Disappeared

 

Riya stood silently and watched Shreya staring at the containers stacked in the kitchen cabinet and guessed the reason for this total absorption.                       

 “We are moving? I’m right.”

Swiveling around Shreya faced her daughter, “Yes we are. But you must have overheard some of the conversations between your dad and me. It shouldn’t be that big a surprise.”

“We only get to hear when the packers are about to move in and of course the school has to be notified.”

 It wasn’t that Riya’s complaints weren’t reasonable but a family moved with the bread earner and as usual Shreya knew that she would have to cushion the falls.  Riya was upset and hit out “I’ve been changing schools for as long as I can remember but what about your catering business? Are you going to take a loss?”

It was better to keep her own counsel and not get in to a useless argument so she let Riya slam the door and cool down.  Shreya knew that closing down her business just when it was becoming profitable wasn’t a choice. Her husband had mentioned that he had been promised that after this move the situation would improve. Corporates often made seemingly random moves and families had to adjust. If Riya was cross she had little idea of Shreya’s feelings on having to give up her successful enterprise.

For once Riya put her anger on the back burner and thought of plans to teach her parents a lesson. Just now she would fall in line and then act. Why hadn’t it occurred to them to ask for the children’s opinions? 

 The thought crossed her mind that parents didn’t even consider that children needed to be heard. She would of course have to try and fit in not only quickly but without much ado.

It was a biggish school but to make friends wasn’t easy for a new comer. Groups were already established and some went way back in time. It wasn’t that Riya hadn’t experienced this in previous schools. But she was tired of going through what seemed an oft repeated exercise. She wasn’t snubbed but neither was she included. Who knew how long she would have to hang around in the sidelines before gaining acceptance?  

Riya now wore a veneer of disinterest and found a place in the back row along with another boy who was so quiet as to be almost nonexistent. It took a few days for VIr to disclose his name. He was shy, stammered and reserved. Riya found him the ideal classmate as neither of them expressed any curiosity about each other. Gradually a tentative friendship began and Riya noticed that Vir’s stammer was barely discernible while talking to her.

“Have you always stammered?” asked Riya.

Vir looked away and his voice dropped, “No.”

“Did something happen?”

“Some years ago my mother was lost and hasn’t been found again. I was ill and wouldn’t speak for several months. Since then I become easily nervous and stammer.”

“It is children who get lost more often than their mothers. How did your mother lose herself?”

“My mother along with some family friends went on a pilgrimage. There was a stampede and many people were dead and injured and some were lost.”

“Nobody went looking for her?”

Vir was upset, “What made you say that? My father goes every year to that town during the pilgrimage hoping to find my mother.”

“Do you think your mother planned to get lost?”

“You are being silly. My mother loved us and she wouldn’t abandon us.

School, books or clothes nothing mattered any longer in Riya’s life. She felt a growing distance from her family and school had become a shadowy world. Conversations with Vir were the few interactions in school. It was Vir’s mother’s disappearance that became the main topic of discussion.

“I’m thinking of skipping school,” said Riya.

“What will you do? Your parents won’t allow it.”

Riya responded promptly, “My mother is trying to find friendly neighbours and my father is navigating his career. Who has time for me?”

“You aren’t behaving like the girl who I met a few weeks ago.  I get noticed for the wrong reasons but you aren’t even allowing yourself to get involved.”

“Look who is advising? Just leave me alone.”

Vir didn’t know who could help Riya get out of this depression. His mother’s absence had caused a hole in his life but Riya had a mother. Surely the parents could help her handle this crisis.

Riya hardly spoke, her grades were going down and it wouldn’t take long for the teachers to mark her as a poor achiever.

 No matter how often she had cribbed earlier Riya hadn’t stopped attending classes. Vir looked forward to Riya’s presence though they no longer had any meaningful conversation.

Entering the classroom Vir hoped that unlike the day before Riya was coming to school.  A tap on his shoulder made him turn around to find his class teacher Mrs. Biswas signaling to meet her out of the room. He had little to do with his teachers and was apprehensive.

“The headmaster wants to see you immediately.” 

Vir could feel a lump in his throat though neither Mrs. Biswas’s voice nor body language suggested any major trouble.

Vir knocked on the door hoping that there was an error and he wasn’t the right person.

“Come in. Meet Riya’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Gupta.  They would like to ask you some questions.”

Mr. Gupta sounded a bit loud and harsh,”Riya has been missing from yesterday. Her schoolbag was found in the bus and as you might be aware she didn’t attend school. Do you know her whereabouts?”

The adults looked at Vir while his tongue went dry as sandpaper and he knew from experience that his stammer would be back in full force.  He could feel the blood rushing to his face but he couldn’t utter a word.

Thankfully the headmaster intervened on his behalf, “Vir has a speech impediment. Kindly allow him a few seconds.”

Vir sweated and stuttered and finally said,”Nnnno.”

“We were told that Riya has been sitting next to you since she joined school. Apparently she didn’t have other friends so did she confide in you.”

Mrs. Gupta’s voice was gentler and Vir allowed himself to relax a bit.

“Riya was very unhappy and didn’t like being here.”

 There was a note of disbelief in the headmaster’s voice “Unhappy in school?”

 Vir was at a loss to answer. After all he would still have to be in this school no matter where Riya had gone or would go. “She didn’t like moving so frequently.”

The parents were puzzled and asked if that was her only complaint. The police had been searching around the town but they had found no signs.

Vir wasn’t going to mention his mother but he added. “Riya was interested in the annual pilgrimage to the nearby temple town that takes place at this time. “

 Mr. Gupta was incredulous, “Pilgrimage? Riya wasn’t religious. I hope you aren’t making up stories.”

 Vir blurted out, “No sir but the police could find out from the Missing Persons office at the temple site. It wouldn’t do any harm as none of us really know what Riya wanted.”

 None of them knew what was going on in Riya’s mind. Depression they thought happened to others. They believed that once Riya was rescued they would be able to find the answers. As they walked out of the school office, each parent wondered why they had failed to notice that Riya wasn’t her usual self.

They decided to ask the police to investigate around the temple and perhaps they would make the pilgrimage too. Who knew they might find their daughter while on the trail. After all miracles did happen.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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