Mitron Dilliwala Read online

  “And to sum up all your questions, We are not doing to gain favors or win the upcoming elections. Everything takes time and this bacteria had been brought to life with the help of Researchers and Engineers who have toiled for years without any breaks. It”s not for my party or the company behind this. It should be a success for the people of Delhi and all of North India. And of course, the farmers will be paid a nominal amount to deposit their stubble in designated Yocon sites in the locality”

  MoF, who was watching this, said to his colleague, “It is going to fail. Our high command had people inside the company and it seems the initial lab tests were unsuccessful.”

  Bipul continuing his address, “Government of Delhi actively promoted this research with their funds and we hold an equal share with Yocon. So once its deployment proves successful, we are going to collaborate with the Chinese Government”.

  “Sir, how does this work? What”s the name of species?”, PTI reporter asked.

  “That”s an important question. My good friend, Yashwant will answer that question”, said Bipul.

  Yashwant was standing next to Bipul. He answered, “Using Shredder, a derivative of CRISPR editing technique we have combined DNA”s of two species together. It was not simple. Nuclear fusion is easier.”

  He tried to avoided all those questions related to the economics and business behind this project.

  One reporter asked, “What are those two species?”

  “Prevotella and Alcanivorax Borkumensis”

  “Isn”t Prevotella a bacterial species that live in the human gut and digests fiber and carbohydrates?”, Ankit Banerjee, from Down to Earth magazine questioned.

  “I am surprised. You are correct. This stubble is all organic wastes that are rich in fiber. So it was part of the plan when we began researching for a species that can decompose so much in little time.”

  “And the other species?”, asked Ankit Banerjee.

  “Alcanivorax borkumensis, species that are found in abundance in the sea during oil spills, practically live drinking oil, by breaking down complex hydrocarbons.”

  As it got too technical, Reporters turned their attention towards Bipul and started bombarding him with questions.

  As Yashwant moved out from the crowd, Ankit followed him to his car that was supposed to take him to the airport

  Ankit called him by out by his name, “Hegde, Hegde..”

  Yashwant was not used to someone calling him by his surname.

  He stopped and turned.

  Ankit stopped inches in front of him.

  “Isn”t this harmful to humans?”

  Yashwant didn”t blink twice before answering it.

  “The rats in our lab were kept isolated with different combinations of these bacteria for days together. Even outrageous scenarios were simulated. They were fine.

  Rats and Humans. No harm is done.”

  “And do you think to let the bacteria float through the air and let it find its way is a good idea?

  Is there a kill switch to stop these bacteria when we want to stop it?”, asked Ankit

  “Correction..!!, I never said that. It won”t spread in the air, it”s been engineered to die once its work is done. Our field tests before deployment did not show any signs of spreading through the air or breaking it”s engineered memory. It won”t stray.”

  “And yes, we have a backup plan, but that won”t be necessary.”

  Yashwant slid into his car and it zoomed past.

  Ankit Banerjee stood there watching the pile of stubble with high- end monitoring machines attached to a digital LED monitor that was monitoring temperature, humidity, wind speed and rate of decomposition.

  The technicians monitoring the details were laid back.

  They were all calm.

  Chapter 6

  Present day

  3 months after Mitron’s release

  Kumar, Nalini, Ayyapa and Grace crossed the huge arch made of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Nalini noticed it and said, “What a waste? It could have fed at least a thousand families, Why are they doing this?”

  Kumar had to answer “Since the fallout between Southern state CM’s and our PM, the committee was instructed to glorify southern states’ culture, language, and customs.This is a direct result of it.”

  He continued, “If the topic for the upcoming debate is ‘Unified India - A history of all diversities’, do not be surprised by it.”

  They went to the registration desk; the girls and boys were all dressed in silk sarees and Dhotis. Ayyapa stared at the registration desk girl for a moment; She seemed familiar. he knew Grace was watching him, so he curbed his instinct. He thought, maybe, she was this mutual friend on facebook, to whom he sent a request.

