Yantrixa-6: Delhi

I have never like Delhi, I don't know why - I grew up in Bombay and Delhi doesn't make sense to me. As Siddarth Basu once said to the famed Mayank Austen Soofi, - there is a jiski laathi uski bhains culture in Delhi. I can't figure out where it comes from but I can't be bothered with it. The city is inherently not as cosmopolitan as Bombay. I don't know what else to say.

I parked myself in the Ambassador where I usually do. I had setup a meeting with an old friend in Metcalfe House but as I was busily picking through my sumptuous breakfast - when I realised the "thing" sitting across from me bundled in bandages and a plaster cast was Barsha.

You know people say terrible things about her, but honestly - I've found her to be perfectly decent. Starting a conversation with her - given her state proved difficult. Most of this nasty stuff started from that incident that was captured on the ATM video camera but I don't think it is fair to keep dragging her name through the mud for that.

Turns out that she was driving back from Meherauli late one night when she had some sort of altercation with a bunch of college girls driving an SUV. The girls pulled her off the road and beat her up and smashed her car. She had no idea who they were and apparently the Police didn't exactly believe her story. A social worker from the Crimes Against Women unit had come to see her to ask her if she was in an abusive relationship and it was only a call from her father that had prevented the Police from arresting her boyfriend on suspicion of battery.

I was shocked - in a bid to distract from the obviously distressing situation I told her what I was working on. What followed was one of the most bizarre and fortuitous conversations of my life.

Me: So that is it really. I think I might call it "Qayamat ka Din".

B(arsha): Nice catchy - I am jealous. I started developing something like that a few months ago but the MD wouldn't have any of it. I managed to get them to approve a related story but that too got shut down.

Me: Care to tell me what it was?

B: Sure - why not - its all ancient history now.

B: So that part where everyone thinks the Tetravaal are imported? - there is something funny going on there.

B: I decided to go poking around and I found out that the initial import proposal was shot down by Metcalfe House and yet somehow the whole thing went through. I thought they were overruled and most likely Daal me kuch kala hain. So I thought why not go talk to them? after Qayamat ka Din, I figured people might be more up to sharing. So I set up a meeting with a source there.

B: Now when I got there - the feeling was quite bizarre. The source denied all the stuff about Metcalfe House ever having objected to the import. That didn't make any sense either. If there was a time to say "I told you so" - it was now right?

Me: Yes that is strange.

B: I know - but the source was categorical - he denied that Metcalf had anything to do with refusing an import. After I pushed him for an hour, he finally said that the intelligence community had made the objections.

Me: The "Intelligence Community"? Who the hell is that?

B: That is what I thought also. So I went around poking and probing but everyone I spoke to told me that they had no idea what I was talking about. They all parroted the story about Metcalfe House stalling imports.

Me: That's weird.

B: So anyway after a few months of searching around, I finally came upon someone who might be able to clear this up. One of those residents of the 14th floor of Lodhi Road. I had an idea where he lived and so I caught up with him outside his house.

Me: Ooh.. that sounds very bold.

B: Yeah - turned out he was not amused. I fucked up - I didn't know that the 14th floor crowd has its own gorillas. He rounded on me in ten seconds after I asked him about the import issue. He began to question me, how did I know who he was, how did I find where he lived, why was I asking such questions, who sent me, what was my MD thinking... and so on. And seconds later he set the gorillas on my camera man and sound tech. They beat them senseless and they smashed up my support van. A fucking mobile parked one hundred feet away did nothing and after the incident was over they acted like I wasn't even there. They didn't even call an ambulance.

Me: Holy shit - seriously? what did the MD say?

B: Something sympathetic at first and then some time later the MD quietly informed me that I was not to poking around there again. I kept agitating for some action to be taken against these people but then I had that accident on Meherauli road and I have been on medical leave since.

Me: Wow.. I don't know what to say.

B: I know - I spoke to Manoj., I thought with his experience, he should know. I asked him if this was how people behaved. He said usually people were civil, but then if you got too close to something, then their hands were tied. He said that I should let it go lest I ended up like some guy called Hiren but when I probed he clammed up. Do you know what he is talking about?

