A brush with crime is something I have faced a few times in my life and those instances were all very luring, almost getting me into a vindictive trap. But wisdom prevailed in me to exit the stage at the right junctures. Mario Puzo’s novel ‘The Godfather’ released in March 1969 and broke all records in publishing history with more than 21 million copies sold worldwide in the first 67 weeks. I read the original edition of the novel in 1971 and was totally blown away with the characters, especially with Don Corleone and his sons Antonio and Micheal. The character of Don Corleone gets totally into the reader’s veins and many would have fantasised to be in the demeanour of the Don, for a second at least.
In the year 1981, we conducted cricket tournaments at Vijayawada in remembrance of a friend, for which the local teams from all the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh were invited to participate. I took the lead and pooled substantial funds to meet the expenses of which half the amount was spent on the large silver cup with engravings. With my contacts in the film industry, we screened a Mithun Chakraborty film, ‘Tarana’, as a premier show for which we received donations generously from all our friends and relations. Many of our friends participated in preparing banners, in organising the facilities for the visiting teams, in coordinating with the President and Secretary of the District Cricket Association, etc. We invited the Superintendent of Police, the top-ranking police official at that time to inaugurate the tournament. The cricket tournament was a grand success in all aspects but for one incident.
Every day, during the matches, many youngsters, both male and female, came to witness the colourful event, so we put up additional tents with chairs for the spectators. One day, during the tournaments, I was informed that a group of unruly boys were eve-teasing girls who came to witness the match, by blowing cigarette smoke towards them and making some awkward sounds. It angered me a lot but I didn’t want any altercation in front of the crowds, so my friend Feroze and I approached the annoying spectators and requested them to follow us to the dressing room and the questioning resulted in thrashing the offenders.
The next day, I came to know that the boys whom we beat up belonged to the Vangaveeti Ranga group, which was one of the two most powerful groups in Vijayawada, and that they had planned to corner me one of those days. One of our friends, having all sorts of links, introduced me to a person named Alfred who was earlier convicted of murder and later released on good behaviour after serving for almost five years. My friends were concerned that no harm should come to me but I didn’t care. We invited P Venkateswara Rao, the first Mayor of Vijayawada, for the presentation ceremony conducted in a grand manner at the Dandamudi Rajagopal Rao Indoor Stadium. Soon after the presentation ceremony was over, my friends closed in and announced that this was the day and suggested that they would drop me off at my home.
It was almost 1:30 am when we left for my house and I noted that Alfred was also asked to join us in the car. I sat in the front by the window. As we were approaching my house, we observed about five to six youngsters at the corner of the street where we were about to turn and the person whom we beat up, approached me. He observed that we were about six in the car. “What’s the matter?” I asked him. He paused and hesitatingly said, “Nanaji has asked you to meet him.” Saying so, he slowly retreated from our car. I said “Ok.” Nanaji was one who conducted kangaroo courts on behalf of Ranga in the area where my family lived. As we proceeded, my friends sighed that it was over. I did not agree, “It’s not over yet,” I said, “we cannot prolong this, waiting for it to happen one day or the other.” Ranga knew my family very well, after all Vijayawada was a small town. Hence, through my sources, I sent a word to Ranga himself requesting that I would like to meet him.
I got an appointment at his residence two days later and I observed that the guy whom we beat up was also present, standing a few feet away from where we were seated. He smiled and I introduced myself. I started with the objective of the cricket tournament and the efforts many of our friends belonging to different castes and religions have taken together to make it a success, and then I concluded "whatever I had done could have been in a haste, but I believe that it was the right thing to do at that point of time" and I continued, “Alternatively, I could have taken up the matter with the Superintendent of Police who inaugurated the tournament or else with the Mayor who was to give away the awards, but I did not do so, for the sole reason was these boys would be eventually taking your name for their protection.” I paused and said, “I hope you agree with me, Sir.” Ranga looked at the kid who was now nervous in fear that his leader would slap him in front of us; there were no words. Ranga turned at me and smiled again, “You did the right thing and let’s leave it here, but I don’t understand why you had Alfred with you.” I spontaneously replied to him, “It's one of those blunders any person does to protect himself, but I am not making such choices in the future.” He nodded in understanding and I got up and thanked him for the meeting and left. Beating up another person or getting into an altercation leads to associating with delinquent people and it's hard to wriggle out later.
The second instance was when my export business was going down day by day since the year 2005 at which time I could not repay my suppliers in time. Even though I tried paying them in parts, I could not keep my commitments. It was then a powerful supplier of raw leather who one day arrived with his goons threatening to stop the factory unless his payment was made on that day itself. I had to seek the help of the local muscleman who belonged to the ruling political party at that time. I was rescued for the day, but I had to pay a monthly purse for protection subsequently. It was only after a few months I realised it was of no use. Before things got worse, I decided to close down the industry itself, and approach the Bank for a One Time Settlement. I understood that that I was already paying the price for the business disaster which in fact was natural and not an unpardonable sin, but I could now become unpopular for reasons I can never defend. In both the instances I stepped out of the stage at the right time realising that those practices were not supporting my objective nor giving me any permanent solutions. I remember the lines of the famous novelist John Grisham in his book The Rainmaker, “Don’t compromise yourself - you are all you have.”
It is only in the playwrights and screenplays where an interest in the reader is created, for crime is fantasised — where the writer justifies that despite the crime he had committed the antagonist is an upright person. The ruse of many grey characters is that society or circumstances denied the life he believed in and hence, he had no choice other than to break the law. The fictional novels and films depict grey characters larger than life as if they have a bundle of virtues, but it cannot be so. Since time immemorial, society was designed with a system where law and order and justice are the two arms to protect the innocent and aggrieved from criminal atrocities.
Sophocles, a great Greek writer said that, “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.” How true it is? I did realise that the urge to confront the wrongs of others is within every human being, but we feel helpless sometimes when the person who has the power does not come to our rescue, at which juncture the person breaks the law and resorts to crime as a ‘choice’ — but it is not the ultimate solution. There are many others.
Once we resolve to associate with criminals or criminal activity, we get deep into the quagmire and cannot free ourselves. There are grey shades in every walk of life, with an opportunity to retain virtue and live a principled life in every profession, but it is not possible to emerge as Don Corleone and live a peaceful life at the same time. There is nothing like a ‘virtuous criminal’ as they are all fictitiously glorified by canvassing that all their acts were for the good of society. I am glad that I made a choice to fight the wrongs committed in the banking sector and vulcanise my urge to take on something with a similar rage but in a different battlefield called ‘the courtroom’ that the system has provided — the battlefield even though there the finality might take time with twists and turns, but is definitely straight.
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