Chapter 7
Dhiru was a much more experienced driver than Kaul would have been. He drove faster and was much more alert. “The weather is getting bad, Saab”, he could see black clouds over them; the result could be a hailstorm. “Hmm, two more hours to Kimpri?” enquired Nathan. “Yes, Saab.” It was half past one in the afternoon. “We should be there by three thirty or four, I guess.”
Half an hour later the sky was overcast with cumulo nimbus clouds. The snowfall, if any, was going to be heavy. As their jeep sped past a large clearing, Dhiru spotted a white gypsy parked on the edge of the clearing around a blind curve. “Hey” he exclaimed. Dhiru deftly applied the brakes and Nathan rolled the window glass down. Dhiru had not anticipated that someone would park a vehicle in such a way in such a small place.“That gypsy is from Delhi”. Nathan said and got down . Dhiru applied the handbrake, left the keys in the ignition and got off. They approached the gypsy in a sense of urgency. “What kind of fool could this be? To park a vehicle in this place in this kind of weather?” Nathan mouthed his own thoughts to Dhiru. Dhiru kept silent. As they approached the gypsy they could see that there was no one in it. The gypsy had its back towards them. Nathan checked the doors, they were locked. There were some marks on the windshield. It looked as if someone had pasted a kind of note on the windshield with four diagonal pieces of scotch tape at its corners. All that remained now were the corners of the paper and the body of it was gone. “It seems someone deliberately tore of the page. But if he intended to tear it off, he would not write a note in the first place” said Nathan. “The person who tore it off may not be the person who wrote it initially…”
“Hello” shouted Nathan. From where he stood, his words came back to him as an echo. Nathan signaled Dhiru to go to the jeep. Dhiru went to his jeep, opened the door and honked the horn, first in short blasts and then one long blast. Nothing. Dhiru looked at Nathan and awaited further orders. Nathan came back to his jeep and both of them sat inside.
“These kids were coming from Delhi via Rampur, in a white gypsy too.” said Nathan.
“Saab, I think there was some problem with their gypsy and then they parked it here. Since there is no service station nearby, they probably hitch hiked another vehicle or maybe even the mail van to Kimpri. I am sure they have reached the village by now.”
That sounded like a plausible explanation to Nathan, and he had thought of it too, but he was worried.
“You know how these village kids are, Saab. Your students must have left a note on the windshield and these shepherd boys must have torn it off, just for fun.” Dhiru reassured Nathan after seeing the worried look on his face.
“Yes, I hope you are right” said Nathan. It was exactly two thirty by his watch. “Try to reach Kimpri by four Dhiru” he told Dhiru. They continued their journey to Kimpri and a light snowfall had started.