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Narratology

PALAKSANGHANI
201314001
Narratology Palak Sanghani
201314001

PALAK 1


Chapter 1
That one click changed his life, Parthiv, a localite of Rajkot city in Gujarat
never knew that random web surfing would change the course of his life. It was a
chilly January night, everybody in the household had snug into their comforters. The
ticking of clocks, buzzing of insects, occasional drops from taps and the gurgling of
refrigerator had formed a rhythm of its own. Oblivious to all this, Parthiv was glued
to his computer screen. He had no idea it was 3am. There were so many tabs open
in his computer screen that one could be distinguished from other only through the
favicons.
Always a net buff, Parthiv always kept track of the upcoming technologies
and products. Today what had caught his attention was Googles election portal. It
would revolutionize elections. This portal was one-stop access point to all news
related to elections and politics, information about various parties as well as online
voting functionality so that now everybody could vote from any part of the world
and thus increase the percentage of votes. It had features to hold google hangouts
with political representatives, information on voting, frequently asked questions and
functionality for users to interact with candidates.
Parthiv was pursuing computer engineering from Atmiya institute of science
and technology, He had just completed first year but had a way around code, and he
could make it behave as he wanted to. He was a very good hacker, it was his passion
and he had hacked into bigger websites in past but he had never done anything
wrong. He liked to explore and hacking was like a challenge to him. He always
challenged himself and this time he was intrigued by Googles election portal. He
wanted to fetch the details and hack into the portal, this was he could know the
results of the elections before they were announced and could find out the details
which were not visible to the general public. He decided to start on a fresh mind the
next day, turned off his computer and headed towards his bed. It was already 4am.
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He was supposed to wake up at 6, he knew he would again have to catch up on sleep


in the class itself.
Next morning he woke up to his mothers voice saying, Get up beta, its time
for you to go to college. He paid no heed to what his mother was saying and soon
the sweet voice changed to shrieks of, out you get of your bed, lazy bones. How
are you going to reach college on time, you will miss your bus. Common run to the
bathroom. Parthiv fumbled around for his glasses and as soon as he wore them the
world became clearer to him, and so did the time on the digital clock in his room.
He ran to the bathroom and brushed his teeth while showering. He wore a pair of
jeans and randomly picked up a t-shirt. He ruffled his hair, not bothering to comb
them. He stuffed his books into his backpack, fastened his belt and wore his watch.
He squeezed his socks into his pockets, grabbed his wallet from his study table and
rushed towards the kitchen.
Parthiv, how many times do I tell you to sleep early, every single day you are
late. If you dont take proper rest you are bound to fall sick, Parthivs mother
explained him, but Parthiv just snatched the water bottle from her hands, put his
legs into his shoes and ran out of the house. His mother kept shouting behind him
not to leave without completing breakfast, but who listens! Parthiv was already two
blocks away from his house, a small tenement in omega society.
Parthiv ran for 10 minutes without pausing to reach his bus stop, and when
he reached the bus was just about to go. He heaved a sigh of relief on seeing the bus,
waved to the driver who smiled and waited for Parthiv. Parthiv sat in the last row of
seats where the window seat was always saved for him by his friends. This was how
every single day began for Parthiv, waking up late, hurriedly getting ready and barely
managing to catch the bus. He had to wait for a few minutes before he could breathe
properly and then he realised he had forgotten his jacket at home itself. His mother
would be over worried. She pampered him a lot and scolded him for tiny things but
that was just because she loved him a lot.
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Oye padhakoo, will you format my lappy for me, today itself. Please. Rudra
requested. Nobody perhaps even remembered that their padhakoo even had a real
name, for them he was padhakoo, Parthiv himself didnt know how he was tagged
to be padhakoo but he had always been padhakoo for his friends. He was the one
who was sought when they wanted to download some season, he was sought when
his friends gadgets stopped functioning properly. His assignments were rotated
among all friends to copy, he helped everyone. For him, happiness was his friends
and love was his internet. It was half an hour route to the college, early morning
chilly breeze brushed against padhakoos face. He smiled. He always liked watching
the fields on the way to the college and that almost took all his tiredness away and
he felt fresh like a blossoming flower.
Rudra, Parthiv and Achyut were the terrific trio, they were always together.
They needed no one elses company, they would study together, roam together and
play dangerous pranks together. They just couldnt do without each other.
Rudra, Parthiv and Achyut were mere classmates during the first semester.
During the submission week lot of assignments were due along with the submission
of sketch books for the engineering graphic subject. Rudra had sprained his hand
and couldnt complete the technical drawings. He went to the teacher, Please grant
me just 3 extra days, I will definitely complete all my sheets. The teacher was too
strict, Is it my fault that you sprained your wrist? You should have completed your
work beforehand, all the students will get the same amount of time. I want all your
assignments on my desk by tomorrow morning, or you can expect F grade. The
teacher gave his final decision. Rudras wrist had just recovered from the sprain so
he knew he could never finish all the work still he sat for the whole day completing
his sketch books, skipped all his meals, didnt even sleep at night. By morning his
hand was swollen, the sketch books were completed but still 10 sheets had to be
submitted along with, Rudra knew he was going to fail and will have to redo the
entire subject again.
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Rudra Singh came from a middle class family, his dad worked in the bank and
he was the only son, his parents had lot of expectation from him. If Rudra failed, he
wouldnt be eligible to sit for the placement and he badly needed a job to support
his family. Rudra was much tensed and he approached Parthiv for help. Parthiv
took the matter into his hands, for now submit 10 blank sheets, amidst everybodys
work no one will notice that you have submitted blank sheets. He told Rudra who
was confused but he didnt argue, he had no other option as such so he did what
Parthiv had asked him to.
Parthiv already had a plan in his mind, but he wasnt sure if he would be able
to execute it successfully. He approached Achyut Jain. Achyuts uncle was the
principle of the college and member of the colleges trust. Parthiv shared the
problem with Achyut and told him the plan to help Rudra. Achyut readily agreed to
help. After the college Parthiv, Rudra and Achyut got together at Achyuts place and
they started working on Rudras sheets. The sat at a stretch of 14 hours working
continuously. By 2am all 10 sheets were ready. Rudra still had no idea what the plan
was, he knew the teacher would never accept a late submission and there was no way
he could replace the blank sheets he had submitted with this because all the
submissions were locked in the staff room. Little did he know that Achyut had got
a duplicate key of the staff room safely secured in his back pocket?
Rudra was stunned and totally refused to go along with the plan when Achyut
and Parthiv told him what they had decided to do. Rudra was afraid to get caught
also but his friends did not pay heed to anything he was saying so in the middle of
the night, on parthivs activa all three were going to their college 18 kms away from
the city. Rudra couldnt believe his classmates were ready to take such a big risk for
him, they reached the college campus. It was pitch dark. All they had was their cell
phone flash lights to show them the way. They couldnt go through the front gates
thanks to the sincere guard who was still wide awake. They jumped over the wall
behind the college building and ran to the main building, the glass door slid open
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easily, and all three of them ran inside and stopped to breathe only after reaching the
staff room. Achyuts hands were shivering when he was opening the lock and Rudra
kept looking in all directions expecting someone to turn up and catch them red
handed. They went through the door and shuffled through the sheets to find Rudras
sheets and then swiftly replaced the blank ones with the new ones. The room was
closed and all three of them ran out and jumped across the wall, only then did they
speak a word. All of them were breathing heavily, still stunned that they had managed
to accomplish the task.
Later when the grades were announced, Rudra managed to get better grades
than Achyut and Parthiv and till date that stands as a standing joke between three of
them. This incident worked as a binding agent between them and they have been
best friends since then. Today they are in third semester and its 8 months since that
incident but their friendship has just blossomed. They are seen together in classes,
canteen and theatres.
Today is no different day, they sit together in the class on the second bench,
their usual place. Parthiv was struggling to keep his eyes open. Rudra being the most
hardworking amongst the three, kept taking down notes frantically. Parthiv was very
tired by the end of the day, he wanted to dose off in the bus but as soon as he closed
his eyes, Rudra slapped his back, Oy, you have to play padhakoo so while
returning home from college, all the students in the bus played Dumsheraaz where
in one team member enacts any movie name provided by opposite team, his team
mates have to guess it. Every day they played games or sang songs in the bus and
time swiftly passed.
Parthiv got down at his bus stop along with Shrishti. Rudra had a crush on
Shrishti but he was too afraid to approach her. Parthiv got along well with Shrishti.
They lived in the same society and often exchanged notes and material. They could
walk home from bus stop together, but from home to bus stop walking together was
a rarity because Parthiv was often late. He would call Shrishti and ask her to make
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the bus wait for him and then he would run to the bus stop. Shrishti and Parthiv
said their byes as they reached home and Parthiv straight away rushed to the kitchen.
Hot steaming chapattis and vegetables were served to him. This was the staple diet
of the Gujaratis. Parthiv was chattering with his sister Krishi while having his lunch.
His mother scolded him, How many times have I told you not to talk with a full
mouth? Parthiv stopped talking and finished his lunch quickly, rushed into his
room. All excited to begin with his hacking venture. He ddnt know if he would be
able to pull it off.
His room was all tidied up, there were no clothes hanging her and there. His
books were not lying where he had left them. Mummyyyy Who cleaned my
room? How many times have I told you not to touch my stuff? His mother was
angry, Firstly, you dont keep you stuff properly and then shout on me when I have
to tidy your room? Parthiv started looking for his book where he had drawn the
database schema and diagrams for the election portal he wanted to build but he
couldnt find it. He asked his mum, Where is my blue notebook? She informed
him, I gave it away to the tatter. It was old and messy. I thought you dont need it
anymore. How can you give away my stuff without asking me, Parthiv shouted
angrily. He was very sad, because his blue notebook had his tiny tricks and shortcuts
for hacking and the book was lost. Parthiv, I am sorry. I didnt know that book was
important to you. his mother expressed her concerned. Parthiv didnt even waste
time in replying and straight away started working on a fresh piece of page. He
started preparing the website structure and screenshots. Now he had forgotten all
about his sleep, all his drowsiness had vanished. He had to know everything about
the web portal to penetrate inside.
