6.
I had by doubts, but until I verify their truth, I didn't want to say anything to anyone.
Tanmay told me that when while talking to the maid at my brother's bungalow, some one arrived, the girl had pushed him almost forcefully into the bathroom and locked him inside. He was terribly scared, trembling moment by moment, wondering what would happen next.
Would he get a chance to safely leave once the other people in the house arrived shortly? What if someone else from the house came and opened the door? What would he do suddenly? Would he be beaten up or sent straight to jail on the charges of theft by calling the police? Could the maid save him by taking his side? Her job was also at stake.
Why would the maid save him? What kind of relationship do they have? What was the thinking to hold the girl's hand while talking to her? Was there something between them? It was only because of the unexpected solitude that Tanmay lost his composure.
The girl was also talking to him provocatively. Tanmay's comage was encouraged by her. It was fortunate that Tanmay only hold her wrist. He had intended to touch the girl's wrist, she was so slim and exceptionally tall.
Tanmay, being a young man in his prime, had never seen such a scene before a vast, deserted mansion with a young girl alone. The girl' blouse and skirt had a gap of nearly a foot, making her stomach look like a precious gem embedded in her body.
Tanmay felt that if he was caught, the girl would not support him at all. She wouldn't make any excuses to save him. In fact, he felt that the girl might have pushed him there to trap him. Her smiling at him, praising his flowers, and coming so close during their conversation were all just tricks.
Thinking this, Tanmay was trying to figure out how to get out of the bathroom, examining every little thing inside. At that moment, Tanmay accidentally touched a switch. He turned it playfully, and then the bathroom began to shake as if it were an elevator. Not only that, but it also felt like a trolley moving. A siren also went off.
Suddenly, when the bathroom stopped shaking, the door opened. The girl was no where to be seen. But Tanmay darted out quickly. But what was this? This was not the place where he had stood while holding the girl's hand. Was the bathroom really some kind of elevator?
Hearing Tanmay's experience gave me goosebumps, remembered that some thing similar had happened to me that day when I came out of the bathroom and ended up in another part of the house when I saw police officers searching, while the rest of the house knew nothing about it.
Tanmay's experience gave me the hint that now I was eager to reach my brother's bungalow again. It must be similar secret where the bathroom at the bungalow was secretly connected to another part of the house that Bhabhi and kids didn't know about. It was like a thousand watt bulb lighting up in my mind.
A few days ago, I recalled an incident when my wife asked me to bring her a newspaper. She remarked, “Look at how that old woman has put wet clothes under the bread in the casserole!” I casually handed her an old newspaper.
I expected her to thank me theatrically as she usually does, as if she was repaying a debt. But what was this? As soon as I turned around, I heard her voice saying, “Oh no, how could you give me this? I don’t need a photograph for an international exhibition; I need a paper to place under the bread!” I turned back and looked closely at the newspaper I had handed over, only to find that it was covered with a picture of thousands of dead birds by the edge of a salt lake. The caption read that no one knew who had killed these helpless birds and left their bodies to rot.
I remembered that there had indeed been news about thousands of birds being killed near a salt lake. I felt a bit queasy just looking at the picture. My wife didn’t ask me for another newspaper; she went and got one herself.
A distant relative of mine, who was a scientist, had once visited us on a government tour. He told me that if Gandhi were alive today and went abroad for studies, his parents would advise him differently. I asked him, “What would they say?” He replied, “They would say, ‘Son, never buy an ice-cream from a vendor outside the school. Even if someone insists, don’t eat chips from a market pack, and don’t order food from a multinational chain online.’” I laughed at his satire.
I was reflecting on all this because our bus had been stopped at a toll plaza for quite a while. My child, Tanmay, was peacefully sleeping with his head resting on my shoulder as if he had been awake all night. I grew impatient and looked out the window to see why the bus had stopped. Highways are built wide and beautiful, but then they place toll plazas that ruin the speed.
Looking ahead, I understood the situation. There had been an accident right in the middle of the road. Two massive trucks had collided and overturned. The collision was so severe that one truck’s body was almost completely crushed, and the other one was badly damaged. A few lives must have been lost.
