Season 1 Episode 10 (The House of Heroes)

THE HOUSE OF HEROES

 Pingo moved around in the big hallway, taking snacks and drinks from waiters moving with trays laden with food. God knows how, but the members of the House of Heroes were extremely rich, and they didn’t spare any expense in organizing a new year’s party. Not that there were many to attend- only members of the HOH had access to the HeadQuarters situated at the middle of the Pacific. Supplies had to be flown in from Canada by HOH’s secret supplier. But even with the handful of people, Pingo was having the time of his life. Learning that his grandfather was alive and well back in Delhi was a huge weight off his shoulders. Apparently killing Pingo was supposed to be a suicide mission, so the air-hostess who member of D.H.O.K.L.A  blew up the plane to avoid getting arrested and to make sure there wasn’t any evidence of Pingo’s death. But luckily his grandfather had escaped in the nick of time on a parachute and rescued by HOH, which always had information about this mission. Grandfather was sent back to Delhi since he wasn’t really allowed inside the HOH HQ. Pingo took a roasted chicken leg and sat down next to Umbrellabot, who was really a young man of about thirty who had a magical umbrella he had invented. One can use it to fly, shield against bullets and also shoot bullets. He was the one who wore a black jumpsuit with Umbrella motifs.

“Hey Pingo”

“Hey U-bot,” Pingo replied, “You know, I never can get around learning everyone’s names. Can you run me through them again?”

“All right. The guy who turns in a human frog is called the Poison-Dart-Frog, or PDF in short. The boy who can influence minds is called Furro.”

“And Janitor?”

U-bot took a swig of his coke and answered with a burp, “Oh that fatty? He excellent at detecting enemies even when they aren’t visible. He does this thing called the clean sweep that exposes every hidden thing.”

“Cool! But thing is, isn’t it all a bit strange? Like are we mutants or something, like the X-men? I think a lot about it.”

“I haven’t figured out what we are exactly yet. But this I know we aren’t mutants. I’ve checked Furro’s genetic composition. Perfectly normal. I suspect its some kind of magic in our body that I haven’t been able to find out yet. I suspect some kind of virus that’s attached itself to us. A special pathogen.”

“But all your power comes from your umbrella. What superpower do you have eh?” But this time PDF, the DJ of the day had cranked up the music and Pingo felt like his ears that were tuned for Gujarati classical music were going to blast. He took a cheese quiche from a passing tray.

“Umm, my superpower is something no one can really experience. How do you think I was able to make my super umbrella? Brains, man. That’s my superpower. Come throw a number at me. A big one.”

“Three hundred sixty seven.”

“Another.”

“Fifty nine”

“If multiplied, the answer is 21653. If the second number is divided from the first, the quotient is 6.22033898305.” U-bot said all this in just the blink of an eye. Pingo’s quiche nearly fell out of his mouth.

“Wow”

“Enough about me. Tell me about your Dhokla story”

Pingo started. “Well it wasn’t pretty difficult to bust the ring. The scandal was that there was a company which would pack drugs into Dhoklas and distribute it across the country, unsuspected by anyone. No one really checks the composition of Dhoklas anyway. This particular drugged brand of Dhoklas would be hidden in Dhokla shops until special customers would come and ask for it. They would all be drug addicts and they would know the code word for asking for the special thing. Sometimes these druggies wouldn’t have money and would lootshops for their Dhokla. I happened to witness such a thing and by luck the particular looter had good connections with the suppliers and turned me over. I woke up bound and gagged in the factory. After realizing what they were doing, I tried desperately to stop their shipment and then accidentally cut my hand in the machine. My blood got mixed with the Dhokla mix and then they had to stop it obviously, as the blood would be clearly seen by officials. By then my grand-father found out where I was and came in with a police team to bust them out. So it’s not my contribution really. I just accidentally managed to stop one of their weekly supplies.”

“You were great man!  I would have loved to be in your place. You must be a legend in your country!”

“Not really. Anyway, why is the door to your South Room always locked? Someone inside?”

“Yes, and you must never ever try to meet him” U-bot said in a very alarmed state. His voice was strangely hushed.

“Who’s inside?”

U-bot got his face close to Pingo’s and said in a soft almost inaudible whisper- “Pelicandy”

Season 1 Episode 9 (After The Fall)

AFTER THE FALL

The travelling circus. The cursed lion. The day he found his parent's being gobbled up by the lion. His kind circus manager who turned out to be his grandfather. Staying with his aunt and her dog. Over-fondness to Tandoori chicken. How he recoiled at the very thought of Dhoklas. How he killed his aunt and her dog. The man stealing dhoklas from the shop, who was actually a penniless drug-addict  stealing the drugged dhoklas to extract the cocaine from it later, and the same person who shot Pingo and handed him over to the dealers.

