Friday, December 3, 2010

The Mystery







This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 17; the seventeenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.




ACP Brijender Singh was lying in his bed with one hand constantly flickering the night lamp. Shalini, his wife, noticed this for some time and chose to ignore it. She knew he had a lot on his mind currently. They had made it a rule in their marriage not to interfere in each other’s work. But after watching this go on for 15 minutes, she said, “ Whats the matter Brij? Still thinking about the case? Let it rest for some time and go to sleep. You have not slept properly for 5 days now.”

Brijender was lost in his own thoughts and did not respond. Shalini touched his face and said, “ Are you Ok?” Brijender was startled but said,” Ya ya I am fine.” 

But Shalini knew that he wasn’t. Brijender had not slept properly for the last 5 days. She knew the reason, the entire world knew by now.
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It all started on the 1st of May when Atul Malhotra, a well known journalist was found dead in his office late in the night. Later it was found out that he was strangled to death at 8 PM. The media had soon got hold of the story and it was immediately flashing as the headline on most of the top news channels. All the national and regional newspapers had the story running on the front page next day. 

Rajat & Amita Aggarwal had come in late on the previous night from a foreign trip and had had no time to catch on with the news. When Amita read the news of Atul’s death, who was a close friend of Rajat, she was shocked and went running towards Rajat to inform him of this incident but she couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw her husband lying on the ground,dead. Amita let out a huge cry and all the servants came running. Amita had got up 8:55 AM and had been out of the room for only 10 minutes. Rajat was the head of a Delhi based publishing house.

The primary evidence showed the murders to have taken place in an identical way. There was no straightforward logic that related the two murders and that is when the case was handed over to Brijender who had developed an image of seeing what was hidden in the one year he had been an IPS officer. The murders seemed to have been done in a perfect manner. No one had seen anyone enter or leave the victims’ house near the time of the murders. Brijender spend the whole day trying to figure out a connection between the two murders but no matter how deeply he dug into both victim’s work or life he couldn’t find something that would tell him who did this or why?  

It had been more than 60 hours since the first murder had taken place but still Brijender was no close to finding who did it. Brijender was about to leave for home when his phone rang at 6:45 PM on the 4th of May. His heart sank when he heard the news that another murder had taken place in exactly the same manner. The victim in this case was Meera Gulabchand, another giant from the publishing world . He rushed to the spot and to his horror, the press was there before him. He was bombarded with questions about who this serial killer was, Why were all the targets publishers or media persons and what he was doing to stop him? This was when Brijender finally realised that his major worry is not to find the killer but to save people who might be his next targets. 
It was 6th May now and this news was all over the news and Brijender was in the line of fire but it was not the press that bothered him. He was worried if there could be someone else as well and if yes, Who? And When?
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Brijender tried to divert the topic and asked Shalini, “what are you reading?” Shalini was herself in the publishing industry but she was very new into the world so Brij was more or less certain that she could not be a target all the targets till now were bigwigs. Shalini replied, “ Just a manuscript I picked up today in the office. I read a couple of pages and found them interesting. Some guy wrote it a few years back but it was rejected. Don’t know why?”

Brij- What is the title?
Shalini-THE MYSTERY, written by some Akash Mehra

Brijender had come across this name somewhere in his investigation. He thought for a couple of minutes and suddenly a spark appeared in his eyes. He asked Shalini for a pen and paper.

Shalini-Why?
Brij didn’t answer
Shalini was confused.

After scribbling for sometime, Brijender asked Shalini to call her boss.
The call went through.

Shalini: Hi Sir. Sorry for calling so late. My husband wants to talk to you.
After about 15 minutes, and a lot of Questions, Brijender cut the line.
Brij-I think you just solved the case for me.
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As Akash Mehra entered the house of Ajay Pratap Singh at 1:58 PM on 7th May, he thought his revenge is soon going to be complete and completely according to the script. First Atul Malhotra, who called himself a friend, but still hadn't helped him one bit in getting his book published. Then it was Rajat Aggarwal and Meera Gulabchand’s turn who had told him that he should stop writing as his writing “simply not upto the mark” & “Just not good enough.” Their words still echoed in his ears. He had saved Ajay for the last as Ajay, CEO of Penguin India, had humiliated him the most. He still couldn’t forget the day when Ajay, in front of his entire top management team, had told him to try writing for a children's magazine or rather teach maths in a school like his protagonist in the so called novel. He couldn’t ever forget the torture he had gone through. 

