by Ranjit Lal
Shroom’s Perch, a promontory at the edge of a high U-shaped ridge was screened by trees behind it and on either side of it. At the very tip of the ridge there were saddle-like flat rocks in a semi-circle, almost like chairs in a drawing room. Some of them even had backrests, and you could comfortably stretch out your legs or dangle them over the edge and gaze at the mighty peaks with their tattered wigs of cloud. Often the clouds floated over, and then it was better to stay put, because the ridge path leading from the trees to the tip was narrow and sloping and you could go over. But Shroom loved it when the clouds did settle. Suddenly she became invisible and it was like she was the only person in the whole wide world – it was as if she was in god’s waiting room. In a month or so, when the rains came, the waterfall would be at its most thunderous. Often it was difficult to get to Shroom’s Perch because there was too much angry water in the gorge and if you slipped, you could easily be swept away and over the waterfall. Then you had to take the higher path along the ridge, which later joined the lower one and then continue to the perch. At that time, even the thin trickle that tinkled past their front gate became a raging torrent.
But the perch was a wonderful place to sit and imagine all sorts of things – it was like sitting at the very edge of the world. It was a place Shroom just had to visit at the beginning of each day. She could check on the Geek Empress’s kingdom and see if everything was as it had been the previous day. She could also look over some of the cottages at Emerald Eden, and the old stone house. A whiff of smoke from its chimney indicated that Megha aunty was up and about and battling with her wood-burning stove and all was well. At some distance down the road was the house where Agent Anantram and Dr Sham said they ‘put up’. On a really clear day, she could even glimpse the whitewashed school in the pine forest further away on the side of the mountain and, nestled above it, the forest rest-house where her new teachers were deployed. It would take them at least forty minutes each way to walk to the Geek Empress’s palace.
Now, as Shroom climbed up towards her perch, Tinku happily bounced along beside her, sniffing every which way. She approached the perch and stopped dead in her tracks, one hand instinctively reaching for Tinku’s collar.
‘Look at him – that stupid taklu!’ she hissed. ‘No one is allowed here without my permission, and he’s lounging around and drawing. Come on, Tinku, we’d better tell him a thing or two.’ Then she hesitated, frowning; she’d better be careful. She mustn’t arouse his suspicions; after all, he wanted to kill someone. She should pretend to be friendly. That way she’d be able to wheedle out exactly what he was doing sitting in her spot. Besides, like her, he was taklu; maybe he too had had bad stuff taken out of his brain. But first she had to see what he was drawing. Probably some silly picture of the mountains, but you never knew…
Shroom pulled out a pair of bright-yellow waterproof binoculars and wriggled to one side so she could get a glimpse of what the boy was doodling. It took her a moment to focus, his shoulder and arm kept blocking her view, but then he suddenly stopped, angled his head to one side and stared at the sketch, giving her a clear view. Shroom gasped. Rendered in black and white, it was a frightening caricature of an evil-looking youth with a crew cut – probably him – lying flat on his tummy, aiming with a rifle at someone who looked very familiar. In fact – Shroom drew in her breath sharply again – the figure’s nose looked a bit like the Geek Empress’s, except that it was a man.
Tinku bounded ahead, wanting to say hello. Startled, the taklu whipped around and snapped his pad shut. ‘Oh,’ he said, looking relieved when he saw the dog.
Tinku paused as she assessed the situation. Was he friendly, or would he throw a stone or raise his fist? The boy held out his hand so Tinku could sniff it. She licked it and sprang back to Shroom.
‘Hello,’ Shroom chirped, coming out in the open. She pocketed her binoculars as she walked up to him. ‘So you are taklu too… Why did they cut off your hair? Did you also escape from the kingdom of taklus?’
‘Huh?’ He gaped at her and then looked at Tinku who had run up to him, wagging her tail.
‘Have you fled from the kingdom of taklus?’ Shroom asked again. ‘Are they in hot pursuit?’
‘Err… are you a girl or a boy?’ he asked, perplexed. ‘And what are you doing here?’
