We were caught in Meloni's European Webb, Aunt Bea, then there was Deepu

"Why was it that your former acquaintances and relatives kept considering that Europe would be a severe challenge for you?" the 'minders' asked.

Was that so now, Antara replied.

"Yes, Fleece was an arrogant group of individuals, we had told you that. They knew they had displeased a lot of people. In the 1980s, they had been warned by investigative agencies on behalf of Swiss spa towns that they were treading on big toes, to which they had stuck their tongues out, 'Really? Were we treading on your big feet? Wasn't it a mythic creature, Big Foot and Yeti, things no one had actually seen? Did you want to go that way as well?'"

Antara was astounded by the above anecdote, it reminded her of the people she had known in her life.

"Well, a Big Foot and Yeti-related anecdote had taken place a few days after Anjali had passed away in 2009," Antara said. Antara and the sibling had gone to a Science Fair organised in Asansol, they hadn't stepped out for several days since Anjali's passing away and had decided to visit the fair. 

"There was a Bengali publication on the Yeti and an expensive mounted telescope, as far as Antara remembered, it might indicate that sending the US Govt the way of the Yeti started from October 2009?"

What would be the implications, the 'minders' asked.

"Well, the European royals might claim that the US Govt agencies were funded with European royal funding, and if they had set their targets in decimating the US Govt 1980s onward, they'd be dogeing around."

"The US agencies were funded by European royals? Several of these royals were suspected to be the imposter line, a way to manage the aftermath of WWI."

"It might have been an idea from Kolkata," Antara suggested. "There was that Austrian astronomer, Oppenheim or something, so you thought you worked on astronomy, the Global South would reply with James Webb, it would show you what astronomy was about."

"Hmm, it didn't explain why your former acquaintances thought that Europe would be a severe challenge for you."

"They might have a different lexicon for Europe, you know, created by the Tagores or some other north Kolkata group," Antara replied. 

"While we referred to geographic names or political boundaries, they referred to Europe in terms of the Nazi Holocaust. 

In fact, we had come across Silicon Valley wanting to manage the US Govt from Berlin, only on the basis of Berlin as military districts. So, they did have a different sense of Europe, only in terms of the genocide against the Jews, it was possible the tech firms celebrated and mainstreamed the Nazi Holocaust perps, while keeping the victims under stress."

What about Meloni, would she have the alternative map of Europe, with genocide-specific place names?

"It was likely," Antara replied, "she did seem somewhat disconcerted by the reality."

Why do you think Ajit let slip things to such an abysmal level, Antara? 

"Oh, Ajit gave hints all right," Antara replied, "he enjoyed the situation as the Communists had planned it. The legit lease-related House would be under Patton, his dash across France in August-September 1944 would be blamed on narcotics, wouldn't that turn the legit lease into a narcotics lease?"

What would Patna do, how would it manage the situation, the 'minders' got worried.

"Well, Patna would know that no matter which British unit tortured on the surveillance against Antara, Deepu wouldn't be able to grab 'the rest of our lives'/the rest of the British units."

April 24, 2026.

**** 

Shining, shimmering, Aunt Bea?

If Antara had to be "humiliated and altogether reduced", it ought to have been done in 2012. 

In fact, those who had always been close to Baroda, opening accounts with the Bank of Baroda as 10-year-olds, later staying in Baroda, ought to have known how to get it done. 

Colonel James Outram was ousted from his post as Resident at the Gaekwad court in 1853. 

John Chapman, GIPR's engineer, wrote a protest against the ouster in March 1853, called 'Baroda and Bombay'. A copy of the protest was sent to every member of the British Parliament. 

By May 1853, Colonel Outram was reinstated at the Gaekwad court. Did he want to be reinstated because of an eloquent oped? How did he think it impacted the events four years later, in 1857? Antara's research was not offering any explanation. 

Please don't make the mistake of assuming these were esoteric references. Some of Antara's closest relatives frequently cited Colonel Outram when conversing with others. Also remember, the Germans considered Antara ineligible for 'Austrian intelligence', they had arbitrarily decided that 'Borda and Bombay' were eligible for it.

Well, that was the name of GIPR engineer John Chapman's treatise, 'Baroda and Bombay'. 

So quite a few individuals knew what was going on, they lived in Europe, in Britain, in India. These blogposts were turning into the revenge of former batchmates, at what point would Antara falter?

