sonu kumar
Posted On: 09-04-2019
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Half Girlfriend

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Thirty Six

After Chetan Bhagat left, I remained in Patna for a while. I met as
many people as I could from Riya’s past.
First, I went to her old office.
‘She resigned but did not tell us her plans,’ Mohini, her ex-
colleague at Nestle, told me.
‘Did she seem sick?’
‘Not really,’ Mohini said.
I visited East India Travels, the agency Nestle’s staff used.
‘You remember Riya Somani? She worked at Nestles Patna office
two years ago,’ I said.
‘Pretty girl?’ said Ajay, the young agent at the travel agency.
‘Extremely pretty,’ I corrected him.
‘Madam did use this agency. Her father had become quite sick.
Round trip to Delhi, right?’ Ajay said.
‘Yes, anything after that?’ I said.
Ajay pounded his keyboard. He shook his head a couple of times.
‘Anything?’
‘Trying,’ Ajay said and spoke after a minute.‘I have something. She
took another flight to Delhi. One way. On 17 April 2009.’
I checked the screen. She had flown out the same day as the Bill
Gates talk.
I went to the car-hire company. However, they didn’t maintain old
records so they had no idea.
I went to Kotak Mahindra Bank, where Riya had her salary
credited. I met Roshan Joshi, the branch manager.
‘Client information is confidential,’ he said.
‘She disappeared. I’m trying to find her.’
‘Is she missing? Do you have a police report? We could help then.’
‘She went on her own.’
‘Sir, how can I reveal someone’s bank account information?’
I hated doing this, but I called MLA Ojha from the branchmanager’s office. Ojha loved to do favours so he could ask for one in
return later. He asked the Patna city MLA to give Roshan a call.
Five minutes later, I had Riya’s accounts.
'Sorry, I didn’t know you knew our MLA, sir...’ Roshan said.
I scanned her statements. On 14 April, Riya had withdrawn the
entire balance of three-and-a-half lakhs. The transaction had ‘FX’
written next to it.
‘What is FX?’ I said.
Roshan looked at the account statement.
‘It’s foreign exchange conversion. She has withdrawn the funds in
another currency.’
‘Which currency?’
‘US dollars.’
‘To travel to the US?’ I said.The lamp of hope flickered in me.
‘We don’t know. Indians often take US dollars to whichever
country they are visiting, and change it there.’
‘She has travelled abroad. Right?’
‘That’s likely.’
I left the bank and called Ajay at East India Travels.
‘Ajay, Madhav Jha here. I need to book a flight to Delhi, please.’
*
‘Ah, lucky, lucky girl,’ Samantha said.
‘Is she?’ I said.‘Married at nineteen. Divorced at twenty’
Samantha and I sat in the American Diner at the India Habitat
Centre in Delhi. She swirled the straw in her orange juice as I told her
Riya’s story.
‘That is indeed tragic,’ she said.‘However, she is lucky to have you
love her so much.’
I smiled.
‘Madhav, most girls would kill for a lover like you. I would,’
Samantha said.
‘Thanks,’ I said.
She took a deep breath. The waiter came with out food—a chickenburger and a large order of French fries.
‘Anyway, so what can I do for you?’ Samantha said, a fry in one
hand.
‘I have to find her. Nobody seems to know where she is.’
‘That’s not a great place to start. Any clues?’
‘I have a hunch.’
‘Like an intuition?’
‘Well, a guess. A decent calculated guess. She could be in New
York.’
‘Oh, really? That’s my city.’
‘I’m not sure. I have to first confirm it is the US.’
‘How?’
‘The US consulate. I need to find out if they issued a visa to Riya
Somani. Do you have contacts there, through your American circle in
Delhi?’
‘I do. But that sort of stuff is confidential.’
‘I don’t need details. I just need to know if they issued a visa to her
and when.’
‘It’s...difficult.’
‘That’s why I’ve come to you.’
She finished every single fry as she considered my request. She
took out her phone and flipped through the contacts list.
‘There’s Angela at the US consulate. We hang out sometimes. I
can’t promise anything.’
‘That’s fine. Whatever is possible.’
*
‘The best rural school in Bihar. That is super news, Madhav. You
have any documents to show that the CM said that?’ Michael Young,
the CEO of Gates Foundation India, said.
I sat in his sunny office. It had a view of the trees on Lodhi Road.
Over the last two years, I had interacted with Michael on several
occasions, and received delegations on his behalf to my school, 'I have
local newspaper articles. I can send you scanned copies,’ 1 said.‘That would be wonderful. Little me will look good to my bosses
in New York,’ Michael said and winked at me. Americans can make
you feel you are their best friend in the whole world, ‘I need a favour,
Michael,’ I said.
‘Sure.’
‘I need to be in New York for a while. Can the foundation give me
a job, an internship, anything for a few months?’
Michael raised his eyebrows. ‘Really?’
‘Yes. I will go anyway. However, it will help if I have a base there
and some income to survive.’
‘Bihar to New York. Is everything okay? You seemed so passionate
about your school.’
‘I am. I need to look for someone in New York. That’s all. Of
course, an internship would be a great experience.’
Michael tugged at his lower lip.
‘Well, I will put you in touch with people in the US,’ Michael
said,‘and put in a word, too.’
‘Thanks, Michael,’ I said and shook his hand.
‘No problem. Don’t forget to send me the scanned articles,’ he said.
*
‘The things you make me do,’ Samantha said. She passed me a
sheet of paper. It was early in the morning in Lodi Gardens, next to her
office. Brisk morning walkers strode past us.
I looked at the sheet. It was a copy of a US visa.
‘She applied, and the consulate granted her a visa on 5 April.’
‘Thanks, Samantha.’
‘My friend could get into a lot of trouble for this.’
‘I owe you,’ I said.
She looked at me with her deep grey eyes.
‘No, you don’t. Hope this is helpful.’
‘It tells me my hunch could be right.’
‘But it doesn’t say which city in the US. Or if she went at all.’
‘New York. She always wanted to go there.’‘Ah, no wonder Michael said you have applied for an internship
there.’

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