She could hear voices in the dining room. It was at times like these, when the house was like a tin of sardines, kanu wished she had not taken this bedroom. It was too close to the dining room, where every one just had to congregate. As if the drawing room didn’t exist. She turned on her side and pulled the pillow over her head in an effort to drown out the natter that was getting on her nerves. It wasn’t working. Would a feather pillow be more effective, she wondered. “I must remember to find out,” she mumbled into the foam.  

Kanu’s son was getting married and despite her renting a house to accommodate her guests, her own home was taken over as well. Years of living alone had made her rather fussy and intolerant of noise. She was a widow and when work had taken her sons away from home, she had become used to her solitude and peace and quiet. It was going to be a week-long celebration, and this was just the third day and she was already popping Dispirin. Her exuberant guests weren’t going to let her sleep, so she dragged herself out of the bed and made a dash to the bathroom.   

“Thank God for small mercies,” she sighed when she found it unoccupied. Although she had a fairly big house with four bedrooms and attached bathrooms, her bathroom would invariably be occupied when she needed to go. This ‘invasion of her space’ wasn’t going down well with her. She hurried with her ablutions and knotting up her waist length hair, walked out into the dining room din.  

“Good morning,” she trilled as chirpily as she could and matched the tone with a beaming smile. She did love her friends and was thrilled they were here, but her space…..Oh well! She wasn’t going into that again, she decided.   

“So what’s the excitement about?” she asked.  

“Is this yours?” asked Papsa, as he stretched out his hand. Nestled in his palm was a bit of crumpled note-book paper. It was obvious that it held something in it. Kanu took the small package from Papsa’s hand. She realized that the room had become very quiet. Every one seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for her to open the dirty, lined paper. She hesitated.  

“What’s in this? Is it some kind of PJ? Look, I don’t like practical jokes so early in the morning, they give me indigestion  

“Open it,” prompted Babu. “It’s not a joke, at least not one that any of us has got up.”  

“So you know what’s in it, so why the bated breath? I don’t like this at all. I’m not opening it,” she said and placed it on the table.  

Meenal decided to end the suspense and opened the folded paper to reveal a silver coin and some small bits of paper. At once the cacophony began. Every one had something to say and every one wanted to say it at the same time.  

“Is this yours?” asked Babu, when everybody had given their expert opinions. His tone and expression indicated that he did not think so. This was confirmed when Kanu nodded a denial.   

“I thought so,” he said triumphantly. Babu liked to be right always.  

“It’s not ours, and no one else has been here. So from where has this come?” wondered Meenal.  

“Why is everyone trying to make a mystery out of a coin? Where did you find it, and who found it?” Kanu was getting irritated with the unnecessary build-up of tension. “What’s so unnerving about it?” she directed her query to Papsa.  

Papsa told her how he found it lying next to his feet, when he woke up early in the morning. Presuming it belonged to some one in the house he had picked it up and put it on the sofa. The strange thing was that Papsa had spread his mattress on the floor in the drawing-room, which used to be converted into a bed-room for him in the night. He was the only person sans spouse sans kids, so didn’t merit an individual bedroom. Now this room was the least visited room which made the chances of anyone dropping a coin very remote. And this wasn’t loose change either. Second he had carried the mattress off a bed and spread it on the floor and then had spread a sheet on it. No coin fell out then. And in the morning at five, he finds it on the mattress by his feet.   

It just didn’t make sense at the moment. Kanu was puzzled but not perturbed. There was an explanation, it was eluding them because they were excited and determined to attach a mystery to it. 

“Have you noticed the scraps of paper inside? Except for one, all are blank. And this has something written on it. We can’t make out the script. It’s not Hindi or Punjabi or Urdu, could be one of the South Indian languages.”  

Kanu checked to see and found this to be true. The script wasn’t familiar. Could it be the maid’s, she thought. After all she was the only outsider who had been in the house. Happy that she could lay the matter to rest, she announced to all that it belonged to the Bengali maid Lolita. Kanu got up and with a flourish a la Pierrot took a bow. She had barely straightened her back than a rather strident voice shot through the room.  

“No, absolutely not,” said Ashima. Her voice went up a few decibels higher and her tone was bordering on hysteria. “This is not Lolita’s coin. It can’t be,” she stressed.   

