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  ‘What is it?’ Ruhi asked, casting a glance at Megha.

  ‘You want me to go?’ Megha asked, thinking they might want to talk in private.

  ‘No, it’s OK. You’re no stranger,’ Ruhi immediately replied.

  ‘Okay, I’m going to come straight to the point. I have been meeting Krishna these past few days and have also attended a few AISC meetings post the attack. What they propagate makes a lot of sense to me and I think I subscribe to their ideology.’

  ‘What? You’ve been meeting them? What’s the need for it?’ Ruhi asked in alarm.

  ‘You’re asking about the need? Really? Haven’t you faced the music?’ Raghu questioned back.

  Sensing things were heating up, Megha got up from her chair to leave.

  ‘Megha, wait!’ Ruhi tried to stop her friend but she was already gone by then.

  Turning back at Raghu, she nearly screamed, ‘What’s wrong with you?!’

  An awkward silence filled the air. Both Raghu and Ruhi stared at each other for a few moments before he finally came clean on how it all started. Ruhi was not sure if Krishna could be trusted; she had got a lot of negative feedback on him from Jai and the others. Even then she wanted to hear Raghu’s side of the story.

  After patiently hearing him out, she didn’t say anything immediately. ‘I’ll love you . . . but only as long as you are right,’ she finally said. ‘The day I find you embroiled in something you shouldn’t be a part of, I will not stand by you. I love you but not over my dignity. I still don’t believe that Krishna is the right person to be hanging out with. But since you seem so sure, I won’t stop you. I don’t want to be a nagging girlfriend who tells her partner what he should or shouldn’t do.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I won’t do anything wrong. I know my friends will hesitate to support me, but maybe one day I’ll make them see what I see. I’ll make them believe. And with your support, I will one day.’

  ‘I love you,’ Ruhi said, giving him a peck on the cheek. Her smile was enough to make him believe she meant it.

  As they made their way back towards their class, they saw Jai, Megha and Chris marching furiously towards them.

  ‘Are you serious about supporting Krishna?’ Jai asked Raghu harshly.

  Raghu nodded in the affirmative.

  ‘May I know the reason?’

  Silence.

  ‘You do know that he is involved in a lot of wrongdoings, right?’ Jai asked again.

  ‘Who are you to decide what’s wrong and right?’ Raghu said sharply.

  ‘Your friend who cares for you, who treats you like a brother. So stop acting like a fool and stop letting them brainwash you. Why do you want to get into the politics of casteism anyway? Stay away. We are here to study and study alone, okay?’

  Ruhi became uncomfortable with the way the argument was advancing. Harsh words were exchanged and Raghu kept throwing random accusations at everyone. Soon, a small crowd of students gathered around to watch the drama. ‘Enough, everyone!’ Raghu screamed. ‘We’ve been considered fools for far too long, but not any more. Yes, I belong to the lower caste but that doesn’t make me any less human. Anyway, there’s no going back from here as I have made up my mind. I am not saying this is wrong and that is right, but for me, saffronization is wrong.’

  Raghu’s fired-up attitude and his words convinced his friends that he had been far too brainwashed to understand their reasoning.

  He continued, ‘Chris, it’s better if you realize what is happening soon. Otherwise you will be termed as an adarsh liberal by these bhakts and they will snatch your identity. Instead of arguing with me, you should ask him what he thinks about our existence.’

  ‘Dude, for me, my friends are much more important than all this fucking drama. I don’t care about caste, religion and all that bullshit. All I know is we are friends and things are getting really weird. Get out of all this bullshit while there’s still time. You think by doing all this, you will become a hero? All you will do is lose track of your career. Don’t let that happen,’ Chris pleaded. ‘Ruhi, drill some sense into your guy.’

  ‘Don’t bring Ruhi into this,’ Raghu warned. Ruhi stood rooted in a corner, watching them silently.

