Scattered Fates by Ram Garikipati (best affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

‘Sorry. That is the old man I met at the park.’

‘You can call me Professor Ganapathy,’ the old man replied. ‘So you came looking for me?’

Naga strode up to him apologizing.

He looks very familiar. Have I met him before?

‘Sorry sir. My friend is just excited. This is her first time in this country. She is from Corea.’

‘I know, she told me. Very attractive, are you sure she is just your friend?’

‘Yes, I am just helping her. My name is Nagarjuna, I am a reporter for The Hindu,’ he replied.

‘The Hindu? Boring paper, I stopped reading it. Deccan Herald is better. Who is the editor now, after Ram joined politics?’

‘Mr. Venugopal is my editor. He is former editor Kasturi’s son.’

‘Yes, I know Kasturi, he was a fine editor. Ram made it a communist newspaper. I hope the younger generation improves the quality.’

‘Sir, many people praise my newspaper for its quality.’

‘Yes, I know. But it is always pro-establishment.’

‘That is not true. Ram was anti-establishment. He exposed so many corruption scandals against Jayalalitha.’

‘You are right. He was a fine journalist, but not such a good editor or politician. I heard he is planning a peace summit with Sanjay Nehru in Delhi. Maybe he wants the Nobel Peace Prize. I am definitely voting for Rajanikanth this time.’

‘Sir, I hope you can give me a copy of your article,’ Maya interjected, tired of all the negative talk.

‘Oh, yes. My article, I should warn you, it is very old, the circumstances have changed.’

‘I am interested in your opinion. Has it changed too?’

‘No, of course not, come, let us go to the library,’ he said, getting up.

‘Sir, when did you retire?’ Naga asked.

‘Ten years ago. Taught here for 30 years. Great memories. That is why I keep coming back everyday.’

‘You were here during the Great Protest?’

‘Of course. How can I forget?’

‘So you knew Professor Subbaiah?’

‘Who?’

‘Professor Subbaiah, who organized the students protests.’

‘No. I don’t remember anyone by that name.’

‘How can you have not heard of him? He is a very famous freedom fighter, and he was also Head of the Economics Department’.

‘Young man, don’t raise your voice, my memory is quite sharp, I never knew anyone by that name. Anna and MGR were the leaders of our freedom movement,’ he scolded. ‘I am not feeling well. Why don’t you kids leave me alone?’

‘Sir, your article…’ Maya protested.

‘You can check it yourself. Search for P. Ganapathy Iyer, ‘ he said, turning around and striding off, without as much as a glance back.

‘What’s wrong with him? What did I say?’

‘No idea, maybe he really doesn’t know your father.’

‘That can’t be. They must have been colleagues, it is really strange, nanagaru was in the university from ‘64 to ‘75, in the same department.’

#

‘It was not hard to find his article. Professor Ganapathy’s books took up an entire rack,’ Maya said, latching on the car seat belt.

‘Yes. He was quite prolific. I still don’t understand why he lied about not knowing my father. His bio clearly states that he joined the department in January ‘65 when my father was the head of department.’

‘He is old. You know how bad their memories can get. Maybe he has Alzheimer’s.’

‘No. I will definitely find out. I have to find out.’

‘Let us go back home Naga. I am tired and could do with a good nap.’

‘OK. I am tired too. Where did I see him before? He looks so familiar.’

‘Who?’

‘Professor Ganapathy.’

‘What do you mean? You have seen him before?’

‘Yes. I just don’t remember where.’

‘The same way he doesn’t remember your father,’ she laughed.

‘Maya, no jokes please, this is important.’

‘Why don’t you search for his background on the Internet?’

‘That is what I plan to do. I will also talk to some people in the university administration, they will be able to throw more light.’

‘I want to meet him again after reading his article. I may need some clarifications.’

‘Sure. You do that. Meet him alone, as he seems upset with me. In the meantime, I can also research his background, which you can crosscheck for me.’

#

Naga bombarded Google, while Maya took her much needed rest.

‘P.Ganapathy Iyer’ returned 1.4 million pages. After the first few, he gave up. Not a single relevant hit. Just a lot of links to some published articles and debates. ‘P.Ganapathy Iyer Madras University’ returned 96,000 pages and ‘P.Ganapathy Iyer Madras University Economics Department’ returned 94,000.

Not a single link to his detailed background. Google needs to upgrade its search algorithm.

He tried the Madras University website, still no luck, in desperation, he switched off the computer and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator.

Whatever happens, happens for the good.

The day had proved to be quite eventful, and he was happy that Maya was really beautiful. More importantly, she was intelligent and curious.

The only thing that bothered him was that she showed little to no romantic inclinations.

She had flirted in her emails before. So definitely I do stand a chance. I have to make the first move. Fast.

Chapter 6: THE FIRST SUPPER

Subbaiah was tired. It was nearly a week since Shastri had resigned, and Indira Nehru usurped his chair, however, there was still a deafening silence on the official language policy. The new government was busy finalizing the cabinet portfolios, and there was no time to be bothered with mundane language issues now that power was in hand.

Everyone was confused. Without a definite announcement, they could not protest, since English was still officially an associate language and Shastri's promise continued to hold.

