Shaw Lay : The fellowchip of The-Coor

(First in the trilogy)

Veera Venkata Laxman aka Veeru and Jailendra Kashyap aka Jay idled away to glory on the wing cot while the rest of their class mates were hunting for a summer job. But the latest news was that both of them had landed a summer job at Shaw Lay Ltd., a once-prosperous potato chip manufacturer, somewhere in the country. The CEO of Shaw Lay Ltd., Mr. Shaw, was a ver determined person. It is told that Mr. Shaw, an alcoholic, used to consume incessant amonts of Coors beer. Legend has it that Mr. Shaw lost both his arms when, under heavy influence of Coors, he placed his hands in the potato chopper which could not differentiate Mr. Shaw's hands from potatoes. Then onwards he came to be know as "The-Coor" sahab. The news that the two 'vagabonds' were hired as interns for Shaw Lay Ltd. was creating waves in the campus.


Halfway accross the world The-Coor's secretary JL Iyer was puzzled by The-Coor's decision to hire Veera Venkata and Jailendra. JL Iyer expressed his concern, "The-Coor sahab, Shayad hi koi aisa buffet ho jis me ye dono naa gaye ho. Ye Veeru aur Jay dono ke dono pakke badmaash. Jahan bhi jaatein hai wahan poora khana khatam kar detein hai. Aur aap unko hamarey chipd facory mein ..." The-Coor took a deep breath and replied, "Jaanata hoon ... during my last visit to their hostel nite, not only did they poond but also they scared all the people who came for a second helping, keeping all the food to themselves." JL Iyer tried to convice The-Coor by warning him that Jay and Veeru could actually vaat-lagafy to their chip factory. But The-Coor was not moved, "agar ek taraf in mein yeh sab kharaabiyaa hai to doosari taraf kuchh khubiyaa bhi hai." JL Iyer made a last try, "Khota chip to dono hi taraf se khota hota hai." The-Coor stared into JL Iyer's eyes this time, "Chips aur insaan mein shayad yehi fark hai ..."

Finally Veeru and Jay arrived in Ramgarh - the land of chips. They managed to find the guest house that The-Coor arranged for them. Just outside the guesthouse there was a marriage reception going on. Veeru and Jay winked at each other. And in no time the caterers were scared to death for some reason and someone had eaten all the food. The two summer interns returned to the guest house belching. The-Coor was standing there, "Woh mere hee caterers they ... main dekhna chahta tha ki tum logon mein ab tak wahi bhook hai ya nahin." He had his answer.


Then The-Coor told why he had hired them ... Flash back ... During those days when Shaw Lay was a prosperous company and The-Coor had both his hands, he hired an employee - AZ Khan. That was a very costly mistake to make since AZ Khan used to thulp large amounts of chips from The-Coor's godown. Very soon Shaw lay ran into heavy losses because of reasons known only to AZ Khan. One night when The-Coor was investigating he caught AZ Khan chip-handed.


The-Coor snatched away the chip packets and before he could say anything AZ Khan shouted, "Yeh chips mujhe dey dey the-coor" .... "Nahin" .... "Yeh chips mujhe dey dey the-coor" ... "Nahiiin".... "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnn". Saying this AZ Khan snatched the chips packets and ran away into the hills. AZ Khan, because of his thulping abilities, came to be known as 'Grubber' in Ramgarh. This was when The-Coor drank inappropriate amounts of alcohol and got his hands chopped. Grubber had started a competing chips factory in the hills - Mehbooba Chips, which brought further losses to Shaw Lay Ltd.

The-Coor told Veeru and Jay that he had hired them for a revenge on Grubber. They still wondered what they could do, but The-Coor had his plans. He announced, "You are THE FELLOW-CHIP OF THE-COOR".


(To be continued...)

PS: What does a writer do when he is not able to convey the very point of his writing?
Ans: He does this .... In the story so far
The cast(maaaajor accent required):
The-Coor: Thakur
JL Iyer : Jailor