Suddenly a person in a white shirt and brown trousers came running towards Akash and pinned him to the ground. As Akash frantically tried to release himself, Brijender took a sigh of relief.
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Brijender jotted down the words THE MYSTERY on a piece of paper. And started writing numbers underneath.
T=20
H=8
E=5
M=13
Y=25
S=19
T=20
E=5
R=18
Y=25
T=20  
THE=33,24+9
THE MYS=90,24+24+24+18
THE MYSTERY=158,24+24+24+24+24+14
1/5/8  - 8 PM
2/5/8 – 9 AM
4/5/8 – 6 PM
7/5/8 – 2 PM
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Luckily for Ajay Pratap Singh, ACP Brijender Singh’s wife worked under him.

Brijender and Shalini decided they should infact discuss work at home.

Akash Mehra has been in prison for the last two years. He was been given Death Sentence for multiple murders.

P.S.-I have used the concept of EJOTY. For details visit http://www.ludism.org/mentat/AlphabetFeats 
       24+9 means one full day plus 9 hours & so on for others






The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.


 

53 comments:

MAVERICK said...

Hmmm , nice concept man bit inspired by the series numbers if you happen to see them ever. Indeed what a mystery solved, some writers can get paranoid to get their stuff published, but this one went a bit over board with it.
All in all Gr8 work done and all the best.
P.S. Some cheekiness always prevails but then I would leave that for someone else to comment upon.

Someone is Special said...

Nice concept, Brijender pretty famous name in BAT> 3... Ashwini, nice idea and office work in home? for detectives or policemen it is fine for IT? (PS: wife will kill us then)...

Mystery well done..

All the BEst..

--Someone is Special--

Maddie said...

Nice concept. All murder mysteries coming up this BAT.

All the best!

adarshs said...

@sahil aka maverick...thanks a lot...you never knw wat sort o ppl v come across...n well abt the cheekiness, lets c :)

adarshs said...

@Some1 is spl....thanks a lot...dere always is a conflict btw wats allowed n wats practical n wats ideal, bt ashwini?? didnt get u dere....

adarshs said...

@maddie...thanks a lot...murder mystery seems to b d flavour o d season

Vibhuti Bhandarkar said...

This makes a fabulous script for a detective movie or TV series to follow...Well researched and that was an impressive idea to base the solution of the case on numerology !!
ATB for BAT 17

Meher said...

Very well thought.Actually,i was more fascinated by the numbers hidden behing the letters.Made for a very interesting read.
ATB for BAT 17

Vinay Leo R. said...

good mystery man.. much like a crime based serial :D nice work.

All the best for BAT.

adarshs said...

@vibhuti...thanks a lot...hav a small fascination wit numbers :) n lets hope some director/producer is following blog-a-ton n approaches me...lol..

Rumya said...

Nice mystery created here and loved the idea of coded messages.
All the Best for BAT -17.

adarshs said...

@meher...thanks a lot...glad that u found it interesting :)

adarshs said...

@leo..thanks a lot...mayb i shud approach a couple o movie/serial makers wit a script based on dis...lol...

adarshs said...

@rumya...thanks a lot...trying to fight your cat with numbers...lol...

Viyoma said...

Something different. You almost gave it a Dan Brown feel with those cryptic clues!!

adarshs said...

@viyoma....thanks a lot...well since all of dan brown books end up being bestsellers, not a bad thing or is it :)

Alcina said...

Total holder..couldn't take my eyes of till you solved the mystery in your blog..
Nicely portrayed each emotion in words with respect to each person..

All the best for BAT-17

adarshs said...

@alcina....thanks a lot...glad that u found s mystery n d emotional part gripping...

MuddassirShah said...

bet you used all you prep for CAT here ;)
god one buddy.
Loved your post

IndolentInsomniac said...

Hmm nice idea...kept the mystery element alive throughout...ATB for BAT!! :)

adarshs said...

@muddassir...lol..CAT prep surely helped a lot in this one :) thanks a lot....

adarshs said...

@anoop....thanks a lot man....glad u liked it :)

m7 said...

nice!!
Good luck!

adarshs said...

@m7...thanks a lot...

Lost in thoughts said...

Thanks for sharing a new concept...A new learning for me.
Nice story around it.
All the best!

aativas said...

Nice story.. Happy to note that the Mystery is resolved :-)

Kshitij KK Khurana said...

