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.

Season 1 Episode 3 (The discovery of power)

THE DISCOVERY OF POWER

Pingo was having very eventful days. His grandfather was training him as best he could. “Be the man you want to be, and for that you need hard-work” he used to say. Pingo argued he just needed Tandoori Chicken to unleash his power, but it was a weak argument. Gym, running, cycling each day was getting too tough for him.

“I thought all these powers would give me freedom to do whatever I wanted!” Pingo thought aloud one day, as he recovered from running bruises.

“No, its on the contrary. You are a hero because the world needs a hero. When you have more power than others, its for you to use it wisely. You must use it to write your own destiny. You must use it to write other’s destiny.  People will look up to you. People will trust you. You cannot let them down. If you do, your powers will be wasted. Your destiny will be failed. Your purpose will be lost. People will not remember you, and your fragile mark you make on this world will fade away every day to come.”

“So what do I do?” Pingo said dazed, afraid of the importance he was being given. Could he truly change the world?

“Make lives better. Touch hearts of poor and rich alike. Make their lives worth living. That is how the mark you make will be etched permanently in them.”

Pingo didn’t know whether he was inspired or plain scared of all this responsibility. He gave a curt nod of understanding and faced towards the window.

“So how did I do it?” he asked finally “How’d I kill my aunt?”

“Of that, I can’t say for sure. I have a couple of theories. But they are theories just.”

“I still want to know” Pingo was adamantly curious, as a boy his age should be.

“Do you know about micro-organisms? They are present in huge numbers in our body. Some are good, some are bad like all things in life. Of them some are active and some are inactive. What you did to your aunt is probably activate some inactive viruses in her. That proved to be fatal”

Pingo thought for a while, a great while. A frown covered his face as he made calculations in his mind. After a lot of thought, he said slowly:

“So how can I do good to anyone if my only skill is to kill people?”

“That’s up to you to decide. Its your choice to make completely. Another thing, you need an identity, an identity which people can relate to and look up to. Have you thought of any?”

“Actually I have. Want to hear it?”

“What?”

“The Dude of Delhi” 

Season 1 Episode 2 (The unexpected family)

THE UNEXPECTED FAMILY

Pingo walked down the street hungry and tired. Killing both his aunt and dog had been tiresome work. Not that he had intended to to it, but he couldn't control his lust for Tandoori chicken. Walking down the street he took a deliberate turn to avoid the Gujarati sweet shop down the road. He couldn’t stand Dhoklas and it had always had made him very weak, so much so that he lost control over his power even when he was a couple of miles from it. Walking down the street, he suddenly felt sick. The kind of sick he felt when he went near Dhoklas. Looking around, we found that he had surpassed the shop already and it was far way down the road. Then what happened? Must be somebody walking on the road carrying a packet of Dhoklas. He tried to run away from the place as fast as he could but g stopped him. Something very painful. Something hit on his head very hard. Before all went black, he noticed a vaguely familiar old man carrying a brown packet full of the Gujarati stuff with a thick walking stick in his hand.

When he woke up, he was lying on a couch with the vaguely familiar old man genially smiling at him. Oh yes, he remembered. He was someone in his circus troop. He tried to recall and very blurred images came back to his mind.

“Having trouble remember me?” He asked, as if he could read Pingo’s mind.

“You…you…Oh yes! You were our circus manager!”

“Not anymore, Pingo. The circus is dissolved. I’m someone much more important now. I’ve always been”

“who?”

“Your Grandfather”

                                                              

                                                                

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Season 1 Episode 1 (PILOT: The aunt in agony)

SEASON 1

THE AUNT IN AGONY

The name’s Pingo. Just Pingo. A Gujarati  by heart and living in Delhi, he heard a shout from his aunt, his legal guardian. He had been born in a Gujarati traveling circus to fat Guajarati aerobats. While traveling to Delhi, a lion that was fond of Gujarati food had eaten his parents up. Alone and lonely, his aunt had taken him in. That was the same aunt who was calling him down to treat him to some scolding and beating, if his luck was down which it always was. In the twelve years he’d stayed with his aunt he’d got beaten once every week. Still, he loved her.

He found his aunt sitting cross-legged before a tray of Tandoori chicken. His heart suddenly gave a jump and his craving began.

“Is it for me?”

“No. its for the dog. Come Busa, have it.” The fat salivating dog gulped it down. Pingo’s craving became intolerable now. His muscles flexed and his rage blackened his face. His emotions got uncontrollable and he suddenly felt weak and sick. His energy started waning and seemed to drain from his body. His red faced aunt with long hair started coughing. Pingo stared at her very intensely. He started shivering as the aunt coughed and coughed.  A moment later she collapsed.

“Why are you doing this?” she said weakly.

“The chicken.  You know I can’t control my craving for Tandoori chicken. Why did you it?”

“You left mud stains in my kitchen again. That was your punish…” She stopped talking.

Next was the dog.

Pingo knew about the police and that he’d be arrested and tortured.  So many policemen would be difficult to tackle, even with his superpower. Collecting his cat, Dert, he left home regretting what he did.

Or maybe it was hunger for Tandoori Chicken.