Chapter 10
Team Alphabet Soup
To read Chapter 9 of this story, please click here
CHAPTER 10
Shekhar woke up the next morning. He looked around the room, Tara had not returned. Neither had
Roohi. He stared at the ceiling for a while letting all the pain and anger he
felt within subside. He had prayed for all this to be a nightmare and for it to
end soon.
He didn' want to go on like this. He had
to find a solution to the one problem troubling him. Finding Roohi and leaving.
He got out of bed. ‘Where did I throw the blasted phone last night?’, Shekhar
grumbled while beginning the hunt for his missing mobile phone. After
discovering it under the coffee table in the room, he tried switching it on.
‘Must be out of battery, stupid thing.’ He continued grumbling. He had to meet
Tara. He had to ask her what made her allow them to take their daughter away. Several questions kept popping up in his head while he went through his bag hunting for his phone charger.
*beep beep beep beep beep……* Shekhar’s
phone kept buzzing. He looked at it. Several missed calls from Tara and a few
unknown numbers along with texts.
‘CALL ME!’
‘I know you’re upset with me, but
please Shekhar, call me. NOW!’
‘THIS IS FOR ROOHI DAMN IT. CALL
ME.’
Tears filled his eyes as he went
through all of Tara’s messages to him. ‘Call you for what Tara. FOR WHAT GOD
DAMN IT! FOR WHAT!’ he cried out loud to himself. He heard his phone ring.
Fighting all the anger within him, he answered the call.
‘Shekhar, I know you’re absolutely
livid at me right now, but meet me at the place where we went and saw the
scriptures. It is urgent!’
‘For what Tara? Oh wait, do you have
something else you want to sacrifice? Maybe our marriage?’ yelled Shekhar
angrily over the phone.
‘Shekhar, Roohi is with me. The idol
went missing this morning. The procession never happened. Will you just meet us
now?’ said Tara with a tone of urgency in her voice.'
‘WHAT? Roohi..with you? Where.. Is
she okay? My Roohi…Roohi... I’ll be there soon. Stay there Tara.’ said
Shekhar as he ended the call and rushed out of the hotel room.
__________________________
Shekhar reached the place as
mentioned by Tara during the call. He looked around for Tara and Roohi but
could see no one. He tried calling Tara but couldn’t reach her.
He felt his phone vibrate, ‘The
scriptures on the left. Near the statue.’ read the text.
Shekhar hurriedly moved towards the
direction of the scripture.
‘Tara!’ Shekhar exclaimed
‘Shekhar.. Shekhar.. Shekhar please..Please forgive me for what happened last evening. Please Shekhar.’
‘Where’s Roohi Tara?’ Shekhar
questioned her as his eyes wandered around searching for Roohi.
‘She’s safe Shekhar. She’s with the
crew. I was afraid we would get caught, specially after what happened this
morning… I didn’t want her to be taken away again.’ Tara’s voice softened as
she turned her gaze away from Shekhar. ‘He hasn’t slept, he hasn’t eaten, he
hasn’t changed his clothes.’ thought Tara to herself.
‘What happened this morning? Take me
to Roohi. I want to see her.’
________________________
‘He left the hotel in a rush this
morning, Sir. Nobody is answering the phone in the room.’
‘Hmm. Open the room. We want to
search it.’
‘But Sir…’
‘OPEN THE ROOM, NOW! OR I’ll have
this hotel shut down in no time’, yelled the gruff angry voice.
‘Yes Sir. Right away Sir.’ mumbled
the receptionist while calling out to the bell boy.
Not having found what they were looking for, the head priest and the police leave the hotel.
'Find them. The girl's father has done this. He never wanted his daughter to be a part of this. He has done this to stop the procession from happening. Find him and find the girl.' the priest barks out orders to the troop of policemen with him. He suddenly notices one of Tara's crew member leaving the hotel.
Catching up with the crew member, the priest says, 'In a rush are we young fellow? Tell us where the Dutta's are. My dear friends here..' he signals towards the police '...will be more than obliged to take you with them if you don't tell us where they are.'
Not having found what they were looking for, the head priest and the police leave the hotel.
'Find them. The girl's father has done this. He never wanted his daughter to be a part of this. He has done this to stop the procession from happening. Find him and find the girl.' the priest barks out orders to the troop of policemen with him. He suddenly notices one of Tara's crew member leaving the hotel.
Catching up with the crew member, the priest says, 'In a rush are we young fellow? Tell us where the Dutta's are. My dear friends here..' he signals towards the police '...will be more than obliged to take you with them if you don't tell us where they are.'
__________________________
‘PAPA! Screamed Roohi, running
towards the door and into her father’s arms.
‘Roohi! Roohi! Oh beta, papa has
missed you!’
‘I missed you too Papa. I missed Mama
and my dolls too!’
‘What happened this morning Tara?’
quizzed Shekhar
‘The famed idol was stolen. Nobody
knows where it is or who ho took it. Nothing. Roohi was getting dressed for the
procession when I heard a lot of screaming and chaos.’ said Tara describing the
morning events to Shekhar.
‘Good riddance, if you ask me!’ Shekhar
said hugging Roohi close to him.
‘Tara, let’s all forge..’ ‘Hold on
Shekhar, I’m getting a call’
Tara returned from the call, her face
pale and fear written all over it.
‘Shekhar, they’re on the hunt for us.
They’re searching the room at the hotel. I asked the crew to get a few clothes
for Roohi and for us. They just called to inform me that the cops are searching
for us.’
‘Whatever happens, I will go to jail if I have to, but I will not let them take my daughter away again.
‘Shekhar, nobody is going to jail. We need to keep Roohi away from their eyes. Once they start doubting us, their first move will be to take Roohi away. Until we sort everything out, we’ll keep her out of all this.’
‘But how Tara? They are bound to be everywhere.’
‘There is one place they wouldn’t look. ‘
‘And that is?’
‘Inside the temple.’
Tara was dialling a number. She gave the person their whereabouts and asked the person on the other end of the line to join them immediately. The moment she finished the call, her phone began to ring. She ignored it and continued talking to Shekhar, ‘They have already searched every nook and corner of this temple. They called up the astrologers after that. The astrologers’ calculations kept changing each time they checked. Finally they decided to look outside for the idol. That was when they began to doubt us. Anyhow, they won’t look inside the temple for now.’
Jennifer walked in. Tara asked her to stay with Roohi in the temple until Jennifer got her call.
Tara’s phone was ringing continuously. Finally, she picked up. Her face became grim.
‘They want us to go to the temple office immediately.’
She looked at Roohi who was looking at everyone’s face uncomprehendingly.
‘Roohi beta, Papa and I have some work to do. So, you stay with Jennifer aunty until we are back. Ok?’
‘Who stole the idol Mumma?’
‘Mumma is going to find that. Be a good girl and we will tell you who stole it.’
‘Ok Mumma.’
*****
There were many people in the temple premises, outside the temple, around the office area, around the banyan tree, wherever they looked, the temple was swarming with people. The office door was ajar. The public demanded to know the details. Shekhar and Tara reached the office. Sudheeran opened the door and ushered them in. Inside, apart from himself, there were 3 people in police uniforms, another man who resembled Sudheeran, the head priest and his disciple.
The Police officer picked up a bag
and kept it on the table. ‘Is this yours Mr. Dutta?’
‘Yes. Yes, that is mine.’
‘Then you might be able to explain this.’ He opened the bag to reveal the missing idol made of Gold.
‘Yes. Yes, that is mine.’
‘Then you might be able to explain this.’ He opened the bag to reveal the missing idol made of Gold.
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