She was on all national television channels , next day she will be in major newspapers. Her dream was now a reality. She has done it, the law examination topper had just won an International Award for her programme ‘Missing Links’. She was getting calls from all major stalwarts in criminal practice, congratulating her. The programme for which her team won the award, was based on victims of crime of unsolved cases , it was a programme where research was done extensively and on the consultant panel was a top Solicitors Firm ‘ Haston & Leigh ‘, she used to co-ordinate with them to analyse and report the progress of the case till date and what it ought to be. She was lovingly called JRM and was the soul of the programme, where in 20 episodes of unsolved cases, 15 were solved . The first episode of one and half hour showed the status of the programme and then the sequel was aired, if that case was solved. In between the two episodes of the same case, the Police Department took further action to catch the culprits. People connected with the programme as it also educated them, how to escape such crimes and avoid being victims of crime.
Now she was on air, the question concluding the interview was – ‘Miss Janhavi Rajput Macmillan, your name is unique, it seems your first and middle name is Indian but your surname is Macmillan?’
‘Well it is unique, that is the charm of it, yes, this name is Indian, my surname is Macmillan and I love my parents for giving me this name.’ She was a Solicitor, why to divulge the full details, she smiled with a conspicuous dimples.
‘Would you be giving up this Programme ‘ Missing Links’, as we have heard you are joining the Solicitor Firm ‘Haston & Leigh ‘ with whom you were working in the programme also.’
‘I am thankful to H&L for finding me competent enough, to give me space in their firm, it is in fact to make my life simple, I will be working with them in the professional capacity and also in the programme with them, as they are consultants to this show. Better understanding and time management.’ A dimpled smile and she concluded. She could take anybody’s breath away with that killer smile, was she aware of it?
She was just twenty two but her experience and exuberance for the crime, and passion to represent her cases was immense and unmatched. She had a deadly combination of looks and brain, her complexion was flawless Mexican tone, her sharp charming looks, with black wavy hair, could take anyone’s heart away. With heels she managed to look five feet eleven inches. Her towering personality and young age were her other assets, besides her knowledge of law.
She reached home in the evening, to be hugged by her parents Mrs Emily Macmillan and Mr Shane Macmillan. She was the apple of their eyes and they wanted her to touch the skies. She had dinner with them, had a hearty conversation about the day, how they felt watching her on TV and how telephone kept ringing and relatives pouring out the congratulatory notes. Her father gave her a beautiful gift, a diamond bracelet, on her achievement. He kissed her forehead and said, ‘you make me proud everyday, my friends keep telling me how lucky I am to have to have a daughter like you.’
Her father was a scientist and was working on a project, he had, a week back received an email with a blank file, not a word on it, just an empty page. He was wondering where from this email had emanated as the email id was unrecognised. He couldn’t discuss this with Janhavi as she was extremely busy with her engagements and now at home for a week, he thought he needs to discuss this with her. Not a day had passed in these Sixteen and a half years, when her mother had not kissed her forehead before she went to sleep. Sixteen and a half but Janhavi is twenty two…………..!!!
Her parents were her best friends and she never felt the need to look for love outside her small kingdom. This family was unique in its own way. This home had a Christ and Krishna together in their place of worship, Bible and Geeta both were read, JRM spoke fluent Hindi besides English as her mother tongue. She was a pure vegetarian alongwith her parents. Someone belonging to UK, Macmillan’s not being non vegetarians…………wow, that’s amazing.
Mr Macmillan came to her bed and said, ‘Janhavi, I would like to discuss with you one email which I just received, it is blank and I have received three such emails in the past one week, it seems intriguing, so lets have a look at them in the morning.’
‘ Let’s have a look at them now Pa, why to wait till morning,’ she got out of her bed, but her father forcibly pushed her back into bed, ‘ just sleep, will talk in the morning, it is not that urgent, good night,’ the light was switched off and door closed, as her father left the room.
