Carrot and stick

Carrot and stick

In one of my management articles I had mentioned my experience of watching tiger, lion and seal games in a circus in Russia where the trainer did not carry any electrically charged whip like the ring masters used to do in Indian circuses when animal games were allowed.

We used to watch the trainer would wield the whip in the air and it will make a crackling sound of static electricity and hearing that sound tiger or lion which ever animal then present in the arena will cower and start obeying the master.

In Russia the ringmaster does not carry any whip but instead after a performance he pats the animal and gives a piece of meat as reward.

The practice followed by managers in the industry is either one of the above.

Having said all of the above in recent few times while dealing with a third party I discovered that the policy of stick with Indian establishment workers is more effective.

Recently I attended a picnic where a mike holding roly poly lady was anchoring the games. We were clustered around a table and was having our own fun of gabbing. Then I heard her announcing to bring forward all the tables so that lunch could be served. We brought our table forward. After sometimes she announced that the caterer for their convenience wanted us to align our tables. This was too much, I came to my original BHEL form and called the caterer and said, “ How do they serve in restaurants? The tables are placed separately so do that without wasting time.”

My that intervention worked like a magic and they started serving in the same order as we were seated and no more shifting.

Last week with my IIT mates we went to this renowned restaurant in Salt Lake for lunch. We were 12 and they put 2 tables where 4 usually share and squeezed 4 chairs to make it a 12 sitting arrangement. I noticed that with this arrangement there was hardly any room for moving elbows for holding cutleries. I told the host that this would not do. I called the bearer and asked him to make proper arrangement, he expressed his inability. I asked him to call his manager and the manager came,in my usual style I chewed him for the arrangement and asked him better he did a proper arrangement or I would give bad review in Google and TripAdvisor. It worked like a magic and he got the sitting arrangement redone by organizing a 3^rd table.

I generally don’t want to use this third degree but is compelled to do due to the circumstances, with known people I use the motivation method but if required I go back to the old proven method of screwing.

The third alternative could be to accept whatever way you are dealt as the only way, bear it with a smile.

Trojan horse

He ducked from the right hand hook of the dark bearded fellow; he jumped high and delivered a well timed flying kick with his right foot on the chest of the dark fellow. There was a big roar from the spectator when his opponent could not get up on the count of ten. Ajit was breathing heavy; he went out of the fighting arena and slumped on a chair. He felt a touch on his shoulder. He looked up and found a fashionable middle aged lady looking longingly at him. Ajit ignored the lady, he was not a gigolo. The wound on his face started bleeding, someone put antiseptic bandage on the wound. The first aid kits were kept handy for such wounds, for serious injury the combatants were rushed to a private nursing home. It was already late in the night. He knew that he will get the usual tongue lashing from his father.

Supriyo was a businessman; he was supplier of civil construction material for leading contractors of Calcutta. He was a widower with two sons. Ajit was the eldest at twenty five years and the younger one was Bimal. Bimal was 19 years old and was in a reputed college. He was some kind of nerd, introvert and always found on his computer. He had hardly any friends but was brilliant in his studies.

After his wife’s death Supriyo was not keeping well. He wanted Ajit to share his workload, but Ajit was an outdoor type of young man. He lived a fast life, a good sportsman. He was dating so many girls simultaneously. He was a kind of Casanova of South Calcutta. He would zip around in his motor bike, there will always be a girl pillion riding.

Bimal was on his computer, he was chatting with a girl in Bombay. While chatting he used pseudo name. He was Hercules for the virtual world.

He heard the sound of the motor bike when it entered their housing complex and waited for his father’s curse.

“Here comes the prince of Calcutta. Bloody hell, living in my house and sucking my blood like a leech.” His arthritis was giving trouble again; he was not able to get up from his bed.

Ajit had become immune to this harangue of his father. He noisily entered the house and straight away went to his room. After changing his bloodied cloth he dived to his bed.

Bimal could hear the healthy snore of his elder brother after a few minutes. He was an insomniac; his usual time to go to sleep was after twelve in the night till then he would be net surfing.

The above scene pretty much sums up the going on in the household of Mitras.

A sick businessman father was looking forward for his eldest son to help him in his business so that he could retire and the second son a brilliant student and a computer geek yet to complete his studies.

Ajit was always good in sports, he was a good athlete and a gymnast, and he was black belt in judo. He was a drifter and could not stick to any job.

There was a servant named Bhanu in the house, for cooking and care taking. A maid servant used to come for cleaning.

Supriyo had a number of suppliers in his role who would source sand, brick, chips etc from nearby villages. He was a bad paymaster and often those small traders would come to the house and a raise raucous about their payment. He had a number of competitors also as this real state business was booming in Calcutta with so many housing complexes coming up, these suppliers were undercutting each other.

It was a Sunday. Bimal could hear his father shouting on the phone, “No I am not joining your group to form cartel. “

“Don’t threaten me.” He slammed the phone back on the cradle.

Bhanu was with the family for more than twenty years. He was like one of the family. He too heard the argument and was worried about Supriyo’s failing health.

By the time he served him breakfast there was the sound of the calling bell. Bhanu went to the door via the drawing room. It was three bed roomed flat with a spacious drawing room, a dinning room and two bathrooms. There was a common servant’s area in the complex where Bhanu slept.

“Babu, Malakar has come.”

Malakar was one of those petty suppliers. Supriyo cursed, “These idiots will not allow me to live in peace even on a Sunday.”

“Ask the bugger to wait.” Supriyo said fumingly.

Bimal could hear all the exchanges from his bed. He was late riser on Sundays. He knew that the bigger drama was yet to start as Ajit had not returned the previous night. He could hear his father restless throughout the night.

It was about ten in the morning when Ajit returned and the usual outburst of his father was there. Ajit shouted back to his father, “Old man don’t shout like that at me. You will get heart attack and all your properties would come to me and to your loving son Bimal.”

“I will disinherit you. You scum,” his father shouted back.

The whole of Sunday wore a look of grave yard in Mitra house; no one was talking to any one.

There was hardly in peace in the house. The week passed off.

As usual Malakr came on next Sunday but a bit early. He found the door open. He pressed the bell no one answered. Bhanu was still in servant’s quarter.

When Bhanu came to the flat he found the door open, some one has tampered the mortice lock of the front door. He found that no one was awake yet. He went to Supriyo’ room and found him lying on the bed and blood oozing out of his slit throat, there were signs of struggle. Bhanu gave out a big scream. Both Ajit and Bimal woke up and rushed to their father’s bed room. Ajit felt for his pulse, the beat was not there.

When police came they found three of them grief stricken. Nothing was stolen from the house.

The body was sent for post mortem and police detectives looked for clues in the room.

Malakar was arrested for murder. After two days Malakar released on bail as the postmortem report revealed that the murder was committed some times in the night.

The police were also investigating the competitors when Bhanu told about the telephone conversation of the previous Sunday.

A murder is always a messy thing. While cross examining the brothers it was revealed that the previous night there was a big argument between Ajit and Supriyo. The police found a blood soaked T shirt in Ajit’s cupboard. The shirt was sent to the forensic laboratory. They found matching blood of Supriyo on Ajit’s T shirt. Ajit was arrested for the murder of his father.The murder weapon was not found.