The accident had just happened, and the debris had not yet been cleared. Huge bundles of clothes from one truck were scattered across the road, and piles of brinjals from the other truck had spread out, covering the road like stones rolling down from a mountain river. The black tarred road was now dotted with purple balls of brinjals!
As soon as I got off the bus, I thoroughly reassured Tanmay that he needn’t worry about anything anymore. He was now my employee, and I told him to go home and rest for a week, after which he should come back to me. I also assured him that his salary would continue during this period. I explained that I was giving him a week of paid leave because I would be staying with my brother at his bungalow for a few days.
I also told him that during this time, he could do whatever he wanted with his carriage. He could return it to its old owner, rent it out to a friend, or sell it. Since the carriage would no longer be useful while working for me, and after having had trouble with the police, Tanmay’s father was in no position to make use of the carriage after Tanmay came to work for me.
After giving Tanmay some money for his expenses, I went to my brother's bungalow.
At home, everyone welcomed me, and the children and sister-in-law eagerly asked where I had been traveling. After lunch, my sister-in-law, the children, and I played carroms for a long time. My niece beat us all soundly.
While we were playing, when my sister-in-law got up to make tea, our attention shifted from the game to the TV, which had been running unnoticed.
Suddenly, I saw news reports about a large quantity of narcotics being seized at airports and railway stations. While it was common to seize marijuana, opium, and charas from smugglers, now even brown sugar and heroin were being caught in large quantities. The reports showed such incidents that could make one’s hair stand on end.
People were evading the police and customs in various ways to transport these prohibited substances. Smugglers were being caught using airplanes, trains, buses, and private cars. These illicit drugs were being hidden not only in goods, vehicles, and clothes but even within body cavities. Small packets or pouches of these substances cost thousands of rupees.
My sister-in-law served very tasty papad with the tea. We planned to go out somewhere in the evening after my brother came home.
In the evening, my brother told me that he had hired a boy to bring fresh flower bouquets to the bungalow. Since my sister-in-law had a great fondness for fresh flowers and had made it a habit to decorate their home with fresh flowers every day even abroad, my brother had managed to find a flower vendor here and hired him at a high price. However, the boy had not come for the past few days, and there was no news of him.
Hearing this from my brother, I was shocked because the flower boy was Tanmay, whom I had sent. He had been handed over to the police on charges of theft from here, and my brother himself had gone to the police station with me to get him released. My brother had used his police officer friend’s help to free Tanmay from custody, and now my brother was talking about the flower boy’s situation as if I didn’t know anything.
So did my brother really not recognize Tanmay? Or had Tanmay been caught somewhere else? Was the girl Tanmay had mentioned as the reason for the trouble the maid at my brother’s bungalow? What was really going on? Was there some kind of misunderstanding?
It is true that Tanmay might have changed his appearance slightly when he came as the flower boy, but could my brother really not have recognized him? Did he not notice even after seeing the boy? Perhaps Tanmay had never had direct contact with my brother, only meeting my sister-in-law or the children. Or maybe the responsibility for paying him lay with another household servant. Perhaps my brother never had a direct encounter with him?
Could it be that Tanmay’s arrest was not even related to my brother’s bungalow?
The very next day, both things became absolutely clear.
First, I realized that my brother truly did not recognize Tanmay and had not guessed that Tanmay had been caught because he had accidentally wandered into their warehouse while selling flowers at their house. My brother thought that some boy had sneaked into their warehouse and was caught by the employees there, who handed him over to the police. Later, at my suggestion, my brother assumed that the boy caught by chance was my employee, and that’s why he began to help me get the boy released.
But this whole sequence of events made me uneasy about one more thing. Did my brother not know that the bathroom in his mansion had a connection with the warehouse part? Was my brother really not involved in any illegal activity or business? Did the person who sold the mansion to my brother also not inform him about this secret bathroom? Perhaps the previous owner had not told my brother about the bathroom when selling the mansion, intending to either destroy or permanently seal it. After the deal was finalized, he might have been in a hurry and didn’t manage to complete the bathroom’s work. He too had been eager to sell the property and move abroad, and he did leave.
