Diya Rai – Mahima Does It

“Hi!”

“Hi, do I know you?”

“No, you don’t know me. But I know you. You – you are Monali. And, I am Mahima.”

The girls exchanged a warm handshake. They were in a supermarket in Koramangala, which Monali was said to frequent. Sleuthing behind her for a few days, Diya managed to gather this information and passed it on to Mahima.

“So, how do you know me?”

“Well, this is an inside business. Can you meet me in Coffee Exotica in another ten minutes?”

“And why should I agree to a meeting with a complete stranger?” Monali raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

“What if I say it is to talk about – ” Mahima lowered her voice to a whisper, “Pickpocket.”

“What the hell!” Monali hollered.

“Hey, cool down. I know every fucking thing about you. And trust me, I am not from the police department. I just need to learn that art. Come to Coffee Exotica to talk further. And if you don’t, I’ll keep pestering you till you agree to meet me in private.”

With those words, Mahima walked away, leaving behind a stunned Monali. She didn’t know what to do. She just fidgeted with her fingers and looked around to see whether anybody had noticed what Mahima had said. But everyone were busy with their own shopping. Sweat beads broke on Monali’s forehead as she contemplated about meeting Mahima. Finally, she made up her mind to meet her. Her inquisitiveness reached its pinnacle.

Ten minutes later, the girls were sipping chocolate milkshake in Coffee Exotica. Mahima initiated an interesting conversation on the art of picking pockets and Monali was drawn to it.

“It’s quite easy, if you believe that you can get away with it.” She said excitedly.

“What makes you pick pockets?”

“My dire need for money.”

“Can’t you earn in some other way?”

“Nah! Actually I couldn’t complete my under graduation. It’s been two years since I have left college and I have still not cleared my arrears. My parents in Mumbai don’t know about this. They think that I have joined some kind of course after my under graduation. I cannot pay fees for the arrears. Hence, I pick pockets and save money for the exams. Only my boyfriend knows that I haven’t completed my under graduation, but he doesn’t know that I steal to pay the fees. He just knows that I work part-time in a footwear shop in Whitefield. Thank God! He has never visited the shop and hence he doesn’t know the truth.”

Mahima patiently listened to Monali’s rigmarole and thought, ‘How foolish she is! Blurting everything out to a complete stranger.’

“Okay, so you have been picking pockets for the past two years. Have you met with any failures? Say, have you been caught by your targets? Or have you landed up in the police station?”

“Luckily, I have escaped everything. Just a week ago I had a narrow escape. But the wallet was worth it. There was much money in it.”

“Oh! I would like to see some of the wallets that you have picked, so that I can get to know what kind of wallets I should steal and how to determine whether there is some catch in it or not.”

Mahima chuckled to herself. Monali too joined in the laughter.

*****

Monali’s hostel room looked cramped. Books and clothes were strewn hither and thither. Chocolate wrappers and Lays covers were carelessly thrown around. Mahima had not seen such an ugly room before. Apart from thieving and robbing, Monali also had the bad habit of being unclean. She cleared up some food particles from her bed and made Mahima to sit. 

“Have this!” She handed a Dairy Milk bar to her.

“Thanks. Show me the wallets.”

“Yeah, here they are.”

Monali brought out lots of wallets from a black backpack. There were even a few purses in it. Mahima gaped at everything.

‘Oh my God! She is such a professional. She must be handed to the police immediately,’ she thought.

One by one, Monali showed and explained how she had stole from its owner. On the pretext of seeing a message, Mahima fished out her mobile phone and looked at the message Diya had sent regarding Sundarnathan’s wallet descriptions. It was a navy blue wallet with a Lord Ganesha carving in it. Immediately her roving eyes wandered around the strewn wallets and spotted the navy blue one.

“Hey, this wallet looks good! You seem to have some taste, Monali,” she faked an appreciation, while picking up the wallet.

“Oh that! That was actually a narrow escape two months ago. I was on my way to board the Nilgiris Express from Chennai Central. I found this man’s bulging back pocket. Immediately I took an aim for it, but it went all wrong. He almost caught me, but I was clever enough to flee at the nick of the moment. He shouted ‘Oi, oi, stop!’. I was too fast for the poor old man.” Monali let out a wicked chortle. Mahima winced in her place.

“There wasn’t much money in it. Not as I expected. The loot was around Rs.2000. There was also an old photograph of the man and his wife.”

‘Exactly what I need,’ thought Mahima.

“Ummm..If you don’t mind, shall I have this wallet to myself?” Mahima put forth the question carefully.

“Of course, you can. It’s no more needed. Take it. It’s common for thieves to get attracted to the wallets they steal. But I didn’t find that one too fascinating. You can have it. And tear that photograph.”

“No, let it be. I will tuck it away in one of my old diaries.”

Monali nodded uneasily. Though she turned suspicious, she couldn’t ask anymore questions.

Meanwhile, after checking out Diya’s message, Mahima had placed her mobile phone in such a way that the whole sequence was recorded. She stealthily switched off the video mode and slipped the phone back in her handbag. She smiled at Monali and said, “Monali, I have to leave. I’ll come back for training the day after tomorrow. Thank you for today’s lessons!”

“Okay, Mahima. It’s pleasure to have a partner in this business. Thank you for joining me.” She chuckled.

Mahima hurried away from the dingy place.

*****

“THIS IS MARVELLOUS!” Diya screamed.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes.” Mahima said. Diya pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Thank you soooo much, darling. It was you who guessed it to be Monali. Otherwise I wouldn’t have reached the conclusion.”

“No, it was your initiative that started all this and now we are going to handover that wretch to police.”

“Huh? No! We shouldn’t do that now. First, we should meet Brian and show him this video. It’s not to show that I have done something to put Monali in a bad position and find a way to his heart. It’s just to show that he has been with the wrong girl all the time. A top-class cheat and a professional thief.”

“That sounds good. After Brian, we’ll go to Sundarnathan to return the wallet. Then we’ll ask Brian if we should take this to police. We just cannot hand her over. What if Brian wishes to teach her a lesson in some other way?” said Mahima.

“Yeah, we must surely ask him about the police thing. Just imagine how much of a shock this is going to be for him.” Diya smiled lopsidedly.

“When are we going to meet him?”

“Tomorrow morning. I have to first unblock his number to call him.”

Diya Rai unblocked Brian’s number via Truecaller app and immediately dialled to arrange a meeting with him.

**********