“Who is this guy, Shekhar Chandra?”
“What look is he talking about?”
“I look different! When have I met him earlier?”
“He is from Lojigarh. That’s what Arvind has said“, said Shaloween aloud.
Shaloween jogged her memory really hard to childhood days, neighborhood, school friends, college friends, tuition friends, friends of friends, siblings of friends – but this name Shekhar Chandra was just not ringing any bells.
She hopped into the bean bag in her balcony with a mug of cold coffee still staring at the message from him.
She dialed her mom’s number. After a little bit of chit chat with her mom, she asked her mom if she knew anybody by the name of Shekhar Chandra. Her mom thought for a while but replied in negative.
“No, I don’t think so. But you know when you were in Class XII and we stayed in that rented house in Shastri Nagar for a while, there were a lot of families that we never interacted with. Never got a chance, we were so busy building our own home and you obviously had your board papers. What a bookworm you were, always so sincere. I hope you don’t work through day and night now at least. These are the days to have fun and you know what all I used to do….”
“Ok mom. I really need to hang up now. Have to eat my dinner” said Shaloween in a hurry.
“Oh, it is already 10:30 pm. When will you eat? You need to take care of yourself naa. Ok, go eat quickly”, said mom in her typical motherly style.
Shaloween hung up. Hunger was really far from her and so was sleep. She had to find out the next day who this guy is and why would he send such a mysterious message that makes absolutely no sense.
Maybe she would call up her brother too tomorrow. Now, it would be too late in the night for him.
Her brother was in South Korea since last couple of years, working for a Korean phone company. He was minting really good money but had somehow lost touch with her. She had a very deep connection with her brother – Mohit. But since he got married and moved to Korea, it has been really difficult to keep up that connection. Although she knows that whenever he would visit her, they would still talk about things through the night. That sibling connection is never really lost.
Sleep still far from her, she thought of hunting this guy on social media. She searched Facebook and Instagram, found his profile. But there was hardly any info about him. Just a few pictures with some random cars, none with the family. She had to admit that he was indeed a very handsome guy and he looked quite well to do in his lifestyle. She had no mutual friends with him. It looked like he hardly used social media platforms.
She downloaded Shekhar’s profile picture and sent it to her brother with caption – “Do you know this guy by any chance? He is Shekhar Chandra from Lojigarh”
Finally, her eyes started to get heavy and she decided to end the day. Tomorrow she would observe Shekhar for any other weird behaviors and if required would confront him directly. This hide and seek game is not her cup of tea, she would rather have direct answers to her countless questions.
Candles Online 