Chapter8.
Nalini was surprised to receive the call from Dickey. She agreed to meet him at the school, the following day. She informed Sathish about the call. Sathish was excited. He said , ‘That is good , Nalini. You stay put in your seat at the school. I will make a pitch to the chairman of school, Col.Prabhu at the club. If he agrees to take us as partners in the school holding, we will make some progress. .so go ahead with your date with that Gurkha. They said he was tough. A small issue of a cheap carpet is going to bring him down with a thud. ”he laughed like a hindi film villain.
Next day, Nalini made her way to school straight from the beauty parlour looking fresh and smelling divine. Dressed in a saree and typical indian looks, she looked very charming.
Dickey decided that he would not let Nalini know that he knew about her relationship with Prakash Agarwal and that he would question her as though he was still worried about returning Shanta’s carpet.
Nalini denied point blank that she knew any thing about Shanta’s carpet. She maintained that Stella was not telling the truth. She confessed to the fact that she knew Sathish Agarwal. As a responsible Principal of a well reputed School, it was obligatory on her part to maintain condusive relationship with influential people like Sathish Agarwal. She maintained such relationship with many other business tycoons and such relationships did help the school to gain more recognition, more honour. So it is not right to view her relationship withSathish with any hint of suspicion.
Dickey heard all this with a straight face.
He said, “Nalini I have heard all that you said about Sathish. I am not interested in sathish. I am interested in knowing about Shanta’s carpet. I have spoken to Aarti and she swears that the carpet was given to you in person, you admired it and said it would make a great exhibit. Are you telling me that the child is also lying. She is sitting in the next room and I will call her in to confront you. ’ Dickey paused a little and Raised his voice ,”Would you like to be called a liar by a fifteen year old?
Nalini was silent.
You received the carpet from Aaarti, did you or not?
She remained silent.
“Nalini, I want you to answer my question.”. Dickey’s tone had changed totally. He was not trying to be nice any more. He walked around the desk and stood very close to her. Nalini distinctly got the impression that he was going to slap her.
Softly she said, ’Yes. Aarti had given her exhibit to me .‘
“Good, you are now talking. Tell me where is it now? “
‘I gave it Sathish Agarwal’
“Why?”
‘In fact , he bought it. He visited my office just after Aarti left . The item was still on my desk .He saw it and was captivated by its beauty and highly skilled craftsmanship. He wanted to have it at any cost. He is a collector of such items. The item was given for exhibition and auction. He wanted to buy it.so I gave it to him.’
“Did he pay for it?”
‘Not yet. He can be trusted to pay.’
“Why did you lie about it in the first place?”
‘Why are you so keen on getting that damned thing back for that old hag?’
“She is not any old hag. She is a friend. She and her late Husband were the original promoters of this school. We owe it to her to get back what belongs to her and what was given away by you with out her knowledge or permission..
Let it be so. You have given it to Sathish. He has not paid for it so for. So please get it back from him .simple , isn’t it?”
“No, not so simple. I can not ask for it”
‘why not?’
“I am afraid. I am afraid for the school. I know he is a dangerous man. I am afraid of what all he can do.’
‘Afraid? What can he possibly do?’
“A lot .”
Like?
“We dare not antagonise him. He can protect us and our school. These days police can not give adequate protection. We need influential people for our own security”
’Bull shit. Tell me what are you afraid of ?’
“Many things.”
Nalini, tell me what all he can do.
“Some body may ram our school bus carrying children.”
And?
“Some one may mix laxative in the drinking water tank to make our students fall ill.”
What else?
“He may cause an explosion in our lab, he may kidnap some of our teachers”.
‘Nalini , are you trying to scare me?
Do you know anything about me?
Do you know that I put Prakash Agarwal away for good?’
“Exactly. That is the reason for my fear. If we do not humour him , he will harm us in more than one way. Giving away a cheap carpet to buy peace is not a sin”.
“It is a sin. It is a sin to be afraid. It is a sin to lie to an elderly soul who did no harm to you.”
“Prakash died in the jail. Somebody put him there. There is a debt to be squared. That is what Sathish is telling”.
