the jaathre files

Time leaps are going to be a part of our adventure through the shaggy-verse, but don't worry— we won't get into a tangle as complicated as the Marvel mess or as lost in science as Lost. Still, we jump ahead a few years to 2009, when the shaggster is in his third year (yes, I know!!!)—and this incident takes place. Indeed, incidents that distort reality do occur. In any case, the ever-present Medical Boy's Hostel plays host to this event—or series of events—during the joyous Maha Shivratri festival on the foreboding second night of the Shamanur jaathre.

A couple of things, in my opinion, require clarification or explanation, or maybe 3 things …. Let’s just say things.

Firstly, Shamanur is a town close to Davangere; in fact, it's on the other side of the highway, about an eight-minute' walk from my engineering college. Yeah, our city's younger village. A community of subsistence farmers with an improvised community centre that serves as a gathering place for the villagers, a bus stop, and more. The centre of attraction in Shamanur are the Vangibath Hotel and the temple, mostly the temple, but we bhukkads held the Vangibath place in high esteem.

The Sri Anjaneya Swamy Temple was thought to have been built some 800 years ago, around the time that Shamanur Village was founded. The temple is devoted to Lord Hanuman. The religious importance of the temple draws many worshippers every day, but particularly on Saturdays, when a special puja takes place. The time we are interested in is Rathothsav, a three-day celebration that the villagers celebrate every year starting on the tenth day of Maha Shivratri.

Since Shamanur becomes an "everything goes" zone during the festival, or jaathre as it is called locally, it is a somewhat significant event for the people of Davangere. Prasadam, cards, and moonshine... This festival is a must-attend for all residents of Davangere; it offers a veritable feast of "fun-time" over the course of three days. This is a major plot point, and our story takes place on the second day of the jaathre. I feel obligated to offer you a couple of additional "about me" details now that I've given you a taste of the festivities and you're familiar with the phenomenon that is Shaggy.

Secondly, the place!!! The medical boys' hostel, which is in a setting that is quite breathtaking and equally weirding out. Originally constructed many years ago, the three-storey building has enormous space behind it. The area isn't utilised by the college or hostel administration, so it gradually became a dump for the boys living nearby. Now, I don't want you to judge the boys or imagine a Dharavi-style scene when I say, "dumping ground". It wasn't for trash, though. It's more like a disposal site for "medicinal by-products" materials, such as seeds and stems that might be found during medication preparation. No matter what it takes, our doctors are committed to helping you. Whatever the case may be, tales of the garden that had grown there because of the dumping eventually spread; some even claimed it to be the legendary Lost Garden of Eden. packed with vegetables, colourful vegetables, psychedelic vegetables – you get the idea.

Finally, the supporting character is Mr. Narayana, who works as a security guard at the hostel. Let us call him Naru for the rest of this story for convenience and the fact that I am too lazy to type his full name all the time. Regardless, as the watchman, he was obligated to return to the hostel for the graveyard shift, despite his great excitement at attending the yearly jaathre as a local. Our slender, enthusiastic gent, then, embarked on his celebrations at a somewhat earlier hour than the typical aam-aadmi. Here we have an important facet of Naru's character: his unwavering faith in the supernatural/unnatural thing. Now that I've gotten off topic, let's return to the story...

In the year 2007, on a cloudy Wednesday at 12:30 pm, the second day of the Jaathre, our protagonist Shaggy decides it would be best to spend the rest of the day at the hostel, figuring there's no harm in taking it easy since everyone is talking about the Jaathre. This sets off a domino effect that causes a chain reaction. Upon returning to the hostel, he notices that there isn't nearly as much hubbub as one would expect... As usual, he enters the courtyard, calling out to his buddies in the hopes that someone would emerge from one of the levels to see what's going on. It was Naru, the watchman, and not Shaggy or any of his classmates that did it. Naru told Shaggy that most of the guys had gone to the jaathre with their seniors and that it was one of those rare occasions when the older guys act as the wise older brothers guiding their younger brothers to a wonderful event. Everyone wanted to be at that party—even Naru, who said he was going to join them for the day after his noon rounds, so he could return at night—because it was an "anything goes" setting with food, drink, games, and ayurvedam. It appears to have been reasonable... even Shaggy seemed to agree. By what means are we reaching an agreement? We all know our hero has language problems; I don't know what to say because Shaggy couldn't grasp a word of Kannada. Despite working there for two years, he still hasn't mastered Kannada. I find it interesting that all his coworkers and patients have mastered Malayalam. Later, when asked about his conversation with Naru, Shaggy just shrugs and says, "da he said something...you know me, enu gothilla." The subsequent events were built on this misunderstanding, which he expressed by shaking his head and then nodding in response to the assumption that failing to acknowledge it was impolite.

