The Master

Bates was a funny young man. Intellectual, but pedantic and preachy at times, no wonder people called him ‘Master’. Our friend was just returning from a trip he had been to with his office mates. They had hired a mini-bus for their trip to Kerala and were having the time of their lives.

As usual Master Bates was at his idiotic best, mocking everyone and everything that came to his mind. The women in Kerala, who would swim while being completely draped with clothes from head to toe, the fat friend, who fell in love and ‘broke’ it, the ubiquitous old guy, who somehow survived the great floods even though he wasn’t on Noah’s ark. One of Bates’ lame and worn out jokes with the old man would always be – if you ever need a boat, I No-ah guy. Not to mention the girl who needed make up to ‘make-up’ her mind.

All the fun and frolic came to an abrupt end while they were returning to Bangalore, and were around Mysore, which is approximately 3 hours away. It was around 2 A.M and the long drive had taken its toll on the driver, which, combined with the fog, was in itself an equation for danger.

The inevitable disaster happened and left everyone in a quandary. Those asleep woke up to realize the bus had hit a pole and the front window had shattered. They all got down from the bus and everyone seemed fine except for Bates who was left unconscious after a few glass pieces had passed through his body. Bates was rushed to the nearest hospital while the rest waited as the driver had taken the bus to get the windows fixed.

The rest of the trip continued after a long halt and had a rather eerie feeling to it. All the noise was replaced by an uncanny silence. Bates himself was sitting all by himself, quite like never before, just hoping to reach home safely.

They got back to Bangalore with just about enough time to freshen up and go right back to office as they worked in the UK shift timings and they had to login at the office by 12.00 PM IST. The mood at the office seemed extremely gloomy. Everybody looked serious, heavy eyed and in a dejected state. Apart from everything else, Bates was also worrying about his finances. He thought to himself that the trip had left him so broke that he couldn’t even pay attention.

Then came the e-mail that had changed everything. It said –

“We regret to inform you that one of our beloved colleagues – Bates, had died in an unfortunate accident while on a trip from Kerala. Please join us for a minute of silence at 4.00 PM as we remember him and pray for his family and loved ones”

Bates was horrified. He didn’t know what was going on. It hit him hard, really hard. He was unable to speak to anyone.10 minutes later, there was an announcement over the microphone. It was 4 PM and a sullen voice broke the same news. Everybody stood up and a minute of silence followed, ironically, for the person who was never silent.

Bates was a funny young man. Intellectual, but pedantic and preachy at times, but life and death were funnier with him. He didn’t know who was his 'Master'.

P.S – This is partly inspired by real life events. We did go for the trip as a team and also met with an accident near Mysore in which fortunately or unfortunately I happened to be the only person who was injured.