She nodded and headed towards the temple.
It was hard work for her, hauling water (for which all of this began), serving food to the devotees on the auspicious full moon day and she was not allowed inside the idol room.
The priest saw this as public humiliation and ostracization from her own community.
“That won’t be enough”, he said on the back of his mind.
As the devotees went to sleep, Tara found some time to rest. Kiara was beside her on the bare floor. She asked, “If Gods see us differently, why didn’t he create us differently?”
Taken aback by her daughter’s question, she wanted to answer it but there was a noise.
It was the devotees, four, five men woke up and was seen heading towards her and her daughter. All of them gathered and Priest was pointing them to her.
She understood what it was. If something happens to her, nobody was going to question the priest by the end of all of it she would be forgotten. Tara carried Kiara in her hand and headed towards the exit.
Two men were standing there. She had to find an alternate exit.
There was none. She was locked from all sides.
The men closed in on her hurtling abuses, they had no weapons. She knew what they would do to her.
She remembered Kiara pointing out to the mango tree asking for a mango when both of them came in the morning and she was there right beside it.
It was the only option. She climbed it, threw Kiara outside .
The men dragged her feet. For a moment, she fell but she managed to grab on to the tree tightly and other men grabbed her feet. She was going to fall.
One man ran to the exit gate, one climbed the tree.
A flurry of rocks hit the men. It was Kiara from the other side of the temple compound wall.
The rocks hit them in their eyes, in the man’s groin who was trying to climb the tree.
It gave Tara the moment to jump over the compound.
She immediately started running with Kiara in her hand and as they rounded up the corner, Abu Bakkar was there in his bike.
“Come with me” he said.
He was taking narrow lanes and avoiding the village main road.
“Things have gone out of hand; your home and shop has been ransacked.” Abu said.
Tears were running down Tara’s eyes. Kiara wiped it from her face. “What did we do to deserve this?” asked Tara.
“Nothing. It’s an animal instinct. Some people are still animals. He has men all over the village, bringing in help will only further lead to bloodshed.
Listen to me, I know a place where they pay you money to be a store manager”, Abu said as they almost made it out of the village. He had to ensure that nobody was following them.
“I am not getting out of my village”, she said.
“I know. Bu this is for the sake of Kiara, You’ll have to do it”, Abu was stern about it.
“Where to?” asked Tara
“M-RAN Vindhya range. Thousands of men and women have been recruited”, Abu left them after they boarded a bus.
With no money and food in hand, they started a perilous journey.
Chapter 8
A day after Mitron”s release
Nalan was furious with how things have turned out at Parliament house. He was pacing back and forth swinging his hands in the air. Kantharvathathai, his wife was worried that he was thinking too much.
A man walked holding an earthen plate with two mud cups. Kantharvathathai picked a cup and gave it to him, “Drink Hibiscus tea. Perunkilli sent it from his farm. It should help with your hypertension.”
He drank it and he suddenly remembered something. He walked towards his desk and called his secretary. “They were supposed to be here. Where are they?”
“Sir, they are here already”, the secretary said.
“Idiot, send them in.”
Amravati, Sekar, Thamburan walked in along with Karnataka’s CM, Victor Basavappa. Nalan was still watching the door. Perunkilli walked in followed by Nedunallan.
“How old is he? 65?”, asked Victor who was the youngest among the group.
“80 years and counting”, said Nalan
“So what are our options?” asked Thamburan.
“Legally?”, queried Amravati, she practiced law and is the current CM of Andhra Pradesh. “We can challenge them at the court citing Article 21-A under Constitution amendment act, 2002”, said Amravati.
“But they have their deuce in all places, The case might be dragged but we know how it is going to turn out”
“By controlling Education, Food production and Language these higher-ups are going to ruin the country not just now, forever”, said Victor.
“Even now they would be listening to us.” Sekar was careful when he said that.
“Don’t worry about that! This place has been vetted properly. We can talk freely.”, convinced Nalan.
“Where is Shehelawat?”, asked Victor
“Probably he jumped the ship since he favors the majority. So Maharashtra is out of this?”, asked Nalan.
Perunkilli was waiting for them to stop.
“Think about our children, it’s about them. Without native seeds, we’ll have to go beg them every time before a harvest. At one point they will say what to harvest? And then will they decide what should we eat?”
“This is getting out of hand”, said Victor. “Last night, defying local police, they raided our seed bank at Hesarghatta.”
“Amravati, about the seeds? Are there any provisions to get back what belongs rightfully to people?”
“Indian forest Draft, 2019 (Amendment act) replaced the Indian Forest Act, 1878 and 1927. They have passed a bill that brought rare traditional seeds under the control of Union government. Though there is no mention of what are traditional seeds in the clause and we can fight it.”
Then we should file a joint case representing all our states.
“I will represent them. It will give us enough coverage” said Amravati.
