The Day The State Split Asunder - 42

There was an instant message to Karthik on Skype from Adarsh, which went on like: Karthik please do review the document one more time. If possible can you go through the profile of Vani Reddy and mail me a few points about her. You can find about her on the internet. Try to send it before noon.

Karthik typed in the letter 'K' and hit the enter button. He then started reviewing the document one more time from tip to toe to ensure there are no mistakes. It chronicled the journey of Adarsh's startup. He was supposed to present the testimonial at the review summit as his firm succeeded in raising a revenue of five crores in a short span of three months.

After reviewing the document, he launched the Google homepage and keyed in the name 'Vani Reddy' in the search box. A number of links cropped up in the results section. He randomly clicked on the first link which redirected to the website of 'Godavari Capital Advisers' one of India's leading early-stage venture capital firms. After going through her profile he navigated to the other tabs on the website inorder to know more about the organization. He learned that the Godavari Capitals is a $160 million venture capital fund with a strong advisory team in Hyderabad for technology-oriented companies investing in early-stage. 

Vani Reddy is the CFO of that venture capital firm. He clicked on the 'Our Team' tab and it showed the images of six persons, the first one showing a man dressed in black blazer with a delphic smile on his face. He had jet black hair with a well trimmed pyramid moustache. He glanced at the name below the photograph and it said 'Dhyaneshwar Prasad'.

Is this Dhyaneshwar the same? A quick suspicion emanated in his mind.

Karthik expanded the content under his image and started going through his biography. His jaw dropped after studying his profile as it clearly written that apart from being a venture capitalist he is also the owner of Godavac Life Sciences Ltd.

I can't believe this! Does it mean Adarsh received funding from Dhyaneshwar's firm?

'Karthik… Karthik....' Sanjana rushed and sat on Karthik's desk. There was a bright beaming smile on her face and her eyes illuminated with excitement. 

Karthik shut the screen of his laptop. 'What happened Sanjana? You look so excited.'

'Karthik, the spirit was true! It happened! It happened!' she spoke in her soft angelic voice. 'I just can't believe myself whether I am hallucinating or dreaming!'

'Let me confirm,' Karthik pinched on her wrist.

'Owww…' Sanjana sniveled. 'What are you doing stupid?'

'You are not dreaming. This is reality, now tell me the news.'

'Karthik,' she lowered her voice, 'do you remember yesterday in the game, we asked the spirit a question whether the Telangana state will be created or not?'

'I remember. It gave the answer as 'yes',' he paused for a moment and then frowned. 'Did that answer turn out to be true or what?'

'Absolutely! Just an hour ago, the Union Home Minister announced that this coming winter session they will introduce the Telangana Bill in the parliament. And you know what, Hyderabad will remain the capital of Telangana.'

The smile on his face faded away in an instant. He felt as if 400 volts of electric current rippled through him. 'What! They decided to give away Hyderabad to Telangana?'

'Yes! Hyderabad has always been part of Telangana and shall always remain a part of it. Andhra Pradesh was created in 1956. Before that, Hyderabad was a part of Telangana soil.'

'This is a fair injustice to Andhra Pradesh!' Karthik whispered to himself.

'Karthik, what happened?' Sanjana asked. 

'Nothing! Nothing! This is really a good piece of news,' despite not being happy with the news of bifurcation, he coerced a fake smile on his face. 'Sanjana, I think you must be happy with this news.'

'Not just happy but double happy. At last, the dream of four crores people of Telangana is soon going to become a reality. The central government has promised that it will take the responsibility to ensure the bill is passed in both LokSabha and RajyaSabha,' Sanjana said, spreading the lips on her wonderful face, magnanimous was her gesture. 

Her smile always changed the atmosphere. It was so vivid, so white, so spotless and perfectly aligned that it pulled Karthik out of perplexity.

'So, the spirit was true,' Karthik said, staring at her.

'One thousand percent!'

'Sanjana, you have to give me a party today.'

'Of course I will. On the button, this is a moment to cherish. Shall we go out for dinner tonight?'

'I am good with it.'

'All right! I will give you a call in the evening. I will tell you where to come. For now, Roshni and I need to go out for a meeting.' 

'What? You told me you don't have any client meetings scheduled for this week.'

'Today it's a new client. Adarsh sir informed us in the morning,' she got down the desk. 'I will call you in the evening. Bye!' She waved him goodbye and hustled towards Roshni's cabin.