What was this confusion all about? My own experience and Tanmay’s direct experience suggested that this bathroom was actually a kind of underground "elevator" connecting to the neighboring building outside the mansion. But the fact that my brother or any member of the household had never mentioned it made it suspicious. Clearly, either no one knew about it, or my brother had deliberately not informed me about it.
When my brother first showed me the house, we had exited through the back door and reached the neighboring building, which housed my brother’s showroom. At that time, there was no mention of such a secret elevator.
Also, it seemed to me now that if my brother was indeed keeping this bathroom for some illicit use, he could have locked it and kept it closed. Why was it left open all the time? Yes, it must be that my brother really didn’t know about this secret feature. I had made a mountain out of a molehill and had unnecessarily worried myself with a secret investigation.
I should now inform my brother about the special feature of this bathroom! Surely no other family member had noticed it so far. I was just making a fuss and getting unnecessarily anxious.
I felt much relief with this thought. I was now waiting for the evening when my brother would come, so I could reveal this secret to him and surprise him with the discovery of the magical secret bathroom. Everyone would indeed be amazed to learn about this unique elevator. It was good that by chance, I discovered this while trying to joke around and trouble everyone. That’s why I had run into the police, who had come to the neighboring building and were investigating. That night at the hotel dinner, the police had not recognized me because I was with my brother’s family.
Now I was eager for my brother to come soon so I could show everyone this magic.
Two days later, I returned home. The very first sharp and harsh reaction I received was from my wife, who said, “What trouble have you caused this time?”
I ignored her remark, feeling embarrassed, as my mother and children had surrounded me.
My mother looked at me with a touch of disbelief, saying, “You took a long time this time, son,” since I had told her before leaving that I was going to buy supplies for the shop.
The children eagerly looked at my bag. They knew well that along with the samples for the shop, there would always be something new for them in my luggage. Despite all the hustle, I had managed to keep up that expectation once again.
After freshening up and eating, I went out to visit the shop. I never liked to sleep in the afternoon, so I always found something to do at home even if I didn’t go to the shop.
I had also informed my manager about Tanmay, telling him that I had permanently hired him and that he would be joining in three or four days.
I had built three or four small rooms above my shop for my employees to stay. Those employees who lived with their families rented places in the city, while the single employees stayed above the shop, often in pairs or threes.
Even with the addition of one more employee, my manager did not seem very happy because he had been requesting to increase the staff for some time. He wasn’t very excited about Tanmay either, as he knew that whenever I stayed out of town, I usually brought along one person from the shop. Therefore, my manager didn’t really count that person as part of the staff and knew that Tanmay would most likely be assigned to that duty.
Tanmay, being a sensible and well-mannered boy, had already been noticed by the manager. Tanmay had previously come to seek a job.
Tanmay came to visit me at home as soon as he arrived. He excitedly told me that his cart had been sold. The funny thing was that only the horse was bought by someone, but the empty cart was returned to the same person, Chimney's father.
“What will Chimney’s father do with an empty cart?” I asked.
Tanmay replied, somewhat embarrassed, “He said he would keep it as a memento because Chimney liked it a lot.”
“If Chimney liked it, why did he give it to you in the first place?” I asked.
Tanmay hesitated and then said slowly, “They gave it to me along with the daughter.”
Oh yes, I suddenly remembered my mistake.
I asked, “But where did the girl go?”
Tanmay said, “Someone told me that she went with a man who was coming to the vegetable market. They got married and now farm together in the village.”
“What do they grow?” I asked.
“Aubergines!” came a loud voice. At the same time, laughter from nearby people filled the air. Some friends of mine, who had come to check on me after my long absence from the city, interrupted the conversation with Tanmay.
Tanmay, feeling awkward, went inside the shop where the manager had been waiting for him for quite some time.
I dragged an old bench from in front of my chair and gestured for my friends to sit. They had come to catch up with me after my many days away from the city.
My friend Imtiaz, holding a small box of sweets, immediately opened it and handed it to me, saying, “Here, sweeten your mouth!”