Chapter 9
1 month after Mitron”s release
Yocon research facility, Hebbal, Bangalore
Hasan was standing in front of an array of monitors and the team from Bhatinda was addressing him.
“The results have been impressive”
The technician wearing a hazmat suit picked up a bunch of decomposed stubble and showed it towards the camera.
“When it’s left to decompose naturally it would have taken at least a year, this is impressive sir, I repeat”
“Our efforts have proven successful.”, a voice over the mic said.
It was Yashwant Hegde. “Come on guys, celebrate.” There were cheering in the room and his service staff brought champagne in a trolley. Yashwant shook a bottle of champagne and lauded, “We are going to China next.”
Hasan had his usual demeanor and let his team celebrate. He did not participate in the proceedings. The hazmat guy cast a desperate glance at the celebration going on; his cam was not shut down yet.
Hasan addressed the hazmat guy in the mike, “We need to know how come a controlled experiment can beat our own estimates What about our team at other Yocon’s decomposition sites?”
“No, Sir. We collect samples and store them separately. One of the members from our team who was supposed to go fell ill today. We monitor it remotely. We did this as a safety measure following your instructions.”
Hasan got angry and started shouting, “I don’t know what you will do. Send someone, get the samples, and get it tested.”
Other members of the team stopped their celebration after watching it.
“Chill man. We have achieved more than what we want.”, said Yashwant.
Hasan tried to retort saying, “More is the problem here..! The anomaly, it needs to be dealt with.”
Yashwant drifted away from Hasan as he got a call.
He came back into the room, “Bipul is here. He wants to see how the progress is. So let us keep these anomaly stuff to the ground for
now.”, he said looking at Hasan.
Bipul walked in with a wide grin and greeted everyone.
He saw Hasan but he didn’t seem to bother about his presence and walked away.
“How is it going Yashwant?”, asked Bipul.
I am receiving good reports from weathermen, the smog which begins in October is receding, it seems”, Bipul was elated.
“Yes, Sir. You got it. We are on spot with it”, Yashwant shared a glass of Champagne with him.
Bipul denied it and said, “On my way to Srirangapatna temple with my family. So no Sharab..!”
“If there is anything, let me know”, he left the room saying..
Hasan walked in after Bipul left and he was going through reports from Day 1.
“The ground team has been working day and night to distribute the bacteria in controlled quantities across areas where stubble burning was exceptionally high, so let them take a day off”, Yashwant was defending his staff.
“You do not understand it..”, said Hasan.
“What? What are you trying to say?”, Yashwant was visibly getting tired now.
“The readings are off the charts. When a bacterial cluster decomposes rapidly, it means it reproducing at a faster rate. The bacterial multiplication is 4 times more than expected. This is only expected to increase which means the cluster adapted to the light.”
“What was supposed to take place at night is continuing on day time as well?”
“And see this pointing to the image of the decomposed stubble, the bacteria are devouring faster than they should. We should check into it.” Hasan’s voice was filling the room.
“Stop. Stop. You can’t catch a cold in Antarctica”, said Yashwant.
“If you are worried about the decomposition rate, Mitron will reach its critical stage and wither off, right. I have a PH.D. in BioAnalytical Chemistry too, if you still remember”, said Yashwant.
“That’s how it was designed”
“But I think it’s not working the way it was supposed to?”, pondered Hasan.
“Are you sure that it is happening?”, Yashwant’s face started showing signs of worry.
“You take the first flight out of Bangalore. Everything will be arranged for you.
If what you said is true, find out the reason behind this anomaly.
And keep this to yourself.”
Chapter 10
Supreme Court, New Delhi
IRUTHALAIKOLLI
2 months & 5 days after Mitron’s release
A case was filed across Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai by respective State Governments in their city high courts, ultimately all of which ended up being taken up by Supreme Court of India.
Top news outlets advertised it as the case of the century. Hindi and Regional channels ticker scrolled continuously with a text “North vs South - Who will win the battle?”
Following hours and hours of debate by self-labeled experts, the day was closing in and Newspapers across the country carried a front-page news irrespective of their political affiliations.
“The most anticipated case since the Ayodya verdict. The outcome of this case will decide who will rule India for the next decade and the generation after it.”
Minutes of Judgment as it happened.
The following has been condensed into a readable version for anyone.
Amravati led the defense for the southern states while the opposition was led by Kishan Sen who was paid by the minute by the Union government.
“There was no ground for the Union government to take away the forests, seeds, and language from the hands of people who created it. It was all a ruse.”
“Indeed, it is the right time, my lord”, Kishan argued.
“By taking control of the forest, our client, the Union Government (UG) is providing more time for the states to take care of their finances, run the state efficiently.”
“If so, Why did UG create an amendment for one language education?” Amravati put forth her defense.
