did mr gaitonde really made a transition to another world
Answers
At that precise moment of time, Professor Gangadharpant Gaitonde collided with a truck and apparently vanished into thin air. But let us begin the story at the beginning.
Professor Gaitonde was an eminent historian and a leading public figure of Pune. This introduction is for those who never read his massive tomes on Indian history, or who somehow missed attending a public function chaired by him. For, Gangadharpant was much in demand for presiding over public functions. Indeed, at the time the story begins, he had just completed presiding over a seminar and with his meticulous records he knew that this was his 999th occasion for presiding at a function.
Lest the figure 999 at the age of 55 appears large, the arithmetic behind it is simple. If you preside over a public meeting once a week, it will take you less than two decades to cross the 999-mark. Gangadharpant, of course, knew this.
In his mid 30s, he was already well-established in Pune, that citadel of orators, as a top public speaker. He was showered with invitations to preside. First he was hesitant and choosy, but soon he began to relish the job. Whether it was to release a book or to speak at a college day or to celebrate some jubilee of some organisation or to felicitate a person on his sixtieth birthday, or to preside over a seminar not necessarily connected with history, Professor Gaitonde was readily available. However, he had long decided that his thousandth appearance on the platform would be for history, his favourite subject. That occasion was to come two weeks hence at a seminar devoted to the Third Battle of Panipat.