End of an Innings
Some six months later, it seemed, destiny was making a course correction in Roopa’s life.
After Sathyam had his breakfast that Sunday morning, she herself feeling lazy, Roopa sent him to fetch some bhindi. On his way back from the nearby sabzi mandi, remembering Roopa’s indent for matchboxes as well, he stopped at a pan shop and chanced to read the headline of the Eenadu on sale there. Though he couldn’t believe his eyes, the caption there shook him to the core. Jeopardized by the news, he picked up a copy in anxiety, and ran home in fright. Racing up the steps, he sank into the sofa to go through the item with premonition.
‘WORLD BANK TENDERS ROCK ASSEMBLY’ the headline stared him in the face all again, making him numb. However, goaded by the fear of his future, he read the copy that read - Divakar Reddy, the leader of the opposition, alleged in the Assembly that the contracts of the World Bank Projects were fraudulently awarded to the benami firms of the Finance Minister, Rajanna Choudhary. Though the minister, who was present in the House, denied any irregularity, demanding an enquiry, the opposition staged a walk out and sat in dharna outside the legislature. Fearing a deadlock in the house, the Chief Minister agreed to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.’
Sathyam could go no further, what with his eyes welled up by then.
Roopa, who meanwhile pulled herself into the kitchen, was at a loss as to why he was taking so long to return. At length, however, as she came into the hall, she saw him as white as a sheet in the sofa.
‘What’s wrong with you?’ she enquired anxiously.
Still in a trance, he looked at her vacuously.
‘Tell me,’ she shook him anxiously, ‘what happened?’
He gave her the newspaper for a reply.
‘Tell me, please,’ she asked, flinging the paper on the table.
‘Read the headline,’ he mumbled.
‘I can’t make head or tail of it,’ she said, having read it.
‘That headline might cost me my head,’ he said nervously.
‘What!’ she said in shock.
‘I’m involved in all that,’ he said with mixed feelings.
‘I just can’t believe it!’ she said, and read the news in detail.
‘Believe it or not,’ he said, looking at her confounded, ‘I was the mastermind behind it.’
‘I think you’re imagining things,’ she said, as she gathered her wits, ‘Are you not assuming undue self-importance these days?’
‘How can I convince you,’ he said helplessly, ‘that it’s my idea to the last detail?’