It was 1999 when I first met Sheena (in Guwahati). She was a student of class 6 and I was in class 10 at that time. We were both the students of Disneyland High School which has been rechristened as Sudarshan Public School now.
Being a senior by quite a few years, it would not have been possible for me to remember all my juniors. But Sheena was different. She was a cheerful girl with a very arresting face. A face which is difficult to forget, and a face that haunts me today after I got the news of her alleged murder. She used to greet everyone with a smile. The same smile you can see in the pictures that are gracing the TV screens today.
I often walked past her in the corridors of our school building. She was a pretty pre-teen but her face held promises of a beautiful woman that she would turn out to be one day. A promise that was cruelly broken by an untimely death, a murder as everyone is saying it to be.
It is hard to believe that the happy-go-lucky girl that she was in school never got the affection of her parents. She was perhaps at that time staying with her grandparents. But she never looked unhappy or wore the expression of child devoid of love and affection. Today, she is no more.
Losing a schoolmate is not easy. It's like losing a part of your childhood. It's like losing a smile that always greeted you in the school corridors without which my school memories will be incomplete. We cannot bring Sheena back but we must at least make some effort to see that she gets the justice she deserves.
(Rupamudra Kataki is Sheena Bora's schoolmate and lives in New Delhi)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.