Three months later:
In the opinion page of the Times of Bharata, Prakhar sir had written an editorial on the title 'Forgetting the paralysed agony of governance' where he mentioned about the case of 'Manohari Garments Factory' in which Visvarak had created a scam of around one hundred crore in that period and fleed away burning down the labourers alive in the premises when objected by the other promoters in the board. Under his shade and protection, Durjaya, the former mayor of Jaigarh, and the ill-famous politicians worked for his multifaceted growth and advertising a protagonist face of his son 'Srinivasa' in the new society. After the appointment of new mayor to the district, Mrs. Sumati Gautam, and charges on Mr. Durjaya for his connivance in the evil conduits of Visvarak, he (Visvarak) had no other options left to come out to the public fit and healthy and contest to become the new state minister. People, in Bharata, are theist and believe in magical happenings for the well-being of the world. I believe it is true but the way people crowded the rallies to make Visvarak win the last general elections was not what I had thought of. Just alike the long mystery of Dugdhu village was solved with the declaration of Acharya Lakshman of his fault, Visvarak too had to end his evil rule and settle in the jail.
Advocate Sabyasachi Anand clearly presented in the court all the facts and figures and the evidence of the funding to his well-wishers in the government and other offices. His evidences, witnesses and the arguments provided clear details that Visvarak had come out of his paralysed state completely fit and fine when his son was sixteen years old. His dramatic presence as a paralysed man helped him be secured of the case filed in the court.
The case concluded with much drama where Visvarak used all his tools of power and diplomacy to protect oneself however couldn't. From his personal space to the factory premises, from his family to the last chain of his power and from his secrets of physical condition to his secrets of economical strength, I had marked down its each and every weak point just like the historical archer Barbarik used his infallible arrows at the peepal tree. During this, Durjaya got killed by the administration and Visvarak was made to surrender. The court awarded him life imprisonment instead of death penalty for his long list of crimes of destroying of public property, arsonry, corruption and coercion charges et al. When the police took him out of the court, some of his partners left behind to persecute tried to dodge the security personnel and rescue Visvarak but despite the smoke of tear gas, I took the gun of the inspector and fired twice right at his (Visvarak) forehead.
Srinivasa, having known that he couldn't save his father out of the case anyway from my squared planning, he cleverly saved his company and his employees by naming the majority of company's shares to his wife Aisha and his secretary Mahima month before the judgement was passed.
With this, Mr. Digvijaya forwarded his will to build an IT hub in the premises of the factory. Sumati, the new mayor of the district, asked him to provide for the whole map of the vision. The committee setup during the seminar re-engaged themselves in creating an appropriate map of the tech foundation in the state. This motion required a long process and approvals from various offices of the state government.
Sumati, as a mayor, was mostly busy in tracking the records of revenue and crime in the district, executing the union and state policies at the grass-root levels of the societies. While her predecessor had left the district at an uncanny stage of development, she had a lot of tasks to unwind and solve the problems stitched with the lives of citizens in the district. Divisions of land in terms of agricultural, forest, residential, industrial, tourism and pilgrimage and others was a need to the governance however, wasn't implemented until she stepped into the office. Her priority list for the development of the district had this initiative in the topmost section. Throttled at the grass-roots, it was a question for her on strengthening decentralised governance in the district. Being a lady mayor in the district, Sumati didn't get actual support from her co-workers who functioned as part of vertically integrated departmental system. She had a vision of implementing the principles of devolution and delegation of powers as vested in the objectives of archetypal democracy but the system of receiving bribes imposed by the officers and bureaucrats to clear plans, estimates and budgets however required to be curbed, was easy said than done. One day, she made a formal visit to our college and during her meeting with our gurudev Prashant, she mentioned about the need of young force of cultured senses in the transcendence of progressive path of Bharata. The atmosphere of Vikram College and its historical importance that has been conserved and magnified through the pertinence of qualified, loyal and stalwart professors and staff has given birth to skilled expertise in around every sectors in the society. Gurudev Prashant always iterated a theme line stating the poison imbibed in the understanding of 'vishaya' should be replaced with the various sections (aayama) of life and hence, each and every topic that one learns in the syllabus becomes part of his knowledge and skill. Gurudev assured her that the alumni of the college and members of the Utkarsha would help in her vision on his request.
