In Absentia

Professor Kunal Thakur stepped off the metro, his eyes scanning the empty platform of what was supposed to be Munirka metro station. He checked the blue signboard again, confirming this was the right place. He had checked all the maps, multiple times. 

As he walked towards the taxi stand, he glanced at his watch for the third time in as many minutes - 3:45 PM. Just over an hour until his lecture at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. "Memorial Lecture" he reminded himself. He had come a long way. From an unknown college in a far flung area to be invited to give a memorial lecture - the weight of the prestigious occasion pressed down on him.

He spotted a lonesome autorickshaw driver just outside, waving at him with a smile. "How much for JNU?" Kunal asked the driver- his voice higher-pitched than usual. The smile on the driver's face vanished, and his expression turned as if he had just swallowed an insect. 

"There's no such place." the driver replied with a seriousness that would've convinced Kunal that he was telling the truth any other day. 

"What nonsense! If you don't want to go, you can just say so. No one is force-". Before Kunal could finish his sentence, the driver started his vehicle and drove away, leaving Kunal confused and irritated. Not finding any other autorickshaw nearby, Kunal decided he'll walk the 2 or so kilometers to the place himself. He picked out his phone to check google maps, but saw that his internet connectivity was low. "Shit. Every bad thing was supposed to happen today",He thought to himself as he walked towards the general direction away from the metro station.

"Excuse me, sir, could you tell me the way to Jawaharlal Nehru University?" he asked an elderly man, making sure not to use any acronyms to confuse the locals. The man instead looked at him as if he'd spoken in a foreign tongue. 

"University? Best not talk about such things" the man muttered, shuffling away quickly. He walked away with an un-natural pace as if he will break into a run anytime, leaving Kunal totally flabbergasted. 

"What the hell does that even mean?" he shouted, but the man had already gone too far away from him.

Kunal's frustration grew as he checked his watch again. 4:30 PM. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Determined, he approached a group of young students, certain they would know. "Excuse me, do you know how to get to Jawaharlal Nehru University?"

"Are you trying to get us in trouble?" one of them whispered, looking around nervously as another student pulled his arm as if forcibly trying to take him away from Kunal.

"There's no such place," another said before they all left.

Panic began to set in. Sweat dripped from Kunal's forehead as he quickened his pace, desperately scanning the streets for any sign of the university. There were none. His eyes landed on a policeman just standing in a corner, intently looking at him. The policeman's face was dark and his expressions had a mark of annoyance. But Kunal had a lecture to give, so he approached the policeman, hoping for some authoritative guidance.

"Officer, can you help me? I am looking for the Jawaharlal Nehru University!", Kunal nearly  screamed. 

"What?" the policeman responded. 

Kunal flushed, trying to calm himself and asked again "I am new to the city. I have a lecture to give at Jawaharlal Nehru University, but I am not able to find the way."

"What are you saying? I don't understand?" The policeman responded. 

Kunal has had enough, first the locals telling him that JNU didn't exist. Now this policeman acting strangely. He felt maybe the policeman was hard of hearing, so he ended up shouting loudly "Which way is the Jawaharlal Nehru University!". 

The policeman eyed him with suspicion and barked "Jawaharlal Nehru University? There's no such place around here. Are you trying to cause trouble?"

"No, I assure you, I'm supposed to give a lecture there. It must be here!" Kunal pleaded, but the officer's expression darkened. 

"Disturbing the peace, are we?" the policeman barked again. Before Kunal could protest, he was roughly handcuffed and shoved into the back seat of the police car.  

"Where are you taking me? What did I do?" Kunal pleaded, but the policeman driving the car in the front seat did not respond.

It was a long drive. Kunal tried to plead with the policeman, but all his pleadings fell on deaf ears. Eventually he gave up, thinking maybe he can clear it up at the police station with a senior official. The ride went on for about an hour, slowly Kunal could see the city fading in the distance and villages taking over. After a while, the car stopped in front of a dilapidated police station.

The station was a grim, shabby building with peeling paint and broken windows. It was remote, the nearest other structure, a water tank was about 500 meters away.  The policeman pulled Kunal to walk just behind him. Inside, a single old constable sat behind a desk. The constable glanced up, barely acknowledging their arrival.

"Got a troublemaker here, Singh" the policeman announced, pushing Kunal forward.

Singh, the old constable, squinted at Kunal and then back at the policeman. "Lock him up, then. We've got a cell in the back."

Before Kunal could say anything he found himself locked behind bars in this shabby police station, his mobile and watch already taken from him and placed on the desk right in front of him, but just out of reach. The policeman exited the premises as quickly as he had entered, leaving just Kunal and Singh, the constable, in the premise. 

Kunal tried to reason "This is a misunderstanding. I had a lecture to give at JNU, and all I did was ask people directions to go there. But people told me the university didn't--" , 

"What?" Singh responded, cutting Kunal off before he could finish the sentence.

Kunal's eyes gazed to Singh's face, noticing the yellowed out hearing aid. This one is clearly deaf,  he thought to himself as he tried again, louder. "I had a lecture to give at --"

"What?" Singh interrupted. "I can't hear you at all" he continued with a slight grin that Kunal didn't miss.

Kunal looked around him. He was in a small, damp cell with rusted bars and a thin, worn-out mattress on the floor. The reality of the situation was now settling down, as he dropped down on his knees. His pleas to Singh were often met with "What?" and "I can't hear you at all", as Singh continued to sit at his chair, sometimes looking back at him, but mostly with his head on his chest trying to sleep. As time passed, Kunal mumbled to himself, "Maybe Jawaharlal Nehru University doesn't exist after all", as he lost himself to sleep.

Days turned into weeks, and Kunal saw no one except the constable, who brought him meager meals. Singh's hearing had deteriorated significantly, forcing him to rely on a squealing, old-fashioned hearing aid that barely did its job. Conversations with him were often a frustrating exercise in repetition, as he would frequently cup his hand to his ear, a pained expression on his face as he tried to catch every word, responding with "What?" and "I can't hear you at all" whenever Kunal tried to do conversations about his lawyer, his freedom, and Jawaharlal Nehru University. Kunal's pleas and questions were met with indifferent nods or nonsensical replies. The world outside his cell seemed to fade away, making him slowly feel resigned to his fate.

One morning Kunal woke up to an eerie silence. The usual clatter of Singh's footsteps was absent. Even the birds, Kunal felt, had stopped chirping. Time passed, but no one came. The silence became loud and unbearable. Slowly the evening came, but Singh didn't. Kunal's sense of isolation deepened, and he felt as though he was trapped in a nightmare with no end. He sat on the cold floor, staring at the blank walls, his mind unraveling within itself. Had the University ever existed? Why did he come to Delhi in the first place? All he had was questions, but no one to answer.

On the third day of Singh's absence, Kunal lay on the cold, blue floor, a smile playing on his lips. The silence was deafening, but his mind had finally found clarity. "Jawaharlal Nehru University doesn't exist after all," he whispered to himself, surrendering to the void.