Revolution 2020 (20 page)

I shouted for the
peon and asked him to fetch all the newspapers. In an hour I had them
on my desk.

Every paper had our
full-page colour ad. The campus photograph looked beautiful. I saw my
name at the bottom of the ad. Shukla-ji’s harsh words rang in
my head.

I flipped through
Dainik.
On page six I found the article.

The headline said:
‘
New
engineering
college
opens
in
city
-
with
corruption
money?
’

‘What the
fuck!’ I said to myself as I read further.

Raghav Kashyap,
Staff Reporter

I couldn’t
believe he had done this. The first few lines seemed harmless.

The city of
Varanasi, also called the City of Learning, can boast of another
engineering college of its own. The GangaTech College of Engineering,
set in a fifteen-acre campus on the Lucknow Highway, opens its gates
for admissions this weekend.

Raghav had indeed
mentioned the facilities we offered, the faculty profile, the
branches of engineering available and the selection process. The
halfpage article also carried a picture of Shukla-ji and me. I had
never seen my picture in a newspaper. However, I couldn’t
savour the moment as I continued to read the article.

Interestingly, MLA
Raman Lal Shukla is one of the trustees of GangaTech, He has helped
fund the college. Shukla also owns land around the GangaTech campus,
estimated to cost between five and ten crores. Where did Shukla
obtain these funds from? Incidentally, he floated the college three
years ago, around the same time that his name came up in the Ganga
Action Plan scam.

Is this college an
attempt to clean up his reputation? People come to the Ganga to clean
their sins. Is Shukla trying to clean away his sins against Ganga?

‘Fuck you,’
I said as I finished the article.

I crumpled the
newspaper. This could not be happening to us. Not on the day of
admissions. Not on any day. Shukla-ji called again. I hesitated but
picked up.

‘I saw it,’
I said.

‘How the hell
did this happen? Who is this behenchod reporter Raghav? He really
interviewed you?’

‘He is my ...
f... friend ... from school,’ I said, stammering. ‘He had
promised a balanced piece.’

‘This is
balanced? He has shoved it up my ass’

‘I am really
sorry, Shukla-ji. Don’t worry, other papers don’t have
this story.’

‘
Dainik
is the biggest and most influential. The CM has already cancelled his
visit.’

‘What?’
I said, shocked. ‘Who will inaugurate the college? We have a
stone plaque in his name.’

‘I don’t
know. The peon can inaugurate it for all I care,’ Shukla-ji
said.

‘Please be
calm, Shukla-ji,’ I said. ‘Really, we have to find
someone in the next three hours.’

The MLA took a deep
breath. ‘The state minister for education is still coming. He
can inaugurate it.’

‘And the
plaque?’

‘Put a sticker
on it, Gopal. Do I have to tell you everything?’

‘Sorry,
Shukla-ji, I will fix it,’ I said.

I began a round of
follow-ups. Most of the invitees confirmed their presence. A free
lunch beats corruption allegations any day.

‘May I come
in, sir?’ I heard a female voice as I finished a call.

I looked up.
‘Aarti!’

‘Am I
disturbing you?’ she said. ‘I am early.’

She had come at
nine, an hour before the scheduled inauguration. Even in my stressed
state, 1 noticed she had dressed up for the occasion. She wore a
bottle green salwar-kameez with a purple and gold border.

I continued to stare
at her, my mouth half open. ‘May I come in, Director sir?’
she said.

‘Huh? Yeah, of
course,’ I said. ‘Wow, you look ...’

‘What?’
she said.

‘You look so
formal,’ I said. Stunning, is what I wanted to say.

‘Oh, I thought
you might say I look nice.’

‘That’s
obvious, Aarti.’

‘What’s
obvious?’

‘You always
look good,’ I said.

‘Yeah? I don’t
hear that so much these days’

‘Why? Your
boyfriend doesn’t say it?’ I asked with a sting in my
voice, thoughts of Raghav’s article not leaving my head.

She sighed. ‘Unless
I dress up in newsprint I don’t think he would notice.’

I smiled. And
started to check the list of school principals to see if I had missed
anyone.

‘You seem
busy,’ Aarti said. ‘Should I wait outside?’

I would have never
let Aarti go, but I had tons of calls to make.