Everybody stared at her. Why was she getting so worked up and how did it matter who the coin belonged to? And her vehemence about the ownership was not quite in place. It took a few seconds for the small group to regain their composure. All of a sudden there was a flurry of activity as chairs scraped the floor as their occupants made to get up, Kanu hurried into the kitchen so no one could see the furrows forming on her brow, the men mumbled to themselves and found their way to the bedrooms, leaving three people standing in the dining-room……Ashima, her husband Dheeraj and Meenal. Oh! And the ominous silver coin, in its crumpled, dirty note paper.   

Kanu didn’t have time to think about silver coins after that. There was enough on her platter, she forgot about the morning’s hoo-ha. In the evening, Meenal lay next to Kanu as she straightened her back. Kanu had severe osteoporosis and bulging disc problems, for which she was undergoing treatment. After a while, Meenal turned towards Kanu and asked her if Ashima had spoken about the coin. On getting a negative she sat up and her eyes lit up. Kanu knew there was something she was going to learn about the mystery coin.   

“Kanu, you know Ashima took the coin from me in the morning.”  

“Why?”  

“She said she was going to ask the maid if it was hers.”  

“Why is she so interested in the coin Meenal? It’s a bit unusual. So did she ask the maid about it? I completely forgot to ask Lolita.”  

“Who knows, that’s why I was asking you,” she replied shrugging her shoulders.  

“So ask her, why are all of you skirting the issue of confronting her?” Kanu was getting a bit tired of the whole rigmarole.  

“You know how she is, don’t you? Didn’t you see the way she reacted in the morning? Who wants to spoil the atmosphere by getting into a useless argument with her?”  

“You’re right. It is useless to pursue this thing. It’s just a coin. Forget it Meenal. We have so much to see to and better things too.” Kanu smiled as she patted her friend’s arm.  

However later that day, Kanu did remember to ask the maid about the coin. The maid’s agitated response was certainly not what Kanu had expected. She began waving her arms and rolling her eyes as her Hindi became worse in her effort to explain that she had nothing to do with the coin. She hadn’t seen it before and was too poor to own a silver coin she added to make a point.  

“Why are you so worked up Lolita? It seems you do know about the coin since you tell me it’s silver,” Kanu pointed out.  

“That’s because that other memsahib, the one with the short hair asked me. She was so stern and her eyes seemed to pierce me. I swear on my children I know nothing about the coin. Please believe me.”  

“Did she show you the coin?”  

“Yes. It was a big silver one and there were some bits of paper folded too, just like…” Lolita stopped herself from completing what she was about to say.  

“Just like what?” Kanu prompted her.  

“Nothing,” she said pressing her lips together as if afraid the words would slip out of their own accord.  

Oh forget it, thought Kanu. She didn’t need a mystery at this time and desisted from pursuing the conversation further. She was soon engrossed in instructing the maid about what had to be done. If she thought the matter was closed she was sadly mistaken. Papsa, stood framed in the kitchen doorway. He must have been hanging around somewhere near-by and had overheard what the maid had said. He gestured for Kanu to come out.   

Shucks! Am I in one of Ekta Kapoor’s serials for god’s sake! I just want to get my son married, will some one please let me do that, thought Kanu as she stepped out of the kitchen only to be pulled into the drawing-room. Seated and waiting for her were Babu and Meenal. Kanu knew she was in for another discussion about the coin. What was wrong with these people? How did the appearance of a piece of silver take on such important proportions! She decided to sit quietly and wait for someone to start speaking. After a while when she refused to even inquire and the silence became awkward, Babu asked her what the maid had said. They listened in silence as the conversation was reported.   

“Do you have the coin?” was the next query. Kanu shook her head.

“Does the maid have it?”  

“I didn’t bother to ask her,” said Kanu running very thin on patience.

Meenal called in Lolita who was visibly shaken. You could see the dread in her eyes. She repeated all that she had told Kanu and added to a question from Papsa that the “boy-cut” memsahib had wrapped the coin back in its original paper and kept it on the shelf in the smoking-corner. The smoking corner was an area Kanu had made for those who wanted to smoke. Having rattled off all she knew about the coin, Lolita made a hasty retreat. A quick search ensued but all in vain. The coin had vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared. Despite her reluctance to get involved Kanu was being drawn into the web of intrigue and mystery that was kept alive by the curiosity of her friends.

                                                                    …to be continued