The Ticking Clock Association

“Oh, no, this is bad. They are calling for TCA to be shut down.  It’s on the news.” said Mr. Chapra.

Mrs. Chapra, his wife asked, “Why?”

“Mr. Solindra.” said Mr. Chapra.

“Mr. Solindra?” asked Mrs. Chapra, intrigued.

“Don’t you remember?  The man, who quit his business, left his family, and went to South America.  He is an environmentalist in South America now.” said Mr. Chapra.

“Oh yes, now I remember.  But who is calling for TCA to be shut down?”

“It’s his daughter, apparently” said Mr. Chapra.  “She goes by name of Misty Solindra. She says TCA is encouraging respectable men to be irresponsible.”

“I am surprised more children and wives of TCA members have not called for TCA to be shut down.” said Mrs. Chapra. “If I had known how involved you would get with the theater, and how much time you would be away from home, I would never have let you start TCA.”  But there was a twinkle in her eye when she said it.

Mr. Chapra had been a workaholic before TCA.  He went to his factory early in the morning, and came back home late at night.  TCA had brought balance into his life.  He had been one-dimensional. Now there was more to his life than work.

It was true Mr. Chapra’s factory churned out less money because of his new schedule.  But it didn’t make a dent in the Chapra’s lifestyle.  They had more than enough accumulated and saved and the factory earnings had been substantial for years.

Just then the phone rang.

Mrs. Chapra picked it up and held it out to Mr. Chapra.  “It’s for you.” she said, “It’s from DRC.” 

DRC was the company which owned many local radio and tv stations.

“A call from the media?  Not good.” said Mr. Chapra.

He nervously picked up the phone.

“Hachoo” he said into the phone.  Unfortunately, one of his allergic sneezes had come on.

“Oh God,” he thought, “I am clumsy and tongue tied when I talk to strangers. Now I have the sneezes as well.”

 “Hello, my name is Anu Sharma and I am a reporter for DRC” said the voice at the end of the line. “Mr. Chapra, you must have seen the news. Misty Solindra, the daughter of Mr. Solindra, has gone on the air asking for TCA to be shut down.”

“Hachoo” said Mr. Chapra and added, “Very unfortunate.  Hachoo. It is very unfortunate. TCA is a very good organization.  Hachoo. Very good organization.” 

 “What an idiot this Anu Sharma must think me” Mr. Chapra thought. “I am sneezing and I am repeating myself. ”

“Mr. Chapra, we would like to interview you for the local news.” said Anu Sharma.  People are curious to find out about TCA after Misty Solindra’s protest. Would you be open to that?”

“Appear on TV?  Hachoo. I am not sure I am the right person. Hachoo” said Mr. Chapra.

“We can do the interview where you will be comfortable. Even at your home, Mr. Chapra” said Anu Sharma of DRC.

“Maybe.  Hachoo. I am acting in a play.  It has to be on a day when I don’t have play practice. And it cannot be on any of the show days. Hachoo.”

“Oh you are in a play.  Which play, Mr. Chapra?  I love plays.” said Anu Sharma.

“Romeo and Juliet.  It is being put up by the Cupertino Characters.”

“Oh, I would love to come and see it” said Anu Sharma.  “I will tell you what.  Do you want me to come and take some pictures of your theater group and give them some publicity as well?”

Mr. Chapra couldn’t say no to that.

“Let me talk to my wife and get back to you” said Mr. Chapra.

“No problem, Mr. Chapra. Thank you and please call me as soon as possible” said Anu Sharma of DRC.

Mr. Chapra put down the phone. He was about to tell his wife about the DRC reporter’s request, when his teenage daughter walked into the room.

She had on a cropped top, with her midriff saying hello to the world. Her knees peeped out of holes in her jeans. There was a swatch of purple hair partially covering one of her eyes like an eye-patch.  And not one, but three sets of earrings snarled from her ears.

“What” she said, when she heard Mr. Chapra.  “Daddy, you on TV?  Please don’t make a fool of yourself.  I will be the laughing stock at school. And please dress properly.  You should go and get your hair cut and maybe get some new clothes.”

