Feluda could not complete his lecture for, even as he was speaking, a fierce dust storm started without the slightest warning. (Lalmohan Babu called it ‘apocalyptic’.) I had never seen anything like it before. All of us ran blindly towards Lalmohan Babu’s green Ambassador and scrambled into it. The driver, Hari, started it instantly and began speeding towards the Esplanade. For the first time, I saw Shaheed Minar totally obliterated by a sheet of dust. I couldn’t guess the wind speed because all the windows were firmly shut. But I did see a long, thin wicker stand—the kind that chanachur-walas use—come spinning in the air from the direction of the maidan, strike against the top deck of a double-decker bus in front of us, and fly away the next instant towards Curzon Park.

As we approached Park Street, we realized that the trams weren’t running because a tree had fallen across the tramline. Feluda had wanted to show us the old cemetery in Park Street, but the storm made him drop the idea. If we had gone, we might have witnessed a particular event which was reported in the press the following morning. During this catastrophic storm on 24 June (wind velocity 145 kilometres per hour), a tree was uprooted in the South Park Street cemetery. It seriously injured a middle-aged man called Narendra Nath Biswas. What was not explained in the press report was what Mr Biswas was doing in that ancient cemetery, so late in the evening.

Chapter 2

The following morning was wet. It stopped raining only in the middle of the afternoon. Feluda had managed to get hold of an old map of Calcutta and Howrah, going back to 1932. After a meal of khichuri and omelettes, he stuffed a paan into his mouth, lit a Charminar, and unfolded the map. In order to look at it properly in our living room, we had to push all the furniture out of the way, and create enough space on the floor to fit the map. It measured 6’x6’.

Lalmohan Babu turned up as we were crawling all over it, inspecting old roads and streets, and Feluda was saying, ‘Don’t try looking for Rajani Sen Road. This whole area was a veritable jungle in those days!’ I noticed that Lalmohan Babu was smartly dressed in dark blue trousers and a yellow bush shirt. ‘Seventy- six trees came down yesterday during the storm,’ he announced. ‘And I’ve done what you told me to do. My car has a new horn which will not remind you of Hindi films, I assure you.’