Patang

by Chattopadhyay, Bhaskar

  ‘I’m not lying…’

  ‘You are lying. Your jaw dropped to the floor when you saw her.’

  ‘Th-that may be so, but I didn’t meet her…nor did I discuss our case with her…’

  ‘You didn’t?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Really? Then how do you know her name?’

  Aditya seemed stumped. He didn’t respond.

  ‘Yes? Answer me,’ Rathod pressed. ‘How do you know her name? I didn’t introduce you to her…and if that was the first and last time you met her, then…’

  Rathod abruptly stopped as his eyes fell on an old lady standing at the end of the corridor. A streak of dim yellow light emerged from the door beside her and fell on her face. She looked scary. Her hands were frail and wrinkled, and there was a strange expression of curiosity and irritation in her face as she looked at the two of them. Rathod realized they had been speaking at the top of their voices at 3 a.m.! No wonder she had stepped out to see what was going on. Aditya turned around and noticed her too.

  ‘It’s okay, Mrs Billimoria. Everything is all right. Sorry to disturb you,’ Rathod said apologetically.

  But the old woman didn’t move. She continued to stare at the two of them with the same expression. Aditya whispered to Rathod, ‘Who is she?’

  Rathod shook his head in frustration. The lady was clearly senile. Rathod had heard that she was over 80. Perhaps she had insomnia too. In fact, it was a miracle that she was still standing.

  ‘Crazy!’ Mrs Billimoria croaked and slowly made her way back inside her apartment, shutting the door behind her with a bang.

  ‘Come inside,’ Rathod said, ‘we need to talk.’

  Once inside, Rathod turned to Aditya once more. ‘Explain yourself!’

  ‘Sir, I didn’t say anything to her. Nor did I meet her again. I saw the news on TV and I thought you must have said something to her. She is your friend after all, not mine.’

  ‘She is not my friend.’

  ‘Yes, but that day…’

  ‘Don’t try to avoid my question. How do you know her name?’

  ‘It was on her press card. Don’t you remember?’

  Rathod realized that he had been barking up the wrong tree. Of course, Aditya must have seen Ananya’s name on her press card. He felt a little embarrassed for having shouted at him, but decided not to say anything.

  Aditya seemed to sense Rathod’s anger receding and said, ‘Trust me, sir, I didn’t meet her. And I would never compromise a case!’

  Rathod looked at him and got the sense that he was telling the truth. He calmed down a little. It had been a harrowing day so far. He wondered how Ananya had gotten hold of the information. Then a new thought occurred to him. He had simply assumed it was Ananya who had broken the news. But if Aditya was telling the truth, perhaps someone else had leaked the news to the media. But who could it be? Rathod had not discussed Tony’s possible involvement in Raza’s murder with anyone other than Aditya.

  Aditya was staring at him keenly, and perhaps he realized what must be going on in his head because he said, ‘Perhaps someone overheard us at the cafe?’

  Rathod sighed. ‘Well, that’s not impossible. We were not exactly being discreet.’

  Aditya didn’t comment.

  ‘Sit down,’ Rathod gestured towards the sofa. ‘I’ll get some coffee.’

  After some time, Rathod returned with two cups of steaming coffee. ‘Listen,’he said after offering one of them to Aditya, ‘I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m in a…’

  ‘Oh, please don’t, sir,’ Aditya said with a bright smile. ‘I totally understand. By the way, sir, I noticed this thing.’ Aditya picked up something from the table and twisted it around curiously. ‘What is it? It looks like a Rubik’s Cube.’

  ‘It’s called a Megaminx,’ Rathod said. ‘A traditional Rubik’s Cube has 20 movable pieces. A Megaminx has 50.’

  ‘Wow! Must be tough to solve?’

  Rathod smiled. ‘Yes, you could say that.’ He noticed Aditya was making a few nifty moves with the puzzle. ‘You like puzzles?’ Rathod asked as he sipped his coffee.

  Without taking his eyes off the puzzle, Aditya replied, ‘Oh yes, I love them. I haven’t tried this one, though. Looks very interesting.’

  ‘Do you want to keep it for a few days?’

  ‘Only if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Keep it. It’ll help you think clearly.’

  ‘Thank you, sir.’

  ‘Any update on Raza’s car?’

