Lost and Found – Short Story Funny Experience
Photo credit: beglib from morguefile.com
(Note: Image does not illustrate or has any resemblance with characters depicted in the story)
When: 2004
Where: Suchitra’s home
“You know you should get a mobile phone now. Your college is so far away from home, it would be good to know where you are, in case people at home get anxious”, uncle remarked.
Suchitra looked at one of the ‘people’ he was referring to – her mother, and smiled inwardly. Neither of them felt a mobile phone was a necessity yet. Why, they had their landline installed only that year – probably a whole decade after the rest of the world. Still, it didn’t really matter because it wasn’t as if they lost important deals for lack of it! Back in the moment, Suchi (as she was called) just let out a feeble ‘Hmm’ and smiled at her uncle. He had recently bought himself a mobile phone handset and the excitement was more than obvious. The conversation quickly drifted to another topic and this one was conveniently ignored.
When: 2004, a few days later
Where: Suchitra’s home
It was a usual morning at Suchi’s home. Hectic activity had started in the household at the crack of dawn. She woke up a couple of hours later and almost immediately remembered it was an important day. Mr.Soni, the lecturer at college had asked for submission of their Electrical’s records that afternoon at 3 pm. It was simple with this guy – you either submitted before or BY 3 pm by his watch and stood a chance to score reasonably, or you submitted or not after 3 pm (the ‘after’ starting at 3:01 pm) and scored nada. Suchi knew her record was still incomplete. So were her friends’. They had all planned to go early to college that day, compare each others’ notes, finish their records and submit them ahead of time. They had their lab readings in place; all they had to do was document it in a required format.
With these thoughts in mind, she got ready and walked down to the basement of her apartment and waited for her father. Every morning, he would drop her off at a convenient point where she got her college bus. She got on to the scooter and sat with both legs on one side which was as much comfort as her salwar kameez allowed her. Just as they were about to cross the gate of the apartment though, the two-wheeler moved quickly across a tiny bump on the ground.
Suchi hadn’t been holding on to the handle on the back seat and she slipped from it. Though she didn’t fall or get hurt, it was so funny she almost began to laugh. Almost, because she saw that her father had not noticed her gliding off the seat. The road was already noisy with the sounds of the city and he drove away amongst those. First, she chided herself mentally for the umpteenth time for being so skinny. Had she more mass on her, her father would have realised instantly!
For a couple of minutes after that, she thought of what she could do. Go back up, tell mother what had happened and then go back to college in a different city bus – was one option. She wondered if there was any point to that. Her father would probably realise soon enough that she had never actually got on to the vehicle, and carry on to his workplace. She made up her mind, smiled at Ram Singh at the gate (wondering why he wasn’t laughing! If not for the thought of record submission that occupied her mind, she would have had a laugh) and walked to the nearest bus stand. She reached college around 9:00 am and found her friends waiting.
When: 8:20 am, the same day
Where: Bus yard where Suchi got her regular bus usually
The scooter came to a gentle halt at the usual bus station. Suchi’s father turned to his left to say bye. No Suchi. He turned his head, and then got off the scooter to check. No Suchi. He went back to the last traffic signal they usually came across before the bus yard. Had she got off there? How irresponsible she was, getting off the scooter like that just because she had spotted a bus! She could have at least told him before scooting away like that! Was there any other plausible explanation for it? He thought for a while and continued on his way to work.
When: 9:15 am, the same day
Where: Suchi’s college
Suchi and her lab partners realised they had missed readings for one of the experiments. Rather than copy someone else’s readings they thought they could do the whole experiment over again. There were no classes scheduled for the day anyway. They ran to the lab and got busy there. Soon, others joined them.
When: 9:30 am, the same day
Where: Suchi’s home
Suchi’s mother got a call on their landline. Suchi’s father had reached office, and had called to tell his wife about what had happened a while ago.
He said, “I have no idea where she got off. Can you please check?”
With that, his day turned into a usual factory dictated one. Her mother, on the other hand started thinking. Suchi hadn’t come home or left a message. What could have happened? She quickly went down two floors and reached the gate of the apartment. Shakti Singh looked at her slightly tense face and asked if everything was alright. She asked him if he had seen her daughter that morning. He replied in the negative. He started his shift around 8.30 every morning, so if he hadn’t seen Suchi there, she was definitely not anywhere around home.
When: 11:00 am, the same day
Where: Suchi’s home
Suchi’s mother had spent a very anxious hour and a half. She was thinking of what Suchi had told her a few days earlier. She had felt giddy and almost had a black-out while at college. What if she had had another one of those while on the back seat? Surely her father would have realised? Someone on the road would have told him at least? She was getting very anxious.
When: 12:00 pm
Where: Suchi’s college canteen
The lab partners were done with the experiments in the lab. All they had left to do was document the readings in order and file all the experiments in order. Some others were ordering food at the canteen’s counter.
When: 12:00 pm
Where: Suchi’s home
Suchi’s uncle and aunt had come home. They heard her mother out and they saw the fear in her face. Suchi’s uncle went one way, her mother and aunt took a rickshaw and went another. They didn’t know whom they could ask or where they could get information. Meanwhile, her uncle kept trying to call her college reception’s desk.
