Several years ago, my colleague and I went to meet an esteemed retired professor who holds sway over Indian science. We wanted to invite him to a program that the school was conducting. On the way, my colleague told me that after issuing the invitation, I should get out of the room because he was going to beg, plead, cajole, whatever you want to call it, with the esteemed professor. My colleague wanted to become a member of one of the academies of Science in India (We have three academies. Don't ask me what they do). Without the support of esteemed professors, there is no chance of getting into these academies. My colleague was willing to do whatever needed to be done to get into the academy. After issuing the invite, I got out of the room and my colleague started his cajoling. There was some give and take. Some experiments do be done, a student to be mentored...my colleague agreed to everything. Six months later when the academy announced its new members, my colleague's name was conspicuous by its absence.
I was reminded of this incident when I read the story entitled "Manzoor Rehmati' by Shubha Mudgal. This is one of the stories in the collection "Looking for Miss Sargam". Manzoor Rehmati wants a Padma award, the honor bestowed by Government of India every year on Republic Day, and the one person who could get it for him was a senior musician named Khan-Sahab. Khan-Sahab, by dint of deft handling of the government and politicians (never offer any firm opinion on any thing) was on Padma committee. He decides who should be given the award and who should not be. Khan-Sahab declares that he would help Manzoor Rehmati. But, Khan-Sahab wants the compositions of Manzoor Rehmati's father. Manzoor Rehmati gives it to him. And we know how it will end.
Looking for Miss Sargam captures the foibles, the aspirations of the New India. Miss Sargam is a recluse. No one knows anything about her. Hints are
dropped about her through the book and we, the readers, are to make what
we want of Miss Sargam. Meantime, there is a PR person who wants to
organize Aman Bol (Say Peace) concert featuring a Pakistani Singer and
an Indian Singer. There is a Mataji, head of a devotional sect, who
would do anything to help a devotee. There is a small time swindler who
manages to dupe aspirants before doing the vanishing act and leaving his collaborator, a small time musician from a small city, to face the music.
Written in a mixture of Hindi and English, it was an engaging read because I could relate to the events/people, to the appalling dishonesty that many display.
