‘Well, to be honest, I actually fear Mahajan,’ she spoke slowly. ‘I was scared of stepping inside his cabin and was even more scared when he came and stood by my side, before he . . .’ she left that sentence incomplete.
Through Raheema, Arjun already knew that Mahajan had slapped Rupali. He didn’t need Rupali to complete her sentence.
‘I understand. In fact, that’s why I said that you are a brave girl,’ Arjun said. Rupali looked at him. ‘You see, being brave doesn’t mean the lack of fear. It means overcoming your fears. You overcame your fear to challenge someone like Mahajan. More importantly, you did so not for yourself, but for someone else. That is being really strong.’
Rupali felt good. She knew that what she had been doing was right, but no one till then had said the same.
She said, ‘There is something else as well that I want to say.’
‘Yes?’
Rupali took a deep breath. ‘To some extent I’m scared of you, too,’ she confessed.
And just after she’d said that, she wondered if it had been the right thing to do. Suddenly, her own words had made her feel uncomfortable again. She felt a strange sense of vulnerability because she was sitting next to the person she was scared of and telling him that she was sacred of him!
‘Wha…what? You are scared of me?’ Arjun asked, surprised. ‘And all because I asked you questions about your plant?’
‘Not just that episode, but primarily for what happened on the day of the music club audition.’
‘Wait a minute. You were inside the class that evening? Are you a part of the music club?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh God!’ Arjun exclaimed and looked up at the sky. None of them realized then how the whole discussion had switched from brainstorming about Raheema’s case to discussing personal matters.
‘And you believe that . . . Oh God! No . . . No . . . No . . .’ Arjun started but then stopped.
Rupali kept looking at him.
‘So you are scared of me because you believe I broke and disrupted your set-up?’ he repeated.
‘I was scared of the whole mob and you were one among them,’ Rupali said.
‘Okay, I can completely understand how you must have judged me. But the problem is with your interpretation.’
‘Why?’
Arjun took a moment and then asked her, ‘Did you see me breaking anything or hitting anyone?’
Rupali remembered that she had seen him standing outside the class. She remembered seeing him standing with his arms folded across his chest.
‘No.’
‘I am glad you said that,’ Arjun said. ‘Look, I don’t know what you will think about me when I tell you this, but hear me out. Yes, those were my party’s members. Yes, my party members vandalized the set-up. But that doesn’t mean I wanted to do the same. I had protested against any sort of violence. You would have certainly seen me at the venue. But you would not have observed my late arrival. When I heard from one of our volunteers that a few party members had gone to disrupt the audition, I ran to stop them from hitting anyone. But unfortunately, by the time I arrived, it was too late. The damage was done.’
‘Really? But I saw you standing outside the room. It appeared to me that all that had happened within the class, had happened under your command!’
‘Perhaps then you failed to see the look of helplessness on my face,’ Arjun said with a hint of a smile.
‘Oh!’ Rupali uttered. She realized how the truth could be so different from her own interpretation of it. Arjun appeared honest to her. She believed what she had heard; she didn’t want to inquire any further. As she heard Arjun out, her mind was continuously working on building up a new image of Arjun, which if not positive, was definitely neutral and far better than the previous negative one. Her thoughts were broken by the beeping of her cellphone. She picked up the mobile to read an SMS. It was from Saloni.
‘In basketball court. Will catch u in n hr darling. Muah :*’
Even though his explanation cleared her perception of Arjun, she was still not completely comfortable with him. She felt it would have been better if Saloni could have joined them. But, at the same time, she was now more in control of the situation.
‘So when did you join the club?’ Arjun asked.
‘Hmm?’ Rupali was lost in her thoughts.
‘Club. The music club,’ he clarified.
‘Oh! I joined last month only,’ she replied.
‘You sing?’
‘Yes,’ she said. Rupali realized from his tone that he wasn’t very happy to know that she was in the music club. ‘Why? What happened?’ Arjun took a deep breath and was about to say something, when Rupali spoke, ‘Your party has some old issue with the club, right?’
‘Well, unfortunately that is the case. We have some unsettled business.’
Rupali didn’t like what Arjun said. It bothered her. She knew of the ‘unsettled business’ as Tenzing had already told her about it. So she understood where Arjun was coming from. Even though she wanted to change Arjun’s opinion about this matter, she didn’t want to get into that discussion at the moment.
‘I only hope that you don’t settle your unsettled business by hurting them,’ she said and then immediately corrected herself, ‘I mean us.’
Arjun looked into her eyes, ‘Don’t worry, we don’t hurt people. No one will hurt you.’ Then he changed the topic and asked Rupali to brief him about Raheema’s case from where they had left off at Shafi’s teashop.
Rupali talked about all the things she couldn’t have spoken about in Raheema’s presence. At times, Arjun asked questions which Rupali answered in detail.
After Rupali had said all that she had to say, she asked him, ‘How do we go further from here?’
‘Mahajan is a beast. Are you sure you want to do something about it?’ he asked bluntly to understand Rupali’s commitment.
