A bee in Harry’s bonnet

 

Harry was stunned for a moment. What had stunned him ? Was it the ball that smashed on him ? He remembered he was trying to wave a fly off as the tennis ball came upon him.

One of his friends told him, ‘Come on, you have to serve now’

‘What, what, ..’ Harry gasped.

‘Are you hurt, shall we stop the game ?’, Pete asked.

‘The game ?’ Harry was confused for a moment. Then his brow cleared.

Oh, our tennis game! What is the score ?’

‘You are serving 3-4 down’ his doubles partner Michael said.

Harry got ready to serve. But something bothered him.

Others got annoyed.

‘What’s the matter now ?’ Max asked.

‘Those hills’ Harry said.

The other three looked at each other.

‘Well, what about them ?’ Pete asked.

‘How did they spring up suddenly ?’ Harry asked.

Pete burst out laughing.

‘You have been hit hard, it seems. Next you will be asking what your name is.’

Harry looked confused.

‘Well, err … as a matter of fact, what is … my name ?’

The three said in unison, ‘Harry Andrews’

‘Harry ? That is my name ?’

‘Yes, do you want to play or not ?’ Max asked.

The game went on.

 

There were fresh problems for Harry after the game ended. His team managed to win by the tie-breaker 12-10 but the elation of victory could put off his problems only for a few minutes. Harry didn’t know where his room was. Others showed him the way. It was a miserable room. Cramped. That was what he felt. It was a small room. He could not remember he was living here. In fact he could not remember anything about him. Except that he is a tennis player. He could remember that match and that the score was 3 each dues and advantage against him. So he was hit by the ball and he had become 3-4 down but he had prevailed in spite of being stunned liked that, had fought on, to win in the end.

 

Suddenly a presence breezed in.

He looked up. An apparition filled his eyes. It was a girl, well, no, on second glance it was clear it was a woman, very pleasant to the eyes. He couldn’t place her.

‘err, if you don’t mind, .. who.. who are you ?’

The woman laughed.

 

 

 

‘You have been hit hard indeed. What they said is true it seems.

So you have forgotten your mum Maya. What else have you forgotten ?’

‘Well, I don’t seem to remember anything at all’ Harry said.

‘Nothing ?’ Maya asked.

‘Well, I could remember the tennis match’

‘It’s a pity. You have to give it up. Your tennis scholarship has run out. You have to choose some other career keeping up with your financial status’ Maya said.

‘What’s wrong with it ?’ Harry asked.

‘Oh, my God. You don’t remember much. Let’s see. Do you remember your education ?

Where did you study ? Do you remember your abcd ?’

Harry thought hard.

‘I can’t recollect where I studied. But I can remember what I studied’ He said.

‘Thank God for that. Now that you have to give up tennis, think of what trade you would like to take up. Here are pamphlets about all trades. Have your pick’ Maya threw some books at him.

‘Why should I give up tennis ?

‘Oh, my poor boy, you were an orphan. I picked you up, taught you your three ‘r’s. You showed more interest in tennis. I am poor but somehow managed to provide a court and balls and racquet through some rich people. But they are leaving this place now. They would have already left by now. So you have to quit tennis’ Maya said.

‘Who are those friends ?’ Harry asked.

‘You played your last match with them just now’ Maya said.

‘Who are you, what do you do’ asked Harry.

‘I am Maya Mary Andrews. I am a very poor woman surviving by being a maid in a rich man’s place’

‘Where is your husband ? My d .. dad?’

‘Your dad, if you can call him that, is Joseph Andrews. He lives separately. He peddles his carpentry skills in a shanty-town in India. If you decide to learn carpentry I will try to make you his apprentice. I am still legally his wife. He should listen to me’

‘Give me some breathing time, m.. mum, yes, I suppose I used to call you that’.

She laughed. ‘Yea, you better do that Harry. You require to relearn many things. However, thanks be to the Merciful Providence that your education has not been taken away from you and you have not been made an idiot. I cannot afford to educate you again.’

 

He found something odd in her behavior. Such a momentous loss of memory has happened to him and she was not taking it very seriously.

 

 

 

He set about organizing his life after the memory loss. But a feeling of being always watched stayed with him. He was feeling conspicuous and inconspicuous at the same time. He was sure people were watching him but were pretending not to watch.

After a day he began to feel at home. A week sped past.

 

Then he received a post. The envelope was addressed to him. HARRY ANDREWS, it said clearly. Inside was a ticket for two, to spend a week, all expenses paid, in a villa, Breezy Meadows, in California. A hotel in Los Angeles had sent him the gift. Courtsey his tennis friends

 

Maya was overjoyed. ‘You have a week of heaven before you start hell again. Before you begin your trade, be it carpentry or any other thing, we have a week’.

He let her rush him.

Long flight by her side. They were at the villa. It was night.

She kissed him lightly and said in incoherently, ‘Good Night. Search for the Beggar Prince and carpentry’

 

William Richard Bates woke up.

He was disoriented for a few seconds.

The words ‘Search for beggar prince and carpentry’ flashed in his mind.

He must have had a dream. So vivid he forgot who he was. What was the dream ? He could remember something of tennis, something of his being a poor beggar. But who was he ?

He turned around. There was a stick on note.

‘You are Bill Richard Bates’ an elegant hand writing said.

In a flash he could remember. His father, the richest man on earth, had said on his death bed, look out for a job for yourself. You can’t be a wastrel on my wealth. Tennis or carpentry or anything, choose your vocation.

‘Search for beggar prince and carpentry’ screamed his mind.

 

He got it.

He got into the internet.

‘Beggar prince Buddha’ – that was 777^th link. But that was it. He clicked on it avidly.

 

His mind was in a turmoil.

Then the 10007^th link got him. It said ‘Swarajya Siddhi (attaining of one’s own kingdom- Sanskrit) – Beggar realized he was a prince – Vedanta -….’. Again there were feverish clicks.

 

 

Then he sat down. An hour passed. Now his face was the calm after the monsoon downpour.

He searched for Carpentry. He patiently went through all links, it finally stopped on Joseph the carpenter.

He had made his decision.

 

The event stunned the world. There were many reports. But it is a pity nobody took the reports of the Scribbler, a fortnightly tabloid, seriously.

‘Our Ear to the ground, reports that William Richard Bates, the world’s richest person who suddenly gave it all to United Nations and different charities and disappeared, is now working as carpentry apprentice in a settlement in India.

People have different theories about how it all happened. But our Ear says, it all got to do with an animagus (a person who could transform himself or herself into an animal or insect) springing up and showing her skills at turning herself into a fly and to bite all but your most recent memory out of yourself. She sprang up amidst world’s richest boys in an exclusive hotel. Their common envy being Bates, they chose to experiment on him.

The experiment lasted for a week.

But we have reason to conclude that the current symptoms of the great charity being shown by many of the stinking rich have something to do with this’

 

It didn’t help to enhance Scribbler’s dwindling credibility, that its next issue, which happened to be its last issue said : ‘Did anyone believe our last report about the Bates abdication ? We make it clear we said it in innocent fun.’

There was a report in a country paper having a hundred subscribers, that the Scribbler’s owner was bought and he got his price of 10 million dollars which he wanted to pay NASA to book his place for the first civilian flight to Mars.