Illusive characters...virtually possible 4

Virtually possible Part 4…Illusive characters

Samaranand slowly opened his eyes, a lingering drowsy feeling was there. He found himself lying in a strange bedroom in some high-rise building, he guessed the room to be on 5^th  or 6^th floor. It was a neat bedroom with tastefully decorated walls and light curtains draping the windows. He could see the wall clock showing 8pm, but then he tried to recall how he landed here. He was still in his street dress of corduroy trousers, black and white striped shirt with his loose fitting fleece half jacket. His feet were bare. He remembered to have come to the Kolkata Book Fair to check the sale of his newly published book in stall number 488.While he was wracking his brain to remember then a middle aged person with a small paunch, loose shirt and high-powered specs smilingly entered the room and said, “Thank god you are back in senses, I was contemplating to call a doctor.’

Seeing that gentleman Samaranand recalled the event of the evening.

He just came out of the book stall 488 of Abhijan when he was confronted by that gentleman who introduced himself as Nirod Dey. He was selling books written by himself when Samaranand jokingly told him ,” I can purchase your books provided you purchase my books from that stall!’’

Thus he got connected with that friendly soul, both took round of the book fair together. That afternoon he had heavy lunch of illish fish and rice , though morning started with a heavy breakfast of pea kachuri. Those stuff were still struggling in his stomach to get digested but then he while talking to that Mr.Dey forgot about the heavy food. He could feel the mild stomach growling. He with Mr.Dey walked out of gate number 5 ,crossed the road towards the car park. Mr.Dey suggested to have jhaal muri so that he could spend some more time with Samaranand. He agreed reluctantly inspite of the growling stomach. After having a few fistful of that concoction of muris with all kind pf fries he started feeling dizzy, he started looking for a place to sit and then everything went blank.

That Mr.Dey was standing in front of him.

“Do you go out like this often?” Mr.Dey asked him.

“Yes, I have this problem of fainting when I have some odd combination of food in quick succession, probably a gastro problem, unfortunately today is one such day. Where am I ?”

“You are in my office cum house in Rajarhat, I brought you here when you fainted. Should I call a doctor?”’

“No, please don’t bother. I must leave now.”

Mr.Dey smilingly said ,”You can’t leave now, there is something else we have to discuss. My meeting was not accidental but it was designed like that and your fainting came handy to execute the plan. I have been following you for quite sometimes. Now you take rest, there is kurta, pajama of your size in the cupboard. You can freshen up in the attached bath. I think you will not like to have heavy dinner, I will organize some light food.’

Samaranand was taken aback by the preposterous proposal about his not living for home.

“No, I am feeling alright now, this is not the first time that this type of blackout happened to me, you please make arrangement for my going home.” He told these words rather sternly.

Mr.Dey without losing cool smiled at him and said, “It is for your good we are holding you back here ! Your family has been informed.”’

“Are you holding me as a hostage or what? “

“If you think like that then I can’t help! I want to have some conversation with you!”

“Is it something to do with Soumaya?”

“You will come to know by tomorrow. In the meanwhile, you can freshen up and join us in the office. We work for 24 hours and all the days of the week.” Mr.Dey left the room. Samaranand put his hand in the pocket and found his mobile, he quickly punched the number of his wife but the call was not getting through, he tried for some time but then realized that it was futile, there must be a jammer to block the call. Almost all the IT companies put jammer. He derived that he must be in some IT company as the fellow mentioned that they work for 24 hours and also while he mentioned Soumaya’s name then the guy reacted as though he knew who Soumaya was.

Samaranand quickly went to the bathroom, rinsed his mouth and splashed cold water on his face, wiped his face with a fresh towel which was hanging from the towel rod. Then he reasoned with himself that so far he had been treated nicely so why not cooperate with them and find out more about their plan. He quickly changed into a fresh pajama and kurta , wrapped a shawl around  , it was mild winter in February. He parted the curtain of the window and found that the accommodation was in a cluster of new towers and after that it was barren with new construction coming up, he could see the broad road running towards New Town. He once visited this area which is about 4 kms away from New Town and rarely anybody was seen on the road, a pretty isolated complex with some IT companies and private residential towers sprouting up.

He cautiously walked in the adjoining hall where he found rows of computers with young people sitting with headphones clamped on their heads. Mr.Dey who was talking to a young man approached him with a smile.

“I have ordered chicken soup for you and some sandwich. If you want you can relax with a headphone and music, then you can use this bone contact headphone with this music device. Samaranand had come across such headphone which is not put on the ears bout on bone.

  Bone conduction allows one to hear sound through the vibration of the bones of ones face ,jaw bones and cheek bones. This means that the sound waves are bypassing the outer and middle ear ,where the eardrum is located, and directly stimulating the inner ear ,hearing organ..

He took the headphone and the device sat on a sofa by the wall, he watched the activities from a distance, Mr.Dey was busy in instructing the staff.

Samaranand knew that he is now a captive of this group which does not look like criminals. Soumaya was still not traceable. What was in store for him, may be next day when Mr.Dey discusses then he would know. As such he was feeling pretty weak, waited for his dinner while listening to his favourite Rabindrasangeet in the device. The listening device was clamped behind his ears and the music was smoothly wafting in through the bones, as such he could hear the murmur of the office through his ears. Another long wait…..

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.