The accidental date (Part 3)

All around me there was only one colour- white. I was lying down on a soft bed. I tried to lift my head, but it felt very heavy. I thought I was in heaven, when I realized that I had done too many sins to reach heaven. So, I figured out that it must be a hospital.

I tried to move my hand slowly, but my shoulder was paining unbearably. I tried to see where I was hurt, but couldn't see anything. Just then, a nurse entered the ward, and took my pulse.

"Where am I?" I asked her weakly.
"Chennai Kaliappa Hospital, Mylapore." she replied calmly.
"What happened to me? Who brought me here? How long have I been here?" I flooded her with more questions.
She looked at me for a second and paused. "You shouldn't be talking so much, Mr.Karthik. Take some rest." She then gave me an injection on my butt. "You will be alright soon." she smiled as she spoke. I fell asleep again almost immediately.

I don't remember how long I slept, but when I finally woke up, I had been shifted to a spacious room with air-conditioning. My parents were standing by my side.

"Ma, what happened to me?" I asked her when she looked at me.
"Nothing dear. Just take rest now." she replied.
"No ma I want to know. Please tell me." I kept pestering her.
"A car ran over you. Just some minor injuries. Thank god you were wearing your helmet. Otherwise, it could have been fatal." she almost cried.

I imagined how it must have happened. I remembered the bike skidding on the road and falling down in front of the car. The car must have run over me, unable to apply brakes suddenly. Then, some good samaritan must have brought me here and called my mom from my mobile. I was sure only this must have happened. I suddenly remembered something.

"What happened to her?" I asked my mom.
"Happened to who?" my mom looked puzzled.
"She didn't call me? I was going to meet her only. She must have been waiting very near the place where I had the accident. She must have seen it."
"No dear, nobody called. Only Charanya and Swathi called. I told them you had an accident. They came in the morning, and were here till evening."

I realized it was late night already. Then I realized something. She would have never known even if she had seen the accident that it was me, because she had never seen me. Not even my picture. Only I had seen her picture, and I was banking on that to recognize her in Spencer's plaza. I asked my mom to give me the mobile phone. I called her hoping to talk to her, but she never answered my call. I tried five more times, but to no avail. I felt disappointed and drifted off to sleep again.

I woke up early next morning and saw the newspaper and coffee on my side table. I sipped the coffee, and opened the newspaper. I browsed through sports column and the business column. And then turned the pages to read the local news. There were news articles about political meetings, blah blah. And suddenly, an article caught my attention.

Teenage girl caught for reckless driving
Chennai, June 10: A girl aged nineteen was arrested near Spencer's plaza for driving dangerously. Shruthi, a college student, was driving a Toyota Corolla when she ran over a motorbike rider near the Spencer's signal. Luckily, the rider escaped with minor injuries. The girl was found to be not in possession of a valid driving licence, and also seemed to be drunk. She has been remanded in judicial custody for one week.

The accidental date (Part 2)

After the TCS placement debacle, I got placed easily in Wipro Technologies. She was very happy for me, and we spoke on the phone for nearly two hours. I started home that very night, and reached Chennai the next morning. We decided to meet on Tuesday, which was three days away. I readied myself as much as possible. I had a haircut and a shave, and couldn't sleep properly on Monday night.

Unfortunately, I woke up late on Tuesday morning. With no time to have breakfast, I sped towards Spencer's plaza on my bike. I had told her I would meet her sharp at 9.30 AM, but it was already 9.40. I was still about five minutes away from the place, when the signal nearby it just turned red when I was about to pass. I cursed the signal, as I had to wait for another five minutes. The traffic was unusually heavy that day, both motor and pedestrian traffic. I waited for the moment when the signal would turn green. As soon as it did, I revved up the bike to maximum acceleration and shifted gears in quick succession. Then many things happened at the same time.

The car in front of me (it was a silver Toyota Corolla) suddenly swerved to the left. I was going at full throttle, and so couldn't put on the brakes immediately. In a split-second decision, I decided to move further left to avoid collision with the car. But to my dismay, I found that a few pedestrians were walking right on the road, in the middle of my path. I had no option but to apply the brakes, and the next moment I was down on the road with the bike on top of me, as the bike skid on the road. The last thought that occured to me was that the car was gonna run over me.

to be continued....

