Coal
Coal! The amount of coal that passed through Pradeep Pushpak’s small office was mind-blogging. That lone man, in that huge building, in front of that small table. A table forever coated in black dust that seeped in through the choked cooler. Black dust that spun the same cooler and lighted up half of Maharashtra. The thick black air brought up black cough from Pradeep’s lungs and slowly suffocated him. The black cough would have been claimed by the Company, if they had cared to know about the Sub Transport Officer’s health. They would have fined him for carrying so much carbon back to his quarters. But thankfully all they cared about was the squiggle that was his signature, on the parchment that was the transport clearance, which was then duplicated and filed into corridors lined with cabinets that were dingier and darker than any mineshaft. All he knew that as long as he did this, the black gold would be hauled by engines to glow and smelt and shine in every house, hospi