The police investigation revealed  Ajit to be unemployed and was living a high roller life. It was concluded that the money was the motive of the murder though Ajit vehemently protested and claimed to be innocent.

Suchitra, niece of samaranand an ameature private investigator, was not charmed by Ajit but her friend Simi was.

Samaranand had just returned from the club after playing his usual nine holes with Inder. He was preparing to go to the office when  Suchitra came with Simi. Samaranand had met Simi many times and knew her well.

“Kaku you must save Ajit,” Simi pleaded.

“Hold on, let me get settled. Come have a seat,” he invited both of them.

“Gopal, bring tea and some snacks for these young ladies,” he called out to his servant.

Samaranand was aware of the case from the news papers. To him it looked like an open and shut case.

Simi did not touch the snacks, she was agitated, “Ajit can not commit murder. He is tough out side but a delicate person in reality. I run a nursery for destitute street dogs and he helps me in running it.”

“Uncle if you wish you can talk to his friends. I can call them here.”

Samaranand agreed to look into the case and also her suggestion of meeting the friends.

He had a detail discussion with Ajit’s friends and found all of them had one common opinion about Ajit and that was “He is a compassionate person.”

They were all intrigued by his mysterious absence in the night and his source of money.

Samaranand visited Ajit in jail to find out more about his personal life.

Ajit admitted to be rude with his father at times. He refused to divulge his nocturnal activity, Samaranand was baffled.

Simi was a regular visitor of Mitra house so she arranged his visit to the Mitra house.

Bimal had gone to the college and Bhanu, the sevant was in the house.

He went to Ajit’s room. There were posters of Van Damn, Bruce Lee, and Sylvester Stallone on his walls. The cupboard was full of sports apparel. He was surprised to find books of Poelo Coelho.

Then he entered Bimal’s room. It was an orderly room. The book rack was full. His computer was on line. Samaranad sat in front of the computer and looked at various files. He was amazed. He himself was not so expert on computer but knew that all the files were masked and required passwords. He wished that Tikoo would have been there to handle the computer. He was surprised to find some oversized T shirts in the cupboard of Bimal. There were dumbbells below his bed.

Samaranand was disturbed as he could not find anything to help Ajit. He decided to interview Ajit again about his night activity. Possibly one of his nocturnal buddies might have committed the crime. He was not ruling out the angle of one of the rivals committing the murder. The real state related crime was on the rise in Calcutta. He felt the absence of his fifteen years old nephew Tikoo badly, Tikoo was his assistant for such investigations, as he had gone out for a school expedition. He was expected back the next day.

Tikoo was thrilled when he came to know that Samaranand was missing him in a case. On his return from expedition he immediately rushed to Samaranand’s flat.

In a business like manner Tikoo was given the task to find out more about Bimal.

Samaranand went to meet Ajit at the jail.

With great reluctance Ajit relented to talk about his night activity.

It emerged that in the night he used to take part in free for all fight in an underground garage of a rich guy. There would be heavy betting. The crowd consisted of rich guys and ladies who had money to splurge and liked the bloody gore. They were there for thrill and he for money. That was the reason why he quite often came late at night. The night before the murder of his father he had no fight scheduled so there was no question of him leaving a bloody T shirt. The problem in this alibi is that the fight was illegal so no one will come forward to vouch for such fight. So his source of earning would remain a dubious one for the police. However Samaranand was convinced about his innocence.

“Bimal has no friend in his locality. I tracked a friend from his school who is known to my friend’s elder brother. In the school he was a loner and selfish. He is in an Orkut group. I hope you know that Orkut is an internet site created by Googles for Social networking. It is named Orkut after its creators name Orkut Buyukokoten. In these groups one can become member only by invitation. He likes chatting in the net. He has boasted to some of the guys that he is like a Hercules in the virtual world,” Tikoo informed.

Tikoo was himself a computer geek and that was the reason of his becoming assistant to Samaranand in his adventures.

With Tikoo Samaranand paid a visit to Mitra flat in the noon time. Bimal was out in college. Tikoo sat in front of the computer and broke the code, as per Tikoo it was a simple code as Bimal has used his name in reverse LAMIB as the password. Tikoo started working furiously on the key board; there was a sublime smile on his face.

Samaranand in the meanwhile enquired more about the threatening call from Bhanu. Bhanu informed that it was Supriyo who actually wanted other contractors to go bust. So that lead of rival’s committing the murder went cold.

Both Samaranand and Tikoo came out of that South Calcutta flat in Southern Avenue and hailed a cab for Golf Green.

Tikoo straight away went to the computer in Samaranad’s flat and logged on. He was busy net surfing and phoning some one.

Samaranand asked Gopal to bring tea. He sat in his favourite rocking chair closed his eyes and started playing the findings of the murder in his mind.He arranged those informations so far collected in an orderly manner in his mind.

Ajit used to fight illegal fights for earning money.

Ajit was a compassionate person.

Ajit was liked by all his friends.

Supriyo was not happy with Ajit.

Bimal had no friend.

Bimal was selfish.

Supriyo loved Bimal.

Supriyo was a greedy man.

Supriyo had many enemies because he wanted to corner the business.

One thing was clearly emerging that there was no love in that Mitra house.

There was ring of his land phone and heard Tikoo was talking .

Tikoo left for his house after a few hours.

Next day morning a breathless Tikoo came to Samaranand's flat , requested him to go to the central park of Golf Green with him.

After about half an hour both of them left for central park. As per Tikoo’s direction Samaranand sat on a bench and Tikoo went out of the gate. Samaranad was surprised to see Tikoo entering the park with a spectacled teen and both with cold drinks in hand. Then suddenly Tikoo slumped on the ground and the stranger ran out. Samaranand without wasting any time rushed to Tikoo and realized that he was poisoned. He rushed Tikoo to the hospital where his stomach was pumped to extract the poison. In the meanwhile that teenager had vanished.

Next day Tikoo was moved out of the ICU to the general ward, his worried parents were there. Samaranand started feeling guilty about the whole affair. It was he who involved Tikoo in this game. Tikoo’s eyes were closed. Samaranad placed his hand lovingly on his forehead. Tikoo immediately opened his eyes and said, “Kaku you must report to police that Bimal is the real culprit not Ajit.”

“I am proud of you Tikoo. Don’t worry he is already under interrogation by police. First tell me why did he come for you?”

“From his computer I could find out about his Orkut membership. Then I used ID of one of my friends who is member in the same circle. There I logged on and declared that I know one of us is a murderer of father, I had this hunch of him being the real culprit so I provoked him in his Orkut group. During the chat I started giving out some details of Mitra’s locality of Southern Avenue. The bait was taken and some one calling himself Hercules wanted to know more from me in person. Then I gave my cell number ,I did not want to give him my land number otherwise he would have tracked my address from the Calcutta Telephones web page. Bimal contacted me and I fixed up central park for rendezvous. I never bargained that he will be daring enough to murder me there in the broad day light. He came on his brother’s bike. We started talking and then he suggested that we take some soft drink. Rest you have seen.”

