Awakening of India - 1947

Delhi – Prime Minister's Office, South Block – Mid-February 1948

The airplane's engines had barely cooled when the world began dissecting what Arjun Mehra had just accomplished. From Fleet Street to the Washington Post, from Pravda to Le Figaro, headlines screamed variations of the same theme: India Ascendant.

The once colonial victim has formally broken free from its colonial chains, and every foreign ministry from London to Moscow was scrambling to understand what it meant.

In his sprawling office overlooking the Raisina Hills, Arjun seemed almost immune to the global frenzy that he'd unleashed. Files lay scattered across his mahogany desk, mainly consisting of intelligence reports, economic projections, and the nascent constitutional drafts.

Krishna Menon had just finished his final debrief, his sharp features showing a rare vulnerability—exhaustion mixed with something approaching awe.

"You've given India a voice it hasn't possessed for centuries, Prime Minister," he said, pausing for a moment. "And now, the way you intend to use it...will define us all."

Arjun barely looked up from the constitutional draft he was annotating. "Like I had before, Menon-ji, it's just the first act. Now comes the real work. The work to fulfill the promises that we made."

Menon nodded and finally left the office. After his leave, office seemed to have fallen into a particular kind of silence that precedes momentous conversations.

When Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel entered, his footsteps echoing on the polished floor, both men knew this wasn't going to be another routine briefing.

Patel had aged visibly over the past seven months. The Iron Man of India looked like he'd been forged in a fire even hotter than even he was used to.

He'd watched Arjun orchestrate a war, negotiate with global powers like he was playing chess with children, and consolidate power with a decisiveness that would have gained the approval of Chandragupta Maurya himself.

He settled into the chair across from Arjun's desk, the leather creaking under his weight. For a moment, neither spoke.

"You sure are giving headline after headline to the world. Regardless to say, the world is impressed," Patel finally said, his voice carrying that familiar gravelly authority. "Scared, too, if we're being honest. That UNSC seat...once again, masterful work Arjun."

He leaned forward, his eyes never leaving Arjun's face. "But your speech at the Council—that public promise of full democracy by year's end. That caught everyone off guard. Including me."

Arjun glanced up from his papers, and for just a moment, something flickered across his features. Not quite a smile, but close enough to make Patel's instincts prickle.

The silence stretched like a taut wire.

Patel had spent seven months studying this man—this walking contradiction who quoted ancient texts while authorizing modern warfare, who spoke of liberation while crushing dissent with methodical efficiency.

Every instinct honed over decades in politics was screaming that something didn't add up.

"I'll be direct, Arjun," Patel said, his voice dropping to that tone he'd once used to integrate 565 princely states.

"Given how you've...consolidated power...the necessary steps you've taken for national unity during wartime...I had assumed your vision for governance might lean toward something more... centralized. Authoritarian, even, at least temporarily." Always read at the source—MV@LEMP@YR.

He gestured toward the constitutional draft on Arjun's desk. "This sudden, very public commitment to full democracy—it feels out of character. Too inconvenient according to your play style."

Now Arjun did smile, and it was the kind of expression that made seasoned politicians reach for their pocket watches to check if they were being pickpocketed. "And what makes you think, Sardar-ji, that my commitment to a 'democratic' India is out of character?"

"Because," Patel said flatly, "real democracy—with its endless debates, factional infighting, and potential for gridlock—isn't exactly the most efficient tool for rapid national development. And if there's one thing I've learned about you, it's that you value efficiency above all else."

Arjun chuckled—a sound like dry leaves rustling. "Your instincts remain razor-sharp, old friend.

You're absolutely right. The kind of messy, chaotic parliamentary democracy our British masters generously bequeathed to their former colonies—the same system that was idealized by our late colleagues—is a luxury that we can't afford."

He stood and walked to the massive map dominating one wall, its borders now reflecting the harsh new reality of a unified subcontinent. His finger traced the expanded frontiers like a general reviewing conquered territory.

"Look at history, Sardar-ji. When Britain built its empire, was it constrained by democratic niceties? When America expanded westward, did they hold town halls about manifest destiny?" He turned back, his eyes bright with intellectual fervor.

"Even today, how many of the West's most critical decisions are really subject to public debate? Or are they made by a select few who understand that the masses can't always handle the truth?"

Patel felt that familiar chill, the same one he'd experienced at Gandhi's memorial. He was beginning to see the outline of something vast and terrifying.

"So your public pledge was...?"

"Entirely sincere," Arjun replied smoothly, returning to his desk. "India will have a democratic constitution. Parliament, elections, the full theater. Washington and London will witness all the trappings of a vibrant democracy."

The pause that followed felt like standing at the edge of a cliff.

"But the real power, the guiding intelligence, the ultimate guardian of national interest..." Arjun's smile turned predatory. "That will operate with a discretion and efficiency that transparency might find inconvenient."

Patel stared at him, understanding dawning like a cold sunrise. "A puppet show. A democratic facade."

"Not a facade," Arjun corrected gently, as if explaining advanced mathematics to a promising student. "A guided democracy. Managed, refined, and optimized. Think of it as a constitutional monarchy without the inconvenience of hereditary rulers."

He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspirator's whisper. "Imagine it, Sardar-ji. A Parliament where crucial legislation—bills for industrialization, military modernization, social reform—passes with comfortable majorities.

Not suspicious landslides that scream manipulation, but legitimate-looking margins. Enough opposition voices to create the illusion of robust debate, but never enough to derail the national agenda."

The absurdity of it left Patel momentarily speechless. It wasn't just authoritarianism—it was authoritarianism wrapped in democratic legitimacy, a system designed to be unassailable from within or without.

"And who," Patel asked, his voice barely above a whisper, "would be this invisible puppeteer?"

Arjun's smile turned serene, almost beatific. The kind of expression saints wore in medieval paintings, but only if the said saints happened to be master manipulators reshaping the destiny of nations.

He didn't need to answer aloud. Seven months of working together had made it abundantly clear.

"The West has its model, Sardar-ji. The Soviets have theirs. India will forge its own path—one suited to our unique challenges, our unique destiny, and our unique leader."

He picked up his pen with the casual confidence of a man about to redraw the political map of the world's largest 'democracy'.

"Now, shall we discuss how we intend to develop our mighty Motherland?"

Patel watched as the new reality dawned on him. The democratic pledge was real. But its meaning, that belonged entirely to the man holding the rules.