Damayanthi's Dilemma - Part 3

Please read Parts 1 and 2


‘What is it?’, Damayanthi asked Shishir ‘Is something wrong with my father?’
‘No,No. Nothing like that. I just came to see you. It has been a while since I last saw you. So I thought I should come and see if you needed any more help....’. He looked pathetic and was almost pleading
‘Mmmmm... I will let you know. Right now they are providing everything’
The last thing she saw was the desperate look on his face as she closed the door. Then she smiled and continued her work


Every Thursday when Damayanthi went to the temple, she noticed a boy who would come there at the same time. She had seen him in college. Sreekanth. He was a student leader and always had a bunch of cronies around him. She noticed that he was never alone except when he was in the temple. And he always looked at her.

She was interested. Definitely interested.
So today she looked back at him boldly as she passed him.
As she expected, he ran up to her as she went down the stairs
‘Damayanthi. See I know your name’
‘Yes?’
‘I am Sreekanth. I just wanted to talk to you. I have seen you here every Thursday’
‘Yes? I am quite religious. I believe one must ask God for what we want or he will not give us anything’
‘I believe that too. I always ask him to help me win the elections. What do you wish for?’
‘Mmmmmmm …Well lot of things. I want to be successful and help village women’
‘Aha how unusual. Only women !’
‘I come from a village where women are oppressed. So I want to help them. Is there anything wrong in that?’
‘Then you must join my campaign. It will give you some feel of Politics. The best way to further your cause is to join Politics’
'That sounds very interesting But being in medical college I do not have much time’
‘That is okay. I will be glad to work with you. I do not have many female volunteers. Maybe you will help get me the female vote’
‘I will be glad to do what I can. You can contact me tomorrow and let me know what to do’
‘Okay but first I have to buy all my new volunteers a coffee’, Sreekanth said sheepishly. He was obviously a little intimidated by Damayanthi
Damayanthi gave Sreekanth a knowing look and followed him obediently to the coffee shop

Thus began Damayanthi’s tryst with Politics.
Sreekanth was true to his word and showed her the ropes. He explained how collecting votes was a year long exercise. ‘The more visibility you get, the better your chances’, he explained.
Damayanthi was his best student. She soaked in everything he said
She would go to as many of their brainstorming meetings as possible and listen. Slowly as she understood the process she started making suggestions
Sreekanth noticed that her suggestions were getting better and better
One day she suggested that to attract the female vote which was their weak point they had to help women. ‘If we help them they will always be loyal voters for us’, she suggested
‘How do we help women ?’, was the obvious question.
‘ We need to help them with their problems. What are the problems of girls in our college? First of all the womens toilets are woefully inadequate. And women need someone to show them around when they first join.’
Now everyone was listening
Soon everyone knew that Damaynthi’s suggestions were not to be taken lightly.
Not just because they were so good. But also because of the way Sreekanth looked at her

Sreekanth and Damayanthi went to the Principal of the college and put forward their proposals. The Principal had a funding problem which they solved by getting the local corporator involved. Sreekanth had lot of contacts with local politicians
The principal called a special inaugural function where he publicly announced that Sreekanth and his team was responsible for the fixing of the ladies toilets and new student inductions program
The word spread and somehow everyone seemed to know that Damayanthi was responsible
Sreekanth won the election with a majority of the female vote thanks to Damayanthi
Damayanthi was introduced to politics and loved it. She felt drunk with success and knew this was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life
Even before she completed her Medicine, Damayanthi was an expert at playing politics and had been elected Vice President twice
It was common knowlege now that Sreekanth and she were an ‘item’
One day he took her to meet his ‘guru’.

It was to be the biggest mistake of his life



Sreekanth did nothing without the permission of his ‘guru’, Mahajan Singh.
He was a local politician and was interested in the next generation of leaders. Sreekanth was his protégé. Mahajan was grooming him to become one of the future leaders of the party
The second Mahajan saw Damayanthi he knew there was something different about her.
After giving her the usual pep talk about the party and how far she could rise he told her to meet him if ever she needed anything. He looked into her eyes as she left

Damayanthi knew that look. She had seen it a few times before by now
Mahajan began to call Sreekanth and Damayanthi for local meetings.
Soon Damayanthi was meeting Mahajan on her own without Sreekanth’s knowledge
Mahajan took her advice on medical matters and she told him that she wanted to help women.
Mahajan was a backward caste man and always spoke for the backward caste community. Backward castes were a huge percentage of the population and he was trying to be their spokesman.
He repeatedly spoke against the upper caste domination and control over government jobs. He promised every backward community family in the constituency a job if he was elected to power. On Damayanthi’s suggestion he promised free clinics in prominent locations
Damayanthi and Mahajan were getting closer and more obvious. They were no longer even trying to hide it
When Sreekanth found out about what Damayanthi was up to, he was speechless.
Sreekanth knew that if he was to get anywhere in politics he had to let Damayanthi go.

