All in the game – part XI

It had been six months since Anil had got back to Chennai. After being rescued by the army helicopter Anil was able to locate the kid’s mother and his 3year old sister. His dad was still missing. A total of 147 people were missing by the fire accident that claimed the star cruiser “Virgin Princess”. Imran had been missing ever since and there was no information about Puja or Lakshmi. He had no other details about Puja except that her name was Puja and she had just finished her college education. None of their names were listed in the ship’s official list of passengers. For weeks Anil was running around the steps of various government agencies in the name of investigation. None of them were able to trust his statement about the mafia and its alleged influence in the world. Anil himself wasn’t sure as he didn’t have any other evidence except for what he heard from Lakshmi. In the end the authorities decided not to pursue on his claims and closed the file as a case fictitious memory due to acute stress. The mafia was silently monitoring all this and when they realized that they weren’t going to be investigated, they decided to leave Anil alone.

Sekar, the onsite guy, was located back just hours after the plane carrying Imran and Anil had left Chennai. He laughed off the whole episode saying it was all an April fool joke!!! He was called back to offshore and Peter was sent onsite as a replacement.

Anil had become a sober and lonely man ever since. He rarely smiled and had become a calm and balanced person. He never reacted much for any happy or sad news and carried on with his work in a cool and composed manner.

One fine morning Sekar came to Anil’s desk with a young girl with him and said.

“Hi Anil!!! Meet Miss.Malvika. She will be working with you in the team from today”

Anil looked up to see a pretty young girl smiling at him.

He let out a small but refreshing smile and said ”Hi Iam Anil” and offered a hand shake.

“Hi I am Malvika, Malvika Patel” the girl replied as she shook his hand.

“Get a plan for KT ready and bring her up to speed. We are looking at having her as a resource for the future. Ok , I gotta go now. Welcome to the team Malvika” so saying Sekar went back to his place.

“Please take your seat” Anil pointed to the nearby chair.

She sat down.

“So Malvika is your official name?? And they call you Puja at home??“asked Anil.

“Yes! And you can call me Puja itself” she replied and suddenly her eyes got fixed at Imran’s photo that was kept near the monitor.

“Where is Imran”

“He has been missing since the fire accident”

“what?????why……..I mean.. what happened??”

“That’s a big story!! Hey why didn’t you contact me ?? what happened after you reached Chennai”

“That’s another biiiiiiiiiiig story. Hey why don’t we go to the food court??? Needless to say you have got to pay”

“That can happen on only one condition”

She looked into his eyes and raised her eyebrows.

“You should promise that you would let me pay for the rest of our lives,” he told her as he looked at her with expectation.

She smiled gently as she peered into his naughty eyes and said. “Sure”.

He smiled at her and they both walked to the food court engrossed in conversation.

Needless to say there was never a dull moment in Anil’s life after that. Anil stopped complaining about his life and started accepting the pains and pleasures it had to offer. He has learnt that it’s a game and penalties and goals are a part of it. Dwelling too much into either of it would take the fun out of the game. All you can do is take whatever comes, into your stride and to strive harder for the next try. Because no matter what happens its all in the game.

The End.

· All in the Game - part I

· All in the game – part II

· All in the game – part IV

· All in the Game – part V

· All in the Game – part VI

· All in the Game – part VII

· All in the Game – part VIII

· All in the Game – part IX

· All in the game – part X

· All in the game – part XI