The chase
..
“Where is
Soumya?” agitated Babulal shouted at Anil in his drawing room at Lansdown.
Anil and
Sunil both were taken aback by the news and made it clear to Samaranand and
Babulal that they had no clue about what they were talking. Anil informed that Soumaya
left their house 2 days back in the evening and after that there was no
contact.
Samaranand
and Babulal when found Soumaya had vanished then they decided to return to
Kolkata by the same Santiniketan Express on the same day and confront Anil and
Sunil next day. They had a lingering doubt that these people were involved in
Soumaya going missing. They had planned to go to police first but dropped the
idea as they have taken big money and which was in cash, hence confronting the
Maity brothers was the next move.
Reluctantly
they left Maity house threatening to come back if Soumaya was not found in the
meanwhile.
They found
pagli camping near the gate, Babula got down from the car and gave some
instruction.
In the
evening Babulal rang up Samaranand from a public booth to inform Samaranand
about the discussion which took place between the brothers after they left,
this he could get from the recording device which was there with Pagli, the
bugs were still there in the drawing room of Maity’s.Both the brothers were
scared about a third person who had been pressurizing them for the details
about Soumaya’s whereabouts. Genuinely they had no clue about Soumaya going
missing.
They decided
to wait for a few days and not to meet each other.
As usual
Samaranand’s routine of morning walk, painting, office continued. Out of the two
beggars patronized by Samaranand only Sambhu alone on the pavement as pagli was
stationed in Lansdown.
Finally there
was some indication of Soumaya. It happened like this after a few days when Samaranand
after finishing his walk was giving 5 rupee coin to Sambhu, the beggar then Sambhu
passed on a slip of paper to him. After getting in the car eagerly he spread
the slip of paper. It was short note from Soumaya.
Uncle,
Sorry that I
put both of you in distress. I had to vanish, will share details with you when
we meet. Please visit the same café in the evening where you with your friends
went after finishing your studies in IIT.
Soumaya
Samaranad
started recalling the restaurants he visited after his final exams before
proceeding for Delhi, he recalled that he had shared his rendezvous with
various restaurants with Babulal and Soumaya. His choice of restaurants was
limited those days and that too after passing out he stayed just for two days
in Kolkata before proceeding for Delhi. He remembered to have gone to Anadi’s
cabin and Trincas on Park Street. So next two days he went to Anadi’’s cabin,
there was no sign of Soumaya, as usual Anadi was choke a block full and he had
his favourite dish of Moghlai Paratha. He had informed Babulal about the letter
and asked him to follow him clandestinely. There was no sign of Soumaya. He
instructed Babulal to keep watch on Anadi’s and he himself went to Trincas next
day evening. It was just filling up with customers returning from office, who would
just take a quick swig and then leave for the house. The live music was going on;
crooner was singing some fast new Hindi songs with the band. He selected a
corner table with four chairs and ordered Carlsberg Beer and a chelo kabab. He
scanned the people who were dinning, there was no trace of Soumaya. Slowly the
restaurant was getting filled, he knew by the dinner time it would be full.
Suddenly he felt there is change in the tempo of the music. The crooner started
singing old Hindi songs and mostly from the movies of Devanand. Samaranad
became alert and was sure Soumaya was somewhere near because he only knew he
loved movies of Devanand, somehow Soumaya has influenced the band to play
Samaranand’s favorite songs.. Without drawing any attention, he casually looked
at the faces of the guests around. After a few songs he headed for toilet to
relieved himself when a guy followed him. From the corner of his eyes he
measured the guy, a young fellow in office going dress of brown corduroy pant
and blue blazer. He thought to himself whether that guy was following him and
in that case Soumaya would not come. He sauntered back to his table, lifted the
bottle to pour when he found a letter below the bottle. He palmed the letter to
his jacket pocket and nonchalantly went on eating and drinking. He paid the
bill and walked off.
After
returning home he read the letter.
It was a
short letter.
Uncle,
Sorry could
not make contact with you, there was a guy following you. Very soon I will get
in touch with you. Don’t worry I am fine, will explain everything when we meet.
Soumaya
Samaranand
was relieved that Soumaya was fine but he was worried about Soumaya’s safety.He
thought that once again the game of shadowing him had started, the thought did
disturb him but then he thought once again those unknown followers would
contact him.
From whom
Soumaya was hiding and why?
No comments:
Post a Comment