Step one:
But before taking step-one, Badal da went straight to Ghosh Pharmacy. He thought if he found the Magic Pill, then step two of the secret game plan would be over, and step one would naturally go smoothly.
He bought both the strips of tablets, tore the strips of medicines, and found that none of them was the Magic Pill.
He instructed Hemant to put his brain to work and try to find that Magic Pill as soon as possible. He took a promise from him that he would inform him immediately after he has remembered the name of the pill. He left behind his phone number.
He sent messages to his son and daughter – Very urgent. Call back. Till late night neither of them called back. He rang his daughter time and again. Every time, her phone was busy.
He remembered that it had been more than two weeks since he talked to his son or daughter. He sent them the message again.
At around nine o'clock, his dinner arrived from ‘Falcon Kitchen Services', of which he was a regular monthly customer. He had his breakfast and lunch in the office canteen on working days. And dinner came from Falcon Kitchen Services.
On weekends he would have his breakfast and lunch in the Chotu Hotel near the colony. The owner of the Chotu Hotel always suggested him to have his daily dinner also in the hotel. He had offered him a discount and a free home delivery service. But Badal da became very friendly with the husband of the owner of Falcon Kitchen Services, Mr. Tanmay, who personally came to deliver him dinner every evening. So cancelling Falcon's service was out of the question.
At about eleven, a message came from his daughter – Papa, I am exhausted. Can we talk tomorrow? Papa, please transfer ten thousand rupees in my account. Tomorrow I have to deposit my mess bill.
He transferred the amount immediately through internet banking.
He waited till midnight for his son's message. All through the night, he woke up almost every hour to see if any word came from his son. In the morning, he was so angry with both his son and daughter that he wanted to write to them – Your Father Died. Now no one will bother you anymore.
But he kept waiting for their calls. His stomach was making him uneasy. Anyone could know from his face that he was not well. When he entered his office, Mr. Umesh asked him how he was. He, according to the plan, immediately answered back, wearing a broad smile on his face, "Hey, I am good. What has happened to me?"
That was the first step of the secret plan – To show others that he is quite well.
Mr. Umesh, like he always did in the past, was about to scamper off after shooting the question. But he stopped and stared at Badal da with amazing eyes. Badal da walked straight to his desk and settled down.
The change in Badal da's behavior stirred an air of surprise in the office. Everyone was trying to find out what was wrong today with him. Why was he not behaving his usual way?
Badal da looked from the corner of his eyes at Swati. She was busy, as usual. But he knew she was quite aware of the happenings in her surroundings. When no one was watching, she raised her thumb and whispered, "Good going. Keep it up."
"Today, I am not feeling well. I could not sleep properly at night. There is too much pain in my stomach. It looks like someone has put a knot in my intestine," Badal da said with a grimace.
Suddenly Swati swiveled around her chair and got herself busy with the papers on her table. Badal da could sense that someone was approaching his table. He raised his head and saw Mr. Shyamal standing. He smiled at him.
"You don't seem to be well today, Badol da. How is your tummy?" asked Mr. Shyamal.
"No-no, I am perfectly all right. What makes you think like that?" Badal da said very convincingly.
Mr. Shyamal got confused, “Just asked. You are not your usual self today.”
"Yeah, I have found a magic pill. It has completely cured me.”
“Oh, that’s good news. You should throw a party today.”
“Sure, why not. I am sending Nirmal to the canteen to bring Samosa and Jilebi for all.”
So the first step of the secret game plan was implemented successfully except for the fact that Badal da's condition was awful today. He pulled out the drawer of his table and took out the medicines Dr. Samanta gave him yesterday. He did not take it because he knew it would not give him any relief. But now he had no choice. He had to take something. He took one tablet, and surprisingly after fifteen minutes, he felt a little better.
He took print out of a report and walked to Mr. Trilok's chamber. Before entering, he wore a broad grin on his face and greeted him with a loud ‘Good Morning'. Mr. Trilok watched his face intently. He had to smile back, but his eyes were questioning his demeanor.
"Yes, Mr. Badal?”
"I have brought to you this analysis I was making over the last few days. You will find it interesting to note that almost all employees residing in the two-room quarters in Road numbers 13, 14, 15 and 17 have done extensions in their company quarters.”
“Yes, each one of these quarters has been built over a large piece of land around fifty years back. The family size is growing. So people want extra rooms for their grown-up children. What is so special about this analysis?" Mr. Trilok did not seem to get impressed with the analysis.
“These extensions are clustering in the quarters around the Central Market,”
“What do you mean?” Mr. Trilok thought Mr. Badal was trying to impress him.
“Sir, you please enquire. I am quite sure they are letting out these extended rooms to the shop owners of the market for Godown purpose,” Mr. Badal smiled at Mr. Trilok.
Mr. Trilok looked at the paper closely. Finally, he put it on his table casually and said, "I will see to it. Do you have anything more to say, Mr. Badal?”
Suddenly a naughty idea struck his mind. He said, "Yes sir, I was gathering the courage to tell this to you for last many days," he paused for a while.
Mr. Trilok raised his eyebrows, “What is it?”
“Sir, I wanted to tell you not to ask Nirmal to bring tea for you.”
“Why?”
“Sir, please don’t ask me why. I am also not taking tea from Nirmal’s kettle.”
“Is there anything wrong?” asked Mr. Trilok
"Sir, I have heard that someone uses the kettle in the toilet after office hours."
“How can it be possible?”
“Sir, so many of us remain in the office long after the office hours.”
“But why should anyone use the kettle. There is already a mug there?”
“No one uses the mug. It lies on the floor and gets soiled with the splatter of the urine.
Now Mr. Trilok looked very puzzled. He raised his voice, “Why doesn’t Nirmal lock his room when he goes home in the evening?”
“Sir, how can he? The water purifier is in his room,” Badal da said innocently.
Mr. Trilok suddenly excused himself and went to his toilet attached to his chamber. Badal da heard him vomiting loudly inside. He walked out with a naughty smile on his face.
A notice was circulated that very day instructing all staff to leave office after the close of the office hours. The security chief was called and was asked to lock the office by five o'clock. Nirmal was asked to throw away the toilet mug and the old kettle, and an amount was sanctioned for buying new ones. The vendor who did minor engineering repair work was called and instructed to make a platform for keeping the mug in the toilet.
There was much buzz in the office. Those who pretended to work very hard by staying back till late hours in the office were upset. They complained to Mr. Trilok that the workload was too much and they will not be able to complete if they left early.
Mr. Trilok had very firmly said, "If you cannot complete your work on time that means you are a slow worker."
The VRS sword was dangling over everyone’s head. So no one objected.
This kettle business was not in the actual game plan. But then, this added more flavour, and thus, ‘Step One' of the ‘Secret Game Plan' got completed very successfully.
Attention of all the office staff got diverted to their problems. They did not have time to think about Badal da’s ‘pete’r gondogol (stomach trouble) anymore.
It was time now to proceed to step two and three of the secret game plan.
