STORIES (6) : SUJATA, The Chronic Liar !!! (For the Writing Contest)
SUJATA, The Chronic Liar !!!
Have you ever been to the Mother Teresa University (MTU, PG) Hostel in New Town, Sector V? It is located some hundred meters away towards the North from Biswa Bangla. Unlike most other hostels, the unique thing about this hostel is that it is not run under the supervision of a Matron (there is no matron as such) and there are just a couple of security guards.
All the hostellers have to do while going out and getting back in is to sign in the Register kept on a table in the porch!
It was winter and the spirit of Christmas could be felt in the air. Like in most hostels all over the globe, the hostellers at Mother Teresa PG Hostel had started packing to return home for the Christmas holidays.
“I can’t come home during Christmas, Ma,” Sujata, a boarder student staying on the third floor of the building, informed her mom over the phone.“I have a lot of catching up to do so far as my studies are concerned. I know you’re hurt, Ma, but please try putting yourself in my shoes. Besides, don’t you want a bright and secure future for your daughter?” She asked.
Swarupa Devi, a simple housewife, believed her only child and replied,” Do what you deem best for you, Beta. We’ll somehow manage this Christmas without your presence at home.”
Having hung the phone up, Sujata giggled. Ma and Baba were such babies! It didn’t take her ever more than a couple of minutes to convince them!
She had another person to deal with though before making the call to Dip – Mr. Tanmoy Dutt, the overall Coordinator of all the branches of MTU.
Sujata picked up the mobile once more and called another number.
“Sir, this is Sujata Roy from the PG Hostel. Sir, I’m calling to find out if I could stay back in the hostel during the holidays?”
“Why do you want to stay back? Trisha, your roommate is leaving tomorrow, isn’t she?” The voice at the other end barked at her.
“Sir, there are two reasons why I want to stay back. Number one, my granny is seriously ill. Ma wants to visit her at granny’s in Malda. I don’t want to be a pain in the a- -, I mean, a pain in the back at such a time. And reason number two is, you know, Sir that I have just a month’s time before the Exams for the Final Semester kicks off. I want to stay back and study, Sir…..” She put on her pleading tone!
Tanmoy Dutt thought for a moment. The hostellers paid for the lodging only. They were responsible for the fooding and all. He didn’t foresee any problems in the girl staying on the third floor all by herself.
“OK, you can stay back if you really want to. Just remember one thing – I don’t want any problems, especially at the end of the year.” He paused for a moment before adding,” The girls on the other floors are staying back, right?”
“Yes, Sir.” Sujata hurried to reply before coating her concluding words with a lot of what sounded like genuine gratitude. “Thank you so much, Sir. I promise to behave in all situations…”.
That settled, she had one final call to make.
Dip was listening to his favourite singer, Arijit’s :
Ye daria tera Ishque hain, priya …
when his mobile phone started beeping………..
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It was nearly 7.30 PM in the PG hostel when a lady probably in her mid-twenties with a heavy make-up turned up near the gates. She looked up at the veiled light coming from the curtained room on the third floor before calling out hesitatingly : Is there anyone down there?
Her sound brought the Caretaker out of his room on the ground floor.
“Yes, Miss?” He queried irritatingly.
“May you call Sujata down, please? I’ve been trying to call her but her mobile is switched off.” The lady with her whole face, but for the eyes, covered with a mask, informed him.
The Caretaker unlocked the gate, directed the lady to a nearby chair on the lawn and headed towards the lift. As he was going up, he had an uneasy feeling in his mind. Agreed, winter had arrived early this year but why did the lady not remove her mask once she was inside? And what about her eyes. It was the strangest pair of eyes he had seen on any woman!
Anyway, Sujata seemed happy to find her relative, that is what she told the Caretaker.
Now, at the MTU, they have a system whereby if a lady comes to meet a friend in the hostel at night, she can stay back for the night as well. That’s what Sujata reminded him before leading her relative to Lift 2.
Something fishy was going on. Miss Sujata seemed too eager to take her relative from his probing eyes, the Caretaker thought.
Once the pair was gone, he called Tanmoy Sir.
“Sir, a lad…I ain’t sure if she is a lady or not. But someone has come to meet Ms Sujata at this hour. And I don’t like the look of the visitor…What should I do?”
Tanmoy listened to the Caretaker carefully before asking him to wait for him as he was hastily on his way to the PG hostel.
Once he got to the hostel, he lost no time in climbing up to the third floor with the Caretaker at his heels.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
There was a complete silence on the other side of the door. Tanmoy started knocking harder next time.
After what seemed like an eternity, a sleepy Sujata, covered in a blanket, peeped out from inside the dark room with the door kept ajar.
“Yes, Sir?” She was taken aback by the sight of the Coordinator.
“You have a visitor?” Mr. Tanmoy asked her quite bluntly.
“Yes, Sir. My Massi.” She answered, still yawning.
“Can we come in…?” There was an edge in his voice.
“Sir, she’s dead tired. Came all the way from Siliguri. Can’t you meet her tomorrow?” The pleading tone was back again!
“No, I want to meet her right now,” and though Tanmoy was aware of the rules of the Girls’ Hostel, he elbowed his way in while the Caretaker switched on the lights.
As the room was flooded in light, both of them were treated to a grotesque sight. Trying to put the wig back on the head was a woman, no, no, a man. His moustache very prominent on his lips!
Finding herself cornered, Sujata promptly came out with another excuse :
“She is not my aunt, Sir. He’s actually my uncle. He’s been very worried about me lately with my parents gone to Malda. It’s me who put the idea – that he could visit me disguised as a lady – in his head…”
“Enough! Tanmoy hissed out in a furious but firm voice. “Out with the truth, if you don’t want us to call the police..”
The aunt, sorry, the uncle, sorry again, the lad who came to meet Sujata transpired in the end to be her boyfriend!
With Sujata crying pitiably and the boy, half-naked, looking all sheepish and deplorably funny, Tanmoy let him go with the promise from Sujata that if there was another problem due to her, all the facilities of a hosteller would be withdrawn forthwith and that she would be rusticated from the hostel.
Strange indeed are the ways and fate of chronic liars like Sujata at the MTU (PG) Hostel, New Yown!
The end
