Antara found out that there was considerable delight in America's provinces that Bengali culture and values would now face an existential threat.
Had the provinces in America depended a little less on hearsay, it would have known that The Otter had a small toothbrush-like moustache in his youth.
Well, kind of took the joy away from laughing at the misfortunes of others, didn't it?
Now, don't get upset, The Otter ate his dinner alone, he came home late, usually close to 11 pm.
Who was to say that better days were not ahead for those neighbours/college mates/colleagues picked up while living the provincial life in the US?
Go, tell them, the American provinces would see them through their troubles.
It was clever to have elaborate business conferences in the US over the last few months, leading up to May 2026.
It was clever to keep as wide a berth as possible with the SS Californian and Captain Lord.
Hmm, nothing that reminded Antara that while May the Fourth (be with you) was a Monday, May the Eleventh (a week later) was also a Monday.
What on earth?
Antara wasn't invested in stock markets?
She wasn't worried about meltdowns?
Did something happen at Brabourne on May 11, 1999?
Probably the university exams for BA/BSc were being written? Did the neighbours/college mates/colleagues claim that the exams brought Antara and the Alamo Girl closer?
What about all the other girls at Brabourne? Why were they constantly losing to the Alamo Girl?
Such great hopes on the SS Californian?
All that the American provinces needed was the Alamo Girl on their side, the rest of Brabourne didn't matter?
As Moral of the Story, how did it read, "The business conferences in the US, over the last few months, had considered the possibility of denying there was ever an ocean liner called the RMS Titanic."
These US-based conferences had taken for granted the Alamo Girl's support. It might have influenced the West Bengal election outcomes.
How about this? Captain Lord had become compromised because of his closeness to the Paris bankers. An alert was sent out by American provinces to the US military, whether Captain Lord's situation could be used to empower the Ukrainians against the legit lease family?
Pure patriotism, eh?
If atrocities were committed against the legit lease family in Ukraine, the latter would rush to the US military, they'd obviously get no help, since the US military had apparently agreed to the use of Captain Lord against the lease.
In 2026, the entire arrangement was being rejigged, with an elaborate cover of being under attack and follow-up action, whereas it was still the same-old Captain Lord, his banker friends in Paris, the editorial page editors (on Elisson pay) and a humiliated Antara.
How was it that all of Brabourne didn't cooperate with that cruel entertainment emanating from the provinces of America?
One possibility was that Brabourne students of the late-1990s didn't realise how backward and sloppy they were expected to be for the Captain Lord games being planned in American towns and cities.
There was that thin, fair girl, always in cotton shorts and T-shirt, she was from one of the steel towns, she joined Brabourne hostel in January 1998 and stayed only for a few weeks, before quitting both college and hostel.
She had brown bobbed hair, she'd keep shaking her head, "I cannot tolerate this place (Brabourne Hostel), I cannot, I want to go home right away, I'd rather study at my hometown."
Then she'd turn to Antara and say, "Antara, do you think you could survive this horror, this unrelenting drudgery of our lives, without any freedom?"
When Antara and her then-roommate tried to reason with her, she'd say, "Oh, gosh, you two were actually going to stay here at Brabourne, let me go back to my room and cry my heart out."
These happened on Sundays, when they met that girl later at the dining room, during evening tea, that brown-haired girl would have her eyes all puffed up and red, "I had cried myself to sleep, I couldn't look at the books."
Provincial America?
Why didn't you write it on a slip of paper and drop it at the Suggestion Box at the DoD in the late-1990s, "Our new neighbours/college mates/colleagues, those who cook so deliciously, wanted the US military to go back to Iraq."
Why did you use Captain Lord?
Why did you use Ukraine, to make your point?
Oh, you watched the 1996 movie 'Titanic', did you?
It left out Cherbourg (France) and Queenstown (Ireland) and no one protested?
Had you not depended on hearsay and actually visited India, if you had come to Antara's university, you would have found one of her classmates saying,
"DiCaprio was my favourite actor, Winslet was my favourite actress. 'Titanic' was the best-acted movie in the world. I have no other favourite actor than DiCaprio, I like no actress but Winslet. 'Titanic' was the greatest movie of all times."
You've got to move out of your comfort zone to find out who cared for the RMS Titanic narrative.
Lavish tent, one stainless steel vat after another on the tables, steaming curries, that's not how reality worked.
May 4, 2026.
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