Short Story: The Bandhgala by Dwaipayan Bose

Dwaipayan Bose’s story is a brilliant combination of humour with a great story and interesting characters that will stay etched on a reader’s mind long after reading it.

Every morning at 11.30 Natarajan Pratapavat Rangappa would rush to his office complex at Sector 16 Noida (Uttar Pradesh) with the frenzy of a Russian General entering the Kremlin on Day 100 of what was to be a quick and decisive war. With a stiff nod to the saluting security guard, he would advance towards the elevator, expecting it to be empty and waiting. Entering the crowded capsule, Rangappa would pull his face mask up to eye level, using the three-layered polypropylene as an insurmountable class barrier.

Rangappa, 62, wore the title of ‘Editor’ like a deodorant – he bathed in it and sprayed it around. For the last four years, he had been at the helm of India Inquirer, a weekly magazine steeped more in nostalgia than news. “Mine is not a job. It is a mission of national importance,” he once told an adman who promptly got a meme made. Two days later, Rangappa found himself in a ‘missionary’ position, getting his true job description drilled into him by Aroop Suri, his employer and the owner of the publication.