But for double protection, especially on the bends, he asked Ramu to get walls built so that what lies behind them is totally hidden. “Remember the way it was done when the casino king cum powerful world leader visited one of our cities before the Corona – slums were covered along the route to hide them from the VVIP. Do it just like that,” said Chinta.
Chinta, however, was impressed by the efforts Ramu was making and he praised him, “Ramu you deserve to be garlanded for wanting to ensure that important dignitaries have a pleasant experience while protecting the nation. We had a Father of the Nation and now we have a Saviour of the Nation.”
Saviour Ramu then asked a touristy question: “Would the dignitaries like to visit the very attractive Maa-Laa area and its main attraction, the Maa-Laa Reptile Museum, with its vast variety of snakes? The museum is on the banks of the pristine and beautiful sewage river with fish of different kinds, some that swim and some that float. Here dignitaries won’t need a fishing net, whatever floats can be easily caught.”
Chintamani almost spilled his coffee and said, “Oh shxxt Ramu, they may go there if you want to remind them of Dharavi, the slum that became world famous due to the movie Slumdog Millionaire. But no Ramu, on a serious note, let us not spoil the reputation of our nation. Let our prestige not be a casualty and drown in the sewage.”
“Try not to get them here, it’s not a good idea,” insisted the very wise Chintamani and then added a word of caution. “By the way, if they do get to know about our garbage-dug roads and sewerage, please tell them to swear to not tell anyone, not even their wives, in the same way, our MLAs swore before God, never to defect to other parties,” the wise Chinta advised.
But Ramu was not one to easily run out of questions and “fired” the next one. “Chinta, do you think the dignitaries will get to know of the ‘firings’ in parts of Goa?” “What firings,” asked Chinta with a quizzical look on his face. “Our forests and hills are burning, to the North and now the extreme south, ravaging our greenery”… “Stop stop,” said Chinta, “please keep the VVIPs out the this ‘firing’ range completely, we cannot allow our reputation to burn.”
“Talking of reputation Ramu,” Chintamani said with a glint in his eye and a half smile, “please advise the DGP to advise policemen to take off for a couple of days – in any case, they don’t seem to register genuine cases.” “Why Chintamani?” asked Ramu, confused. “Arre Ramu, these fellows may stop a car of a dignitary and ask them to pay an unknown fine for some imaginary traffic violation through Google Pay on someone else’s number. Very innovative our cops are,” quipped Chintamani.
Both then fell quiet. Chintamani started reading the papers while Ramu kept thinking about how he could successfully be a tourist guide on one hand and the protector of his city’s reputation on the other. Ramu had to go to battle to save the sewage city, with masks, blinkers, and his very important weapons.
Chintamani said, “Ramu your garland is ready.”