‘What’s it to you? But why did they cut your hair?’ She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side like Megha aunty did.
‘I like it this way.’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Looking at the view.’
‘What’s your name?’
He hesitated. ‘Gaurav.’
She shook her head. ‘No. You’re Taklu, aren’t you?’
He shrugged and ran a hand over his bald head. ‘I suppose so.’
‘My name is Shroom… Special Agent Shroom.’
His shaggy eyebrows rose for a second. ‘ I see. Nice to meet you, Special Agent Shroom.’ He got up and instinctively petted the delighted Tinku. ‘She’s a sweet dog.’
Shroom narrowed her eyes. ‘Hey, Taklu, are you being sarky? It won’t work. And don’t butter me up by praising my dog. Are you working for the Geek Empress?’
‘Who?’
‘The all-powerful Geek Empress. Everyone here works for the Geek Empress. She has powers that stretch as far as you can see,’ she said, sweeping her hands across the Himalayan panorama. ‘How much has she paid you to spy on me? I can double it.’
‘Look, kid…’
‘If you tell her you haven’t seen me, I’ll give you a brownie.’ She took one out of the packet. ‘See, Megha aunty made them just yesterday. They’ve got walnuts in them; they are good for your brain.’
‘I’m not working for the Geek Empress or anyone.’
‘Denial will get you nowhere, Taklu! What are you drawing?’
‘Err, nothing much; just people… cartoons…’
‘Show me, please.’
‘I’d rather not. They’re private.’
Shroom raised an eyebrow. ‘Drawing dirty pictures eh, Mr Taklu? Well, I saw it. It was a picture of a man shooting.’
‘If you saw it, why did you ask?’
‘I’m a special agent, remember?’
‘Sure, sure.’ He sighed.
‘Where are you staying?’
‘At Emerald Eden Estate.’
‘For how long? How many brothers and sisters do you have?’ Shroom took out her little black notebook and clicked a ballpoint.
‘Hey, what’s this?’
‘Just getting the low-down, Mr Taklu. It’s my job.’
‘Right! I have fifteen brothers and twenty-three sisters.’
‘What? What are their names?’
‘Huh?’
‘Their names! Surely you know the names of your brothers and sisters. And why haven’t they come here?’
‘They have school. Shouldn’t you be in school? Are you bunking?’
‘There are lots of schools all over the hills. They could have easily come here. The Geek Empress controls all the schools here. She could open another one for them and then I could join it too.’
‘Who is this Geek Empress?’
‘You see that big house with the red roof way down there? That’s her headquarters. Very few people who go there uninvited are seen ever again. I’m her captive for life. She’s very powerful. Hobgoblins with guns guard the house night and day. In fact, any minute now, they’ll set the hounds after me.’ She clasped her hands dramatically. ‘You know, this might be our first and last meeting. I may not live long!’
‘Hounds? You mean like her?’ He pointed at Tinku, who was wriggling upside down, scratching her back and looking completely silly.
‘No, of course not. Ferocious hounds – German shepherds, those Rotter dogs and Dobers…’
‘Well, not all German shepherds are bad. I…’ His voice trailed away.
‘What? You what?’
‘Nothing.’
‘You are not telling me something. Spit it out! Besides, you haven’t told me the names yet.’
‘Names?’
‘Of your brothers and sisters.’
‘My brothers are B1, B2, B3, and so on. My sisters are S1, S2, S3, etc.’
‘Very funny. Concealing vital information will get you nowhere, Taklu.’
Suddenly Shroom whirled around and looked back into the pine forest from where she had emerged. Then she charged up to him, her face animated. ‘Listen, Taklu, they’re coming after me! Two merciless killers – one has a face like a snake, the other looks like a toad. They’ll be here any minute. If they ask, you tell them you haven’t seen me, okay? This meeting never happened. Even if they torture you, don’t tell them anything.’
‘What!’
