Taken for Granted - Chapter 3. Shankar always finds a way.

They say that desperate times lead to desperate measures. It does not matter who takes those. It was one of those times.
FLASHBACK: The hockey match was tied 3-3 and the penalty shoot out had started. Shankar had a really bad day as a goalkeeper where his hands were slippery. Our team had a field meeting and Shankar decided that he will only try to stop goals on the left side. It was the risk which worked and we won the game.After this game, I and AR went inside the changing room where Shankar introduced me to the coach. The Coach knew AR but not me. He was amused by my name Taken.

CUT TO: I called Katha.She picked up the phone but immediately slammed it shut realising it was me. She is right in her way. If only I could explain.

FLASHBACK: Katha used to wait for me in the library. She thought library was the knowledge center. I thought Library was the place where you sat only because you wanted to have silent whispering conversations. I felt those were very romantic. The best part was when I tilted my head slightly and she while touching her face and neck with her palm smiled.

CUT TO: The only smile in my life was Smile toothpaste in my bag. A Police man stopped me suddenly and 125 rupees which I had were not enough to bribe him. I am now in a police van being taken to a jail. (Imagine the news headline : Taken being taken to jail). If only I could think like Shankar, If only I could get out of this jail...

FLASHBACK: Shankar always loved the fact that he could think out of the box. He had proved it to our Maths teacher many times by getting right answers using wrong formulas. He believed everything was based on percentages. As to how he manged to get right answers, no one knows.

No one also knows when he started smoking, drinking and gambling. But he did do all these things. His father had issues with him. His father had his own drinking problem to deal with. But I knew that Shankar was a good kid. So did my parents and my brother AR. We liked him the way he was. Easy going, enthusiastic about life.

Then one day Shankar showed up in school drunk. I tried to control his antics but he was like a clown let loose. Finally Father Pinto -(Father of the Church and Principal of our school) caught him. Father Pinto was strict. I was scared that he might rusticate Shankar. After 2 hours Shankar came out of the Father Pinto's office smiling. I was curious and so was rest of the school. As it latter turned out -- Shankar found out that the wines shop in town was suffering in the off season time. Shankar gave his word to help his business. He offered to buy the wine in bulk for Church for Sunday morning communal. He thus tasted different types of wines to decide which one to select. That's why he was drunk. In other words he was drunk because he had given his word. Father Pinto respected people who kept their word. He was a man of principle. Shankar was not punished but he was rewarded. He received a gold star ribbon on annual day function that year.