“I guess he was already carrying a coke bottle laced with poison and must have asked that vendor to keep that for him. So when both of you went there he gave you the bottle which was laced with poison. In my crude way I was convinced that he committed the murder as Bhanu told me that though Bimal was brilliant but he was jealous of his elder brother because he was a kind of debonair rascal whom every one liked. The dumbbell below his bed shows that in addition to his brain he was after brawn. I think he put on Ajits T shirt in the night and slit his father"s throat while he was asleep. The blood was spewed on the T shirt which he put back in Ajit’s cupboard and then coolly went to sleep. He was sure that no one will ever doubt him as he was so meek and studious .He was fed up with his father’s stingy ways and was jealous of Ajit from the core of his heart, Ajit's popularity and debonair way of life made him feel inferior. Thus he wanted to eliminate both by his diabolical plan and inherit the property. Tampering the mortice lock of the outer door was a red herring, it was made to appear as though someone from outside might have come. He is a psychological pervert,” was the summing up of Samaranand. 

Ajit was released; both Simi and Ajit came with sweets in Samaranand’s flat. Tikoo was called and was presented a lap top by Simi for his daring act and which actually helped in nabbing Bimal red handed. Ajit was sad for his brother and decide to engage a renowned lawyer to fight Bimal’s case.

Later on when Samaranand and Tikoo were discussing the case then Tikoo commented, " Remember you told me the story of Illiad."

"Yes, about the ten years war between the Greek and the Trojans."

" There you told me that the Greek built a big wooden horse and some soldiers hid in that hollow horse. It was left at the gate of the Trojans and the Greek pretended to leave by ship. The Trojan's were told by one of the Greek soldiers who was left behind that the horse was a gift to queen Athena. The Trojans dragged the horse inside their fort. Thus the Greek soldiers hiding inside the horse could get inside their fort and win the war."

Samaranad sighed and said , "Yes I remeber and I know you are trying to tell me that Bimal is like a Trojan horse."

" In a way yes, also I want to tell you that there is a computer virus known as Trojan which sits quietly in the computer and destroys the softwares loaded in that computer. So our friend Bimal was like that computer virus in Mitra house."

Note;When this story was written in 2005 then the social network Orku was live and throbbing. Now it has been closed down.

The ransom ....concluding part of The mask

The ransom

“Yes,yes we will call it Coronavirus !” Soumaya yelled with joy while his fingers played with the laptop like he was playing a piano key board.

Samaranand, Babulal and Soumaya were in Samaranand’s flat in Golf Green to catchup with  the progress of teaching a lesson to the owner of Pakheer Basha. The readers would recall that Babulal had visited Prantik in Bolpur , under guidance of Samaranand could lift the curtain on the mystery of dancing mask at night that was the doing of the owner to get the guest move out much before scheduled time. Samaranand’s friend Dinu and his family was one such victim.

Samaranand had promised Dinu that he would teach that Ghose ( owner of Pakheer Basha) fellow a lesson. After that talk Samaranand sent Babulal once again to Prantik to collect data about the past guests who stayed in Pakheer Basha and also to collect guest list and details of similar setups run through B& B (bed and breakfast) at Prantik.

Armed with the data he framed a plan with Babulal and Soumaya. Readers may know that Soumaya is a computer geek and a hacker. Initial plan was simple, it was to lower the rating of Pakheer Basha in all social media platforms like Google, Facebook, B& B page etc. This was in Soumaya’s domain of expertise. Soumaya also carries out rating enhancement through his cahoots in Tollygaunge and Sealdah slums. He has 50 boys who carryout this, Soumaya has given each a smartphone and pays for the monthly subscription, the boys are excited with this free phone so they happily carryout the task of putting like in FB,comment, star rating etc in Google and so on as instructed by Soumaya. All of them have established false identity in virtual network. In this particular case false identity would not work as the guest who really stayed there would have to give the rating as the owner Ghose was clever enough to tally the name with the guest list.

Armed with actual guest list Soumaya had a meeting with his team in Sealdah slum. One of the boys who was also savvy in computer pointed out that if they assume the guest name then their IP address can be tracked in case Ghose becomes suspicious and takes help of some IT expert. They also knew Ghose enhances the star rating with the help of such group. Then Soumaya had a bright idea of involving Lee from Chinatown who was also a fellow hacker.

Next they had a meeting with Lee at Big Boss restaurant in Tangra. Lee suggested to use his hacker friends in China who can carry out the rating war.

Soumaya kept Samaranand and Babulal aware of his plan.

 The group in China was given the names of the past guests of Pakheer Basha, Samaranand supplied the content as Chinese were not good in English. Initially 3 star was given by the Chinese group by phising the identity of one of the past guests, they were routing through Pakistan. Immediately within 6 hours someone gave 5 star and the average rating was maintained as 4.5 in Google. It was clear that Ghose had used his agency to neutralize the poor rating.They started the war on Google first. Then 4 of them gave 2 each and the average came down below 4, we all know anything below 4 is shunned. The game of Star War was hotting up between unknown players in the virtual battle field. They found in the meanwhile Ghose was trying to reply on each of the comment by promising to improve the performance. Within 2 days the rating of Pakheer Basha climbed down below 3. The group from China hacked B&B page and put adverse comment about the setup. The group had the list of guests of other such setups in Prantik, they praised those and started discouraging people from going to Pakheer Basha.

After a fortnight Babulal was again sent to Prantik to make a discreet inquiry about the result of the cyber-attack. From the Toto driver Khokon he gathered that Gopi was complaining that no new guests were coming, the owner was unhappy, as Gopi could not make them happy; he feared that he might lose the job.

Samaranand never wanted Gopi to lose job. So he advised Soumaya to suggest the Chinese group to directly meddle with the webpage of Pakheer Basha and other business which that business group controls.

Now the attack was direct, first they meddled with their computing system and thus all emails got screwed. Next they got into their data base and blocked it by using Ransomware.This virus caused total paralysis of the computing system in Ghose's establishment. Ghose could not carryout on line transactions, email etc.

Yes by this time reader must have understood that why Soumaya yelled and said, “We will call it coronavirus” as it came from China, of course not from Wuhan city of China.

Ghose received a Text message on his mobile informing him that if he doesn’t a pay a certain amount then he cannot retrieve his data. The amount was to be paid in cash and at a designated place in Tangra, which will be informed, to him later.

We are not aware of Ghose's reaction but from the Chinese group it was gathered by Soumaya that Ghose was compelled to pay a good sum of money to make his computer system normal.

Overnight the rating of Pakheer Basha started going up and within 4 days reached to 4.5.
A certain percentage of the money came to Soumaya who utilized that in purchasing some smart phones for his new recruit from the slums. He with his team of slum boys were on the lookout for new business area. They had less overhead so could under quote established players. In addition to rating enhancement they were engaged in cyber security also.
Samaranand with a twinkle in his eyes suggested,'Tap Ghose for cyber security job!" Babulal and Soumaya laughed out loudly !
All three headed for WOW,China at Park Street to celebrate as the mission was accomplished  with the help of friendly Chinese hackers!

