Read The Bestseller She Wrote Online
Authors: Ravi Subramanian
The Bestseller She Wrote (29 page)
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| Chapter No. In Aditya’s book | Line | Copied from | Original line in book from which plagiarised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 23, 4th Para | I was wondering who is more ignorant. Is it the man who cannot define what a lightning is or is it the one who does not respect its mighty power? | Angels and Demons , Dan Brown | But who is more ignorant? The man who cannot define lightning or the man who does not respect its awesome power . . . |
| Chapter 37, 1st Para | Samhita and her husband were out of their daily walk. Whether it was the cloud-soft, goose feather bed in the hotel room, the wonderful food and wine they had the night before, or the simple pleasure of being in the company of old friends, Samhita didn’t know. But she did feel revived and refreshed that morning in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time. | Tides of Memory, Sidney Sheldon | The girls were out for a morning walk. Whether it was the cloud-soft goose feather bed in the guest room, last night’s wonderful food and wine, or the simple pleasure of being in the company of old friends, Summer didn’t know, but she felt revived and refreshed this morning in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time. |
| Chapter 71, second last para | The real tragedy of our legal system, is not the absurdities. It is the ruined and wasted lives. Justice demands long, harsh sentences, and for the violent thugs these are appropriate.. . . but the majority of our criminals are nonviolent, and many are convicted of crimes that involved little, if any, criminal activity. | The Racketeer , John Grisham | The real tragedy of federal criminal system, is not the absurdities. It is the ruined and wasted lives. Congress demands long, harsh sentences, and for the violent thugs these are appropriate . . . but the majority of the federal criminals are nonviolent, and many are convicted of crimes that involved little, if any, criminal activity. |
| Chapter 76 9th para | Corporate Politics is like a glass. Aggressive moves by either side pour water in. The overflow is always war. When tension is at the maximum, no one can make a move without causing a war. And wars between senior employees are never good for any organisation. | Edge of Eternity , Ken Follett | International Politics is like a a glass. Aggressive moves by either side pour water in. The overflow is always war. When tension is at the maximum, no one can make a move without causing a war. |
| Chapter 79 | When things look simple, Samhita, they’re usually not. Right and wrong. Good and Bad are in the eyes of the definer. Understand the agenda, babes, and watch your back. He is not going to let it lie. He will come after you. | The Hit, David Baldacci | When things look simple, they’re usually not. Right and wrong. Good and Bad are in the eyes of the definer. Understand the agenda, Will. And watch your back. |
| Epilogue | Love makes you want to be a better person—right? But maybe love, real love, also gives you the permission to just be the person you are. | Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn | Love makes you want to be a better man—right right. Maybe love, real love, also gives you the permission to just be the man you are. |
‘What?’ Sanjay exclaimed when Aditya replayed the entire conversation with Shreya to him. He had been getting ready to head out for dinner with Diana when Aditya had walked in and mentioned Shreya’s antics to him.
‘What does all this mean, Aditya?’ Sanjay looked horrified. Staring at the sheet of paper that Aditya had just handed over to him, he asked, ‘What is she up to?’
‘Don’t you see what she is doing, Sanjay?’ Aditya said after a pause, which was necessitated by the palpitations of his heart. ‘She is launching an all-out offensive. She has the threat of sexual harassment hanging over my head, and now she is screwing my writing career.’
Sanjay looked at the paper again. It had six sections from bestselling contemporary fiction. And against each section was a bit from Aditya’s book. The similarity was undeniable. He lifted his glance from the paper and looked at Aditya. ‘Is her insinuation correct?’
‘Oh, come on!’ Aditya moved his hands around in exasperation. ‘You shouldn’t be asking me that.’
‘Well from the sheet of paper she has given you, her accusation seems to be correct. The lines match, word for word. I wonder how your publisher let you get away with it.’
‘What do you expect, Sanjay? The lines which she accused me of plagiarising, the lines which she says are copied from other books, are the very lines which she edited into my book.’ He walked around the room in an agitated fashion, hands on hips. ‘She edited them into my book, fucker. She is the one who did it.’
‘What?’ Sanjay appeared shocked. ‘Tell me you are kidding.’
Aditya was furious. ‘She did a cursory edit of my book when she read the manuscript. She changed a few lines. Very minor edits one would imagine but while doing that, she inserted these lines. Given that I was blinded by her at that time and the fact that these lines do read well, I accepted all her edits and sent them to Vaishali to be included in the final manuscript. There is no way I could have realised that these were plagiarised. In any case there are over 10,000 lines in a book. Why would I, or anyone, specifically check six odd lines for plagiarised content?’
‘Would you have a mail she sent you which proves that she edited those lines in? It will be handy in case things blow up.’
Aditya shook his head. ‘No. She had given me a hand-corrected manuscript, where she had made the notations by hand. After transcribing them on to my comp, I shredded those papers. I can’t even prove that she did it. And now she is holding me to ransom.’
‘She is out to finish your career. I haven’t heard of a single author accused of plagiarism who has survived the accusation. What a bitch man!’ Sanjay commented.
‘Well she claims that she loves you, doesn’t she?’ Diana spoke up. She had just walked in, all dressed up for dinner. ‘The only thing which is unclear here is why you would scheme months in advance if you love someone. This plagiarism accusation shows that she was setting Aditya up right from the beginning, no?’ Diana was thinking aloud.
