The Hungary court

1. Did Antara know about the political affiliations of Asansol AG batchmates?

No.

2. Did political discussions take place while at school?

It did, mostly related to news events, so relevant to what year/which class they were in.

3. Was there any coded way of discussing politics?

Yes, through lawn tennis. Steffi Graf was disliked, Gabriela Sabatini considered skillful and rugged, both these players had devoted supporters among Antara's batchmates.

4. What did Antara think?

Antara secretly liked Sabatini, she was publicly hesitant of those from Argentina. 

At the Housing society annual quiz contest in 1990, Antara had correctly answered the question about Steffi Graf's full name. However, her Asansol AG batchmates didn't know about it.

5. Did these batchmates ever desire to play lawn tennis?

They discussed tennis coaching centres, mostly located in Kolkata. 

Anjali disliked clay courts (as at the French Open etc), she thought "grass courts" was the real test, it would explain why any discussion of Asansol AG was becoming controversial.

6. And the sibling?

The sibling had only one obsession, if Ivan Lendl could win Wimbledon. She had heard that Lendl had apparently bought a castle, with several grass courts, to practice through the year.

Think of it, courting grass through the year!

7. Interesting. Of course, when we were discussing courts, the litfest would come to mind.

That was not a worry. A female editor from Delhi had warned Antara, "You and your spouse were behaving like students at the litfest, taking careful notes from the lectures". 

So JLF was not from Washington DC, it was something else.

8. The Churchill daughters?

Some kind of British admixture, while avoiding the ad-men of Madison Avenue.

9. Let's get this clear, Antara was not brooding over her parents who had passed away, nor the sibling she infrequently contacted.

"They taught me all I knew." They could've done more, probably.

10. And Lendl ought to have known that the attack on Monica Seles was not Hamburg (Germany) declaring it was ready for the 9/11 attacks against the US.

Anjali didn't like how Seles grunted when she served. 

"Was Seles in pain? Why was she playing?" Anjali would say.

It was power tennis, Antara used to reply, even the racquets were heavier.

11. Ulysses S Grant-Smith. Hungary. It was heavier than before. What had Kolkata done? What would happen to the batchmates?

They destroyed the Mir Space Station in March 2001, they were so sure, after the US military units that dealt in WWII passports had been shut down.

A space station, first of its kind, functioned from 1986 to 2001. 

If one somehow got a passport, even a WWII one, Kolkata would have to answer about Mir.

At least Kolkata would have to explain the purposes of JLF.

June 26, 2026.

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One vote: Replacing Russia at the UNSC

1. What kind of visits did Asansol AG organise for school students?

School visits were only for the sibling's batch. They were taken to a hydroelectric dam nearby, also to the manufacturing facility of a fabric whitener (Reckitt), located in Asansol's suburbs, the allusions had indicated that the latter was for indigo plantation reasons. 

Antara's batch was merely taken for a computer exhibition, it was an insult. They were already in Class 10, only a few months left for their high school days to end. They should have been offered Computer Science as a subject, which they weren't, and having denied it all, they went to a boys' school to learn computers from them.

2. Never any visit to any military exhibition, its parades and drills, its educational programmes?

No.

3. Antara didn't perceive it as strange because of her north Bengal days, where she spent her early childhood.

Yes, Antara's parents were full of anecdotes about fighter jets and recon helicopters. 

"So close to several international borders, such stress, I used to wonder that when you (Antara) were born, how would you be able to nap?" Anjali would say.

"But it was about getting used to things, even as a newborn, you slept peacefully as surveillance and recon helicopters created a racket 6 pm onwards, every evening, flying low over the locality."

There were several such anecdotes so Antara didn't feel the need for school-sponsored military discussions.

4. Why was Antara's batch treated differently?

It seemed they were considered close to railroads, so as much as could be taken away from them.

5. Why was Noida brought up for discussions?

It would have happened anyway. Both Antara and Noida were in Blue House, 1987 onwards, they were the best of Blue House, so to say, and spent considerable time together as a result, activities, House-based games etc. 

However, in the House election of 1991 (for Captain and Vice-Captain), Noida won, defeating Antara by one vote, otherwise Antara had always been Blue House Captain for her class. 

It was thereby assumed Noida would get some north Kolkata support but that's not the way the previous decade played out. 

6. And Antara knew it would be so?

Antara had consumed enough social media by 2016 to realise it was only about 'gully boyz' and 'north Kolkata boys'. 

Even when Sealdah railway station (in Kolkata) apparently got a swanky makeover, no north Kolkata person remarked on it.

7. These men would approach the lease only through hydrocarbons, railroads wouldn't be mentioned at all.

Yes, it was confirmed. 

