Alarm bells rang in Seth-ji’s head. No, someone was carrying potatoes! Not a good sign!

‘What the fuck is the security doing? I haven’t called them to ogle at the girls. Tell them to move their butts and see if there are any troublemakers in the crowd and someone remove that blasted potato and get that guy off the stage!’ hollered Seth-ji and everyone around him swung into action.

Rajjo scrambled onto the stage, as no one else wanted to be booed whilst they cleaned it up. She picked up the potatoes and some empty bottles with a smile. Slowly the boos from the crowd turned into appreciative whistles. As Rajjo was about to leave, she sensed that the crowd was looking at her. They were observing her. Standing here in front of a crowd felt familiar. She was not scared. She confidently moved towards the mike to set it in position and did a hesitant mike check.

‘Are you singing a song for us!’ Someone hollered from the crowd.

‘Would you like me to…?’ Rajjo impulsively retorted.

‘Yes…’ A few young men howled. Seth-ji, furious with the turn of events, muttered to Mukesh, ‘Who sent her up there?’

‘Sorry, actually I sent her to set the mike up. She was standing there so I gave her a chore.’ Mukesh blurted.

‘Why don’t I give you a hole in your sorry head? Get her off the stage.’ He gestured the singer and the comedian to take over the stage.

Rajjo was going to pay for it, but for now Seth-ji had to move and welcome those young foolish politicians, as he could hear their chopper in the distance already. And someone had whispered that Jaswant, the local politician, was here already.

As Rajjo stood facing the crowd she had gathered over the past one week, it seemed like she had personally invited each one of them. No, they were not strangers to her. They had come because she had made sure they were here to warm the carpet and fill the seats. Afterwards, the singer and comedian claimed the floor and Rajjo once again stood in the crowd observing the whole thing unravel. She looked up to observe the strings of banners converging in the centre, crisscrossing the skies, announcing the arrival of these two faces that were going to descend from the chopper. Seth-ji had mentioned that they would be landing in a field nearby and then be ferried by white official cars with red blaring sirens. As the pamphlets fluttered in the sudden wind, Rajjo had an urge to run across and witness them descend from the skies.

She sprinted across the field, following the welcome party and went towards the crowd that had gathered at a little distance. By the time she reached the gathering, a sandstorm had taken over the entire area. Dust devils rose in a mad swirl and consumed everything with a vengeance. Amidst that descended a metal bird, gleaming blue and white in colour. It settled on the ground with its blades whirring menacingly.