SAMPLE

Thank you for your interest and support in this unique novel.

I understand that it is often difficult to purchase a novel and trust it is going to be the type of book which you may enjoy.

In light of this I have provided three random sample scripts taken directly from the book itself for you to get a feel for my writing and the story.

So that I do not spoil the story for you - the samples below are out of order.

Please feel free read the content below and distribute a link to it at your will.


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PROLOGUE

It was a stinking hot humid day when I met the young boy purely by chance in Mumbai, the boy carrying the bucket.

However, it was a meeting that would eventually change my life and my perception on what life meant. It was a meeting that would challenge the way I felt about people and other races. It would challenge my views on what life, wealth and dreams really were.

Yes, it changed my life alright - but it would not change his – not one bit

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SAMPLE 1

The young boy carefully took out the three white petals, and placed them beside the well.

The elderly grey wrinkled man attached the handle to the well hook and then started to lower the bucket down into the well toward the cool murky water.

The old man had always done this job – no one knew his name; he was there from dawn to dusk. The man was always unshaven and wore the same short-sleeved shirt every single day. He had one eye missing and the few teeth that remained in his mouth were stained a deep red as a result of his many years of chewing on betel leaf. His bare right arm had a number of deep scars on it.

Each person handed him whatever he or she could afford on a weekly basis. It was an honesty system on a scale that was unmatched anywhere else in the world; and it worked for everybody.

Never once in the fifty or sixty years that he had faithfully attended the well had there ever been a complaint nor any form of debt chased. If by the end of a week a given family member did not pay – the money was never asked for again – it was like no transaction had ever happened; and that same family simply started paying the following week – or some weeks later if that was when they could next afford it.

There were also cases where some family representatives made the curious gesture of touching the shoulder of the person in front of them in line and paying the old man twice the amount they would normally – effectively paying for the person in front whom they knew could not afford to.

The boy could not always pay these days. The person behind him would often pay for him following the obligatory light tap on his shoulder.

... THE CHAPTER CONTINUES ...


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SAMPLE 2


Ajit knew this was going to be serious trouble.

Nagendra was one of those large men with many folds on his face indicating he was powerful. He is known to have an excessive amount of money and it appeared he had to date spent the larger portion of his wealth on fried chicken.

His eyes bulged excessively and were always very bloodshot. He wore a tailored suit which was starting to show signs of being worn much too often. The front waistcoat buttons stretched to their limits. He is a tall man and built very large also – very much larger build than the typical Indian man’s stature.

It was his face which was most terrifying. As well as housing his overly bulging his eyes which each seemed to drip evil and bad intent on their own accord; his teeth were yellow and seemed oversized. Nagendra was one of those men who would only have to look your way and you felt the fear.

If it were for not wanting to be caught red handed, he would discard his thugs and pleasure in the dirty work of terrorising people himself. Not wanting to be caught had nothing to do with being arrested and locked up – it would interrupt his pleasure in terrorising people – that was what he feared the most.

Before Ajit could move Nagendra was right in front of him towering tall over the slim shaking man.

Nagendra relished the moment of terror before the kill. It was his favourite time. It was like tasting the sweet coating of a toffee-apple before the boring plain fruit is exposed.

“Ajit, we had been looking for you” he said using an unnatural gentle tone

Ajit stood dead still.

An infinitely small piece of spittle had come from Nagendra’s mouth as he spoke and landed in the middle of Ajit’s left cheek. Ajit dared not wipe it for fear of provoking any disagreement. The small warm drop started to feel like a pinprick of acid to him as he trembled.

“We…?” Ajit thought to himself. And just as he did so - and right at that exact moment a large black older styled Mercedes Benz rounded the corner and came to a slight screech beside them both.

Ajit was still speechless. It all took only a few seconds in reality. But the time seemed as drawn out as many seasons of drought would be without the mighty monsoon to break them apart.

Two thugs got out and one remained in the back seat. One opened the door next to him. The other thug grabbed his arm and put it high up his back. Ajit’s feet left the ground momentarily as he winced slightly. He was bundled into the car backseat. He did not need to be constrained. Everybody knew any escape attempt would be fruitless. He soon had the two thugs on either side of him.

“It is a wonderful day for a drive Ajit my friend. I have a new warehouse I would love to show you!” said Nagendra in a deep voice as he compressed the front passenger seat as far as the springs would allow.

Ajit did not say a word during the entire ten minute trip. He looked at all the passers-by outside for the first couple of minutes. Soon he was blindfolded by the smelly thug to his left.

He was certain that that may well be the last time he would ever see sunlight.

