short story : a missed call

not every call that rings for a second and gets cut is a missed call ... here is why :

Missed call …

Mumbai was under siege ! with 7 bombs blasting along the western railways line ..the blood lines of Mumbai carrying a traffic of 25 lakhs commuters a day during the peak hours. And it was a peak hour. At 6.55 pm IST the bomb blasted in a 1st class compartment in a Borivali bound train near Santacruz.

Sam was lying somewhere along the grasslands between Vile Parle and Santacruz some 30mts away from the inferno that the train was now.. he was injured badly with shrapnel piercing his unconscious body like aabhlas on a Navrati dancer’s dress. Preeti bent over him trying to check his pulse.. praying .. for an indication that the boy was alive. Yes ! he was but he would not be for a long time ..she reckoned .. if he did not receive medical attention. Preeti an employee of the famous brokers Motilal Oswal was returning home on what was a smashing day at her workplace with the Sensex jumping 350 points up. But she was no medic and she knew that the boy needed help. Perhaps she should call his family.

His cell phone was not there !! not in his pockets ,… not anywhere around .. she searched frantically for his cell.. and found it finally in a compartment of what was once a bag. Why does he have to keep in in the bag ? she cursed him for her 30 secs of suspense..and she cursed even harder: as the display on the cell phone was blank .. kaputted by the impact of the blast.. what kind of cheap handsets do they make nowadays?! is there any other identification in the bag. No! there was none. So the cell was her only hope .. but the display was gone. No phone book ..no message box.

But Preeti was a smart girl. She immediately remembered the CIA agent’s trick of giving a call on the last number dialed. All she had to do was press the green button twice.

“ kiska hai yeh tumko intezaar main hoon na “ and before the song went on Minal picked up the call.. Sameer again! Bastard ! will he ever learn ! trying to give me a missed call again .. kanjoos.. well this should teach him a lesson… and she promptly connected the call before he could cut it from his end. Hello ? ? the voice was very weak .. she could barely hear anything.. Sameer voice was coming in too thin …barely audible .. almost feminine .. and then the line went dead ! “kanjoos kanjoos kanjoos !Minal almost shrieked .. you never have balance in ur cell .. I will NOT call u back !” NO NO NO “ she shouted to the handset ..as if it were Sam !

“:shit !” Preeti knew her last chance was off. The last number dialed was received but probably the person on the other side could barely hear her ..and before she could talk properly the f**k**g message came “ aap ke pass paryapt balance nahi hai .. krupya aapke prepaid account ko recharge kare !! god damn this boy Preeti said almost in tears. She decided to wait .. till the person on the other side called back. She prayed and she prayed that God help her save this young boy ( he looked around 24-25 ) but there was no call .. And then she left ! in search of someone to carry the boy.

“He needs immediate operation “ “ where are his family members “ oh you do not know who he is ? yes no problem .. the norms are relaxed during emergencies you see “ “ please fill the form over there and go to the police station nearby “ “ they will sign it and we can proceed “ “ madam .. we have other patients to attend to ! please follow the procedure .. “ . And Preeti went on with the procedures. There was no Munnabhai to speed things up. She knew that time was getting wasted. Time that could prove crucial ( oh God please not fatal ) for the boy. “if only she could have contacted someone who could have established the identity of the boy.. It could have saved his life!!!!!!!!!!

She was crying.. so was everyone .. it was the next day that Sameer’s identity was established and the bad news were out. The networks were jammed but it was not because of this reason that Ody ( their close friend )came personally with the news. But I had talked to him just then at .. and she fumbled with her call directory.. at 6.45pm. he said he had something very important to say but he only had a balance of Rs2.50 so could she call him back. How had she cursed him then … and she had also cursed him when he gave her the damn missed call.. at around 7.05 pm …. And then the realization dawned upon her…. Like the summer tempest her eyes flowed .. uncontrollably … if only she would have called him back .. probably … ????????

When the network came back on the next day Minal received a message .. from Sameer .. sent on that fateful day at about 6.45pm. with the last rupee in his mobile prepaid account (as he knew Minal would not call him back ) Sameer had messaged “ Minal I love you very much … will you marry me ?? “

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

new capital for the new breed

Tamaso ma jyhotir gamay! ( deliverance from darkness to light) You are an entrepreneur in the semiconductor business and your Company has just received level 1 funding from a VC who has faith that your Company will the next revolution in the semiconductor circuit development. And aye uddi uddi uddi you are going home a happy man. You stop your bike at the signal and you see that the kid who sells peanuts is trying to read a comic series on the paper that he uses to wrap the peanuts ? you are overwhelmed and a prayer thanking God for your current state escapes your lips. You also know that the situation can be changed if the kid has enough educational resources. You swear at the country growing at 9%( and you are growing @20% p.a) and investing only 3% in education. You make a note to call your regular NGO ( because your firm makes many donations to it (Sec80G you see!) and make a small contribution. You reach home , India loses and you forget the world……. Entrepreneurs changed the Indi...
Read more

ek mahal ho sapno ka

Ek mahal ho sapno ka …… “kabar man jai ne su so to faristao ubha karse Ahin befaam koi pan jagah tari nathi hoti “ - Barkat “befaam” Virani A house has changed many a psychological forms since times. To us it is an investment opportunity and inadvertently all of us think of our homes as property- an asset class with a marketable value. For our parents it was an aspiration.. a realization of their dreams ,a fruition of their struggles .. a loan from HDFC ( the only housing loan available then ) paid @ 18% interest, the do deewane is sahar main ..ek aabudana thoondte hain “ kind of thrill. For our grandparents the home had no attachable value.. it was a consumable to be used lifelong ;preserved and used with no thoughts entertained about parting from it. But the house .. a home of MY OWN is the single largest dream known to all man. “chacha .. bahut aachi khabar hain .. hum log ko permanent ghar milne wala hai.. Zhopadpati Navnirman Program hain BMC ka ..court ka orde...
Read more

kyunki .....

" taro dushman tu che " - a gujrati saying. here is why : Kyunki saas bhi …. Their son was reputed in the entire family as being the most obedient of the lot ! they said he never did anything without asking his mother .. even playing football in college was affirmed by his Mummy .. and now he had done this to her !! One fine morning he had disclosed that he loved a girl and wanted to marry her : with or without consent. She and Mr.Shridhar ( his father) had to accept. And then he brought Shruti home. She was beautiful ( like the fair and lovely girl :as Mrs.Joshi called her ) with long wavy hair and a ringing laughter that filled their home.. a laughter that reverberated in Shri and Sonu ( her son Swaruup ) as an effect. Had she not loved them enough all these years that they had so quickly taken in to her !? Today she had taken a CL at work .. she was not feeling well. My god ! she will now interfere in my work the whole day. Trying to help .. may I cut the vegetabl...
Read more