Gate Duty

Madhurima was shocked to hear her name in the announcement just issued. By the time, she could understand anything, another announcement was made "Madhurima ma'am, please reach Principal's room.”

She told the children to stay silent, until she comes back.

While walking down the stairs towards the Principal room, she found Lakshmi ma'am.

"Go fast Madhurima ma'am, Principal ma'am is waiting for you."

"But what happened?" Madhurima enquired her.

"There must be something wrong, check it. I think, you are accountable for that." she replied.

"Something wrong? I am accountable? What did I do? It's a new job for me, I didn't get my first salary yet. I don't know, what is happening with me." Madhurima walked thinking.

"May I please come in ma'am," she reached Principal’s room.

"Yes, Please come in." Principal nodded.

"What happened ma'am? Why I am called here. Can you please throw some light on this?" Madhurima was tensed.

"You were in charge of gate duty today? What happened to that girl, we noticed in CCTV camera that you were telling her something, then she went away." Principal questioned her.

"Oh, that. She was not wearing a tie and not having I-card too. When I asked about that, she said that she left that in the cab by mistake, and asked me if she can get that back. I allowed her to grab her stuff and come back fast." Madhurima narrated the entire incident.

"What happened after that? Did she come back and enter the school premises?" Principal enquired her.

"I don't know ma'am. I was not looking at the faces of the children; I was busy checking the children for uniform defaulters. But none was defaulter today. It means, she must have got her things and was wearing those while entering school." she responded.

"No, she didn't turn back." Principal commented.

"What? How come? Where did she go? What happened to her? Is she back now? Is she alright, tell me ma'am please." Madurima was disturbed.

"He is her father. We called him up to come here when we got to know from other children of her cab, that she came to school, but didn't reach her class. The CCTV footage shows, she got in the cab, and she didn't get down from it."

"Oh my God! Is she kidnapped." several thoughts were travelling Madhurima's mind at once.

"Listen Sir, the problem is with your girl only. Earlier also, same kind of incident happened, in which she didn't reach home, after returning from school. Why don't you keep a check on her, otherwise she will ruin herself. As parents, it becomes your responsibility to teach her values. bla bla bla..." Madhurima was wondering how easily Principal was washing her hands off this issue. What would the poor father do now. She felt pity on him.

"Such a girl is making our school's reputation bad, no one else in our school is like her. Moreover, she didn't enter school premises, so school is not responsible. This incident happened outside school. She didn't enter school gate, otherwise, we have such a high level of security, which she could not have run away. She got out of the cab, took another one in which her boyfriend was already waiting for her and ran away. I bet you, it's not the case of kidnapping, she went of her own free will." Principal continued.

"How insensitive she is. A girl is missing, and she is just trying to save herself and the school and probably me too from the situation. Isn't the school responsible for this? What can a helpless father do now? His daughter is missing. He sent his daughter to school, then it becomes school's responsibility to safeguard the child." Madhurima looked pitiful at the father.

But, Oh what's that? He was already gazing at her. He was acting like a trash, which made Madhurima nervous. She didn't expect him to look at her that way and that too in this situation, when his daughter was missing.

"I am sure, I was wrong. Now I can understand, why Principal ma'am was putting all the blame on girl and family. These people should not be treated nicely. These are the real culprits. Like father, like daughter." she thought.

Principal ma'am noticed her growing nervousness with the gaze of girl's father and asked her to go back to the class.

"Haaaah! I am saved. A father whose daughter is missing, listening such bad words for his daughter from Principal, still behaving this way. This family deserved that. Oh no, what was I thinking. That girl is innocent. She must be of 14/15 years of age. How can she understand the cruel world. Moreover, her father is a cheap man, in such a case, what environment she is getting at her home. God knows, what kind of person, her mother is."

Next day, in lunch break, Madhurima was heading towards staff room, and sports Sir came to her, "You know ma’am? That girl is found. She returned back home in the Evening. We are saved, otherwise these people are very bad, and they would not have spared us."

Then she could remember, sports sir was also in charge of gate duty that day, along with her, but she didn't see him there as he rarely does his duties. If he were on duty that day, the entire incident could have been avoided.

"Thank God, the girl is back." she sighed.

Who should be accountable for that incident? She had the question, but no one to answer.