Okay! The post is fit for an episode of CID... what say? :)

It's the first time am here... and liked your story.

One thing - maybe you could have explained the number thing a bit more.

adarshs said...

@lost in thoughts...thanks a lot for a apprecaition....m glad that i cud add something to ur knowledge :)

adarshs said...

@aativas...i still trust d indian police so d case was resolved ;) :)

adarshs said...

@kshitij....thnks a lot for the praise & for the advise...well if CID ppl approach me, i can consider..lol...n i did contemplate the idea of explaining the numbers but i thot explaining too much might take away the intensity from thestory and hence i wanted the readers to work it out on their own..bt i ll surely see if i cud hav done both at the same time...thanks :)

Vikram Pyati said...

Good one.. kept me hooked till the end

adarshs said...

@vikram...thanks a lot...glad u liked it...

Someone is Special said...

yeah ashwini brij there.. that is the reason they are better half..

--Someone is Special--

Brijender Singh said...

And look who has been bitten by the eponymous bug NOW !! ;)
Although this is way more ominous than the other eponymous trend that had emerged on BAT just a little while earlier !
(Hahaha-i cant believe that i am being cheeky with my own self !)

Very well written-the only thing that outdoes the writing is the plot-marvelous !
So wish Vipul would waive the clause that permits only participants to vote,this would have my vote without a second thought,and not just coz of the protagonist.
Wish you all the very best for this edition!

adarshs said...

@some1 is spl...oki...got it

@brij sir...thanks a lot...votes n BATOM are gud if dey come but receiving praise frm ur readers is an award in itself...n as for the cheekiness, now since u r being cheeky abt urself, how can u ever ask me not to...lol...n its not a bug, i think the character n d name went well together :)

Rocksa said...

Hello Adarsh!

Long story short,you have my vote! :)

Plot - 10/10. The whole point in this genre is to keep people guessing till the end and that is precisely what you have successfully achieved!

I like the way you have included the concept of numbers that gives your story an extra edge over the rest :)

Totally glad to have visited. Hope you win..ATB with BAT :) Cheers!

Cherry Blossom said...

Excellent narration and an interesting plot. The best part is the name of the protagonist, how I enjoy reading it. And Brij commented on none but yours, think how he looks forward to see his name flashing through your posts. All the best.

adarshs said...

@raksha....thanks a lot raksha....means a lot coming from u...i m a huge fan of ur writings myself :) i hope i keep writing pieces worthy of such praise :)

adarshs said...

@cherry...haha...thanks a lot...though i keep pulling his leg but to his defence, mayb he just wanted to have some revenge...no1 else teases him that way...lol...

Miss D said...

Intelligent writing.
The number system is indeed intriguing.

All the best !

Amity said...

Wow ha, Brijender for a main character of your serial-mystery story....nice... :-)

Quite mysterious, using coded mystery na... :-)

Well churned out mystery entry...!

Thumbs up!!!! ATB for BAT 17!

adarshs said...

@enchantha....thanks a lot...glad u liked it...

adarshs said...

@amity...thanks a lot for the kind words...using my extended interaction wit numbers in life :)

D2 said...

Interesting concept. The use of the series was well done. Well written story as well. All the best for the BAT.

adarshs said...

@d2...thanks a lot for the apppreciation... :)

Dr. Pratibha Singh said...

Reading your mystery story is like watching a detective movie.Very well written and interesting story.all the best for BAT.

adarshs said...

@pratibha....thanks a lot for d appreciation :)

Yamini Meduri said...

wow...nice writeup with the beautiful words and mysterious numbers..!!!

liked it..!!!

All the best for BAT dear..!!!

Yamini Meduri - The Mystery

Yours
Yamini Meduri

adarshs said...

@yamini...thanks a lot for d kind words...glad u liked it...

Beyond Horizon said...

Something mysterious and introduction 2 new concept...good one

adarshs said...

@beyond horizon...thanks a lot......glad u liked it :)

Sidra Sayeed said...

I think I'm going to follow suite! This is getting waay too exciting, not only the plot but of course you know what I'm talking about....

The narration was short and crisp and that has definitely added to the story. However I remember your last post with Brijender as the central character and I think that had a great element of surprise to it as well... and who doesn't like surprises ;)

PS: Was Shalini's character inspired too? :P

adarshs said...

@sidra....haha...ya i think u too should follow suit...complete the circle...lol....n well about shalini...better ask brij sir..i m nt allowed to share all details :P