Me: No .. no idea.

The conversation rolled back and forth and I kept my mouth shut for most of it. I am extremely lucky I met her.

I know exactly what old Manoj was refering to. I know all about Hiren and no I don't want to end up like him.

I think I am going to skip the meeting with the fellow at Metcalfe House, and go home. I really hate Delhi.

Yantrixa-5: John

There are very few of John's kind that I can get along with - I tend to give them a wide berth - their obsession with paperwork drives me insane. John is one of a few notable exceptions. I met him at his house in Hyderabad estate. Pawle thought it would be nice to get a shot of us talking with the sea in the background, so we sat outside in the park.

Here is what he said -

J(ohn): Why do you want do this now? the matter is under investigation as we speak - so it may be premature.

Me: By the time the editing and everything is done, the documetary will be timely.

J: Okay - but then atleast remember that these are tentative comments and frankly my memory of some events isn't at its best.


Me: That is okay - you have a lot of work on your hands now - so I will show it to you before it goes to the editor. So tell me what you recall.


J: Well... we never seem to have enough people in the office. The official phone book has been growing with each year I have been in service here - and every year we sense a shortfall. Information flow between so many people is quite a problem. Ultimately it all has to go through my desk and so I get the worst of it.


Me: So all of this went past you?


J: Ofcourse - I was there from A to Z. I am still there.


Me: Then you are the best one to tell me what happened.


J: I don't about that - but it is clear - unprepared as we are for the next thing - we were knocked out by the VT station bombing. The corporation building houses an enormous amount of information on the city and most of it is in the minds of the people working there. We lost - exactly - *ALL* of them that day. So from that point on - my office became the de-facto corporation. I think I slept in my office for months afterwards. There was so much going on for a while Thambi (Gen. Ghosh's 2iC) had a desk in my office - we used to sleep on the floor together. My assistant's family was killed in the blast, I did not even have time to go for the Uthmana a month later - the poor man was with me al the time despite this horrible situation. I tell you - whatever media writes about us - is is unfair and utter lies.


Me: It was that overwhelming..


J: Yes yes... I simply gave what people were still around me a letter of authority and I told them to solve whatever problems they saw but to do everything in their power to stay alive. When the CP's motorcade was challenged, two of my colleagues were riding in the car behind. The IED killed both of them and their driver. There was no time to do a proper funeral, so we just drove the bodies to Chandanwadi and burnt them there - young boys both of them - fresh from Mussorie. I sent my son with to their families with the ashes. It was terrible.


Me: Good Lord.


J: I can't tell you the sense of despair we felt. There was clearly a refugee crisis, people were simply spilling out of the city - Vashi, Vasai, Thane, everywhere there were impromptu camps appearing due to displaced people. No one felt safe in the city. We had to organise the distribution of food and water. Criminal groups tried to seize control of the water and food supply. Twice in one week, entire food convoys were looted and pretty much on a daily basis criminal gangs were found to be hijacking water tankers and putting locks on municipal taps. There was a thriving black market in all sorts of goods and at the same time people were starving in the city because these people were hoarding. A walk through the refugee camps was completely stunning - there were manourished children everywhere you looked. Dead bodies lined the street - providing medical services was next to impossible even with the Army lending a hand. Electric supply in more than half the city was gone. And the rioting would not stop. It seemed like we had fallen into a bottomless pit.

Me: And all that led up to the proposal?

J: Yes - it did. Rakesh was facing a simlar situation. At my end it was the task of managing the ongoing civilian disaster and the relief supplies, and at his end the concern was law and order restoration. The first signal to us was when Gen. Ghosh told us that he was done with this - it was demoralising his men. Our ... and everyones human limits were stretched beyond belief. Rakesh's solution made sense even though neither of us believed it would go through. We really expected to be relieved the next day.

Me: What happened in Delhi?


