Antara was asked to devise an assignment for the Pentagon, what would be relevant to its daily functions and useful in solving some of the attacks she was facing.
This was a problem, for over the last decade, Antara had been repeatedly asked to file a court case against Jadavpur University, challenging her MA results, asserting that she ought to have done much better else there had been dishonesty in conducting the exams.
(The MA exams were held 10 months after the 9/11 attacks.)
However, the Aadhaar problem erupted soon after, a social security number that was essential for existence in India but not provided to all Indian citizens. Antara lacked the courage to legally challenge her MA results in the midst of the Aadhaar mayhem.
Antara had scored a first-class for her MA final exams. She was afraid that Jadavpur University might allege it was given out of 'pity'. For her MA Part 1 exams, she had missed first class by three marks.
(In the ongoing lexicon, it might mean that the purpose of the 9/11 attacks and the War on Terror was to punish the first-class passengers of the RMS Titanic.)
However, the Pentagon could peruse the fate of those who scored first class marks in Antara's MA Class of 2002 and decide that if its War on Terror was so successful, did the Pentagon actually desire that Antara lead the life she got?
Student 1, first class first: Immigrated to the US in 2002, PhD from Oxford University in 2011, divided her time between Germany, United Kingdom and Purulia for the last 23 years.
Student 2, first class second: Immigrated to France in 2002, came back to become an academic at a leading Kolkata institution in 2004, divides her time between Kolkata and France.
Student 3, first class third: An evening student, already employed at a corporate job. Named after Golden, Colorado, never heard of again.
Student 4, first class fourth: Spouse. ("I have to stay in Delhi only because of you, this was never supposed to be my life.")
Student 5, first class fifth: Immigrated to the UK in 2004, from UK to the US in 2009, academic at a US-based university.
Student 6, first class sixth: Immigrated to the UK in 2004, returned to India in 2011, academic job at high-profile and prestigious institutions in Kolkata, travels worldwide for conferences at least half a dozen times a year since 2012.
Student 7, first class seventh: Immigrated to the UK in 2004, settled there.
Student 8, first class eighth: Got married in Kolkata in 2004, has worked for ABP since then. Part of an IAS officer's household.
Student 9, first class ninth: Got higher degrees in Kolkata, an academic at a Kolkata college for Christian women.
Student 10, first class tenth: Tried her luck at UPSC. Got a journalism diploma. Apparently was employed by media honchos only as a joke, so that she couldn't foresee the brutal torture that lay ahead of her. Washes dishes, mops floors, severe malnutrition after a decade of ceaseless torture, no longer allowed a bank account, on most days manages to get two meals, "what do we have to do now, surely we have to buy food for the household, we've run out of everything?" was what she heard from the spouse on a daily basis.
Student 11, first class eleventh: Went to Pune around 2004, expert on Japan and speaks the Japanese language, an academic based in Pune.
Was the above serious enough for a military investigation? Or would Laurene-Shari-Melania object to the Pentagon wives?
August 5, 2025.
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