“The public knows it, my lord. The economy depends not just goods being transported but in communicating it. UG has stated in its gazette releases that if we train the next generation to converse in our language..”, he slipped a word. Regaining his composure, he continued, “Economy is more important. Everything is changing at a faster pace than we can cope up with. One language policy will help us get there.”
“In that case, my lord why don’t we choose a language from the south or east and make it that one language for India.”
“That’s not the point. Your honor”, Kishan retorted.
“Okay, if you do not want a language from the south, let’s opt for a neutral language -
Mandarin Chinese”. There was a laugh across the court hall.
The panel of judges had to order silence for the argument to continue..
“What we are trying to state is that UG is stripping away things that define states and their identity?”
After listening to their arguments and counters, The panel of judges said they were going to take their time to announce the final judgment.
After a while….
The judges walked in. The crowd stood in reverence. Amravati and her team were hoping for no-nonsense judgment. All five of them said they discussed the issue and since there were many things to consider. They opened a red file and started reading..
“Listening to the arguments, we have come to the conclusion as follows.
Number 1 – Language – A country like us cannot have a single language and we strongly condemn UG for trying to implement an idea like this. The economy needs to grow but not at the cost of destroying existing individual identities.
Number 2 – Forests – State and Central Governments will jointly work on a proposal and ensure that a sustainable and workable environment is created. A proposal should be submitted by respective parties involved by September 2020.
Number 3 – Seeds – The law is clear about it. Since the states have continuously failed to save their forests, animal life, and indigenous tribes, we would strongly urge the Union Government in this matter to step up and act accordingly.”
It was the first time for a leading news outlet to condense the judgment like this and being put on the first page. They sold a million copies more than their average on that day.
Amravati and her team were unsure whether it was a victory or a loss.
They had to scan the judgment in detail.
A backup plan was put into action as law experts went about debating by those involved.
Chapter 11
2 months & 10 days since Mitron”s release
Yocon Stubble site, Bhatinda, Punjab
Hasan has been working, since the day he left Bangalore. It was hard. His team had been collecting samples from all sites across Bhatinda.
As a precautionary, before any untoward incident happens, Hasan instructed expert miners to dig trenches and create a dead buffer zone around the stubble sites. Much to the dismay and contentment of a few local farmers, Yocon engineers and miners paid thrice the amount to acquire their land and destroyed all crops, life forms and even sterilized the soil. Only way to access the sites were through an iron platform for Lorries and tractors to deposit the stubble. No one was allowed to enter the sterilized site without prior permission. Locals started resenting it.
Yashwant was increasingly unhappy with Hasan’s way of treating things and he even expressed it once.
“This is quickly getting out of hands. Our investors are pulling the rug. I don’t know whether I can hold their questions any longer. Delhi Government and Punjab officials are questioning our actions. And the money being put into this is turning out to be a burden on our finances.”
Hasan said, “You can’t catch cold in Antarctica, because viruses can’t survive in extreme cold. We are a tropical country with the most ideal circumstances and even if things go slightly wrong, a paradise can turn into hell in a matter of days. The anomaly is not identif
ied yet but we are getting there.”
“And you are trying to prove what? Chinese government is pursuing us since Mitron’s release.” Yashwant was getting restless.
“I am trying to establish this fact easily this can turn into a nightmarish scenario filled with a deadly disease.”
The strange thing with the samples was they did not bother to spread beyond their stubble sites. Nobody knew why or how. But they were alive. They were designed to die once their decomposition work was over.
As a safety measure, they meticulously searched for any strains or mutations that could have evolved out of Mitron strain.
Thankfully nothing of that sort happened.
But increasingly of late, ground team members were falling sick. The local doctors and specialists who were brought in made their routine blood, stool and urine samples.
“All are fine. They are too stressed out from working long. Occasional discomfort and runner’s diarrhea. Medication has been provided. They should be fine.”
“Okay. Doctor”.
Hasan watched as Lorries and tractors from nearby areas brought in more stubble to be decomposed. Something didn’t add up. It didn’t feel right.
To understand what’s happening, he isolated the bacteria at a cellular level and simulated it as a 3D model to which different temperatures, field conditions can be run through and results can be much faster. And he had set up a mini-lab housed with hundreds of rats kept inside separate compartments.
This was the 2nd set of rats with bacteria-induced diet being fed in micrograms regularly.
The labels were sampled Bhatinda, Mehratpur, Churu, Makrana, Sangru, Moga and Patiala.
All the rats were doing fine. They went about their jobs.
The call from Bangalore arrived. He picked it up in a single ring.
“Mr. Hasan, We were worried. The simulations are fine. In line with our results.”
“Mitron is decomposing garbage too. It doesn’t care what it is?”
Yashwant got the phone from the researcher. “My man. As a test, I instructed our researchers to feed it plastic as part of your simulated experiments. Guess what?”
Mitron Dilliwala Page 4