The shock of monstrous waves stormed through her mother’s body.
“What are you saying, Nandita?” she cried. “Oh please Dear God, tell me I didn’t hear right, tell me you’re at the door, that I’ll see you any moment.”She started to cry and Nandita swallowed hard not to break down, not to let the icy fingers of fear overcome her.
“Mom,” she called, “Mom, please, you can’t break down. You have to stay strong to find me.”
“How did this happen, my child? Oh God—“
“Mom, listen to me carefully,” Nandita said between gasps of breath, “I’m not getting much air and I can barely move, every second is precious. I want you to record everything I say and take it to the police.”
She related everything from the moment she got in the car with Dravid to when Brian beat her into unconsciousness.
“I don’t know what happened to Dravid, mom. Talk to the police to find him too. Please hurry, I can’t die here, I can’t die.” she said, her voice fading away.
“Dear Lord Krishna,” her mother prayed as she hurried to the police station, “Please keep my daughter alive until I find her.”
At the station, detectives were called in to listen to the phone recording as the tearful mother battled to stay calm and controlled.
“A report of this accident on the highway was sent to us a short while ago,” one of the detectives said. “We have to talk with your daughter now.”
Nandita’s mother dialled her phone and she answered immediately, “Mom!.”
“The detective wants to talk to you, baby.”
“How are you doing, miss?” the detective asked her.
“Not good, sir.” she answered tearfully.
“Try to stay calm. We need all the information you can give us to find you,” he said, with an urgency in his voice.
As the detectives questioned her, Nandita recounted the drive, the snackette she and Dravid had stopped by, the roadside bar, Brian had bought the beers and the number of sharp turns he had taken along the highway.
“You’ve done great,” he said, impressed with her for the precise details, “That has given us an idea of the area you could be. Now tell us when he drove away after hitting the man, did he turn right or left?”
She thought for a moment then answered, “He turned left.”
“Can you remember anything else?”
“No,” she said, a little sob escaping her lips.
“That’s okay miss. We’ll work with what you have given us. Now describe what is around you.”
She paused a little as she gasped for air. “I feel rocks around and about me in a small space.”
“Then you must be confined in a small cave. A team from the location you’ve described will be now dispatched to start searching the area whilst we pick up the boys for questioning.”
“Sir, you cannot mention I’m alive and have contacted the police,” she continued, “They can send someone to finish me.”
“Don’t worry, the detective reassured her, “We know what to do.”
Detectives picked up Brian and his friend in no time at a bar, investigations revealing they were with the girl and speeding up the highway. What was shocking was that they had dumped Dravid’s body on the roadway where he could be found and he was now lying in the ICU at the hospital, suffering from a concussion to his head.
The mysteries of fate as tragedy intruded in the lives of two young innocent people whose intelligent minds could make great impact in the scientific world. Now their survival was balanced precariously on the threshold of life and death.
Two young men’s confessions could have shifted the balance for Nandita but Brian and his friend maintained their innocence of any wrong-doing, even after intense questioning, but the police had enough to detain them as the investigations continued. Brian’s parents were adamant their son was telling the truth, that Dravid had dropped him and his friend off at a roadside bar and someone else along the highway must have hijacked his car. The detectives were careful not to let out any information on the phone recording because with the money and contacts Brian’s family had, a leak could endanger the life the girl was clinging on to.
So the story of the missing girl was not given to the media that night as police units searched desolate rock areas along the highway hoping to find her before morning.
The police found the area where Brian had turned off the road and a piece of the girl’s torn clothing but there was no more indication she was anywhere there.
“They must have taken me somewhere else,” Nandita concluded, “Lord,” she prayed, “I need you now, more than any other time in my life. Please don’t let me die here.”
She closed her eyes, not knowing that a lone star had peeped out from the sky as she lay in the dark, silent cave, waiting.
The detectives continued to talk to her as their search continued. “Units are spread along the highway,” she was reassured, “Now, I want you to listen carefully and tell us what you hear around you, anything.”
There was silence for a while then she said: “I can hear heavy vehicles driving a distance away and I feel a slight shudder as they pass. There’s also a faint sound of music, Spanish music.”
“That’s got to be somewhere on the trail to the interior.” The detective said with confidence, “That’s where they probably dumped the car.”
“My phone battery is dying,” she said, fear now creeping in her voice, “and the air is becoming less. Let me talk to my mom, please.”
“Nandita,” her mom said, “We’ll find you, darling, please believe that.”
“I know, Mom, the Lord is with me. Look for something out of the ordinary that will guide you to me.”
“What are you saying?”
“I believe in divine help mom so do you. You will recognise it when you see it.”
It was part midnight, approaching the morning hour when the stars in the sky would be gone. The mother hadn’t yet seen anything strange but she didn’t lose hope, knowing whatever it was, it would show. As they approached the road to the interior, she saw a lone bright star, in the westerly direction, like a guiding light.
“Is this it?” she wondered. “Is this the divine help that will guide me to her?”
She dialled Nandita’s phone but there was no answer.
The phone battery had died!
The terrain way off the road was rough and the search parties, set off on foot in different directions. Heavy vehicles with fuel and goods drove by and faintly a distance away could be heard, Spanish music.
It was the right area.
“She’s here!” the mother cried overwhelmed with relief. “She’s here, somewhere.”
She followed the unit that was moving in the direction of the star and came to the end of a rocky hill. Below were scattered rocks of various sizes. It was not a long drop down and the police found footholds to climb down. The mother waited at the top, her anxiety like sharp needles prickling her skin, seeming to draw blood. For every minute that passed, more blood trickled until a voice shouted from below,
“We found her!”
The mother broke down, sinking on to her knees, her hands clasped to the Heavens.
“Thank you so much, Dear Lord.”
Nandita was barely alive when they brought her up, her clothes torn, her skin bruised and bloody.
“Mom,” she said as her mother, sobbing uncontrollably hugged her. “You found me.”
Not until she was in the special care of doctors, under Police protection and surrounded by family and friends, did the detective feel it was safe to give the media the story and the phone recordings, a story that hit the nation like a freak storm. The expressions of shock, dismay and anger flooded in from all levels of society as they gave support to this brave girl who stayed strong and held on to faith, to stay alive. Dravid rescued from his head injury and was taken overseas for further treatment after giving a damning testimony against his brother.
“It’s time to be brave,” he said, “to be a man.”
“I cannot stop blaming myself for what happened to you.” He had told Nandita at the hospital. “If I had been braver and stronger, I could have protected you, now all that will change.”
Nandita stayed at home, the place she felt safer, to recover mentally. Messages, cards and gifts continued to be sent to her home from well-wishers for her bravery. One gift from an overseas women’s group was an unexpected surprise.
It was a nice little car.
“So you don’t have to ride in anyone else’s car.” They said.
Nandita laughed, her heart filled with thanks, “This is so nice, thank you.”
In her private moments she offered her prayers to Lord Krishna. “Thank you Dear Lord. My faith in you won the battle to survive and to live for a new day.”
“Nandita!” A familiar voice interrupted, calling her name.
She looked out from the window and saw Dravid standing at the gate with a cute white teddy bear in his hand.
“Hi!” He called.
She smiled and ran downstairs to meet him.
A new day indeed.
Written By Maureen Rampertab