9 Man Proposes God Disposes

Aditya was both excited and nervous when he ran towards the visitor's pavilion. The visitor's pavilion was located at the side of the main administrative building. It was a pleasant place full of trees and shade. There was an artificial pond, filled with lotuses and ducks, besides the pavilion giving the place an ethereal feeling when one spent time there.

Aditya noticed that his two buddies were also following him which moved him. He knew that in these tough days, the only reason he could get past was due to his friend's support. But right now he did not have the time to think about any other issue. He panted lightly as he stopped outside the visitor's pavilion, he took deep breaths and calmed himself before he took strides into the building. Bhadra and Jatin had caught up by then.

As he entered the building along with his friends he found a few students were talking with their relatives. All he could see were happy faces as the students were enjoying time with their loved ones. He searched for Uncle Ramu's figure as he looked around but couldn't find him. As he was starting to feel anxious he saw an officer in a police uniform walk towards him. He wore the traditional Khaki coloured cotton police uniform with red leather boots which made tap sounds when he walked at a steady pace.

He was handsome which was amplified by the uniform, his eyes were sharp and radiated vigour and mature charm. He had a clean-shaven face with a trimmed moustache, along with muscular arms and a fit body made him look like he was a regional film industry's mass hero who played the righteous police officer role who could defeat a group of dozens of gangsters with his single hand. This was how Jatin felt when he saw that police officer.

As the police officer saw the three students, his eyes moved to Aditya ignoring the others as he said, "I take it you are Aditya, right? I saw your photograph. My name is Arjun Prasad, I and my team were responsible for investigating your parent's disappearance case under the supervision of Ramachandra sir. He is waiting by the lake for you."

Aditya was confused when he heard the officer use the word 'were' as if he was no more responsible for the case right now, he also noticed awe and respect in the police officer eyes when he talked about Uncle Ramu. Aditya nodded as he followed the officer towards the lake which was on the other side of the pavilion. When the officer paused with doubt in his eyes as he looked at Bhadra and Jatin who were following them. Aditya replied, "It's fine, they will know anything I know, so it's easier this way."

Arjun hesitated a while before agreeing and accompanying them towards the lake. Aditya saw a tall figure sitting on the wooden bench on the edge of the artificial pond. Fresh evening air rustled against the trees as it gave rise to slow creaking sounds. The quack sounds of the ducks in addition to this cool evening air should have given Aditya a relaxed feeling while he walked on the soft grass but when he saw uncle Ramu's face which looked like he had aged many years since they last met, Aditya had a bad premonition.

The uncle Ramu he knew was the one who symbolized vigour and strength to Aditya. Whenever he saw uncle Ramu in his childhood, Aditya would dream of becoming like him when he had grown up. He always felt that uncle Ramu was way cooler than his own father who used to work long hours in the laboratory, had a slouchy posture and thin physique which Aditya had unfortunately inherited. Uncle Ramu's frank and straightforward principles like honesty, integrity and honour were absorbed by Aditya without leaving a single word as they were very stimulative and caused his young blood to start boiling when he heard those stories of chivalry, courage and sacrifice.

But when he saw the helplessness and exhaustion in the tiger eyes of his uncle, his ungroomed beard and his thin physique, Aditya's mood plummeted into an abyss. He took deep breaths and tried to keep his shaking heart firm and forced a smile on his face when he greeted his uncle, who was wearing a plain white cotton shirt and khaki pants, he was looking at the ducks moving in a group as they swam in the pond absentmindedly, "Uncle, its been a long time since we last met, how is elder sister Saira?"

Saira was the only daughter of uncle Ramu. Just like in Aditya's family, patriotism ran deep in uncle Ramu's family as well. Elder sister Saira who was six years older than Aditya had joined a secret Indian intelligence service two years back. But about a year ago, in a crucial classified operation involving the country's security his elder sister had lost her right hand and had to retire early. Aditya, who had always looked up to his elder sister, also took a blow mentally when he saw the one handed figure of his elder sister that he cried very long holding his elder sister. But his elder sister did not show any despair in her beautiful face but only pride for having successfully accomplished her task for the country as she patted his back comforting him that it's alright. Aditya had then vowed that he would complete his engineering degree and then develop a prosthetic for his elder sister which would function exactly like a real human hand.

Since Aditya's parents went missing, he did not maintain contact with elder sister Saira. In fact, in the last four months, Aditya did not have the will to contact anyone who was not concerned with finding his parents. He had actually changed his mobile number because whenever he got a call, he would immediately start to hope that it was his parents but when it turned to be otherwise he would be acutely disappointed. So to spare himself this regretful feeling he had changed his number which he only gave to his close friends and his uncle.

