The Game

A big round table and six cane chairs were arranged neatly in the middle of the second floor balcony in the City Club main building. On one side there was a mini-bar set up and on the other side there was a food joint which were getting ready for the coming guests. The assistant manager came down to inspect the arrangements and it was his duty to ensure the quality of service to that special guests. The scene was just perfect for the game.

On every Saturday evening, the six business tycoons assemble down there to play poker. Lakhs of rupees are at stake without mercy. Winners don’t give a damn for the prize and the losers don’t shake. The game was just for fun and the gathering had always been more to share a few laughs than anything. Occasionally few serious topics arise down there and arguments are leashed over each other. For over three years these six people took an oath not to miss the Saturday gatherings.

Today also started like all other Saturdays. They came on time around six o’clock with jokes and pranks. The game started with lot of enthusiasm. Kama was having all the luck for the day. He won most of the pots and the chemical industrialist Raja was thrown out of the first game. As others continued, Raja got up to grab a glass of whiskey at the bar. For a change, he sat on the bar stool next to the counter and watching the game.

“I am lucky today. Don’t dare to call me,” Kama said while grabbing the chips from the table. Kama was the rival industrialist for Raja in chemical products. Even though there was never a question of competition between them earlier, of late Kama was successful in grabbing a major chunk of share. Raja, as compared to Kama, was a very small industrialist and wealth-wise ten times poorer than Kama.

“Come here, Raja” Vicky shouted at him. “You are missing some good hands.”

“Who is winning now?” Raja enquired, slowly walking towards the table with glass in hand.

“My hand is now on the rise” Mohan Reddy shouted in joy. He just outsmarted Kanshi from the game.

Meanwhile the butler came down and served them hot chicken tikka. “Delicious” Kanshi said tasting a piece.

After couple of rounds, Ganesh and Santosh were also out of the game. Kama and Mohan Reddy were at equal stakes and playing for the whole pot. With two good hands, Kama lifted all the money and became the winner of the first game.

All of them rose from the table for a break. Raja and Vicky stood at the corner watching the lawns below, while the others grabbed food and drinks.

“How is the business?” Raja casually asked.

“Good” Vicky quipped.

“How is yours doing?”

“Chemicals” Raja took a pause and said, “OK.”

Vicky knew the market news. “I heard Kama Chemicals got a huge share of your market recently. Tough game. Right?”

Raja took a deep breath and sighed without answering the question. Losing a big share of chemicals share to Kama was certainly something to him. But his ego was hurt when Vicky pointed out. And Vicky was not the first person to do so.

Raja silently pondered over the matter for sometime. He was kind of looking for an opportunity to take a blow on Kama. What could such a chance be?

As others joined them, the topic got changed and they went into miscellaneous things.

“I heard Government is thinking of increasing the petrol prices” Kama shared the news.

“Again?” Mohan Reddy expressed shock over the news.

“I heard the foreign insurance companies are showing interest in Indian markets” Kama commented.

“That would be a blow to our domestic insurance companies” Ganesh said.

“India is a huge market for them" Santhosh quipped.

“But when compared to foreign countries, India is not that organized” Kama commented.

“What does it mean?” Vicky asked.

“It is easy to cheat these companies and make money” Kama replied.

“Oh everybody thinks like that. But it is not that easy. Crime is never easy” Vicky said.

“No. Crime is easy. A good brain just need to focus little” Kama said.

“I believe it is not easy, at least to fool on Life Insurance schemes,” Santhosh said.

“It is easy. We can just like that fake the insurance companies and take money out” Kama said.

“Come on! I bet it is certainly tough for anybody. Take us. It is tough to fake it” Ganesh said.

“Not at all. It is quite easy. I can do that,” Kama said.

Raja who was silently observing the whole episode, immediately jumped into action. He knew there would be certainly some way or the other by which Kama would be found out. That kind of confidence brought a crooked idea into his mind. How about throwing a simple and clever bet to Kama? How about betting a fifty crore rupees with him? Fifty crores is almost like his half the whole assets. If Kama succeeds he would not have any active life and Raja could continue business, may be even capture his market. If Kama fails he would pay him fifty crores. Raja did not hesitate long.

Breaking his little long silence he said.

“I have a challenge for you. If you fake an insurance company and can take money out,
I will give you fifty crores rupees” Raja threw the challenge at Kama.

It was an awkward situation down there. Everybody was looking at Kama. It was rude on Raja’s part to throw such an odd bet in front of everybody. Kama appeared to be in dilemma and was kind of thinking. He was known for his outrageous behavior and for the same reason he felt it would be shame on his part not to accept the challenge thrown by Raja.

“I am ready to accept” Kama ascertained.

All others were kind of watching the game with awe.

“Let us draw the terms of the bet then” Raja said.

“If you cheat an insurance company and get the full money paid, then I will pay you fifty crores. If you fail in your attempt, you will pay me fifty crore rupees. But if by any reason you back out from the plan, you lose the whole bet and have to pay me fifty crores” Raja explained.

“What is the time frame for the bet?” Kama asked.

“One year from now on. You have to take a policy of five crore rupees and try to get that money from the company.”

“OK. Done. But this bet remains only among us. The moment the bet is revealed out it is void” Kama said.

“Not even to our family members” Raja added.

Raja immediately asked for couple of white papers and the bet was drafted down then and there and was signed by both of them. Others signed as witnesses.

After the bet, nobody was really in a mood to play. They bid farewell to others and left. Vicky was little upset the way Raja took advantage of Kama. It was a mood of heated discussion and Kama was in weak position.

Kama went home with half mind. As the blood cooled a bit, he realized what he went for. But it was too late for him to take back. He hated Raja for the dirty trap. He could not sleep for a long time.