J: Well, we went there and we were pretty much dragged off the flight to the Rajiv Gandhi Center. The whole CCS and most of the NSC people were there. We gave our report but the audience was non committal. It was referred to a special meeting of the NSCS. As we waited outside the meeting room, we tried to strategise on how to sell the idea to the NSCS, but actually we were pretty dejected. After that there was a marathon 36 hour session with the NSCS - we talked and went over everything that had happened and there was a major discussion on things that we proposed.

Me: How did the NSCS recieve it?


J: Strangely they didn't think it was a bad idea. There was support but then as the meeting progressed the people from Metcalfe House said it was not safe to deploy a foreign platform in the country like this. Slowly they turned the people to their point of view. We though it was gone - there was no system like this India. Tetravaal had invested a decade of focussed research and drawn people from all over the world to build this system. There was no way in which Metcalfe wallahs could come up with something close.

Me: And then somehow it was approved?

J: Yes - it was approved less than a week after we gave the presentation, I think the decision came from the very top - only that could have cleared all the hurdles.

Me: But the reservations at Metcalfe house?

J: They must have been addressed, I guess - I don't know you should ask them.

Me: Once the decision was taken - things went smoothly?

J: Quite smoothly compared to what we were facing earlier. Normalcy was restored quickly and there was a positive upsurge among the population. Also we were in a better place to keep things running now that we were in the picture for so long.

Me: What happened in the Varun Mishra case?

J: Very sad case - kidnapping had become a booming business during the riots. This particular child was abducted from the hospital where he was recuperating from burns he had in the riots. When he was kidnapped, the old fears returned and the incident took on a communal colour. There was a rumour that he had been kidnapped by his attacker to prevent their identification. That is how the tensions rose again and the second round of rioting followed.

Me: So what happened - Qayamat ke Din kya hua?

J: Qayamat ke Din? - is that what they are calling it now? Judgement Day?

Me: That is the popular term for it - yes.

J: I can't talk about the matter - it is sub judice.

Me: And the Tetravaal are safe? even now?

J: I don't see why not. The question is would we be safer without them.

J: Ah.. I see Balram has brought the tea. You know - the one thing I have come to appreciate after all this is a good cup of tea next to the sea.

So - there you have it. No one wants to talk about it.

Pawle had never seen the estate before, he was taken a little aback. He muttered something nasty about the opulence of the babus, and Cyrus agreed. Figures, both Cyrus and Pawle had spent their lives in counter insurgency and counter terrorism - they had never seen a soft bed much less a cup of tea by the sea in their entire service. No wonder they quit early.

All roads point to Delhi, the city of mysteries. I may have to go there. I feel about as prepared for that as Shivaji on the day he accepted an invitation from the Mughal Saltanat.

Yantrixa-4: Rakesh

When I came to his office some years ago, he had several people in there. There were two people that carried his "phone" - apparently that is how many people he gave his number to. I was expecting more of the same - but now there was no one. The desk was clear, except for a solitary computer and flat screen TV on the wall. He looked relaxed, there were no circles under his eyes - in fact he looked like he was finally getting a full night's sleep. Also missing was the customary line out the door of people begging favours of some kind or the other. From the chit-chat before we set up I gathered he had more time nowadays, he actually went to see a movie with his wife and kids - I was stunned, I didn't know he ever went home.

Cyrus and Pawle were obviously in awe of him. To be expected - they too wore khaki until a few years ago when they decided that they moved out to other more lucrative worlds.

I have turned down several invitations to wear pressed clothes but it is not out of a dislike for that world.

If there was anyone who awe and respect did not seem touch or make unhinged - it was Rakesh.

He knows how to get people talking...

R(akesh): So you are back in the city. I heard about your exploits in Afghanistan. You are lucky to be back in one piece.

Me: It was only a documentary.

R: Some documentary, I hear there is a price on your head. What did you do in Jalalabad?

Me: The camera took some pictures, it didn't go down well in Pindi... any way meri baat chodo, yeh Tetravaal ka kya haal hain.

R: Haal - toh theek hain. I mean you can see the improvement everywhere.

Me: People are scared.

R: But no one is saying that the department is ineffective any more.