 The Dhokla scandal. Whirring machineries. The drugs. The injury on his hand. The pain. The fear. The success. The fear again. D.H.O.K.L.A. The fall.

Pingo's life was flashing by him as he fell several miles an hour from thousands of feet in the air. The fall. He barely remembered it, although it all took place not more than a minute ago. He vaguely remembered an air-hostess. A smile on her face, and then a dark look which glowed with hatred. It was very cold. He shivered hard. Furious winds gushed against his face. A leg of Tandoori chicken fell out of his pocket. It fell a long way, splashing against the ocean below. After a few more minutes, due to the freezing winds and the gushing speed, Pingo could take no more. He blacked out.

After being out for like something which felt like forever, he slowly started to regain consciousness. Slowly, he drifted back to life. Soon after, he discovered the reason for his regained consciousness was a bowl of Tandoori Chicken in a bedside table. He wasted no time in finishing off the bowl. Now, energy started oozing into him and he got up from his bed with a start. He felt powerful and strong, and not like someone who was violently pushed off a plane mid-air. But before he could move any further, a volley of questions flooded his mind.

Where am I? Who saved me? What happened after I fell? Where's grandad?

He took a quick look around his room, and found it to be bright with colours. Everywhere he looked, he found fan posters of popular superheroes. He found Superman, Green Lantern, Iron Man, Hulk. Pictures of them were stuck everywhere. He felt like he was in some Hollywood poster shop. The bed he was sleeping on had a Spiderman blanket. Apart from that, the room was mostly simple.  It had a closet, a bed-side table, a cupboard, a study table, two chairs and an exit door. He walked out of it and found a huge sitting room with a large round conference table. There were wooden cushioned chairs placed around it. Most of the chairs were vacant but some had strange teenagers sitting on it. Strange in the sense, their dressing sense was a bit unconventional. The one who was sitting closest to him reading a newspaper wore a black tight-fitting jump-suit with little silhouettes of umbrellas printed on it all over. Hearing Pingo, this umbrella-guy swept around and said in a cool clear voice,

“Hello Pingo, welcome to the House of Heroes.”

Season 1 Episode 8 (The Air Hostess Who Wasn't)

THE AIR HOSTESS WHO WASN'T

Sitting first class on an Emirates flight to Los Angeles, Pingo pondered over what he had read in that mysterious email e had got from a guy named Asonji XX. It didn't say much, just said “Dhokla scandal was just the beginning. The ending shall be something much bigger. But unfortunately you won't live to see it.” Every time he thought about it, he got even more terrified. What does that mean? You won't live to see it?

Grandfather had mostly been silently all through the trip to the airport and till now in the flight, he hadn't spoken a word. Pingo could contain it no more. Just after the Air Hostess went away after delivering their lunch of roast chicken (A poor substitute of Tandoori Chicken, according to Pingo) and vegetables, he quietly asked his grandfather what had been bothering him.

“Grandpa, what's all this about?”

Grandfather though for a long while and replied cautiously.

“The people you busted that day, the ones involved in the Dhokla scandal, I do not think they were acting alone. They were a part of something bigger, a gang. A huge group of criminals trying to pull off some kind of scandal. I don't know what yet.” After that, he spoke no more, leaving Pingo to his plate of poor substitutes. Various questions popped into Pingo's mind. What kind of gang is this? And most importantly, why don't they make roast chicken spicier?

Seeing that he couldn’t get answers to any of the questions, he pulled out a tandoori flavoured toffee and started chewing it. It wasn't available everywhere, and Pingo had had a hard time finding them. As he was lost in his thoughts about chicken, an exceptionally beautiful Air Hostess walked up to his seat. Seeing her name tag, she was Gujarati.

“Are you Mr. Pingo? Bg fan, sir.” She said with a big smile. “It is such an honour meeting you. Sir, are you interested in planes? I could give you a full tour of the cockpit. Moreover, even our pilot is a big fan of you. He'd like to see you.”