He worked hard day and night for the next whole month to access the
administration panel of the election portal, it had become his obsession. The mere
fact of hacking into something that google engineers had made him excited... His
chances of success were very less. It was a very big project for him to complete
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single-handedly and there were going to be many constraints but it was as if it had
become his passion and he wanted to do it badly. March had begun, his mid semester
exams were approaching and he had to balance both studies and his project work,
he was neglecting his studies so far and now the pressure on him was building up.
He had no idea how would he cope up. He had skipped bathes since couple of days,
he used to code even during the lab hours. It was Saturday, he had skipped college
and he was just solving a few errors when a mail flickered on his screen,
To SUPPORT India against Corruption give a miss call to 02261550789
Lets support and join the national movement against corruption including demand of stringent anti-
corruption law the "Jan Lokpal Bill".
Anna Hazare has given an ultimatum to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to enact
stringent anti-corruption law the peoples Jan Lokpal Bill! Jail to the corrupt must happen! We
have been betrayed by those that are leading us!
When & Where?
From 5th April at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.
Who is Anna Hazare?
A soldier, lone survivor in his unit in 1965 Indo-Pak war, Anna dedicated his life to the well-
being of society. A bachelor, an ascetic, he has no possessions, no bank balance and lives ina temple.
He is a living Mahatma Gandhi!
If possible, come and stay with Anna at Jantar Mantar for a few days from April 5th.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS MAIL WIDELY.
Parthiv glanced through the mail, and forwarded it to all his friends, he was clearly
against corruption partly his motto to hack into the election portal was to make sure
that there were no corrupt means of winning the election. Parthiv was so much
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agitated with people who lied, cheated or were corrupt that his blood would boil. He
just couldnt ever accept corruption.
Almost instantly Achyuts message flicked on the screen,
Achyut007: Anna rocks, the bill was not passed in the winter session, now there is
no way out. The bill will have to be passed. Now general public can initiate
complaints of corruption!
Padhakoo: Yes, It will give police powers also. This had to happen earlier.
Achyut007: I feel his fast will be cancelled, the bill will be passed before 5
th
April,
still its march. It might be a publicity stunt.
Padhakoo: hey ttyl, I am coding. Cya!
Achyut007: OKiz buddy.
Parthiv, come down for dinner, its high time. I have to call you at-least ten
times every single day, I am just fed up of you, Parthivs mum was scolding him
but Parthiv didnt bother to reply, he skipped his dinner and kept on working, it was
1:00 am, Parthiv was happy with what he had achieved so far but suddenly the code
that was working so far had stopped working properly which added to Parthivs
troubles. He had been scrapping out data from google so far but now all of a sudden
no data could be fetched, this was he wouldnt be able to display anything. He was
puzzled and astonished, He kept frantically switching between the windows, flipping
through his notes and data sheets. Parthiv was thoroughly confused. After an hour
long struggle, he just fell asleep on the keyboard, tired as hell.
He woke up late the next day, his mother was shouting extensively at him,
you havent cleaned your room since ages, how many times do I have to tell you to
do your work, not to throw clothes here and there. I am tired of your kiddish
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behaviour. When will you grow up? Parthiv was sad that he was giving his mother
so many opportunities to scold. He knew he was neglecting all his responsibilities
and day to day chores but he badly wanted to have admin access over the google
election portal. The bug of last night was still crowding his thoughts, He had to find
out why his scrapper wasnt fetching data. He was just catching up on news, when
suddenly an article caught his attention.
GOOGLE launched its election portal along with an unnamed update last night. Each
year, Google changes its search algorithm around 500-600 times. While most of these changes are
minor, Google occasionally rolls out a major algorithmic update that affects search results in
significant ways. Yesterday Google launched Unnamed Update which is one of the major algorithmic
change they have had so far, it will have the biggest impact on search. Developers cannot now scrap
data as easily as they used to so far. The election portal will be fully functional for the upcoming
elections.
This was why Parthivs scrapper wasnt working. He would have to again
modify his code and rebuild his logic. He spent again a few days in the background
work, he had to access just one server. Parthiv badly wanted to access that server,
but he knew it would be well protected. He would have to hack into the database
which would be ethically wrong, but still his obsession was tempting him to hack
into the google database. He was doing it for a good purpose only, he consoled
himself and switched on his hacking tools, routers and other software. It was Sunday
morning when he started and by the time was he was done it was 2:00 am. He had
managed to bypass the password requirements and he could find out the voting
results before they were even announced. He was not going to cheat, but he was
satisfied at what a big thing he had managed to pull across. Again he was late in
going to bed and the same story of him being late for college was repeated.
His mid semester exams were now just couple of days away and he had not
even started, he was now extremely worried. He now fully concentrated only on
studies and left his election portal aside, now he was relaxed that he had achieved
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his target. He paid attention to his studies now but he couldnt perform up to the
mark in the mid semester exams which really disappointed his mother who kept on
scolding him day and night, What do you keep on doing whole day? I am sure you
are onto some girl wasting time whole day chatting with her, I am just going to break
off your internet connection. Parthiv was just happy he had passed the exams, even
though he had just barely scrapped it, now he could again access the Googles
election portal and check out all internal information which was not accessible to
general public.
He was randomly gazing through his portal where all data was formatted and
displayed properly but he detected a bug in the google election portal, he couldnt
believe his eyes. Was somebody playing an April fool prank on him? This was an
extremely serious issue, if somebody had managed to hack their way into the election
portal apart from him, they could manipulate the voting results. If he could do it,
somebody else also could but he was not going to let anybody win elections by
corrupt means. He would do everything it would take to stop this hacker, if he tried
to approach any official, he will be into troubles as he himself had breached the
security of Googles election portal. He didnt know why but he couldnt see any
such corruption happening in front of his eyes.
He had to now access the main server and for that he required the location
of the server. Accessing database had been easier but google would have kept high
security measures so as not to reveal the location of server. As Padhakoo tried to
find out the location details of the server, a number was displayed on the screen:
28.627177.2165
Ahh, I should have known they would even encrypt the location details!
Parthiv exclaimed aloud. He knew he was at dead end, it could be any cipher in the
whole damned world. By the time he would manage to decipher it, election results
would have definitely come out, either he had to confess his crime and hand over
himself or he had to decipher this code, find out the location of the server. Go to
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that place and reset it, he had to find out the location. He started reading about the
complex ciphers but this was something out of the world, how can he figure out
which method had google implemented, they may even have devised their own
encryption strategy. Padhakoo somehow felt it would be some easy unknown cipher,
but which was the question. He spent the entire day in reading up about ciphers
the number 28.627177.2165 kept flashing in his mind, next day at the college he even
asked his teachers about encryption method which had decimal points but there
seemed to be none.
By the next forty eight hours he had read about almost all ciphers known to
mankind but he had not got a single clue about what to make out of the digits.
28.627177.2165 .Now he tried a numerical approach but he could not make out a
single thing from it, still a set pattern could be recognized, two digits were followed
by decimal point, then again there were four digits. The same pattern was repeated
twice. Two digits- decimal point four digits.
28.6271 77.2165 He separated the two numbers. He performed various
arithmetic operations on the number but still no location details could be figured
out. He randomly googled the numbers, what if they were some constants like pi
and that would give him the clue
The google results just astonished him, google itself helped him in cracking
Googles security code. The numbers were not any sort of encryption but the
longitude and latitude details of the place where the server was stored. 28.6271 N,
77.2165 E were the coordinates of Jantar Mantar, Delhi. All he had to do now was
go there and manipulate the server! It was 4
th
April, from tomorrow Anna Hazares
fast for Lokpal bill was going to start in Jantar Mantar. He didnt understand whether
this was good or bad but he had made his decision. He was going to leave his home
and go. If he got caught then he could be jailed also. He had to go and set things
right, He was afraid. He also wanted to play his part in shaping Indias bright future,
everybody cannot just sit and criticize politics, if now voting system was changing.
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Nobody should be allowed to take advantage of it and win elections by corrupt


means.
He could no way tell his parents, he couldnt tell his friends or they would
want to come with him and this was too risky to involve them. He could even get
caught, he may even fail and would have to report himself to the officials. He called
Shrishti, told her everything. She was extremely worried and told him to contact the
police instead of dealing with everything himself but he was adamant and she had to
let him do as he wanted to. The later he would go, the more chances were he would
fail. He knew Shrishti would handle the situation at his place as well as fill in the
attendance for him at the college. He knew there were chances he was never coming
back but he didnt want shrishti to know that yet. He made all preparations during
the day and even paid double for an urgent Tatkal ticket to Delhi on the Uttranchal
express. He dumped a pair of clothes his laptop, phone, dongle, router and other
gadgets in his backpack. It was midnight already and his train left at 12:45 am, so he
hurried out and hailed an auto rickshaw to the railway station. He barely managed to
catch the train and he couldnt catch even a minutes sleep during the night. He was
extremely worried and afraid whether he had made the right decision. He was leaving
his loving family, his awesome friends and his life of comforts. He was putting
himself in grave danger.
It was 6
th
April 2011, 10:40am when Parthiv climbed down the train, it was
his first step out of the cocoon his over protective parents had kept him in. Delhi
city had a different buzz today altogether, it was the second day of Anna Hazares
fast. It had gained a lot of media coverage. Everybody on the railway station seemed
to be busy, the porters were running here and there. The platform was overcrowded,
somehow Parthiv managed to find his way out, entire buses were going to
Connaught palace, to support Anna Hazare. The environment was over charged and
electrified. After a short journey, Parthiv reached Jantar Mantar. It was as if the entire
Indian population had arrived there. There were so many supporters of all age
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groups ranging from kids to very old men. There were more flags than people,
everybody was shouting, shrieking and extending their support. Many were wearing
the white cap that Anna wears to show their support. He was happy that there were
so many people here so he could easily get lost in the crowd and do what he wanted
to, but he knew there would be more security.
