The Shrill
Audipudi Venkata Rohit
This Structure. This old spiral stairwell bears unusually
high steps. Nobody knows how long ago the stairwell was built. It served
everybody to get to the top level and back down. Legend has it that this stairwell
dooms all those who walked it, that it makes them bleed towards a very tragic
end. Let me tell you how the stairwell looks. It had gargoyles on the smooth
round newel caps and an elaborate gothic design reminiscent of medieval and
feudal times. Neither was its cosmetic appeal nor its structural health a concern
to anybody. It is made of cast iron. Its abnormally prolonged existence is
apparent in the dark red corners of its rusty posts. I had no special thoughts
towards the stairwell. I liked its historical nature, the symmetry, but something
about it made me uncomfortable. Something about it made my stomach cringe. Oh
yes! I think it's the shrill. Listen to this shrill. The high-pitched sound
that it makes, this intolerable squeak, that follows your every step as you
embark on it. Actually, I can hear the shrill even when there's a slightly heavy
breeze because of some loosened nuts and bolts. Those who use it on a day-to-day basis consider it to be ambient noise. But to me, this grotesque sound sticks
to my ears, like a fungus, like an incurable skin condition that gives you an
unbearable itch until you either die, or you peel your skin off with a razor ignoring
the pain and gore it may cause. I used the stairwell many times in my line of
work until one day, I could bear the scathing itch no longer which was when I finally
decided, to destroy it. You may think
I'm experiencing a psychotic episode but am I? I couldn't be and I'll be elaborating
the exact reason for it.
I was on my way up one day, after waiting down in the lobby to be called for my appointment for more than a couple of hours. While I waited, I tried to ignore the shrill caused by the structure's own weight and the rickety building that interrupted the ever-present silence in the lobby. I heard a bell ring from the top-level indicating that I may come up into the office in the upper deck. I started walking up trying not to rattle the stairwell too much. My polished formal shoes with their hard heels quavered the metal structure on each step, as I embarked upstairs anxiously. The stairwell revolted my tread by moaning and shrilling that I hated to hear. The hollow and dimly lit corridor at the end of the stairwell echoed hauntingly as I reached the top and into the office at the end of the corridor, feeling a little relieved, yet warmed up.
I took a deep breath, knocked twice on the door, and pulled the knob towards me to open it. It was unattended, yet a surprisingly well-kept office front, in pure contrast to the entryway and the lobby below. I was surveying the area, as a tall young woman in a white long skirt and a pink shirt walked briskly out of her chamber into the hallway.
"Good morning, you must be Zach, I'm Kelly. Welcome to Syndica Business Consulting", said the woman with her right hand extended. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Pleasure's all mine.", I said as I shook Kelly's hand, charmed by her demeanor.
"Hope your ride was pleasant.", Kelly inquired. "Those narrow streets and this old building must have thrown you off a bit."
"A little. I've not been to this part of town before.", I said. "How long ago did you establish this company ?", I asked curiously.
"To be honest my grandfather started Indica Investments, the largest of its kind in the country, a long time ago in the pre-independence era", Kelly said. " My father then took over from him, created Syndica as a subsidiary and I took over the organization last year from my father when he retired. Next year, being 1986 would mark 50 years since its conception".
I smiled in acknowledgment. It is next to impossible to be this successful in business in this country. Yet, this family has made it remarkably.
"Let's have a seat and chat.", said Kelly pointing her left hand towards the burgundy leather sofa on her right.
We sat down at each end of the couch, turning towards one another, with the empty middle seat distancing us. I started to speak, "Thank you so much for having me here. I have..".
"Of course, but first of all", Kelly interjected, "Why did you find us? My associate speaks highly of you and asked us to accommodate 20 minutes today for your pitch."
"I was searching for an Investment firm to open my new company", I said. "and I found yours with quite an amazing profile and your associate, a great friend of mine made it happen. I've read some of your articles published in Business Week and they are great."
"Thanks, and direct some of your praise to my ghostwriters too." she laughed. "Like our reputation and history suggests we can help you with everything from start to finish, whereas without us you may have a hard time doing anything at all yourself."
"Yes, I realize that.", I said.
"Brand and reputation are just a minuscule portion of a business", she said. "Much of the business happens offline, with connections, that we have across the board, networks that we forged along half a century that help us keep what we have and get what we want very quickly."
