<
The
countdown had begun…
THIRTY
“Dalvi’s death was tragic and it can rightly be called an accident,
considering how drunk he was,” Kalsi’s words echoed on national
television.
“Okay, tragic and accident, agreed but where is the whole
accountability of the school here? What about a certain Physics
teacher who assaulted Siddh
ant?” Chandra raised a question.
“Who? Which Physics teacher are you talking about? I think at this
point of
time it’s better not to allege
things at random persons. If
they are certain people who are involved in this case their names
should be taken clearly,” she said in slow motion.
“There had been reports of an incident in the Commerce section
relating to Mr. Suraj Singh ass
aulting Siddhant,” said Chandra.
“Suraj Singh is an honourable person and I refute all these
allegations, they are baseless…”
“That’s not true,” Rishav shou
ted as his echoed in the studio,
loudly enough.
Chandra glanced at the
boy sitting in front. Trying not to show his
irritation in his voice, he
looked at him and
said
, “
Audience, be
informed that you shall get your chance to speak later.”
“I think it is important at this point of time for him to speak since
it is directly related to what has been just said by the eminent
Principal of DHS,
”
Vanya said with contempt in her voice.
“Thank you
,
Vanya,
” Rishav said, getting up from his seat and walking
towards the brightly lit stage.
The earpiece in Chandra’s ear, gave him all sorts of instructions,
which he wasn’t really following. Some spot boys tried to politely
ref
use Rishav entry onto the stage.
“Please let him come
,
”
Chandra said, as he heard his producer tell him
to invite the boy on stage and let him speak. It would just heat up
things and increase their TRPs.
Kalsi’s throat had gone dry. Had she known that he would become such a
pain in the ass, she would’ve rusticated him long time ago.
“Get the boy up here, let us hear what he has to say,” Mr. D’Souza
said politely.
The cameras were still rolling when Vikki Chandra directed the
assistants to plug up Rishav as fast as they could. “We’ll get into a
quick commercial break now,” he said. “And when we are back, we shall
have Rishav Sen talk about Siddhant Dalvi.”
/div>
“We’ll go off air in one two three..!” said the producer as they went off air.
D’Souza, Singhal and Madhuri went into a small discussion as Kalsi
used the opportunity to wipe the smeared
kajal
off her face. Vikki
Chandra smartly walked up to Rishav who was getting the microphone
installed. “Kid, you might not want to do that. It kills the program,”
he said.
“I am really sorry, Sir. I had no intention of disrupting your program
but she was outright lying about my friend’s death. He was my best
friend,
” Rishav asked.
“I’m really sorry for your loss but we are also here for your
friend.”
Chandra said with his hand on Rishav’s back.
“Yes, sir. It won’t happen again. So do I get to speak what I want?”
“The moment we are back on air.”
“Thank you, sir. I am a huge fan. Sir, can I ask for a favor?”
Chandra laughed, “Yeah, sure.”
“
My friend Vanya saw Siddhant being
ragged. I think it would be really good for the show if you have a
witness,” Rishav said.
Chandra nodded, “O
f co
urse. I’ll talk to the producer.” H
e said and
walked towards the assistant producer.
‘Back in 120 seconds’ – the large screen read. The producer and his
assistants started calling everyone back to their places.
“All the best,” Chandra gave a parting comment to both Vanya and
Rishav after they had been
plugged in.
“Thanks,
”
T
hey said in unison.
They were back on air.
“Right before the break, we had little drama as Siddhant’s best
friend, Rishav made his way to the stage. He has some really
scathing remarks.
But
before we tread that part, let me ask you Mrs. Singhal, are you really
satisfied with what you see of the school right now? The very school
you took to greatness?”
Singhal looked at the camera with a straight face, “Honestly speaking,
no. I am highly disappointed of what I see today. Like over-emphasis
on music events and shaking off all responsibility and accountability
is not something I’d promote. It sets precedence and it acts as a
deterrent for growth of schools in the society.”
“Point well noted. Dr. Singh, assuming the allegations against Suraj
Singh are true, how would you dissect the man and his actions?”
“Let me point this out Vikki, that I regret and condemn Suraj’s
actions. Working with him closely has exposed to me the rogue nature
of his character. C’mon, having connections with X, Y, Z political
parties shouldn’t be criteria for holding on to your jobs…”
Kalsi butted in, “With all due respect Dr. Singh, you have no right to
make such comments that have no proof.”
“Bindu, I have every right to point these out. I have been part of
that institution and I feel ashamed of the fact that I was. And Suraj
Singh’s political affiliations are not secrets of the Incas.”
“Can I say something?” Rishav asked.
“Yes, Rishav, we’ll come to you in just a second. Mrs. Kalsi, you have
a chance to respond to that before we move to Mrs. Singhal and then
Rishav.”
“See, Vikki. I don’t want to get into denying these baseless
allegations. If at all there were issues with Suraj, someone would
have pointed it by now.”
“No they won’t,” shouted Rishav. “That’s the whole point, don’t you
see? They are scared. They don’t want to get involved in something as
murky as this.”
Kalsi shook her head vehemently, “No No.”
Singhal butt in, “I complete concur with what Rishav has to say.
During my stay as the Principal, I had judged the amount of fear
students had for Suraj Singh.”
Kalsi rebutted, “Meena dear, Suraj was appointed under your regime. If
you so doubted his character, why did you do it in the first place?”
“We are digressing from the issue slightly,” said Chandra. “The point
here is whether Suraj Singh was to blame or not. No-one is going into
the deeper understandings of his character and if at all Suraj Singh
was to be blamed, where is the proof?”
“We have proof right here, sir,” Rishav said with a sarcastic smile on
his face.
“Vanya, would you like to say something?”
“Yes of course, Rishav,”
Vanya said sweetly.
“
I am in the Commerce
section of 11th grade and on
November 29th, Mr. Suraj
Singh came as the
substitution teacher. He assaulted Siddhanth Dalvi right in fron
t
of my
eyes and twenty others.
I think there is no more of proof required to
prove that indeed Mr. Suraj Singh, the physics HOD, had committed a
heinous offence of ragging and humiliating a student.”
If one were to say that Kalsi was humiliated, it would’ve been the
understatement of the century.
“Is the silence worth a thousand words, Mrs. Kalsi?” asked Chandra.
“Moving on, Mrs. Singhal, being an educationist, can you delve into
the mind of this teenager?”
“As Rishav said, Siddhant Dalvi was an introvert. He kept to himself
and he had a lot of acceptance issues. Why not rake the issue of
alcoholism in today’s youth? Had he not been pressured by his peer’s
to take up drinking that fateful day, Dalvi might have lived. Where is
the role of the schools here? Why is alcohol available in the hostel?”
“Mrs. Kalsi, you’d want to respond to that?”
“Those photographs had been doctored,” she said bluntly, shaking nonetheless.
“Doctored you say, okay then what about the statements of senior