Seven Vows Part 1- Published

The Memorandum

Everyone was assembled in the community hall. Today the children were going to submit the memorandum. As per the process people who are putting across a memorandum has to explain to the whole crowd what the memorandum is , how many people have supported the memorandum and if they have any other specific request to the committee to whom they are submitting memorandum that also can be said during the presentation. Then the memorandum with duly signed supporting documents have to be given to the committee. The committee will check the memorandum announce nominations for the panelists within 2- 3 days and within a week the voting happens, results of which will be declared the same day. Then the panelists will deliberate and in another 2 weeks they will tell whether they accept it or not. It was December 1st week, so if everything goes as expected then in the last week of December it was expected the decision would be taken.

Poorni and Vaishu walked towards the stage. Mahantji looked at the kids coming and smiled cunningly. Come children come he told in mind. Your request will be accepted, but verdict is already decided.

Poornima started to speak first " Hello everyone it is known to all that for the past 2-3 weeks we have been doing extensive campaign for allowing widows to temple and also allow them to wear sringaar except for the specific shringaar of suhagan. We have gone house to house in our community with the campaign in Jaipur and also we have received tremendous support from students in other parts of Rajasthan also. We are thankful to many families in Jaipur who have made such help possible through the contacts known to them in such a short time. We also have representatives from other districts today here who have collected signatures in those districts. Before I proceed on detailing the support we have received for our memorandum I would like to give my heartfelt thanks on behalf of student community to Sreedhar Uncle , Maheswari Dadiji, Tilak uncle and Aakash without whose special support we wouldn't have reached till this point." She looked towards where Varma's are seated and smiled. The family smiled back at her and Sreedhar showed a thumbs up sign discreetly. Poornima nodded and continued. " For this memorandum we have got 60% support from people. After Dinakar uncle told the story from epics the response has been encouraging. Thank you Dinakar uncle for clarifying things from epics perspective. It really helped us. Now I would ask Vaishnav to talk about the special request we children are placing towards the committee for considering this memorandum "

Mahantji and Santguru were alerted. Special request. They had not expected any special request from the children. How could they place special request. But then they had no option. They will have to listen to the special request.

Vaishnav came forward " Good morning everyone. We all know that once this memorandum is submitted there is a voting process to choose the panelists. As students it has been our endeavor to keep this initiative of ours very transparent and trustworthy. When we collected the signatures and when people asked us will a change happen we told them that we will try to ensure all the process related to this memorandum we will try to keep transparent and fair.

We see that our Mahantji Diwakar is in charge of voting process at this point. It is he who is going to decide how the voting process will be defined, and also how it will be monitored. For the mission we are proposing a person who is going to handle such an important thing cannot be tainted or any indication of taint should not be there on the person. It is a known fact to all of us at this point Mahantji Diwakar is facing CBI enquiry for Mahima Das rape case. We all know he is innocent, but considering the importance of the mission, responsibility associated with it and also to ensure the transparency of the process and make the community members believe in his trustworthiness we would request Mahantji Diwakar to voluntarily give up this responsibility.

Huge clap came from the audience when Vaishnav completed his speech. Mahant seethed in rage in his seat. Sant Guru looked clueless. People started murmuring first and then comments came loudly that what Vaishnav said was true. Till proven innocent Mahantji Diwakar should not be taking the lead in such huge decisions of the community.

Mahantji got up and showing fake happiness told the crowd " People God knows the truth and one day it will come in front of you also that I am not involved in bad things that are accused on me. But till I get back your trust, I will not take up any huge responsibility. But children have you identified someone in my absence to take up the responsibility"

" yes " told Poornima. We have discussed within the community on who will take such responsibility and many told it has to be a neutral person who should be governing the process. So after much delibration we have zeroed in on our newly appointed district collector Pooja Talvar to lead this mission. Ms Pooja is the topper in Civil Services Examination and have the track record of conducting fair elections in the troubled areas of Bhiwani. So we feel she is equipped to conduct this election in a fair manner.

A tall elegant lady got up from the back of the hall and told namasthe. People clapped. Many vocally told they are in full support of Pooja conducting the elections. The committee reluctantly accepted the memorandum with all the suggestions. It was formally announced Pooja will be in charge of election process.

As Pooja sat she glanced towards Sudhir and an eye contact and smile passed between them.

1 months back Sudhir's office

" Sudhir remember me " said a female voice from other end of the phone

Sudhir was perplexed for sometime and mumbled " I am sorry, may I know your name"

" I knew you wont remember me Sudhir Varma. You forgot the girl who gave you sleepless nights over winning the gold medal so fast "

" Pooja, where are you Pooja and how come suddenly. Don't tell me I have forgotten you. I have read your interview when you topped civil services.I have read your heroics in Bhiwani and also your successful stint in Kota where you were involved in rehabilitation of prostitute kids. How is your husband and kid "

" Husband and kid are running me mad to say the least. Actually my son Karthik is studying in Navmantha school for past 3 years as my husband is there in RTO. Now I am also coming to Jaipur. After running behind many people have managed to get the transfer. It is from Karthik I came to know about Sreedhar and since his surname was Varma I just thought of checking whether he is connected with you. And lo and behold. The Sudhir Varma who has vanished from college just like that not even coming for convocation or to collect his much cherished gold medal I manage to find him. Can I come and meet you Sudhir. Really miss those competitive days where we used to fight over 1 and 2 marks"

" Of course come Pooja. You can meet my brother too Sreedhar"

Pooja Talvar no Pooja Joshi then was Sudhir's classmate and his competitor. When the issue of voting had come it was with Pooja Sudhir discussed and then moved his plan with Poorni and Vaishu. Tilak, Sudhir and Sreedhar held their hands together as they made their first step towards success.