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The Lonely Man

The Lonely Man
The Lonely Man 

A few yards away from the Chowrasta crossing, in front of the tea stall there, sits a man in his late fifties. He sits there every day of every week, from 6-7:45 PM. Then he departs. To this date, nobody has ever bothered to learn his identity, or the reason for his sitting there.

The man is Sankar Debnath. He owns a decrepit old music store in Khidderpore. He has devoted his entire life to fixing sitars, guitars, and rebuilding the business started by his great-grandfather. However, times were slow, and business wasn't really as good as it could be. 

On that day, at precisely 7 :45, Sankar got up, and waited for the bus. He soon saw a bus, and boarded it. 

On the bus, he looked for a window seat towards the back, where he could sit all alone. He found one at the very back.  

In the midst of the hustle and bustle in the bus, Sankar was sitting there all alone. Slowly, he took out a photo from his shirt pocket. He looked at it and wiped a tear from his eye. 

The photo was that of his childhood friend, Amar. Sankar and Amar had promised that, no matter what happened, they would meet at that very tea stall at Chowrasta, everyday. 

Six years ago, they had met as usual and were discussing about their lives. Sankar asked Amar to wait for a minute while he went and bought a newspaper from the stall across the street. 

When he picked up the newspaper, the headlines read "Traffic accident at Chowrasta, 2 dead, 3 injured. The article read "Last night, a bus being driven by a drunken driver crashed into another bus. Luckily, most of the passengers escaped with minor injuries. But three of the passengers were severely injured, and had to be taken to a nearby hospital. They are being taken care of and are well on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, two people died on the spot before they could be taken to a hospital. Among the dead are Suman Singh, Amar Nath... Dumbfounded, Sankar looked up from his newspaper and looked across the street. Amar looked into his eyes, and smiled, and was engulfed by the crowd. 

Tears tumbled down Sankar's eyes. There seemed to be no end to his grief. There was nothing in the World that could give him solace. So, he still waits at the tea stall at the Chowrasta crossing daily, hoping to catch a glimpse of his friend once again.

The Lonely Man
The Lonely Man 

The Lonely Man
The Lonely Man 

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