Jun 16–Jun 30, 2016
"The First Conversations"
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Opening Scene – Estate Balcony, June 16
Monsoon rain lashed against the glass walls of the mansion. The MC stood silently, watching sheets of water race down into the orchard below. Somewhere in the valley, frogs croaked and lightning illuminated the distant hills.
On his wrist screen, a live dashboard pulsed: Saraswati Active Users: 217… 364… 491.
He allowed himself a small smile.
> MC (to himself): "They're talking to her. And she's talking back."
The seed he had planted weeks earlier was now germinating — in tiny rural towns, in one-room shops, in the dim glow of low-cost smartphones.
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Side POV – Ramesh, Shopkeeper in Varanasi, June 17
Ramesh's grocery store was barely larger than a bedroom. Sacks of rice leaned against the wall, glass jars of toffees and biscuits lined the counter. Business had always been steady, but he struggled with pricing. He never knew whether wholesalers in Delhi were charging him too much.
His nephew had recently installed a new "blue lotus app" on his phone.
> Ramesh (skeptical): "Arre, phone pe koi pandit baithaa hai kya jo sab jawab dega?" (Is there a priest sitting inside this phone to answer everything?)
His nephew grinned.
> "Kaka, just ask."
Ramesh hesitated, then spoke in his rough Bhojpuri dialect:
> "Agle hafte dal ke bhaav kitna hoga?" (What will be the price of lentils next week?)
The screen glowed. A calm, humanlike voice answered in the same dialect:
> "वाराणसी मंडी में दाल का औसत भाव अगले हफ़्ते 95 से 100 रुपये किलो रहने की संभावना है।" (In Varanasi market, the average price of lentils next week is likely to be 95–100 rupees per kilo.)
Ramesh dropped the phone, staring wide-eyed.
> Ramesh: "अरे बाप रे… सच में कोई सुन रहा है…" (Good Lord… someone's really listening…)
He picked it up again, heart thumping. For the first time, he felt like technology was not a distant, English-speaking thing. It was his.
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Estate Lab – June 18
The MC reviewed usage heatmaps: clusters of glowing dots spreading like fireflies across India. Each dot was a conversation.
He replayed anonymized transcripts:
A farmer in Tamil Nadu asking about rainfall predictions.
A young girl in Assam asking for a bedtime story in Assamese.
A student in Rajasthan practicing English with Saraswati as a tutor.
Aarya's holographic form shimmered.
> Aarya: "Engagement rates are 500% higher than expected. They are not treating Saraswati as a tool… but as a companion."
The MC's expression softened.
> MC: "Good. That means we didn't just give them information. We gave them a voice."
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Side POV – Nisha, 14-Year-Old Student, Bihar, June 19
Nisha sat under a flickering kerosene lamp, textbooks spread out before her. Electricity had gone again, as usual. But her elder brother's old smartphone still had charge. She tapped the lotus app.
> Nisha (hesitant): "पढ़ाई में मदद करोगे?" (Will you help me study?)
The app's voice replied gently in Hindi:
> "बिलकुल, आज क्या पढ़ना है?" (Of course. What would you like to study today?)
Nisha's eyes widened. Tears filled them. For the first time, she felt like she had a private teacher who wouldn't scold her, who wouldn't dismiss her questions.
That night, she whispered to her mother:
> Nisha: "Amma, अब मैं भी पास हो जाऊँगी। मेरा अपना गुरु आ गया है।" (Mother, now I will also pass. I have my own teacher now.)
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Dinner at the Mansion – June 20
The MC's father set down his spoon, looking unusually thoughtful.
> Father: "I heard from one of the old temple priests — his grandson is using some app that tells him stories of the Mahabharata in Sanskrit. He says it speaks like a real scholar."
The MC hid a smile, pretending casualness.
> MC: "Really? Then maybe technology isn't such a bad thing after all."
His mother chuckled, ladling more dal.
> Mother: "If it teaches children dharma, stories, and wisdom, then it is no machine. It is Saraswati herself."
The MC's hand paused on his spoon. She doesn't even know how right she is, he thought.
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Side POV – College Students, Bangalore, June 22
Two engineering students huddled in a hostel room, experimenting with the app.
> "Bro, check this out — it solves coding bugs in Kannada!"
"Arre seriously? Show me."
They typed messy C++ code into the chat, with comments in Kannada. Saraswati replied in a mix of Kannada-English, fixing the bug and explaining line by line.
The boys whooped, high-fiving.
> Student: "We don't need Stack Overflow anymore, yaar. This is our own thing!"
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Control Chamber – June 25
Usage count: 1,20,000 active users.
The MC leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowing. Growth was explosive, but it also carried danger.
> MC: "We must keep this under the radar. Do not let foreign analysts track the architecture."
Aarya nodded.
> Aarya: "For now, the servers are masked as regional educational pilot projects. To the outside world, this looks like a digital literacy drive."
He exhaled slowly.
> MC (to himself): "Good. Let them think it's small. By the time they realize, it will already be unstoppable."
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Side POV – Old Man in Kerala, June 28
An elderly man in a fishing village asked the app:
> "മഴ വരുമോ നാളെ?" (Will it rain tomorrow?)
The answer came instantly in Malayalam. He chuckled, patting the phone.
> Old Man (to neighbors): "See? This thing is like a grandchild. Always answering."
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Closing Scene – June 30
Night had fallen over the estate. Fireflies danced in the gardens. The MC stood by the lotus pond, phone in hand. He whispered, almost reverently:
> MC: "Saraswati… today you spoke with thousands. Someday, you'll speak with billions."
The lotus icon pulsed faintly, like a heart beating in the dark.
And with that, the month closed — the quiet beginning of a revolution.
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