I placed my bag under the seat and despite of being sure to fall
asleep, I took out the novel and iPod to keep myself occupied. The lights went
off soon, and thoughts started flooding my mind.
I positioned myself comfortably and opened the bookmarked page of
the book. Soon I was lost in the story. The air conditioned compartment was
getting colder. I fell asleep with in no time.
I woke up listening to voice of 6 year old boy. He was trying to
perform the gymnastic act of climbing the middle birth from the lower birth. He
pulled my pillow and quickly shifted to blanket for support when it slipped
from his tiny fingers. I could see him crushing his teeth while pulling himself
up.
“Would you mind shifting to the upper birth?” His dad suggested. I
quickly checked time on my cell phone. It was 8a.m. The whole damn family was
awake and wanted to sit comfortably on the lower birth. I had no option but to
move.
I shifted to the upper birth, preparing to sleep again. But, my
eyes caught glimpse of an attractive face on the opposite berth. She was
blissfully asleep. Her face had this mischievous glow as if she has been tired
after being active all day long doing her mischievous acts. I started staring
at her.
Her long silk-like hair, all over her face; her thick eye lashes –
deep black reflecting white glow just like a star shining in darkness; part of
her face covered under the blanket and other half revealing her perfectly
shaped lips; chunks of hair spread carelessly on her body like a sand portray
spread on a beach. I stared at her perfect body. She looked lovely. For that
moment, I wished to just watch her sleeping. Forever.
I finally woke up at 10:30am, I had fallen asleep, dreaming about
home, Mumbai, work, friends with fractions of her presence in every part. I
slowly turned my eyes on her side. She was absent. My heart started beating
with the thought that she was gone. I gave myself some more time and climbed
down to put my shoes on. As I walked forward, I saw her coming back. She still
looked no less than perfect. Her strange eyes looked at me for a very short
moment and turned away. My eyes seemed easy on her, as if I had known her since
a long time. She climbed back to her seat on the upper birth, just beside mine.
I went out to stand at the door. The scenery seemed familiar. The
train was about to reach Timarni, the town where I spent 15 years of my life.
Although my destination was still 4 hours away, I got down when train stopped
to have a quick look at the place I loved the most, even more than Mumbai.
Everything looked just the same. I climbed back before the signal went green.
She was reading a book by Paolo Coelho. I should talk to
her; thoughts started popping in my head. I wanted to talk to her; wanted
to know her, but more than anything I wanted to look at her. I opened the book
to divert myself but couldn’t focus. I turned around to put weight on my chest
and put my face on my palm, facing her. She turned her eyes towards me and
smiled. My heart started beating faster. I quickly closed my eyes to avoid the
eye contact. Turning my head away, I started listening to the music. I blamed
myself for not responding to her smile and shut my eyes tightly to force into
sleep again.
After a while I heard the same voice which woke me this morning. I
looked at him with half my eyes open, the kid had climbed to sit beside her. He
troubled her, with his silly questions but his voice had innocent expression. “What’s
your good name?” She asked him in a musical voice. “Rohan!” he
responded quickly followed by “My name is Rohan, My fathers name is mohan.
My mothers name is Sangeeta” Giving details about his family and
finished with “I study at Carment high school, Indore”
“Very good Rohan” She encouraged him.
Soon after when they finished their discussion, the kid started
firing his questions at me. He wanted to know everything. My name; my father’s
name; where I was heading to; about my school. She looked at me and giggled. I
smiled back.
The kid got down and started yelling her name when she stopped him
from asking questions.
”R pagal hai” R is mad. ”R pagal
hai” R is mad. ”R pagal hai” R is
mad.
“I am sure everyone in this train will know your name by the
end of this journey”, I said to her when she looked towards me.
“You are lucky that your name is a bit difficult to pronounce,
I m sure it’s you who he wanted to target”, she responded.
“hehhe..” I laughed… “I think you are right!” I
continued the conversation. “So you are R!”
“Yeah! And you are ummm…” She tried guessing.
“It’s Suyash, come on it’s not that difficult to pronounce”
“Well it’s a nice name”, she decleared.
“Thanks, yours is very common though”, I said in a
mischievous way. “But you see, it helps, as there might be many R(s) in
this train and no one would figure out exactly which R, Rohan is
pointing to”
She took few seconds, “How rude, Anyways I’ll take it as a joke”
she answered quickly.