Mr. Chapra wanted to tell her he and Mrs. Chapra should be the ones who should be embarrassed, considering the way she dressed.

But teenagers being so emotional, he held his tongue. No matter what thoughts came to his mind, he always held his tongue with his daughter.

Mrs. Chapra came to his rescue, “Sonali, be more respectful when you talk to your father. He will not make a fool of himself.”

Mr. Chapra looked from one to the other.  He was not confident he would not make a fool of himself. But he knew he would have to agree to meet with the reporter.  “I must speak up for TCA.” he said. The publicity for the Cupertino Characters was an extra plus.

In the next few days, Mr. Chapra’s life changed.

TCA only met 2 times a year.  Now Mr. Chapra had to call an emergency meeting of some of the local members.

The members were very concerned about how Mr. Chapra would handle the interview.  TCA must, on no account, be seen in a bad light.

“Be very careful about what you say” said Mr. Mahendra.

“TCA does not encourage any of its members to be irresponsible” said Mr. Ziad.

The TV station announced that the interview with Mr. Chapra of TCA would be on the air soon.

Mr. and Mrs. Chapra’s home phone and cell phones started ringing off the hook.  TCA members called. Friends and relatives called.  Everyone wanted to know about the situation, and about the fate of TCA.

Mr. and Mrs. Chapra were invited to more parties.  Mrs. Chapra went out and bought some new clothes for Mr. Chapra, and for Mrs. Chapra herself.

“TCA is costing us even more than before.” she thought. But she knew it wasn’t a big deal. They had lots of money.

The first household they were invited to was Mrs. Desai’s.

Plump and flamboyant Mrs. Desai greeted them at the door of her house. She had her eye on getting some publicity.

“Welcome, welcome” she said.

Later that evening, she made her intentions clear, “I want to talk to reporter about Mr. Desai,” said Mrs. Desai.  “Do you know how much trouble he has given me after TCA?  So much trouble. Oh-fo.  Obsessed with Vasthu. Non-stop modification to house.”

Mrs. Desai meant to get her way.

She knew Mr. Chapra passed her house on his morning walk every day.  Now every morning, she rushed out when she saw him, and said, “Oh, Mr. Chapra.  Mr. Chapra…..when is TV interview?”

Mr. Chapra was not used to this kind of attention.

Besides, he had more important things on his mind.

The Romeo and Juliet theater production he was involved in was two months away.

Mr. Chapra had loved the theater as a young man in India.

He and his sisters went to many plays and saved money to go to theater festivals.

Sometimes, the plays would be at Chowdiah and end after 10 p.m. at night. Mr. Chapra and his sisters would have to walk miles to get an autorickshaw to go home.  But they loved the theater so much; it was never going to keep them from it.

Now nearly 4 decades later, Mr. Chapra was involved in the theater again.

He owed it to TCA.

The theater company Mr. Chapra joined was a semi-professional theater company. So Mr. Chapra had to be content with assisting on props and lighting and sound set ups. He was also a general gopher. He didn’t mind. He was happy just to be there.

The director was grateful to Mr. Chapra for all the work he was doing.  To reward Mr. Chapra, he gave him a bit role in the upcoming Romeo and Juliet production.  Mr. Chapra was one of the Capulet guards.  As a guard, he and another guard had to flank the doorway of the Capulet house. It was a non-speaking, non acting role, but it thrilled Mr. Chapra no end.

He wore his costume during the practices, to get into the role.  Though this was excessive, the director and cast members humored him and let him do it.

But now with the DRC interview looming large in his life, trouble was in store.

One day Mr. Chapra’s cell phone went off during practice.

Everyone stopped and turned and looked at him.

He blushed furiously.

“I am so sorry, Mr. Oliver” he said to the director.  “I thought I had put it off.”

The director looked at him with a trace of annoyance, but didn’t say anything.

The play resumed, but Mr. Chapra was very uncomfortable during the rest of practice.

He hated making a mistake and calling attention to himself. He had done both that day.

Mr. Chapra was grateful to the director for not scolding him.

