Snoopers delight

"The oldest member of the family has to grow up.That is a good joke" laughed my grandfather without an iota of rancour at mother's harsh words."poor child,
[my mother Damayanthi]takes her single parent status very seriously." sighed gramps.
My father, Lt.Col Anand had died in action even before I was born.

My mother became a war widow.She was forced to fend off her loneliness and fend for herself and her son.

Grandfather told me that amma was a modern day Jhansi ki rani --------fighting a determined battle on several fronts,winning by sheer grit and determination.At five plus,I found gramps much more fun than my mother with her worried look and her many don ts.Don't watch T.V.Don't drink chilled water from the fridge.Don't dirty your clothes.Don't go visiting all families in this apartment.

Being a cute little five year old 'god' does not give you the right to ring door bells at odd hours.Complaining about mother's don'ts, I forgot to tell you why I am Devaru to one and all at LIVE WELL apartments.Medically my condition is called HEXADACTYLY which simply means having an extra thumb in each palm.I am twelve fingered like Hrithik Roshan and king Henry the viii.At school I am considered a freak.But gramps says-"Brahma has several heads.Durga has many hands.so does Vishnu.Ganapathy carries an elephant head.Poor Ravana is saddled with ten heads!so Ayush,you are not just special ,you are Devaru.

"Security Seena,service apartment Lokki and gardener mallesh totally believe in  this logic!Mother is aware that my problem is a congenital physical anomaly  that can be surgically removed with out much fuss."Leave his thumb alone,that's what makes him special.' thunders gramps.

 An exasperated mum gives in with-"make sure the child does not develop a bloated ego with your Devaru title.Don't you dare let him snoop around while I am away on tour."

"snoop as much as you want.Local news is so much more interesting than reading a news paper.I want all the gossip of LIVE WELL apartments.Let the mice scurry around when the big cat is away.'said gramps with an infectious smile.

That evening I rushed to gramps,all excited about the BLIND foreigner staying in Lokki's service apartment."He can SEE!"

"How did you find that out?" "I saw him open a letter from his letter box and READ it! Grandpa asked me to join him for a stroll around the blind school where the foreigner was supposedly studying English.Adjacent to the school was a huge defence[missile head] factory.We watched the foreigner clandestinely photograph the activities of the defence establishment.

Dy.Sp Randheer singh, an old student of gramps was informed about the suspicious activities of  our foreign neighbour.

"We will cooperate with you in every way possible.However keep Ayush's name out of this.I am more afraid of my daughter's reaction than that of anti national elements." said gramps with a straight face!The police came to LIVE WELL in mufti,entered the service apartment and collected sufficient evidence to prove that the foreigner was a terrorist come to blow up our defence factory.

He walked into a well laid police trap and was taken away to jail.

Mother came home from her tour with the days news paper  under her arm.The front page said-Terrorist arrested by Dy.Sp.R.Singh and his team from LIVE WELL apartment, after a fierce gun battle.

No casualties reported.On reading the news mum wondered aloud- How in the world did the police find out that our blind neighbour was a terrorist ?Tongue in cheek, grandpa answered-god with sixth sense must have snooped around and informed the police!