Parthiv presented himself to the guard as the network assistant and asked the
way to the server room, he ran at top notch speed and reached the server room.
Servers are usually protected by digital passwords so there werent any security
officials around. He tried to route the server and it asked for password.
Parthiv knew that the passwords are saved in encrypted form on the router
machine, he had already done his research work so to fetch the encrypted password
wasnt a big deal for him. The code was: 14343344-1215-15512431. He applied
homographic, polygraphed and other substitutions but no password was being
formulated. He tried the most traditional ceasar cipher but he couldnt sit here
forever trying to figure out what was the password.
He came and sat with the people supporting the fast, and tried every possible
combination and all the ciphers he had recently studied. He had not eaten anything
since the previous night, it was already afternoon. He put his hacking tools to work,
but it was a google password, it wouldnt be so easy to hack. Larry page and Sergey
Brain both appreciated historians so Parthiv somehow felt it must be some ancient
unused encryption trick. Parthiv counted the digits 20. It were definitely three words,
because each group of digits were separated by hyphens denoting separate words.
When he group two letters together he found that all the numbers were formed using
1 2 3 4 5.
14 34 33 44 12 15 15 51 24 31
He thought, tried, trial and error methods werent being any help to him. The
task was getting difficult and time was running. It was already evening. The crowd
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was dispersing, it was closing time. He had just a few minutes inside or he would
have to vacant the place along with others. He was thinking hard the numbers
were giving him a nightmare, but not helping him solve the puzzle. 5 digits were
used, which meant poly. There was some poly cipher which he had read about but
it wasnt coming to him in the moment of tension. All of a sudden it clicked It
was a Polybius square. BINGO! It had to be the Polybius square.
He hurriedly drew the Polybius square
1 2 3 4 5
1 A B C D E
2 F G H I/J K
3 L M N O P
4 Q R S T U
5 V W X Y Z

He quickly substituted the letters in place of digits. One has to first check the
row number followed by column number, For instance 1 and 4 will be D.
So, 14 34 33 44 12 15 15 51 24 31 became DONT-BE-EVIL. Ohh! It was
Googles unofficial motto, he should have known. He ran to the server room again
and typed that on the password screen on the server.
Password Accepted and it gave him access into the server. His hands were
shivering, he even forgot to breathe. He was too afraid but with trembling hands he
reset the server, which meant now neither he, nor any outsider could access the
google election portals details. The new revolutionized way of elections would
change the votes, and he was proud he had bravely done what he ought to do. He
was very happy that he had completed his mission successfully but by the time he
came out of the server room it was already dark, Jantar Mantar had closed down and
there was nobody around. He had not eaten anything during the day, he was very
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hungry but he couldnt get out. He was wondering aimlessly here and there trying to
find a way out.
As the night thickened, Parthiv felt it would be impossible to spend the night
at Jantar Mantar alone, his eyes didnt shut even when the body was tired.

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Chapter 2
When I looked around, I discovered I was not alone, there were six others
like me. I tried to sleep on the marble floor but it was cold, I didnt have any warm
clothes so I started wandering around looking for a cosy spot to spend the night but
thats when I discovered new companions. I was literally dragging my feet, complete
darkness surrounded me. The stars were twinkling brightly, a strong gust of air blew
and a lot of leaves clinging to the trees fell down, rustling as I walked over them. I
heard somebody sniffing, I walked in that direction and I found a girl sobbing, I
hurriedly went up to her but I had no idea what to talk. It was so awkward finding a
girl in the middle of the night and that also crying. She wiped away her tears and
looked at me with enquiring eyes. I had no words to tell, I stretched my hand and
introduced myself, Hi, Parthiv Desai.. I announced my name having no idea what
else to speak. She responded well, Meera Sehgal. Can I sit? I asked her and took
seat next to her without waiting for her answer. She was beautiful, I could clearly see
her features under the moonlight. She had twinkling large eyes and was as fair as
porcelain. Ohh god, I was comparing a girl to porcelain. I am good my computer,
this girl thing doesnt suit me. I finally took a long breathe and asked the question
she was already expecting me to ask, Why are you crying Meera? Why are you here
at this hour of the night?
I had tears in my eyes by the time Meera had finished with her story and I had
no idea what to tell her or how to counsel her. Meeras family lived in Chennai, but
they were basically from Jammu. That cleared my doubts about her fair complexion.
She was a shy, sweet and hardworking girl. She had topped her university in 10
th

boards. Both her parents were doctors and she had run away from her place because
she thought she had failed them. She was pregnant at the age of seventeen. As she
was telling me everything about how she had struggled alone from past three
months, I could feel my Goosebumps rising. She had given her life to her boyfriend,
she had tried everything to make the relationship work. She loved him so much that
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she tolerated everything he did, she even submitted herself to physical relationship
but he left her at such crucial period. She was in complete mess, I held her hand
having no words to say. We were sitting in silence. I could feel the bonding between
us, I told her that I would help her and now she was not alone in this venture. She
asked me why I was here but I avoided answering and told her I will tell her
everything later. Lets go and search for some warm place to catch up on sleep
first. We stood up and started walking aimlessly.
We were walking in the corridor when we found someone sleeping on the
floor in battered clothes. She was shivering, breathing heavily. Her foot was bleeding
badly and fleas were settled on her wound. Meera bent low and checked, the girl was
hot and down with fever. I was also sweating despite the chilly weather, I was so
carefree before few days. I handled the pressure of website hacking and I thought I
had achieved a lifetime of experience but now there was the responsibility of two
girls on my shoulder. I couldnt back out, they needed me and I had no idea how
was I going to manage it, with no money, no job and no shelter. Meera took off her
shawl and covered the battered girl, she suddenly woke up. She was so frightened
on seeing us. Meera calmed her down and told her we are just friends and we
wouldnt harm her, but she was still uncertain about me so I walked away to make
her accustomed to my presence, I saw some light flashing at the far end of the
corridor, I rushed there.
There was a guy sitting glued to his laptop screen. He was startled to see me
and so was I. I never expected company at this hour. Happy! he said. NO!
Tensed. I retorted. He giggled and explained, My name is Hetav but I am fondly
called Happy! . I could figure out from his accent that he was a Gujarati. You are
a Gujju right? How come you are here? Well, I can ask you the same question,
what are you doing at this hour? You dont look like a thief but yup, I am Amdavadi.
happy announced. I didnt have time to waste on his witty remarks, I briefed him
about the current situation I was in, I had come here on a mission details of which
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I cant expand on currently, I met two girls here both of them need help. I really
need your help in dealing with the situation His carefree expression suddenly
changed to a very mature tensed look. He shut down his laptop and picked up his
bag-pack and was ready to go along with me. I was astonished but I filled him up
with details about Meera and then told about the sleeping girl that we had come
across.
By the time we reached the place where I had left Meera, I had told Happy
everything and he was having hard time digesting everything. We found Meera and
the girl hurdled up together in the corner, laughing and chattering animatedly. I
couldnt understand how they gelled up so quickly. I told her that happy was a friend
and would help us. Meera raised her eyebrows at him. Happy smiled but didnt speak
anything. Meera shifted her attention back to me and updated us that the girls name
was Tranti and she was from Haridwar. She was illiterate and she had been ill-treated
at her house, somebody had tried to rape her and she had run away from her town
and she had no idea how she had reached here. I and Happy were speechless and
we looked at each other, Tranti was looking at us with expectant eyes. I introduced
myself to her and she just nodded not yet ready to trust us. I was thinking of my
sister Krishi. She was so nave and delicate, I was suddenly afraid somebody will use
her or hurt her.
Happy took charge of the situation, We need to find a place to spend the
night. Its very cold here. Lets go towards the field. We all started following Happy,
he was leading us confidently. We walked into the field and went to sleep near a
lonely bench and grassy area, we found two girls sleeping together on the bench.
They had hugged each other and were in quite a tangled position. A guy was siting
below leaning across the bench, his face was tear stricken. It was as if he had been
crying and had drifted off to sleep. We didnt make any noise and settled down
nearby, we all were surprised to find so many people here but we were too tired and
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exhausted. Before I knew I had drifted off to sleep. I dreamt about me fighting
dinosaurs.
When my eyes opened, I could see two pairs of eyes staring at me. I stood up.
The girls sleeping on the bench had woken up, they were identical twins. It took me
some time to register that they were joint. Their bodies were attached to each other.
I knew I stared a little longer at them to make them feel uncomfortable. One of them
asked me, Who are you all??. Hi I am Parthiv, do you live here? The girl further
prodded, Who are these? Are they all your friends? Why are you here?? The second
girl also started shooting questions at me, When are you going to go? Where do
you come from? Hearing their voices, Happy and Meera also woke up. The guy
leaning against the bench also was wide awake now and was surprised to be
surrounded by so many people. Everybodys eyes were on me and I was feeling
highly uncomfortable. I told them that there was a google server here and I had
come to access it. Happy seemed interested and asked me if I was talking about the
google election portal database. I nodded my head slowly feeling tensed about how
had he figured out. I opened my mouth to speak something but he cut me off, So
you are Padhakoo? Oh god, he even knew my digital identity. I was white faced.
Was it he who hacked into the website, was he the trouble maker? My anger towards
him was building up.
Happy could perhaps read my expressions, Parthiv, I was not doing anything
wrong. I was just trying to set things right. I am computer tester. I like to keep myself
updated about the upcoming technologies and I came across the election portal.