  ‘You’re going too far, Raghu,’ Jai said in a tone that was threatening and yet concerned. ‘We’re all friends here. Calm down and think about what you are accusing me of. What has gotten into you, Raghu? You don’t even sound like yourself. This is not you talking! I’m sure someone else has put these words into your mouth. Remember I told you once that anyone can manipulate you? You better get some psychiatric help before you lose your marbles completely.’

  ‘Do you think I have no opinions of my own? Do you think I can’t stand up for my own rights? I will show you!’ Seething with anger, Raghu lifted his hand to punch Jai but Chris intervened and pushed him aside. A relationship that was nurtured over so much time, now stood on the brink of complete breakdown in just a few minutes.

  ‘Fuck off!’ Jai screamed in anger.

  ‘You fuck off, dickhead!’ Raghu shot back.

  Jai couldn’t take the insults any more and decided to leave. He had treated Raghu like a brother but what did he get in return? Nothing, except for baseless allegations. Nothing meant more to him than their friendship, which seemed to now be sinking faster and deeper than the Titanic.

  28 May 2016

  ‘Comrades, we need to understand that this election is happening at a time when there are continuous efforts being made to disrupt the communal environment in colleges. We just cannot run away by blaming the ABCP. After the attacks on students like Raghu, people have been talking about putting up a united front, but AISC has been talking about unity since the very beginning.’ Krishna was addressing a group of students in a classroom. They had all gathered for their weekly AISC meeting. Among them was Raghu, listening to Krishna’s speech in rapt attention.

  ‘Don’t you think AISC and SCI should have jointly fought the election?’ a student asked. ‘Since both parties are fighting for the rights of the lower caste, their ideology would not be very different from each other. Together we could be stronger.’

  ‘We did try to. When we proposed to the SCI that we should fight the upcoming elections together to rule out the ABCP, they said that our unity would have been more against the idea of the SCI itself, rather than for the cause of the lower caste or minority groups. I don’t think we would have been able to convince them otherwise. We need to focus on our activities alone and put up a united front so we can seek a mandate for our policies.’

  University elections were scheduled in the coming months and preparations were in full swing. Krishna and his troops discussed their plan of action till the wee hours of the morning. Raghu was an active participant in these talks and would listen to every topic that was raised, offering his own suggestions when called for. At the same time, he was equally hurt that his friends did not stand by him when he needed them the most. He tried to put up a brave front but every now and then he would get flashes of the good times they spent together and would wish to relive them.

  ‘Raghu, you need to start work on the ground now. Elections are round the corner and we need to have our word out in order to start garnering support for our party,’ Krishna stated.

  ‘What am I supposed to do?’ he asked.

  ‘Just be with us during campaigning. We’ll tell you the specifics as we go along.’ Krishna smiled.

  ‘Okay,’ Raghu agreed.

  For a moment, he thought of going back to Jai and apologizing, but his ego wouldn’t let him. He spoke to Ruhi about his conflicting thoughts and she consoled him saying everything would be back to normal in no time. But her words sounded hollow.

  ‘We are not afraid of ABCP, we are afraid of AISC,’ Akhilesh confided to his team.

  ‘And why do you think that? The students will support us too,’ one of his teammates replied.

  ‘Of course, they will. But we don’t have the shrewdness like them. We stay within the four w
alls of the campus and concentrate on our careers too. But a person like Krishna wants to spread negativity throughout the nation. A person who can separate the best of friends and make them fight against each other can go to any extent to prove his supremacy. He is using Raghu as a tool for the upcoming elections.’

  Krishna’s dirty game of manipulation was evident even to Akhilesh. But the victim, Raghu, went as he was pulled along, a mere puppet in somebody else’s hands.

  Where not only friends but even students like Akhilesh could figure out why Krishna wanted Raghu’s support, unfortunately, it was only Raghu who was blind to Krishna’s true nature. The clash of egos had ruined the best of relationships.

  ‘Don’t you think he is going astray? Why don’t you talk to him about it . . . make him understand that what he’s doing is wrong?’ Megha asked Ruhi as they sat in one of the empty classrooms in the lecture building.

