January 6, 2009

Missing her ...



“No, I’m leaving now.”

“Please stay. We have only ten more minutes and after that we can…”

She did not let me finish my words and stood up. She took her books, held them close to her chest and looked straight into Dr. K. P. Ranade’s eyes. He looked back.

“Sorry Sir, I need to go now. I’m getting late.”

Before he could utter a word, Gayatri was out of the class. He went (almost) running behind her as if to call her and raised his hand in anticipation. He was about to shout when he stopped. He came back with a dropped head and came close to the green board. He threw the chalk stick out of the window which got lost in the dark in a flash, and smiled; as if he was thinking of his olden golden days. He looked at me. I moved my eyes away from him.

“Class is adjourned for the day,” he said as he picked up the duster to clean his hand and the board.

Everybody looked at each other. This never happened in last two years here. We were used to Dr. Ranade’s four hours of class, two days a week and every week for the last two years. We were in dilemma, whether to move out or it was one more prank from this old prankster.

“Do I send you a card now? Get lost,” he shouted in the peak of his voice and the whole building shook. I felt my desk moving and we jumped from our chairs and went straight out of the class, into the lawn and out of the gate of the institute.

It is half past nine now and one and half hours for the schedule closure of classes. The watchmen looked at us in surprise. Does everybody know Dr. Ranade and his way of teaching? I doubt! I was amongst the first few who leaped out of the classroom. I got a glance of the old man’s eyes while leaving as if he was asking me to stay back and talk to him and help him out of his misery; but I was on my own hurry – and I rushed out to see if I can find Gayatri somewhere. I came out, crossed the road and asked Rajan, the shopkeeper to give me a light. I took one out of the cigarette box and lit it outside the dark shop. There was hardly any customer apart from us, the students of Prabhabati School of Business and Entrepreneurship. It was so dark that I could only see the main gate of our campus with the golden logo on it and the last part of the name of the college in silver.

“Did you see Gayatri around here? She came out a few minutes ago.” I held the cigarette between two fingers and asked Rajan, who went clueless. I knew he would not tell anything without any tip; but I did not have any to offer him. I went past the shop and crossed the road again and came closer to the gate. One of those ogling watchmen came running as if I was detonating a bomb there.

“I’m not coming in with the cigarette. Stop.” I held my palm up and told him. He stopped but strolled towards me.

“Did you see Gayatri, I mean, a girl in jeans and white jacket coming out of the class before us? She left just before us and came out. Did you see anything?”

“No.” He said and looked at me in anticipation. I took one more drag and left him stranded. A few of us went in their own vehicles and rest of us was waiting for the institute bus, to leave at eleven ten. I sat near the shop for a long time looking here and there, sometimes restlessly but could not locate Gayatri. She did not come till we left. The bus moved fast and I reached home in almost no time.

Gayatri did not turn up for the rest of the week. For some reason, Dr. Ranade skipped his next class too. Well, they say everything happens for the first time someday. We did not care much. I came back from school on Friday night and slept. I was tired.

“Sukanya, get up girl. It’s almost noon now. Your mother is waiting for you to go out.”

“Yes Bua, five minutes,” and I pulled the blanket and tried to steal those last moments of the morning sleep.

“There is news about your evening college. Some girl called Gayatri Ranade is missing for some days now and her father has advertised a callback. Check it when you wake up completely.”



Bua (My father’s sister) left leaving the paper on my bed side. The last few words rang in my head – Gayatri – missing – callback! I threw the bedspread and jumped on the paper, where I found the following note:



I could not read the number in full. My eyes were full of tears and Gayatri’s face appeared in front of me.




19 comments:

  1. Nice story Tan !!! and what a twist .. you kept me confused and wondering till theend ;) specially with sukanya having a cigerette :D !!

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  2. I dont even want to think of what the father must have gone through... Im a bit of a daddy's girl so I cant even think of hurting him... :)

    Good story..It kept me thinking what would happen next.. :)

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  3. @ Pretty

    A Girl can and often does smoke - isnt it? That was intentional enough to make you feel the way you did ... hehe ...

    Thanks :)

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  4. @ Rashi

    The father had no choice - when a big enough girl does something like this and goes against his will, what choice will the poor old man would have?

    I know this as I have gone through and still strolling through this phase in life. Trust me, it gets unbearable for the man, and specially when it is concerned with a Girl ...

    I'm happy to learn that you are a father's girl - be that always, for listening to Him and doing what He decides for your good is all you can give Him.

    Love often hurts - not just you but all around you ...

    Thanks ...

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  5. Nice! Love is a double edged sword ...

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  6. Nice one!!
    Didn't anyone in class know that Gayatri was the daughter of the teacher? That seems a bit odd.

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  7. TAN that was brilliant mate...
    kept me on the edge the last few lines... and what a twist too...!!:)

    hats off to u!! :)

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  8. @ Bobbi & Leo

    Thanks for the complements mate ... a few twists and turns in our lives make it interesting - isnt it?

    Will write more ... keep reading ;)

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  9. @ Saket

    Dost, that was the story all about ... the twist in the tale, is only that ...

    It was Gayatris's caliber that she hid it from the class and was Dr. Ranade's foresight not to tell the class about the same - no partiality, you see ... its quite normal in school/colleges and I have experienced the same myself ...

    In spite of this concern, I hope you liked this piece ;)

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  10. OH Sukanya smokes..!! ;) hehe..

    Good one man... I too felt what Saket felt but then saw ur explanation here...
    Ur a muscular story teller too.. ;)

    Cheers..!!
    Arjun (ok ARKUN)

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  11. Hey Tan!!
    Thanks for explaining that. And yes, in spite of the concern, I liked the story.

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  12. interesting story tan...n as everyone said..nice twist!

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  13. Hv been reading yur posts since quite a few daz... and one things common. It leaves me with a thought or two..everytime!

    Nice read man...vexed me fr sm tm..! luk frward 2 reading some more of it....will come back soon brother....fr some more stuff...!

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  14. @ Pretty

    Thanks for liking the pics ... I spent a long time in thinking, searching and editing those ... :p

    At least somebody appreciated!

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  15. @ Arkun

    What did you mean by ‘being MUSCULAR’?? The Story was narrated by a female ... lol!

    And girls smoke too ... awful!

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  16. @ The Author (Priya...)

    Thanks for finding it interesting...
    Please Excuse Me ... I like the name 'Priya' ... at least better than 'the author' ... what say?

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  17. @ TSS

    Thanks mate for this comment. .. I'm grateful to all of you who read my posts and I am much exited to know that I can leave people thinking with my writes! WOW - that’s a too good encouragement...

    Keep reading guys, and as the promise prevails, Tan will write more...

    Thanks again :)

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  18. Hmmm...
    Amazing story... More than that I like Tan's dedication and consistency in publishing blogs. Great Job...
    Degital Data though you can store in huge volume; it is not safe always; so always have a Hard Copy as a back up for all these works.
    These are indeed "PRICELESS"

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