xii. Those receiving emails would have got the 'drift' of the situation.
First, there were reports of supposed disagreements between the White House in Washington DC and US Govt officials.
Several of Antara's former batchmates, from school and college, were discussed on the blog, with sincerity they had pursued their designated tasks.
Next, the focus shifted to the US Congress, it couldn't understand what the 'lease narrative' was about, who was Tina M?
Nothing sardonic, merely a genuine wonder, who discussed 'lease family in Ukraine'?
What was the 'lease family', why did it matter if it shifted to Ukraine?
Through 27 days of severe tumult, starting from June 1, 2026, Antara's 'narrative journey', which began from Oct 2018, came to an end.
"Killed by a Washington DC script," the 'minders' joked.
"And what a 'crackling' script at that," others said, referring to the way pork was cooked in certain countries.
The blog would continue, not to discuss the sincerity of the Bengali culture to which Antara belonged, but because the defence firms friendly towards right-wing political parties spread disinformation.
"It was like 'Chail' of Purulia, if the 'C' was silent, it turned into quite the hailstorm."
Why should the likes of Antara be defeated by legit lease info wielded by defence firms?
--
Given their acute awareness of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, why did Ajit-Anjali agree to 1980-Mykolaiv, if they did so at all?
It was an anecdote that needed to be shared.
Antara was a few months old, she lived with her parents and sibling in north Bengal. As mentioned before, there was an orchard at the back, pineapples, plantains etc.
Beyond it, there were open fields, no human settlement, till one came to a mountain stream swiftly flowing down, then more open fields till the Himalayas started rising, these were the Shivalik ranges, below the snowline, thickly forested.
Ajit-Anjali were used to herds of elephants often breaking into the back orchard, making a nice meal out of the plantains, "elephants never picked single fruits, they took entire bunches from the trees", Anjali would say.
The elephants would break the fences on their way out, these had to be repaired.
Thus, on the night of the earthquake, before it started shaking, Anjali had got up, it was changing/feeding time, she turned on the light, went over to the table where the supplies were kept.
"The three of us slept on the bed, you (Antara) slept on the cot-cradle on the side of the room, you were always quiet and well-behaved, sleeping with the feeding bottle and pacifier by your side," Anjali had recounted later.
When suddenly, the earth started heaving, "I knew I had to reach the bed, where Ajit sat up, holding the older girl, but it was the lamp hanging from the ceiling, the way it was swinging, with such violence, I couldn't move."
You get the point? Research work on Nuremberg Trials was not so easily started and completed as some of us thought it would be.
Researching Nuremberg Trials was also researching the OSS, it might not fit into a two-year research programme.
The govt staff (mostly Nepalis) that lived on the premises had rushed to Ajit-Anjali's house, "Sir, neeche aa jao, dharti tol rahi hai"/Sir, Come down, the earth was heaving.
Ajit, who wasn't that conversant with Hindi, heard, "Sir neeche aa jao, haathi thel rahi hai"/Sir, come down, elephants were pushing the house.
Ajit wouldn't go down.
It was under such circumstances that Ajit-Anjali agreed to 1980-Mykolaiv, Ajit couldn't tolerate the marauding elephants at his house anymore.
--
Antara had understood that 1980-Mykolaiv couldn't be effective or offer her any protection because of military conspiracies.
From the Housing kitchen in Asansol, she'd often observe a lone vulture sitting atop a tall tree, it indicated Operation Vulture, a 1954 US Plan to help the French forces at Dien Bien Phu, what was ultimately cancelled.
Thus, by the late 1980s, US honchos were urging their military, "Cancel 1980-Mykolaiv, it won't do for the NRIs."
It was followed by Operation Golden Pheasant (1988), a quick US troop deployment into Nicaragua, to deter the Sandinistas from crossing into the US.
Over the last few years, Antara had been told, "Reagan had categorised you as a Sandinista operative when you were in Class 3, then driven your best friend D***na out of school, so that you were never able to enter the US, as NRIs settled down to 'run' the world."
Later, as 'things were ending' for Antara as a news reporter in Kolkata, she had got a call from a Bengali Muslim journalist, about a story, he had come to her office to fetch her, then taken her to a crowded Dalhousie dive bar. Antara hadn't refused, "Usually, I don't go into Kolkata dive bars with Bengali Muslim men, but I was about to resign my job, what could go wrong?"
The Bengali Muslim man had ordered a Gold Spot, Antara had nothing, the darkness inside the bar not offering any clue about the bright afternoon outside, when the man had suggested a story about a hill in Purulia.
"No one knew about this hill, an artist had been working on it for decades, sculping small birds out of the hillside rockface. It was almost sculpted now, the hill was covered with small birds, they were about to take flight, no one wanted to write such stories, would you like to do a story about it?"
After a lifetime at the receiving end of Operation Vulture and Operation Golden Pheasant, did small birds appear scary?
No? Antara didn't think so either.
June 27, 2026.
****
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