Naveen’s Journal

I just received an email having a scanned document as an attachment. It seems to be some kind of a literature examination paper of some Soham Bandhopadhyay, and is a short story named THE STRANGER. It has been evaluated as excellent by the examiner and given the 1st place, deservingly so. A brilliant piece of writing which compels you to keep thinking about the story till long after you’ve read it. I am reproducing the story here below, and also link to the original PDF document. Download and go through the document to see the examiner’s evaluation.

THE STRANGER

She was getting engaged.

And all I could do was stand by and appluad along with all.
I didn’t dare open my mouth for fear of saying somethign stupid, something like “I LOVE YOU”.

I remembered the other day when she had come to me with red eyes. Her “BEST FRIEND” was going away. It had never mattered to me that her best friend was a guy. I thought I was above such things. But her tears awoke the sin of jealousy in my heart. Fighting it I had consoled her and given her chocolates to eat. She proceeded to rest her head in the crook of my arm. And promptly fell asleep. I chuckled at her baby-like innocence.
But now, as I applauded, I felt something stabbing at my heart.

She was getting married.
I saw her come down the stairs decked out in her bridal finery. Never had I seen her looking this pretty. I saw her taking the seven rounds around the sacred fire with the man I had come to hate, holding his hands. I saw exchanging garlands with him.

She was a total stranger to me now.

I was standing near the car when they both came over to me. I wondered what they wanted. I wondered how to say Farewell to the Departed.

Nevertheless, as my Daughter and Son-in-law touched my feet, I blessed them. She was openly crying. I told them not to worry. That I’ll always be here.

She responded by hugging me.

And I could not stop the tears anymore.

CREDITS: SOHAM BANDHOPADHYAY

                   EMP NO. - 51067

                   DEPTT - PED

Download PDF: The Stranger By Soham Bandhopadhyay