On the other side, the gram sabhas and municiplaities that were now favoured by both the democratic leaders and the corrupt politicians enjoyed the benefits of being in position and did minimal to the welfare of its voters and citizens. It was necessary for her to re-establish and re-organize the system of governance however following the codes and procedures vested in the constitution of this largest democracy.
Jaidev and his panchayat members had taken control over the premises of the Manohari Garments Factory with the permission of the magistrate. Not only this, Jaidev had become active in applying the principles and tactics of politics into his area. Backed by adequate financial grants and tax handles from the Union Government that visibly reached the gram sabha, the Panchayat carried out their responsibilities as formally assigned by the law. The Utkarsha had an eagle eye on the works of the Panchayat and witnessed how the ignored face became a popular name in the village.
Sumati mostly engaged the graduates and engineers in the basic structural development of the district that mostly included the sections of farming, water distribution, roads, primary education, sports and martial trainings, arts and literature and renovations of the historical monuments under the scruples of sustainability. The osculation of her team helped her segue into the different innovative and progressive plans and polices the union and state government had directed her to. In her earliest days of holding the office, she managed to put things right her way but I could feel that the corrupt officials and their helpers outside waited for the right time to blanket all her wishes and vision and let her keep travelling in the dark secrets of political journey. They rightly follow the doctrine of GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out) that can be further explained with an example as the lamp that chews the darkness out leaves behind black taints and traces.
Dakshit and his Vastra.com team had been actively taking part in the above mentioned sectors in several villages of the district on my suggestion and guidance. After my eighth semester exams, I was discussing on the Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) Report released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with Dakshit on one Sunday where he mentioned that our state of Rajasthan was yet lagging behind ten states in the nation. The State skilling infrastructure and the grievances redressal mechanism yet required to be established and enabled in order to step up in the said Index.
At the mean time, we were informed of the arrival of our mayor Sumati by her personal assistant Mr. Chaturvedi. As she entered, we stood up to usher her the chair. She asked her assistant to wait for her outside.
Dakshit had a bewildered face and he iteratively faced me and her.
Dakshit: Welcome ma'am! Is there anything going seriously wrong on my side? You may have called me in your office.
Mayor Ma'am Sumati: Until and unless Agastya is with you, how can anything go wrong such that I (the mayor) have to approach you? To its contrary, everything is fine and impressive even more than what I and the government ought to do.
Ma'am Sumati emphasized on the governance in the largest democratic nation in the world.
Dakshit: (doubtful) Thank you ma'am! But, you mayn't have come here to congratulate me and Agastya.
Ma'am Sumati: What are you fearing of?
Me: Ma'am Sumati! His meeting with government officials have never been sweet and objective. However, he is willing to help the government in its policies in case.
Dakshit assented.
Ma'am Sumati: (smiling) Oh! Thank you! (break) Mr. Dakshit! Despite your flourishing entrepreneurship, I have heard you have invested a considerable amount in the welfare of people of eight surrounding villages in the south of Jaigarh who harvest and supply you a fine quality of cotton in bulk. Your projects of canalization, roads construction and restoration of the ancient monuments of Brihadeshwar Temple in Dugdhu are engineered with high precision. May I know who the engineer was who helped you with this? My team discovered the magical foundation and it's astonishing to know that a private firm did all on its alone.
Dakshit laughed on her confused face.
Dakshit: I am sorry Ma'am! Actually, you didn't discover the person because you searched him in the name list of the present engineers and contractors, didn't you? But he is none of them.
Ma'am Sumati: (curious) Who is he then?
Dakshit: (turning towards me) Agastya! He is the master of all.
Me: O'common Dakshit! Don't flatter please! Ma'am Sumati, I just aided to the contractor Mr. Nipunak with utmost of my knowledge. Had I learnt some of the vaastu techniques and the map of Jaigarh so, with the help of the experienced contractor and the people, I figured out the way how canals and roads were to be constructed in the villages.
(By this project, I had bound the people and the government to work under my guidance. If any sect opposed, the other sect of people would be affected and the mayor had no idea to take control in that area over me.)
