‘I blew my chance. My only hope is you! I don’t know any other hackers for this story.’
‘Tell me,’ Ritika said, a smile forming on her lips. ‘Are you are getting me the passes for Christmas and New Year?’
‘Hell, yes. Now listen. If he does answer your questions, take at least one photo of him. That should do.’
Ritika sipped her coffee, carefully observing the shop. Suddenly, Kanu walked out towards his bike.
‘Is that the one? The handsome guy starting up his bike?’
‘Yes!’
‘Damn! He looks yum!’ Ritika said, staring curiously in the direction of the bike. ‘Come, let’s go.’
‘Where?’
‘You want your story or not? Look, he’s gone. The line is clear.’
Ritika and Darshu walked towards the cyber café. As they entered, Bansi was talking to two girls. They were waiting for the Internet connection to start working on their projects.
Ritika did not wait for the girl to finish. ‘Hi, I have to work on a report. You create college reports for student projects, right?’
Bansi was used to pushy customers. Besides, this girl was beautiful. ‘What’s the subject?’ he asked.
‘Water bodies. It’s about agriculture and healthcare in rural Madhya Pradesh.’
‘Let me check.’ Bansi looked into his system. ‘I have a complete dataset for, um, WHO, ITCC, Darpan, and the Government of India. You want more on this topic?’
‘There’s more?’
‘Give me a minute.’ Bansi paused for a few seconds before he punched a few key words – Madhya Pradesh + reports – into the search bar. A list of folders and documents came up. The result included studies from WHO, the state government, health foundations, ITCC and a few NGOs.
‘Wow! This is great! Honestly, this is exactly what I have been searching for.’
‘Please have a seat,’ Bansi added, pushing a wooden stool towards her.
‘Where do you get your information?’
‘Government websites and corporate FTP. We hack into the systems. Did you see today’s paper? Our café’s name is mentioned.’
‘Really?’ Darshu’s breath quickened.
‘Information shouldn’t be confidential in the first place. So we hack. We make it public. For free. These research projects are sponsored by the state, funded by public money. Yet they are hidden from most. Look here,’ he said, pointing to a board. ‘We provide information for free.’
‘Do you have any information on community-level check dams and agro-forestry?’ asked Ritika.
‘How do you spell it?’
‘What check dam? C-H-E-C-K-D-A-M.’
Bansi typed the text and hit Enter. The screen displayed five research papers and a few government reports on the subject.
‘Wow! Can I get this information? How much do I have to pay?’
‘Just the cost for printing. The information is free!’
‘I can’t tell you how lucky I feel. I’ve been searching for this information for years!’ Ritika turned and looked at Darshu as if to say thank you.
Darshu interrupted the conversation. ‘You hack into private computers and government databases? Isn’t that illegal?’
‘Yes. But information should be free. Did you know our government maintains many datasets? Why should these be hidden?’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. Hiding information is illegal. Carrying out research using public money and not making it public – that’s illegal. Hacking and putting it out in the public domain – that’s called public service!’
‘Do you make money from it?’
‘Know what? We don’t profit a single rupee from it.’
‘So you do this alone?’ asked Darshu.
‘No, I don’t do any hacking. It’s my business partner. His name is Kanu. You must come meet him someday. He must have gone to the NIIIT Institute. That’s our place.’
‘NIIIT – the computer coaching centre in CTC Complex?’ Darshu asked.
‘Bang on!’
Darshu was speechless. She’d had a fairly low opinion of hackers before, but the truth might be entirely different.
Just then two rugged, heavily-built, armed men walked in with SISI Security badges neatly stitched to their uniforms. One of the men was a tad taller, but both were big and packed with muscle.
They came straight to the counter. Without bothering to ask Bansi’s name or introduce themselves, the hulk said, ‘I want you to show me all the folders where the Sathyamev files are stored.’
Is this happening because of my report? Darshu wondered in panic. She grabbed Ritika’s hand and held it tightly.