  The event hall was huge and at the most, a hundred and fifty teams were there.

  Security measures were high since PM was about to kick start the event with a traditional Deepam Lighting ceremony.

  The event was supposed to start at 9.30. “Usually, security arrangements are on time.”, said Kumar. Ayyapa nudged him and lifted his right hand to tell him that he wanted to smoke. Kumar said , “No Way..” Ayyapa pleaded with a pout face, “Please, just one. Only one”

  Kumar and Ayyapa stood up in Unison and told the girls they were heading to the restroom. As they reached the restroom, Ayyapa slid out a roll from his socks.

  “You managed to bring in a joint?”, surprised Kumar.

  “Delhi is the world’s third-largest consumer of weed, bro. 80 metric tons a year.”, said Ayyapa.

  It was a practice. Even back at their school, he was supposed to watch out for Ayyapa when he gets into a tiff with boys for chasing their girlfriends and he had to watch out for him while he smokes.

  “Adding fuel to the fire, and smoke to the Fog”, Ayyapa latched the door and lit up his roll.

  Kumar walked a bit to the garden and checked his smartwatch. Air Quality Index displayed 200 ppm.

  There was a sound coming from the other washroom. Kumar was sure that it was Delhi’s CM’s voice. He was not able to hear it clearly but “Get out of Delhi. Head North into the mountains.” That was it.

  He could not focus since the SPG guy was heading towards him. He was shocked. Ayyapa was still smoking. Wafts of smoke were coming out of restroom he occupied.

  SPG guys rolled in from all entry and exit points that Kumar could see and one was approaching them. Kumar feared that SPG guy could smell weed from such a distance. He panicked. He started banging the door.

  SPG guy was close and Kumar concluded that both of them will be arrested under the Narcotics Act. SPG guy got Kumar by his shirt but his earpiece crackled.

  SPG guy left his shirt and ran out of the washroom.

  Ayyapa stumbled out and called, “Kumar”. SPG guy’s actions were strange. He decided not to tell any of his friends about it.

  ___

  Black clouds were rolling around Aravalli hills in the distance.

  They had to produce their IDs to get back into the hall, which meant PM has arrived.

  Additional security was all over the place. By the time they got in, Amol Gupta, Home Minister left the diaz and Kumar’s eyes followed him all the way until he was joined by his son who was sitting in the front row.

  It seemed to Kumar that Kishore Mangat PM was halfway through his speech.

  “A nation that stands together at the toughest of times wins. Let us all confront the enemy within us. .”

  “Is he calling Nalan an enemy? Why did that guy leave? Is he already bored with Honorable PM”s speech?”, smirked Ayyapa. His eyes were bloodshot.

  The entire hall was watching the address. Nobody beyond the first two rows heard it.

  He was too high. “Young minds like you hold the key to our Nation. So switch them on. The phrase ‘Be a beacon’ is old now. Be that Wi-fi signal to those who are not able to pay for data packs.”

  “Now he wants us act like a walking dongle, Mitron. Smart cities?? What about them?”, Ayyapa was ge
tting out of control.

  “Debate. Question. Conquer..” PM continued his address.

  “Wow. Debate. When your policies are questioned you tend to place an entire state under house arrest?”, Ayyapa blurted out loud.

  A small crowd started enjoying Ayyapa’s rant.

  Kumar understood that something was amiss. He tried to recall the moment when he entered the hall, The SPG guy was talking over the secure network. There was a disturbance in the signal. Grace and Nalini were sure that they would be thrown out if Ayyapa keeps going on his tirade.

  Kumar could see a SPG guy talking to the organizer and pointing to their gang. One of the securities walked towards him, his earpiece came alive. And three other SPG guys were either sides started moving in towards them and picked them up. All three of them protested. Ayyapa was enjoying it and he said, “Didn’t I say they would throw us out if we question them?”

