Page 30 - You Only Live Once [BooksLD]

don’t dare to be themselves. I believe that death should come only when
I’ve exhausted my fuel.

I call up Ricky as I pack my stuff at the desk and move towards the cab.
He doesn’t even have a smartphone. Calling on the club’s landline number
is the only option.
‘Hello,’ Sheen, the club manager, responds from the other end.

‘Hello! Can you please call Uncle Ricky?’

Next, I hear Ricky’s ever-enthusiastic voice, ‘Hello, dude!’
‘Uncle, why the heck did you tell my boss about my gig?’

‘I want you to be honest to everyone. You need not hide your passion for
telling jokes. It’s a story that needs to be told out loud.’
‘I can help myself. Please don’t do this again. You have put my job in

jeopardy.’
‘That’s the idea. I want you to move to the club full-time. I will try my
best to keep doing that.’

‘I’m fortunate that Akshaye is unlike other IT team leads who suck the
blood out of their team members. He’s arranged for a meeting near the
station to help me reach Goa.’

‘By the way, you’ve got another surprise waiting for you.’
‘What’s that?’ I inquire.

He hangs up on me. Uncle Ricky has helped me in a lot of ways. I owe
him big time for being so supportive of my art. But he tends to act weird at
times. What scares me more is his love for alcohol. I want him to die a
happy and peaceful death, which he claims that he will, but I somehow
don’t find myself convinced of that.

Uncle Ricky never got married. At the peak of his youth, he was a
drummer at The Hippie Trail Cafe and has performed percussion with the
famous Elisha. Elisha is one of the finest singers Goa has ever had, but she
disappeared in the late 90s. Unfortunately, people discovered her music
days after she passed away.

What happened to her? Everyone has their own theory, but no one has an
answer. Ricky’s Beach Shack often plays her music. Her songs transform
you to fight for your dreams, stand up for who you are. She was definitely
ahead of her time and her songs will continue to inspire millions for ages to

come. That’s the thing about art. It never dies. I want to make people laugh.