Story#39 : Guilty
Anjali got onto the stage. It was the final day celebration of a well known arts college in Thrissur. Anjali is a famous social worker. She has touched lives of thousands of people through her social services. She was invited to give a speech as she is an alumni of the college. In the packed auditorium she took mic on her hand and started her speech..
“Good morning my friends. It is a special day for you. Today is the last day of your three year degree course. Some of you might have made plans for higher studies. Some of you might have accepted campus job offers and ready to join after the exams. I congratulate you for selecting your respective fields.
Today instead of giving a speech, I am going to tell you a story. This is an actual story which happened 10 years ago. There was a group of students doing their final year Bachelor degree in Commerce. In that group there were two close friends, Anjali and Nikitha. They were friends from school days and they both joined for graduation in the same college. Both were great at studies and also in extra curricular activities.
Both Anjali and Nikitha were the only children to their parents. Even though they were equal in almost everything they did, Nikitha was slightly ahead of Anjali, especially in studies. Throughout the school days and the college days, Nikitha always secured better grade or scores than Anjali. Anjali tried very hard to beat Nikitha at least once. Other than one occasion in 9th when Nikitha fell ill, Anjali could never secure higher score than Nikitha in any subject.
As it was the final year of graduation, Anjali knew that, the chance is now or never. She studied hard, but in the practice exams, she found that Nikitha is far ahead and she may end up in the top ten rank holders of the university. Anjali started devising ways to discourage Nikitha. That is when the opportunity knocked.
On the final day like this, a group of close friends, including Nikitha and Anjali decided to go for dinner after the gathering. Boys in the group demanded that, as it is the last day, they want to booze and they will join only if they go to a bar-attached-restaurant. As they knew each other well, girls agreed.
They reached a good hotel for their dinner and they started having food. They took photos of those great moments. Nikitha and Ajali also started taking photos and small video clips. Boys asked for beer and they started drinking. Then they offered the drink to girls. But the girls refused.
The boys insisted. The boys challenged girls saying, ‘You always ask for gender equality but you never had guts to even taste alcohol. You don’t have any self-control and you fear that, once you have it, you will end up being addicts. If you have guts, dare at least have dare to taste this.”
Girls looked at each other. Nikitha being the boldest in the group, took the beer bottle in her hands. Anjlai found her opportunity. She got up and attended her phone saying “My aunt is waving at me in Skype”. In that pretext she switched on the video and recorded a small video clip where Nikitha was consuming beer directly from the bottle and the friends around her were cheering. Nikitha took only a sip and returned the bottle saying “we have guts”. But, Anjali got it on the clip.
Anjali initially thought of deleting the clip. But, she kept it. But after seeing the results of the second practice exam (just a week before the final exam), Anjali was convinced that, she can never beat Nikitha. Then she decided to go for the kill. She forwarded the clip her friends with a caption “Unforgettable moments”.
And you know what happens after that. The clip went viral and within 2 days, it reached millions including parents, relatives and school authorities. The caption “Unforgettable moments” got changed to “Toady’s irresponsible drunkard girls” in uploaded many social media platforms. And Nikitha was painted as a drunkard by her relatives, local people and friends.
What Anjali planned had happened. Nikitha was depressed. Nikitha came for exams for the first 3 papers. But, she didn’t even attend the remaining 3 papers of the final exam. Nikitha sat at home with doors of her room shut.
Next day after the last exam, Anjali heard the news. Nikitha committed suicide by hanging in her room. When Anjali went to pay last rites to her friend, what surprised was the attitude of Nikitha’s parents. They said “It is better this way. Else, throughout our lives, she would have become a burden for us and our relatives”.
Police did an enquiry. But it was a clear case of non-sense. A girl took alcohol in a hotel during a party without thinking consequences and she suffered for it. The case was closed.
But that was the beginning of the story of Anjali. Guilty conscious started haunting her and Anjali became depressed. She tried to console herself that, it was Nikitha’s non-sense act which resulted in her destiny. But second part of her brain was not ready to accept that argument. It kept telling her, she is responsible.
Anjali was left with two choices. Either start behaving like a criminal who believes that, he/she has the right over other’s lives because others are not smart. Hence his/her acts are justified and nothing wrong in eliminating others standing in their way through whatever means available. The other option was to repent and do whatever possible to correct mistake.
Anjali was not born or raised with a criminal mindset. Hence she opted for the second. Graduation results came and Anjali was the topper in the college. That helped her to secure a good job. She met Nikitha’s parents and told them to consider her as their own daughter. She started giving 50% of her salary to Nikitha’s parents who were retired by that time.
In her own house, Anjali’s parents started searching for alliance for her. But she refused to marry. The guilt was haunting her and she knew, it will never leave her. After 6 years, Anjali opted for a social service job in Woman’s forum where she counselled young girls with depression problems.
Now see my friends, a momentary mistake put too many lives in trouble. Anjali is not happy and she will never be happy. Nikitha lost her life and her parents lost their only child. Anjali tried to be their daughter, but nothing can replace a real daughter and in the process, Anajlis’ parents were denied of the happiness of having a daughter. Everybody were unhappy.
So, never, never, ever do something stupid for the momentary gains. You just can’t handle the guilty feeling. It is not worth. And the Anjali in the story you just heard, is me”
Anjali stopped her speech.
Next day the students read the news in media “Anjali, who is a well known social worker is arrested for abetment of suicide of her friend which happened 10 years ago. The speech Anjali made in the college is considered as her confession of the crime and police has reopened the case”.
##################
[Do you like this story? Do you want to get notified when a new story is published ? Please click and like the Page “101 Stories” (You can search for it or click on this page icon].
If you are interested, you are welcome to join the short story group called “Everlasting Short Stories” and write your own stories or read stories from other authors]
Biju Vargheese (Pazhayedathu Paramban)