Decoding the mask

Decoding the mask

“’The owner of Pakheer Basha at Prantik is a crook!’’ Samaranand said when he on his morning walk routine met his friend Dinu. Yes same Dinu who had to cut short his trip because of a mask. They were sitting on a bench by the side of lake when Samaranand was narrating his discovery. This time he had his assistant Babulal with him

Samaranand’s said, “You gave us the details like email id of the owner,mobile number of Gopi,and the location of the bungalow. I sent Babulal to Bolpur to nose around.” Then he looked at Babulal to tell his side of the story. 
Those who have been following exploits of Samaranand are aware that Babulal who had been assisting magicians, Sadhus in Delhi had run away from there and now with the help of computer wizard Soumaya is in various schemes of making money. He was helped by Samaranand to settle down in Kolkata and often does the legwork for Samaranand as he loves adventure. He is slightly built with modern spikey haircut. That day he was in jeans, sneakers and a bomber jacket. His appearance is ordinary and innocent, easily melts in a crowd.

Babulal coughed slightly and started his narration hesitantly.

Uncle (he calls Samaranand uncle) gave me all the details he collected from you and I rang up your nephew to get some details about Gopi. I came to know that Gopi is a son of a farmer and maintains the garden of the bungalow. He with his family stays in the outhouse, his school-going son is good in studies.He coordinates with the guests for food and local movement by totos (battery powered auto rickshaws). Your nephew Shubho mailed me a picture of the mask which you took while you first entered the bungalow. I got a similar mask made by an artisan in kumortuli.

I went to Bolpur and took a hotel accommodation near prantik, there are cheap lodgings available around that place. After checking in I did a quick reconnaissance of Pakheer Basha by taking a toto as suggested by uncle. On inquiring, the toto driver informed that Gopi has some fixed toto drivers who he calls. I became friendly with that toto driver Jhontu. I took him to a tea stall and fed him snacks. He promised that next day he would introduce me with one of those regular drivers of toto.

Next day Jhontu took me to the nearest toto stand at Prantik station and introduced me to Khokon. I was carrying the duplicate mask in a side bag when I went to meet Khokon. I used my charm to make friend with Khokon, I offered him imported cigarette which uncle had given me on his return from Australia.

Samaranand smiled and said, “As a ritual I purchase a pack of 10 Dunhill packets at Singapore. I gave one to Babulal, I have one for you too.”

“No, yar I have stopped smoking. “ Dinu said and then with his eyes he signaled Babulal to continue.

Babulal continues addressing Dinu.

I asked Khokon about your group , whether he remembers ferrying you. He remembered your group as you did not do any haggling with fare. He was feeling bad that you left abruptly but then informed that very next day a big group had come. It was one of those NRI ,Bengali groups. I got suspicious that how come very next day a group can come when your booking was still there. In the evening, I invited Khokon for dinner and drink. After a few peg he informed that Poltu is the most trusted toto driver of Gopi. That day while going to Kankali tala he had seen Gopi and Poltu in a huddle near the gate of Pakheer Basha and passed on an opbject looking like a mask. I pulled out the duplicate mask, and showed him , he jumped up in his chair and confirmed that it was the mask.

I requested him to introduce me to Poltu. Next day Khokon took me  to the same toto stand near Prantik and introduced me to Poltu as  cousin brother. Poltu suspiciously looked at me, I gave him a broad smile. I hired him for Kankali tala. He was silently driving, we were passing the serene mustard field there was not much crowd on the road, and occasionally overloaded bus would pass. I put on the mask and tapped Poltu. He looked back gave out a gurgling sound and stopped the toto. He was of average height with shifty eyes.

“Who gave you that mask?” Poltu shouted at me.

“Who else, Gopi.”I said.

“How can he give you the mask, you are a new person."

I removed the mask and sternly said, "I am from police" and showed him my false id card. 

"A few days back you hired a boy to pretend to sell the mask to an elderly passenger at Kankali tala. He had reported to police.I have been sent to inquire."

Poltu was on his knees, started babbling, "If i go to jail who would look after my old parents. This Gopi fellow asked me to play the prank on that gentleman."

"How frequently do you do the mask drama?"

"Mostly during busy tourist season."

"Then what happens?"

"Mostly next day the tourists leave Pakheer Basha."

I asked him to return back and instructed him to bring Gopi to me or otherwise i would be compelled to arrest him.
Pronto by evening time Poltu brought the caretaker Gopi to my room in the lodge. Gopi was a thin fellow , average height of 5ft 5inches with a shabby pant, torn sweater and sandals. In the meanwhile i had befriended a local policeman and requested him to be there in my room as i was going to expose a scam.
In presence of Gopi i told the constable that here was the culprit of the scam about which i was telling him. Gopi was in tears and i could sense that Poltu had already briefed him. With folded hand he said, "I am a poor man. I have to feed my family so i did whatever my master from Kolkata instructed."
Tell me ," did you you stage the mask fiasco in the night."
"The ground floor bedroom has a sliding door in the cupboard from the adjoining room. I took off the mask from the wall, entered the room and breathed down on memsahib with the mask on my face. by the time she was stirring up quietly i got in the cupboard and came out."
"You must be doing this often to scare away guests. Let me guess you then went up and repeated the act with others.But then how did you get out when all assembled in the hall?"
"That was not difficult sir, i went down the pipe from the balcony"' He told sheepishly.
Thus my investigation completed, i have been reporting the progress regularly to uncle. I asked the constable to deal with the situation. I am sure that the constable might have taken some money from Dinu and left him scot free.
Dinu was seething with anger as cunningly they had been fooled , he asked, "why did they do this to us?"
"First you have picked  a fight , given low star rating and secondly they must have charged a tidy some from the NRI group. As we know for such short booking there is surge pricing in hotels and such places which is much higher than what you had paid as you booked 2 months in advance.." Samaranand explained patiently.
"So they have been doing this trick during peak seasons."Dinu asked.
"Yes, also i checked in Google about your giving 3 stars rating to Pakheer Basha. Immediately within 4 hours of your posting there was another posting giving 5 star to the joint. The average of 4.4 star was thus maintained."
"It means they have lackeys who boost up the star ratings in all such platforms, rascals!" Dinu said brightly.
"Yes, haven't you noticed those advertisement about work from home earning for house wives and retired person. There are agencies who manipulate ratings by utilizing ids of such individuals against some monthly sum. These people retweet, give like in Face Book, manipulate ratings in all kind of virtual platforms." Samaranand explained patiently.
"How to teach a lesson to this rascal?" Dinu looked at Saranand and Babulal.
"Uncle has a plan!"Babulal said with a broad smile.
Yes,Samaranand has a plan to screw those rascals.

The mask

The Mask

“Yes we had to cut short our stay in Bolpur because of a mask!” exasperatedly told Dinu.

Samaranand was surprised to see Dinu taking a morning walk in his usual grey tracksuit and a black fleece hoody that day. When he last met, Dinu a few days back then he informed Samaranand that he would be away for a week or so to Bolpur where his brother with his family from Delhi would join. His nephew had booked a bungalow called “Pakheer basha “ ( Bird’s nest ) through B&B at Prantik. But to his surprise found Dinu taking walk within 3 days of his tour which was of more than seven days.

On inquiring the reason of Dinu’s early return, he got the answer.

Sensing an interesting story Samaranand invited Dinu to a bench by the side of the lake and eagerly asked ,”Tell me the story of mask !”

Dinu coughed and looked sheepishly at Samaranand and said you , “You will not believe as you are a rationalist !”

Samaranand laughed out loudly , winked at Dinu and said , “Even an interesting ghost story or supernatural would have some logic. Come on tell me in full, don’t leave any small detail.’’