The accidental date (Part 1)

"Eat something and go!" My mom shouted from the kitchen.

"No, ma. It is already late! I'm leaving. Bye!!" I shouted back and as I went out through the front door, I tripped on the carpet and almost fell down. Unfortunately, my mom happened to see this.

"Come inside, sit down, and drink water. It is a bad sign if you trip when you are going out." she told me.

I started complaining once again about being late already, but she wouldn't listen to anything. So, I had to wait and do all the things she asked me to. After an agonizing two minutes, I rushed downstairs and started my bike. I almost ran over a cat, which was crossing the road just when I had started to accelerate, but somehow managed to maneuver away.

I had first stumbled by her profile in orkut while browsing through my friend's friend's profile. She looked very pretty in her profile picture, so I decided to have a look at her full profile. I was surprised to find that she had almost all her interests similar to mine. I decided to send her a friend request, just to see if she accepted me. I forgot about her as soon as I closed the orkut window.

A couple of days passed, and when I checked my orkut account again, I found that to my surprise, she had added me! And she had even left a scrap in my scrapbook which said 'Hii..glad to meet a person wit similar interests...hope we become gud frnds!!' I was overjoyed, and to add to my happiness, I found that she was online at that time. I replied to her immediately, and somehow, I had the most amazing conversation of my life within the one hour I chatted with her. I told her this, and she told me she felt the same too! It was as though we had known each other for years. We decided to chat at the same time the next day. Again, it was a very interesting one.

Days passed. It was almost a couple of months after we had our first conversation, that we decided to meet up. Though both of us were based in Chennai, I was studying in a university in Thanjavur. That made it extremely difficult to fix a date for the meeting. Finally, we decided to meet at Spencer's plaza during the semester holidays, which was due after my placements.


to be continued....

The Unforgettable Exam (Updated)

It was the day of my last exam after which the summer holidays were about to begin. My parents had already planned a trip to Ooty during the holidays, and I was too preoccupied with it, that I hardly prepared for the exam. Not that the exam needed preparation. The subject was General Knowledge, in which I was the topper, every time. I was also good in quizzing, and my general knowledge was much higher than that of an average seventh class student.

I parked my bicycle in the parking area, and proceeded into the exam hall. Though all other exams had a definite seating arrangement, in this exam, we were free to sit in any order we wanted. I managed to get a seat near a window, and was hoping that any of my friends would come and sit next to me. But unfortunately, I didn't notice until it was too late that the seat next to me was damaged, and no one wanted to sit on it. And all the other seats were occupied already. But one student was yet to come, because the all the seats were meant to be occupied, and the seat next to me was empty.

It was almost time for the exam to start, and I was wondering who this guy or girl was going to be, when Amritha entered the classroom. She was the most studious girl in my class, and was the most good-looking too. I thanked my lucky stars that I chose that place, as she had no other place to sit, except the seat next to mine, where she eventually sat. I was blushing profusely when the exam started, and I spent half my time looking at her than at the exam paper. I finally decided to concentrate on finishing the exam first, and focused fully on the question paper.

Most of the questions were easy, and I managed to answer almost all of them. When I finally managed to finish the paper, twenty minutes were still left for the exam to get over. So, I was sitting idly staring at the paper and trying hard not to stare at Amritha. Suddenly, I heard a faint voice calling my name. I turned to see who it was. It was her!!

"Hey, do you know the answer of the seventh question?" she whispered to me.

I checked what the seventh question was. Mention the name of the current Finance Minister of India. What a pity! She didn't know the answer for this!!

I whispered back the answer.
"Huh?" she couldn't hear me.
I increased my volume a little.
"Got it. Thanks da!" she replied gratefully.

What happened next was unbelievable. A girl sitting behind me overheard the answer, and wrote it down. The guy sitting next to her copied it from her and passed the answer to his friend sitting in the next row. This way, the whole class had wrote the same answer, though I came to know of this much later.

The exam got over and I cycled home quickly to pack my things for the holiday trip. I was still packing when my dad came home from office and switched on the TV, just in time for the 7 o clock news. I sat next to dad and watched as the news reporter read out the headlines. Finance Minister Mr.P.Chidambaram has announced full waiver of farmer loans in his budget. What?? How??

REWIND....

"Hey, do you know the answer of the seventh question?" she whispered to me.

