Chapter 2: Some Background

And so, here Ulysses was, in The State. A big question he faced was why was he here, and what he supposed to do about it. First job, first assignment.
‘Now see, that is the scenario’, his boss had said, on his first day on the job, ‘The State is a big market. And we are not selling there. And these gentlemen’, he had continued, waving a negligent and contemptuous hand in the general direction of his Sales Managers, ‘are not only unable to sell, they are also quite unable to find out why they are unable to sell. And the Product Managers’, this with another contemptuous wave of hand towards the PMs sitting there in the meeting, ‘are only good for making strategies and preparing nice shiny little advertisements. Ask them to make nice little powerpoint presentations with lots of boxes and arrows, and two by two matrices, and they are as happy as children with Lego sets. But ask anyone about sales, and all go mum’. The Product and Sales Managers had made very spirited attempts to go invisible, but had failed miserably. So they made do with suitably contrite expressions. Ulysses was paying total attention, as his boss went on, ‘what I need is someone who can tell me what is wrong.’ And like the virgin who had been instructed on her first date, by her mother, to say DON’T and STOP, Ulysses had muttered his version of DON’T STOP, and that had been the cause of all this.
‘I don’t want a PM to make powerpoints,’ his boss continued, ‘I want results. I want someone who can tell me the actual realities of the ground, not nice little boxes and arrows.’ And with his manhood and PMhood thus challenged, Ulysses had rosen magnificently to the occasion. In a passable imitation of Abhimanyu threatening to break the Chakravyuh, he had stood up, and calmly announced, ‘I will do it boss. I will go to The State, aur main aapke laptop ke mousepad ki shapath leta hoon, jab tak I don’t have the answers to your questions, main aapko apna chehra nahi dikhaoonga.” Or something to that effect. Of course, he had totally missed the smug smiles that were exchanged between all the people present in the room.
And thus, it had been decided that Ulysses would visit The State for three weeks (Chehra nahi Dikhaoonga had wisely been taken by his boss as a metaphor), and would drink tea and discuss the elections with stockists and retailers and anyone else who cared to offer him tea and discuss the elections.
And so, here he was. Sitting in a crowded bus which made a street full of rubberneckers after an accident look like a government office after four in the evening.

Next Up: Chapter 3- A Bus Journey (And the guy who was a girl)

Chapter 1: The Beginning

"I am deliriously happy", thought Ulysses,"Going to go home on the first day of my first assignment at work,for a couple of days paid vacation,what more could a man ask for."
Thenhe took a look around him;eight people crammed on a hard wooden bench meant for four (that was beginning to hurt his bottom by then), the same smelly,noisy,intrusive crowd in front him, behind him, and above him on similar benches, people crammed in the alleyways, and at the door and the windows of that dinky little metre gaugze local train, and hanging from the fan which was not working; and decided that a man could indeed ask for more.In fact, he would not be blamed if he were to ask for a lot more.He shrugged, clutched his heavy travel bag sitting on his lap a little tighter with his sweaty hands,and looked out of the window,wishing that the train would move a little faster,that a little air would come in from the window,that he would be more comfortable...He saw the same lone cyclist,an old guy who looked like he would drop dead if his bicycle fell on top of him, overtake the train for the third time in thirty minutes,and decided that he was not deliriously happy,after all.He was just delirious.

Only this morning, he was in The City, sitting in the comfort of his airconditioned office cubicle, randomly surfing the internet (the chat clients were blocked- blooming system admins,oversmart so and sos) looking forward to his new job. And now, here he was. He wondered just where he was.He knew that he was in The State, and on the local train to his village, but where exactly on route, he had no clue. He let his mind drift for a moment on the differences between The City and The State.

The State: The state is a large tract of higly fertile land populated with a species of living creatures who call themselves human beings and have organized themselves into a social structure closely resembling humanity. They also marry,have families, live together in groups forming settlements that they are pleased to call villages and towns and cities.Sometimes,they claim that they even have a government,though it is a claim often refuted by the inhabitants of other parts of Bharat, mostly by those who have never visited the state or those who live in India.They also claim civilization, though this claim is also often refuted by those who live in India, who argue that they have wires and powerstations,but no electricity, roads which they claim exist on maps but not on ground and other such calumnies. The State is often a subject of intrigue,especially among those who have never been there.To summarize it, the words The State raise in most Indians the same feeling the words "All Night Bar and Strip Club" evoke in people who have never visited such places. Some excitement, some fear, and no small amount of titillation. There,I had wanted to use that word for a long time now. And believe me, titillation means exactly what it sounds like. Anyways, going back to The State and the club, both are similar in one more aspect. People who have never been there spend a lot of time planning to go there, eventually do, find that their fears are mostly unfounded, and believe that they should have gone there long ago.But eventually, people who go to either, come out repenting.

The City: The name The City is actually a misnomer designed to cheat young and gullible fools. Any veteran of the city knows that it is really a jungle. Only the trees and the animals are made of concrete and metal.A lot of the predators in this particular jungle have two legs. The City is considered by those who live in India to be the holy grail of civilization and advancement of human society, while those who are citizens of Bharat but do not live in India consider it in a somewhat more unflattering light. It also raises feelings similar to the All Night Bar and Strip Club, only, in this case the feelings are those that would be raised in a seasoned veteran of such places. But The City is similar to the state in that those who go to either the club or The City, eventually come out repentant too.

He had travelled that day by the best and the worst that the country had to offer,all in one day. First three thousand kilometres in three hours (including the half hour delay) by what was probably the best airline that was on offer.And now, Thirty kilometres,in another three hours (NOT INCLUDING the one and a half hour delay).Such were the vagaries of life.

So, footnote making in mind over, Ulysses looked out of the window again.The train had finally reached his station. He gripped his bag, and prepared to fight his way out to the door. He was supposed to begin work the day after tomorrow. But the day after tomorrow, after all, was another day (only difference being, it came after Another Day).He would let it take care of itself.Meanwhile,it was time for home.