We started discussing the technicalities of the website and how we had made
progress. He also had been keeping a check on the google election portal and had
also detected a bug and had tried to catch the hacker, he also knew how I had
scrapped the information from the database. He knew my digital name padhakoo
and thought I was the hacker but now he knew he was wrong and it didnt matter
whoever tampered with the server because now we had set it right. It instantly hit us
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that the same mission had lead us both here, we were both on the same side. It was
as if we both had found long lost friend. Everybody else was confused so we now
tried to explain in the simplest terms why were we there and what we had done,
Happy said he left his home because his family was not so well off and he felt he
was a burden on them. I told them I didnt think much, I just left my home because
I couldnt see something wrong happening right under my nose. I thought I had
breached the security so it was my responsibility to set things right. Meera was
looking at me with appreciative eyes. The two girls couldnt make out most of the
part of the story but still they listened to us attentively.
Meera told the two girls about herself and about what had happened to Tranti
and how they had got here. The two girls were teary eyed and sympathetic. They
told us that they were from Sikkim, they had lost their parents at a very young age
and had been sold off to circus. They had been travelling all over India along with
the circus people. They were fed up with the circus and the work demanded from
them, they were tired of people staring at them. They had run away from the circus
and now they had come here from a couple of days. Till now they had been surviving
on their savings but now they were running out of money and had to look for some
work to fill their stomachs. Meera was kind to them and told them not to worry now,
she asked their names. Hiloni Saloni they spoke in unison. I still hadnt figured
out which was Hiloni and which of them was Saloni. One of them asked me about
the guy leaning across the bench.
We all turned our attention towards him. We thought he was with Hiloni
Saloni but he was a complete stranger. He hadnt shaved since days. His hair were
ruffled. He would looking very handsome had he been well groomed. He seemed to
come from a rich family, his wrist flashed a fastrack watch. He was wearing adidas
jacket. He looked back at us but didnt speak anything. He just got up and went and
sat behind the bench. We could hear him sniffing. Hiloni Saloni went up to him
while rest of us were looking at each other not understanding what was happening.
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There were muffled voices for a while and then complete silence. We had no idea
whether the boy was talking with them or still ignoring. We all were sitting trying to
make out what kind of interaction was happening between Hiloni Saloni and the
rude guy.
I was getting restless. My eyes fell on Tranti, she was sleeping peacefully and
I checked if her fever was still there, but her body temperature was normal and she
was looking so relaxed. She had really faced a lot at such a tender age. Meeras gaze
met mine and we both knew we were thinking the same thing. Happy noticed this
eye contact and immediately butted in, La la laaa laaa laaa. He started to tease
us. I hmphd, and was going to punch him when Hiloni Saloni appeared. The guy
was also walking along with them.
Hiloni Saloni told us the guys story, while he just sat and listened. His name
was Devansh, his parents had separated and he lived with his dad who could offer
him rich gifts but not love. His parents divorce had affected his studies badly and
when he was recovering his girlfriend left him. He was devastated. He ran away from
his home and came here because this was the place he had met his girlfriend for the
first time years ago in some technical event organized here. He was again crying. We
all warmed up towards him and though I couldnt say much, I just patted his back.
Why cant we guys find words in such situation?
We are such a mixed group, everyone has their own set of problems and issues
to tackle. Destiny got us together and now we have to face the situation. All of us
needed money. We needed to find some work and some place to live. Everybody
had left their houses and had nowhere to go. I was missing my mums scolding and
her delicious food. I didnt even remember when I put a morsel of food in my mouth
last. I was very hungry and I asked the others, everyones stomach was growling with
hunger. We walked out of the ground and Hiloni Saloni took us to a spring formed
of a leaking pipe, we all brushed our teeth and got ready. We went to a nearby Dhaba,
we all ate like pigs. Everyone was very hungry, it was as if the hot chapattis were
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vanishing into thin air. When we had finished we all pooled in our savings and paid
the bill. I was accepting the harsh reality of being on my own and the lack of money
and the importance of money in real life was sinking in.
I told everyone that we all were running out of resources, if destiny had got
us together, let us fight the situation together and stick together. Since none of us
had working phones, nor access to internet we had to go and look for work, shelter
and food. We all decided to go into different directions and meet at the Dhaba itself
at night. I was supposed to walk towards the parliament house, Vijay Chowk. We all
separated, I told Meera to take care of herself. Happy started whistling and this time
he really got the kick from me. Happy wasnt sure whether Tranti should be allowed
to go alone but she was gaining back her lost confidence so we let her go.
I began my journey on foot itself. I started walking on the parliament street.
It was quite a deserted place at this hour of the day. I was missing Achyut, Rudra
and Shrishti. There was a bike parked at a little distance from me, a couple was sitting
on the bike and eating ice-cream from the same cone, both taking turns in licking
the cone. I stopped looking at them, I didnt want to make them feel uncomfortable.
I kept on walking, now the sun was almost above my head and I could feel
sweat trickling down my forehead. I saw the Amway building on the other side of
the road but strangely enough there didnt seem to be any crowd around, may be it
was shut down for the day. I walked ahead to find a bunch of cafes, there was caf
coffee day, there was a chocolate room, there was Shivas caf, there was even a mac
Donalds but that was still under construction. I glanced inside the food joints, there
were almost deserted. I didnt even have enough money to go inside any of the
restaurants right now. This was the first time I had felt the shortage of money. I
walked ahead towards a church.
The large cross seemed to be like a welcoming sign for me, so I went inside.
The inside of the church sanctuary was a different life entirely. I didnt visit religious
places frequently but they say that these places have a different vibration, I could
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feel it. There were so many benches, I sat down staring at the interior. The crucified
figure of Christ was in the centre of the stage, the walls were high and sparkling
clean. I found a hymn book lying nearby. I flipped through its pages. I closed my
eyes, thanked god for all that he had given me and I apologised for all the mistakes
I had done, how I had left my parents and come here without thinking about the
consequences. I realised I had been sitting there for quite some time, I had to
proceed to my task of looking for work. I was leaving the premises when some
mother and child entered the church, the mother was wearing a cross. A statement
of faith.
I walked ahead on the lane, there seemed to be no commercial area ahead, no
such offices where I could seek a job. There was a police station, with battered walls.
It was very old. A guard was sitting outside, he had dozed off. There were a couple
of dusty buildings around. May be they were connected to the police station. Just a
few metres away from the bank there was a bank. I noticed how the scenario
completely changed. The bank was also old but it was well maintained. The security
guards were alert. I had not come across police station and bank placed strategically
so close. Time was running and I hadnt found a single place to spend the night, nor
somewhere to live temporarily. I kept walking.
There was a small masjid. The environment here was completely different
from that near the church, the dressing style of the people was different. People were
washing their hands and feet and covering their heads before entering the masjid.
There was a coconut seller, people bought roses and other offerings before going
inside. The masjid was the first place where I saw some crowd otherwise rest of the
places I had so far come across were deserted. It was already evening and I was
getting late but still I went inside the masjid also, I washed myself clean. Now it hit
me that I hadnt even had bath since a couple of days. I went inside, there were
different entrances for men and women. I paid my homage and prayed for the
wellbeing of Meera and Tranti. I came out and saw a young girl selling incense sticks.
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My minded drifted to Krishi. When I was at home I used to tease Krishi as if the
only aim of my life was to make her life hell, but now I missed her so badly. She
would even wake up in the middle of night and make soupy noodles for me if I was
hungry. She was so sweet with me. I was missing her badly. This was not a posh area
so seeking a job from this area was of no use.
I asked a localite where I could find any cheap inn nearby. He told me to walk
straight towards the Patel Chowk and ask somebody there. I walked to Patel Chowk,
it was already getting late, and I had to still walk back to the Dhaba. Patel Chowk
was completely different area then the ones I had been so far wandering across. It
was a big circle. There was a lot of traffic there. It was the peak time of people
returning home from work so the two wheelers crowded the road. One road headed
towards the city area and the other road headed towards the highway. I couldnt go
any further, I was tired and hungry and it wouldnt be safe to go on the deserted
road I had come from any later. I still couldnt see any places of my interest within
my eye sight. I had completely wasted the day. Not a single productive step, I was
going to end up begging if this continued.
I headed back to the Dhaba where we had decided to gather, hoping at least
somebody would have found some place or job. I walked quickly. The masjid was
now all lighted and there was quite a crowd of people hanging around. I walked
towards the bank, which was now closed. The police station was as deserted as it
had been in the morning. I rushed towards the church. Some church bells were
ringing. I glanced inside but couldnt stop. I quickened my steps. I reached those
small cafes which were now crowded with people. Like beggars people were standing
outside. It was getting cold. I reached the deserted piece of road. There wasnt a
single soul in sight. I was now a little afraid but I kept walking.
I reached the Dhaba, everybody had already arrived. They seemed to be
tensed because I was late. They had already ordered food, so we all sat awaiting our
order. We didnt talk or discuss anything there because there were few other people
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there. We all ate in silence, I was so hungry. After dinner we all again went to the
field, Hiloni Saloni showed us the way inside through a broken hedge. We went to
the bench where we had spent the night, I stole a glance at Meera. I wanted to know
if she was doing okay. Happy was discussing something with Devansh so I was saved
from his teasing.
We piled down near the lonely bench. First of all Tranti shared her
experiences of the day with us. She had no idea which way she had gone, but she
told us that it was a slum area. There was a market of flower sellers who sold all
kinds of flowers for offering at the temples, for gifting in villages. They all were poor,
they couldnt help us. Tranti said we should help them. They were working very hard
to make garlands and bouquets. Tranti was such an angelic figure, she didnt have
proper clothes to wear but still she was worried about the flower sellers. She said she
had felt the scorching heat and she nearly died of hunger. There was a small dirty
bakery also where delicious smelling bread was being baked. She climbed up the
bakery stares but the owner chased her away. She even saw a flour mill. She told us
all the minute details of each shop or each person she had seen, but she couldnt
find any work or any inn.
