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  ‘Why fifteen? When there is thirty, why would we take fifteen?’ Shukla-ji said.

  I felt overwhelmed with emotion. For the first time in my life a powerful person had shown support for me. I missed out that he said ‘we’.

  Sunil gave me a smug smile. He had brought me to the right place.

  ‘Fifteen is enough, sir,’ I said, not sure how we would get even that.

  ‘Thirty. Keep the remaining for later. It is close to the city … Once the college opens and the airport is built, we may even get residential or commercial zoning,’ Shukla-ji said.

  I didn’t really understand what he said but I figured he knew more than me. Besides, he seemed to be on my side.

  ‘But how will we get this?’ I said. My uncle had been sitting on the property for years.

  ‘You leave that to us,’ Shukla-ji said. ‘You tell me this, can you run a college?’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Yes, because you will be the face and name of the college. I will be a silent partner,’ he said.

  ‘But how?’ I said. ‘I have no experience. I have no money.’

  ‘Mr Bedi will give you the experience. I will give you the money for construction and everything else.’

  I am missing something here. Why had the world suddenly decided to help me? What’s the catch?

  Sunil understood my dilemma.

  ‘Shukla-ji sir, if you could tell him your terms. And of course, whatever you feel is good for me,’ Sunil said and gave an obsequious grin.

  ‘I don’t want anything. Open a college, it is good for my city,’ Shukla-ji said.

  Nobody believed him. Yet, we had to indulge him. ‘Sir, please,’ Sunil said, ‘that won’t be fair.’

  ‘I’ll think about my terms. But tell me, boy, are you up to it?’ Shukla-ji looked at me. I think I grew older by ten years under that gaze.

  I hid my hesitation as much as possible. ‘How about we get the land and just sell it?’ I said.

  ‘It is tough to sell the land with all the past cases,’ Shukla-ji said. ‘It is one thing to get possession for you, quite another to find a new buyer.’

  ‘Exactly. The cases, how do we fix them?’ I said.

  Shukla-ji laughed. ‘We don’t fix cases. We fix the people in the cases.’

  The MLA had laughed, but his eyes showed a firm resolve. He seemed like the kind of guy who could fix people. And more than acquiring the land, I wanted to teach my relatives a lesson.

  ‘If you can fix them, you can take whatever share you want,’ I said.

  ‘Fifteen acres for me,’ Shukla-ji said. ‘I will keep it until the area gets re-zoned to commercial or residential. We will make the college in the other fifteen.’

  ‘How much ownership in the college do you want?’ I said.

  ‘Whatever you want. College is a trust, no profit there,’ Shukla-ji said with no particular expression.

  ‘Really?’ I said, surprised.

  ‘It is true,’ Bedi spoke after a long time. ‘Every college must be incorporated as a non-profit trust. There are no shareholders, only trustees.’

  ‘Why would a private player open a non-profit college?’ I said.

  Bedi took a deep breath before he proceeded to explain. ‘Well, you take a profit. The trustees can take out cash from the trust, showing it as an expense. Or take some fee in cash, and not account for it. Or ask a contractor to pay you back a portion of what you pay them. There are many more ways …’

  Bedi continued speaking till I interrupted him. ‘Wait a minute, aren’t these illegal methods?’

  Everyone fell silent.

  Shukla-ji spoke after a while. ‘I don’t think this boy can do it. You have wasted my time.’

  Bedi and Sunil hung their heads in shame. I had let them down with my curiosity about propriety.

  ‘I am sorry, I am only trying to understand,’ I said.

  ‘What?’ Bedi said, his tone irritated.

  ‘Are you telling me that the only way to make money from a college is through illegal methods? Sorry, I am not being moral, only questioning.’

  ‘Well,’ Bedi said, ‘you are not actually supposed to make money.’

  ‘So why would anybody open one?’ I said.

  ‘For the benefit of society, like us politicians,’ Shukla-ji said.

  Everyone but me broke into laughter. I guess the joke was on stupid, naïve me.

  ‘Listen, Gopal,’ Sunil said, ‘that is how the rules are. They are stupid. Now you can either figure out a way around them, or remain clueless. There has to be a trust, you and Shukla-ji sir will be trustees. Bedi will explain everything.’

  Bedi gave me a reassuring nod. Yes, the man knew the system, and how to bend it.

  ‘Mr Bedi, also explain to the boy not to question legality much. Education is not the business for him then,’ Shukla-ji said.

  ‘Of course,’ Bedi smiled. ‘Shukla sir, taking money out of the trust is the least of the problems. What about all the permissions and approvals required? Every step requires special management.’

  ‘So that’s what the boy has to do. I am not visible in this. I am only the trustee, to benefit society,’ Shukla-ji said.

  ‘Do what?’ I said.

  ‘Don’t worry, I will explain it,’ Bedi said. ‘You need Varanasi Nagar Nigam’s approval for the building plans, AICTE approval for the college. There are inspections. Everyone has to be taken care of. It is standard.’

  ‘Bribes?’ I said.

  ‘Shh!’ Shukla-ji reprimanded. ‘Don’t mention all this here. You do your discussions outside. Leave now.’

  We stood up to go.

  ‘Stay for a minute, Gopal,’ the MLA said.

  ‘Yes?’ I said after Sunil and Bedi had left the room.

  ‘Will you do what it takes?’ Shukla-ji said, ‘I don’t want to waste my time otherwise. Tell me now if you want to quit.’

  I paused to think. ‘It’s not easy,’ I admitted.

  ‘It is never easy to become a big man in life,’ Shukla-ji said.

  I kept quiet.

  ‘You want to be a big man, Gopal?’

  I continued to look down. I examined the black and white patterns on the Italian marble floor.

  ‘Or you want to remain an average kid while your friends race ahead of you.’

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. I looked up to make eye contact with him.

  ‘You have a girlfriend, Gopal?’

  I shook my head.

  ‘You know why? Because you are a nobody.’

  I nodded. The memory of Aarti and Raghav kissing each other passionately in the BHU car park flashed through my mind. If I had made it to BHU and Raghav had gone to Kota, would her decision have been different? I saw Shukla-ji. Every inch of him felt wrong. But he offered me a chance. A job, an admission, a fucking chance, that is all one needs in life sometimes.

  ‘I’ll do it. It isn’t like I am the only guy in India paying bribes,’ I said. ‘But I want to be big.’

  Shukla-ji stood up. He came around his desk and patted my back. ‘You are already a big man,’ he said, ‘because you have me behind you. Now go, and leave your harami uncle’s details with my secretary outside.’

  ‘What about the money I owe your people,’ I said.

  ‘Two lakhs? It’s a joke for me, forget it,’ Shukla-ji said. He went back to his desk and opened a drawer. He took out two bundles of ten-thousand rupees and tossed them at me. ‘One for Sunil, the other for you,’ he said.

  ‘Why for me?’ I asked.

  ‘For running my college, Director sir.’ He grinned.

  16

  I accepted Shukla-ji’s ten thousand bucks, if only to pay for basic necessities. I allowed myself one indulgence – I took Aarti out for dinner to Taj Ganga, the most expensive restaurant in town.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Aarti asked again, as we entered the coffee shop at the Taj. ‘We could always eat chaat at the ghats.’

  She wore a new full length, dark blue dress her relatives ha