My Princess

It was just another Monday morning at the Kurla station in Mumbai. The platform was dirty, smelly and filled with people, 

vendors and beggars. Trains stopped by every now and then, hardly for a few seconds. A distorted female voice would announce the train in Marathi and Hindi. A horde of people would jump out from the heavily loaded second class coaches, and an even larger number somehow managed to get inside. Nobody wanted to wait.

 However, today, Harishwar Dutt didn't care about the pain he had to endure when he travelled to work at a small business firm in Mahalaxmi. As usual, he reached the platform by 8:30 AM and boarded the 8:43 AM slow local towards Dadar. As soon as he boarded his usual second class coach, his commute friend Rakesh greeted him. 

"You seem awfully happy today, Hari. What's the matter? Did you finally convince your boss about that salary raise?"

"Today's my daughter's 17th birthday. She has been asking for a mobile phone for some months. I'm going to buy one today after work and surprise her after I come home." 

"That's great! But how's your daughter? You told me that she was down with fever last Friday." 

"Haan, she was a bit sick the last week. Her fever wouldn't respond. The doctor said that it was just normal viral fever, and prescribed some medicines. She's better now. It's good that she has summer vacations, or else she would worry about her schoolwork. Poor child, she has to stay in bed the whole day. She hasn't many friends nearby, either." 

  "You sure care about Payal a lot. A lot of people who earn the same as you do wouldn't even think of buying a mobile phone."

  "She was very young when her mother died. She had no one to care for when she was growing up. She's the only one I've got. I feel guilty because I cannot give her much attention and care due to my work."

  Rakesh felt strange. Hari seemed cheerful, but sounded depressed. He never seemed so melancholy about his wife's death before. Maybe it was because of Payal's birthday. He replied,

  "Yes, I know, my friend. I hope that Payal recovers soon."

  Soon, Hari got down at Dadar to change trains for another route towards Mahalaxmi. As usual, the relentless crowd at Dadar showed no remorse for the people getting down, and crushed them like a huge tidal wave. Rakesh watched his friend leave, battered and dusty, but knew that it didn't matter to Hari today. Hari's love for his daughter knew no bounds. Nevertheless, Rakesh felt that he needed to brighten up his friend's mood. He decided to surprise both of them.

  It was about 8:30 PM when Rakesh reached the locality where Hari lived. It consisted of a few 3-storey buildings, each containing 50 or so tiny flats. The surroundings were filthy and muddy, as there was a huge slum just besides the buildings.

  Rakesh knocked on the wooden door. Hari opened it.

  "Rakesh! What a surprise! I didn't expect this at all."

  Rakesh again felt the strange note in his voice.

  "I bought a present for your daughter. Where is she?"

  "Come over here. She's still sleeping. But soon she'll wake up. She's really weak. Payal beta, look who's here for your birthday."

  Rakesh felt awkward when he saw Payal. When Payal didn't respond to her father's call, he came closer to the bed. He panicked. Trembling, he reached for the phone in his pocket.

  The doctor confirmed that Payal had been dead for about 40 hours. Further investigation revealed that she had died due to ingestion of a potentially dangerous drug. This drug was erroneously supplied by the local dispensary instead of the drug which the doctor had prescribed.