After two days he geared up and decided to win the bet. He wanted to take revenge against Raja by winning the bet.

He took some time and planned carefully how to do it and what to do. The next Saturday he went to the club, but he did not play with interest.

Kama had couple of sleepless nights and he calculated the price he would be paying when he loses the bet. He understood the price he would have to pay even when he wins the bet. He partially understood the game plan of Raja. Even if he wins the bet, he had to remain unrecognized for the rest of his life. Fifty crores was a small amount for a brilliant brain like him to vanish into anonymity. But he could always run the show from behind, except the fact that he had to keep his life a secret, forever.

The more and more he thought about the whole setup, he went wild and he shouted aloud at himself for accepting such a bet. He felt like he should withdraw from the bet. But at the same time, he felt he should win the bet at any cost and crush Raja down to earth.
All he wanted was a good plan and a good friend to trust. And the friend should not be from his family.

He thought for a day or so, and he came to the conclusion that Vicky would be the best person to trust. The agreement was not to tell anybody other than those who were present that day at the bet. Kama cleverly took the advantage of that and decided to take help from Vicky.

They sat together and planned the whole thing.

After two months, with the help from Vicky, he took an insurance policy for five crore rupees and went around with all the legal litigations of the policy well. Kama took the insurance such that the five crores would be given to Vicky if anything happened to him. After ensuring that he was safe, he took upon the policy and went for his second plan. All these policies would pay for any fatality, only if there is six months gap between the dates of fatality from the date of policy commencement. And they would not pay for any suicide cases, if that happens within one year from the starting date of the policy. These safeguards were to avoid swindling money from the insurance companies.

They kept quiet for six long months. When one day Raja enquired about the bet, he just smiled and told him that he would let him know once things are done and he kept everybody in secret.

On the other hand, Raja appeared to be digging around the subject almost every time at their get-togethers. But Kama never yielded to him.

When the policy crossed six months time, they were just left with three months from then to the one-year time limit.

One day Vicky told him the plan. They would take a dead body from the government hospital mortuary and dump it in his car and leave the identifications of Kama along with the body and push the car from the top of the mountain into the valley nearby. They would manipulate the body such that it cannot be recognized as such but the only identifications would be Kama’s rings and the clothes he wore. And of course, his car.

The plan appeared to be perfect of Kama, He decided to implement at the earliest. Vicky went around and bribed the head of the mortuary heavily to help him with the plan. The plan was not really set on time as per Kama. It was depending on the body’s availability.

They made sure that the moment they get the anonymous dead body, the mortuary head would be informing them. And they would jump into action right away.

They waited eagerly for the call from the mortuary.

It took three weeks for them to get that call. One day, when Kama was waiting in a bank, he got the call from Vicky. Immediately he rushed home, and told everybody that he was leaving for the state capital city on an emergency work. He packed everything and bid farewell to everybody and left the home.

Meanwhile Vicky tried to arrange the collection of the dead body after it became dark. He heard the body was found that morning and was that of a middle-aged orphan man. That suited well for the purposes of what Vicky intended it to be.

As they planned earlier, Kama drove directly to the outskirts of the town and towards the city. After crossing ten miles or so from his own city, he pulled over before the bridge over the mountains. He waited in the dark till Vicky arrived with the body in his car trunk. Just before they transferred the body, Vicky took out some papers and asked Kama to sign them.

“What are these papers?” Kama asked very much puzzled.

“Will Raja agree just like that that you have chosen me to receive the money? And more over I don’t want to get into any trouble later with that money. So I have typed some papers that you have chosen me to get the money and I have not forced you or anything. I just want to be safe.” Vicky replied.

“Oh! That is fine but can’t we do this after we go back?” Kama asked.

“It’s just a small signature.” Vicky replied.

“Yes, you are right, why are we wasting our time and tell us do this before anybody sees us with a dead body in the middle of the night on this highway”, saying that Kama signed the papers.

Then they slowly moved the body to Kama’s car and put Kama’s clothes, rings and wrist watch to the body.

“The easy clues will make the detectives mind stop looking for the real truth” Kama commented while transferring the body to the driver seat of his car. They then poured the fuel on the body and set the car on fire. They waited till the body was burnt a little to make sure that it cannot be recognized. They then pushed the car down the slope. They waited and saw till the car crashed down below. And then got into Vicky’s car and drove away towards the city.

They drove all the night and reached the city. As they planned earlier, they went and checked into a big independent house which they hired couple of weeks ago in the outskirts. That would be the safe place for Kama. Vicky took off the next afternoon and went back.

The car was noticed on the next day afternoon. Somebody saw it and informed the police. Police came and tried to get the clues. They noted that car was crushed and driver was burnt badly without recognition. By the number plate of the car and with the possessions of the dead body, they declared that the body was none other than Kama.

Kama’s family went into deep sorrow after hearing the news. Kama knew what all this would be like, but he had to make them undergo this, just to beat Raja’s bet. And he would be winning the bet.

It became to known to everybody that Kama had died in an accident. There at the club, on that Saturday gathering, Vicky took the lead and declared that Kama would be the winner, when he would receive the money from the insurance the next week.

There in the city, Kama was relaxing on hearing the news of his own death and felt happy that he is going to win the bet. But least did he know the news, which he was going to hear the next day.

Kama was relaxing and watching the news for the hundredth time. The news reporter was saying, “The fresh news we received about the business tycoon Kama’s accident is that, it was no accident but a clear suicide. It was a miracle to find a suicide note in the badly burnt car, the Inspector of police Mr. Rama Rao informed our….”
Kama no longer heard the rest of it. This meant that the insurance would not be paying him a single rupee, which meant that he lost the bet.

Raja was celebrating on winning the bet with his friends. And Vicky was very much present.

-Niranajan

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