Alladin - Chapter two - Mehru Nisa

Click to read Chapter one

27th December, 2009

'Mr. Sanjay Shenoy, Wake up. It's past 7:00 already'

'Can't you bathe him today, Sonya?'

'No, he knows it's your day and he refuses'

'Stubborn like his mother.'

'No he has OCD like his father..'

'BTW what is that you were reading all last night?'

'Diary of the terrorist who was caught at Vasai'

'Oh, that Chand guy?'

'No, his name is Alladin, I think'

'Alladin, Who names their kids that way?'

'An english literature professor at Jammu university'

'English literature...You're kidding me. You're just saying that to tease me.'

'No baba. Apparently there is a violent gene in all English literature professors which they pass on to their sons. haa haa'

'Well please towel the head of your violent kid when you're done.' Sonya's face turned serious as she moved towards the kitchen.

'Hey, what happened. I was just teasing you'

'I know. Just thinking....'

Shenoy bathes his son and gets him ready for school and then picks up the newspaper


'Where's the front page dear?'

Sonya comes out with the first page which had a picture of Sanjay and Sonya bowing down to take their blessings from his in - laws.


'Sorry, Sanjay'

'Well, at least they could've published a better picture'

0900 hrs
Shenoy walks into Sharma's office and sits down


'Welcome Damadji..'

'Sir, you'd called for me.'

'Yes, any update on this Chand guy? What do the doctor's say?'

'Sir, his name is Alladin not Chand and he's still critical. Doctor says he is sinking'

'Alladin, weird name. Are you sure?'

'At least that's what his diary says.'

'Great get someone to get a summary of that diary done ASAP'

'Sir, If you don't mind, I'd like to do it myself considering the sensitivity'

'Agree. Can't we pump him with some pain killers and interrogate him before he dies?'

'I don't think so. The doctors won't allow us to go near him till he's fit to talk'

'Damn idiots. What do you think these terrorists would've done if it was the other way round?'

'But that's why sir they are terrorists and we are not.'

'Shenoy, when you are shot at by a terrorist with an AK 47 in a crowded locality and you have to reply with a service revolver, these ideals suddenly disappear'

'I agree Sir. But I will try to hold on to them as far as I can.'

'Good for you. Now come back here when you have some news and preferably I'd like to hear it from you before I see it on the news'

3:30pm, Vasai beach
The area where the boat debris were found have been cordoned off with 2 policemen overlooking the site.


Shenoy looks at the report that Adil has just handed him, 'What does the forensic say?'

'Plastic explosives and that too some high grade stuff called semtex was on those boats. That's what caused the explosion and ripped the 2 boats at around the same time. They would have been travelling at some speed when the explosion happened. It seems to be a timer'

'Faulty timer'

'Unlikely sir. Unless they were dumb enough to travel with an armed explosive in their boat.'

'Any target they could have been attacking as a sucide mission'

'There's nothing here that we know off Sir. Unless the Navy is keeping something secret. Unlikely though'

'they must've planned to use the creek to travel up towards Bhayander?'

'Why Sir, they could as well board the 7:40 local to churchgate.'

'What about security checks at the station?'

'Sir, Our entire force would be inadequate for checking all the people going to office at any station'

'Agree. Can't understand what was their plan. Any radio equipment?'

'There were some walkie talkies but apparently nothing that could have been used to send the signal the fishermen'

'So no idea who our mystery saviour could be?'

'Sir, mother says good things happen to good people'

'Well tell me your mother has a Phd on mysterious radio transmission and we are halfway towards solving this case'

'Well she makes great kebabs, if that helps?'

'Well pity I am vegetarian.'

'That's Ok Sir. No one's perfect. By the way whats in the diary?'

'Apparently Mr. Alladin in the hospital is the son of a professor of English literature. His mother died when he was a kid but his father's sister helps out the family. And he has an elder sister called Mehru Nisa'

'Mehru Nisa, that means woman of the sun'

'I am impressed Mr. Adil'

'Actually was the name of a girl I had a crush on in school'

'Good, something interesting to discuss on the way back'

11:00 pm
Shenoy adjusts his pillow and dims his reading light and picks up the diary.

May 19, 2005


Mehr is always trying to get me into trouble with Abba because I won't do my part of the chores. Abba believes that we must all do our part of housework. I know it is because we are poor. Last Ramzaan Abba could not even buy himself a new dress. This carpet business is not working and no one seems to want english tutions from someone like Abba who doesn't support the cause. 
Mehr keeps preening at the mirror everyday. She knows that the gardeners son likes her. Stupid girl. She has started acting more girlish nowadays. what with Ammis old dress that Aapa gave her.




May 20, 2005
Windswept skies never knew how,
to stop the clouds from running away.
Try as they will the clouds are gone,
It's a wonderful warm sunny day.