In the morning, she just couldn’t wait and barged into her father’s study, he wasn’t there, her mom was making breakfast for her, cucumber carrot sandwich and apple juice . There was a light music playing on FM, ‘Last Christmas I gave you my heart………….,’
‘Mom..mom, she kissed her mother, ‘ good morninggggggggggg…where is Pa, mom, he is not in his room,’
‘ He is gone for his morning walk, Janhavi, not yet back, you woke up bit early today,’
‘Yes, Pa was talking about something at night, so I just had that on mind, so woke a bit early mom, morning walk in a car…..?, his car is also not there.’
‘Oh, was it something to do with his work ? I have made his coffee but I think he said he will be picking up his Lawn Mower from Andrew’s Farm that is why he went in the car.’
Mobile ringing…………mobile ringing…….Janhavi felt her mobile vibrating in her pyjamas pocket , Pa name flashing, ‘Mom, Pa is calling, let me take his call, will eat breakfast when he is back.’
‘Hello, I am Joseph, I am calling from this mobile which I found in this person’s hand, this was the last number dialled, he seems to have suffered a heart attack as he was lying outside his car with door open,’ he spoke non stop , bit nervous, ‘ I have called the emergency numbers and ambulance should be on way and also the police.’ Janhavi was numb , she just didn’t know what her reaction should be, was this happening to her?
‘ Where are you?’ she asked with a shaky voice,
I am just near the milestone which reads ‘ Caleigh Road’.
She rushed out without saying anything to her mom. Before she could reach there, she got another call from an unknown number, her mobile ringing, she picked up the call, ‘ Police Officer, Neil Hoffmann speaking, I got your number from this mobile,’
‘ yes, I am his daughter, I am on way,’
Please come to Sheriff Hospital immediately, we have brought him here. Janhavi rushed to the hospital to see her father. But unfortunately she could not see her father, only his body waiting for her. She screamed on seeing a white sheet covering her father with his eyes closed, only face visible. She fell on him, ‘ You have betrayed me for the first time Pa, you have fulfilled every promise and dream of mine, except what you said last night, come on discuss with me what you wanted to share.’ She lay on him for few minutes, then realised her mom had no knowledge of this, she went back home to bring her to the hospital. Her mom hardly realised, that was the last coffee she ever made for him and he went even without having it. She was devastated beyond words and it was not for real, her heart telling her, he will wake up any moment. He is playing the usual April fool but why on 28th December….
After the last ceremonies and bidding him goodbye, the house seemed eerie and haunted, with no sound except sighing and crying. She lay with her mother in the bed, suddenly remembered his father’s email. She left her mother, went to his study and switched on the computer, it had a login password on it!!!
She typed some password , it was invalid, then another invalid, then she typed her name….logged in. She knew how much he loved her.
She opened the Outlook Email, to check his emails, there were so many emails, she searched for emails with attachments, she found many, then she opened each attachment with only word files first, on fifth attempt she found an email with attachment which had a blank file, then she searched for the emails from the same email id, she found three more emails from the same id, she opened the file attachments, but all blank. She saved the attachments on the desktop. She opened the document, it was blank, another document , all were blank. Why would anyone send blank files that also four times!!!
Her phone was ringing, her boss called and asked her to take leave for some days from office as well as from TV , so that she spend some quality time with her mother. She thanked him, Mr Haston, her boss even offered her, his help, in case she needed.
Police investigation, after doctor’s report, indicated a foul play in his death. It was made to look a natural death but in fact he was strangulated and died of asphyxia. Police Officer, Neil Hoffman came to their home and updated on the case status. He asked if there was any enemy of his father, she was not aware of anyone who could harm her father, he was a divine soul. Even her mother didn’t think on those lines, she couldn’t think of anyone to be his enemy.
‘So this is it, my real life criminal scene…bring it on,’ she said to herself. ‘ I am my Pa’s daughter, will make that person repent to hell, who did this to him.’ She contacted her father’s colleagues and they were not aware of anything sensitive, his father was working on, so everything was normal on work front, even they were anxious to know the reason what led to this.
She asked her mom if she saw anything abnormal during the last week, but she said everything was normal, she wanted to search for telephone numbers which his father had dialled but she couldn’t do that in absence of his mobile, which was with the police. Phone will be looked into later first something else.
