He must have dozed off for a minute waiting, for he found himself being suddenly woken up by Pankaj's scream. He always did that at lunch, or rather, to indicate that it was lunchtime. The ACP had initially tried reprimanding him for that. But since glares and stares did not work well enough with Pankaj, he had decided to let it be. 'Anyways, he saves me the trouble of setting an alarm for lunch' he had told Salunkhe, shrugging his shoulders, the other day.
Not wanting to lose a minute, Dr. Salunkhe rushed downstairs with his lunch. The others were already at the table listening to Abhijeet, Daya and Vineet, who had just returned from the National Crime Records Bureau after updating the files about their latest case. 'Salunkhe sir, you are joining us for lunch today?' asked Daya surprised, seeing him at the table. 'You've come alone?' Abhijeet added, his eyes searching for his beloved Tarika-ji.
Dr. Salunkhe made a face at the mention of Tarika's name, but said nothing except that he was here to observe Pankaj. He didn't want to waste his energy on Abhijeet just then. They hadn't heard of Pankaj's 'strange deafness' and were amazed at the news.
'Pankaj has turned deaf?' asked Vineet in horror. 'I'm sure he must be playing a trick' added Daya lowering his voice. He didn't want the ACP to hear him. Abhijeet looked around the table and exclaimed 'But where is Pankaj?' He wanted to be the first one who got the truth out of him. 'He has gone to collect his lunch. His folks are out of town. He has arranged for food with a dabbawala' put in Nikhil beaming. He was glad knew something that the others didn't and he beamed in pride – that is, until Sachin banged his head with his fists in exasperation.
'I wonder if the dabbawala's food will be enough for him' wondered Purvi. 'Yeah.. His mom always sent him a big lunch basket' added Shreya as she opened her lunchbox. The others soon did the same and had even started on their meal. But there was no sign of Pankaj.
'What if he saw through my plan?' panicked Dr. Salunkhe for a second. But he soon brushed his thoughts aside for he could see Tarika walking in with her lunch and behind her was a dejected Pankaj. 'They fooled me. No lunch came' he said, flopping down on the empty chair between Purvi and Tarika.
A most delicious lunch had been laid out on the table – or so it seemed to Pankaj. The long table was set with a mélange of the most delicious looking food from the various houses. There was also the most scrumptious – looking fruit salad with ice cream for dessert – supplied by Rajat – it was his dad's birthday. Pankaj's eyes lit up at the sight of such awesome food. 'This is going to be the best lunch ever', he thought to himself, his eye moving from one box to the other.
The boys eyed Pankaj a little warily, but Pankaj – eager to make a good impression on the others – was on his best behavior and very cheerily asked Purvi 'Whats that Purvi? The white spongy thing in the corner of your lunch box?' eyeing her box all the time. Purvi was surprised at the question that made everyone, now look into her lunch. 'Oh that… That's some cake' she replied embarrassed. 'Shreya's mom had given me the recipe for it the other day and it had turned out pretty…..' She had to leave her sentence hanging mid way, for Poof! The cake was gone.
There were no traces of the cake anywhere. The officers at the table simply roared with laughter at this. All except Purvi, of course, who couldn't bear to think that he had eaten all of the cake, fushed angrily. Even the ACP had to hide a smile, but hide it he did, for he certainly didn't want Pankaj to think that his act was accepted. Now that Purvi's box had been emptied, Pankaj, in the meanwhile, shifted his attention to Tarika, who was the nearest to him.
Looking into her lunchbox, he exclaimed in excitement 'Aloo parathas? They are my favourite!' It was Tarika's turn to panic now. 'No Pankaj', she began 'I'm very hungry and I only have a few' she finished, determined to save her parathas. Unfortunately for her, Pankaj was smarter. 'All for you?' he cried out in sheer delight 'That's so nice of you Dr. Tarika' he concluded, almost snatching the box of parathas from her hand and stuffing them into his mouth.
Tarika was almost taken aback at the sudden attack on her food. Her feeble cries of 'No… I didn't say all for you.. I said I only have a few' were drowned by the sounds of the others laughing. She had thought that she managed to put Pankaj in place and hadn't expected this at all. She got up and walked away from the table irritated and pouting.
Rajat was the first one to recover from the shock. 'Seriously Pankaj' he said. 'You should have more decency than that'. Pankaj didn't seem to hear it. He continued to tear up the parathas, dip them in the bowl yoghurt and eat them, all in an exaggerated action. He then looked up at the others and flashed them a wide hyena-like smile.
'There is something wrong with the boy' said the ACP, while his eyes searched Pankaj's face. Pankkaj did not flinch under the scrutiny and that seemed to satisfy the ACP. 'Good. So the boy is not playing a trick like I had expected', he though to himself as he slowly left the table.
Dr. Salunkhe seemed more confused than ever. He had come down wanting to catch Pankaj red-handed. But it looked like the boy was too smart for him. 'There ought to be another way. But I need to take someone's help. Whom can I ask?' he though to himself studying the faces around him.
His eyes moved around from one smiling face to another. Only one person seemed a little angry. And that was Abhijeet. Although, he had laughed along when Pankaj gobbled up Purvi's cake, he did not appreciate him confiscating Tarika's parathas – and that made him a little angry.
'He is the right one. I will discuss my plans with him and ask him for his opinions' decided Dr. Salunkhe looking at Abhijeet.