The office went quiet again.
The sounds of the city outside the window are like distant songs.
His tea had gone cold. Aryan looked again at the large map of India on the wall and wondered to himself if there was anything else he could do.
"The industry is coming...but what about identity?"
"What if every Indian village had a unique six-digit rural code, a bit like a postal code, but smarter?"
The reason this plan suddenly came to his mind is that most Indian villages are currently invisible to planners and businesses. Villages exist on paper, but he doesn't know how many people are in those villages, the dynamic data of the drums, the livelihoods of everyone, and what they need.
"If an industry finds this blank spot, it can do a lot of things without us noticing..."
"This code will also be useful for us in the VillageLink project... We can connect the land of the villages with this code, what services are running there, their health data, the facilities provided by the industry, local languages, economic potential, etc."
He hummed, "If the village had a smart address, planners would stop guessing. Banks could track local borrowers. Investors could track the supply chain..."
"Maybe this will change a lot of things in the future."
. . . . . .
Evening.
Aryan was reviewing official files when External Affairs Minister R.P. Kamat entered the office with a warm smile. Not unlike that of a composed diplomat.
R.P. Kamat is about 58 years old.
He walked in, holding a telegram in his hand.
He said, "Aryan, I believe the good news I bring is worth celebrating."
Aryan looked at him and said with a slight smile, "Well, that's rare! What's with the fire in your eyes?"
R.P. Kamat placed the telegram on the desk and explained, "This is more than just fire."
"The reforms you pushed...especially the industrial license amendment...did something I didn't expect."
Aryan became curious and said, "You keep talking! I'm listening."
R.P. Kamat said, "Japan has upgraded India to their [priority trade partner] in their trade policy."
"NRIs from London and Dubai are expressing interest in investing in private startups in our country."
"UAE and Singapore formally invite Indian trade-tech delegations to explore industrial cooperation.
"And the biggest good news is that the World Bank has advanced India's infrastructure loan review by six months.
Aryan was most surprised to hear the latest news.
This move by the World Bank could be the first signal that international institutions are regaining confidence in India.
He then patted Aryan on the shoulder and said, "Your ideas are ten steps ahead of ours, so fast that we can't follow...but India is finally catching up to your vision..."
Aryan shook his head and said, "It's not speed, it's direction... We're not begging~ we're making it."
. . . . . .
Sometime later, when External Minister R.P. Kamat returned after chatting with Aryan, he sat in his chair and called the system.
"Hey, broken system. Where did my reward go?"
Under the pressure of work, he forgot the reward he had received the previous day for completing the task of the Assam and Nagaland crises.
[Ding! Your reward is in the system's temporary reward space. Do you want to extract it?]
"Yes, extract it." When he said that, he saw a CD in his hand.
After thinking for a moment, he asked the system, "System, what do you mean by this temporary system space?"
[Ding! It is the system's space function where you can store whatever (dead things) you want. But if you don't take them out after 10 days, your stored things will be automatically destroyed.]
Aryan was stunned, and he panicked, "Does that mean if I forgot to extract my reward, my reward...?"
[Ding! Congratulations, you got it right. But there is no reward for you.]
"Hell, you." Aryan rolled his eyes and cursed the system.
"Oh, yeah, broken system! What other functions do you have besides task execution?" The system never spoke to him until he became Prime Minister, so he forgot to ask basic questions.
[Ding! The system has an achievement function.]
"Umm, how does that work?" Aryan asked.
[Ding! That's a secret. When you achieve something, and the system recognizes it as an achievement, you will receive an achievement reward (the achievement rewards will be related to the achievement you have done).]
"System, do you know that you really are broken?" Aryan complained to the system, but the system did not respond to him.
"India is already under pressure economically in many ways, so it will not be able to raise funds for UVA research from other sources." He kept the CD close to himself.
. . . . . .
Aryan returned to his home today.
When Aryan returned home, without telling anyone, he was listening to the All India Radio program from inside the house.
When Aryan entered the house, he saw his mother sitting on the sofa in the living room, listening to a radio program.
Aryan's intrusion wakes up Snigdha.
Her eyes widened when she saw him, and she asked in a complaining tone, "Did the sun rise from the west today, or did the sun not rise today? I am having a vision of God."
Aryan smiled faintly and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"Hmph! You haven't even called me once in a few days to your office to say I'll meet you there..." His mother started complaining incessantly.
His father, Omkar, got down from upstairs, and he shook his head and said, "I told you. When the time comes, he will come here to clean his ears."
"The problem with that is that he's not married. Once he gets married, he won't want to leave home." Snigdha looked at Aryan playfully and tried to reason with him.
"Maa, I'm hungry. Are you going to keep me standing outside like this?" When Aryan saw his mother returning to the same topic, he tried to change the subject.
"Hmph! Do you think I don't understand your way of speaking?" Snigdha was dissatisfied and looked at Aryan ferociously.
But she still went towards the kitchen without saying anything.
Omkar, on the other hand, asked in a serious tone, "So what's going on there? The newspaper says you've achieved the impossible?"
Aryan shook his head and said, "There's a lot to fix there...I just opened a door."
"Only a ghost would believe you. Did you open the door? It's clear that you kicked the door to open it." Omkar placed the leather file in his hand on the table and asked Aryan suspiciously.
"I should have stopped you when you started showing interest in politics from a young age. I wanted to make you a businessman, and you became the Prime Minister..."
Aryan said quietly, "I wanted to write a book, but now I'm writing politics. There's not much difference..."
Seeing Aryan's stubborn nature, Omkar smiled and shook his head, "Well, forget it. What was meant to happen has happened. Just remember that the country is not a playground, Aryan."
. . . . . . . .