The Secret of the Chalisa (14 page)

“Ravi has papers with Vikram’s handwriting. I hope it will help us,” Sanjeev said.

It was evening, the time when the sun just sets and night slowly creeps in. However it was dark in the prison cell a faint light bulb. Before the cold wave could swing into the houses, the prison had become cold with no fireplace to keep it warm.

Pawan sat in the cell thinking about his past and the memory of his mother filled his thoughts. He saw himself as a young boy holding her hands and walking along the banks of Sahastra Dhara in Dehradun. The gushing sound of the river and the gentleness of the breeze were still fresh in his memory.

“Ma, will you and papa always be with me whenever I need you?” asked a five-year-old Pawan.

“Yes dear, you are our precious treasure,” answered Anjana.

“What if you are not there? Who will help me then?” Pawan asked in his child-like manner.

“Hanuman will be there with you. He is immortal; he will always come when you call him. If you chant Hanuman Chalisa with faith hundred times, he will surely help you,” replied Anjana.

In prison many events of his childhood flashed in his memory, where he saw himself with his parents. Suddenly he felt he missed them. His entire life passed like a movie clip in front of his eyes when a voice inside him spoke, “I’ve raised you as a strong man with faith in the Divine. Now is the time to test it. Don’t slip back.”

“I know Ma. I will never let you down. The purpose of my life is still not over and I will not leave without fulfilling it. I determine to rekindle that faith again and call forth the Divine for his help.”

Pawan made a silent determination and decided to chant the Chalisa hundred times. “Doesn’t a verse in it says ‘
Jo sat bar path kare kohi Chutehi bandhi maha sukh hohi',
he thought.

He then set out on his journey of rediscovering faith. A journey, which would lead him to an eternal blissful life. The night grew darker as he started his chant, slowly, softly. He found a pebble in the cell which he used to create a mark on the prison wall in order to keep the count of his chant.

The night progressed and so his chant. Ten, fifteen and then twenty. He knew he would complete it by early morning if he persisted. His throat became dry, his eyes became heavy but he still determined to continue no matter what. It took him a while to reach the fortieth chant when the attendant came to give dinner to him.

“Here, that’s your food,” he said. However, Pawan did not reply.

“I said here’s your food, eat it,” he was rude this time, but Pawan still did not move. He was engrossed in his chant. The angry attendant called the constable who opened the cell and went near to Pawan.

“Don’t trouble us, eat your food,” said the constable.

When Pawan did not reply again, he went close to him in order to punch him down. However, the moment he touched Pawan, he felt a sting in his hand. He felt as if he experienced an electric shock and burning sensation on his fingers.

“Oh My God, he’s burning like hot coal,” he remarked and ran to call his chief inspector.

When the inspector came Pawan was nearing his fiftieth recital. The inspector bent down to listen what Pawan was mumbling.

“He’s praying,” he remarked. “Leave him alone.”

Pawan’s mind was one-pointed and focused. “Come and rescue me,” he thought and continued with the chant despite all difficulties.

“Do you still have the phone which Lakshman gave you, Sanjeev?” inquired Bhumija.

“Oh yes, I completely forgot about it,” Sanjeev said searching his backpack for the phone.

“Here it is,” he said handing it to Bhumija.

She looked at the phone again and started surfing through it. The contact directory had the usual contacts. There was no peculiar contact which Bhumija didn’t know of. His call log was also nothing peculiar. He had made last call home when he used the phone. His message inbox was also clear. There were no suspicious messages.

She then checked his WhatsApp conversation list. It was with friends and relatives, the common forwarded messages, some chat with school friends regarding further education, some get together plannings, some movie reviews and the like. Bhumija had reached the gallery section of the phone and was browsing it for clues. She saw lots of pictures. Mostly they were of family and friends, selfie clicks, pictures from vacations and lots of downloaded art paintings. There were videos too. Amongst them was a birthday video of Lakshman which Bhumija had made. Others were with friends.

“Did you find anything?” asked Sanjeev.

“Nothing yet,” answered Bhumija.

She kept searching the phone. However, one of the video was encrypted with a password. Bhumija was intrigued to see it and started thinking of the various passwords that Lakshman could use. She tried names of family members, of their pets, birthday date, favorite serial, favorite actor but nothing seem to work.

She raced her mind to think of a password and them it struck her. All this while, Lakshman had been repeating it in front of them. She opened the video and typed ‘Celact’. The video accepted the password and opened to reveal the greatest truth ever.

The video showed four people sitting in a room around a round dining table. It looked like a warehouse as it was packed with huge cartons. All of them were muscular and looked and dressed as rowdies. They were playing cards and each had a glass filled with liquor. One of them had his back towards the video.

One of them said, “Boss has asked to remove any obstacle which comes in his way.”

“But he has not told to kill them,” said the other.

“I’ve worked with boss since many years, he means that only,” the first one replied.

“I agree, we have to kill them, otherwise they will not leave the house. Boss wants the property to make a resort there. We have to kill them, so what if they are his relatives. They are nothing to us,” said the one with his back facing the video.

“Can boss kill his sister?” asked the second.

“He doesn’t have to kill, we will kill, and he will order us. And I can do anything for crore of rupees,” said the first.

“Yes, me too. Boss found out that she is a heart patient, and if she’s given overdose of Celact she will have a heart attack. He had to bribe a doctor for that, who gave him this information. It will be easy to kill that way,” he said.

He then stood up from his chair and turned to face the camera. Bhumija was stunned to see him. He was their car driver. She gave a loud shriek. It took her no time to understand that their driver killed Anjana by orders from her father.

