The Camouflage

  “He has consumed it even today,” informed Lakhan.

“I’m surprised, how does he manage this?” an annoyed Dr Prakash yelled.

“We were alert sir, the usual abnormality showed up,”

“Yes, yes, I understand. It’s been over a month now, let me think something different,” assured the doctor.

Sheth Rupayamal was born with a silver spoon. Born in a royal family, he got more than what he demanded. Such pampering made him lazy, irresponsible and lethargic. He never found anything interesting and motivating in real life.

He even dropped out of school even before completing basic education. To add to his woes, he found some bad company to pass time. His so-called friends made him consume different things to get into a trance. What started with a smoke went to a weed and then he started consuming the dreaded GHB also known as ‘liquid ecstasy. He was now addicted to this colourless, odourless liquid-killer for the past few years. He wasted the family money without caring for anyone.

His siblings were tired of his irresponsible behaviour and the entire property was split. The brothers thought that being in a nuclear family, Rupayamal would improve. Alas! It did not work either.

Rupayamal continued with all the bad habits. His wife and two sons – Lakhan and Jagat, were cursing their fate for such an irresponsible person at the helm of affairs. Money was never a problem as even after partition, Rupayamal inherited a good amount to survive the rest of his life.

If not money, adversity strikes in other forms as well. Sheth had a paralytic attack that crippled his lower limbs and was bed-ridden for the last few months. This was an adverse effect of consuming the drug.

Having learnt a tough lesson, the family thought Rupayamal would change his lifestyle. Unfortunately, even that did not happen.

When Rupayamal regained consciousness, he consumed GHB without the knowledge of any of his sons or wife. They were all frustrated and irritated due to this aspect.

Sheth would alter his time of consuming the drug regularly. The family members could not catch him red-handed anytime while consuming the same. However, once intoxicated, he would have had his favourite ‘paan’, play bhajan songs in full volume. If someone came near him anytime, he would use abusive language.

Then, he would scribble nonsense lines either abusing or blaming someone for his current situation. His writings would sometimes include shayaris without much sense in those. These characteristics would ensure that the Sheth was on a high.

Dr Prakash had treated Sheth Rupayamal earlier during the paralytic attack and the family members requested the doctor to cure the Sheth out of the deeply rooted habit as well. Every one of them was worried about the deteriorating health of the Karta of their family. 

As a first step, the doctor instructed the brothers to increase their vigilance around Shethji. The family followed Doctor’s advice and vigilance was so strong that nobody reached Shethji without their consent. Also, care was taken to serve home-cooked food only.

Even when the Sheth attended to nature’s call, either of the brothers was physically present to lift him from the bed to the restroom and back. The earliest doubts everyone had was he drugged himself in the toilet but then it proved to be futile.

Dr Prakash tried counselling Sheth about the ill effects of drug consumption but all words never crossed the ear boundaries to reach Shethji’s heart. When all efforts of the doctor and his sons were failing, the doctor decided to take the help of his friend, Vishal, who was a detective by profession.

Spying and solving complicated cases was Vishal’s ‘niche’. He charged very heavy fees but ensured the case was solved convincingly.

With consultation of the Lakhan and Jagat, Dr Prakash handed over the case and expected the results quickly as he knew his patient was knocking on the doors of death voluntarily.

Vishal came to Shetji’s house. The initial investigation was useless. He tried to observe unusual things around but everything seemed perfect. While the enquiry was going on, the doorbell rang.

Jagat opened the door and it was a registered courier favouring Shethji. Vishal was taken back as this fact was not shared with him earlier. His intuition was this courier had the keys to the solution everyone was searching for. He observed.

The postman handed over the courier to Jagat, who in turn opened the packet. Checked it carefully and returned it to the postman. Since it was a registered courier, the postman demanded the courier be delivered to Sheth only and this was what the Sheth had instructed too.

On questioning about the source of the registered courier, the family members went inside the room with heads hung in shame.

