[digital drifter]

There is nothing quite like faking attendance in School and running off to watch a movie.  A hot
summer day and you have a 2 hour session of calculus in the afternoon. That or the latest
Rajnikanth movie.

Life in those days were uncomplicated.  So Kitchu and myself decide to scoot.  After arranging for
attendance cover, we swagger out for lunch and don't return.  Walk the kilometre along New jail road
to Madhu theatre.

We're early but there's a big scrum there.  We join in line, sweaty and thirsty.  Soon we make friends with
other chaps in front of us.  Between us,we have Rs 10, 5 each for a ticket.  Rumours swirl, the ticket gate is
open, no it's not. Yes it is.  We get crushed, pushed and pulled; we too do our bit of shoving.  Everyone screams
"long live superstar", a few whistle, catcalls are made at the ladies line.  Someone yells

"open the frigging gate, NOW"

Then there is loud swearing

"Retards, the ticket gate opens in 1 hour" by a man in a khaki uniform.  

Drat.

Sullen silence.  Someone whooops but the prospect of another hour in the hot sun dampens things. So we
wait in the hot sun. The line slackens a bit, a few drift off to buy lemon juice and coconut water;we
don't, no money apart from ticket fare.  Shifting uncomfortably from leg to leg, we watch idly.  
Near the ticket counter, under the awning,a man unfolds a towel and places a tin box on it.  
Opens it to take a plastic pack of cards. Shuffles it and deals3 cards.

"Vai(keep in Tamil) Raja Vai, Rs 5 will get you 10; a 10 20, a 100 200"

he shouts

"Guess the Ace and double your money"

He deals and flips the cards smoothly.  There is something soothing about the way he does it; hands gliding
over each other tossing the card, the trrrrppppp sound of the flexed cards, the easy casualness of flicking
the cards open.

Soon, a chap sidles by and squats next to him and throws down Rs 10.  He deals, first showing the 3 cards
and then shuffling it with his hands and dropping them face down.

"left one is the ace" I tell Kitchu under bated breath; Correct, without turning his head,says he.

The man touches the middle one and the card player flips all 3 cards.

Left one is the Ace.

I grin and look at Kichu who is transfixed.

Another guy walks upto the player and plops 5. He deals and we both guess middle. Man touches the middle one
and Ace it is.  He collects Rs 10 as a bunch of coins, a little pile of coins.  Both of us are orgasmic. fcuking
cool, this is easy pesy.

Another guy, again we guess correctly, both of us are now 10 feet tall.  Man, I tell you, there is nothing like
2 arrogant high school kids who get 3 guesses correct from afar.

I mean, how difficult is this, huh?  2 schmucks lost and 1 guy doubled; we could double our money in a snap.
We look at each other, we both see rupee notes in our eyes; wordlessly we step out of the line and go in for
the kill.

But we are cautious.  Let's try with a 5 first, I say.  Kitchu nods without saying anything,still watching the man's hands.

We squat close to the man and drop the sweaty crumpled Rs 5 note.  Oh my precious, precious Rs 5.  he deals and we
watch the cards like hawks as he deals and moves them about. I hesitate and point to the left one and look at Kitchu;
he nods silently.  The man flips it and

it's King of Diamonds!

STUNNED!

but....but how could it be? Desperation sets in; one of us cannot watch the movie; Kitchu gallantly says "we need
to get our capital back. we'll do this again"

Grateful, I smoothen the Rs 5 note and slowly drop the note on the towel.  The man does not make eye contact with us
but looks past going on in his sing song way "vai Raja vai"

We shift uneasily and suddenly realise the entire ticket line is watching us.  I tell Kitchu this, we both realise
that we are in our school uniforms still and we stand out like a sore thumb. Self conscious, acutely conscious of
our surrounding; we both wish we were anywhere but here.  But we need our money back.

The man deals again; everything seems a blur,  i hesitatingly say left, kitchu says in a low but firm voice
middle.  Wordlessly, the man flips the middle.  King of Diamonds again.

We are both rocked on our heels.  Heads down, satchels lifted a little higher to cover our faces (from the sun,
of course), we walk a long way past the infinite ticket queue.

"Buddy, not coming for the movie?"  someone heckles and the line convulses with laughter.  we walk faster.

On the road, we split wordlessly to our respective homes.

Later, I learnt that was 3 card monte and we were classics marks.

http://en.wikipedia....hree-card_Monte

Years later, after getting a job, talking to my Dad about this, he said "Stop, let me tell you how it ended"  and
he walked me through the high and eventual sucker bait.  He still chortles when he plays cards and
sees me go past.

Retards, we were.