ABOUT A MONTH LATER

The bell rang and Daniel Wenham said, “I’ll get it”, and went to open the front door.

As the ADGP had assured Sarayu, her Uncle Daniel had been all right. The police of both countries of India and Australia worked together to unravel the knot of Daniel Wenham’s mistaken arrest and in so doing brought down a major international art theft ring. The owner of the handicraft store that they had bought the Krishna carving from, an old man of around seventy years, was arrested and he gave up the majority of the members of the antique stealing ring operating in Tamil Nadu. Following revelations, major arrests were made in countries around the world and the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing identified and was in the process of recovering priceless antique idols from various countries.

Daniel Wenham had been released and all charges dropped against him. Needing a change of place, Daniel and Ethan Wenham had flown in with Balaji and now they were all there, assembled in the Chennai house when the bell rang.

“Are we expecting anyone?” asked Seethalakshmi.

“I am”, said Daniel as he opened the door and brought in the person he had been expecting.

“Everyone, this is Ajay Rayan”, he introduced the person standing in the middle of their living room.

“Hello everyone, nice to finally meet you all”, said Ajay Rayan to the confused gathering.

“Ajay Rayan…why does that name sound familiar?” said Ethan as he looked at the man in front of him.

“That’s because he is The Ajay Rayan, of the Rayan Group of Hotels”, said Sarayu looking up from her phone whose search results had pulled up the information for her.

“Of the RGH?” asked Balaji astounded.

“The very same”, answered Ajay Rayan.

“How in the world did you get to know him, Daniel?” Balaji asked.

“As my co-conspirator”, answered Daniel to the stunned group.

“Oh, you have a lot of explaining to do, Dad”, said Ethan looking at his father and shaking his finger at him.

“Well, that’s why I’m here”, said Ajay Rayan as he took the seat that was offered to him.

Seethalakshmi and Sarayu had gone in and gotten tall glasses of lime juice from the refrigerator and offered a glass to each person. They all took one gratefully. Even though it was after sunset, the sweltering humidity was making everyone sweat buckets. Balaji turned down the temperature dial on the air conditioner, making it a few degrees cooler. Ajay Rayan took a grateful gulp and sat back with a sigh.

“Before I go into that, I’ll have to bore you with a little bit of my family history. Would you please bear with me?” he said looking around the group.

“It would be our privilege, Mr. Rayan, that you think to share your family history with us”, said Muthuramalingam, speaking for everyone.

“Oh, please, Call me Ajay”, Ajay Rayan said. “And thank you”, he said and proceeded.

“Sarayu, you looked me up, right? What did Wikipedia throw up?” he asked.

“That your grandfather Tandy Rayan was an immigrant who immigrated to London with literally nothing and then worked odd jobs and saved enough to start a small catering business from home and grew it to what it is today, a global hotel chain. That your grandfather passed away a few years back and you inherited the business directly from him, and not your father. And that you have managed to grow it bigger in the last two years”, Sarayu finished.

“Good. That’s just the surface gist of it. And all of it is true too. I’d just like to add a few details to the story”, he said and continued.

“Yes, my grandfather was an immigrant, who immigrated from India, from Tamil Nadu, actually. His name was Thaandavaraayan. But since no one could pronounce it he changed it to Tandy Rayan. And that’s how the Rayan group got its name. Yes, he did pass away a few years ago, and when he did and passed on the business to me, there was tabloid press about how my father had been side tracked and pushed away, and how I just trampled over my father in my hurry to get at the money and many such things. Actually, it was my father’s request to my grandfather that he by-pass him and hand over the whole thing to me. As I’m an only child there were no siblings to quarrel over the decision. My father Vishal Rayan had never been interested in the business and had been in it to just assist my grandfather till I was old enough and experienced enough to take over. My father has never been the corporate type and is now actually very happy and content to spend his time doing whatever he wants to do. And those are things that have got nothing to do with either the cut-throat business world or with making money”, Ajay Rayan stopped.

“Is this too much information?” he asked the group.

“Fascinating information. Please continue”, said Ethan.

“Right. When my grandfather passed away, our lawyer read the will to the family and finished all the formalities within a week of his passing. And a week after that, he called me to his office, asking me to come without telling anyone where I was going, not even my family. I was totally intrigued by this unexpected request. When I did arrive at his office as per his instructions, he handed me a handwritten letter from my grandfather asking me to read it right there in his office and left me there alone, closing the door behind him. This is that letter”, said Ajay Rayan, taking an envelope from his pocket.

He handed it to Balaji and said, “Would you please read this aloud?”