Dinu started telling about his trip to Santiniketan.

Me and my wife reached by 9 am to Howrah station to Catch Santiniketan Express which leaves at 10.10 am from platform 12. We asked our driver to wait and trooped to the Food Plaza for breakfast. Had alooparatha my favourite.

Dinu took a breath and mischievously looked at samaranand and said ,” Look I am not leaving any detail!”

Samaranand smiled and said “”continue, leave the semantics .”

Dinu continued…

We got in the chair car and occupied our seats 45 and 46 in Coach C2 . The train started as scheduled. In front of us a group of six oldies with wives were travelling and were noisy as hell. I couldn’t concentrate in reading the book by Jeffrey Archer  “Nothing Ventured”, my wife was trying to get sleep in the window seat. The train reached on time at 12.30  and Bappa was there to receive.

We took a toto after haggling for fare, we reached near Camelia but then the toto driver was not able to locate the Pakheer Basha. He took guidance from some local youth and took a kuch pakka road deep inside Prantik.

Samaranand said, “I know Camelia hotel, I had stayed there many times about 20 years back, Prantik was just getting developed, a few scattered houses could be seen from the hotel.”’

Dinu continued..

Now Prantik is full of Bungalows but the connecting roads are bad.

We reached the destination , my brother and his family were already there. Two bedrooms in first floor and one in ground floor, we took the ground floor bedroom. The living room,drawing room and dinning room combined is a big hall. One of the walls of the drawing room is decorated with various masks, some of those are scary one. I commented that the house owner must have put CCTV camera behind one of those masks.

Samaranand stopped Dinu and commented, “”Are those chau dance masks, typical of Bengal.”

“No, there was not a single of Chau kind, those were pretty scarry. I asked Gopi the caretaker about those masks and pointed a particular black mask, where can I get one like that?’’

He told that those masks are not available in local ethnic markets. We finished our lunch quickly. We were famished so did not bother about the quality of food.  Took rest and then called totos through Gopi to take round of Sona Jhuri market. The journey by toto through that kacha pakka road was bone breaking . After marketing we headed back through the same pot holed road. I was irritated because of bumpy journey, I was cursing myself for not checking the location prior to booking. The dinner was terrible, it appears that all these B&B type bungalows get their food from a common kitchen which  must be a typical Bengali roadside joint of cheap type. My nephew lost cool and sent angry email to the owner. I started reviewing Pakheer Basha in Google , gave three stars, before posting it I looked at the mask and said loudly I am giving 3 stars, I wanted to give 2 stars but the bungalow with it’s amenities compelled me to give 3.

The breakfast was worst, half-cooked puri. My nephew informed that the owner has replied and put the onus back on us saying we had a choice to go elsewhere. I was not expecting such reply when we know that there is dog eat dog meat competition out there in the market.

We took toto and headed for Kankalitala. As usual the toto was organised by Gopi,the caretaker. We reached Kankalitala in 20 minutes. While taking round of the market by the side of temple I was approached by a boy who pulled out a black mask like the one hanging in the bungalow and asked whether I was interested in buying. I asked him to wait and took out my mobile to take a snap, when I turned the boy had vanished. I was flummoxed, I patted my trouser pocket to check whether my wallet was still there. I narrated this incident to my brother and nephew. They thought I was pulling their leg.

We spent two hours at the temple, took snaps. Kankali tala is one the 51 shakti piths, it is said that Devi’s rib cage had fallen here.

“’Yes I know the mythology. As we know Lord Shiva was seething with anger on sati’s death, he was doing his earth shattering tandav dance. All the Devas approached Vishnu to find a solution. All of them came to the conclusion that until the dead body of Devi is not removed Shiva would not cool down. Vishnu with his Sudershan chakra dissected the body of sati, those 51 parts thus cut fell throughout India and each place had become a Pithasthan, Hindu devotees throng to those 51 pithasthans. Satis two parts fell in Pakistan, then of course it was India. Those two places are Hinglaj and Shivakaraya, many devotees from India go on pilgrimage to those places.”” Samaranand added.

Dinu continued;
After finishing round of Kankalitala we headed for tourist lodge for lunch, we wanted to avoid lunch in Pakheer Bashaa because of bad experience. We spent rest of the day going round Tagore's abode, Santiniketan.
Before dinner we had a few pegs while again the masks on the wall were looking down at us. I lifted the glass and said, ' Cheers"'  to the mask. After a drink we asked Gopi to serve dinner. As usual it was bad. My nephew Shubho again sent an angry email.
It was getting late, we hit the bed. My wife who is a light sleeper suddenly got up  and woke me up. 
"There is someone in the room. I have clearly seen that black mask breathing down on my face."
I got down from the bed and searched the room including looking below the bed. There was no one. I opened the connecting door to the drawing room, switched on the light and went to the wall, the mask was missing. Hearing us moving in drawing room my bother and Shubho came down. They too were shaken as the mask was seen by them too either in the far corner dancing or looking at them through the window. We shouted for Gopi,he came from the outhouse rubbing his sleepy eyes. We were all agitated and confronted him. He showed total ignorance about the mask incident. We could not sleep properly in the night.
During breakfast we decided to leave for Calcutta, we had paid money in advance so Shubho once again spoke to the owner regarding our decision of vacating the rooms earler than schedule. That rascal told that he can refund ten percent of the balance money. He knew anyhow we would leave so blackmailed us. Somehow we managed to get reservation in ordinary chair car of Santiniketan Express for our return to Kolkata.
Samaranand is a rationalist and does not believe in supernatural so his binary mind was busy in finding a logical reason, he believes in black and white, there is no place for grey.
Samaranand decided to find out the truth about the incidence of Mask at Prantik. He immediately rang up his assistant Babulal and started making programme for Santiniketan.
"I will go to the root of the mask mystery!" Samaranad said with resolve to Dinu.

Mystery deepens....Virtually possible part 5

Mystery deepens ..Virtually possible part 5

""Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;""

Mr.Dey was reciting on the roof of the building while Samaranand was standing beside him when the round red object at the far eastern sky was spinning up, the horizon was gradually turning from dark to red and then white, they were watching sunrise at Rajarhat.

Samaranand joined in reciting the famous “The Road not taken’ poem of Robert Frost,
 he recited the next 4 lines:

"'Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,""

‘Yes, it is my favourite poem too!” He told Mr.Dey. 
Mr Dey said, " Our organisation is like that poem, we took the other path. I will explain you later."

Samaranand was invited to see the sunrise; This is how it happened that day.

He could hear the sound of morning crows from his bed in Rajarhat where Mr.Dey had brought him. He realized that he was apparently captive and he himself decided to play along as no coercive treatment was meted out to him.  It was 5.30 am, he got up and shuffled to the attached bathroom. He came out after freshening up when heard a knock on the door.

With a feebly cough Mr.Dey entered and appeared to be happy seeing Samaranand to be ready.

‘Oh,you are up! Come with me to the roof to watch the sunrise.”

Samaranand followed him through the hall where there was a different group of youngsters on the computers, engrossed in their work. They went out to a running corridor with two lifts. From the marking on the lift he could know that he was in 5^th floor of a 10 floor building. It did not look like any residential complex, he could see the doors of two other rooms.