“Okay Nalini. I do not wish to continue this talk any more. I give you twenty four hours to get that carpet back here. You seem to know sathish rather well .So you should not find it difficult to contact him and get Shanta’s item, from him. If you fail to do that, I will personally go after Sathish. You can tell him that. Now you can go.
Nalini sat silently for some time. Then she got up and walked away.
Chapter9
Col Prabhu was concentrating on his cards trying to decide how to beat the contract of 4 no trumps, in a card game in the seniors section of the cosmopolitan club where he played game of bridge with his Army friends. Suddenly the club Secretary came upto the table, apologised for interrupting the game and asked if the colonel would give time to meet another member of club after his game was over. Colonel did not like the interruption as his concentration was disturbed and suddenly he lost interest and gave the game away with out a fight missing a sure trick in the process. The secretary appeared again with Sathish Agarwal and introduced him to colonel. Col was a gentleman to the core shaking the guest’s hands .He ordered a round of drinks and politely asked Sathish Agarwal if they had met some place earlier. Sathish said no, he had not had the pleasure before. He seemed genuinely happy to meet the colonel. He said in a friendly tone, “I only know you as the chairman of the best school in the city. When I came to know that you are also a member of this club ,I could not hold myself back. I insisted that our secretary should arrange for our meeting and here I am shaking hands with you.”
Col made appropriate noises in response. He suddenly became very alert as he felt Agarwal was going to make himself unpleasant very soon. Sathish continued, ”Sir, I am having interest in hospitality, communications and building materials. I am doing very well and have put away considerable amount of money for welfare measures just like you and your friends. I have visited your school and met with your Principal .I am very impressed and thought I should somehow associate with your school in some manner. That is the objective in my mind. Can you suggest some thing.”
What sort of association are you aiming at?
“Normally , I buy myself a sizeable share and tell my lawyers to manage an acquisition of controlling interest. That is the way , I have built up my business. I am related to Birlas in a remote way and business runs in my family.. But school is a new business for me. Your team is doing a very good job and I would not want to disturb that. I just would like to be involved in a small way , if you can permit.”
Col knew which way the talk was heading
Mr Agarwal, the school is not being run with any profit motive .It is an association of a few chosen closely linked , likeminded people. It is an activity we have chosen to support a good cause , welfare of retired personnel from Army, disabled soldiers, war widows and orphans related to the slain soldiers .It is not a company in that sense for you to be able to buy yourself a share in it. Yes, if you wish to make a donation or sponsor some scholarship for the students, we will be happy to accept. But to be a part of our board or aspire to be party to run or take over the school, it is not possible.
“But you took over an existing school?”
No we did not take over any thing.We were invited by the promoters family to run the school on their behalf and to this day we are doing just that.
“Should I contact that family?”.
You can , but they will refer you to me and I have already explained to you that there is no scope for any outside party to get in.
“You mean , it is tight holding.”
You can describe it any way you like.
“But I want to do some thing.”
Yes, You can do a great deal for the school, but to aspire to take over and run the school , there is no scope
“Col, I have expressed my wish. I will take all steps acceptable to the corporate world to acquire your school.
I will also approach the Government machinery and educational ministry to help us to get a role in the school. By the by, any government representation is present in the board?”
Mr.Agarwal, our school does not take any aid from the government, so there is no need for their representation .
“You may be interacting with some government agencies for approvals, accredition and participation in board examination, assessments , inspection etc”
Yes, we do follow all rules and guidelines and are maintaining excellent working relationship with government.
Ok, I am clear now. I just wanted you to know of my interest in your school.
Your interest is noted
Sathish stood up and extended his hand to take leave, “Nice meeting you Colonel. Please consider what I said about my wanting to take an interest in the school. I will be in touch with you.”
He did not wait for the colonel to say anything in response. He walked away holding his head held high.
Colonel cursed him in the choicest Hindi. But He was worried. He had to alert Dickey who was looking at the affairs of the school on day to day basis. He was not aware that Dickey was already neck deep in the trouble.