autumn colours of life

8/12/2019 Autumn Colours of Life

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Narratology

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Narratology Palak Sanghani

201314001

PALAK 1

Chapter 1

That one click changed his life, Parthiv, a localite of Rajkot city in Gujaratnever 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 andhe 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 wayhe 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 itanymore. 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 5thApril,

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 tentimes 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 thesecurity 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 4thApril, 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 wasextremely 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 6thApril 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 therow 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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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 10th

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 frightenedon 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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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, Soyou 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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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 strategicallyso 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 couldntfind 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 6thfloor. 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 ourinterviews 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 whichI 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 workexperience, 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 avery 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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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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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,

autumn colours of life

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