Subba disappeared

I came back to Delhi and waited for his call which never came. Every tinkle of the phone, made me rush towards it. God knows how many times I would be checking my e-mail account, expecting to have a mail from him. How often would I sign into my Yahoo Messenger, for his off-liners. But alas! There was no communication from him at all. I waited in vain, to hear from my lost buddy, whom I never met in flesh and blood. Forget about meeting, I did not even know what did he look like, as I had never seen his photograph. But still in his imageless existence, he was no less real to me, as any of my known acquaintances. Slowly my disappointment gave way to a feeling of deep hurt. It was hard for me to reconcile to the fact that Subba had gone forever. At times, I could not hold back my tears, refusing to accept, that this was a common feature with the virtual world, where people come and disappear at their own sweet will and only a fool expects otherwise.