STORIES (7) : Trapped by the Guile of Soheil Khan / For The Writing Contest

Trapped By The Guile Of Soheil Khan :

Soheil Khan, the new English Teacher, had hardly started writing the question on the green board when there came a cat call from behind.

“Akash, how many times have I told you not to disturb the class like this….?” Having lost his cool, Soheil yelled out at the miscreant, looking all very innocent.

A scene from the past came back to haunt him as he bent his head in shame. He knew what he was going to do then. He was going to meet Sir Priyangshu Chatterjee at the Alipore Central Zail and beg for his forgiveness…………………

Priyangshu Chatterjee was in his mid-twenties when he joined North Point as a Science Teacher. Within a very short span of time, he became one of the most popular teachers of the school.

He was an extremely gifted teacher and almost all the students were prepared to eat out of his hand except Soheil. A very ordinary student, Soheil had many reasons to hate the Science Teacher. One of them being that Kashmira, the girl he was head over heels in love with, was so very fond of this altu-faltu teacher.

“Sir, why don’t you step inside for a cup of tea?” Tanaya Madam, the Matron requested Priyangshu Sir one afternoon after school.

“No, no, Madam. I have to get back home at the earliest. I have some online classes to take.” He replied haltingly.

“Come on, Sir. No one will mind a teacher entering the Girls’ Hostel. People here, think the world of you, you know.” Shuvra Madam, a senior Matron requested him teasingly.

“Please, Madam. Don’t mind. I’ll come some other time.” He replied as he started walking down the path to the Main Gate.

“What a decent, young man! Lucky will be the girl to whom he gets married.” Tanaya concluded as she started climbing up the stairs to her assigned floor of the hostel.

Trotting along the path, Priyangshu was thinking of Arpita, his heartthrob. She was a bubbly, chubby girl from Nepal. After having pursued the GNM Course from R.J. Kar Medical College, Kolkata, she was presently working there as a Nurse.

It was only the night before, under the full moon at a park in New Town, where she had shifted in one of the PG hostels as a boarder, that they had promised their love to one another till death.

Priyanshu had asked for another year. He would be a permanent employee of the reputed school by then and tie the knot with his beloved of five years.

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That day, all the students of Class-X were busy taking notes from the Green Board with rapt attention when Soheil started making the cat calls.

“Stop it, Soheil. You’re disturbing the rest of the class.” He urged the backbencher.

He had hardly turned his attention to the board when Soheil interrupted again :

“Sir, why don’t you take us out to the playground? Chemistry is boring, you know.”

“This’s the last time I’m gonna warn you, Soheil. If I hear one more stupid thing from you again, I’ll send you our of the classroom, understand?” Priyangshu was fuming by then.

He looked at his watch and was trying to concentrate on the equation on the board when there came a whacking sound.

Following the sound, he turned his eyes towards the extreme corner. Rohit, sitting next to Soheil, was rubbing his cheek with his hand. His eyes teary, he was trying to avoid looking at his teacher.

It took Priyanshu just one moment to make out what had happened. Soheil, true to his nature, had slapped Rohit across the cheek as he was busy copying from the board.

In that freezing moment, he forgot himself. Picking up the broken cricket bat handle that he was in the habit of taking to the classes, he flung it with all his might at Soheil.

Luckily for both Soheil and Priyangshu, the broken handle missed the target by a whisker. It hit the wall behind Soheil and fell down to everyone’s relief. The story could have ended right there and then for the good of all concerned. Unfortunately, it did not.

Priyangshu had hardly regained his cool when he noticed Soheil dashing out of the class, covering his head with his hand, leaving a stupified class behind.

Once outside, Soheil hurried up the steps with the wooden railing. The potruded stuff was at the turning. On reaching there, he crouched and started hitting his head against the wooden piece.

Luckily for him, there was not a soul to be seen outside!

After a few more tries, a trickle of blood started oozing out of the right corner of his head.

It was time to put up the show……………

Office-in-Charge, Raghu, his full name was Raghavendra, was sauntering around the corridor when he saw Soheil Khan galloping down the stairs. He covered his tear-smeared face with his hands, screaming at the top of his lungs :

“Please help. Someone help me. There is a deep cut in my head. And the murderer is sitting smugly! He nearly murdered me…”

He went on screaming and crying in the same tone.

After a few enquiries, Raghu, a timid man by nature, thought it best to call the Headmistress. She suggested that he must take Soheil to the nearest hospital at once.

While Raghu was starting his bike, Soheil, sitting at the back, broke into a smile.

It was even easier than he imagined at the hospital. The nursing assistant bandaged Soheil’s head all over after applying some red medicine. In the pretext of going to the toilet, Soheil made a call to his dad, a prominent member of the nearby Muslim community.

The final bell had hardly gone when the guards came running into the Headmistress’ Office.

“Madam, there are a thousand people outside braying for Priyanshu Sir’s blood. They are requesting you to hand over Sir to them.”

The Headmistress was all at sea. She could hear those blood-thirsty people shrieking even from her office. But she couldn’t hand over Mr.Priyangshu like that.

She finally decided to intervene. The maddening mob quitened down and returned home after she had promised to suspend the Science Teacher.

Priyangshu was at home next morning when there was a raid by the police. He was picked up and put behind the bars!

That is how a promising career came to an abrupt end. But wait, wait, dear reader. That’s not the end of the story.

When the matrons heard about the incident, they wanted to visit Priyangshu Sir in the cell. A request which was firmly turned down. To top it all when Arpita, the fiancé, came to know about Priyanshu’s imprisonment, she called it quits at the R.J. Kar Hospital and thought it best to return to her home town.

Priyanshu, a shadow of his former self now, was awaiting his trial at the Alipore Court for ‘an attempt to murder’!

The end