Mr.Dey smiled and said, ‘’ You have guessed correctly, this building belongs to our organization. Each floor has office space plus attached guestrooms like this floor. Now we will go up to 10^th floor and then walk up the stair to the roof.’

Samaranand became more curious to know about the illusive organization.

The morning was chilly both of them were in pajama and kurta with shawls wrapped around , it was chilly still and more so in the wide open Rajarhat. By 6.30 sun was fully up, MrDey invited Samaranand to go down.

They were sitting in a dining hall in 5^th floor having tea.

Samaranand could not check his curiosity,” Who are you, what does the organization do?”

Mr.Dey smiled and said, “Gradually you will come to know about us. First we finish tea and then you take bath, we will have breakfast and after that when our general shift staff come then I will take you round to show our activities.”

Samranand was matured enough to control his curiosity and also realized M.Dey was trying to convince him something.

Mr.Dey handed over a wireless bone contact headphone to him with a mike and said whatever you require can tell in that mike and will get it. Even you can listen to your favourite music simply by saying ‘Ok,Sanku play so and so song..!”

He put that on and said ‘Ok,Sanku” when he heard a silky male voice responding in English “What can I do? Do you want me to play your favourite Rabindrasangeet fom your Google play list?”

He was taken aback to find that Sanku has hacked his Google home account.

Mr.Dey looked serenely at him and said, ‘We have all information about your likes and dislikes. Enjoy our hospitality. You can ask Sanku to arrange your breakfast in your room. Once you are done ask Sanku to inform me then I will come and take you round. Yes we have developed this AI (artificial intelligence) and named it Sanku as a tribute to Satyajit Ray who created the eccentric scientist Sanku. See you till then!”

Saying those words Mr.Dey walked out.

Samaranand had watched a movie called Her where the protagonist Theodore Twombly would be constantly chatting to some Samantha through a similar headphone. Samantha was an AI and serving many other clients simultaneously. He realized that he now had an AI to help him.He has a Google home where he has to say simply “Ok,Google" before requesting for music or any information. This AI was part Samantha part Google Home.

He mischievously said, “Ok,Sanku can you help me to get out of this place.’

He heard a chuckle and heard Sanku in his headphone,’Yes I can guide you out, even I can call Uber for you but I have instructions to make sure that you remain within the periphery of this floor.” Samaranad realized that through the headphone he was geo tracked or may be the attire which he was wearing may have RFID(radio frequency identification) stuck somewhere in the lining or close circuit cameras were monitoring his movement. He became more eager to know about that smart organization which can develop their own AI. For those moments he forgot that Somaya was still missing, when suddenly came back to reality he started thinking that mystery of Soumay’s disappearance would be gradually revealed and hoped nothing bad had happened to him.

He requested Sanku to play Mood from his playlist in Google play and walked towards his room.
He went back to his room through that hall with bank of computers and robotic employees with headphone strapped. While he passed them with his headphone playing a soothing old Hindi film song they did not even look up or acknowledged his presence. As if he was invisible.
He took bath and then put on the headphone to order breakfast on Sanku.
"Ok,Sanku!"
"What can i do for you?" the unearthly voice floated in his headphone.
"Get me toast and fried egg with sunny side up."
"Anything else? Tea or coffee?'
"Oh,yes,get me coffee !"
"No sugar! i suppose!"
Samaranand was surprised to know that Sanku knows that he does not take sugar in tea or coffee.
"Your breakfast will be served in 20 minutes!"
Yes, a smartly dressed young-man entered with a tray of breakfast ordered by him.
He sat by the window table while enjoying his breakfast and requested Sanku to play songs of Hemant Kumar from his playlist in Google.
He forgot that he was a captive and got lost in music and that leisure breakfast, it was a feeling of being in a resort where he was getting whatever he was asking. He was lost in the thought of why was he brought there.... was he a captive or a guest ?

Virtually possible part 2, the deal

Virtually possible part 2, The deal

Santiniketan Express was about to pull out when Babulal and Soumaya entered the AC Chair car. Soumaya as usual was in his bomber jacket ,jeans with headphone strapped on his head , Babulal in light blue cardigan,jeans and a monkey cap lugging a rucksack on his back. He gave a broad smile to Samaranand. Soumaya took the window seat and Babulal took the middle seat next to samaranand who was occupying isle seat. 

“Finally we could seal the deal!” Babula said with a broad smile, he pulled out a bundle of two thousand rupee notes. Samaranad cautioned him with his eyes and gestured to put those back in his pocket.

Samaranand said, ‘’Yes,but let us not draw attention! I see, finally you could collect the other half of money from Sunil.”
"Yes last evening we collected the money, i left with the money but Soumaya stayed back to install the software."
The train started , Samaranand pulled out the book Sapiens and started reading, Soumaya took out his mobile and got busy playing video game, Babulal dosed off to sleep.
In the book repeatedly it was stressed that Sapiens are hunter and gatherer , he kept the book on the table in front and started thinking the events of the last few days, it was hunter and gatherer situation.

Samaranad’s mind flashed back to the lake and his usual morning walk . It happened the very next day after he had received the video of him being driver of Devanand in the song sequence of the film Hum Dono, Mein Zindagi ka sath...

He was walking fast on the track when he heard a hesitant cough, he looked back and found those two young men who were following him last few days were there. He stopped when one of them came forward and said, ‘’Can we talk?”

Samaranand pretended as though he did not get the drift of his talk,he raised his eye brows and asked,”About what?”

“About Babulal!”” the older of the two replied.

Samaranand thought there was no use of dodging it was better to face the problem squarely.

“Ok,let us sit down and talk!’’ He walked towards an empty bench by the side of lake.

The older guy introduced himself as Sunil Maity and his younger brother Anil.

-Anil knows Babulal well as Babulal with the help of Anil sells guess papers to 3 schools. We also know that there is one Soumaya who is a computer geek and has developed an algorithm for video where he can doctor it, mix new with old etc.

Samaranand;

-Why are you telling me all these. Why don’t you talk to Babulal as I know him casually and I am not involved in his business.

Sunil hesitantly said “We are not able to contact him but he had talked about you , how initially you helped him financially and looks up to you as a mentor. When you solved that case about planchet then he brought some of his friend to lake and showed you from a distance. One of them has identified you to Anil when we could not locate Babaulal, so that is why we have been following you lest Babulal meets you. Will you help to fix a meeting with Babulal? We have a better commercial proposition than what we offered last.”

Samaranand also wanted to close the issue and also thought it was a small algorithm developed by Soumaya and nothing further, so if those two boys could make some money from that deal then it would help Soumaya to purchase some modern computer hardware to develop video games which was his ultimate goal.

Samaranad said,’Ok, I will discuss with them and come to your office. Babulal told me that you run your office from your house in Lansdown and he knows the location of your house. He will call you and fix the time.”

Sunil ,the elder brother was happy and said, “’Let me promise you that you won’t repent!””

Samaranand had already judged Sunil and Anil, they were typical upper class Bengali with big ancestral property, as a matter of fact these type of young men only are getting into IT, cable or restaurant business. Their life style is sustained by the rents what is collected from the buildings they own, very often he had come across such characters in golf course. He was confident to handle them.

Those two young men left and Samaranand rang up Babulal and gave him some instructions about the meeting fixed for the next day.

