Quadraouters

Genre: Adventure and love (between close friends)

Theme: The result of over-belief is always bitter.

Characters:

1. Maydee Sohl (21yrs) – Maydee is from Cardiff, United Kingdom. She is a static and sympathetic character in this story. She is a static character because she is same from start to end and always helps all her friends.
2. James Drake (24yrs) – Drake is from Chicago, the United States. He is a dynamic character. He changes from bad to good. He is rude in the starting of the story but later learns the value of being polite. Drake is the captain of an adventure team in the story called the 'Quadraoutings'. He dies in the end due to a leopard attack.
3. Channu Midia (22yrs) – Channu is a resident of Mumbai, India. Channu is also a static character because he is good all through the story. He is the second person to be attacked by the same leopard during the expedition. He is not killed but is injured badly.
4. Tsan Luo (21yrs) – Tsan is from Guangzhou, China. He is a static character; he is always good and tries to use his strength in a good way. Tsan is the bravest and strongest in the four outers. He is the future captain after Drake. He is the one who kills the leopard to avoid further attacks.

Setting:

This story is based in Mumbai in India. Mumbai is a city expanded into the forest. Leopards have not left their homes. This story is based on the killings of many people in Leopard attacks. It is set in present time in 2012. The part of the city where the story is set is a scenic area from where we can see mountains, rivers and remains of the forest.

The "Quadraouters"

On a bright sunny day in Mumbai, Channu gets up early to catch his train for his office. He lived in the outskirts of the city towards the edge of the Mumbai forest. The river Dahisar was in direct view from the River-view apartments. He often sat by the river through his sorrow times – the river was his pastime friend. He was so surprised that morning to see three apartments being vacated. He had a talk with each of the owners because he knew them really well. All the three families are related. They were going to go to Germany because the head of the family was transferred from the Mumbai Volkswagen branch to the Frankfurt branch. He asks them who was going to come. Being from business side you can understand who were coming – it was three foreigners; an American, an English and a Chinese.

Channu was so unhappy to find out that it was them to come. He went off for his office in disgust. He didn't want any foreigners living next door. Three days passed by – he had no one to talk to, his favourite neighbours were gone. Now, Channu was really unhappy. He goes to his pastime friend – the river! He sits there for the evening. Two more days pass by very quickly. Two foreigners arrive in a short gap – they were the English woman Maydee and the American man Drake. Channu tries interacting with them and the three become good friends overnight. The next morning, one more arrives – it was the Chinese this time. He being an enthusiastic lad without hesitating starts interacting with them and he too becomes a good friend.

Maydee was a good cook and she worked in Pizza Hut. Drake was a software engineer and he worked in Intel Corporation. Tsan lived as a Kung-Fu teacher and was really good in it. He taught teenagers. Soon, they knew each other well. They understood that they all loved adventure. They decide to make an adventure team. Should it be “Great four” “No, no, no, no! It will be MDTC” “Pooh! It will be Quadra...” “Outings!....Yes great! Quadraoutings!”. Till then the other three never knew that Drake was a proud man. He declares himself the captain of the team. After this incident onwards he was really rude proud of being the captain. He later browses on his “Intel powered laptop” on where they should go for their adventure. Unable to decide, feeling sad he goes to the window and there was the answer! - They were going to the Mumbai forests.

For three days they went up to a specific spot, which the four admired a lot. They used to sit there and watch the scenery of the river eating Maydee's home-made pizzas. Every day, they had to listen to Drake's proud tales. “Once in Siberia, I killed a tiger....” “Once in Africa, I went really close to an African elephant....” “Once in America, I shot down three birds in a minute....”. The three were fed up. They trekked between the trees, over the slippery stones and the sticky swamps. By the fourth day, they decided to go further. They went deeper and deeper into the forest. Sometimes, it would be the next day by the time they reached home. This went on for seven days. They saw many different flora and fauna and insects. By the time the week passed by, they could not resist themselves from going to the forest.

The eighth day was to be the same; that's what the four thought. None of the four could imagine what was going to happen that day. As usual, they went deeper than the previous day. They did not know what was waiting for them. They finally saw a leopardess. It was watching them with its beady brown eyes. The three except Drake are scared at the first instance and run away for that time. Drake who was over-confident tries fighting the leopardess which did not try to attack them. What would happen next; the two had a bloody fight. Drake trying to relieve himself from the clutches of the leopardess becomes unconscious. At that moment, the three come back in search of him. They scare away the leopardess by throwing three branches at it.

Drake was still lying unconscious severely injured. Thinking about the proud tales they would have to hear, they consider leaving him like that and go away. But then Maydee shows her kindness and compels the other two to save Drake. They take him to a nearby hospital. Drake regains his consciousness after two days but he very well knew that it was not for long. To die a good death he starts speaking to them in a very polite way which made impact on them. They were finally touched by how he spoke to them. Maydee starts serving Drake day-night. One day, Drake saying his last word “Quadraoutin...” succumbs to his injuries.

The three were really very sad. Their irritating but good friend passed away. Even after serving him day-night for three weeks they could not save him. But then what could they do – the things everyone do when someone is dead. They all mourned for four days. But they could not stop at that moment in their life because their friend was dead. They decided to go ahead with their life. But they had a small problem – they could not decide who would be the next captain or should they really keep this team still going. They decided to keep it going, but for that instance they left it to no one being their leader.

On the fifth day, being fit and fine, the three get out of their houses for the adventure once more – this time on their mountain bikes. They go till some depth until they realize that next would be the spot where Drake was attacked. They move ahead more cautiously but this time the leopardess wanted to attack; so it attacked in a different way. It hid on the branch of the tree and pounced on Channu when they reached there. They get into a bloody fight. But Tsan did not want to have any more deaths in their group. So gathering courage and also seeking revenge, he removes his knife from his sling bag and then pounces onto the leopardess like how the leopardess had pounced on Channu. He stabs the leopardess four times using his Kung-Fu techniques of defence and offence. The leopardess limps away bleeding. Channu was badly injured and was in Maydee's care. Tsan follows the limping leopardess to find out it was dead in the thick bushes.

They then take Channu to the same hospital. This time the doctors were even more determined to save Channu. But Channu was not like Drake, he kept hope that he was not going to die. In two weeks, Channu totally recovers from his injuries and is totally fit and fine. But, although the three friends knew that the forest was then safe for them, they decide to not go there anymore. They just go to their favourite spot for the last time and then decide never to go back. Three months passed by, after coming back from their work, they used to feel bored. They had a thirst for a new adventure but they did not know where they should head. They resign from their work and decide. They did not care about their career. The thought they had time later in their life for that. “Siberia!” “No, it should be the Amazon!” “Are you crazy? Wait wait....! Death Valley in America would be the best option!” “Yes!!”. After these brief arguments, they decide to go to the Death Valley. This they not only did for adventure but also in the memories of Drake......

Suhas

10 March 2013

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