Antara had no way of finding out how Defense Intelligence's James Williams reacted at the series of violent incidents in Bangladesh in the second half of 2005.
(We had earlier discussed James Williams being surprised that Operation Breadbasket was being used to turn the American people into "reserves of intelligence", to keep its military in line, making sure neither the legit lease received any support nor a discussion of the Nazi Holocaust was revived.)
From August to December 2005, Bangladesh had witnessed repeated violent incidents, from places like Chittagong (Oct 2005) to Netrokona (December 2005).
The significance of these places couldn't be discussed in a blog, except that it seemed like "outrageous complaints" about why Antara had joined a journalism course at ACJ, Chennai. (ACJ classes had started in mid-July, the violence started from August.)
Had certain individuals assumed that Antara would wither away after the 9/11 attacks, especially given the Treasury instruments situation within Cantor Fitzgerald? US officials had apparently wondered that Treasury instruments might have been pilfered/stolen earlier on the day of the attack, if it had involved oil companies, which was providing the basis for the Bangladesh incidents.
The above argument made little sense, you could get Treasury instruments and oil holdings from various sources, what was so special about Cantor Fitzgerald?
One possibility was that Anjali had made it clear that she wanted to be associated only with her elder daughter, the younger one reminded her of the fates of Einstein and Oppenheimer, both treated as common criminals after WWII had ended. (She probably had the War on Terror in mind, which ended in 2021.)
A different US leadership and world order was emerging under Truman, Anjali might have felt the younger daughter was risky. In any case, the moment the younger daughter found out about Shili-Lokkhi, she'd consider them as "two lost aunts", not something to snigger at as women worldwide tended to do.
The problem Anjali faced was if she turned up late at events and parties with two daughters, as she was wont to do, in order to make a "grand appearance", almost no Bengali would be able to keep Shili-Lokkhi or Margot-Anne away from their minds.
The Germans started distributing American railroad tycoon information in West Bengal, at the grassroot/trinamool level, but visual impressions remained hard to dismiss.
An effective solving of the problem came from the moviemakers and film studios of Kolkata. Prepare assignments for the elder daughter and the future spouse, as if they were a team, remove Antara altogether from the discourse. No north Kolkata family would ever feel uncomfortable again or be reminded of Shili-Lokkhi or the Frank sisters.
As the INC-loyal cricketing community started turning the discourse towards the RMS Titanic (20-20 format), Antara alone would bear the RMS Titanic's burden in India, what Anjali had always wanted.
ii. The problem was an American journalist also blocked Antara's email id earlier in October 2025, which meant the United States and Canada would no longer share the RMS Titanic burden either.
The RMS Titanic was only relevant to Antara in this world.
iii. Antara had the responsibility of finding out why Ismay built the ship, if all the passengers (across three classes) were united in their desire that the ship should sink, and if it formalised the British concept that
if sufficient number of people were gathered, anyone could be persecuted/hunted, even tycoon stature didn't make you secure.
October 22, 2025.
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