Hiloni Saloni ddnt prefer to go out because people kept staring at them, but
today they had wrapped themselves in Meeras shawl and gone towards the Palika
bazaar area. They didnt enter the bazaar, they knew about it being known for big
bargains and cheating. They went towards residential area looking for some house
for rent or some pg room. They didnt find any such place. Hiloni Saloni briefly
explained where all they had roamed. There were lot of vegetable sellers there and
even few provisional stores if we needed any groceries. They had visited two temples
and they filled their stomachs with the Prasad itself. We all could at least fill our
stomachs by the Prasad offered but that was just a temporary solution.
I wanted to know where had Meera gone and what had she found out but she
was silent and looked sad and tired. She shouldnt be giving so much stress to herself.
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It was a period of her life where she had to remain happy and tension free but I
couldnt do anything to relieve her from all this. I was feeling helpless. She didnt
share her experiences of the day instead she prompted Devansh to tell about his day.
Devansh had travelled on the Tolstoy road. He had looked for many hotels
and inns. He had enquired the prices at about ten different places. He went to cheap
guests houses, hotels, inns and the cheapest he found was a masonic lodge on the
Tolstoy road. He confessed that he was sitting in a park since evening. His eyes
already told that he had cried a lot. He didnt speak much and just sat back. Nobody
prodded him for details, I could see Meeras lips curving downwards.
It was my turn to retell my days events. I felt bad that I hadnt done anything.
I ddnt have anything substantial to share with them. I just briefly explained them
how I had passed my day. They must have expected me to work some wonders
because everybody gave me dejected expressions by the time I finished. I looked at
Meera for her to tell about her day. Happy caught me, Meera, tell us about your
day, till then Parthiv will feel restless He had to tease me at every chance he got.
Meera had gone to Dr. RML hospital. She got a check-up and she was in a
position now where she couldnt abort the child, she had to take it through and give
birth to the child, as such she didnt want to kill the child but she was afraid of how
she would survive as a single mother. The baby was perfectly normal and healthy.
She need not even worry about her health. She even brought medicines for Tranti
and she even took the date for the next follow up. She said that she walked back
from the hospital, and came across a school. Tears welled up in her eyes seeing the
kids. She broke down. Even though we all were disappointed that she hadnt also
been able to make any positive progress we were sympathetic towards her sorrow
and tried to console her. She wiped away her tears and looked at us bravely, smiling
warmly at us. She looked at Happy now. Happy was our only hope. I was feeling so
bad and little helpless that I couldnt help Meera. I was not in a position to even
support myself currently.
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Happy had walked to an area where there were few factories. He had tried to
contact each factory owner seeking for work. He wasnt even allowed to enter in a
few factories, he had to argue and plead the guard. He faced disappointment in most
of the factories, they didnt have any sort of vacancies. At one place he found work
for the day, it was simple data entry work which didnt pay enough but the only good
thing was that they gave him address of an advertisement agency which ran political
campaigns. This was now our only ray of hope.
We still had to spend the night on the field only. Tomorrow we will have to
vacant it early because again Anna Hazares fast will be conducted and people will
come in large numbers. We pooled in our money and we had enough to last us for
a day or two more. Devansh supplied little extra cash. He seemed too lost in his own
world. We all kept our money safely in Devanshs bag and tucked it under the bench
and all of said good night and slept. I was asleep before I could even contemplate
about the days events.
Next morning everybody was up and active, we all went to the tap where we
had washed ourselves previous day and freshened up. We walked to the Dhaba but
it was still closed so we had to do without food. Devansh was going to take the girls
to the masonic lodge he had seen the previous day while I was going to accompany
Happy to the advertisement agency. We both were nervous. We were inexperienced
and we didnt have any documents also along with us. We didnt have any hope of
acquiring any proper job but everybodys hopes were on us. We bade them good bye
and left for the ad agency, fumbling with the address.
We walked for about half a kilometre and from there we took a bus. The ad
agency was in Nalanda Society, nearby there was a slum area. We got down from the
bus and the lane to the office was crowded with cows and buffaloes. We had to very
carefully find a way through. The road was muddy and there was cow dung lying
everywhere. Finally I spotted the Intelectuva Ad Agency sign board from a
distance. It appeared to be an old building from the architectural style but they had
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applied a new plaster and it was the only flashy building among the surrounding
dusty complexes. There were many buildings nearby, some were offices and other
seemed residential buildings. May be they were the quarters assigned to the
employees.
The signs painted on the wall of the building told us that the ad agency was
on the 6
th
floor. We had to climb the stairs. There was a lift but too many people
waiting for it, so we decided to climb the stairs. We walked inside the ad agency and
the interior was modern and very different. We had to remove our footwear outside
itself. There was a large poster on the wall next to the entrance which was featuring
their clients and past work. They must be having a lot of work, they had a lot to
show. The walls were light purple and white. There were three glasses offices and I
could see two air conditioners in each office. Most of the employees were glued to
their computer screen wearing headphones. There was a small office with a fridge,
water cooler and a coffee machine. A washroom was there in the corner. The office
was very clean and sparkling. A lady in her mid-thirties was sitting at the information
desk. She greeted us with a frown. We told her that we wanted to meet the manager.
She asked us, What is the time of the appointment given to you? What are your
names? I looked at Happy and he looked back at me. We hadnt taken any
appointment. Mam, we have been sent by Mr.Shah. We need to see the manager
immediately to discuss important issue. I told the lady. Happy was confused but
the expressions on the ladys face changed. There was no Mr.Shah, I had just spoken
the name that randomly came to mind.
We were asked to wait for a few minutes. Happy pulled me and started
scolding me, What are you blabbering? We will not even get a chance to meet the
manager? How can you speak such nonsense? I was also feeling that I shouldnt
have cooked up such story but before we can plan out how to clear the mess we
were called inside. Manager was quite young and looked smart, I could see little
tummy rising up. He seemed to be too much engrossed in work, his desk was full of
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files and gadgets. He was attending two calls simultaneously. The pen stand lying on
the desk read his name, Chirag Sheth. He stood up and extended his hand for a
hand shake. We introduced ourselves, Parthiv Hetav The manager asked us to
sit. We both were falling short of words. I initiated the conversation, Sir, we are
computer engineers. We have come here through a reference, we are seeking some
work. The manager nodded his head slowly as if in deep thought, We dont usually
recruit people like this, but since you have come through reference lets see what
we can do. He made a couple on calls on the intercom. A very beautiful girl came
into the office. She was wearing sleeveless kurta and jeans. I presumed her to be the
secretary. The manager told that she was the HR manager and she would take our
interviews and tests. We thanked the manager and proceeded to follow the HR to
her office. Happy breathed a sigh of relief as we came out of the managers office.
The HR simply had a desk to herself. She signalled us to sit, she didnt even
utter a single word. She gave us some test sheets and told me to sit on another table
away from Happy. I had to borrow her pen. I sat down and stared at my question
set. It was just the basics, but there were a few questions on certain techniques which
I hadnt heard. I looked at happy, he was scribbling hard on the page. He had
completed his engineering, I was bound to struggle. I wouldnt be selected. I knew
it.
After half an hour I was done with my paper, I had written whatever I knew,
I didnt want to write long tales or fibs. I was sitting idle, seeing everyone working
around. There werent too many people, they must be in need of new staff thats
why they allowed us to appear for this written test. There was bespectacled tall guy
sitting on the desk I was sitting. He was a designer, he was making banners. He was
working so swiftly. Then there was another woman, she must also be in the design
committee because she was also playing with the colours and fonts. I couldnt make
out much of what she was doing because her computer screen wasnt exactly visible
to me.
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Happy took one full hour to finish with his test, then HR manager took our
papers to the manager and discussed a few things with him, then we were taken to
the small office with refrigerator and coffee machine. She introduced herself as
Meghal. She told us that Intelectuva had lot of work at hand but they hired very few
chosen people, they had bought offices on another floor of the building and they
were going to very soon start with the recruitment process. She asked us about our
interests and capabilities. She asked us about our achievements and tools and
technologies we were familiar with. I didnt bluff and gave prim to the point answers.
I told her about the websites I had built and the freelancing work I had done. She
asked a few details which I provided. She asked Happy about his past work
experience, Happy had one year experience as a tester and ethical hacker. She looked
impressed.
She told us that Intelectuva ran campaigns for different political parties. They
made TV spots, advertisements, banners, short films, publicised via social media and
several other things. In short, like event managers they were election managers. They
had to make sure their political party got the maximum share of votes, they had a
very big job. I never knew that such efforts were put behind winning of any election.
Just like interior designers design our houses and tell us where to put what, their job
was to guide the politicians in each step that they took. Intelectuva was going to new
designers, artists, web developers, programmers, models and lot of staff in the
coming days.
I and Happy exchanged glances, we knew this opportunity we couldnt let go
from our hands. We could secure jobs for all our friends. I was delighted that they
needed lot of people, which meant that for a start they would certainly take us in
temporarily even if we werent good. Just as I had predicted, she told that on the
basis of our past work, she would offer us work but according to their company
policy the first week would be considered training period and they would not pay
the salary for first month. It would be kept as security deposit. We were stumped.
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We could no way survive without income for a month. The first cheque would be
handed over to us at the end of the second month.
I knew they wouldnt change their company policy for us. We were seeing
dreams of job opportunities for all our friends but here I could see our job also going
away right from our hands. I was feeling insecure and tensed once again, finding
work was not so easy these days. She was still briefing about company policies but
then she said something that just made my lips curve into a smile. She informed us,
Your starting salary will be ten thousand. You will be living in the company quarters
which is the residential building right next to this building. Your food will be
sponsored by the company itself. The canteen is on the second floor. Your working
hours will be morning nine to evening eight. You can take one hour lunch break in
between and fifteen minutes tea break in the afternoon at your will. Every week you
will be attending the general meeting. You have to submit your work report to me
once a fortnight and report to your guide every single day. If you have any doubts
you can ask me.
