northern lights

northern lights
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Monday 20 May 2013

behind the doors









         





  

 
Mr.Subhash  Kapoor's  family  is very fond of  picnics, outings and excursions. Normally their  picnics are limited from morning to evening. Very rarely they go  for  over night stay. Strangely whenever they went for over night picnics , they  met with weird  situations . Once the car tyre got punctured. On another occasion the cook of the guest house fell ill. Since the guest house was situated  in a wild life sanctuary, no food could be made available. They  had to be satisfied with some packets of biscuits.  Hence  they  avoided  overnight outings. Last Holi, it was a  long weekend.Wednesday and Thursday  were holidays for Holi. Friday was a holiday for Good Friday..After including  Saturday and Sunday there were five holidays.  Mr, Kapoor, who  is temperamentally a  lover of  nature, travels and adventures, suggested that they should  have a long holiday in the  forests of Karnataka.  His wife  was dreaming  to have an outing. She was excited and immediately  reacted ,"Oh what a grand idea!!"   Subhash  said," Ask your sister. If she agrees , we can all go together. We will have a great time."  Mrs. Kapoor was thrilled and called her sister without any delay.  Her sister, Mrs. Mehra agreed . They planned to  leave  the next evening, because Mrs Mehra's daughter had a test in the morning. Mr.Kapoor booked two rooms in a guest house.  Kapoors' son  brought his cricket set and said, "Mom don't forget to keep my  cricket set". Mr . Kapoor shouted from his study," Take my lap top ". Their daughter, not to be left behind screamed," Mom you remember, you have to keep my swim suit". Mrs. Kapoor shouted ,"How do you know there is a swimming pool there?" The girl did not reply and  kept  her swim suit  on the table, murmuring something. 
                               Next day they all fully armed with their favourite  games, books, video cameras and what not sat in the car. They were supposed to meet Mehra's at 4 0'clock near the  Air Force Stadium. It was already 4.30. Mehras were there.  The drive from the Stadium to the guest house took about  an hour. They reached the spot around 5.30 pm. The elders ordered tea and  and relaxed. Their children, Madhu, Ramesh, Sita and  and Suresh, all teenagers,started a round  of the guest house.  The guest house was just a corridor, with eight rooms in one single row. The doors were brown with a blue paint on the door frames. In the center of the corridor a door was painted in yellow colour. This was the Reception. All looked alike.  The  children  walked  in the corridor. Their rooms were on one end of the corridor. They casually walked across the corridor. "I wish  some children are there to play with us", said Ramesh. The others  showed enthusiasm. As they walked past the rooms, all the rooms were locked. The last room was not  locked. It had a name plate with the words  'Chandrasekhran'  inscribed on it.  They four of them walked inside the boundary, singing loudly. After two hours Mr. Kapoor  called them . The next two days they observed that  no one else was seen in the guest house. 
                           The first  room did not open once. They asked the  guard and the cook whether some one was living in that room. They got the same reply from both. A man had checked in a week ago  but he has  not opened the door. The children became curious.They told the guard to  knock at the door. But the guard said they were not authorised to knock at the doors of the guests, unless the guests themselves  ordered them to do so. The children resumed their playful antics. But their curiosity   once aroused, could not be controlled. Two more  days passed but neither any stranger could be seen there nor the door  opened. It was Friday evening and they were leaving on Sunday morning. Ramesh, the eldest among them told others that they must solve the mystery of the closed door. 
 Early morning ,when the parents were still sleeping, all four of them started knocking at the door. But there was no response. They became desperate and started banging the door loudly. Still no response. They found a thick branch of a tree near the gate. They took the branch and vigorously started hitting the door. They saw the screws  loosened. They gave a mighty push, and the door fell down. There was no one in the room.In one corner they found a plate with remnants of food  in it. They also saw some clothes hanging on the  rod.Some one is definitely visiting the place but  the door had not opened. What was this mystery.  Sita was looking for some loop holes. Suddenly she said,"Look Ramesh Bhai ,what is this". The other three turned and what they saw shocked them. There was a piece of jute, which Sita had removed and they saw a hole!! It appeared to be some passage. Ramesh  entered the hole to step on the passage. The others  tried to enter the hole, but Ramesh stopped them and said ,"Suresh, only you come. Sita and Madhu wait here if there  is some urgency we will denominationcall you then you bring Mom and Papa here." The boys  tip toed and went inside the passage. About 12 feet away they found three men in deep sleep, snoring loudly. Four or five big metal trunks were kept there. Some bundles of currency notes were also lylng near a trunk. The men continued  to sleep. Ramesh  and Suresh had swift turn and came outside. All four came to their parents and told them about the adventure. Mr. Mehra immediately summoned the guard and also called the Police on his mobile. Within minutes  a police jeep entered the compound of the guest house. All of them went inside and easily located the men, still in deep sleep. One of the constables nudged the three men, who got up with  fear, and shock writ on their faces. The Sub inspector  and another constable broke open the trunks,, which were full of currency notes of 1000/- rupee denomination. All the three were arrested.  They took signatures of Mr, Kapoor and Mr. Mehra. They were commenting that these people have selected this place so that their illegal activity would not be detected. The Kapoors and Mehras were asked to leave without any delay.  This was another weird incident that happened  on  an over night picnic.
  
 these children were awarded Bravery award by the Government  on the next Republic Day.
 Note this is a purely fictional story




Write Tribe Prompt          

 Write Tribe is an initiative for the Motivation and Support for Writers and Bloggers

 This post has been written as part of the write tribe initiative. # 2

Pic. courtesy (http://www.fotolia.com  /Info/Images/FreeImages).  


 
       



























18 comments:

  1. That's a very imaginative and a fascinating story! :)

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  2. Lovely read. Curious children nabbing criminals. :)

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    1. Thank you Saru. Children are inquisitive by nature. Is'nt it?

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  3. Reminded me of the mysteries solved in Champak... Thrilling and exciting :)

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    1. Thanks Reshma.In our childhood we have read so many magazines like Chanda mama

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  4. Creative story, Mrs Menon. Thanks for joining in again.

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  5. Thanks Corinne.Happy that you liked it. Your comments are valuable for me.

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  6. Hello Mrs. Menon
    Nice dropping by ur blog. Reminded me the adventure comics I used to read in school
    Great narration !

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    1. Hi Afsan,welcome to my site.I am glad that you liked the story. It is possible that the stories we read in school days might have been in my subconsious mind because i started writing with an entirely different theme and ended up with this one..

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  7. That was indeed an interesting imagination.

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    1. Thank you Sarala.Glad that you liked it.

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  8. oh nice a post about kids being smart now :) which is quite usual now!

    Richa

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    1. Welcome Richa to my site. Ya, kids these days are very smart and resourceful, I am happy that you liked the story.

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  9. Gripping narration.. and very creative :)

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  10. This is awesome and what were their future adventures?

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  11. Thank you Kavita. These two are on a holiday . Will plan their next move after they come back.Luv.

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