They rode motorbikes and drove automobiles within city limits, they drove between cities in India as well, else they used aircrafts. 

"I try to avoid trains as much as possible," Antara had been told at HT.

June 25, 2026.

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Sea-faring worthy

 1. Tensions running high among Housing boys.

Yes, they apparently had valid stances, they were like Friends of the Reichsfuhrer etc but connected to the Bengali businessmen of Kolkata. Thus, crimes against Jews among both groups, why was it wrong to associate with Bengali businessmen?

2. Clever way to find out what would be the attacks/arguments.

Yes. One such example of attacks/arguments was provided. If you were merely part of Bengali business networks, why did you persecute/close down US military units that dealt with WWII identities and passports?

However, the response was prepared elsewhere, probably at the White House, it turned into non-stop torture against Antara. It was no longer an NSDAP scenario from which one could argue.

3. The Muller arrangement.

Yes, someone's told both of them that the English East India Company was on a leash, which implied past leases were on a leash as well.

So the Tories and their emerging connection to the White House (Republican) had to be discussed. Next, a Chennai-based top honcho of the US Democratic Party had to be dealt with, separately.

4. Did you find out why they were holding you?

Yes. The trading community had complained that Antara knew about the navies. The complaint probably reached the White House. The latter immediately gave the go-ahead for excessive behaviour to friends, family and others. That was 2010-2011.

No subsequent Presidential team bothered to reverse the above so their stances on navies was quite similar.

 5. Nothing about the Fed?

No. If Antara wrote blogposts about the Federal Reserve, meant to assist Austria and Germany, she won't owe them anything. They'd have no say over her life and decisions.

6. And to the White House?

It attacked the 'Russian narrative', wherever it emerged, in FACSIMILE or elsewhere. That was not correct, the 'Russian narrative' apparently wanted to solve the death of President McKinley. Did the White House not even care for previous incumbents?

If not, why was it so?

7. Any clue as to why the White House distrusted the Russians?

Yes, somebody, in recent times, over the last decade or so, told the White House that Russians had no connection to Prussians, what Russians claimed as Prussians were 'legit lease' people. At the mention of the 'legit lease', the White House apparently lost it.

Anjali had an anecdote about someone's cottage in a Bengal village, a part of the earthen floor was raised, like a circular plate, they washed it daily, ate off it, didn't use utensils. 

It implied Prussians were 'raised' from among the legit lease people.

June 24, 2026.

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The learning curve

1. Did it not bother you that since the 1980s, the British knew where the lease was, how it was being misused, that they could have brought it back to their country?

It was like Ajit returning from a visit to Kolkata. Antara would hurriedly take his briefcase inside, to see what clothes or confectionary or sweets he had got for them, and he'd call out after her, "Sorry, didn't have time to shop for stuff. There was no time at all."

2. Muller's arrangement wouldn't survive the lease being brought back to Britain, despite the backing of British and French tycoons.

Especially because of them, since they knew about Eisenhower and where he wanted the legit lease to go (CLASS ACT, 'They've paid with French philosophers, Joan!', June 22, 2026).

3. It wouldn't impact any discussion of the 1942 Wannsee Conference? Those who couldn't bring back the lease from Japan would be able to step into Muller territory of the 1940s, or support research that tried to figure out why the Wannsee Conference was meant to be publicly known?

Not a valid comparison for the White House in Washington DC.

It would say, "Asansol AG had already solved these matters, you had House meetings huddled in the school corridors."

4. They'd own up to prior knowledge of the 1942 Wannsee Conference? Both of them?

They have acknowledged the Iran War would prove costly. What did it imply if not further disclosures about what the White House and the corridors knew?

5. What kind of decisions were these? They were not willing to pay a researcher's stipend, not respect any investigative work, Antara had repeatedly said her research would look at the genocide, not the individuals?

It was an assertion against certain schools in India that were well-advised.

For example, Noida may have had a Wall Street firm advising her on the challenges she was facing. After the 9/11 attacks, as the Wall Street firms capitulated to NRI and Communist assertions, its earlier thinking, the advice it provided, would change. 

All of us would think our lives were changing for the worse.

6. And if you had access to Wall Street firms before the 9/11 attacks, you'd also have information on Tagores and other Indian topics.

Not just that. The NRIs were alleging that Antara knew these girls, so it didn't matter if Wall Street firms had no direct interactions with Antara. She could have learned from Noida and those like her.

7. What did Antara learn from Noida?

Oh, the simplest meals in her school lunch box looked delectable. Noodles, no veggies, no soy sauce, smothered in ketchup. Four decades after she saw Noida eat that, Antara still thought about it.

8. But she walked home with her maid?

Yes, they lived close by. The maid carried the umbrella.

