She had ordered the call girls to report about him every day. A major constraint Abideh faced was language. As the call girls did not know Hindi, they were unable to understand anything spoken in the language. Rohan knew this. As much as possible, he kept his thoughts to Hindi.

She knew he was in Delhi, and meeting a certain Khan as the name came up repeatedly. But who could this Khan be? If it was who she thought it was, it meant trouble. Inayat Khan, son of a Mahavir Chakra awarded Captain of the Indian Army, working for the Central Bureau of Investigation, a hard-core patriot and astute investigative officer. It took her two days to establish the connection. Inayat Khan and Shantanu Kumar had worked with each other before. And Abideh had huge respect for Defence personnel and their children. She knew of the good work Mr Khan had done for the country. There was no question of imaging him. She had to know how much was said to him. Another problem arose. Killing Rohan in cold blood, an idea that had been going on in her mind, was put to rest, now that he was working with a CBI officer. But she had to stop him from going deep into this.

*

Few days later Mr Khan called Rohan.

‘I talked to a few people. The Ministry of Coal officials are very sure that the information could not have leaked out.’ Rohan felt dejected after listening to this. Mr Khan continued, ‘I have got good sources, so this information should be very well correct. They say sometimes rumours about the mines or the opposition of local people towards mining make the firms change their mind, which could have happened in this case. Are you sure of this allegation you are making?’

‘I am sure Khan Uncle, give me some more time and I will get back to you with more information.’

‘That sounds good. Come and meet me at my office with an official request of a CBI inquiry. We can proceed from there!’ Mr Khan hung up.

Feeling dull he opened up Prof. Dinanath’s diary.

Date: 20 November 2014

Place: Mumbai

Colonization of the Mind

My mind has been colonized. I can feel that it is not only me but someone else who is asserting power over it and using its resources. One does not feel in complete control of the thoughts. It is as if somebody is sitting inside and conversing with me and trying to manipulate them. This keeps on happening twenty-four hours so much so that this conversation has overshadowed all my other activities. What has been happening is a deep mystery, looks like some aliens have connected to me in a certain way. The idea looks frightening and of course I cannot discuss it with anybody.

In such a situation, I find myself wondering how our country would have lived during the times of the British raj? When people with better technology and evil intentions come over to annex your territories, how are you going to get rid of them? They are not just here to loot and go but stay and exploit you. And you have to live under them without your consent. In a way now I realize what taking away of freedom means.

To take control over somebody must be a wonderful feeling for the one greedy of power. It is easy to imagine the pleasures and self-worth which can be accumulated during this process. A look at the British Raj gives us ample examples. A control over land means a control over resources. The Britisher’s were able to capture territories by fighting wars and political maneuvering. This led them to power over this country. In the current political situation, it is not possible for someone to annex a nation without suffering huge protests. Hence capture of power through land capture cannot take place.

A control over mind means a control over actions. Now that rents of natural resources have been crowded, the clever ones are in the process of extracting the one natural resource which has developed the best among the lot and which fuels us day and night- the human mind. The first ones to extract rents over this would naturally reap greater profits. I hear understanding the mind and manufacturing of technologies which mimic how it functions are being lavishly funded. The field of economics has not been able to save itself from an intrusion. A new field of economics called neuroeconomics has developed which studies the brain functions which are active in different forms of decision making. For the profession, for a long time, the mind was a rational entity which maximized its utility. This is no longer true in economics.

But it won’t be easy. The mind, unlike the other natural resources, is complex and not yet understood. And most important it is at the forefront of technology, at the production frontier. To know a mind, you would need another one. Their interaction will never be one way, but both ways. A drop of petrol cannot protest or evolve but a human mind can. Seeking rents over this resource would naturally fall under scanner of freedom and legality. Once you colonize a mind you take away its freedom. If the rents are not shared fairly, it falls under legal jurisdiction. Another issue is changeability. If somebody tries to control it, the mind would adapt and change. A good mind would try to find ways of happiness while an evil one could succumb. I hope in whatever I am going through, my mind evolves a good deal to tackle the problem. And that I come to know soon enough the people on the other side.

