THE HUNTING GAME

The hunter waited patiently. For today he was determined to find his kill. This was the D-day and all the training and hard work was to pay off. He waited with his pride of lions. They could see many possible preys, but none seemed weak enough to be attacked. 

Then entered a meek looking animal. He saw him, did not waste a second and pounced out. “Hey hi, do you work with EMC?” The prey seemed startled “No! I work with Fidelity.” 

“Oh!” the hunter snapped. “This is my brother-in-law.” He replied calling out one of the lions from his pride. “He works at EMC and wondered that he had seen you at the workplace.” 

He continued, “By the way, I’m Vinod. I work as a consultant for a software consultancy.” The meek creature replied, “I’m Sajesh.” 

The prey was almost in his claws. Now he wanted to go for the final kill. “So are you a Tamilian? You look like one.”

“No.” said Sajesh “I’m a Keralite.”

“Oh! I’m a Tamilian” The hunter played it step-by-step as he was trained. “Where are you from in Kerala?”

“Palakkad”

“Palakkad!!” his eyes twinkled. “My wife is from the same place.” 

Now the hunter almost got him. This was one connection he needed to make the kill. He took out the weapon which almost worked everywhere. Vinod quickly proceeded “Then you certainly would know my uncle who runs a famous school there.” 

Sajesh nodded confusingly. The poor chap was unaware that he was being hunted slowly. Vinod remarked enthusiastically “Since we know each other, we should meet up sometime. I’ve been here in US since the last 20 years. You guys seem new here. So it’ll be a good change for you and your wife. 

Sajesh was listening. And then the hunter made his final pitch. I have a business opportunity for you, where you can make some money part time even with your full time work.

 Oh dear! Sajesh understood. He was a prey of a chain marketing gimmick. “Have you heard of Amway?” he asked. Sajesh was still nodding confusingly, thinking, whose face did I see first thing in the morning for this to happen with me?

Vinod continued “can I have your number, so we can discuss this over later?”

The weak prey was fully in the hunters claws and there was no way out. He relinquished.

 The hunter had got the kill. This was also a way to train his brother-in-law, in how to get someone hooked on to this. And India stores in US were one of the hunting grounds as unsuspecting poor Indians who would enter the stores and get killed by prowling chain marketing agents.

Sajesh walked out of the store knowing he was hunted down. Now the only thing he could do is wait till the weekend for his phone to ring.