Me: How did things change?

R: Change was going to happen after the VT station bombing. There was concern that the department was powerless to stop things. The riots made it worse. Everyone was saying bad things about it.

Me: And so you came up with this solution?

R: And what else was there to do? what was the media writing? Do you know how many books have been written about the VT station bombing? My men estimate that about 50,000 different accounts of the events have been penned and mind you no one recalls a single good thing being said about the department in any of them.

Me: It has that much impact - the bombing?

R: Yes, I recall it clearly, I have never seen so much mangled flesh in my life. I had witnessed Laskhar's handiwork before, but this was like walking into a street in Beirut. The hole was 250 feet wide - the entire front facade of the corporation building was gone and the Victoria building was on fire. All I could see was flesh - the entire crater was gradually filling up with blood and mashed flesh from the bodies that lay on the periphery. There were body parts on everything. The stench was unbelievable. We lost power here after the blast shorted the AC lines in VT. I walked there no less than twenty minutes after the truck bomb went off. Even today less than half the bodies have been identified - the blast wiped out two restaurants and the market - we could not even put the bodies together in most cases. People just assumed that their loved ones were dead. We just dug pits and dumped body parts in there and burnt them with gasoline. That is enough to shake anyone's faith - the rioting was no surprise.

Me: So the bombing's impact and the riots and the pressure on the department all came together

R: Yes - a combination - during the riots I did not sleep for a week. Two others had been on their feet continously in the control room for 90 hours at a stretch, they suffered a heart attack in the PCR and we waited for almost an hour before we could get them some medical help - they died in the hospital because the doctors were all busy dealing with riot victims. It was like being in a warzone. So yes there was a lot of pressure.

Me: all that made you decide that the Tetravaal would solve the problem.

R: Not at first, actually I didn't know what to think. I spent almost a month trying to think what the way out was. I knew the whole world was watching us, and if we didn't have a solution, people would see a weakness an strike. There was simply no way that we could be everywhere at once, and we simply could not see everything. I did the best I could, John understood what I was doing and helped - without his help none of this would have been possible.

Me: So you and John wrote this together?

R: I wrote it, John gave his ideas and then we both walked it to Delhi.

Me: What happened in Delhi?

R: I thought they would throw out us on to the street. Before the trip I told my wife and kids to thinking about packing out bags, I was expecting a transfer but oddly enough that didn't happen. As it turned out - they didn't have any answers up there either. Delhi is a fortress, but no one had a clue what to do down here.

Me: So they approved it then itself?

R: No it was rejected, the objection came from the residents of Metcalfe House, they said a foreign made system like this cannot be deployed on our soil. All that swadeshi stuff was brought out and as you know - people become uncomfortable with that thought very quickly. So at that time both John and I thought - we are dead - this is dead - nothing is going to happen. We pleaded our case with the anyone that would hear us but we didn't think anything was going to come of it. So both came back dejected, we had known each other since the Yavatmal days, so both of us thought - chalo this is it - we are going back to Yavatmal now.

Me: But..

R: But then a week later, I got a call from John, he said someone higher up had made a decision - and it was a green light. I spent the next week getting in touch with the Tetravaal representatives and discussing the details of their systems.

Me: So the objections were set aside.

R: It is best if you ask them what happened to their objections. Delhi is a mysterious place to me.
Me: Okay so then what happened?

R: Well, six months later the first shipment of the bipeds landed in Nhava. They took a week to assemble and we actually set up a main base for them in Uran. The airport offered us land. It was a small facility but it has grown quite a bit. I think we first deployed a unit in Azad Maidan for showing the flag and some testing, but a month later, Malabar Hill, Navpada, Kalachowki ... one station in each Zone had a detachment of some 20 bipeds reporting to an SI. After that a year later, we had 5 detachments of bipeds per station reporting to a head constable, 2-3 detachments of specials reporting an ASI, and a detachment of APR-113 per station reporting to an SI. Induction was quite fast.

Me: Yes - any problems.