Next day all three went to Sunils house at Lansdown. It was a sprawling old house. It looked as though the house had been renovated recently, it was a four storied building with a portico in the front. Gopal stopped the car in front of the gate, opened the big iron grilled gate and parked the car under the portico. Hearing the sound of the car both brothers came out with a third person who looked to be a Marwari guy.

They were ushered in a big drawing room with high ceiling. Samaranand could see the hooks for hand pulled pankha on the ceiling, now of course  modern fans with long down rods were hanging from the ceiling. In the front there were big windows and three doors of which two at two ends leading to inner sanctum.. It reminded him of his own ancestral red bricked house in Allahabad. The furniture were mix of antique and modern. The sofas were old style ,wide and leathery with a marble center table. The walls were decorated by pictures of ancestors and some paintings of English painters. Samaranad thought it was a classic Satyajit Ray movie setup with a big piano and brass phone missing. He was impressed. Babulal and Soumaya were totally nonplussed, they were just gaping at those trophies, antiques , wall hangings. Samaranad approached the sofa with those three when Babulal and Soumaya started going round the walls and touching those antiques.

“I am impressed by your this drawing room, how old is your house?’

“It’s about 150 years old! My great great grandfather built it, he was a stevedore , with his own company and warehouse along Khidirpur   dock. Now of course we have sold that company, so many other ports have come up in India, the business opportunities have reduced with major old English companies of Kolkata going bust .”

“Yes I know some of those old company owners who still do the job of stevedore in addition to expanding in restaurant or some other such business. I have come across them at Tolly Club.”

In the meanwhile Babulal and Soumaya after taking round of the room came and sat by the side of Samaranand.

‘Ok what is your proposition?”’

‘”We know that Babulal and Soumaya has no reach in the society. Initially we want to sell the products, I mean videos made to order in close circle. Let me introduce Khaitan who as you know is from a business community where there is a big community link. We can share 5 percent from that earning.”

“”But how much is the up front? Plus how do we know how many you have sold and at what price?”

“’We have not yet decided about the price as it will vary from  case to case plus the buying capacity of the person.”

“I suggest that you pay an amount of 50 lakhs to Babulal and Soumaya as upfront , we don’t bother about how much you earn. Let it be one-time deal as it will be difficult for us to monitor your day to day activity plus we want to be disassociated after signing the confidentiality clause of the deal. The software will be yours to use the way you think commercially viable.”

“That’s too much, you give us time till tomorrow to decide.”

“Ok, we meet the same time tomorrow.” Samaranand got up, Babulal and Soumaya followed him.

Those three walked them out to their car. When the car came out of the gate Samaranand asked Gopal to stop the car. He got down with Babulal and walked towards the beggar woman. It was Pagli, he gave a ten rupee note to her and Baulal hunched before her and started talking in low voice. Samaranand walked back to the car and after sometimes Babulal joined him.

In the evening they met at Samarnand’s flat in Golf Green and discussed strategy to fix the price.

Next day at the same house in Lansdown they had the meeting. 

“We can offer you 25 lakhs with a promise that if there is any glitch then Soumaya will help to solve it.”

Samaranand was happy that talk was going as per his scheme, at least the offer has jumped to 25 lakhs from their initial offer of one lakh.

“’In yesterday’s talk Soumaya’s requirement was not there so you pay 20 lakhs for that and the amount becomes 45 lakhs, it is less than what we asked yesterday.”

“Let seal the deal at 40 Lakhs.”” Khaitan said.

“You pay 20 lakhs now and Soumaya leaves the hard disc with you. When you pay the other half he would help to install in your main frame. If you want we can sign the contract on a stamped paper.” Samaranand said.

Khaitan pulled out a paper with the amount already written, Babulal and Soumaya signed as co-owner, Sunil and Khaitan signed from their side. They handed over a brief case full of money and asked Babulal to count. Soumaya handed over the hard disc.  They all shook hand over a cup of tea.

Samaranad jerked back to present hearing jhali muri fellow shouting near their seat. 
 It was Soumay’s idea to give a treat to Samaranand, they knew he loved to go to Santiniketan and so the trip. Soumaya had duly installed the software next day and both collected the remaining money.

Samaranand patted Babulal for his bright idea of bugging the drawing room of Sunil. When they first entered then both Babulal and Soumaya were busy in putting bug behind those big picture frames but pretending to be awed by those pictures. In the morning of the same day Babulal had instructed Pagli the beggar woman who generally sits in front of the lake to station herself in front of that house in Lansdown Road.While coming out he handed over the recording device to pagli, as the bug cannot transmit beyond 100 meters so it was required to position someone within 100 meter range. The same day evening Babulal collected the device from her and played back the same during their strategy session. From that recording they could know that Khaitan had already contacted ad agencies to make videos with the software. The acquaintance angle was red herring,as Samaranand had given an offer of 50 lakhs so they decided that they could go between 30 to 40 lakhs rupees. Having known their internal discussion it was easy for Samaranand to pull off the deal. The bugs were not touched, pagli was permanently placed in front of the house in Lansdown Road.

The train left the platform, Babulal and Soumaya exchanged seats. Soumaya took out his lap top with a wifi dongle and fired it up. Then he started teaching Samaranad a video game called Tomb Raider . He created an Avatar for Samaranad who looked like a Chinese warrior and then he showed him his own Avatar, it was Tintin. In the game both are partners. Samaranand was thrilled like a child to learn that virtual game. Soumaya showed him a chat box at the side where they can discuss their strategy privately. He told him that both can play the game from any location. Samaranad got busy with the game by himself against some other players may be located at US,UK or any place in India.He did not notice that train had stopped, Soumaya got up to get down at the platform to stretch his leg, Babulal was snoring away.

The train started with a jolt, Babulal woke up and said “Where is Soumaya?’’

The train picked up full spead, Babulal checked the toilet,Soumaya was not there. They both split and searched the full vestibule train but Soumaya was not there.Soumaya had vanished.

Virtually possible

Samaranand got down from the car in his fleece jacket , his favourite cap on for his morning walk at the lake. The night temperature has already dived to 13 degrees. Monkey caps are out but still there were those who were brave enough to defy the winter breeze in their shorts. Samaranand thought that the winter is the time to show off the latest woolens procured during European trips by the business community or those nouveau rich Bengalis. With all colour and shades on the morning walkers the lake wears a different look. As usual at the left side ground some youngsters were playing India’s favorite game cricket. He speeded up his walk on the walking track near the lake, two youngsters who were watching cricket broke away from the group and started walking behind him. It was nothing usual,Samaranad did not bother much. Slowly he started overtaking the other walkers, those two young men sat down on a bench which of course Samaranand did not notice. After his usual round he was walking out of the gate and those two youngsters followed him and watched him go out. As per his daily routing he gave alms to three fixed beggars near the gate and got in his car, Gopal his driver dove him back to his flat in Golf Green. In the car he was immersed in his thought about Babulal who had not met him for the last two months, he had tried to contact him in his mobile but it was switched off.Next day morning again like every day he came for his morning walk, those two young men again started following him upto the cannon and back, but this time he noticed them by chance, his shoe lace had come out so he bent down to tie when those two too stopped abruptly, though he noticed them but did not bother much. But the third day he became alert about those two as they would start shadowing him from the cricket field keeping a constant distance. To check whether he was being followed he suddenly sat down on one of the benches when those two stopped and looked up at the trees as though trying to locate migratory birds which come from Siberia in winter,they took a few snaps with their mobile, Samaranad immediately knew that they had included him in their snap. He wanted to confront them but then thought of observing their movements instead. He was missing Babulal, he would have used Babulal to find information about those two rascals. His mobile started ringing, it was unknown number, he generally did not attend unknown number but on an impulse he pulled out his mobile from his jacket pocket and pressed the green button. He was startled to hear the voice, it was Babulal.