"I understand.", I said as I attempted to reframe my unstated first sentence that was interrupted earlier.
"Are you looking to open a business in this city?", inquired Kelly.
"Yes", I said, " I'm planning to have it in the outskirts, by renting out some property and.."
"Who are your competitors?", she interjected again.
"I have no competitors", I answered. " My idea is that.."
"You will have competitors no matter what!", she interjected yet again. "If you don't, you compete with the system."
"My idea", I answered, "has never materialized in this country before.", I continued. "Canada is starting to build on Aquaponic farming units lately and are reaping great results. If we can start doing this, it will tremendously benefit our country's drought-ridden regions."
"We do business to BENEFIT ourselves!", she exclaimed. "What is Aquaponics?", she asked.
"Aquaponics is a concept where you don't need soil to raise your crops. All you need is water and fish. The plants grow in trays of shallow water, the water circulates to fish tanks. The fish produce chemicals that the plants use and help rid the water of toxins, and the fish live. All we need to do is feed the fish, and maintain that balance. I studied the Canadian model for a year and I know the science and I have the blueprint." , I said.
"Whatever may be the business.", Kelly reacted. "What we need to do is, to build this from scratch. We can partner with you on this, and accelerate it to run full speed fast given the history and the power that our company wields across the country."
"What's the deal?", I inquired.
"We need to get a license to start a business which is very difficult unless we do it through a set of known contacts who can do that for us for a price.", she replied.
"Go on.", I replied and listened.
"We need to buy a bunch of construction permits for the infrastructure. Common folk would find it almost impossible to accomplish this in even more than a couple of years. We can do it in less than a month. "
"Please continue", I replied containing my emotion.
"We need to get electrical and water permits for our business and there are a number of procedures that are extremely daunting for others and we can do it in a month.", she said.
I listened and bit my tongue.
"We need to register the property and that obviously would take a lot of payments, and some more, and you know what I'm talking about.", she insisted.
I kept listening.
"We need to obtain credit and it's really tough unless you can show heavy collateral. We can do it in no time.", she added.
I said nothing and continued listening and at that point, something out of place, something buzzing made my mind quiver.
"We need to make sure the contracts we make are tightly bound and we need to enforce them. Most of the money in businesses across the country gets stuck in credit except on balance sheets, and unless we are in it, we would not be able to reap anything in reality.", she said.
I knew in an instant what she meant because, for over a year, I was attempting to obtain permits from the government and various organizations but in vain because of lack of quid pro quo connections and the heavy cost of under-the-table transactions. I indicated that I'm listening by saying nothing.
"We need to pay taxes and given the network of chartered accountants and attorneys we have, and the knowledge of intricate chess moves we need to play, we can lower them to nothing, without which, we potentially lose all our profits. We have the ways. Only we have the ways!", she made clear.
"We pay our 'dues' that are beyond all the above, just to protect our status quo and this will never be on paper.", she whispered. "We can do it without these payments because they need us just as we need them"
I continued processing the conversation but the buzz I heard in my mind grew in intensity. It was now agitating me.
"We need to protect your newfound company from insolvency, and we will not even be in such a situation when you work with us.", she promised. "Your money steadily flows to you when you want it.", she said.
"There are steps and these are the steps. There are many more steps that we need to climb in order to get your business running. And when you agree to work with us we can quickly get to them.", she claimed.
"Where do we start? ", I asked and I couldn't be more articulate as the buzz now took control of the frontal lobes in my brain, and I can feel it.
"Ah, now comes the tough part. There is an easy step and a hard step. ", she revealed.
"The hard step is, to do what I mentioned, while you pay us the initial costs and we make a team get to work, then you pay us processing fees, and you pay us a share for partnering. But this would make you find profits, not in the near term, but in a very long term. ", she continued. " According to our plan, it will be 500,000 to start with.
"Oh, What's the easy step?", I asked now visibly shaking trying to mitigate the buzz and its escalated harassment.
"The easy step..", she sighed and looked at me in the eye, "is to give us your idea for a 3% Royalty. "
"But I want in on this, and why does even giving up my idea come into the picture?", I protested, with no articulation at all, as I fought the Terribly maddening sound.
