Ocean 2021

Deal or No Deal

"Narendra Bhai, please don't send out my son. I will make sure he will behave from now on. If you also send him out, he will be useless and get into trouble. Please help me out." said Ramu to coffee-sipping Narendra Bhai. Keeping his cup down, Bhai said, "How long have you known me? Ten years, fifteen years? Have you ever seen me losing hope on my own? No. But, let us not forget what is at stake here. Our business runs not on money, not with manpower, but it runs purely on trust. Your son played with it. If he is not your son, he would have known by now what it meant. I am giving you one last chance to take him far from me. We will discuss this some other time when I am not this angry."

As a final request with a tear-filled eye, Ramu looked at Bhai and said, "Please."

"Ramu, I am not abandoning your son. Don't worry. I have not yet given up on him completely. Now, you go and take your son with you, it is business time", said Bhai and went back into his grocery shop billing counter.

Samudra was watching all this standing in the pulses aisle. Once Bhai was at the tiller, Samudra took a pack of lentils and walked up to him. He looked around, as it was early in the morning there was no one else. Samudra handed the lentils to Bhai for billing. 

"Is it all?" asked Bhai looking intently at the computer. Trying to enter the bar code of the product as the machine was not working.

Samudra wanted to say something but was indecisive. After all, Bhai was a legend around here, and if you speak a wrong word, that was your end. With no response coming, Bhai turned to Samudra and asked again, "Is that all?"

"I want you to help me rob a bank", Samudra said.

"I asked if you want any other products", said Bhai in a serious tone.

"I know, you understand what I am talking about. Don't act smart. I have the plan in place need your support to make it happen."

"Seventy."

"Seventy is high. Fifty for you, fifty to my team."

"The half kg lentils are seventy. It is a discounted price. Please pay and leave."

Samudra felt disappointed. "Everyone keeps saying you are some big guy, and we should fear you. You might have been a big guy sometime back. Now it is this generation time. I will arrange for the robbery myself."

"I don't know what you heard. Someone who comes to me has to agree to my terms. They cannot try to bully me. It won't work. Now, you brought out these lentils, pay for this and leave." said Bhai.

The crew

Samudra took it more seriously now. He assembled a team of his own. All of whom were ex-members of Bhai's crew. He planned it that way, only then Bhai can be kept at bay.

Samudra said to his team. "After a month, there is going to be five days of holiday for the bank. We will use that time to go in and rob the bank. We have to prepare and get ready before that."

Sunil, "Have you checked with Bhai?"

"This again. I got you guys, to make sure no one talks of Bhai", said Samudra in a disapproving tone.

Abhay said, "Yeah. We don't have any relation with Bhai any more. But Bhai has a relation with this city which is beyond us."

"Leave that to me. I know how Bhai became what he is today. Bhai also started as a nobody. If we are successful, Bhai will come to us."

Ravi, "I don't know. I am scared."

"I will take care. Now, all I want from you is this. A building breaker, bomb man, truck guy, and a computer guy. " said Samudra.

Abhay asked, "I understand the bomb guy, building breaker, and the truck guy. Why we need a computer guy?"

"Don't worry why. Find one."

"I already have one, and I am expecting him here anytime now. Was checking why we needed one.", said Abhay.

A man walks in, Samudra recognised him.

"I am Kushal", said the man.

"I know you. I saw you with your father at Bhai's shop. Welcome." said Samudra in reply.

Whose Plan?

Kushal was typing on his laptop when Samudra walked into the room. Before Samudra noticed what it was, Kushal closed his screens. 

"What is it? Why are you hiding from me?" asked Samudra.

"Nothing. I thought someone else was here and hid it. I am only working on your plan", said Kushal and opened a file. It had a set of code that Samudra could not understand. But what Samudra noticed was the file name "Ocean-2021". 

"Why Ocean-2021?" asked Samudra.

"This is your plan. Samudra in English is Ocean", replied Kushal.

They bought an abandoned shop near the bank. On Friday night, Samudra came in with a truck and the things they needed. As per the plan, Kushal will check for movement, and the others were to work on digging the tunnel. Samudra was giving last-minute instructions to Kushal, the others had no clue what they were talking about. They ignored and went on preparing. Checking their hard hats, picking up the buckets to move rubble, shovels, crowbars, they were ready. They signalled to Samudra that they were ready to start.

An hour into digging, there was a big explosion. It came due to a burst pipe not used for a while. Kushal heard it, but he did not panic right away. He messaged Samudra to keep quiet and stepped out to see if anyone out there in the streets. The area being a business area, they expected no one to be there. He stepped out of the shop and checked around the location. There was hardly any movement but a little from where the shop was, Kushal noticed a small crowd. The crowd were standing near the tea stall not far from there. Kushal walked to the tea shop, ordered a tea, and sat down as if he knows nothing. A man on the table next to Kushal asked him, "Did you hear that blast?"