Sanjay walked away from them, lost in thought, looking at the ceiling and talking to himself. ‘You think it could be possible that she did this initially to impress you, Aditya? As in show you that she can write fabulously sexy lines for your books? And later when things didn’t go as per plan, when you called off the relationship with her, she got offended. And when you ticked her off, she decided to use the same weapon to hit back at you. It’s probably the same reason why she sent the envelope to your son. She wants you away from your family. If you end up losing out on your writing career too, either you will gravitate towards her or even if you don’t, she would have had her revenge,’ Sanjay argued. Diana nodded her head.
‘In the interim it might help you to keep her humoured. Before we figure out a solution to this, we do not want her to make a move,’ Diana proposed.
‘As in?’
‘Be nice to her. Swallow your pride. Don’t get into a confrontation. Maybe help her with the book? Doesn’t hurt you, does it?’
Aditya nodded his head. It seemed a reasonable way to buy time, to make sure that Shreya was kept under control, at least for the time being.
‘Do you want to come with us for dinner?’ Diana asked him, looking at him brood.
‘Naah, it’s okay. You guys carry on,’ Aditya said and walked away towards the bar, as Diana and Sanjay prepared to leave.
Preoccupied, he pulled out a bottle of Laphroaig and poured himself a drink. After filling it up with ice from the ice pail lying on the bar, he walked towards the terrace. He was still thinking of what Shreya’s motivation could be. Was it love for him? Was it the desperate desire to achieve stardom? Was she mentally ill? He couldn’t decide.
That’s when the door bell rang. Aditya walked up to the door to open it.
‘Hey Sunaina. What a pleasant surprise. Come on in,’ he said, when suddenly he noticed that Sunaina was not alone.
She looked at the person standing next to her and said, ‘Melwin, meet Aditya Kapoor.’
70
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D
ID YOU CHECK
your mail?’ Vaishali asked the moment Shreya picked up her call.
‘No. What is it about?’
‘I’ve sent you the reworked cover. Check it and give me your sign-off.’
‘Cool. Five minutes.’
Shreya opened Vaishali ’s mail. Attached to it was a 2.4MB image. She touched it to open it. It buffered for a while, and then her screen lit up, as did her face. The book cover looked fabulous on the screen of her phone. She zoomed into the image and looked at it closely.
Her lips curved upwards in a smile. ‘What the fuck?’ she muttered and brought the phone closer to her face. The smile turned into a wide grin. She hurried back to her workstation. She couldn’t contain her excitement. She glanced at Aditya’s office. He was in his room, head hidden behind the screen of his laptop.
She took a deep breath, calmed herself down and walked to Aditya’s cabin. She knocked on the door before entering.
‘Thank you, Aditya,’ she beamed at him. ‘You don’t know how much it means to me. Your quote on the cover, your endorsement, is like a dream come true for me.’
‘You didn’t leave me with much of a choice, did you?’
Shreya looked at him. Even now her fluttering eyelashes made him go weak. ‘You didn’t believe I would compromise you, did you?’
‘I don’t know what to believe any more, Shreya,’ Aditya said dejectedly.
‘I love you, Aditya. I would never compromise you, irrespective of what you do.’
Aditya just smiled in return. ‘I figured that out the moment you handed me that sheet of paper.’
‘Oh, Aditya. You are holding that against me?’ she walked up closer to him. Aditya stiffened. ‘Please don’t. I am sorry. I was too anxious. Too worried and I didn’t want to lose you,’ Shreya wheedled.
It was a flawed argument. The fact was when Shreya had edited those lines into Aditya’s manuscript, she was in no danger of losing him. Aditya knew that, but didn’t respond. Diana’s words were ringing in his head.
Be nice to her. Swallow your pride. Don’t get into a confrontation. Maybe help her with the book. Doesn’t hurt you.
‘The book is going up on Flipkart and Amazon for pre-booking today. That’s what Vaishali told me. Calls for a celebration, what do you think?’ Shreya proposed.
‘Absolutely. You are a debut author only once. This chance will never come again.’
‘How about tonight? I owe you one for what you have done for me,’ she paused. ‘Please allow me to make up for being a bitch. Will you?’
‘Can anyone say no to you, Shreya?’ Aditya couldn’t resist the jibe.
Dinner was fixed for 8.30 that night, at Royal China, a fine dining restaurant in Bandra.
Aditya left office and went back to Sanjay’s house to change and freshen up for dinner with Shreya. Diana was home when he got there. She had come back early that day.
‘There is a package for you. It’s on the TV cabinet,’ she yelled as she disappeared into Sanjay’s room. Aditya lazily walked up to the cabinet and picked up the envelope which was addressed to him. He didn’t like the look of it. It screamed bad news. He opened it and pulled out the contents.
When he looked at them, his head started spinning. His vision blurred as tears flooded his eyes. Maya had sent him divorce papers for his signature. To make matters worse he had to keep his dinner date.
Quietly he left the papers on the rack, changed and left. He was getting late for dinner at Royal China.
71
‘
D
ID YOU PRE-ORDER
my book?’ Shreya didn’t even wait for him to say hello. She sat down in the car and looked at Aditya, waiting for him to respond.
‘Is it up? That’s quick work by Kiwi.’
‘Yes. Let me send you the link,’ she beamed, as she fiddled with her phone. ‘Order it now,’ she instructed him with the excitement of a five-year-old.
Aditya smiled. Her aggression was something most Indian authors lacked. ‘Let me at least get to the restaurant. I can’t order it while driving.’
At the restaurant they settled down in a cosy corner. Aditya logged on to his smartphone and pre-ordered the book from Amazon. ‘I am sure you are the first one to pre-order. Hope your luck rubs off on me, Aditya,’ Shreya screeched gleefully. Aditya did not react.