It apparently depicted the assignee of the lease, the one who had the rights and the benefits to help the legit lease heir.

9. And yet Starmer had to resign. Over Tasmania.

Yes. The contractual violations around the legit lease were so terrifying, no wonder the White House wanted to discuss the 1942 Wannsee Conference.

June 23, 2026.

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They've paid with French philosophers, Joan!

1. You were aware that they were trying to corner you over your introverted nature from the schooldays.

Let them do so.

2. They were trying to assess which British political party was closer to her.

These had been settled on the torture-surveillance, as soon as Antara learnt her narrative, around 2019. 

"Of course you were scared of British men and women, given the Nazi Holocaust."

It was decided no one in India or elsewhere needed to know the above.

3. What happened inside Asansol AG classrooms?

"In between classes, they moved with ease between the desks."

It was probably an allusion from 2021, again not meant to be publicly shared. 

Antara was not 'in-between classes', she possibly couldn't "move with ease between desks". 

How terrifying would it be if she did that, everyone would allege that Antara couldn't connect to or identify with any European stance, she was just sniffing around.

4. They were trying to gather their thoughts that 'upper-strata' behaviour was not real.

That, too, had been discussed in the allusions. 

'Upper-strata' behaviour was taught by Antara's parents, certain older relatives, and endless batchmates. It was real, Antara was not caught in any deceit.

For example, back at Brabourne Hostel during Junior College, Antara had gone to a batchmate's room, her mother had come visiting earlier that evening and brought Bengali food over. 

As Antara entered the room, the batchmate had said, "Look at you, with your nose all crinkled up, going sniff-sniff, what were you, a cat, always sniffing around?"

That was an example. Antara had to tell that batchmate that her room was reeking of food. 

There was rice, fish curry, chicken curry on her desk, in generous proportions, but she didn't offer any to Antara. The latter didn't ask for it either, waiting for the hostel dinner bell.

How difficult was it? Don't sniff around in other people's lives, protest when it was outrageous, don't eat anyone else's food unless it was offered.  

The US authorities wanted to keep the Ukraine narrative for US citizens, it was their call, their priorities. Antara didn't dislike India till the Aadhaar fiasco tore her apart.

Fallen people have dignity, how else would you make that point?

5. Let us guess. Except at the workplaces and among close relations, Indian men didn't offer instructions to Antara about 'upper-strata' behaviour. Hence the workplaces were attacked, as were Antara's parents.

The problem with the Housing boys could be discussed in terms of how they managed their 'adda'/chatting sessions. 

In the evenings, the chef and one of his buddies would lie on their back on the concrete top of the underground water reservoir. What did it mean, they had German backing? Wasn't German intelligence either with S&P Global or elsewhere but not accessible to people?

Or was German backing merely about disliking Antara, which was fine with her, history was on her side, not with the Germans. 

In later years, around 20-25 of these Housing young men would sit under the water reservoir tower, on weekend mornings, gazing at the apartment where the chef and his folks lived. 

Wow, self-explanatory to say the least, Eisenhower and his buddies loved Indian men and would give them the legit lease! 

It would explain the US military's reluctance to liberate the Nazi death camps.

On those occasions, Antara usually hid at the other side of the water reservoir tower. 

"Why were you hiding," Ajit would say, "these chaps were ruffians, no need to fear them."

"I don't want them to see me, you go across that broken wall to the shop, I'd be behind this tree, they wouldn't know I was there but I could hear what they were saying."

6. But Ajit understood the need to protect yourself. So that the lease didn't become visible to everyone.

Another 'adda'/chatting session was the concrete benches (don't even...) at the corner of the football field. In summer, they'd raise a plastic roofing for it, could you believe it, only for chatting on summer afternoons?

The implications? Make sure the torturers were unsentimental, when allusions work was being done.

7. Such 'benches' for 'adda' were called 'rock' in Bengali. They didn't want to hear about the gulag. You brought it up at HT, during an editorial meeting, a one-to-one?

They've paid with French philosophers. 

'A rock feels no pain. And an island never cries'.

June 22, 2026.

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Vietnamese matcha in Hollywood, Ukraine ceasefire

 1. It was a Hung Cao blogpost (CLASS ACT, 'Got the Iran deal instead', June 19, 2026). 

It was a blogpost alerting the Indians about the agility of the Global South.

Hung Cao was probably not in the US Navy when Antara was slotting 'Occupy Wall Street' pieces for HT in 2011, but he was born in 1971 and got his SecNavy job in April 2026.

2. Vietnam would be out of the legit lease? 

Anyone who fought the Vietnam War or had any known connection to Vietnam was anyway never part of the legit lease, why Antara didn't get her narrative was not pursued by them. 

