A major missing

 “Mamaji, mamaji, it is not there,…” huffing and puffing said Satish.

“Check carefully, it must be beneath some of the other bags,” Samir replied.

“I have checked the entire room thrice, but not able to find it, I’m worried,” emphasizing his problem, explained Satish.

“Wait, let us check the room,” confirmed Samir.

---xx---

The entire Mishra family was jubilant. The prince of the family, Satish, had agreed to a marriage proposal after many years of refusal.

After completing M. Tech, Satish had flown to the United States and his lifestyle changed dramatically. Having settled there for over five years, he detested the traditions and customs back home.

To ensure his parents led a luxurious and contended life, he purchased a flat in posh society in the city which was roughly 40kms away from his village.

His respect for his parents was unmatchable, but there was a constant tiff between him and family members on the issue of marriage.  They wanted him to get “settled down in life” and his priority was to settle in his career.

The daily calls had a typical conversation.

“When are you coming back?” Bapu would ask

“Enough of your earnings, come back beta, we want to live with you for whatever little time we have at our hands,” his mother would cut the words. She continued, “You are slowly crossing your marriage age as well. Look at your friends in the village, everyone is settled and have their kids too. We are worried, "

“Maa, do you have anything else to talk or should I disconnect?” he would fume.

 He wanted to live a peaceful life, set his career and then think about marriage, his parents though had contrasting ideas.

After much persuasion, Satish succumbed to their requests.

The marriage preparations started with great euphoria. Everyone in the family gave more than 100 as it was the marriage of Us return boy. He was the blue-eyed boy of the family.

Satish had set high standards for himself. His arrival meant some 'phoren' gifts for everyone in the family. They were over the moon with expectations riding high.

Before anyone could realize it, the event was zeroing in quickly. The palpitation and the excitement in the air could be felt. The plans on paper needed to be executed properly.

Samir, a few years older than Satish, was Satish’s friend as well as he happened to be Mama by blood relation. Satish would connect to Samir for everything. Naturally, Samir became the go-to person for anything and everything related to Satish’s marriage.

Satish arrived.

His huge bag hinted at gifts for almost everyone, marked specifically. Everyone was happy to receive their gift with a smile and joy.

“Okay, Samir, tell me what’s my schedule for the next few days?” asked Satish.

“Firstly, you need to go to the tailor for the measurements. The cloth is already chosen and provided to him. He will take the measurements and ready your wedding attire in a day or two.

Next, we have to go to the Sarpanch’s house for inviting him to the marriage. Thereafter, we will meet our school friends, and since your marriage is just three days away, rituals will start from the day after tomorrow.” explained Samir.

“Sounds hectic. When will I relax!” an astonished Satish exclaimed.

“Yeah, you should have come a few days earlier. Anyways, all are happy now that you have agreed to this proposal. Maa and Bapuji are the happiest souls right now. Ahh! I forgot I have booked an appointment with the Style Gents Beauty Parlour for your facials today evening. Don’t forget that”

The rituals of marriage started two days before the actual marriage date. As per tradition, the entire marriage was expected to happen during the nighttime.

Nowadays the reception was arranged the previous evening. This would mean the entire village would feast at the reception with the sparse crowd for the actual marriage to solemnize.

Samir had left no stone unturned to ensure smooth conduct of the marriage. The right person at the right place at right time was planned. While execution, there were a few drifts, but Samir was capable and smart enough to handle the same easily.

Samir had entrusted the responsibility of stage to one of their village school friends, Mr Rakesh, who came to help for the last two days. Samir had instructed him to keep a proper travellers bag with an auto-lock option for storing cash collected during the reception.

The bag was one of the imported bags brought by Satish. It had an auto number lock. Since it was being handled by a villager, Samir reset the number code to ‘Zero’ Zero’ ‘Zero’. This would make its opening and close easier.

Satish objected to this move.

“If the bag is misplaced or lost, the bag can be easily opened, Mamaji,” he warned.

“That’s true but then you will be busy and I will be all over the place, so it would be highly impossible for either of us to take care of this bag. Rakesh is not very smart but he is very honest. Changing the number of the lock would confuse him and he may not accept the responsibility. Do not worry, I will manage. You do not take the stress of these things,” assured a confident Samir.

The reception began. The entire village folks travelled to experience the feel of the marriage of a ‘videshi’ babu. With the lavish spread of food, the arrangements were rich. A typical ‘rich fat Indian Wedding’ they got to witness. A once in a lifetime experience for every villager. They were proud as well as happy to be a part of the invitee list.

