Sins was taking a gigantic shit at six in the morning when the light in his bathroom went out. Left with nothing but the sound of his breathing and his butt spewing torrents of shit towards the splashing water beneath, he recalled how last night had been a disaster waiting to happen.
He had started a riot.
Inside the bar where it had all began, with the rhythmic, soothing sounds of classical music, catering to a high-class clientele, Sins realised it was the last place on earth which would host a full-scale riot. When he had entered the place, escorted inside by a long time friend, also his host, his heart had leaped when he recognized several people who seemed familiar to him. He had seen their faces in Business and trade magazines, newspapers, along a whole host of industries including steel, cements, paints, energy, venture funds, consumer goods and sports. Frankly he was surprised, but then he shouldn’t have been, given the exquisite exteriors, manned by cheerful looking valets.
His friend was an event management professional. Her list of contacts were vast, and he always kept her on speed dial, given their long time friendship, including a brief period of romance a couple of years ago, which hadn’t lasted much, though it didn’t affect their friendship one bit, much to both their surprise. She said she had called him because she missed him. As Sins gazed, awestruck at managing directors, CEO’s, CFO’s, CIO’s and their assorted class, he felt an itch to raise conversation and make himself known. After all, he was a businessman himself, just not formalised and underground given the clandestine nature of the product he sold, though he felt the operational challenges were the same as most of the hot shots here dealt with, including managing relationships concisely.
His moment of reckoning came when he was five glasses of whiskies down. He had glanced around at the room and found that things had progressed, definitely much noisier than from an hour ago. His friend had warned him not to exceed more than three glasses, but Sins hadn’t been able to resist. The whisky tasted like heaven, as smooth as water and before he or she realized, they had both had five glasses each.
They had burst out laughing, very loudly, much to the amusement of several people within their immediate vicinity, who were pretty much drunk themselves, and burst out laughing as well. The laughter had a ripple effect, spurred by the catalyzing, numbing effect of good alcohol, making waves around the spacious hall as the entire place was in raptures of delight. It was precisely at this moment when trouble had begun. A heavy-set woman standing a few feet away from Sins staggered slightly backwards and crashed into a man who was laden with a tray full of delicious looking boneless meat, minced into small pieces and coated with warm butter. The tray fell to the floor along with the man. Sins saw the entire scene in slow motion, registering the look of agony on the man’s face as he watched his food roll across the white marble floor. The man began shouting at the woman who lay strewn across on the floor, too drunk to get up without support.
Several people raised their voices at this point, mostly directed towards the man, but no one was giving a hand to the woman lying on the floor. Sins had moved into the eye of the scene with his friend beside him and extended his hand to the floored woman. The woman looked at him and grinned drunkenly, not caring one bit about her predicament on the verge of becoming a spectacle. The man who had shouted at the woman turned to Sins.
“You! Leave her right there!”, he yelled at Sins.
Sins looked at him and wondered whether to ignore him or not. It was the most obnoxious statement he had ever heard in his life. After all, which person would not lift up a fallen human, especially when the fall had been caused by alcohol? Sins ignored his yell, and helped the woman up, who looked grateful now. The man, for some reason didn’t like what Sins had done, as his scowling face showed, a face not used to being ignored. Sins wondered how much the man was worth. The man threw a piece of meat he was holding in his hand all this while at Sins. The meat hit Sins squarely in the eye. His friend burst out laughing. Sins became angry. He charged at the man, and toppled him to the floor, while hearing gasps emanate from the on looking crowd.
“Get off me, you imbecile! I’ll call the police!”, the man shouted at Sins.
Sins punched him.
The man’s friends, silent up till now, hauled Sins off the man, and one of them kicked him in the stomach. Sins howled in rage. He snatched a glass from the floor and smacked it full, shattering it on a head he had no idea, belonged to whom. Sins felt a red film in front of his eyes, the alcohol coursing through his veins, while his brain goaded him to further violence. He liked this. He wanted to beat more people. Deep within his heart of hearts, he felt connected to the spirit of the warriors gone by, making an imaginary movement as if brandishing a sword. He lifted another glass and smashed it on another head, pushing the man with all his might towards a stirring crowd that was beginning to smell blood.
“Fuck all of you!”, Sins screamed, grabbing the scruff of the man who had started it all, pinning him to the ground as he whimpered. Sins’ friend came bustling over and kicked him straight to his face. Blood poured out of his nostrils, and pandemonium broke out as several people screamed at once, much akin to a rallying cry for war. People – men and women began kicking and pushing everyone within their nearest reach. Sins saw several men taking advantage of the ensuing chaos and targeting women by touching their bodies under the guise of protecting them. Sins ran at two of them and sent them flying into the tables.
Struggling for breath and winded after all the exertion, he was shocked when a hand held him firmly at his arm, only to find out it was his friend. She was bleeding from her nose, but grinning as if she was having the best time of her life. There, amidst the pandemonium, with chairs flying over their heads, and people screaming obscenities at each other with punches and slaps, they kissed.
As they made their way out of the war like atmosphere, hand-in-hand after a few minutes, Sins heard the faint sound of Sirens.
Marijuana Maharaj 