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“Where am I?” she blinked open her eyes.  Everything went blur before her eyes.  She closed them again in pain.  A severe pain in her head made her dizzy.  She didn’t move. 

“Aawwaa…!” She tried to move her head.  A surge of pain blinded her.  She spread her hands and felt the cold metal platform.  “Bed?” she opened her eyes. No! It was not the bed, she thought.  It was something else.. a sort of a platform, a table, like an elevator flooring..!  She looked sideways with efforts.  Nothing! She couldn’t see anything.

“Blind?” She thought she had gone blind.  She shut her eyes in fright.  Nothing..! Nothing happened.  No sound, no movement… nothing! She felt dizzy again.  A strange alien feeling skipped her heart beat.  

“Am I trapped in the elevator?” the thought scared her more.  She opened her eyes to look around.  She could see a very dimly lit room around her with nothing in it apart from her and a metal platform.  She sat up with efforts pressing her head.  The dizziness took over again.  She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again expecting to see that she was alright and it was only a nightmare.

“No!” she wailed.  The room was big, without any furniture, empty.. and strangely warm …! “What?” she got down with a jerk and fell flat on face.  She turned on her back feeling her clothing.  She didn’t remember what she was wearing… but the smell of blood brought a nauseating taste in her mouth.  “Buke… buke..!” she felt like vomiting.  She crawled around, not able to stand on her feet.  She touched the back of her head and felt the dried blood and the stuck wisp of her hair to her wound.  She forcibly pulled her hair apart and the blood again started oozing out.  She pressed her wound.  

“Rini Didi..!” she wailed pouting and crying out loud.  There was no one to respond to her cries.  Her Rini Didi was far far away and she didn’t know what was happening to her Dhaa.  In fact no one knew where Dhaa was! Even Dhaa didn’t know where she was!

*****

“Dad..!” Sayajirao looked at his devastated son.  After twenty four hours of thorough search on the campus, they returned with no success.  The surveillance cameras provided no vital clue.  The cops were called in finally.  Disha was completely devastated.

“It was my responsibility…!” she kept saying between her sobs.

“Beti…” Sayajirao came up to her.  She looked up miserably.  “We should inform home..!” he said gravely and Disha shook her head in panicky. 

“No! Please… No… I can’t face them.. She was my responsibility…!” Disha cried her heart out.  Indroneel shook his head holding Disha.  “No! She was my responsibility… This is all my mistake… I should have been more careful…!” he said with guilt.

“Oh! Come on! Stop blaming yourselves..!” Let us put our heads together to find her out.  Ravi nodded.  His guilt was eating him alive.  He had really been wicked to her, taunting and teasing her.  She repelled and tried to avoid him.  He was getting sadistic pleasure in scaring her away.  But he had never let his eyes off her. She had found him staring threateningly at her always and she would vanish from the scene where Ravi was present.  

“She must have gone somewhere to avoid me and got trapped…! Oh God! She can’t even…” he swallowed hard.  “Mari mai… Mari mai…” he prayed like her… joining his hands, closing his eyes…! “Mari Mai… please save her…!” he prayed hard and wished everyone prayed for her.  “She is alright, wherever she is..!” he kept saying ..! 

Maria had lost all her strength.  “Dhatri… Oh God! What am I going to do..!” she too locked her fingers in prayer.  “God! Let her be safe… wherever she is..!” she couldn’t stop her tears.  Dr. Koite cancelled all his programs for the week and phoned frantically to get help…! Jim was with the cops providing the information, whenever required.  All the footage was taken into custody by the cops and runs and reruns were made to get some clue.  The footage showed she moving in the crowd and then suddenly she had disappeared…. The last captured footage was she moving towards backstage clutching a plate in her hand.  Unfortunately there was no camera installed backstage.  There were storage and service rooms adjacent to the backstage.  Nothing…! Nothing could be traced out after that.  She just had disappeared in the thin air.  

It was hard for Ravi to digest that she had disappeared from that crowded place and where twelve cameras were monitoring the entire ceremony.  The gala time had turned into a sad incident.  There was no point now, waiting and searching for her in the campus.  The campus was thoroughly searched and combed by the University Security and Cops.  

Detective Earl Greenburg took over! A planned scrutiny was done.  Every person who attended was called to enquire about the girl circulating her photo.  Every tiny bit of information was cross checked with the gathered information and check for some clue or contradictory statements…!

“Nothing! She seemed to have just vanished… evaporated…by some magic…!

