Description A tragicomedy: Charlie Cheddar suffers from sensual deprivation. He practised celibacy and yoga for three years to liberate himself from thought-provoking fantasies and desires. Charlie espoused a hermit's way of life after being pissed off with relentless teasing from friends and foes about his failure to find a girlfriend. He is zealous in his admiration of book knowledge and has never failed to flaunt that knowledge to his friends. The reciprocal antipathy between him and them persists.
Charlie suffers from anxiety attacks and dark moods but manages his suicidal fantasies by reading poetry and yoga. Both seem to nourish his soul. Sometimes he is proud of being a misanthropist. Charlie retreats to his imaginary bubble after nine to five clerical tasks at Her Majesty Post Office.
But the sensation of isolation that suddenly comes over Charlie has him in its grip; he torments himself with it like a thorn, and it eventually takes its toll on him. On a Sunday at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, a lanky Caribbean stranger approaches dark, short and skinny Charlie. Julian, the stranger, becomes his friend who may rescue Charlie from the jaws of bitterness and despair by introducing him to a lady of high self-esteem, intellectual interest and poetry enthusiast. The lady, Helen, dated Julian once, but they were never lovers since he philandered. Julian promises to arrange a date with high hopes for Charlie. Charlie is excited but harbours fears about his foreseeable transformation.
