A Diabolic Conspiracy



Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look, He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.” We were doing Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as part of English curriculum during high school and the above line somehow captured my imagination. I have somehow had a kind of fatal attraction for characters with shades of darkness in their characters and Cassius just fascinated me. I would spend hours daily imagining myself as Cassius, hatching a master conspiracy to dispatch off a tyrant. But then how long can one be satisfied with merely enacting one’s fantasies within one’s mind? My fantasies yearned to manifest themselves in the real world.

A fortuitous circumstance presented itself in the form of a classmate Vinay who had been consistently annoying a lot of our fellow classmates, some to an extent even to wish an end to his mortal existence. I decided to channel these sentiments into a diabolical plot like my idol Cassius must have done centuries back. The foremost challenge in putting myself as the originator of this conspiracy and have men follow me was my image. In school usually, we have good boys and bad boys. Good boys tend to read a lot, do well in their academics, are well behaved and liked by teachers. Bad boys on the other hand, did not care about studies, not much into reading, got into all kinds of unacceptable behaviors and often found themselves in trouble with the teachers. While my wavelength would have matched with the former, they could hardly be relied upon to side with me on the unimaginable felonies I had in my mind. So I had to look to the latter. But I was considered to be one of the good boys. So how was I to make myself acceptable to the bad boys? It was probably the same problem Cassius must have toyed with ages back and the solution that presented itself was the same – Brutus!

While Cassius sought someone reputable, I sought someone of disrepute. Tony seemed to have all the qualifications I was looking for. He was well respected amongst the antisocial elements at school. He had been a close friend of Vinay and had lately had a serious tiff with him. I had a reasonably good rapport with him and he seemed the right person to put in front to rally the conspirators. His plans to leave school in a month presented an additional advantage. Once the forces were rallied, he would be gone and I would lead on his behalf with him as the symbolic leader of the gang. Not that I was power hungry but the men of the sort I had chosen to associate with, not being so well read, tended not to observe the right forms. They tended to jump too hastily into action. They needed an artistic leader who could understand and appreciate the finer nuances of an intricate conspiracy.

Things went as per plan and in a month’s time I found myself the de facto leader of a gang of 5. Assault and theft were key elements of our initial strategy to counter Vinay. We would take turns at provoking him daily and take the opportunity of the fight to inflict injuries on his person. We would sneak into the classrooms during games periods to deprive him of some of his property. In order to prove myself to my fellow conspirators, I launched myself enthusiastically into the field of action, securing a few scars of valor in the process. (My mother might have thought entire school was a skating rink given the number of times I claimed to have slipped and fallen and hurt myself) While the thefts could happen behind the scenes, the fights had to happen in the open and tended to lower my currency amongst the good boys. But then one could not have the cake and eat it too.

By and by, we were getting bored of doing the same old routine of fights and petty thefts. If anything, our punitive strikes only served to worsen Vinay’s behavior. He in fact seemed to enjoy the fights. We always fought him one on one: never as a group as it was against our code of honor. For we wanted to “carve him as a dish fit for the gods, not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds”. So it was time we took more drastic action. By then, the English class had moved on to the ides of March and the scene of Caesar’s assassination. Yes, that was the answer – assassination! We spent hours discussing how we could dispatch off Vinay for good. My fellow conspirators surprised me with their vivid imagination. I realized imagination was not the sole preserve of the well-read. Our plans ranged from procuring poisons from the biology lab to drowning him in the school well to explosions in the Chemistry lab.

Somehow though I loved conspiracy, murder was not really my cup of tea. It was nice to discuss but we had beaten the topic to death and now it was time to do the same to the victim and I did not feel up to it. I doubt if any of my fellows also really had the stomach for such a gory venture. I felt it was time I directed my team’s energies in a different direction. Cassius’ charm was slowly fading and Robin Hood emerged as a serious contender for my attention. I decided we were done with being Roman conspirators and in one sweep we decided to transform ourselves into English brigands. This change however did not change our modus operandi much: it only served to expand our market segment. Instead of focusing on Vinay alone, we turned our attention to some of our other classmates as well. I developed a code of ethics, mostly centered on right form of behavior with respect to our female classmates. Any of our male classmates found not to be confirming to the same made suitable targets for our strikes.

There was however one minor glitch in playing Robin Hood – while we stole from the rich, we had no poor to give it away to. My fellow merry men considered themselves to be suitable candidates to benefit from this ill begotten wealth. But Robin Hood would have none of it. All the stolen goods would either have to be destroyed or sold and proceeds donated to a charitable cause. We were crusaders for a cause and could not allow our noble cause to be tainted by acting like common thieves. Some of the merry men, who had been in this business right from kindergarten, thought I was crazy. But they were by now used to my leadership and decided to fall in line.

We continued like this till the end of the year. But then, the academic burden of the ICSE syllabus was already telling on my merry men as well as most of our victims. The next year, the entire crew deserted the ship leaving the captain to fend all by himself in the land of savages: the good boys. And so it came about another glorious or infamous chapter of my life, depending on how you see it, came to an end.