Two o'clock in the afternoon: Shaggy was still confused about the hostel's empty rooms after hearing the explanation in detail; he continued to settle himself into a more comfortable position in preparation for the ceremony. After a few minutes of self-care, he decides it's time for his daily prescription. Being a doctor, he knows better than to skip a dose, so he takes it exactly as instructed. The Ayurvedic side effects begin to kick in after about an hour has passed... 3:30pm Feelings of hunger had set in. Now that Shaggy's medicines had made him extraordinarily slothful, he could use his "senior" skills to manipulate one of the other humans into doing his bidding because there weren't any other humans around. The inconceivable thing would have to happen: Shaggy would have to get off the bed where he usually rests his butt. In a fit of sheer determination, Shaggy gets to work scavenging. Much to his disappointment, his little roommates don't have anything that can satisfy his hunger. Frantically, he breaks into every room he can find, sneaks into others, and eventually finds something that satisfies his hunger. About four minutes after she started After making every effort to rein in the culinary excess, Shaggy switches into doctor mode, figures out a solution that will put him in the "Ahhhh" zone, and then gets caught up in the complexities of pharmacodynamics. but, oh no, no, no,

Noooooo!!!!! He had no more greenery! "Oh my god, no!" …. Imagine a movie-style scream originating from the Earth, with the echoes heard across space and time. "Think, Shaggy!!!!" he cheered himself on, desperately trying to come up with a way out of his current jam... He gazes into the vast expanse, like Pablo, into the horizon... with a sadness reminiscent of the Escobar meme. Oh, my goodness! "That's it!" he says with a grin. Once again, the ladoos appear to have burst! It appears that a brilliant plan has infiltrated the Batcave of his mind!!!!

Let’s Halt here for a second

We need to first bring ourselves up to speed on what else has been happening simultaneously. The Janta-log, including Naru, had gone to the Jaathre, as you are aware. To cut a long story short, our security guard has decided to make the most of his stay here because he must return early. Brother Naru was "drunk like a whale" after consuming lethal amounts of local moonshine. I've heard the expression "drink like a fish", but this was clearly not the case for him.

Returning to the hostel at approximately 6:30 p.m., Aquaman Naru assumes responsibility for the night. Naru, who is barely able to make sense of the tree's multicoloured leaves, pretends to be very serious while balancing a rabbit's tear on a nanothread—I know it sounds funny, but I'm sure it wasn't as funny for him, and what followed was certainly not funny either. Once some time has passed, Naru feels the need to go to the toilet; the deed done, he makes his way to the ablution area, only to look in the mirror and see something strange. Now, as mentioned earlier, Naru has an unwavering faith in the supernatural. This belief came into play when he locked eyes with a silhouette moving in an eerie, terrifying manner. The combination of old wives' tales, the sacred setting, and his copious amounts of arrack playing games with his senses caused him to let out a piercing cry. He sped towards the gate, crashing and swerving his way there. Toward the crowd of students returning from a night of celebration. The man collapses into their embrace, wailing “Bhooooota”!!!!

The boys, unaware of the cosmic game of chess that had been playing out, figured perhaps he, in his inebriated state, "saw" something and freaked out. But they were persuaded differently by the scraping noises and snapping twigs coming from the gully. The guys now convinced themselves that there is something or someone fishy, armed themselves and waited at the exit, convinced that it was a thief trying to flee from an unsuccessful heist and not a ghostly figure attempting to climb over a window. Hearing the approaching noises, the men venture into the pathway's mouth, where they are startled to see a crouched, hopping and waddling figure— somewhat like what a silhouette of a deflated Kermit would look like... The thief and the mob both come to a complete halt as they exchange glances... Following a minute of quiet, the figure proceeds... "WTF, Da, who was that person screaming? "What on earth are you all up to? Are you going to “pick some”? Eh?? What’s wrong, bro???? quips the shadowy figure….

Confused?

Let me just fill in those few blanks for you lost souls.

 You see…. Looking out into the vacant plot, our hero Shaggy had a revelation: “The seeds are dumped there; seeds sprout nah…. Which means 1+1 = sprouted plants!! Organic Maaaal!!! For FREE!!!!!!”, just like in the stories whispered among the hostel hallways… BC lottery lagi!!!

So, after he burnt through his medication in a series of small but controlled fires, he decided to hop the fence and go shopping for some farm-fresh buds. Not only did he arrive to see plants flourishing and blossoming, which was a "What the fuck?" moment, but seeing the buds and plants and some more buds and some more plants had him singing “BC!! Lottery lagi !!!!”, though a slight miscalculation …. Our desi Snoop forgot to bring along a bag or something to carry the buds out, but that didn’t deter him. From the annals of the infamous mind that thought up the sulekere plan, Shaggy decides to make use of the “101 uses of a lungi”; hence, an improvised hobo-type net out of his lungi was made. He waddled around the pathway to keep the buds contained in the lungi net, holding the long ends high in his hands while having the short end wrapped around him.

Shaggy emerged from the shadows of the Ayurvedic Garden, his lungi bag bulging with “farm-fresh buds”, humming “Harivarasanam” like a monk who’d just discovered WiFi. The mob froze. Naru’s tears glistened under the hostel’s flickering tube light.

He turned to the mob, blissfully unaware of their cricket bats and jolada rotti sticks.

The mob squinted. The “Pick” smelt suspiciously like Snoop Dogg’s laundry basket.

Crowd now (whispering), “Bro… That’s not a ghost. That’s Shaggy in his… God knows what he is doing with his lungi.”

OP: (snorting) “Ghost my foot! He’s carrying enough weed to sedate the jaathre folk!”

Shaggy waddled past the still reeling crowd and the bawling Naru, buds spilling like confetti, and called over his shoulder, misreading their stunned silence as spiritual awe and appreciation of his Indiana Jones-esque caper, and nodded solemnly. “Yenna, maccha?? Tension, yaake? Ba…. Swalpa detox maadona!”

The mob dissolved into giggles. Naru, now sobering up yet dazed and confused, quips, “Bootha nodillva anna neevu?”