The sheep know not their way,
their destiny is to get lost.
Their white coats on the green grass,
like a green carpet covered with frost.


They bleat to each other in despair,
Each one trying to find his way out.
Of the cycle that continues with a carpet,
Or ends satisfying someone's hungry mouth.


We too are like these clueless sheep,
Seeking the destiny that we desire.
The course that will take us to paradise,
Or the judgement that will end with fire. 


'Bloody hell'


'What happened?'


'Nothing you sleep'


and then Shenoy muttering to himself in disbelief  'And this guy turned into a terrorist'

Alladin - Chapter one - The Diary

Vasai Village

‘Let’s just shoot him and….’

‘No Adil, this isn’t some small time extortionist. IB will want to meet him’

‘Sir, I agree with Adil. One shot and he’s done. We could say he was trying to escape…..'

‘Sawant, Adil, This is not how we can handle this. We have to register this …’

‘Sir, We save this idiot and they will make him into a hero like last time. Fucker will bloody make fun of us in front of our people only.’

‘Guys, no arguments. At any rate he doesn’t look like he will survive this. Mhatre phone in the coastguard and tell them we caught one of them. Tell them to sweep this area.’

‘Saheb, The tide has changed since morning, there could be a good chance they could get washed up higher.’

‘Mhatre, tell coastguard what the Kohli said. We don’t want this to… What’s that sound? Has back up already arrived?..’

‘Arre, these are press waale, now who called them…’ Sawant then turned towards the quaking fisherman ‘Didn’t I tell you no media, you little…’

‘Shh, theyre here’

Police headquarters. ACP Shenoy walks into the room of Commisioner Sharma where DGP Khan is having a conversation.

‘Sir’

‘Arre Wah, the star of Mumbai Police is here.’

‘Sharma…… Shenoy, close the door and open the FIR copy’

Sharma turning towards Khan ‘Sir, IB was clear that they wanted to get the guy to themselves alone. This is probably the only survivor and we bloody have no way to interrogate him properly now’

‘Sharma, let the boy talk’

‘Sir,… A police informer was the one who happened to be in the shack when the radio signal came in at around 1900…’

‘What local informer?’

‘Sawant’s man..’

‘Why does an ATS man have an informer in a fishing village? What operation are you running, Shenoy’

‘Sir, He’s the dock worker who had got us the AK cache information. He had gone home for Christmas. They were actually trying to get to this one ship which had his brother who was coming home the next day i.e. Dec 25^th.’

‘Why did you’ll take so much time to react? Are your Christmas parties more important’

‘Sharma, No interruptions now. Shenoy, a quick concise debrief please’

‘Sir, the person they were communicating to seemed to be whispering into the radio and the signal kept getting dropped. The guys in the shack first thought it was a prank as normally fisherman broadcast at this frequency. The first message established contact and then the second message just said “ Pakistani boat Vasai”. Apparently the sender kept repeating it at different frequencies as some other fishermen too got part of the message. The fishermen contacted the coastguard, who were on minimal patrol basis Intelligence reports and a weather forecast of bad choppy seas. They first tried to verify the authenticity of the message by tuning into the same frequency and parallelly scrambled boats. They then contacted customs and local police. But the local police already knew since we had contacted them. Adil reached Vasai first as he lives in Mira Road and then Sawant came from Borivali. We also got some guys from Damle’s unit to join us. I asked them to get some local fishermen and check possible landing sites. Customs gave the local police a list of places which were under surveillance for possible smuggling drops. Which is when reports of the first explosion sound came from one of the search parties. The burning debris lit up the sea near the beach and Damle’s men got all the people on the boat…’

‘All the people?’Khan’s eyebrow went up almost unconsciously

‘That’s what the report says Sir’

‘Shenoy, Damle is a senior inspector. If he says all the people then he mustve got them all. Continue’

‘ Anyway by then I had reached the beach where we found 6 bodies. 2 burnt bodies and four riddled with bullets and one survivor’

‘This is the Chand guy they are talking about on TV?’

‘Sir, we have no idea about his name. He just had a crescent moon tattoo on his arms which the media saw when we were getting him to the ambulance’

‘Which is when you decided to give sound bytes to the press?’

‘Sir, some local fisherman had called the press and there was a news team covering Christmas parties at some nearby farmhouse. They landed up at the beach and began making all sorts of assumptions. I did not want them to get to the other 6 bodies and the boat wreckage on the other side of the beach and hence asked Sawant to keep them quiet…’

‘Which is when he decided to tell National TV that ATS had killed of the Pakis..’

‘He did not realize the camera was rolling Sir. It was a mistake and I take full responsibility for it’

‘That you shall my friend. Sir, can we talk alone for a few minutes’

Shenoy walked out of the office into the corridor

‘Sharma, give the kid a chance. He’s done a good job under the circumstances.’