‘Can you tell me who you are?’ asked Bansi. He tried to stand up but they pushed him back into his seat. ‘We have deleted all the files. There is no file on Sathyamev,’ Bansi muttered.
‘Either you show us where the file is stored –’
‘Look, this is the hard disc where all files are stored. E Drive.’ He pointed at the CPU. ‘It’s not in here.’
The taller man crouched to have a proper look at the screen. ‘Okay, so this is your E Drive.’ He pulled out a brick-sized magnetic tool and placed it on the table. ‘This magnetic strip will wipe your data forever. Is there anything important you want to save from this computer? Do it now. I’ll give you two minutes.’
Frightened, Darshu and Ritika crept out, as Bansi tried to salvage a few files to a floppy disc.
Outside, the girls hurried down Rezimental Street without speaking. They were afraid, and also feeling guilty for having done nothing to help Bansi.
‘They bullied the poor guy into submission. Now I won’t get those reports on community-level check dams!’ lamented Ritika.
‘You are always worried about yourself. Think of that guy!’
‘Yeah, and it’s all because of you.’
‘I only did the reporting. Besides, how was I to know what kind of work they’re into?’
‘Say whatever you want to say in your defence. By now, they must have wiped out all the records on check dams and agro-forestry.’
They were near Darshu’s office.
‘Are you coming in or what?’ asked Darshu.
‘No, I’m going home,’ Ritika said, her lips pressed together in anger. Then she turned and walked away, leaving Darshu alone in the night.
FOUR
7–20 December 2006
T
he next day, Darshu decided to visit the CTC Complex in Secunderabad that housed computer hardware shops, service centres, and training points, including the NIIIT Institute.
She walked all the way to the fifth floor only to find one weary guard sitting in an empty classroom. He had his feet up on the desk, but he quickly spun around to greet the visitor.
Darshu took her time to react, unsure if he was the right person to talk to on the specific subject.
‘Isn’t this the NIIIT office?’ Darshu asked.
‘No, this is our classroom. Our office is downstairs. First floor – B 42.’
‘That’s where Mr Kelkar sits, right?’
‘That’s right. Guru Kelkar sits in the first-floor office. But he must be busy now.’
‘Okay, can you help me get some information …?’
‘Information? What information?’
‘Do you know anything about Kanu, Pankaj, Bansi and the others?’
‘Do I?’ the guard smiled. ‘They were from the first batch of NIIIT graduates.’ The guard straightened up to offer her every little secret he had known about the millennium batch. ‘Wait until you hear this!’ he said.
At the NIIIT head office on the first floor, Kelkar sat facing a monitor. A large banner behind him, with a picture of graduating students throwing their caps in celebration, made him appear small. He was, in fact, a tall, middle-aged man wearing navy-blue trousers and a starched, white shirt.
Darshu introduced herself with her visiting card as she entered the office, then began explaining the purpose of her visit. But Kelkar looked uni
nterested.
‘Can you give me five more minutes? I’ll finish this and get back to you,’ he said.
‘Sure.’
Darshu looked around. The coffee mug on his table had NIIIT printed on it in neat letters. NIIIT was also inscribed at the bottom of the monitor. The same logo resurfaced on the newspaper stand, notice board, photo frames and certificates. Yeah, NIIIT it is!
After some time Kelkar was ready to talk. ‘Tell me, Darshu, what brings you here?’
‘I came here to know more about the NIIIT millennium batch. I met your students, Kanu and Pankaj.’ Darshu placed her notepad on the table and pulled out a pen as she continued with her questions. ‘Based on the information I’ve gathered, it seems that your students specialize in hacking.’ She paused to assess his reaction.
Kelkar was unmoved. ‘Go on.’
‘Is there any specific course on hacking? I mean, how and why do your students start hacking? Is there something that can stop them? You know, like a good job or something?’