Back in 2012, no one wrote an eloquent oped defending Antara when she had to quit HT. There had arisen a chance to reduce Antara's stature, humiliate her, it was not used. Thirteen years later, by 2025, petitions were being written against Antara for no reason, nation-States were up in arms. 

Antara was not even eligible for prolonged medical care, how did you reach petition-writing?

GIPR engineer John Chapman was not an easy example. 

Chapman's report on the GIPR and cotton trade was submitted to London officials, they approved of the report and then abruptly severed with him. Those who surveilled Antara's life had known that she lived under the constant threat of 'severance'/receiving letters of 'severance' (from what?), since 2021.

At least GIPR's John Chapman was paid 2,500 pounds when he was severed, he had been an employee, how would Antara be 'severed' at all?

At such a point, the discussions turned around, Antara's fate was no longer the same as John Chapman's, she became his Parsi moderate friend Furdoonjee, "Everyone needed an engineer/STEM person to navigate through 21st century life." 

Even if you ignored the outrage of such a suggestion, (which engineers, the capitation fee ones, or the battlefield simulation/IIT ones?), did you know what it meant?

One of the Ghanty girls (Class of 1995) wanted in, she was an electrical engineer, stayed in southern Indian cities, was close to Harris, was comfortable with New Jersey, could take revenge for the Iranian Navy/IRIS Shahid Bagheri blogpost (on FACSIMILE, 'Shopping for Pencils'). 

Amazing, Foochoo wouldn't do, it had to be a Ghanty relative of his, and Antara had thought New Jersey was an aspirational town, what temper, what attitude from NJ!!

The following was what the allusions were indicating, why Antara turned her attention to the Vances.

"If Antara wanted information on BT, she'd have to approach a country hostile to India, information specific to BT was with that country."

No, thank you, Antara could lead her life without knowing BT, she had chosen a few countries for her purposes, that particular one didn't make the cut, so she wouldn't approach it.

Heh, quite the US Republican/GOP support managed by the overseas relatives?

Yes, what else could it be?

Antara would have returned humiliated to HT but Romney didn't win in 2012, so things took a different turn?

Yes, it was The World of Mr Romney.

Had Antara researched Romney's history with the aluminum industry?

Not allowed to say no to Alcoa-related research.

When was Alcoa Wheels invented?

In 1948, the same year as Israel.

Really now? Did it offer mirror-polishing or Agency support?

Mirror-polishing, it just seemed like Agency.

What else?

Alcoa was in aviation, aerospace, so no need to contact or acknowledge Antara in this lifetime.

And the lease?

There's a hair-shine product, Antara used it in her childhood, called Livon? Alcoa polishing was LvL ONE. It was registered, trademarked.

April 23, 2026.

****

Probably they read 'Ribu'r Srabon' together, Aunt Bea?

The blog has taken on enormous responsibility, as some of you might have understood.

The 'instability' we have undergone had been traced to a French photographer, the title of the blogpost was about a Bengali novel that partially disclosed the photographer's identity. 

The United States would always remain a democracy. There was no fear of any monarchy being imposed on it, Americans wouldn't be disempowered. It didn't imply anyone was above criticism or scrutiny.

If the United States remained a democracy, there was no question of managing "that infantile monarchy within the US" from India, as certain people seemed to have assumed was their task. 

Everyone manage their own affairs, you needn't assist the United States.

One of the members of the NS Road household had gotten married in the early 1990s. The wedding reception was held at a railway bungalow rented for the purpose, large and red-bricked. Asansol had a colonial railway infrastructure, hence such bungalows were aplenty, better than what the British had built in Delhi. It was the source of the 'instability', Antara should have been allowed these blogs earlier. 

Thus, while Antara might have been isolated for any number of reasons, the rest of her relatives were gathered together within the railway domain of what was once the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR). 

Antara thought in modern-day terms, how our provinces had been organised since the 1950s, not how the GIPR had laid out railway tracks, which regions it connected and covered. 

Even her former neighbours had been from GIPR regions, Tanna (Thane), Oomrawutty (Amravati). 

The greatest focus of the allusions work, from the junior college Brabourne dorm? 

Rewa, within GIPR, which often came up regarding the Battle of Hurtgen Forest (WWII).

Even the neighbourhoods where she had lived were named after GIPR regions. 