Dr Prakash revealed that since Sheth was a Debauch, he had an illegitimate affair. The woman was still single and stayed in the nearby area. She sent blank A/4 sized papers through registered post fortnightly which was used by Sheth for writing. Sheth had informed that he would not write in any other paper as those papers gave him ideas and inspiration.

Bull Shit!! Everyone knew but no one wanted to be in the line of the firing of a drug addict. As compensation, Sheth used to transfer INR 25,000 every month to her. The amount was a huge consideration against the few papers sent but the family bore the pain silently.

This information hinted at the culprit but the problem was still unsolved.

Vishal requested for staying at their house for one day to note down the activities of Shethji. When the Sheth overheard, he strongly objected and went to his abusive diarrhoea. The other members requested to ignore those words and agreed to the proposal.

Checking many things, Vishal was looking for the single clue which could throw light in the case. The clever Sheth knew the intentions and taunted, “You search everything, you will never get what you want.” Sheth started laughing with fingers pointing at Vishal. This was pretty insulting but Vishal took it with a pinch of salt and concentrated on his work.

After searching the entire house, there was nothing that he could hold of. He sat down on a chair at the corner of the room placed for him with hands on his head. It was almost past midnight. He slept in the same position. The next day morning, he woke up to the sounds of bhajans. He understood the hint and knew the next few hours were difficult for everyone except the Sheth himself.

Vishal enquired about the ‘paan’ story. The brothers said the ‘Paan’ was a regular one brought from a nearby vendor. They generally brought 3-4 paans every day. They further clarified that there was nothing suspicious in that ‘Paan’ as such.

Within moments, there were hurls of abuse on everyone in the room and then the ‘writer’s ghost’ inside the Sheth arose. Sheth started scribbling as usual.

Instantly, out of the blues, Vishal declared, “It’s done, the case the solved.”

Everyone around was amused. They could not find any leads. “What happened, would you share anything with us?” asked Lakhan.

“Call the doctor immediately,” Vishal responded.

The doctor reached hurriedly and asked Vishal to share the findings. He seemed excited and nervous.

“Remove the Red pen Shethji is using and hide it now,” ordered Vishal.

The brothers followed the instructions. It was an easy job as Sheth was drowsy and the pen was lying near the scattered papers.

After a few hours, when Shethji woke up, he searched for the pen frantically. He started showering abuses on Dr Prakash. “I want my pen back,” he screamed. “Who hid it? Who is that ****?” Shethji was uncontrollable. The verbal diarrhoea continued.

Dr Prakash knew it was withdrawal symptoms and decided to give a sleeping injection. He requested the sons to hold their father and an injection was observed. Shethji fell asleep.

Everyone was curious to know. Vishal explained, “We were searching for the liquid outside and the smart Shethji had kept it with him always. Early morning when he started writing, I found he had two fountain pens – a blue one and a red one. The blue inked fountain pen was what he wrote with always and the red pen was rarely used. The red-inked pen was drugged.”

“Okay, got it but then how was it refuelled?” inquired the doctor.

“You all knew it, it was happening in front of your eyes but you could not decode it -The Registered Courier.”

“We always checked the courier thoroughly,” interrupted Jagat

“The courier had nothing in it. When the postman went inside for taking the Sheth’s signature, he would replace the pen. So the papers arrived fortnightly, the refilling happened. Just think when payment was made monthly, why the papers arrived fortnightly?” laughed Vishal. He continued.

“So, loaded with his favourite drug, Sheth used to lick the tip of the fountain pen. To camouflage, he used to have his ‘paan’ at that very moment. The other things of listening to bhajans and showing interest to write were all fake acts to cover up the main act. Shethji is much smarter than you all think,” Vishal concluded.

“You have saved a human life literally. Thank you for solving the case and sparing your time, Vishal,” an emotional doctor thanked with folded hands.

The brothers too thanked Vishal with folded hands.

Author's Note - GHB stands for  Gamma hydroxybutyrate. For more details on the same, please visit https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/GHB. It is an evil substance and must be stayed away from. The effects can be disastorous.