The Hubbub

The Sun was doubtful whether to show his morning presence or not. In fact, it was rather the choice of dark clouds that were occupying the whole sky whether to give way to the mighty Sun or not. The entire colony was getting ready for another routine day. The local newspaper boy was riding on his old bicycle, whistling slowly and hurling the paper bundles in to the compounds of various houses. But least did he expect that his bundle was also carrying a notice from the local cable television distributor, which is going to create little havoc in that small little colony.

The police head-constable was bustling restlessly for the newspaper. The moment he heard the noise the paper bundle made on his verandah, he rushed out and picked it up. He would be restless if the newspaper arrives late or if it was a holiday for it. He is habituated to read the entire newspaper before his breakfast and again in the night he ransacks for any missed bits. But, that day when he picked up the morning paper, the notice from the local cable television distributor slipped on to the floor. He mistook it for the innumerable pamphlets, which arrive with the paper everyday.

It was his neighbor who called him over phone and warned him about the hike in cable television charges from the next month. He went berserk over the hike and he rummaged the entire newspaper for the notice, only to find it on the verandah floor. He cautiously read it and crumpled it in his fist and threw it into dustbin. This cable distributor never gave him due respect because of his links to high officials in the police department. All those old scores and the new hike infuriated him and he could not wait to see his other neighbor to share his anger.

The neighbor, a complacent government clerk, took his bath and was about to go for his morning prayer when our constable showed up. He wondered what the constable was doing in front of his house. With awe, he invited the constable inside and offered him some coffee. But the constable was really not in a mood for coffee.

“Are you aware of that bugger’s new notice?” he burst out.

“What notice?” clerk enquired ignorantly.

“Our bank Manager alerted me in the morning. That cable television bugger increased
our monthly installment again”,

“Again? Didn’t he increase it just six months back?”

“It is high time, we should act now”

“I will call for a meeting of our neighbors today evening”, the constable looked for a consensus from the clerk.

That evening all the four neighbors met at the head-constable’s house. The stout bank manager arrived little late to the meeting. He muttered all kinds of excuses for being late, but nobody was in mood to listen to his stories.

“So, what shall we do?”

“We need to act in coherence”, the local grocery shop owner echoed with confidence.

After exchanging couple of arguments, they came to a conclusion on how to deal with it. They decided to go and discuss with the cable operator first before they go on a mass scale against the hike.

Next morning, they attacked the cable television office. The local cable television distributor was chewing tobacco and shouting at his workers, when our guys turned up.
He casually offered the customers seats and then some cool drinks.

“So, what made four of my valuable customers to visit my office today?” his blithe ignorance irritated the head-constable.

“We don’t like the way you are increasing the monthly rates, we are here to protest against it”, the bank manager delivered.

“You see, the corporate television networks increased the premium drastically. We have no other go. Don’t you understand?” “We are not becoming millionaires here. This business doesn’t pay”, he showed the desperation.

“If you think what you are doing is right, we wouldn’t hesitate to submit a memo against you to the government”, the head-constable threatened.

“We are just doing what other distributors are doing. Just go and verify in other areas. Then you yourself will accept our low fees”, the cable distributor offered his final explanation.

As they got out of that office, they cursed the distributor and they swore to take a strict action against him. They then departed to attend their respective jobs.

As our head-constable started complaining about this hike to his colleagues in the police station, he learned that that cable distributor had already paid enough bribes to his top officials. Realizing his limited authority over this issue, he gulped the grudge into his stomach, hoping it to get digested soon. He decided to forget about the whole issue. In fact he was trained to do so, particularly when things go out of control.

When he met the government clerk the next day, he tried not to raise the topic. But when he felt he ought to close the issue, he said, “ You see, I enquired with other cable distributors around and found that our fares are reasonable and probably we have to agree to it”. The clerk watched him with dismay.

“In fact, it might help us indirectly. When we pay to these guys, these guys in turn pay taxes to the government. So, perhaps the government will raise our salaries”, he added.

When the clerk met the bank manager, he lucidly offered the same statement, which he borrowed from the constable. And added, “Along with the government services, the nationalized banks also may increase their pays”.

The grocery shop owner had to content himself, by assuming that increasing salaries for the community residents would mean increase in his sales too.

Then after a month or so, the newspaper boy delivered another notice from the cable television distributor, thanking the colony residents for their cooperation regarding the hike in the monthly installments.

-Dharmendra Kumar

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