Page 192 of The Circle of Exile
Tsering laughed, glancing at the man in the shawl beside him — “I mean, we don’t have any.”
“I was told you have run five membership drives in the last two years.” Atharva thought back to the reports he would get as CM, of progress in HDP. Most of the numbers had come in for places like Hamirpur, Kullu, Mandi and Chamba. Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti were mentioned but never in detail.
“We have Sonu, three cats and a pet yak to show for those,” Tsering pointed.
Atharva did not find that funny. But he was not here to take reports. He was here to run a drive. A drive without any human resource, he discovered now. He inwardly cursed Samar but as had been his SOP, took up this adversity as an opportunity.
“If you are ready, let’s discuss the plan for this membership drive. Things will change now due to a lack of our resources, but we will evolve as we go.”
“You can leave the file with Sonu. we will run this drive as per your outline,” Tsering nodded with a benign smile and walked to the far end of the open office. He messed around on his desk, effectively dismissing him.
Atharva drank down the insult and set the padded folder on an empty table. He pulled a chair, unbuttoned his coat and sat down. Opening the folder, he began to dislodge the papers, piling two sides — one for the membership drive and the other for the panchayat elections coming up in 10 months.
“How are you planning to run the membership drive without manpower?” Atharva inquired, separating the papers.
“I call some boys at daily wage.”
“How young?”
“15-16.”
“How much per day?”
“75 rupees.”
“Would you like to see the breakdown of the itinerary?” Atharva offered. He turned his head to the end of the office to find that Tsering was sitting back in his chair. He leaned back some more, thought for a few seconds.
“Sure, why not,” he sat up indulgently.
Atharva remained unmoved as Tsering got to his feet, filled a glass of water, drank it down. He set his mobile to charge. And then he walked to the table, slowly, at his leisure, pulling the chair beside his. Atharva glanced up at the man in the shawl, still stationed inside the office, close to them now.
“That’s Vikram from Sirmaur. He handles our party’s transportation across the state.”
The man, Vikram, nodded at Atharva. Atharva nodded back.
“Transportation of goods, services or people?”Or intel?
Vikram’s mouth turned up in a half-smile. The glasses weren’t the only thing intellectual about him then.
“Everything,” the young man’s face was solemn.
Atharva returned to the papers in front of him — “Are these figures accurate?” He passed the stapled bunch of village census — population, age, socio-economic breakdown, religion, etc. Tsering glanced through it.
“More or less.”
“Ok. As per this breakdown, and keeping in mind that this is a border village, we are competing big. Himachal Jan Sangathan and Janta Party are ruling legislative and panchayat respectively, correct?”
Tsering nodded.
“Then our aim should not only be a membership drive. Acquiring members for HDP will be one step of the rung. We will run another step parallel to it, one that nobody expects from a new party such as ours.”
“What?”
Atharva pushed the second pile of papers towards him — “A candidate drive.”
Tsering’s brows drew together. His head leaned down into the papers, and seeing his interest, Sonu circled around them too, coming closer and closer until he stood behind Tsering.
“This is…” Tsering looked up, eyes wide. “Is this even allowed?”