Of course, one couldn't even mention the relatives, they had all decided to stay within GIPR regions.

It was, therefore, a serious matter, given how the wedding reception from the early 1990s, in that Asansol railway bungalow, had unfolded. A younger relative (a schoolboy then), had had a lot of instant coffee from the vending machine, Anjali had scolded him, it had turned into a severe argument with the boy's father. 

These were tactics used by the likes of Anjali to protect the Tagores. If the Tagores had agents in London to negotiate with the GIPR office on intelligence against the United States, no one else was allowed to tread on the Tagore turf or drink the coffee. 

Why Antara's relatives, or rather when, they offered themselves for GIPR service of the Tagores was not known to Antara. She knew close relatives had been laughed at by Bengalis from Kolkata after the 9/11 attacks, "So your father decided to tie your hands and throw you at the deep end of the pool?"

So there was a 'pool' after the 9/11 attacks, and it was difficult to prevent the GIPR regions from becoming involved in trying to turn the United States into a monarchy.

The blog would try to preserve democratic values.

April 22, 2026.

****

Aunt Bea's 'Austrian' wonderland

Since the Nazi Holocaust lasted several years, it seemed that those European Jews who had not been rounded up right away kept receiving instructions from Communist sorts about their behaviour, what they might have for their meals, what clothes they were allowed to wear, who they might visit, what photos they might take on a vacation.

Thus, when historians and researchers looked at photographs of European Jewry before it all ended, they probably didn't realise they were looking at restricted, inhibited lives in photos, that their freedom had altogether disappeared when the photos were taken, that Jewish life in photos was not authentic. 

Of course, when we mentioned Communists, we implied those Americans that lived in the United States and followed the Communist ideology, not anyone from Asia, these American families had been awaiting the sinking of the RMS Titanic to make a political/ideological point. 

Apparently, there was quite the spurt in population by the summer of 1913, Antara had come across that sentiment often, "Cold weather did wonders for humanity". 

She hadn't understood that it implied that if you sank a ship while your own operatives aboard survived and made it to the lifeboats, then it would be quite the challenge to turn that (foreign intelligence) situation around a century later, hence the chest-thumping exhilaration of 'Turn Us'. 

It dictated the behaviour of Antara's former colleagues, including at HT, some of them were fond of her, but what would Antara do about these American families that rejoiced (quietly) when the RMS Titanic sank, ruining the Agency forever?

Sometime in 2001, Antara and her then bf/now spouse were having lunch at Jadavpur University AC Canteen. Where were the ACs/air conditioners, Antara never found out. It was a loud place, windows wide and always open, preferred by the engineering students. Antara thought it was too big and the food oily, somewhat like the ongoing Iran War, at least OPEC could put an end to the 'Iran Explained' videos?

Not that Antara etc were unwelcome at the AC canteen, the engineering guys would await their turn and once the then bf/now spouse had gone up to fetch the food, one of them would come up and look her straight in the eye and say, "Can I borrow your pen?" 

That was what the 9/11 attacks had been about, it was the same as the sinking of the RMS Titanic, 'give me your lease and your military', Antara was glad the blame game was over (Class Act, 'Aunt Bea's Wonderland', April 20, 2026).

The then bf/now spouse used to be harassed as well, the guy serving lunch at the counter had said in the winter of 2001, "What's better under a quilt in winter, the wife or the other one?" 

It was a Golden Fleece reference, the then bf/now spouse had said, "I'll ask my father and get back to you." 

"Oh no no no, what a thing to say," the guy had burst out laughing ('chhee-chhee, ki bolchhen'). 

Thus, when there was no way to get the Agency past the crisis of the RMS Titanic sinking or for Golden Fleece to admit that it recommended Aunt Bea to the Agency, given Antara couldn't float her own ship for vengeance, where was the point in her reaching the United States, all she'd find was the 'Agency of Turn Us'.

What a challenge, when did Antara say that she needed the Agency, that she would bother to take the effort to turn it?

Given that ludicrous logic put forward by the NRIs to keep Antara away, 'replacement' was abandoned, the same RMS Titanic argument would apply to her relatives, when it came to the RMS Titanic, they were on Antara's side. Why should they have to negotiate a new crisis?

