KHOYA PAYA

War was in the air. A madman had just crashed his explosive laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy. Indian Air Force had intruded into enemy war zone and blasted terrorist camps from the face of the earth. The other nation upped the ante by flying F16 aircrafts over Indian territory and in the ensuing scuffle an Indian pilot who ejected from an aging MIG 21 Bison was captured by the Pakistanis. Both the nations moved their armed forces to high alert and towards the bordering regions. Airports in India were asked to conduct extra security checks on passengers.

But for India’s flying salesmen it was just another day in paradise. Our man on the go, Sadashiv Rao, entered the Mumbai Airport at 5.30am in the morning to take a 7.15am flight to Delhi. He went straight to the self check-in kiosk for a print out of the boarding pass. This action is always so easy and smooth and it is a pleasure to see the fine piece of check-in paper slip out. As he bent low to collect the paper, his eyes caught a brown envelope lying on the floor. Surely it must have slipped out of a rushing traveller’s bag. To pick up or not to pick up was the question and he opted for the first.

His eyes popped up as he read the addressor and addressee details and a box on the right hand corner written in red in block capitals, ’SECRET’. He looked around and waited a while to see if someone came looking for it, but no one came. He started thinking of the options before him. Option one was to throw it into the dustbin and walk away. Secondly he could have gone to the airport manager and made a public announcement. The final option was to hand the envelope to the CISF men posted there. He decided against all the three and put the envelope in his computer bag, cleared the security hurdle on way to the boarding gate admiring the beautiful pieces of art on display at the airport.

As he waited for the boarding announcement, his fingers twitched as a few more awkward options popped up….How about opening the packet to know what’s the official secret? Would be nice to see what constitutes a state secret beyond the Bond movies. What if the contents were to reach some news channel?  He also wondered what would happen if the CCTV cameras at the airport had picked up his picture and the security men caught up with him with the envelope in his possession? Aa bail mujhe maar…was the only way he described his present situation.

Sense prevailed as he checked the envelope once more. Since the addressee was in Delhi, the city he was going to, he decided to hand over the same personally. So for the next three wintery days in Delhi, he kept waiting for an opportune time to go to deliver the document.  While his car did pass the address on the envelope a couple of times, he wondered how he would explain the presence of a top secret envelope in his possession and even if he were to survive the initial grilling by the security personnel, what would happen to the man who was supposed to actually carry it? If truly the document contained some state secret and was meant to be hand delivered, Bhai ki naukri toh jayegi…aur kya hoga kya pata.

So nothing happened at Delhi and he returned home. The envelope remained in the front zip of the bag only to be brought out a couple of times at night to check if it was still there. Finally, after two more days of further thinking, Sadashiv started locating the sender whose name was on the envelope…Google, Linkedin and FB…all failed in their search for once. The man was incognito! Next stop was a visit to the official website from where he could get the landline office board contact number. He punched in the eight digit number…trrrinng trrinng…after a couple of rings a bored voice of a lady was heard from the other side and he hesitantly asked,

“Kindly connect me to Mr. Pattanaik.”

“Which department is he in?”

“I don’t know the department but I think he works in the Director’s Office.”

“Which director’s office?  We have eight directors working here.”

“Madam, I don’t know which director but let me tell you why I am trying to reach him. I have an envelope  which I found Pattanaik’s name written which I picked up at Mumbai airport 5 days ago. The envelope is marked secret and I am sure it must be important for the organization. So please help me locate the man. Just want to give him the same and I can assure you I have not opened it at all.”

“What did you say an envelope marked "secret"? What colour is the envelope- white, yellow or brown?”

“Madam, please give me your mobile number and I shall send you a picture and you will understand what I have in hand.”

“We are not allowed to keep mobile phones here. Sir, so please give me your name and number and someone will contact you soon.”

The name and number were shared and phone put down. Within ten minutes he got a call from a land line and he knew it was from the same office.

“Mr. Rao, I am Mrs. Madhu Sharma  speaking from the Director’s office. Can you repeat what you just told the receptionist?”

And so he repeated, now with a lot more confidence in his voice knowing the chase was moving in the right direction.

“Thank you for what you have done. Please hold the line as I transfer it to the head of security here.”

Again Rao was made to repeat the story. The gentlemen on the other side finally said, “We do have a Mr. Pattanaik working here. We have cross-checked with the date when you found the envelope at the airport with our records and are aware of the sensitivity of the missing envelope that is in your possession. It is very important for us to get it back. Please tell me your location now and I shall have the same picked up immediately.”

In the next 60 minutes the designated person arrived. He showed his official identity card as Rao took him to his desk, pulled out the envelope and handed it to him. He smiled, thanked and said, “Thank you so much Mr. Rao. Pattanaik is in Bhubaneshwar today and he asked me to come personally to collect this letter from you. I cannot reveal the contents of the letter to you but I can tell you for sure that this was an important letter containing some vital information meant to be hand delivered to none other than the highest executive of the country. Had this got lost or reached wrong hands, hell would have broken lose.”

Our hero felt as if he had just been given the Superman’s cape. He felt like a hero, having saved planet earth and slept well that night. Next morning the phone once again rang from a land line.

“Mr. Rao this is Bijay Pattanaik here. I am eternally grateful to you for what you have done. I am saving your number and shall keep it forever and should you ever need help please do not hesitate to give me a call. It is good to know that there are good people in this world still around.”

Sadashiv felt happy as he put the phone down but his mind went back to an incident that happened more than half a century ago. It was the time India was up against China in 1962. A war dispatch had come for the Brigadier in the Army Head Quarters in New Delhi. It was handed over to a young woman who was in the lower rung of civilians working in there. Since it was lunch time the woman kept the paper aside as she finished her roti subzi lunch. She returned to her table after washing the tiffin box and was aghast when she couldn’t find the important piece of war dispatch. She was panic stricken and informed her superior who too tried searching for the document but in vain. The superior asked the woman to keep quiet and not tell about the inward document to anyone. If the Brigadier were to come to know about the mistake, she would surely lose her job. But the naïve woman started crying and started checking under every file, every drawer in and around her. The commotion reached the Brigadier’s office, who soon came to know about the missing paper. The woman was called into the army man’s room and the man in full military attire asked her,” Are you sure there was a message for me?” “Ji haan, Sir.” She replied. The Brigadier was furious as she stood there shaking from head to toe.

She couldn’t do any work after the humiliating dressing down as her mind was preoccupied not with the thought of losing her job but at the impact the loss of a confidential document would have on the armed forces during war time and so she started her search once more.  And then she found the missing paper in another file on her table. In trying to be extra careful, she had tucked it away between pages of another file. The document was promptly delivered and the woman was called once again by the officer. This time the Brigadier was pleased at the honesty the woman had shown and told her if any time she needed any help, she should let him know. She said I have a sick child and it would be nice if she were to be allotted a government accommodation. The Brigadier smiled and in no time ensured the woman got an out of turn allotment of accommodation which in normal course would have taken over a decade. This was in early 1963 and by the year end Sadashiv was born to the woman.

Double helix at work you might say.

SS