Uncle Ramu body shook lightly when he heard Aditya's voice, he looked at Aditya for a while without knowing what to speak, he then forced a smile as he said, "the government has recently started a new rehabilitation program for crippled servicemen and servicewomen, it is said that it is very effective, your elder sister has joined that program and is busy right now."

Aditya had only asked about his elder sister as a buffer for the main question, so he didn't even listen properly to his uncle's reply as he asked with a trembling voice, "Uncle, as there been any news about my parents?" Bhadra and Jatin who were standing at a hearing distance also deeply inspired as they looked at Aditya's uncle.

Uncle Ramu looked at Aditya with visible grief on his face as he shook his head. There was no change in Aditya's expression when he saw this except that if one observed closely, the light in his eyes had dimmed. Aditya had guessed the outcome when he saw his uncle's mood but when his guess was confirmed it did not lessen his grief in the least.

Bhadra and Jatin were also sorrowful when they heard that no information was found about their best friend's parents. The police officer who was called Arjun also looked at Aditya with a complicated expression. It was not a special case when people went missing, but he knew that this case was special.

Aditya calmed himself down as he put up a smiling face as he said, "Don't worry uncle, if not now, maybe there will be progress in the coming days. We only have to keep working hard." although Aditya spoke these words as if he was consoling his uncle, they were actually words of comfort for himself. Yes, if his parents were not found today, they just had to work harder. As long as they put enough efforts, his parents would be found.

But as it is said, "Man proposes, God disposes", uncle Ramu shook his head as he said, " the police department has given up on this case."

"What!"

Aditya was shocked when he heard his uncle speak those words. He did not believe them even when he heard the words clearly. Aditya's mouth opened but no words came out. He couldn't believe that the uncle in whose lap he had grown playing, the uncle who was the best buddy of his father, who had taken many risks to get his parents married would give up on this case. He really did not know how to respond.

"What bullshit police department, they can't even handle a missing person's case and this man is the commissioner of police of Bangalore city and yet can't find a meagre two people, they are clearly ineffective and worthless. Aditya, don't worry, I promise that father's real estate goons will do a better job than these people, we will find your parents in two days." Bhadra burst out when he heard uncle Ramu's words. Jatin also looked equally indignant but he did not hurry to remonstrate as he waited for an explanation which he knew there would be, for such an abnormal action.

Bhadra had been seeing practically how Aditya was suffering day by day. How low one's morale had to be when the person in question found out he had amazing calculative abilities which included accuracy as well but failed to make a big fuss about it. If it was Aditya of the past before his parents were lost, the first thing he would have done was to show off in front off Anupama to gain her favour and try all kinds of stuff with his abilities. But now Aditya didn't even have time to think about these actions as he spent all day long thinking about his parents.

The officer who was named Arjun's face complexion sank when he heard Bhadra's words swept his hand as he caught Bhadra by his jersey and pulled him closer, he shouted, "how can we file a case on two missing people who had not existed in the first place?"

"What did you say?" Aditya whipped his face towards Arjun when he heard those words, "What do you mean by 'not existed'"

"Arjun..." uncle Ramu tried to say something but was stopped by Arjun as he released Bhadra, "Ramachandra sir, please don't stop me, what do these kids who stay locked up in this greenhouse know what pressures and humiliations you had to bear to dig up this case."

Arjun looked at the Aditya who had a perplexed expression on his face as he said," you want facts right, then I will give them straight to you." he took a deep breath before continuing

"it's not only your parents who went missing, but the very proofs that they existed have also been erased as well, did not understand? It's simple, your parent's Voter ID, their passports were erased. Not only that their birth certificate, educational certificate, bank statement, credit cards, debit cards, tax statements, but their whole property documents including your home, your mother chain of flower bouquet stores have also been erased. Now your family's whole income and property down to zero. All the bank accounts have vanished and all the immovable property have been placed on auction by various banks under various debtor names. In short, there is no proof that your parents existed at all, so how can you expect the police to file a case."

Aditya's mind blasted when he heard Arjun speaking, his whole world turned upside down, he couldn't utter a few words as stared blankly at Arjun. "My parents didn't exist?"

"Ramachandra sir knew of this four months ago, but he wanted to try nonetheless, he even went to the extent to travelling to the capital to ask favours from the director of internal intelligence bureau and also his friends from Central monitoring system. Even your parents' digital footprints in social media like Facebook, Google and other social media websites also vanished. But still, your uncle had been working ceaselessly for the sake of finding your parents. Due to this, he had also gotten into a dispute with one of his seniors which resulted in him being suspended for a month." Arjun replied with indignity on his face. He had regarded Ramachandra sir as his life's model but the past four months when he saw his idol fall from grace, he could not suppress his emotions as he burst in front of Aditya.

"Now you tell me, what kind of a person or organization has such deadly capabilities to perform such a feat and you think it is easy to grab back people from them by using your father's goons?" Arjun looked at Bhadra and sneered.