  All four of them were thrown out. Grace and Nalini were pleading with the organizer to let them in. But in the LED screen put up near the registration desk he could see the events unfolding inside the auditorium.

  All of the SPG guys earpieces came alive at the same moment and the one who was standing close to PM walked over and said something to him.

  Immediately PM was escorted by other SPG guards.

  He didn’t even say goodbye to the students.

  Kumar was not able to put it together. But there was one sentence in his conversation that was oft-repeated.

  “It’s coming”. “It’s coming”. “Evacuate Asset at once.”

  He didn’t understand it at first.

  His smartwatch was still blinking. AQI was below 40 now.

  He watched over from the balcony. My weather app indicated that the cloud cover was close to Sirsi in Punjab-Haryana border. The clouds were too thick when he shifted the mode to live view. Something was amiss.

  He had to alert his friends. Nalini was the first one to catch wind of it. Grace protested at first and told her friends that she wanted to go in but she understood was going wrong completely.

  The girl in the red saree who was at the registration desk saw them and followed them.

  The other participants were stunned by the sudden change of events. The Master of the Ceremony had to jump in and assure the audience that Prime Minister would expect the contestants to remain calm. She requested the audience to not leave their seats as the competition was about to begin.

  Kumar understood it. If an unexpected event takes place in the city or is considered a credible threat, first job of SPG guys is to evacuate the Prime Minister.

  History, in the form of Prime Ministerial assassinations, has taught them a lot.

  In spite of their names being called on stage, Kumar and his gang had to leave but they were stopped by the last SPG guy, who had to ensure that PM is not followed and he had to stay back till the convoy reaches a minimum safe distance.

  The guy’s earpiece crackled, the signal was in and out. He left in a few seconds.

  Ayyapa proved to be troublesome as he had to be dragged by Kumar. Grace had to help him from the left side.

  “Where are we going?” asked Nalini.

  “I don’t know but I am sure about one thing. We should not be here.”

  “What do you think is happening? Is it a terrorist threat?”, asked Grace.

  Ayyapa was half-conscious and he made noises like he had a gun,

  “Shoot the bastards. Long Live the Nation, kill all those say we are differ…nt”

  “I don’t think so..”, and he checked his smart watch.

  AQI – 20 ppm.

  The clouds were visible now and there was a loud thunder strike.

  Kumar was shocked for a moment. Nalini tuned in to a live feed of a 24-hour news channel and the anchor was reporting from the ground

  While the lightning made it to one of the city’s antennas, the lightning illuminated it’s descent to the ground and it was all covered with red-colored dust. It’s definitely not part of the cloud cover.

  “Can you see that?”, the reporter was pointing out to the dust.

  Another thunder struck the antenna, Kumar and his entire gang saw it.

  Red-colored dust hung in the air, swirling and turning were spreading all over the place.

  The thing was it was only visible under lightning strikes. Kumar ran a calculation in his mind, the easiest option for them was to take the metro. With the wind speed and rain clouds fast approaching, in the next 40 minutes, it was a rough estimate, anything could happen.

  The girl in the red saree was still hanging around them. She was watching Ayyapa with demure eyes. We have to get out and as far as possible from the clouds.

  “What is it?”, asked Nalini running with them.

  “Whatever it is, it’s not good. We should not be here when it comes.”

  Kanishka stepped in front of the gang and said, “I have a car.”

  Without hesitating, Grace took the keys from her and pressed the button. It was a blue-colored BMW 3 series car. They hopped in.

  Kumar saw the vegetable arch decomposing rapidly.

  “Where to?”, asked Grace.

  “Indira Gandhi International Airport”, said Kanishka.

  As they put the car in reverse gear, there was a lurch sound. It was the 50 foot arch, .

  “Watch out..!”, yelled Nalini.

