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.

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Why couldn't you let go of either Japan or the War on Terror, Aunt Bea?

As long as we were with Aunt Bea's restrictions, the sibling could have visited Delhi after 2014, she could have come several times every year, locals wouldn't have complained.

The Delhi citizenry apparently feared a Washington DC-based female professional soccer player, one of the reasons the Alamo Girl had been brought to Delhi, because the Alamo Girl had once played soccer (in high school, good grief!)

It should have been obvious to Antara, "Layers would look really nice on you," a senior hair stylist had told her in Delhi around 2014-2015. Antara ended up looking like someone else (obviously the dark-haired female soccer player) through those years, she didn't have her narrative, what a waste!!!

However, it was a good thing she didn't 'investigate' it, as you might understand.

Had the sibling visited Delhi between 2014 to 2024, she'd have realised that the Washington DC-based female soccer player was five days younger than her, born in the same year, the same month. 

She would have also realised that if she was indulged on the Communist side, it was nothing but that, for the mood that STAVKA had apparently shown in dissolving/disintegrating the Soviet Union in 1991 had been beaten when China hosted the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991, the same year.

"Anjali played ping-pong in college, the Nixon-Kissinger ping-pong diplomacy followed a decade later? Well, there's a free kick to oblivion, from China."

If that was not bad enough, the second FIFA Women's World Cup (1995) was held in Sweden and won by Norway.

Sweden was not even a WWII country!!

Let's go back to the situation as it existed in 1995, Antara and the sibling were standing on the terrace of their Pologround Housing flat, it was around March-April 1995, the sibling lecturing, "From here on, our paths would diverge, we'd go our separate ways, our closeness would come under strain."

Whereas, the sibling ought to have said, "Quick, Sweden was hosting the FIFA Women's World Cup, we'd tell each other everything. Goodness, at least in a WWII country it would have meant the Tagores, this was someone else altogether."

The finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup was held on June 18, 1995, a few months after the above conversation, at the Rasunda Stadium. 

Antara remembered a Bengali comic story, quite derogatory about those who "smelled of onions and garlic on bus and train journeys". (It was called 'pyanj-rasun' in the Bengali story.)

That was the problem with Softbank, Aunt Bea, no one was convinced that Ray Cave (CLASS ACT blogpost, April 14, 2026, 'We couldn't always stop for Aunt Bea') didn't get Softbank interested in Afghanistan, through such a lengthy tenure of the Bidens.

Otherwise, good work Germans, you did know how to endanger women like Antara and those around her by gathering around Ray Cave and those that worked with him.

April 15, 2026.

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We couldn't always stop for Aunt Bea

Did Antara have an idol? No.

Did she have a writing idol? No.

Did she idolise her parents? No.

Did she criticise everyone? Almost yes.

How did her parents react to the above? They pleaded, "you have to tolerate some people".

These were the stringent demands made of Antara since her childhood, they'd never change, the sheer number of people who died in the two World Wars of the 20th century meant she didn't focus on any byline except her own. 

When Antara read foreign publications, she skipped the bylines, the names of whoever had written the news reports.

When Remnick etc came to JLF in 2012, she had to search online for who Remnick was, she had never looked at the names of the staffers of a magazine nor would she ever do such a thing.

Thus, the importance of Ray Cave to Afghanistan or even to Indian tycoons was not the same as Ray Cave's insignificance to Antara. He had passed away in Aug 2020, during the pandemic lockdown.

Certain bosses at various newsrooms had tried to alert Antara about Ray Cave, was he a danger to Indians in some way?

For example, Ray Cave was supposed to have a "keen sense of design". 

A senior colleague at HT (not Hazra) had taken a foreign magazine (business mag), showed Antara page after page of that magazine, its astounding design skills. 

"You think we could do it here (in India), with our design teams, what did you think?" he had said.

"It would be difficult," Antara had said, wondering if anyone would ever go home if pages had to look like that.

"Think about it, one might need it someday," he had told Antara, the latter had sincerely promised she'd do so.

In designing her own apparatus, Antara was now close enough to those intricate designs shown to her at HT in early 2012, it meant it could be done in India but she'd have to do it alone, the allusions were hers, what would others do? Follow up on what she was doing? Discuss it with common Indian folks? Report on their narratives? Would NRIs and Silicon Valley allow that?

Another boss in a different newsroom had brought up Ray Cave's "sharp eye for writing talent" which meant Antara would be attacked with Nazi Holocaust denial, Numbers blackmail, Weimar Republic intrigues, the last one was being discussed as people would know.

Ray Cave's "use of colour photography"...well, at HT, Antara and her departmental head had once spent Rs 10,000/- on a single lead photo for the Book review page (you had to buy it from Getty etc), and then, they took it on a greyscale, think of that, such expense and then to get rid of the colour.

[In Kolkata and its suburbs, many wives still thought that Nazi Holocaust research could be thwarted by using defence firms to control the photos from the Nazi camps. Think of that, what those wives had done to Antara.]

April 14, 2026

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