‘We taklus have to stick together.’ She glared at him and pinched his arm. ‘If we don’t…’ She made a throat-cutting gesture. Then she whistled to the dog and wriggled down the mountainside at a speed that took his breath away.
‘But, but where… Be careful…’
The girl and her dog were gone. Gaurav sat down on the rock, his eyes suddenly filling up as he thought of the dog; she was much the same colour as Rani. Blearily, he noticed something on the rock beside him: a brownie. He picked it up and, as he was looking at it, Gaurav heard footsteps behind him. Two women had emerged from the trees.
‘Did a little girl come here?’ one of them asked, staring at him. She did have a snake-like face. Gaurav closed his hand over the brownie. ‘She has very short hair and looks like a boy.’
He shook his head. ‘I haven’t seen anyone.’
‘She usually comes here,’ the other woman said, looking around. ‘Her name is Rukmini.’
‘If you see her, tell her she is to return home – or tell the guard at the house down there, with the red roof, by the bridge,’ Snake-face added, pointing down the mountain.
They looked around some more and then disappeared back into the trees. ‘Rukmini!’ they called. ‘Rukmini baby!’
Gaurav wondered about the nutty kid. Who was she? He’d spotted her in the ditch the previous day, and now here she was again. She had a lovely dog though. Absent-mindedly he ate the brownie – it was delicious – and looked around again. Oh, well, she’d show up. Even if she didn’t, it wouldn’t matter. Nothing really mattered any more.
He got up.
‘Hey, Taklu, thanks.’ Shroom clambered up from the path. Tinku bounded around him again. ‘Come down to the waterfall,’ Shroom said. ‘There’s a lovely pool there where you can swim.’
‘It’s too cold.’
‘Not now, silly! Later, in the afternoon. But you have to be careful – there’s a leopard near the pool sometimes.’
‘Oh.’
‘So why have you come here?’
‘Err, for a holiday… Those women were looking for you?’
‘Yes. They’re in the pay of the Geek Empress – ruthless mercenaries!’
‘And why were they after you?’
‘They want to torture me for all the secrets I know.’
‘Like what?’
‘Hah! I’m not stupid you know.’
‘Sorry. What happened to your hair?’
‘No one knows. They said an octopus grew inside my head, which they had to take out or it would have squashed up my brain and oozed out of my ears. Cool, huh? So they chopped off my hair and it hasn’t grown back.’
‘Oh. Did it hurt?’
‘Sometimes I had headaches and vomited; sometimes I got dizzy and fainted. Now I’m okay, so it’s no big deal.’ Shroom shrugged and hopped from rock to rock like a mountain goat.
‘Hey, watch it… So, what’s your name? Rukmini?’
‘Why should I tell you?’
‘So that I know what to call you.’
‘I told you, you can call me Special Agent Shroom. God, are you dumb or what!’
‘Shroom? What kind of name is that?’
‘Oof, you want an explanation for everything! I look like a ’shroom, don’t I?’ She took off her hat and jerked her head towards a small cluster of smooth white-domed mushrooms hunched in the shadow of a log. ‘Like those.’
‘Oh, you mean mushroom! Well, nice to meet you, Miss Shroom.’ Gaurav extended his hand.
‘Glad to meet you, Mr Taklu!’ She shook his hand solemnly and continued, with a deadpan expression, ‘If you could kill someone, who would it be?’
He looked rattled, then immediately became withdrawn. ‘No one,’ he muttered.
‘If it’s someone here, I could help you, you know. Is it the Geek Empress you want to kill?’ she said incredulously. ‘The person in your drawing looked a bit like her.’
‘What?’
‘I could help you assassinate anyone you want. I know everyone around here.’
‘No, thanks.’ The kid was loco, for sure. No wonder those two women were hollering for her. He’d better take her back before she jumped off the mountain or something. ‘Should we go back now?’
‘If you want to. But keep a lookout for those two women. Also, there are two girls who will be coming after me. If they ask, we haven’t met.’
