The Bestseller She Wrote (35 page)

There was pin-drop silence in the room. The applause had stopped. People were more interested in listening than clapping. Shreya looked at the nailpaint on her toes and didn’t move a muscle. Sanjay kept fidgeting in his chair.

‘If my wife Maya is watching this live streaming, I would like to publicly apologise to her, for all that I have done. My relationship with Ms Kaushik never ever impaired my love for Maya. But this is difficult to prove; for the underlying assumption is that you fall into a relationship only when you fall out of another. This is not true. I miss Maya and Aryan even more than I have ever done. I love them even more than I have ever done.’

Normally in long speeches at book launches, people get fidgety and start moving around and talking to each other. In this case, nothing of that sort happened. Mobile phones came out and people started recording Aditya’s speech.

‘Maya, please forgive me. Let us go back to our lives. I need you and Aryan. Nothing is the same without you.’ A tear flowed out of the corner of his right eye. His right hand holding the mic instinctively went up and he wiped the tear away with his shoulder.

*

Maya was watching this, sitting at home. She had tears in her eyes. The divorce notice had been sent out in frustration. She hadn’t expected this when she sat down to watch the launch.

Suddenly a mail popped up on Maya’s screen. Fed up of trying to reach her, Dr Krishnan had sent her a mail. The subject line was, ‘You need to see this ASAP’. Maya’s laptop was configured in such a manner that new mails always came up on the screen and had to be wished away. Maya clicked on the mail and quickly read it. Her mind was still on what Aditya was saying at the launch but Dr Krishnan’s mail left her shell-shocked. She clicked on the link in the mail which led her to a video. She watched the short video. When she was done watching it, she just couldn’t stay put. She picked up the phone and with shivering hands, dialled the driver’s number.

*

‘I am sorry, Shreya,’ Aditya continued, ‘I have usurped your launch. But it is important that I clarify an issue on which you and I have generated a lot of gossip. We won’t get an occasion better than this and it is important that you embark on this new journey, on a clean slate.’

Shreya just nodded her head. She was in tears. But she had no choice. She couldn’t have said anything else.

‘When I began speaking, I spoke about mistakes in my personal and professional lives. It has just been brought to my notice that some passages in my latest book, bear an uncanny resemblance to lines from a few contemporary books. Six such passages have been identified. This is completely unacceptable. The book passes through multiple hands at the time of editing and publishing. Who, at what stage of editing, inserted those lines—intentionally or erroneously remains to be seen. However as a responsible author and a reputed publisher, it is our duty to make sure that creative licence does not mean infringing on anybody else’s rights.

‘Hence my publishers Kiwi and I have, as of today, pulled back all copies of my book from the market. These will be pulped and the book will be edited, rechecked and then brought back into the market. However given that a large number of copies of the book have already been sold, my publisher and I have decided that the royalty that I make on it, will be paid, not to me, but to any organisation that works on Ebola care. Kiwi will work on identifying these agencies and pay the royalty amount to them directly. My wife went through hell in those three weeks that she was in isolation as an Ebola patient. I don’t want anybody else to go through that pain.

‘My publishers have been kind enough to agree that their share of profits arising out of this book will also be contributed to this cause. This is our own way of repenting for not having done our complete due diligence. I would like to apologise to my readers for this oversight and assure you that this is inadvertent and we will more than make up for it. On realising this oversight, we have made sure that everything in Shreya’s book is perfect and there are no such gaffes. It is pure unadulterated reading pleasure; I guarantee you that. I wish Shreya all the very best not only in her writing career, but in her life too,’ he said. He looked at Shreya and raised his hands above his head and clapped. The audience responded by following suit.

Aditya continued, ‘Life is binary in many ways. There is no way that we can move away from each other slowly and painlessly. It has to be a complete exit. Towards that end, I have this evening submitted my resignation to my bank. I am going to make an honest attempt to make it work with my family. I also want to focus on fulfilling my wife’s dream of bringing education to the poor and will dedicate myself to that cause. May you fulfil your dream of becoming a rock star author, Shreya. My wishes are always with you. God bless,’ Aditya completed his speech and handed over the mic to the emcee. He stepped down from the podium and walked towards the exit. He didn’t even stop to say goodbye to anyone.

