My first attempt at a short story

Hello everybody! Am back after a long gap. This time am deviating from my standard brand of humour. Below is the first chapter of my first short story. Read on and don't forget to let me know if you are interested in reading the next chapter!

Chapter 1

Neetu sighed and got back to her desk and silently uttered few of her choicest swear words. That’s all she could do of course. It was going to be late again today like yesterday and the day before yesterday and week before that. Sometimes Neetu wondered whether taking up this job was the right thing to do or to follow her dream, the dream which slipped into oblivion. She turned to her laptop and saw numerous gtalk windows blinking urging her to reply. Again Neetu wondered when was the last time she met her friends she was chatting with. ‘Wondering will not enable me to leave early’ she thought and grudgingly began the work ‘delegated’ by her manager.

“What happened Neetu?” Her next-cubicle-colleague Priti asked. Neetu turned and realized how her sullen face would look and immediately tried to look cheerful. It was pathetic attempt.
“Nothing much, same old story! Kalpesh …. that…..” Priti closed her ears and waited for the expletives to complete. “He wants me to do his work again” Neetu concluded.
“Hard luck again Neetu. See you tomorrow, am leaving now….bubye” Priti said packing her things. Neetu masking her annoyance bade her good bye with a smile and got back to staring at her laptop like a matador staring at the bull. With one more sigh she got back to work. At exactly 7 o clock her mobile phone started ringing and ‘Dad’ appeared on its screen. For a moment Neetu intended to miss the call and continue working. If she missed the call, her father would call again. If that call went unanswered, he would then call her company and if that call went unanswered some of her colleagues would get a call.
“Hello” she said trying to sound cheerful.
“Hello Neetu, where are you? Still at office? Are you going to be late?” Her father asked. “Book a taxi, don’t come by autorikshaw. It’s dangerous at this time of night.”
“Okay dad.”
“Do book a taxi, if you are too busy I can do it. Shall I book it at 7.30”
“Dad, I have lots of work, I will book a taxi once I am done with this work” Neetu said with an edge of irritation entering her voice. She tried her best to remain cool when talking to her dad even though her father usually ignored when Neetu lost her control.
“When will your work be completed” Her father asked unaffected
“No idea dad, may be after one hour or three hours” She lied
“Three hours?” Her father asked as if scandalized. “I will come and pick up, in that case”
“No need dad, I can come home by myself”
“Its going to be 10 by the time you leave. I will come and pick you up” Her father said in the same unhurried manner which did not do much good to Neetu’s temper.
“Dad, I will come once the work is done and I am going to come alone. You need not come” She said and disconnected the call without waiting for her father’s reply.
No sooner she disconnected call than she realized her mistake. She started to dial her home to apologize when she heard a voice beside her.
“Neetu, what is the progress?” Her manager Kalpesh asked with an air of indifference. Neetu somewhere detected a hint of ridicule. He might have heard the last piece of conversation Neetu thought.
“Just some loose ends left Kalpesh”
“Complete it and mail me the results. I am leaving now. See you tomorrow.” He said and started towards the door. He turned back when he was at the door and said with a tinge of condescension. “Book a Taxi if it gets late. It is dangerous for girls after 8 pm”.

Neetu gritted her teeth with frustration and looked menacingly at his back. If looks could kill … or at least hurt she thought. She now felt like the unlucky bull about to be terminated by the matador. With rising anger and aggravating annoyance she continued her work. At 8:30 pm she completed her work and mailed the results to her manager. She packed her things and left the office. She was angry at father for treating her like a kid who couldn’t take care of itself. She was angry at her boss who was coldhearted. She was angry at herself to have lost control. Chafing she decided she would take an autorikshaw to home today.

She came out of her office building and stood waiting near the old bus stop outside the building. There was not much light around, the only illumination provided by vehicles head lights and far off street lamps. Only one person was at the bus stop, apparently waiting for an autorikshaw too. After couple of minutes of waiting, Neetu realized her foolishness and was in two minds whether to go back to office and book a cab or call her dad, when a three wheeler came around and stopped near the other person who looked like a school boy with his back pack. Neetu could see the driver shaking his head moved ahead towards Neetu.
“Hanumantha Nagar” She told when the vehicle stopped near her
The driver accelerated his vehicle not even bothering to reply. Neetu sighed and looked expectantly at the empty road ahead. She saw the school boy looking at her but turned back ahead the moment she saw him. Neetu knew she was an attractive girl. Boys at her college ogled at her and male colleagues usually spared her a glance when they passed her cubicle or when they had lunch at the cafeteria. Her thoughts were disrupted when one more three wheeler trudged towards them. It halted near the school boy for a few seconds and moved towards Neetu
“Hanumantha Nagar” She repeated
“One fifty rupees madam” Said the driver
“Why one fifty? The fare is only eighty to Hanumantha Nagar” Retorted Neetu a little loudly than she wanted to.
“One fifty madam” the driver repeated and took off when Neetu was silent contemplating few rude words.
Neetu directly looked at the school boy ahead who was smiling sympathetically. Neetu glared at him and his smile disappeared instantly.