Food and shelter free of cost! I wanted to ask if they would provide job to
our friends also but I didnt have the guts. Happy asked her, Would you consider
giving work to 4 of our friends? They are qualified enough. She was surprised at
the straightforwardness but she agreed to at least see if she could find some work
for our friends because she was impressed by our test papers and past achievements.
She told us to go and meet the manager, he would brief us on our work and duties.
We both were super excited. We had talked with the HR manager, we will be
bringing all our friends tomorrow morning and we would be beginning work from
tomorrow only. We rushed to managers office. He told us that they had a team of
people who designed the concepts. They were called thinkers. One of the thinker
would be our mentor. He would guide us. Hetavs duty was to make apps and games
for different politicians. I had to make websites for the political parties. I never knew
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I would get work which I would love to do. We had to meet our mentor tomorrow
morning.
It was late afternoon, my stomach was growling. I knew Happy was also
hungry. We finished our meeting with the manager, smiled at the frowning secretary
and left the office. We both were so excited and were speaking at the same time. We
didnt stop to eat anything but straightaway went to the bus stop. While we were
waiting for the bus we discussed the question paper and what we felt about the
company. We hadnt seen any clients yet but the poster in the office had names of
big political parties. We caught our bus and I barely had enough money for the ticket.
On getting down from the bus we were so tired but still we were running
towards the lodge, we wanted to deliver the good news to them quickly. We didnt
even know which room they were in. We barged inside the old unkempt building
and asked for joint twin sisters. The receptionist would have remembered them
without fail. We were told they were in the general room on second floor. By the
time we reached the second floor we were out of breathe.
I knocked the door, they all were hurdled up inside. Tranti was teaching them
how to make paper bags and they all had made paper bags of various sizes and shapes
to sell. I was impressed. Happy patted Trantis back and told her to teach him also.
Tranti was so happy that she could do something. Devansh asked us about what
happened at the office and we told about everything. Everybody was super excited
but I could Trantis face falling. She knew she wouldnt be of any help there but I
assured her to find something she could do. Everybody was very happy and couldnt
believe that finally something right was happening to us.
Hiloni Saloni gave me and Happy a cup of noodles each, all of them had also
eaten just noodles for lunch. They had cooked it in a kettle provided in the hotel
room. They all had finally had bath and were looking smart. I and happy also turn
by turn went to the small bathroom and had a shower and I wore the only spare pair
of clothing that I had luckily brought along with. I could see that Meera and others
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had even washed their clothes and left them to dry in the balcony. I didnt have any
soap nor did I know how to wash clothes. I was again realising importance of my
family, I was incapable of living an independent life yet but I had no alternative. I
had chosen this path.
We talked about the company, about the work, what all job openings were
there, we described the scenario. We told them not to be nervous or afraid, the HR
manager was good natured and patient. We told them about the work we were
supposed to do. Everybody listened to our advice trying to grab everything they
could. We decided on clothes they will wear the next day, not that we had much
choice.
We talked, made paper bags till night and then went to the mess to eat. They
provided food at cheap rates but the quality of food was pathetic. The vegetables
was mere water slurry and the chapattis were uncooked dough. We just gobbled the
food anyhow and went back to our room. Meera was looking weaker to me today.
We all decided to sleep early so that we would wake up fresh tomorrow. I somehow
couldnt catch sleep. My mind was in a turmoil, what was I doing? Where was my
life leading me to? There were so many questions and no answers at all. I pushed all
the thoughts out of my mind and went to sleep.
Next morning was a complete chaos, everybody was running here and there.
There was just one bathroom and everyone wanted to bath. I and happy brushed
and simply changed clothes. I combed my hair after ages perhaps. The moment I
finished the task, happy came and ruffled them. I ran behind him all over the room
jumping up and down the bed. Everybody else was shouting at us because we were
messing their clothes and creating havoc.
Somehow all of us got ready and we ate some chips and biscuits which these
people must have brought along with the noodles previous day. We rushed to the
bus stop. We had to wait for fifteen long minutes for the bus. It was also crowded
and we had to stand and go. I found Meera a place to sit and Happy again whistled
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his La la la laaa tune. That guy! I shot a dirty look at him and Meera giggled. Happy
and Meera hi-fived, they both can team up to tease me anytime. We all got down at
the office. We had to again cross the slum area to reach the office. There would be
some another lane to go to the office. I would look for it in the evening.
Devansh was helping Hiloni Saloni to walk and Meera was holding Trantis hand.
We reached the office building, climbed up the stairs. Everybody was in awe of the
interiors. I and Hetav had to go to meet the manager, who was supposed to
introduce us to the thinker who would be mentoring us. Rest of them were supposed
to go to the HRs office. We wished them luck and separated. Our Mentor was
Purvang Rajput, He was a jolly man. I had expected the thinkers to be old serious
typical guys but this person was so fun loving and he talked to us very nicely. He
helped us both get started. We were assigned a computer each. Hetav was supposed
to make an app for Narendra Modi. He had to attend a meeting with the game
developers who would help him chalk out a plan for a game. He had to build a game
for Anna Hazare. He was given all the details of the app. It was just fifteen minutes
we had entered the office and he was already loaded with work.
I was supposed to develop the website for Anna Hazare. I was given very
vague brief. I had to work out the other details myself. No web development tools
were installed on the pc assigned to me. I had to do it myself. I set to work. Before
I knew it was lunch time. Time was running swiftly. I was really enjoying working,
there was an air conditioner in our cabin. There was very nice music playing in the
background. A perfect environment to work. I was going to give my hundred
percent to whatever work was assigned to me.
We all got together at lunch time. All of them looked very tired and sad. I and
hetav were worried that they didnt give them any work. They also didnt break the
sad news to us. All of them asked us about our day. We briefed them and asked
about their interviews. They all had straight faces and nobody was speaking. I knew
that if this company was working for congress, BJP and such big politicians they
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wouldnt definitely hire anybody just like that. WE ALL GOT HIRED they all
chorused and I and Hetav were jolted back from our thoughts, really stunned. We
all hugged each other, it was as if temporarily all our problems were solved. We had
work, food and shelter.
I was eager to know what kind of work they all were supposed to do. Devansh
had to update the Facebook pages of various parties. He had to keep posting articles,
videos and memes on different social networking sites. His job was to create quizzes
and make sure that people keep talking about the political parties and be aware of
what the political parties are doing for them. He was already assigned a desk in the
new office. He had to make sure his posts reached maximum people. The HR
manager would guide him and he had to report to her directly. He said the job
looked simple but it was tedious. His salary was seven thousand. He said that back
home he would give away donations of seven thousand to non-governmental
organizations and now here he had to work hard for twelve hours a day to earn those
seven thousand but still he would give it his best.
Hiloni Saloni were least interested in politics and they didnt even know
anything about the current scenario but still Meghal, the HR manager found
appropriate job for them. They were supposed to call and send smses. There were
three to four mobile phones given to them. They were provided with lists of
numbers. They had to call all the numbers and ask them to vote for a particular
candidate. While Hiloni handled the phonic conversations, Saloni had to send smses
to another list of numbers she was provided with. They had already started working
and already called around 50 people, some people dont even here. Some answer
them rudely, others even speak swear words. These were databases they had
probably purchased from different telephonic operators. One thing that Hiloni had
observed was that after every 20-25 numbers that they call, there is a number of
someone from the office itself. This is to check whether Hiloni Saloni are making
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the calls or not. The feeling that we have now become a part of the dirty politics was
sinking in.
Politicians were spending money like this to make calls to people and
convince them to vote. May be some people felt special that they were being called
and their vote mattered and their opinions would change. The people of ad agency
were leaving no stone unturned to seek majority of votes. The most challenging
thing was that they were running campaigns for different political parties at the same.
Whichever political party wins it would be their victory too. This is the reason they
could afford to pay us all a decent amount of starting salary.
Meera had to do some office work and write postcards for villagers, she
explained that the strategy was to send such handwritten cards to the
underdeveloped areas so that they feel they are very special and Modi himself has
written the postcard seeking the votes. Many residents of the city were sent different
kinds of cards, Meera had to deal with the sending of cards, ensuring the delivery,
packing them and rest of the formalities. Meera told us that this ad agency majorly
was working for BJP. They were finding evidence to highlight against the congress.
They were even making faking news about other political parties.
Tranti had got to act as extra in the short films and advertisements that they
made for the political parties. Tranti was very happy. She had never ever dreamt in
her life that she would become model. We all laughed that she called getting such
roles modelling but we were happy that she was happy. We all would move in to the
employee quarters tomorrow.
We finished our lunch and got back to work. There was so much work to do
that where and how time passed none of us realised when it was already time to
leave. We all were so tired by the time we left the office that we didnt speak anything
till we reached the dhaba and ate to our stomachs fill. We shared the happenings of
the day and each others experiences. We all were too tired so we slept tight and next
morning again we were shouting on top of our voices, getting ready and we checked
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out of the lodge. We didnt have much luggage with us. We were supposed to get
settled at the quarter today.
We had a very busy day. We all kept working throughout the day, there was
no time to fool around. We all had our responsibilities and deadlines. This became
our routine and days started passing quickly. We were not on a very high post but
whatever the work was assigned to all of us was such that we were always tuned to
the latest happenings and we were updated all the office gossips. We all had different
desks and so we shared with each other whatever information and rumours reached
our ears and there were a lot of them.
Political parties threw away money like water, they didnt want to leave any
stone unturned to win. Elections were direct face off, there were so many mediums
to campaign. Ad agency played a very important role, there was a rush of
advertisements and the best posters. There was lot of pressure for creative output
and to connect with a large audience.
