The Case of A Bad Detective: A True Story

This isn’t your typical detective story. There are no guns or brutal murders. But surely, it is an even more interesting one. For it is real. And I was there too, when it happened, many years ago. I was in 5th standard back then. But don't judge my memory. Because I still remember it like it was yesterday.

*****

It was Monday morning, the start of another long week. It looked great and new, yet it promised the same endless homework, teachers' scolding, and a lot of studies. But none of that gave the slightest hint of what was coming. 

The day started with the same Maths class, taught by our strict yet wonderful Sudarshana Ma'am. First, there was the attendance. The same old faces, the same old process. A girl in our class, Ria (I can't recall her real name), had returned after a long leave because her grandfather had passed away. I felt really sorry for her because I had also lost my grandpa a few days earlier. I really missed him. 

The first few periods dragged on like any other day, with our eyes fixed on the clock, waiting for the best part of the day—the break. We were a group of six friends. One of our friends, Tejas, had been chosen as the Junior Head Boy. He was smart. We would have tiffin together and then play horse riding. In that game, the heavier guys (the horses) would carry the lighter ones (the riders). Then we would fight to make the other riders fall off. It was stupid, yet it was fun. 

That day, we had another fun session of horse riding. We were tired as we sat on a bench in the ground outside our class. The warmth of the sun was appealing. Tejas was standing and facing us as he narrated a fun incident. It was at that moment when it happened. 

A piece of rock, quite big, came from behind and hit him in the back of his head. We were stunned as he fell to the ground, his hands on his head, crying loudly. The collision was so strong that we heard the sound, and the rock broke into several pieces. It was a dreadful moment. There were a lot of children on the ground, but I got a faint vision of a younger boy, like a silhouette, who looked at me and ran away through the crowd.

The ground was in chaos. Tejas fainted within a few minutes. Somehow we picked him up and put him on the bench. One of our friends called the teachers. The place was getting crowded. Children were coming to see him. The sports teacher, along with other teachers and staff, came with stretchers and carried him away. The entire junior section was in commotion. Children were running here and there. The place was already crowded. Some girls were crying, some were enjoying the chaos, Ria was scolding her brother, and students kept following the staff as they took him away.

He was taken to the Army Hospital. All of it happened so quickly that it was hard to understand. We were still in shock. We didn't know whether our friend would live or die. His condition was critical. Who could do this? Was it a mere mistake or an act of revenge? He had certain haters. He had previously taken disciplinary action against many students. But why would they try to hurt him?

After the break, Sudarshana Ma'am came in to ask us questions. We narrated the entire incident to her.  

"So, did you see who did it?" she asked.  

The others hadn't seen anyone.  

"I saw a boy, Ma'am," I replied. "He was younger than us, probably from Class III or IV. And he was wearing a blue cap." "Go to all the classes, find this guy, and bring him to me," she said.  

"A blue cap, really?" a friend of mine mocked as we started going from class to class in search of the guy with the blue cap.

Class after class, yet we couldn't find this guy. Then we went to one of the sections of Class IV. The teacher there was a strict old lady with a loud voice. We told her about the incident and that we were looking for a boy with a blue cap. She wasn't interested at all. "Oh, you're wasting my time." 

"Is there anyone in this class who wears a blue cap?" she shouted. Some students started pointing at a short boy. He had very short hair, as if he had gotten a bald cut a few days before. He seemed very familiar. "Do you have a blue cap?" she howled. He shook his head in disagreement. "Look, he said he hasn't got a blue cap. Now stop interrupting my class and get lost!"  We were scolded for no reason and thrown out of her class.  

We returned to our class without finding the guy. Ma'am understood and said nothing. We just got a disappointed smirk from her.

I returned home that day and told my parents about it. They felt bad for our poor friend. I couldn't stop thinking about the incident. Something didn't feel right.

A day later, we came to know that Tejas was out of danger and was recovering. It was a relief for all of us. After two days, even our Ma'am stopped bothering about that so-called cap guy. 

But it just couldn't get out of my head. Who was that guy? Why was he wearing a cap? What was his motive? Why couldn't we find him? Perhaps I had heard too many detective stories, and it seemed to affect me. So I thought it would be better to stop brainstorming.

On the last day of that week, we came to know that Tejas had almost recovered and would return to school the following Monday. Later that Sunday, I was thinking about my late grandpa. I told my mother about another classmate who had recently lost her grandfather.

Grandfather.

My eyes widened, my hands went cold, and I started getting goosebumps. The boy was wearing a cap. You were only allowed to wear one in school if you had shaved your hair. And one probably does that when someone in their family dies. I had finally cracked it. The boy who threw that rock, the boy whose classmates pointed at him, the boy who was getting scolded by his elder sister, the boy with the blue cap, was none other than Ria's younger brother. The detective stories weren't bad after all. And as they say -- Truth shall reveal itself.

Monday was the day. Sudarshana Ma'am was ready to start the class when I stood up and confidently said, "I have found out who did that to him. The boy with the blue cap was Ria's brother."  

I couldn't even sit down before she got up and confessed, "Ma'am, I am sorry. It was my brother. He didn't mean to hurt anyone. He and his friends were throwing rocks to see who could throw the farthest. I scolded him a lot for doing that. I thought of telling you, Ma'am, but I was scared. I am really sorry."  

Ma'am told her not to worry and turned to me with a smile. "Such a bad detective you are. It took you an entire week to solve this case. Well the case is closed. Now we concentrate on the class."  

My bench partner whispered, "Good or bad doesn't matter. At least she called you a detective."  

"What does she think? I study in Class V."  

And while we were giggling, she quietly came in front of our desk with a haunting stare and said in a gentle yet menacing tone, "Stop talking, or you will be punished."