The Second Report

Anjana was taken to the women's hostel that was housed in the magnificent Arundhati Complex. It was a set of four wings of five storeyed buildings each. Each building was named either after a scientist or a warrior. Anjana entered the Southern Wing named Rani Chennamma Wing. She gazed at the beautiful building that had a Golden statue of Queen Chennamma of the erstwhile Princely state of Kitturu in Bharat.

The statue was ringed with a brilliant depiction of the legendary queen's exploits and history. What better way to inspire young women than to create a vivid depiction of historical women through skilled sculptures?Anjana felt proud that a fellow citizen of Bharat was being honoured in another country while very few people knew about her in the land of her birth. She wished people valued their heroes more.

As she passed by the statue, she saw a beautiful arch that proudly proclaimed the name – Imperial Institute of Research Scholars, Dharmapuri Province. The arch was further made pleasant by the presence of two banana plants, one on each side of the arch. She couldn’t decide whether they did this everyday or had brought the plants and the mango leaves decorating the entrance because it was the starting day the academic year.

Students were milling around draped in colourful half-sarees, looking as cute as butterflies. Anjana was a bit shocked when she was greeted by these young ladies with folded palms which she instinctively reciprocated. She felt a positive energy flow into her tired body with this warm welcome.

“Umm, excuse me?” she stopped one of the girls dressed in a blue half-saree.

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“Umm, can you direct me to the Warden’s Office?”

“You must be the new professor from Bharat! Please follow me ma’am. I will take you there. And please let me carry this bag.” She said, taking the bag from Anjana’s hands. “It’s okay, ma’am. I was given the honour to receive you, so it’s my duty to show you around. Please come.” She said noticing the confused expression on Anjana’s face.

“This is the entrance hall.” She explained as she led her charge through the building. “This is the final Year B.Tech, ECE – V section.” She named the rooms and the classes that would be held in those classrooms. Anjana was impressed by the breathtaking cleanliness and technology used in the building. There was not a bit of dust either in the classrooms or in the corridors or anywhere else.

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"That is how they received me two years ago professor." said Anjana as she gave her report to him. "A lot of things happened there that took me the better part of a month to compile in this folder." she gave him a pen drive that he inserted in the usb slot of his laptop.

"You seem to have gathered a lot of info." he remarked looking at the hundreds of files in the folder. After all it was the work of two years. She had managed to get what trained agents had failed to do. This was a massive boost to what Sharona had provided. He had a feeling that the source of this information was also the same as that of Sharona. He hoped Anjana didn't have to face the kind of trauma Sharona had been forced to face.

"I hope nothing untoward happened there with you?" he asked as a kind of reassurance.

"Why? What would happen to me sir? I was in a safe zone. Did anything happen to the others?" seeing his sad face, her brows knit in worry. "Sir, what happened?"

"I don't know how to say this but Sharona met with a disaster." he proceeded to narrate the hell Sharona had gone through and how she had still managed to escape and bring vital information to him. Anjana was too shocked to respond.

"I have to say this as your well wisher. If you wish to drop this mission, I would understand. In fact I will even help make some excuse for your absence. I do not wish to throw you to the wolves in that country."

"But, sir..."

"I know you want to finish this mission, but let us not forget you are a young woman; and that country seems to be a dangerous place for a woman to be in. We can't just pull out all the Citizens of Bharat living in that nation. It's impossible. So, I suggest you postpone your trip for a few more days till we can go through your report and decide our next step." Anjana left the place without another word. In fact she too had not been too keen to go back to Sourabha Rajyam. The professor put on his reading glasses and settled himself for a long report of unusual proportions.