THE PHONE CALL
She thought of sleeping early and missing her late-night soaps. Having so many successive late nights was not good at her age. She was a day dreamer, so, her disobedient mind wandered here and there before she could coax it to calm down and sleep. A playful child even at the age of 59! She smiled and closed her eyes. The peaceful and quiet night was woken up by the loud ringing of her mobile phone which she had kept on the highest volume. In the zipped-up pocket of her bag in school, she could hear only a faint ring even at this volume. Now on recharge, it blared through the night and she rushed towards it. Panting and wondering as to who it could be, she said, 'Hello' , forgetting the etiquette of telling her identity. She heard ' Mil Gaya! Mil Gaya!' . she said hello again and now was greeted by an overtly excited voice ' Gill ma'am!?'. 'Yes', she said knowing it was one of her students, but who? She tried to recognize the voice and then the ...