“How long will it take to reach Bhopal?”
I looked at the time and said “Should take another 2-3 hours”
“Oh! That long?” She asked in a hurry.
“Yeah, I don’t want to disappoint you but it may get delayed if
any express train is coming this way. They will let it pass first. That’s what
they do, you know, make the slow train even slower” I explained.
“Yeah may be you are right, but I want to reach Bhopal as
soon as possible” She said excitedly.
“What’s the hurry?” I asked.
“I am going to meet my cousins after a very long time. We used
to have lot of fun when I was in Bhopal” She replied.
“Ohh…Nice!” I said after a pause. “What do you do? “ I
quickly asked back.
“I am working for a software company in Mumbai and you?”
“I work for a finance company based in Thane”
“Okay, so how is everything?” she kept quite and waited for
my response.
“Well life is good, but things are very hectic at work. Crazy
life! Weekends are fun though! What about you?”
“Well I am on bench from last few months, just holding up”
She answered disappointedly.
“hmm…Where do you stay in Mumbai?”
“Kandivali” She responded, “You?”
“Thane, HN, You know, I am loving it there. The apartment is
huge and affordable. No furniture. No TV and it’s on 17th floor.”
“How is Kandivali like?” I later realized that it was made
up answer followed by a stupid question.
“Its good ya!” She looked at the time after every short
interval.
We kept talking for a while, with silent invervals to fill the
conversation.
I tried to glance outside but the window was blocked by curtains.
I noticed the time and said,” We have some more time to kill. Achcha,
do you have a pen?”
“What, did you ask for pen?” She looked puzzled.
“Yeah!”
She checked her bag and passed the pen to me. I started scrubbing
something in my book, but instantly changed my mind knowing that she was
looking over and returned her pen by adding silent Thanks.
We talked for some more time. She was from a small place “Khurai”
and had studied in Kota. She did her graduation in computer science from Bhopal,
where through her placements she ended up in Mumbai.
I told her about my life, avoiding the Kota part and
that I got through IIT to not make her feel bad. I only told her that I too was
from a very small town. Just like her.
We went to stand near the door when the destination was near. I
helped her carry her bag to the door. We stood there silent for sometime,
staring out. I told her about how much I loved Bombay. She just kept
quite, smiling in between to hint me that she was listening.
After a while silence filled the air. The train had stopped
abruptly. Her eyes looked puzzled. I stared at her. Just like when I saw her
for the first time. She looked beautiful.
“You like reading?” I asked her with my heartbeat double
the rate.
“Yeah”
“I want you to have this” I offered her the book I had in
my hand. She smiled again with a hint of blush on her lips.
“Are you sure? You haven’t finished it yet” She replied.
“I have read it many times” I exaggerated. “It’s a great
book. You will really enjoy reading it” I continued.
“Actually, I made my mind the very first time we spoke, to gift
you this book. That’s why I asked you for a pen, to write a note for you” I
finished with my heartbeat trice the rate.
”Ahh! I see. Okay!” She opened her bag and offered me to
leave a note for her.
“When is your birthday?” I quickly asked.
“14th May”
I wrote a note on her book:
To R,
Many Happy Returns of the Day!
Suyash (from the train)
I couldn’t write what I had in mind and I knew I was going to
regret this. I gave her the book. She smiled and thanked me again.
The destination was near. She seemed happy and I could only wish
for an express to delay this train. Like every perfect story, I wanted to keep
in touch with her. But I didn’t have courage to ask her phone number. NO.
You already gave her a gift. It wouldn’t be nice. Thoughts
kept flushing my every attempt to dare. She must be on Orkut or
Facebook. Finally compromising, I asked her if she comes online.
She instead asked me my phone number and said, “I keep in touch
with friends through phone” and asked me to save her number. I was on
seventh heaven. My friends would be so jealous.
Finally the train stopped and we got down. I purchased chocolates
for my cousins at the station and offered her one. She mysteriously took and
said, “You can get me more chocolates when we meet next time”.
“When is your birthday?” I asked.
“14th May”
“Yeah! 14th May, okay I will wish you” I
said with a smile on my face and saved it on my phone as a reminder.
“When you your’s?” She asked.
“4th of July”
“I will wish you too” She nodded and left.
I stood at the station for a while and moved on.