  ‘He has requested me to give him some time. To prove that he is right. I just don’t want to force my decision on him right now. Only time will decide who is right and who is wrong. But I’ve told Raghu that if I ever find out that what he is doing is wrong, I will end our relationship that very moment.’

  ‘But we were . . .’

  ‘Nothing’s going to change between us! I am your friend and I’ll always be. I promise you that if he ever does something unethical, you’ll be the first person I’ll confide in. Still, if you insist, I’ll talk to him once.’

  Megha gave a weak smile; her efforts at making things the way they were among the friends were not proving to be very fruitful.

  A few minutes later, Jai and Chris joined the girls.

  ‘Do you know what Raghu’s been up to? He is supporting Krishna in the upcoming elections,’ Megha said looking at Jai.

  ‘I know,’ he replied with a look of disdain. ‘Didn’t I tell you Raghu can be easily brainwashed? Right now, Krishna has taken full control of his mental faculties; it’s nearly impossible to show Raghu right from wrong. We need to prove to him that he is being misled by a bunch of bogus people who are nothing but liars and fabricators.’

  ‘We just can’t let him ruin his life like this,’ Megha said, the desperation evident in her voice. ‘To be with students like Krishna is like digging your own grave.’

  ‘We cannot let him go. We need to bring him back on the right track,’ Chris added.

  ‘But how?’

  ‘By manipulating him again, this time for the right reasons,’ Jai said, turning towards Megha. ‘Megha, you’ll stand for the elections. You’ll be a presidential candidate this year. I’ll have a chat with ABCP about it.’

  ‘Have you gone nuts? I don’t want to get involved in this.’

  ‘I don’t want you to but we have to, for Raghu’s sake. We owe him this as friends. I am sure they will try their best to win this election—by hook or by crook—but we will be righteous. And when Raghu sees the difference, he will come back to us. That’s my word. I know him in and out, trust me on this. We cannot make him understand with words and if we don’t do this now, we will lose him forever.’

  ‘But why me? You’re more suitable for this job.’

  ‘No, people know you more than they know me.’

  ‘Oh please! You’re involved in so much social work along with the ABCP. Students know it and appreciate it. At least your language department does.’

  ‘Only my department can’t help us win. Students from all departments, including your own, know you because of your stand against Akhilesh. Your open letter was as viral in our university as Ab ki baar, Modi sarkar in the country,’ Jai said with a wide smile.

  ‘I still don’t understand how you can make this work,’ Ruhi intervened in a frustrated tone.

  ‘Ruhi, you believe me, right? Then just do one thing for us. Back him up. Don’t make him feel like you’re with us—on our side. It’s just a matter of time before things get back to normal, I promise.’

  ‘I was thinking of talking to him once more,’ Ruhi said.

  ‘Go ahead. But I don’t think talking will work at this stage. I see this as the only way out,’ Jai concluded.

  Later in the day, Jai had a word with his friends at ABCP and after a few rounds of discussions with the senior representatives at the party, they were convinced that Megha was the right candidate for the president’s post. Not only was she dynamic, she also had the guts to take a stand against injustice and had proved it on more than one occasion.

  Their only condition was this: Jai had to be the covering candidate. If, on technical grounds of anomaly in filing nomination papers, the main candidate’s papers are rejected, the covering candidate becomes the official party candidate.

  With no option, Jai agreed to fill the forms himself even though he couldn’t understand the logic behind it. All he could see was a vision of Megha standing as the candidate and that made him happy. The plan to bring Raghu back to his senses had been set in motion.

  In the next couple of days, the required forms were filled up and the respective student wings announced their support for Krishna, Akhilesh and Megha.

  Fourteen

  11 June 2016

  ‘To be frank, Raghu, I don’t like how you’ve been behaving with people around you these past couple of weeks,’ Ruhi complained. They were sitting in an empty classroom and Ruhi decided it was the perfect moment for a confrontation.

  ‘What do you mean? Have I changed?’ Raghu asked.

  ‘Ask yourself. You were never like this. You have gone against Jai, Chris—everyone.’

