The Strange Encounter - A Tragic Tale

Aniruddh could hardly believe his eyes. She is alive and well , standing in the other side of the Russell street . But how's that even possible ?

He witnessed her burnt body. She left him alone. He couldn't even fulfill the dreams that they dreamt abouttogether.

Yes, it was her. She is alive . Swati is alive!
"Swati!" he cried out loudly to her. Yes it was Swati with burnt marks on her left cheek. But she did not respond to his call. A man beside her whispered to her and she left with him. That day Aniruddh realised Swati no more belonged to him.
..........
It was an exhibition held in the academy where they met for the first time. The gallery was a bit crowded and literally there was no space to move.

In the meantime a hand made a quick job that was hard to get. Aniruddh suddenly stopped and held that hand forcefully and took the person outside. He was dumbstruck when he saw it was a girl. It was difficult to recognize her age but she seemed to be of 19 or 20. Aniruddh was about to slap her, but , he swallowed his anger. Heasked her in an angry voice "What on Earth made you do this kind of a job? Don't you dare to make a wrong anymore."

The girl was silent till then but she broke out and said, " Have you ever sold your body to earn money and buy medicine for your mother? "

Aniruddh got speechless . The girl was so young and he couldn't even think of selling a body to earn money for a girl of this age.

The girl burst into tears. She murmured something but was not audible to Aniruddh.

" Do you want to say something?", he inquired.

The girl nodded and said " I can not withstand this pain any more. I was bound to steal your purse. "

She wiped her face with a handkerchief . Aniruddh took her under the light of a lamp post . They stood there and a had long conversation for the time being.

By the time, Aniruddh was enlighted about the facts of this girl's life. Her mother passed away recently and she had no one other than her. Helpless and without any roads being open , she started her job as a prostitute to earn some money. But now after loosing her mother she didn't want to go back into the dark world. She was jobless and was desperately in a search of a job . Aniruddh realized that the girl was quite frank yet should could turn out to be a fraud as well.

" Sir, do you want a maid to look after your household?" , asked the girl suddenly
"No!", replied Aniruddh.
The girl was disappointed as she expected a sympathetic answer. But she did not stop talking . She kept blabbering about her life and she also asked about Aniruddh's family as well. Aniruddh felt like , this girl was really alone and needed a companion badly. Moreover he know most of the girls in this dark world do not come in their own will. But the thought of establishing a friendly contact would make him socially isolated. the question of social acceptance puzzled him .

Breaking the silence , Aniruddh asked her again " What is your name girl?"
" Rita".
"Its quite a cliche name ", he remarked.
" How can I change my own name Sir?"
"Would it all be right if I call you Swati ?"
The girl smiled. She has never met such a man before. Every male figure she met before craved for her body. But something was different about this man.

"My mother is an old woman ,"he opened up ," And I want someone to look after her, but I don't want a maid for that . Someone who would rather accept love in exchange of taking care of her not money", he said giggling out.

She laughed and was cleared up of all those hesitations she had in her mind.

Their first meeting went merry and happy. But this was not the case with the second one. They were ought to meet in a restaurant and Swati arrived there first. Anniruddh arrived on time too but fate did not seem to favour their meeting. The Cafetria caught fire within a glance. Aniruddh could merely manage to come out of that place but could not rescue Swati. The building turned into ashes in front of hiseyes .
That incident made Aniruddh stop believing in virtues and after this strange encounter at the Russell street he had lost faith in humanity as well.