Balaji took it with hesitation. “Are you sure you want to do that?” he asked the young man.

“Oh yes, I am. Please…” said Ajay Rayan and motioned for him to continue.

Balaji took out the letter from the envelope. It was a few pages long and was written in English on expensive ruled paper with a fountain pen in a neat handwriting.

“My grandfather taught himself to read and write English after he went to the UK”, said Ajay Rayan softly.

Balaji cleared his throat.

“My dearest Ajay”, he started and paused, hesitatingly looking at Ajay.

Ajay Rayan nodded gently.

“My dearest Ajay”, Balaji continued. “It’s unnecessary to say that if you are reading this then I’m dead. I have lived a good life, a life filled with more than my fair share of love and money. I have accomplished so many things in life, leaving behind a legacy for you to continue and carry on. I have lived a life that has filled my heart with joy and happiness. All this is what people, including my family, who look at me would think. And for the most part, it is true. For the most part. I had hoped and prayed and worked diligently all through my immigrant life to stop exactly this moment from happening. But unfortunately I have failed to do. And in that failure of mine, is the burden I’m leaving for you to carry. I sincerely hope and pray that this burden would not be carried over to your next generation.

You know that I am an immigrant who immigrated from Tamil Nadu. You used to ask me why I never spoke about my life before coming over to the new country and I had always told you that I had nothing to tell about my life before coming to this country. That was a lie that I would like to put to rest now.

My family lived in a small village near Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu. I was a young chap at that time, just turned eighteen. I didn’t have much of an education but wanted to make something of my life. I knew that if I had some small capital then perhaps I could start a small business. There was no one to either give me or lend me the money that I needed. I tried doing odd jobs but they didn’t pay me enough, only to buy a meal or two. It was at that time I got introduced to a man called Natesan through a mutual friend. I was immediately enamoured by him. He wore good clothes and spoke confidently and always had money to spend. I wanted to be his friend and get to know how he earned the money he spent. Sensing this, Natesan used to give me odd jobs and when he saw that I did them all to his satisfaction, he asked me one day if I would like to make a really good amount of money. Naturally I said yes. He then told me that I was not to speak of it to anyone and to meet him at a place the next afternoon.

I slipped out without telling anyone and met him. He had brought a car with him, and I was thrilled to ride in it along with him. We travelled for a few hours and reached a small dusty village and parked the car some distance away. We walked to a small hut and he went inside asking me to wait outside. He then came back and asked me to come in. The villager who was there didn’t speak a word to either of us. We spent the night there but we didn’t sleep. Once we were sure that the whole village was sound asleep, Natesan asked me to follow him through the dark streets. We reached the outskirts of the village and came to stop in front of a small temple like structure.

Natesan went inside and after a while I could see a small light coming from inside. He came out holding a lantern and asked me to follow him. When I went inside I saw that the sanctum sanctorum was open, with the idol of the goddess clearly visible in the lantern light. Natesan opened a small sack that had been kept inside and he motioned for me to join him. When I did, he handed me a pickaxe and motioned me to start digging around the base of the deity.

I looked at him aghast and shook my head, refusing to do what he had asked me to do. He tried to convince me but I resolutely refused to do it. He then told me that if that statue didn’t reach its destination by morning, his boss would not be happy and that he would be forced to tell him that the failure was because of me. And the address where my family lived.

I had not been a praying man until then, Ajay. But I prayed that night. I prayed to the goddess who was being dug up by the base. I prayed to her to forgive me. I prayed to her to keep my family safe. And I prayed to her to keep me alive so I could try and bring her back to her place of worship, to her home, no matter how long it took. And that was the promise that I made to her then, on that night that I helped steal her, Ajay. I took the money Natesan offered me for the job, which was a huge amount those days, and fled as far away as I could, to escape his clutches, for I knew that if I stayed there he would come to me for more such jobs in the future. And also to stay alive to fulfil the promise that I made that night. The promise that I would bring her back or die trying.

I’m dead trying. I did everything in my power to fulfil my promise to that goddess but I have failed and am now transferring that promise to you, my dear Ajay. Find her and take her back to her home where she belongs. I have left you all the money in the world to do that. I only hope and pray to her that she gives you the time to do so.

Someone once said, “People with good intentions make promises. People with good character keep them”. Do we not have both, dear Ajay?

Signed, Grandpa”.

A heavy silence descended on the room. Seethalakshmi got up and left, to hide and wipe away the tears that were now freely flowing down her cheeks. Balaji folded the letter, placed it in the envelope and handed it back to Ajay Rayan.

“Did you find the idol?” Sarayu’s voice cut through the silence.

