‘Aurangabad!’ Uncle Sidhu’s eyes nearly popped out. ‘Do you realize what this means? Aurangabad is only twenty miles from Ellora, which is a sort of depot for the best specimens of Indian art. There is the Kailash temple, carved out of a mountain. Then there are thirty-three caves—Hindu, Buddhist, Jain—that stretch for a mile and a half. Each is packed with beautiful statues, wonderful carvings . . . oh God, I can hardly think! But why is this man going by train when he can fly to Aurangabad?’ ‘I think he wants to keep the yakshi’s head with him at all times. If he went by air, his baggage might be searched by security men. No one would bother to do that on a train, would they?’ Feluda stood up suddenly. ‘What did you decide?’ Uncle Sidhu asked anxiously. ‘We must go by air,’ Feluda replied. The look Uncle Sidhu gave him at this was filled with pride and joy. But he said nothing. All he did was get up and select a slim book from one of his bookcases. ‘This may help you,’ he said. I glanced at its title. A Guide to the Caves of Ellora, it said. Feluda rang his travel agent, Mr Bakshi, as soon as we got back home. ‘I need three tickets on the flight to Bombay tomorrow,’ I heard him say. This surprised me very much. Why did he need three tickets? Was Uncle Sidhu going to join us? When I asked him, however, Feluda only said, ‘The more the merrier. We may need an extra pair of hands.’ Mr Bakshi came back on the line. ‘I’ll have to put you on the waiting list,’ he said, ‘but it doesn’t look too bad, I think it’ll be OK.’ He also agreed to make our hotel bookings in Aurangabad and Ellora. The flight to Bombay would get us there by nine o’clock. Then we’d have to catch the flight to Aurangabad at half past twelve, reaching there an hour later. This meant we would arrive in Aurangabad on Saturday, and Mr Mallik would get there on Sunday. Feluda rang off and began dialling another number. The doorbell rang before he could finish dialling. I opened it to find Lalmohan Babu. Feluda stared, as though he had seen a ghost, and exclaimed, ‘My word, what a coincidence! I was just dialling your number.’ ‘Really? Now, that must mean I have got a telepathetic link with you, after all,’ Lalmohan Babu laughed, looking pleased. Neither of us had the heart to tell him the correct word was ‘telepathic’. ‘It’s so hot and stuffy . . . could you please ask your servant to make a lemon drink, with some ice from the fridge, if you don’t mind?’ Feluda passed on his request to Srinath, then came straight to the point. ‘Are you very busy these days? Have you started writing anything new?’

‘No, no. I couldn’t have come here for a chat if I had already started writing. All I’ve got is a plot. I think it would make a good Hindi film. There are five fights. My hero, Prakhar Rudra, goes to Baluchistan this time. Tell me, how do you think Arjun Mehrotra would handle the role of Prakhar Rudra? I think he’d fit the part very well—unless, of course, you agreed to do it, Felu Babu?’ ‘I cannot speak Hindi. Anyway, I suggest you come with us to Kailash for a few days. You can start thinking of Baluchistan when you get back.’ ‘Kailash? All the way to Tibet? Isn’t that under the Chinese?’ ‘No. This Kailash has nothing to do with Tibet. Have you heard of Ellora?’ ‘Oh, I see, I see. You mean the temple? But isn’t that full of statues and rocks and mountains? What have you to do with those, Felu Babu? Your business is human beings, isn’t it?’ ‘Correct. A group of human beings has started a hideous racket involving those rocks and statues. I intend to put a stop to it.’ Lalmohan Babu stared. Feluda filled him in quickly, which made him grow even more round-eyed. ‘What are you saying, Felu Babu? I had no idea stone statues could be so valuable. The only valuable stones I can think of are precious stones like rubies and emeralds and diamonds. But this—!’ ‘This is far more precious. You can get diamonds and rubies elsewhere in the world. But there is only one Kailash, one Sanchi and one Elephanta. If these are destroyed, there would be no evidence left of the amazing heights our ancient art had risen to. Modern artists do not—they cannot—get anywhere near the skill and perfection these specimens show. Anyone who tries to disfigure any of them is a dangerous criminal. In my view, the man who took that head from the statue of the yakshi is no less than a murderer. He has got to be punished.’ This was enough to convince Lalmohan Babu. He was fond of travelling, in any case. He agreed to accompany us at once, and began asking a lot of questions, including whether or not he should carry a mosquito net, and was there any danger of being bitten by snakes? Then he left, with a promise to meet us at the airport. Neither of us knew how long we might have to stay in Aurangabad, but decided to pack enough clothes for a week. Since Feluda was often required to travel, he always had a suitcase packed with essentials such as a fifty-foot steel tape, an all-purpose knife, rail and air timetables, road maps, a long nylon rope, a pair of hunting boots, and several pieces of wire which came in handy to unlock doors and table-drawers if he didn’t have a key. None of this took up a lot of space, so he could pack his clothes in the same suitcase. He also had guide books and tourist pamphlets on various parts of the country. I leafed through