Karthik's mind went blank, unable to assimilate the two shocking news, one about Dhyaneshwar and another regarding the central government decision to give away Telangana with Hyderabad as capital. He walked into the office pantry and made an espresso from the coffee machine. 

He felt relaxed as he started drinking it sip by sip. Then his focus shifted towards the evening plan. Deep inside, he decided to make use of this opportunity to express his love for her. 

He returned to his desk and took out an A4 sheet on his desk and tried composing a love letter for her. Unknowingly the lunch time had passed, but he was still struggling to transmute his feelings into words. 

Why does someone love one person so much and why am I unable to write even a simple love letter? I didn't know that writing a love letter is not lesser than the task of hercules...

At this point, Adarsh came to his desk.

'Karthik! Is everything done?' Adarsh asked. 'I have been waiting for your email. I asked you to send it before noon. It's already 01:30.'

'I am sorry Arnold! I forgot to mail you,' he opened his laptop and Dhyaneshwar's photo was revealed on the screen again. 'Arnold, can I borrow a few minutes from you?'

'Karthik, how can I say no to you?' Adarsh patted him on his shoulder.

'Can we discuss it in your cabin?'

'Sure!' Adarsh said and made a move to his cabin. Karthik followed him and they both sat oppositely facing each other.

'Arnold! I have to tell you something important,' Karthik said, leaning forward placing his elbow on the desk. 'Do you know where Vani Reddy works?'

'She works at Godavari Capital Advisers. And also she is the Chief Financial Officer there.'

'Do you know who is the President of Godavari Capital Advisers?'

'Hmm… I have no idea Karthik. So far I have been making transactions only with Vani Reddy. I am not aware of other board members. But why are you asking me all these questions? Are you planning to start up any company of your own?' Adarsh chuckled.

'Arnold! That owner of Godavari Capital Advisers is none other than Dhyaneshwar!' Karthik said in a rough baritone. 'The same bloody bastard who killed Sanjana's father.'

'What! Are you serious?' Adarsh asked with an incredulous look.

'If you don't trust me go and find the facts by yourself,' Karthik frowned.

'No not like that I trust you. But what can we do as of now?'

'Adarsh! He killed Sanjana's father and you received funding from him. Don't you feel anything bad inside?'

'Why will I feel bad? He is not my enemy.'

'Adarsh, is it you?' Karthik said, narrowing his eyes at him.

'Karthik! Do you want me to shut down the company or what?' Adarsh's voice became stern.

'Arnold I am not asking you to close the company. I am just asking you to accept the fact and align yourself in the fight against evil.'

'What are you trying to say?'

'Arnold! You received funding from that vulture Dhyaneshwar who makes money by drinking the blood of others. All these days you have paid my salary from the money received from him! I don't want that money.'

'Karthik, frankly I didn't know that Dhyaneshwar is the CEO of the Godavari Capital Advisers. I can't go back and change whatever has happened and I can't put the lives of others at stake. Fifty five people are dependent on my company for their livelihood. They have families to feed and mortgages to pay.'

'I understood sir!' Karthik said.

'Sir? Why are you calling me sir?'

'Because you are not my friend anymore. I don't want to stay in your company anymore. You are not the same Adarsh as you were before. You became the slave of money. There's no difference between you and Aarti!'

'Karthik!' Things were turning sour as Adarsh began raising his voice. 'Hold your tongue! It is me who is paying you a six digit salary every month. With the amount of experience and skill sets that you possess no fool will dare to pay you even a single rupee.'

'Thank you so much for whatever you have done to me-' 

'Who is begging you to stay? Get lost if you don't want to be here! I will even hold the door for you!' Adarsh went ballistic and belligerent. 

'I don't need your endorsement!' Karthik rose up in a fit of rage. 'GOODBYE FOREVER!'

Karthik stormed out of the room slamming the door with a loud thud. With all possible haste he picked up his backpack and glanced at Sanjana's cubicle. She already left.

Glancing all around the office for one last time, he sprinted out of the office and reached the parking lot. 

He started on his bike to his home. Later he changed his mind and drove his way heading towards Swamiji's home.

The owner of HBN-7 Channel Radha-Krishna arrived at Swamiji's house. As Radha-Krishna stepped in he saw Swamiji sitting cross-legged on the floor holding the Bhagavad Gita book in his hands.