Once or twice before, when a cell phone went off during practice, the director had dealt a severe scolding to the culprits.  Mr. Chapra had been spared that scolding.

Mr. Chapra was not himself.

He was extremely nervous about the upcoming interview with Anu Sharma.

He went for a haircut, and his wife bought him some new clothes.

He changed his walking route to avoid Mrs. Desai, but she called his house every day.

And he continued to worry about the fate of TCA.

“I must get it together” he thought to himself. “I can’t let the theater group down. I can’t let TCA down.  I can’t let Anu Sharma down. And I have to figure out what to do about Mrs. Desai.”

She was hounding him on the phone daily.

The very next night after his cell phone debacle at the theater, Mrs. Desai decided to call him as he was entering the theater, of all times.

“Ha, Mrs. Desai, I have not forgotten. I will tell you as soon as I know when the TV interview is.  Yes, I will not forget.  Yes, I have your cell phone number.  Yes, I have your home phone number as well. Yes I will give your regards to Mrs. Chapra.”  He was so flustered by the time he finished the call, he forgot to turn the cell phone off.

 Suddenly while he was standing in his guard costume outside the entrance of the Capulet house on stage, his cell phone went off.

His ring tone was, “Won’t you take me to Funky Town” and now it went off, “Won’t you take me to Funky Town.  Won’t you take me to Funky Town?”

Mr. Chapra was flustered by his cell phone going off; he rushed towards the exit at the back of the stage.  He moved clumsily, because it was hard to be agile in his guard’s costume.  In his nervousness, he fell down the steps leading to the dressing room.  When he landed on the floor, he saw looking down at him a young man with a big camera pointed at him, and a girl in her thirties, dressed in a salwar kameez. The camera clicked several times.

“I am looking for Mr. Chapra,” said the girl, as she assisted him in getting to his feet. “I am Anu Sharma from DRC.”

A crowd had gathered around.  Practice was halted because everyone was concerned about whether Mr. Chapra was okay.

“Mr. Chapra, are you okay?” said one of the cast members.

“My hand hurts a bit” he said, as he extended his arm to shake Anu Sharma’s hand.

“Oh you better go to urgent care and get it checked out.”

“I will take him,” said Anu Sharma.  “Our DRC van is right outside. Anyway I want to talk to Mr. Chapra”

So Mr. Chapra changed into his teeshirt and jeans to go with Anu Sharma.

“Please call us and let us know what the doctor said” said the director.

“Yes, I will” said Anu Sharma.

“Sorry for surprising you like this Mr. Chapra,” said Anu Sharma. “We were in the area, and I suddenly saw the sign Cupertino Characters. So I called your wife to find out if you had a practice today and when she said yes, I asked her if we could pop in and say hello to you. She thought it would be okay, so we came in unannounced.”

Mr. Chapra realized he had silenced the call he had received while he was on stage, without checking who it was from.  Now he looked at his cell phone and saw it was from his wife.  She had probably called to tell him about Anu Sharma’s call and impending arrival.

“That’s okay” said Mr. Chapra.

The front of the van had two rows of seats; the back of the van was filled with assorted recording and broadcasting equipment.

The guy with the camera got in next to the driver. Anu and Mr. Chapra got into the next row of seats.

“Mr. Chapra, if you like, you can tell me about TCA as we drive to Kaiser.  We will not record anything, this is totally informal.”

“Okay” said Mr. Chapra sheepishly.

“Tell me how TCA came about” said Anu Sharma.

“There are some things in life we remember, or are forced to remember, that we would rather forget, and there are some things in life that we don’t mind remembering.  We don’t mind remembering happy times, and we don’t mind remembering sad times that led to happy times.”Mr. Chapra used to say to Mrs. Chapra.

How TCA came about was one of those things Mr. Chapra didn’t mind remembering.

In response to Anu Sharma’s question, thoughts came flooding back to him of how it all began.

They were a group of 12 golfers who met at the golf club regularly for a game, followed by a round of drinks.

All of them were rich workaholics, many of them with their own businesses. Golf was their only pastime.

Sammy may not have been the richest of them, but he was the loudest of them.  He told the funniest stories. And he had the most interesting experiences.  He embellished his experiences, so even the most ordinary experience became a tale to tell.