By this time, she had lost Kelkar’s attention again. He was focused on his computer. ‘So what do you want from me, Darshu?’
Darshu realized she must have been too vague in her questions. She thought for a while. ‘Okay, why do your students hack into others’ computers? Does it not reflect badly on the institute and their teachers?’
Kelkar finally seemed ready to listen. ‘When students come here, we don’t know what kind of futures they have. Both Kanu and Pankaj were bright when they joined. They were creative. They had passion. Sometimes skilled people need their own space and work atmosphere to bring out the best in them. Corporates cannot provide them that. Does that answer your question?’
‘Why become a hacker? I mean, by hacking into others’ computers and stealing information or trading secret files, aren’t they committing crimes?’
‘It depends on how you look at it. All good programmers are hackers. Being a hacker is a virtue. They have this ability to reframe the basic premise of a programme and seek a different solution to the problem.’ He stared at her pen and paper. ‘Are you getting this?’
‘Yes, please continue.’
‘Kanu was my best student. Writing a compiler came easy to him. Not because I taught him, but because he found it interesting. But his programmes had no customers in the real, applied world.’
‘And what is a compiler?’
‘I’ll give you an example. Kanu’s work is mostly based on abstract subjects, such as writing programmes for unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. Have you heard about drones?’
‘No.’
‘Have you heard about autonomous cars or the hackathon to write tools for building applications that could run a self-driving car?’
‘No.’
‘My dear friend, you are very new to this field. You should have done a refresher’s course to understand our subject.’
She tried to apologize. ‘I am sorry, my knowledge of computer programming is rather limited …’
‘Not at all – very kind of you to have come here to find the answers. But let me conclude by saying that the satisfaction of working on any independent project is immense, far more than earning a good salary in a big firm.’
‘One final question. I want to know about Pankaj. I am told he is into hacking to profit himself –’
‘Pankaj has his own agenda. I do not approve of his style of working. But there’s much more that he can do.’
The man’s answers had only raised more questions. Darshu was ill-prepared to follow up. Prominent on her notepad were words such as ‘Autonomous car?’ and ‘Drones?’ What has hacking to do with autonomous cars and drones? She returned to her office more confused than ever.
After finishing a write-up based on a press conference, Darshu walked all the way home. She had never worked on such a complicated and tricky assignment before. She turned to Ritika for suggestions.
Ritika was dressed for the night in a black T-shirt and shorts. She had occupied the couch for the greater part of the day watching a TV show and was not over with it yet. Darshu put her bag on a chair and sat on the little space that was left on the sofa.
‘I went to NIIIT today to meet Kelkar. I think I made a mistake reporting that hacker story. Perhaps the police took money from Pankaj to seize computers from MNR Cyber Café. Then he disappeared. The guard at NIIIT also told me as much.’
There was no response. Her friend was engrossed in the programme.
‘Rits, are you even listening? My story on the cyber café and hacking has backfired!’ Darshu stood up and turned off the TV.
‘What? Backfired?’ shouted Ritika.
‘It seems I was reporting the wrong side of the story,’ Darshu said, her voice laced with sadness. ‘That café owner is not a bad guy.’
‘Listen, I know about it as well. I went back there to get my data. He is really bright.’
‘Who’s bright?’
‘Kanu. He seemed upset that the incident you reported was so, ah, incorrect. But, you know, I spoke to him politely. Made him realize you were only doing your work. I’ll bet he was upset with those two guys. They wiped the hard disc totally clean. Luckily, they had a backup of all their data. He said he would help me.’
‘What did you tell him about me?’ she prodded her friend. Why do I care so much?
‘Nothing much. That you felt sorry.’
‘And what did he say?’
‘He is cool. It’s the government research work I’m more worried about. Let’s see how it goes.’ Ritika’s face lit up as she explained her project.
Darshu took a deep breath. ‘This is going to be a long and complicated story without any closure. You know corporate people like Sathyamev have such muscle power, they can make even the editor crawl on their knees.’