No, Pingo didn't mind at all. He gladly followed the Air Hostess into the cockpit. He always wanted to see how a plane worked. After a short journey, he entered the door of the cockpit. Near it was a small door marked “Emergency Exit”. This area was particularly secluded and this scared Pingo a bit. Suddenly without warning, the Air Hostess closed in on him. She drew near him and held him firmly by the shoulders. She wasn't smiling anymore. Her hand fished out a card from her skirt pocket. It said “Deadly Hitmen and Other Killer's Last Association”. In short it abbreviated to D.H.O.K.L.A. More disturbingly, below it, in small letters was written “Asonji XX”.

Now there was a look of anger in her eyes. Wearing a backpack she started speaking in a spiteful tone. “The Dhokla scandal you busted? It was organized by our group. You meddle with our affairs, this is what comes of it.” Saying this, she held on tightly to a bar attached to a wall near the door with one hand, the other hand tightly holding my arms. . Then she yanked the doors handles hard and the door opened, sucking them out into the atmosphere. The woman held on tightly as she left her grip on Pingo's arms and after a minute or two jumped after him. Only difference was, a parachute popped out of her backpack while Pingo was freefalling from thousands of metres in the air.

Season 1 Epsisode 7 (The Demonic E-mail)

THE DEMONIC EMAIL

After phenomenal success in his first mission, Pingo took a decision to never stop fighting for justice, peace and unrestricted consumption of Dhoklas. Truth be told, he quite liked all the publicity and fanfare he was getting after busting a dhokla drug trading ring. Numerous interviews, autograph signings and inauguration ceremonies dotted his calendar. He  received widespread acclaim in both Gujarat and in his hometown, Delhi. But there was something missing- the look of happiness in his grandfather's face. Pingo expected him to light up or something, but every since he arrived in Gujarat to collect him after receiving news of his success, he seemed oddly unsettled. A dark frown was there on his face instead of a big smile. Pingo decided to not let that foul his mood.

Days passed, weeks went by, several training sessions went by and the heroic incident of Pingo soon faded away into a distant memory. One day, Pingo was exercising in the Gym. Since he wasn't an ordinary boy, he wasn't just physically training. As he treadmilled, he was listening to science programmes on the radio, designed to make anyone smarter.

“Light, as popularly believed, does not only travel in the form of a wave. Dr. Einstein famously discovered the photoelectric effect in which he argued that light travels in packets of energy called a photon. He won a Nobel prize for his work.”

Pingo hardly paid attention to it, mostly because that wasn't the only thing he was doing. He was also solving Sudoku, a Japanese mathematical puzzle, in his Smartphone that was gifted to him by the Gujarat government. And he was munching on Tandoori Chicken.

Suddenly, as he was completing his puzzle, something odd happened. He heard a beep. Checking his notification bar, he saw that he had  got an e-mail from a mysterious person named “Asonji XX”. This irked Pingo's curiosity as most of the emails he got were promotional emails. He opened it and read. His face turned pale and blank. Fear clutched him hard, and he felt terrified. He dropped the chicken and the phone an got off the treadmill. He ran as fast as he could to his grandfather, who was quite surprisingly pacing about.

“So you got the message too,” Grandfather said in  a heavy tone. “We're off to America. Can’t keep you safe here.”

Season 1 Episode 6 (Bloody Dhoklas)

BLOODY DHOKLAS

The Dude of Delhi carefully looked all around him, and he found no way at all to stop the men from what they were doing. Trading drugs in Dhokla packages- ingenious. What could he possibly do? He crept around over to the machines, close to the two men loading the packages in the machinery. The factory was supposed to be closed by night, so no one would notice them. Except Pingo, ever so vigilant. In his excitement he even forgot his pathological fear of dhoklas. Advancing slowly, he was almost was under the shadow of the big metal device which spurned out two mean dhoklas a minute. Pretty impressive for a machine as ancient as this. It's whirring mechanism produced a constant humming to Pingo's ear. It had dangerously exposed spinning spiky wheels. Pingo had no idea how these were needed in the process of dhokla making.

The packets of cocaine slipped into the machine were nearing to an end, and the men were about to call it a day. Pingo felt a dawning sense of helplessness, just like the kind of feeling that shrouds over you when you finished your share of tandoori chicken and mom won't give you another. He had to quickly devise a way to do something, to save the country from the throes of dhokla infested drugs. He thought and he thought and he realized there was no time for thinking. He had to act now. He had to take a leap of faith. He rushed forward suddenly, unable to contain himself. He mustered up all his power that would be required to land a punch straight in the face of the man loading the white drugs. He felt a gush of energy in him and felt exhilarated. This was all of course, before the two men noticed him and smacked him hard and he fell down. After this, all went black again, and he felt a sharp pain in his hand.

