Our Story Needs No Filter Page 12

  Megha came closer and put a hand on his shoulder. She had never seen him get so emotional.

  ‘You are doing whatever you can. I am always there for you. And so is Chris,’ she tried consoling him.

  ‘I used to fight with Raghu, but only because he was such a good friend; our debates, our arguments, they were all for fun. It was never my intention to hurt him. He is my brother. My best friend. I feel so helpless right now. These people are criminals and I am sure they might have tricked many innocent minds into believing them. What are they doing with them?’

  ‘Do you think Raghu knows the truth about Krishna and is still a part of his organization?’

  ‘I’m sure Raghu is trapped and the truth has to come out.’

  ‘Did ABCP make progress with regards to the election? They had asked for a couple of days’ time,’ Megha asked in anticipation.

  ‘Yes, they are meeting us in some time. But I wouldn’t get my hopes up.’

  Just then, a senior representative from ABCP came running towards them. ‘Jai! I have great news. We are back on track!’

  Jai looked at him with a confused expression on his face.

  ‘Remember I had told you to fill out the form for covering candidate?’

  ‘Yes, I remember. What about it?’

  ‘In elections, the covering candidate is the one who takes over if the main candidate is rejected. They scrutinize the person’s records and declare him or her as the presidential candidate in case the main candidate’s nomination is rejected.’

  ‘Are you serious? That’s awesome!’

  ‘Yes! So anyway the point is, your form has been approved and you are now the official candidate for the party. The reason why we told you to fill out the form and not anyone else is because we knew Krishna wouldn’t have expected this coming. He would have expected us to get some regular ABCP student to cover, someone he could have easily plotted against. But he wouldn’t have anticipated this. You are the question that came out of syllabus.’

  By then, a number of other party members had arrived, rejoicing at last. Megha was relieved and more than happy, but Jai still looked disappointed.

  ‘Aren’t you happy?’ Megha asked him.

  ‘I would have been, only if I wanted to be the president willingly. I thought you were deserving of the nomination and eventually the post because you have such a fan following. I am a nobody. Why will anyone in their right mind want to vote for me? With you we had a shot at winning. But not with me.’ Jai sounded dejected.

  ‘Oh, please. I’m no sensation,’ Megha said with a wave of her hand. ‘Everyone in the campus knows that you were the brain behind the tax hike act. So don’t back out now, when we have finally found a way to bring Raghu back.’

  Jai was still a little apprehensive. But after much coaxing from his team, he finally gave in and agreed to be the official candidate for the student elections. Jai and Megha hugged each other—they finally had a reason to smile.

  After finally managing to get in touch with Raghu, Ruhi decided to meet him at a café. She couldn’t wait to tell him all that had transpired in his absence.

  She reached before him and chose a corner table where they could talk in privacy. Just as she was about to dial his number, Raghu walked in.

  ‘Hey, so sorry for being late,’ he apologized. He went and sat on the chair opposite her very nonchalantly, pretending as if nothing had happened. Raghu did not want her to get embroiled in the whole thing, so he had decided to keep it a secret, not knowing the crazy journey she had been on the last few hours.

  ‘Raghu, if you don’t mind, can I ask you something?’

  ‘Of course! You don’t need to ask for my permission,’ he smiled.

  ‘What work does your organization Kraanti do?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ He hadn’t seen that coming.

  ‘I mean what’s the motive behind its establishment?’ She crossed her arms on the table and leaned ahead, carefully observing him while he answered.

  ‘To help the poor. But you know that, so why are you asking me?’ he asked uneasily.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Either you are ignorant or feigning innocence,’ she declared.

  ‘Get to the point, Ruhi.’

  ‘I heard Krishna talking to one of the representatives about the tasks assigned to you. I now know the real nature of your job,’ Ruhi replied.

  ‘What representative?’ Raghu asked anxiously.

  ‘It doesn’t matter. For me, you and your safety is important. So tell me, for how long have you known?’