I checked what the seventh question was. Mention the name of the current Finance Minister of India. What a pity! She didn't know the answer for this!!

"Lalu Prasad." I whispered back the answer.
"Huh?" she couldn't hear me.
"Lalu Prasad!" I increased my volume a liitle.
"Got it. Thanks da!" she replied gratefully.

I cursed myself for having been such a fool. How will I go and talk to her again? And the whole class had written the same wrong answer. I suddenly had a vision, as if all the students in my class had surrounded me and were looking at me menacingly. I wished that Amritha hadn't noticed my mistake at all.

It was time for the new academic year to begin. I parked my cycle as usual, and was climbing the stairs, when I saw Amritha going in front of me. I decided to tell her a sorry, and so went up to her.

"Hi." I told her.
"Hi Karthik. What's up?" she replied.
"Uh..during the GK exam...I guess you would have realized by now....er..I'm sorry..." I stammered.
"What? I don't get you. I should thank you, in fact. Why sorry?"

Just at that moment, the bell rang and she ran inside the class. Poor girl. May be she didn't realize that I gave her the wrong answer. The day got over soon, and I pedaled back home as usual. When I entered my room, I realized that Mom was cleaning up my room. I decided to help her. My table was filled with papers, and I was arranging them neatly, when I stumbled upon my GK paper. I was still deciding whether to keep it or throw it off, when I read the seventh question again. Impossible.

Mention the name of the current Railway Minister of India.

Turbulences

The sky grew darker as I stepped out from the elevator on to the terrace. A strong wind was blowing across my face and dark clouds were gathering everywhere. I felt as if the sky reflected the situation inside my mind. Life was so perfect, some years back. The company was doing good and his family life was so happy. Everything was moving as if nothing could go wrong. Then, everything went wrong.

I started work on my dream company as soon as I finished my Masters degree in Automobile Technology. The idea of becoming an entrepreneur blossomed into reality, as I put my thoughts into actions. The money came from various banks, the technology was imported from Germany, and a large factory was in a small town with ample natural resources. I took care of even the minutest details so that there was no mistake anywhere. Close to thousand skilled workers were employed from various places, and I personally interviewed every one of them. After six months of sleepless nights, "Delta Motors" became a reality.

I started off by manufacturing tractors, as I felt that there was enormous potential in the market. Delta tractors were marketed in every village of the country, thanks to the best marketing and distribution team in the whole of the country. The tractors became a phenomenal success, and Delta motors became a mark of quality and dependence. It was then, that I decided to start the next step.

I introduced the next category in the product portfolio- small cars. The "Kat" was introduced into the market at a lower price than all other cars in the class, and featuring the best technology in the country. The car gave an exceptional mileage, and featured top class technology, thanks to the company's R & D department. Another success story was thus scripted.

The company grew, and so did the portfolio. The next car was a sedan, the "Elegante", and then came two more small cars, the "Dude" and the "Spider". Though the Spider was expected to sell more, the other cars became bestsellers. The company got listed, and the shares sold like hot-cakes. Delta Motors exported their first car to the USA, five years after its inception, to compete with the likes of Ford Motors, General Motors and Honda. The "Elegante" was renamed as "Crystal" to suit the American market, and the initial response was excellent, with sales of more than five hundred cars in the first month alone. After about eight months in the American market, an USA-specific model, the SUV "Ranger" was introduced. It was an enormous success, and three months after the introduction, the Ranger became the market leader in its segment.

I first saw her when I was interviewing people for the marketing wing of Delta Motors, when she had come to apply for the job. She had this heavenly glow surrounding her, and something about her attracted me towards her like a magnet towards iron. At 31, I myself was a handsome, and charming young man, and I summoned all my charms when I asked her out for the first time. We clicked instantly, and six months later, we got married. It was the happiest moment of my life. It was after she came into my life, that every step I took was a success.

I became a father one year later, when she delivered a beautiful baby boy. He was the source of all our happiness, and as years passed, he became a smart young boy, ready to attend school. He was sent to Cognizance Public School, the best school in the country. He always got the best clothes, best food, best stationery, and all the latest games. I made sure he always got what he wanted. I was too happy, and may be should have realized it then that turbulences were soon to follow.