If someone had come from the future and told him the implications of his action, he would have felt better. He had actually saved the day. The pain in his hand had actually been the spiky wheels on the machine cutting his hand, as they accidentally fell on them. Not much damage was done to him as the hand was promptly removed. The blood had got mixed with the drugs, and then the dhokla. The factory manager had seen the red dhoklas later and canceled the entire batch. Since these had been their entire supply of drugs, no more dealing was done.

They were up to more mischief, of course, but that’s the story of another day.

Season 1 Episode 5 (The Dhokla scandal)

THE DHOKLA SCANDAL

When he woke up, he felt groggy and weak. He didn't actually feel the bullet that had been shot at him, but he felt an even greater sense of danger and fear. Truth be told, he did not have even a scar to show where the bullet had hit him. There was nothing, and he distinctly remembered the incident. It had been inside a dhokla shop- a place of his nightmares. Maybe there was no gun. No bullet. Just the fear of Dhoklas playing with his mind, causing him hallucinations. He tried to sit up straight, and found that his hand was tied with strings. He tore them apart, and the rotting strings succumbed to his power. Now standing up, he saw that he was inside a factory. It was dark and desolate. Nota should inside, except two soft voices that were playing in the background. Famished and very weak, he walked over to the voices. He was disoriented after long hours of unconsciousness and he didn't take much notice of what was around him. Some kind of yellow material packed in transparent plastic pouches was all around him, stacked in large wooden crates. He did not notice what they were. Walking to those voices, he very slowly started to make sense of his surroundings. Those yellow things seemed eerily familiar. Oh! He saw it all now, it hit him like a sudden enlightment. He had been transported to a dhokla factory. He felt weak. Very weak. He started getting more and more fearful and sick, especially learning what they were.

The two men came into vision, standing amidst huge Dhokla making machinery. One of them was loading a white substance into a tray in the machinery. Although the dhokla made him weak, it also made him more aware of his surroundings. He could clearly see what they were doing. They were transporing drugs through the dhokla supply chain. The dealer would deliver the dhokla to the customers house, unsuspected by everyone. The customer would know how to extract the drug. A quick look around told Pingo he was in Gujarat. 

Season 1 Episode 4 (The quest to Krypton)

THE QUEST TO KRYPTON

Pingo was ready for his first quest. A quest that would prove how the validity of his six week long training session with his grandfather. He was up and early, enthusiasm dripping through him likes blood. His adrenaline levels were raging in him, preventing him from taking even a moment of peace or sanity. He ate a power meal of Tandoori chicken and set out to hunt for crime in the city.

The chilly wind nipped at his face as his spare supply of chicken swung happily from a cloth sack. He was adorned in a special jersey his grandfather had designed for him, “Dude of Delhi” written in yellow over a light green background with a red stripe on top. When he demanded a symbol, his only surviving family member refused politely saying “Pingo, let everyone remember and respect you for who the boy you are and not the adopted symbol you carry” Be the boy your people need you to be, because you are their only hope. Everyone has different hopes and everyone’s you must fulfill. For that is your destiny, your objective, your purpose. Let not the Tandoori chicken quench your hunger for doing good. These were the last word his grandfather said before he set out of the house. NO, he thought, Tandoori chicken can never quench your hunger. The only thing that can is MORE Tandoori chicken.

He looked all around him, trying to get a hint of any criminal activity or intent. Getting none, he continued down the street not stopping till he got near a dhokla shop. Dhoklas! He last thing he wanted to do now was to get inside it, but he knew he had to. The most unimaginable crime was taking place: A person loading dhoklas into a bag by holding the owner at gunpoint.  The first criminal I spot, and that too in a dhokla shop.

He wanted to look away, to go away but something held him back. He suddenly, as if out of the shadows, heard the faint whisper of his grandfather “Isn’t it ironical, the most powerful boy in Delhi having a fatal weakness. A weakness not even experienced in the weak. What does strength bring, if not an even stronger weakness? Overcome it, Pingo, face it.”

He heard sounds inside the shop “Why didn’t you put coconut on the dhokla ?” the thief said. Bang went his gun

He gathered his courage, his strength, his chicken. Yet those shied away under the fear of dhoklas. He tried again, mustering all the wits that he was left with. Each step he took was an ordeal and a great pain yet he reached the door. It was as if a great resisting force was pushing him out with herculean force. He continued to defy it and walk inside. Just as he raised his hand to decapitate the thief, bang shot his gun again, and this time at him.

He blacked out, seeing dhoklas.