  The secret was out and Raghu realized there was no point in hiding anything any more from her. ‘To tell you the truth, I didn’t know anything until yesterday, when I was on my task and you had called.’

  This admission annoyed Ruhi even more. Even if it was for a day, he had hidden the truth from her.

  ‘How can you act so indifferent? First you lied to me, and then never bothered to tell me what was going on!’ she said, banging the table with the palm of her hand. The other diners stopped to look at them.

  ‘Shhh, Ruhi, don’t draw attention towards us. All this is still a big secret. So what do you want me to do? Go out and tell everyone out there in the university?’

  ‘Yes, immediately.’

  ‘You have lost your mind. I have no fucking proof! How can I announce everything to the world with no proof in hand? The whole thing will backfire on us.’

  ‘Oh please, don’t act like a coward.’

  ‘I’m not. And if you think I’m a coward, then be happy with your assumption,’ Raghu replied, trying to end the topic.

  ‘Let me ask you very clearly. Are you going to confess the truth or not? You had promised to never do anything wrong, yet you’ve been actively involved in this whole thing since the very beginning. Still you act as if you are fucking innocent.’

  ‘Cut the crap, Ruhi. Enough now,’ Raghu said, losing his calm.

  ‘I am giving you one last chance. Confess or else you lose me.’

  Raghu didn’t know what to say. What could he have said anyway? The truth was in front of him, but he refused to acknowledge it.

  Ruhi got up from her seat to leave. But before she left, she decided to give Raghu a piece of her mind. ‘You know what, Raghu? You have lost your friends, your self-respect and now you have lost me too. Don’t expect me to stay with you any more. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t know right from wrong. I have one suggestion for you before I leave. Get out of this mess before it’s too late. Once you’re trapped, no one will be able to rescue you, even if you scream and shout.’

  Raghu sat there staring at the café door. His only support had left him in the dumps. It wasn’t long before his phone beeped with a message.

  I had given all my love to you, but what did I get in return? Only a bunch of lies and fake promises. My heart is not a doormat on which you will keep wiping your feet. I gave you all my trust, but you misused it. I gave you the benefit of doubt, but you proved everyone right. I gave you my life, but you killed me slowly every single day.

  His heart bled tears. He couldn’t fathom a life without Ruhi. Without her around, everything seemed hollow and empty.

  Seventeen

  7 July 2016

  A fortnight had passed since the day of their break-up. Raghu was sitting at an AISC meeting, looking dazed and confused. His thoughts kept wandering to Ruhi and the bitter note on which they had ended things. Lost, he didn’t even realize when the meeting got over.

  ‘Dude, it’s been more than a week now. Get over it. Didn’t I tell you such people always use us for their own benefit? She was no different, brother,’ Krishna consoled him.

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Wasn’t she a Brahmin, an upper caste? This love story could never have a happy ending,’ he said, adding fuel to fire.

  ‘That’s not it. The reason for our break-up was something entirely different,’ Raghu clarified.


  ‘That doesn’t matter. The point is, she has already moved on within a couple of weeks. And you should too. Take inspiration from her.’

  ‘Who said she has moved on? It’s just that . . .’

  Krishna cut him short before he could finish his sentence. ‘Raghu, you’ve been so lost ever since she broke up with you. Have you paid any attention to what was going on around you? Don’t be an emotional fool. Voting day is inching closer. We hardly have a week’s time left and there is a lot of work to be done.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘By what?’

  ‘Lost . . .’

  ‘Of course, open your eyes and see for yourself. A few days ago, our students spotted her with Akhilesh,’ Krishna declared on a serious note.

  ‘How’s that possible?’

  ‘You figure it out for yourself. But make sure that she doesn’t reveal our tactics to him or I won’t spare her.’

  Raghu was sure Krishna was trying to play yet another trick on him, but this time he was not going to fall for his lies.