End

*

Rohan, thankfully did not have too much academic pressure at present. He already had two papers in line to be published. The only other engagement was his PhD student Tapan, who had stopped coming to him. He called Tapan.

‘Sir, I am on campus trying to analyze the data.’ Tapan replied.

‘Good. Come and meet me this evening if you are free.’

‘Sure.’

Tapan arrived in the evening. He was dressed in a half sleeve blue shirt and in black jeans. His thesis topic was not yet decided. Today, he had come with a new idea: Using game theory to solve the Naxal problem in India. He had read research papers which had studied the Italian mafia using tools provided in Game theory. A subpart of it: signalling theory had been specifically used to study the mafia. He wished to do something similar for the Naxal menace. Rohan had read the papers on Italian mafia in his PhD days. He was also aware of an academician in India who was using Game Theory to find solutions for the Naxal problem. Tapan was saying, ‘I am from Odisha where Naxalism is widely spread. There are Naxalites in my village. I have witnessed the Naxal menace since my childhood days.’

‘It’s always good to get problems that inspire you. I know of a professor who works in this field. If you are interested, I can connect you to him. I don’t think much Game Theory work has been done for Naxalism so far.’

‘That would be nice. I am really interested in working in this field.’

Rohan thought for a while. ‘Is Bokaro a Naxal hit area?’

‘You mean Bokaro in Jharkhand state. Yes Jharkhand is a Naxal hit state. I am sure Bokaro would be Naxal hit.’

‘Hmm..So start reading the papers I will send you today. You have to be abreast of all the literature present in this area.’

‘Yes I will.’ Tapan said as he stood up and exited the office.

*

Mr Khan was a resourceful man with a wide network and an experience of thirty years in CBI. He had been a part of many projects before. He had worked on a DRDO project before when there were accusations of financial misappropriation against a senior official. In a matter of a day, the file of Dr. Ahluwalia was with him. He called Rohan and handed him a copy. Rohan went to his parents’ home in Delhi and read the file carefully. The file was the one submitted by Dr. Ahluwalia to the Defence Ministry. It contained details of IMAGED and its application in defence and civilian matters. It also detailed of how a person could be disIMAGED that is how the scan could be removed completely. There were two ways to do it. One through the software IMAGED in Param-10 and the other by a neurological operation done by a neurosurgeon. Once he was done reading, everything was clear to him except one. Who is Abideh? That night he asked the agent when they were connected.

Who is Abideh?

You better not know it. She is a big trouble.

What kind of trouble?

All kinds of. I am dying to get away from her.

Can’t you just go away?

No, I can’t. She has something I need.

I know a lot now. Today I got a file written by Dr. Ahluwalia about your technology.

Her eyes widened. You bastard. Do you want yourself killed? How on earth do you know about the doctor?

He is the one who invented the technology, isn’t it?

I am not spending a minute with you anymore.

Wait. I know how to get disIMAGED now. I am going to do it pretty soon.

She hesitated a bit.

Abideh won’t leave you.

Aren’t you sad we will not be together anymore?

Aren’t you? she winked.

After conversing for some more time, they made love to each other and slept while connected.

*

Dr. Ahluwalia had revealed the method of getting disIMAGED in the file read by Rohan. A neurosurgeon in New York, known to his friend John, seemed the perfect person to Rohan to do it for him and Lavie. In the morning, he mailed Lavie the flight tickets to U.S.A with a message.

‘In a few days, it would end. Prepare yourself.’

When they were in a super speciality neurological clinic in New York, Rohan read the news of Mr Ahluwalia being found in the red light district of Mussoorie. The scientist was alive but in a distressed state. He received a message from Mr Khan about a meeting. Once they were out of the clinic in the evening, Lavie smiled at him and asked.

‘Now tell me everything clearly.’