"You heard too? It looks like it came from that abandoned shop", said Kushal.

"What do you think it is?"

"I heard they are doing some work to get the shop ready."

"Late at night?" asked the shopkeeper doubtfully, handing Kushal his tea.

"They want to get ready before the holiday is over. They are using rough instruments, so they are doing it at night.", said Kushal and added, "I think", to make sure no one doubts him.

After deciding he cleared the doubts, he walked back to the shop using a different route. 

The crew continued working, and it was almost 2 AM. Kushal came down and handed them some refreshments. He saw that the digging was going well. They were already twenty feet deep and reached almost half the distance to the bank. When they were relaxing having a drink, Kushal picked a shovel and started picking up the rubble. When he was picking the shovel, he hit something in the wall, which sounded different. 

He asked others, "Did you guys hear?"

Others seem to have not heard anything and nodded to say a "No". Kushal checked the wall for the sound again. After hearing the sound again, he ran to his laptop. He brought his laptop to Samudra and showed him something that looked like a building plan. 

Samudra turned to them and said, "We have to start going up. After this, there is a big water tanker. If we hit it, the place will flood which will be the end of our journey". The crew did not ask how did they know. They just followed orders. It was almost morning when they finally stopped.

They all brought temporary beds and slept in the shop. Samudra could not sleep. He walked out and kept wandering the city. After an hour or so, he noticed a van that belonged to Bhai's retail shop. He told the driver he was an old friend of Bhai and got into it. On reaching Bhai's shop, he noticed the familiar-looking setup. Bhai having a coffee and talking to someone. As he learnt earlier, it was the time he allows the public to meet him and air their problems. But he was confused to see Ramu uncle again. Samudra felt Kushal had not told his father yet. That was good for his plan, he felt.

He brought the same bag of lentils and waited for the conversation with Ramu to finish. As soon as Ramu left, Samudra walked to the counter and handed the bag of lentils. 

"Seventy rupees", said Bhai.

"The plan is on. We will succeed soon", said Samudra.

Bhai did not react to that.

"If you feel I am here to boast or ask for your help. Do not think that. I am here to tell you things will happen even if you say no."

"Pay seventy, that is good for you and me."

"What? Why will I pay seventy to you?"

"For the lentils."

This time Samudra left from their angrily not paying for the lentils.

End of the Rainbow.

After two days of digging, Monday morning Samudra's crew reached the bank's vault long before the planned time. Samudra asked the team to leave and take a rest for the day. They all did not understand. They are already here, why should they not take the money and leave. But Samudra, in a commanding tone, asked all to leave. He asked Kushal to follow him. Kushal walked into the vault with his laptop. Tired, the others went to sleep without arguing. After all, they had three more days. Kushal and Samudra were back with the crew after a few hours. The others were deep in sleep to ask them anything.

The next night, the crew went into the vault around midnight. Samudra gave each of the team a set of keys. He asked them to collect the cash and gold in those lockers and put them in one place. "Why not in the bags?" asked Abhay.

"Do as I say," said Samudra.

They all had a pile of cash in front of them. Then Samudra handed each of them a new key to different lockers. He asked them to put as much of the pile they could into those lockers. They were all stumped. 

"What is going on?" asked Ravi.

"We did so much to get this cash, and you want us to put this back?" asked Abhay.

"Don't argue put it in those lockers."

With full of anger, they kept as much as they can into the other lockers. Each locker had cash worth 5-10 crores and gold worth 5-7 kilograms. 

"What should we do with the rest?" asked Sunil.

"Pack them into your bags." 

At least we get this felt the crew. But there was very little left. They were still okay with that. They packed all of it into bags and started the walk back in the tunnel. They got into the truck they parked a few days ago and left from there.

After driving for a while, the truck stopped. It was an old restaurant next to the ocean, named "The Rainbow". Samudra asked all to get down and walk to one end of the Rainbow, where it met the Ocean. He asked them to throw the bags in there. 

"What? " asked all three in unison.

"It is for our good. Throw it."

They wanted to argue but had no energy. Disappointed, they all threw their bags in the ocean. A few hours later, the restaurant opened. Drinking a tea, Samudra said, "Have you seen the irony. They say, end of the rainbow, is where we get the treasure. But we threw our treasure there." No one was in a mood to laugh at that stupid joke. 

After finishing the tea and breakfast, they were all disbursing from there. 

"Thank you, everyone. That was a job well done", said Samudra.

"What is the use?" said Abhay.

"End of it, the money is all in the bank, and whatever Leftover in the ocean. What did we get? What did you get?" complained Sunil.

Tired and vexed, Abhay, Sunil, and Ravi were ready to leave. Samudra stopped them and handed each of them a locker key. 