Rakesh stood silently behind Satish, collecting the envelopes and gifts ensuring every envelope was properly kept inside the suitcase and then, carefully locked with the code given. He was smiling throughout. After the reception was over, he was instructed to keep the locked bag with himself and hand over the same to Samir after all the rituals got over.

Rakesh responsibly followed the instructions and handed over the bag to Samir before leaving.

Samir was overburdened with work. He kept the bag along with other belongings to be transported back home. He informed Maa and Bapu to keep an eye on the entire consignment, as he had other works to take care of as well.

After a few moments, the elders were called to bless the couple. Also, they had to bid adieu to other close relatives. They had to move out of that place. Seeing Samir busy, Maa called upon one of Satish’s cousins and told him to take care of all the bags ready for transportation.

The marathon of events, the complexity of rituals dehydrated Samir. Reaching home, he hit the bed and went into a deep slumber. Satish was dead tired too but he took over the onus to rearrange the things which were scattered everywhere. His eyes and mind were searching the most precious bag, but alas it was missing.

--xx—

 “Mamaji, mamaji, it is not there,…” huffing and puffing said Satish.

“Check carefully, it must be beneath some other bag,” rubbing his eyes, Samir replied.

“I have checked the entire room thrice, but not able to find it, I’m worried,”

“Wait, let us check in the other room.”

Bapu intervened, “I had requested Mahesh to keep the vigilance as we were summoned for blessing the new couple and also to say ‘bye’ to outstation guests.”

Immediately, Satish rang up Mahesh.

“Did you see the bags were all transported properly?”

“Yes, yes”

“But one bag is missing”

“I loaded all the bags into the vehicle except the bag with cash. Since that bag was an important one, I handed over it to dadaji personally,” replied Mahesh confidently.

Samir shouted in frustration, “Why on earth would you hand over to a person, who cannot even remember his name properly?”

“Mamaji, I had warned you to keep a stronger random number as lock code but you reset to ‘Zero, Zero, Zero, anyone could guess this and easily open that bag,” complained Satish, adding to Samir's tension.

Samir was perplexed. He froze for a moment. “A great blunder on my part,” he realized.

“Let’s summon the police,” suggested Bapu.

“Wait, wait, I have an intuition that the bag is not lost, just misplaced,” replied Samir.

“Misplaced, lost, everything is the same, let’s call the Police,” seconded Satish.

“As you all wish, but I would suggest, let us go to ground zero, check for the bag before calling the police,” Samir pleaded.

They all went to the venue, asked people about the whereabouts of the bag. They described the colour of the bag, its appearance was described but no one seemed to have any clue.

Suddenly, the security guard said, “I saw one of the catering attendants carry a similar bag on his head with a senior citizen close to his heels. I cannot say anything further about their whereabouts.”

“Ohh, the senior citizen can be our dadaji,” exclaimed Samir. “Let’s check with Dadaji.”

Everyone rushed back home. They now searched for dadaji.

Surprisingly, he was not found either.

The creepers of doubts grow faster than one can imagine. Everyone stared at each other with lots of apprehensions.

The missing bag, now with a missing Dadaji, deepened the mystery.

Unable to get any further clues, everyone agreed to call the police.

The doorbell rang.

“Dadaji, where have you been?” exclaimed Satish with door half-open

“I went to the village. I had alerted your Bapu about the same,” pat came the reply

“Where is the bag?” the next impatient question

“Would you let me in or take my interview mid-door only?” dadaji shouted.

“Come in, Come in, I’m sorry. Mahesh said he handed over a bag before the other bags were put for transportation, do you remember anything?” Samir joined.

“Yes, I told Mahesh not to put the cash bag in the transportation as it might get misplaced. As I could not carry the same, I asked one of the catering attendants to keep it safely in the trunk of the Satish’s car.

I had warned the driver, “This bag contains my clothes and medicines. Do not let anyone touch this until I permit you,” revealed dadaji.

Satish and Samir ran down and opened the trunk of the car to find the bag lying undisturbed. Unlocking the bag there itself by adjusting the numbers, “Zero, Zero, Zero”, both were happy to find the contents intact.

Back home, everyone was happy too.

A round of tea calmed down the nerves of everyone in the family.

"All is well that ends well," said Bapuji.

"True, but Zero, Zero, Zero, what kind of lock code was that Samir, we could have better kept the back unlocked,” chuckled Satish.

“Thank your stars hero, Zero or No Zero, locked or unlocked, just understand one thing, had the bag fallen into wrong hands, you would have been served the same Zero,” Samir joked.

Everyone had a hearty laugh.