Rahul did his homework while the genie was sleeping. It would have been fun if the genie could have done his homework for him. He had asked the genie but he wouldn’t listen, in fact he had gotten very angry. He had said rather sternly that Aladdin had given him strict instructions about no homework, no schoolwork or anything of that kind! Then he had winked at Rahul and said, “To tell you the truth I am very bad with numbers so you’re the one who will be in trouble if you ask me to do your homework, especially your Maths homework!”

By the time the genie got up Rahul had completed his homework. Mira Mousi had also come and cleaned the utensils and swept the house. That was a good thing as well because Mousi would probably have fainted on seeing the genie and even if she hadn’t she would definitely have told Rahul’s mother.

The genie was still yawning when he came downstairs.

“I still don’t feel very well. It was totally my fault. I shouldn’t have eaten all those sweets. Greed is never any good! Anyway, the work has to be done. Now listen up, there has been a change in the game plan. We are not going to show or talk about the lamp anymore. If people know that we have the lamp then chances are that we will be in trouble again. Now we’ll try to figure out their nature and intentions first by talking to them. If everything is sound only then they’ll see the lamp and get a chance to make a wish.”

Rahul agreed, “Yes, that sounds like a great plan and I’m sure that Aladdin will agree because he does not want us to be in trouble. So where are we going now?”

“Ok, we are going to see the famous scientist Professor Anil Mehra. I think we will say that we are from a newspaper. Think of a good name for a newspaper. We cannot use the names of the famous ones in case he decides to call them and check!”

Rahul thought for a while and said, “How about Daily News?”

“Yes, that is a good name. That will do very well. Close your eyes now!”

They were standing inside a huge laboratory when Rahul opened his eyes.

“What if we talk to his employees first before talking to Professor Mehra?” 

“That is a very good idea! Let’s do it!”

They looked around and found a person working quietly in one corner of the laboratory.

The genie went ahead and said, “Hello!”

The man looked startled as he looked up and saw them. Then he recovered and said, “Oh, are you the new person who’s going to be working here? Well, let me tell you that kids are not allowed here. Today’s your first day so I guess it is alright but from tomorrow…” and then he made the sign of slitting his throat.

“Sorry, I didn’t know. I won’t bring him from tomorrow.”

The man looked around stealthily and said, “What on earth possessed you to come and work here? I don’t have any family so it is ok for me but you with kids and family…”

The genie lowered his voice and asked, “Why what’s wrong?”

“Professor Mehra is not human!”

“What! Is he an alien?”

“No, nothing like that of course! There used to be another person working here before me. He worked really hard and had completed two great pieces of work. In fact he discovered the probable causes for two deadly diseases. However he has been missing since then!”

“What! I thought Professor Mehra became famous for the discovery of the drugs to cure two deadly diseases! Do you mean they were not discovered by him then?”

“No, they were not! But you can’t tell anyone that I said so. If you do I will deny ever talking to you. I have been working hard and doing good work too so I don’t know how long I will survive. That is why I am warning you. You have a family to take care of so you shouldn’t be here you know!”

“I will never forget your advice! Just one more question, what was the guy’s name?”

“Pramod Tiwari,” and with that he turned his face away from them and started looking at some slides under the microscope.

As they walked out of the lab the genie said, “How terrible! Let’s go and see what the Professor says.”

They got an appointment with Professor Mehra through his secretary and went into his office. He was a distinguished looking man.

“Which newspaper do you represent?” he asked without taking his eyes off the computer. He hadn’t even looked at them!

“Daily News sir. We would like to publish your interview.”

Professor Mehra turned and looked at them now.

“That is very nice of you but why did you bring him?” he said pointing at Rahul.

The genie quickly said, “Oh he works for our kids section. He will ask you some questions regarding what you are doing for the kids of the world.”

“Alright you can go ahead with your questions.”

“The drugs that you discovered, the ones that are probable cures of those deadly diseases, did you find them all by yourself or did you have help?”

“I had absolutely no help! I worked so hard, sometimes all through the night alone, I still do!”

“Alright, did you know someone named Pramod Tiwari?”

That’s when Professor Mehra blew his top! He began screaming at the top of his voice, “What exactly do you think of yourselves? Do you think you can scare me? Have you come to threaten me in the pretext of getting an interview? I’ll call the police, I will! I can go to the courts too! All thieves and opportunists!”

“You are getting upset unnecessarily Professor Mehra!”

“Rascals! Get out right now!” and he started banging on the table with his fists.

The genie gasped on his way out, “Thank heavens we didn’t give him the lamp! He would have destroyed the world!”

He was still panting when they got back to Rahul’s home.

“Do you think he really stole another person’s work?” Rahul asked.

“I have no idea but the needle of suspicion lingers! And since that is the case he definitely cannot get the lamp. Out of the three people that we have seen so far one did not want the lamp and two did not deserve it. Let’s see if we can eventually find someone!”

“I’m sure you’ll find someone. There are a lot of good people in this world but the ones on the list except Mr Madhav haven’t been very good so far. I can’t blame Aladdin either. He has probably selected the names from the television or the newspaper. The media probably said a lot of good things about them,” and with that he switched on the TV.

That was a huge mistake because after that it was impossible to make the genie to do anything! He was such a TV addict! He watched whatever they were showing. Rahul tried to switch to the boring channels but that had no effect on the genie! He watched just about everything with an inordinate interest! Sometimes he would say to Rahul, “Can I have some rice crispy and peanuts?”

Just sitting on the sofa, eating and watching TV, what a bore!

Finally when dusk was about to dawn Rahul couldn’t take it anymore and said, “You have two more people on your list, aren’t you going to see them? I have school tomorrow so I won’t be able to go with you and my parents should be back soon.”

The genie looked at him in surprise, “Uh oh! I had forgotten all about the list!’ he said.