The allusions indicated that Antara was not treated well by the Germans. When the eventual victims of the Babi Yar massacre were being gathered, the local Ukrainians had apparently shouted out insults to them, all about the intrigues they'd been planning to save the legit lease, the US Govt and Jews worldwide. 

"The Ukrainians had known all along, they didn't like us at all," the victims had apparently thought in their final moments. 

Thus, the 1980-Mykolaiv document was meant for a much smaller US Govt than before, keeping in mind what WWII did to Europe and the reduced stature of the lease family. 

Not everyone who strutted around was fully govt.  

April 21, 2026

****

Aunt Bea's wonderland

Okay, it was a bad situation. 

Antara had actually believed that the Ajit-Anjali household was her home.

Even when they shifted to Purulia, in April 1996, she didn't have any doubts.

Government officials were transferred, Ajit had requested for a posting in Purulia (his home district), Antara didn't have her narrative, how would she know that it implied 'Austria was comfortable with The Return (presumably of Palestinian refugees)'?

Antara was not there when they shifted to Purulia, she was at her junior college/Brabourne hostel. Anjali had described the situation over the phone, "Surely people have shifted before but the sibling was bringing the House down, burning garbage, it was ash all around".

(This was a couple of years after India's successful streak in global beauty pageants began, which brought it closer to Donald Trump and the Sun City-luxury resort-South Africa value system.)

Antara talked to Anjali once the latter had shifted into govt accommodations in Purulia. "Large, spacious rooms, you'd like it, nothing like where we've been before."

Why would Antara like such things? Was she an Indian girl of high intellect, on her charpoy, gazing into the skies and planning celestial journeys? Antara was a humble, law-abiding citizen, wrote short stories, hoping it would be considered good enough for the high literary skills of the Indian publishing industry.

It followed that the television with its cable line, in that spacious living room, was also for the Ajit-Anjali household, not meant for Antara, the cable offered unlimited channels, especially foreign ones, what Asansol didn't have, was it Purulia or Utopia or Perfectia?

Berlin Tunnel? Washington DC? Moscow? The world at their feet? Austria too? What happened on Sept 11, 2001? How did that dream run end? Who did it to them?

No, not the sportspersons, the Palestinian soccer team had been recognised by FIFA in 1998. 

Not Bollywood, which closely followed Swedish music group ABBA's songs, trying to understand how Antara would falter and fail under Tagore excesses, as her generation of females led lives beyond her ability to achieve ('Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! A Man after Midnight').

Not even the world of business, it wouldn't have allowed ESPN Magazine to be launched on March 11, 1998, good heavens, it was the first issue, its cover said 'NEXT', it was no longer a puzzle.

An asset management firm, global leaders attend the inauguration of the Palestinian State in the late 1990s, and they would have walked away to glory, leaving Antara in India.

Antara wouldn't have been surprised, she had heard all her life, "You were not related to us, you were not even adopted, we just picked you up from the streets and fed you."

A British OTT firm was offering hints, formed by the merger of Premium TV and Inform Group, now called 'Perform'. 

"It was important that Antara's academic studies continue, that it was not disrupted while she was an undergraduate at Brabourne. Her allusions would later serve a purpose." 

April 20, 2026

****

Aunt Bea, we know we had a Jane Doe problem

One of the problems arising from the 'replacement' scenario was that Antara would become 'Jane Doe' in any litigation.

Earlier on April 17, 2026, the BT-Pratibha marriage had apparently been described as "a reaction to how Communists had surrounded Europe's Jews in the 1930s...thereby a marriage whose descendants were irrelevant and couldn't be considered". 

The statement had probably emerged from London, Kolkata and Beijing.

Thus, Antara was at the receiving end of the classic "Boroline treatment" or so she had heard in Bengal, Boroline was a perfumed antiseptic cream.

"Put thick slabs of Boroline on the eyelids, climb on to the nearest British railroad and fall asleep," Antara had heard Bengalis tell each other, and in such a case, Antara would become the 'Jane Doe', for she was born and grew up in West Bengal, and they were readying for slumber. 

The blogpost was meant for the weekend, to check how the Asian/Far Eastern stock markets reacted on April 20, 2026/Monday morning. 

Thus, as in 'Rose vs Royal College of Physicians' (known as The Rose Case) of 1703-1704, if John Seale (or the US military) complained about the 'replacement', the British wouldn't rule in favour of 'Jane Doe'/Antara.

