JUST ANOTHER FAN! by Jayeeta Ganguly

Author:Jayeeta Ganguly [Ganguly, Jayeeta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789382303091
Published: 2013-11-14T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 16

1998 - Part I

“You will be back, won’t you, Jayeeta?’ asked Vandana, as we came out of the hall on the last day of our final-year exam.

I gave Van a hug and said, “Of course, Van. I will be coming back. I am just going for the holidays.”

“You will be sitting for the entrance exam at ____ (Van had named one of the premier journalism institutues in New Delhi. But, I have my reasons for not mentioning the name. Read on to know why.)”

“Absolutely. In fact, I have only a few days left to prepare. My brother will be here by then. I will be leaving soon after that. But I will return within about two months.”

“Yes, you should come back. You belong here.”

I smiled.

The D-day arrived and I appeared for the J -school entrance exam. It wasn’t an easy one, but I was happy with the way I had tackled it.

“How did it go, Bhutani?” asked Dada.

“Good, not too bad.”

“Hmmm. Are you sure? Because you seem to lack your usual gung-ho attitude.”

I smiled at Dada and said, “I am feeling a bit tired, let’s go home.”

We left Delhi after a week. I hugged Ashima mashi and we cried like babies. I promised her that since the journalism institute was closer from R.K. Puram, I would be staying with her. “See you in two months time, mashi,” I told her. But to be really honest I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise.

It was painful. Leaving Delhi was a painful task. The pain was almost at par with the day I had waved goodbye to my mom at New Delhi Railway station in 1995. That needle-like piercing pain. Even my brother was surprised when tears welled up in my eyes as the Rajdhani Express started its journey towards my home ‘metro’. I waved goodbye to New Delhi and promised that I would be back .

I was confident of giving New Delhi a big hug by June or July that year.

I couldn’t pinpoint, ‘why’, but that little Voice from within had been nagging me since the day I had appeared for the exam. It continued to poke me during the journey back home. It was telling me that things might not go according to plan.

“But why”, I asked the ‘Voice’. “My exam went well. I am aware that thousands of brilliant students have appeared for this exam, but I wasn’t too bad, either.”

“I agree, but… tell me honestly, do you feel as enthusiastic as you did when you had appeared for the entrance exam at LSR? My job is to call a spade a spade, sorry, but…”

“But why?” I asked again.

“I honestly don’t know. I wouldn’t lie to you, would I? I wouldn’t ditch you either. Think of 1989.Although we hadn’t started conversing back then, but didn’t you feel it in your heart-of-hearts that something was amiss with the whole ‘meeting Imran’ plan. Admit it.”

“Yes. And you were right back then and I have a feeling you will be right even now.

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