R: No no it went smoothly. The interface was compatible with what our people were comfortable with. We can see everything from the PCR so it was a huge boost and results were visible immediately. The public response was very positive - especially to the APR-113 units. There was a genuine sense of relief in the people.

Me: What happened in March?

R:A sectarian flare up.

Me: You are referring to the Varun incident?

R: Yes, the kidnapping caused a major communal rift and violence erupted.

Me: So how did the Tetravaal perform?

R: Very well actually - we were amazed by the manner in which they handled situations. They saved many lives - a few units were damaged but mostly we have been able to repair them.

Me: And on March 13? - Qayamat ke din?

R: The events of that day are under investigation and I refuse to speculate. The experts are reviewing the records - we will know the answers soon.

I have never seen Cyrus and Pawle gush so much, but Rakesh is a born leader - he inspires respect and confidence. I think a lot of it is the way he says things - it is reassuring but still somehow accurate.

I'll talk to John next and Delhi... a city of mysteries.

Yantrixa-3: Mita

When I walk up to her door here in Deonar, I always have to remind myself that Mita is what I call her - it is a short-form of her long name that I grew up with. We have known each other since school, our paths parted when she went on to do her doctorate, and I walked into a job.

Mita reads into the city's ways - she sees things I do not. Her views are unlike Hussain's, he is a poet - she is a scientist - more clinical - almost antiseptic.

Meeting her is fun, but this time it was all business. It felt like we were discussing a terminally ill patient.

Here is what caught my eye.

Me: so what do you ...

Mita: Feel? about this ? I don't feel anything. Hussain is going off the deep end. I am not a creative writer - I am bound to fact.

Me: So what _do_ you think - then..

Mita: One just has to accept it - challenging it will prove pointless. Scientifically - it is intriguing but one has to accept it.

Me: Scientifically?

Mita: Look it is not clear why the machines behaved the way they did. Everything we understand about human society does not apply to them - and yet they did something we did not expect - to a scientist that is interesting.

Me: Okay lets forget about the machines - what about the people?

Mita: The people are responsible for this state of affairs - that I am certain of. Any society or social order when put under extreme stress responds by releasing the stress in form of extreme views. The last few years have been very stressful, the number of people putting in for psychiatric treatment or reporting maladies of the mind has risen to astronomical levels. That is why we are susceptible to extreme thinking.

Me: But why are we here... how did we get here.

Mita: Oh you know the answer to that - we let our fears get the better of us. When that bomb went off in VT at rush hour and left a 200 foot crater. The edge of the bomb's kill zone became the social boundary. The sense of surety, of comfort that people placed in the disorder they saw around them - vanished. People became mentally hollow - fears and nightmares filled the vacuum that was created when rationality departed.

Mita: That bomb explosion changed the public mindset. The public no longer believed that they were protected or safe. Once that fence was breached - everyone did whatever they felt was necessary to protect themselves. The rioting was a higher level - a communal manifestation - of the personal fears. Hindus massacred Muslims because they believed that this bomb was the work of Pakistanis acting with local Muslim collaborators. Muslims massacred Hindus because they felt this bomb was the work of Brahminical Hindus intent on sparking a Muslim genocide. Action and reaction - two sides of the same coin.

Mita: People began to believe the worst about each other. People that had lived in harmony as next door neighbours began to suspect each other and launched progroms against each other. Each group went after its perceived adversary or peer competitor, because they percieved that the sense of security that accompanied their position in the social ladder was gone and they had nothing more to lose.

Mita: The bloodletting damaged everyone - we all heamorraged here. The bravado and tough sounding tone of the community leaders was evidence of this. No one won here and we all knew it. Fear turned people into ghouls. Half of those turning up for psychiatric care at municipal hospitals are people who participated in the riots - they all speak of nightmares where they are tormented by the screams of the people they murdered.

Me: So fear made us do it?

Mita: Fear triggered a social collapse. What happened afterwards was a consequence of a collapse of social order. It is not novel - we have seen this before in Afghanistan. The Taliban were born in the chaos that followed the collapse of the Najibullah regime.