‘Earlier it was about Raheema alone. Now that he has slapped me, I have one more reason to take this up,’ she said with quiet determination. ‘However, I want to know why you want to help us on this.’
‘I too have more than one reason. I treat Raheema like a sister . . .’
‘What if it was someone else in her place, then?’
‘I was coming to that. As I said, I have more than one reason. The primary reason is Mahajan.’
She waited for him to explain.
‘Mahajan is like a cancer in our college system. A lot of wrong things are flourishing in this university—the back-door admission of a few students, the upsurge in the demand to increase reservation quotas. It is all Mahajan’s doing. He has a strong hold on this university and the political backing of the party in power in the campus as well as in the state.’
Unable to connect the dots, Rupali spoke, ‘I am not sure if I get it. How does that concern you?’
‘I am talking about corruption. Mahajan is corrupt and powerful, now more than ever. Teaching accounts in this college is just a facade. Behind this veil of teaching, he fulfils his personal interests. He makes money by giving admission to those students who are low on merit but belong to highly influential families. He uses the various quotas like OBC and SC/ST to his benefit. From getting fake caste certificates for students, to making them eligible to use the respective quotas, he gets everything done for them.
‘Apart from college donations, a separate donation reaches his home for such exclusive work. When you ask why I am concerned, my answer is—I am the victim of this quota system that was illegally used by Mahajan. Two years back, I was the first person on the Commerce admission waitlist. I never made it to my preferred stream but was made to settle for Arts. The reason being, my seat was traded to admit a bureaucrat’s son whose Class XII percentage was way lower than mine; all this in the name of bullshit quota!’
‘Oh God!’ exclaimed Rupali in disbelief. ‘But why didn’t the higher authorities take some action against him? Are they corrupt too?’
‘Not everyone. But some definitely are
. But not being corrupt doesn’t mean they are against corruption either,’ Arjun replied.
‘Now what does that mean?’
Arjun explained, ‘The real problem is, those who aren’t corrupt themselves, don’t always fight against corruption. Because they fear that if they raise their voices, they will lose their jobs. Even though such transaction happens under their noses, and they keep their mouths shut. And why would they fight, when they already know the outcome! Corruption didn’t take birth in this university. We were introduced to it by the system outside this campus. You see, the college is funded by the government. So if a politician in power wants to have his say and admit a particular student, how would a top college official refuse? And when this wish comes along with cash, why would they? That’s where the system gives birth to parasites like Mahajan, who master the art of selling merit for money.’
All this appeared so new to Rupali. She had never imagined that such a sick admission system would prevail within the walls of such a prestigious college. For a moment, she felt disappointed to have become a part of this college. But Arjun pointed out that the story was the same in many other colleges. He told Rupali that this is what he and his party had been fighting against.
‘Two years back, our party had an important agenda of removing the reservation quota. We won the elections based on the issues that we brought to the table. Mahajan’s modus operandi was to illegally use the quota system to admit his preferred students. Removing quota would have made it extremely difficult for him to perpetrate his act. Also, back then there was a wave in favour of anti-reservation, supported by those who got admitted through the general category. As per our manifesto, we wanted to eradicate all sorts of OBC and SC/ST quotas. But that’s when Mahajan played his game. From creating government pressure to taking the matter to court and getting a stay order, he did almost everything he could.
‘Not only this, but he also encouraged various OBCs and SC/ST groups in colleges across this university to fight for their cause. He made himself a messiah of students from backward classes. We continued to fight the battle of abolishing the quota system. But by the time the next elections came, Mahajan had already lured students to his side. He took the backward community students into confidence and asked them to vote for his preferred party. On behalf of that party, he ideated a few populist policies like free Internet in every hostel room and introducing a cheaper student pass for the local metro. Our issue-based manifesto lost to the populist manifesto that Mahajan had smartly carved out for our opponents. Ever since, our opponents are in power and no one has talked about the reservation issue. In fact, as per rumours, Mahajan is working on setting up a domiciliary quota. Most of the influential people in his circle live in Delhi and a domiciliary quota will ease his work manifold.’
Rupali was shocked. She knew there was more to all this but only now did she realize how mistaken she had been to think of lodging an official complaint against Mahajan to the higher authorities of her college. If she did that, she, too, like the others in the past, would be thrown out of the system. But then, what could she do about it?
‘So is there no way for us to take this matter forward?’ she asked Arjun.
‘Not unless we have strong evidence,’ he answered.
‘The victim herself is the evidence. I have seen Mahajan sexually abuse her. I am the evidence,’ Rupali said loudly.
‘I understand that, Rupali. But I am wondering how strong our case is with just the two of you on one side against someone like Mahajan. What if Mahajan sues both of you for defaming him? What stops him from saying that the two of you have attempted to malign his image for your personal benefit? What will you do then?’
Rupali argued, ‘If he sues me, then I will fight back. What sort of a hidden agenda can be important enough for a woman to put her own self-respect at stake for it?’
‘You and I feel that. But in the court of law, feelings do not matter. Facts and the motives do.’
She wanted to counter that one, but with her limited knowledge of the legal system, she didn’t have words in her favour. ‘But this is not right. You know it. This is not right. It can’t keep going on this way. Because, this is not right . . .’ she said in sheer frustration.
