The Theory of Zero Read online

The Theory of Zero

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2015 by Neel Majumder

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the writer except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

  First Printing: 2015

  ISBN 9781311872142

  www.firstpapyrus.wordpress.com

   

   

   

  “Aap ke tooth paste mei namak hai (Do you have salt in your toothpaste)? Oh hoo, Ravi, did you buy the namak wala (salt) toothpaste? I still have pain in my gum.AAaah !! Why these ad campaigns claim to do what they can’t… “

  Ravi - “Dada(bro), you need painkiller toothpaste for that. No salted toothpaste can cure Punch wound pain & Yes people like you made those ads.“

  I faced an awkward situation few nights before which ended up with that punch on my right jaw. It is my childhood habit that things turned blurry immediately after I wake up every morning. For first few minutes it was all blank then slowly I started to remember everything. Ravi use to call it Gajini-effect. Its apsychological thriller movie on anterograde amnesia. I also watched that movie "Gajini" 15 times but trust me it was Ravi's humorous implementation to irritate me. After breakfast I started to read the newspaper. Beside political circus, sports,scam & accidents, there was nothing much to read these days. So I started to check Facebook from my tab.

  Ravi – “You have a successful profession. Why you do these things Dada (bro)?”

  I – “Ravi relax, I am fine.”

  Ravi – “Since when you have started to impress girls? You have been always famous among girls due to your charming personality and profession."

  I- “Oh ... Ravi ... haha... It was never to impress girl. That girl needed help and I helped her.”

  Ravi – “Yes and then the girl vanished and you ended with a punch on your face. What a heroism!!”

  I- “That is my point. Did you ever see a hero got punched?.. Haha [Aaaah – my jaw pains]“

  Ravi – “I am fed up of telling you all these. Now this time I will seriously reveal all your secrets to your mom. She has sent me here to help you with lots of trust. But you always made me lie to her.”

  I – “Ravi..hey..you are a very good boy.. Come on..Tonight dinner will be special, Chinese dish for you only. What you say? “

  I knew, Chinese was the only thing that could bribe him right now and it worked like a charm. I know Ravi for a long time now. His mother Sushma Aunty is with us for a longtime. Though she is a maid but we treat her like a part of our family. When I moved to Mumbai and started to work in Advertisements, Ravi came to stay with me. I always wanted him to study and be stable because I never liked the servant concept but Ravi was too lazy to study and always find excuses.To him staying with me is his ultimate goal of life.

  I was getting ready for a client meeting and suddenly someone knocked the door. I went to the drawing room and saw a middle aged person was standing there. He had sadness in his eyes & pain on his face. He was well dressed but did it in a hurry. Ravi opened the door and offered him chair. He tried to reach his hand towards the glass of water which Ravi gave him. His right shoulder moved forward to reach the glass but his left shoulder was a bit stiff, means he was confused and insecure. I sat in front of him and told him to relax.

  I – How can I help you sir?

  The Man – I am Sudhir Misra. I got your reference from Mr.Tamble.

  Mr.Hari Tamble is SI [Sub Inspector of police] of Andheri East Police station. Last year there was a murder case in our Residential Complex and we had met that time. He loved my work in Advertisements and also some of my little input helped him to solve the murder. Though it was a very minimal but according to Mr.Tamble those were key inputs. Thereafter, sometimes we met over few cup of coffees and discussed a lot of things, sometimes about investigations. I always had interest on crime investigations since childhood. I had quite a good collection of thriller novels from around the world. So whenever I got opportunity from Mr.Tamble to involve, I took those golden opportunities to satisfy my childhood fascination and gave my fresh perspectives. Though those discussions made me understood that reality is more complex and dangerous than stories.

  I- Mr.Sudhir, you can call me INDRA. I am much younger and I respect Tamble Sir a lot. So tell me what you need, anything for Tamble Sir.

  Mr. Sudhir – My nephew,Arjun died last week .He fell down from train.

  I – Was it an Accident?

  Mr.Sudhir – Yes that’s what Police report said.

  I- What do you think?

  Mr.Sudhir – I thought same .But ……

  I- But?..

  Mr.Sudhir – But now I think that it was Murder.