"What will we do with these duplicate keys?"

"These are not duplicates. I opened lockers for you before we started to job. These are yours. "

Finally, they understood the plan. They started celebrating and hugging Samudra. 

"All the celebration aside. Be careful don't start spending too much of it and get caught."

Samudra was happy with the job well done. He could not stop himself and headed to Bhai's shop. It was the familiar set up with the coffee. But today there was no one sitting before Bhai. So, he went and sat before Bhai.

"People keep saying you are Chanakya, and you know everything that happens around here. From the day I had this plan, everyone wanted me to meet you. They all told me if I don't do that, I will not succeed. They all went to an extent telling me that I cannot even make a crew without you. And what happened. I did all of that without you and sitting here with 100 crores in my bank account."

Bhai did not react and continued sipping his coffee.

"How in my account, you ask? Do you remember the kid you sent away the day I came? He hacked into the server and moved small amounts from suspense accounts of different branches into my account. Until they do their audits end of the year, no one will be noticing the loss of few hundreds in these bank accounts. Searching the tunnel and truck, they will get a little money. The police will feel the robbers got scared, threw money in the ocean, and ran away. See, how good I planned."

Ignoring all that Samudra had to say, Bhai said, "You have to give me 70, the last time".

"What 70?"

"You bought a bag of lentils and did not pay for it. I told you the last time too you come to me you follow my rules."

"You and your stupid rules."

"You have 100 crores can't you pay my 70 rupees"

"My pocket seems to be empty.", replied Samudra.

"We also modernised we have a google pay now. "

Not getting the approval he was looking for from Bhai, Samudra paid the money using his google pay and left. 

Samudra froze as he stepped out of the shop. There were multiple jeeps of police waiting for him. 

Counting chickens

One morning in jail, Samudra got a call someone came to visit him. Samudra came to the visiting hall. A man started walking towards him the man looked familiar, it was Bhai. 

"There is no need for me to be here. But I want to be here. Before, I tell you what happened. Let me ask you few questions."

Samudra's smugness was all gone. With an intent look, he was waiting for Bhai's question.

"How did you come up with the plan to rob the bank. Why this bank?"

Samudra started to think how and why, but nothing was coming to his mind. He was about to tell some lie.

"Don't try. I made someone in my crew give the plan in bits and pieces. They all said you are the right guy to pull off this. I gave the plan in parts to various people. None of them knew the full plan. What if they get caught? I should congratulate you on one thing. You have put together the puzzle pieces very well. "

"Are you saying this is your plan?"

"Jog your memory man. Have you ever done robbery of this complexity? How did you get the bank plans? How?"

Samudra was stumped and had no answer.

"Let us give the kudos where it is due. How you paid your crew was unique. That was not in my plan."

"I cannot believe it."

"I can understand. Can you tell me how did you get the abandoned shop?"

"Kushal got it for us."

"It was me. That belonged to a client who had it for many years."

Samudra started to feel very stupid.

"Do you remember, after a little digging, you guys changed direction? Why?"

"There was a water tank. Kushal heard it."

"The water tank is 5 feet away from where you stopped. I called and told Kushal to stop and change direction. I did not give that detail in the plan I shared. Because I haven't trusted you from first. If you have planned to do this without Kushal, you would have never reached the bank."

"But, you sent Kushal out. You were angry with him. I have seen with my own eyes."

"Yes, I am angry because he cheated a customer. That does not mean he was not my man. He came to me as soon as he heard your plan. From that moment, he became my eyes and ears."

"I did everything as per your plan, then how did I get caught?"

"When you paid with google pay in my shop, cyber cell got a notice. Thanks to Kushal. They traced you quickly and caught you."

"I might be caught. But you did not get a rupee from the robbery", said Surendra with the last bit of ego.

Bhai, in a mocking tone, said, "Do you think I am that stupid?"

Surendra had a blank expression in reply.

"When you paid through google pay. Kushal got hold of your mobile messaging controls. It took us a lot of days to move the money from your account. Thanks to the police, who felt once you are arrested things are done and did not block the account. We transferred the money from your account to multiple accounts before they blocked your account. Now police are trying to block the accounts. But the money in those accounts already withdrawn. "

"But why? What did I do?"

"I will tell you. But before that, ask your father why he did the same thing to me. You don't have to struggle to ask him. After all, you both are going to be prison mates."

"How can you punish me for my father's sins."

"I did not want to. I genuinely wanted to give you a chance. When you first came to my shop. I felt disrespected. I can take anything but not disrepute to my name. Still, I liked the way you worked. I gave you many chances you should have agreed for the 70%.", said Bhai and left from there.

P.S.: Samudra asked his father why he did what he did to Bhai. His father was greedy, and getting Bhai out of the equation meant double the money for him. Only then Samudra understood the value of trust.