing
good money after bad [to waste additional money after wasting
money once] without knowing the intricacies of the business and this
continued for day
after day [daily] months
after month [ every month], year after year [ every year ]and it was
all the more difficult to set things right in our business because there
would be no point in locking the stable door after the horse is stolen [prevent something that has already
happened; to act too late. ] because the failure in one season cannot
and need not be the reason that the next season also will be a failure and
you must have everything ready for the tourist season. You cannot start off
things after
the season begins. Then one fine morning my wife who is a women after my own
heart [someone
who is similar to you in tastes and perceptions] told me ‘If you run after two
hares, you will catch neither’. [Prov. You cannot do two things successfully at the same
time.] and impressed upon me to give up my textile business and
concentrate on travel agency alone, then once I stopped my textile business,
whether it was a coincidence or clever counsel things started working really
well in this business.”
Raj
, started , “ I did my IPS and I am a senior police officer”, then at
once Murali interrupted hope your wife never told you anything like, “ if
you run after two thieves, you will catch neither”, again
everyone went into peals of laughter. Raj continued, “You may think that it
is a great profession, but then I have sleepless nights and with advanced
methods of crime the task is becoming tough day by day and when we move on to
solve the crimes. Nowadays, it is not at all easy out there being after somebody’s scalp [punish someone for something bad
that has happened] or being after somebody’ s blood [to catch someone in order to
punish them] . We are also forced to take care of the aftercalps[unexpected repercussions]
of tracking the criminals time after time [ time and time again] especially
their political, terror network links etc and almost every day I remember the
lessons that of G.K.Chesterdon where he writes ‘ the thief is a creative
genius whereas detective is at best a critical analyst’. Last but most important news is that my daughter is a teacher in our school’.
Murali “ hope at least she manages to produce some creative geniuses
unlike our teachers who have produced only critical analysts”. Raj, “it is
just that she has taken after her mother [follow] who too is a teacher”. Murali no other go
she has to take after her mother as you were busy taking off after [chasing] the creative
geniuses”. Raj after almost one hour took out his left hand from
his pant pockets and showed to all of us how he lost two of his
finger once when he was heading out after a thief [ pursuing/chasing a thief] Murali,
“ Hey Raj what happened to that Vahul the after-witted
[ slow-witted]chap who
was very close to you”. “Oh Murali don’t ask about him. He changed his
name after his leader as Chand. He is now a leading political leader doing
every possible fraud and looting the nation but he is very well off and one
among the top 5 richest people in the country. Well devil looks after his own
[Prov. Evil people are often prosperous or
well taken care of. (Implies that they must be getting their prosperity from
the devil, since they are not earning it by being good and deserving.]
He must thank his stars that he is not here now otherwise I would be getting after him [bother and criticize him about] on
many of his deeds which are detrimental to the nation not that I want to go after him [to attack or try to hurt someone] in
a very personal way.
Swathi’s turn, “I am a cardiac surgeon and so for I have
performed some 100 major surgeries and 500 minor ones.”, Murali “I am hunting
for the past so many years to look out for a single woman after my heart [woman who does or believes the
same things as I do; someone with similar tastes] but
I have not been able to find even one
heart but you are after so many hearts, really
what an heart
splitting experience you must behaving.”Laughter
all around and Swathi resumes, “In fact I thought how nice it would be to
have our teachers too now. To tell the truth I have taken after the fashion of [follow in the manner of ]
our moral science teacher after a fashion [ to a
great extent but not fully]
I follow not only whatever she taught me but also conduct as she used to be simple,
honest and cheerful in disposition but serious , sincere and ensure
perfection in whatever I do and by God’s grace I have been successful till
date because unlike other professions heart surgery and brain surgery are two
activities where you must be perfect even at the first attempt you cannot
afford to b e otherwise or afterwise [Wise after the event].
In fact I very often bask in the afterglow [trace, impression, etc., of past emotion] of
the purple pages [pleasant days] of my past life especially at school and I
am indeed really very happy to meet all of you”. Murali, “See, I always knew
women are of two types, haughty and heart tearing”.