“Hello uncle, you must be wondering about me and my this new number. There is some development with Soumeya, he is programming video game and has been able to create some simple games.!”

“Ok,so,why are you missing? I know every computer geek is fond of video games, no big deal.”

“No uncle he had found out a way to produce CGI (computer generated image) and mix it with existing videos. Right now he is on it and then would switch to game. I like a fool shared this information in that English medium school where we generate guess paper for examination, one of the boys started showing interest and started pressurizing Soumaya to sell the programme as they wanted to put that in commercial use. Then one day that boy with his elder brother visited my room in Tollygaunge slum  and started pestering me. We refused because Soumaya is not yet ready and we don’t know the real value of that software. These guys offered one lakh. I told them to give us some time to decide. They left, we vacated that room and moved to a slum near Sealdah station and kept my mobile off. This is my new number,please store this number.’

Samaranad felt as though he was getting pulled in some kind of cloak and dagger game.

“So you guys are in a jam, where are you now?”’

“I am in the lake a few benches away from you, I am in disguise. I have been coming to the lake to warn you but somehow those two rascals have come to know about you so they have started following you lest I come and meet you.”

“Ok, now I know why those two are shadowing me, now I will go back and will like to meet you to understand about that software.’

“Ok,uncle, I will meet you with Soumaya by tomorrow.”

Babulal disconnected the mobile but Samaranand pretending the talk was continuing held the mobile by his ear and kept talking. He suddenly got up and loudly said in the mobile “Ok,I am coming to the hospital!’

He walked fast crossing those two startled young man and went out of lake the lake.

Then he started making plan for meeting Babulal and Soumaya, he rang up Babulal and asked him to come to the golf club next day morning.

Samaranand generally plays solo golf. Babula and Soumaya got down from a taxi and met Samaranand near the course. Sankar,the caddy took the bag all four started walking to the course. He took them to the shack near 6^th hole. He ordered daab and asked Soumaya to tell him about the software.

Soumaya asked him whether he had seen the movie Forest Gump.Samaranand nodded his head.

“Do you remember in that movie Tom Hanks who acts as Forrest Gump is congratulated by the president Robert Kennedy ,that movie was made in 1994 whereas Kennedy was killed in 1963.So how was that made possible? Of course the programme which was used then is obsolete now, CGI has become like real. I am able to put any person in any 3 to 4 minutes shot of some film. Now supposing I ask you with which favorite film actor you want to be seen in a sequence then I will put your image in that sequence.”

“Is that possible? Ok, put me in a sequence with Devanand.”

“Ok, tell me some songs of Devanand in YouTube, then I will see where I can put you. I have your images in YouTube.”

“Mein Zindagi ka sath nivaataa, Mana janaab ne pukara nahin,Dil kaa bhramar karey pukaar….choose any from these three.’

“I will send it to your email address by tomorrow.’

They finished their daab and got up to go.

Babulal said, “I will not be able to meet you for some time, those boys will also stop following you when they will find that you are not meeting me.”

Babulal and Soumaya left, Samaranand played a few holes and wound up golf for the day.

Samaranand could not concentrate in his work that day, he was eager to receive the mail from Soumaya.

As usual next day he went out for his morning walk around the lake and those two young men as usual followed him, he did not bother much about those.

After returning home he accessed his mail in his mobile and found the mail from Soumaya with attachment of a video.

He excitedly like a child with a new toy downloaded the video and then played it.

Soumaya had chosen Mein Zindagi ke sath and Samaranad was thrilled to find his image as driver driving the jeep for Devanand during the song sequence. He played the clip a few times more to absorb the feel good emotion. Then he realized that this itself has a big market potential, who would not like to have himself seen with his or her favorite celebrity in a video clip for a tiddy sum also it can be expanded to many other use like say in ad films or in wave series which has become latest craze.

He rang up Babulal and said, “It’s amazing. Soumaya is a genius but ask him to work on variations. Let me think about its market potential but in the meanwhile you remain invisible, if you want you guys can go and stay in my Delhi flat.

Babulal said, “ ok,I will come back to you soon on that.”

  

It is all about humanity

It is all about humanity

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The other day Dr.Kamal Charaborty, a renowned social worker of Bengal was in my office. He had a lucrative corporate job with TISCO,Jamshedpur but left that to serve the poor tribal of Purulia. He located a barren land and started the school Bhalopahar and planted more than 30 lacs trees. The school offers free education and midday meal to the poor children free of cost. He has undertaken organic farming after creating ponds by rainwater harvesting. The day he came a knowledge sharing session in our office was in progress. One young engineer Rangam Das was sharing his experience of EHV testing of transformer witnessed by him in ABB works.

At the conclusion I took Dr.Chakraborty to the conference hall and requested him to address the young engineers of our organization ,Techno Electric Engg Co. He shared his experience of establishing that school in that remote location and graphically described the poverty of that region. He narrated that they are so poor that the ladies have only one saree, after washing the saree she would hide behind the trees waiting for the saree to dry up. While describing this facet he broke down, practically every one of us had moist eyes, got touched by the plight of those poor Indians whereas here we were relaxing in AC hall. He said that he runs the setup by donations from corporates and individuals. He made a request for donation of any kind.

After the lecture in my chamber he asked my opinion, I was skeptical and expressed so.

To my utter surprise I was proved absolutely wrong in judging the young lot. One young engineer came to my chamber and thanked me for the interaction with Dr.Chakraborty and expressed that he wanted to do something. While talking about the poor ladies of Purulia he broke down and I too could not check myself. Later on my PA Shubhra informed that many of them were approaching her for donation. I met a bright engineer who has passed out of Shibpur , he came to me and said he will organize a donation box where old clothes, books, stationeries can be donated. That boy who first came gave a cheque of 2000 as donation.

I am flabbergasted by the spontaneity of the reaction and it is beyond my imagination. All of them said, “ We always wanted to do something for the society but did not know which is genuine organization. We are sure about Dr.Chakraborty who has given his life for those poor by remaining unmarried.” I shared with them that as he is a renowned novelist and poet so all his earnings go to the school. I too in my small way make monthly contribution in addition to organizing corporate contributions from Techno and WPIL where I am Independent Director.

The above incident has opened my eyes about the younger generation as they externally don’t show but has that spirit dormant in them which requires a small nudge to make them act in the right direction. The firs engineer who came to my chamber travels from outside Kolkata for office and gets dialysis of his father done twice a month; with this burden he donated 2000 bucks. I am happy that though there is lot of negativism projected by the social network, print media, electronic media but there is a silent majority who are pure , think about others and they are young. This makes me optimistic about the future of India.

I thought of sharing this incident with you all.