"Look my dear.", she condescended. "We have the ways. You can never do it on your own in this country unless you partner with us. Your idea is just an idea on that piece of paper you are holding unless you are with us. And we say, be with us by giving us that paper. We give you the rewards you will be grateful to take. "
My body now felt red hot as it dawned on me, that the buzz in fact, is the shrill of that ghastly godforsaken stairwell! This is not the first time I heard these words. I can see that she realized the potential of the idea and my weaknesses thereof, in implementing it in a minefield of bureaucratic pitfalls, on my own. And I do not have a choice but to sell it. I realize that my lack of useful networks and a fat wallet in this License Raj is costing me the materialization of my idea, and I see that big companies like Scindica who have been throwing loose change to go about their way, playing a game of chess with rotten pawns from the dawn of democracy in this land, have carved out certain ways that will never let someone like me take walk to a seat beside them. Haha. I was angry. Angry that this kind of system will never let the common folk walk the main street of life liberty and pursuit of happiness. Therefore, I took my unopened blueprint from the coffee table in front, and said "Thank you for having me", walked back out of the door, through the hollow corridor, and down the sinister stairwell. As I disembarked, my hands grew hot and my eyes red. And as I almost reached the ground floor, fatigue took over and I slipped and fell down with a loud thud. My forehead opened a thin red line that gushed out a wineglass of red hot blood. True to the legend of this dreaded stairwell, it ensured to make me bleed indeed. And I know it will continue to make me bleed.
I stood up, pushing myself up off the floor, wiped my forehead and my eyes that soaked in blood to clear the blur in my sight, walked towards the back of the stairwell, scrounged the clutter of possible antiques, tools, and unusable furniture, picked up a large sledgehammer that lay there for generations. I squeezed the handle of the sledgehammer as tightly as I could, raised it with all my might, and slammed it into the midsection of the metal pole, the backbone that held the stairwell in place. The obnoxiously repulsive stairwell rang like a gong. The sound thundered through my brain as a torturous shrill. I kept hitting it and it kept shrilling and screeching like a devil but the stairwell didn't fall down. I kept knocking it, mustering as much power as my body could render. The stairwell vibrated like a tuning fork but never showed signs of falling down. The empty lobby echoed the stairwell's devilish cries and I still kept hammering it in a rage. The hallway resonated with the bangs like the insides of a giant clock in a clock tower. In the end, I thought, it should either be the stairwell, or myself standing. Suddenly, there was a sound, this sound that I had never heard before; a loud jangle. I thundered enough blows to the stairwell that the heavy metal backbone of the stairwell cracked in a jangle that could swallow the shrills. The jangle swallowed the shrills. There were no more shrills, just a silence, silence like that you can hear in a dark forest or a graveyard. I stood there for 2 minutes. Contrary to what I aimed for, the stairwell still, stood tall.
I left the place. And soon, the country.
I have established my business in Canada after a year and this business is thriving today after more than 30 years of delivering the greatest quality products in such climatic conditions utilizing unparalleled technology. There are no such stairwells that shrill like that over here in this part of the world. And Haha. I Learnt that the dreaded shrilling stairwell back home completely collapsed after 4 years of the incident in the year 1990.
I was on my way up one day, after waiting down in the lobby to be called for my appointment for more than a couple of hours. While I waited, I tried to ignore the shrill caused by the structure's own weight and the rickety building that interrupted the ever-present silence in the lobby. I heard a bell ring from the top-level indicating that I may come up into the office in the upper deck. I started walking up trying not to rattle the stairwell too much. My polished formal shoes with their hard heels quavered the metal structure on each step, as I embarked upstairs anxiously. The stairwell revolted my tread by moaning and shrilling that I hated to hear. The hollow and dimly lit corridor at the end of the stairwell echoed hauntingly as I reached the top and into the office at the end of the corridor, feeling a little relieved, yet warmed up.
I took a deep breath, knocked twice on the door, and pulled the knob towards me to open it. It was unattended, yet a surprisingly well-kept office front, in pure contrast to the entryway and the lobby below. I was surveying the area, as a tall young woman in a white long skirt and a pink shirt walked briskly out of her chamber into the hallway.
"Good morning, you must be Zach, I'm Kelly. Welcome to Syndica Business Consulting", said the woman with her right hand extended. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Pleasure's all mine.", I said as I shook Kelly's hand, charmed by her demeanor.
"Hope your ride was pleasant.", Kelly inquired. "Those narrow streets and this old building must have thrown you off a bit."
"A little. I've not been to this part of town before.", I said. "How long ago did you establish this company ?", I asked curiously.
