Rajjo walked quickly through the cramped streets. She was late for an appointment. Her heart fluttered, her pulse quickened as she approached her destination. Usually she never took meetings while she was here, as she liked getting lost on the ghats. But this meeting was going to be different. He was going to be here – Harsh Vardhan Singh.

Harsh Vardhan was the handsome face of his party poster and was pegged to be a decisive player in the next general election. Rajjo knew a win was assured with a merger; it was as clear and certain as the endless blue sky but she need not tell the party that. Her mind took her back to the time when she had first met Harsh at the ashram and had been completely smitten by the handsome stranger, foolishly waiting for him to come back to her. Rajjo had stopped making those calls to Delhi long back. She had resolutely moved on. But there was a lingering memory that clung on and refused to be scraped out like everything else in her past. It lingered in the deep dark crevices of her soul. Rajjo caught herself thinking of him now and then, yearning to meet him, romanticizing the time they spent together, and this indulgence angered her. Wanting to slay this memory forever, Rajjo had agreed to take this meeting with Harsh Vardhan. She assured herself after this meeting she could stop looking back and yearn for something she perhaps never had. She wanted to get rid of the spice of crushed grass under their bodies and the gentle ripple of the rivulet warbling a love song, flowing next to them, as they tasted each other. Before she could delve deeper into that memory, Rajjo shrugged it off.

It helped her cause that the almighty and powerful Harsh Vardhan, who had swept her off her feet the last time they had met and never looked back, was now meeting her for a favour. He wanted the Durga trust with its mammoth following to be an ally of his party. Him and his party members wanted to share the mass Rajjo had nursed and collected over the years.

She had this strange sense of elation at the feeling that she was the owner of something he wanted so badly.

She stood at the Manikarnika Ghat with her plainclothes security discreetly scattered behind. This was her favourite spot where she could see the entire city of Benaras along with the Ganges.