The clock struck six
as the evening twilight slowly deepened into night. Rahul strolled about the
pavement in the park where artificial fountains were installed and adorned
brilliantly with colorful lights. His mind was filled with thoughts of meeting
his first blind date, Anshelika student of South city college.
She was introduced
to him through a social networking site and it was Rahul who had hit upon the
idea of this blind date. Today was their first blind meeting... A dusky shadow
fell upon the pavement close to where Rahul was standing. He turned around,
surprised. A beautiful slim girl in her late teens stood staring at him. Rahul
was mildly excited. He moved close towards her, smiling. "Hi, are you
Anshelika ?
I am Rahul. Rahul
Banerjee. So nice to meet a lovely woman like you!"
She nodded and
smiled lightly. Rahul looked at her. She was a glum beauty and appeared rather
nonchalant, and there was a tinge of sadness in her wide, sparkling eyes. Rahul
held out his hand and touched hers. She looked at him and murmured softly, “I
shouldn't have been here now. I have a very important work to perform tonight.
But since I promised you this meeting, I came here. I came here just to see
you, my first blind date. I'm sorry, but I've to leave now."
She opened her purse
and handed a folded slip of paper to Rahul . "Don't open it now. Go back
home and then read it. It's a letter addressed to my first blind date."
She giggled.
It was already nine.
Rahul had got back home and switched on the news channel of the TV. He took out
Anshelika's letter from his chest-pocket and opened it. And almost instantly,
the first TV-headline burst into his ears:
A gruesome tragedy
took place today at Akola Junction (Ak)
At 18:00 in the
evening when the last two compartments of the
Pune – Howrah Azad
Hind Express went off in a violent explosion
Causing death to at
least 100 passengers aboard and leaving 28 fatally injured. Among the dead,
there is a 19 years – old girl, from Kolkata.
She was a student of
South City College..
A violent
thunderstorm rocked Rahul as he stared fixedly, like a stone, at Anshelika's picture
in the TV. The letter dropped from his hand upon the floor. The line inside it
read: 'I shall come again unto this lovely world to relish a wonderful blind
date.