In fact, such publicity might legitimise what NS Road had done, 'replacement' might become the norm, what these intelligence operatives needed. 

And keeping in mind that the Carnegies and the Rockefellers had not made their stances clear on the RMS Titanic, whether they supported American tycoons or Bengal's towns and villages, any mention of 'replacement' by the US military would turn it into a 'secret society'.

"It was a Circassian female refugee, at the most, why was the US military getting involved? Must be connected by some secret cult or society, hence the need to avoid interaction, otherwise her batchmates had been touring India all through."

And it was 2026, not 1703-1704, the sibling might even say, "Were discussions of 'replacement' allowed on the blog? Wasn't AAP supposed to be derived from 'Know-Nothings' of the United States, why should it have access to information?"

We had found out about the sibling's British associates, and they were okay with these discussions, the blogposts were keeping people secure.

April 17, 2026.

****

An impromptu discussion of Jordan, for Chhondo and Aunt Bea, Antara couldn't afford Taj Hotels

Many of the Tagore plans, including the supposed 'annexation of Jordan', to influence Ukraine's fate, took place during the Bombay Tournament, also called the 'Bombay Pentangular'. 

It was an "annual cricket competition held in British India from 1892 to 1946".

One could imagine the weight of responsibility that was descending on the US Govt, consider the significance of the above decades leading to the rise of Adolf Hitler, and how the US Govt would rather listen to Aunt Bea when it came to international politics.

Did no one think within the US Govt? These cricket matches were held in the Gymkhana Ground in Bombay. The Israeli woman Antara and her spouse had met in early 2024 had often mentioned the Gymkhana Club. 

These cricket matches were also held in the Deccan Gymkhana Ground in Poona, didn't the US Govt know that Aunt Bea had married in Pune?

Later, these matches were held at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay, so at least let Antara write freely about Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata?

"Heh Antara, it was only about the Tagores and their intrigues from the Bombay Tournament, and in case the legit lease family got involved as well, it was not your worry, your parents didn't share the narrative with you, they kept it to themselves, their elder daughter and NS Road. Even if BT had known/had interactions with the Bombay Tournament, Antara would always be excluded from it."

Well, Antara went to Lady Brabourne College in Kolkata, on her own, why couldn't she and the former students discuss their own narrative, even as her relatives jealously guarded the Bombay Tournament/Pentangular and whatever happened there?

You'd think the Parsis were to blame, but no! 

At school, one of the Asansol AG teachers had provided the right allusion, "Polly put the kettle on", the teacher would frequently say, referring to a classmate who went by that name. 

Next, at Brabourne hostel in Kolkata, there was a huge and sinister kettle put out during dinner time, to collect hot water for the thermos. 

Those from Asansol AG Church (like Antara and a few others) were supposed to connect these two, "So Polly Umrigar, the Parsi cricketer, could apparently set Britain on the boil, in a complicated way, which implied India needed to head the ICC (International Cricket Council), else it would turn into a race riot."

The Indian Govt didn't consult Antara, those it consulted had surely solved the allusion for Polly Umrigar.

It was getting strange, Umrigar had studied at St Xavier's College in Bombay, Barack Obama had addressed its students during a US Presidential visit to India. 

Had Obama not been alerted about Umrigar? Or had Obama been alerted yet Brabourne Kolkata's students were still being harassed?

Was Umrigar capable of seeing through the legit lease, given the propaganda department of NS Road? (Really, Foochoo, you went with Emma as well, and Mads, not Tubul of childhood? Or was there no Tubul in your childhood, what was the Bengal scene saying?)

Umrigar's father had a clothing store, and Anjali's obsession with 'suiting-shirting' in the 1980s meant the US intelligence community would be provided new outfits by NS Road, Umrigar wouldn't have a say, that was the level at which Britain was operating.

(We should drop anchor somewhere, not a good thing to float so far away from reality.)

There had arisen a chance for MI5 and Umrigar to assist the legit lease once Antara got married to a family that the British knew. However, Umrigar passed away in November 2006, Antara's marriage was formalised a few days later, in December 2006. 

It worked out well for the British.

So, tell us now, why so uncomfortable with Sarawak and Singapore, dear Brit?

You didn't lose to NS Road on your way back to Britain in 1963, did you?

April 16, 2026.

****