The Accidental Apprentice: A Novel by Vikas Swarup

Author:Vikas Swarup [Swarup, Vikas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466844292
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-07-08T00:00:00+00:00

The Fifth Test

The Atlas of Revolution

It seems like a cross between Diwali and Independence Day. There are fireworks going off all over the city and the streets are jammed with slow-moving cars honking in approval, trucks full of boisterous tricolour-waving fans and crowds of pedestrians dancing and shouting ‘Long Live India!’ and ‘Jai Ho!’

Even though it is close to midnight, no one in our colony wants to sleep. Neha and I are also caught up in the excitement of India’s victory over Pakistan in the semifinal of the Cricket World Cup, billed as ‘the mother of all matches’ by the hyperbolic media. All through the evening we were glued to the TV set, on edge until the last over, and then, as the final Pakistani wicket fell, the entire colony erupted in a thunderous celebration of earsplitting whistles, deafening cheers and riotous applause. Mr J. P. Aggarwal, a cricket-crazy hardware dealer in apartment B-27, immediately trotted off to the market and returned with a big bowl of rasagullas for distribution among his neighbours on the second floor. Even Ma, who finds cricket about as much fun as waxing one’s legs, joined in the revelry, unobtrusively slipping a juicy rasagulla into her mouth, ignoring her chronic diabetes and the stern warning of her physician, Dr Mittal, to avoid all sweets.

There is one neighbour, though, who remains entirely aloof from all the hoopla. That is Nirmala Ben in B-25, our resident Gandhian. I find her sitting all alone in her room with a book of Bapu’s quotes in her lap, gazing at the wall like a prophet awaiting a revelation.

‘Nirmala Ben, what are you doing here when the entire colony is celebrating India’s victory?’

‘Spare me this madness,’ she replies tersely.

‘Oh, come on, don’t be such a spoilsport. We’re all going to the roof to watch the fireworks.’

She reacts as though I have touched a raw nerve. ‘Do you have any idea how many crores we waste in these firecrackers? When millions go to sleep on empty stomachs, when thousands of children die for want of medicines, when entire families live on footpaths because they cannot afford a house, it is the height of folly to blow up money in smoke. And this World Cup, what will it get us? Will it remove poverty and illiteracy from our country? Will it stop farmers from committing suicide? The other day Kalawati’s son Suresh was telling me he prays every day for India’s victory in the World Cup. I pray for good sense to prevail on my countrymen. Sabko Sanmati De Bhagwan.’

Taken aback by her outburst, I struggle for a response. ‘What is happening in our country these days is truly frightening,’ she continues. ‘Scam after scam is taking place, all masterminded by Atlas, and no one seems to have any clue as to the identity of the man behind this company. Arrey, did this Atlas come from the moon or some other world? Is he invisible like God?’

‘They say Atlas is also behind the

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