by Laxmi Natraj
The car stopped in front of Acharayaji’s house. The plump spectacled man stepped out. He looked highly sophisticated in his trim grey suit, a matching red tie and white shirt. Because of his heavy body he waddled slightly as he walked. Next to him was another man well dressed and looking trim, also spectacled. He had a thick cluster of grey unruly hair and he walked just behind the other man politely. He had a heavy briefcase in his hand.
Acharyaji was sitting on the veranda reading the morning paper. He was quite surprised to see the car and the new visitors. As they alighted from their Government car, he guessed that they might be Government officers and getting up he welcomed them politely. He wondered whether they had come from the income tax office to enquire about the temple fund. He politely offered them chairs first and requested them to sit.
The man with a shaved head started talking with a thick Karnataka accent. He said, “Sir, I am
Dr Krishna Reddy, Director of Research department of Soil and Agricultural. Our office comes under the Agricultural Ministry of the Government of India and our office is situated in Nasik. This is the Dr Anna Khonde, head of Research department in DNA altering of seeds and plants. We have come from Nasik.”
Hearing the voices Netra came out. She was quite impressed with the tall plump gentleman with a sparkling blue tinted brown framed spectacles, young and smart, recently shaved hair, talking with a strong Karnataka accent.
Acharyaji looked up at her and said, “Dr Reddy, this is my daughter Dr Netra. I think she will be able to understand your talk better than me.”
Dr Reddy smiled at Netra and said, “Nice to see you, Madam. An educated doctor and still you are living in a village. That is really great. Well, the fact is our Government had chosen some villages at random, for the study of Hybrid seed cultivation of our special DNA altered seeds of paddy, and sampling of coconut tree etc. All we need is a small corner in each of your farms, from where we will collect samples of soils. Then after analysing that, we will plant our samplings in a small area of say about 4x8 feet in the field. We will watch them for one week. Later your farmers can go ahead and grow them on their own. At the time of harvest, we will come back and compare our produce with your grains produce and compare both the yields.”
Both Acharyaji and Netra were highly impressed. Netra had already read a lot about the Hybrid crop revolution being tried in many parts of India and she felt happy that the Government itself had selected her village. She said in a warm voice, “Sir, we feel highly honoured and humbled that you people are kind enough to come to our tiny village for this big project.”
Dr Reddy now turned to Anna and said, “Dr Anna show them the documents and our Government permission for the research in this village.”
Anna was waiting for a chance. He yanked his briefcase open and pulled out a thick folder with Emblem of Agricultural Research Government of India, and opening the order, signed by the State Minister for Agriculture, showed it to Netra. She came near him and picked up the file and after reading it, gave it to her father.
She then said, “Father you please keep the conversation on. I will get some Coffee for the guests.” She rushed in, a bit happy for some unknown reason.
Acharyaji read the official order and said, “It is true that I am the Panchayat head, but in this village, we don’t take any decision without a meeting of the Panchayat members and the villagers. Besides this, we should get the Purohitji’s approval also in every action. In fact, I will send for him just now only.”
He looked at one of the men watering the plants and said, “Bikku , go and call Purohitji quickly. Tell him some Government officers have come and we would like to discuss something”. Bikku, the tall sturdy man, who was so far nearly hiding himself among the bushes, pretending to water the plants was only too happy to move. He kept back his bucket and ran to the opposite house.
Dr Reddy innocently asked, “Who is Purohitji, and why is he such an important member?”
Acharyaji replied, “Purohitji is a very important and highly respected member of our village. Whatever he says is like the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ [15]for the villagers.”
By this time the coffee came and Netra served everyone. Dr Reddy said, “Good you brought coffee you know, being a Bangalorian drinking tea is still a bit tough for me.”
Netra smiled and said, “Sir, since you said that your name as Dr Reddy, I asked our cook to make the special a south Indian filter Coffee. Hope you like it.”
Actually, Nakul never liked coffee. And this was too strong and had very less sugar. But for the sake of his act, he put on a bold face, smiled and nodded his head and flattered her saying, “Very good coffee, real good coffee.”
At the same time inwardly, Netra’s word started a brain wave in his brain “COOK” from where? And, how long since there is a cook here? But keeping his voice very casual he asked, “Dr Netra you are really lucky to get a good cook here in the village. Otherwise with your busy doctor practice, wasting your time in cooking is a real pity.”
Netra smiled and said, “No Sir, she is not from the village. When I was doing my medical studies in the town I did not get hostel accommodation. Hence I stayed in a hired apartment and this lady was with me for all those 4 years. When I decided to shift to village I brought her with me.”
Utkarsh suppressed his smile seeing his boss struggling to swallow the black coffee. Nakul was drinking very slowly only because his mind was racing with the new found word. One more new person as a cook! But Netra says that she was with her for the past three years. May be I am seeing too many ghosts unnecessarily. He talked to himself.