  Aditya put the puzzle in his pocket and said, ‘Yes, it was found parked outside the mill on the southern side of the compound. I’ve given the plate number to my contact at the Traffic Division.’

  ‘Who’s that?’

  ‘Atul Rawal. Do you know him?’

  ‘Yes, I know him. Good man, works very hard. Detail-oriented.’

  ‘He has promised to analyse all the cam feeds and get back to me in a day or two.’

  ‘Good. And what is the chowkidar saying?’

  ‘I spoke to him. He says he didn’t hear or see anything that night. I noticed some opium pills on the table in his cabin, so I’m not surprised.’

  Rathod snorted. ‘What a mess!’ he remarked, as he finished his coffee and put down his cup.

  ‘Did you meet Tony?’

  Rathod gave a brief description of the meeting, at the end of which Aditya gasped, ‘Good God! What a dangerous man!’

  Rathod said, ‘Yes, but now that I think about it, he didn’t intend to harm me. I think he simply wanted to distract the guards…create a sort of diversion.’

  Aditya looked confused. ‘A diversion? Why?’

  ‘So that he could give me this, and I could get it out undetected.’ Rathod held out his palm towards Aditya. On it rested a thin, flat piece of something. Picking it up, Aditya studied it carefully. It looked like a small black piece of plywood laminate in the shape of a kite, with a beautiful white design printed on both sides.

  ‘Where did you get this?’ Aditya asked.

  ‘Tony shoved it into my palm when he pinned me to the bars,’ Rathod explained.

  ‘What is it?’ Aditya asked as he handed it back to Rathod.

  Rathod paused for a few moments and said, ‘It looks like a piece of plywood laminate Tony may have chipped off his bed. He told me it’s a clue.’

  ‘A clue?’

  ‘Hmm…’

  ‘What did he mean?’

  Rathod looked at the object and sighed. ‘I wish I knew…’ He pinched his forehead. His head felt like it was about to burst.

  ‘What’s the matter, sir? You don’t look so good.’

  ‘I’m all right…it’s just this headache.’

  ‘I think you should get some rest. Didn’t the doctor give you some medicines?’

  ‘Yeah, they are in my pocket somewhere,’ Rathod said dismissively, pointing at the jacket kept beside him.

  Aditya immediately rose from the sofa, leaned over and put his hand inside Rathod’s jacket.

  ‘This is what you’re going to do: you’re going to take these pills, and then you’re going straight to bed. We’ll look at everything with a fresh mind tomorrow,’ Aditya commanded, pouring a glass of water and handing him two pills. Rathod felt a little uncomfortable, but recognized that the young chap only meant well. He protested mildly, but Aditya wasn’t listening. He made Rathod take both the pills and then led him to the bedroom. Once Rathod lay down, Aditya took off his shoes and pulled the blanket over him.

  ‘Goodnight, sir!’ he said. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’

  After a moment, Rathod heard the front door slam shut. As the first wave of sleep rolled over him, he felt better, although his mind was still trying to work things out. He opened his palm and looked at Tony’s ‘clue’ once more. Twirling the little kite in his hand, he couldn’t help but admire the design. As he did so, an idea struck him. He wondered if the entire thing was folded on itself, like a greeting card. He tried to peel off one of the edges, but it di
dn’t budge. Then he tried the other edge and… yes…slowly, the flake opened up and what seemed like one kite now became two, joined at one of the corners.

  In a moment of clarity, the meaning of Tony’s clue and his strange words suddenly made sense to him. What had he said? That he didn’t kill Raza, but not that he had nothing to do with his murder.

  Before his eyelids began to shut involuntarily and he surrendered to the depths of his sleep, a few words escaped his lips: ‘An accomplice! He has an…accomplice!’

  26

  Sakshi was nervous. When she had joined the Robotics Club at IIT Mumbai a few months ago, she had had this uncomfortable feeling that everyone in her batch made fun of her behind her back. Some of the seniors even went to the extent of asking her stupid questions. ‘Robotics? Are you sure?’ Of course she was sure! She had been sure ever since she was 12. Robots fascinated her, and although she was the only girl in the club across all batches and departments at the prestigious institute, she wasn’t going to let sexist prejudices dampen her spirit. The club received good funding and grants from various corporate houses, and Sakshi hoped to work for one such company after she graduated. But that was a long way ahead. She was just in her first year, after all, and she was confident that someday she would conduct research in robotics in a more conducive environment, where people wouldn’t frown at her choice just because she was a girl.