BJP was totally dependent on Narendra Modi, they were trying to brand
Narendra Modi. There were so many Modi goodies being circulated in the market.
We kept on giving press notes and kept updating the website about the Modi
products encouraging public to display that they were Modi supporters. When Modi
made some rude remark in his speech, we had to cover up. They used him as a
signifier, compared him with Vivekananda. Images of Modi and Vivekananda were
juxtaposed together and posted all over the internet. It was to make people think
that Modi followed the principles of Swami Vivekananda and was trying to fulfil
Vivekanandas dreams. I even had to urgently build a website showing Vivekanand
thoughts. It was proclaimed that these quotes inspired Modi and he followed them.
Add agency had to create entirely different image for Modi. It was a constant effort
to keep building his fan followers.
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Another day he sent some guy to follow some girl and the other agencies took
this news article, blew it and started spreading rumours. We had to use several
damage control strategies to rebuild Modis image and make the fan club powerful.
Amidst all the work, time was passing quickly. Before long I got the first
cheque of my hands in my hands. We all arent going to forget the day for a long
time. We all went to mac donalds and celebrated. All those who didnt have phones
bought one for them. We all got sim cards of the same operator. Destiny had got us
together but we were like a family now.
I was missing my family all the more. I had informed Shrishti not to worry
about me and she had managed to handle the situation at my place. My
disappearance had finally given Rudra a reason to talk with Shrishti and they were
now seeing each other. I told shrishti that I would keep her updated about my life
and she kept me informed about whatever was happening at my place. Rudra and
Achyut were also worried and angry that I didnt tell them but shrishti had dealt with
that matter and now once in a while I just called Shrishti.
I and Happy were very close friends now, his jolly attitude and sense of
humour made everyone forget their sorrows and we all remained cheerful despite
the work pressures. Happy was promoted to the position of senior android
developer and he was so good at it. He would always let me try his game first and
we had a great time testing and debugging. My and Meeras friendship was also
blossoming. She was doing very well and we took her to the hospital for regular
check-ups. The baby was healthy and fine. I was enjoying her company more and
more now. Devansh was recovering from his heart break and now he no longer
remained sullen. He was completely a different person, friendlier. Hiloni Saloni were
given different duties and they were enjoying working. Tranti had progressed a lot,
her patience and hard work was paying off. After a few sleepless nights with the help
of Meera, she had managed to learn to read and write. I was amazed by her progress.
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Unlike other companies there was no office politics here, everybody was
united. Everybody worked together and helped each other, and everybody was
hardworking also. The reason was the lucrative salary they offered. They could
afford to pay so high because the political parties were paying them very huge
amounts to cover up each negative thing. We all were into distributed areas and got
less time to interact during the office hours but we made up during the weekends.
We had accepted our new way of life and adjusted to it.
I was just cleaning up my desk after the days work when my phone rang, it
was a call from my landline number. I panicked. I picked up, nobody spoke. I could
hear my mothers sniffs. Shrishti had naturally told everything to mum and given my
number also, I didnt have anything to say now. Mummy, I am sorry, I mumbled.
Parthiv, come back soon beta, thats all she could manage to speak. I felt so guilty
for leaving my house and family without informing them. I told her that I had found
very good friends and I was doing okay. I told her not to worry about me and our
conversation went on for an hour. I was feeling so relaxed after talking to her, at
least I knew my family was supporting my decision.
Owing to our responsibilities we knew a lot of office gossip. Meera was
telling me just other day that Rahul Gandhi had been found in uncomfortable
position with some girl but these news were suppressed because of his popularity
and lot of people were bribed. It made my blood boil hearing all such stuff about
politicians, I came across this sort of information every other day. They thought they
had money so they could buy and sell anybody, they could break any rules and live
the way they wanted to. Politics was indeed a very dirty game, politicians posed to
be idealistic figures but the reality was entirely different. It was us who gave them a
face which the citizens saw.
Happy and I were in a meeting with the BJP, we had to give a new look to
their website and they were changing their promotional strategies. We were not
thrilled in meeting any politicians any more, we had understood over time that they
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were no celebrities or great figures. They were being made great, they were being
branded. During the meeting we just overheard a phonic conversation where in the
politician gave orders to kill a couple of men, probably they were not providing some
information they wanted. I was shocked. I thought it just happened in movies but
he so heartlessly ordered the men to be killed whatsoever the reason may be. My
HR manager, Meghal saw the change of expressions on my face and after the
meeting she explained me not to take such things seriously because I would have to
encounter several such situations in future. I have to get accustomed to the fact that
this was their way of life. All that mattered to them was power, position and money.
They could do anything in the world for power, position and money.
Such matters kept occurring every other day, even the press conferences were
staged and all the interviews were pre-planned. Our companys thinking team sent
the questions to be asked in the interview and their answers. All their speeches were
written by the writers and editorial team of the ad agency. We were now used to
behaviour of politicians and their mind set. The dirtiest rumours about them also
didnt surprise us anymore.
With each passing day my aggression and frustration was increasing. I had left
my house to fight against corruption and here I had landed up working for the
corrupt people. The more I found out about these politicians and their dirty politics
the more agitated I got. I was also feeling helpless that I couldnt do anything about
it. When in reality Rahul and Narendra look different, I could see that they all are
the same. They are masks, masks, masks. No human face inside.

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Chapter 3
My blood was boiling, I wanted to set things right anyhow. How could I
tolerate such things? He had left his home, his family, his studies every single thing
for stopping corruption. I discussed everything with Hetav, I could see Hetav was
also feeling the same. We wanted to set things right but we had no alternative apart
from doing the work that the ad agency demanded from them, whether it was
ethically correct or not.
Now I used to talk to family members on regular basis, they knew where I
was and what I was doing. I took their advice and missed them a lot, my longing to
go home was increasing but I had signed a contract with the ad agency so I couldnt
leave. I had promised myself that I would take care of Meera, so I didnt want to run
away at this stage.
I and Hetav kept a constant watch on the google election portal, we wanted
to make sure that nobody was tampering with it, once breeched security could again
be easily manipulated. I and Hetav could now understand that the news published
on the google election portal and all over the internet was all fake, it was all that the
various add agencies created. It was a completely false image of the political parties
which they wanted the world to see. One night I suddenly got a brain wave, I shared
my thoughts with Hetav who readily agreed to go forth and support his plan. I
decided to fish up the correct news which were supplied to the company by the news
company who were then in return paid to manipulate the news before telecasting
them. It was very easy, thanks to the contacts built in the company in the past
months. Now the plan was to anonymously post these news articles on the election
portal website.
Hetav and I both had enough friends to help us execute their plan, now what
we had decided was that we would post the real news instead of the faking news on
the portal on behalf of intellectuva ad agency. I had access to all the companys
resources and I had decided to execute our plan after the office hours. We told rest
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of the gang also what we were going to do and how dangerous it was, everybody
decided to support us and try and keep their eyes and ears open for the latest gossip
and any new information that came to them.
For the next whole week I and Hetav just collected all the news information
which was true, we checked and rechecked the authenticity and then prepared their
articles to be posted, Devansh helped by making videos to demonstrate the real news
and then we decided to put our plan into action and instead of posting the fake news
as modified the ad agency we posted the real news with the proofs we had gathered.
For a day or two, people hardly noticed. Hetav kept a check on the analytics of the
website but we felt people were not really reading and visiting this website that often,
we needed a bigger platform or at least we needed to divert peoples attention to this
website. Now Hiloni Salonis help was seeked and whomsoever they called or
messaged, they asked to visit the election portal and read the articles and access the
real information portrayed. This also didnt make major difference in the popularity.
Devansh also played his part by updating via face book then gradually the views
started increasing, peoples interest grew and everybody started viewing the videos
and reading and posting comments on the articles. The forum started building.
Meanwhile investigations were started at Intelectuva to find out who these
people were, there was a constant pressure on the news agencies to find out about
these team who posted the videos. I had very good relations with the news agencies
that were having tie up with Intelectuva so they didnt reveal the details and tried to
curb the investigations initiated by the ad agency but it was sure that they wouldnt
be able to hold it for long.
The work load was now double, we had to work hard doing the office work
and meet deadlines and they stayed after the office hours, collecting all the news,
investigating and building the proper stories. On top of it, Meeras health was
deteriorating and she wasnt doing well these days, she had to be taken to the doctor
on regular basis. We divided our responsibilities and took turns to take care of her,
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I was too worried about her. The doctor said that such things happened during the
gestation period, the baby was healthy. We all were excited and eagerly awaiting the
baby. Meera was very happy that we had now become like a closely knit family and
we all kept on encouraging her for taking such a brave decision and being ready to
give birth to the baby instead of getting him aborted.
All our efforts finally paid off and after over a week we had over a million views on
their articles and videos. Stories about our posts were now featured in the
newspaper. We had become a trending topic on twitter.
I was working at his code when he was called in managers office, I was
nervous and heart in my heart I knew I was caught. When I entered the office, I was
shivering, all my other friends were already present there. Now it was crystal clear
we were caught. They had found out that they were responsible for the articles and
updates which were destroying the political parties images. Would they jail us?
Manager was storming across the office in anger, he just couldnt understand why
we did all this. We told him that our objective was just to make sure that the correct
information reached the people and they made the right decision and voted for the
right candidate, we didnt like to elect and re-elect the corrupt ministers and
candidates again and again.
If we wanted development in India, if well wanted to see India as the super
power we all had to make our contribution and play our role in shaping the future,
we all were just trying to put a lot of efforts, and we didnt care if he turned us to
the police for violating the rules of the company because we knew what we were
doing is right. I could see the manager melting, his expressions were now not so
harsh. He stopped pacing across the room and sat down and started thinking of what
punishment to give us. He told us, There is no way I cant accept such behaviour,
you have no idea how much loss our company has incurred because of your stupid
acts. I understand that what you have done is good for the country but there are lot
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of people above me so I cannot neglect your mistakes. I will not hand you over to
the police but yes you will have to immediately resign.
