That first mystery

i was just reminded of this really funny incident, or rather a series of incidents that had taken place when i used to live in mumbai, or thane, for semantics' sake :P the following story is a mix of memory and a bit of what-it-probably-was...

This happened around the time when CID was actually a good show. Yes really it was! Around the time when detectives were the stuff, so to speak. For the residents of the little housing society of Hyde Park, tucked away off Ghodbunder Road in Thane, this was probably as big as it was going to get.

Someone was stealing the caps off the air nozzles on the bicycles parked in the society garage.

Now, before you pass off the story as a juvenile waste of time, let me say that at the time of its occurrence, I was seven years old. So obviously the situation had stymied me back then. Also anyone who's ever had to fill his tires almost everyday for want of an air nozzle cap will tell you about the severity of this crime. Okay let me just recount to you how we went about the whole thing, so you get a better idea.

It was a warm Thursday evening, and we had all done finished playing cricket in our lawn. We came back to the building, to see one of our friends Srikant looking around his bicycle. We went up to him and asked him what happened.

'I can't find the air nozzle cap man!' Having been victims of similar misfortune before, we all tried to help him, but to no avail.

'Looks like you have to keep filling often till you get a new one man', I said.

He looked around glumly. 'You're right I guess. Damn.'

But over the next few days, everyone started losing the nozzle caps off their back tires and the issue was escalated. We kept buying new ones, they cost a rupee or so hence money was no matter, but it was inconvenient to keep getting them. But they kept disappearing. It all came to a head one day when Rahul, a friend of mine, found a small steel plate full of these nozzles in one corner of the garage. He called us all and showed it to us. Then started the really funny part. Everybody tried to be the Sherlock, only their performances consisted more of imitation gimmicks than any real deduction. I most decidedly remember one guy going home and bringing back a magnifying glass to look for clues. But do bear in mind we were all seven to eight years then..

'Hmmm, whoever stole it, must have left some clue. They always leave clues. We have to look around the crime scene' was what my friend Gullu had to contribute.

'Lets do this. We all take turns keeping a watch around the garage. That way the thief can't make his getaway', was another suggestion.

'That's when Pratik, one of us guys, said the ominous words, 'you know it could just as easily be one of us. And now the person knows our plans.'

Boy did that cause a furore! There were smaller groups within the group now, each divided on their belief of who the criminal was. Plans were made in secret, and pseudo plans were shared when all of us met together. Highly devious behavior for our age yes, but all our plans came to naught. Nozzle caps still kept disappearing with exasperating regularity.

Pretty soon the situation threatened to slip into anarchy, and the growing murmurs within the smaller groups were on the cusp of turning into full-fledged throaty accusations. Our friendship would have been fractured beyond any help, if not for Majumdar uncle, Rahul's father.

He called us all one evening and told us he had solved the case of the missing nozzle caps. Our reactions varied from incredulity to envy to relief.

'This morning I was coming back from the airport and I was getting into our building at around 4.30, when I saw something in the garage, near Rahul's cycle. Curious, I went to see who it was. There was a weaver bird that was removing the caps with its little forelimbs and carrying it away. I silently followed it and found out that it was keeping all of them on the small plate you found. Then it flew with the plate to its tree, and used it in constructing its nest, for some sort of foundation. Frankly I'm surprised to see such intelligent behavior in animals, but yeah, there's your mystery. I suppose it'll stop once its done building. You kids don't have to worry after that.'

We all sat silently, stunned by who the criminal actually was. A bird! It had been a fun experience; the kind of perverted excitement I had felt when I'd for the first time heard there was a criminal amongst us! The thrill of pursuing an actual case, albeit with questionable methods. All of that. But right now, everyone was feeling a little foolish, going to such great lengths to catch someone who never existed. But we all tried to put a brave face, laughing outwardly at how this had turned out. I guess that night each one of us looked in the mirror, wondering how they could perpetrate such stupidity. I know I did.

Sure enough, the nozzle caps stopped being spirited away after a few days. The simplicity of the whole situation had changed something in us. There were a few other things that happened which seemed inexplicable on the face of it, but this time we never got so involved. Everyone just let it be. We weren't interested in getting excited, we didn't want to fantasize things. There was probably a very boring reason for most anomalies. We didn't want to pursue things, with wide eyes and amazement.

Maybe we were just growing up.