The Missing Coins - The Detectives Boys - Short Story 3

 Bhuno da was a happy man of late. His Paan shop had earned quite a name in a short period time. Located near the Dhakuria Railway station, it had always been Bhuno da’s dream to open a paan shop as was the tradition of their family. Bhunolprasad Mukherjee, whom people lovingly referred to as Bhuno da was a resident of a distant suburb of Kolkata until he shifted his base to south Kolkata. Often travelling by train, he would get down at the Dhakuria Railway station along the hundreds of others and walk down the Babu Bagan Lane to go towards the city. He particularly loved the hustle around the Dhakuria Railway station. Bulky in appearance with curly oiled hair, Bhuno da would often be seen in his favorite dress of a cream kurta and white pajama. Still single, he planned to get married by the end of 1997.

For long he was in search of a small little space to open a small little Paan shop. Inquiring all around the city, finally he had got a small pace near the Dhakuria Railway station on the bus depot side. It was a small little shop without a cover in the summers and with an umbrella during monsoon. Slowly, the shop earned good name due to its variation in various Paan flavors. People getting down from the local trains would approach Bhuno da’s paan shop before they would continue towards their destinations. Lunch time and dinner time would see the maximum rush during which Bhuno da would be exceedingly busy to concentrate on anything other than serving the various Paan variants.

It was one such afternoon of the winter of 1997. Bhuno da was busy serving his Paan dishes. Once he would collect the money from the customers, he would immediately put the money in the drawer, however if there were coins, the same would be put in a wooden bowl which was kept on slab behind him. At the end of the day, he would count the collections and tally it with the number of Paan’s sold. To the surprise of Bhuno da that night the collections didn’t tally as there was a gap of some thirteen rupees. “Did I miss taking money from someone?” thought Bhuno da to himself.

That night Bhuno da kept recollecting the events of the entire day but couldn’t link anything to the gap in collections. Next day he promised himself to be careful. He ensured that the customers handed over the money to him before he would hand over the Paan. He carefully kept the money received from the customers. However, to his surprise, that night again there had been a gap of some eleven rupees.  Bhuno da was surprised again to no ends. In spite of bring so careful he couldn’t understand the reasons for the gap in collection. 

That night again he sat down the stairs that led to the platform to Dhakuria Railway station and continued to look towards the Babu Bagan Lane. From the Babu Bagan Lane side two young boys walking down towards the station, observed Bhuno da sitting silently immersed in some thoughts. Ritwick and Deep Das were regular at Bhuno da’s shop and knew him very well.

“What’s the matter Bhuno da?” asked Deep Das.

Bhuno da explained everything to Ritwick and Deep Das. Even Ritwick was surprised.

“Don’t worry Bhuno da. Tomorrow we will come to your shop and observe whether there are people who just run away without giving you the money?”

Next morning, Ritwick and Deep Das reached Bhuno da’s shop early and got themselves a comfortable place to sit near the shop to watch over the customers.

“Today we will get hold of the bugger who would run without giving the money.” Commented Deep Das in heavy excitement.

The entire day had passed and Ritwick and Deep Das had actually counted all the customers who had come. Everyone had handed over the money. But to the surprise of all three, there was a shortage of seventeen rupees that night. Ritwick and Deep Das were left dumbstruck.

That night Ritwick was immersed in deep thoughts. He recollected the entire events of the day. It seemed as if they had missed something. He looked at his favorite white ceiling which would often give him ideas. That night was no different. There surely had to be something else than a mere gap, thought Ritwick.

Next morning, Ritwick met Deep Das at his house.

“Are we again going to the shop today?” asked an excited Deep Das.

“Of course, we are, and today our modus operandi would be different.”

It was sometime around ten in the morning. Bhuno da had already opened his shop and customers had started to come in.

Ritwick and Deep Das today took a different place to sit. A position which was exactly opposite to the shop. Ritwick had carried with himself a small little mini-binocular which his grandfather had gifted him.

“Are we going to follow the customers today?” asked a confused Deep Das.

Ritwick didn’t answer. He continued to look at the shop with his binocular. There was nothing to be excited until lunch time arrived.

Suddenly, Ritwick had a smile on his face.

“Oh my god, look look what is happening?”

“Koi (where) I am not able to see anything?” questioned Deep Das.

Ritwick handed over the binocular to Deep Das. Deep Das snatched the binocular from Ritwick’s hand and immediately focused on the shop.

As Deep Das looked at the shop, he was indeed dumbstruck. It was an act of genius.

Ritwick and Deep Das had confronted the culprit after about fifteen along with Bhuno da. It surely was something unthinkable.

While Ritwick was observing with his binoculars, he had observed a thick thread coming from the top towards the shop and exactly above the bowl where Bhuno da had kept the coins. The thread held a magnet at the end. The magnet would attract the coins from the bowl to itself. Once some coins were attached to the magnet, the thread would be picked up and after some time it would again come down and take more coins away.

Ritwick was astonished with the brains of the culprit. The culprit was new to the area and sensed an opportunity when he had seen Bhuno da’s shop and especially a shop without a cover. There was six feet wall behind the shop and the culprit would hide behind the wall and slowly release the thread down towards the shop.

Once confronted, Bhuno da recovered all the money from him. He was warned by Bhuno da of not to indulge in such activities in future.

“Thank You, Ritwick, for all your help. It really wouldn’t have been possible without you and Deep Das.”

“But how did you guess that the problem was with the coins and not the printed notes?” asked a curious Bhuno da

“The amount of gap which you had repeatedly observed had been thirteen on day one, eleven on day two and seventeen on day three. All had been odd numbers and I had observed on the third day that everyone had either given coins or notes and the notes didn’t include the one rupee note or two rupees note. So, the gap was due to the coins.”

Deep Das like always had been left speechless with his friend’s sharpness.