"Why wouldn't Antara's short stories create such a stir? As earlier allusions had mentioned, you could not become US President without being an expert on Pologround Housing of Asansol.
And if you were such an expert, you'd know that through the second half of the 1980s, electricity was unmetered and free of charge at that housing society. At the ground floor level of every building, there were several meter boxes, some worked and others didn't, but one didn't have to pay a penny. An infernal challenge right there, as yet unsolved.
One explanation would be that while cities like Kolkata received a steady, dependable supply of German intelligence, places like Pologround Housing received information only on the Tagore activity in Hollywood. And if that was the case, it was European royal information, no one else bothered about Tagore influence inside Hollywood.
One who had been raised from age 7 to age 16 at such a place, someone like Antara, who had an entirely different existence, separate and exclusive from Asansol AG Church, should not have been treated by Hollywood as a target of ridicule just because some Third World movie personalities from Mumbai wanted her persecuted.
Let's use an example: say the year was 1987, Antara's term exams had ended, the local movie hall (close by) was showing a movie portrayal of the Indian epic 'Mahabharata', the last show was slated for that day. 'Want to catch the movie for the night show'? Antara's father had asked her. They had dinner, Antara's mother and sibling stayed back, and an eight-year-old Antara and her father went for the 9.30 pm show, the two of them walking along the deserted, moonlit street.
The movie hall was largely empty, who'd watch 'Mahabharata' for a late night show?
You would, if your child had to tackle Tagore Terror through Trump 2.0, because then she'd need a different kind of training. Such a child arrived home at midnight, after the late-night movie, and polyandry tendencies in society wouldn't fell her when she was grown-up and facing envy from within an elected govt.
Nor would the shenanigans of the White House that had publicly split with the Pentagon. 'The White House was turning Prussians against the legit lease, having secured the global financiers. The legit lease heir wouldn't be allowed anywhere near the US Govt, hence the economic uncertainty.'
What kind of alliances were these? Those that had felt nothing but contempt and rage for the Prussians till a decade back were now hooking them up with global financiers? Nothing was adding up in White House's politics, it was incredible they needed such an elaborate plan for Prominent Personality.
ii. Make no mistake, no matter what Hollywood and the White House thought about it, Indians were not so easily fooled. Antara's World War II credentials were strong; as long as she wrote her blogposts, almost every Indian group would encourage her.
Otherwise, Indians were 'burned' by the Abraham Lincoln assassination. The memory of that betrayal sat deep in the Indian psyche, fearful of speaking out because of the Bengalis of Kolkata. They were such experts on America, the Bengalis.
Once Antara's narrative was over, you would find it impossible to locate an Indian lobbyist near a US Senator or a military general.
'Sound was an awful thing, it killed the legit lease, people feared a Holocaust frenzy. Then who was creating the demand for such a White House extravaganza around a fraudulent lease?'"
May 7, 2025.
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