Everyone knew about Sammy’s plans.  He was always telling his buddies about his plans.

A successful salesman, he had done well for himself, but he wanted his wealth to reach $25 million, not counting his houses, before he retired.

He figured he was 3 years away from that goal.

Meanwhile, he was constructing an exclusive house in Miami.  He and his wife would move there after he retired.

The house was in an upscale golfing community. Sammy showed Mr. Chapra and the other buddies, the architectural plans.

Mr. Chapra remembered how he pointed to the garage. It was not a 4 car garage, but a 4 and a half car garage.

“Can any of you guess what the half car space is for?” Sammy asked.

When they shook their heads, he said, “For the golf cart.”

Everyone nodded appreciatively.

Sammy had thought of everything.

And then one day, with Sammy just one and a half year away from his $25 million goal, Mr. Chapra got a call.  Sammy had had a massive heart attack the night before; and he had died.

It was such a tragedy.

Sammy would never get to enjoy his beautiful retirement home in Miami, or to ride out to the golf course in his golf cart from his 4 and a half car garage.

It was a sad, sobering thought.

But life went back to normal a few months after Sammy’s death.

Everyone got together at the club as usual, played a few holes of golf, had a few drinks, and then returned to their normal workaholic lifestyles.

“We were all focused on money and success” Mr. Chapra told Anu Sharma.

Then after a few months, Zorav said, “Guys, we are crazy.  Have none of us learned a lesson from Sammy’s death? Any of us can go any time like Sammy.  We are so focused on money and professional success; we don’t stop to think about that.”

“What Zorav hadn’t told us was that he had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and had been given 6 months to live.....

“The next thing we knew we had lost 2 buddies, Sammy and Zorav” Mr. Chapra told Anu Sharma.

But life would not go on as before for the 10 remaining golf buddies.

Zorav had made sure of that.

Two months after he died, on Mr. Chapra’s birthday, he received a package by Fedex.

He opened it. Inside were a desk clock and a note. He read the note.  It said, “Dear Dhiren, you will be surprised to receive this from me.  I left instructions with my attorney to send this to you on your birthday.  The clock is meant to tell you that time is ticking and you should not waste the precious moments of your life.  I hope this clock will encourage you to make the most of your life. We don’t know how long we have to live.  It could be a long time; it could be a short time. If I had known I would live for such a short time, I would have done more things.  Please place this clock by your bedside, or on your desk at work, and let its loud tick be a reminder to you that time is ticking.” Mr. Chapra put the batteries in the clock. The clock had a very loud tick.

To honor his friend, he put it on his desk at work.  Now every time he went to work, it was the first thing he noticed. Every time, there was silence, it was the first thing he noticed.  Every time he got angry with his workers, and he could feel his blood pressure going up, his eyes would be drawn to the clock and he would think, “Time is ticking.  Time is ticking.”

As each buddy’s birthday came that year, they got the same clock with the same note from Zorav.

“Believe it or not, we soon found we could not ignore Zorav’s clock” Mr. Chapra told Anu Sharma.

Mr. Chapra’s wife had told him he should cut back on the hours he spent at the factory and enjoy life more.

He was not one of those who wanted to travel and see the world.  He experienced terrible ear pain on flight descents and he did not like flying.  Plus he suffered from both claustrophobia and agoraphobia.

Soon it came to him that what he would really like to do is get involved in the theater again.

And so that’s what he did.

He joined the Cupertino Characters. That was 5 years ago.

The ticking clock had a different impact on each of Zorav and Sammy’s buddies.

The travel bug bit several.

One buddy became a fitness freak and participated in a triathalon.

Another started to write and began to self-publish his books on Amazon.

Another got heavily into war games. He joined war games associations and became a war games reviewer.

Another went into wine-making.

Another went into bird-breeding.

Another decided to reconnect with his kids.

Another got involved with a non-profit to teach under-privileged boys career skills.

Mr. Chapra promised to take Anu Sharma to meet all of them.

It was amazing…the impact the ticking clocks had on Zorav’s and Sammy’s buddies.

