Prologue (One)
The cacophony of children filled the Swastik orphanage every morning when their beloved Sanchi distributed the lunch boxes and chocolates to them. Located in the city of Ujjain in the state of Madhya Pradesh, the orphanage was the pride of both Sanchi and the head nun, sister Maria.
Sanchi had been living in the orphanage for the past two years since she was a twenty three years old. With dark brown almond eyes, beige skin, patches of dimples on both cheeks, plucked narrow forehead and protruding chin, she was the epitome of cuteness, innocence and beauty. It wouldn't take long for the opposite sex to get smitten by her alluring lustre.
Definitions apart, Sanchi hadn't led the comfortable life congenial to every other beautiful girl possessing similar features to her. She was deprived, dejected and ridiculed to be the symbol of mockery for every other being she met. Settling herself at a distance of informal miles apart, she had run away from home and away from all her peers.
Did she really run away?
No!
She was compelled to undertake such an immoral endeavour!
Why was everyone after her, embarrassing and humiliating her?
Only because her mouth could not utter what her heart wanted to?
What was her fault if she was born with a minor flaw, the art of stuttering in between every line that she delivered from her perfectly shaped pair of lips?
Or was she really shamed by the world just because of a very indecent past?
Giving up her original identity as Vanya Patel and living under a new identity by the name Sanchi, she had embarked into a new journey of life and was visualizing the world from a new perspective altogether.
Sanchi was dressed in a beautiful pink suit and her single braided black hair was rested on her left shoulder. She was a simple and no-makeup girl, and she looked prettier without any of those fairness cakes on her face. But most importantly, she had extreme love for high heels and she would never miss going out of the orphanage without wearing a pair of those possession of hers.
The twenty odd children of the orphanage surrounded Sanchi daily in the morning because of the delicious tiffin that she cooked for them everyday. They carried the lunch boxes for their school hours and sometimes chocolates were also packed with the boxes.
"Sanchi.. Please give me first." One of the children named Cyril almost cried before her. He was merely an eight year old lad who loved Sanchi dearly. Not only Cyril but each one of the children was very close to her. She was their beloved 'Sanchi'.
"Wait now, every-one will get a cho-co-..choco-... Choco..." Sanchi tried hard to utter the word but she was missing out onto it constantly. Her eyes welled up in tears as her accumulated confidence of speaking at least a single sentence without stuttering, tumbled. She was left nowhere except lamenting on her own fate.
Not soon after the head nun of the orphanage approached to her help by giving her a light pat so that Sanchi could complete her incomplete word, "Chocolate."
A little young girl of the age of six came near Sanchi and encircled her by her waist. "Sanchi, you don't need to speak the full sentence. We always understand what you try to say. We love you so much."
Sanchi kissed the little girl's forehead and nodded. "I love you too, baby Tiara. I love every-one here."
As soon as the children departed for their school, sister Maria pushed Sanchi's arm lightly. "Sanchi, my darling. I haven't seen you so very upset earlier. You are the one who is the most important individual of our orphanage. Even though you are afraid to speak before the world, you've become a very proficient journalist. You speak before the media with much confidence and your articles, oh girl, people loves to read your analysis. Why do I find you so very under-confidence today?"
Sanchi wiped the little tears brimming out of her eyes and said, "I am miss-ing my family a lot today. I don't know if ever I could ret-urn to them."
Sister Maria squeezed her arm. "I know there are many things from the past which have forced you to run away from home but you've never shared anything with us. I've known you for the past two years and I don't think you can be responsible for any bad deed in your life. Don't upset yourself that much, my baby."
"I'm fine, Maria. I think I should leave for the office now. It's gett-ing late." Sanchi waved a goodbye at Maria and left the orphanage in a melancholy mood.