At the same time Purohitji and Shiva climbed the steps and entered the veranda. Acharyaji got up and welcomed them. Dr Reddy pretended total ignorance and just calmly continued to drink his coffee. On being introduced to Purohitji he folded his palms and made a big Namaskar to him. Purohitji sat down. Nakul’s disguise had worked well and neither Purohitji nor Shiva recognized him. No one noticed that Bikku did not come back to water the plants.
Chapter 46
The Villagers.
After a long discussion at Acharayaji’s house along with Purohitji and Shiva, it was decided that they would call a Panchayat meeting in the evening. Shiva talked with Dr Reddy showing a lot of interest in the topic. But sometimes he got totally confused with the Kannada words that Reddy fluently mixed with his English. At such times, Dr Anna came for help and translated it for Shiva. Nakul’s acting was as good as his makeup. Acharyaji was too pleased to understand that Dr Reddy was a devoted Balaji Bhaktha, and recently had visited Tirupati and had offered his precious hair. He was also very happy for the reason that the Government officers came to his house first and not to Purohitji as usually everyone did.
As planned there was village meeting in the evening. Dr Reddy and Dr Anna were given special chairs. The Panchayat members sat on the platform built under a huge mango tree and the villagers squatted on the rug spread on the ground. The meeting started. Purohit and Acharyaji took turns to explain the reason for the visit of Government officers. As they completed their introduction Dr Anna got up and started explaining about their project. It was decided right before they left the town, that Dr Anna will make the maximum conversation. Though well- disguised, Nakul was afraid some familiar word may slip from his mouth and land them in difficulty. He made the pretext to Acharyaji that Dr Anna was very fluent in the local language and hence would explain better.
Dr Anna was making the best use of his chance to act. The previous day he had absolutely memorized all the factors about the crop, the Gene alteration and also done a good study of them from the internet. So he looked very authentic. The villagers even asked some questions about the benefit of the new saplings and its profit in long run. Dr Anna was ready with facts figures. He made quick calculations and pleased all. Finally, by 7 p.m., the meeting ended.
Acharyaji and Purohitji were requesting them to stay overnight in the temple hall. The actual junior scientists who were going to do th
e actual planting were supposed to come only by the next day. But Nakul firmly refused to stay in the village, saying that he had an early video conference with German people. Hence they had to leave. Both the doctors got into the car and the car moved away out of the village.
Once they were at an hour’s drive away from the village, Nakul told Utkarsh to park the car on one side of the road. It was a spot totally covered with trees. As Utkarsh looked at him with a questioning eye he said, “Utkarsh if we stay in the village then those men hiding in the village can always tail us. Who knows they might have wired the temple room also. We won’t be free to talk or discuss. So let us do this every day. Keep travelling up and down. But we won’t go back to the town because we will lose time. Hence this half way business sounds good for us. We can stay here for the night and go back in the morning. What is your opinion?” Utkarsh nodded vigorously and said, “Looks good enough Sir.”
Both of them were dead tired, more due to the pressure of acting. They stretched their legs and started sleeping in the car itself. The highway was quite but for occasional loaded lorry passing by.
A voice from somewhere in the village spoke over the cell phone “It looks like the Agricultural officers will be around here for two or three days. Heaven knows how suddenly the Government is interested in our crop growth. So inform all our men to be very careful and stay away from all those points wherever they visit.
Chapter 47
The Dark Chamber
20th May, Night 2:00 a.m.
Once again the men in black were dressing up. As usual along with the weapons and ammunition they had packed their luggage ready to carry. One of the men said, “We were happy that police fellow went away. But who are these Government officials now? Why have they come here? They have become another nuisance for our activity.”
Another one said, “See, the good thing is, that these Government people are interested in only in planting etc. It may go one only for two or three days. Secondly, they are not staying in the village. We have nothing to bother”.
The first one now said, “What about the plan for our new hideout?’
The second one said, “Already arranged. When we are away today, our backups will shift the computers. So our next meeting will be in the new room.”
The first one said, “Let us see where we left our luggage inside the forest last time. Accordingly, we will find the new spot and start digging for the treasure.”
First, they switched on the satellite Geo- pictures of the forest and carefully calculated the pros and cons of the new spots to be reached. The first man took out a yellow chalk and started drawing on the floor. He clearly showed the following:-
1. First, the point until which all of them move together. That would be the deciding point from where the five would form a pentagon and then go in different directions with the luggage.
2. The two final pre-designed points for them to place their luggage and proceed.
He was the one who had studied the forest a number of times .He drew a detailed chart showing the points which were open areas, away from trees and hence risky because it could give them away in the faint moonlight. He said firmly, “Remember total blackness is a must. Even a hair line thin portion of your body, which is not covered by the black mask, will be very clearly visible in the dark. So put black shoe polish all over the face. And your hand should be always covered with the black glove.”
One of them said, “Boss we are doing everything so perfectly for so long. So far not an atom of doubt had arisen in anyone’s mind in the village. Then why are you giving such elaborate instructions this time?”
