The Case of the Hot Rasagoola

‘Your powers are remarkably undiminished, Holmes! I mean to say, this is our first morning in Calcutta, and you have already shown your genius, even as lunch was served!’

‘It was obvious, Watson, less than elementary.’

‘None but you, Holmes, could have known that something was amiss! Can’t say I know how you did it!’

‘Well, the moment I ate the rasagoola I knew something was wrong. It was warm, Watson, warm!’

‘Yes, now I recollect, it was a kind of tepid sweet.’

‘Rasagoolas are never served warm. A Bengalee would rather die than do that. Now, our host had gone out to the most famous confectionery in Calcutta to serve us their special delicacy. The shop lies directly to the west of this hotel. Now, does that convey nothing to you?’

‘No, I’ll be damned!’

‘Well after buying a jar of rasagoolas he drove, or he should have, directly back to the hotel. Now where does one put a jar of sweets in a car when driving over a bumpy road? Clearly, where it will not topple over. Most people would put it safely on the little ledge under the rear window, and Mr Das must have done the same. In that safe place, the rasagoolas would be shielded from the morning sun and would remain cool. Now, why did they get warm? There could be only one explanation. For some reason, Mr Das turned back towards the west and the sweets for a considerable time were exposed to the full heat of the tropical sun!’

‘Remarkable, Holmes!’

‘Merely elementary. My curiosity aroused, I went out to investigate, and you followed soon after wondering what had happened to me. Well, the dirt road told its own sad tale. By the culvert, we saw the tire marks as Mr Das served wildly to avoid one of these badly driven lorries. Even you could see how he braked sharply, the drops of blood, and the pathetic little grave he had dug.’

‘I had not expected that he would break down so completely when you confronted him, Holmes.’

‘You see, as a Hindoo it is against his religion to kill. Now he has to undertake the most elaborate penances by the Ganges to be absolved of the sin he has committed.’

‘For killing an ordinary crow, Holmes, that too by accident?’

‘The East is East, Watson, as Rudyard has reminded us.’

‘I will mark this down as the Case of the Hot Rasagoola. Come to think of it I am reminded of that other curious case which I shall never be permitted to record.’

‘You mean that trifling Hapsburg affair brought about by the cold Christmas pudding?’

‘Precisely, but it was no poor hotelier who was at fault but the Prime Minister himself!’