COURAGE AND ALL THAT or THE RELEASE by Sundaram Ramchandran / Zenkalidas / India guy ACT 1 THE PRESENT Ahmed Khan got up, the screams from the next room were too much for even him to bear. AK (in frustration) : "Damn it, they just won't give in or yield, will they ?" Going to the room where the 5 of them (Rose, Rachel, Ram, Rahim and Ramia) were tied up, he shouted to the women " Cant u see , your situation is hopeless . No one can reach you. This place is miles away from anywhere. All i want is Raul's location and / or an acceptance of me as your lover (of course this acceptance would be practically validated) But all he got for his efforts was spittle flowing down his face. AK was not too upset by this, except for a slight feeling of irritation. He was beyond being upset at such trifles. He had passed that stage long ago (as will be seen later). But what upset him was they did was that even after hours of torture, they had not broken down. They had not revealed the whereabouts of Raul and they did not even let him kiss them let alone make love to them. He was a very patient man but even he was at the end of his tether. All present (including his men and the prisoners ) were surprised to see him break down with sobs racking his frame). At last he spoke to Rose, rachel and ramia "D'ont u even remember me and what you did to me ?" in mixed tones of hurt and humiliation. The roles had been reversed then. The three of them shuddered as AK's countenance grew familiar ACT 2 THE PAST This had happened about 15 years ago. AK was the scion of a land owning family, the type who can neither be called rural or urban but have a dominating presence in both areas. They also had a controlling interest in every type of industry (including hospitals and educational institutions). Given the above, it was understood that AK would have a chequered future and hence it was understandable that he led a leisurely life devoted to the pursuits of all that was worthy and significant in life (illustratively literature, aesthetics, philosophy / rather spirituality , history, human affairs (including politics) ... etc). Of course, his was the approach of a dilettante (with all its pros and cons). More importantly, he loved the good things of life and was considered "soft"/"effete" / " a fop" etc which epithet was possibly not too misplaced because of a lifestyle that could be termed "self-indulgent" He loved wine, wrestling and women , not necessarily in that order. As regards his wrestling interest , he possibly fit the traditional Indian image of the wrestler with a mixed rural urban background, ,fairly large amount of leisure time to devote himself to perfection. His interest in wrestling and politics were somewhat intertwined and his ambitions in both understood. As far as the ladies were concerned, they couldn't have had a more different background from him if they had tried. They had a strange mix of upper middle class background with its intellectualism and social awareness and a working class background with its emphasis on as tough kind of self reliance. To complete what was almost a clich', they were good boxers / kick boxers as well as professional soccer, rugby and beach volleyball players Physically, they were splendid specimens with a mixture of the near east (armenia etc) the Mediterranean, north and latin america as well as a celtic mix. They weighed between 85-90 kgs with just the right amount of curves in the right places Does one need to add that they were also active communists in addition to following the catholic faith seriously without wearing it on their sleeves. Ramia of course was an outsider who was welcomed into the group..... Coincidentally, both groups had a late start to their educational career for exactly the opposite reasons , AK ,because of his wealth and social standing and the ladies because they went to work early. Interestingly, the ladies had completed a diploma in mechanical engineering which was kind of reinforced by their ability to handle / drive / repair all kinds of vehicles So what could be the course that would overlap with both sets of interests ? If you thought architecture, you would be bang on target. He attended because of the historical / cultural / aesthetic aspect and they because of the links to engineering He found them attractive while they felt that he was just another rich idiot who did not deserve to be in the class. There was an undercurrent of tension between the two groups both because of the sexual aspect as well as the clash of cultures. In fact, it was the latter that lit the spark reinforced by the fact that AK had got a research scholarship to the states while their friends, Raul and Ramesh could not in spite of their superior academic and professional accomplishments They had gone on a field trip to some architectural monuments of south india when they started arguing about the relative contribution of western and turkish / persian (turanian / iranian) contributions to Indian architecture. At one point, it got personal and being somewhat modern and liberated, both parties agreed to a no holds barred fight. So, in addition to all the other conflicts that were being played out , one major theme that was going to be played out was : Boxing vs. Wrestling or rather Striking vs. Grappling AK would take on Rachel while his friend would take on Rose and then they would switch. Now AK, being somewhat of a novice in wrestling as a martial art, though outwardly overconfident had doubts deep down about his personal ability to take a punch as well as the ability to counter punches through grappling in actual practice. This lack of belief proved to be his undoing . He was soundly beaten by both girls and in fact they even outwrestled him. The women decided to have some fun with him. They decided to play a game of poker which would be decided by a wrestling match. They started with the handicap of having only miniskirts on while he had all his clothes on. Besides, they had one of their hands behind their back as well as having no protection. First, Rachel was to take him on and then Rose. Instead of waiting for the result, rachel wrestled him and stripped him of all clothing except his undergarments. Rose just completed the humiliation by stripping him naked (except for a pair of socks which looked ridiculous) To add insult to insult, she threw the clothes into the street below. He ran desperately naked to retrieve them but lo and behold, both of them were there before him (they had clambered down the pipe). They managed to destroy the clothing completely. He tried to run away but they prevented him by holding him. He finally broke down totally. They added to the ridiculousness of the whole scene by making him wear a tie. But worse was yet to come. They held his naked body between them with his weight on their shoulders and started running. They were dressed in mini-skirts revealing huge but wonderfully shaped thighs, calves and buttocks. AK had stopped bothering about the humiliation because his hard on was making him really uncomfortable until he finally came, sperm exploding all over him. They then proceeded to paint both his face and ass like a clown. But the fight