  ‘Not you.’

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘It does. At least to me.’

  ‘If it did, then you wouldn’t have cut yourself off from your friends. Why is it so difficult for you to understand that they want the best for you?’

  ‘You’re under the wrong impression. They don’t want to have anything to do with me. They couldn’t care less about me, frankly. And I’m always made to feel like I’m in the wrong. This time, I’ll prove that I am correct and Jai is wrong for a change,’ Raghu said in a high-pitched voice.

  ‘Why don’t you clear these conflicts personally with him? You feel everyone is wrong but you?’ Ruhi kept her calm; she didn’t want to let go of this opportunity.

  ‘I have no issues clearing things out personally with them, but what I can’t fathom is if I am standing with the right people and fighting for our rights, then why can’t they be okay with it? Why can’t they support me in my decision? If, for once, I’m taking a stand in my life, it doesn’t mean that I want to end everything else among all of us. It’s they who decided to stand for the election. I didn’t take that decision.’

  ‘It’s all for you,’ Ruhi insisted, not ready to give up.

  But Raghu was in no mood to relent. ‘Let me make things clear since I don’t think you’re getting it—nothing is being done for me. Everyone has their own personal agenda for everything, and I’m pretty certain there must be one behind this too. That’s the only reason he has decided to stand against me . . . once again. And why are you acting like his lawyer and defending him?’

  That did it—Ruhi finally lost her cool.

  ‘Wow, just wow. I fucking try to sort things out and you end up insulting me and calling me his lawyer? If you think it’s all my fault, then I’ll stay away from all this. Even you.’ She stormed out of the classroom without another word.

  Realizing he had taken it too far, Raghu got up and tried hard to stop her, but seeing the rage in her eyes, he let her go. He didn’t want to create any more complications; she was the only emotional support he had now—the one who stood by him through thick and thin. After she disappeared from sight, Raghu sat down in silence for a few minutes. Then he dialled her number on an impulse but she cut the call. He tried a few more times—each time she disconnected it. Eventually, he left her a message,

  I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as rude. I need all your support at this time. I am not doing anything which would hurt you o
r shame you for being with me. Try to understand me for once and give me time to prove myself. I think I deserve at least a little time, don’t I? You know how much I love you, adore you and respect you. Remember that one time when you laughed so hard while drinking a glass of chocolate milk that some of it came oozing out of your nose? I fell in love with you right then! I’ve been in a terrible state of mind these past few months, but every time I see you, my problems disappear. Be with me, Ruhi. I need you.

  Suddenly, Raghu felt all alone in his fight to prove himself. And without Ruhi by his side, everything seemed worthless.

  As he sat there staring at his mobile screen, he thought to himself, I don’t know what lies ahead but I want everyone to give me one last chance. How do I make my friends understand that Krishna is genuinely fighting for the rights of the poor? I know my friends are genuine and I know they care for me, but can’t I have a different opinion? And is it wrong to stand for what I believe is right? My intentions are not wrong but my fault is that I am unable to verbalize it. I just don’t want others to suffer like I did. Am I wrong to think this way?

  He finally got out of the classroom and was walking through the corridor when he received a message from Ruhi.

  I am always with you and you’ll find me by your side, but only as long as you are right. And let me say this, you have already started a walk in the opposite direction. Frankly, I don’t know for how long I can be with you, but till you disappear from my eyesight, you will find me standing behind you. I have truly loved you and cannot see you get hurt. But the path you have chosen for yourself is sure to hurt you. I tried my best to stop you but failed. Now, the longevity of our relationship depends on your actions and I’ll pray to God that you emerge not only victorious but honourable too. Love you, Raghu.

  Ruhi kept her mobile aside and lay on her bed thinking how life had treated them in the past few months and how things had changed drastically. She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and suddenly, she couldn’t hold back her tears. As she closed her eyes, she realized that Jai was probably right in the way he had chosen to bring back Raghu—his friend and her one true love. Her phone beeped; it was him.