The Krishna Key (7 page)

Draupadi said to me that it was the gatekeeper who informed her that her presence was being demanded by the Kauravas who had won her in a game of dice. ‘Go and ask my husband whether he lost his own freedom first, or mine? If he had wagered himself first, he had no remaining rights over me, in which case he did not possess the authority to wager me!’ said Draupadi. The open question in court was technically correct but it irritated Duryodhana who dispatched his brother Dusshasana to grab Draupadi by her hair and strip her naked in court. Draupadi had been sitting in a private room as she was menstruating. Barely covered, she prayed to me for protection. I ensured that the length of cloth covering her remained
unending. As a result, Draupadi could not be disrobed. Draupadi took a vow that she would leave her hair untied until the day that she could wash it in Dusshasana’s blood. Bhima took two terrible oaths. He vowed that he would drink Dusshasana’s blood. He also vowed he would break Duryodhana’s thigh on which he had lecherously invited Draupadi to sit!

‘It’s better that we split ourselves into two teams,’ said Saini as they reached the parking area of the commercial building in which Immuno’s laboratories and offices at St Stephen’s College in New Delhi. li between i were located. ‘If all of us walk in to Chhedi’s office together and are greeted by a welcome committee of the cops, it will mean that there will be no one outside the police dragnet.’

‘Good thought,’ said Priya. ‘I’m pretty certain that Radhika Singh believes that you’ve
kidnapped Professor
Kurkude. Why not let the professor stay in the car while the two of us go in first? If we do not emerge within an hour then Professor Kurkude can come looking for us. Is that acceptable, Professor?’

Kurkude nodded.

‘Good. Now, the bigger concern is how to get inside without the police knowing. I can feel it in my gut that there is substantial police presence here, even though they’re all in plainclothes,’ said Saini.

In the distance was a small office inconspicuously labelled Radius Facilities Management. It was quite obviously the management company that had been assigned the task of managing the complex. Large corporate blocks such as this one always had a single entity providing housekeeping, janitorial services,
gardening, security, pest control, waste management, mail room services and engineering support. The Radius office was located on the ground floor with two entrances—a front entrance overlooking the central atrium and a rear one overlooking the parking lot.

The rear exit of the facility management office was temporarily blocked by a truck, probably replenishing supplies. Saini smiled as an idea struck him. He turned to Taarak and said, ‘You are intelligent enough to have figured out that I’m on the run. I can assure you that I’m no criminal. Would you be willing to help me by keeping the truck driver engaged?’ asked Saini, keeping his fingers crossed.

‘Sir, I may be young in age, but I have seen my fair share of crooks. You certainly do not fall into that category. How long do I need to keep him occupied?’ asked Taarak smiling.

‘No more than ten minutes. That would give Priya and me enough time to pull out a couple of uniforms from the rear of the truck and slip away. Professor—you please stay in the car. Only come looking for us at the offices of Immuno if we’re not back in an hour,’ said Saini to Kurkude as he got out of the car. Priya followed him. They stopped some distance away as they waited for their chauffeur to walk up to the truck driver who was coordinating the unloading of the truck.

‘You wouldn’t have a cigarette that I could bum off you?’ asked Taarak amiably when he reached the truck. The truck driver looked at him curiously. ‘What do I look like? A
paan-bidi
stall? Get lost!’ growled the truck driver.

Taarak knew that there were only two ways to engage—either by being friendly or by being a jerk. Since the former approach hadn’t worked he had tried the latter. Taarak shuffled a little closer to the truck driver and whispered in his face, ‘You don’t look like a shopkeeper at all. More like a drug pusher!’

The driver used his right arm to aim a blow to Taarak’s torso. Taarak swiftly sidestepped it and used his left hand to strike the outside of the truck driver’s offending arm, thus leaving the right hand side of the trucker’s body completely exposed. Taarak took advantage of it and delivered a single knee kick, which caused the truck driver to fall to the ground, clutching his leg in pain. By now a crowd had gathered around the two fighting men and it was the perfect opportunity for Saini and Priya to get into the truck. enclosed within a circle.an

Once inside, they quickly picked out janitorial uniforms with caps, besides window-cleaning sprays and dusters. They slipped out while the fight between Taarak and the truck driver was in full momentum, running towards the rear of the building where the garbage disposal area was located. They changed into their uniforms in double-quick time behind a dumpster and then walked over to the main entrance of the building. In front of them was the elevator bank.

‘Immuno occupies the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the building,’ said Saini. ‘We should go directly to the sixth floor—where Chhedi’s office is located—and start cleaning. Our effort should be to blend in with the office routine and to make our way to Chhedi’s office drawing virtually no attention to ourselves.’

On its way up the elevator stopped on the fourth floor. Two men got into the elevator and Saini
gasped inwardly as he recognised one of them as Sub-Inspector Rathore. Saini immediately turned away towards the wall and began cleaning the U-shaped stainless steel handrail that ran on three sides of the elevator. He thanked his stars for not having shaved over several days. Priya took the cue, adjusted her cap downwards so as to partially block her face, got down on her knees and began cleaning the corners of the elevator floor. Saini was praying under his breath, trying his level best to remain calm.

Rathore was talking to Radhika Singh on his mobile phone. ‘Yes, there are more than a dozen men at strategic points on the three floors. I have also stationed men downstairs in the main atrium so that no sudden exit is possible on Saini’s part,’ reported Rathore to his domineering boss. Saini exhaled in relief when Rathore and the other man got off on the fifth floor.