Everyone in the audience stood up as Aditya walked on. There was a look of admiration on everyone’s face; awe and respect for the rock star author who had his feet firmly on the ground. Everyone in the audience clapped. The clapping continued for a while, even after Aditya left the store.

The sudden change of events stunned everyone in the Kemps Corner store. Nobody knew what had transpired in the café before all of them came down to the venue of the launch.

83

Half an hour back: 6.30 pm

‘I think we should head down. We are getting late,’ Shreya said. She was getting nervous.

‘Not at all. We have thirty more minutes. Normally all book events start thirty minutes behind the scheduled time. You know it . . . You have been to so many of these events.’

‘Of course,’ she smiled. Her eyes wandered down to where people were gathering. There were over two hundred people in the crowd now . . . and growing.

But something else was making her anxious.

Finally the sliding door to the café opened and in walked someone who Aditya had specially invited for the evening.

‘Good evening, sir. It’s great to see you. I’m so happy you could make it,’ said Aditya as he extended his hand towards the guest.

‘Well, you are one of the few guys I can profess to be a true fan of. How could I have not come after getting your personal invitation?’

‘Thank you, sir,’ said Aditya. He turned towards the rest in the room and called out, ‘Tim, meet Commissioner Ramesh Karia from Mumbai Police.’

‘Aah. Yes of course. Who doesn’t know him?’ Tim walked up to him to shake his hand.

Ramesh Karia looked at Shreya. From the big backdrop on the ground floor he could make out that she was the one whose book was being launched. ‘Feeling good?’ he asked her.

‘Of course she will be. What a big day for her!’ Sanjay responded and smiled, looking at Diana. Sunaina and Melwin were standing in one corner. Shreya consciously avoided looking in their direction. Ramesh Karia went ahead and sat down on one of the many empty chairs and ordered his coffee.

When everyone had settled down Aditya looked at Shreya. ‘Good crowd today. Newcomers would die for this kind of an attendance at their book events. Looks like the
Bombay Times
article has done us a world of good. It has given you instant recognition. Without spending a paisa, you have become a sought-after celebrity. Must say you have a brilliant mind,’ Aditya said.

‘Me?’ Shreya looked surprised at this statement. She looked around the room, embarrassed. ‘We have been through this Aditya. I told you, I didn’t speak to
Bombay Times
,’ she said. ‘Why are we even discussing this today?’

‘You were the only one who benefited,’ Aditya coolly shrugged his shoulders and said.

‘That’s how it turned out to be,’ she said as she understood the implication of the accusation. ‘That doesn’t mean that I did it. Why would I do anything that impacts our relationship negatively?’

‘Well, why wouldn’t you?’

Seeing a stunned look on Shreya’s face, Sanjay got up from where he was sitting and walked up to Aditya. He kept his hand on Aditya’s shoulder. Shaking his head, he said, ‘Cool down, buddy. These things can be discussed later.’ He looked around the café and added, ‘Probably after the event is over.’

Encouraged by Sanjay’s intervention Shreya responded, ‘I love you, Aditya. Nothing else matters to me. I can’t imagine doing anything that will harm you.’

‘Well, you did,’ Aditya insisted.

‘Never.’

‘The sentences that were inserted in my book . . . I’m sure you gave me that sheet accusing me of plagiarism, because you felt that it would do me good, right Shreya?’

‘I didn’t do that, Aditya,’ Shreya said and immediately covered her mouth. She had just said something she was not supposed to.

‘I never doubted that. I knew it was not you,’ Aditya said, a complacent look on his face.

