An Unintentional Surprise

It was seven in the evening and Mr Jakhar had a comparatively relaxed day at the office. He was a leasing manager at a real estate firm. He drove his car without any hurry.



Mr Jakhar looked at a petrol pump sign on the way and drove it in to have a fill of petrol in his car before moving on.



As Mr Jakhar neared his apartment society, he stopped his car to check his phone for any messages regarding something to be brought from the market. There wasn’t. So, he drove in to park his car.



Mr Jakhar parked the car and walked out of the parking only to remember that he had forgotten his jacket inside the car, so he returned and got it. Then he walked back the same path once more. The winters brought a close to the daylight earlier than summers so it had become dark outside.



Mr Jakhar looked around to catch a familiar face as he walked but he didn’t. He looked at the big neem tree in the society. It was the central attraction of the otherwise old structured society. People often made it a meeting point and it was an effective shade as well.



Mr Jakhar spotted Mr Meghani coming his way and raised hand to catch his attention as he increased the pace of his walking. Mr Meghani noticed Mr Jakhar and smiled at him but his expression changed to that of suddenly being terrified and it was accompanied by a crashing sound.



Mr Jakhar turned to see a boy on the roof of a car parked under the neem tree. It was Jay, Mr Khakh’s son.

Jay was not harmed, but the same could be not said about the car. The roof had caved in and cracks could be clearly seen on the front windshield and the front side windows.



Mr Jakhar helped the boy get down while Mr Meghani called Mr Khakh who was not at home. He didn’t tell Mr Khakh about the incident and instead decided to call his wife Mrs Khakh who was at home. The security guard came following the crashing sound.



“What happened Sir?” asked the security guard



Mr Jakhar and Mr Meghani realised they hadn’t asked Jay what had happened, then they saw Mrs Khakh walking towards them with a worried expression.



“What happened? What did Jay do?” Mrs Khakh asked



“We were just about to ask. I saw him fall down the tree on the top of that car,” said Mr Meghani



Mrs Khakh looked at her son, “Are you all, right? Have you hurt yourself anywhere?”



“I am fine mom,” replied Jay in a low tone



“So, what happened Jay?” Mr Jakhar asked



Jay looked at the tree, “We sometimes climb the walls of the clubhouse and from there we run over the tin shed behind the tree, from there we climb the tree as well. So, I climbed the tree and disbalanced myself and before I knew it, I had fallen on the car.”



Mrs Khakh looked at Mr Jakhar and Mr Meghani, “my son would never do this on his own. It must be the other kids,” then she turned towards Jay, “where are the others you were playing with?”



“I don’t know,” replied Jay, “we were playing hide and seek and so I decided to hide here.



“Where were you all playing?” Mr Meghani asked



“Near the park,” replied Jay



“.. and you came all the way here to hide? No wonder no other kids can be seen,” said Mr Jakhar



Mrs Khakh looked at the car and its condition, “Whose car is that?”



“I have not seen it before,” said Mr Jakhar and then he looked at Mr Meghani who nodded to say no.



“A car shouldn’t be standing there in the first place, why is a car here?” said Mrs Khakh looking at the security guard



“I don’t know ma’am who parked it there, I have not seen the car before, maybe it came in during the shift of the previous security guard,” replied the security guard



“We have to check the camera,” said Mr Meghani, “the car is new, it has a temporary number plate, so it wouldn’t be registered with the society parking system yet.”



Mrs Khakh felt herself sinking in the worry of paying for the damage of a new car and more so at the kind of outburst the owner might have and Mr Khakh.



“Let’s go to the security room near the apartment gate and check the cameras,” Mr Jakhar said and the five of them headed to the security room.



Mr Jakhar and Mr Meghani entered the guard’s room to check the recorded security footage, meanwhile Mrs Khakh stood out throwing out some strong words at her son mostly referring to how angry his father will be.



It was taking some time to go through the footage but they were almost there, and then they heard Mr Khakh’s cheerful sound outside.



“Why don’t you go and meet him, I will see and come outside to explain as well,” Mr Jakhar told Mr Meghani as he walked out.



Mr Jakhar and the guard found him, the owner of the car, who came and parked his new blue sedan below the neem tree, both of them had an expression of surprise and confusion on their faces.



Mr Jakhar walked out to find similar expressions on the faces of Mr Meghani, Mrs Khakh and Jay as well. Mr Khakh opened the box of sweets in his hand and offered one to Mr Jakhar, “I was out to get these sweets. Let me take you all out on a drive in my new car which I bought as a surprise for Mrs Khakh and Jay.”

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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