Arjun wanted to pacify her, but didn’t know what to do. He chose to keep silent. Meanwhile, in his mind, he was analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the case at hand and their position to fight it. The thought of reaching out to the vice-chancellor of the university had also crossed his mind. He knew that the vice-chancellor was a lady of values and a person of good heart. He had interacted with her in the past. But he also knew her limited powers on matters such as this, which raised a finger against the powerful nexus in the system. He wasn’t sure she was strong enough to break through that. Yet he continued to weigh the odds.
The streetlights in the hostel block and the campus in front were turned on. It had been more than an hour that the two of them had been together. He looked at Rupali and wondered if she was still uncomfortable sitting with him. Probably not—he thought to himself.
Then all of a sudden, something struck Rupali, ‘I have evidence!’ she smiled.
Arjun was curious. He waited for Rupali to speak.
‘I have . . .’ Rupali stopped as soon as she began her sentence. She took a second or two to speak again. As she was about to say it, she realized she couldn’t look into Arjun’s eyes while revealing what she was about to.
‘A video of Mahajan sexually abusing Raheema will definitely serve as evidence. Right?’
Twelve
‘Shall I?’
There was a disturbing silence inside the tiny cubicle of the Internet cafe.
In the rest of the rows of that overcrowded, noisy and extremely busy Internet cafe, business continued like every day—movies and video games were being played in the private cubicles. The intermittent noises were mostly complaints about the crawling speed of the Internet and dysfunctional keyboards.
Amidst this, there was an odd silence in one of the cubicles.
‘Go for it!’ Arjun finally spoke.
There was no looking back for Madhab. No second thought in his calm and composed mind. He knew what he was doing. They all knew what he was doing. He clicked the ‘Upload’ button. The explorer showed a processing sign. They knew it was going to take a lot of time. Madhab had made them aware of the pathetic Internet speed in that cafe. He was well acquainted with this cafe. In fact, he was the one who chose it. As the explorer continued to process Madhab’s upload, everyone held their breath in anticipation.
It had been more than a week since Rupali had told Arjun about Mahajan’s video that she had shot on her cellphone. After he had seen it Arjun had used his time to brainstorm on how well he could use the video. It was indeed an extremely strong piece of evidence, one that had the capacity to take down Mahajan if used wisely. He was delighted that Rupali had such a strong proof. Time and again he had complimented her for using her mind and being brave enough to capture Mahajan’s act on camera.
However, despite such powerful evidence, there were two challenges Arjun could foresee. First, he didn’t want to associate Rupali’s name with the video. It would be extremely dangerous for her. The video was bound to invite trouble and it wouldn’t be wise to reveal any names, not even a proxy.
But then someone would have to bell the cat. Someone would have to own it and claim to have caught Mahajan red-handed. Who should this person be? Arjun wondered.
The second challenge he was worried about was how he could use this clipping to cause maximum damage to Mahajan. Was submitting this video in an official manner to the vice-chancellor the right step? Or was it better not to trust any university authority and straightaway lodge an FIR and then give this proof when needed? But, in both cases, there were high chances that someone in Mahajan’s network would alert him much before the truth appeared. Arjun didn’t want to give Mahajan time to react.
All his questions found an answer when Arjun
got Rupali’s consent to involve his close party workers in this matter—the ones he could trust.
Madhab, a diligent volunteer from Arjun’s party had an interest in ethical hacking. Had he not been an Arts student in DU, he would have been a network engineer. Prosonjeet, who too was an ardent party member, had been to jail a couple of times during the past election seasons. His experience had got him quite a few connections in the police. Rupali was scared when Arjun first introduced Prosonjeet to her, but had become okay when Arjun had pointed out the reasons for which Prosonjeet had been booked in the past—holding college strikes, organizing mass protests as peaceful as a candlelight march and as loud and vociferous as to disrupt a few political events on campus.
‘I have been a political prisoner you see. No extortion or murder so far!’ he had said and everyone had laughed.
‘Look at his tummy, can you believe this fat ass, a year back, had sat on a hunger strike?’ Arjun asked.
Madhab had added, ‘And in the evenings he would crave for prawn curry, but settle for cheap fish fry. Drama king!’
Rupali had laughed like crazy while Prosonjeet had made a face. He didn’t like it that his good friends were revealing his secrets.
Rupali had asked Saloni to join in. She knew that she would feel more comfortable with her roomie around in the company of the new guys. Saloni too was eager to join them. She wanted to make sure that Arjun did not use her innocent roomie to take revenge on Mahajan.
And that evening, when the five of them had first met each other on the college rooftop, Arjun attempted to establish trust among all of them. He knew how important it was that none of them leaked out any information and each one maintained secrecy. So while explaining the matter to his party workers, who were also his close associates, he hadn’t forgotten to include Saloni, giving her the feeling that she too was an important part of the mission. After he had explained the gravity of the situation in great detail and the risks associated with it, he had let the team, including Madhab and Prosonjeet, watch the video.
Your Dreams Are Mine Now Page 8
