Sleuthing for Suffrage

Kaveri of the Bangalore Detectives Club turns armchair sleuth as she stumbles upon yet another mystery

- Harini Nagendra

The chimes of the large grandfather clock competed with the snores from the easy chair. Only 10 in the morning? The day loomed ahead, large and empty. Kaveri slipped a pencil into the large plaster cast that covered her right leg from toe to shin, trying to scratch an itch with little success.

Removing the gold chain from her neck, she tucked a piece of folded paper into one end, taking aim with the paper at the porcelain statue of a dog using her makeshift catapult.

Crack! Slipping from Kaveri’s sweaty hand, the chain flew through the air, hitting the small form curled up in the chair.

“What?” The snoring stopped as Uma aunty sat upright, rubbing her eyes.

“Sorry, aunty. I was testing out a new type of catapult. I didn’t mean to wake you. I was testing out different materials. See?” She held her book open for Uma aunty to see. “My physics textbook says you need a rigid material—that’s my cardboard notebook here—and a flexible thread. I have tried out elastic, rubber, coir, wool—and now my chain. I doubt gold will work—it’s malleable and ductile, but too rigid. Do you want to try?”

Uma aunty gave the notebook in Kaveri’s hands a dubious look, heaving herself out of the chair with a grunt and walking over to her. “Too much time on your hands?”

“I hate sitting at home like this,” Kaveri scowled. “I should be in college, studying. Our former Diwan, Viswesvaraya, made education compulsory for girls, yet Dasanna and his men from the education department block us at every turn. They have delayed the construction of the Womens’ Block at Central College for a year now, on one pretext or another. It is because of men like him that I sit at home, unable to register for a degree in physics or mathematics. If only I had something to do. A case.” She gave Uma aunty a hopeful look.