had not gone out of him yet. AK (in a subdued voice) : "Have u heard of pentagonal symmetry and quasi periodic tilings of the plane (made famous by Penrose) ? Have u heard of self-similar fractals ? I think even alhambara has been influenced by the turanian / iranian style ? " Their response : " If we show you a practical example of the above, will you relinquish your claim to the scholarship in favor of Raul and Ramesh ?" AK (feebly) : "yes" They made a dummy which was a replica of him, tonsured the dummy, covered the dummy's ass and head with ball like seams/patterns, put it in a transparent soccer / beach volleyball like sphere, covered the ball in the hexagonal and pentagonal pattern of seams and then showed off their incredible strength and power by playing a full game of beach volleyball with this "ball" AK was flabbergasted and was in shock They gave him another chance. "Do you want to fight with us for your scholarship" He did not have the stomach for the fight and he started pleading. They said unless i signed a letter relinquishing his claim, they would hurt him physically. Then they proceeded to push his head inside a water tank as well as punching his stomach and taking turns to twist his arm. The above was meant to be an example of what was to come if he refused. The fight had gone out of AK but the flight option still remained (was what he felt which was completely in variance with the situation as we see later) He ran to his car where the driver was waiting but the girls came and somehow, managed to lift the car and drop it, spoiling its suspension mechanism. They also broke the windows and were about to do further damage when he broke down completely and agreed. In 5 minutes, they had the letter ready and they almost forced him to sign on the dotted line. There was more than a glint of mischief on their faces as they asked him : " We have shown you self-similarity and tiling. Do you want to see an example of homeomorphism / isomorphism (a higher level of self-similarity) ?" He replied even before he fully understood "Yes" Hardly, had he said that when the full meaning of what they implied dawned on him. But it was of no avail as they proceeded to tonsure him like they had done the dummy. They covered his head / ass and torso with spot / seam like patterns like a soccer / beach volleyball "ball" They then inflated the "ball" put him inside, tied him to the dummy after filling the dummy with ink / paint and then proceeded to play the same game. A broken scare-crowish clown was extracted from the "ball" an hour later, his frame racked by sobs that washed the ink and paint away. They hugged him feeling a mixture of pity, affection along with the bathos of the situation which was dominant earlier. They said (lke the merry wives of windsor to falstaff) "Come, the three of us will have a drink together in memory of this sad-sweet-funny day" But what happened was that the girls had already informed Raul and Ramesh of the good news and just when their affair with AK was to have a sweet ending, they were surprised to find Raul and Ramesh already there. Suddenly, the girls found themselves in a predicament and could not explain the ink and paint on their bodies (Of course, it was just a tinge but it would be enough to make their lovers suspicious) They phoned their boyfriends and told them that they were experimenting with some sculpture and could they stay in the car and the girls would be with them within an hour at most. They came up with some kind of contrivance where he was harnessed to a seat mechanism and which could be hoisted up. They hoisted him seated in this mechanism, clown costume and all and tied him scarecrow like to a statue of Mother Mary (as if he was suckling at her breast) They did not want to reveal what they had done to AK since they now felt embarrassed. And as it so happens, two adages were proven true : - Lovers can be cruel to the outside world - The actions committed to hide mischievous peccadilloes have a far more adverse effect as compared to the peccadilloes themselves (Of course, as they say "Levity is leviathan" but this holds as long as there are no serious long term effects) In their haste, they not only did not carry out the affair to its conclusion / resolution but they made the stupid mistake of informing both his parents and the police. This unresolved intention like an unresolved piece in an orchestra embittered AK who waited for the public humiliation of being extracted and lowered in the presence of his parents and police. That was the end of both his wrestling and political aspirations (at a major level) though by tapping into his distant turanian ancestry, he managed to turn his humiliation into a kind of flame and managed to prove the superiority of grappling . In politics, he got into grass roots politics where he could serve people in his own way. He realized that the humiliation and the attendant masochistic aspects is what distinguishes wrestlers from other folks (especially in inter-gender matches) He also utilized his connections to become a big figure in the underworld. As for the girls, they intended to get in touch with him and have that drink. But as it so happens, the passage of time erases most memories unless one is reminded or if it is related to whom we are close. Things were moving along smoothly when one day, he sees the three girls in the bar. He would never forget them. It was as if their faces / images were etched into his mind. He and his men kidnap the women and their friends and bring him to his hideout on the outskirts. ACT 3 THE PRESENT AK is jolted out of his reverie by the sound of crying. Fear had given way to a genuine feeling of remorse on the part of the girls. It is as if they were some telepathic conversation between them They say that they are genuinely sorry but they still have not realized the real reason for the extent of his bitterness Somewhat mollified, he comes up with an offer : " If rachel and rose can both defeat me in a no holds barred match as they did before, i will release all of you unconditionally" This time, things are far more even though the girls have the upper hand (as said, his knowledge is more theoretical as befits a coach etc) . The first match ends in a narrow victory for rachel and the second would seem to be a repetition of the first when he tells sobbing "Oh, the shame of it, when you threatened me with humiliation, i yielded and let go of my future while when the tables are reversed, you have the guts to stick to your guns" Rose is suddenly struck by a great feeling of remorse and a feeling of affection for him. So she says "We would have been with you and had that drink with you and seen that you reach home safely without any further indignity but Raul and Ramesh....." In a moment of clarity and insight, AK embraces her and Rachel and they all share a swig from the bottle of long island / tenessee iced tea. They toast to each other with tears running along their cheeks. Suddenly, without any warning, AK shoots himself in the mouth (after releasing both of them of course). It is as if the feeling of bitterness drains out of him along with the blood, finally giving him his final release.