  He decided to go look for Ruhi and clear the air once and for all. All through the search, he kept wondering why she would be with Akhilesh. There’s no reason for her to be with him at all. I could have still believed had he said she was seen with Jai or Chris, but Akhilesh? No, it seems unlikely. But what if she’s trying to teach me a lesson by doing this? Damn, I need to clear this out.

  Ruhi was with a couple of girls from her class when Raghu spotted her and pulled her away from the group.

  ‘Are you like . . . hanging out with . . . Akhilesh?’ Raghu stammered out the words, but when he saw no reaction from Ruhi, he got irritated and asked further, ‘Is there even the slightest hint of truth in this? If so, then I want an answer. When I got involved with the wrong people, you said all kinds of things to me, and now when you are with the wrong person, then what?’

  ‘I am not answerable to you any more. So please leave me alone. If you don’t, I will never speak to you in my life,’ Ruhi replied in anger.

  Raghu realized she meant what she said and loosened up. ‘Why are you doing this to me? Please forgive me. Give me some time,’ he tried again, gently.

  ‘How much time do you need, Raghu? A lifetime? And who are you to question my actions when you couldn’t even tell me why you lied? Please leave me alone.’

  ‘Ruhi . . . please. Don’t do this.’

  ‘I am asking you to leave me alone. Is that so difficult to understand?’ she shouted in frustration.

  ‘It’s been two weeks now, Ruhi . . . Please come back.’

  ‘That’s what, Raghu. It’s been two weeks! But did you take any action? No, because you are a coward. So be one and let me live my life. Bye.’ And saying so, she left.

  Raghu stood motionless. Every word that Ruhi had uttered killed him from the inside. He had lost track of what he wanted. All he knew was that he loved her to the core.

  Raghu finally made up his mind to expose Krishna in front of everyone the next time he was assigned a task. Whatever be the outcome, he didn’t want to live a life filled with lies, a life without Ruhi. She had blocked him on all social apps, so he sent her a text message:

  Ruhi, I have no excuse for what happened and my sorry holds no value. Today, when I looked into your eyes, I realized what I have done. You didn’t have to say anything, I saw it all—betrayal, disillusionment, disgust. In that moment I just wanted to crawl under a rock somewhere and hide. I understand the gravity of what I’ve done, it’s difficult for me to look in the mirror. I’m not proud of the person I see there. I have decided that I am going to take necessary action. I have just one request to you in all this. Please don’t be with someone who can hurt you and leave you devastated. Yes, I am talking about Akhilesh.

  Soon after, there was a beep on his phone. It was Ruhi:

  I was once with a person who hurt me and left me devastated. No other person can hurt me more than him. Also, don’t advise me on anything. You are not in a position to do so. When I came to know you supported the wrong person, I left you. Similarly, if you feel I am supporting the wrong person, you can simply block me.

  Elections were just a week away and all parties were campaigning with full gusto. Jai and Megha along with the rest of the ABCP team had aggressively started promotional activities to highlight their good work and urged the students to vote for change. On the other side, Krishna was plotting strategically to ensure a win. Chris was somewhere in between—shouting slogans for Jai publicly while still working with Kraanti—the reason for which was still a big mystery to Raghu as Chris didn’t even reveal a bit despite Raghu’s insistence. His other concern was Ruhi’s involvement with Akhilesh. Not only was he disturbed by it, he was also questioned about it by Krishna.

  ‘And then you say politics doesn’t interest you. Has anyone told you that you are best suited for politics?’ Akhilesh smiled cunningly.

  ‘Not more than you. All I know is that Raghu, Krishna and their party should not win these elections,’ Ruhi declared.

  ‘In the beginning, when you approached me saying you wanted to be a part of the SCI, I was surprised. I mean the entire college knew about your involvement with Raghu. Suddenly ditching him at the last moment was a master stroke!’

