Who painted my money white?
When greed drives everything else and everything has a price
A work of fiction
by
Sree Iyer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the authors imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Text Copyright 2019 Sree Iyer.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author, except as provided by U.S.A. copyright law.
First Edition.
eISBN: 978-1-7320256-1-5
Visit the authors website at www.sreeiyer.com.
Cast of characters
Bureaucracy
Amarnath Verma National Security Advisor. Retired Indian Police Service Officer with a James Bond like reputation. Trusted by Prime Minister Jadeja.
M K (Mike) Srinivasan Mike as he is affectionately called, chose Intelligence as his field of operations and runs it with an iron hand, brooking no counter views to his own, leading to some major debacles in the collection of intelligence.
Deepak Masani A member of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), he is entrusted with the procurement of Currency Printing Machines. An honest officer forced to do dishonest things, he ends up revealing a top secret that endangers national security.
Politics
Prafulla Prakash Powerful politician, a fixer who firmly believes that everything and everyone has a price. A lawyer by profession. Hates to be called by his initials.
Fali Mistry Last of a dying breed, an honest politician, who walks the fine line between truth and discretion. Trusted by the treacherous lot and often their go-to guy when an appearance of honesty is needed.
Mailapore Damodaran Smooth, suave and sophisticated, this white khadi politician from Chennai can charm anyone to his bed. Often ragged by his nickname Maida, this one thinks of it his life purpose to one-up his perceived rival Dalda.
Dalpat Dalvi Smooth and sly, Dalpat can match Maida maneuver for maneuver, always trying to outbeat him but often comes up short. Called Dalda and for good reason. He very much lives up to his oily nickname.
Giridhar Gulati Rising from the earthy Gangetic plains, he brandishes his rustic humor and wit that never fails to find its target. Girgut can sometimes surprise even himself with some of his decisions, made for the general good.
Biplab (Bob) Bannerjee Born Biplab Kumar Bandopadhyay, he progressively westernized his name, eventually calling himself Bob, when he became the External Affairs Minister. Also called Boom-boom Bannerjee behind his back by his cabinet colleagues, for his booming voice.
Chennakesavan Krishnan Conscientious and careful with his words and deeds, he is referred to as Careful Krishnan by his colleagues in the Parliament. Studious with a penchant to take any issue to its logical conclusion, he instills fear in the hearts of his adversaries.
Santhana Gopal Powerful politician from Kerala, he owns a series of colleges and newspapers/ television channels. Considered an invaluable asset of the Freedom Party to keep the main adversary in Kerala on their toes. Made his money creating mega serials, thereby earning him the sobriquet Saga Gopal.
Harish Gopal Does not realize that he has hit middle age. Still chases every skirt in town and has links to the underworld. Moves money through them out to Dubai and is tasked with a major operation that would cause trouble for both him and his famous father later.
Jagat Dhillon Prime Minister of the Freedom Party. Underestimated for his political acumen and overestimated for his technical prowess.
Dipika Sharma The President of the party and the one with the real power even though Dhillon is the Prime Minister.
Gulab Sharma Son of Dipika Sharma and the presumed successor (at least in the mind of Dipika) as the successor to the Freedom Party.
Govindan Ramaswamy Scrupulously honest, this indefatigable fighter against corruption decides to take on the government of Jagat Dhillon.
Ram Chandra Pal A powerful Dalit leader from Bihar, who for a brief period presided over the Freedom Party, only to be dumped in an unceremonious manner.
Maker Funtoosh Wirewala Flamboyant and free-spirited, this poster-boy for a Barbara Cartland hero went to all the right schools and colleges. Known more for this bombastic use of the Queens English and sexploits.
Hasmukh Jadeja They called him the man with a Midas touch, who could transform a desert state into an island of opportunity. He created a bustling state from the ashes of a quake prone state for which he was awarded the ultimate prize.
Kapil Pandya Hasmukhs able lieutenant. An avid chess player, he approaches politics too like a chess game and is usually four moves ahead of his opponent. An equal contributor to Hasmukhs Midas touch.
Intelligence Bureau
Karan Dixit Born leader, smart, shrewd and articulate with a penchant for languages. Speaks Urdu, Farsi, Arabic and many Indian languages fluently, accent and all. Leader of the mission.
Priya Menon A striking beauty, intelligent and quick witted. Proficient at handling weapons and can go head-to-head with men on just about any physical exercise.
ISI
Pervez Pasha Head of ISIs Covert Action Division. He could adapt to changing situations that blew across the politics of Pakistan and always landed on his feet. Mentor of Javed Bhatti.
Javed Bhatti The kingpin of Operation BreakIndia. Smart, talented and tough, he has the reputation of thinking on his feet and getting out of sticky situations with ease. One of the best operatives in the organisation.
Rehman Khan - A chemical and poison expert. He was educated in England and then moved to Dubai to work.
Others
Ramesh Badri A Chartered Accountant by profession, is hired by a politician to ensure smooth distribution of fake currency. A do-gooder at heart, does not know where he got himself into but when trapped by the police, turns approver and describes the scam in great detail.
Prologue
The Freedom Party office was located adjacent to the residence of its President Dipika Sharma. While a new coalition government under the stewardship of Prime Minister Jagat Dhillon was sworn-in again, the way with which victory was achieved was weighing in on the minds of the top leadership of the Freedom Party. A late-night meeting was called to chart the way forward. Attending the meet on the invite of Dipikas political secretary, Javed Patel were Mailapore Damodaran, Gulab Sharma and a special invitee, Dalpat Dalvi. One of the regional satraps of the Freedom Party, Robert Reddy was also present.
After a round of drinks over their victory, the group started discussions. Javed Patel read out the first item on the agenda Performance of the Freedom Party in the polls. Robert Reddy proudly trotted out the performance of the party in his state. All the seats were won by their coalition; he waxed eloquent that he had managed to sway a significant section of the socially oppressed to embrace the Religion of Love and the dividend was there for all to see. But Damodaran, quick to undercut anyone who could be potentially out-climbing the political ladder, stepped in to observe that the same formula couldnt be repeated across the country. To make his point, he trotted out the statistics if the entire minority population voted for the party, they would still only get about 25% of the vote. To win, they needed at least 10% more.