‘Not now. We have to go back to India. Somebody is in danger.’

‘You are really strange.’ She said as they exited the clinic for their hotel to checkout and catch a flight for Delhi in the night.

*

Tapan was as usual wiling away his time on bed, waiting for an inspiration to get up. He was trying to recall the dream he had seen last night. Bits and pieces of it would touch his mind only to disappear in the mist of confusion. Trying hard was not the way to do it, he had learnt from practice. He had to wait to let it come. After ten minutes of lying around, he woke up and with sleepy eyes looked at his mobile for Whatsapp messages and mails. There was a mail from his guide. He sat down on his chair and opened up his eyes completely to read it.

Dear Tapan,

I hope your work is going on at a good pace. I have been out of town for a few weeks now, so just wanted to check that things were right. Hope that the paper has been written and you have been revising drafts. Once you are comfortable, do send it to me. I would like to take a look and give you the necessary feedback.

I had a small request for you. Recently, I was discussing your idea about game theory and Naxal movement with a few experts here at New York. They suggested looking at the past data more closely. I am willing to work along with you on the paper and will soon start data collection after returning back to the campus. Could you start now if you can find time? We should be able to get something good out of it before you pass out.

And yes, we would be concentrating on the Jharkhand area, specially the mines around Bokaro and Dhanbad. Focusing on the number of deaths due to Naxal menace would help. Collect as much detail as possible. I am not sure if there is a dedicated database on this, but the archives of news articles kept in our library would help.

Best,

Rohan

Tapan felt a sour taste in his mouth as a first reaction. He had forgotten his proposal about game theory and naxalism by now. Revisiting it meant more work. Yet there was a silver lining to it. Writing a paper with Prof. Rohan would definitely boost his resume. Thankfully, he had completed the draft of his earlier paper and was ready to send it. A surge of motivation travelled through his body after reading the mail and he set on to work opening the rich database at the Institute library website.

There was nothing specific about Naxal attacks as he had hoped. He got references of naxal attacks and police retaliation on the website of an NGO which was working in this area. But he knew greater details were needed. Searching in the newspaper archives at the library, as suggested by the professor, filled him with dread. He had seen them once, piles of thick files saddle stitched with heavy cardboard cover, lying mostly in dust. He needed a cigarette and tea to get some inspiration to get into those archives.

The data on the NGO website gave all the details of the police-Naxal fights along with the dates. This made it easier for him to search in the newspaper archives. The list was long: the fight between Naxals and the government had started since the last years of 1960’s. He had decided to note every bit of information: the area of the fight, number of casualties on each side and all the names of those involved that were provided by the newspaper. One by one, opening the files of the particular month of the year, and scourging through the news items till he found the relevant one occupied him for five days. At the end of it, he had a comprehensive list with him. One more day to type it all out in the excel format and send it to the professor. He was happy with the idea of the good impression his work would create on him.

Rohan, who had come back to India, checked Tapan’s email. The excel sheet he had sent was properly grouped into details like the attack, location, casualties and other details if possible. He was interested in the data about the mines close to Bokaro in Jharkhand. The place had been volatile, with sporadic cases of violence almost every year. There were few big with casualties on both sides. One Naxal attack in the year 2000, at an army convoy caught his attention. It had led to the death of a Major Haldar. This is the information he was looking for. He replied back to Tapan thanking him for the fabulous work he had done.

They were travelling to Mussoorie in the evening with Mr Khan. Dr. Ahluwalia had to be bailed out as he had been arrested soon after being found. It was not difficult bailing him out. He was then flown to a therapist in Delhi to get treated as he seemed to have gone numb and very quiet. Dr. Ahluwalia was allowed to rest and recuperate in a secure location as Rohan spoke to Mr Khan and Lavie at his office.

