When fortune drives the fate

 I finished watching the latest of the Narco series "Narcos Mexico" on Netflix. Set in the 1980s it has captured the life and progress of Mexican drug cartels, especially Miguel Angel Felix who rose from a junior level Police official in the badlands of Sinaloa to a Billionaire Drug trafficker of international fame.

It was the time "El Chapo" the infamous drug lord who is currently in US custody was merely a driver in Miguel Felix's gang. He was called by his big bosses to fetch packs of cigarettes, pour them a drink and occasionally give them a head and shoulder massage. Slowly El Chapo (meaning Shorty in Spanish) started driving the drug trade and driving the officials nuts on both sides of the US - Mexican border.

Drivers, also referred by better sounding Chauffeurs while sitting close to their bosses and listening to their conversations have a history of learning the skills of the game and acting as henchmen for their masters, occasionally adapting their master's skills. An ex-politician from India's state of Karnataka C.K. Jefferson Sharief started as a driver of a better known politician and ended up as a Cabinet Minister in various ministries during the Congress party days.

In the 1987 movie SATYAMEVA JAYATE (Only Truth Prevails) the police inspector Vinod Khanna responds when threatened by the driver of a minister for stopping the later's car - "MINISTER KA GAADI CHALATE CHALATE KHUD KO MINISTER SAMAJH RAKHA HAI KYA" (By driving Minister's car you thought yourself as minister or what) ? That was reel life. But such arrogance of drivers of folks at the helm of affairs aren't something not entirely unheard of. In real life  C.K.Jaffer Sharief went one step further. He actually became a minister. 

Miguel Felixe was the Pablo Escobar of Mexico. In one scene the famous Columbian, Escobar of Madeline cartel threatens Felix to feed him to his pet Hippos. Pablo Escobar was to drug trafficking as Pele was to Soccer - the all time great had a fetish of keeping exotic animals including Tigers and Giraff as pets.

El Chapo rose from a mere driver to the driving force behind the famous Sinaloa Cartel - a billionaire drug mafia. Many stalwarts and his competitors in the drug business would perish sooner or later. He had couple of close encounters with death too but was fortunate to survive. At one point he was almost killed when gunmen shot his boss from point blank range and were about to execute El Chapo when he pleaded for his life - "I am a mere driver. Leave me alone". "So can you drive our vehicles ?", he got an whimsical order. El Chapo wasn't in a position to decline such once in lifetime, life saving offer. He had his luck to live another day until it finally ran out a few years ago landing him in one of America's maximum security prisons where he is currently harbored.

There used to be a popular saying during the days of Mughals who ruled India at  medieval time - "TAKHT YA TAKHTA", meaning "Crown or Coffin". It aptly described the fratricidal wars fought between the brothers for the prized Kingship which knew no Kinship. In the end one ended up with Crown, the rest destined to graves.

Nothing much have changed. In the quest to control the lucrative drug trade many went unsung to their grave, but El Chapo survived by a whisker to earn the crown. Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted Don played the second fiddle to his brother. His brother Shabbir Ibrahim was shot dead, Dawood got shot on his thigh close to his groin but survived. He is a rumored to be a billionaire who is India's most wanted fugitive but no one remembers his brother.

In our own state of Odisha a don Pratap Swain of Barhampur was slain on the street while his counterpart in Cuttack CHHOTA (Lame) Ananta was trampled under a truck. Yet one of their contemporary Dons who rumored to have survived a shoot out went on to become a well to do businessman still at the helm. Another one such Don on to become a minister. It's always TAKHT YA TAKHTA, Crown or Coffin.

Such a thing called Destiny ! It can be freaky, cruel and rewarding, destroying at the same time. History is always partial to the winners, with losers destined to its dustbins. Life ain't fair and lovely. Fortune drives fate. It is no better elucidated in the "Narcos Mexico" series.