Exploits of an Indian Lover : Novel Outline
Parthasarthy Sarkar (India, 05/02/06)
Dipti Dutta, a lady of high intellect and keen sensitivity in fine arts is a home maker to a Corporate Executive Shuvopriya and mother to a lovely baby girl Shubhecha. She was having a placid domestic life till she meets, ‘Neel Choudhary’ a charismatic flamboyant Chartered Accountant working for a leading Chartered Accountant’s firm, ‘Shabbir & Associates’. Neel led a contended family life, in the company of his homely wife, Vidya and a special buddy bond relationship with his young little Barun. His penchant was playing rock’n’roll music and fast car driving. Dipti took an instant liking for Neel and organised a family trip engaging both of their families to Panchmarhi, wherein she gets thick to him.
Post trip to Panchmarhi, what sets off as an infatuation, acquires depth and Neel grants Dipti the wings and the zing in life, which she was otherwise missing with Shvopriya, inspite of his cultural refinement.
In the first night of Dipti & Neel’s intimacy, Neel convinced Dipti of his genuine love towards her and anointed her with a new name Chandrani which he carries on throughout.
Shuvopriya a copy book gentleman, although had a great liking for Neel but could not exactly sync with his brazenness.
Shuvopriya clearly understood the relationship Dipti developed with Neel, but given his temperament, never openly objected to it, however psychologically drew himself away from Dipti.
Shuvopriya comes across Kunal, prima-facie ostentatious in his calling, of being an educationist and a social worker, but otherwise a powerbroker in the political circles. He possessed a sharp sense of literature which pulled Shuvopriya towards him.
Kunal starts a Public School in Nagpur and throws a warm party at a premier club, where in a state of inebriation becomes physical to Dipti in public gaze, which for some reason Shuvopriya could not protest. Dipti feels herself grossly humiliated and reaches out to Neel, who instantly readied himself to pick up the cudgel, but was ultimately dissuaded by Dipti, since it would shred of her marital bliss and whatever little relationship remains with Shuvopriya.
It was the mid nineties the winds of economic liberalisation were blowing thick. Neel was feeling restless in the staidness of conventional practice of Chartered Accountancy. Shabbir the principal partner of the firm, Shabbir & Associates was very fond of Neel and did want to back him of his ambitious moves, but was otherwise bogged by the compulsions of numerous other partners view points, favouring caution. Finding Neel restless, Shabbir advises him to branch out independently.
Neel took up the franchisee of a leading NBFC, with Sadia Khan the erstwhile personal assistant to Shabbir as his first employee. She by her single minded commitment, helped Neel in no time to put the business on a fast track. Neel had become the Prima Dona of finance market in central India. Life was hunky dory.
Rajiv Nair, son of a prosperous baker and common friend to all the members of Shabbir & Associates, commits suicide after failing in his business venture, caused by a ruling of the Madhya Pradesh Government; choking him of his raw material supplies, which happened to be a forest produce. Suicide of Rajiv Nair leaves a tremendous scar on the psyche of Shabbir, the unwritten patriarch to all the members and associates to his firm.
Inspite of Neel’s hostility, over a period of time, Dipti finds herself drawn towards Kunal at a platonic level, due to his impromptu wits and in-depth knowledge of literature and fine arts.
Reena Kapadia, an upmarket woman of extremely beautiful looks, who had been leaving in Australia for three years comes back to India as a country head of an Australian Computer Training and Research Company; she convinces Neel of a business proposal of taking up the franchisee of her employing company. Neel agrees and backs the project with a substantial financial commitment. Reena relentlessly labours to showcase it as a model franchisee, so as to expand her business operations in other cities. The business picks up in a grand way, and during the course of professional association, Reena gets attracted towards Neel, of his machismo and integrity.
The imprudent business practices of the NBFC’s sooner than later came to light with the Reserve Bank of India cracking the whip on almost all the NBFC’s, who closed their shops after duping lacs of investors. In the process Neel gets thrown out of his flagship business. During the same time the franchisor to his computer institute becomes bankrupt in its country of origin at Australia. Neel was now financially massacred and goes into complete hibernation. In the contemporary period Kunal convinces Chand to join his Public School as a vice principal and in the process they get further entwined.
Nafisa, Shabbir’s wife had a deep affection for Neel’s wife Vidya and apprehensive of Neel going Rajiv’s way, virtually pushes Shabbir to ensure that Neel gets rehabilitated. Shabbir being trustee to their prosperous community trust owned management institute, inducts Neel as the Chief Executive and gives him complete freedom to run it as a stand alone profit center.