And to make sure they would not slip up, the next year, on their birthdays, a loud ticking clock arrived from Zorav again.

“We should start a Ticking Clock Association” said Mr. Chapra, the year after this began.

“Why not?” said Shree.

“Great idea” said Pinoo.

“We can call it TCA for short” said Abbas.

And so the Ticking Clock Association was born.

A website was created.  Anyone who signed up to become a member had to pay a small annual fee.  This fee was used to buy the new member a ticking clock and to ship it to the new member on his birthday with Zorav’s note.

The impact was unpredictable.

Mrs. Desai’s husband had become obsessed with vasthu.

Mr. Solindra had gone off to South America to become an environmentalist.

“But on balance, Ms. Sharma, the Ticking Clock Association has done more good for people than bad”

“I can see that,” said Anu. “What a great story.  I love it.”

At Kaiser, while Mr. Chapra waited to be seen by the doctor, he continued to regale Anu with TCA stories.

His arm was x-rayed and he was given a clean chit.

He called his wife and told her about the fiasco at practice, and subsequent events.

“See how TCA gets its members into trouble,” Mrs. Chapra said to him.

Mr. Chapra cupped the phone and told Anu, “My wife is saying see how TCA gets its members into trouble.” Anu looked worried. “Don’t worry,Anu – Mrs. Chapra totally approves of my involvement with Cupertino Characters, falls and all.”

After they got out of the hospital, the cameraman shot some footage of Mr. Chapra leaving the hospital and getting into the car.

But Anu Sharma had already decided she wouldn’t use it.

She wouldn’t make a flammable situation more flammable.

She decided she liked what she heard about the Ticking Clock Association.

“I think I would like to join TCA,” she said to Mr. Chapra.  “I know I am young, but I don’t want to waste my life and find out time has passed me by.”

“Excellent idea,” said Mr. Chapra.

The on-air interview went smoothly.

Anu Sharma was determined to focus on the positive aspects of TCA, and she tailored her questions towards that.

Mr. Chapra looked smart in his new daughter-approved suit.

At the end of the segment, Anu announced that Mr. Chapra wanted to communicate a message to all those who would retire in a few years, or had already retired.

This message was scrolled on the screen to music before the credits came on.  After the segment, the station was flooded with calls from viewers asking for reprints.  Mr. Chapra had become a minor celebrity.

Anu joined TCA shortly after the interview. She looked forward to her birthday, when she would receive her ticking clock.

Romeo and Julie's first show opened to a packed house, thanks to Anu and her crew filming one of the practices, and plugging it on air.

In the audience on the day of the first show, was Mr. Chapra’s wife, his daughter, TCA members including Mrs. Desai, who had been placated by Anu talking to her on the phone, and of course, Anu Sharma, herself.

Anu looked at the two guards on stage in front of the Capulet house.  You could not see their faces, but Mr. Chapra had told her he was the one on the left.  Or did he say he was the one on the right?

Each time when the guards were on stage, Anu thought, “Left.  No right.  No I think he said left.”

Then suddenly there was a “Hachoo” from the guard on the left. Problem solved.

If she was worried about the impact of Mr. Chapra’s sneeze on the play’s proceedings, she soon realized she had no cause for concern.

The director had written impromptu lines into the play for coughs, sneezes, and other disturbances. He had instructed the actors to use these lines, if such situations arose.

Anu heard one of the actors say something to the effect of “Hark now, there are pollens in the air”.

All was well.

The play closed to thundering applause.

“Long live TCA” said Anu Sharma to herself.

                                                The End

Dear Reader,

Mr. Chapra’s message to those who are close to retirement, or are retired, was a big hit; and DRC was flooded with requests for reprints.  His message is very inspiring and it is worth sharing with you all.  Look out for that in my next post.

As always, thanks for taking time out of your busy week to read my posts, and have a great day and week.  Thanks to Audrey for promising to goad me until I get my apartment straightened up (read my last post). I have begun the job and I am making good progress.  Thanks also to the rest of you for your likes, pins, tweets, and votes…..much appreciated...M.....a Pearl Seeker like you.