The cottage by Kutta Lake

Abhay was visibly shaken, aghast at the news of Charu’s disappearance. Several things ran in his mind – he was responsible for having roped in two civilians to probe the mystery – a duty which was assigned to him alone. What disturbed him more was Charu going missing just when he had started having a crush on her! For a few moments his mind went blank and despite his police demeanour, emotions did show up on his face. 

What could have happened to her? The water was not that deep for her to drown and for that matter she was both a good swimmer and a scuba diver and 40 ft water should not have bothered her at all. He cast a stern searching look at Yuvaan as he still did not believe that Charu could vanish just like that! Yuvaan said that they both had signalled to each other to call off their exploration as they could find nothing and felt they were running low on the air reserves. Charu started ascending first with Yuvaan following her, yet he lost sight of her in the curve, in a fraction of a second and could not realise how and what happened to her.  

Abhay lost no time in getting his rescue team on the job while he himself went into action. Yuvaan on his part, was waiting for a fully filled air tank to go diving again in search of Charu. It was unbelievable – here for a moment and gone the next! He tried to rewind the happenings several times in his mind to get some kind of a clue. He had heard no noise as well, though it could be due to the fact that the transducer in his face mask was not functioning well, which was why Charu and he had resorted to signal communications to call off their search. Yuvaan felt so helpless and desperate and could never forgive himself if anything were to happen to Charu. He could read the animosity in Abhay’s face but he felt that he too would have reacted in a similar manner. He kept looking at his watch for it seemed as if the wait for the air tank seemed unending.

In the meanwhile, what had happened to Charu? As she ascended she realised that she was on the left bank of the lake. She remembered that the right bank had the beautiful Western Ghats in the background whereas the left bank was dotted with mango trees and coconut palms with occasional houses. As she rose and turned the curve a thought flashed in her mind – may be this is the “opposite of right” which was mentioned in the clue: “Listen to what Mother Nature says…Water always makes ways...follow the opposite of right and the sun God makes the hidden world shine bright…!”

 

In a moment, she realised that she was on the right track. The thought that the air gauge had dipped to “reserve”, did not strike her. He mind was focussed on succeeding in solving the cryptic clue. Sure enough, the sun’s rays beamed on a small cottage on the left side of the lake. She hoisted herself up and as luck would have it, there was a man standing at the entrance of the house and seeing her surface, immediately helped her on to the land. Excited as she was, Charu had no second thoughts in blurting out the purpose of her expedition.

Charu did not notice the change in his expression as he invited her into the house while calling out to his Valiyamme – maternal aunt (mother’s elder sister). Valiyamme dressed in the traditional mundu emerged from the backyard and stood dumbstruck on seeing Charu. 

“Ende bhagawane!” she screamed. She could not take her eyes off Charu – what a spitting image of her mother! She tugged at her nephew, pointing out Charu to him and saying “Mone, can’t you see your grandma in her?”

Both of them helped her settle down and got her a cup of strong coffee to warm her. The hour long search under water had been weary and the coffee was a very welcome one. Charu then opened the topic of the purpose of her mission least expecting any assistance from this quarter.

She was therefore, floored when she listened to Valiyamme – “it is a very long story and I do not know where to begin”, she started. “My mother was brutally murdered,” she went on. “Her eyes were first scorched and a sword pierced through her. I was about ten years old then and the elders saw to it that the gory details were not discussed before us, but our curiosity led us to the adjacent room and standing on a bench, my brother and I caught every word the elders spoke. They said that the leader of the local MAFIA gang had set his eyes on grandma and tried in vain to woo her when grandpa was out of town. In a fit of rage, he had reacted, though he repented for it later. He had been caught and jailed but was now released as the crime could not be pinned on him due to insufficient evidence. The body of grandma also could not be retrieved from the lake and neither was the sword found. This Kutta lake, which was the scene of the crime is placid now but was quite turbulent some years back. Rumours have it that the “Boss” as the accused was known by, was assisted by Vincent, who was in the employ of my grandma for a long time and after the incident, Vincent had fled from the town”. She was surprised how Charu resembled her mother so much and felt that Charu was the reincarnation of her mother! 

Charu felt as if somehow the pieces were falling in place but still the mystery had not been solved fully. Charu suddenly realised that both Abhay and Yuvaan must be disturbed about her absence and so called up Abhay at once, to inform him about her whereabouts. His relief knew no bounds and though he did not have a great opinion of Yuvaan, hugged him and conveyed the good news. The rescue team was ordered to stop their search and both Yuvaan and Abhay rushed to fetch Charu in their motor boat.

Valiyamme did not wish Charu to leave with her friends, but wanted her to stay back with them. Charu was touched by the warmth of her hospitality and genuine affection. She felt very much at home in the simple cottage with the lake-front and the majestic mountain range across the lake. Earlier she despised coming to Cochin, but now this simple home made all the difference!

She bade a fond goodbye to Valiyamme and got on to the motor boat with Abhay and Yuvaan. Charu loved to sit on the side so that she could splash the water with her hands as the boat moved. They were recollecting all that had happened since morning and were discussing the future course of action, when all of a sudden another boat appeared from seemingly nowhere and hit the side where Charu was. A strong hand tried to pull Charu away but she landed a quick punch on the assailant who rolled back in pain and had to let go of his hold on her.

Abhay, quick on the uptake, got his team chase the boat and nab all those in it. Charu and Yuvaan joined Abhay to see the men lined up for identification. When Charu saw the last man in the line, her jaw dropped. ‘Oh my God! How can you be one of them?’ she exclaimed. Abhay and Yuvaan too were shocked to see him.