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It was about quarter to ten at night. I was sitting at the window seat peeping outside onto the platform; the train stopped. People rushed into the train as the train was running a bit late. A coolie with a suitcase and a big trolley stopped near by my berth. A girl followed the coolie. She seemed to be upset, nervous, a bit scared. Might be she was leaving home for the first time. Whatever be the case I was of course unwitting about her. She looked pretty in salwar but I guessed then, if she were in jeans and top could have looked prettier. The fear, the tension, the worries could not hide her beauty. Fair skinned was she with a round face, long hairs and big round moist eyes. She had her berth next to me. Her father escorted her to the station. He was standing outside the berth, waiting for her daughter to fix the luggage. Then he came near the window. I left the seat for her. I dint know what were they talking, may be those usual parental advises her father was rendering.
Don’t take anything from strangers, don’t get off any stations in between....have an eye on the luggage...Blah blah!!
I could see two drops of tear rolling down her cheeks calmly. The train left the station. She was trying to see her father as far as she could she. And gradually he disappeared. She came back to her seat and offered me my seat back. Thank God!! I love the window seat. If I had the free offer as she got I could have taken advantage of sitting for few more minutes for sure.
Suddenly I discovered a strong crave in me for a gossip with her. But I could not gather guts as she was upset and most of the time I fail in the act of consoling. I preferred to keep quiet until the morning. Everybody went for nap. So did I. Lights were off, still I could hear the sound of her weeping until I fell asleep. I woke up a bit earlier. I saw her sitting on the lower berth at the window. After finishing my routine job I sat in front of her. I was mingled in a duality of thought to tell a ‘hi’ or not!! “Can u please open the window glass”; that was the first sentence she uttered before me”. “God u r great” my mind was graced. “Yeah sure” said I with a spark. “Hello I am Abhishek”... No answer or a turned face would have been a great insult for me, “I am sagarika”... Thank God again!! She was not as dull as I thought of her. And after that we continued talking ... The journey was definitely going to be pleasing for me ... I could make out.
She was a second year MBA student in some college in Chennai, what I could know form our conversation. That was the third time she traveled on train for Chennai. I then was made wrong in thinking her to be a first year student. I though if she cried every time she traveled for Chennai…! That was beyond my courage to ask her such a silly question. Huh…. We talked lavishly. Obviously she talked more unveiling the much heard gossiping talent of women in general and I enjoyed bit by bit. She had come home after long six months stay in Chennai. And she stayed at home for a week; she was describing how she enjoyed each and everyday with her family, with her brother and cousins. Her eyes were enlightened speaking about the days she spent at her home.
It has always been a mystery for me, what ultimately the parents want to gain by keeping their children away from them…is it higher education…! Is it a good job with handsome salary…..! Is it a better and a secured future….! Or anything else….! And why are these needed…… To get happiness in later part of life!!!!! We save our life to live later; I have seen cases where that later never comes. To get a better tomorrow we sacrifice our today. On the other hand to live a so called civilised life, one need everything ……education, money and even more than that. In the process of achieving those, beautiful moments of life are often sacrificed; emotions suppressed and killed. And why….! I never get an answer to this and I conclude…..I am Confused, I am in duality…... Let it be the way it is…I am too young to understand!! But if I were to rule the world I would say. “No children should leave their parents”.
It was lunch time. We had our lunch. In the meantime she would have received at least twenty calls from her home shooting queries that if she was fine and where did she reach. Her battery was drained and she asked me if I could come with her to the AC boogie to charge her cell for sometime. Of course I could!! She charged her cell for about fifteen minutes and we stood near the door for that time. She asked me about my whereabouts. And finally we exchanged our numbers. We came back to our seats and talked for some more time until the train reached the station. I called a coolie for her, we walked to the station gate where we shook hands and she told “nice meeting you”…”same her” I said. She waved her hand and vanished into the crowd. We never met after that. We had contacts over phone. She became a very good friend of mine. She got married 4 years later, and blasted on me because I was out state and could not attend the function.
Twenty five years passed, I still live in Bhubaneswar with my wife and a son. One fine evening I went to attend a marriage function with my family. And there I met her for the second time, she has grown a bit fat, cheeks were chubby with few wrinkles, but she was as charming as she was twenty five years back. I introduced her to my family and she introduced her family to me, she has a cute daughter; who had come back from US after two years to spend her vacation here in Orissa. She will be back to US in a month’s time…for higher education, more money, and good job and yes for a cherished secured future. I am old enough but still I can not understand. It's just I hope she does not weep like her mother.
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