Me: but this is India - Bombay no less - not Afghanistan. People here do not have tribal memories...

Mita: (laughs) tribal instincts have nothing to do with tribal identity or memory. This kind of small group dynamics appears to be hardwired into the human mind. It may be a distant echo of our past in more primitive societies. It appears even outside this grand backdrop - in companies, and bureaucracies, as factions. Just because we live in a city and ride a metro to work on a computer doesn't make our psyche any less susceptible. When something like this happens, people asked themselves a simple question - "who do I really trust" ... and the answer most often came back to a small group of people. That is why what we saw resembled tribal warfare in Afghanistan and that is why our reaction was to accept - no sorry - to welcome the Tetravaal into our midst.

Me: And what now?

Mita: Nothing - it is what it is - accept it.

Me: Accept it? - just like that? what about..

Mita: It means nothing. The world we are in is very different from the world we came from.

Me: But our norms, our traditions, our ways, evolved over thousands of years..

Mita: thousands? really? the city hasn't been here that long - things will have to change.

And that was it - Cyrus was blunt and asked me what the point of that was. Pawle didn't understand where Mita was coming from either.

I had to admit one thing - Mita - was never one to hold back.

Yantrixa-2: Hussain

Met Hussain at his office in Maker's Chambers today. Nice office, one truly gets a sense of how long he has been in this profession. Pawle has enough footage, and Cyrus complained about the sound but in the end we did okay.

He is old now - but I have read Hussain's work since I was a child - some of my earliest memories are of Hussain's essays on the city - he has been and continues to be my guide. Some say Hussain is like a ghost, he is invisible and he sees everything - others say he is a churail (witch) who knows how to get men to follow his words. I think they are not far off - some invisible tie binds Hussain to this underworld - this necropolis.

Here is an excerpt of the interview.

me: Hussain, what is your impression of all this?

H(ussain): Well, you know... I hate to say it - but I have been expecting something like this. The VT station bombing shook the foundations of the city. The Police, the Mantralaya babus, the media heroes, the residents of the hills - it spared no one. It was bound to happen after that.

me: So how did it start? I mean a lot happened after the bombing... from there to last year it is a long journey? are you planning to write a book?

H: Who me? no no I am done book writing... after the last book everyone has pretty much told me to put the pen down, but you are correct it is quite a story from what I have heard.

(long pause as Hussain stares out the window towards the sea)

H: It started according to some in Delhi, someone in the Lal Qila said "this is ridiculous - you hijdas in Mumbai are making us all look like fucking idiots - do something" and that kick travelled down the GoI's collective backside until it ended up in Police Mukhyalaya here. Now as usual, there was some inertia there also, but after some back and forth the decision was made to import the Tetravaal platforms and so the proposal was made and sent up stairs. You should ask Rakesh and John for the details - they will know more than me.

me: but wait... tell us a little background.

H: Background - see it is kind of obvious - this city is a disaster in progress and every once in a while that fact become obvious to everyone. A large enough piece falls off from the city and then we can't ignore the fact that it is all falling apart. Over the last two decades, the migration into the city from the countryside has gone through the roof and the city's economy has barely kept a pace. The government is not keeping its head above the water. Rich people want one thing, poor another, some want roads others want water... it is endless. If you try to do anything everything - everyone tries to stop you. The government is pretty much useless.

H: So that is how this began - the blast killed a thousand or so but the ensuing rioting, police and private firings killed seven times as many and every community claimed to have been selectively victimised. Eventually the Army was called in and Gen. Ghosh was able to restore order but as far as the eye could see - trouble boiled below. A lasting peace was nowhere in sight.
H: The pressure at the patherwali was intense. Everyone was pointing a finger at the police and there was growing weariness there. Most of the force had thrown its hands up and large parts of the city were no go areas. Twice or thrice the CPs motorcade was challenged once with a small IED. It took the Army to restore confidence. After a month or so Gen. Ghosh indicated he had no intention of occuping the city forever and that the local machinery should takeover. But there was simply too much information and human beings could only be expected to do so much. So that is how the proposal came into existance. It was a child of the Devil himself, created in his own image - created from all our failings as human beings - we are all to blame.

me: that is how the machine came into our universe?