If Antara's safety meant nothing to them, if her lack of Aadhaar was of no consequence, if the abuse she faced at home--"enough with those lectures, always about global events, learn to earn a living"--didn't bother them, why should they be part of the legit lease?

Didn't Antara have a job through 'Occupy Wall Street' 2011 and Military Sealift 2012? Where did it go? 

You were asserting with a Vietnamese SecNavy, which meant you shouldn't have fought them, something else was going on there?

3. China?

You didn't follow the problem with the Sun Fo currency? You wanted to spend national resources on the Chiang Kai-Shek archive? Why wasn't the Obama Presidential Centre opened in Taiwan? Why were the Taiwanese always exempted from spending? 

4. The 'talking point' of the instability was solved?

It was a blackmail about the 'Black Hundreds', a Russian movement that was supposed to inspire a crackdown on monarchists and ultranationalists. 

"It was an idea that came from the lazy afternoons the Global South academics spent in the US universities, enjoying the US dollar while also weakening it".

5. Ukraine ceasefire. Please tell me Asansol AG was still not pursuing it, the dedication was becoming frightening.

Summers and Bono. 

Asansol AG was being encouraged by all Germans, "you were our real WWII allies, from the villages of Bengal, you who took those bold steps towards an ICSE education, you'd always be the winners".

The Ukraine ceasefire HAD to belong to Asansol AG, the 'namaste' had been rejected, Antara had been 'elbowed' out, how else would the US Congress indicate its priorities, its love, affection for Indian women? 

6. You would never say Pratima.

It meant the same thing, those three words, 'pratima' and 'debi' and 'thakur' referred to idols/goddesses. Anyone could assume that responsibility, from a Presidential Museum or Centre. 

7. Tell me the Ukraine ceasefire blackmail.

Georgy Gapon. A working-class leader. A Russian Orthodox priest of Ukrainian descent.

Gapon's influence within Asansol AG led to Antara's traumatic experience there. 

It was enacted by Hollywood, Georgie-Missy-Sheldon.

8. Who worked in Hollywood?

The Austrian Chancellor. Not merely the catering. A lot of Wolfgang Schussel since the 9/11 attacks, the US Congress was elated, "Real Austrians taking interest in the American movie industry."

Antara's turn. 

Has anyone actually watched the entirety of 'Forrest Gump' or would reading about James Forrestal be considered enough for a US visa?

June 19, 2026.

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Got the Iran deal instead!

1. We seemed to have reached some kind of an impasse.

More like a roadblock. That too for Chinese hydrocarbons.

2. What was with these Iran deals? The more the merrier, they never ceased to amaze.

Well, you've got to keep in mind the severe stress the US Congress had faced since 2019-2020. The westerners didn't take to 'namaste', they greeted with their 'elbows'. As messaging meant for Habermasian intelligence in easy-to-digest format, Washington DC couldn't get more explicit.

3. What was the excuse this time around?

All existing shops had information aplenty on traders/businessmen who manufactured electrical appliances in Kolkata. 

4. And what was keeping Antara in contention for food and shelter?

Well, BT's House was ruined by the One Story, Antara still hadn't used her House, and if the last few years were what was left of AT's House, what kind of global networks did it maintain?

5. Why was it hyper these last few years, because of the Ukraine War?

No, the global networks of AT's House were offended by 'Occupy Wall Street' (2011). 

Back at HT, Antara used to slot the 'Occupy Wall Street' stories in the anchor slot, so the US Navy was not taken aback when the Military Sealift episode was suggested.

When it came to the protesters and their Venetian masks, AT's House networks saw nothing but Berlusconi and you could see where it had led. 

China was imploring for the Naz... anecdotes from Brabourne, it got the Iran deal instead.

6. No!! Why?

Antara's blog had discussed the preparatory Islamabad talks that (hopefully) led to the Iran deal, it had mentioned China using the 'upper-strata', the latter would probably claim that someone else was using the 'upper-strata' in its same.

7. And it was about a batchmate, a contemporary.

Yes, that was not the problem, she was under pressure, a Muslim female from Assam. 

Her last night at the hostel, the superintendent had put a team of girls on her, sort of a 'suicide watch', the situation got complicated from there.

Antara was close to her but didn't meet her/go to her room that night, 'upper-strata', real and fake, couldn't collide like that.

8. What ignorant and prejudiced behaviour could lead to! What did you suggest?

Antara suggested the same thing she'd suggested the last several years. 

Treat the blog as a learning module.  Learn about the world it represented.

Keeping in mind the sibling and hostel anecdotes, Antara requested fresh work on the withdrawal of security clearance for J Robert Oppenheimer.

June 18, 2026.

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