‘Will you be
okay outside?’ I said.

‘Yes, mom is
here. Dad couldn’t come. He is on tour.’

‘Oh,’ I
said. ‘Let me wish her at least.’

We walked outside.
Her mother was sitting in the front row, one of the first guests in
the tent.

‘Hello,
aunty,’ I said, my hands folded.

‘Congratulations,
Gopal. What a lovely campus,’ she said.

‘Why don’t
you make us your media partner?’ he said.

‘What’s
that?’ I said.

‘For a little
extra fee we publish positive articles about your college. We get
news, you get an image. It is a win-win partnership,’ he said.

‘How do I know
they will be positive?’ I said. Once bitten, twice shy. ‘You
send us the articles,’ Amar said.

I asked him to send
me a formal proposal.

After
Varanasi
Times
, I went to Bansphatak to visit the
Dainik
office. ‘Welcome Gopal-ji,’ Sailesh Gupta, the sales
manager at
Dainik,
greeted me at the building entrance.

I flashed him a curt
smile. We went to his office.

‘What will you
have, sir?’ he said.

I shook my head.

‘Tea?
Coffee??’

‘Articles full
of lies?’ I said.

‘What?’
he said.

‘Sailesh, I
signed you the biggest cheque among all the places we advertised in.
And what did you do? On the day of our launch?’

Sailesh understood
my context and shifted his gaze.

‘I have five
lakhs more to spend next week. Tell me why I should not make
Varanasi
Times
happy and give them this?’ I waved the trust’s
chequebook at him.

‘Gopal bhai,’
Sailesh said in a low voice, ‘what are you saying? We are the
number one newspaper.’

‘So? You fuck
us?’

‘Gopal bhai, I
didn’t do it.’

‘College made
with corrupt money! You have made money from us

too.’

‘It is the
editorial. They are stupid, impractical people,’ Sailesh said.

I banged my fist on
the table.

‘I want to
meet your editor-in-chief. If you want me to book any ads after
this,’ I said.

Sailesh glanced at
my chequebook. He stood up.

‘Let’s
go,’ he said. I followed him to the editorial floor.

‘It’s
still under construction’ I said, gesturing at a waiter to
bring tea and snacks.

‘Don’t
worry about us,’ Aarti said. ‘You do your function.
Attend to all the high-profile guests’

She hugged me before
I left. I noticed her mother’s eyes on me.

I folded my hands
once more and excused myself.

                                                               ♦

The inauguration
ceremony went off smoothly, though without the CM the event lost some
of its sheen. The state education minister unveiled the college
plaque, his name stuck over the CM’s on the black granite
stone. There were murmurs among the media members regarding the CM’s
absence.

‘The CM had to
cancel in the last minute due to a crisis,’ Shukla-ji said as
he came on stage. He kept his speech to less than a minute. The press
scrambled to ask questions. They all wanted to talk about the
Dainik
article. However, the MLA dodged them all from podium to gate.

‘My apologies,
no questions today. I have to visit villages. The farmers need me. Mr
Gopal Mishra will take it from here.’

Within minutes, he
had left the campus in his car. He called me from the highway.

‘I want to
speak to the bloody editor of
Dainik
’
,
he
said.

‘Sure, I will
set it up,’ I said. ‘By the way, the admission forms are
going well.’

‘Do the
bastards know how many ads we give them?’ he went on.

‘Shukla-ji, on
the admissions ...’ I said.

But he had already
cut the call.

                                                       ♦

We hoped to fill the
remaining seats with an ad campaign.

‘We want to
advertise all year,’ I told the marketing head of
Varanasi
Times.
‘We expect a bigger discount.’

I had spent the
whole day doing the rounds of newspapers to book more ads. I sat in
the office of Amar Trivedi, marketing head of
Varanasi
Times.

‘Why don’t
you make us your media partner?’ he said.

‘What’s
that?’ I said.

‘For a little
extra fee we publish positive articles about your college. We get
news, you get an image. It is a win-win partnership,’ he said.

‘How do I know
they will be positive?’ I said. Once bitten, twice shy. ‘You
send us the articles,’ Amar said.

I asked him to send
me a formal proposal.

After
Varanasi
Times
, I went to Bansphatak to visit the
Dainik
office. ‘Welcome Gopal-ji,’ Sailesh Gupta, the sales
manager at
Dainik,
greeted me at the building entrance.