  Ruhi and Akhilesh were sitting in the canteen after an SCI discussion meet. After parting ways with Raghu and her last meeting with Megha, Ruhi had taken a decision that shocked everyone. She had decided to support SCI in the upcoming elections. Obviously it didn’t go down well with a lot of people, especially her friends. Jai distanced himself from her—even deleted her number from his phone. She joined Akhilesh’s party despite knowing why Jai and Megha had stood for the presidential elections. Until then, all three of them were in it together, but now they had to part ways.

  ‘Isn’t it fair?’ Ruhi said, taking a bite of her sandwich. ‘As I had said, I don’t care about anything other than seeing Raghu lose—not just the elections but his former friends and his love as well.’

  ‘But what do you have against your other friends, Jai and Megha? You could have chosen to support their party,’ Akhilesh asked. He was curious to know her reasons for choosing SCI.

  ‘I could have. But after AISC, SCI is the second-most powerful wing in the campus. I can assure votes from the social science department where AISC has a stronghold. And I’d rather support a party that has a stronger chance of winning.’

  Ruhi was playing a gamble by supporting Akhilesh. In truth, his victory didn’t matter to her, but if SCI had a stronger chance of winning than ABCP, she’d rather support them to ensure AISC lost. Whatever may be the justification, neither Jai nor Chris had liked her move.

  ‘I am speechless . . . We focused so much on Raghu and Krishna that we didn’t realize Ruhi could pose us a threat at some point. And to think she was a friend. I can’t believe she has stooped so low! In this war of showing Raghu right from wrong, we have lost many things,’ Jai said in a tone of dejection.

  They had assembled on the campus grounds where Jai was due to give a speech as part of the campaign.

  ‘Have you seen Raghu recently? He’s behaving very differently. I feel like he knows something but won’t tell us. But we are on the right track. I’m hoping he can still see what’s best for him and come around,’ Megha replied.

  ‘I don’t think so. Is this what our friendship had to come to?’

  ‘Jai, relax. You have to go on stage in the next few minutes. Look around, all the students are waiting to hear you speak; don’t disappoint them.’

  ‘Where is Chris? I haven’t seen him since the morning,’ Jai asked, looking around for him. He spotted Raghu in the crowd and they both exchanged an awkward smile.

  ‘AISC students are shouting slogans against us, so he’s gone to handle that.’

  ‘That cannot stop me from speaking the truth.’

  Jai knew it was his last chance to set things right. He mustered all the courage he had and spoke in a firm voice.

&nbs
p; ‘Friends, we are here to bring about a change. Change in the thinking of the students. We think the whole reservation system should be abolished—it’s time to start selecting on the basis of talent, education, hard work, experience and merit, irrespective of caste, class, gender, creed, age or income. Some of us want to play divisive politics and that’s wrong. We are a secular state not because minorities demand it, but because the majority wants it. This secularism is in the DNA of our country and for the same reason, I say that I am a proud Hindu. And every person has this right to say that he is a proud Muslim, a proud Christian, a proud Sikh or a proud atheist. This is true secularism. Not abusing one religion or dividing people on the basis of religion. MGU is one family. We can never be intolerant, because it’s not in the MGU culture. Our roots are built on the ideology of acceptance. And we will ensure that no one can uproot us! There’s only one supreme power and that’s of truth.’

  The crowd broke into applause. Krishna was unnerved by the response. He knew he had to do something soon to save himself the humiliation of defeat. He had underestimated Jai’s popularity and how good he was with words. Although he still considered himself a strong candidate, it was now evident that Jai was a big threat and could put an end to Kraanti .

  Raghu, on the other hand, was already feeling remorseful for all that he had done. He wanted to confess everything to Jai but didn’t have the courage to do so. No matter who won, he was the only student who had lost everything in this clash for power.

  12 July 2016

  ‘Were you able to record anything worthy, anything that can implicate them?’ Raghu asked Chris on the phone. They had decided to collect proof in order to back their claim when they went public about Krishna’s wrongdoings. With this, Raghu hoped to set a lot of things right, including winning Ruhi over.