"To be honest my grandfather started Indica Investments, the largest of its kind in the country, a long time ago in the pre-independence era", Kelly said. " My father then took over from him, created Syndica as a subsidiary and I took over the organization last year from my father when he retired. Next year, being 1986 would mark 50 years since its conception".
I smiled in acknowledgment. It is next to impossible to be this successful in business in this country. Yet, this family has made it remarkably.
"Let's have a seat and chat.", said Kelly pointing her left hand towards the burgundy leather sofa on her right.
We sat down at each end of the couch, turning towards one another, with the empty middle seat distancing us. I started to speak, "Thank you so much for having me here. I have..".
"Of course, but first of all", Kelly interjected, "Why did you find us? My associate speaks highly of you and asked us to accommodate 20 minutes today for your pitch."
"I was searching for an Investment firm to open my new company", I said. "and I found yours with quite an amazing profile and your associate, a great friend of mine made it happen. I've read some of your articles published in Business Week and they are great."
"Thanks, and direct some of your praise to my ghostwriters too." she laughed. "Like our reputation and history suggests we can help you with everything from start to finish, whereas without us you may have a hard time doing anything at all yourself."
"Yes, I realize that.", I said.
"Brand and reputation are just a minuscule portion of a business", she said. "Much of the business happens offline, with connections, that we have across the board, networks that we forged along half a century that help us keep what we have and get what we want very quickly."
"I understand.", I said as I attempted to reframe my unstated first sentence that was interrupted earlier.
"Are you looking to open a business in this city?", inquired Kelly.
"Yes", I said, " I'm planning to have it in the outskirts, by renting out some property and.."
"Who are your competitors?", she interjected again.
"I have no competitors", I answered. " My idea is that.."
"You will have competitors no matter what!", she interjected yet again. "If you don't, you compete with the system."
"My idea", I answered, "has never materialized in this country before.", I continued. "Canada is starting to build on Aquaponic farming units lately and are reaping great results. If we can start doing this, it will tremendously benefit our country's drought-ridden regions."
"We do business to BENEFIT ourselves!", she exclaimed. "What is Aquaponics?", she asked.
"Aquaponics is a concept where you don't need soil to raise your crops. All you need is water and fish. The plants grow in trays of shallow water, the water circulates to fish tanks. The fish produce chemicals that the plants use and help rid the water of toxins, and the fish live. All we need to do is feed the fish, and maintain that balance. I studied the Canadian model for a year and I know the science and I have the blueprint." , I said.
"Whatever may be the business.", Kelly reacted. "What we need to do is, to build this from scratch. We can partner with you on this, and accelerate it to run full speed fast given the history and the power that our company wields across the country."
"What's the deal?", I inquired.
"We need to get a license to start a business which is very difficult unless we do it through a set of known contacts who can do that for us for a price.", she replied.
"Go on.", I replied and listened.
"We need to buy a bunch of construction permits for the infrastructure. Common folk would find it almost impossible to accomplish this in even more than a couple of years. We can do it in less than a month. "
"Please continue", I replied containing my emotion.
"We need to get electrical and water permits for our business and there are a number of procedures that are extremely daunting for others and we can do it in a month.", she said.
I listened and bit my tongue.
"We need to register the property and that obviously would take a lot of payments, and some more, and you know what I'm talking about.", she insisted.
I kept listening.
"We need to obtain credit and it's really tough unless you can show heavy collateral. We can do it in no time.", she added.
I said nothing and continued listening and at that point, something out of place, something buzzing made my mind quiver.
"We need to make sure the contracts we make are tightly bound and we need to enforce them. Most of the money in businesses across the country gets stuck in credit except on balance sheets, and unless we are in it, we would not be able to reap anything in reality.", she said.
I knew in an instant what she meant because, for over a year, I was attempting to obtain permits from the government and various organizations but in vain because of lack of quid pro quo connections and the heavy cost of under-the-table transactions. I indicated that I'm listening by saying nothing.
"We need to pay taxes and given the network of chartered accountants and attorneys we have, and the knowledge of intricate chess moves we need to play, we can lower them to nothing, without which, we potentially lose all our profits. We have the ways. Only we have the ways!", she made clear.
"We pay our 'dues' that are beyond all the above, just to protect our status quo and this will never be on paper.", she whispered. "We can do it without these payments because they need us just as we need them"
I continued processing the conversation but the buzz I heard in my mind grew in intensity. It was now agitating me.
