And so it rained... Part one

The curtains ruffled incessantly caressed by the wind which was picking up over the afternoon. Cyclone 'Laila' was heading towards the coast of Orissa and West Bengal. It was overcast condition over Kolkata as light was slowly and prematurely fading out. Dark clouds were rolling in from the south and flocks of birds could be seen flying in formations all over the city making their way home.

'' Appa, how do the birds know that a storm's coming?'', Mr.Vasudevan's 9 year old daughter inquired in a soft tone. She was ill, ''seasonal flu'' as the doctor put it. ''Appa'' was busy going through the accounts of a textile export company. This particular company has been stashing black money for a long time now and had it not been for the economic vigilance department, the company would still be operational below the radar. Mr.Vasudevan, a ''freelance'' Chartered Accountant was pressed into service by the Vigilance department to look into the money laundering operations. A case was being prepared to nail down the GM of this company and Srikant...Mr. Srikant Vasudevan's report was going to be the difference between a successful prosecution and an easy acquittal. The officer-in-charge for this case was desparate to get himself a CA who could look beyond the obvious i.e. the fake entries in the ledger and journals seiged by his sleuths... it was the motive and the means linked with the illicit money transfers that he was after. Aquil Hassan, OC, working on this case for the last 3 years, could smell 'hawala' in all of this but he had nothing substantial on the company to implicate the GM. So, Aquil had Srikant Vasudevan go through the evidence to connect the missing links, and this man was the very best at that.
''Appa, look! Lightning!! I saw it strike that building over there! Will that building fall ?'' Ira, unmindful of her posture, was precariously perched on the window sill.
Srikant looked up once then dived back to work, '' Dunno about that building but you will fall over unless you get down right now, lady!''...he wasn't very concerned whether Ira complied or not, Nobody got hurt falling off a ground floor window only 3 feet over a lawn covered with carefully mowed soft, luscious grass, he reasoned while looking for the calculator he misplaced somewhere under the piles of registers and files. While shuffling files on the work desk in an attempt to tidy up the place, he picked up his diary to find a medical prescription underneath...it was for Ira, medicines were scribbled on it were meant for tropical flu treatment, dosage, food and health supplements, general precau.....his eyes zeroed in on the lower left corner of the prescription...the pathetic handwriting notwithstanding, he could make out a date written there...''23.05.2000''...Then it glowed on him...Ira's Birthday! its 23rd today..how did I forget that? This case has left me brain dead...and why didn't Ira mention it even once? At times like this, Srikant wished that Sujata, his wife, were there to set things right...she brought order to his hectic life. Having laid down his pen, he placed his hands behind his neck trying to massage the pressure points just the way Sujata did before he lost her to a road accident. Srikant, ever since turned a workaholic ( the other option was to be an alcoholic but with Ira around it never crossed his mind) in order to drown his grief in work.
''All is not lost! It's only 4:30 in the evening, I can still make up for this blunder'', he murmured while locking up the drawer and placing weights over loose paper strewn all over the workdesk.
He called out,'' Say what? We are going out!''...
Ira looked over her shoulders and ever so softly asked,'' Really? But I'm ill and Doctor uncle told me to take rest. And its about to rain, the birds stay in their homes, shouldn't we too?''
''Well, we are human and humans have cars,we can go out whenever we want so get up and get dressed. You want me to help you?''
''I'm a grown-up, dad...No, thank you''
The phone rang and Srikant recieved it promptly...
''Hello?''
''Its Aquil this side. How's my crack investigator faring??''
''Usually skeletons tumble out of the cupboards, but this shit has an entire graveyard in it! Their money transfers would embarrass even the Western Union !''
''Hey Srikant... I gotta tell you this...This is just a hunch but I believe somebody from my office leaked out the information that you are a part of this investigation...Considering the men and their stakes involved in this case which are obviously very high, they might go to any length to upset things. I have a surveillance team watching over your house. Don't worry we got you covered...just stay sharp, Okay??''
''Listen Aquil Mian, I've a more dangerous situation at hand...I forgot Ira's birthday and I need to make amends, so I'm hanging up...Bye! Call me back when you have something better to do than to scare me...'', he put down the receiver.
'' Ira! Are we good to go??''
'' Yes but where are we going?''
'' All in good time, sugar''

To be continued...