A2Z April Challenge 2019: Q for QUIRKY SAMRAT

Samrat is a private detective who walks in and out of some of my books and Quirky is a description that fits him well.

I was extremely impressed by a detective I read about in one of Agatha Christie’s books (no, I am not talking about Poirot) and that character kind of got imprinted in my brain. 

Samrat is not the Quirky detective's real name. Read on to know all about it. 

A glimpse into the Quirky Samrat…

In the meanwhile, they contacted Samrat, the private detective highly recommended by the twins’ friend. Ram thought that a name like Samrat sounded fraudulent, but Bharat’s friend had insisted that the man was a genius. 

Both the brothers were rather skeptical when Samrat agreed to meet them immediately. From what they knew about the man, he worked on his own and sometimes hired a couple of guys as freelancers. How could he be free the moment they contacted him? Not left with much of a choice, they invited the detective over to their hotel at 7 pm. 

Samrat arrived a few minutes before time and the receptionist called their room at five minutes to seven to announce his arrival. Lakshman looked at Ram askance before requesting the receptionist to send their guest up. 

The man who entered their room appeared nothing like a sleuth. Their idea of one was that he would be tall and muscular, strong and fit enough to combat bad guys. But this man standing in front of them was thin and nondescript. Would he be suited for the kind of work they had in mind for him? ‘Well, procrastinating will get us nowhere,’ decided Ram before offering their guest a seat. Well manners prompted Lakshman to provide Samrat with a glass of water before they spoke to him.

After the introductions, Ram said, “Actually Mr. Samrat, this case might be a bit complicated as it’s being opened after fourteen years. By the way, is Samrat your first name or last?” he asked, not able to control himself.

“It’s neither, Mr. Maheshwari. The name my parents gave me is Rajesh and my surname is Khanna. Can you imagine anyone taking me seriously if I announce myself as Rajesh Khanna? The first couple of ventures that I tried to pick up fell apart just because of this. That’s when I coined this name for myself. Samrat seems to work well with everyone.” The visitor’s face was serious once again.

I introduced Samrat in The Runaway Bridegroom. Later, he insisted on walking into An Autograph for Anjali, Simha International, and then again in Tied in Knots. 

Quirky Samrat is good with lists and is meticulous when he sets out to check facts. While people are amazed that he’s ready to follow up on the predictions of an astrologer, he has no qualms about it. The fact is that there’s not much else to work on in that particular case when Samrat sets out to search for The Runaway Bridegroom, Veerendra Singh Choudhary. 

Quirky Samrat is the one who traces Jayant’s murderer in An Autograph for Anjali. He understands people, he knows how to press the right button to get the answers he needs.

Quirky Samrat helps Rohit of Simha International, not once, but twice in the book. I think I will leave it to you to read the book to find out more.

Quirky Samrat assists Rajvardhan Thakore of Tied in Knots to put a case together against Raja Harischandra Gajanan. 

I am sure Samrat is going to be a part of many more of my books in the future.