  The arch’s stem broke and it fell crushing another car speeding out towards the highway

  Grace felt a sigh of relief as it almost fell on them. Meanwhile, students and organizers received calls from their parents, guardians, and friends asking them to get out of Delhi as soon as possible. The situation had panic written all over it.

  The Master of ceremony tried to maintain calm but repeated thunder strikes did not help their cause and the crowd dispersed like ant colony invaded by an Armadillo.

  Things could not be contained anymore.

  The Delhi police too abandoned their posts and scrambled.

  A few loyal and brave policemen tried to take control of the situation but it was too late for any of that.

  There was a last thunder strike and there was radio silence.

  Chapter 7

  Sironj, Madhya Pradesh

  A girl about 7 years old was dipping her legs in Radha Kund. Sironj was a small village known for its temples and whenever a Salman’s film releases, the village turns into festive mode. Fans from surrounding villages flock to Nishat Talkies to watch their favorite star fight the goons, dance and mouth dialogues that will keep them hooked. It would be an understatement to say that the entire village depends on his film’s release for the local economy to thrive.

  Tara ran a small shop that sold cigarettes, sweets, pan and whatever that required minimal investment. It has been 2 years since her husband has sent her any money. She was barely running her life but all she cared for was for her daughter, Kiara Mohammed. As a woman, Tara saw the best and worst of her life. Being a single woman in a man’s world is never easy but she managed it well.

  A village elder saw Kiara dipping her legs in the temple pond and gave her a strong pat on the head, pulled her out and dragged her. Tara, who was searching for Kiara, came across this commotion and she was shocked to find out that Kiara was tied to a Banyan tree and she was being lashed.

  There were women and children among the crowd but none dared to stop it.

  Tara stepped up, “What did my daughter do?”

  “How can she wash her legs in our pond?”, said the priest.

  “She is just a small child. How do you expect her to understand the difference between our and your water?”, Tara stepped up to untie her daughter, few men blocked her way.

  “She deserves punishment for disrespecting our tradition. You people will never understand it. You are all meat-eating animals, after all..”, the priest said.

  “I eat meat and if that bothers you, why do you let Abu Bakkar to serve you meat on Sundays?”, Tara threw a bomb.

  “You are acc
using me of eating meat. I am the head priest of this temple, She is trying to divide us.”, taunted the priest.

  “If you are so pure, why did you visit the whore house in Kamariya last week? To bless them? Nobody is pure. Expecting a little child to understand varnas, religion and social ladder is foolishness”, Tara retorted.

  The crowd around the banyan tree was swelling and it was time before it turns ugly.

  Muslims from the local mosque gathered and a wise old man stepped up.

  “Forgive the child. Panditji.. We promise this won’t happen again.” he said.

  Priest was in no mood to give up as he was heavily insulted and said, “Someone should pay for the sin committed. Either the mother or the girl..!”

  “I won’t let my child or don’t expect me to”, Tara said sharply.

  There were taunts from the crowd stating that Tara should be punished. Seeing that the Priest had the upper hand and keeping the welfare of his people in his mind, Abu Bakkar asked Tara to come alone.

  Tara obliged and listened to what he had to say “You being strong is one thing but their numbers are high and they would do anything.”

  “I can handle myself, Bhai”, she responded.

  “I know you can but can you keep an eye on your child all the time? You are defending her now but what can you do when she fails to return home one day.” Abu Bakkar said.

  Suddenly she realized, it was all for her daughter and understood the reasoning. “Tell me what should I do? But I won”t let them harm my child.”, Tara said.

  Abu Bakkar spoke with the priest and he came with a worried face.

  “He wants you to serve at their temple or go out of the village and never return.”

  She was taken aback by it and after thinking over it.

  “I will work at the temple for a day but no harm should come to my child. She should be left alone”. she said.

  Abu Bakkar was shocked.

  Priest was expecting her to say no to work at the temple.

  Kiara was untied and Tara gave her water, a visibly worried Abu Bakkar came over and said, “Be careful out there, if something happens to you we can’t come inside.”