When: 2:00 pm
Where: Around the spot where Suchi’s father had realised she wasn’t there
By now, her mother, uncle and aunt had asked shopkeepers if they had seen anything out of the ordinary that morning. One of them suggested that there had been an accident nearby so they should check the hospitals around. Tired, hungry and very nervous, they went to the hospitals around. There were quite a few of them. No luck there! Someone HAD finally picked up the call at the college’s reception and promised to check the ‘ECE final year section’ and call back. A few minutes later, Suchi’s uncle told her mother that there was nobody in the class.
When: 2.45 pm
Where: Suchi’s college
The entire bunch had finally managed to finish writing down everything, pinning the records in order and getting the file ready. They rushed to the assistant lecturer to get his signature (they needed that before submitting the record) Pages were flipped painfully slow and by the time he half-nodded his head and put his pen down to sign the last copy, they had just five minutes left. They ran across down the stairs to the Electrical department and submitted their copies, a minute before the clock struck three.
When: 3:00 pm
Where: Suchi’s home
Her uncle was still roaming the streets. Suchi’s mother and aunt had come back home to check if she had, by chance, come back there. Suchi’s brother (who had so far, no idea of all that had happened since morning that day) came back from his college. At the same time, a cousin came home to rest his head after a particularly hot day out. Again, once they heard all that her mother had gone through till then, her brothers – own and cousin – ran to the police station with her photograph.
When: 4:00 pm
Where: Suchi’s home
Her mother had asked Suchi’s uncle (who had returned) and aunt to rest for a while. They were all sitting in the hall, silently thinking what could be done next. Where could she have gone? Why hadn’t she tried telling them if she hadn’t gone to college? They were finding it difficult to remain mad at her, such was the despair. Her mother couldn’t sit still any longer. She walked down the stairs, imagining that she would see her daughter walking across to her, telling her she had had a long, adventurous day. That didn’t happen though. One of their neighbours saw ‘aunty’ and asked why she looked so low. As soon as she heard, Mala aunty said,
“Why think? Let’s go to her college and ask them!”
She called out to her husband who was just receiving a guest at home.
She said, “Mahesh, we need to go to Suchi’s college….oh, hello Mr.Seth! I am sorry but can you come along with us? May be you and Mahesh could talk in the car! You see three people going on a mission is bad luck! You coming along would make it four!”
When: 4:30 pm
Where: Suchi’s college
Done with submission, samosas and refreshingly cool drinks, the bunch of Electronic’s’ girls walked along the corridor, towards the front office. They didn’t have anything left to do – they could either spend a while at the ‘retreat’ (the lawn in their campus) while it got slightly less warm outside, or take the first bus that came along and get going homeward. Deepu walked in front of them all. From the far end of the corridor, she shouted out loud,
“Suchi! Your mother’s here! Had you asked her to come? Why?”
Suchi thought it was a rather boring joke at the end of an ordinary day. Looking at all the faces turned towards her, however, she quickly realised it was no joke! She walked hastily towards the front office. Her mother!? As soon as she had cast one glance at her daughter’s face, her mother looked at the office attendant in fury,
“She IS here, and so are the rest of her friends.”
Suchi still didn’t understand. She was just surprised and happy to see her mother there. She quickly said bye to the rest of the gang and walked out with her mother, who was surprisingly silent. At the gate, she saw Mala aunty and Mahesh uncle with some other guy in their car. What on earth was the matter? Once they were on their way, her mother told her about her father’s quick call home, their call to the college’s office and how the attendant’s information, despite being the truth, had led to confusion. Mala aunty called her uncles – by now, more than one had known- to tell each of them Suchi was with them (literally too) and that she had been in college all the while!
When: 6:00 pm
Where: Suchi’s home
More surprises awaited her as she entered home. Uncle, aunt, cousin – they were all there! They looked relieved and tired. Had they had a long day? She looked at her brother for a quick answer. He looked at her, and his eyes were wet. They asked her to go freshen up while her mother made her coffee. When she came out, her brothers were missing. As she sipped her coffee, she went from being amused to shocked to horrified. She was grateful for the coffee she was sipping as words had always failed her at overwhelming moments and this was no exception.
Her folks had gone through hell that day. Frantic calls, visits to the police stations, hospitals while she had samosas at college? She was picturing the entire day in her head. Her family didn’t hug or cry much but if they did, she’d have done both that day. Her brothers soon returned from the station where they had gone to inform that she had been ‘found’. That night, she knocked on Mala auntie’s door with a plate of sweets.
When: 7:00 pm
Where: Suchi’s home
Suchi kept thinking of the various other events that could have happened. Her father realising immediately that she had slid off the seat for instance, or the night watchman sticking around for some more time! She could herself have gone up and told her mother she was going on her own. None of those had happened though. It might have been Much Ado About Nothing, but her eyes welled up as she recalled the happy sigh that her brother let out when he had seen her that evening.
When: 2004, the next day
Where: Suchitra’s home
“You know you should get a mobile phone now. Your college is so far away from home, it would be good to know where you are, in case people at home get anxious”, her uncle remarked.
Everyone in the room laughed.
Suchi bought a mobile phone a year later with her first salary. Her father still doesn’t know where Suchi had dropped off that day. He heard that night how she had spotted a direct bus on the way, had hopped off the scooter because she was in a hurry to reach college. Suchi and her friends scored well in their lab internals too.
