Page 140 of The Circle of Exile
“Doesn’t mean there is no friction. Some of our own members have not been too sympathetic to us since Usama Aziz. Then you went to PoK and made working with Janta Party difficult.”
Atharva remained silent.
“I don’t blame you, but this year has been slow. Bills get passed in the Assembly but stall in joint committees.”
“I know.” That was one of the many speed breakers in his plans for Jammu & Kashmir. Atharva had foreseen it, was on top of it even. But he did not know what to do because it was all procedural. In spite of having the majority on their side, their hands were tied because even if their own members voted for them, they spent longer than usual studying reports, returning with notes, getting the ball rolling. And then there was the bureaucracy, less corrupt after his tightening but slithering at snail’s pace as usual.
“Let Samar return to work full-fledged this month and we will call an all-party meeting,” Atharva proposed. “Until then, tighten the screws individually, behind the scenes.”
“Even your MLAs?”
“Yes, all of them. Take Amaal’s support if you need. She will vet them again. If you find an issue, address it. At this point, I am stretched too thin.”
“Alright. How is Iram? And Arth? I wished you yesterday but we couldn't talk more.”
“All good. She talks to Sarah on a daily basis.”
“I haven’t talked to Sarah in a week myself!” Qureshi remarked. “But I know she is very excited to be the tutor for all things babies.”
“Qureshi, I have been getting multiple calls from Iram. I think it’s urgent. Let me call you back.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Atharva ended the call and squinted at the screen, his glasses far away on his table. He needed to blow up the font size on his phone. He pressed call on her name and she let the ringer go on. Atharva rolled his eyes.
“Hello,” she breezed.
“Why would you spam call me in the middle of a workday?”
“Who were you talking to at lunch time for an hour?”
“It wasn’t an hour and…” he frowned. “How do you know it’s my lunch time?”
“I know everything.”
Atharva smirked, feeling lighter than he had last night. He walked to his chair and took a seat.
“It was Qureshi.”
“Oh.”
“Daniyal got 93% in prelims.”
“I know! He was crying after Qureshi scolded him.”
“He cried?”
“Sarah told me. Don’t tell him. He was crying alone and even locked the door on Sarah. His man ego will get hurt.”
Atharva stiffened. “What is wrong with Qureshi…” he muttered to himself.
“Let’s go meet them tonight? After dinner? I can bake something and we can take it for him and Maha?”
“Let’s wait until tomorrow. Their family needs to talk tonight.”
“Hmm, you are right… did you eat your cake?”
He smirked, eyeing the plastic container which he was short of licking clean at this point. “From the container, yes. But I would like to eat it from somewhere else.”