  I – Why?

  Mr.Sudhir – Because my son also escaped from 2 unnatural accidents in last two days.

  I- Accidents happen Mr.Sudhir.Your family already had a tragic incident, sometimes due to such tragedy we walk with absent mind and those can also cause accidents.

  Mr.Sudir – I know no one believe me. Even when I told my doubt to Mr.Tamble, he told me same like you.But then he called me last night and gave me your contact… [Pause] ….

  Mr.Sudhir – Please save my son Mr.Indra….

  He started to cry and it had more fear than sadness. I was confused too. But I had to attend a meeting also and I was already running late. I had to talk with Mr.Tamble first, so I told Mr Sudhir to go home & I would try to do my best to help him. Though at that time I had no idea how to help him and why Tamble Sir sent him to me.

  My meeting went well. Mr.Ahuja was a good executive. He has been single handedly managing Toyota for Indian market. He always gives me creative space. On the way back home I called Tamble Sir.

  I – Hello... Tamble Sir?

  Tamble – Yes Indra, I was waiting for your call. First tell me, how are you?

  I - I am fine Sir. Everything is going good. Sir, today Mr.Sudhir came to meet me.

  Tamble - Yes, I know. Indra, are you home now? If you have time I would love to come and discuss with you rather talking on phone.

  I - No problem, Sir. I am on my way back home and shall be at home in 15 minutes.

  I came with Vada Pav [Famous Mumbai local Food] from Samrat. Samrat’s Vada Pav is famous in Andheri area and also Tamble Sir’s favourite. The famous Mumbai "Traffic jam" made me late a bit. Tamble Sir had reached before me and was chatting with Ravi. Ravi already told him the story behind my sore jaw & it was embarrassing. Tamble Sir smiled at me &Told me, “Young man, don’t be embarrassed. What you tried to do was a brave effort. That girl might be scared and ran away but you did the right thing. You are not a impregnable filmy hero. You got a punch but you saved the girl. Try to stay like this always”

  I smiled. Felt good when Tamble Sir told this. While eating Vada Pav, I asked Tamble Sir about Mr.Sudhir. Tamble Sir told me that Sudhir’s nephew, Arjun, died in an accident. But Mr.Sudhir suddenly started to suspect that it was a murder. At first, Mr.Tamble also ignored him. But when he was going through Arjun’s details, something was suspicious. Two more students from same coaching centre where Arjun studied had met accidental death. Mr.Sudhir’s son, Ritesh was also a student from the same centre. Tamble Sir felt it a bit suspicious. But officially he couldn’t involve in this, because of just intuitive suspicion. So he sent Mr.Sudhir to me. I asked Tamble Sir that why suddenly he sent Mr.Sudhir to me when he knew many good private investigators with experience and over 6 feet height,well built like in the story book detectives. Tamble Sir replied with a smile -

  “I know that you are a 5'8'' inch average build creative person who won several national
and international awards for his creative works and nowhere ever connected with anything like this but i also know that you have a passion in finding truth and sharp brain to solve mystery. I admire your fresh and different perspective, may be because, you are a creative person so you see things "out of the box" beside that my sixth sense and your reflex match a lot. So when I felt a bit suspicious, you are the first person, who came to my mind. I know you are busy with your advertisements but if you can manage to get a time to look on the matter then it will be a great help to me and I may finally assure Mr.Sudhir that it was nothing but his paranoia.”

  I was really surprised & happy to find out that Mr.Tamble had such thoughts about me. I had never imagined that those coffee table time pass chats will actually open a total new perspective in front of me. It was a ‘dream come true’. So without any hesitation I happily accepted Mr.Tamble’s offer. Ravi heard all from kitchen and as soon as Mr.Tamble left, he jumped in front of me.

  ‘Are you insane dada (bro)? First it was fight for girls and now you are investigating a crime?‘

  I replied, ‘Ravi, cool down. It was just an accident case, which is why Tamble Sir didn’t go to a professional Private investigator. It’s not at all important’

  Well after a bit of discussion I was able to make Ravi understand that it was no criminal case and prevented him from calling my mom or else his call would have made my parents worried for no