‘Why? What happened?’
‘Gaurav called. He said that we might have to issue a corrigendum to the story. It seems the reporting was incorrect.’
The following day, Darshu was already at her desk when the other reporters began to arrive. She was busy typing out a story when Ayesha came up to her. She had a note in her hand and didn’t look very happy.
‘Darshu, we’ll have to run a corrigendum to the hacking news.’
‘Yeah, Gaurav told me. I filed a note. You can check in my recent documents.’
‘The police confirmed that the company’s name was wrongly mentioned. Clearly, giving out the company’s name was a bad idea. And your source is unreliable. We must be careful when reporting.’
‘I understand. I should have cross-checked with the company before writing about it.’
Deep inside, Darshu felt a portion of the blame was also on the editors – two levels of them – since they allowed the copy to get published exactly the way she had written it. But she did not say anything.
Ayesha held a few papers in her hand. ‘This release too must go. Can you send me all the content?’
Darshu nodded and started typing. After finishing her work, she considered calling Ritika. It was unlikely Ritika would be at the cyber café, yet she wished just that.
At 3.00 p.m., Darshu was near the cyber café, unsure of what she was planning to do. She stood there, staring at the door. She wanted to apologize for fiddling in the hacking story with her half-baked report. She felt a strong urge to right the wrong. And perhaps to see Kanu.
She was trying to sneak a peek through the glass door when she felt someone tapping her shoulder.
Kanu was dressed in his trademark buttoned-down shirt over a faded pair of jeans with white headphones coiled around his neck. Suddenly, she felt a paralysing fear at having to talk to him.
‘Hi,’ her voice trembled.
‘Hi,’ said Kanu. ‘Are you looking for someone?’
‘Yes,’ she said, and then stopped.
‘Anything new you want to write about today?’
She gathered her wits enough to say, ‘No. I was searching for Ritika. Have you seen her?’
‘Yeah, s
he came and left. Why? Didn’t she tell you that?’
‘Maybe she did.’ Darshu fumbled to reach her phone, hidden somewhere in her bag. Damn this mobile. Now where is it? When she found it, she scanned her messages. There it is: Ritika.
He stood still, eyeing her patiently. ‘If you are looking for an interview, or thinking of writing about underground networks of the hacking community, you will not get any information here. Is that clear?’
Darshu had the handset glued to her ear. ‘Um, no.’
‘What?’
‘It’s not connecting. The line –’
‘Why don’t you do some other stories? There, the pavement is a mess in this city. Why don’t you do a story on that?’
‘I made a mistake in the way I reported that story. I did the wrong thing by not getting your side of the matter.’ She looked helplessly apologetic as she said these words.
Kanu hesitated for a moment, then smiled. ‘Don’t bother. We are used to such criticism.’
Her mobile buzzed.
‘Hi, Darshu. You called me? Hello? Are you there?’ Ritika was on the line.
‘I was looking for you at the café,’ said Darshu.
‘Are you still there? Wait, I’ll join you.’
‘Join me? Yes, please do.’
Kanu invited her inside the cyber café. The place was filled with college students moving in and out of the square open space near the counter. The cabins were filling in fast. Bansi, who was at the counter, gave the charge to Kanu and went back to work.
‘I’m working on this project for your friend,’ Kanu reminded his guest.
‘On check dams?’ she asked.
‘Ah! You seem to know! There’ve been so many studies on community check dam work, but reporting is always a problem. I feel passionately for such causes, you see.’
‘Yeah.’
‘We dig out reports funded by governments or state-sponsored universities. And know what? We can easily break in and gain access to such papers. Others can’t. For me, it’s important that all information must be freely available to all people, not just the privileged and wealthy.’
‘I agree.’
‘Do you? Really?’
‘I know you won’t believe this, but I told the same thing to Ritika. About the information thing –’
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