Picture Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schurz_Conspirators.jpg

30 comments:

C Suresh said...

Hahaha! Vrery chequered career, TF :) The world must be pleased that you did not choose Jack the Ripper for an idol :)

T F Carthick said...

Not too far off the mark, Suresh - At one time Sobhraj had been an idol. But then I was way too young to act on it. Guess I was 8 or 9 or something like that.

The Eternal Overthinker said...

Vivid Memories...:).. a nice read!! and thank god that you spared Jack the ripper /Sobhraj...my imagination just went for a overdrive.:D

T F Carthick said...

Thanks TEO. Even I am not sure what I might have done if I had followed on one of their footsteps.

Jayashree Srivatsan said...

What a career TF. Maybe if you had continued you might have gotten into theatre ?

T F Carthick said...

That might have suited me more, Jaish. Or it might not have. I tended to believe I was really reliving those stories. So theater might have meant acknowledging it is make believe. In some ways my entry into fiction writing was such a compromise. Till I started writing fiction I used to try to believe in and live the world of fiction.

indu chhibber said...

Aha,it is good that you switched to a new role model.But seriously,did all this really take place?
Your childhood reminiscences are so intriguing.

Rohini said...

High functioning Sociopath.. :D "Seldom he smiles and smiles and smiles in such a sort as if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit" Cassius was a very interesting character indeed.. I don't thing good can ever have have as many variations in shades and tinges as bad can. Writing wise..it'll always easier to write a bad character than a good one..it gives you more scope of using creativity.. take for example the contrast between Satan and God in Milton's Paradise Lost. Your post made for an interesting read. :)

T F Carthick said...

Indeed it did, Indu. I had a crazy childhood where I used to literally live in a dream world.

T F Carthick said...

Thanks Rohini - You have rightly summarized the fascination of evil characters. Sometimes they have so many characteristics similar to the good - loyalty to their friends, monomanic dedication to the causes they hold dear etc.

indu chhibber said...

True,crazy is the word.My sympathies are with your mom.How she must have handled you ! But the end result is awesome.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting post TF with shades of grey and the fine balance one often walks when one is adolescent and brimming with ideas. I always think, it is only sheer luck which steers you in the right direction and keeps you away from pursuing the wrong lanes, during those turbulent times in one's life.

Kokila gupta said...

What should I comment except I am going to join the site!

T F Carthick said...

True, Asha. But I think I personally always have this crazy streak which continued well into my adulthood, though not evident on the surface, often has lead me to decisions and behaviors which have affected my career. That way blogging had helped me rein in my wildness - I use the medium of writing to express my wildest flights of fantasy while being content with my mundane existence in the real world.

T F Carthick said...

Good to know, Kokila.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you weren't studying Henry the VIII or Genghis Khan!

T F Carthick said...

I guess I must also be glad, Mary Norton-Miller or I might have ended up in juvenile home. Thanks for reading.

T F Carthick said...

I am not even sure how much my mother really knew.

Purba said...

Your growing up years were as colourful as your imagination :D

T F Carthick said...

Yes, indeed, Purba.

Rachna said...

I remember Julius Caesar vividly. I had it for 10th Boards too. But your escapades were something else :).

Unknown said...

Whenever I read about your childhood, it's always hard to reconcile it with your adulthood :D I'd love to know how come such a mischievous boy ended up being so quite (I know you aren't totally quite but you don't tend to be the center of attention too at the parties, or so I think :D)

T F Carthick said...

My adulthood was also not too colorless till I got married, Pankti. And there were people in my school who viewed me as you view me now. For instance none of my classmates, except the ones who were part of the gang were even aware of this side of my personality except for witnessing the strange aberration in my personality when seeing me get into fights. Somehow lately I try to channel most of my wildness into my writing that lets me maintain a quite demeanor in the real world.

T F Carthick said...

Indeed, Rachna. There were so many others in the class who also studied the same text and it had no such effect on them. They were instead able to develop their language skills and score good marks in their board exams.

umashankar said...

A Cassius out of synch with the times! For a moment you had me scared but I was relieved to see you expanding your 'market segment' by bringing in a nuance of Robin Hood, of whom, I must admit, I nurtured fantasies for a few months too.

T F Carthick said...

Yeah, indeed. Cassius was an eccentric choice for hero worship but I sometimes used to get fascinated with that kind of characters.

Jairam said...

Nice, idols such as Cassius and Robin Hood seem to have ensured that you lived a wholesome fun life back in school :)

T F Carthick said...

Indeed, Jairam. Thanks for the visit.

Unknown said...

Enjoyed reading about your capers/adventures in school. Shades of Billy Bunter, but not exactly. Old and fat Billy never did share or distribute his ill gotten goods--he consumed them himself. Brilliant post, TF!

T F Carthick said...

Thanks a lot, Ramesh.

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