Anna and the top leaders of DMK realized that there was more to it than meets the eye, Indira had outwitted them and held back deliberately. Everyone knew that with the change of guard, Hindi would inevitably become the sole national language, however, without specifics, there not much they could do. Students rejoined classes and everyone went about their daily work as if nothing had happened.

‘I am sure she is going make a surprise announcement, to catch us off-guard,’ Subbaiah said, standing in front of a roadside kiosk just opposite the university gates.

Every morning, after the first two classes, he met Ganapathy at the staff canteen for a cup of tea and idle chatter, but with the sun beating down mercilessly today, they decided to walk down to the entrance for soothing tender coconut water, the natural energy drink untouched by multinational companies like Coca Cola, who had slowly started spreading their tentacles in India. Both were of the opinion that the country was still not ready for fully owned foreign companies, but the government allowed companies like Coca Cola to make miniscule investments and repatriate all their huge profits back home.

‘What is DMK planning to do?’ Ganapathy asked, sipping on his Ilaneer.

‘I don't know. I haven't got any orders from the headquarters. I heard that Anna has gone to Andhra and Mysore to talk to a few local leaders.’

‘Obviously not Congress leaders?’

‘Of course not, he is trying to form a coalition of opposition parties, to be prepared for a larger protest. Today he is meeting N. G Ranga, co-founder of Swantara Party in Hyderabad.’

The Swatantra Party founded by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari , fondly called Rajaji, and N. G. Ranga in August 1959, opposed thesocialist policies of the Congress Party, strongly advocating free enterprise and free trade. It had gained a substantial chunk of votes in recent elections to emerge as the single largest opposition party in Parliament.

‘Do you think they will agree to support DMK? After all Rajaji himself wanted to impose Hindi here when he was Chief Minister of Madras in 1938.’

‘That is true, but that was when the British were ruling us. He has now changed his party and position. He assured Anna of his full support and has taken a strong anti-Hindi stand. Ranga just needs to ratify this decision, and if he is positive, then Andhra will join our protests.’

‘What about Mysore and Kerala?’

‘I'm sure Anna and the others will be talking to popular local leaders, even if it means having a dialog with the communist parties. EMS should be interested, he hates the Congress.’

Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad, popularly called EMS, was the first Chief Minister of Kerala. As the first non-Congress Chief Minister in India, he became the leader of the first democratically elected Communist government in the country on 5th April, 1957. His government was dismissed in 1959 by the Central Government, which invoked the controversial Article 356 of the Indian Constitution.

The immediate cause of the outbreak of the Liberation Struggle was the introduction of an Education Bill that could have had an impact on the administration of educational institutions financially aided by the government.

Massive rallies and demonstrations against the government took place throughout the state, spearheaded by the Catholic Church, which gave a perfect opportunity for Nehru to dismiss the government.

‘They are communists, ideologically opposing the Swantara party. Do you think they will come along?’

‘I am sure they will swallow their pride and do so, politics does make strange bedfellows. Moreover, do not forget that Indira was responsible for EMS’ dismissal as chief minister. He is surely itching to take revenge.’

‘Subbaiah, I need to go, have a class now. So your dinner invitation still holds?’

‘Sure, we will be expecting you and Vijaylaxmi at around 7.30, don't forget to bring your camera. No more classes for me today, I will spend some time in the library,’ he said tossing his empty coconut shell into a wicker basket.

#

‘Hello Moon, searching for something in particular?’ Subbaiah asked, noticing him struggling with the index cards at the library catalog section.

‘Yes sir, I wanted some Indian history books. I realized that unlike Coreans who are a single race, everyone here is so different, there are so many languages and people look completely different, but they all belong to one country. I really want to know your country’s history and understand how it became possible to unite so many different races.’

‘We have to thank the British for that.’

‘That is what Professor Ganapathy told me the other day, and I was curious.’

‘There is little doubt that without British rule, we would all have ended up being different countries, ruled by selfish kings. Do you know that we still give them regular income?’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘When Britain ceded its control over India, a large portion of the subcontinent was held by more than 565 princely states whose position and relation was determined by separate treaties. Most rulers surrendered their sovereignty in return for annual income, called privy purses, and other privileges.’

‘I thought India is a republic. Do they still receive an annual income from the government?’

‘India is a republic, but the royal families have a very strong political clout. It is time they ended this practice. There should be a law to abolish privy purses, and the official recognition of the titles, only then can we claim to be a true democracy.’

‘So were the Indians happy with the British rule?’

‘No, of course not, like any other imperial power, they too had their self-interest in mind and exploited us, but unknowingly ended up uniting us. Like a silver lining in a dark cloud.’

‘It is surprising to see you say anything nice about the British. In my country, we hate the Japanese for what they did to us for 35 years, although they too helped develop our infrastructure.’

‘I am aware, and guess that is the reason you got upset when I asked whether you had Japanese and Chinese friends. I can understand your anger with Japanese, but why the Chinese?’

‘Many of the Chinese kingdoms considered Corea as their tributes and ill-treated us for centuries. Even today they claim that that large parts of our country actually belong to them.’

‘That was centuries ago, today your government has very friendly relations with Mao.’

‘It is just to reduce the influence of Japan in our region; we cannot do that by being close to America. Deep down, Corean's still do not trust the Chinese, even though our government has taken the political decision to strengthen our relationship. We all remember how China sent 300,000 solders in