‘Sure…’
‘And I forgot about Dr Sham and Agent Anantram. They roam around with recording equipment and cameras, and record whatever you say. So be wary of them.’
‘Wow, you have quite a web of spies here!’
‘Megha aunty’s clean, though. You don’t have to be on guard with her. She makes great brownies.’
‘That’s nice.’
‘So be down at the waterfall at 1500 hours. I’ll meet you there and we’ll exchange notes. And you can tell me who you want to kill.’
‘What? How does one get there?’
‘Come on, follow me – I’ll show you.’
Shroom plunged into the trees, down the steep ridge slope, with Gaurav behind her. ‘See that path,’ she said, pointing to the narrow trail that corkscrewed giddily down the mountainside. ‘You just follow that and you’ll be down. The waterfall is lovely and there are pools with big fish in them.’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘There’s even a cave hideout behind the waterfall, but you will get wet if you try to reach it. It’s also a bit slippery and I think it has bats. I only use it for emergencies.’
‘I see.’
‘What’s the time, Taklu?’
‘Almost nine. Actually, I’d better get back myself.’
‘Hmm…’ She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. ‘Maybe I’ll just check out the dame who’s coming to teach me, after all,’ she said, nodding slowly. ‘Sort of interrogate her, like.’
Gaurav shrugged.
‘I’ll go first,’ Shroom said. ‘You wait and follow exactly five minutes later. If they’re waiting to ambush us, I’ll scream and you can rush to my rescue. If I don’t, it’s safe. Got it?’
‘Got it.’
Feeling rather foolish, Gaurav waited for five minutes after she had left. Then he walked back up the rocky track along the stream. He paused above the gorge, gazing at the foaming water squeezing through it. A huge egg-shaped rock was perilously perched above its mouth; a gentle push and surely it would topple over into the gorge. But it was firmly set and didn’t budge when he tentatively pushed against it.
Some distance further down, Gaurav rounded a bend and suddenly came face to face with two men who had binoculars and cameras around their necks. One held a long stick-like contraption that had a furry cover over it. The other had a satellite antenna-like thing and was twirling it slowly, as if trying to pick up a signal. Gaurav nodded. This must be the bird-recording duo. The men smiled and nodded.
‘Hello,’ the younger man said, displaying a set of rather protruding and prominent white teeth. He extended his hand. ‘I am Anantram and this is Dr Sham. We’re taking bird recordings. Shroom, the little girl, told us we’d find you here – we just bumped into her.’
‘Oh, hello,’ Gaurav gave a half-smile.
‘Beautiful place, this,’ Anantram beame
d.
‘Uh-huh. Have you got any recordings?’
Anantram nodded. ‘Yes, lots! This place is excellent for recordings. No vehicles or noise…’
‘What about the waterfall?’
‘Oh, sometimes we go away from the water to make recordings.’
‘Ah… So how powerful is your equipment?’
Dr Sham smiled. ‘Powerful enough,’ he said.
Anantram had the binoculars raised to his eyes and seemed to have focused on something on the steep slope above. ‘Chalo, sir,’ he murmured, ‘kalij pheasant maybe.’
‘Okay, goodbye, nice to meet you,’ Dr Sham said, and the two deftly began trekking up the rock-strewn slope.
Gaurav watched them till they disappeared behind some boulders, and then looked at the view below. Beyond the stream was a stone wall, eight or ten feet high, and beyond that a steep bank that dropped straight into the grounds of the big red-roofed house. As he walked on he saw the stone bridge and the guardhouse with an armed Gurkha standing stiffly outside, eyeing him.
Gaurav scowled. Even here, in this way out place, there were people with armed security guards outside their houses. What was the world coming to? It was bad enough with those bloody VIPs… but here, in this quiet haven?
‘Good morning!’ Megha greeted her guests cheerfully, bustling behind the buffet table in the dining hall, checking each dish.
‘Good morning, Megha,’ Kanika smiled and sat down, while Mariamma tended to a chortling Mihika.
‘I hope you had a restful night,’ Megha said.
