by Laxmi Natraj
He would be accommodated in the temple hall guest room for two or three months as he cannot stay in any person’s house.
The Panchayat head Acharyaji was totally against the idea. But all the remaining four members and the villagers who had gathered agreed for Purohitji’s suggestion. They had very high respect for Purohitji and were sure that if Purohitji was agreeing, there must be some reason for it. Then, the very next day, John shifted to the temple hall room. Every day morning he would come to Purohitji’s house and sit in the portico. When Purohitji was busy in the temple puja, he would sit all alone and would be reading or working on his laptop. Every day morning he would recite the Gayatri Mantra[13], 108 times, in a loud musical voice with perfect pronunciation, and accent just like the Purohits do. The village people’s views slowly changed.
Chapter 23
Village Development
Two days after John’s arrival, Purohitji’s son, Shiva, who just completed his four year course in Vedic education in Banaras, came back. The villagers who had known him since his childhood were happy to see him after four years. Shiva joined Purohitji in the temple puja and all the other work needed for the temple with ease. John found a companion in Shiva and life became little easier.
Exactly after five days, John appeared before the village Panchayat once again for permission to extend the School building. There was some whispered conversation among the members about his intentions. John started talking with folded hands.
He said, “My respected villagers. I was a doctor and earned enough wealth. I did not much believe in any God and never attended Church. I had a beautiful family, wife and two children. One day, in a car accident, my entire family was wiped off. I became depressed and aimless in my life. I attended a Hindu Swamji’s discourse who was explaining the truth of Karma. This changed me completely. I started thinking that it was only because of my own past Karma my family was wiped off. Because of my bad deeds, I was left alive and all alone without my family and my loved ones suffered.
Then I read more and more books on Hinduism and thought that the only way I could do penance is to do as much charity as possible. My wife had a large amount of properties. I sold all of them and came to India. I heard about Purohitji’s name when I went to Banaras and came here to follow him as a Guru.
Since I don’t need any money, the large amount of money in my bank, would go waste. I beg you to permit me to use this fund to improve this village as much as I can and thus I can wash off at least a part of my sin and suffering.”
As he finished, he knelt down with folded hands and tears rolled down from his eyes uncontrolled. The entire village was now moved by his tears and the sincerity in his voice. There was no more questioning or doubting John’s honesty now. So they quickly permitted him to go ahead with the plan of expansion of the school.
Surprisingly, the very next day John brought men and materials and the construction work started busily. What amazed the villagers was that John himself stood in the hot sun, along with the workers and supervised the construction inch by inch. Sometimes he was seen lifting a load of bricks or a bucket of water along with the workers. The construction work was carried on till midnight, and John kept standing till the day’s work was over. As the construction was in progress, Ramu’s son fell gravely ill. The villagers realized the need for a hospital and gave the permission for the hospital too. He was to develop the already existing government health centre of the village into a hospital. The construction work for both the building went on simultaneously.
Within just two and a half months, the ground floor of the school was expanded, and two more floors were added and the school was ready. John bought a car for himself for travelling a number of times to the city and he also got the needed Government sanction for new classes. He appointed a set of new teachers from the town to teach the classes.
With all this even Acharayaji’s opinion changed towards John. As the time passed John became an important member of the village. For any work related to Government, like a land lease, digging wells and many such odd things, the village people started approaching John and he was always ready to help. At the same time, he spend hours listening to the Vedic verses from Purohit and many time tears welled in his eyes as he got totally got immersed deep in their essence.
After the hospital was constructed, John appointed two doctors. Every week, he personally visited the town and brought all the medicines needed for the hospital. For all this he spent his own fund. He opened a joint account with Purohitji and Shiva and deposited a large amount of his money, about eight million dollars in that. He told Purohitji that whenever any villager needed any help, Purohitji should freely spend money from this account. He said, “Purohitji, my life is uncertain. If I am not alive tomorrow, at least my money should be useful to my villagers.”
With a sigh Purohitji mused, “Did he know that his death was so close? Did he hurry up all that good work because of that knowledge?”
Purohitji had fallen asleep and was woken up by Shiva when he returned. Holding Shiva’s hand for support he got up from the chair. He looked up at Shiva’s face and said, “Shiva, I think I should now get two more boys from Banaras, and train them on the temple’s Puja methods. I think my health is failing badly, and I won’t be able to hang on for much more time.”
Shiva said gently, “You will live a hundred years more Purohitji. But still, I will e-mail the Sringeri Shankara Math and we will get more boys as per your wish.”
In the midnight, far away in the darkness of a secret room, a meeting was going on, and the members were talking in whispered voices. One said, “Before that police fellow pokes his nose further, we should hurry with our target and try to finish it before the due date.”
Chapter 24
A Serious Discussion
The ACP was waiting for Nakul. He looked quite disturbed. Nakul was half afraid and anticipated some really bad news, but was much relieved as the ACP explained his point of view.