Her intuition said, it is something to do with the emails, but the emails had nothing to disclose, just the Email ID and the blank document. Why someone will send the blank documents, she put her head on the table, tired and closed her eyes, she opened her eyes , suddenly she noticed something………..wow, that’s amazing she thought, she got the clue, what’s happening. She saw that at the end of the document, it showed Pg 1 of 2, words 657 , hmmm….the page was not blank, it appeared blank, she selected the whole document and clicked on color black from the Home Menu buttons, the text was visible now. The whole document was made invisible by selecting the white color, which made the writing disappear on white background. She started reading the document, it mentioned something about ancient idol of Shiva, which was being offered to Sotheby’s for millions of dollars and the writer disclosed that idol which belonged to Macmillan was being offered by his close friend. He knew that it was not his, but belonged to Macmillan’s family as he had noticed it the day when Shivratri celebrations were on at their home and he was guest of Mrs Macmillan, his name was Mr Ashley Gribbs. He wanted to buy this Idol as he knew the ancient history attached to it. He could give better price for this than this friend of his was getting. This idol is something which is being chased by many in ancient artefact market, it is dangerous to come forward and tell him the truth on mobile, as he was into this trade where his mobile could be tapped by all sorts of people engaged in this highly risky trade, so he created an email id, by which he wants to help him out, but he cautioned him to be careful as it is now known in the market where the idol is, his life could be in danger, as it involved lot of money . He requested to reply by email. Hmmm…..All the four documents were same. We got late!!!
She immediately called the police and Neil Hoffman reached her home in next half an hour and they set off to catch the killer, after the brief conversation between the two. It was early morning and ‘he’ was busy on his farms, with his chooks, feeding them. Janhavi indicated that he is the one and Neil went after him.
‘Mr Andrew, hello , how are you going?’
Mr Andrew turned and looked at Inspector Neil, his face was white as if devoid of blood.
‘Yesss, In..Inspector,’ he stammered, ‘ what do you want,’
‘I want the millions of dollars which have wrongly crept into your bank account instead of Mr Macmillan’s,’
‘What…have you gone mad Inspector, I mean you are mistaken , and I do not understand what you are talking about, what millions and of whom, why would any money belonging to Mr Macmillan come to my account, that also millions, he is a simple scientist.’
Janhavi reached the spot and looked at Mr Andrew, ‘if you wanted the idol and you had so much of greed, you would have asked me, why did you kill my father,I would have given you the idol myself, you have murdered my Pa…he was such a noble soul’, her eyes were red in anger, ‘ Inspector, arrest him.’
Mr Andrew was trembling in fear, his voice shaky, he had no defence as his bank account would divulge the details and also the source, where it came from will further disclose that it was the sale of idol, which brought this money into his account.
Mr Macmillan had once showed the idol to Mr Andrew telling him how he got it, it came from Janhavi’s mother. They were good friends and he would share everything with him.
Leela was a daily wage labourer, she had lost her husband three years back, when Janhavi was just two and half years old. Janhavi was the only hope of her life but she was not even able to feed her, she had spent all her savings, jewellery and house on her husband treatment but still could not save him. Whatever she earned, half of it was kept by contractor and what came to her was meagre Rs 25 daily, sometimes less than that. Janhavi was five and half and she wanted to go to school. She saw children running to school with their school bags, she didn’t understand why she cannot go to school, she was barefoot with just torn clothes.
One day when she was working on a site and Janhavi was playing nearby, she , during lunch sat by her side and they both ate dry chapatis with salt and onion. She noticed one Sadhu looking at both, Leela went to him and touched his feet. She had tears in her eyes, sadhu asked,’ why are you crying, my child,’ Leela replied, for her daughter, Janhavi.
‘Janhavi, is the name of Goddess you know it, that is why you named her so, her destiny is somewhere else and very soon everything is going to change in her life, she will be a known figure and will have plenty of wealth, everything is Maya and nothing belongs to you, so do not grieve for anything, if you lose it, and do not have attachments. There is a charitable organisation, not far from here, go and let your daughter be there, she will get everything there.’