  But right now, she did have butterflies fluttering in her stomach, and for good reason. Today was the annual robotics championship, and students from all parts of the country and abroad were here to show off their inventions. Sakshi knew this was an important platform for her. Honda – the company she ultimately intended to work for – was watching this championship keenly and was also its biggest sponsor. One of the judges was a scientist named Ken Hoshino. Not many knew that he was one of the lead scientists who had worked on the ASIMO – the Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility prototype – widely considered the world’s most advanced robot. It was Sakshi’s dream to get noticed and get an opportunity to shake Ken’s hand. She had spent several months thinking about her entry in the championship. It had to be something innovative, something different, something no one else had done. After a lot of thought, she had zeroed in on a drone for training pilots.

  The concept of a drone had always fascinated Sakshi. She had read several books about UAVs – unmanned aerial vehicles – and felt that the idea had limitless potential in all walks of life. Her father being in the Air Force, Sakshi thought a drone could easily be used to train pilots. While training on land, an individual was presented with targets to reach or obstacles to negotiate. But you could not do so while in the air, inside an aircraft. Sakshi had always wondered if it would be possible to ‘create’or ‘project’such artificial entities mid-air. This was easier said than done, because each of these entities would have to be interactable. For instance, if a pilot were to successfully overcome a mid-air obstacle, then the obstacle itself should be able to score the pilot on his performance and throw up the next challenge – a new mission! When Sakshi learnt about the concept of Augmented Reality, she realized that using sophisticated global-positioning systems, topography mapping and object-identification algorithms, she could design such a training module. She immediately set out to build her own prototype for a drone and, as she did, gradually began to realize that this was her true calling. This is what she wanted to do in life. It took her a little over five months to finish building the drone, and she named it Pilotless Augmented Reality Instrument, or PARI – just to give it an Indian, not to mention feminine, identity. The crowd and the judges would love it! And it was her subtle way of snubbing the MCPs who had jeered at her.

  As Sakshi talked about her invention before the crowd gathered by the Powai lake and described PARI’s features and functionalities, she noticed a soft murmur rising from the audience. A group of Swedish participants broke into applause, and Hoshino and the other two judges looked impressed. Now came the difficult part: the demo.

  Sakshi reached for the controller she had designed and took a deep breath. Less than 100 feet away from her and hidden within the slightly overgrown grass, lay PARI. Sakshi nodded at her bespectacled friend, who pushed a button on the audio-visual controller unit on the stage. Promptly, the large screen (that had so far been displaying a logo of the contest) filled with a high-definition visual of a verdant field, and the husky voice of Louis Armstrong singing ‘What a Wonderful World!’ was heard over the speakers.

  Several isolated hooting calls emanated as people realized PARI had an HD camera fitted on her. Sakshi had thought it would be a wonderful idea to give everyone a glimpse of the beauty of the city’s skies from the drone – a pilot’s point of view – with an overlay of various AR-generated elements like mountain peaks, clouds, birds, etc., each with its own level of interactions. She flicked a switch and amidst a thunderous cheer from the crowd and Armstrong’s swaying melody, PARI took off into the clear blue sky, rising and rolling like a young fledgling that had suddenly learnt to fly. As Sakshi took control of PARI’s pitch, yaw and roll axes, she saw from the corner of her eye that people were finding it difficult to decide whether to look at the magnificent live images on the screen or at the beautiful machine in the clear blue sky that was creating them. Well, it’s now or never, Sakshi thought. She pressed her lips tightly in determination and flicked the switch marked ‘Yaw’ sharply to the right and the switch marked ‘Pitch’ smoothly to the front. Immediately, PARI banked to the right and dove directly towards the serene waters of Powai lake. As the waters moved closer and closer to PARI, the crowd screamed in excitement while Sakshi’s geeky friend crossed his fingers and shut his eyes in a mumbling prayer: ‘Please don’t crash! Please don’t crash! Please don’t crash!’

