This is the thirteenth part of the short story that I am writing in collaboration with other bloggers on Blogadda. Our team is 'Tete-a-ten'. You can read the previous parts here: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve.
Part 13
As Fanus and Dr Sneha entered Cyrus' room, he stood motionless for a while as he threw his gaze across the room. That room was where his Cyrus, his love, spent most of his time.
Dr Sneha and Fanus frantically searched across the room. Fanus booted Cyrus' laptop. It prompted a password. Fanus entered random numbers, alphabets but no could not get access. They upturned the pillows, bed covers, rummaged through the drawers, looked under Cyrus' bed- but found nothing. Cyrus' parents rushed upstairs to the cacophony created by the frantic search. “Arre! Dikra! “ yelled Mr Daruwalla. “What are you doing?” As they reached upstairs, Mrs Daruwalla expression read shock. She was very particular of keeping things in its place and neat and clean as possible. “Uncle, Aunty we need to search for something important!” Fanus tried to explain her calmly but instead raised his voice. After which he realised he should have refrained himself.
“Don't talk to my wife like that dikra!! First you barge in my home and then you talk to my wife this way” There was a anger and sadness in his tone.
Defeated Mr Daruwalla said “Come dear, our prayers can only get our Cryus back.” They left the room with anxiety on Mr Daruwalla's face.
After a good hour searching Cyrus' room and yielding nothing, Fanus and Dr. Sneha are about to give up hope in finding a clue; any clue understanding where Cryus disappeared. Dr.Sneha reclines on the beanbag in corner of the room and looks at Amitabh Bachchan poster near the study table.
The poster was from Amitabh Bachchan's Deewar movie. The iconic 1975 bollywood movie had Amitabh striking a pose in a red shirt and blue trousers.
Fanus followed Dr Sneha's gaze and now too was staring at the poster.
“Deewar. Such a popular ground breaking movie it is.”
“I've seen it once.” said Dr Sneha Phadnis who prefered Rajesh Khanna's romatic movies over Amitabh's action packed ones.
“I really liked the movie. Each and every bollywood movie for that matter. 3 and a half hours of pure masala magic. And this poster is what I gifted to Cyrus. He absolutely loved this movie. Typical angry young man Amitabh.”
It was no secret Fanus and Cyrus shared their love for movies.
“This was a blockbuster. I think it won a Filmfare. Their dialogue “Mere paas Maa hai” was iconic.” reminisced Dr Sneha Phadnis.
She continued “Cyrus loved Amitabh's movies. He once went on talking about dearth of good actors in Bollywood. He was of the opinion that Amitabh Bachchan was vastly under utilized as an actor.”
'Wait a minute” It dawned upon her. “Cyrus had this blog on movies, right?” she said rhetorically as she got up from the bean bag chair.
“Why Yes!” Fanus smacked himself as to why it didnt occur to him earlier. “Cyrus even maintained a blog called 'MovieRus by Cyrus' which was about movie reviews. Cyrus would blog about how he would remake the same movies differently.
Fanus rushed and grabbed his phone and logged onto google.com. He google MovieRus by Cyrus and clicked the link.
He continued “It was a brilliant idea. He was a big fan of Bachchan. Why, he even had a special section dedicated for only Amitabh movies.” Fanus clicked on the tab for 'BigB : Real Badshaah of Bollywood'
Fanus and Dr. Sneha Phadnis skimmed through the blog. Cyrus had maintained it immaculately and designed it with bright colours akin to a Bollywood movie poster. Cryus' passion for the starry life of Bollywood displayed in the way he talked about movies. He was passionate about it. His passion for bollywood dripped with every word he spoke on BigB's movies. He had a well researched opinion on Bollywood. Why, he even had penned original storylines for movies. Though those were not to be seen by all on the blog, but locked in his head. One would wonder why he took up the profession of law – in stark contrast to the colourful, glamourous and glitzy world of Bollywood.
Dr. Sneha had earlier pondered on the thought. Cyrus' should've gone to Film school instead of Law School.
“Cyrus once told me how boring law school was. He really wanted to go to film school and learn filmmaking. Once revealed his dream. His dream was, one day, to direct Amitabh in his own film. Director Cyrus Daruwalla.” she smiled as she said it.
There it was. The clue. Staring right at them. Dr Sneha said triumphantly “Could he have gone to Mumbai to meet Amitabh Bachchan?”
Fanus and Dr. Sneha look at each other, the triumphant look on their faces now fading to an anxious one. Mumbai. The city that never sleeps. Mayanagari.
Now Fanus is worried. Searching Cyrus in Delhi, is easier than searching him in Mumbai. An unknown city with unknown people.
“OK. If Cyrus is in Mumbai. “ gulped Fanus nervously. “How in the hell would we find him?” Fanus was starting to lose it. He was losing his composure and was now on the brink of paniking.
Sensing Fanus' tone, Dr Sneha spoke calmly “We will find Cyrus. We will. First, let's face it we need tell people Cyrus is lost. And we need help. So if they find anything about Cyrus they need to contact us as soon as possible.”
With a new sense of determination, Fanus said “ Let's put it up on social networking sites. Facebook, Twitter, his blog. Everywhere.”
Without wasting precious moments, Fanus logs onto his Facebook profile and posts a status : with Cyrus' picture 'MISSING – Cyrus Daruwalla. Fair, wears black rimmed spectacles, 5'11'' Usually dressed in a Jeans and T-Shirt. PLEASE help me find my friend. If you have any info please contact Fanus 91XXXXXXXX '
He then logs onto Twitter. Twitter did not give you the liberty to write to your heart's content. Fanus condensed the post to a 160 character tweet and linked the post to his facebook post.
“Pls RT. My frnd is MISSING. #HELP bit.ly/fb.cyrus”
He posted the same Facebook post message on Cyrus' blog.
He hoped and prayed for it to be discovered by someone who could give them some critical information on Cyrus.
“Arre bhai zara dekh ke chalo!” yelled a guy in a crowded market in Delhi.
Cyrus was taken aback by the voice. He then realised he was wandering aimlessly in the streets of Delhi. Delhi, the city he belonged to was now knowingly unknown.
He flags down an autorickshaw and mumbles “Dilli railway station chalo”. The ride was no longer than twenty minutes amidst heavy vehicular traffic.
Delhi's Nizamuddin station is packed at any time of the day. Cyrus reaches the Nizamuddin station with thoughts of fulfilling his dream to direct Amitabh.
As luck may have it, he hears the announcement for a Mumbai bound train ready to leave any minute. He rushed to the platform and boards the train in unreserved compartment of the train. Just making it in time as the train pulls away, Cryus' is reminded of the train scene of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