I flashed him a curt
smile. We went to his office.

‘What will you
have, sir?’ he said.

I shook my head.

‘Tea?
Coffee??’

‘Articles full
of lies?’ I said.

‘What?’
he said.

‘Sailesh, I
signed you the biggest cheque among all the places we advertised in.
And what did you do? On the day of our launch?’

Sailesh understood
my context and shifted his gaze.

‘I have five
lakhs more to spend next week. Tell me why I should not make
Varanasi
Times
happy and give them this?’ I waved the trust’s
chequebook at him.

‘Gopal bhai,’
Sailesh said in a low voice, ‘what are you saying? We are the
number one newspaper.’

‘So? You fuck
us?’

‘Gopal bhai, I
didn’t do it.’

‘College made
with corrupt money! You have made money from us too.’

‘It is the
editorial. They are stupid, impractical people,’ Sailesh said.

I banged my fist on
the table.

‘I want to
meet your editor-in-chief. If you want me to book any ads after
this,’ I said.

Sailesh glanced at
my chequebook. He stood up.

‘Let’s
go,’ he said. I followed him to the editorial floor.

In his glass cabin,
Ashok Kumar, the editor-in-chief, was in a meeting with some
sub-editors. Sailesh went in, the sub-editors came out. Sailesh
signalled for me to enter.

Ashok scanned me
from tip to toe. ‘You are from MLA Shukla’s office?’
he said.

‘I am the
director of GangaTech College,’ I said and offered my hand. He
shook it in a cursory manner and asked me to sit down.

‘I saw the
full-page ads,’ Ashok began, looking a bit puzzled about my
presence in his cabin.

‘Did you see
the article you did on us?’ I said.

‘I am sure I
must have. Who did it?’ Ashok said. He put on his spectacles
and turned to his computer to search.

‘Sir may not
remember the reporter,’ Sailesh told me. ‘Should we
search by date?’

‘Raghav
Kashyap wrote it,’ I said.

‘The new
hire?’ Ashok said, upbeat for the first time. He quickly
located the article on his computer. He turned the monitor towards
us. ‘This one?’

I nodded.

‘I must
congratulate the reporter. He’s new, yet his stories are
getting noticed.’

‘If you write
nonsense you will get noticed,’ I said.

‘What happened
Sailesh-ji. Why is your client so upset? We have done a half-page
profile on their college,’ Ashok said.

‘Why the last
two paras? And the headline?’ I butted in.

‘What?’
Ashok said and skimmed the article again. ‘Oh, the corruption
stuff. What is the big deal in that?’

‘It affects
our image,’ I said, bringing down both my palms forcefully on
the table.

Ashok didn’t
appreciate my display of emotion. He stared at me. I removed my hands
from the table.

‘If you are so
concerned about image, why did you open a college with MLA Shukla?’
Ashok said.

Sailesh realised
this wasn’t going well.

‘Sir,
GangaTech is expected to be our biggest account,’ Sailesh said.

‘So, we should
stop reporting news in a fair manner?’ Ashok said.

‘The
allegations have not been proved,’ I said. ‘A
three-year-old dead issue is brought out on the day of the opening.
Is that fair?’

‘Ashok sir,
let’s talk in private for two minutes,’ Sailesh said.

I stood outside the
office as they spoke. I looked around. I asked a peon where Raghav
Kashyap sat. I saw his tiny cubicle. It occupied less space than the
sofa in my office. I saw Raghav. He was typing furiously on his
computer, unaware of the world around him.

Sailesh called me
back in. ‘Don’t worry, it is all settled. Ashok sir will
speak to the MLA directly. We will sort it out. Please, let’s
continue our association,’ Sailesh said.

‘Okay,’
I said. ‘What about the reporter?’

‘What about
him?’ Sailesh said. ‘He is a trainee.’

‘I want him to
apologise to me’ I said.

Sailesh looked at
Ashok.

‘That’s
up to him,’ Ashok said. He picked up the phone and asked his
secretary to send Raghav in.

Five minutes later,
Raghav knocked on the door.

‘Sir, you
called me?’ Raghav said, then saw me. ‘Hey, Gopal. You
here?’