‘This is a new technology. It’s called brain mapping, but has been given different names. These people call it IMAGED. Using it you can map any person’s brain function by scanning through a special biochip that stores and replicates the DNA sequence in the brain. Each such mapping can be given an identity, just like a unique phone number. And just like phone numbers two persons with different identities can be connected wirelessly. Not only voice but thoughts and movements can be connected. Dr. Ahluwalia must have produced this technology for military use. Soldiers in battle can be connected to each other and a central command for better coordination. But when he demonstrated it to higher authorities, somebody higher up would have found a different use for it. We will get to know more if we can talk to Dr. Ahluwalia.’

‘How did we get scanned?’ Lavie asked him.

‘It was in the cinema. The document we got was a mapping paper. It had the inbuilt chip. Our brain map was sent electronically to a supercomputer in DEAL, Dehradun. So was Prof. Dinanath’s diary. It was gifted to him.’

‘How can nobody else know of this going on if the supercomputer kept in the high security defence lab does it?’ Mr Khan was perplexed.

‘Because the supercomputer was in the possession of Dr. Ahluwalia. After he was kidnapped, it reached Abideh. There is a data center in the lab where neural signals are generated. These neural signals store the activity done by the technology. But nobody else apart from Dr. Ahluwalia knows how to understand it.’

‘And did the professors get killed through this technology?’

‘Yes, both of them. The murders were done by getting into the thoughts of the person, continuously frustrating him and occasionally suggesting suicide. If this is done over long period of time, the infected person can be made to commit suicide given that his cognitive and motor functions have been seriously interfered with, something like when a depressed person kills himself. The difference here is that depression and the idea of suicide are externally implanted into the mind over a period of time. Abideh uses paid prostitutes to do this work.’

‘One important question still remains. How did the two professors get killed at the same time?’

‘Both the professors were connected to agents on the opposite ends who were tormenting their minds continuously. One aspect of the technology called virtual presence enables the connected people to see each other in real time. Both the professors, who had been warmed up to suicide for some time by the agents were connected to virtual presence and were tormented sexually by the agents. One of them believed that it may be aliens who were trying to connect to him while the other thought he had gone insane. They were into deep depression. Under such a state it was easy for the agents, who were working together to give them a date and time for suicide. They also convinced them to write a number 2319 on their forehead. This may have been the instructions of Abideh. In case of Prof. Dinanath, he killed himself with a knife. Prof. Rameshwar killed himself with an overdose of pills at his home.

 ‘Who is Abideh?’

‘Only Dr. Ahluwalia can tell us with confirmation. We have to wait for him to be able to speak to us.’

Dr. Ahluwalia was resting at the guest house provided to him. He had been requested several times for a meeting but he was completely against it. It was as if he loathed meeting people. And he went to bathroom quite frequently. It was what the caretaker of the guest house had noticed.

‘I don’t think we can get him to talk anytime soon on medical grounds.’ Mr Khan informed him.

‘In that case, we may need to visit his maid once again until it gets too late.’ replied Rohan.

  *

In a week, Rohan received a mail from the Economics department of University of Chicago inviting him to join a project for a year. The project was on a topic on Game Theory he had done some work in before. It was to study decision making in the game of cricket. U of Chicago, which had some of the best game theorists who had worked on decision making in the game of football were extending their work to other major games like basketball, hockey and cricket. They needed an economist from a cricket playing nation who understood the nuisances of the game. Rohan had never applied for the job, neither was he a big fan of cricket. It was clearly mentioned in the mail that he had been recommended.

For an economist, it was an offer of a lifetime. Rohan was aware the leap his career would take if he accepted it. But something inside him was stopping him from accepting this offer. Half of him was being pulled by an invisible force to stay here. His father had stopped suggesting him about his career plans, but his mother, even though she did not explicitly speak anything, did not seem very happy to hear this. His colleagues were sure he would leave the Institute for a year. But he was not. He remembered his mother’s words ‘Maybe it’s time for you to pay back.’ So on an eventful night inebriated with heavy doses of booze, he wrote a two line mail to the University rejecting the proposal for the time being.

Abideh realized that it was time to dismantle her operations with IMAGED.