After all she was much now ‘closer’ to Mahajan than he could have ever been. And everybody knew that Mahajan was the fastest growing political leader in the state.
As Mahajan and Damayanthi got more blatant, Sreekanth simply watched helplessly. He was practically working for Damayanthi now.
Damayanthi saw Sreekanth look at her but she barely glanced at him nowadays. She felt sad for him but she knew her goal and Sreekanth could not help her anymore
The backward castes were coming in droves for Mahajan’s rallies. They thronged his office to hear of his promises to them. They were all fed up with the upper caste discrimination and power. They wanted a backward caste man to represent them and Mahajan was their man
Damayanthi was growing in stature after the successful free clinics campaign. She had become very important for Mahajan. Slowly he noticed that she was attracting more and more women voters with her schemes The women called her ‘Mahajan ka mahila’.
She was becoming a leader on her own right. Her popularity was growing rapidly as there were very few qualified Doctors among the backward castes. As a politician she was an ideal combination of village girl cum Doctor.
The female voters were mostly poor and identified with her.And they wanted a woman like her to represent them
At every rally they shouted ‘Damaya ! Damaya!’
Mahajan soon realized there were more women than men at his rallies. And they had all come to see their hero. Damayanthi
Soon Damayanthi was the number two person in the party. She was spearheading the party’s moves into the rural heartland of the state.

She began to address rallies herself. Mostly in the villages. She promised free clinics and education for all women. Women were her stronghold
One day when she was addressing a rally in a village she was summoned urgently to the headquarters.

Mahajan was ill and he wanted to meet her urgently



When Damaynthi met him Mahajan told her he had been diagnosed with cancer and was now incapacitated. Damayanthi was shocked.
For the first time she felt sad for a man. He had helped her so much. He had brought her into politics
She could not admit it. But she was in love with him
She consulted the best Doctors. They all told her the same thing. It was an incurable type of cancer and he was going to have to back out of politics
For the first time that night Damayanthi wept. For Mahajan and for herself.

She was losing the only man who mattered to her. The only one who cared. The only one she had ever cared for

‘You have to take over from me Damayanthi. You are the only one who has the people’s support. Most of our voters are women and being a Doctor they respect you. We all see them at our rallies. They are there to see you. Not me’
Damayanthi could not believe he was being magnimous enough to admit this. For the first time in her life she wept openly in front of a man
‘Ji don’t talk that way ! It is you who has started the party. I am only doing your bidding. I will do whatever you want me to do. I am here for you’, Damayanthi said when she could get the words out
Mahajan looked at her appreciatively and held her hand as he closed his eyes. Damayanthi did not move from his side. She just sat there holding his hand.

A few days later he had slipped into a coma

Damayanthi took over the party and began reworking things straight away.

‘We will focus women’s issues’, she announced at her next rally
‘But she is changing our basic plank. Are female voters more important than male voters?’, the senior leaders of the party complained
The senior leaders had a meeting without Damayanthi
‘She is taking advantage of her closeness with Mahajan. He has to be informed. No matter how popular she is she cannot be allowed to destroy the party’
The senior members all gathered together and went to Mahajan to complain.

They found that they were not allowed in to see him. All their protests went in vain. They shouted slogans and left

The next day all the senior leaders were handed a letter written by Mahajan along with a video handing over the mantle to Damayanthi
She addressed all of them at the next meeting
‘All those who do not wish to follow my directive must leave the party. However those who wish to stay will be assured of rich rewards when we win the coming election. And I assure you all. We are winning the election’
Everyone realized it was no use fighting Damayanthi anymore.

Some left but most stayed back.

There was something about her. They had all seen the women thronging her rallies. None of them could gather crowds like that
The few remaining protesters were thrown out of the party. The rest had to follow her rules.