He said, “For the first time in my life I am surprised and totally annoyed at the apathy and indifference of this Anti-terrorist office! Generally, we have noticed that these people are always ready to jump at the smallest tip or suspicion and they fly into serious action. Remember what happened in Mumbai? Only some school children reported some vague information about seeing some terrorist. But for four full days, an entire battalion of armed gunman combed every inch of Mumbai for terrorists. But here, in this case, when we have a strong case and I am giving them a solid evidence of a coded message, and a suspected murder in a village, they are brushing us off so indifferently as if we are nothing but a dead fly.”
Nakul could see the fuming anger in the purple red face of his boss. Honestly, he too was equally surprised by the indifference of the anti- terrorist department reaction. But he remained quiet waiting for his boss to talk further.
The ACP continued, “Ok, if they don’t want to give any importance to our findings we don’t care. Let us solve this case in our own way. Before that Nakul, do you think any family members of these two, John and Julia, will come forward for collecting the bodies? If not, then what do you intend to do with the bodies?”
Nakul said, “Sir, John had told the village that his entire family was wiped out in an accident. He had sold off all his property before coming to India. So there won’t be anyone left for him in US. As for Julia , there is hardly any information about her.”
The ACP answered in a worried voice, “We had informed the US about the death of these two, eight days back. But no one has claimed the body. If they were Hindu, we could have cremated the bodies. Should we now arrange a burial for these two?”
Nakul said, “Sir, we cannot offer a burial ceremony in the Lingeshwar village. The totally Hindu village will not agree with it. I think Shiva is a bit attached to John. I will ask his opinion before disposing off the body.”
The ACP said, “Ok, I will leave it to you to do the needful. This time, when you go to the village, take Utkarsh also w
ith you. Two people are better than one. Look for clues for one week. Then, we will close the file saying both killed each other.”
Nakul nodded and saluting his boss came out. He called Shiva’s land line number. Shiva heard him patiently and then said, “Sir, I will consult Purohitji and will call back Sir.”
After five minutes he called back and said, “Sir, John had told Purohitji that he had to be given a cremation just like Hindus after his death. Since that lady Julia is somehow connected with John, Purohitji says that she could also be cremated. I am coming to the town to claim the bodies. You please help me for the cremation.”
By afternoon Shiva came to the town. The bodies of John and Julia were taken to the electric crematorium. Shiva hired a local Purohit and performed all the religious rites for both, and the bodies were cremated.
Nakul was deeply touched by the sincerity of Shiva. Very easily he could have brushed off the responsibility of disposing of those two bodies of unclaimed bodies. But he performed the rites, keeping up the promise given to a dead man. Maybe that is how the honest village people with uncontaminated value systems are, he thought.
Back in the village a man spoke in his cell phone, “I heard that they had cremated both the bodies. Hope now that the case is closed and that Inspector will not bother to come to our village and disturb our plan.”
Chapter 25
The Medical Bill
The ripped piece of the medical bill proved to be an enormous challenge. From the smallest part available in the print Utkarsh could make out that it was the letter G. It meant that they would have to search all the medical shops whose names started with the letter ‘G’. Utkarsh worked feverishly on the internet and found out that there were 458 medical shops in the town whose name started with letters ‘G’. He came and reported to Nakul about his findings.
Nakul said, “Utkarsh we have no alternative. We have to go to each and every one of these shops and find out whether the bill was issued from that shop. If so, the next step would be to find out as to what were the medicines purchased? And by whom? This will be a vital link for our investigation. Painful, but no other way. We have to do this.”
Utkarsh took print outs of all the names and addresses of the medical shops. Then, the two constables, Utkarsh and Nakul divided the list of shops among themselves. Thus each person had to enquire in approximately 115 shops. Taking the Xerox copy of the ripped piece of the original medical bill, they started their enormous mission of going from shop to shop to enquire.
All of them had gone in their civil dress for the inquiry. The shop keepers were not very helpful. The police people had a tough time in getting the response from them. Finally, Nakul was the lucky one to get a break at his 38th shop, the shop called ‘Get Well Soon Chemists.’
The shop was overflowing with customers as if everyone in the world was sick and they were there to buy medicines. The shop assistant looked at the Xerox paper and giving an indifferent shrug of his shoulder said, “This is such a tiny piece of the bill. Hundreds of shops can have such bills. I am sorry. I can’t help. Get me the original bill.”
Nakul opened his left hand palm, resting on the counter and said, “After seeing this may be you will think of helping” The assistant who had started walking away stopped and looked back. Nakul’s police badge flashed in his palm. The attendant’s behaviour changed in a flash. He murmured, “I am very sorry, Sir. Definitely, I would look. Please give me the paper Sir,”
He took the paper and carefully studied it. Besides the letter G, there was a bit of some floral design on the paper and the assistant immediately recognized it. He said politely, “Yes Sir. This bill was issued by our shop. What can I do for you, Sir?” Nakul said, “I want to know to whom this bill was issued and what was the medicine purchased on this bill?”
