A tragic encounter on a rainy night |
"How much longer do I have to wait?", Seema asked in much annoy. "Just a few minutes more and I will be there maam." It was raining cats and dogs and her pizza which was supposed to arrive 15minutes ago had not yet reached. She was determined to not pay a single penny to the delivery boy. Every now and then she was strolling up and down and abusing the delivery boy for being late. Seema was a professor and used to teach Physics in the most prestigious college of the town. Her daughter was a teenager who used to be involved in her own studies the entire day. A few minutes later she received a phone call. "Mrs. Seema?" "Yes, speaking" "This is the superintendent of Gandhinagar Police Station calling you up. Could you please come to the station once? There is something urgent that needs to be discussed." "Its 11pm at night." "Ma'am it is really urgent and so we are calling you up. It would be really helpful if you could come and visit us once." " Okay I will be there in 20" Seema was taken aback." What urgency could have taken place in the middle of the night?" She asked her daughter to receive the pizza when it arrived and asked her to deny the entire payment. She left for the station. On reaching, the superintendent greeted her and took her to the morgue. It was still raining heavily outside. They revealed a body which she was sure had not seen before. "I am sorry but I don't know this person." "Ma'am this is the delivery boy who was supposed to deliver pizza at your house tonight. It was raining so hard and he was in quite a hurry and met with a pathetic accident. He was spot dead." Seema was speechless. She found her hands and legs freezing. She had just spoken to the person a few minutes ago and now he lay motionless, inside one of the drawers and his face was as pale as snow. She went outside to find three women of contrasting age groups desperately waiting outside and crying. Seema figured out that they would be his family. One was an old woman with wrinkled face and white sari ,the other was a middle aged woman and she had light accessories such as bangles on her wrists. The third was a little girl who was unaware of the on going situation and she was busy combing her doll's hair. Seema now felt a sense of overwhelming guilt consume her. Was his death on her hands? Had she been too harsh to him ? She felt a lot of questions running in her mind. They were taken inside for the identification of the body and other formalities. Seema placed some cash on the table and asked the superintendent to hand them over to his family anonymously. Meanwhile she heard a howl from the morgue. Evidently the body had been identified. Seema drove back home and rang the bell. Her daughter answered it and started yelling at once. "The pizza has not arrived yet. Please call them up. What is wrong with them.?" Seema did not utter a single word and with a heavy head she entered the house. "Mom, you got wet in the rain. Change your clothes before you catch cold." Irony isn't it? How we people are worried about catching cold in wet clothes while some others lose their life on the same rainy night. |