FOG

-1-
Sitting near the window in a biting cold winter morning, I could see thick fog floating all across. Watching outside the window from the spacious and splendid wood laden bungalow, now used for commercial purpose is quite enchanting. The streets below enveloped with fog wore a deserted look. Amidst the mist walks someone wading through the cloud of fog….Oh…I know the person walking below…screamed my heart. My sight got transfixed below….the clouds gave way to a brighter and sunny view….

One could picturise Vinod Khanna walking with a background song Ruk ja nahin tu kahin haar ke…wo rahi..wo rahi. A brisk ten minutes walk, better defined as the distance traveled till a cigarette lasts, brought me to the colossal gate which read majestically “Imperial School of Management, Danagarh. The inside campus ambience was similar to the one we see in television serials like Aahat/ Sshh...phir koi hain/Mano ya na mano et al. someone with poetic temperament would have defined it as lush green trees on either side with blocks of houses centered around big gardens, though unkempt. The metallic road in between seemed like taking someone nowhere. An eerie silence which many would perceive as peaceful environment was palpable. “Is this place haunted?” whispered my heart. “Few friends visit some weird place and get killed by evil spirits without anyone knowing about their existence…” hope such horror film like situation does not visit me.
“Excuse me” I called out a bespectacled middle aged person. I had spotted this gentleman in one of the gardens of the many houses. He raised his head and looked at me from below his thick spectacles. “Yes” came a gruff reply. “Could you please help me locate the Department of Management Studies?” I pleaded with my best and polite performance. He looked at me from top to bottom and kept mum. I waited eagerly for a direction but gave up and walked away feeling as if encumbered with debts. “I will give him a role of the girl’s father who hates the boy whom his daughter madly loves and loves his daughter dearly, if I ever made a movie” I smiled treacherously as I thought about it. Has civilization come to an end in this campus, not a single human understandable soul who could at least respond as a human should behave with other human being? Sight of a figure far away walking down the road shook me out of my thoughts.

“Could you please help me locate the Department of Management Studies?” I demanded this time. “Come along with me” came the answer post a brief pause. A few moments walk brought us in front of a British architecture, a lavish red bricked building with Department of Management Studies inscribed on the front covering. I browsed the entire frontage of the building, not knowing then that two years of my valuable life would get attached here and the memories to remain throughout the life.