As they reached the sixth, both Saini and Priya gathered their cleaning supplies and walked into the office of Immuno Molecular Life Sciences Limited. The receptionist ignored them. They were simply janitorial staff, the lowest in the pecking order. Saini walked up to the receptionist’s table, wished her politely, and did a quick spray and cleaning of the fascia of the reception desk. Priya noticed what looked like two plainclothesmen sitting in the visitors’ area from the corner of her eye and was careful to avoid venturing near them. She busied herself cleaning the glossy walnut-finished laminate that lined the passage walls leading towards the executive offices.

King Dhritarashtra realised that before Draupadi uttered a curse, it was best that he intervene. He immediately ordered that everything that had been lost by Yudhistira be returned to the Pandavas, but Yudhistira was a glutton for punishment. Despite protestations and warnings from his family, Yudhistira was once again convinced by Duryodhana to play another round of dice in which Yudhistira lost yet again. As per the wager, the loser would be exiled to the forests for twelve years and would have to spend an additional thirteenth year incognito. In order to satisfy the conditions of the bet, the Pandavas, along with Draupadi, went into exile, leaving their mother Kunti to be cared for by Vidura. I was unaware of all these happenings because I had been busy repelling the kings who had attacked Dwarka.

Suspecting that the fight had gotten out of hand, a group of onlookers intervened and created some distance between the truck driver and Taarak. The truck driver was too busy nursing his knee to notice Taarak slipping away. The crowd mulled around the truck driver who was shouting obscenities, and Taarak used the opportunity to make his escape.,’ replied Sir Khanext on the Kaliyuga

Taking purposeful and rapid strides, he reached his car in a remote corner of the parking lot. Professor Kurkude was sitting in the rear seat with the window down, reading a newspaper that he had bought from
a vendor. Taarak opened the front door, got into the driver’s seat and started up the engine.

‘Hey! We can’t leave yet,’ protested Kurkude. ‘I’m supposed to go looking for them in case they’re not back with us within an hour.’

‘I understand, sir. It’s just that they had asked me to cause a distraction. I think I did it a tad too efficiently,’ remarked Taarak. ‘It’s better that we get away from here for half an hour till the crowd clears up. We’ll be back in time, I promise you.’

The car began rolling and within a short while they were on Sarovar Path heading towards Sukhna Lake, a massive manmade three-kilometre-long lake that had been created by building a dam on a seasonal stream. Chandigarh residents would visit the lake in the mornings or evenings for their walk or run. The lake also served as a popular picnic spot and a hub for pursuing water sports such as boating, yachting and water skiing.

Upon reaching the lake, Taarak steered the car towards the Lake Reserved Forest—a wide expanse of dense woods. He parked the car and got out. He opened the rear door for Kurkude and said, ‘We’ll need to spend fifteen minutes here. Luckily this area is secluded and it should be possible to get back to Chandigarh Corporate Plaza from here in another ten.’

The professor got out of the car and the two men strolled along the Jungle Trail that led to the Lake Reserved Forest. Kurkude did not notice that his driver was wearing a special belt pack around his waist.

Five minutes into the Jungle Trail, all human presence vanished and it became evident that the two men were alone. Taarak missed a step, allowing Kurkude to overtake him along the narrow pathway. The good professor was unaware that a chloroform-soaked handkerchief was about to be clamped around his nose and mouth. As Taarak’s handkerchief made contact with Kurkude’s face, the professor registered a look of terror as he struggled to avoid the fumes—but it was of no use. He was no match for Taarak’s years of training.

No sooner had Kurkude passed out than Taarak picked up his comatose frame and placed him under a large peepal tree. Taking out his duct tape he quickly bound Kurkude’s hands and gagged his mouth. He searched inside his waist pouch and found the self-inking rubber stamp that he had kept ready especially for this occasion. He carefully placed the rubber end on Kurkude’s head. The symbol that emerged on Kurkude’s forehead was that of a conch—yet another symbol of Vishnu.

Taking out a fresh scalpel, duly custom-engraved with the initials R.M., Taarak knelt down over Kurkude’s outstretched foot and, with his usual precision, thrust the scalpel into Kurkude’s left sole, leaving it embedded inside the flesh. Blood spurted
from the foot as Taarak took out the paintbrush from his belt pack.

‘You are special, Professor Kurkude,’ he thought to himself as he dipped the paintbrush into Kurkude’s blood. ‘You get to die exactly as Lord Krishna did. Under a peepal tree.’ Taarak began to write on the bark above Kurkude’s head:

Mleccha-nivaha-nidhane kalayasi karavalam
dhumaketum iva kim api karalam
kesava dhrita-kalki-sarira jaya jagadisa hare.

Having surveyed his handiwork, Taarak gathered up all the tools of his trade and walked over to the car that was parked a short distance away. In his head, he could hear echoes of the conversation that had taken place between him and Mataji many months previously.

‘I shall do whatever you say, Mataji. But could you please explain to me why I must kill these men? They’re simply scientists and researchers,’ said Taarak.

‘But they’re doing the work of Satan,’ spat Mataji. ‘They’re busy trying to dig up the eighth avatar of Vishnu while the tenth is far more important. Tell me, son, what happens when you place ten before eight? You get 108! The most powerful number in the world! Use the power, Taarak!’

‘Your wish is my command, Mataji,’ said Taarak respectfully. ‘But could you tell me what these men have done that deserves death?’