Aditya turned to Tim, who was getting restless. He was not able to comprehend what was going on. ‘Tim, I just want you to remember that this was a consensual relationship, one where no coercion was employed. I’m saying this to ensure that tomorrow if a harassment charge is brought against me, then it can be defended by you. And all of you,’ he said, looking around the room.

Shreya was shocked. ‘Aditya, what is going on? What are you trying to prove? Are you setting me up here?’

‘Playing it safe, baby. Just to make sure that once I am done with my commitment, no one screws around.’

Shreya was shocked at his demeanour but Aditya seemed unaffected. He walked up to Ramesh Karia and whispered something in his ear before returning to Shreya.

‘The day the
Bombay Times
article came out, which further rocked my relationship with Maya, I knew that it couldn’t have been you. But when Melwin called me that evening, my faith in you took a beating,’ he said pointing to the guy standing with Sunaina.

‘What does Melwin have to do with all this?’ Shreya asked angrily.

‘Aah . . .’ Aditya started off, ‘well nothing.’ He looked at the others and said, ‘Meet Melwin. He will pass out from IIM Bengaluru this year. He was in fact Shreya and Sunaina’s batchmate. Not only was he in a serious relationship with Sunaina, he was also the batch topper. At the end of the first year, it became clear that the batch gold medalist would be either Shreya or Melwin. They were way ahead of the rest. For Shreya the only person standing between her and her ambition was Melwin. What complicated the issue was Sunaina’s relationship with him.

‘The super possessive streak in Shreya came into play. Sunaina being in someone else’s life meant she was going away from her. Shreya hated that. And so she fixed Melwin. During their summer internship, she got close to him, seduced him and then threatened him with consequences. The poor fellow was so scared that he went away from campus, away from Sunaina for a year. He came back only after she had completed her MBA and left the institute. Sunaina didn’t know the true story and believed that he had deserted her. Thankfully the administration at IIM-B saw reason in the excuse he gave them and agreed to give him a one-year deferral and allowed him to come back. It would have been even more tragic had Melwin had to compromise his career and future,’ Aditya disclosed.

‘But why would Melwin, of all people, call you?’ Sanjay asked him casually.

‘Because the way Shreya seduced Melwin on a drunken evening was exactly the way she did it with me. The way mentioned in
Bombay Times
: recording a misleading conversation which, to anyone hearing it, suggested a lot but ended in nothing.’

‘Don’t believe Melwin, Sunaina. He is lying,’ Shreya pleaded.

‘I want to believe that he is lying. But . . .’ Sunaina paused. She was choking, struggling to get words out of her mouth. ‘I even believed you till Melwin spoke to me. If it was only Melwin’s fault and you had no role to play in it, you would have told me about the entire incident. You chose to remain silent, despite knowing how much I pined for Melwin after he left midway. The fact that you did so is reason enough for me to believe that Melwin was not at fault but set up by you. On the day of the
Bombay Times
news-break, Melwin finally gathered courage and called me. I put him on to Aditya,’ she said.

Shreya looked on, stunned. She didn’t know what to say.

‘When he played out the recording of the conversation, it shocked me. And Aditya too. Well you can argue that what he said to me doesn’t prove anything, Shreya, except for the fact that you are an obsessive, extremely possessive, psycho woman, who will go to any extreme to get her way,’ Sunaina spat out angrily.

‘What are we doing here, Aditya? Can’t we discuss these personal issues later? We need to head down. The crowd is getting restless,’ Anurag stepped in.

‘I need ten more minutes, Anurag. Please bear with me.’ Aditya looked at Sunaina and requested, ‘Sunaina, can you please tell the organisers to make a holding announcement that the event will start in 10 minutes.’ Sunaina exited the café and walked down.

‘Manipulations have been immortalised in literature. Macbethian manipulations are not all that uncommon. Something we see almost every day. A few days back, when I was discussing ways to get the initial sales push for your book and discussed corporate sales as an option, Shreya, you asked me to speak to HR because you didn’t enjoy a close rapport with Sanjay,’ Aditya continued.