The warehouse was situated down a back street. The front of the building was used for processing chickens and fish and it stunk of the rotten meat. Bird and rats filled the buildings front areas where a number of people worked stripping the carcasses of the dead animals with shredding machines for the local restaurant trades. The business made excellent profits, as the workers were cheap and Nagendra could make them work around the clock.

It was the back area of the warehouse that was much more sinister. They had pulled the car around the back, and parked it in a well shaded area. Nagendra disliked a heated car.

The men dragged Ajit from the car and guided him over to the large red sliding door. The door was locked with a massive padlock and Nagendra himself unlocked it.

Ajit could hear the door being pushed open just a couple of feet in front of him. They shoved him forward and in the darkened warehouse they removed his blindfold as soon as he was through the open gap.

Ajit had no idea where he was and as though things were not bad enough already he seriously wanted to take a piss. His bladder was on fire from the water he had drunk.

He could make out some wooden steps leading up to a platform which sat at the top of a large roughly circular arena type of area. The arena had walls tall enough that Ajit could not see into it and a walkway type of platform around the top of it.

There appeared to be a small office in the corner of the warehouse just off to the side of where they were standing. Near to the office was an old wooden staircase which led up the side wall onto what appeared to be a mezzanine floor of offices above.

There was a rope leading from behind the small corner ground floor office area up to a pulley high in the ceiling and then leading down into the middle of the arena area.

As the whole group had entered one of the two thugs had broken away and gone into the small room and presumably into another part of the building.

Ajit was alone with only the smelly thug and Nagendra.

“I like this place…what do you think Ajit?” Nagendra quizzed him

“I…. I… think it is large” the words fell from his lips like baby vomit.

 “Yes large. It is large….” Nagendra paused “… it is large like the debt that you owe to me Ajit” he said in a distinctly threateningly tone.

“Up here!” the crime boss said as he pointed to the stairs which led up a few metres to the top of the wooden arena. The three men walked up the rickety stairs onto the platform.

Ajit could see that in fact it was a small arena area and he had a view down inside it. The ground was hard packed reddish coloured soil.

The most shocking sight however was that at the end of the rope lying on the floor was a man. The man’s feet were tied together, and his hands were also bound tightly together in front of him.

Around his feet a rope led up to the pulley system in the ceiling. Ajit surmised that the man had either been hanging upside by his feet – or else he was about to be.

“Why is it you are here?” Nagendra yelled down to the bound man.

After a slight pause, the whimpering man replied, “I owe you money and cannot pay you master. Please I beg you, I …”

The man’s voice was cut off as the rope was pulled up and he was slowly raised into the air hanging by his feet with his arms outstretched below him. His hands were now about two metres from the dusty dirt floor.

He swung about uncontrollably.

“No! I beg of you mighty one!” he screamed in terror.

“Your time of begging for more time is over!” said Nagendra as he looked toward Ajit. It was important to him that Ajit was paying proper attention.

Suddenly a gate slid open and four of the most large and ferocious dogs raced into the area directly toward the swinging man. The man saw them instantly and raised his bound hands up in front of him and tried to bend himself upward in an attempt to stay out of their reach.

For several minutes the man yelled with terror and managed to stay folded upward just enough to avoid the snarling leaping dogs – but only by inches. The dogs were growing angrier and excited as the man squirmed in utter panic.

“I apologise to you Ajit, this always takes a little time, please wait a little longer. I do hope I’m not holding you up from anything more important!” Nagendra said to Ajit.

Only shortly after his statement, the swinging man’s body had tired and he was forced to straighten out little by little.

The dogs were now starting to leap and sometimes even crash into each other in their wild frenzy. They were biting each other, yelping and growling in an uncontrollable angry pack. Canine saliva soon glistened on their backs and necks, and their razor sharp teeth flashed frighteningly close to the man’s sweating head.

The poor man was trying desperately to anticipate from which direction the next set of saliva soaked fangs would come from, and to move his arms quickly in the right direction to keep himself clear.

Just as the man had dodged an attempt by one of the dogs - two of the animals leaped at once from both sides. The slight miscalculation caused the man to feel one of the animals jaws glance off his arm. He was scratched and drawing a little blood.

“One foot of rope!” Nagendra called to the thug in the other room, and the rope was lowered just slightly.

... THE CHAPTER CONTINUES ...

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SAMPLE 3

Some weeks later the two families would use the Brahmin as a middleman to express their desire to proceed or occasionally even to cancel the as yet non-committed arrangement. 

Rajin’s family then forwarded the small dowry and the deal was sealed.

Soon a small Vara Raksha engagement ceremony is held for the prepubescent children. The Vara Raksha betrothal ceremony is always traditionally hosted and held at the young girl’s house.

