Indhra is a rebellious student, who dies due to an encounter with one of her teachers. Years later, her best-friend works in the same office as the murderer. Will her friend be able to avenge the death of Indhra?
#1 in #nani
The clock was ticking to 12:15 am. Anjana was seated on a stool facing Naveen and Grace who were waiting for an answer from her. The candle Anjana had lit went off. She stood and walked up to the home-made shrine and lighted up a matchstick.
Devoid of any emotion, she looked at Naveen and lighted the candle.
Anjana: Today.
Naveen (curious): Huh?
Anjana: Today is her death anniversary.
She gives an ingenuine smile.
Anjana: Forgetting is the new trend. But I can't (nods). I can never forget her. She was more than just a friend to me... her presence can't be replaced with anything. She was a true friend.
I came from Hyderabad to Chennai when I was five, when my parents died in the gas leak accident. I was a complete orphan for 14 days. My relatives couldn't afford to keep me, and sent me to this completely new state, where I knew nobody and nothing but hunger and deprivation.
I got introduced to Iryn ma and to the trust where I found myself in many other faces. One of them was Indhra. She was 3 years elder to me, but we got so well together. Her father been a lawyer and mother a teacher, really did reflect in her speech. She was so outspoken. She would question the right thing when needed. Whereas, I was contrast to her.
Anjali, Indhra and I were a gang. She took care of us from when we were five to twelve. I also grew very affectionate on her, but never her called a sister or anything. We were the best of friends. There was never a moment without them, I found home in them. Anjali went to study in Kerala for a few years. When Indhra was ten, a very wealthy family had come to adopt her, but she refused because she wanted to stay with me.
When she turned thirteen, she became a rebel at school. Rebel (grins), that's the right word to describe her (eyes wander). We both were average students, but that didn't stop her from having a mind of her own. Many were fond of her, while too many were not. They always thought she was rude and slammed at everybody, but I knew the kind side of her. In fact, I'm the only one who had seen her vulnerable and quirky side.
One of the many teachers who despised her was our English teacher. Least did we expect that, danger would come in his form.
One day, our English teacher entered our class very impolitely, slamming the door at the entrance and not even wishing us back. We took it light as it happens commonly. But his actions got extremely harsh when he proceeded with the class. He threw the books on the floor and shouted at a few students because they were not answering. Indhra going around the school to decorate for the upcoming inspection stopped by our class and noticed this. Scared of his actions, I didn't dare question him.
After a point of time, he pulled out a boy from the front desk and pelted him. Indhra could no more bear the abuse and stepped inside our classroom to question him. As the argument heated up between them, he passed a cuss word on her. She still stood patient and informed him that she would be filing a complaint about that. This angered his ego more, and he pulled her by her hair to stop her. That is when she realized he... was drunk.
It made things worse, I and many students went forward at this point to stop him. I jolted across the crowd and pulled her hand. It is an unimaginable ruckus now...
He then pushed everyone and gave her a slap that made her head bang on the wooden table. She got heavily injured. When we took her to the hospital... I cried so much because (voice shaking) I feared that I wouldn't see her again. But she survived and recovered...
By then, many students came up to her proclaiming many such incidents involving him. The school wanted to ignore the issue to safeguard their reputation. But a guy who was apparently in love with Indhra, reported the issue to his father. His father being a Human Rights Activist, encouraged other parents to talk about this and came up with a case at the court.
The police arrested him, and he eventually got divorced as well. But this news did not spread much in media as the school had bribed the media not to. Many people did not know about a case like this. There was no social media then as well. He got bailed out by Ramya, whose father was too huge for rules and justice. (rolls her eyes)
They formed a production company together and slowly kept getting bigger. I don't know in which way he found Indhra to be a hindrance to his life.
After a year, she was in Grade Nine and she often had special classes. I usually used to wait for her since I had no one else to accompany me back to our home. She came out of her class and hugged me tightly as she topped the class in that exam. I was so elated hearing her speak. She told me that she had promised to have a conversation with that guy, who helped her in that issue. She also told me that she was really grateful towards him. When we reached the main gate of our school, we saw him standing at the other side of the road.
She waved her hand at him and moved towards the zebra-crossing, as I followed her. Leaving the grip on my hand, she walked forward eager to meet him, but... (with tears filling her eyes)
A big black car... (does hand signals saying that, it was over).
There was silence for a moment.
Anjana: She was spot dead.
The candle flame flickered slightly in the gentle breeze of the room.
Naveen: Anju...
Anjana: I know what you are going to ask, the driver of that car was my ex-English teacher and ex-MD, Mr.Amaran. He did it on purpose and easily got away with it as well. (leaves a huge breath)
Taking a huge breath, she gets up from the stool to leave.
Grace: Anju... wait...
Anjana silently looks at her.
Grace: Amaran? Can you show me his picture?
Anjana: I don't have his picture... Naveen, my phone..
He takes her phone from the table and gives it to her. She surfs for his photo and shows it to Grace.
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Grace gets dumbstruck and walks towards Anjana. She holds Anjana's hand and cries hiding her face from her. Naveen looks into the picture and gets horrified.