“Not so soon, Sarayu”, answered Daniel.

“My lawyer came in when I finished reading the letter and handed me another thick file filled with documents and photos, the proof of my grandfather’s search to keep his promise. He had started looking for and buying statues and idols that had been stolen from here, especially Chozha era idols and kept them safely, stored in a safe vault in the Geneva Freeport, to be handed over to the Tamil Nadu authorities at the right time.

There was a major hurdle that he had to overcome. He knew nothing about the idol that he had helped to steal all those long years ago. He didn’t know the name of the village they had gone to, neither did he know the name of the temple from where the idol was stolen. All he had was his memory of the goddess as he had seen her on a dark night by the light of a dim lantern. At first he was looking only for that particular deity but as he saw the hundreds of statues and idols that were on the market for sale that were obviously stolen from here in Tamil Nadu, he started buying them and storing them, to get them away from the hands of so called ‘collectors’. But towards the end of his life he realized that he didn’t have time to go around randomly looking for the idol. And so he engaged an ‘idol tracker’ and gave him the specifics of what he was looking for. There was not much to give him, just the general location from where it was taken and a general description of the idol”, Ajay Rayan paused and took a few sips of water.

“Are there people like that? ‘Idol tracker’ I mean?” asked Vael incredulously.

“You would be surprised at the kind of people there are in this world, Vael”, answered Ajay Rayan.

“And to answer your question, yes there are and the one my grandfather engaged is the best in the world, Neil Ringkett. He recently contacted me to say that he had located what my grandfather, and then I, had asked him to locate”, Ajay Rayan stopped.

“Did he really? Where was it? Who had it?” Ethan asked eagerly.

“Yes, he did find it. At least he thought he did. And it was in Australia, with your father", said Ajay Rayan and stopped.

A collective gasp went around the room.

“Well, technically not with me. But with the museum”, answered Daniel with a smile, enjoying the effect their narration was having on their audience.

“Oh my God! You both will give me a heart attack”, exclaimed Muthuramalingam in mock frustration. “Just hurry up and tell us what happened”, he said.

“It’s my turn to continue”, said Daniel and continued. “When the museum bought the statue it came with provenance papers that went back to the 1970s. They all looked to be in order and all I had to do was sign off on them for the museum to finalize the buy. And that was when Ajay Rayan walked in to my life”, he said and looked at Ajay Rayan.

“Oh, come on! Don’t be so melodramatic, Daniel”, said Ajay and tapped him playfully on the shoulder. “And by the way, I didn’t walk into your life, if I remember correctly. I called into your life with a phone call”, he said.

“I stand corrected, my Lord”, said Daniel, bowing in mock surrender. “So as he said, Ajay Rayan called into my life asking to meet me to discuss certain things about the statue whose papers I was authenticating. We met over lunch, paid by him of course, and he told me all that he just told you. His story so melted my heart that I decided to help him”, said Daniel with mock sincerity.

“Ah! Come on, Dad! Enough of this. Just get on with it”, yelled Vael in frustration.

“Hey! Let me have my moment in the sun, Son. When have you two listened to me this attentively?” asked Daniel, not giving in.

Vael took a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him. Daniel caught it laughing and threw it right back at Vael.

“So Uncle Daniel, you decided to throw your career and life away and risk getting arrested and thrown in jail over a story that a complete stranger told you over lunch that he paid for?” Sarayu’s voice pierced through Daniel’s laughter.

The smile faded from everyone’s face.

“Actually, that was our plan”, said Ajay Rayan.

“What? To get my uncle arrested?” asked Sarayu.

“Yes. We had planned to create a situation where there was a controversy created over the idol that the museum had just bought. If that controversy was big enough and painful enough, then the museum would rethink its purchase. It was our plan for me to step in at that moment and offer to buy the statue from the museum who we thought would be only too glad to get rid of it quietly”, explained Ajay Rayan.

“And how did that go for you?” asked Sarayu pointedly.

“Actually it went swimmingly well, Sarayu. The whole thing went off the rails because of my one impulsive action”, interjected Daniel. “I placed the file with the provenance documents in Vael’s luggage at the last moment. We had not thought to do it and neither did I plan to do it. It was just a last second impulse. I thought that the missing documents would add further to the controversy and speed up the museum’s decision to sell the statue”.

“And as it turned out, that action went to prove without doubt that the idol was stolen, thanks to you all here”, said Ajay Rayan.

Everyone started talking at once, each one expressing their thoughts and opinions and generally talking about the things that they had just heard.

“There’s something you are not telling us still”, Sarayu’s voice broke through the general hubbub with piercing clarity.