The Good Deed Reward

The pandemic had thrown the academic calendar out of gear. No physical pen and paper examination nor any computer based test could be held. Arranging seating of lakhs of students and maintaining the COVID-19 protocol proved to be too challenging. For one full year the competitive examination for the admission to medical colleges could not be held. So this year when the Virus situation eased after mass vaccination drive, the board decided to hold the test for admissions to medical colleges. There was a mammoth pouring of applications. Generally, it is taken care to seat the examinees near to their places of residence but this year due to the massive out pouring of examinees, all the conditions had gone hay wire. 

Students were given far off centres to appear for the examination. Even the girl students were put to challenges of all sorts to sit for the test.

Gobindo was one such student who was made to appear for the test about three hundred kilometres away from his home. Arpita was also sent to the same city but at a different examination centre.

After the examination, there was a huge bee line to board a bus for the return journey. Some students were accompanied by their guardians but Gobindo and Arpita had the trust and confidence of their guardians so they were allowed to go alone. But they all knew that they had to return by the earliest bus available because of a big forest in the midway which was infested with wild animals and dacoits. Gobindo and Arpita, though not known to each other, coincidentally boarded the same bus and had their seats side by side. During the journey they kept silent as they were strangers. But the situation that would enfold on the way ahead would compel them to talk to each other.

The bus kept on carrying passengers beyond it's capacity and due to this their was much delay in it's departure. If it would have departed timely then before sundown the forest area would have been crossed and it would have relieved the passengers of the unnecessary tension. But due to the delay, the bus entered the forest just after the sun had set. It was a deep forest with little traffic as most regular motorists avoided entering it after dark. It was a good one hour drive to get out of the deep forest. Drivers knew that if their vehicles faulted in the deep forest then they would have to sit it out till next day.

As luck would have it, as soon as the bus entered the deep forest, the bus in which Gobindo and Arpita were travelling, sputtered and just laid off few metres ahead. The driver and his helper got down to examine the fault and announced the 'good news' that the bus could not go any further without repairs. Everyone knew that repairs means next day because no mechanic would come to work on the bus in this darkness.

Very soon a truck carrying some labourers was forcibly made to halt and take the passengers of this bus. All the passengers somehow clambered on the truck and only Gobindo and Arpita remained from the bus. The truck started it's journey leaving behind Gobindo, Arpita and the bus driver and helper. Gobindo got down from the bus on the road and began waiting there to take help from any unexpected motorist. Arpita was too frightened to get down, so she remained in the bus. It was pitch dark outside. Only the lights inside the bus was on. There was no signs of any human civilisation nearby. 

Gobindo then again climbed inside and saw the worried face of Arpita. He forced himself to talk to her to remove his own fear and to overcome the boredom.

'' What have you decided you will do now? '', he bravely put forward his question to Arpita knowing fully that it was a stupid question at that time. To his surprise Arpita answered '' I don't know ''. She further continued saying, '' I was trying to contact my people back home but there is no network signal in my mobile ''.

This idea didn't strike Gobindo, he thought looking at his mobile phone. Surely there was no network avaliable on his phone. He tried to call his family but the call never did establish. Now both of them had a deep worrying look on their faces. Gobindo again got down hoping to stop a plying vehicle and seek help. But there was none. Then he again got inside the bus and boldly made an attempt to start a conversation with Arpita. To his surprise, Arpita though hesitant at first, then lively joined in. Some quality time passed between them this way. They both shared their growing up stories and of their families, about their school and other memorable life events. A couple of hours passed this way without them noticing it either. 

Meanwhile, the driver and his assistant unpacked their tiffin box and had their dinner. They chose to offer some of their food to Gobindo and Arpita but they politely refused. Both Arpita and Gobindo had not brought any food with them knowing well that they would be home before the next meal. But who knew that this tragedy would befall on them. Arpita had some left overs from her lunch fortunately. So they both shared between them and somewhat calmed the ravenous fire in their belly. 

Now the driver put out the lights in the bus and it became pitch dark inside just like the outside. Then Gobindo and Arpita heard sound of bottle and glass in the darkness. The driver and his mate must have started drinking, Gobindo guessed. He became worried for Arpita and cautioned her of her safety. Very soon there was loud talk and sound of arguments. Then foul language and abuses were being hurled. Gobindo told Arpita that it was no longer safe to remain in the bus. So they took their minimal belongings and got down. Hearing them get down, the driver and his assistant started laughing hilariously and mocking the two boy and girl. They started throwing filthy expletives at them. 

Gobindo and Arpita thought it was unsafe to remain near the bus. So they started walking down the road in the direction of their homes. But it was a still dark night with pin drop silence. A little later the forest night became active with the sound of cricket's and other insects chirping. But now they kept on walking and almost an hour had passed Gobindo thought since they had started. The bus was no where to be seen. It was such a deep forest with so tall trees that the aura of the night sky could not reach the ground. Although it seemed to be a moonless night. Arpita was finding it difficult to tread on and even Gobindo was feeling fatigued. Though strangers but still a spirit of camaraderie had grown within this three four hours of togetherness. They knew that they had to battle this out together. They were fighting a common enemy. When the going became difficult then they held each others hand. There was no awkwardness between them now. It seemed that they were known to each other since many years. 

After walking together hand in hand so long that now they felt tired and sat down on the road. Within this time they had walked they had not come across a single vehicle going either way. Even they did not see a single human being. Fortunately they didn't encounter any wild animal either. Probably they had talked about this too soon. 

Within the next few minutes they would experience the fear of their lifetime. They had been sitting on the road to get over their tiredness and again continue their onwards journey afresh when all of a sudden they heard a deep heavy sound nearby from the forest. Something big and heavy was perhaps moving beneath the tall trees and disturbing the underbrush. In the darkness Gobindo saw a big black object. Arpita said that it was a sloth bear. Gobindo had learnt from a camping excursion that when you accidentally come face to face with a bear you should lie down on the ground and behave like you are dead and wait patiently till the bear passes away. He told Arpita to do this and he himself lay down on the road and behaved as if dead. A little later, the big bear came close to them and with its cold nose sniffed their faces and finding no interest left then unharmed and walked away. They gave a huge sigh of relief and relaxed. Probably they must have relaxed a bit too long because they must have dosed off. When Gobindo woke up, he saw the sun's rays had penetrated the trees and had reached the forest floor. It had been quite a while now after sunrise because it takes time for the sun's rays to reach the bottom of this thick forest. He found Arpita had also woken up. Arpita said that she was awake about half hour back but had not seen any traffic on the road yet. They soon got up and started walking on their journey. They washed their hands and face in the little rivulet flowing down the road ahead. 

Fortunately, very soon they sighted a highway patrol vehicle coming the opposite way. With a wave of their hands they stopped the vehicle and blurted out their misadventure of the previous night and the hapless bus journey. Within the next twenty minutes help came from the nearest police station in the form of a jeep which took them to the nearest bus station and help them board a bus to their respective destination. At the destination both Gobindo and Arpita parted ways with the promise to keep in touch. They had exchanged their numbers. 

But few months passed and no one got in touch with each other. 

The results of the medical entrance was declared. This was followed by counselling of the successful candidates. The session for the first term was now in progress. The candidates strolled in to their respective colleges. 

At the end of first session of the first day of the lectures when the class dispersed for lunch break, then both Gobindo and Arpita bumped against each other. They were pleasantly surprised to find each other get admission at the same college. Then there was endless talk and gossip between them. Now there was no uneasiness between them and they felt that they knew each other since ages. It goes without saying that they were more than happy to see each other this way. They were rewarded with the good deed of their earlier meet.