Her mother loved her, and she was very happy that day, she was digging the earth on the site alongwith others , suddenly she hit the stone like thing, she pulled it out of the earth, it seemed stone and stuck to it was a Shiva idol, very small . She pulled the idol sticking to the muddy stone and tied it to her sari and took it to her home. Next day she took Janhavi with her to that organisation and told them of her monetary status and her miserableness. According to the rules, she could meet Janhavi on weekends. She was happy at least her daughter will get education and food.
Within a week, a couple came from UK and they paid a visit to this organisation, they were regular donors for this organisation. Mrs and Mr Macmillan were a beautiful couple, it was now fifteen years of their marriage but they did not have children, they wanted to adopt a kid who they can call theirs. They were taken around by the manager, and they noticed Janhavi, she was managing other kids of her age and below her age, she was beautiful with dimples on her cheeks, her smile was adorable, they couldn’t take their eyes off her. She mesmerised them. Her mother was asked to come immediately as this decision was hers, she reached the NGO and got to know about the adoption of her daughter, she was the deciding factor. She looked at the English couple and told the manager, she has only one daughter, she cannot live without her. The manager explained they would not be taking Janhavi against her wishes, but just think of her future, she will be getting the best of education, that also abroad, where even not many medium class Indians can go. Her daughter will get the best in life. Sadhu’s words echoed in Leela’s ears, ‘ she is destined to be somewhere else,’ Leela said yes to the adoption, she picked Janhavi and hugged her tightly, tears were flowing on her cheeks, Janhavi didn’t understand why her mom was crying. She said to the manager, if she goes abroad how will she understand hindi, and she is completely vegetarian, these people eat beef and pork. My daughter wont be able to eat all this stuff and I do not want her to. The manager explained Mr Macmillan , Leela’s reservations, he smiled and said we would love your daughter as ours, she will get all the vegetarian food, nothing will be forced on her, she will learn hindi as well. She will have Hindu gods to worship at home. Leela was happy that her daughter is getting such nice foster parents. Mr Macmillan said they can come every few years and she can meet her daughter. Leela said, ‘ No, don’t do this, because then my daughter’s emotions will be confused who to love as her parents, you or me.’ She requested them not to bring her before she finished her studies and begin her career, she would then meet her only once. After completing all the formalities, on the day of their departure, Leela gave a small idol of Shiva to Mr Macmillan, ‘this is my gift for my doll, please preserve this for her. Let this protect her and your family forever.’
Hardly did she realise, what she was giving was worth a million dollars, she was not a pauper, she was giving million of dollars worth of idol beside invaluable gift in the form of her daughter, the richest woman in that area was becoming the poorest in a second.
The idol was ‘Kalpa Vigreha’, a 28000 years old artefact , a small crude brass idol weighing about 47.10 gms depicting a deity resembling the Hindu god Shiva kneeling or seated on one knee, a serpant’s hood forming a canopy above the head of the idol. The loss of this small 47 gm ancient Hindu brass-like metal idol of extreme antiquity called the Kalpa Vigreha, had caused the American Central Intelligence Agency considerable anxiety, as it disappeared from USA where it was sent by a Tibetan monk and it was doubted that it was in India.
Mr Andrew was a historian, specially interested in the south east Asian artefacts, Mr Macmillan had once disclosed to him about this small idol and he showed his interest in it, and borrowed the idol for studying its origin and history. In 2010, Mr Andrew had heard about Kalpa Vigreha disappearance when he was surfing the internet. The link on net had disclosed that this idol, did not belong to this “yuga” or epoch on the Hindu time scale . That is to say, it belonged to a period called the Dwapara yuga, making it the oldest human artefact in existence. Radiocarbon (C14) dating conducted by the University of California Radiation Laboratory indicated a period around 26,450 BCE. That would make it over 28,450 years old today, and about 23,300 years older than the legendary Hindu Kurukshetra war. The idol was also tested by experts who concluded that it was the oldest Hindu idol in existence. None of the known ancient excavated civilizations of history – Egyptian, Mesopotamian or Indus Valley existed before 6000 years ago. But this one seems to be the second ‘Kalpa Vigreha’ as the first one was with CIA till 2008, according to his knowledge!!!
