Free Chankya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi

line. That’s why he also wore a white pearl, to keep him cool and calm. The yellow sapphire was for increasing his wealth, which seemed to multiply quite miraculously, and the diamond was to keep him sexually potent, not that he needed any aid in the virility department. The green emerald was to enable him to communicate better and the coral was to protect him from the evil eye—of which there were many, given his profession.
    ‘Why aren’t you wearing a blue sapphire?’ asked Gangasagar as he looked at all the various stones that embellished Ikrambhai’s fingers.
    ‘Why? What will that do for me?’
    ‘It will give you power and influence—real power and influence.’
    ‘Bah! I already have that. No one in this slum dare do anything without my say-so,’ he said with pride, his eyes boring into Gangasagar.
    ‘But what about the rest of the world? Your universe is this tannery and the slum. There’s so much good that someone with your abilities could do for the entire city— even the state perhaps.’
    ‘You mean setting up gambling dens and bootlegging warehouses across the city?’ asked Ikrambhai earnestly.
    ‘There’s not much difference between running an empire such as yours and running a city administration. I often feel that take-no-shit guys like you would run the city better. That’s why I’m here to suggest that you enter politics. I shall be your guru!’

    Agrawalji had happily advanced the sum needed to finance the school. It wasn’t a very large sum though —just enough for lights, fans, a blackboard, basic furniture, a lick of paint and lots of books. Ikrambhai inaugurated it. Gangasagar knew that he needed the support of Ikrambhai.
    ‘Why are you giving him any credit?’ asked Agrawalji. ‘You’re doing all the hard work—including teaching the children history—and I’m coughing up the cash.’
    ‘You can do much more with a kind word and a gun than a kind word alone,’ answered Gangasagar. ‘Allowing him to take some of the credit for the school has ensured that we’re not bothered by his goons. Do you know he’s threatened all the parents that he’ll thrash them if they don’t send their kids to the school?’ laughed Gangasagar.
    ‘And what’s the catch behind this benevolent attitude of Ikrambhai?’ asked Agrawalji.
    ‘He wants to fight the next municipal elections. He wants financial and intellectual support,’ explained Gangasagar.
    ‘So you’ve promised him my money?’ asked Agrawalji dryly.
    ‘And my brains,’ countered Gangasagar, ‘only if he fights on an ABNS ticket, though.’
    ‘What political party is that? I’ve never heard of it.’
    ‘It doesn’t exist as yet. It will by the next municipal elections, though.’
    ‘Should you be handing out tickets of your new outfit to mafia dons, Ganga?’
    ‘The best person to advise one on how to protect a bank is a thief. This one’s going to help me build and protect my vote bank.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘I’m a Brahmin. I can do the job of pulling in high-caste Hindu votes but the lower castes and the Muslims view me suspiciously. Ikrambhai will help take care of the Muslim votes.’
    ‘Won’t associating with him spoil your reputation, Ganga?’
    ‘Character is what you are. Reputation is what people think you are. As long as he doesn’t change my character, I’ll be fine.’
    ‘I hope that you know what you’re doing. You’re making a pact with the devil.’
    ‘God will forgive me. That’s his job after all!’ said Gangasagar, winking at Agrawalji.

    The Kanpur Municipality had come into existence during the British Raj, but was converted into a corporation— the Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika —some years after Independence, with a mayor who was elected every five years. The election was an indirect one in which over a hundred municipal coroporators who were elected from the various geographical wards in the city would choose the mayor. Ikrambhai was contesting only one out of the hundred seats in