The unforgettable journey

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 17^th 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.

“14^th 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.

“14^th May”

“Yeah! 14^th 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.

“4^th of July”

“I will wish you too” She nodded and left.

I stood at the station for a while and moved on.