Our game was up, we had to pack up our bags and leave. I was white faced
and sweat was trickling down my cheeks. At least he was not handing us over to the
police, but still leaving the company meant we had nowhere to go and we would
have to stop our venture of revealing the truth. We all had no choice but to leave
the company premises immediately.
I was sitting on the floor of the masonic lodge, where we had to move back
to and I was thinking that we were back to where we had started, again we had no
job and no shelter. We had no idea what to do and where to go, but at least we had
enough money to take us through this time also. More importantly we were together
and determined to complete what we had started. We had been frustrated since a
long time and now was our chance to channelize our frustration.
We had been discussing what our next step should be but we were not getting
anywhere, this was leading us nowhere. By simply posting real stories was not the
solution to our problem. People would vote for one or the other party so corruption
was bound to prevail because everybody was the same. Hetav explained to us, We
couldnt back out at this stage, this was no time to remain hidden. We should show
ourselves and be brave enough to face the consequences. Meera also supported
him, Let us start our own political party. I couldnt believe that they could so easily
take such big decisions, how can we start a new political party? I also wanted to do
whatever it took to unmask all the politicians, but starting our own political party
was just not that easy as it seemed.
After a lot of discussion also we had not reached to any conclusion. We were
all into different minds, we were constantly getting notifications. There was a lot of
traffic on our website and we didnt know what to do. Devansh worked out a middle
way for us! It just took him a few phone calls to make the arrangements.
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We were now the campaigning monitors and formulating partners of AAM


AADMI PARTY, Devansh contacted a few trustworthy supporters of Anna
Hazare, and then revealed the facts that we were the ones responsible for the news
and all the outbursts on google portal, he convinced them and we were called for a
short meeting. I and Devansh went and dealt with the formalities and other issues.
We even met Anna Hazare and he complimented us on showing such bravery.
We were now starting a new political venture and coming out in the open.
We would now give voice to the common man who is being cheated, terrorized and
looted by all of the current political parties. Anna Hazare had just made efforts to
get a bill passed. Now we wanted to give power to the people, change the culture of
corrupt politics, promote transparency and pursue grass roots democracy. We had
to take this responsibility on our shoulders instead of just blaming the other political
parties. We were all afraid but yet excited.
Everything was happening very fast, the elections were fast approaching so
we had to formulate everything instantly. Now everything was open, everybody
knew it was us who had been posting the news and now we had double the support
of people. Various rallies were organized. We kept the young India tuned with us by
remaining active on the social websites.
We organized entire chart of how to attack each masked politician, the first
challenging video was prepared which asked
can we afford one more price hike?
Modi ji, we need an answer.
Did we give our vote to these guys...
To protect the interest of Ambani.
For BJP & Congress, its all about money and power.
For us, its a matter of life.
STAND UP INDIA.
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This triggered the mass and it was just the beginning, we held google
hangouts, public meetings and tried to bring out peoples voices. We gave
opportunity to everybody to express their opinions. This kept everybody involved,
the polls indicated that the chances of our victory were increasing and our hopes
were building up. This was lot of hard work, with every passing day the
responsibilities increased.
My dad also called me and supported me fully, I was astonished. I had the
support of my family. All my friends back at home were fully promoting our political
party and they were all charged up and doing all that they could to get us as much as
public support they could.
The day of elections had arrived and this time the entire process was to be
conducted on the election portal so the results would be displayed within 24 hours.
Election Day meant we had a lot of duties and tasks to run, we were all frantically
working, skipping meals. Meera suddenly started feeling dizzy and she fell down, I
and Hetav rushed off to the hospital. Everybody else couldnt leave the office
because there was a lot of work to be done. We got her admitted, she couldnt
breathe. She was screaming in pain. Injections were given to her and after two hours
of struggle finally she was the mother of a baby boy, when I and Hetav took him in
our arms, we forgot all our worries. Meeras face was also radiant despite of weakness
on seeing the baby boy. He was so delicate, cute and all his features resembled to
those of Meera. He had exactly the same eyes. His skin complexion was very fair and
he hardly had any hair. Amongst all the hustle bustle of the elections also these
moments were so heart capturing and we all knew that the first look of the baby
would stay in our mind forever. We would never forget the happiness we
experienced on seeing him. I stayed with him and Meera and sent Hetav to the office
so that the others could come here to see the baby. I was so much into love with
him. I just couldnt take off my eyes, looking at him brought so much peace and
serenity.
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The day passed swiftly with the hustle bustle of the election and then the joy
of the new member in our family. We didnt know how time passed and it was time
for the results to be announced, we all were hyper, on our nerves. We knew that the
other parties were too popular and old so they stood a better chance. They could
even use wrong means, whereas we were just a bud of a party and we had gained
recent popularity which didnt mean that we would get majority of public support. I
had lost all hope after seeing the polls where in majority of the votes were received
by BJP.
The clock ticked itself away and the moment of anticipation arrived, we won
by a big difference and we totally swiped the others clean. I was not expecting such
a victory. The tv flashed news about our victory and nothing else. There was just
Aam Aadmi party banners all over the city, we all were getting calls after calls and
were tired of thanking everybody. There were so many things yet to be done, a
celebration party was organised in our honour. Meera was discharged from the
hospital and she was back with the baby, my parents were so proud of me. I had
pulled it off. I had no idea I would be able to do it. The real task now began, we had
to do all that we had promised. We had to prove ourselves true to our words.
Today, its been two months since the results were announced. Life has
drastically changed. Hetav is now the chief minister of Delhi, he is doing a
marvellous job. I am so happy for him, he has learnt a lot in the past few days and
has handled each issue very nicely. We named Meeras baby Vihaan and he now a
plump cute kid, we can never get tired of him. His laughter makes our day.
The autumn shades of my life are now brightening into spring. We are all very
happy with the progress, we are working hard day in and day out. The friendships
and the bonds between us have strengthened over the time. I am leaving for home
today, I have fulfilled the objectives I had set for myself. Now I have to go home, I
need to complete my engineering and after that I will again start working for the
party. The bags are packed but I dont want to leave all this excitement and especially
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Vihaan. I just hugged everyone and kissed Vihaan and fondled him. With a very
strong heart I climbed into the train and bade good bye to everyone with moist eyes.
I have no idea when will meet them again.

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Chapter 4
Today is my graduation party, I have completed my engineering with flying
colours, now I am officially an engineer. I have been waiting for this day with a lot
of desperation, Time just flows and I still feel it was just the other day when I was
in Delhi, struggling hard but still enjoying every moment of it with my friends. Ahh,
it was now time to join the hustle bustle back again. I was now officially an engineer
and now I could join the party back and help Hetav with the proceedings. I was lost
in my thoughts when my name was announced from the stage so I rushed up to
receive my degree certificate.
I caught a pair of hands clapping for me enthusiastically and I grinned.
Parthu bhaiyaa Parthu bhaiyaaa Vihaan was shouting for me, I was so happy. He
was three years old now and I loved him all the more now. He was a gem and
definitely the naughtiest kid alive. Meera would call me at the end of the day tired
with Vihaans tricks and complain. I would laugh endlessly and every day I would
look forward to the new mishaps that Vihaan did.
I came back from the stage and took my seat next to Hetav, Vihaan jumped
down from Meeras laps and came to me. I kissed him affectionately. Nobody could
understand this bonding between us, over the three years we had been in touch
regularly through video calls and phonic conversation but meeting in person had
been possible only a couple of times still Vihaan was too attached to me. He ruled
my heart.
A year back when Meera called and broke the news of Hetav proposing her,
I was overjoyed to hear the news, I knew that Hetav could take care of Meera and
Vihaan more efficiently than any other person on the earth. Hetav called me when
Meera accepted his proposal, he was so happy. Initially Hetav used to tag me and
Meera together but then he realised that ours was a brother sister kind of relation
and I was just protective her and nothing else so he stopped teasing, or maybe he
realised his feelings for her. He shared everything with me, took my advice but never
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told me how he felt for Meera. I was super excited, the wedding was arranged
according to my curriculum and I and Devansh handled everything because only
Devansh lived in Delhi and worked for the party. He had invited his mother over
and was very happy. He had lot of responsibilities of the party on his shoulders so
he was very busy but together we managed the entire event. It was a small affair and
only the near and dear ones were invited.
It was at the wedding that after a long time we all friends were getting
together. We had planned a surprise party for Tranti, she had recently been selected
for the National award for teachers which would be awarded to her on the 5
th
of
September. We all encouraged her to do what she really liked doing teaching but
she lacked confidence. After the success of the party she finally had some time.
Starting from a small deaf and dumb school today she was associated with the Indian
State Education Board for the development of the mentally challenged kids. She had
progressed a lot and now if we see her we cannot even make out she hasnt received
schooling. We all welcome her with shrieks of Congrats and she was overwhelmed
with joy.
Hiloni Saloni also flew from Mumbai before the wedding, they had to miss
Trantis party because they had their show. With Devanshs help, they had started
working in Mumbai theatre and recently they had been featured in Mumbai Mirror.
I felt so lucky to have such friends but then I was nothing compared to them.
Vihaan was overflowing with energy at his parents wedding, one of those rare
kid who could attend his parents wedding. We all didnt have any tensions for a
change and we were making the most out of the time we had got to spend together.
Vihaan pulled my cheeks and brought me back to reality, I had received my
degree certificate and I could now render my support to the party. I had got job in
a multinational company and Hetav had insisted to accept the offer and acquire some
industry experience.
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Over the time party had grown bigger and gained a lot of followers so the
work load is distributed. I have still not decided what to do but right now I am
looking forward to leaving for Mumbai, we all are flying to Mumbai today to attend
Hiloni Salonis award function tomorrow. We all will again be together and thats all
that matters

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