Vishra Gautam (42), a journalist for 20+ years, is known for her hard-hitting exposés on government corruption and communal violence. She is currently writing her book on the state of governance in the country. After her latest visit to a local college where she reiterated her stand on fearless journalism to a group of students, she comes back home and resumes her writing when she suddenly finds her hands trembling as she types a few sensitive words/phrases like ‘government oppression’, ‘press freedom’, etc. This is unusual. She tries voice typing, and ultimately, writing with pen and paper, but that too results in her body showing very unusual departures from normal, making her unable to get those words right. She is very confused. All is normal when she types birthday wishing messages, and replies to her friends. She seeks consultation from a neurologist, who examines her, enquires about her work, and prescribes a few medicines. While going out from the clinic, she catches a glimpse of a pamphlet that displays a name: Nakarmukti Aashram, promising peace in a disturbing world. She dismisses it and goes home. She takes the medicines, but they only make her lethargic at a time when she desperately wants to finish her book, being hounded by a publisher.
She goes to the neurologist again. This time, he suggests her to go for advanced treatment in an aashram in Rishikesh. He takes out the same pamphlet that she saw outside. She is surprised at this suggestion by the neurologist who mentions there are others who have been healed. She doesn’t think much of it.
She then meets Rohit, a media person working in a TV news channel for a coffee, and tells him about her problem. Rohit, surprisingly, brings up the same aashram in Rishikesh, and how it helped a few media people he knows who have come back for good. Vishra is surprised again.
She attempts again to write at home, and fails again. Accepting her defeat, she decides to go to the Nakarmukti Aashram.
At the various session in the aashram, she’s fed with mysterious sort of positivity messages about seeing and speaking only good. It appears that she’s hypnotized into believing everything is peaceful in the world. In a final session she’s typing on a computer. She types thankful and positive sentences, and she thinks she has been healed.
Six months later, at her book launch, including Rohit and the neurologist in the audience, she reads an excerpt from her book that mentions words and phrases such as sunrise, laughter, contentment, happiness, gratitude, governance is service, service is love, rejecting negativity, accepting harmony and peace. The audience, in rapt attention, gives her a thunderous applause. The moderator then asks if anyone has any questions, and only after a brief pause, a hand is raised. But the hand trembles violently. Vishra stares at the trembling hand. Rohit and the neurologist look at the hand and have a wry smile on their faces.