'Radha! What a surprise?' Swamiji stood up and placed the book on the table. 'Sit down why are you standing?' 

Radha sat down on his chair. Swamiji asked his servant Raju to get tea and some snacks. He came back with two cups of elaichi tea along with osmania and jeera biscuits. 

Swamiji took a slow bite as he spoke. 'So Radha, what brought you here and how is Shanthi?' 

'She is doing good sir. I just came here for a casual visit,' Radha said.

'Did inspector Arjun meet you again?'

'No sir. I didn't hear anything from him. Did he come to meet you?'

'So far nothing, but I am eagerly waiting for him.'

'Sir, why did you tell me to inform inspector Arjun that Dhyaneshwar was once accused in the death of Raghavendra? Raghavendra was dead long ago. Sorry, I did not catch that.'

'Radha, sometimes the past holds the key to the future,' Swamiji said sipping his tea, while munching the biscuit.

'What's the use of bringing that case into limelight as all the evidence pertaining to Raghavendra's murder would have been destroyed by now. In my opinion I believe there's no use in reopening that case.'

'Evidence might be destroyed, but Dhyaneshwar is still alive Radha. What if Dhyaneshwar accepts that he killed Raghavendra?'

'The police will arrest him. And why will Dhyaneshwar admit he killed Raghavendra?'

'He will not do, we will force him to do. We will craft a circumstance that compels him to confess.'

'Sir, it seems to me that we are putting the police on the wrong scent.'

'Radha, tell me who might have killed Raghavendra?'

'According to the story that you have narrated, it is Dhyaneshwar.'

'And who killed Suresh?'

'Can be Dhyaneshwar or his son Rajath. In either of the cases we don't have any concrete evidence which confirms their connivance.'

'Forget about evidence. In both the cases, Dhyaneshwar is the common suspect. Hypothetically, we are not putting the police on the wrong scent.'

'Hypothetically it may be correct sir. But authentically we are making a shot in the dark. I don't understand your logic'

'Radha, it's very simple dear. First, we should have Raghavendra's land in our possession before Dhyaneshwar is arrested. My friend Raghavendra wanted to sell the land and pay compensation to all those who lost their lives in the blast.' 

'Does it mean after getting the land we will sell it?'

'No! Our responsibility is only to restore the ownership of the land on Sanjana's name. She will decide what to do. I cannot describe Raghavendra's attachment towards his land. But he committed a grievous mistake by deciding to go into partnership with Dhyaneshwar.' 

'So your mission ends there once after we have the land in our possession?'

'The actual work begins next. We are going to expose all his scandals. Each and every person in our state should know about it. And once if it happens, there is no turning back. He will be left with no other option except to surrender. And Radha I need your support in this.' 

'Don't worry sir! I will take care of it. It's my responsibility to ally media members onto our side.'

'Amazing! And once after all his scandals are out, there is no need for us to fight. We will be taking help of various social organizations who will be fighting against Dhyaneshwar and his company. And Radha, we also need to play a small trick on Arjun.'

'On Arjun! What is that sir?'

'Let us tell Arjun that Suresh also found the truth about Raghavendra's murder.'

Radha nodded his head. 'Ok Sir! But who is going to tell him. I can't go to him again.'

'This time I will take the matters into my hands,' Swamiji said. 'I will deal with Arjun.'

'And also sir, we have one more puzzle to solve. The Erragadda Mental Institute superintendent that Suresh saw along with Rajath. We didn't inform Arjun about it. You barred me from saying it.'

'Radha, I remember it. And I know one person who can carry on the mission efficiently.'

'Who is that sir?'

'Hello Uncle!' Karthik said, stepping into his home.

'Karthik!' Swamiji said.

'Uncle! I hope you liked the surprise and-' Karthik stopped as he glanced at Radha-Krishna. He is unaware of the fact that Radha was also the part of their mission.

'Karthik, no need to worry. This is my student Radha-Krishna. He is also the owner of HBN-7 news channel.' Swamiji said. And he then turned towards Radha, 'Radha, this is Karthik.'

'Oh! So you are Karthik! It was nice meeting you,' Radha rose from his chair and shook hands with him.

'Do you know me, sir?' Karthik asked, astonished.

'Yes! Swami sir told me about you,' replied Radha.