The boss said, “I don’t know. But once our search gets prolonged there would be danger around. When we started the mission we thought we will dig the treasure in short time. But, we are here for a quite long time with absolutely no trace of the treasure. I have some strange gut feeling that someone might spot us now. If anyone really does spot us then we are finished.”
There was dead silence for some time as everyone thought of the possibility of being caught and the failure of their mission. They all silently started studying the map drawn on the floor and memorized the points.
After a two seconds of silence, one of the men looking at the map said with a bit of concern, “Boss, according to this sketch map, we are approaching dangerously close to the extreme edge of the forest. It is very close to the point through which the Nasik- Mumbai highway runs. Is it really needed?”
The first one said, “Yes, it is necessary because we are now left with no other option as we have already covered all other areas so far without success. We have only three days. Otherwise, our entire mission will be a flop and our bosses sitting back there are not going to be happy. They are already irritated by the slow progress of our mission and interference from the police.”
The lady member in the sari said, “But we have been doing our best. For the past ten days, we have searched almost every inch of the forest. Where could be the treasure so well hidden that we are not able to spot it? Very surprising.”
The first one said, “Ok! We, five men, will go inside the forest with our luggage as usual. Only there is one difference. If anyone of you happens to bump into an intruder, even by chance, who so ever it maybe, just shoot him down in a flash. No hesitating or thinking even for a fraction. Our Mission is greater than any man.”
All of them dressed in their tight black dresses with hoods and face masks. Then putting on black gloves, they lifted their heavy gunny bags on their shoulders. Now besides the five, there were three left in the room. One of them ran quickly, climbed the rope ladder, looked through the periscope and opened the trap and jumped outside. There was the owl hooting signal saying the path was all clear. All five men climbed the rope ladder and came out, and in a fraction of a second dissolved in the darkness. The man, who opened the trap door, jumped in and went back inside the underground chamber to watch the monitor.
Chapter 48
Movements in the Forest
18th May, Morning 5:00 a.m.
Nakul woke up very early around 5:00 a.m. Sleeping in the curled, awkward, unusual position was not so comfortable and he woke up earlier than usual.
Hearing him stir, Utkarsh got up and said, “Good morning Sir.”
Nakul said, “How did you know that I am awake?” Utkarsh gave a sheepish grin and said, “When a senior officer like you is getting some rest how can I sleep, Sir? So I sat guarding all night.”
Nakul burst out laughing and said, “What did you expect to happen in the night Utkarsh? That someone from the village will come here and gun me down?”
Utkarsh looked serious and did not laugh. Nakul saw his non-smiling serious face and after one moment said, “Utkarsh what is wrong? Why are you looking worried?”
Utkarsh said, “Sir, I have to report something serious to you. Today early morning when I was sitting on guard, I saw some strange, suspicious movement in the forest, say around 2:30 a.m.”.
Nakul jumped up even before Utkarsh finished and fired questions “Utkarsh, how could you keep quiet when you see something suspicious? Why did you not wake me up? We could have caught them. You made us miss a golden opportunity. Is my sleep so important?”
Utkarsh said, “Sir, You forgot one main point. Now we are not Police. We are supposed to be research doctors and have to hold on to this disguise for some more time. So if a research Doctor will jump inside the forest with a gun in front of a villager, then what? How are you going to explain that situation to the villagers Sir?”
Nakul had to agree with Utkarsh. He got out of the car and looked carefully at the area where their car was parked. Yesterday evening instead of the usual way from village to town, they had taken another winding road which ran circling the village. Now in the early dawn, Nakul realized something, which he did not notice the previous night while breaking their journey.
They were parked at a short distance from the forest and from that point the forest could be clearly seen. It w
as the same forest, where Nakul had seen the goat rearing men vanishing. He told Utkarsh in brief what he had seen one week back when he was staying in the temple hall. He then asked Utkarsh, “Tell me in detail whatever you saw without missing even the smallest detail.”
Utkarsh said, “Sir at around 1:15 a.m., all of a sudden my sixth sense felt a vague feeling that something was moving there in the forest. Though it was a bit far away for me to see, there was a crescent moon in the sky which made the outlines of moving objects clearly. The shapes looked so vague that I could hardly make out if it was a man or any animal. Then by chance, those crawling men came out of the tree shadow, and I could see them. I think there were four or five of them. They were totally dressed in black so their bodies could not be seen. But they were carrying some heavy luggage on their shoulders. Once in a while, something from their body was shining in the pale moonlight. I am sure they were carrying guns. Definitely must be dacoits.”
Nakul stood thinking deeply. Then he said, “Utkarsh, something is definitely going on inside the forest. Once I had seen, and today you had seen, and you had got more information also. As you say they may not be terrorists but dacoits and after looting they may be hiding their loot inside the forest. Or they may be having their den also in the forest. The terrorists won’t camp in the village forest for such a long time. There is no treasure in the temple and nothing extraordinary to do in the village. Terrorists always strike quick and fast. After John’s murder, it is nearly twelve to fifteen days. So they must be dacoits and even John might have been in touch with those people.”