Vimana

So far, it did not sound very unusual. Aaditya knew that when festival season came around, the college would be canvassing for such sponsors. The unusual thing was where he fit into all this.

'Its great we have a new sponsor, but what does it have to do with me?'

'He mentioned that he wanted to meet only you. He asked for you by name and said that he wanted to thank you. That's why I assumed you knew him or something.'

'Sir, I have never heard of the company before, but what did he say his name was? Maybe he is connected to me in some way.'

'Ask him yourself.'

Aaditya started in surprise.

'He's here?'

'Yes. He's waiting in my visiting room, and says he wants to meet you.'

'Shit!'

Dr Bakshi smiled.

'Now that you've started attracting sponsors with your celebrity status, go and charm a few more rupees out of them.'

Aaditya looked to be on the verge of panic.

'Who is this guy and why does he want to meet me? What's his name?'

'Here's his card. As for the rest, I'm afraid I know as little as you.'

Aaditya looked at the gold embroidered card the principal had just handed him.

The name printed on the card was N.Muni. Wondering what was going on, Aaditya set out to meet this mysterious sponsor.

THREE

Admittedly, Aaditya was still a fresher and yet to see his first college festival, but he had never imagined a corporate sponsor could look the way this one did. Even before he entered the room, he saw the man sitting at the table through the partially open blinds. He had long hair that was tied in a thick ponytail, he seemed to be in his forties, thin to the point of being gaunt. He wore jeans and a loose-fitting T-shirt. As Aaditya entered the room, he noticed something even more odd. The man had a long black case next to him. From its shape it looked like it contained either a guitar or some other similar musical instrument. All in all, this sponsor who had insisted on meeting Aaditya looked more like an aging rock star than a Vice President of any corporation.

When Aaditya greeted him, to his surprise, the man stood up and folded his hands in greeting.

An aging rock star who believes in traditional values.

This new sponsor seemed to get weirder and more interesting by the minute, but weird or not, he was a potential big contributor to the college, so Aaditya got down to business.

'Mr Muni, it's a pleasure to meet you. I was told you wanted to specifically meet me, so please do let me know how I may be of assistance.'

The man looked Aaditya over, then he smiled back and nodded.

'Yes, you are indeed the one I was told helped my colleagues.'

Aaditya had no idea what he was referring to. He had never had anything to do with the organization Mr Muni claimed to belong to, and while some of the senior students may have approached companies for sponsorships for the festival, as a fresher, Aaditya had nothing to do with it. He began to guess that it may just be a case of mistaken identity and tried to clear it up.

'Mr Muni, I'm afraid I don't have much background on your organization but I guess someone from our college must have approached one of your colleagues for a sponsorship. I'm not sure where my name came in, but I would be more than happy to help in any way possible or perhaps get you in touch with one of the students on the organizing committee for the festival.'

'We are a global entity with diversified interests, and as for how you could help us, I would prefer to talk outside the college.'

That was a strange request, but considering how unconventional this Mr Muni had been so far, Aaditya agreed to play along.

'Where would you like to meet?'

Mr Muni got up, gathering his case as he replied. 'Let us talk over a coffee.'

So far Aaditya had remained pretty detached from what happened in college, other than hanging out with Sam and iPod, but now that the principal himself was involved, he didn't want to screw this up and cost the college lots of money in potential funds. So he readily agreed, and followed Mr Muni's taxi on his bike. For some reason, Mr Muni seemed to want to meet at Connaught Place. This was fine with Aaditya. Once the meeting was over, he could loiter at some bookstores before going home. As things turned out, Mr Muni led Aaditya to Oxford Bookstore, and they were soon seated at the cafe.

'I love the smell of new books. So invigorating, so inspiring. What will you have?' Mr Muni asked politely.

Aaditya ordered a juice, while Mr Muni got a tea. Mr Muni chattered on about books he wanted to read, and gradually Aaditya tried to steer the discussion back to the subject at hand.

'Mr Muni, do let me know how I can help you and what you had in mind in terms of sponsoring our festival.'

'Aaditya, I actually have no interest in your college or in your festival.'

'I'm sorry, I don't understand. Why did you come to our college then?'

Mr Muni leaned back in his chair, smiling.

'I had to make up a story so that I would have a reason to meet you.'

Aaditya wasn't sure any more where this was headed, and Mr Muni made it worse with his next words.

'My interest lies in you.'

Before Aaditya could say anything, his phone beeped an incoming SMS and Aaditya glanced down to see a message from Deepak. It read Having fun? Where did you disappear after college?

He laughed. 'I get it. Has Deepak put you up to this?'

Now it was Mr Muni's turn to look puzzled as Aaditya continued, 'That clown! Must be his idea of a practical joke. Look, Mr Muni, I think we've both been had. I assure you I'm straight and have no interest in men, and if he told you otherwise, he was just trying to have a laugh at our expense.'

Aaditya scanned the room.

'Knowing him, he's probably here, waiting to come up and reveal his great plot.'

When he looked back at Mr Muni, the smile had been replaced by a look of concern.

Time to get out of here, Aadi.

As Aaditya mumbled a goodbye and got up to leave, Mr Muni laid a hand on his right arm. Aaditya was at least five inches taller than him and outweighed him by a handsome margin, but the man was deceptively strong, and when Aaditya tried, he could not shake off his arm.

'Look Mr Muni, I don't want a scene. Take your hand off me, and I'll walk out of here, and we end this matter without making it messy.'

To his surprise, the man looked at him beseechingly, almost pleading with him to stay.

'You do not understand. This is no joke. I want to talk to you about the events you witnessed last night at the Old Fort, where it seems you crossed paths with two of my colleagues. Obviously I did not want to have that conversation in your college.'

Stunned, Aaditya sat down.

'We would have had no way of tracking you, but when you posted about the incident on an online forum, we knew who and where you were.'

A thousand things were swirling through Aaditya's mind. Not least of which was the realization of just what a fool he had been to post details of the incident online.

'Who the hell are you?' blurted out Aaditya.