'Karthik, why did you come all of a sudden? I said I will give you a callback on Saturday,' Swamiji said as he gently pushed a wooden stool in his direction.

'Uncle, I have got some news,' Karthik said, while sitting on the stool. 'As you might have got to know that the central government has decided to introduce the Telangana bill in the parliament with Hyderabad as a capital. Andhra Pradesh is ruined.'

Swamiji smiled. 'The government will not leave Andhra Pradesh in the dark. I agree that the loss of Hyderabad is irreplaceable but I think they will allocate a special package which will bridge the revenue deficit. In democracy every vote counts, but this party is sacrificing the votes of the complete five crore population from Andhra region. Telangana people do forgive easily, but Andhra people will never forgive. They will pass it on as a feud to the generations. The government is not understanding this logicality.'

'Uncle for now let's drop this matter from our minds, I have got another interesting news,' Karthik said.

'What news?' Swamiji asked.

'Uncle, the company I work for…' Karthik hesitated to reply as Radha-Krishna was present. 

'Karthik, Radha knows everything about our mission. You can trust him as much as you trust me,' Swamiji said, sensing Karthik's hesitancy.

'It's ok,' Karthik said. 'Uncle, this Dhyaneshwar apart from being the owner of Pharmaceutical Industry, he is also a venture capitalist. The company where I work, I mean my friend's business also received funding from him.'

'I know that,' Swamiji said. 'He is the President of Godavari Capital Advisers. He funded many startup industries in Hyderabad.'

'As soon as I came to know about it, I just came out from there. And also...' he was about to mention his altercation with his friend Adarsh. But he swallowed it.

'What also?'

'Nothing uncle. I just want to know the plan.'

'Sir, did you inform Karthik about Suresh's murder?' Radha-Krishna asked Swamiji.

'Who is this Suresh and what murder?' Karthik asked.

'I think I need to explain everything to him...' Swamiji thought.

'Uncle! Please!' Karthik pressed.

Swamiji explained to Karthik about the entire sequence of events beginning from Suresh's murder till Radha-Krishna's visit to Arjun. Karthik's mind whirled in bewilderment.

'Uncle, you didn't tell me all these things. This is very unfair of you. You are a bad comrade!' Karthik said.

'I was about to tell you everything this Saturday. I myself got to know about it after you dropped me at my home,' Swamiji turned towards Radha. 'This Radha-Krishna had hidden it.'

'So now what's the plan! January fifteenth is just approaching fast!'

'January fifteenth!' Swamiji exclaimed. 'Now I remember. It is Sanjana's birthday right?'

'I don't know how you get to know all these things.'

'Because Raghavendra's birthday also falls on January 15th.'

'It means father and daughter's birthday falls on the same day?'

'Yes!' Swamiji nodded his head. 'And Karthik, I have a task for you tomorrow.'

'What is that uncle?'

'Meeting Dhyaneshwar's son, Rajath.'

'What should I do?'

'Whenever a conflict arises between two groups, the first step is to talk and negotiate. The policy of conciliation. The Sama method as explained by the great Kautilya. Let's first provide him an opportunity to surrender.'

'What if the negotiations fail?'

'I have another plan for it.'

'What is that?'

'I will tell you once after we accomplish the first task. And also, just don't talk whatever comes into your mind. Don't use your high IQ brain.'

'Ok uncle!'

'And you said you resigned from the company. Don't you miss Sanjana?'

'Uncle, I am going to open my heart to Sanjana tonight.'

'Tonight? So finally like Telangana issue your love story has also reached the climax.'

'Mr. Karthik, sorry to interrupt you,' Radha-Krishna pitched in, 'are you in love with Raghavendra's daughter Sanjana?'

Karthik looked down at the cement flooring with shyness. 

'Yes he is!' Swamiji said. 'Our Karthik is a lover boy.'

Karthik blushed. He then received a message on his mobile. It was from Sanjana.

Sanjana: Karthik shall we have dinner at Metro Paradise restaurant?

Karthik: K

Sanjana: Ok see you there. Bye... 

He then glanced at the time. It's already 04:30 PM.

'Uncle, I need to make a move. I have an important obligation at seven. Commuting from here to Madhapur will easily take two hours,' Karthik got out of his chair and bent down to touch Swamiji's feet. 'Please bless me uncle!'

'May God fulfill all your wishes!' Swamiji blessed him.

To be continued...