Mr Andrew had studied the idol, weighed it and it resembled every bit with the description, he had then contacted his source, the idol was sold and he became rich overnight. But only one person knew that the idol was with Mr Andrew and he needed it back, as it belonged to Janhavi. This greed killed the friendship and Mr Andrew called him to pick up his Idol but he met him almost a km away from his farm. As Mr Andrew was saying ‘hello’ to Mr Macmillan, a huge figure tightened his grip with a muslin cloth over his throat from behind and strangulated him, he struggled a lot and Mr Andrew kept screaming , don’t do it…don’t do it, thank you did it. And Mr Macmillan fell to the ground. He handed over the reward to the muscular man and went back to his farm.
He was sent to Jail for the murder of Mr Macmillan, the story had a point…you too can be a target of any crime, be on alert…these were the words of JRM signing off from the ‘Missing Links’ episode in which mystery of the death of her father was revealed. Mrs Macmillan came and hugged her daughter, I am sorry we lost the idol of Shiva, which your dad preserved for you till date, because he had promised your mother for this. Janhavi replied, ‘ for me you are my Shiva and Pa was, and my biological mother in India,’ tears rolled over her cheeks. Her mother knew she missed her mother always, she was old enough to know she had left her mother behind but she always loved her new parents a lot as they changed her future for her. Mrs Macmillan disclosed that her father had promised her mother that she will visit her once she completes her education and start her career. Today that time has come.
She was in a plane with Mrs Macmillan, she kissed the bracelet which her Pa had given her. He was the best father, who since her childhood made her feel special, had a Hindi teacher for her, who took her classes on hindu religion, scriptures and the language. He and his wife had forsaken the non vegetarian food because of Janhavi. They were amazing parents with lots of love in their hearts, gave the best of everything to her. She alighted the plane and reached her native place, her mother was informed of their coming, she was nervous how would it feel to embrace her mother in front of the other mother who had spent more time with her than her biological mother. Leela saw a tall girl coming towards her, she was looking like some film actress as she had seen in Bollywood posters, more beautiful than them, she recognised Janhavi – the same dimple on her cheeks and twinkle in her eyes……….Maa, she tried to hold her excitement. She hugged Leela tightly. She had the same feelings which Lord Krishna might have had ,when he would have embraced Devaki in front of Yashoda. Both were crying and holding each other, Leela kept kissing her forehead, her eyes. ‘ Janhavi beta I am so very happy for you.’ She enquired about Mr Macmillan saying he is such a noble man, why he did not come with them. ‘Maa, he was really an angel that is why God has called him, he needed him more than we did it, I think,’ and she for the first time cried inconsolably after narrating the whole story.
Leela praised Janhavi’s parents and how they had kept their promise with her and brought her here to meet her, without bothering that she might get emotional on seeing Leela , her biological mother and might even lose her. Mrs Macmillan said,’ I am not Hindu by birth , but I have read Geeta with Janhavi and understand its core values.’
Leela recalled the prophesy of the seer who said , ‘Her destiny is somewhere else,’ and she was happy for her daughter . Janhavi was happy too that she had two mothers, one who gave her immense love by giving her up to someone else, for her well being and the other one by taking her as her own child.
She looked towards, both her mothers and said, ‘ Happy New Year to both of you, I love you both and will always look after you.’ Then she looked towards the sky, ‘ Pa I love you, you will be with me in my heart always,’ and kissed her bracelet.’
– Story © Rekha , Dec 2013
– Reference for Kalpa Vigreha –http://www.disclose.tv/forum/kalpa-vigraha-cia-s-secret-experiments-on-human-subjects-t1529.html#ixzz2oqoACXLe
More Thrilling than your previous.. excellent work my dear. God bless!!
Hello Rekha ji. Read your blog' Missing Links'. Another thriller with emotions. Great……..I think with great writing skill, you also have great computer skill and historical knowledge as well. Thank you for keeping me busy with reading.
Awesome..never knew this talent in you.. u can keep people glued with your thrilling stories.. how much knowledge u r putting in "Radio carbon " technology. You are bound to be very famous soon…God Bless.. want to clap for you soon.. sitting in audience…
Thanks Puneet…for the encouraging words…
Thks CS…for such motivating comments…
Thanks as always..
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