The shop attendant now opened the counter half- door and said, “You please come in Sir, I will have to search it on the computer.” Nakul entered the shop and walked in. The attendant led him to a small glass cubicle, at the end of the shop, knocked and opened the door. A man in mid-fifties sitting and working in a computer looked up. The attendant whispered the details to him. The man got up immediately and said, “Good morning sir, I am Srinivas Kamath, the owner of this medical shop. Please sit down sir. Tell me what I can do for you Sir.”
Nakul sat down and repeated his request. As Kamath started searching in his PC, through his hundreds of bill data, Nakul casually looked through the glass doors at the piled up stocks of the shop. Like most of the medical stores of the present time, this chemist also had a lot of confectionary items, actually to say a bit more. There were easy to cook and eat items, like the present cup soups, one-minute precooked foods, etc. along with readily packed dried fruits.
Kamath looked up from his PC and said, “Only a small part of a number of the bill is visible. Still, from this, I could get the original bill, Sir. Have a look.” He turned the desk computer towards Nakul so that he could see the bill. He added, “It was a bill made for four strips of tablets, issued in the name of Dr John Stoneman, three weeks back.”
Nakul said, “Generally many customers come to your shop, and I presume you, as a shopkeeper, may not know them all. But could you ask any one of your assistants who might know about this Dr John and who could have given the medicines to him?”
To his surprise, Kamath replied, “Sir, I personally knew Dr John very well Sir. He used to pre-order bulk medicines for his hospital in the village and used to come personally to collect them. Since packing all the medicines takes some time, he used to sit here with me inside the shop for quite some time. At that time he generally discussed about those medicines. If some particular medicine was not available he would give a new list for those medicines. As he has visited us almost every week, in the past three months, I have become quite acquainted with him Sir.”
Nakul said, “But these medicines here in the bill are not the bulk order ones but they are very few ones. Are they some special medicines?”
Kamath said, “Sir, these are medicines for blood cancer. I presume that the Doctor was buying these medicines may be only for himself. But I am not sure as he did not mention anything about the patient for whom he was buying this. This is only my guess because, Dr James, though he was comparatively young, looked as if he were in his late thirties and was becoming progressively weaker every week. He looked pale, was becoming breathless frequently and some time he used to get an attack of dry cough. As he was a doctor, I think probably, he was treating himself. But Sir, may I know why are you investigating these bills?”
Nakul said, “John was murdered ten days back. We are investigating the case. So whatever you may know about him please do tell me. Even the smallest details will be helpful to us.”
Kamath looked really shocked. He swallowed hard and remained motionless for one moment blinking his eyes. Then he asked his voice a bit shocked, “Murdered? Was John murdered, Sir? Who could murder such a good man?”
He was silent for a second, then, he cleared his voice and said, “Sir, John had been coming to our shop for past three months. First, he used to buy a few medicines for treatment for his village people. Ordinary fever and cough medicines etc. Then he told us that he was building a hospital for the village. We were really surprised to hear that. Building a whole hospital, for poor people! That too he was a foreigner. So I started having high regard for him. Later he started placing bulk orders for the hospital. Only very recently he started buying these cancer medicines for himself. Possibly he was recently diagnosed with cancer. Since he made a separate bill for that I guessed he bought it for himself. I am not sure.”
Chapter 26
Kamath Interrogated
Nakul felt happy that Kamath had interacted with John and it might be possible to get more information about John. He said, “Since you know him personally for so many days could you kindly provide some more information about him?”
Kamath said, “Sir, when he waited for his orders to be packed, he used to
wait here inside the shop with me and we used to talk a bit. He told me that he had taken a great liking for Hinduism and was learning more about Vedanta from Narayan Purohitji. He seemed to have an air of deep seated sadness in him. He always used to say that he wants to do as much good for people as possible before he dies. Whenever he was in the shop if he saw some poor man like a worker buying medicine, he would ask us to add that poor man’s bill amount to his bill and that worker uses to tearfully thank him and go. He was such a simple good hearted man.”
Nakul asked, “Has he any time talked about his family to you?”
Kamath thought for a few minutes and said, “No Sir, not sort of directly. But he always used to talk to one or other assistants of our shop and enquire about their families. Then he would always say, “Only lucky people in this world have families. So take good care of them.” Then he would tip them off with some cash and tell them to buy something for their kids. From all these actions, I used to think that he must have lost his family or something.”
Nakul asked, “Ok, Is there anything else which you think was a deviant from normal purchase of medicines?”
Kamath said, “Along with medicines he used to buy a lot of biscuits, bread and confectionaries, easy one-minute cooking cup soups, noodles, dry fruits and nuts etc.”
Nakul said, “He was living alone. So do you think he was buying these for himself?”
Kamath said, “No sir, he used to come almost every week here. The dry fruits he purchased were of huge quantity— about 5 to 10 Kilograms! I thought that it was possible that he was distributing them in the villages.”