Ravi, “ I am always flocked after by fans, I
have acted so for in five movies as hero, well I am
enjoying my profession and I am sure most of you also would have seen those
films. Murali, “but I see and remember
only the heroines in films”. Ravi continued, “I too had a very
turbulent life some ten years back when I lost my father and within one week after that I
found out that my second daughter had a major heart problem and a month after
that my wife divorced me. It was (just) one thing after another [bad things kept
happening] till I did a movie which was big box office hit and my
daughter too got totally cured thanks to our Swathi. Life after all that [returning to a normal existence
after doing all these unusual and unexpected things] has been
good to me as both my daughters are with me. Now people who have known me and
have been with me through all these can say like a fairy tale ending
that we, my daughters, my mother and me, live happily ever after [Cliché to live in happiness after a
specific event/s].” He continued, “for most of the problems that
I have faced in life I must confess honestly that I need to take the
blame. Initially I was such a drunkard that night after night [for several nights without
interruption] I used to get drunk and stay after everyone else [ remain behind later than all the
rest].My poor mother used to send after me [request to be brought] the
bouncers used to lift me and push me inside the car and afterwards our
driver used to literally drag me from the car into my house. A gem of a
driver who used to patiently pick up after me [tidy up after me], a great
and good soul I am pining after him [longing for or grieving for him].”
“I was lusting after many [desiring sexually] who visited those pubs and running after some of
them [trying
to get the attention or love of some of them] and morning after (the night
before) [a
hangover; the feelings associated with having drunk too much alcohol]
I used to carry forward the idiocy of seeking after those girls [keep looking for them] and tailing after them [Fig. to follow them]. I
never listened to the sincere advices of my mother , fell for one such girls,
voilà the results are for everyone to see and the afterword [ concluding statement]
of all the fiasco I can say out of my experience is that too much
of drinking not only ruins your purse but also your physic and the
purpose of life”.
All in chorus, “common the comedian bachelor Murali it is
your turn”. He gets up, turned around , “ yes it is my turn for the dinner,
my story is long, so we can have it after dinner as
they close the dinner in another hour”. So everyone goes ahead to have
dinner. They all finish the dinner and while some are busy swallowing
the very sugary Indian afters[ (Cookery) Informal dessert; sweet]
Murali started off à la Swami Vivekananda, “ Dear brothers
and sisters , we all hunt after meaning [ seek or pursue meaning]in
life and hunger
after [ crave for ] identity; strive after our goals [ try very hard to fulfill] but
hardly ever bother to aftereye [ look after] uncared for accident
victims and poor cancer patients. I have a trust which precisely does that. Almost
all of us spontaneously resort to afterfacting [the running of one's
mouth after the fact, especially accidents and disasters and say
things like ‘I told you so’ ‘I knew it would happen like that’ etc] and
also pitying presuming that they are seeking self pity, be it the aftershocks [a small earthquake or tremor that follows a major
earthquake]; be it the victims fighting for breath
coming out of an after-damp, [an irrespirable mixture of gases
consisting chiefly of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, left in
a mine after an explosion or fire];be
it taking care of cancer patients after treatment when they are
convalescing or completely physically cured but mentally yet to come
out of it; we have been looking after all such people and I can tell
you that as a profession it has given something great not because it is
socially acclaimed deed but because it has taught me irrespective of whatever we do what is important
is not what we get nor even what we give, it is more than all of that:it
is rather what we become.
I have become naturally compassionate, humorous ,sharing openly and mingling
without any inhibition all of which make me float in a world of pleasant
unqualified and unconditional love which I share with all, especially
the less fortunate as they need it more than the normal ones. In fact for
many of them it is like reincarnation or rebirth, they have come out from the
claws of death. Consciously all human beings are nice and as an after act we
all feel for the less fortunate but subconsciously we must develop
compassion; only then, it will pop up unsolicited and automatically despite
any block up commands. As I remain unmarried I have hundreds of children to
love; as I do not own any personal property I own the whole earth with all
its beauty; as I don’t have any personalized confined relationship I am
related personally to all these children and this is the only reason why I
have not got married and now I am too old to think of marriage.
Meeting all of you has not only given me immense pleasure but
as an after
thought [ something
thought of after our present meeting] I take the liberty to ask
all of you to, if you people have time , to join with me and strengthen my
resolve to help these young accident victims and cancer patients in whatever
way and manner you can , I would welcome your suggestions and support in
whatever form you deem fit”.
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