Cash ****

Cash lay awake in the dark bedroom. He had been unable to sleep since the incident. His wife lay beside him, snoring softly. Cash glanced at her. Her face was peaceful, her sleep untroubled. Cash looked up at the ceiling. He cursed himself yet again, as his conscience pricked him. Ten years ago he would never have acceded to these demands. But things were different now. Ever since he had adopted the “American way”. He was trapped. There was no turning back. He felt impotent.

He was overcome by a momentary pang of painful nostalgia. How simple and uncomplicated life had been in India. Only his name had been complicated – Vallalarpuram Kasiviswanathan. Life had been easy going. But the longing at that time was to get out of India – which seemed like a hellhole then. America beckoned. Everyone he met wanted to know why he had not gone to America. “You are clever. Why are you wasting your time here? You will never get far in India. Especially being from forward community. Go to America. You will be appreciated. You can realise your full worth.”

So he did. Once he arrived, he adopted a new name, Cash. Mainly for the sake of the Americans, who found his name a mouthful. Soon he was adopting a lot of the American ways. First he stopped the regular Sandhyavandhanams, a practice he had been religiously following since his upanayanam, when he had been 9 years old. Next, off came his poonal, the pesky string that kept sliding down his shirtsleeves. As he interacted with his Desi American friends, he acquired a taste for meat. He overcame his initial revulsion at a surprisingly fast rate. Then he married Sandy. She was Indian too. But born and brought up in Atlanta. She had been named Sandya at birth, but had decided to rename herself Sandy. Sandy completed Kasiviswanathan’s transformation to Cash.

Cash thought of what he had got himself into. He had been perpetuating fraud. He had played into the hands of the manipulators. He had put his reputation on the line, and his name had carried it with his co-scientists. But he wondered, could they all be that dumb? Or were they aware of the scam as well ? Did they all know that the emperor was wearing no clothes?

Initially Muller had made convincing arguments. “We have to err on the side of caution. We cannot afford to wait for the perfect proof. We only have one earth. I know, trust me. The same thing happened with Y2K. Nobody gets hurt. Give the human race the benefit of the doubt.” And with the level of complicity , and the number of the scientists involved, Muller had the upper hand. Of course Muller was not alone. He represented a coalition of interests, promoting the theory. For a complex combination of financial and ideological reasons. And the greed of the scientists, the lure of lucrative funding, had caused them to play into the hands of the ruthless group. The media was in cohorts too. They needed a good story, and this one was the biggie. They had been flogging it for years. And the Governments – they had a worthy cause. Cadres of obscure bureaucrats were hard at work devising a system of 'global governance' , slowly gaining control over ordinary citizens. The economists were happy too. Colossal budgets were needed to take care of the problem. Jobs were created. Money flowed. Everyone was happy. It was the perfect cause – science, economy, politics and media interests.

As the incontrovertible evidence emerged, Cash had confronted Muller. But he was nonchalant. It was too far gone. Cash and the scientific community had burnt their bridges. It all thrived under the banner of a superior morality. Muller had been frank, "There is nothing wrong. Every one of the main players –- from politicians and scientists to big corporations and man in the street –- benefit from instilling fear into billions of human beings over this theory. "

"No matter if the science is all phoney, there are collateral environmental benefits. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing – in terms of economic policy and environmental policy. The human race will thank us. The end justifies the means."