‘The youngest and coolest teen detective in India’ is back!
No case is bizarre enough for detective Shrilok, a chaiwala with a penchant for deduction, disguises and drama, and his partner in crime, Rohan Doctor. India’s favourite teen detective is back! After taking Mumbai by storm, Shrilok and his best friend, Rohan, are now chasing criminals far and wide, even landing up in London. The stakes are high for the chaiwala-turned-super-sleuth, with murder mysteries, secret codes, museum robberies, an exam-paper racket and a terrorist from the past.
Our desi Sherlock always rises to the challenge, but can you do the same? To help you find out if you have what it takes to be a detective, we have conducted this detailed analysis of Shrilok’s brilliant methods and his fascinating personality to come up with The Ultimate Detective Test!
See how many of these questions you can honestly say ‘yes’ to, and use this foolproof scoring system to determine your Shrilok Quotient!
0-3 Affirmatives—Innocent bystander
4-6 Affirmatives—Trusty companion and chronicler
7-10 Affirmatives—Youngest and coolest teen detective!
While a little advertisement is useful, a good detective needs to go undercover occasionally. Do you have the necessary discretion to refrain from wanting to spread the news of your talents far and wide?
“Shrilok Homeless is discreet and good for undercover work, I like blowing my own horn sometimes, I admit, but “Detective Shrilok would be like walking with an entire marching band!”
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It’s nice to mind your own business, but a detective needs to poke his nose into other’s business and sniff out trouble. Is your nose just a little longer to enable this?
“He had grown an inch taller over the last month, but his straight nose was the same, half an inch longer than perfect.”
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A good detective needs something to keep their energy up! Chai gives Shrilok wings! What about you?
“Shrilok finished three cups of tea before he got an idea.”
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Even the best and most private of detectives needs some help from the police force to be taken seriously? Have you helped your friendly neighbourhood policeperson yet?
“Upon reaching, we met our friend, Divya Lokhande who had helped us with many of our cases in the past. She had been recently promoted as the assistant commissioner of police. We filled her in on the details of the case. She is usually very calm and collected but our news had her gushing with excitement.”
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A detective needs a hobby apart from detecting to look busy and stave off unnecessary questions. Do you have any musical talent—can you play the flute, the cello or perhaps the violin?
“Shrilok played his flute during the journey and avoided any talk about the case.”
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A detective does not dismiss the most mundane of evidence. Do you have the observational skills to spot even an unassuming bead of water, and analyze it correctly?
“Shrilok, who had been quiet till then suddenly commented, ‘He will not be able to read. He’s left his glasses near the bathroom sink.” “That I wear glasses is obvious from the marks they have left on the bridge of my nose. But how did you know I had left them in the bathroom quizzed Mr Ansari standing up to fetch his specs. “Simple hai! There is a bead of water on your neck. The AC is on so it cannot be sweat. Therefore it’s obvious you went to the bathroom to wash your face and took off your glasses. When you wiped your face you missed that spot.”
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Sometimes it’s not very easy to see your friends as possible criminals. Can you set your feelings aside and analyze ALL possible suspects, even the ones you really like?
“My motto is to suspect everyone.”
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While a true detective takes a while to trust people, he must be able to inspire trust in others, even criminals. Do you have the kind of persona that just makes people want to confide their deepest, darkest secrets to you?
“Bro you’re a pro at winning trust. So many people have confessed their crimes to you in the past’, I reminded him.”
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With great power comes great responsibility. You may be blessed with extraordinary deductive genius, but will you always choose the right path and remain a super sleuth and not turn into a criminal mastermind?
“Being an orphan and a chaiwala, spending my days on the streets of Mumbai, I had to make the choice between good and evil quite early in life’. And the choices he made transformed him into who he is today.”
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No man is an island, and detectives too need a sea of informers! Do you have the right networking skills to get you to the top of the detective league?
“Once fifteen eager kids were in the dining hall I laid out my plan. Shrilok had his own network of informers who collected information for him. I was going to use the very same network to find the detective himself.”
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And most of all, do you have a best friend and eternal companion, who praises your achievements unabashedly, whose friendship survives (fake) bullets, and who saves you at the very end?
“I ran to where Shrilok was standing. ‘Rohan bhidu you saved my life!’ he yelled, giving me a hug… Shrilok and I, stood side by side ready to face another day.”
Find out what happens next in Shrilok Homeless: The Ultimate Adventures Volume 2
