ANATOMY OF LOVE

FICTION

Newspaper Headlines "PUNJAB TRACTORS LIMITED (PTL) taken over by DR.REDDY's LABORATORIES

(GOD U HAVE LIBERALISED MY COUNTRY, NOW PLEASE LIBERALIZE MY THOUGHT PROCESS)

I am son of soil from punjab and and once my Friend from Tamil nadu asked me to which culture u owe your allegiance to punjabi culture or indian culture, i replied " no , my culture is agriculture".to this my friend laughed so heartedly as if he has got an answer to a very difficult puzzling and longstanding question.

As i am from punjab and this being the First GREEN REVOLUTION state, is a food bowl of india ,as punjab contributes significantly to indian foodgrain requirements. But punjabis could not have achieved this without proper infrastructural support like hybrid seeds, irrigation facilities and mechanised farm equipment like TRACTORS, threshers, combines etc.The central govt provided all these facilities in 1960s and it also formed a company called PUNJAB TRACTOR LIMITED for making mechanised farm equipments which made tractors and allied machinery .

Tractors as we all know help in lot of farm operations. They can be touted as mechanised BULLOCKs and we punjabisis revere them and pray for them like for our bullocks.

I am a literate(not yet fully educated) persons with strong favourable views regarding pro -liberalisation efforts of our govt.and when i read that Govt will be divesting its stake in few public sector companies to get funds which can be used for social welfare neasures, i feel happy and subscribed to this view fully. But then........

In todays Business standard newspaper there was a head lines " PUNJAB TRACTORS LIMITED TAKEN OVER BY DR.REDDYS"

On reading this news i was flambergasted as how can Punjab govt sell a jewel from its crown with which so many affective components of punjabi people behaviour are attached.I also read that PTL employees Union has gone on strike on this issue and Communists,anti liberalisationists and narmada bachao activists have also congregated to the spot to lend their moral and other support there. I also decided to oppose the move and join the agitation.

As i was about to move to the hotspot my innerself asked me few questions" Why exactly me who is a strong supporter of reforms has suddenly turned against this progressive step?". After i did some soul searching i got the answer," it was my prejudice against Andhrites that have manifested in my such behaviour.But why prejudice? i asked myself. The answer was simple Few years back i lost my lady love to an Andhrite who have only one better quality then me i.e he was many times richer than me(and also a better Humanbeing than me that i will never like to admit). but i never protested at that time because i never had the resources to match him.MY prejudice was reinforced by the news that now Govt will spend the funds generated from divestment on promoting SECOND GREEN REVOLUTION In andhra pradesh.(Making punjab barren to make andhra fertile).And DR.Reddys being a company promoted by an influential Andhrite.it was natural for my prejudice to manifest.

Although i got the answer for my opposition to the deal but still i displaced the thought and telling myself that i am right ;i jumped into protests. On day one i gave a long,emotional and thought provoking to my Punjabi brethren on the injustice that has been meted to punjab which local rightists and separists happily published on front pages. ON day two i led an aggitation of employees of PTL.On day third , as i was about to lead a procession, but police lathicharged and i recieved some injurie which was well covered by medi as "DR. HEMANT PROTESTING AGAINST INJUSTICE BADLY BEATEN BY POLICE". When i came out of hospital, i on popular public persuasion was made to sit on a hunger fast. All these happenings had a desired effect and myself became" hero of my people","Messiah of employeess", "Born communist", Soul against Liberalisation: and i donot know what else......

Communists offered me executive membership to their party. (Forgetting just what they have done to their own people in SINGUR and NANDIGRAM).Many other significant others so called social organisations also offered me many incentives which i decline politely as i want to be the champion of this cause which was close to my heart.

All these happenings made DR.Reddy people nervous and their representatives called on me for arranging a meeting to which i agreed. In the meeting they wanted me to rollback my protests and also to support their efforts of takeover as this in reality would have meant more job creation and more taxes to punjab govt exchequer.I disagreed and continued on my stand stubbornly for which i was praised liberally for all those opposed and emotionally attached to the cause and i having rejected any place for negotiations became a very big leader in my people eyes.

Back at my home my Mom who was watching all this came to me and congratulated me that she is my proud mother. But as she knew about my One sided love story ,she asked me whether my decision to jump into agitation was purely my decision without any prejudice(That is on merit or not). I wanted to lie to her but as we all know that our moms know us inside out, i broke down and told her the truth. SHe said that she is proud of me for telling her the truth but will be more proud if i did everything for welfare of my people without any prejudice.So i called on meeting with the new management and agreeing to their demands i extracted some promises from new management(read DR.Reddys) that all jobs of aggitating employees will be safe and no action will be taken against them and apart from new investment and employment generation ,they will provide all the employees with ESOP options,; to these proposals, management and all the agitating people agreed happily as it was Win- Win situations for all parties and the work in the plants resumed under new management.

When i reported what all i have now done to my mom, she said" Beta, i will further be elated if i admit publicly my motive to launch the agitation to all the people of my state so that they may not suffer from any future prejudice and also should not be taken for a ride in futurebu any person or a leader having his/her own motives.

I was not willing to do this and i never thought i will have to bend so much and undergo the public humiliation for my action but like a small child i agreed and in next day newspapers i published my real motives and regret for the agitation to people of my state. I was expecting a deep public anguish and condemnation from my people but to my surprise people admired my courage, will power and my ability to love truly someone from my heart. Now i really became their leader and people who felt prejudice against somebody took my council and help to ameliorate the same.

And surprisingly once i visited a resturant in delhi and found my lady love not with Reddy from Andhra but with Patil from Maharashtra having a dinner with him. Straightway i called Reddy as to how he is feeling, he told me that havent u read todays headlines "PUNJAB TRACTORS LIMITED STAKE SOLD BY DR.REDDYS TO MAHINDRA AND MAHINDRA". So i asked pokingly what he intends to do now ,he answered gringgly that he will be joining me for the new agitation against the new move............................