The Wretched Day-6

As I said no, my dad left home leaving me to take decision on my own. "Okay call me if needed", he muttered before leaving. It was 8:00pm by then. My phone rang. This time it was my mom's chithi. She was at my grandma's house. When I got a call from her, it was a bit more intimidating. 

"Hello..", the voice started in a weighted down, throaty voice. "Tell me, gran. How is grandma? Is she alright now?", I levelled all the questions without bothering to get a reply. But she intruded— "grandma isn't well at all. Won't you come to meet her?",she sounded dramatic. And I had to console her by assuring that I would visit grandma (before she breathed her last!) 

As soon as I hung her call up, I dialed my dad and informed him about my grandma's condition. He sent an auto rickshaw within minutes (luckily not that old grumpy man).

When I heard the hooting of the horn at the doorstep, I went blank. I didn't know what to take and what to leave. Just grabbed my phone and wristwatch; asked my sister to lock the door from inside and got into the auto rickshaw. It was ten past eight by then — we had twenty more minutes to reach Chathram and board the bus. Even if I missed that, I could go straight to my grandma's house in the auto rickshaw itself. So everything was settled— at least I thought so. 

As the auto rickshaw zipped past the oddities of our lane, I felt unusually nervous and scared. I called my mom. To my disappointment, she didn't answer. "We will reach on time. Don't worry", cheered the driver, eyeing my troubled face. When I was nearing the bus stop, my mom herself called me and told me the landmark so that I wouldn't be strayed amidst the crowd. 

I told that to the driver and he dropped me nearby a college entrance. From there I scuttled past random hawkers, passengers, policemen and etc., all the way looking for my mom. To my annoyance, she was not to be found anywhere. The watch showed half past eight. The auto driver was also not around. I was at a crossroads. I didn't know whether the bus had already left or I was in a wrong platform.

I walked past shoving the  people on various platforms, sweat trickling down despite the breezy weather...

(To be continued...)