That morning, a scandal was discovered in the stock market, Numerous number of stock brokers were found to be frauds, and the stock market crashed. The stocks of Delta Motors were the worst hit, since a large number of the fraudulent brokers were found to deal with Delta's stocks. Many other companies were badly hit too, and a couple of banks became bankrupt. The price of Delta's stocks became cheaper than the money spent on printing it. It was the worst day of my life, but more was to follow.

I came home dejected, and found that the door was open. I searched the whole house, but both my wife and my son were missing. When I was searching the bedroom, I found a letter written by her saying that she had eloped with her long time secret lover along with my son, and they were going to marry that day. I was devastated that she had chosen to leave me when I needed her the most. I didn't want to live anymore.

The wind was gaining more strength, and once I almost lost my balance. I walked cautiously towards a corner of the terrace and looked down. The building was fifty floors high, and there was no chance that anyone would survive the fall, The dark clouds were gathering above my head, and there were streaks of lightning all over the sky. I paused for a moment as there were sudden claps of thunder, as if they were waiting for this to happen for a long time. I closed my eyes, and prayed for my wife and my boy. Then as I stepped over the wall, the sky became silent, and the clouds started to cry.

The Museum Mystery (Part 3)

Guys who missed out on Part 1 and Part 2, please click on the respective links to read it.

The alarm woke me up at exactly 4 in the morning. It was still dark and cold, but there was work to do. I had already decided what to do that day. After a shower and a quick breakfast of roast bread, I was on my way to my office. I called up Harvey on the way.

"Good morning Harvey. Be in my office in ten minutes."I told him.
"Sure, sir." he replied obediently.
"Good." I said and ended the call.

I was there in my office by five o clock, and Harvey was waiting outside the door. No one had the keys to my office other than me. I opened the door and asked him to come in.

"Do you have the videos taken by the CCTV camera in the museum?" I asked him as soon as he entered.
"Yes sir, just give me a minute. Will bring them to your desk."
"Ok, be quick."

I switched on my computer and let it boot. Harvey was gone for a couple of minutes, and came back with the DVD of the videos. As soon as he gave them to me, I inserted the disk and watched it play.

"How long does it run?" I asked Harvey.
"About one hour, sir. The power cut happens about twenty minutes into the video."
"Ok, but I want to watch it from the beginning."

The museum had six cameras, and the feed from each one of them was displayed in one part of the screen, so that I could see the feed from all six simultaneously. I watched every movement closely, taking care not to miss any detail. Nothing notable happened for about fifteen minutes. Then I saw it.

It was no more than a blur on the screen and passed through the side entrance right at the moment when the security had turned back to attend to a phone call. I paused the video and made it rewind slowly. Still it wasn't clear who passed by. I decreased the speed again to the minimum and watched closely. It was then I found who it was. I remembered what had happened the previous day. Yes, it was the only possibility.

I watched as he moved from one part of the museum to another, along with the crowd so that he couldn't be seen in the camera prominently. Surprisingly, nobody took notice of him, and he moved with freedom, close to the ruby. Then, the power cut happened, and the camera got switched off. When the power came back again, there were scenes of tension when it was discovered that the ruby had been stolen, and all the people were being sent into the curator's room. I felt I had seen enough to determine the culprit, and turned off my system.

"Come with me, Harvey. I think I have found the culprit."

I started my car as soon as Harvey entered it, and I zoomed to the museum. It was still closed for the public, and I parked the car in the parking area. Now was the tricky part. I called up a couple of security men, provided them with the details of the appearance of the culprit, and asked them to search for him. They looked at me with bewilderment, but started the search. I felt that if I was lucky, he would still be in the same area.

I decided to search for him in the area close to the museum. I went around the place a couple of times, and went on to search the whole neighourhood. I searched everywhere, but there was no trace of him. One hour into the search, and I had almost given up on him, when I saw him. He was sleeping peacefully under a tree. I, at once called up all the security people and asked them to round him up. Hearing the noise, he tried to run off, but he couldn't. Frustrated, he tried to attack one of the men, but he was then shot, and went down.

The operation was a success, and the ruby was safely removed from the dog's stomach. It was then nursed back to health, and released back into a place far away from the museum.

Related posts:
1. The Museum Mystery (Part 1)
2. The Museum Mystery (part 2)

The Museum Mystery (Part 2)

For those of you who missed Part 1, please click here to read it.