Chandrani calls up Neel to inform that her family along with Kunal’s family, would be going to Digha seashore, witnessing the end of current millennium. During the trip she ultimately gets revealed within self, that indeed she has started loving Kunal, and the tremendous soothe she derives in his company. However she could not keep herself out of Neel’s memories, which was too much to be wished away. Neel in the meanwhile is struggling to put the management institute on firm rails and once again Sadia solidly stands by him in his struggle for existence.
Bit by bit, stretching hard, Neel finally gets the breakthrough and with the requisite kind of business tie-ups, firmly launches the management institute as a premier Sales Training & Management Institute in central India.
It was the twenty-fifth birthday of Sadia and as usual she was staying late in the office working ceaselessly. She asks for a treat from Neel, which readily he concedes and while taking her out expresses his brotherly affection towards her. Sadia spurns it over, and point blank states, that she had always seen Neel to be her lover, which made her to commit herself so strongly to stand by him. And ultimately seduces him to be intimate.
Western India Chapter of Indian Association of Practising Sales Managers, organised a two days workshop. Arundhati Patil, a women in her mid forties yet highly attractive and seductive, is the daughter of a state cabinet minister and estranged wife of a diplomat. She ran a successful placement agency in Bombay and comes as a delegate to have her professional networking done. She gets introduced to Neel and is bowled over by his charms. Both plan an escapade, and during the jaunt Arundhati genuinely falls for Neel, recognising his playboy image is only a façade, on losing his actual love Chandrani. She too unfolds her marital life to Neel, which mostly veers around in Jordan, wherein her husband was posted in the diplomatic mission, but she fell for a young Kenyan Doctor, and attempts to flee with him, only to be nabbed by the immigration authorities. After the misadventure, she although not formally divorced, but stays independent of her husband, leading a forlorn life.
The Insurance Regulatory And Development Authority Act is passed, de-monopolising the insurance sector. Neel intelligently accredits his management institute as an authorised Insurance Agents Learning Center, and as the prime mover rakes in the moolah. The management institute is now a cash rich body. The credit of the feat was due to Neel’ farsightedness, was generously acknowledged by Shabbir.
A young girl Reshmi, born in a middle class family, but now the affluent daughter-in-law of a benign retired Chief Engineer of Central Public Works Department, Mani George, joins one of the training batches of a life insurer, to have some flexi timing engagement. Seeing Neel in the training academy, falls for his glamorous looks and his high profile conduct. Virtually she forces herself on him. By this time Neel has stopped looking at male-female relationships from the standpoint of conventional morality and every woman he meets, presents a cobweb of human emotions and intrigue, with their respective feet of clay and virtues.
That Chand had drifted far away from Neel, became a reality he accepted, except for at times getting drawn into her reminiscences.
Reena Kapadia comes back to Nagpur, after two years as head of one of the private insurers and meeting Neel the old flame between them gets rekindled, they go for a trip to Khajuraho, wherein Reena finds herself completely in alignment with nature, and becomes heavily dependant on Neel, finding him the only point of emotional anchorage, after being deceived of all past relationships. Neel too started liking her but possibly could not get himself committed as a lover, however was more playing the role of charmer and made Reena happy as an empathiser would do; which she mistook for a committed love.
The foreign training and consultancy firms started opening their shops in India and Arundhati offers Neel a job in Bombay; heading the training vertical of one of the frontline training and consultancy firm. Vidya becomes extremely pleased; since really she felt that inspite of Neel’s best of efforts, Nagpur would be too small a canvass of his accomplishments and intellect and encourages him to move on. Neel seeks Shabbir’s opinion, he echoes more or less the same as Vidya, and advises him to go ahead on a positive note.
On learning of Neel’s probable shift out of Nagpur, Reena gets furious since she realised that she has nothing concrete to bind Neel anymore, and that once he moves to Bombay that is the be all and end all of their relationship. She gets hysterical and badly abuses Neel of this indiscretion and selfishness.
To take up his new professional assignment, Neel driving alone starts his journey to Bombay by car, carrying loads of memories, ultimately meets with a road accident near Kasara Ghat, and dies a ghastly death.
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Apparently the protagonist of the novel is Neel Choudhary, but in actual he is the fulcrum around which the actual protagonists; the articulate female characters relate themselves.
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Statistical Details (An approximate value): Number of Words- 65900. Number of Characters-360700. Number of Chapters-10.
