Parliamentary Democracy in MCC - Part II

Ashok Ratnam played cricket. He was a tall, lanky and very dark Telugu, whose father looked after the ABL Stores. What with M.Sriniwas’s dad Mr.Seshasai, being in charge of Wadi ACC stores, I believed that only Telugus could look after Factory Stores, (very much like only the ‘kars’ being capable of making it to the National cricket team) Ashok Ratnam was a fast bowler. He suffered from acidity, and had a pack of Gelusil tablets in his pocket. He had a peculiar bowling action. Before the runup started, he puckered the fingers of his right hand, and touched them to his lips and his stomach alternately several times, with the ball in his other hand. It was said that this was to pacify his raging acidity. He was a delicate, though a rugged sportstar. Christopher on the other hand, had the sweet Caucasoid handsomeness of Anglo Brahmin Pedigree. He was also a cricketer, and he was an allrounder like Roger Binny. Wadi students however, were second rate, and mostly excluded from such entities as cricket teams. We merely sat and watched. As a matter of fact, Wadi students mostly sat and watched, whatever the event. But with me becoming a full fledged, first time cabinet member from Wadi, and surprisingly, Saji from Wadi poised to be the next Prime Minister of MCC, very much like Barack Obama of the second decade of the twentyfirst century, people from Wadi were beginning to make their presence felt in the upmarket ABL colony of Shahabad. This trend apparently continued, and now I hear students from Shahabad travel to Wadi for their education!

Well, the election was concluded on schedule and Christopher, the candidate blessed by the Headmistress, the redoubtable Sr. Angelita, lost by a slim margin. Ashok Ratnam became the Prime Minister of over 4,500 students of MCC and Christopher the DPM, as he was called. An equal number of supporters of Ashok Ratnam and Christopher were made Cabinet Ministers, of which I was one. I got the Literary Association Portfolio, of which I was the Deputy Minister, the previous year, under Rajeev Agarwal, the third of the renowned Agarwal brothers of ABL (more about them later). More importantly, I chose Janaki as the Deputy Minister for Literary Association that year. The Cabinet assumed charge with Sr. Angelita administering the oath of office soon thereafter, and we settled down to our studies since this was the year of the Board Exams, after which we would disperse and go on to College. (Yes, the +2 system was yet to be implemented and 11th and 12th classes were taught in colleges).