Turbulence by Samit Basu Read Free Book Online

Indian test cricket captain has announced his return to the sport.
    “Unparalleled scenes of public frenzy shatter the placid peace of Chennai in this path-breaking global exclusive brought to you exclusively by DesiNow News,” the reporter Namrata gushes. “The brutal murder of a young and innocent couple sparked off a fire last night. Tonight, will this fire burn Chennai’s heart? We bring you uninterrupted live coverage — after these messages.”
    “Why are we watching this?” Uzma asks.
    “Wait,” Aman says, his eyes fixed on the TV.
    After a few minutes of educational lingerie advertisements, Namrata returns, and, accompanied by lots of flashy visuals, narrates the tragic story of the Iyers, a young couple, software professionals, who had been savagely attacked by an unknown miscreant while driving towards the NH Sukumar hospital the previous night. Their car had pulled into the hospital driveway with Mr Iyer dead and Mrs Iyer clearly dying — and in labour. She had clung on to life long enough to deliver her baby, and then passed on. Following the birth the hospital had shut its doors to all patients within an hour and turned out most of its staff by dawn. Given the normal length of time Chennai hospitals take to do anything, there was clearly something very strange going on involving the baby Iyer.
    “All through today, an unusual collection of politicians and public figures have been gathering inside the hospital behind me,” Namrata chirps, making sure to indicate that the massive building behind her, with NH Sukumar Hospital written on it in shining letters, is, in fact, the mysterious hospital to which she alludes. The cameraman zooms in close on Namrata to make sure other reporters wandering around delivering pieces to camera don’t mess up the frame. “While other mediachannels have missed this breaking story, focusing instead on the first match of the new Indian Giga-League Gully Cricket Tournament — watch it live on DesiNow Sports, or online at DesiNowGigaLeague.com — we at DNNTV are here with you because we have confidential sources on the inside and, soon, exclusive footage that will show you what happened inside this hospital today.”
    “Her accent is slipping,” Tia observes.
    “That doesn’t matter. Look, this is the same girl. She covered the riots in Hyderabad the other day,” Aman says.
    “What riots?” Uzma asks.
    “Bunch of attention-seekers, crackpot Hindus against crackpot Muslims fighting one another to a draw over some non-issue.”
    “But doesn’t that sort of thing happen all the time?” Uzma says.
    “Sure. Filler news, but this looked like it was getting bigger. Same girl also did the story that happened ten days ago in Calcutta — bunch of people burning effigies of all four thousand employees of the Cricket Board of India. I think there’s a connection.”
    “You think this reporter’s causing these riots, somehow?” Tia asks, languidly stretching out on the sofa.
    “No, you do hear about the media setting up stories, but that’s not what I think this is. These were all big stories — I don’t know what this hospital thing is, but, look, she’s a junior reporter, she shouldn’t be beating her seniors to scenes of actual violence. She’s going to get lots of promotions very soon, or get kicked out on her butt. I think she might know something. Maybe she has an unusually strong nose for news.”
    “I don’t understand,” Uzma says. “You think this girl knows beforehand where important news is going to be?”
    “Aman, was she on the plane?” Tia asks, sitting up.
    Aman nods. “Later,” he says, as Uzma turns to him, eyes blazing.
    “What plane?” Uzma asks.
    “I sat next to her on a flight, not long ago,” Aman says. “Look.”
    Namrata has slipped into the hospital through a back door held open by an exclusive secret inside source.
    “I’m the only person inside this hospital — this place of healing now under siege — who isn’t a