Predators

Roger Sen and his wife Missy are travelling to Indore for the first
time. The Sens live in Calcutta. For the past six months their only son
Kenneth has been a student at Institute of Management, Indore. This
institute is among the top business schools in the country and the
entrance examination is really tough. Thousands of students take the
test but only fifty are admitted every year. The Sens are really happy
for their son. He had completed all the formalities of admission on his
own and his father was a very busy lawyer. So, the proud parents had
not yet seen their son's college. The courts were closed for a
fortnight now and Roger Sen decided to pay his son what would be a
surprise visit. Tickets for the first class of Indore Express have been
purchased. The train leaves today at one pm. Calcutta railway station
is always crowded. The Sens reached the station an hour early and
confirmed that their names were indeed on the reservation chart. The
couple had two large suitcases full of new clothes for Kenneth. There
were at least six sports shoes which Ken absolutely loved. There were
five sports watches and a lot of body-building equipment. Kenneth was a
fitness freak and he would love the new equipment that his parents were
bringing him. For their own clothes Roger Sen carried a small handbag.
The train entered platform 5 at exactly ten to one. There was a mad
rush to board the train. Fewer people travelled by first class and
hence the queue to enter the first class compartments S-1 and S-2 was
smaller. The porter carried the Sens' luggage into the train and with
some effort they were able to find their cabin. There were four berths
in the cabin. So, two others would join them in their journey to
Indore. Roger Sen decided to visit the pantry car and order lunch. As
he was coming back, a notice written in red caught his attention. "Do
not eat anything offered by strangers. They may be cheats in disguise."
Roger Sen dismissed the notice as one more example of distrust of
common people by the railway authorities. As he stepped into his cabin,
he realized that two other people were occupying the remaining two
berths. They were a couple actually. The man who appeared about sixty
years old looked decent and his wife appeared to have been pretty not
so long back. The couple introduced themselves as Mr and Mrs Day of
Tollygunge. They were going to Indore to visit their daughter they
said. Roger Sen asked, "So, is your daughter married, Mr Day?" "No, Mr
Sen," said Mr Day, "My daughter has just finished her education. She
works in an information technology company in Indore." Mr Sen asked
many things about Mr Day's daughter. Mr Day seemed eager to inform
Roger Sen about his daughter. But he seemed to have no interest in Mr
Sen's family and why he was going to Indore with such a lot of
good-looking luggage. This indifference did bother Mr Sen but he was
the sort that let people be. After a while Mr Sen noticed that the Days
had just a single piece of luggage-a tattered-looking suitcase.
Presently this suitcase was opened and out came a metal box. The metal
box contained pieces of black forest cake-something that Roger Sen
loved. But neither Mr Day nor his wife offered the Sens any cake.
Instead, they ate the ten pieces of cake on their own. Then, a flask
materialized from somewhere. Now, Mrs Day opened her bag and took out
four plastic cups from it. "Will you have some warm, strong tea with
us?" Mr Day asked Roger Sen. Roger Sen found himself saying yes. The
tea was indeed good. After drinking the tea Roger and Missy remembered
nothing. When they came to their senses they found that there were at
least ten people in their cabin all looking very concerned. One of them
was the Guard who began speaking, "I am sorry to inform you, Mr Roger
Sen, that two thieves posing as an elderly couple have relieved you of
all your belongings. You have nothing with you at the moment other than
the clothes you are wearing. You have been warned not to take food from
strangers, haven't you?" Mr Roger Sen, who was feeling very drowsy said
haltingly, "They offered us tea. We drank the drugged tea and lost
consciousness. All our belongings have been looted. What are we to do?"