  But Sakshi was in total control. Just as PARI was about to hit the water, her deft fingers worked the magic she had been practising for the past one month, and everyone gasped to see PARI sharply pull out of the dive and fly smoothly just a few inches above the lovely ripples in the water, skillfully negotiating several imaginary mountain peaks and volcanoes that seemed to emerge out of the lake. Amidst earth-shattering applause, Sakshi realized she had just become a very strong contender to win the contest. Her heart swelled with joy.

  But now, it was time to show everyone the beauty of the skies and seal her place as the winner. The final act, her masterstroke! No one could deny her the top spot after this. She had been wondering how to do it all week, but as she had reached the ground this morning, a brilliant idea had struck her. From the centre of the Powai ground rose a long and strong rope, tied to which was a helium-filled advertising balloon several hundred feet up in the sky – and it was emblazoned with the Honda logo! What better way to impress Hoshino and the sponsors than to showcase on that large screen a 360-degree visual of the balloon surrounded by an AR-generated flight of birds and clouds to the thousands of people who had gathered there today and the dozens of cameras beaming the event live?

  Sakshi pursed her lips again. This was her finale! She knew she could do it, she was confident of that. But she had to be careful. At such heights, wind velocity was unpredictable and low-pressure pockets weren’t uncommon. Her algorithms had never been tested at such heights, and she only had a projected estimate of their success. She checked the radar on the controller and then pulled up the nose of the drone, bringing it in line with the target – the balloon. As she deliberately spun PARI around her third axis at high speed, the rotating image of the balloon created a colourful kaleidoscopic design on the large screen, sending the crowd into a state of frenzy once again. Sakshi increased the pressure on the throttle joystick. The song was about to end, and she wanted PARI to reach the balloon before the music died down. She would then bring up the pre-programmed birds and clouds, and the effect they would create around the balloon would be breathtaking, to say the least. The drone shot through the sky at breakneck speed. Sakshi felt the controller vibrate uncontrollably in her hands but she
kept her finger firmly pressed on the throttle. It was now or never!

  And just like that, just in time, and ever so gracefully, PARI swished around the balloon like a rocket circling a planet, giving the cheering crowds a wonderful view of the ‘HONDA’ logo amidst a flying flock of AR-generated geese. As PARI dodged the birds and the floating lumps of cumulus clouds, Sakshi took her eyes off the skies for one second to find Ken Hoshino’s face lit up with a bright smile.

  Sakshi was in seventh heaven. Her geeky friend held her tense shoulders and jumped up and down. ‘You did it! You did it!’ he kept shouting.

  Sakshi had dismissed the first shriek as someone cheering for her, but as more and more people began to scream, she couldn’t help but turn towards her audience. They were not shrieking in delight…these were screams of horror! What on earth was the matter with them? What were all of them looking at? What had scared them so much? She looked in the direction at which everyone was pointing and her eyes fell on the large screen.

  ‘Oh my God!’ Her friend exclaimed in a trembling voice. ‘Wh-what is that?’

  And then Sakshi saw it: right at the centre of the ‘O’ on the brand’s logo was stuck, in a disgustingly grotesque and twisted manner, the naked body of an old man, his face contorted beyond all recognition. As Sakshi’s slack, trembling fingers lost control over the throttle, PARI decided to take a closer look at the corpse. She banked a little to the left, crashing mercilessly against the animated flying geese before shooting directly towards the old man’s bloody body and piercing his chest with her long, sharp control antenna, just as Armstrong ended his song, crooning for one last time, ‘What a wonderful world!’

  27

  Rathod stood at the edge of the ground and ran his eyes over the entire area. The event had been happening in a section that covered approximately a third of the ground. The IIT campus wasn’t far from here. He saw a balloon in the distant sky, sticking out like an ugly red pimple amid the bright blue firmament. Rathod frowned, and as he looked around, his frown only deepened. The place was an absolute mess. The entire ground was teeming with people, all wanting to gawk at the fifth victim of the Patang Killer. The media had been very quick and efficient in spreading the word. The police had set up cordons and were trying to do their best to ward people off, but it was quite evident that more backup was required. Rathod was reluctant to walk straight to the crime scene as it was nearly impossible to navigate the crowd and reach the cordon. There had to be another way somewhere – the police had to have set something up. Rathod began to circle the area in search of a clear passage.