Twenty minutes passed along with ten more autoriskshaws but none of them ready to go to her neighbourhood. The schoolboy never looked back once after Neetu’s glare. It made her unhappy, why she couldn’t understand though. The day at office was making her snappy first at her father and now at the kid who was trying to be good to her. Her father would be concerned now, pacing the hall, getting restless and bickering with her mother on the smallest of issues. Neetu’s mother took everything in her stride and was rarely affected by her father’s nervousness but even she lost her cool sometimes. The way things were going today she was sure her mother will go berserk.

The eleventh autorikshaw stopped near the school boy, like a ritual thought Neetu. Expecting the same, she readied herself for another ‘no madam’ when the schoolboy got into the vehicle. She cursed silently. She should have gone ahead of the school boy and hired the autorikshaw first. To her surprise the vehicle stopped and a voice asked from inside the autorishaw.
“I am going to Banshankari third stage. In case you need to go any place on the way, I can drop you.”
Banshankari third stage was one km from her place. Neetu stood there unable to decide whether to go with this stranger school boy who sounded more like an adult than a school boy.
“I am not going to eat you, you know” he said popping his head out of the vehicle.


Neetu’s father paced up and down the hall. His wife sat nonchalantly on the sofa reading one of her magazines. He wished he could be like her, but try as he might he could not. Neetu was late again. He always worried if anything untoward would happen to his daughter. The nights in Bangalore were not safe anymore, what with one incident after the other. He wanted to call her again to ask if she started or is she on her way. But he couldn’t.

He couldn’t totally understand why his daughter would be irritated with him when all he wanted was to see daughter safe back home. He supposed the work pressure at office made her talk like that and couldn’t blame her for that, though she was getting annoyed very easily these days.

“Can you call Neetu and ask her where is she?” He said turning towards her wife.
“This is the third time you have asked me. She will start when she is done with her work, she is not a child anymore and she is not the only girl who works late and comes late, there are thousands of them in Bangalore. She will be alright, lets have dinner.”

He acquiesced and strode into the dining room where dinner was arranged on the table and the food had become a tad cold. As was usual when they had dinner without Neetu, not many words were spoken; each occupied with his/her thoughts. He almost asked his wife to call Neetu again but thought better of it when the phone started to ring.


Neetu’s mother watched her husband pace up and down the hall. Neetu came late three out of five days in a week and every time Neetu was late her husband got restless. Why he was so worried she could not fathom. She continued reading the short story in the magazine, but was aware that some time soon her husband would ask her to call Neetu. She was prepared with her answer. Of course it wasn’t a novel answer; she had calmed her husband before with the same answer before only in different words and sometimes in different languages.

The question came eventually and she gave the standard reply. They had dinner together devoid of any talk. She hesitated to start any conversation with him because she knew her husband would end up trying to persuade her to call Neetu. Neetu was matured beyond her years and a good head on her shoulders. Neetu’s mother could see her daughter’s work was taking toll on her daughter. She was frostier these days than forthright. May be, Neetu’s mother thought, it was time to talk about it and take a decision when the phone started to ring.


Ravi was alone at the bus stop. He was waiting for an autorikshaw since fifteen minutes and none seem to like his place of residence. The last one said it was too far and he wouldn’t get any return fare from there. The next one just moved ahead without even replying and stopped a little ahead. He turned optimistically to see if the driver had changed his mind but what he saw was a girl talking to the driver who pushed off without answering her. He heard another autorikshaw coming and turned back to stop the vehicle.

This fellow asked double the normal fare which Ravi was tempted to accept but in the end decided to wait and asked the fellow to carry on. The vehicle moved on and halted near girl. The girl seemed to be enraged by the fare quoted by the driver and shouted at him. Ravi tried one his best smile hoping to placate her, but her look (which was amplified by headlights of an oncoming truck) made him flinch. After ten more vehicles and not one look behind one autorikshaw took pity of him and agreed to go to his locality. When Ravi saw the girl still standing waiting for an auto, he asked the driver to stop and asked her
“I am going to Banshankari third stage. In case you need to go any place on the way, I can drop you.”
No reply came, so he craned his neck out and saw her wearing an apprehensive look.
“I am not going to eat you, you know” he said.