Sumati: (Turning towards me) Agastya! I have allegiance to your invigilation in the Dugdhu village and support to Vastra.com. Your active involvement in the creation and functioning of URJA (Joint Association for Upliftment of Rajasthan) wherein people from the official class to the entrepreneurs to the underprivileged groups in the society have come together to work for the said objective is too praiseworthy but the chief orientators who are handling the operations management are not worthy to be trusted of. Just like the system of democracy has not achieved its dreamt goal even after the seven decades of independence in this nation, the objective of URJA too bears a similar future in the hands of such disloyal and corrupt committee workers. On the other hand, the union and the state government run an unparalleled and sovereign accounts of diplomacy and bureaucracy that it may take this generation to suffer to create a developed status of this land for the next generation. (break) And I still doubt!
Dakshit: Ma'am Sumati! I am sorry to ask but I have yet not understood your purpose of arrival.
(He responded to break the grave silence smitten around after her monologue.)
Ma'am Sumati: Mr. Dakshit! Have you read the LEADS Report recently published? Do you know what position does our state of Rajasthan stand in the nation in terms of technological growth, poverty alleviation, cleanliness, agricultural output and input, wildlife conservation and much more standards? Similarly, do you know what position does Bharata stand in the world on various indices? On one side, you along with your team have been working for the welfare via privatisation policy and on the other side, a daily increasing number of complaints have been registered for which the government has not been able to redress. I know I am an important of the government here but Bharata needs a transforming force that the government doesn't have in present. And for whatever is happening in this district, this man 'Agastya' is responsible. We are in the middle of the path where none wishes to return back and none has the right view of the way ahead. This is what his URJA and Utkarsha are, so far I have understood him.
Dakshit turns towards me and recalls every moment since I have met him. A flashback of all the events filmed on his psyche that had happened since my arrival in Jaigarh. However, I had no particular authority on my own, but the deep and wide connections that I figured out in between the villagers and the towners and the sections of the society ranging from the priests and clergymen to the elite working class to the institutions and organizations actively participating in the ground works of society to some eminent personalities to the politicians and the proletariat, none could individually work over my will. It was not my adamance but my self-assurance of harvesting the grains that I had sown years ago.
Ma'am Sumati: (continued) Mr. Digvijaya is pushing forth for his establishment of tech firm in the district but it's being delayed for no appropriate reason.
Me: For he has not come to me.
Dakshit: What are you actually thinking of? Agastya, if I am not wrong, if the present situation as described by Ma'am Sumati persists for long, will our shares of the company go down?
Ma'am Sumati: (venting her anger) Obviously Mr. Dakshit! Not only this, but the restrained and conditioned grants of the Union and State Government for enabling and strengthening the basic infrastructures at local levels is being unused and continue to be such because the devolution coffin nails down irresponsible officials here. (break) Sorry!
Me: Ma'am Sumati! Before indulging oneself into the plans and projects drawn by the government, it is required to solve the case of Imaze Landmarks vs State of Hariyan. Chirag is in your custody and now it's time to arrest his partner Gajnesh for his deeds. I am sure he (Gajnesh) must be in asylum of any politician of Hariyan state. So, I request you to send an undercover officer to learn about Gajnesh and his daily routine. Chirag may help you in this task.
Mr. Chaturvedi knocked to enter. He urged Ma'am Sumati to take leave for her scheduled meeting and she had to go for regional inspection of projects going on in the city.
Ma'am Sumati: Yet, I have no answer to my question but I will search for it.
Dakshit: I am going mad now Agastya! Will you explain her actual motive of arriving here?
Me: I had called her, Dakshit!
Dakshit: (perplexed and nervous) What actually you want me to do? Under your guidance, I have walked on a long journey but I am still unaware of the goal you want me to reach.
Me: Believe me Dakshit! It's the age of skill and that what remains imprinted persists in the history. I want you to be the founder of such unit where skill is worshipped over the college certificates. Nevertheless, this modern age is moving on same vision but we have to stick to our cultural roots too. What's your position in the stock market these days?
Dakshit: (happy) It's consistent at the levels of reputed firms of our nation. We are the new trustees of the people of Bharata. And I am credible to you for all this.
Dikshita brought us tea in the office.
Dikshita: Hello Agastya! How are you?
Me: Ahh! Just waiting for the tea. Thank you Dikshita!
Dikshita: (giggles) How is Bhanumati? She must be taking good care of you, right!
Me: She is fine. She is at home this vacation. She fondly takes care of me and I too.
''Why don't you join us for dinner tonight? It will be fun.'' Dikshita and Dakshit both forced me to accept their invitation for dinner.
Me: Thank you! If you insist, I shall come.