“Parking..!” Earl re=ran the footage from three cameras from the parking area.  Persons were contacted and asked several times…! 

Finally, after two days there were asked to return to their places with a request that they would be summoned whenever required.  

********  *********

“She is not reachable..” Disha said frustrated.  Bhanu looked at his wife.  She looked completely lost.  

“Disha… I am sure… She will be back soon… She is a fighter, Disha…!” he kept saying to her and to himself.  

“Yeah…! She is a fighter…A survivor..!” Ravi kept saying, praying Mari Mai… Like she did in distress.. ! He had heard about her from Bijoy, Nanu, Appa, Muki and all the villagers. 

“I will find her out…!” he heard Jim saying clenching his fists with determination.  “Yes, we will find her out! She is alright… Nothing can happen to her..!” Ravi joined Jim and they both went into control room to request for the copies of the captures from all the cameras …! Dr. Koite helped them in getting the permission from the Dean.  Ravi copied all the CDs in his laptop and everyone else copied from him. 

“Ok. Let us be in touch always… and anything you find … please inform others..!” Maria said wiping her eyes.  Detective Earl requested them to go back and said he would do everything possible.  

“I must inform Salil..!” Indroneel finally decided but Disha stopped him.

“Uncle.. Please… Let us wait for some time..!” she requested. 

“How am I going to face him?” Indroneel broke down.

………………

“Dad..!”Sayajirao kept the book aside.  Ravi came in.  Sayajirao looked at his son.  Ravi had not slept even for a minute in these three days.  There was no trace of Dhatri since the cops had taken over.  Detective Earl Greenburg was handling the case.  Sayajirao and Ravi had returned after two days with no success.  Disha and Bhanu had also returned…

“Come..” he beckoned his son.  “Sonny.. She will be alright…!” he said but Ravi shook his head hopelessly.  

“I don’t know, Dad! I can’t sleep..! We must find her out…! She should be alright…!” he said resting on his father’s lap.  Sayajirao looked at his son intently. 

“She is a sweet girl…!” he said patting his son gently.  Ravi looked up.  A faint smile appeared on his face.

“Dhut Teri..!” he blurted.  “We had patched up after that fight Dad..!” he said sitting up.

“Fight?” is father asked.  “Yeah.. when I pushed her on the stage and declared her name… She was… She was so shocked… Dad!” he said reliving those moments.

“Then she stopped talking to me..! When you came in the evening, I sent you to her..!” he said…

“No! Dr. Ghosh introduced me to her…!” Sayajirao said getting equally involved. 

“Yeah! But I introduced you to Dr. Ghosh..!” he said stressing his point and Sayajirao nodded.

“And you patched up with her…!” Sayajirao said looking at Ravi intently.

“Yeah.. I went out fifty miles and got her spicy Tikka from Indian Restaurant. ..” Ravi smiled remembering Dhatri’s delighted face seeing the chicken pieces…! Ravi knew her taste very well and had requested to make it spicier…! 

“And she was happy, then?” asked Sayajirao and Ravi shook his head.

“Till the awards…!” he said gravely.  Again, on the stage to receive the medals, Ravi had pushed her ahead and stood behind blocking her way from backing away and hiding herself behind.  She had to stand in the front line for the snap…! She was furious and Ravi had smirked..! He again had placed himself behind her…!

“Dad… she is a very shy girl..!” Ravi said gravely.  “I know..!” Sayajirao nodded.

“Hope nothing untoward has happened to her… She can’t… Dad…She needs me!” Ravi blurted and stopped at his own thought.

“I mean… she always needs someone… She can’t be alone, Dad.. She can’t be left alone.. She must be scared.. Dad..!” Ravi floundered.  

“She must be in grave danger…! She doesn’t even have her cell with her…!” Her cell was found on the table…! 

“Dhut Teri… Please contact from wherever you are..!” his heart twisted with her thought.  “I shouldn’t have left her alone..!” he blamed himself.  Even the thought of sleep was far away from him…!

“I think we should inform Dharini… Dhatri’s Rini Didi..” He got up dialling Bhanu’s number. 

*********  ******

“No! She is on Border..” Disha said gravely when Bhanu asked.  “Vinit?” she looked up with hope.  Bhanu looked puzzled.

“Dhaa… I mean… He will try and contact Rini…” Bhanu nodded and Disha gave him Vinit’s contact number…! Bhanu dialled with some hope to get Maj. Vinit on the line..!