Jackpot...

Some stories in Coorg that makes the rounds have a certain element of legend to them. This is not one of them. This is about a Coorg father who was smart, correction very smart.

In the not so recent past, four friends from Mount Carmel college,on summer break, decided to go to Delhi for a holiday. Money was no object, they were all staying at the Oberoi hotel, near Mathura road.

One evening they decided to go clubbing, so they all took a hotel taxi and went to Hauz Khas village, to a uber – chic place called “Out of this box”. Kirti Shetty was from Mangalore, and her brother Kartik had called up some friends in Delhi and they were told to look after his sister and her friends. On arriving at the venue, Simone Kalappa, Tanya Gowda and Soumya Reddy along with Kirti all hit the dance floor.

While they were dancing, they were being watched from the bar, by Kartik’s friend Sid and his two other friends Jacky and Vineet. Sid gave the guys the lowdown on all the girls. Kirti was off limits, her brother would kill them. Jacky’s eyes fell on Simone, she was gorgeous, tall, with light eyes, and full lips. He also noticed her discreet Rolex with diamonds, her limited edition monogrammed Louis Vuitton bag, solitaire diamonds on her ears. “This one seems rich”..he thought to himself “let me patao her”. He was a good looking boy, 27 years of age, with a job as a sales man at the Porche dealership in Delhi. A job he had landed because of Sid’s connections. Everytime he came to the nightclub, he would remove money from the cash register at the dealership, and return it the next day. Today he had done the same thing. He now decided to impress the girls with the money. When they all came back for a drink to the bar, he introduced himself, and then proceeded to take out bundles of cash from his back pocket, slammed it on the bar counter and told the bar man “A round of champagne for the girls”. They all protested, and after much coaxing, agreed to have some wine. Jacky, was at his wittiest best. Sid and Vineet knew what was happening. They also played up to the gallery. Call him Sethji – a play on his surname Sethi. Might as well lay it on thick, after all they were never going to see these girls again.

Soon Simone and Jacky are dancing together, first its to Hindi music, and all the mad gyrations, and as the DJ changed the mood to mellow and romantic, they are soon slow dancing and looking deep into each others eyes.

Around 3 in the morning, they all decide to get some food to eat, and Sid has a suggestion that they should try out the road side dhaba’s for some really good food. All were in agreement, they all leave the club and climbed into the Porche Cayanne that Jacky was driving. Simone sat in the front, with Jacky and they held hands all the time, all the rest squeezed in at the back. They drove to Humayan’s tomb, where there was a dhaba called “Aap ke khatir”, they got out of the car to stretch their legs. Simone and Jacky decided to stay in the car, and continued to talk. The rest all ordered some food. And as the evening progressed, all begin to notice that Simone and Jacky had their eyes only each other.

At around 4 in the morning, Simone startled everyone with a loud “Yes”…Kirti, Soumya and Tanya rushed back to the car and find that Jacky had proposed to Simone and she had said yes. Simone felt that Jacky and she were soul mates. Sid came up to Jacky, gives him a big hug and whispered “Teri to lottery lag gaye”. Jacky just grinned and nodded his head. Yes he had hit jack pot. During the course of the evening, Simone had told Jacky that she was the only child of her parents. Her Dad Mr. Kalappa, had extensive property in Coorg, had a bungalow off Brigade road in Bangalore, and two apartments, a bungalow in Chennai, on Mount road, two flats in Mysore, two flats in Cochin. Jacky quickly did a mental calculation, and thought to himself. "I will not have to work for the rest of my life!”. But he knew he had to act fast. He turned to Simone and went down on his knees and in front of all her friends “Marry me NOW”. After all shubh kaam mei kya deri…why wait for good fortune.

At this point Kirti broke away from the crowd and went to make a call to her brother Kartik. He immediately told her to call Simone’s Dad Mr. Kalappa. He had met Simone’s father and thought him to be a very formidable man. She called Simone’s father and told him everything.

Kalappa was a very respected man in Coorg, he was known to never lose his cool and always gave very good advice to people. He quickly collected his thoughts, and played it smart. He called Simone on her mobile, and after hearing her out, told her that he would like his only daughter to be married off in the pomp and glory befitting his status, and none of this eloping nonsense would do. He then asked her to invite Jacky and his family to Coorg, for a full fledged marriage with all the traditions of the Coorgs.

Three days later, Simone, Jacky, his parents Mr and Mrs. Sethi, his elder brother Rajesh, younger sisters Anupama and Anuradha, arrived in Coorg. They were greeted with the traditional aarti, and then Simone’s father requested for a private meeting with Jacky. His eyes glistening with tears he said “I need to speak to my future son in law alone, after all I am giving him my most precious child, the apple of my eyes.” All of them agreed and Jacky and Mr Kalappa retired to the study upstairs. As soon as the study door shut by Mr. Kalappa, he turned around and faced Jacky and his demeanor changed. His eyes narrowed and he lowered his voice, and in an icy tone, told Jacky to sit.

He then went to his desk and sat on his chair. He leaned over the office table and slowly said “Listen to me very carefully, I will count till a hundred, if you and your family are not off my property by then I will shoot you with the gun here”, pointing at the double barrel above his desk on the wall. Leaning back he started counting, “One, two, three……”

Two years later, Simone married her neighbour's son Cariappa. She never forgave her father for that day, but as Kalappa liked to say to his wife “She will get over it”…