Ravana Goes To Silicon Valley: Chapter 7
With some effort Chandru moved from his wheelchair to the couch. He wasn’t quite used to life on one leg yet. He consulted his watch, a Hublot that was far too big for his wrist but supposedly conveyed status or something like that. It better, considering what he paid for it. The monster watch said it would be morning in California but not so early that Jethmal would still be asleep.
He hadn’t spoken with his son in a while, in fact Chandru didn’t know what he was doing for a living only that it was a startup, and had to do with software. “It’s like Open AI, except it’s totally different. Probably more like TikTok,” his son had said when he asked about it. That really narrowed it down. Chandru dialed the number.
“Jethmal? It’s me, your father.”
“Dad? What the? Why are you calling? You never call.”
“Jethmal, listen to me...”
“Don’t call me that name, dad. It’s Jet. I have officially changed it. I’m Jet now, so please call me that. Jet. The other name was just an impediment to my career. You should change yours, too. Chandru, that sounds like some ancient actor or director. Try something more cosmopolitan. Chandler, perhaps?”
“I’m happy being Chandru, thank you.”
“Whatever.”
“Please listen to me… Jet. You remember the lake we used to trek to when Grandfather was alive? Well, as the climate is getting warmer the ice has started to melt...”
“OK, you can stop right there. What do you want me to do about that? I’m not Greta Thunberg, am I? I do my part. I recycle. I don’t use plastic bags. I buy local produce.”
“You’re in California. Isn’t that were all the produce in America comes from?”
“There you go again. Whenever you call you give me grief about something. I can’t believe you’re calling all the way from Mumbai to rag me about recycling!”
“Jet, this is really important. The rakshasas are coming to Silicon Valley...”
“Rak what now? Who the hell are they? Don’t tell me, some of our crazy relatives. They can’t stay with me. That’s final. I share this apartment with two roommates. One of them works for my company, I don’t want those people to embarrass me in front of him. I’ll go out to dinner with them, that’s as far as I go. And only if they pay. I don’t even know them, and I don’t care if they’re my cousins or whatever. Listen dad, I got to go. I have people waiting for me.”
“Jethmal, this is very important. I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t.”
“It’s Jet, and whatever it is has to wait. Yesterday the deal went through, my company is being bought up by some big conglomerate. My stock options are worth a crap load of money now! A bunch of us have chartered a bus and we’re taking a trip to Napa Valley to sample wine to celebrate. Sample in quotes, if you catch my drift. It will be in-sane!”
“I’m very happy for you, Jet. But please...”
“Yes, it’s great isn’t it? This huge conglomerate Ravana Enterprises paid nearly ten times what we were hoping to get for the company in our wildest dreams. Anyway got to go, bye bye, it was nice talking to you, thanks for calling.”
“Well, at least I tried,” Chandru said to himself.
He poured himself four fingers of Scotch and turned on Netflix.
END