‘Sir, I was never for giving a well connected cop a term in the ATS. You know that there is a lot we do that we do not want to make public. As it is these guys turn into mini celebrities in a couple of years. Do you really want to have a ministers son in law in this task force.’

‘Sharma, he’s here because he’s an IPS grad with an excellent record and I have never had any pressure from above on his behalf till today’

‘What happened?’

‘The CMs secretary called. They have hinted that we keep him on the case. Apparently the party mouthpiece ran a front page news report saying that the partys son in law had saved the day. I even have a copy with a photo of him and his wife prostrating before the sports minister and his wife.’

‘So that’s the reason..’

‘No, also this is rightfully his investigation. The boy has never used his connections to get something. I will ensure that he doesn’t lose this opportunity because of this.’

‘But what about experience in ATS?’

‘He has an excellent track record in homicide and has worked on explosives before. Considering this case, we need a good detective rather than one of your shoot first, talk later guys.’

‘Sir, they are the best..’

‘And him?’

‘He’s good sir. I won’t take that from him. But his every move will be analyzed by the media.’

‘Sharma, considering the case. You put anyone on it and they will be in the limelight. At least this guy has a clean image, talks astutely and sensibly’

‘Well after Sawant’s tirade even Osama bin Laden would sound sensible. BTW intelligence reports a team of Taliban are planning to enter the city.’

‘This is like last time repeating itself. For the next month we’ll get reports about everyone from Osama to Obama to Madhuri Dixit entering the country illegally’

‘BTW RK came up with this conspiracy theory website which says that Osama and Obama are related.’

‘Please tell that idiot to stop his creativity and focus on getting me that digital encryption report I asked for’

‘Well he is like a mad scientist. Needs his weird moments. Anyway let’s call Shenoy in”

Shenoy walks in and salutes

‘Arre baba, if you salute each time you come in then this is all that you will do in HO’

‘Sir, don’t worry he’s with me now. In no time, you’ll see him in plainclothes, with some illegal firearm tucked in his jeans and a bulletproof jacket. What say Shenoy....’

‘Sharma, You are as much a department of this place as the remaining. Please brief this boy. Achha and what about these notebooks you found?

‘sir, one is a diary written in English and the others a notebook written in Arabic. I have given the Arabic one for translation’

‘Why translation. Can’t any of your boys read Arabic?’

‘I have only Adil who supposedly knows Arabic and he’s not read it since his school. Also he says the script is different.’

‘Different, my ass. Anyway get to work’

‘BTW Shenoy, Your father being the sports minister, can you get me into the football team?’

‘Sharma Sir, I believe they have a weight limit there’

‘Haa  haa Sharma. He’s already getting your department’s insolence.

The TV is on at high volume. There’s a lady on the screen standing next to a bar chart which fill sup the screen. She moves her hand towards the bar graph and a number flashes on the screen.

'Oye Sawant, Now 75% people agree with your statement that kill all the Pakistanis'

'Adil, Shut up. I am in enough trouble anyhow'

Just then Shenoy enters the room with a file in his hand

'Sir...........'

 'Sawant, If you are done with watching yourself on TV, please hand over the diary to me'

'Yes Sir. Here's the diary. Forensics reported that the plastic cover had no fingerprints but a slight trace of grease. The water wiped off everything else. The diary itself was protected. All the fingerprints on the diary are of Chand.'

'Sawant, he's not Chand.'

'Yes Sir.'

Shenoy walks into his office and keeps his cap down. He takes the diary out. It's a rough notebook with dates written to indicate the entry. The diary has a torn binding. Shenoy takes out some gum and tries to stick the binding back. He then opens the diary and reads the first line on the first page.

This is the diary of Alladin - Confidential. 

Do not read this. If you find it please return it to 

Alladin Khan,

Little red house,

near army post,

Sopore.

The first entry read May 17th, 2005.

Death stopped the bud, 
from ever becoming a flower. 
It never knew the consequence, 
of this mad lust for power. 
A battle is fiercely fought, 
for the many generations to come, 
Now if only they could pause, 
and spare the lives of some. 
Maybe enough would survive, 
to create a generation, 
Just enough to create, 
a single proud nation. 

Abba says that great men always maintain diaries because they then have a record of all the mistakes they have made in life. Today is when I start my diary and what better way then to write a poem that came into my head. Mehr is jealous of my poetry because she can't understand it properly. Only Abba understands it. After all he used to be a literature professor in Jammu which is why he still gets a government pension.

Shenoy looked at the cover again. This was no diary of a terrorist. Probably must've robbed it from some kid. He leafed through the pages till he reached the last entry Dec 24, 2009 which was one day before the attack. The diary was probably that of the terrorist from 5 years back or someone who had updated it till a few days back. He drank his glass of water and began his journey into the life of Alladin Khan.