Soon everyone realized that to disobey Damayanthi was to be thrown out of the party.
Damayanthi had arrived and was going to run things her way

The elections were in three months

A simple village girl was on her way to achieving her dreams

I have read the previous two posts and since all three were available, I decided to write a comment here. It's not clear to me yet whether the story has come to an end, but it is not a bad idea to write a comment at this stage. First, I found the first part quite engrossing. In particular, your description of village life, the way Balram's wife cooked and so on quite vivid. It appeared to be a first hand report and carried conviction. However, for some reason, you stopped with the description and simply continued with the story. This is most evident from the fact that you did not describe Damayanti herself, nor her parents. However, this did not reduce the value of the story you were telling. But it could make it nicer if you wanted to draw the reader's attention to the humiliation she suffered at Shishir's hands. In Part 2, there is a sentence where I think you have said Shishir when you meant Balram. Somehow, Part 2 onwards, the story is told too hurriedly. Each one of the points you have made are most realistic, but it would be nicer to read if there was more flesh to the skeleton. It takes a while, for example for a person to turn into a doctor. The reader doesn't get a sense of the time, because the story deals more with Damayanti's involvement with politics and women's movements. Her relationship with Sreekanth is the one which is least clear. And let us note that she realized she was in love with Mahajan. You tell us about this towards the end. But when you began, you said she noticed the look in his eyes, a look that she easily diagnosed. How the love relationship developed from there is unclear. I think this story has great possibilities if you could tie up the loose ends together. An important message that you have brought out clearly is that a woman has to undergo too much suffering in our society to rise in society. The theme is powerful.

Dear Santosh,

A very powerful story, reminds me Mayawati and Kanshi Ram.That must be the inspiration, but well told.Very moving and touching.


Man this story could go to make a great movie.Soon we will see the hoarings on all the film posters a la Salim Javed, Story and screenplay by UNCANNYBAL.

That will be the day , my friend, when I will toast to u.Regards.kamal

Dear Santosh,

Read all the three in one go.

Real good one...... I was just hooked to it till the end. How an village girl can come to higher level you have brought out well. The picturisation of the village was too beautiful.

Keep more coming...........

Ojaantrik

Terrific suggestions. Damn useful. Will work on them immediately

Thnx

Santosh

Originally Posted by ojaantrik

I have read the previous two posts and since all three were available, I decided to write a comment here. It's not clear to me yet whether the story has come to an end, but it is not a bad idea to write a comment at this stage. First, I found the first part quite engrossing. In particular, your description of village life, the way Balram's wife cooked and so on quite vivid. It appeared to be a first hand report and carried conviction. However, for some reason, you stopped with the description and simply continued with the story. This is most evident from the fact that you did not describe Damayanti herself, nor her parents. However, this did not reduce the value of the story you were telling. But it could make it nicer if you wanted to draw the reader's attention to the humiliation she suffered at Shishir's hands. In Part 2, there is a sentence where I think you have said Shishir when you meant Balram. Somehow, Part 2 onwards, the story is told too hurriedly. Each one of the points you have made are most realistic, but it would be nicer to read if there was more flesh to the skeleton. It takes a while, for example for a person to turn into a doctor. The reader doesn't get a sense of the time, because the story deals more with Damayanti's involvement with politics and women's movements. Her relationship with Sreekanth is the one which is least clear. And let us note that she realized she was in love with Mahajan. You tell us about this towards the end. But when you began, you said she noticed the look in his eyes, a look that she easily diagnosed. How the love relationship developed from there is unclear. I think this story has great possibilities if you could tie up the loose ends together. An important message that you have brought out clearly is that a woman has to undergo too much suffering in our society to rise in society. The theme is powerful.

Lovely story!!

You have probably written a fictional story but its looked so real as though this is actually a tale of one of our own politicians.

Yes Damayanthi sure is a strong woman and seems to know how to get what she wants.Though for a while I felt very bad for Sreekanth! Poor Chap!

Liked the way youve written ,I can see so much of effort in bringing it forth to make an interesting one. Thanks for sharing it here.

Devika

Hi santosh,

Very Interesting story!! A village girl turned in to Politician..

Hatsoff to ur patience for narrating such a big story..

But I had few doubts about the story..

1)You titled the story as Damayanthi´s Dilemma,but I din´t find any where that she is in dilemma in any condition,she is taking every step very daringly with out hesitation..

2)As oj mentioned part 1 is more descriptive than part 2 n 3 which rushed me too.

3)As u mentioned in part 3 that damaya cried a lot for mahajan at the last stage for the things he had done as she loved him but at the sametime I didn´t like damaya to ignore sreekanth who has brought in to politics and met up with Mhajan,may be its his mistake but I think atleast sreekanth should have remained as a good friend to her ,so that sreekanth character would get some justice..

Hugs,
dg..

Santosh,
I hope there is more to this Part 3...

sriniketan

Hi,

Very Interesting story!! A smart,strong village girl turned in to "famous" Politician..

Beautiful narration .... Great yaar !!!

Only one thing - She should have continued her friendship with Sreekanth (Nice character, left alone ? ). He is one who brought her to Politics.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading !!! Keep it up !!

hello sir,

well written story.

I agree with kamalji.

the characters Damayanthi and Mahajan in your story has striking resemblance with Mayawathi and kashiram.


thankyou,

radhika