H: No... my friend, that is how we came into the universe of the machine. We brought our homes, our lives and our loved ones into its world - and we left our own forever.

me: Wait wait... now the proposal what happened there?

H: I think John and Rakesh walked it straight to Delhi and there they encountered the strangest opposition. No one thought to say - no because it was not a good idea - as Rakesh or John expected. Instead they all supported the basic idea but there was opposition to an imported platform.

me: Imported? Tetravaal is still imported.

H: No no ... check your sources.

me: Strange...

H: Life is stranger than fiction no doubt. So eventually after wading through a dozen meetings over the course of a week - John and Rakesh returned defeated and tired. They thought this was the end. To their surprise... it was not... it was in fact ... the beginning.

me: So Delhi approved it.

H: Yes... and then a year later the first Tetravaal units marched into the city. Nominally under the PCR's control. Mind you ... after the bipeds came the "Specials" and the "APR113" units which were stationed alongside the SRP at critical locations and even LA Battalions were reinforced.

H: In under a year - their strength numbered in the thousands. In six months the city had almost 350 officers per 100,000 people - almost 50% *more* than the global average. Mind you - we had a third of that and now the force was now two-third Tetravaal bipeds. We went from being an chronically weakly monitored area to the most heavily policed zone in the world. An induction on a scale not witnessed before.

me: People saw it as an improvement? ofcourse.

H: At first, people welcomed it - I know of thousands of pujas that were performed on the incoming units. There was satyanarayan ritual held at Walkeshwar and prayers were said in most other religious institutions thanking the Lord for bringing these units for our safety. The Hindus spoke of a Vanar Sena that would keep up safe - the Muslims praised it as a Lashkar Ababeel, the christians called it an army of Angels.

me: So we walked - no ran into the Universe of the Machine.

H: yes .. ran screaming in joy into its arms.

me: And then what happened?

H: Ask Rakesh or John... they will tell you... Pandemonium rose from the ruins of our faith.

.....

That is vintage Hussain - imagery - you see what happens with his words. He may be a witch or a ghost, but he knows what he is talking about.

I am on my way to see Mita at TISS.

Yantrixa-1: The first day of work

Started today at the channel. Didn't think it would come to anything but it seems kakkaji's word finally paid off. The MD of the channel liked the idea of the documentary I proposed and support form her swayed the editor. Apparently there is still some opposition - partly from others on the channel's payroll, but also from invisible people who see everything from great heights. There is fear that discussing the events of last year will bring forth misery - the entire Prasar Bharati board apparently called the MD and told her to think it through - luckily she held her ground.

As they say in the language of the Gods, Subhashya Sheegram!

I have set up meetings with Hussain and Mita today and Rakesh and John tomorrow.

Pawle will carry the camera and Cyrus will handle sound and make up.

The journey has begun ... hold on tight.

D.//

End of Series

Dear Friends,

The previous post concludes the Thar Incident series. For over a year now I have struggled with how to proceed with this story, and now I think it is best left the way it is.

I hope you enjoyed it.

I would like to present a new story - which is inpsired by Neill Blonkamp's work in District 9 and in his short clips Tetravaal and Yellow. I have also become quite enamoured with Anurag Kashyap and S. Hussain Zaidi's work in Black Friday so you will likely see shadows of that in there also.

The new series will be called "Yantrixa" (pronounced Yun-trix-sha) - a new word formed by the contraction of "Yantra" and "Antrixa" which I define to mean the "the universe of machines". I hope that this new series will speak to a number of topical issues.

The style of presentation for "Yantrixa" will be different from the style used for the Thar Incident. "Yantrixa" will be presented as a journal - a living story by a narrator who is also a participant in the story. This breaks with the third person narrative commonly used in Indian story telling and is more in line with the emerging trends in twitter (and other texting) based novels that are steadily making their presence felt on the literary scene.

Here is hoping for the best,

A. S.