Hello, Mr. Major General (1)

Chapter 174 - Sore Loser

Ever since she was a little girl, Kirat had always been extraordinary talented academically. She had skipped
grades several times, entered college at the age of 16, and
graduated in only three years. She had gotten her master’s degree in two years, and her Ph.D. in high energy physics from Princeton University in four. Her classmates who started college with her had had to spend four years to get their bachelor’s, three years to get their master’s, and another five to seven years to get their doctorate abroad. That was a total of 12 to 14 years, but Kirat had achieved all that in nine years.

She had been exceedingly proud of her accomplishments— until another girl from India showed up while Kirat was studying for her Ph.D. at Princeton University,
and upstaged her entirely.

Kirat had not been the only one who had been shocked by the other girl—all the professors in the Princeton University Physics Department had been flabbergasted, too.

The other girl was Rita Singhania. She had entered the B University Physics Department at the age of 15, and graduated from college at 17. She had subsequently been admitted to the high energy physics Ph.D. program in Princeton University.

It had taken Rita only three years to get both her master’s and doctorate in high energy physics.
Rita had spent only a total of five years to achieve what Kirat had needed nine years to do.

Kirat fidgeted uneasily in her seat as she recalled what had happened next.

Kirat had been a sore loser. She had thrown a huge tantrum during her final year in the Ph.D. program, and forced her eldest brother help her “amend” her age on both her birth certificate and the census register, so that she
would be “officially” four years younger…

Kirat was actually over 50 years old. It had happened so long ago, most of the people who had known about her deception had already passed away. Now, only her brothers knew her real age.

Sourav looked at his watch. “It’s been more than an hour. He should be done reading the document by now. Is he trying to waste our time?”

The two of them looked out the window to see what Sidharth was doing.

Sidharth leisurely smoked his cigarette for another 15 minutes. He checked his watch, saw that Sandeep would probably be able to wrap up the operation in another 15 minutes, and decided it was time to make his move. He
tossed the end of his cigarette away, and walked over to the
warning line.

Sourav and Kirat got out of the minivan.

“You’re a shockingly slow reader, General Shukla.” Sourav clucked his tongue disapprovingly and shook his head. “It’s only 20 pages. Did you need an hour to read them? I don’t even know what to say… Don’t you military
men prize speed and efficacy above all else? I honestly
wouldn’t know it, with the way you’ve been taking your own
sweet time.”

Sidharth smiled faintly as he waved the document. “This document is too long, and too important to skim through. I’ll have to take this back to my office with me and study it carefully. Any objections, Secretary Reddy?”

“Oh, that’s just a copy, the original document is locked in a
safe. You can take all the time you need, I don’t mind.” Sourav smiled beatifically as he put on his “I’m just an easygoing uncle” act. It was a complete 180 from the snooty “get out of my way or else” attitude he had first arrived at the base with.

Kirat, on the other hand, was close to losing her temper. She crossed her arms and said coldly, “General Shukla, please
hand Rita over to us now.”