I walked into the curator's room. It was filled with press and media persons. They rose as I entered the room, and asked me to comment on the situation and about the suspects. I was in no mood to interact with the press, and therefore declined to comment, saying there will be an official press release soon.

"Have u detained all the people who were present inside the museum at the time of the robbery?" I asked Harvey.
"Yes, sir. They have all been asked to wait in a separate hall. We were waiting for you to start the interrogation."
"For how long have they been detained? And were they searched?"
"They haven't been allowed to go home yet. They have been here all through. And yes, they have all been searched. The whole place has been searched. The ruby was right under a CCTV camera, but it got switched off due to the power cut. There has been no fingerprints or clues yet."
"Okay. I would like to start the interrogation immediately. Arrange a room for me within five minutes."
"Done, sir. Here is the list of the people and their details."

I went through the list. There were ten people who were inside the museum at the time of robbery. All the people on the list were middle class people, three of them were employed with the government, a couple of them employed with the local bank, and the rest five were from the same family who had come on an evening trip. It was hard to guess who would be the suspect, and I decided that it would be clear only after the interrogation. Harvey was back within three minutes and lead me to the room. I asked him to allow the first person in. It was one of the two bank employees.

"Sit down." I said as he entered.
"Good morning, sir." he started cheerfully.
"Morning, Mr.Adams. Where do you work?"
"In the local branch of Churchwood Cooperative bank, sir." he replied.
"Did you come to the museum alone, Mr.Adams?"
"No sir. I came with my colleague, one Mr. Perry. We came here straight from the bank, sir."
"What was so important in the museum that you came here directly from your bank, Mr.Adams?" I asked him.
"Actually sir, we had something to talk. So we decided to walk to the museum and talk as we go around it."
"Talk about what?"
"My son, sir. I want him to enter an engineering college, but he wouldn't listen to me. So, I thought I would ask Mr.Perry to give him a piece of his mind."

The rest of the interrogation revealed nothing fruitful. I was convinced that neither Mr.Adams nor Mr.Perry would have committed the robbery. The interrogation of all the ten people took eleven hours, and I was thoroughly exhausted at the end of it. The three government employees were honest persons, and this was confirmed by the sources in the government. The family consisted of two adults and three children, and head of the family, Mr.Taylor, was working in a nearby car factory. They were immigrants from Austria, and Mr. and Mrs.Taylor had immigrated right after their marriage, looking for jobs. They had lived peacefully and had a good relationship with their neighbours. It was almost impossible to suspect them.

I was perplexed. The case was getting tougher, and the day was almost over, without any suspects. I decided to take the day off and go home and analyze the case in peace. I told Harvey that I would be back by the next day and left home.

I called her up as soon as I went home. I knew she would be furious at me, but I had a solid reason for not calling her. She answered the call on the first ring.

"What Mr.Detective, you don't have time to even talk to your girl friend?" she asked sarcastically.
"No dear, had an important case. Left early in the morning. Just came back home. Sorry." I tried to be as apologetic as possible.
"Ok ok. At least now you remembered to call. Do you know what happened today?" she asked me.
"No dear. What happened?"
"I went to the beauty parlor and had a hair cut. It looks so pretty." she said.
"You always look pretty, my love." I lied.
"Oh!" she blushed. And continued talking.
"And ya, my poor Jimmy!! He was having constipation till afternoon. Didn't know what happened to him. I then took him to the vet. It seems he had swallowed a rat. He was then operated on, and the rat was removed."
Jimmy was her pet dog, and she loved him very much.
"Oh that's bad darling. How is he now?" I asked her.
"He is fine now. Anyways, me feeling sleepy. Good night."
"Good night dear."

I prepared my supper, my mind considering the various possibilities in the case. Who could have done it? It must have been someone from the ten. But all of them seemed equally innocent. All the exits and windows remained closed. What other way could the culprit must have used to escape with the ruby? Who was the culprit? My mind was full of these questions as I dozed off to sleep. Who would have thought that one of the events that had occurred that day would lead me to the culprit?

to be continued...

(Please leave your comments in case you find this story interesting. In case of any clarifications regarding the story, please put up your questions as a comment. And the final part will be posted tomorrow. Thanks. Cheers!)

Related posts:
The Museum Mystery (Part 1)