Dirty Saints

Fiction

Tony left.

There were only four members in the WhatsApp group. When Tony left, the group became 25% less.

Less than what? 3/3 is 100%. Vijay texted.

Isn’t it now ¾? Andrew asked.

What the hell is happening to Dirty Saints? Husain wondered after a long silence and never wrote anything more in the group.

Tony, Vijay, Andrew and Husain were the Dirty Saints, the renowned clique in the senior secondary school. After school, they all went their own ways. Tony took up computer engineering and joined Infosys, Vijay opted for medicine and became a doc, Andrew pursued literature and teaches at a university, and Husain joined his father’s business after graduating in commerce.

Tony was showing signs of frustration from the time Narendra Modi was elected the Prime Minister for the second term. His posts in the group became increasingly vitriolic against the ruling party at the Centre and its blatant communalism.

Ur Congy was the communal party, man. Vijay texted in response to one of Tony’s texts.

‘Congy’ was Vijay’s word for ‘Congress’ just as ‘Commie’ was for Communists and Marxists. Tony, in return, called Vijay a ‘Sanghy’.

Dirty Saints became a battlefield between Tony and Vijay.

Beware u Commie, Vijay responded to Tony once. How Tony metamorphosed into Commie from Congy remained a mystery, however. Trust me, a day is coming soon when a man will step out of the majority and shove cowdung down ur throat. Vijay didn’t stop with that. He added: Dare to make fun of a Muslim guy about his circumcision in an Islamic nation? U wont have head on ur shoulders. Respect the freedom u have in a Hindu nation.

Husain didn’t take the Islamic bait. He was quiet all through. He stopped interacting in the group.

Andrew texted Husain privately asking whether he was okay. I’m Muslim, bro. Silence suits me in present India. Husain answered.

Husain didn’t quit the group, however. He chose silence.

Tony didn’t believe in silence. Tolerating bullshit was never in his blood. Cowshit is no holier, he texted.

The name Dirty Saints was chosen for the group by Tony. All the four members were naughty at school but good at heart. They never harmed anyone. They didn’t bother about anyone, that’s the truth. They had their own private fun, private jokes, and intellectual conversations. They quoted Albert Camus and Dostoevsky, Albert Einstein and T S Eliot.

A decade after they left the school, after many holidays together, Dirty Saints WhatsApp group was formed. Now, a couple of years after the formation of the group, 25% of the group left, 25% is silenced, 25% thinks the remaining 25% is either Congy or Commie and hence unworthy of living in the emerging Hindu nation. The Hindu nation is for holy saints? Andrew keeps wondering.

PS. I must acknowledge my gratitude to Thomas Kuriakose for forming a WhatsApp group of some old friends including me and suggesting the name Dirty Saints in one of his comments. I also acknowledge my old student Gulshan Parmar’s contribution to one of the texts quoted in the story. I dedicate this story to Prakash Kumar whose brief conversation today on FB Messenger triggered this writing.