*****
On her way to the All Day Round (ADR) channel's office building in the city of Ujjain, she was constantly thinking of something that continued upsetting her. "I don't want my past to conti-nue haun-ting me. Today is my twenty-fifth birthday and I can't even share it with any-one. Nobody knows what my past life was and Vanya Patel had a differ-ent life. This new Sanchi is leading a different life. Iden-tities can be changed but can I change my birth-day or my fate?"
Sanchi entered her cabin and placed her sling bag on the table. While going through the files, a tear trickled down her fair cheek again. "I wish I were at home. There was only one per-son who loved me in the family and I also loved the person more than my-self. I know only that one person would have wish-ed me today."
A couple of hours passed since Sanchi had been working at her desk. It was time for her to go through her emails as she would not like to miss any of those urgent necessities. As soon as she glanced across her computer screen and enlarged the page of the email, a very important email popped up before her. She scanned her eyes through it and instantly realized that it was the most important topic that she needed to attend at first.
The email read:
¶
Dear Sanchi,
You must have received an official email from our bureau quite a few days ago and you must be working on it already. But today I'm in the urgency of an another help from you. Hence I'm forwarding this confidential email to you. You have always undertaken perilous tasks on my behalf and I need your help again.
You know sometimes I can't trust many of the junior officers working under me but I know I can always trust you. We have been working on the case of the false passport rackets for the past couple of months and there is a very secret news that I've received last night. There is some old mansion in the south-west direction of Ujjain where the cartons of false passports had been stacked up since a few weeks. The members of the racket are in full chance of meeting there today and deliver the cartons outside the city very soon.
I'll send you the exact location of the meeting in your number. I need you to go there and get some secret evidences and do the needful for us. Other officers of mine will also be present there for investigation on the crime scene and nabbing the culprits, but they have been failing lately. That's the reason why I've approached you this time.
Remember, nobody should know that you work for me because you are my secret agent. If you need any kind of help from me, please reply to the email. I know I can solely trust you, my child."
From,
Mr. Virendra Singh Bundela,
Commissioner of Police, CBI,
Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
¶
Sanchi's eyes glistened with rage as soon as she completed reading the contents of the email. "How can peo-ple stoop so low and print false pass-ports in ex-change for money?"
Sanchi typed out her reply on the email very quickly.
¶
Dear Sir,
I know how difficult it is for you to solve a particular case when you can't trust many of your own officers. I had received an email from your CBI bureau to write an article on the moves taken by the government to issue passports to only those citizens or NRIs who produce original and valid documents. All the paperworks were liable to undergo a huge scrutiny before the passports are given out.
The people were to be warned of the illegal activities taking place in the state and were asked to take necessary precautions. I've already published the article and my analysis in our newspaper and our channel has also picked the topic as the main focus. Subsequently, other channels and newspapers were also sent the same set of orders by your bureau. They must be following the same rules.
Now since you are on the verge of nabbing the culprits and to prevent the cartons from moving out of the city, your immense trust on me should not fail. I accept the task that you've requested for and I promise to do my best. I don't need any help at the moment because I have everything. I've been doing these tasks on your behalf for the past few months. I'll definitely keep you informed of the developments."
From Sanchi,
Editor and Journalist,
ADR Channel.
¶
Virendra settled himself on the chair in his cabin peacefully after the reply email from Sanchi pacified his thoughtful brain. The fifty-seven years old man was a tough and honest commissioner in the crime branch of Indore police and had many successful victories over different criminal cases under his name.
Sanchi, on the other hand prepared herself for the day's most important task. Hiding the mini spy camera in between her hairline, she paired it with her mobile bluetooth and then to the digital android watch that she was wearing. In case she got caught or lost her cellphone, she would still possess the watch and if anybody tried to open the belt of the watch, the information collected by the hidden camera would automatically be sent to Virendra's mail account.
Having taken her peerless preparation, she was ready to embark on the new secret mission. She was determined to help the commissioner even if the mission was entitled to endanger her life because she had surrendered herself to a very good cause.
To be continued...
***Please vote, comment and share***