"We need to protect your newfound company from insolvency, and we will not even be in such a situation when you work with us.", she promised. "Your money steadily flows to you when you want it.", she said.
"There are steps and these are the steps. There are many more steps that we need to climb in order to get your business running. And when you agree to work with us we can quickly get to them.", she claimed.
"Where do we start? ", I asked and I couldn't be more articulate as the buzz now took control of the frontal lobes in my brain, and I can feel it.
"Ah, now comes the tough part. There is an easy step and a hard step. ", she revealed.
"The hard step is, to do what I mentioned, while you pay us the initial costs and we make a team get to work, then you pay us processing fees, and you pay us a share for partnering. But this would make you find profits, not in the near term, but in a very long term. ", she continued. " According to our plan, it will be 500,000 to start with.
"Oh, What's the easy step?", I asked now visibly shaking trying to mitigate the buzz and its escalated harassment.
"The easy step..", she sighed and looked at me in the eye, "is to give us your idea for a 3% Royalty. "
"But I want in on this, and why does even giving up my idea come into the picture?", I protested, with no articulation at all, as I fought the Terribly maddening sound.
"Look my dear.", she condescended. "We have the ways. You can never do it on your own in this country unless you partner with us. Your idea is just an idea on that piece of paper you are holding unless you are with us. And we say, be with us by giving us that paper. We give you the rewards you will be grateful to take. "
My body now felt red hot as it dawned on me, that the buzz in fact, is the shrill of that ghastly godforsaken stairwell! This is not the first time I heard these words. I can see that she realized the potential of the idea and my weaknesses thereof, in implementing it in a minefield of bureaucratic pitfalls, on my own. And I do not have a choice but to sell it. I realize that my lack of useful networks and a fat wallet in this License Raj is costing me the materialization of my idea, and I see that big companies like Scindica who have been throwing loose change to go about their way, playing a game of chess with rotten pawns from the dawn of democracy in this land, have carved out certain ways that will never let someone like me take walk to a seat beside them. Haha. I was angry. Angry that this kind of system will never let the common folk walk the main street of life liberty and pursuit of happiness. Therefore, I took my unopened blueprint from the coffee table in front, and said "Thank you for having me", walked back out of the door, through the hollow corridor, and down the sinister stairwell. As I disembarked, my hands grew hot and my eyes red. And as I almost reached the ground floor, fatigue took over and I slipped and fell down with a loud thud. My forehead opened a thin red line that gushed out a wineglass of red hot blood. True to the legend of this dreaded stairwell, it ensured to make me bleed indeed. And I know it will continue to make me bleed.
I stood up, pushing myself up off the floor, wiped my forehead and my eyes that soaked in blood to clear the blur in my sight, walked towards the back of the stairwell, scrounged the clutter of possible antiques, tools, and unusable furniture, picked up a large sledgehammer that lay there for generations. I squeezed the handle of the sledgehammer as tightly as I could, raised it with all my might, and slammed it into the midsection of the metal pole, the backbone that held the stairwell in place. The obnoxiously repulsive stairwell rang like a gong. The sound thundered through my brain as a torturous shrill. I kept hitting it and it kept shrilling and screeching like a devil but the stairwell didn't fall down. I kept knocking it, mustering as much power as my body could render. The stairwell vibrated like a tuning fork but never showed signs of falling down. The empty lobby echoed the stairwell's devilish cries and I still kept hammering it in a rage. The hallway resonated with the bangs like the insides of a giant clock in a clock tower. In the end, I thought, it should either be the stairwell, or myself standing. Suddenly, there was a sound, this sound that I had never heard before; a loud jangle. I thundered enough blows to the stairwell that the heavy metal backbone of the stairwell cracked in a jangle that could swallow the shrills. The jangle swallowed the shrills. There were no more shrills, just a silence, silence like that you can hear in a dark forest or a graveyard. I stood there for 2 minutes. Contrary to what I aimed for, the stairwell still, stood tall.
I left the place. And soon, the country.
I have established my business in Canada after a year and this business is thriving today after more than 30 years of delivering the greatest quality products in such climatic conditions utilizing unparalleled technology. There are no such stairwells that shrill like that over here in this part of the world. And Haha. I Learnt that the dreaded shrilling stairwell back home completely collapsed after 4 years of the incident in the year 1990.
The end.
