Two sisters. Alike in appearance but contrary in nature. Both leave home but where one of them returns the other goes missing. Binita Sen steps in to help in another bizarre search after Debts of Desire.
Read Chapter 5
Keya woke up the next morning to find her mother poring over the Mussoorie Times. She checked the time and realised it was almost time for breakfast.
“Why aren’t you ready yet?” asked Keya yawning. “Won’t we be late for Landour?”
“Oh not yet” said Binita looking up at the sound of her voice. “I thought we would go around town a bit more. I hardly saw anything yesterday” she said smiling benignly.
Keya looked at her mother suspiciously “Why do I feel you have something going on in that mind of yours?”
“Of course I do” said Binita innocently “I need to do some shopping. I had promised Malati I will get her a warm shawl from Mussoorie.”
Keya looked at Binita blankly. She simply shrugged realizing that there was no use insisting that Binita reveals her true intentions to her and will do it only when she deemed it the right moment.
Mother and daughter got ready and went down to the dining hall and finished their breakfast chatting about everyday things. Keya noticed her mother never mentioned the case. She did not bring it up too. To be truthful to herself, she was getting a bit tired of thinking about the case all the time. She needed a break and thought her mother did too.
Soon after breakfast they went down to the Mall road in Mussoorie town and ambled around the shops. On the suggestion of a few local shop owners, they decided to walk down Camel’s Back road. It was long winding 4 km stretch flanked by Pine, Cedar and Deodar trees and provided a picturesque view of the mighty Himalayas that overlooked the scenic Doon valley that lay peacefully sprawled at its foot. The road is interspersed with natural rock formations at several turns which resemble the back of a camel and hence have led to its name.
The 30-minute walk was not frequented by tourists or locals. Keya and Binita found themselves mostly alone on large stretches of the walk. It was mostly plain land with not too much of inclines and they walked in silence, not wishing to interrupt the soothing and peaceful environment with the sound of their voices. The quietness of the place magnified by the chirping of the birds and the whispering of the Deodar leaves as they swayed in the pleasant mountain air, acted like a balm to their frayed urban nerves.
Keya turned to Binita to gush about the place when one look at her mother made her stop. She realised Binita was deeply absorbed in their own thoughts. She thought it best not to disturb her.
The walk looped back into the Mall road once again. Once there Binita suggested that they take a round of the Lake. She had heard it was a good boating spot. Keya, though a bit surprised, agreed. The Mussoorie Lake she knew was located on the Dehradun-Mussoorie highway and it would take them around 40 min to reach the place.
The lake is an artificial water body and had recently acquired prominence as a popular tourist spot. However, it failed to impress Keya. They took a stroll around the place and grabbed a quick lunch at one of the many restaurants bordering the lake and started off for Landour.
The sky had started to darken, and the air had begun to lose its crispness. There was a damp smell in the wind indicating the onset of rains.
“The weather had to take a turn for the worst today of all the days” said Keya sounding worried.
“Yes. It had to” said Binita quietly. Something in her mother’s tone told Keya that the change in weather had not taken her by surprise.
“You knew it was going to rain today?” asked Keya looking at her mother suspiciously.
“Me?” asked Binita looking at her daughter innocently “Don’t be silly. Do you think I work in the meteorological department?”
Keya pursed her lips not believing her for one moment. She knew her mother had something up her sleeve. The car sped towards Landour. By the time they reached the little hamlet large dark clouds had shrouded the sky and lightning was flashing fiercely at short intervals.
They got off before the gates of General Das’ mansion. Binita turned towards the driver before getting off and asked him to leave.
“Ma. What do you think you are doing?” said Keya “How do you think we are going to get back in this weather?”
“We are not” said Binita simply smiling at her mischievously “Really Keya, I seriously did not believe you would be so daft. How else do you think we can spend the night here if we do not let the car go?”
Keya looked at her mother incredulously as she realised her mother’s plans. “You planned the whole thing. You knew since morning that the weather is going to turn nasty, and you wanted to utilize it. That is why you travelled all the way to that horrible Mussoorie lake to kill time.”
“Thank God! Finally, I can be reassured you have my genes. I was beginning to get worried that they might have handed me the wrong baby at the hospital” said Binita in mock relief.
Keya grinned sheepishly as she followed her mother.
Binita approached the security guard sitting inside a small glass cabin near the gate and tapped on the glass as she asked politely,
“Excuse me, is this General Das’ house?”
“Yes it is” said the short bald man as he stepped outside to speak to her “Where are you from?”
“I am from Kolkata. I would like to meet General Das’s granddaughter. You see I am an old acquaintance of their father’s.”
“Oh from Kolkata?” said the security guard. The name of the city must have rung a bell in his mind. He hurried inside his cabin and quickly dialed into the intercom. Binita watched as he spoke to someone on the other side. In a few moments, the iron gates swung aside. As Binita and Keya entered, the guard asked them to wait awhile as someone would come to escort them inside.
Binita stared down the long-cobbled driveway and looked up at the tall dark building looming before them at the end of the road, its mighty walls holding the answers she sought.
Read next – Chapter 7
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