Jo yah padhe Hanuman Chalisa Hoye siddhi sakhi Gaureesa

All those who recite Hanuman Chalisa (The forty Chaupais) regularly are sure to be benedicted. Such is the evidence of no less a witness as Bhagwan Sankar.

Tulsidas sada hari chera Keejai nath Hrdaye mein dera

Tulsidas as a humble devotee of the Divine Master, stays perpetually at his feet, he prays "Oh Lord! You enshrine within my heart & soul."

It was a new morning in Dehradun. The sun was shining brightly proclaiming victory of good over evil yet again. The weather was warm and friendly. The cold wave had reduced its shrewdness and its shivery wrath. It was as if the weather too declared that the righteous had conquered the corrupt.

Pawan’s house was unusually noisy today. There was laughter and smiles everywhere. The wooden house with beautiful flower bloom was smiling with joy. The living room was exploding with vibrancy. Pawan was seated there who was released from jail scot-free. The forensic reports conformed that the note and letters were not written by Vikram. After the police received the video they arrested the driver who confessed that it was Pratap's plan.

“But why did they kill Vikram?” Sanjeev asked who was seated in the living room along with Ravi and Bhumija.

“He recognized the driver as the person who was serving coffee in the conference when he saw him at the funeral. When Vikram came to my house he wanted to tell, but was scared due to the threatening call. However, Mamaji didn’t take any chance so he asked the driver to wipe him off too. Moreover, Vikram had started asking for ransom on advice of Kamalbali,” Pawan explained. “Thanks to Bhumija who submitted that video, that too against her father, it was the most valuable evidence.”

“My mother would have done the same,” Bhumija replied. “You should thank Sanjeev more than me. He was determined to open the box.”

“How did you open the vault Sanjeev?” Pawan remarked.

Sanjeev narrated the entire story of the vault and how Suresh helped them.

“So it was one of your gadgets, Suresh! I’m wondering how Ma locked it,” asked Pawan.

“In the same way as we opened it, but in the reverse order,” suggested Suresh.

“From it we got keys and some papers. The papers had the drug formulation with its exact titration and authority letter to the bank locker. Sanjeev was able to make that drug in the lab. We have started giving it to Lakshman and he’s showing remarkable results. He has started recognizing us. We told him about Bua's death. He is at home with Mummy and devastated with the news, but he’s coping up. This was the same thing he was alerting us from the beginning. We failed to understand though,” explained Bhumija.

“When I added the ingredients in the recommend quantity, they were heated in the earthen flasks and stored in the conch for a day. Only then it was suitable for administration. It was an amazing experience, I had never done any such research,” said Sanjeev.“But thanks to you, Pawan Sir. Had you not opened the locker I would have not been able to submit my thesis. The locker had your property papers stating that it was transferred to Madam who in turn gave this house to you. The other house she gave to Suresh ji. It also had thesis papers. The entire thesis was written by madam with my name in it too. She had signed it. I just had to submit after updating the result and discussion section. It is already accepted and within two weeks I’ll be appearing for my exam. You should have seen the look on Dr Kamalbali’s face; oh he was so red with jealousy.

However, I was filled with gratitude when I saw the faith that Madam had in me. It is a breakthrough discovery in medical science and would soon be submitting patenting for the drug. The name
sanjeevani buti
would look as if I made it, so I prefer calling it
Anjana buti
after its rightful discoverer,” explained Sanjeev.

“I was unaware of the vault else I would have handed the idol before only,” said Suresh.

“Whatever it is, all’s well that ends well and these young people have proven that,” said Pawan pointing to Sanjeev and Bhumija. They both exchanged happy glances to each other.

“It was Madam who did this. Without her nothing would have been possible. Her deep insight, her impeccable knowledge, her profound love for her family, saved us all. Even though she is not amongst us, she will continue to live as a legend for me. I wish she’s happy and proud wherever she is,” said Sanjeev with a deep sense of gratitude and reverence in his heart.

“Yes and I have covered all the details of the drug discovery and the murder in my article. My editor in chief was extremely happy with the work. He has given me a permanent job of writing cover page articles for his newspaper. My story is coming as a cover story in tomorrow’s newspaper,”said Ravi.

Someone somewhere was smiling with satisfaction as she said, “Yes, I am very happy and proud of you, Sanjeev.”

“Are you not jealous or regretful Anjana? It was your hard work which is now claimed by someone else,” a deep soothing voice asked.

“Regret? No, not at all. The day I discovered the true essence of Hanuman Chalisa, I lost all regret of life and became eternally happy. Discovery of an anticancer medication was merely a formality, a part of my life on earth. When I found Hanuman, I knew every task of life will be fulfilled, sooner or later.”

“Then what made you truly happy?”

“The moment Hanuman came to take me. I was sure that he will lead me to You. All my life I was searching for happiness around me, when I understood the Hanuman Chalisa, I started searching for happiness inside me. I realized that He was the path to lead to You. Once he came to me, I was rest assured that every aim of my worldly life will be taken care of. I just have to continue my search for You. When I took that final leap of faith, I knew You will catch me. In an instant every earthly desire became meaningless to me and so I handed whatever I had to the family and students around me. I found You, I have no regret in life.”

The voice laughed gently. There was brightness all around, a spotless brightness with no form, where nothing existed. There was only Faith.

Pavantnai sankat haran, Mangal murti roop.

Oh! Conqueror of the Wind, Destroyer of all miseries, you are a symbol of Auspiciousness.

Ram Lakhan Sita sahit, Hrdaye basahu sur bhoop.

Along with Shri Ram, Lakshman and Sita, reside in my heart. Oh! King of Gods.