Case of the Missing 3000: A Curlocks Om mystery

Prologue

In case you wonder who is Curlocks Om, he is the reincarnation of famous Sherlocks Holmes from the 221 Baker street living in an unknown apartment in a relatively quiet ward in Bangalore and solving cases of importance. The story is from the case book maintained by his friend Vasan who lives next door to Curlocks.

It was about 9 am in the morning I was sipping coffee with Curlocks when an urgent knock was heard at the door. Curlocks was busy with his laptop and without even looking up remarked that must be Inspector Gowda. When I looked at him in askance, he said “didn’t you see the morning headlines. The Minister for Urban Affairs has remarked that nearly 3000 COVID infected persons have gone missing from their homes and their phones are switched off.

I went to open the door and sure enough Inspector Gowda came rushing in an excited state. Curlocks asked “it was all about the 3000 missing persons, isn’t it?” Gowda was equally surprised. Curlocks quietened him by stating “that it wasn’t about Rocketry and you don’t require a Nambi to solve it; it was all in the news and police has been asked to trace the missing persons. Naturally I was expecting you.”

How do we go about it? Asked Gowda with their phones switched off. He looked quite distressed. Curlocks offered him a cup of coffee along with the breakfast. Curlocks there is much to do here. You need to go to their homes and ask about friends and relatives of the missing persons both in the city and elsewhere in Karnataka. Inform the mobile service providers to alert you in case of any mobile activity of the missing persons. We have to keep track of districts in case the missing persons have ventured outside of Bangalore to trace any spikes in COVID infection.

The police knocked at the respective homes to gather data as Curlocks had suggested. The families seemed to be much relieved that they are rid of the infected family member and they were only too glad to part with the required information. As soon as they saw the back of the police personnel they dialled the numbers that they gave to police and asked the persons not to report anything about the infected persons. The dialled people too agreed with the suggestions. Who would want an infected person in the quarantine when there is hardly any room in their houses?

It was middle of the day when Curlocks suddenly whistled in an epiphanic moment. “Haridwar Kumbh mela was their destination” he exclaimed. He showed me a full page advertisement in the net, released by the state of Uttarakhand carrying the photos of the state CM and the country’s PM. The advertisement as Curlocks read out welcomed the citizens from both India and abroad to take part in the spiritual, cultural spectacle and purify yourself by taking a dip in the holy Ganges (not withstanding the pollution levels, italics mine). The advertisement also provided details of 1500 bedded hospitals arranged for bathers in case of any infection, food and other arrangements.

I informed Gowda about it and Gowda too felt that this was very likely a quick calls to the missing persons’ family confirmed that these persons were religiously inclined and they must have made their way to Haridwar. When Gowda informed the minister he readily appreciated Curlocks’ intuitive theory and asked Gowda to proceed to Haridwar. Gowda contacted his counterpart their and faxed the details of missing persons along with their photos.

Two days later when Gowda walked into the DCP’s office at Haridwar he was in for a big surprise. The DCP told him some persons were traced and RT-PCR test was also done. The test was negative and all of them had taken a dip in the Ganges. A miracle had occurred. Gowda who was a sceptic himself still decided to take a dip in the Ganges. “You never know” he told Curlocks when he met him on his return.

The news became headlines and a social media sensation. Bot the believers and the agnostic had a good time in the media. Lots of acerbic humour was seen.

Gowda became a celebrity of sorts and was interviewed by news channels. Any way Gowda told us that the CM’s office in Bangalore was now coordinating with the Railway Minister’s office and CM’s office at Uttarakhand to run special trains from various parts of Karnataka to Haridwar. These trains would be called as ‘Quarantrains’ and was meant only for the covid infected. To get a seat you have to show you are COVID positive. Railways was working on a team of drivers, TTEs, pantry car who are also infected by the virus and this would be a non-stop train from Bangalore to Haridwar.

The news about this train had also reached Harvard Dean’s office. He was considering sending a team of top scientists to undertake research on the ‘Quarantrain’ phenomenon. Many Indian scientists were scrambling to become a part of the investigation team. VP Kamala was under pressure to give a generous grant for this milestone of research.

Jai Shri Ram.