The ceremony in its own right stands to represent the long and bonded contract between both of the families.

At Nupee & Rajin’s Vara Raksha it was agreed that the Brahmin priest would perform prayers to Lord Ganesh and Mother Gauri and then to the Nine Planets.

Nupee’s brother then applied a quantity of the Tilak paste to the Rajin's forehead and presented him with sweets and gifts. In return Rajin’s family presented clothes, fruits, sweets, cash and infinite kind wishes to Nupee and her family.

In the years following the ceremony, and although they were still very young and lived in the same relatively small village that they each grew up in, they would still have little or no contact with each other.

An understanding had been reached that when either of the children nominated that they were personally ready - they would be married and the two families would be joined forever under Lord Ganesh’s prosperous blessing.

When the wedding finally occurred - it was a large but still very inexpensive affair.

Many of the extended family had travelled from distant regions across India. And most had been saving small amounts of money or storing away treasures and gifts for years – and just for just this special day.

There was no excessive grandeur at Rajin and Nupee’s wedding but as with most weddings the rituals conducted before, during and after wedding were conducted with special attention to detail.

A number of the people in the local village had arranged a number of pujas before the wedding. This was certain to ensure the smooth conduct of the ceremony.

This day Nupee had a large number of white flowered petals throughout her dark black hair. Rajin was dressed rather casually although today he was much tidier then he was normally.

Nupee thought he looked particularly handsome on this special day.

The Brahman priest then proceeded to conduct the formal part of the marriage. The overpowering smell of incense smothered this part of the village with a pungent fragrance. The very same fragrance wafted down the valley amongst the many thousands of newly planted tea trees.

After the main ceremony was concluded and only once the marriage is officially declared the guests then commence a number of convoluted traditional rituals to ensure that the newlywed couple will lead a prospered and happy life forever.

As per usual the family members of both the bride and the groom had played out the role of wedding planners. The bride’s parents pay all expenses of wedding, while the Rajin’s family is responsible for the after reception party celebrations and planning.

It was a simple wedding as nobody in the region had much in the way of material possessions; however the love and the blessings overflowed in abundance on this day.

Both Rajin and Nupee could feel the love of the guests swirling around them. All the blessed waters of the great and almighty Ganga River could not ever match the great number of joyful tears shed on the couple’s happiest day.

One of the most valuable gifts they were presented with was a small hut of their very own.

It was actually an old abandoned hut which had been left some years back. A family who had moved to the city in search of a better life had deserted the old hut.

Over time the hut had fallen into the general village ownership and it had been agreed by all that the newlywed couple could live there. Perhaps they could repair the hut and have a family of their own there they thought to themselves.

The walls of the old hut were made from old canvas and had started to rot away in the damp air.

Rajin had soon found a few sheets of old tin nearby to patch some of the walls up. There was no door and only two small windows. Nupee had used some old cloth to make some shades for them.

There was a solid single pole to hold up the tattered canvassed roof.

Rajin fitted the pole with several old hooks where Nupee would be able hang the steel cooking pots or dry clothes.

The roof always leaked and Rajin soon worked out where to place a series of the pots to be able to capture the fresh mountain rain for their drinking water.

They both worked for the plantation owner in the high tea fields. Each evening after working a full day Rajin would often search out firewood in the hills nearby. He would carry the wood back to the village and stack it into huge piles at the back of their hut. It had very quickly become part of his daily routine.

In doing so Rajin had ensured that on the occasional colder nights their small fireplace could be kept burning into the night until they fell asleep.

... THE CHAPTER CONTINUES ...

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SAMPLE 4

Usually I would go out during the daytime and scavenge what I could from the rubbish to eat. I became very good at finding sources of food. I did not eat well – but I stayed alive.

One of the best sources of food were the dumpsters at the back of hotels where western tourists often stay – Ajit had also told me this – these places always threw a lot of good food out in the late evenings.

Only Ajit, the scavenging ravens and I knew of this regular banquet.

On occasion I would wander through the markets and workshop areas trying to get work. I offered my services to anybody who would give me work.

Nobody would hire me – “there was no work for anybody here” they would constantly tell me.

One day I came across an old man. He owned a small workshop that specialised in on suppling steel pipes.

“Would you have any work for a hard working young boy” I said to him in my very best Hindi.

“Nobody has work here, get away from my workshop!” he shouted back

“But I will work for nothing. You do not need to pay me” I replied to him

“Fool, nobody works for nothing. Ok, I will give you a simple job then. I have no money anyway!” he said gruffly.

My father had started with nothing, and built a business from it – so I could do the same. I did not know how I would do this at that point but if I worked hard - life would surely reward me.

... THE CHAPTER CONTINUES ...