Beyond the Beats

Chapter 51. All this attention

My niece was kidnapped.

I had accompanied Mom to Srishti's Parents Teachers Meeting because the teachers had to explain a lot of stuff related to Srishti's academics and co-curricular activities. Mom was not much educated, so she had trouble understanding the difficult terms and various programs aimed at providing digital education to kids.

Like Rahul had informed me before, Srishti's class teacher expressed her concern about my niece fighting with her classmates, zoning out, and not being attentive in class. Mom and I both were concerned, and Srishti was silent throughout the meeting.

We collected her report card, and after getting the same feedback from her other subject teachers, I suggested to Mom that we should take Srishti to a children's doctor. Mom was in a daze herself. She kept glancing around once we exited Srishti's classroom.

I closely observed how my mother nodded to my suggestions absentmindedly. She said that we should get back home soon. I agreed as I wanted to see what she was going to do after we reached home.

We hailed an auto as it was raining. Mom picked up Srishti and was getting her inside the rickshaw when Mom got pushed down, and two men wearing helmets arrived on a motorcycle and snatched Srishti.

What the hell?

"Srishti!" I yelled.

She screamed for help, and I dived to catch her, but those men were faster. The autorickshaw uncle instantly turned his vehicle around and followed those men after I helped Mom get up and move inside the rickshaw.

"Who are those motherfuckers?" Auto uncle asked.

"We couldn't see their faces," I replied. "Please hurry up."

Ganapati Bappa, please help.

Due to the Parents Teachers Meeting, there were lots of kids and their families swarming the area around the school. Our auto driver couldn't move like a speed racer, but he still tried to follow those men on motorcycle.

Unfortunately, we lost them. I took Mom's phone and called Dad. When he heard about Srishti getting kidnapped, he told me to come to the police station directly. When Mom heard me directing the autorickshaw uncle to take us to the police station, she protested.

"No, we can't go to the police!" Mom argued.

"Maa, what are you saying?" I retorted.

Her face ashened. "They will hurt her."

"Of course, they will if we won't report the kidnapping."

I dragged Mom towards the police station and spotted Dad waiting near the gates. The auto driver uncle also came with us.

We couldn't waste even a second, so we stormed towards the FIR counter and gave out the details of the incident. Luckily, the autorickshaw uncle had memorized the motorcycle's number; the police filed an FIR and sent two police havaldars to search with us.

After going around our area and checking CCTV footages of the streets and some shops, we found the motorcycle parked in front of a mall, but those kidnappers and Srishti were still missing.

As the time passed, Mom's health started worsening. She kept repeating Srishti's name and cursing us for contacting police. Seeing her state, I scolded her to either help us or just go home.

Dad had asked Akshay's sister, Rahi, to look after Dhara Di, and she was unaware of the kidnapping.

Police suggested us to not involve more people as we were yet to get any proper leads. Our friends would unnecessarily panic and unwanted rumors may spread leading to false information being circulated around.